Gruefield 18 (Tarnished Sterling Omnibus)

by Robert McCarroll

  "Yes."

  "So whoever Arclight is chasing is setting these things off?" Nick asked.

  "I'm not sure."

  "It's got to be," Jennifer said. "Arclight is one of the All-Star Elementals, isn't he?"

  "I have reason to doubt Arclight has stayed true to the code."

  "But setting off bombs in hotels is a far cry from standard hero work. That's a long way to fall."

  "I have no proof, but I trust the source. So I'm not willing to rule out the possibility."

  "We could always talk to your brother," Stephanie said. She looked me in the eye as my silence hung there. "He is the source, isn't he?" My continued silence left her nodding. "All right. We don't assume there's a good guy in this mess," she said. "We work it as if Arclight is a third party, but we don't condemn him without evidence of wrongdoing."

  "About the guy he was chasing, do we know who he is?" Jennifer asked.

  "I don't," I said.

  "I got a picture though," Nick said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. The picture he showed around was that of the man in the brown coat sliding down the hood of the green SUV.

  "I didn't see you take that," I said. "Nice work."

  "I wasn't trying to be stealthy, I meant to call in the explosion. When he dropped down, I figured I should get a snapshot."

  "Can I see?" Donny asked from behind me. We turned and showed him the picture on the cell phone. "That's Pax Carnifex," Donny said. "He's freelance security. Works for the highest bidder, good, bad or indifferent."

  "So what do you know about him?" I asked.

  "Personality wise, not that much. Those goggles have a limited ability to detect mass through walls - depending on their composition. And he tends to use a lot of specialist ammunition. The last time I ran into him, I kept him distracted by making wooden imitations of the team members and moving them about on the far side of the wall from where he was."

  "If you had enough wood to do that, why not just clobber him?" Jennifer asked.

  "The team leader claimed she wanted to misdirect the rest of the security detail by making them think we were all still tangling with Pax Carnifex," Donny said. "But I figured out that keeping him distracted was meant to keep me distracted while they robbed the place."

  "What?"

  "The core membership of the All-Star Elementals has, at the very least, decided to pre-emptively seize potentially dangerous items from people they do not believe can be trusted with them. Even if those people are the rightful owners and have never misused them. When we ran into Pax Carnifex, they took the Rothbart Amulet. It's some sort of magical artifact. I'm not sure what it does."

  "It's a shield against magical attack," Stephanie said. "It absorbs the energy and uses it to empower the wearer."

  "You've heard of it?"

  "Yes."

  "How is that dangerous?" I asked.

  "As it stands, it's not. Its only theoretical abuses are highly dependent on finding a skilled techno-sorcerer that can make it dangerous." She saw the spark of realization in my eye. "What is it?"

  "Both the amulet and Subject Sixteen are in New Port Arthur. And you saw the imager - or what was left of it. If anyone qualifies as a techno-sorcerer, it's him."

  "We have to add recovery of the amulet to our list of priorities. And return it to the Rothbart family."

  "The Elementals think I'm looking for it for them," Donny said. "When they figure out that we don't plan to give it to them, I'm not sure what they'll do."

  "Do you think Pax Carnifex had it today?" I asked.

  "Unlikely. That case was way too big."

  "Suppose it held supplies while the amulet was in a pocket or something?"

  "I still don't see him getting it away from Hypershadow."

  "Who's Hypershadow?" Jennifer asked.

  "He stole the amulet from the Elementals. He wouldn't have gotten it if we hadn't stolen it first. Something about a reinforced steel vault door," Donny said. He went on to explain about Hypershadow's speed and line of sight teleporting through shadows.

  "Oh that sounds annoying," Jennifer said.

  "So why didn't you bring this up before?" Stephanie asked.

  "He told me," I said. "I kept it private."

  "I wasn't sure," Donny said. "At the Darjeeling, I mean, I wasn't sure who set off the plasma charge. But Pax Carnifex built his reputation on precision. He doesn't use bombs because collateral damage hurts his employment prospects."

  "That's still flimsy grounds to accuse a veteran member of the community," Stephanie said.

  "I know. If I had proof, I'd have gone to the board."

  Stephanie turned to Jennifer. "How much of your time will this special project for the Fund take up?"

  "More than I'd like. Apparently I'm one of the few minds Irvin Keyes can't read, so they want me to help him adjust to his powers. His little run-in with Mister Thirty-Eight was the first time they manifested. He has pretty much no control, so they manifest based on his emotional state. And quite frankly, he's an emotional wreck."

  "Okay, you work on that. Stamp and I will follow the leads for Dekker and the arcane alloy. Baron, I want you to join Blue and Cupric to locate Hypershadow. I know the board hasn't ratified your membership yet, but we could use the help."

  Donny nodded, and Stephanie continued. "You two," she said, pointing to Nick and I, "Keep on the Morlocks, the ones trying to kill Baker and those who escaped from jail. They're a menace, and they might lead us to Subject Sixteen from the other direction."

  "And me?" Xiv asked. We looked towards where he was perched. He was atop the half wall separating the mess from the atrium.

  "How's your eye doing?" I asked.

  "Still stings a bit, but it's getting better."

  "You happen to be behind on your school work," Stephanie said. "You're not getting a mission until you're caught up."

  "Aww, come on."

  "We can't let you neglect your education."

  Moping, Xiv crawled down the wall and headed off towards his room.

  "Was he up there the whole time?" Donny asked.

  "Probably," I said.

  Mount Kline isn't really a mountain. It's the tallest hill in the vicinity of New Port Arthur. It sat on the south side of the city separating the 'New Garden' development atop the old landfill from the Old Southport neighborhoods. South Port Arthur was founded as a bedroom community, only to be annexed as the city grew. Its most visible landmarks were the Riverside housing projects, a grid of monolithic tower blocks of concrete and chain link. No one lived there if they had a choice. Even 'The Bricks' were a more desirable place to live than Riverside.

  Mount Kline itself was undeveloped, save for a broadcast antenna and a water tower. Its steep slopes were home to stunted trees and gnarled shrubbery. I sat on the hood of one of the team cars, waiting impatiently. The time flashed in front of my eye, barely a minute after the last time I'd checked. Icerazor spotted something and pointed. Following his finger and zooming in, my eye fell on the sight of three figures gliding through the air. Most visible against the orange evening sky was Neutrino. Standing upright, he glided forward in contempt of the laws of physics that constrained normal beings. He radiated an implacable aura of confidence. Next to him, Ersatz flew level, eyes and mouth wide as she marveled at the view of the city. Oddly, her white and gray costume had turned black and green, resembling the phosphor of an old monitor. Sailing next to them, almost casually on her side, was Omegaburn, her orange and yellow costume blending into the color of the sky better than the other two.

  I stood and took a few steps forward as they came in for a landing. Neutrino and Omegaburn were well practiced and landed lightly. Actually, Neutrino didn't land so much as fall into a hover six inches above the ground. Ersatz, however, stumbled, all
but falling into my arms. I stood her up and guided her back towards her mentor. "Thanks," she mumbled, turning red.

  "You're lucky I'd already planned to have Ersatz practice flying today," Neutrino said. "What is it you want?"

  "From what I hear, among those you didn't manage to round up from the jailbreak were the Morlocks we'd bagged at 722 Walker. We were hoping you'd fill us in on the details of the jailbreak."

  "Oh, my hour's up," Ersatz said as her costume faded from black and green back to white and gray. "I need to spend a few minutes copying another power set," she explained, smiling at me.

  "I know you're used to copying me," Neutrino said, "But why don't you try someone else this time."

  "I- I'm still scared of the first time," Ersatz said, her voice wavering.

  "I know you don't have control when you first try a new power set, but that's why we're here." It was a kinder tone than I'd ever heard Neutrino use before. Omegaburn gave a reassuring nod. Breathing deep, Ersatz sat cross-legged on the ground. She closed her eyes and rested her wrists on her knees. Tapping her thumbs against the tips of her fingers, she focused herself.

  "While she's doing that, I'll give you the short version. Someone used a van with a fertilizer bomb to crack the side wall of the jail, shot their way through the breech and opened all of the cells. Police response was immediate, since they were across the street. We arrived shortly thereafter, and a Captain from Major Crimes directed us to search for prisoners who'd escaped their cordon. We found a handful, but the bulk of the inmates didn't make it out of the facility. There was no sign of the perpetrators on-scene, and your Morlocks were still among those within the jail. Prisoners were loaded onto transports to be relocated to other facilities. The transport containing your Morlocks disappeared en route."

  "So the attack was itself a diversion to force a prisoner transfer."

  "As far as we can tell."

  "We've had three bombs go off in this city in the past two weeks," Icerazor said.

  "Four," Neutrino said. "The Vanguard fire was no accident. But we didn't know until recently."

  "That's the same MO then - force a transfer and hijack the transport."

  "Indeed."

  "People have started leaving town," Omegaburn said. "They don't want to be caught in the next blast. The feds have started arriving too."

  Ersatz's eyes popped open, glowing green. "Rad," she said before shooting into the sky like a bolt of darkness. As she hurtled away, Neutrino flew after her.

  "Oh come on," Omegaburn said. "I can't fly that fast."

  "Then who did she copy?" Icerazor asked.

  Part 15

  The news channels had become the twenty-four hour bomb network as word of the Vanguard attack being a firebomb mixed with the chatter over the Leyden Regency garage. It got to the point where there wasn't anything on the air I hadn't seen twice already besides the current weather, and that didn't change from sunny skies and seventy degrees. We got a voicemail from Amy Brown saying she'd hustled Fabian Baker onto a charter flight for points west. She did promise a rain check on Fabian's largess. Had all that really happened in one day? I shuddered as I debated not going to sleep tonight. But who was I going to tag along with? Better to stick to trying to get on a normal sleep cycle.

  The dream came again. The world was off, all of the colors flat and muted, with the shadows and gradients stripped away. I sat perched atop a streetlight in The Bricks. Fifth street was a block over, Avenue D just around the corner. It was Cupric's old stomping grounds, before Masquerade perforated him. The nighttime streets were just as dead as I remembered, everyone huddled in their homes. At least, for those houses that weren't outright abandoned. I was on the only light still working for the whole block. Voices drifted up from the sidewalk.

  "I don't see why we didn't take your car," Ben said. "It has a bigger back seat."

  "I don't want to bang it up while I'm still learning to drive," Donny said.

  "I think what he's really saying is he wants to drive your car," Nora said.

  "Are you kidding? That thing's a classic. There are times I'm afraid to touch it, lest I get fingerprints on the paint."

  "But you expect me to let you learn to drive stick using my car."

  "No offense, but I don't think even you would notice another ding on your car."

  As Nora laughed, I laid eyes on them. They were advancing up the sidewalk towards the streetlamp where I perched like a gargoyle. They were in costume, but walked almost casually down the street. Donny was the first to spot me, his gaze darting up. As I jumped down, Nora pushed Donny out of the way. I crashed into the middle of her back, knocking her to the pavement. Pinned beneath me, her speed didn't help her evade the knockout blow my fist delivered.

  Donny kicked for my head, but I caught his ankle and swung him to the lamp post. Ben still wasn't fast enough to catch me as I kicked his knees out from under him and snapped a fist across his jaw. It was a tribute to his recent hard work that he didn't go down. Donny came at me with a mass of garbage and window trim. I slid under the attack. As I popped up, I delivered a punch to the gut, a knee to the groin, and slammed his head into the street lamp. Finally, he crumpled.

  Ben was still too slow. The sweep of my arm caught his throat. A kick to the back of his leg brought him to his knees, and I dropped a hammer blow with both fists to his nose.

  I popped awake in a cold sweat, clenching the knot of blankets I'd pulled off myself. Fumbling for my phone, I knocked over the small clock and the slip of red and black circuitry plugged into it. I dialed the first of their numbers to come up in the contacts. It was Donny's cell but Nora answered.

  "This had better be important!" Nora said.

  "I'm sorry?"

  "If you really need to speak to the owner of this phone, I can probably catch the ambulance."

  "What happened?"

  "That fucking shadow that beat Xiv jumped us."

  "How bad is it?" I asked.

  "He's conscious, but he was bleeding from the back of his head, and blacked out. So they're going to run tests. I'm already sick of this thing, whatever it is."

  "Did you call dad?"

  "No, not yet."

  "I'll handle it. You go to the hospital and we'll meet you there."

  "Okay." She said. "By the way, what were you calling about?"

  "It's not important," I lied. I trembled as I hung up. There was no way this was a coincidence. In my dreams that couldn't be just dreams, I fought like me. Every movement was one I'd done a million times before, but what I was doing with it... Clobbering Xiv, hospitalizing Donny, That wasn't something I'd ever do. How was this happening? My eyes went to the clock on its side. But they'd checked out the remote, there wasn't anything hidden in there. I toggled it to 'awake' and called Dad.

  Donny was all smiles and good cheer as we congregated in his hospital room. He even cracked a few jokes before Dad arrived. "The doctor doesn't think anything is seriously wrong, but they want to keep you overnight for observation," Dad said.

  "Both of these attacks took place in The Bricks," Ben said. "That was... the old Cupric's turf. I know it pretty well. It's also where we think Hypershadow went to ground."

  "Yeah, but that thing wasn't him," Donny said. "I mean, 'Hypershadow' is just a name, he looks like an ordinary dude. This thing was, well, living shadow. It was the weirdest thing - all blackness, except the glowing eyes. One red, and one blue."

  "It beat the three of you senseless and ran off. Why?" Dad asked. "It also ran away from Thirty-Eight."

  "Yeah, but everyone knows he's virtually indestructible," I said. "And the public thinks he's completely indestructible."

  Dad shook his head as he paced the small room. "People don't just appear out of nowhere looking for a grudge match against costumed heroes," he said. "There has
to be a reason, something that set this guy off."

  "What if it isn't him?" Donny asked.

  "What do you mean?"

  "The possibility exists that they're being paid to attack us. That'd make a mighty fine distraction, and we know there are people trying to get stuff by without us noticing. Especially of late. That would explain why he didn't kill anyone - no motive past keep us busy."

  "Both of us are just speculating at this point. We need more information either way. Guessing isn't going to do much good."