by Mathy, Scott
Dwight dodged one of the swinging limbs as it brought a piece of steel from one table to another. Another arm set about the metal plate with its soldering tool, tiny sparks shooting across the station. He carefully made his way to the terminal, avoiding several more robotic limbs in the process.
Zhu was accessing the production files, “Looks like they were in the middle of manufacturing a suit of some kind.”
Dwight examined the blueprints, “This is all so beyond me. I’d need the Doc to create anything here.”
A scrolling list of weapon systems filled the display, “I’m guessing he didn’t have your mad scientist friend. Or any friends, from the look of things. This was his life. He was fighting a war out of this place.”
Void clicked on a folder titled “Logs,” bringing up a dated list of video files and selecting the last one. A window appeared at the center of the screen with an older, heavily-scarred Dwight seated at the center.
Behind him, an infected Power still clad it in its Guild uniform thrashed inside a clear cell. Every few seconds, the creature’s eyes shined brightly as lasers lashed out, trying to break through the material. The exhausted-looking Referee seemed unconcerned with the monster’s attempts.
He began slowly, “I can now confirm that the infection is not extraterrestrial in origin. The object that fell in Meteor Park was a satellite manufactured and launched by StarPoint two years ago. We are under attack by nanotechnology manufactured and, up until two hours ago, controlled from within New Haven.”
Pointing back to the creature, he highlighted a series of connections roughly inserted into the back of the captive husk’s skull, “With some work, I traced the signal back to the tower and had been monitoring it since last night.”
He pointed to the shredded body armor lying on his table, “You would not believe the amount of effort that went into capturing and transporting one of these little devils across town.”
While Dwight was listening to his battle-scarred version go on about his work, Zhu traced back the camera angle to a heavy green tarp covering what he’d assumed was a shipping crate. Hesitantly, he nudged the material with his shoe. Finding it loose, he gripped it with his hands. Taking a deep breath before grimacing, he yanked it free.
The husk was slow to react, as if its limbs had been motionless for years. However, as soon as the creature adjusted to the sudden light pouring into its cell, it charged the walls, clawing at the smooth surface as though it had never stopped. The black flesh and glowing veins remained unchanged by the passage of time, its cries silenced by the cage imprisoning it.
Dwight turned at the commotion, startled by the monstrosity beating at the container behind him. Zhu looked to Dwight, unsure of what to do next.
“Put it back. That thing isn’t going to have any answers.” He paused the video while Void threw the tarp back over the monster’s cell. As soon as the material was over the box, the pounding stopped.
Tapping a key, the message resumed, “Thought I could head over to the source of the signal and cut it – stop the creatures – but it stopped on its own. Whatever was directing them cut off at about the same time I detected a spike of energy from inside StarPoint. I ran the footage through an analyzer I stole from Alpha; stuff matched that Void asshole’s face. Not sure what it means yet, but after that, the infected went feral, changed their tactics. Like whatever was directing them left them on autopilot.”
Dwight paused the video again, “You were in space when this happened?”
Void thought briefly, “No. I would have been evacuating civilians, but we were nowhere near StarPoint.”
“So whatever caused the plague has the same dimension-hopping power as you, and left.”
“Well, that’s about the worst possible situation,” Zhu said blankly.
Dwight clicked play again and his other self continued, “I’m going after Zhu; signal shows him rushing to Alpha HQ and the airport. I’m going to make him take me wherever the source went and shut it down.”
The video-Dwight strapped on a set of rugged armor plates and a small armory worth of firearms as he finished the message, “If I don’t make it back, someone needs to find this archive. Whoever Counsel is, they’re behind this. They’re behind Linda’s death. So much misery. Find it. Stop it.”
The message ended. Dwight’s hands were shaking at the keys.
Zhu called over, watching the automated machines working, “Did he misspeak, or is ‘Council’ supposed to be a single person?”
Dwight stood at the controls, stunned by his other self’s last words. Finally, he spoke up, “I’m not sure. I need to see more,” he looked at the other files in the folder, “All of it.”
The next few hours were an investigation of a man who’d lost everything thrown into a war he was completely unprepared for. For Dwight, it was watching another version of himself fall apart as he was consumed by the search for answers. What began as a hunt for whoever had killed his wife and her team gradually descended into a mad quest to find the dark conspiracy at the heart of his city. Along the way, the man was beaten down by beings far beyond his capabilities, yet every time, he came back. Over the years, the other Dwight became a one-man army, equipped with the tools to bring down the most powerful metahumans in New Haven.
His war brought him into conflict with Cape and criminal alike, a thankless battle to protect the innocent while looking for the truth. The toll on the man was heartbreaking. Videos taken while the older Dwight bled over his workstation to document some small shred of progress were difficult for the hitman to watch. Several of the videos were only a broken man sitting still in front of the camera, unable to find the words to record. Eventually, after many agonizing sessions, the pieces began to fit together.
“Looking back at financials. The Guild, StarPoint, Alpha…they all have a common stockholder: someone referenced in deep records as ‘Counsel.’ Whoever this guy is, he, or hell, she – it? – they’ve been around longer than the companies themselves. Best current guess is that they’re at one of the three, someone big.”
One name stood out in Dwight’s mind. “Wulf,” he said to himself, clenching his mechanical fist.
The old Dwight continued, “I’ve been running numbers from the past sixty years for a while now. Anytime there’s a sharp rise in metahuman numbers in New Haven, there’s a rise in murders and disappearances. It might sound like a natural correlation, but Powers don’t work like normal people.”
His head dropped into his hands, his sanity straining, “Linda’s team was the front of one of these trends, but thirty other Powers either died or vanished over the next two years. Some were accidents or job-related, but it’s too much to be a coincidence. There was another surge a year ago, but the numbers didn’t match up like the last two times. Something is different; something else is happening.” The video stopped.
The younger Dwight checked the date of the file. It was recorded a month before the plague began in this New Haven and ended the world.
“Zhu!” Dwight shouted up to the second level loft.
Void stirred from the threadbare sofa he was sleeping on, “Huh? What happened?”
“Get down here. I think I know what happened.” Dwight sifted through the cluttered mass of papers. Finding a flash drive among the stacks, he inserted it into the machine and copied the videos along with a dozen other important-sounding folders until the stick was full. By the time Zhu sleepily staggered down the stairs to the workstation, the transfer was finished.
Dwight began, ignoring Zhu wiping the sleep from his single eye, “I think Counsel may be Wulf; he said something about more powerful beings once, but I bet he was just trying to psych us out. He was here, keeping control of the Powers with his little game. When he couldn’t anymore, when there were too many, he ended it with the plague. Killed everyone and left. Sounds like something he’d do, twisted fuck.”
“But how did he get out of here? Other-you said he’d need me or my portals, but I was at the airport w
hen that happened,” Zhu pointed out.
“Wouldn’t put it past him to be able to roam the multiverse at whim. It would explain a lot of how ancient the bastard is. For all we know, there could be a thousand destroyed worlds like this one. He could be ruling multiple worlds at once, leaving them to die when they get too unruly.”
He knocked his fist against his forehead, “I could have stopped this a year ago; all I had to do was leave him dead. Bury the head and never look back.”
“You didn’t know,” Zhu said, placing a hand on his exhausted companion.
Dwight swatted it away, “I did, though. I’ve always known what a piece of shit Wulf was. From the second I walked into his office, I knew what he was capable of. None of this comes as a surprise.”
Void backed away, leaving Dwight to wallow in his self-pity. “Fine. We go back, show the Guild what he’s done here, and take him down again. Easy.
“He owns the Guild. Midas, for one reason or another, won’t stand against him. The only reason he went down last time was Lia getting the jump on him. He’s prepared since then. No way it’ll work twice.”
Zhu poked at the glass of the wilted greenhouse. “Whatever happens, you’ll figure it out. From my experience with Referees, they’re tenacious bastards with a knack for disastrously creative problem solving.” He lifted the lid of the case, grabbing one of the withered leaves and yanking it free. Rubbing the flaking plant between his fingers, he sniffed sharply. “Can’t imagine him as much of a gardener…” he trailed off, looking into the distance, his shoulders softening, “Oh, wow…”
It took Dwight a moment to tear himself away from his internal crisis and turn his attention to Zhu. The old Power stood perfectly still, the purple anomaly replacing his left eye’s glow intensifying. The energy spilled out, overtaking more of the Power’s facial features. His arms hung loosely at his sides as his body slouched.
Getting up from his seat, Dwight circled around Zhu. Nudging the Power with his prosthetic hand, he noticed a thin line of drool slip from Zhu’s mouth and down his coat. “Void?” He gently shook the man with both arms.
In response, the swirling vortex erupted with multiple beams of purple light flying out in every direction. Dwight barely avoided the rays as they slashed through every surface they found. Spinning Zhu around to protect himself, the beams drew burning lines through the workshop. Several of the working arms crashed to the floor, showering the area with sparks. The framework supporting the second floor loft collapsed, taking the old Referee’s makeshift living space with it.
Zhu’s neck craned to the side, dragging the beams further across the lab. One of the beams passed over the heavy tarp covering the infected Power’s container, passing through cloth, cage, and creature within. The upper half of the clear cell slid cleanly off, crashing heavily while the monster dropped to the floor, its legs severed from its diseased torso.
Unable to think of anything else, Dwight sparked the pads on his right palm. “Sorry, buddy,” he said, grabbing hold of the drugged Power’s wrist before amping up the electricity.
Zhu shook violently for a moment before collapsing to the floor. The beams dwindled and faded as the vortex receded to its usual place where Void’s eye should have been. Dwight breathed a sigh of relief, surveying the damage done to the ravaged workshop. The arms that had not been slashed stalled, unable to complete their tasks without their other halves. Half of the dissected sofa, now smoking furiously, fell from the remains of the second level, crashing into the wreckage below. “Holy shit,” was Dwight’s only conclusion.
He turned back to the greenhouse, taking a handful of the withered leaves and placing them in a nearby plastic bag. He tucked the bag in his jacket pocket just as he heard the sounds of rustling behind him. “Whatever that was, I think we’ve overstayed our welcome,” he said jokingly.
Dwight listened for Zhu’s reply, but heard nothing. Slowly, the dread began to build. Spinning around quickly, he was just in time to catch the raised claws of the plagued husk launching itself at him from the floor. The two tumbled, the monster lashing out with blackened nails and snapping with jagged teeth. Even in its desiccated state and missing its lower half, the thing was inhumanly strong.
Struggling, Dwight raised his arms, pulling the creature back. Lifting a boot to the thing’s ribcage, he pitched it across the crumbling warehouse. It flew into the remains of the second floor, crashing into the burning sofa. Without pause, the infected reversed itself, flipping onto its clawed hands before letting out its terrible cry. The echoing sound sent chills through Dwight’s body.
In the distance, several more of the calls rang out. The horde had been summoned. A moment later, the rumble of distant explosions shook the building. The creature raged over the wreckage, dragging itself through the rubble with ravenous ferocity.
The husk hurled itself into the air, screeching at it collided with Dwight. He caught the thing’s talons, but lost his footing again. Struggling to stay standing, he slammed the thing’s back against the workbench. It hissed and bit, trying to free its arms. Dwight’s boot landed on a lone wrench that had fallen to the floor. Both fighters toppled over: Dwight on his back, the creature frantically slashing above him.
“Zhu!” Dwight screamed in panic.
The groggy Power lazily came to, climbing to his knees while wearily rubbing the sides of his skull. The outside sound of chaotic banging against the steel walls was lost on his drug-addled brain. Dwight fumbled to free one of his arms, grabbing the wrench and pitching it at Void’s back. “Fucking help!” he cried.
In his distraction, the monster landed a claw across the hitman’s chest, raking away the shirt and flesh below. He screamed in agony as the blood welled to the surface. Before the thing could bring its nails down again, Zhu fired a beam from his vortex, burning into the thing’s infected brain and ending its undead existence. The monster toppled off of Dwight’s convulsing body.
Zhu rushed over to Dwight, still trying to fully shake off the effects of the plant. He shoved the husk’s corpse away. Without thinking, he put a hand over the four flowing tears in Dwight’s chest. “Knolls, say something.” Void commanded, checking his partner’s eyes.
In his wounds, Dwight felt a crushing pressure, a cold shock radiating from the injury. His vision moved from Zhu’s frantic expression to his injury. Tiny blue lights glowed beneath the blood seeping through his skin. “Doc. Lab. Serum,” he choked, the muscles of his throat straining as the infection spread.
Outside, the sounds of the creatures clawing to find a breach in the Referee’s workshop rose, heading higher on the structure. Zhu stared down at Dwight, “I can’t bring you there. You’ll spread it to your world.”
Dwight grabbed Zhu’s collar with all his remaining strength, dragging himself up from the cold floor. Inside, the nanites shot blinding pain through his chest. “We can fight this! Get me back! Please!”
One of the husks flung itself through a hole blown through the steel by Void’s rays. It landed heavily a few feet away from the Power and his stricken partner. Zhu flinched, seeing the time for decisions had ended.
Dwight fell backward through the floor, the portal opening immediately under his writhing body. He tumbled over, landing hard on his shoulder before rolling unto his back. His spine arched from the pain surging through him. His eyes began to glow light blue as the nanites flooded into his skull. Overhead, he saw the familiar catwalks of the Doc’s lab.
“Ellis! Emergency!” he heard Zhu shout.
A pair of infected arms reached through the portal, catching the old Power by surprise. He threw a punch at the creature, fighting to keep it from entering the other world. With both hands, he shoved the monster with all his might before closing the portal on the thing’s recoiling claws. The swirling circle slammed shut on the center of its forearm, slicing it cleanly in half. The limb fell to the floor beside Dwight’s wounded body.
The sound of metal striking metal echoed around the lab. Dwight felt himself r
ise from the ground. The next thing he knew, a robotic face appeared over his, blocking the harsh glare of the overhead lights. Her mechanical irises rapidly switched colors.
“Doctor, Mr. Knolls has been infected with the nanovirus from Acheron Station!” Alice yelled in her synthetic voice. “It is presently attempting to overload his synapses. He needs Mr. Fuller’s serum, or will suffer complete brain death in the next minute.”
More footsteps rushed toward him. The Doc roughly pulled at Dwight’s collar before jamming the injector into his neck. The machine released its medicine with a pressurized hiss. Fire burned in his veins. Every muscle in his body erupted with energy. Dwight slammed his fist against the table in pain. Both women jumped back as he struck again, the bone inside breaking with an audible crack and piercing the flesh of his hand. He screamed, then swung again. Each time, the shattered bone and flesh repaired itself as quickly as it was destroyed. By the fifth strike, the table was taking more damage than the limb. With one last swing, the edge of the metal workbench broken into jagged splinters, Dwight fell back. He gasped for air and clenched his eyes tightly.
“Oh darn, I hoped I would see a full transformation,” Nemo commented disdainfully.
Dwight looked for the source of the malicious A.I.’s voice. Finding none, he turned to Alice’s synthetic frame.
She anticipated the question, “Nemo has been moved to the Doctor’s toaster for safe confinement. He has adapted the unit’s audio capabilities for speech.”
The hitman found the toaster seated on a nearby steel table with a two foot red tape line drawn around it. “I remain unaware of why I have been treated so unfairly. This imprisonment is unacceptably cruel for a sentient intellect to endure.”
“Oh shut up, you monstrous pile of code,” the Doc interrupted. “You know what you did.” She paused her examination, “After your little stunt with Adams, I caught our friend attempting to seize control of the New Haven stock market and hospital archives. He then implanted himself into a heavy equipment factory’s network and started mass producing combat-ready bodies from my archived files.” She resumed her inspection, her single green eye closely monitoring Dwight for any lingering signs of the plague as his enhanced immune system purged the remnants. Her damaged eye remained covered by a black patch.
