Just Cause: Revised & Expanded Edition

by Ian Thomas Healy

“It’s Sally,” she said.

  “Sally? What’s going on? Are you all right?” All trace of sleepiness vanished from him and she felt like she was in the glare of a spotlight.

  “N-no,” she said, afraid she was about to cry again. “Everything’s gone wrong. Jay… he’s dead.”

  “Dead? Sally, where are you?”

  “Home.” She hiccupped. “In… in Phoenix.”

  “Is your mother there? May I speak to her?”

  Sally pushed the phone at Faith. “He wants to talk to you.”

  Faith scrubbed Sally’s back as she tucked the phone between her shoulder and ear. “Juice?”

  Sally couldn’t hear what Juice said, only the baritone timbre of his voice.

  “I’d say she’s in shock. She apparently ran all the way here from Guatemala. Guatemala!” Faith’s voice rose to the borderline of hysteria. “What the hell did you get my daughter into, James?”

  Juice asked another question instead of giving Faith the answer she wanted to hear.

  “She’ll be all right.” Faith’s tone was frosty. “But you have some explaining to do.”

  Juice started to speak but her mother cut him off.

  “No, you listen to me.” Her voice rose in pitch and intensity. “I don’t know what you thought you were doing sending my little girl on some mission out of the country, but she’s just an intern, for God’s sake! You should have known better!”

  “Mom,” Sally whispered.

  “That’s not the way we did things when I was on the team. We looked after our youngest members like parents!”

  “Mom, they needed me.”

  Juice spoke for a couple of minutes. Faith listened and then put her head in her hands. “I’m sure you’re right, James. You’re a smart leader, and I know you wouldn’t put her in a position where she’d be in too much danger. I understand.” She sighed and turned to look at Sally. “He really does think the world of you. Can you talk to him?”

  Sally nodded and took the phone.

  “Juice?”

  “Hi, Sally. Start at the beginning and tell me what happened.”

  Taking a deep breath, she relayed the events that had unfolded since the team entered Guatemala. Juice remained silent while she spoke except to make encouraging noises when she paused. Finally, she finished, and he had only one question.

  “Do you want us to come and get you before the rescue mission?”

  “Why would you want me now? I screwed everything up.” Sally felt as low as she ever had.

  “That’s not you talking, that’s your grief. You did everything exactly right, because you got the information out in spite of being captured. I’m proud of you. God knows you’ve earned the right to sit this one out.”

  Sally looked at her mother, whose facial lines stood out in sharp relief. “Mom? Stacey and Jack… they’re still being held hostage.”

  Faith’s mouth was a thin white line. “You want to rescue them.”

  “Mom, I have to. They’re my friends, my teammates.”

  “I know, sweetheart.” Faith lowered her head. “I would do the same if I were you. Hell, if running to the store just now hadn’t hurt me so bad, I’d come with you. Finish cleaning yourself up.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Well, first I’m going to go and scream long and hard into my pillow. Then I’m going to make you something to eat before you leave. You’re thin as a rail. Aren’t they feeding you up there?” Faith gave her a sad, brave smile, and stepped out of the bathroom.

  “Is there anything you need from your quarters or from Harris?” Juice asked Sally.

  Sally glanced at the tattered remains of her black outfit. “A replacement costume, I guess, with boots. About a gallon of foot cream.”

  “It’s hard losing a teammate. I know. We’ll take the time to mourn the dead once we’ve rescued the still-living. Deal?”

  “Yeah,” said Sally.

  “I’m scrambling the Bettie. We’ll come to you… say, about seven-thirty?”

  “You can be here that fast?”

  “Yes,” said Juice. “You rest and we’ll see you soon. I’m proud of you, Mustang Sally. Good job.”

  Sally finished her bath and toweled off. She limped to her bedroom on tender feet and pulled on fleecy sweats and the thickest socks she could find. Delicious smells wafted up the stairs.

  Sally found a spread of egg, bacon, and cheese burritos with salsa awaited her. Her mother had gone to the effort to make something palatable for once. Her stomach clenched as she realized how long it had been since she last ate. Faith came over to her and put her arm around Sally’s shoulders. “Feel better?”

  Sally was surprised to discover that she really did. “Yeah,” she said. “I’ve got about an hour, and then the team is coming to pick me up.” She sat down and started to pick at a burrito.

  “They’re picking you up here?” Faith sat down with a plate of her own. “The neighbors will love that. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” said Sally around a mouthful of egg.

  At 7:22, a whistling roar shook the house as the Bettie made a vertical landing in the middle of the cul-de-sac. Neighbors ran from their houses in surprise. The engines powered down and the rest of Sally’s teammates exited the aircraft. She rushed out of the house in a blur, treading as lightly as she could on her sore feet, and threw herself into Jason’s arms.

  “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered into his ear.

  He grinned. “I missed you.”

  She kissed him then remembered herself. Sheepish, she looked back toward the house where her mother had just disengaged herself from Juice’s embrace.

  “And who’s this?” Faith walked over to them and looked up into Jason’s reddening face.

  “Oh, uh… Mom, this is Mastiff. Jason. My, uh…”

  “I’m pleased to meet you, Ma’am.” Jason turned on his Southern charm as best he could. He took her hand and raised it to his lips.

  “Oh, I like this one,” Faith laughed. “And my goodness but you’re tall. What do they feed you where you’re from?”

  “All I can eat, Ma’am.”

  Sally gave Sondra a tight squeeze. “It’s good to see you. Jack’s okay, as far as I know.”

  Sondra smiled back even though her eyes couldn’t hide her concern. “He’s a tough nut to crack, all right.”

  “Sally,” said Juice. “We need to leave. If you still want to go, do you want to change in your house or in the plane? Courtesy of Harris,” He held up a bag.

  “I’ll, uh…” She glanced sidelong at Jason. “I’ll change inside. I’ll just be a minute.” She grabbed the bag from him and ran into the house to change.

  Inside the package she found a fresh, new costume. She slipped into the body suit and quickly braided her drying hair. It took a bit of work to get the boots on over her extra-thick socks, but when she was done she felt like she’d be able to run pretty well. After all, Mustang Sally at seventy-five percent was still faster than anybody else at full speed. She pulled on her gloves and stared resolutely into the mirror as she replayed Jay’s death in her mind once.

  Destroyer would pay for it. She’d make sure of that.

  She left her room and skipped down the stairs to find her mother waited at the bottom. “You look so beautiful,” said Faith. “I’m so proud of you. You’re every bit the hero.”

  “Thanks, Mom, I had the best teacher in the world.” She hugged her mother.

  “Which reminds me…” Faith picked up a flat box from the couch end table. “I have something for you. I meant to give them to you when your internship was over, but I think you should have them now.” She handed it to Sally.

  Inside sat two gleaming steel horseshoes. “These belonged to your grandmother. She wanted you to have them and passed them along to me.” Faith smiled. “Just a little something to give those six-hundred-mile-per-hour punches a little more oomph. And to protect your fingers, too.”
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  Sally discovered a pair of Velcro loops at her waist which hadn’t been on her old costume. That sly devil Harris must have already known about the horseshoes. She hung them from the loops and looked back at her mother.

  “Now go and save your friends,” said Faith. “And you come back and see me when you’re done. And bring that charming boy with you so I can get to know him better. I’ll make sure he’s good enough for my only daughter.”

  “Mom!”

  They laughed at each other, and then embraced. “I have to go,” said Sally, and ran out the front door.

  Ace already had the Bettie’s engines on hot standby. As soon as Sally dropped into her seat, the pilot opened the throttles wide and lifted the jet out of the neighborhood.

  “Sally, how are you doing?” Juice asked.

  “I’m good. Really,” she said. “I’m ready to do whatever we need to do to get Jack and Stacey out of there.”

  “Good. We need to make one stop first. I’ve called in some favors and I’m bringing a little extra muscle for this job.” Juice’s lips parted in a dangerous grin.

  “Extra muscle?” asked Sally.

  “A few other heroes from around the country. Eric, any change on the imaging?”

  Forcestar turned away from the screen he was monitoring. “Negative,” he said. “There’s no sign of any major movements of troops or materials away from the site. Looks to me like they’re digging in. I see lots of firepower—antiaircraft missiles, machine gun emplacements, not to mention whatever parahumans are present. I’ve tagged at least ten fliers in the group. Since we’re only getting stills, it’s hard to say.”

  Juice turned to Sally. “We’ve had one of our recon satellites monitoring the site, but it’s only overhead for ten hours a day. We haven’t seen anything to match your description so far, but I have no reason to doubt your report.”

  Sally nodded. She cuddled up next to Jason.

  “Can you give me a clearer understanding of what we’re looking at, based on your experience?” Juice asked.

  Sally pointed to the central building. “This is a power station. They’re using some kind of radiation from it to create new parahumans. It doesn’t seem to work very well though.” She handed Juice the CD she’d carried with her from Guatemala. He put it into a player and they watched the test unfold, expressions of distaste and disgust on their faces.

  “The fact that it works at all is very disturbing,” said Sondra. “If it’s not too complicated a process, we’re going to have governments around the world decimating their populations to create their super-soldiers.”

  “If these people were being taken against their wills, how is it that they’re now working to defend the compound?” asked Jason.

  “Jay detected a ton of psionic activity in the area. I think it was centered on the guy he killed. He said the other psi was the most powerful he’d ever found. I bet he was reprogramming their minds, just like what happened to Diego.”

  “Who’s Diego?” Jason asked.

  “Just some kid they used to trap us. He’s dead too.”

  Juice’s brow furrowed. “Psionics are among the least common parahuman abilities. It’s likely this man was the only psi on hand, or at least the only one with enough power to accomplish the reprogramming of an entire city.” He looked at Sally. “Jay may have put a serious hitch in the operation of this compound before he died. Let’s hope he did.”

  “Maybe some of the people that psi was controlling took off after Jay got him,” said Jason. “What do you think, babe?”

  Sally snuggled a little closer to him. “I don’t know. I didn’t stick around to find out.”

  “Well, we may hope that there’s a much smaller force waiting for us,” said Juice, “but I’m not banking on it.”

  “Whatever happened,” said Forcestar. “They’re expecting trouble. Taking this place on is going to be very ugly.”

  “Sir, we just received final clearance to land at Tucson Airport,” Ace announced over the intercom. “Looks like we’re not the first ones to the party, either.” The Bettie’s forward motion slowed as Ace brought her in to a gentle three-point landing.

  Sally looked out the window and saw a plane that could have been the Bettie’s twin, except with a different pin-up girl painted under the cockpit windows. “What’s that?” she asked Sondra.

  “That’s the Marilyn, as in Monroe. Just Cause Second Team is already here.”

  “Ace, go ahead and power down,” said Juice. “We have to wait for everyone else and have a meeting before we leave.”

  “Roger.”

  They disembarked from the Bettie and hurried across the tarmac to an open hangar. An informal briefing area had been set up on the hangar floor that consisted of folding chairs and a PowerPoint projector. Several other costumed heroes lounged around, sipped coffee, and munched on donuts.

  “I thought you said it was urgent, Juice,” said a handsome young black man in close-fitting brushed steel armor and an infectious grin. “We’ve been here for hours.”

  Juice clasped the younger man’s hand. “Keith, thanks for coming.” He poured himself a cup of coffee, appropriated a couple donuts before Jason could get to them, and sat down with the other man to discuss plans.

  “You know the Second Team?” Jason asked Sally.

  “Only by name,” she said.

  With a flash of purple light and a howling, dissonant chord filling the air, the Lucky Seven arrived. Sally ran up and distributed hugs among them.

  “Any word on the others?” Juice asked Spark as he stepped up and shook hands.

  “Haven’t heard,” said Spark. “Divine Right should be here any moment. I think the New Guard and Young Guns are flying conventional.” Divine Right was a team of Christian-themed heroes, who believed their powers had been granted by angels. The New Guard was a young team, formed from some independent heroes and some original Hero Academy graduates that had opted to go into the private sector instead of joining Just Cause. The Young Guns represented the rest of Sally’s graduating class at the Hero Academy.

  Sally’s jaw dropped as she realized Juice had managed to recruit every American superhero team to this mission. “Wow,” she said in amazement. “Who’s left?”

  Spark nodded. “I’m a little curious about that myself, James. Who’s minding the store while Just Cause is away?”

  Juice rubbed his jaw. “The Homeland Security Director has issued an emergency order authorizing the faculty and students of the Hero Academy to act in an official capacity if needed.”

  “Wow,” said Sally again. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if Ms. Echevarria and Mr. Stone had to lead a group of parapowered kids somewhere to save the world. Juice really had pulled out all the stops to make sure Jack and Stacey would be rescued.

  A man in a charcoal gray suit and dark sunglasses entered the hangar. Conversation quieted as he glided toward Juice. He removed his sunglasses and tucked them neatly into his jacket. “Bominger. Homeland Security.”

  “Juice. Just Cause.”

  “Great buffalo. Heap-big tree.” Sally could see the Spark’s grin even behind his full-face mask. Bominger glared at him. “Sorry, I thought we were talking in Tonto-speak.”

  Bominger took a deep breath. “We’ve got two supersonic jets bringing in the New Guard from California and the Young Guns from New York. They’re expected within the next half hour. Divine Right just arrived.”

  “Good,” said Juice. “Thanks for getting this all together so quickly.”

  “Wasn’t me. These orders came straight from the Director. You’ve got a lot of pull with someone. I’d like to go on the record as being against Divine Right’s involvement in this operation, whatever it is.” Bominger frowned.

  “Separation of Church and State, I suppose. Your concern is noted,” said Juice.

  Juice called the meeting to order within minutes after The New Guard and Young Guns arrived. “First off, I want to thank you all for coming on such short not
ice. I’m pleased that you’re backing Just Cause despite our lack of authority to give orders to any of you. You’ve all read my report and felt it important enough to be here now. This may very well be the most important mission that American heroes have ever undertaken.”

  Sally shrank against Jason as Juice reviewed what they knew about the Guatemalan compound. His brief elaboration on its methods to artificially create parahumans brought back many recent unpleasant memories to Sally, and a tear coursed down her cheek when Juice reported Glimmer’s death at Destroyer’s hands.

  “The long and short of it is that two of my team members are being held prisoner in this compound. We’re going to go get them out and then destroy that generator so no more mass murders can take place. And I’m making it a priority for Just Cause to hunt down those responsible for these atrocities and bring them to justice. If anyone wants to back out, now is the time. From here on out, things are going to get ugly.” He looked evenly at the gallery of heroes. “Are you all in?”

  Everyone stood.

  Juice smiled.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “In the paths your lives will take, there inevitably will come a time in which you must fight for that in which you believe. When that time comes, know that you have received the best training from the best instructors we can provide. Know that you can count on each other no matter the stakes, for you are now the newest, the greatest heroes the world has. You have my congratulations on your achievements, both in the present and yet to come, and my blessing for success in your futures.”

  -Dr. Grace Devereaux, speaking at the first Hero Academy commencement, May 25, 1998

  February, 2004

  Porto San José

  Sally couldn’t sleep, despite the white noise of the Bettie’s engines and the comfort of Jason’s arm around her. Instead, she had a terminal active and reviewed the planned three-pronged attack Juice had designed.

  She’d been assigned to the group whose mission was to rescue Stacey and Jack. She had none of her Just Cause team but three of the Lucky Seven with her, so she wasn’t stuck with a completely unfamiliar group. Juice placed Spark in command of their unit.