“You must understand,” said Le Parrain, “I will not hurt you unless forces beyond my control and expectation force my hand. Should that happen, it will be quick. Until then, do not see yourself as my hostage, but as my companion.”
Stardancer gingerly sat in the chair next to Le Parrain. The henchmen pushed it close to him.
Asura tried to storm into the office but stopped when two of Le Parrain’s henchmen produced pistols.
Le Parrain, unperturbed, pointed to the Sergeant Hammer Comics #1 on the wall. “Bring me that.”
A henchman took it down, shattered the glass, and handed it to Le Parrain. The crime lord lit it with a match and used the most valuable comic book in the world to light a cigar held by a henchman.
“So many nights I prayed for this to happen. Sitting next to a beautiful woman in my nemesis’s chair, drinking his wine, burning the symbols of his success, this is my finest moment.”
Asura tapped his wrist-mounted tablet. The lights flickered on and off.
Le Parrain pointed at Asura. “Why is he here?”
“The Iron Pirates won’t give me the Golden Gryphon battlesuit,” said Asura.
“Did you ask nicely?”
“Look, I did my job, I want my payment. Throw a few million bucks their way, I’ll get my battlesuit, and everyone will be happy.”
Le Parrain muttered. Asura didn’t catch a single word. He guessed the meeting when the henchmen shoved him out of the office.
Asura rolled into the back of a security guard’s knees. The guard fell and didn’t get back up.
As the office doors closed Le Parrain said to Stardancer, “Tell me, have you ever seen constellations from a yacht in the Mediterranean?”
Asura pressed the zero-level button on the elevator and tapped on his wrist-mounted tablet. “Better surrender now, Frenchie, because this means war.”
The elevator opened in front of Zero Level’s gym. Asura stepped over the dark red puddles of blood and past Big Bad Roy as he carved his name into the wall with his power chainsaw. He kicked Zany’s jester stick and almost tripped over the psychic nullifier.
Asura walked through the same corridor Alex led the Prospects to when they encountered the Shade Blades. He continued until he reached the subterranean bunker. There were more ninjas there than he could count in the dim emergency lights.
The ninjas ignored him. They surrounded Cantrip, who hung blindfolded and gagged from a hook in the ceiling.
“Did you pull a rabbit out of his ass yet?” asked Asura.
The Shade Blades turned.
Asura showed none of the fear he felt. “Who’s the head ninja?”
“We don’t have a leader,” said one.
“We’re a collective,” said another.
“All are equal in the shadows,” said a third. “Who are you?”
“I’m Asura. Listen up, communist ninjas. You stole Agent Exo’s exoskeleton. I’ll buy it for twelve million dollars.”
“We already have a buyer lined up,” the first ninja said.
“And he’s willing to pay more than twice that,” said the second.
“How did you get twelve million dollars?” asked a third.
Asura tapped his smartphone. “Le Parrain has accounts all over the world. I found a few.”
“Le Parrain has always been good to us,” said the first ninja. “Why should we deal with someone who robs him?”
“Because he robbed you. That exoskeleton is useless. If you turn it on, a software virus will make it explode.”
The Shade Blades looked at each other.
The fourth ninja asked, “Why do you want to buy it?”
“I’m the best hacker ever. I can get rid of the virus before Le Parrain figures out who took his money. He cheated me out of the Golden Gryphon suit, but I can make do with this.”
The Shade Blades huddled and whispered for a few minutes in Japanese. Asura watched them gesture and nod. Three of them went into the next room. They came out rolling a metal barrel with “water” stenciled on the side.
The ninjas put the barrel up on its end, opened it, and pulled out the exoskeleton.
“It was in the building the whole time?” said Asura. “That’s definitely the last place anyone would look.”
Two ninjas walked behind Asura as the first one spoke. “You will give us twelve million dollars, and you will fix it.”
“So we have a deal.”
Two ninjas behind Asura poked him in the back with their swords.
“If you fail to fix it, we will kill you.”
“What? If I buy it, it’s my problem.”
“We never said it would be yours. You are going to give us the money and fix it, and then you will go away.”
“That’s not …” Before Asura could finish complaining, the ninjas drew weapons. “I need more than an hour. Mr. Griffin’s best guys spent a week on it without breaking the code.”
“You have fifty-nine minutes left. Let’s see if you’re really the best hacker in the world.”
Asura used his smartphone to transfer twelve million dollars from Le Parrain’s account into a fund for the Shade Blades. He then accessed the exoskeleton’s software through safe mode. A few minutes later he said, “Here’s the problem. The virus isn’t written in a human programming language.”
“Fix it,” said the second ninja.
“You don’t get it. Agent Exo got the virus from a Skreak computer. It’s a Skreak program. I can’t read this.”
The ninjas behind Asura grabbed his arm.
“Then we have a second punching bag,” said the third ninja.
“Wait. I’ll ask the Skreaks for help. I saw them in the elevator. They’re going to the bioscience lab.”
“We’re not going to let you run away,” said the second ninja.
“Then kill me now. I’m sure your buyer will love paying millions for a bomb.”
“Where’s Ujimushi?” A short and skinny ninja with two long knives tucked into his violet sash bowed before the first ninja. “Follow him. He has fifty-five minutes left.”
Ujimushi nodded and followed Asura back to the elevator. While they waited, Asura said, “If you guys are an equal collective, how come you got stuck babysitting me? You didn’t say anything. You bowed like a Geisha bitch.”
Ujimushi said nothing. The elevator doors opened.
“What does Ujimushi mean?” Asura googled “Ujimushi Japanese word” on his smartphone. “It means maggot?”
Ujimushi squirmed.
Asura laughed. “I thought it’d translate to something like ‘night fox.’ Maggot? How did you get a ninja name like that?”
Ujimushi whispered, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Asura stopped outside the bioscience lab’s door. “I could be dead in fifty minutes, but damn if your name isn’t funny.”
Billy Two bleated from his pen near the door.
“Even the goat thinks so.”
Not even Ujimushi drawing a knife could stop Asura from laughing. Ujimushi hit the back of his head with the knife’s pommel until he did.
“Fine, fine. I don’t want to get killed by a maggot.” He laughed again and opened the bioscience lab’s door.
The extraterrestrial device Agent O’Farrell pointed out in the trophy lab was in the middle of the room. Arcs of yellow and blue energy ran through its projected antennas to create a shade of green that made Asura queasy. He couldn’t see anything else past the line of stumpy extra-terrestrials in their gray rubber suits.
Asura stomped. “Hey, gray aliens. Take me to your leader.”
Rubber suits squeaked and creaked as a few aliens turned. Between them, something vaguely human writhed on the floor. He had to blink to realize the shifting mass of popping blisters and growing tumors was wearing Lady Amazing’s costume.
“What the …”
An arm reached out. Lady Amazing said weakly through the masses of flesh that dangled over her mouth, “Viiijaayy, heeeelllppp.”
Asura turned away in revulsion. A Skreak stood behind him and spoke quickly in a voice that sounded like someone drowning in oatmeal.
“Whatdoyouwant?”
“Uh, about the …”
A bump appeared in Ujimushi’s mask. He lifted it. Vomit poured out.
Asura closed his eyes. “I need to fix that virus in the Agent Exo’s suit.”
“Donotwasteourtime.”
“The Shade Blades will kill me if I don’t.”
Ujimushi asked, “What are they doing?”
“Thevirusmakesitshoststrongforthenextchange. Thehostwillprocessallmicroorganismsbadtousandspreadthevirustomakemorehosts. Withmorehoststherewillbemoreprocessinguntiltherearenomoremicroorganismsbadtous. Thenwewillliveonthisplanet.”
“Oh, so your first step in world conquest is a nasty plague that turns people into filters to get rid of the microorganisms you don’t like, and an immature form of that germ gave Lady Amazing her powers,” said Asura. “That glowing machine must be maturing it. Fascinating, really. Now tell me how your software works.”
The Skreaks turned their backs again. Asura couldn’t get their attention again. He left the room.
Ujimushi followed him out and removed his mask. His finely-boned face registered complete horror. “How could they do that to her?”
“Couldn’t happen to a more deserving lady.”
“They’re going to turn us into that. Every human. I’ll tell the Shade Blades. We’ll kill them.”
“They don’t have a fart’s chance in a hurricane with their stupid swords. The Skreaks have impregnable suits and particle blasters. If I get the exoskeleton working, I’ll come back and blow the alien scum away like Agent Exo did many times. That is, of course, if you ninjidiots let me have the exoskeleton.”
“But how will you fix the suit? The Skreaks didn’t tell you how their programs work.”
“There’s one more person who will help. Tag along if you must.”
After a quick stop in the restroom to wash off his face and mask, Ujimushi joined Asura at the elevator. They didn’t say a word until the elevator opened on Doctor Von Dyme’s floor.
Asura and Ujimushi followed the map on his wrist-mounted tablet to the lab containing Mecha-Menta. The Idea Man, an old man with a silver ponytail dressed like a professor who shops at a thrift store, was sitting at the computer.
Mind Dame knelt at his side. She smirked when Asura walked in.
“Trista,” said Asura. “Long time, no see you in slut-suit.”
Mind Dame walked to him with her hips swaying and her lipstick-coated lips smirking. She locked eyes with Asura. He felt a cold tingling sensation under his skull.
“Interesting,” said the Idea Man. “He’s a self-proclaimed genius.”
Asura began, “Yeah, I …”
“I can help you with the Skreaks. Despite their advanced technology, their minds are shockingly easy to read. It’ll only take a minute to decipher their software language, and then we can work together to foil their plans.”
“Great. I knew you’d be smart enough to help.”
“But first, could you hack into this computer? Usually I just pluck the passwords from the owners, but since we couldn’t locate Doctor Von Dyme ...”
“No problem.” Asura sat down by the computer and typed furiously. The monitor flashed through several screens as he unlocked secret after secret of the computer’s operation. Each thing he learned immediately went into the Idea Man’s mind.
“You and I are very much alike,” said the Idea Man. “We have the potential to change the world, yet those who judge our value based only on what we do for them stop at nothing to make us their slaves. Those who can be great have an obligation to be it, and the rest should be in their service. Their value should be judged by how they help us. ”
“I agree.”
“I shape my life with a single absolute, that the world is here for anyone who can take it. I challenged the masses content with brutish, short, nasty lives, so they sentenced me to boredom. For that, I will reward them with enlightenment.”
Asura tapped a few more keys. “Mecha-Menta is open and accessible.”
A loud scraping noise echoed through the hallway.
“Good. I will make the Skreaks debug the exoskeleton. I will also rewrite the Shade Blades’ minds so they will refund the money they took from you and Le Parrain’s so he won’t notice your robbery. And if you do one more thing for me, I will also give you Trista.”
“For how long?”
Trista grinded her hips against his. “For as long as you want.”
The scraping got louder. Rock Jock came into the room. He dragged the neurotransmitter antenna behind him.
“I need you to connect the neurotransmitter to Mecha-Menta and the building’s electric system. These machines combined will give me the power I once needed a team of psychics to generate over a global range. You’ll find the tools and parts in the next room. You will also have oral control of Rock Jock and Ujimushi. They’ll do anything you ask.”
Asura took off his trench coat. “Can I have oral control of Trista too?”
Mind Dame drew Asura’s face close to hers. “Business before pleasure.” She playfully pushed him away.
Asura had Rock Jock and Ujimushi bring over the tools and equipment. He feverishly connected cables to Mecha-Menta and the neurotransmitter. He only stopped to glance at Mind Dame as she posed seductively. He was sweaty and breathing hard before he did the final check to make sure everything worked.
When the neurotransmitter began charging, he tugged the fishnet mesh around Mind Dame’s hips. “You, me, now.”
“Very good,” said the Idea Man as Ujimushi and Rock Jock stood by his side and Asura led Mind Dame to the door. “I’ll leave you with the words of Aesop. ‘Expect no reward when serving the wicked, and be glad if you escape with your life.’”
Mind Dame shoved Asura through the door and slammed it behind him.
Asura was alone in the hallway.
He felt like his brain was released from a vise. He reached into his pocket. His smartphone was gone. He was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty, and had no idea how many hours had passed.
“Hey!” he pounded on the door. “What about the Skreaks?”
No response.
“The Shade Blades are going to kill me.”
Again, nothing.
“Can I at least get screwed?”
The door opened a crack. Mind Dame smirked. “You already are.” She slammed the door.
“That’s it,” Asura said. He walked back to the elevator and pressed the ground level button. “If they treat me like this after I saved their lives, they deserve to die.”
Chapter Nineteen
There were no customers in Uncle Joey’s 24-Hour Pizza at a quarter past twelve. No one but the old man behind the counter saw Alex and Pinwheel enter, followed by Jenny and Knockout Rose. Half of Knockout Rose’s left leg was a mess of scrapes and tattered paint from Sergeant Hammer throwing her on the sidewalk.
Alex walked to the counter. “Four Cokes and your first aid kit.”
The old man said, “My what?”
Alex slapped a fifty dollar bill on the counter. “It’s an emergency.” He put a twenty dollar bill on top of it. “And your biggest T-shirt.”
Jenny led Knockout Rose to the ladies’ room. Alex handed her the restaurant’s first aid kit and an XXL T-shirt before she closed the door.
Pinwheel sat at a table near a TV. The news showed Griffin Tower surrounded by MAB agents and the NYPD.
The clerk put four cups of Coke on the table. “Hey, you in the costume. They put out a call for all superheroes. Why aren’t you down there?”
“I’m not a hero,” said Pinwheel. “I’m an actor. Have you ever heard of the Young Sentinels?”
“What is that, a show? I hope it’s a comedy. That’s the ugliest costume I’ve ever seen.”
Pinwheel looked at himself. “It’s worse than the sandwich costume I wore at my last
gig.” He peeled his mask off. “Hell, Kayleigh’s right. I can’t even stick up for my friends. I’m as far from a hero as a guy can get.”
Alex said, “The tradition is if we take our masks off, we go by our real names.”
“Why?”
“To remember we’re not heroes anymore.”
“Oh, like method acting. Fair enough. I’m Steve.”
“How did you end up here?
“All I’ve ever wanted to do is act. I starred in every school and church play, got a degree in theater, kept and still take classes. I went to literally a thousand auditions, and I say literally because I counted them. My biggest role before becoming Pinwheel? Guy in the background of a herpes commercial. I wouldn’t have gotten this job if not for I didn’t have the amazing superpower of creating little flashes of light.”
A spinning ball of light appeared and fizzled.
“There are thousands of people without big powers,” said Alex, “and billions like me who don’t have any.”
“My powers won’t get me Hamlet, but it got me the role of homosexual superhero sidekick. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being gay if that’ what you are, but I have to put up with the dumbest fans slinging slurs while giving male groupies the slip. ”
They watched the television as it replayed a scene from earlier that night when a NYPD helicopter got close to the steel-encased Griffin Tower. A stream of tiny robots lashed out from the Micro-Sapiens like a swirling tentacle. With one swipe it severed the chopper’s tail and arced back to the roof of the skyscraper.
“That robot-cloud-thing does that to anything that comes to close to the building,” said the clerk. “It even dive-bombed some cars that got too close.”
Alex said, “Inside there’s the Idea Man, who wants to enslave humanity, the Skreaks, who want to eradicate humanity, the sneaky Shade Blades, the greedy Iron Pirates, and Le Parrain, who’s enjoying every minute of the New York Guardian’s humiliation. I have no idea why the Micro-Sapiens are protecting them, but that robot-swarm is crazier than the guy who made it, so I won’t even guess.”
“And the big guy who ran downstairs before you came up.”
“Big Bad Roy. He likes destruction and not much else.”
“Don’t forget the Bone Terror. That thing, damn.”
The Prospects Page 20
