by Alana Melos
“Probably because of Pangea,” I muttered to myself. If people didn’t have a place to crash, where else would you go which offered at least the illusion of safety? Nothing that happened topside ever touched the Underground. It was like it was its own dimension.
That realization stopped me from scribbling. ‘You think we’re in Imperial City’ were the words he’d said. What if those doors just acted as portals to whatever dimension he ruled? What if we were really in a Hell here? The thought curdled my stomach, but I had never felt any different here at all, not like in Axis. There, it had been like the dimension had been trying to squeeze me out with some indefinable pressure from everywhere. It hadn’t been bothersome enough to hamper me in any way, but it had let me know I didn’t belong. I had never felt any such sensation here, but more I thought about it, the more the thought of this being an alternate dimension felt true to me.
Shaking my head, I dismissed those thoughts for another time. After I finished my short ad, I read it aloud a couple of times, then finally hit the push to talk button. “As you all may or may not know, Imperial City is under siege by a giant monster.” I had to pause there. That phrase was just too stupid, but I hadn’t been able to think of a better way to put it. “There is a way to defeat it, but we need your help. If you are a metahuman who has a criminal record, if you help, your current criminal record will be expunged. This is a one time only offer. If you’re interested, talk to Capricious Whim--tall blond in a grey trench, red shirt, black pants--at the party bar balcony in five minutes.” I paused, thinking it over. It would have to be good enough. I didn’t imagine that many people would actually take me up on the offer, thinking it a joke, or just not caring if they were wanted by the law. “That is all.” I didn’t know how else to end it. I never said I was any good at public speaking or speech making.
I snatched pad of paper and a pen off of Malech’s desk, stuffed them in my pocket, then hit the elevator. It let me out on the level I wanted, and I flew to my balcony. A couple of people were already standing there, looking around for me. One of them I recognized, a fellow mercenary who went by the handle Lethal. His handle was incredibly appropriate, and he often took jobs assassinating people which was fairly unusual for someone with biokinesis. A lot of biokinetics went into flesh hacking, either legally or illegally, but Lethal couldn’t heal shit. All he could do was expand wounds, and he had to have flesh to flesh contact on top of it. He thought of a way around his powers’ handicap and made special bullets, containing his biomatter, either blood or flesh. Then, he had practiced sniping, until he was one of the best in the world. Now, even if he happened to just graze his target, they died as he ripped them apart biokinetically. He didn’t have a range to his power… he just had to have flesh to flesh contact. If I recalled correctly, his bounty was astronomical after he killed the president of the Confederate States a few years ago.
“Heeeeyyyy, Caprice,” he said, his grin wide in his weasel-thin face. His dark brown hair was kept in place by a stained red bandana, a pale imitation of John Rambo. The rest of him was pasty white, thin and small, not one you’d suspect was one of the top three most wanted. Assassins didn’t tend to last long when they were loud and brash like he was. Lethal was the exception who proved the rule there. He wore a blue t-shirt underneath a multi-pocketed urban camo vest. Instead of jeans, he wore the regular colored BDU trousers, tucked into military style boots. A brown leather belt hugged his thin hips, slung low. It held a pair of holsters. A long case was nearby. He was never without his sniper rifle, even when relaxing or cutting loose.
“Hey, Lethal,” I said, giving him a tight smile. We’d worked together on occasion, always a kill mission where I would ferret out the target, and he’d take care of them. “Signing up?”
“Coming to have a look at you here,” he said, giving me a long look up and down. “Wanted to see what a fucking moron looked like.”
My smile disappeared in a heartbeat. “The deal’s legit,” I said. “I negotiated it with Imperius himself.”
“OooOOOooh, such a big name dropper,” he said, openly mocking me. My hand twitched, but I refrained from pasting him. I might have escaped Malech once, but not twice. I didn’t want to push my luck. “You should know better, idiot. They lie. They always lie.”
“Not this time,” I said, shaking my head. I didn’t smile again, but I didn’t sneer either. I wasn’t going to let him ruffle my feathers. “This plant thing, Pangea, it’s too big.”
“Well, you can sign me up,” a woman’s mature voice said. I turned to see Dirtnap. She was one of the oldest villains I’d heard about or met, well into her fifties. Her black hair was shot with grey and done up into a bun at the back of her head. She wore thin-framed glasses on her grandma’s face, round and friendly. It was rumored she was the one who’d taken down some big earth golem years ago who’d been rampaging through the city. Looking at her plump, out of shape body clothed in a tee shirt, jean jacket, and jeans, you’d never think it. “I was just thinking about retiring, and it’d be really nice not to have to pay through the nose for a new identity.” A frown crossed her round face, plumping out her red lips. “It’s too expensive nowadays. Too many ways it can go wrong.”
I passed over the notepad and pen. “Write down your name and phone number,” I said. “If you rabbit, the deal’s off. It’s all or nothing.”
“Now that I believe,” Lethal said, scoffing. After Dirtnap finished writing her information down, he snatched the pad out of her hands, “Give it over here, grandma!”
She adjusted her glasses, “You know, it’s really quite easy to give rude persons an aneurysm by blocking a specific artery with a little chunk of the natural minerals in the body.”
I blinked at the threat. If she was really that good with the fine control of minerals--she controlled the earth, from what I knew--it was no wonder she lived so long. That was a helluva way to murder someone, and nearly undetectable.
“Hey, you’re Capricious Whim?” another feminine voice asked. I turned and beheld a girl of some kind of Asian descent, though her skin was darker than I would have thought it, more of a golden brown. Her long hair was black and straight, and she dressed, well, like a ninja. More like the video game equivalent of a ninja as way too much skin was showing since her arms were bare, though at least she wasn’t wearing a bikini bottom. Instead, even though it was in the middle of winter, she wore shorts. The ‘ninja’ part mainly came from the mask over her face, which reminded me of my own save that it was styled like an oni’s face on fire, and her top, which was sleek and black, but still in the katabira style so prevalent in pop culture ninjas. I wondered if there was armor plating in there.
“That’s me,” I answered her.
“I’m here to burn,” she said, her dark eyes lighting up behind the mask.
“It’s not here… sign up…” I grabbed the notepad from Lethal and passed it over. “Name and phone number. I’ll be texting the information.”
The girl heaved a heavy sigh and took the pad with her gloved hands. “Fine, but it had better be soon,” she said.
“Pretty soon, by tomorrow, at the latest,” I replied, shrugging.
No sooner than she had finished writing her information down, someone else plucked the pad out of her hand. I followed the movement and looked up at a tall black man. “This is where to sign up, right?”
“Yeah…” I said, looking around the normally dressed metahuman at the growing crowd. Compared to the dance floor, there wasn’t that many people here, but there were more than I thought would be interested, even with a full pardon for their crimes. “Fighting Pangea, uh, the plant monster thing…” My words trailed off as I lifted myself up to have a look over the burgeoning crowd. Perhaps a dozen had gathered nearby, or were coming this way. Maybe more. It was hard to tell as this was a popular club, and people could just be milling about the crowd just to see what was going on.
When I lowered myself to the ground, the big guy handed the pad back to me.
“Full pardon?” he asked.
“For any past crimes,” I affirmed. “It’s not immunity against future ones, and if you rabbit during the attack, the contract is null and void.”
“That’s fair,” he said, his voice much higher than I would have expected normally from a man his size.
“Can I sign up?” a familiar voice asked.
I turned around to see Ger standing there in one of his suits, but sans a tie. “I thought you didn’t want to see me anymore.”
“A tiff,” he said, plucking the pad and pen from my grasp, and writing his information down. He was just doing it for show since he was probably writing down a wrong number. “A summer squall.”
I glared at him. You were afraid, I thought at him loudly, knowing he’d pick it up.
Pick it up he did. I was afraid for you, he sent. That’s all it was.
When he finished, I snatched the pen and pad from him and handed it to someone else nearby, who began writing down their information. Gerard wandered away a little bit, but kept close enough we could still see each other easily. Bullshit, I thought. You’ve never been afraid for someone in your life.
Ah, I’m wounded, he said, mock sympathy staining his thoughts. I wanted to reach out and break the connection, or at least take control of it, but I couldn’t. I didn’t like being at another telepath’s mercy.
Be wounded, I sent to him, letting him feel my anger. You abandoned me when I needed you. Just running away like the boy you really are. Fuck off, Jerry.
I saw his mouth twist at his hated nickname, but the thoughts he sent to me were light. I knew what had happened, and yeah, maybe I did run, he sent. But I’m here now. And look, we didn’t even try to unfuck your head. Maybe it’s possible. At the last, he felt doubtful to me, but willing to try at least.
Shaking my head slightly as I continued to monitor the growing list of participants, There’s nothing wrong with my head, I’ve been told. I’m just repressing the use of my telepathy for some reason.
And who told you that?
Someone I trust more than you, I shot at him. You didn’t even bother to take a look afterwards, just declared me a lost cause and ran. Anger built up in me at the thought of him taking off like that. I’d had so much else going on at the time that I hadn’t taken the time to really feel what that betrayal had been like. Now that I wasn’t distracted? It boiled inside of me. I began to see why he’d gotten his reputation. It wasn’t that he was a betrayer, really, but that he only looked out for himself, or what would get him ahead. Because of that, he was reliably unreliable.
Maybe I jumped the gun, he said, sending soothing thoughts my way. I shredded them to the best of my meager ability, shaking off any attempts to alter my rapidly darkening mood. You’ve got to admit, you jumped right into the mess too, without heeding any of my warnings. It wasn’t just that you were ‘useless’ as I can tell you’re thinking I’m thinking now, but because you refuse to listen, Reece. What good am I as a teacher if you don’t listen to me, if you think you know everything? ‘Cause, let me tell you this: you don’t. You really, really don’t.
The speech caused me to pause before I replied to him. I was big enough to admit he was right and I hadn’t listened to him. Maybe he knew another way to have freed Rory without me burning myself out, or doing whatever it was I did. I didn’t think so, but it was within the realm of possibility. I was angry at him for ditching me, but not so angry my reason left me.
Fine, I mentally huffed. We’ll talk about it afterwards.
He beamed, showing me a million dollar smile from across the balcony. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. The crowd seemed to be thinning out, so I took the opportunity to stalk over to him and jab a finger into his chest. “Don’t forget about me being in charge,” I snarled at him. “But you might have a point.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it any other way,” he said, his clear blue eyes twinkling at me. Ger looked so merry, I relaxed. I knew I shouldn’t be relaxing, but there was just something about him which was hard to resist.
“Then we’ve got work to do,” I said.
Chapter Nineteen
A day, a couple meals, and a quick sleep later found me on the edge of Manhattan in a parking lot, just at the edge of where Pangea had reached. She was growing more and more every day, and every once in awhile you heard a terrific crash from the distance as she crumpled more buildings. The crashes came closer and closer together as the city got wiped out in the slowest catastrophe ever. It was time to act. Imperius better have gotten that stuff made, else this was going to be a lost cause.
I had texted the metahuman criminals on my list with the pertinent details and waited. Rory was here, and so was Gerard, both standing on either side of me as my entourage. Rory dressed pretty lightly, even though it was damn cold out. I knew he’d be wolfing out at some point. He was strong as a person, but not superhumanly strong, and he couldn’t change just a part of him like some books would have it, like just claws. When he changed for battle, he’d have to go all out. Ger stood there dressed in his villainous ‘uniform’. I’d kept the trench coat given to me by Malech, but pulled out my backup set of armor. It wasn’t pretty, but it’d keep me safe. Coupled with the armored thigh high boots, black jeans, and the leafy porcelain mask, I was ready to go. I’d like to think we made for an impressive sight, but I knew that wasn’t the case. Once the other criminals began arriving and gathering around me, then that was a different story.
The heroes had begun arriving too. A couple here, one there, a small team over yonder… they stayed apart from us, looking at us with mingled expression of disdain and disgust. Oh well. We weren’t here to win popularity contents. I’d gotten just under two dozen to sign up at the Underground, which had been more than I was expecting. The rest of that night had been spent contacting the contacts in the underworld to pass along the message to those who might have been interested. Hence, when the black hats began gathering, there were more than two dozen. Fifty was closer to the mark. I really hadn’t expected that turn out… and I really hadn’t expected each one to check in with me personally, give me a nod or a handshake out of respect, then go to waiting… waiting for the assault to begin or waiting for the white hats to try to arrest them.
This wasn’t exactly an unprecedented gathering, but it was unusual. Cops and criminals didn’t get along, but it always took a major threat to the city to bring them together. It hadn’t happened in my lifetime. The last time there had been a gathering like this was during the Axis Invasion. I glanced at Ger. He’d been around for that. Heck, he’d been one of the major players during it. Curiosity about his thoughts on this whole matter picked at the edges of my mind, but I shoved it away. I’d ask him about it another time, if I still cared to ask that was.
As the black hats gathered, a few of the older ones gave Ger a look, sometimes sharp and sometimes curious, but none said anything. His new, aged face gave him anonymity, and this was the first real test for it. He didn’t seem uncomfortable, and merely leaned on a cold car in the lot, waiting for things to get started. When I’d checked in with Rory, he hadn’t had any luck in finding Adira or Nosferatu… but I suspect he hadn’t looked too hard, as he had warned before. He stuck by my side after that, giving everyone a friendly look while he appraised the danger they might pose for me. I found it cute he’d appointed himself my bodyguard for real.
When Imperius arrived, I saw with some surprise Septimus was with him. I took a step forward to go talk to him, but Rebekah’s face loomed into view. “Hi!” she chirped, broad smile on her pixie face. “This is fun, ja?”
She was bundled in winter wear, nice and thick. “Smart, not wearing the uniform here,” I said, giving her a brief smile. The chill of the night had begun to wear through me, and I kept shifting my weight back and forth, not quite pacing in place to create warmth, but close..
“I’ll have to switch eventually,” she said, “but I know a lot of people would recognize it, and in such a big gathering, it wouldn’t
be smart.” She continued to smile as she waved to her dad, not far away. He upnodded back to her, a pleasantly neutral smile on his sharp features. “I thought you two had argued?”
“Something like that, sort of,” I said. “Besides, it’s all hands on deck… there’s quite a turnout here.” Pride for this thing that I had done filled me. This wasn’t happening without me and my doing. The city would be saved because of me, and everyone here would know it.
“It’s good to see you too, Rory!” she said, looking at the tall man to my left.
He inclined his head, shivering. “Maybe I should switch up now,” he said. “It’s getting colder, especially without the sun.”
“If you want to,” I said. “I’d wait a little longer, but that’s your decision.” Seeing a werewolf infected with the mutant psychic plant we were about to destroy might have been a bit much for the heroes in the crowd here. Considering we were fighting his ‘mother’ of sorts, there might be questions raised about the plant wolf running about. It was better to be safer than sorry, even if safer was a lot colder.
He shrugged it off, looking over the white hats as if he’d had the same thought. “In a bit, maybe, but this wind would freeze the balls off a brass monkey.”
“What?” I asked. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
He waved it off. Before I could inquire further, Rebekah said, her voice bright and shining as silver, “I brought people too! Here, look!”
She gestured, and I saw a familiar face and an unfamiliar face holding themselves away from the main crush of people. The first one was that Asian kid, Lee. He wore long shorts and a blue wife beater with sneakers, his black hair spiked up to stand tall. His wide nose and mouth dominated his skinny face. He didn’t look perturbed at all by the weather, but that was because he generated ice. I’m sure it granted him immunity to the cold. The second was a woman who bore a vague resemblance to him, but couldn’t have been more different in attitude. Or hair. Hers was bright red, made up in a tight bun on the top of her head. She wore a red katabira with long sleeves, tied off at the waist. Her slacks were black, but her shoes were bright red as well, going with a theme. The snow melted around her and the air shimmered with the heat which emanated from her body.
