Isolation

by Kevin Hardman

  Solar Surge and Luna immediately sprang into action, with the former using his hands to fire a blast of dark energy (his namesake “surge”) at Mouse while the latter leaped at him, swords drawn and her mouth open in what I assumed was a battle cry. Holding up his right hand, Mouse appeared to deflect the blast coming at him, presumably through use of the brace. The redirected energy struck the attacking Luna directly in the face and sent her tumbling to the side, limbs flailing.

  Solar Surge prepared to fire at Mouse again, then seemed to jump as Mouse suddenly appeared on his left. And on his right. And in front of him. In fact, the entire lab was suddenly filled with a million copies of Mouse, all dressed and looking exactly alike, as well as rushing madly about. However, in addition to the jeans and thermal shirt, each “Mouse” was also wearing a backpack – an item I recognized as Mouse’s bug-out bag.

  Solar Surge reached for one of the “Mouses” near him. Although he should have been close enough to touch the “Mouse” in question, his hand appeared to close on empty air. The multiple copies of Mouse were holograms of some sort. Surge suddenly began to grab randomly at the Mouse versions moving around him, obviously convinced that the original was somewhere in the crowd.

  He was joined moments later by Alpha Prime and Luna, both of whom had re-entered the fray. However, they fared no better than Surge at locating the real Mouse. And then, just as quickly as they had appeared, all of the holograms vanished.

  At that point, Alpha Prime stopped the video.

  “As you can see,” he said to me, “Mouse went on the offensive and attacked us.”

  “But why would he do that?” I asked. “Just attack you out of the blue?”

  “We think the Construct caused it,” Surge said. “When it released the energy that knocked out the camera, we believe it affected him in some way – maybe caused some type of mental imbalance.”

  I pointed angrily at the screen. “Did that look like an attack by a mentally unbalanced person?”

  “Just because he wasn’t wild-eyed and foaming at the mouth doesn’t mean he was playing with all his marbles,” my father said.

  I shook my head in dismay, then glanced around the table at the other League members present.

  “Are you honestly telling me that all of you are buying this?” I demanded. “That you honestly believe Mouse went off the reservation?”

  There was no immediate response, then Surge said, “Hey, no one wants to believe this, but I was there – plus, we have it on tape.”

  “Do we have any other footage?” I asked.

  “No,” Buzz shot back. “But if what you saw didn’t convince you, I don’t know what good another video would do.”

  “Mouse has multiple cameras in his lab,” I explained. “Another angle might provide more insight on what exactly happened.”

  “Unfortunately, this is the only footage we have,” Alpha Prime noted. “For some reason, we weren’t able to extract anything from the other cameras in the lab.”

  “We should probably work on that,” I suggested. “It might help get a better understanding of the facts.”

  “The facts speak for themselves,” Luna chided. “You’re just refusing to see reason because you and Mouse are close.”

  “You’re right on that point,” I said. “I love Mouse – he’s like my brother. And I know he wouldn’t do what I saw without a pretty good reason.”

  Silence filled the room for a moment. Empathically, I could feel anger and frustration from some regarding my steadfast refusal to admit that Mouse had gone rogue.

  “Look,” Alpha Prime finally said, “why don’t we table the issue of why Mouse did what he did and simply focus on finding him and stopping him.”

  “Stopping him?” I echoed, nonplussed. “Stop him from doing what?”

  No one immediately spoke, then Buzz offered, “From hurting anybody.”

  I stared at Buzz angrily for a second, then simply asked, “So why am I here?”

  “I thought it was obvious,” Alpha Prime stated. “We need your help figuring out where Mouse has gone to ground.”

  “Why in the world would I help you hunt him down when I’m not sure he did anything wrong?” I demanded.

  “Because if we find him and he attacks again, someone might get hurt,” Buzz stated.

  “But if you’re there,” my father quickly interjected, “it’s a lot more likely that we can avoid any conflict. Mouse trusts you – he’ll listen to you.”

  I chewed on this for a moment, then let out a sigh. “What makes you think I can find him?”

  “Because you know him better than almost anybody,” Alpha Prime said.

  “What about Vixen?” I countered. “I’m sure Mouse’s girlfriend will have a better idea of where he’s hanging his hat.”

  “Can’t find her,” Luna explained. “She’s disappeared.”

  “So track her,” I suggested. “Her cell phone, her communicator… You can use those and other stuff to pin down her location.”

  “We tried,” Solar Surge noted. “No luck. Wherever she is, she’s off the grid.”

  “Well, did anybody reach out to Braintrust?” I asked.

  There was no immediate response to my question, which made me wonder if they had understood me. Braintrust (also known as “BT”) was a cluster of clones sharing a single hive mind. Smart and knowledgeable (and with a wealth of resources), BT often worked closely with Mouse.

  “To be perfectly frank,” my father finally said, “we were hoping to keep this in the family, if you catch my drift. And since BT isn’t officially a member of the League…”

  He trailed off, but I understood where he’d been going: he didn’t want BT involved.

  “So I guess that means I’m ‘it,’” I concluded.

  “I’m afraid so,” Alpha Prime said. “But we’ll keep the option of going to BT open, as well as anyone else who might be able to help.”

  “Okay, then,” I droned, coming to my feet. “Let’s get started.”

  Chapter 22

  We started off in Mouse’s lab – me, Alpha Prime, Buzz, and Luna. It looked pretty much as it had on the footage (which wasn’t surprising since all of the action had happened just a few hours earlier). The place was a little unkempt, with some papers strewn about and a few computer components littering the floor in some areas – the result of having three League members running around trying to wrangle holograms. Otherwise, aside from all the equipment and monitors being off, the room looked as it generally did. There was one thing I noticed, however.

  “What happened to the Construct?” I asked.

  “It’s been moved to a safe location,” Alpha Prime said. “Can’t risk whatever happened to Mouse happening to anyone else.”

  “That raises an interesting point,” I noted. “Why weren’t you, Luna, or Surge affected?”

  “Presumably it had to do with proximity,” Luna chimed in. “Mouse was closer to the Construct, so he was influenced by whatever it did. The rest of us were seemingly out of range.”

  “Hmmm,” I droned. “What was that thing doing here anyway?”

  “It was found by a research team in some volcanic rock on a remote island,” Alpha Prime said. “It then passed through the hands of a few government scientists, who really didn’t know what it was or what to do with it. Ultimately, they ended up asking Mouse for help.”

  I nodded as he spoke, understanding that it was not an unusual pattern. Top scientists in a dozen fields were known to consult with Mouse on occasion. The man was absolutely brilliant, with a level of genius that couldn’t even be defined or categorized.

  He was also incredibly organized, I thought, looking around again at the clutter. There wasn’t much of it, but still…

  Switching into super speed, I zipped around the lab, picking up papers and other stuff from the floor and placing them on one of the worktables. It took almost no effort on my part and kept the place looking presentable, which was what I knew Mouse would want. Plus, I spent a
decent amount of time in the lab, so I felt a certain obligation to keep it tidy.

  Satisfied, I switched back to normal speed. Without warning, Luna suddenly advanced on me, looking angry.

  “What did you do?” she demanded.

  I found myself dumbfounded by her reaction. Luna had a reputation for being a little bit crazy, but I didn’t have a clue what might have set her off in this instance.

  Turning on his own super speed, Buzz dashed over and came to a halt in front of her.

  “Easy,” Buzz said, holding his palms toward her. “Just slow down.” He gave Luna a moment to take a breath, then continued. “Jim didn’t do anything. I was watching him, and all he did was clean the place up.”

  Her face still stamped with an intense expression, Luna casually glanced around for a few seconds. Seemingly satisfied with the explanation (and her own visual confirmation), she gave a short nod.

  “I apologize,” she said, although her tone didn’t convey the necessary sentiment. “This situation has me on edge.”

  “It has all of us a little wound up,” Alpha Prime added, then focused his attention on me. “Well, Jim, you wanted to see the lab. Thoughts?”

  “None so far,” I admitted. “There’s an old adage about criminals always returning to the scene of the crime. Going with the wild assumption that Mouse did something wrong, I was just curious as to what he might come back here for.”

  “And?”

  I shrugged. “Just eyeballing the place, nothing jumps out at me. I mean, I was here this morning – I’m here practically every day, in fact – and there’s nothing that strikes me as being out of place.”

  As I spoke, however, a new thought occurred to me, and I realized I was overlooking something.

  “Hmmm,” I droned. “Hang on a sec.”

  Without waiting for a response, I teleported, popping up in a huge, cavernous chamber. It was a secret room that connected to Mouse’s lab, although I had only been in it a few times before. It was primarily used for storage, as evidenced by a nigh-endless number of boxes and bins. Empathically, I sensed that Mouse wasn’t anywhere around, and it only took a few seconds to go through the place at super speed to determine that it contained no clues to his whereabouts.

  Next, I teleported to the sleeping quarters that Mouse maintained at the lab. It was basically the equivalent of a one-bedroom apartment connected via a door to the main workspace. As with the secret chamber, it contained nothing which indicated where Mouse might be. Somewhat disappointed, I teleported back to the lab.

  The second I appeared, I got an evil look from Luna. However, she held her tongue.

  Ignoring her, I said, “Just checked out a couple of places, including the adjoining sleeping quarters. Nothing hints to where Mouse might be.”

  “Would you tell us if it did?” asked Luna snarkily.

  I frowned at her, then looked at my father. “Does she have to be here?”

  “I thought it might be helpful since she was on hand when things went sideways,” he said.

  I turned my attention back to Luna. “Why were you here anyway? This happened during the day. Don’t you get your powers from the moon?”

  “My powers grow under the light of the moon,” she corrected.

  “So you get crazier as the day goes on,” I concluded.

  Luna looked like she wanted to slug me, but before she said or did anything, my father interjected.

  “Enough,” he almost bellowed. “Let’s try to remember that we’re on the same team.”

  “I’m not the human powder keg,” I protested defensively, “about to blow up every time someone blinks.”

  “I get that,” my father said. “But whatever happened to Mouse happened right here in this lab, under our very noses. If it was the Construct that did it, there might be a lingering effect, even if the device itself is gone. That means it could happen to somebody else. With that in mind, it might help, Jim, if you give us a heads-up about what you’re about to do before you do it.”

  Still smoldering over Luna’s attitude, I merely crossed my arms and stated, “I’ll try.”

  “Good enough,” Alpha Prime announced with a nod. “So, if we’re done here, what’s next?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Most of the time when I’m around Mouse, it’s here. This is where he spends, like, ninety-nine percent of his time, so I don’t know much about where he hangs out when he leaves. I mean, he’s got an apartment – I know that much – as well as official quarters here at HQ, like everybody else. He only mentions them in passing, but he’s also got family, so maybe they’re worth talking to. Beyond that, I’m not sure.”

  “Well, we’ve already scoped out his apartment and his formal League quarters,” Buzz said. “We turned up nothing.”

  “There are a few other places we can check,” Alpha Prime said. “If everyone’s ready, we can head out and–”

  “Timeout,” I said, forming the letter “T” with my hands. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’ve had a long day, and I’m still mentally digesting everything I’ve heard tonight. I’m going home to catch some sleep, and we can pick this up in the morning when I can look at everything with fresh eyes. Or you guys can push through and just brief me tomorrow.”

  The other three exchanged glances. Even without my empathic abilities, I could tell that they weren’t ready to call it quits, even temporarily. Of course, I wasn’t being completely honest with them. It had been a long day, but I could easily tweak my internal systems and go on indefinitely. In truth, however, things had been moving at a fast clip, and I simply wanted some time to think about everything that had happened – in particular, my role in helping to hunt down my mentor.

  “All right,” my father said. “That makes sense. We’ll call it a night and pick things up bright and early.”

  With that, he dismissed Buzz and Luna, who seemed reluctant to leave but did as told.

  “So,” my father droned once we were alone, “care to crash with your old man?’

  “I appreciate it,” I said sincerely, “but I think I want to stay home tonight.”

  “I know I’ve said it before, but I really do want you to think of my place as your home, too.”

  “Sorry,” I muttered in apology. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I’ve been jetting all over the place lately, so maybe staying in a familiar environment will help me wrap my head around all this.”

  “I think I understand,” Alpha Prime stated. “Anyway, if you want to take off, I’ll turn off the lights and lock up.”

  I was about to say it wasn’t necessary – that I had planned to do all that – when his words struck a chord with me.

  I spent a quick moment eyeballing the lab, then asked, “After Mouse took off, who shut everything down in here?”

  “What do you mean?” Alpha Prime asked.

  “Well, the monitors are all off, as well as the computers – everything except the lights, in fact. Who shut it all down?”

  My father shrugged. “I thought everything in here typically shut down on its own when no one was around, like a computer when you step away from it for too long.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, that’s the sleep mode, but the computer comes out of it when you come back and move the mouse or start typing. Likewise, this place is supposed to wake up when people come in. That didn’t happen, so everything in here is shut down rather than asleep. So who did it?”

  “I don’t know,” Alpha Prime admitted. “As far as I know, it just powered down on its own.”

  “Unless Mouse did it,” I suggested.

  “That’s the most likely explanation, and it’s not beyond his ability to do it remotely.”

  “I guess,” I mumbled softly, not fully convinced. However, before I could comment further, a shrill buzzing started sounding from my phone.

  “I gotta go,” I blurted out, and then – after phasing and becoming invisible – teleported.

  Chapter 23

  I popped up at the
embassy, where my ears were immediately assaulted by the sound of the alarm going off. Staying invisible and phased, I dashed through the place at super speed – twice – and found nothing. Frowning in confusion, I turned the alarm off after becoming visible and substantial.

  It was the alarm, of course, that I’d received notice of via my phone. The funny thing was, I didn’t recall setting it before leaving for dinner. However, that didn’t mean that I hadn’t done it. Much like a person may unplug an iron out of habit but not have a specific memory of the act, it was entirely possible that I’d set the alarm as a matter of routine without consciously thinking about it. (There was even an app on my phone that let me activate it remotely, so I might have even done it by accident.)

  Regardless of how the alarm had come on, I had popped up expecting to find an intruder to deal with, but such had not been the case. The only person whom I could tell had been inside recently was me. In fact, I only discovered one thing that might be construed as out of order: the door to Myshtal’s room was open, although I was certain I had closed it when I checked the embassy previously.

  Just to make sure I was covering all the bases, I reached out both empathically and telepathically. I didn’t encounter any other minds or emotional vibes, so I felt confident that I wasn’t dealing with an invisible burglar or anything along those lines. Basically, it just appeared that there was a glitch in the system – something I’d have to get looked at.

  At least now I have something for Kenyon to do, I thought. In fact, I spent a moment debating on whether to call him while the subject was fresh in my mind, but decided against it. I wasn’t sure if he was up, and it was almost as easy to text him. That being the case, I quickly tapped out a message outlining the issue and sent it.

  Next, I pulled my empathic and telepathic abilities back to their normal range. Once that was done, I teleported up to my bedroom. The plan was to take a quick shower and go to bed, but I’d only just appeared when my phone rang. It was Myshtal. I let out a soft groan. With everything that had been going on regarding Mouse, I had completely forgotten about her.