by Lucas Flint
“Ready?” I said, looking from Uncle Josh to Christina and back again. “Once we pass this point, we won’t be able to go back.”
“Of course I’m ready,” said Christina. Two energy ropes appeared in her hands and she cracked them both. “I’m always ready.”
“Same here,” said Uncle Josh, nodding. He pulled his gun out of its holster at his side and held it up close to his chest. “Lead the way, Jack.”
I nodded, smiling, and then pushed the doors open. I marched into the hallway on the other side, which I found stretched on in either direction for a long while. I couldn’t even see where each direction ended, although I noticed the halls were wide enough for the trolley to travel along. But unlike the tunnel, this hall seemed to be made mostly out of stone and concrete, rather than metal plating.
But like the tunnel, it was empty … suspiciously empty, as a matter of fact. A lone security camera hung from the ceiling in front of me, looking down directly at me, Uncle Josh, and Christina. Christina gave it a rude gesture almost as soon as she saw it, prompting Uncle Josh to ask, “What was that for?”
Lowering her hand, Christina looked at Uncle Josh and said, “Just my way of saying hello to Chaser. I know he’s watching our every move, so I wanted to let him know I’m thinking of him, though not in any way he’d like, of course.”
A sudden crackling sound came from the camera and then I heard Chaser’s voice loud and clear through a speaker underneath the camera say, “What a coincidence, Christina. I am also thinking of you. Or, at least, thinking of how to kill you for betraying Icon. I would say great minds think alike, but that would be assuming your mind is as great as mine, which is observably untrue.”
“Chaser,” I said, looking up into the camera. “I didn’t think we’d hear back from you so soon. Thought the next time we’d talk, it would be with my fist in your mouth.”
“Your threats would be amusing if you weren’t so pathetic,” said Chaser. “But I have been watching all of you this entire time since you arrived on Icon and I must say I am impressed by how you have managed to get so far. On the rare occasions we receive intruders, they are usually killed brutally not too long after they wash up on the shore of the island. If I had an award to give you for being the longest surviving intruders, I most definitely would.”
“I’m not sure that winning the Most Successful Intruder Award means much, considering the only reason they got this far is because of me,” said Christina, folding her arms across her chest.
“That, my dear Christina, was a joke,” said Chaser. “But you’ve always had a hard time parsing my humor, so perhaps I should not be taken aback by your apparent inability to understand it. Regardless, I genuinely am impressed at your persistence, if nothing else.”
“Thanks,” I said, though I wasn’t sure if Chaser actually meant it or not. “Anyway, it’s too late to stop us now. Once we get my grandfather back, we’re going after you next. And trust me, there aren’t enough Icon agents in the entire island to stop us.”
“It’s true that I could overwhelm you three through sheer numbers,” said Chaser. “I have summoned back a good number of agents back from the field, but I have always preferred quality over quantity, so I would rather not waste many good agents in what may be a vain attempt to take you down. I have another way to get rid of you three that, I think, is more efficient and less wasteful of good agents.”
“What are you going to do?” I said. “Spray us with more of that gas from the tunnels?”
“No,” said Chaser. “Instead, I’m going to invite you to my personal chambers so we can talk. How does that sound?”
Surprised, I looked at Christina and Uncle Josh, hoping one of them might know what he meant by this. But they looked just as puzzled as me, especially Uncle Josh, so I was left with no choice but to ask and hope Chaser would clarify what he meant.
“Talk,” I repeated, looking back up at the camera. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I just said,” said Chaser. “If we come face-to-face, then perhaps we can talk out our differences like civilized beings, rather than engage in more pointless, flashy fights which fix nothing and cause lots of collateral damage. I don’t want to lose another lab. If we can discuss our differences civilly and perhaps work out a deal, that would be ideal for both of us.”
“You can’t be serious,” I said.
“Oh, I am,” said Chaser. “At my heart, I am an intellectual, a reasonable and rational individual. I prefer to solve my problems with reason as much as possible. I, of course, don’t discount the necessity of violence at times, but I think we can figure things out through dialogue rather than destruction.”
I eyed the camera suspiciously. “This isn’t some kind of trick, is it?”
“If it was, would I tell you?” said Chaser. “Try thinking before speaking. I hear it can keep you from sticking your foot into your mouth.”
Scowling, I turned away from the camera. “Sorry, but I’m not interested in ‘talking’ to you. I’m going to rescue Grandfather and, if I have the time, will stop by your personal chambers to kick your ass on the way out of here.”
I lifted my foot to start walking away, but then Chaser said, “What if I told you I had Gregory with me this very moment?”
I paused, holding my foot in the air, and looked up at the camera. “What do you mean?”
“Your grandfather is with me in my chamber,” said Chaser. “I was well aware you were coming to Iconia to save him. As soon as it became clear to me that you would make it to the Tower, I had some of my agents transfer Gregory from his cell in the dungeons all the way to my chambers. That way, you would be forced to confront me, no matter what.”
“How do I know you’re not just lying to throw us off track?” I said.
The camera was silent for a moment, and then Grandfather’s voice—weak and dim—said, “Jack … help …”
Then Chaser spoke again. “There you go. I gave Gregory the microphone for a second to speak into it. I assume you recognize your own grandfather’s voice?”
I bit my lower lip. “Yeah, that’s him, all right.”
I could have said I thought it was a fake, but it sounded too much like how Grandfather’s voice sounded when he spoke through the Trickshot Watch not too long ago. Clearly, Chaser was telling the truth here, however much I wished he wasn’t.
“Then you have a choice,” said Chaser. “Either come to my chambers and meet me face-to-face … or you will get to listen in great detail as I kill Gregory. And trust me, I am very methodical in everything I do, including murder.”
My hands balled into fists. “Fine. I’ll come to your chambers. Where are they?”
“Not far,” said Chaser. “Christina should be able to lead you to them, seeing as she has visited my chambers before. Christina, do you think you will be able to do that?”
“Yeah,” said Christina without any enthusiasm in her voice at all. “I remember where they are.”
“Excellent,” said Chaser. “I look forward to our conversation, Trickshot. I hope it will be quite … productive.”
With that, the speaker shut off, leaving Uncle Josh, Christina, and I standing there in the hallway all by ourselves.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“We can’t do this,” said Uncle Josh. “This is clearly a trap. Chaser isn’t going to have a reasonable conversation with you and—”
I stopped walking and whirled around to face Uncle Josh, who had been talking almost nonstop since I agreed to meet with Chaser. I had tried to ignore him, but I was so annoyed with him that I couldn’t take it anymore. “Yeah, I know.”
“You know?” Uncle Josh repeated. “Then why on earth did you ever agree to it?”
“What choice do I have?” I said, throwing my hands up into the air. “Chaser has Grandfather and he will kill him if I don’t go to meet him. Even if this is a trap, I can’t just sit back and let Chaser do that.”
“It’s still dangerous,” said Uncle Josh. “I
bet the second we walk into his chambers, we’ll get caught or maybe even killed. Chaser is a madman and a monster. He likes to think of himself as a dispassionate intellectual, but the truth is he’s every bit as monstrous and vile as his minions, if not more so, given how he’s the leader of the entire organization.”
“Would you two just shut your traps?” said Christina. She stood a few feet away from us, having apparently just realized we weren’t following her anymore. She had her hands on her hips, an annoyed look on her face. “Once you make a deal with Chaser, you can’t just go back on your word. He’ll not only kill Jack’s grandpa, but he’ll also kill all of us. Trust me, I’ve seen what he does to people who try to go back on their deals with him and it never ends well for them. Ever.”
I had been surprised by Christina’s reaction to my deal. Unlike Uncle Josh, she hadn’t even tried to convince me to change my mind or that it was a bad idea. It was probably because she understood how Chaser thought better than Uncle Josh did, but maybe she was also just more afraid of Chaser than Josh was. Then again, if I knew Chaser as well as she did, I might be a lot less brave than I was, too.
“You’re right,” I said. “Let’s keep going. Chaser’s chambers aren’t too far now, are they?”
Christina nodded. “Yeah. We should get there any minute now.”
Christina turned and continued walking down the hall. I resumed following her and Uncle Josh resumed following me, but he had apparently decided that it was useless to argue with me anymore, because he kept his mouth shut. My guess was that Uncle Josh was just resigned to the fact that we were going to confront Chaser and that there was nothing he could do about it one way or another.
I understood Uncle Josh’s concerns. I really did. The only problem was that Chaser had manipulated us into a no-win situation. If I had rejected the meeting outright, Chaser would have killed Grandfather. And I had no doubt that he would have done it, because everything I’d seen suggested that Chaser was not the kind of man to make idle threats. This was our best chance to save Grandfather, even though it probably was a trap.
But what else was I supposed to do? Saying no would have just resulted in Grandfather dying. The best we could hope for at the moment was getting to Chaser’s chambers and hopefully finding a way to turn the tables on him. Unfortunately, I wasn’t yet sure how we were going to do that.
The most surprising part about Chaser’s living quarters was that they were located in the deepest levels of the Tower, rather than near the top like you think they would. According to Christina, this was because Chaser did not like heights and preferred to be as close to the ground as possible. It still seemed strange to me, but then Chaser in general struck me as a very strange man.
After a minute or two of walking, we turned a corner in the hall and Christina said, “Here we are.”
I looked over Christina’s shoulder and saw a gigantic door, easily twice as tall as me, set flush against the floor at the end of the hall. The door seemed to be made out of stone, but it looked like it had been carved out of a mountain or at least a boulder. It looked pretty thick, too, to the point where I wasn’t very certain I would be able to smash it open myself even with my super strength.
“That’s the door to Chaser’s personal chambers,” said Christina, pointing at the door. “He should be on the other side of that door, waiting for us.”
“What are we waiting for?” I said. I punched my fist into my other hand. “Let’s do this.”
The three of us walked up to the massive door. I was uncertain whether we should knock on it or not, but as we stopped in front of it, the door suddenly started to open inward all on its own. Its hinges creaked loudly, until soon the door stood wide open, showing a pitch-black room on the other side that reminded me of the night sky out in the country, though without stars, of course. It also reminded me of the darkness underneath my bed when I was a kid, where I used to be afraid that monsters lurked waiting to eat me if I fell asleep.
Without any further words between us, we walked inside. This time, I was in the lead, rather than Christina, and I walked as confidently as I could, hoping to project an aura of strength and confidence that would make Chaser think twice about springing his trap on us, whatever it might be.
Chaser’s chambers were huge, much bigger than you would suppose. The ceiling rose high above us, supported by massive marble columns shaped like the Greek titan Atlas, as if they were supporting the whole room on their shoulders. On the walls were maps of the world, each one covered with pins that seemed to indicate specific locations, which seemed to indicate areas of the world where Power drugs were shipped. And sitting before us was a massive computer monitor, the biggest I’d yet seen, though it was currently off. Lights on the ceiling turned on, making my night vision unnecessary.
The chambers were also incredibly cold. My suit insulated me from extreme heat and extreme cold, but even I could feel the biting cold, though I didn’t shiver. Christina and Uncle Josh, on the other hand, did, especially Christina. Her skin was paler than ever and she looked like she wished she could be anywhere other than here. It still felt very strange to see the snide, sarcastic Christina I’d always known behave so timidly whenever she was anywhere near Chaser. It made me wonder just how dangerous Chaser actually was.
Then, without warning, the massive door slammed shut behind us, making all three of us jump. Uncle Josh drew his gun from his holster and aimed it this way and that like he was looking for the person who had slammed the door shut.
“Now, now, Joshua Resnick,” said Chaser’s voice from the computer monitor before us. “There’s no need to be so jumpy. I just closed the door behind you so we could have some … privacy.”
“Privacy?” Uncle Josh repeated, lowering his gun slightly. “Since when does Icon respect a person’s privacy?”
“As long as it is mine,” said Chaser.
All of a sudden, the computer monitor flickered on, revealing a strange symbol: An eyeball with a line crossed through it. I realized that that had to be the symbol of Icon, because I had seen that same symbol on the other buildings in the compound around the Tower.
“Welcome to my personal chambers, Jack ‘Trickshot’ McDonald, Joshua Resnick, and, of course, Christina Madison,” said Chaser. “It pleases me to see that all three of you came here without delay. It means we can begin the conversation right away.”
“I don’t want a ‘conversation’ with you,” I said. I stepped forward. “Grandfather. Where is he?”
“You clearly don’t understand how negotiations are supposed to work,” said Chaser. “First, we need to talk, and then I will show you what I plan to offer you.”
“I don’t give a damn about negotiations,” I snapped. “And why are you talking to me through a computer monitor? Too afraid to speak to me directly?”
Chaser sighed. “Cowardice has nothing to do with it. This is just how I prefer to talk to other human beings. I find that speaking through the computer allows for a clarity of thought I would not otherwise achieve, because I don’t have any of that distracting body language to ruin my perfectly crafted sentences.”
“That’s a dumb reason to talk only through a computer,” I said. “Not that I care, though. I want to see Grandfather.”
“Very impatient,” said Chaser. “Just like Gregory, you are inherently unable to delay gratification for the things you want. Patience is a virtue, one you seem to lack.”
“I’m starting to rethink this whole ‘conversation’ idea,” I said. “Maybe I’ll just smash that computer screen of yours and make you give me Grandfather back the hard way. How does that sound?”
“Rather rude, to be honest,” said Chaser. “And anyway, you aren’t in any position to make demands of me. Remember, I am the one who has Gregory, not you. If you keep behaving rudely and hostilely, then I will kill Gregory and then you and your friends, too.”
I bit my lower lip. Chaser was right. As long as he had Grandfather, Chaser had leverage in this conversation
. It was annoying and frustrating, but it wasn’t like there was anything I could do about it. I would just have to keep my cool and try to turn this conversation around in my favor. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sure how to do that.
“All right,” I said. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Many things, Trickshot,” said Chaser, “though right now I only want to talk to you about the Trickshot Watch.”
I put my hand over it. “The Trickshot Watch? Why do you want to talk about it?”
“Because I want it,” said Chaser. “And if you give it to me, I will give you Gregory in return. A simple exchange, though one I think both of us would benefit from, wouldn’t you say?”
“I’m not giving you the Trickshot Watch,” I said, pulling my wrist closer to my chest. “Not only is it a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands, but it’s also a priceless family heirloom. My grandfather gave it to me for the purpose of defending Rumsfeld. I’m not going to give it to you, no matter how nicely you ask.”
Chaser was silent for a few seconds, but then he suddenly said, “Tell me, Jack, do you know where Gregory originally got the Trickshot Watch from?”
I folded my arms across my chest. “No. I was just told he was given it by someone, but I never found out who gave it to him in the first place.”
The next words that came out of the computer screen shocked me to my core:
“Then let me inform you: Gregory received the Trickshot Watch from Icon. And now, the Trickshot Watch shall return to Icon, where it rightfully belongs.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“What?” I said. “Did you just say that the Trickshot Watch came from Icon?”
“Correct,” said Chaser. “And not just from Icon in general, but from me in particular. I gave your grandfather the Trickshot Watch over fifty years ago now, back when he first started out as a superhero.”
