The Unbelievable Mr Brownstone Omnibus 3

by Michael Anderle

  “Not just rumors,” Maria replied. “She’s real and powerful. She can survive high-powered rifle shots, stun rifles, and shotguns, and is resistant to at least some bladed weapons. Massive regeneration. Wounds healing just seconds after she’s taken them. She’s fast, can jump onto at least one-story buildings with ease, and she’s strong. Probably as strong as you, if not stronger. She also can fire energy blasts that are lethal with one shot and tunnel right through high-quality tactical armor. To be honest, other than you, she might be one of the most tactically-threatening enhanced individuals in the city. There was no wand or incantations involved.”

  “Okay, that’s all interesting, I guess, but why the fuck should I care? Why are you calling me in the middle of the night to tell me about her? It’s not my business if she’s killing gang members. That’s cop shit to solve.”

  Shay groaned. “So tired…”

  Maria sighed. “The thing is, I just got a call from my old captain. He explained to me that the department’s been tracking her activities for a while, but was trying to keep a lid on things to prevent a lot of magical types or humans with artifacts from playing nighttime vigilante with no regulation or oversight and turning the entire city into a war zone.”

  James nodded. “That explains why I hadn’t heard much when I didn’t go looking. But there’s more to this? The gangs taking out big hits on her, maybe? Bringing in outside magical types as muscle?”

  “You didn’t hear on the news about the Kowloon massacre?” Maria sounded surprised.

  “Nah. Haven’t been paying much attention to non-barbeque-related news. Trying to take it easy lately. That’s part of taking it easy, and I don’t give much of a shit about the news anyway.”

  “The Silver Ghost killed pretty much everyone in the local 25K Triad the other night,” Maria explained. “Quickly and brutally. The police have been trying to stall with talk of violence between organized crime groups, but the rumors are spreading far and wide that the Silver Ghost was involved.”

  James grunted. “Still don’t see what this has to do with me.”

  Maria groaned. “Look, here’s the problem. Yesterday, an AET team led by Weber sortied to capture the Silver Ghost. The higher-ups want her contained. When she was picking off a criminal here and there, I think they weren’t worried, but now she’s cleaning out entire gangs. No one knows who or what she is, which means the police can’t begin to get a handle on her. The PDA is starting to get involved, but they’re having trouble as well because the cops don’t have any items or tissue samples to help them with their tracking magic.”

  James frowned. “Did something happen with the AET when they took on the Silver Ghost?”

  “She took them down hard. The AET budget for healing potions is limited. Half the team are still in the hospital. Several have been discharged after treatment, but they will be out of action for weeks, if not months. Weber is in surgery. Multiple broken ribs, and by the time the paramedics got there, he had a collapsed lung, too. They say he’ll make it, but the poor bastard just got promoted, and now will be benched for a while.”

  James grunted. “What the fuck? So this Silver Ghost, who is supposed to be a vigilante targeting criminals, nearly killed a bunch of cops?”

  Shay sat up with a frown.

  “That’s the summary version, yes.” Maria took a deep breath. “It gets worse. Much worse.”

  “How could it get worse?”

  “The team went in very well prepared,” Maria explained. “They already knew her general capabilities because of the Kowloon massacre, so they showed up with anti-magic deflectors and anti-magic bullets loaded. Here’s the weird part: the anti-magic deflectors didn’t work. Every cop they could get a statement from confirmed that, and they showed no signs of having absorbed any magic.”

  “The anti-magic deflectors didn’t work?” James frowned deeply. “I didn’t know that was possible.”

  “It’s fucking magic, so anything’s possible. Maybe. I don’t know. The point is, they didn’t work, and cops got hurt.”

  Shay grabbed her phone and started tapping.

  James thought over the possibilities for a few seconds. “Maybe it was just because she was only using certain types of attacks.”

  “Part of it was because she turned her arm into a kind of sword, and I get that,” Maria replied. “It’s just force, and apparently she’s strong enough and has a sharp enough sword to cut through AET tactical armor, but she also fired those energy blasts; gold, from the description. Not like anything I’ve heard of in terms of conventional weapons, and the blasts went right through AET armor with the anti-magic deflectors not doing anything. No change in color, nothing. They might as well have not even been wearing them.”

  James rubbed his chin. “Maybe it’s some sort of advanced government prototype weapon from the CIA or Russia or China or something? If some terrorist got their hands on it, maybe they’re testing it, or maybe they’re even deliberately using American criminals to test it.”

  Maria snorted. “You don’t pay much attention to cutting-edge weapons tech, do you, Brownstone?”

  Shay continued typing on her phone, her brow furrowed.

  “Nope. Don’t need it,” James replied. “My tools work for me. Why would I want complicated gadgets that can just break down?”

  Maria chuckled darkly. “Here’s the thing: the best tech in the field is stuff like the exoskeletons you see Special Forces use, along with railguns and that kind of weapon. If you’re talking actual vehicles, the military’s got some fancy energy shit, but as far as personal weapons, no. Even on the horizon, they’re talking powered armor that will probably hit general field use for the military in five years and may filter down to the units like AET in ten years. That powered armor is mostly just about carrying more stuff around; greater mobility, better armor, and bigger guns.” She sucked in a deep breath. “The Silver Ghost isn’t in power armor, though. We don’t have any pictures of her because somehow she’s jamming recording devices, but basically, the witnesses all say the same thing. She looks like an athletic naked chick who just happens to have silver skin, but she has no face, and her energy blasts come out of her arm, not a weapon. That isn’t a Russian or Chinese experimental weapon. Her skin can’t be tech because no one has technology like that, which means it’s magical, except somehow she’s immune to anti-magic bullets. In other words, our worst-case scenario: an Oriceran who we don’t have a real hard counter for.”

  James grunted. “This shit is obnoxious.”

  “That’s one way to describe it. I’m calling you for two reasons. First of all, the city and county of Los Angeles are putting out an official level-five bounty on the Silver Ghost. Second, I want to ask you as a personal favor to go after her. The captain called me specifically to convince you to get involved. I’d love to grab some of the guys and do it myself, but she just laid out a fully-equipped AET team. Even if we had Trey and his gloves, we’d get our asses handed to us. There’s probably only one man in LA who can handle the Silver Ghost. Fight fire with fire, and fight a Silver Ghost with a Granite Ghost.”

  James snorted. “Okay, fair enough. One question: is the bounty dead or alive?”

  “Yeah, it is,” Maria murmured. “And personally, I’d strongly prefer dead. This woman’s out of control. If she’s at the point now where she’s taking down cops, it won’t be long before she starts attacking anyone and everyone who offends her sensibilities. Maybe I don’t have the best track record when it comes to pointing out people who might be dangerous, but this woman isn’t like you, Brownstone. She’s not even trying to obey the law, and it’s obvious from the attacks and what she told the AET officers she took down that she doesn’t respect the police. This will escalate unless you stop her. It’s going to end with dead civilians and dead cops.”

  Shay stared at her phone for a moment. “Son of a bitch.”

  What is she even doing?

  “Do you have any leads other than what she looks like?”
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br />   “Yeah, one weird thing about this is that we’ve got sightings in both Los Angeles and Las Vegas, although most of her action has been in Los Angeles.”

  “Los Angeles and Las Vegas?” James echoed. He frowned. “Fine, I’ll find her and take her down. I don’t care how badass she thinks she is, she hasn’t fought me yet.”

  “Exactly.” Maria let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Brownstone. Just hurry up. Next time, she might actually finish the cops off.” She ended the call.

  James tossed his phone on the nightstand. “I wonder if this shit is my fault?”

  Shay looked up from her phone. “If I understood what I was overhearing, and I hope I did because I woke Peyton up by texting to get him moving, it sounds like this Silver Ghost vigilante hurt cops?”

  “Yeah, but Maria says she operates mostly in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.” James frowned. “The name, too: Silver Ghost. It’s too damned close to Granite Ghost.”

  “What about it?” Shay snorted at a text on her phone and rolled her eyes. “Stop whining, Peyton. We’re all awake now.”

  James shook his head. “When my rep started getting bigger, I thought it was a good thing. It’d keep the shitbags in check, but what if this woman took the wrong lesson? If she’s trying to be me, it might have led to those cops getting hurt.”

  “Dial down the Catholic guilt for a second, James.” Shay snorted. “You being at fault is bullshit. You might very well be the toughest badass on this planet at this point, at least when you get pissed. You soloed the Drow queen and won, let alone all the other shit and people you’ve taken down, but you’ve never gone after cops, even when you’re all full of hate and anger and Whispy’s egging you on.” She held up her phone. “Peyton gave me the quick executive summary of what she’s been involved in, and it’s obvious she’s a nutjob. The thing is, she’s a nutjob who is either a powerful Oriceran or a human who got herself a nice little artifact. What’s her deal? What can she do?”

  James related what Maria had told him.

  “Huh.” Shay pursed her lips. “That regeneration’s nasty, but I’m willing to bet if you got in there and did your thing, it wouldn’t last long. Whispy probably just needs a few good hits before he can adapt and figure out something. Plus, she’s obviously not invulnerable, because otherwise, she wouldn’t be worrying so much about hiding. The best thing to do is track her down and beat her down.”

  James grunted. “I plan to. Just have to find her first. Because of that jamming ability, it’s gonna get annoying.” James let out a low growl. “Which means it won’t just be a matter of flooding the city with drones and letting Heather and Peyton do their thing. Once we find her, though, I don’t think I’ll have much trouble getting into advanced mode.” He curled his hands into fists. “You’re right, Shay. Who knows who this bitch is, but it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is stopping her.”

  11

  Unlike Shay, James waited until morning to call Heather. He laid out the situation in a succinct manner as he fried some eggs. Shay remained in bed, which was fine with him. She’d already sicced Peyton on the target, and now this was his problem to solve, not hers.

  The thought that he’d somehow inspired the Silver Ghost lingered, even if he no longer brooded about the possibility. If a man created a problem, the simplest solution was to solve the problem himself, and that was what he intended to do. Now that he was armed with a plan, the only direction left was forward. He didn’t doubt for a second that he could track the Ghost down, even if the police were having trouble.

  Things aren’t like in the old days. I have an entire fucking team I can use to take the Ghost down. She might have a few tricks, but I’ve got a lot of good people. We can find her and win this. I don’t give a shit if she regenerates. So do I.

  “I’ve seen a little bit about her on the dark web,” Heather explained, “but until the Kowloon massacre, most people thought she was just an urban legend or some sort of FBI psy-ops construct, or even an Oriceran psychology experiment. I wasn’t taking her seriously, and it didn’t seem like something that would involve you, so I paid even less attention. I kind of regret that now.”

  “No reason to worry about the past. Let’s just think about what we’re going to do going forward.” James grunted and started plating his eggs. “And she’s real enough to kill a lot of people and hurt cops. What I don’t get is that it seems like she came out of nowhere. Or am I wrong about that?”

  “I’ll have to check more, but from what little I’ve been seeing, no. No sightings before six weeks ago. There have been other reports of powerful silver-skinned women both before and after the gates opened, but none of them match her description in terms of powers, and most don’t have the whole weird missing-face thing. Whoever or whatever she is, she only set up shop recently.”

  He set his plate on the table and took a seat, downing a quick bite of eggs while he nestled the phone between his shoulder and neck. Eggs were okay, even if they weren’t ribs.

  “That means she’s probably more likely to be a human who stumbled on an artifact than an Oriceran,” James rumbled. “That’d explain why she came out of nowhere. I’ve seen this kind of shit a lot with bounties. Some loser gets their hands on an artifact, and the next week they’re giving themselves an alias and going to town.”

  Heather chuckled. “Just to be clear…from what I can tell, other people gave her that name. She didn’t do it herself.”

  “Same thing. Probably a crime victim. Maybe she’s a rich woman who paid a tomb raider to bring her artifacts so she could start her own war on crime. Peyton might be able to find out something working that angle.”

  “Maybe.” The clack of Heather’s keyboard came over the line for a few moments. “One thing that sticks out to me already are a few references from witnesses who overheard her. They say she’s mentioned ‘calibration and testing.’”

  James swallowed another bite of eggs before responding, “Yeah, Maria sent me a copy of the police report. The cops, even the chief, all want me to solve this for them. The hurt AET guys also mentioned something about calibration and testing.” He frowned. “Now that I think about it, maybe I’m wrong about this being an artifact.”

  “How do you figure?”

  “Maybe I’m wrong and Maria’s wrong, and this is some experimental foreign weapon. Calibration and testing sounds like something you do with a weapon, not spells, doesn’t it?”

  Heather sighed. “Don’t know since I’m not a witch, but they have to test that stuff out, too. Even if it’s not pure magic, technomagic is a known thing. There are a few start-ups looking into that. Maybe this is technomagic. That might explain how they beat the anti-magic deflectors, but I’m far from an expert, so I can’t be sure. Maybe we should bring in magical types to help.”

  James frowned. “We’ve got Victoria. I’d get Dannec involved, but if the PDA is having trouble, I doubt he can help, and I don’t trust his ass like I trust you, Peyton, or my guys. I’ve got ways of beating magic as long as I get close to the Silver Ghost, so I’m not worried about that. We just need to find her.”

  “Understood. So, what’s the general plan?”

  “I can’t take her down if I’m not near her, so the first thing we need to do is find her or at least figure out where she might end up. Is there anything you can do to find her? If she’s blocking recordings and electronics and shit, you can’t just run drones at her, right?” James frowned. “Or do you have some way around that?”

  The most annoying aspect of dealing with increasingly dangerous enemies was how complicated things involving them got. In the old days, he’d run a man down in a day or two, maybe stop in to chat with an informant. Nowadays, when dealing with people like the Council, he was having to be careful and spend weeks tracking targets before confronting them.

  I tried and tried and tried to keep my life simple, but it just didn’t work. Wonder if I made things more complicated by trying to keep things simple?

  Some days
, James wondered if it’d just be easier to have Heather set up a website where he could issue public challenges and specify the time and date for the bounty to show up. Despite how angry Shay became over his pay-per-view, he won against Lars in the end. Though, upon reflection, he didn’t have a good way of limiting a showdown to a specific bounty. If he tried something like that, it’d probably end up even worse than the ambush situation with Lars.

  Would it be so bad if a bunch of guys showed up? If I went into extended advanced mode, I could clean up a whole group of bastards at once. I’ve got a lot more control and understanding of Whispy these days.

  The simplest solution would probably be to take down multiple guys at once.

  “James?” Heather prodded.

  He grunted and blinked. He’d tuned her out while thinking about his Tyler-esque website scheme. “Sorry, got distracted. What did you say again?”

  Heather sighed. “What I was saying is that I can’t track her directly, but I can potentially track her.”

  “Huh? I don’t understand how you can track if you can’t track her. Is this some Zen riddle shit?”

  Heather chuckled. “No, nothing like that. You just have to think about this situation in a different way. Sometimes you don’t look for evidence; you look for an absence of evidence where there should be some. Just like if you were following footprints in the mud, and you suddenly don’t see them. That tells you something happened, and you’d know to look around the area where the footprints disappeared even more thoroughly for clues.”

  “That makes sense,” James replied, pleased that others on his team could handle complicated analysis without him having to lead them by the nose. “So you have ideas? Whatever she’s using to mess up recordings might extend to the net, especially if it’s magic. You’re not even magic, and you were still able to remove those recordings of Shay from the net.” He took another bite of his eggs and glanced at Thomas, who slumbered peacefully in the living room, his head resting on his paws. For a dog who wasn’t that old, he sure liked to sleep a lot.