Hearts of Darkness

by Andrea Speed

  Kaede watched some of the local news to get an idea of the town. One of the first things he saw was a photo op with Dark Justice, who had stopped a bank robbery and hung around for some glamour shots. This guy was just so impressed with himself, wasn’t he? Was there anything worse than a playboy superhero?

  There was a brief bit on the chaos caused by the Black Veil, but without many details. Kaede wondered if Anthony Moreau, aka Dark Justice, knew that the Veil had gone after Kaede. His dad owned the local media, after all. Would he care if one supervillain went after another? He’d probably encourage it.

  Kaede knew two could play at that game. He wondered if there was any way to get Black Hand to attack Dark Justice. He was going to have to sleep on that.

  3

  THE KAMANI Research Facility had been designed by famed architect C. Aun Wei, who was the son of one of his father’s initial business partners and therefore possibly augmented in some way. But no one talked about it, if that was the case.

  It looked like a tall layer cake beside a tapered candle, both mirrored and painted blue and white so it kind of blended into the sky on a sunny day. It was surrounded by a sprawling campus of well-manicured lawns and hidden security devices that could do one of a hundred different terrible things to you, including shock you into a coma, take off your foot, or fill you full of mildly irradiated pellets that would both allow the security detail to follow you and give you radiation poisoning if left in too long. Kamani was paranoid and took no chances.

  Kaede wore his Jason Tanaka security ID, and Ash wore his Ash Hanson one. They were escorted in like VIPs, which they were, but these employees had no idea how VIP they actually were. If they knew he was Hayashi’s son, they would never stop kissing his ass. There’d be a line out the door specifically for that purpose.

  Most of the Kamani Research buildings looked the same inside, no matter how they looked on the outside. They followed the white, Lucite, and chrome color scheme of the safe houses, without the blue accents as they were apparently the relaxing home element. Kaede really wished his father had better taste, or at least was a bigger fan of colors. What did he have against them, exactly?

  Kaede, as Jason, got his own office on the uppermost floor, which meant he was given a status position, and he had access to the plant’s many cameras from his desktop so he could spy on everyone working if he wished. He didn’t wish. He was happy to go through their records, though, see what new tech they had built/were building for his father. It was amazing what endless resources and bottomless insanity could create.

  While Kaede went through the manufacturing list, Ash was gazing out the spacious window that overlooked the rear of the facility. It was another gorgeous expanse of lawn and landscaping, looking out on a building that appeared to be an oversized white-and-blue torpedo tube. Kaede already knew it was a manufacturing wing, as Kamani also kept its manufacturing facilities in roughly the same place in every compound, out of view of anyone outside the premises. Yes, it was suspicious as hell, but there was no need for prying eyes in all of their business. Some of it was legal, and that could really earn you a lot of enmity in the supervillain world.

  Kaede wasn’t even on page two when an electronic chime sounded and a man’s voice said, “Sir, you have a visitor.”

  Belatedly, he recognized the voice as belonging to Oliver, the receptionist who seemed to run the entire executive wing. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes… it’s Dark Justice. He insists upon seeing you.”

  “Fine, send him in.” Kaede grinned at the thought of the big-dick superhero coming in all high and mighty. He must have worked himself into a high dudgeon. Quickly he turned to Ash, and said, “Continue to play the minder, no matter what. Don’t make a move on Moreau unless I tell you to, okay?”

  Ash raised an eyebrow at that. “You expecting trouble?”

  “I’m expecting superhero drama with a capital D. Wait ’til you see how silly these guys are.” Kaede did his best to dial back his grin as Moreau stormed through the door of his office but couldn’t prevent a million-watt smile. “Hello, Mr. Justice, how can I help you today?”

  Moreau had the blandly handsome look of a frat boy/Abercrombie & Fitch model, but was nowhere near Kaede’s type. He had short sandy brownish-blond hair Kaede was sure was goosed with dye, pale blue-gray eyes a little too far apart, and a manly square jaw that almost made his thick neck look normal. He probably did HGH or some kind of steroid—something to help him get really bulky, more muscle than fat. Of course, in the Kevlar-heavy molded body-armor suit he wore, along with a cowl that covered most of his face, only his eyes and jaw were visible. Not enough to truly hide his identity, though. Seriously, that jaw alone was memorable and should have been covered if he actually wanted anonymity, but Kaede suspected that he kind of wanted to be identified. He wanted people to know what a “badass” he was.

  “Cut the crap, Mr. Tanaka. Or should I say, Kaede Hayashi?”

  It was all Kaede could do not to laugh. Dark Justice was wearing a voice modulator, presumably to disguise his real voice, but it was pitched so low and gravelly it seemed like a joke. Moreau didn’t really give him time to react before he plowed on. “I know what you did to the Black Veil boys yesterday, and I don’t appreciate that kind of bloodletting in my city.”

  “Oh, is it my turn to talk now?” Kaede replied, after he’d been quiet for a few seconds. “I was attacked. Last I heard, defending yourself against a potentially lethal attack was perfectly legal.”

  Moreau glowered at him. It was a super-manly glower, and Kaede had to suppress the urge to laugh again. “Defending yourself? You tore those men up. I don’t know what you did to them, but it was ugly.” His pale eyes scudded over to Ash, who was still standing stock-still by the window. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Dark Justice, this is Ash Hanson, my minder.”

  Moreau glanced at him again. “Minder? Why, are you on a leash, Hayashi?”

  “It’s a financial thing. I doubt you’d understand.” Kaede had to put a boot in his ribs. After all, Tony was a spoiled rich boy playing all-American hero, which must have been some ego trip.

  Moreau seemed to size Ash up and do what the gengineers who’d designed Ash expected people to do: Moreau visibly dismissed him as a threat and focused his gaze solely on Kaede. Ooh, now there was a mistake he’d eventually pay for with his life. Just not today. Moreau put his hands on Kaede’s desk and leaned forward, trying for menacing, but once again Kaede had to swallow a laugh. This guy was just hilarious. Kaede found him about as threatening as a grasshopper.

  “I don’t know exactly what you are or what you’re planning,” Moreau growled, “but if you had any sense at all, you’d leave my city now, while you still can.”

  “You keep saying your city, but correct me if I’m wrong. You don’t actually own all the real estate in this town, do you? So it’s not your city. And since this is a free country, I can go wherever I want.”

  Moreau lashed out with one black-gloved hand and grabbed him by the shirt collar, lifting him up out of his chair. Peripherally Kaede was aware of Ash tensing, as if getting ready to spring, but Kaede held his hand out in a staying gesture. This wasn’t the time to reveal Ash’s true abilities. Kaede intended to keep him as his ace in the hole, the weapon no one would see coming until it was too damn late to do anything about it. And he knew damn well that there wasn’t a single one of these superdoofuses—hero or villain—that Ash couldn’t take easily.

  “I’m warning you, Hayashi,” Moreau said. “I will find out what you and your father are up to. You will pay.”

  Moreau was holding him close to his face. Kissing close in fact. Kaede wondered what would happen if he kissed him. He suspected overly macho, permanent playboy Moreau was a classic closet case, and Kaede guessed he would crumble if his “terrible secret” came out.

  “I am a simple businessman doing my job. I have nothing to pay for.”

  Moreau tossed him back in his chair, but his chai
r was so big and cushy it was hardly a gesture to bother with. “You may fool everyone else, Hayashi, but you’ll never fool me.”

  “Why aren’t you all up in Black Hand’s face? He’s the one who decided to be an asshat.”

  “I intend to deal with the Black Veil in my own way,” Moreau said, and then he stormed out with a dramatic sweep of his short yet fashionable cape.

  As soon as the door closed, Kaede broke out laughing, no longer able to hold it in.

  “Are you okay?” Ash asked. He sounded confused.

  “I’m fine. Is he a drama queen or what?” Kaede stopped laughing long enough to lower his voice to a gravelly growl and said, “I don’t appreciate that kind of bloodletting in my city.” He then started giggling, as it was just too damn funny.

  “I’m not sure what a drama queen is,” Ash replied, “but he did seem ridiculously over-the-top. And who visits someone’s office to threaten them?”

  “I told you, superheroes are fucking ridiculous. Hell, even supervillains are ridiculous. This is all just as silly as hell. Grown men and women—but let’s face it, it’s mostly men—playing dress-up and trying to punch away the fact that their daddies never loved them. It’s idiocy on a beautiful scale.”

  “Should it bother us that we’re in this world?”

  That was a fair question, but all Kaede could do was shrug. “No point. We’re in it now, so we might as well make the best of it.”

  “And how do we do that?”

  “I’m still trying to figure that one out,” Kaede admitted, turning back to his files. “But the answer might be here in all the tech my crazyass father has worked on. After all, he might have built a happiness machine. He’s built just about everything else.” That wasn’t even a joke.

  If a happiness machine existed, odds were his father invented it. He was fucking crazy, but he wasn’t always malicious.

  THE REST of the day at “work” was uneventful, which was kind of a shame. Kaede had been hoping Black Hand or another bad guy or superhero would decide to bust in, just to break up the monotony. At least he’d discovered several items that might be of use to him.

  His father was fairly big on designer viruses and poisons, probably because he initially started his career—if mad scientist could be called a career—in microbiology. He created exotic poisons that combined the best of nature and the best of man’s terrible thinking to construct something a thousand times more toxic than anything previously known. And he liked experimenting with ones that had a gene- or chemical-based triggering mechanism, so he could target specific people, but there was another reason too. It was so he could create very precise antidotes to these poisons. He had inserted specific genes in himself, in Kaede, and in Ash that made these designer poisons he’d created inert and useless in their bloodstreams so his toxins could never be turned against them. It was very handy, and it gave Kaede some ideas about how he could possibly use this to his advantage, weapon-wise. Especially since so many people wanted to hurt and/or manipulate his father through him.

  Of course, for right now, the ideas were just in the drawing-board stage. At present he had Ash, and he couldn’t be happier. His father had finally found the best bodyguard in the world, and he was cute too.

  When they returned to Kamani Tower that night, the doorman, whose name was Xavier, told them that, as weird as it was, Dark Justice had paid him a visit and asked him to pass on the message that he was watching, although Xavier wasn’t sure why. Kaede told him it was nothing and gave him a big tip for his trouble. DJ was so fucking silly. He giggled about it on the long elevator ride up to the penthouse.

  Once they were inside, Ash asked, “Should we worry? Dark Justice seems obsessed with you.”

  “I think that means things are too complacent here in Corwyn. Oh, and maybe he thinks I’m cute. I’m pretty sure he’s a closet case.”

  “Meaning he’s secretly gay?” A genuine question. It was possible Ash was unfamiliar with the term.

  “Yep.” Kaede plopped down on the big leather sofa, undid his tie (part of his “Jason Tanaka” uniform), and tossed it on the floor. “What do you feel like eating tonight? Pizza? I was thinking pizza.”

  “How do you know? I mean, that Dark Justice is a closet case.”

  Kaede looked at Ash, who was standing only a few paces from the door. He would often stand near doors or windows, as if always ready to escape or always ready to pounce on the first invader that crashed through. Habit or preference? Kaede still wasn’t sure. “Context clues, mostly. He’s a hypermasculine man with daddy issues and a dire need to overcompensate in public. That just screams ‘queen’ to me.”

  Ash canted his head to the side, like a bird hearing a sound it didn’t understand. “There’s a lot of nuance to human relationships I missed out on.”

  “You must have related to people in Karna,” Kaede said, although really it was almost a question. He was curious how that worked.

  “We were soldiers, or at least we were told we were. There wasn’t a lot of free time, and fraternization was discouraged.”

  “Aren’t armies supposed to work as a cohesive unit?”

  Ash shrugged. “Karna wasn’t big on tradition.”

  “Or niceties of any kind.” Kaede glanced up at the ceiling, mainly out of habit, and said, “Computer, call Carmen’s Pizza and order a jumbo spicy combo with extra sauce and cheese.”

  “Affirmative,” the computer replied. It was pretty nifty how most of the safe houses had a “dumb” AI that functioned as a sort of live-in secretary. Admittedly, it couldn’t act exactly like a butler, which would have been ideal, but advances in Roomba technology meant they could at least keep the floors clean, and that was one chore off the list.

  Ash shifted his weight from foot to foot, an odd nervous affectation for him, but Kaede waited, curious to see what he would say. Finally Ash said, “What’s it like to kiss?”

  Somehow, out of all Kaede expected him to say, he had never expected that. “Well, I could show you some YouTube clips. Would you rather I kissed you?”

  “I… don’t quite understand the mechanics of it,” he admitted, his chin tucked down toward his chest.

  Was he embarrassed at his lack of knowledge? Kaede found this almost unbearably sweet. He waved Ash over to the sofa and patted the cushion beside him. Ash came over and sat down. He still radiated awkwardness, so Kaede patted him on the knee and stood up. “You like wine? Let’s have some wine.”

  “If this is too much to ask…,” Ash began.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Kaede told him. There was a genuine wine cooler in the kitchen, under the counter, and while Kaede was far from a wine connoisseur, he was able to guess that it was all insanely and needlessly expensive. Wine was just wine to him—it roughly tasted the same, although some seemed closer to furniture polish than others. He popped the cork off one bottle grabbed at random, a red of some variety, and sniffed it to make sure it was one he could tolerate. It seemed okay, so he poured out a couple of generous glasses of it. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since I first met you. I’d just hate to disappoint you.”

  When Kaede returned to the living room with the glasses, Ash gave him a curious look. “How could you disappoint me?”

  Kaede smiled at him. That was so adorable. For a guy who repressed all his emotions, more or less, he could be weirdly sweet at times. It was probably unintentional, but he still appreciated it. “You never know. Here, drink. It’ll make you less anxious.”

  “I’m not anxious,” he said, then grimaced at his own words. “Okay, maybe I am, a little….” He took the wine glass Kaede proffered, and by the time Kaede had sat down, Ash had shotgunned his wine. He put the empty glass on the coffee table, which was a tangle of wrought iron with a glass surface. Kaede was sure the table was supposed to look like something, but to him it only resembled a knot of branches holding up a sheet of ice.

  Kaede sipped his wine, and it wasn’t bad. It was far from paint thinner. “So what do you want to know
about kissing?”

  “How it’s done,” Ash told him. “How it feels.” He scratched his head nervously. “After we talked about attraction, I realized… I don’t know about a lot of things. I don’t like not knowing. Information is powerful, and I don’t like being powerless.”

  Spoken like the true disciple of a death cult. Maybe. Truth be told, Kaede didn’t know that much about them, and part of him didn’t want to know. He sometimes thought, in his weaker moments, he’d totally run off and join a death cult, if only to be surrounded by people who shared his bleak view of humanity. “You’re familiar with the basic kiss, yes?”

  Ash looked at him. Right now, his eyes were close to a normalish shade of honeyed hazel. Still a bit lighter than usual, a bit off, but nothing too extreme. Kaede hadn’t quite figured out if it was just a trick of the light, or if his eyes really did change their hue at times. He would have asked, but he wasn’t sure if it was rude or not. It was possible Ash knew nothing about it. “No. What’s a basic kiss?”

  “You know, the kind you get from your aunt,” he replied before suddenly realizing Ash didn’t have an aunt, or any kind of known relative. To cover his embarrassment, he leaned over and planted a chaste kiss on Ash’s cheek. “Like that.”

  “Oh,” Ash replied. He seemed unmoved.

  “Yeah, it’s kind of sad. This next kiss, though… it’s kind of weird. Just go with it. Copy me if you want, but you don’t have to. Only if you feel it.”