‘It’s Roger and Zoe I feel sorry for,’ Twilight said. ‘They’re basically down a colleague and doing more business than they normally do all year.’
‘I’ve been helping with crowd control as much as possible,’ June countered. ‘I just had to take a break for a few minutes. Zoe isn’t doing this in five-inch heels.’
‘Huh, I’m actually happy to be on my feet. My behind is never going to be the same again, and my right hand is partially paralysed.’
‘Yeah, but I bet if you slip into shadow for a few minutes you’ll be fine.’
‘That’s a damn good point.’ And before anyone could say anything, the space behind the tables filled with a wall of impenetrable black. There were gasps, cheers, and cries of ‘woah’ from the assembled throng up front.
‘Can’t see a damn thing,’ Jacob commented dryly.
‘Nope,’ June agreed.
‘How come we’re not being hounded by scary demons?’ Heather asked.
‘Do you want to be?’ Twilight returned. ‘I can see fine, by the way.’
‘I think,’ Heather said, ‘that not being tormented by shadow demons is fine be meEE!’ The last word turned into a squeak.
‘Put my partner down, Twi,’ Jacob said. He might not have been able to see, but he could guess well enough.
‘You spoil all my fun,’ Twilight told him. ‘I’ll just cuddle up to June instead.’
‘I can see into that shadow too,’ Cygnus called over her shoulder without breaking stride on the signings.
‘Spoilsports.’ The shadows fell back into their natural positions, evaporating like smoke to reveal Twilight flexing her fingers. ‘Much better. And my ass isn’t as numb.’
‘Great. You can come take over from me so I can get the blood back into my behind.’
Twilight sighed and June patted her on the shoulder. ‘A hero’s work is never done, Twi.’
~~~
‘Here’s to being unemployed,’ Heather said, raising her glass.
‘To freedom,’ June added.
‘And insecurity,’ Jacob went on, even if he was smirking.
‘Cheers,’ Andrea said, and there was drinking.
With the signing finally concluded and the shop closed off, everyone had moved on to a sports bar not far away to celebrate the day, and to celebrate Jacob and Heather leaving the UID. Everyone had included Svetilo, of course, and Roger, and Zoe: it had only seemed fair to include them. Roger had had one beer and then scuttled off, but Zoe was hanging on, basking in an evening out with some of the most famous people in the city.
Zoe sat between Andrea and Svetilo since the latter had made something of a point of sitting beside the little blonde girl. Zoe was a cute girl, not especially bright but quite observant. The word ‘vivacious’ had almost been invented for her, but she was a little subdued sat next to the tall, attractive Russian who seemed to be paying her a lot of attention.
‘Uh, what are you going to do?’ Zoe asked. ‘Now that you’re not agents, what’s next?’
‘Fortuna Investigations,’ Heather replied, grinning.
‘I need to get myself registered,’ Jacob said. ‘We both do, but it’s probably more urgent for me. And then we’re forming a private investigation agency, specialising in cases involving Ultrahumans.’
‘We’ve got the experience,’ Heather added. ‘It seems logical.’
‘It sounds great,’ Zoe enthused. ‘It must be great, working with Ultras all the time.’
‘You work with an Ultra all the time,’ Andrea pointed out.
‘Yes, but… It’s not the same as… I mean, it’s a comic shop, not–’
‘An office, mostly,’ Jacob cut in. ‘It’s not nearly as glamorous as it sounds.’
‘Some UID agents never come face-to-face with an Ultrahuman,’ Heather said. ‘There’s a lot of administration involved. In the field offices it’s rare, but the head office staff just don’t need to meet Ultras.’
‘That sucks,’ Zoe said. ‘Join the Ultrahuman Investigations Division and never see an Ultra. Why don’t they let Ultras in?’
‘Historically,’ Heather replied, ‘it was because the UID was formed as a counter to Ultrahuman criminal activity and there were just no good guys around. This was in nineteen sixty-four and it probably seemed reasonable. I mean, they wouldn’t have allowed a communist into the FBI either.’
‘But then the UID got given the job of registering and monitoring Ultras in the Special Policing Act,’ Cygnus said. ‘For that matter, the SPA legitimised Ultrahumans performing law enforcement activities. These days, the exclusion rule is looking more and more like prejudice.’
‘A year ago I might have argued that,’ Jacob said, frowning.
‘I’ll argue it,’ Heather said. ‘When the SPA came out, I think it was prejudice back then. Now… I think it’s just inertia. It would take effort to change the rules and come up with new ones. And there’s no major impetus to change because the agency can always rely on Ultras to come in and help when they’re needed. When the Freak, for example, escapes and starts trashing things, the big names come in and haul his ass back to the Fortress with, to be honest, far less collateral damage than what would happen if the UID did it. If people really understood how much we rely on Ultras, maybe things would be different.’
‘You’re saying we’re too effective for our own good?’ Cygnus asked.
‘Well… yes.’
‘Look at the Churchton Riot,’ Jacob said. ‘Suddenly, New Millennium City gets a taste of what it’s like to have relatively little Ultrahuman support and the city government freaks out. Until then, they were perfectly happy pottering along and cutting the police budget by stages.’
‘Hasn’t changed,’ Andrea commented sourly. ‘It was cheaper to shout at the state government to overrule the ban than it was to put more money into the police budget.’
‘This is far too serious, da?’ Svetilo said. ‘There should be much more drinking before we start complaining about government.’ She grinned down at Zoe. ‘Drink up, Zoe. Night is young.’
Zoe giggled. ‘And so are we. Cheers!’
‘Za zdorovya!’
~~~
The Clayton Park Condominium Complex was an upscale and very high-rise building in Uptown. Home to many an upwardly mobile executive, media figure, and trust fund society darling, it featured exemplary security and considerable build quality. Two tall buildings formed the basic structure with a bridge between them three storeys from the top which had a gym suspended below it exclusively for the residents. Penthouse apartments at Clayton Park went for tens of millions.
One of the features which sold the property to its residents was the safety and security system. No one got into the complex without authorisation. The fire suppression system was second to none, and if it somehow failed, there were numerous easily accessible methods of getting out of the buildings. Everyone who lived there slept soundly and securely in their beds.
Of course, on a Friday night, a significant number of the residents of the condo were out partying and not in their beds. As the clock rolled around to ten thirty in the evening, few of those who had stayed home were actually asleep, so many of them heard the sound of an explosion but few of them realised what was going on until several minutes had passed and it was far too late.
From the roof of the suspended gym, fire rained down onto the shared park below. Grass and topiary burst into flames at the touch of the burning fluid and the entire area was a veritable firestorm inside of five minutes, but no alarms went off. Fire roared up from the underground utility rooms, filling the lower floors, but no one above was made aware of the problem.
It was not until smoke began to fill the corridors and apartments through the air-conditioning system, and attempts to call out of the building to report the problem failed, that panic began to set in throughout the complex.
~~~
‘I’m just saying that I’d have liked to have been a bit bigger,’ Zoe said. She was swaying a little,
or leaning against Svetilo, depending upon whether she was trying for upright or giving up.
‘Bigger,’ Andrea said. ‘Right.’
‘Ish not my fault! I’m five seven an’ my eyeline is full of sideboob.’ Svetilo burst into roaring laughter. ‘For that matter, all I can shee across the table ish boob. I shee boobies.’
‘I told you the vodka shots were a bad idea. Stop corrupting my friends, Dom, you Russian succubus.’
‘Net,’ Svetilo said. ‘Those two are succubuses.’ She indicated Cygnus and June with a waving finger. ‘I am innocent peasant girl.’
‘Succubi,’ Cygnus corrected. ‘We’re succubi. I mean, we’re not succubi, but that’s the right plural.’
‘I liked the Russian word,’ June said. ‘It had such a–’ She stopped at the sound of a ringing phone and frowned. ‘Who’s ringing?’
‘Is mine,’ Svetilo said, finding her cell phone in her purse and looking at it. ‘Is Andy… Andy? Is problem? Da… Bozhe moi! Da, we come as soon as possible… Da, they are with me.’ Dropping her phone back into her bag, she dug out her earpiece and pushed it into position. ‘Clayton Park Condominium is burning,’ she said. ‘Many trapped. Huge fire. Andy needs us there.’ She glanced around at Andrea. ‘We need Twilight’s imps too.’
Andrea winced. ‘That bad?’
‘Da. That bad.’ Svetilo’s gaze lowered a little to look down at Zoe. ‘And I had plans for later.’
‘We’ll get Zoe home,’ June said.
‘Yeah,’ Heather agreed. ‘We’re not going to be much use there.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ Jacob said. ‘To the fire. I’ve no idea what use I’ll be, but maybe I can help.’
‘Okay then,’ Cygnus said. ‘Let’s get moving. Jacob, I’ll fly you over there.’
‘Da, and you fly me too,’ Svetilo said as she got to her feet. ‘You are faster in air than me and you can handle extra weight better.’
‘Okay. Shouldn’t be a problem.’
Svetilo turned to Andrea as everyone started out of the bar. ‘You have Zoe’s number?’
‘Yeah, I have Zoe’s number.’
‘I get it from you later.’ The Russian looked at Andrea’s raised eyebrow. ‘I just want to check on her in morning. Make sure hangover is not too bad.’
‘Yeah… sure. Get your ass out of here so you can ruin another dress.’
~~~
Twilight walked the burning halls of the north tower, a rolling cloud of boiling shadow which swallowed flames in passing but left them unsmothered as it moved on. She had imps searching the floors above but had decided to handle the lowest floors herself; she was more impervious to the flames than her minions, and she was fairly sure that her task was going to bear the least fruit.
Rising up to the fourth floor of twenty-five, she found an area which was suffocatingly hot, but not burning, and materialised. ‘Twilight here. The lower floors are a dead loss. There’s no one alive down there. I did find… remains.’
‘Any news on the upper floors?’ Fire Bug’s voice came back over the radio.
‘Should get a head count and locations soon, then I’ll start on the other side.’
‘Good. I’ve got Cygnus dealing with the bridge, but Svetilo and your boyfriend should be able to start getting people out.’
‘Jacob?’
‘Yeah,’ Jacob’s voice came back. ‘I’m strong, and this suit’s heat resistant. Didn’t think that would be useful for this, but it is.’
‘You be careful. If you get too hot…’
‘Not much danger of that. Doctor Ultimate designs things to work. Anyway, Cygnus has her hands full and Svetilo needs the help.’
‘Right. Right… What’s up with the bridge?’
‘Is not what is up with bridge that is problem,’ Svetilo replied. ‘Is that bridge will be down if fire is not controlled soon.’
‘Oh… Oh, shit.’
‘Da. Could not have put it better myself.’
~~~
Cygnus kicked out, one stiletto heel striking one of the windows of the gym. Cracks spread from the impact point and another kick reduced the pane to fragments. Heat rushed out, but she ignored it and floated in to a landing beside exercise machines which had seen far better days. Even the metal frames were buckled. The plastic fittings were entirely gone.
She tapped her ear. ‘I’ve got the fire suppressed, but I can see pools of this damn gunk all over the place. If I leave the area, it’s just going to reignite.’
‘Is there space to land a team in there?’ Fire Bug replied.
‘Yeah, just about.’
‘Right. Svetilo is lifting some men up with foam-suppressant units. That should isolate the chemicals from the oxygen and stop it going up again.’
‘That’s going to take a lot of time, Andy…’
‘It has to be done. We’ve already seen evidence of the structure shifting in the heat. If that bridge buckles, it’ll probably pull half the upper floors down with it, not to mention dumping burning debris on us.’
Cygnus sighed. ‘Yeah. Just… hurry.’
‘Moving as fast as we can. Svetilo’s on her way up.’
‘Thanks. How did he set this up? I mean, it has to have taken time to get all this in here. He’s used gallons of that damn chemical. This place has great security. There are riot countermeasures on the lower floors for Heaven’s sake!’
‘It’s carefully planned and he knows what he’s doing. It probably has taken him quite a while to set this up, yes.’
Cygnus turned to see Svetilo rising up outside the window, carrying a fireman in full hazard gear and wearing a heavy backpack. ‘Dom’s here,’ Cygnus reported. ‘We’ll get started.’ She recalled that Fire Bug seemed to have had a few ideas about the identity of the bomber and, given what was happening and what the fireman had said, she was beginning to have a few ideas about the type of person they were dealing with too. They were not comfortable ideas to have…
~~~
‘We’ve got twenty-six people,’ Twilight said to Jacob and Svetilo. ‘All above the sixth floor, none over the twelfth. I guess everyone else was out on the town.’
‘Small mercies,’ Jacob said. ‘If you’re heading for the other building, how are we going to find them?’
‘The imps are going to show you. There’ll be some gibbering and you’ll see where everyone they’ve found is. Just go with it.’
‘Uh, right.’
Twilight nodded and looked up at Svetilo. ‘You make sure he comes out of this with his hide intact, or I’ll hide imps in your bedroom to jump out whenever you have company.’
‘Bozhe moi, you know how to hurt a girl.’
‘And you,’ Twilight added, poking a finger at Jacob. ‘You be careful. If your hide does get damaged, Dom won’t be the only one with imp problems.’
‘And that is both of us told,’ Svetilo said, grinning. ‘Let us get gibber-briefing done and get on with task.’
‘Right.’ Twilight turned to her waiting imps. ‘All right, show them where the people are. Uh, share it out between them or we’ll be here for ages. Then we can go look in the other building.’
‘They look a bit sullen about this,’ Jacob commented.
‘What? Oh, well, yeah. They are shadows in a burning building.’
~~~
‘How are things going?’ June’s voice sounded in Cygnus’s ear and Cygnus looked around to decide how things were going.
‘On a scale of one to ten? This sucks.’
‘Denny’s keeping track of things. You’ve got crews from half the city down there now.’
‘Yeah. I’m stuck keeping their gym from falling on everyone. Jacob and Dom are trying to clear people out of the north building. Twilight has her imps searching the south one. The bomber put some planning into this one. More than usual.’
‘No traps this time. That’s a plus.’
‘None yet. Maybe he figured it was bad enough without the added extras. You’re back at the house, I assume? You got Zoe
back okay?’
‘Yes, and yes. Zoe’s going to have a really sore head tomorrow.’
‘Huh. Anyway, this is going to take a while. Go to bed and–’
‘You know I’m going to wait up for you. Both of you. So just hush and concentrate on keeping that fire down.’
Cygnus smiled, despite her situation. ‘Okay then. Well, it’s always nice to have someone to talk to. I’m basically standing here watching firemen spray foam all over the place.’
‘That… brings to mind some strange images. Are they hunky firemen?’
Cygnus managed a laugh. ‘There isn’t a man alive that looks hunky dressed in enough protective gear to smother a cruiser.’
‘Good. I wouldn’t want you getting any ideas from all that foam.’
‘I promise to take out any ideas I get on you, love.’
‘I’m going to hold you to that when you get home.’
Cygnus looked around at the devastation again and sighed. ‘I think I might need the stress relief at that.’
20th December.
‘You know that foam isn’t going to keep it down forever, right?’ Cygnus said as she looked back toward the bridge from ground level.
‘It’ll hold it until we can get everyone out,’ Fire Bug replied. ‘We’ve got people coming up with tankers of something which should neutralise the pyrophoric.’
‘Tankers?’
‘Yeah. Well, I figured you could probably lift one up there and hold it outside the bridge…’ The fireman was looking just a little sheepish about it.
‘Oh, thanks, Andy. I can probably do it, if the tanker’s not too heavy.’
‘A couple of tons maybe?’
Cygnus lifted into the air again, heading for the south building. ‘I tell you, you lift one submarine…’ She headed for a tenth-floor window and kicked her way in as she had done with the bridge. There was a lot of smoke and her radar picked out two human shapes huddled together on the room’s sofa. She was about to say something when one of them got up.
‘Hey! I hope you’re going to pay for that window.’ The voice was muffled by some sort of filter mask, but obviously male.
‘Seriously? That’s what you’re going to say?’ Cygnus swept forward, grabbing both of the occupants in an arm each and then lifting off to head back out. ‘You’re trapped in a burning building and you’re worried about your window?’ She dumped the two survivors on the ground and then swept back into the air before they could come up with a response, and then she kicked their door out into the corridor just because of the irritation.
Frostburn (Ultrahumans Book 4) Page 25
