Comes Great Responsibility

by Chuck Kienzle

He then turned to me and said,”You will have your answers, even if you do not like them.”

  The teleporter came over to me and said,” Please lower you bio-shield as much as possible. It will make this easier.”

  I did so and her put his arms around me and the woman. For a moment, I felt like I did not exist.

  Chapter 24: Friday, July 30, 10:45 PM Indian Standard Time

  Onni let go of us and collapsed to the floor. We were in a brightly lit, bare circular room about twenty feet across and eight feet high. A gurney, surrounded by several people, dressed in scrubs sat at the edge of the room's wall near a door. I “looked” around and we were in a sub basement of a large hospital. The name on the outside of the building was,” The New Deli Heroes Memorial Medical Center.” Six months before the Cleveland Disaster, a group of powered terrorists had attacked the city. A small group of standard powered and extra-powered held them off long enough for other forces to arrive. The city remembered those who died to protect them.

  The people pushed the gurney beside us. A woman knelt down beside Onni.

  He said in a weak voice,” I am alright. Help the woman.”

  The woman said,” Nonsense,” and put his hand on his forehead, I scanned her and she was a standard powered. I could sense he psychic energy flow into him. His vital signs rapidly improved. She had to be Vala Grein, I thought, although she did not look like the healer. I “scanned” her face and “saw” no evidence of plastic surgery.

  She stood up, looked at the woman with me and said,” Now, let's check her out.”

  “She has an implant just under her skull, just above her right ear. I froze it just as it began to explode,” I said.

  “Put her on the gurney and turn off the nullifier. It will interfere with the my work,” she said.

  I reluctantly turned off the nullifier. I lifted the woman up and onto the gurney. The woman put her hand on the injured telporter's head. I could “see” the physic energy emanate from her hand into the teleporter's skull. After about thirty seconds she lifted her hand and said,” I will need your help. Cut a hole in her skull over the injury and remove all the remains of the implant.”

  The healer must have known about my powers. I concentrated and burned a two inch wide circle in the injured woman's skull, cooling the surrounding tissue. I put my index finger into the hole and used my touch TK to pull out all the pieces of the, now, shattered implant.

  “Replace the piece of the skull,” the healer said.

  I did so and the healer put her hand over it. I “saw” the brain tissue regenerate and fill the hole left by the removed implant. The cut in the skull filled with bone. The healer lifted her hand and there was not evidence of any injury. The healer, almost collapsed, but a man behind her put his arms under her arm pits and held her up.

  The man said, in Hindi,” Let the others take care of her.”

  She nodded and stood up.

  I reactivated the nullifier and said in Hindi,” She has to be confined.”

  The man behind the healer said,” This is a place of healing, not a jail.”

  The healer patted his arm and said,” In Saifullah's message, he warned that she was dangerous.”

  “She will not escape or contact anyone outside these walls,” the healer told me.

  One of the people in scrubs, a man, had helped Onni stand. Onni leaned against him, still uncertain on his legs.

  “You, get some food and rest. No teleporting until I tell you that you are ready, and I don't care what Saifullah says,” the healer said in English.

  Onni nodded and let the man help him follow the gurney out of the room.

  I said to the healer,” You must be Valla Grein, although you do look a bit different.”

  “Come, let us go to somewhere more comfortable to talk,” she said.

  She turned and walked to one of the empty room's door. I followed her and her companion down a brightly lit corridor to an unmarked door. I scanned the room beyond the door and it was about ten by ten feet with a metal desk in the center. There were two chairs on either side of the table. She and the man sat on one side and I on the other. He was standard powered who looked to be in his forties, if he had been non-powered, which meant he was in his late sixties or seventies. He was tall with dark skin and short black hair. He wore cream colored shirt and pants.

  She folded her hands on the top of the table and said,” As you surmised, I am Valla Grein.”

  “Your facial reconstruction is remarkable,” I said.

  “A telekinetic who specialized on bone and muscle repair did the work,” the man said.

  “Let me introduce you. This is Arjun. He accompanied me to this world,” she said.

  “I am surprised you are working in a hospital setting, that does not seem to be a good place to hide,” I said.

  “Hide in plain sight. Of course, I did not have to hide my skills when I heal people down here. I had to be careful dealing with the patients above. Sometimes healing some only enough until your world's medical technology could do the rest. Sometimes records were changed. And sometimes, even my abilities were not enough to cure someone. After all, I am not a miracle worker,” Vale Grein said.

  “We need your help,” I said.

  “Help in the coming battle with The Destroyer. I fled my world to avoid that. Those years ago, I thought I was doing good, healing those the Hegemony told be to heal. I came to realize that that I only prolonged the battles. Too many, most innocents died. I want no part of that now,” she said.

  “You will allow The Destroyer to wreck her havoc on this world?” I said.

  She bent her head down. I had seen what had happened to her world. I could understand that she felt partially responsible, but we needed her to save this world.

  “I was told you healed me before I was sent to this world,” remembered me?” I said.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Did you knew my parents?” I said.

  “As well as I knew any Warriors. Your parents broke the rules. They had a child together. It was taken from them and made into a weapon. They did not want the same for you. They sent you to this world in hopes that you could have a chance to decide for yourself what kind of life you wanted,” she said.

  “My parents had another child?” I said.

  “Yes. You have an older sister. When the authorities found out, they took her away. That broke your parents hearts. The child showed enhanced abilities from an early age. I healed the brain abnormality that causes the madness in most Warriors when she was two and again at ten. Given her powers, the Hegemony demanded that your parents have another child. You they could not give up. The had me heal you and then sent you to this world. They knew that Apollo was here and they hoped he would find and take care of you,” Vala Grein said.

  “And what happened to my sister?” I said.

  “When your parents were executed, she went wild. They were able to contain her for a short while, but then she escaped. The last time I saw her, I tried to heal her to stop her rampage, but there was no brain damage to heal. Her madness was something I could not heal,” the healer said.

  “Now what? The Warrior you knew Forty-Five holds Apollo as hostage. I assume he wants you to restore his powers,” I said.

  A look of horror appeared on the healers face. She shook her head and said,” Never, he would almost be as dangerous as The Destroyer herself.”

  “It is worse than that. As you may not know, the headquarters of the Agency For Super-Powered Affairs was attacked less than a week ago. A number of visitors from your world escaped with them, along with an Agency telepath that appears to be a double agent. We believe that they and other powered people are at the Alaskan base where Apollo is being held. They want you,” I said.

  “In exchange for not harming Apollo, I assume. I will not allow your to turn me over to them, but I can help you,” she said.

  She extended her arms and placed her hands, palm up, on her desk top. I rolled the office chair near the desk a
nd put my hands, palm down, on her hands. She closed her eyes and I could “feel” as she scanned my body. She opened her eyes and smiled.

  “You have no need of my help. You full powers are regenerating. They should return within a day or two,” she said.

  That was why I felt better.

  “But how?”

  “How were you injured?” she asked.

  I told her how I held The Destroyer from coming through the portal and that when I recovered, my powers were reduced.

  “Your quantum signature was altered. When you passed twice through dimensional portals, it reset your signature. Unfortunately, that won't work for your friend Apollo, since his problem is due to a brain injury. I can help him, and I will, but not at the risk of dealing with Forty-Five. He will certainly demand that I heal him first, after which he will, almost certainly, prevent me from healing Apollo, even if it means killing me. He has no morals,” she said.

  “Then you would not help us against The Destroyer,” I said.

  “Even if you found a way to restrain her and try to nullify her powers, I would not go anywhere near her. I have no death wish,” Vala Grein said.

  The man who sat beside her said,” Valla Grein has the right to her own life.”

  Valla Grein put her hand on his arm and said,” Arjun, it is alright.”

  I understood that this was not Vala Grein's home world. It was not mine, but it was the only home I ever knew. I understood why the healer ran away from that world. I did the same. For five years we both hid. The time for hiding was over.

  I smashed through the table with the right fist. They both were startled and scared. Vala Grein looked at me with the same face she must have shown my sister. Saifullah was right. Sometimes people needed to be intimidated to do the right thing.

  Arjun whispered,” Saifullah.”

  In a very controlled voice, I said,” I am Artemis, probably the most powerful being on this planet, and I am not enough. We need Apollo at full power and we need you to do that. We need to stop my crazy sister and to stop a group of mass murderers. As for Saifullah, he will help or get out of the way,”

  Chapter 25: Saturday. July 31, 1:30 PM Indian Standard Time

  An hour later, I stood in a standard, windowless, hospital room. The teleporter who attacked me was lying on the bed. She had an IV in her arm and the vital signs device beside the bed. Her vitals looked good for a sleeping woman. There was a hospital room table beside the bed and a wall mounted TV on the wall at the foot of the bed. She looked peaceful.

  In that hour, Mandisa contacted me. Mr. Hernandez and the Director agreed that their was a leak in the Agency. Security was working on finding where was the leak. Also, a disruption of the distortion field around the black ops base showed that the alien craft had returned there. Valla Grein told me that Saifullah and his companion was safe.

  Only Valla Grein and I were in the room with the teleporter. I stood at the foot the the bed and the healer was beside it. The healer place her hand on the hand of the woman in the bed and the woman work up.

  The woman opened her eyes. She raised her left hand and stared at the nullifier.

  “I should be dead,” she said.

  “Yes, your people wanted you dead. We wanted you alive,” I said.

  “So, you can use me like the damn military and the crazy women,” she sneered.

  “Crazy women?” I said.

  “Yeah, she showed up a few days ago and brought along a bunch of fellow powered people The Colonel called her Kim and she is a telepath,” she said.

  “What is your name and what did you plan to do with me on the beach?” I said.

  “Barbra Hanford. I don't know what they wanted to do with you. My job was just to port over, snap the nullifier on your neck and port back,” Hanford said.

  She looked at the healer, who was taking her pulse and said,” Who the hell are you?”

  “I am your doctor. Please sit up,” Valla Grein said and put the stethoscope around her neck into her ears. She put the stethoscope on Hanford's back.

  “Take a deep breath,” the healer said.

  “You don't seem to like your current employer,” I said.

  “Employer! Employers don't put bombs in your head. I was fifteen when my powers manifested. I had a good gig robbing places. Then the guys in black suits showed up at the rescue mission. I tried to port away but they slapped a nullifier on my wrist. They did not take it off until they put the damn think in my head,” she said.

  Valla Grein listened to Hanford's chest and then put the stethoscope back around her neck.

  She stepped back and said,” I believe she is telling the truth.”

  “What are you? Some sort of lie detector,” Hanford said.

  “Something like that,” the healer said.

  Hanford raised her left arm and said,” Get this off me and I can take care of myself.”

  “Do you really think that the American government will just forget about you?” I said.

  “Can you protect me?” Hanford said.

  “If you help us,” Saifullah said as he stood in the room's doorway.

  I nodded and said,” Agreed.”

  Valla Grein looked at him and said,“Took you long enough,”

  “Evading an invisible craft is not that easy,” he said.

  Hanford looked at Saifullah and then at me. She then had a resigned look on her face. Maybe she believed in the words of a murderous vigilante or the superhero, once known, as Artemis, or not. But, when faced with both of us, she decided to talk.

  And talk she did. She explained her work for the black ops organization that she knew as “The Group.” She was involved in the unexplained kidnapping of a number of well know and some not well known individuals. She swore she did not know what happened to those still missing. She gave us a run down of the other extra or extreme powered people that were at Ford Greely. And more importantly, what Kim was doing. She brought about a dozen powered people, who were kept separate from Hanford's group. At first, the Colonel challenged Kim, but after he took her away for interrogation, he came back and said we were all to take orders from him.

  “Did Colonel Rosenstein's personality seem to change?” I asked.

  “How do I know? I never saw him often,” Hanford said.

  “What about their craft?” Saifullah said.

  “I can't tell you much. I never saw a control room. I was put into a pretty bare room. I was shown a holographic display of the beach you were both on. My job was to port behind Artemis, snap the nullifier around her neck and port both of us back,” she said.

  “What about any armaments on the craft?” I asked.

  “I don't know anything about that, but I did wonder why they needed Carl to launch a lightning attack instead of using any futuristic weapons,” she said.

  The craft had no weapons? It was possible, I thought. They may have used the powered to attack to not reveal their weaponry. It, still, seemed to be a waste of resources.

  Chapter 26: Monday, August 1,7:35 AM Alaska Daylight Time.

  Over the next twenty-four hours, lots of things happened. Security Chief Hernandez convinced the Director to bring in the telepath Merlyn, at great cost, to help run a security check at the Agency's Headquarters. Merlyn started with Polly Nash and found subtle mental influences. Those influences would lead her to give her fellow telepaths, Kim and Hector Rodriguez, the benefit of the doubt if they did anything unusual. Merlyn found the same influences in all the top officials at the headquarters, including Security Chief Hernandez and Director Tenneth. He removed the influences. Also, Mr. Rodriguez was no where to be found. The Director concluded that he was the source of the leaks.

  I flew back to the Agency's headquarters and went over the plan I had come up with Saifullah. Director Tenneth did not like the fact, but he realized he had not other choice. We did get one piece of good news: The Director convinces the President of the United States to allow the Agency to deal with the problem at Fort Greely. The Preside
nt even agreed that the military assets around the base would not hinder Agency actions, they just would not help us.

  The next day, Valla Grein stood between Saifullah and I at the front gate of Fort Greely, just outside the distortion field on a bright, sunny day with a temperature in the mid-fifties. Behind us was a squad of troops that stood beside two jeeps. They raised their weapons as a jeep approached from the base. It had two passengers, a man and a woman, both non-powered. The jeep stopped about twenty feet away from the bases' gate. The woman, a corporal in fatigues, got out and walked to the edge of the distortion field. She wore a head set with a microphone.

  “Put these on,” she said as he threw a nullifier at Saifullah and I.

  As soon as they passed through the distortion field, I vaporized both of them and then cooled the vapor so it immediately fell to the ground.

  “No,” I said.

  The Corporal listened to her head set and then said,”Then send her through alone,”

  “No,” I said again and the three of us turned and walked away.

  The sky darkened and I could feel the static electricity around us.

  “Bring the healer her or you die,” the Sergeant said.

  I turned my head and said loudly,” You are willing to kill the healer?”

  After a couple of seconds the Corporal replied,”What about the soldiers?”

 

  >Do it.>

  I looked up and about a mile from the base, at about ten thousand feet, I saw the defense shield around the still invisible craft light up as it was hit by an gamma ray burst from Kelly Price, who was on a mountain overlooking the base. The craft snapped into view and then shot upward. I followed it for about a minute as it reached the upper atmosphere, where it vanish.

  I shouted back at the Sergeant,”We are leaving now “

  “We still have Apollo. I can't believe you want him dead,” the Corporal said.

  “That would be unwise. Send someone out who we can really negotiate with, like Jane Kim,” I said.