Gruefield 18 (Tarnished Sterling Omnibus)

by Robert McCarroll

  "Yes, I know," Razordemon said. Stepping into the room, he stepped back into the freestanding mass of metal and absorbed it into his body.

  "That's the freakiest thing I've seen all day."

  "We need to visit Riverside," Razordemon said.

  "You may want to leave the cop behind," Jerome said. "You take a white man into Riverside, and pretty soon you have a dead man."

  "MPD will only roll on Riverside in force," Esposito said. "More guns than the Bakaara Market, and a lot of unhappy residents."

  "So your plan would be to wait for another resident to fall victim to Lucid Blue and hope they can give us a name? That isn't much of a plan."

  "And storming Riverside is going to make a lot more corpses."

  "Perhaps I should take Jerome's advice and go alone."

  "You go in alone, that evidence is tainted. I can't begin to tell you how many cases I've had ruined because a pair of tights showed up and started breaking faces."

  "There is another option." Razordemon turned to look at Jerome. "Our friend here may not know who gave Huff the Lucid Blue, but I'd bet he knows who he can call to find out who can get their hands on it. We don't need the supplier, just the next link in the chain."

  "Gang members run tight. He's not going to tell me."

  "I think I can get it out of him," Razordemon said, his voice slicing through the air with a chill edge.

  "Hey, hey! You said you'd let the cop ask the questions first!" Jerome said.

  "Didn't you hear him give up?"

  Esposito stepped between Razordemon and Jerome. "I haven't left yet."

  "Ask then," Razordemon said.

  "You want Rance!" Jerome said. "He knows who can hook you up with anything."

  "Is that a first name or a last name?"

  "Last I think, some guys also call him TJ."

  "Thank you," Esposito said.

  "This had better pan out," Razordemon said, stepping out of the room.

  "Jesus, how can you work with a warped motherfucker like that?"

  "If I didn't have gang members falling out of the sky on Fourteenth Street, I wouldn't."

  Errol was the last to arrive back at the house from school. It didn't help that Leyden Academy let out slightly later than other schools, but he had a stiff walk from the nearest stop along the route. Heading all the way downtown and changing buses would have taken even longer. Everyone else was clustered around a stack of plain cardboard boxes in the living room. At the sight of Errol, Lazar pulled his earbuds out and worked a crick from his neck. The couches there were covered in a dark brown fabric almost as coarse as burlap. The walls were plastered in framed pictures, but the TV looked fairly new. Instead of a station, it was showing a map of the city with four dots. The one marked 'Errol' shifted into close proximity to the others as he watched.

  "Used to be, you had to manually triangulate tracking devices," Gabe said. "Now they do it automatically."

  "I can explain."

  "Explain what? You were on the bus route, then you came here. Looked kosher to me."

  "Yes, sir, that was what I was about to say."

  "He's here, do we get to open the boxes?" Ed asked.

  "You almost sound like a kid on Christmas," Gabe said.

  "Ever since I learned I could fly, I wanted a proper suit."

  "When I learned I could fly, I became afraid of trees," Lazar said.

  "I can't fly," Kevan said.

  "Sure you can," Ed said. "If you get the whole Ranger Roy ensemble, the belt negates your weight, and the little boot rockets fly you around."

  "Just don't let anyone touch the belt while you're in the air," Lazar said.

  "Right."

  Errol sat down and Gabe picked up the first box. "Lazar Howard." He handed it off. Lazar struggled with the packing tape. "Kevan Nightchase."

  "Nightchase?" Ed asked.

  "I guess."

  "You guess? It's your name."

  "Look, I had someone jab a probe in my head and scramble my brain. I lost a lot of memories. I know my name is Kevan, and they say my last name is Nightchase, and it doesn't sound wrong."

  "Errol Rickard," Gabe said. "And Edwin Wilson."

  Ed eagerly took the box and tried to tear it open. Kevan was the first to succeed, mainly by tearing the cardboard. He lifted the top object out of the box. It had the shape of a flat person, but was smaller than his torso overall.

  "It shrank," Kevan said.

  "There's a tab at the back of the collar," Gabe said. "You press it and the material becomes elastic. You climb in through the neck."

  "What about bathroom breaks?" Errol asked.

  "You have to climb most of the way out again," Gabe said. "It's not the best design in the world. But few materials can take the abuse without as many negative side effects. It breathes, it moves with you, and it can take a beating. Somehow, I have no idea how, it's also waterproof."

  "So if you accidentally wet yourself, no one's going to know," Ed said. Despite his grin, he didn't get as many laughs as he expected.

  Seeing the trouble the boys were having, Gabe took a knife out of his pocket and flicked it open. "Don't boys carry pocket knives anymore?"

  "People kind of frown on it," Lazar said.

  "I'd get expelled from school," Errol said.

  "What's this country coming to?" With the aid of the knife, the rest of the boxes opened readily.

  "I'm going to get changed," Ed said, tucking his box under his arm and making for the stairs.

  "I really don't want to put this on," Errol said. "I can deal with the rest of the punishments, but this is too much."

  "It's the uniform," Lazar said. "The public isn't supposed to know we aren't really heroes."

  "Who approves the functional apparel?" Errol asked.

  "Razordemon."

  "I don't think I can wear this without my armor."

  "Armor?" Lazar asked. "Razordemon wasn't kidding about you being the furthest down the road to supervillainy, was he?" Before Errol could answer, there was a knock at the door. Gabe stood up and walked over to answer it.

  "I was told this is where I could find Errol Rickard?" a sweet voice tentatively asked.

  "Who might you be and who told you that?" Gabe asked.

  "I'm Fae Fowler. Some friends of mine told me he was in a Community Fund sponsored reform program. As a prison deferral, the address was a matter of public record."

  "If you knew this was a house full of juvenile delinquents, why would you risk coming here all by yourself?"

  "They told me the house was being run by Kaiju Killer Derleth, and I knew a man like that would not let them lay a finger on me."

  "Young lady... flattery will get you everywhere with me. Come on in, he's in the living room." Gabe returned with Fae not far behind. She was still in her Leyden Academy girls' uniform. It consisted of a dark jacket bearing the school crest over a white blouse, a long pleated skirt and tall socks. Fae had deliberately chosen a blouse of the smallest size that would fit her without showing gaps between the buttons. Her flame-red hair had been pulled back into a rather bushy ponytail. Her dark blue eyes scanned the interior of the house. Her coral lips twisted into an impish smirk at the expression of astonishment that came upon Kevan and Lazar.

  "So this is where they've stashed you."

  "I'm sorry I couldn't call," Errol said.

  Fae waved it off. "Travis told me the salient points." She lifted a red-and-black hero suit out of Errol's box with little warning she was about to reach for it. "I recognize this material," she said.

  "This is a Junior Redemptioners program," Gabe said. "They're performing community service by providing a service to the community. Or will be, rather. Some of them are hung up on the unifor
m."

  Fae held up the outfit in front of Errol. "I'm curious to see what you look like in this thing," Fae said. "I bet you can pull it off."

  "I, uh," Errol said.

  Fae leaned over and whispered in his ear, "I kind of have a thing for heroes." The suggestion pushed his apprehension into the back corners of his mind and Errol hurried off upstairs with the box and the suit. Fae daintily perched on the seat he'd vacated.

  "Well, we know his weakness," Lazar said. "What's your connection to Errol anyway?"

  "I'm debating if I want to have a second date with him," Fae said. She tapped the box in front of Lazar with the toe of her shoe. "These look like they just arrived, aren't you supposed to be trying them on?"

  "Depends. Do you have any friends you can hook me up with?" Lazar asked, grinning.

  "I don't know if I'd want to inflict a delinquent on them."

  "Then I guess we're at an impasse," Lazar said, putting his earbuds back in.

  Part 5

  Fae looked on with approval as Errol descended the stairs. As he reached the bottom, she rested her arms on his shoulders and looked him in the eye. Errol's trepidation was lost in that sapphire gaze. "I told you you could pull it off," Fae said. "That look is definitely you." Moving to his side, Fae slid an arm around behind his back. She held up her phone at arm's length. Before she could take their picture together, Errol put a hand over the camera lens.

  "Please don't," Errol said. "If you take that picture, it will be all over the school tomorrow. Some of them are still mad at me. I don't want them to get the wrong idea, and think I'm getting off lightly."

  "All right, since you asked nicely," Fae said, putting the phone away. "But you owe me a date for it."

  "Between school, my curfew, the help my grandfather needs, and this program in the afternoons, I'm not sure when-"

  "Easy answer dude," Lazar said, "Earn time out past curfew. Don't make it harder than it is."

  "It may take a while," Errol said.

  "What good is something if you don't have to work for it?" Fae asked.

  "Wait - Didn't Ed go up to get changed before you?" Lazar asked. "Shouldn't he have been done first?"

  "His door was closed, I had no reason to check on him," Errol said.

  "How much trouble can he get into getting dressed?" Kevan asked.

  "As it turns out, a lot," Ed said, appearing at the top of the stairs. "Don't ever bump the tab against the wall or anything else while you're trying to get into one of these. It turns into a vacuum-packed straightjacket." Ed descended the stairs. Sky blue ran throughout most of the pattern. Below the waist, it was paired with black. Above the waist, it was matched with white. His mask was plain white. His eye fell on Fae. "Now why didn't someone tell me we had a gorgeous visitor stopping by?"

  "You don't," Fae said. Her eye critically looked him over. "I only came to see one of you."

  Errol jumped, startled, as Fae pinched him. "Did you just-"

  "Yes."

  Ed flipped over the railing and floated to the floor. "That's okay, I just didn't know we were allowed to bring our girlfriends here."

  "Visitors are permitted," Gabe said. "Provided good behavior. They are not allowed upstairs, and must leave before curfew, or if the person they came for is not in the house. All visitation is supervised only."

  "I find it hard to believe you have a girlfriend," Kevan said.

  "Ha ha," Ed said flatly. There was another knock at the door. "We're popular today."

  Gabe answered the door and let Razordemon in. "Afternoon, boss man," Kevan said.

  Razordemon set a duffel bag on the kitchen table. "As we covered at our last meeting, the standard attire is mandatory. You might as well get acclimated to it." His glare turned to Kevan and Lazar. "That means you two." They collected their boxes and hurried upstairs. "Miss Fowler, what are you doing here?"

  "I'm seeing Errol," she said, pulling him against her side.

  "How would your family react if I informed them of this development?" Razordemon asked. Fae glared daggers at the costumed hero. "Out, now!" Razordemon barked.

  Fae kissed Errol full on the lips before making her exit.

  "Is this a bad time?" Ed asked.

  "For what?"

  "To seek approval for functional gear."

  "No, now is the perfect time. What is it you want?"

  "Let me get it, I'll be right back." Ed flew up the stairwell without touching the floor and returned a moment later with a small tin. "They're voice modulators," he said, opening the tin and holding it out for Razordemon to get a good look at the contents. He quickly went over their function.

  "Where did you get them?"

  "My dad made them," Ed said. "He's a genius with sound. He didn't see the point of us running around without disguising our voices."

  "You have eight of them?"

  "Well, at first he made spares, then he made some for the whole team, then he made spares for the whole team. He's unemployed, so he has a lot of time on his hands."

  "Isn't he on parole?" Razordemon asked.

  "He's looking for work. His parole officer hasn't ruled him in violation over it."

  "Calm down," Razordemon said. "I'm not his parole officer, I'm only going to try to send him back to prison if he starts committing crimes again."

  "So, about the voice modulators..."

  "Provisionally, I'm going to okay them. I want to have them tested for undeclared secondary functions first."

  Ed closed the tin and handed it over.

  "I have a bit more than that," Errol said. He retrieved his second suitcase from his room and set it on the table next to the duffel bag. Opened the hard-sided plastic case, he revealed the foam-packed suit of armor.

  "What in the..." Ed forced himself to not complete the statement, remembering the ban on profanity. "That's a whole gimmick outfit on its own," he said. "Where'd you get it?"

  "My parents had it made for me."

  "Were your parents trying to make you into a supervillain?" Ed asked. He took a closer look at the armor. "Is that a skirt?"

  "No, it's the bottom of the tunic."

  "But there are no pants, that makes it a skirt."

  "I'd be wearing as much pants as you."

  "Wait a minute. You're an archer right? This is a suit of Roman armor. Romans only used bows for hunting."

  "Roman-inspired," Errol said.

  Ed laughed as he pointed at the cameo. "I get it now. You're Cupid! Your parents wanted to turn you into the lamest of Greek gods. They must have really hated you."

  Errol leapt on Ed, his first punch flooring the shorter youth. "Don't talk about my parents, you have no right... no right to talk..." He delivered two more punches to Ed's face after he was on the ground before Razordemon caught his wrist and hauled him off. "No right..." Errol sobbed.

  "That," Razordemon said. "Is unacceptable."

  Errol stared at the blood dripping from his knuckles, his jaw trembling. "I'm... I'm sorry, sir."

  "Another outburst like that and I will expel you from the program."

  "I understand, sir," Errol said meekly, his voice barely audible.

  "You are starting off with a serious negative that you will have to work off before you can earn privileges."

  "Yes, sir," Errol said, his voice returning to normal. Razordemon released his wrist. Errol moved over to the sink and began washing the blood off his gloves. Ed still lay on the cracked linoleum flooring, clutching his nose in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood. Gabe handed him a handful of paper towels.

  "And you," Razordemon said, looking down at Ed. "Just because you got hit doesn't mean you are guiltless in this."

  "How was I to know he had a berserk button?" Ed asked.

 
"That is irrelevant. Verbally tormenting and goading your teammates is unacceptable behavior. You, too, are starting in the red on points."

  "What happened?" Lazar asked from the stairs. His hood was down, but otherwise he'd finished changing into his suit.