“Why are you in here?” the man asked. Then recognition crossed his face. “It’s you. Dave! Get out here!”
The man in the bathroom grunted a reply and flushed. He muttered curses as his belt clinked. Brendan took a step towards the door but the man blocked his way.
“Dave, it’s the kid. He’s here. We have him.”
Brendan backed up. The man closed on him, turning the flashlight in his hands. Brendan almost tripped over a purple vinyl duffel that was zipped open. It was full of money.
“Nowhere to go, kid.”
The man was right. He was cornered. The tablet would make a poor weapon. He saw a small pot on a camping stove, but by the looks of the overcooked goop it held it was cold.
“Who gave you the drones?” Brendan asked.
The man grinned as he stepped closer. “A little bird.”
Brendan was at the back wall. “And how did you even get here?”
Now the man chuckled. He understands the question. “That’s a secret, kid. Although I figure you know the answer to that. Now I don’t want to hurt you. Just put the tablet down and come with me.”
Behind the man, Brendan saw Tina and Charlotte sneak inside and scurry behind the tarped plane.
“Tell me first,” Brendan said. “Did you come through a gate to get here?”
The man’s smug smile gave Brendan the answer.
“Did whoever you’re working with tell you how dangerous it is? The side effects? The risk to others and yourself?”
“Well, I guess our little bird is willing to take the risk, so I don’t think I’m too worried.”
Tina broke cover. She had something in her hands. She ran forward and pitched a large metal nut at the man, striking him in the back. “Hey!” he shouted, turning. Brendan didn’t hesitate. He kicked the pot off the stove into the man’s legs and darted forward. The man turned and swung the flashlight. Brendan ducked. As he passed the office door, Dave came lumbering out, moving quick for such a big man, and grabbed Brendan.
Brendan twisted and broke free from Dave’s grip. Dave hadn’t succeeded in getting his pants secured and they sagged around his butt and bunched at his knees. He stumbled after Brendan. Charlotte stood next to Tina, glove on.
“Run,” Brendan said.
“Hold on,” Charlotte said.
The two men hesitated.
“Why are you here?” the man with the flashlight said.
Tina had a handful of the metal nuts, one in her fist ready to throw. “You guys know each other?”
Dave chuckled. He tugged his pants all the way up and fastened the belt.
“You’re really stringing them along, aren’t you?” the man with the flashlight said.
Charlotte lunged forward, her gloved hand striking the man in the chest. He disappeared with a snap of air. As Dave was turning in her direction, his feet catching on themselves, Charlotte pulled a black square from the glove and replaced it with one from her pocket. She clenched the gloved hand and grabbed Dave’s shoulder. Dave vanished.
“What the hell!” Tina said.
A momentary flutter of air struck Brendan’s face. He looked around, as if the men had simply moved too fast to see.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“Sent them away,” Charlotte said without further explanation. She walked towards their makeshift camp and started sifting through their belongings. Brendan followed her.
Tina went straight for the cash. “Couple million, I’d guess.”
“You sent them downstream?” Brendan asked. “Why? And how did they know you? What did he mean by stringing us along?”
“They work for my dad,” Charlotte said. “They must have access to his machines. I’ll figure out how to get them back once we get to the bottom of what’s going on.”
“Hold that thought.” Brendan opened the tablet. Under the settings, he found the security passcode already auto-filled in. He reset it. There were eleven active drones with one out of commission. “This looks like their control tablet. Are the drones anything you recognize? Those are pretty aggressive designs.”
“Nothing my father would make, and these guys don’t look like the handy type. I’m guessing they either stole the drones from the other Myron Reece or he’s around somewhere. How they figured out my dad’s machines is beyond me.”
“It’s not like we can ask them now,” Tina said. “Kinda convenient.”
“We didn’t have a lot of options,” Charlotte said. “Looks like just two of them stayed here with plenty of supplies so they didn’t have to go out much.”
She went to the office and checked drawers. Brendan and Tina followed and opened the cooler. It held a few grapes and what he guessed were figs.
“Pretty healthy for a couple of thieves,” Tina said.
“So how does Lucille tie in with this?” Brendan asked.
Charlotte put her fist to her mouth and thought for a moment. “They want my father’s ring. They somehow know Lucille can influence people.”
“Influence implies they’re making a choice,” Tina said. “She turns people into mind slaves.”
“But to what extent she’s cooperating with these men or my father, I don’t know. She might have her own agenda. Or maybe the cash is for her.”
“Maybe she got control over these two,” Brendan said. “But she asked me for the ring. Besides handing it over, what else could she do with it?”
“It accesses my father’s vault back on my…on Not-Earth,” Charlotte said. “So she had to have some way of opening the gate again. Or someone was going to do it for her.”
“These guys have to have something that lets them open the gate. Assuming it wasn’t on them.”
Charlotte held her hand out for the tablet. “Let me have a look.”
“I want to check it out first,” Brendan said. “The lock screen is up, so I won’t be able to learn much until we can crack it. Soren or Vlad would know how to do it. Let’s go through everything here in case there’s more to find. And you need to think about how we’re going to get those guys back from downstream Earth before they screw something up there or hurt anyone.”
“Okay,” Charlotte said, but Brendan saw her eyes linger on the tablet.
They searched through everything. Brendan made a show of going through the office, but once Charlotte was out of sight he got right back on the tablet. The app that controlled the drones wasn’t as daunting as he first believed. They were all slaved to a lead drone when together. He went through all the features and saw the app had numerous prewritten macros that could be dragged to any or all the drones. With a few swipes, he had them heading back to their location. The four screens showed a dizzying view of streetlights and dark ground streaking past.
“Figure anything out?” Tina asked.
“I’m recalling all the drones,” he said softly. “Might be good to acquaint myself with what they can do. Phone still out?”
Tina checked her phone and nodded.
Charlotte was in the main warehouse examining a phone connected to a wall charger. He whispered, “Either there’s a gate machine here that’s causing some sort of interference, or there’s a signal blocker.”
“Are we not trusting her now?”
“Something’s bugging me. These two guys. One of them grabbed me, and I easily broke free. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but people from Not-Earth are supposed to be stronger here. We’re ‘downstream’ from them, remember?”
“That was the explanation the nurse gave us.”
“And they were bundled up. It’s chilly, but not that cold. It’s like they have the flu or something.”
“But Poser felt like that after coming here. And he’s from Charlotte’s Earth.”
“I was guessing that was more the mental adjustment, not the physical. Maybe I’m just being paranoid. But when we went to Not-Earth with the nurse’s water in us, we felt like we had super powers.”
“We did. It was awesome.”
“The headmaster an
d the two swapped security guards had that kind of strength without any help by the very fact that they stepped downstream to our world. But these guys—”
“Aren’t from my Earth,” Charlotte finished. She was standing in the doorway.
“You brought them here,” Brendan said. He looked at the tablet. The closest drone was a mile away.
“Wait, what?” Tina asked.
“Your little gateway device never opened to your Earth, only to the next one downstream. So unless that’s changed, anyone you could ever bring here to help you comes from there. Thus they’re weak. What could you possibly hope to accomplish?”
“It’s complicated. I gave up trying to explain to you what I wanted to do.”
“Explain it now.”
Tina was shaking her head. She pointed a finger at Charlotte. “Hold on. I knew that I didn’t fully trust you, but you’re behind all of this? You got Lucille to do what she did to Vlad and Soren? And those little drones nearly killed us!”
“I needed help. I hired these two men, and they had control over the drones. They had specific orders.”
“Orders for what?”
“To keep an eye on you. To keep you from calling the police outside the coffee shop.”
Brendan remembered the drone that had attacked him outside the Bean hadn’t struck him, but his phone.
“They were also protecting you,” he said. “Especially when you were at the nurse’s home. Is she even okay? Did you do something to her?”
“She’s like a mother to me. I’d never hurt her. Brendan, we’re friends, too. This all seems crazy, but what I’m doing is important.”
“The drones attacked us and hurt Brendan,” Tina said.
“I’m sorry. These men aren’t exactly professionals.”
“Weren’t. You fired them.”
Charlotte let out a breath. “I know I went about this wrong. I’m trying to undo what my father started. Part of that means that I will need to be able to go back to his world and dismantle everything he has that can link him to this one. You’ve helped by keeping an eye on the gate in case he opened it from his end. But the key to the damage he can do is the ring. I need it.”
“I’m not giving it to you,” Brendan said.
“Then you’re just handing him the power. He doesn’t need it. He may have already duplicated it or breached his vault some other way. If we wait too long it becomes useless.”
Brendan began to walk towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Charlotte asked.
“Outside. I’m walking out to the highway and calling the cops.”
Once he stepped out the door, he checked the drone app on the tablet. The closest drone was coming in fast. It would be there in under a minute and its companions weren’t far behind. He activated a follow-up command for them to hover once they were in position. He had no idea how long they could stay flying. There had to be a power meter in the program somewhere.
He began to head for the gate to the fence and the road beyond.
“Brendan, stop,” Charlotte said. She moved towards him.
Tina snagged her by an arm and tried to stop her, but she was dragged forward. Charlotte turned, grabbed the girl by the front of her sweater, and pushed her away. Tina stumbled and fell.
“You’re strong here,” Brendan said. “You told us that passed with time.”
Charlotte ignored his comment. “You can’t make that phone call. I don’t want to repeat myself. Tell me where the ring is. This whole problem will no longer be your concern. You can go back to being a student. That’s what I want for you. It’s what I want for myself too. I just need to get past this hurdle. Where is it?”
“You’ve been lying this whole time, and now you want me to trust you. That’s not going to happen.”
Tina was up and charging forward.
“Tina, don’t!” Brendan shouted.
Charlotte caught Tina and thrust her down to the ground. She made an adjustment on her glove.
“I’m sorry,” Charlotte said. She put her hand on Tina’s back.
In an instant, Tina was gone.
11. With Enemies Like These
A moan slipped from Brendan’s lips. “What did you do?”
Charlotte was examining her glove, pressing at a few buttons. “I sent her away.”
He could only shake his head. “Bring her back.” He approached her.
“Don’t come any closer, Brendan.”
He was trembling as he tried to grab her. She slapped his hands away.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Charlotte said.
“Use that thing and bring her back.”
“No. I don’t want to do it this way, but you have something I need. Tina will be fine if you get me the ring. This is no longer a negotiation.”
He studied the girl who stood before him. She wasn’t much different from any of the freshmen in his classes. Was it something on Not-Earth that turned minds towards criminal acts, or was it being here on a downstream Earth, where inherent power led to a pretense of superiority? Perhaps her father had nurtured the quality in his daughter. But what did that say of his own upbringing?
“All right,” he said. “Bring her back. I’ll get the ring for you.”
“No. We get the ring first.” She waited.
Brendan nodded. “Okay, fine. If it means all of this stops here and you’ll take it and go back to whatever Earth you’re calling home, you can have it.”
She removed the glove and put it into her pack. Then she took keys from her pocket and went to the white electric car that was parked at the side of the hangar. It didn’t surprise him that she had the keys. This was her hideout, her gang, and driving the other car and sneaking in had just been part of her ruse.
“Unchain the gate,” she said. “The faster we get this done, the sooner I can bring Tina back.”
She got in and started the car. Brendan went to the gate to open it. As Charlotte drove the car through, he turned on the tablet and dropped in a quick command for the drones that were now flying somewhere above them.
Follow.
***
She drove them back into Dutchman Springs.
“What did you do to Lucille?” Brendan asked.
“Don’t worry, it’s just temporary. I needed her help. Giving her a little extra was all that was needed for her to cooperate.”
“A little extra. What are you talking about exactly? Is this the same water the nurse gave us?”
“Something like that. It will wear off, and she’ll be back to normal. So will your friends.”
“And where is Tina?”
“I said she’s fine.”
As he sat watching the passing scenery, he tried to fight the fuzzy sensation in his head that reminded him how tired he was. His stomach roiled and acid burned in his throat. He cracked the window. He saw his own reflection staring back at him.
“What does our headmaster know about all of this?”
Charlotte shook her head. “Nothing. Sperry never quite wrapped his head around what my father was doing. He knew enough that he understood what he could gain if he could get control of my father’s machines. That’s why he tried to take the ring from him. But he’s in no position to duplicate anything my father made.”
“Not alone, maybe. But if he worked with you…”
“He’s not involved.”
Now she was driving well above the speed limit, taking a turn onto the boulevard that would lead to the academy.
“It’s at school?” Charlotte asked.
Brendan checked his phone. “I never said that. But it might take a while to get it. Go to the parking garage around the west side.”
Only a few other cars were on the road at that hour. She drove them through the commercial district and along the green belt. Brendan knew the surrounding area well enough, as he would sometime walk here to clear his head. He also knew the police station was a block away.
He grabbed the steering wheel and pulled it t
owards him, at the same time pulling up on the hand brake. The car locked up and skidded, the transmission making a high-pitched whine. They came to a stop in the middle of the four-lane street, smoke from the tires rising in the air. Charlotte pushed him away. He already had his door open and he rolled out of the car.
“Brendan, this is stupid,” she called. She got out on her side. “Come back here.”
He backed away. The tablet told him he had eleven drones flying above him.
“Don’t,” Charlotte said.
He selected an attack macro. Nothing happened.
Charlotte was walking around the car towards him. “Hand that to me. This is wasting both my time and yours.”
What was he missing? He tried to read the screen, but there were so many selectable items on the side task bar. Then he tapped the first drone and the screen showed its point of view from above. He saw himself, the car, and Charlotte. It only needed a specific target. He tapped on Charlotte. A red square locked on the screen. He dragged a box around the other ten, and now they would follow the first.
“Get her,” he said.
The buzzing sound descended upon them. The eleven drones raced towards Charlotte. She dove to the asphalt as the machines flew past her. Whatever macro they executed must have instructed them to not fly straight into things. When Brendan had been struck in the alley, it had been a glancing blow and then the drone had been able to resume its flight.
Fine. They’ll at least keep her down.
The drones made a wide circle and began their return path. He was about to run when blue and red lights erupted. A police car gave a deep series of loud honks as it rolled silently up to them. Two cops got out. Both had their hands at their hips and stayed behind their doors.
“Stop right there,” the driver ordered Brendan.
The other cop was watching the drones. The machines flew right over the police car, and the cops ducked to get out of the way. Charlotte had gotten up and retreated to the other side of her vehicle. The drones went straight for her, some missing while others bounced off the car’s surface.
The Supervillain High Boxed Set: Books One - Three of the Supervillain High Series Page 31
