Guardian's Rise

by Matthew Renard

  ‘Mr Anson?’

  ‘Yeah, Sami? What is it?’

  ‘I’ve been scanning police frequencies whilst we’ve been flying and-’

  ‘Are there more officers who want a time check?’ I interrupted, smirking.

  ‘Negative, there are requests for 10-93’s on the outskirts of Tarkenden Forest.’

  ‘And what’s a 10-93, Sami? Cupcakes?’

  ‘Detectives. And they’re Code 2 - they want someone there as soon as possible.’

  ‘We’re not detectives.’

  ‘We can detect things other people cannot, however, and may be able to lend assistance.’

  I sighed, still watching the heat blur until it stopped - on the cool clump of green yellow I was beginning to associate with the thermal outline of trees in Florida.

  ‘Looks like we won’t be alone. Let’s go.’

  I had never been to Tarkenden Forest before. Named after Johann Tarkenden, one of the founders of AwaTen, it stretched on nearly as far as the eye could see. Bordered on one side by the AwaTen compound, in my normal vision, the trees were a welcoming and cool green, their thick grey trunks reminding me of nothing so much as elephant legs. I landed slowly by two police cars, the normal inhabitants of which were half in/half out of their vehicles, except for one officer. She was talking quietly to a man in a white and silver suit, the cut of which suggested a powerful physique - although she had to have been nearly a foot shorter than him, she showed no intimidation. I watched as he raised a hand to me in greeting, before running it through a shock of blond hair. The officer with whom he was talking turned to look at me, scowled, and muttered something to the white-clad PI.

  ‘Yeah?’ She managed to get out, looking me up and down. ‘Hey, aren’t you the PI who keeps telling us how to do our jobs?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Yeah, you were outside that trash bar, you beat up some perps a few days ago, getting real good press.’ The officer was warming up. ‘Hey, guys. Take a look at the newest Cape in town! This guy thinks he can tell us how to do our jobs.’ She glanced back at her colleagues, who were suddenly taking a lot more interest in me.

  ‘Come on, Officer...’ I glanced at the embroidered name on her shirt ‘Pukalski. I heard you needed help and I came to give it.’

  ‘Hey, tough guy!’ A tall, burly male officer shouted from behind Pukalski, ‘I don’t see no badge on that fancy armour you got on. Come back when you’ve worked a real job, like protecting the public.’

  ‘Why don’t you come closer and say that to me yourself, instead of hiding behind another officer?’

  I make no apology for my introverted nature. As I believe I’ve already said, I’ve always hated crowds and will do my best to avoid them. I have an extremely small selection of “close” friends, and despite all appearances to the contrary, at this time in my life I was still extremely new to my powers, and too unused to the protection Sami provided to take it for granted, to be cocky or arrogant. I am also not quick witted enough to make a good come-back in a period of time which would make it seem like I was an ultra-cool wise cracking hero like you see in films. However, my mouth will occasionally run of its own accord, and calling out a police officer who could beat the hell out of me if I wasn’t in costume, making him seem like a coward, probably wasn’t the best idea I could have had in the moment.

  However, I still make no apology for it. The guy was an ass.

  ‘What did you say?’ The male cop, who was looking more and more like a boulder by the second, started to smoulder, and he repeated himself, slower. ‘What. Did. You. Say?’

  I shrugged, in too deep to stop now. ‘I said you’re hiding behind an officer who’s...what?’ I turned my attention back to Pukalski. ‘5’3? 5’4?’

  ‘5’4.’ Pukalski nodded, trying to restrain a smile. Whether it was a smile for me pointing out the shortcomings of Officer Boulder behind her or knowing I would soon be on the receiving end of a baton and a taser, I couldn’t say.

  ‘Right. 5’4. And you could easily hide two of her behind you... so why are you the one hiding?’ I let my question hang in the air, letting the other officers look at the boulder, who seemed to go even more red. The silence seemed to stretch on for minutes, whilst I glanced at everyone present. The white and silver runner had vanished in the commotion, although the movement of leaves behind where he had been standing left no doubt in my mind that he had darted inside Tarkenden Forest itself.

  It was Pukalski who took control of the scene again. ‘Rick, get back in your car and wait for the detective.’

  ‘But-’ Officer Boulder... Rick... complained.

  ‘No arguments. You’ve done enough here.’ Pukalksi eyed me critically. ‘And you? You have ten seconds to explain exactly how you think you can help before I book you on obstruction.’ She gestured with her thumb towards the forest. ‘We’ve got a missing girl, and the last time she was seen, she was headed towards this forest.’

  ‘So why not ask AwaTen for help finding her?’ I asked, as Pukalski checked her watch.

  ‘Seven seconds left, and we tried that. Five.’

  ‘I can see in thermal vision.’ I tried again. She stopped looking at her watch and nodded.

  ‘That’s more like it!’ She patted me on the back, just as the runner re-appeared. She turned back to him. ‘See, that’s what we need! Not some glorified rocket on legs. Scram, Silver Dart.’

  The blond man shrugged. ‘What can you do, right?’ He smirked at me, nodded, and ran off, back the way he came. We watched him go, and Pukalski turned back to me. ‘Right. Earn your keep, Flame Boy. What do you see?’

  Sighing lightly to myself, I rose up in the air, switching my vision to thermal. Looking around the forest, I saw what I assumed to be the trail of Silver Dart through the woods, slowly cooling to ambient temperature. Everything else was the green-gold of Florida thermals.

  ‘Well?’ Pukalski called up to me. Ignoring her, I kept searching, running my vision up and down, but nothing. Not even birds or small woodland animals like rabbits. ‘Nothing.’ I called down. ‘Nothing at all.’

  ‘You sure you can see in thermal?’

  I nodded. ‘Of course I’m sure, I...’ A yellow blur distracted me from off in the distance. ‘Wait, I...’ The blur was joined by another... and another... and they were moving...

  ‘We’re about to get company.’ I flew down, switching my vision back to normal.

  ‘Where?’ Pukalski demanded. I pointed in the general direction I’d seen the yellow images, and she cursed. ‘That’s where the compound is.’

  ‘The compound?’ I thought about it. ‘Oh. The AwaTen guys?’

  She nodded. ‘And they’re not going to be helpful.’

  ‘Why not? It’s their property, and if there’s a missing child, surely they’d help.’

  ‘Because, tough guy,’ Rick supplied, ‘they’re even more up their own asses than you.’

  ‘Hey, I-’ Pukalski cut me off as the AwaTen officials came around the corner. Rick smirked at me as if he’d won a point, and I couldn’t respond as I would want to. I couldn’t, based on what I was looking at.

  The AwaTen officials were dressed in white. Like, all in white. Three men with pristine white shirts with matching corporate logos over the left breast pocket, the same cream trousers with golden ties, and brown shoes. They wore identical white baseball caps with the same AwaTen logo from their breast pockets - a semi-circle with little tildes coming out to represent the sun, with AwaTen printed on the top. The same logo was emblazoned on their golden ties in white. The three men marched in unison, glaring at us, and stopped simultaneously.

  ‘You can’t be here.’ The first intoned.

  ‘You have not been invited.’ The second informed us.

  ‘This is private land.’ The third said in the same flat monotone as the other two, directing his glare at me.

  ‘I’m Officer Pukalski of the Capehill Police Department. We have reason to believe that there’s a missing child in Tarkenden
Forest, and-’

  ‘We are aware of your belief.’

  ‘That belief is wrong.’

  ‘This is private land.’

  I blinked. The monotonous delivery of these three AwaTen employees was unsettling, at best.

  ‘We could come back with a warrant.’ Pukalski added a note of a warning to her voice as she remained focused on the first speaker.

  ‘You could come back with a warrant.’ He agreed.

  ‘Coming back suggests you will be leaving. Do so now.’ The second joined in.

  ‘This is private land.’ The third reminded us.

  ‘Can you say anything else?’ I cut in, staring down the man. He looked back, watching me silently.

  ‘Regardless,’ Pukalski raised her voice to get me to be quiet, and to get attention back onto her. ‘When we come back, it will be with a warrant. You may as well save us the time and hassle and just let us investigate the forest.’

  The three men looked at each other for a minute, then back to the assembled police officers, and without saying a word, nodded as one.

  ‘You may enter our woodland, with us as your guides.’

  ‘Your PI friend may not enter.’ The second turned to look at me. I turned to the third, to wait for his pronouncement.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Because this is private land?’ I couldn’t resist needling him a little. He merely glared at me. Pukalski pulled me to one side and nodded at me.

  ‘Look, you don’t seem like a terrible guy, and I’m sorry I went off on you just now. But we’ve got what we need now, and if the AwaTen guys don’t want you here, isn’t it best that you abide by their wishes? For the sake of the girl.’

  I sighed. ‘For the sake of the girl, sure.’ I had a thought. ‘Want me to stick around, out of sight, and track you with my thermal vision?’

  She snorted. ‘Please. We’re highly trained members of the police department. We have tactical vests, weapons, and the skill to use them. These are three nerds who can’t raise their voices, let alone a hand against us. We’ll be fine.’

  I paused. Pukalski’s assessment seemed to make sense, but there was something quite off about the whole thing. Regardless, she was the police officer, and before too long the detectives would arrive as back-up for her and her men. I stepped back as the other officers, even Officer Rick the Cowardly Boulder, formed up into into an easy formation behind her. Rick smirked at me as they left, although I ignored him, choosing instead to share a nod with Pukalski.

  As they vanished into the trees, the green foliage swallowing the search party up, I realised there was nothing more I could do to help.

  ‘You know, as a Superhero, I’m not doing anything particularly heroic.’

  ‘Information logged.’

  I sighed. ‘Yeah, okay. Set a course for the Foundation, Sami.’

  Chapter 14

  Superfriends!

  ‘You need to go.’

  'I don’t want to.’

  ‘But you need to.’

  ‘No, I don’t.’

  Emily looked between Sammy and me as she leaned down, stretching to the coffee table. ‘What’re you two talking about?’

  ‘Jason has to go-’

  ‘To a meeting.’ I cut in, glaring at Sammy and hoping Emily didn’t notice.

  ‘Oh.’ She thought about it. ‘Why?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Why do you have to go to a meeting?’ She regarded me coolly.

  ‘Because...’ I struggled with the lie. ‘I’m the boss?’

  Emily shrugged, and refolded her legs under her lap, having reached successfully for the newspaper. ‘If you say so.’

  It was Sunday, and Sammy had had the idea to invite Emily over for brunch. Which is apparently a thing in America. Who knew? I think she suspected an ulterior motive when I had called her and invited her up to my hotel room “for brunch”, but it was all above board. Things were still a little bit tense after our date the other night.

  ‘When’s the meeting?’

  ‘Oh, not till tomorrow.’ Truth be told, whilst I did have a meeting with Michael about the Gnarler Act, I also wanted to go to City Hall. Sadly, I didn’t know when it was open, but despite my reluctance, once again Sammy was right: I did have to go.

  Tomorrow, I would officially register myself as Fire Guardian. Well, not me personally. Jasper Knight was going to make a re-appearance as the official “secret identity” of the Augmented Individual called Fire Guardian. It seemed perfect - I could keep old Fire Guardian away from me totally this way, and people would be looking for a tall American called Jasper Knight; not an average height Brit called Jason Anson.

  I glanced over at Emily. She was gnawing thoughtfully on a pencil. ‘12 across. 13 letters - “Far-fetched idea”.’ She looked back over at me, calculatingly. Slowly, she nodded. ‘Inconceivable.’

  ‘When did you start doing crossword puzzles?’ Sammy questioned, sounding genuinely curious.

  ‘Always.’ Emily shrugged, and scrawled the letters in. Sammy looked over and me, and I shrugged. I certainly couldn’t remember her doing them.

  We sat in what I would have liked to class as an easy silence; three friends enjoying each other’s company without needing to express themselves verbally. However, my stomach was churning, and I’m pretty sure the other two could tell. Part of me wanted to continue the talk with Emily, and another part wanted me to kiss her, and another wanted me to dive out of the window and fly away, turning my back on everything.

  What I did, instead, was sit there, silently, wishing I had a book or something.

  The rest of the day passed slowly, as Sundays often do. Sunday afternoons are, as a wise man once wrote, “the long dark teatime of the soul”. That statement’s always stuck with me because it’s absolutely true. You wait slowly for anything of interest to happen, without wanting to resort to something as mundane as watching TV. I thought about calling down to the lobby to see if they had any board games, but then changed my mind; Emily had a nasty habit of being ultra-competitive and rubbed it in my face whenever she’d win. Which was often. I still have nightmares about-

  ‘Monopoly?’

  Emily broke me out of my reverie. ‘Huh?’

  ‘I was asking if you wanted to play some Monopoly.’

  ‘Oh.’ I glanced at Sammy, who was shaking his head and mouthing “no”. ‘Uhm, no thank you? Besides, we don’t have a board.’

  ‘I’m sure if you called down, you could get one up here. After all,’ she smiled sweetly. ‘You’re the boss. Right?’

  ‘I am, but...’

  ‘You get crazy when you play games!’ Sammy entered into the conversation, earning a slow turn and cold stare, which silenced the usually too-talkative man.

  ‘I happen to like some healthy competition.’

  Still reeling from Emily’s triumphant turn at Monopoly, I made my way to the office the old-fashioned way... if a flying car could be considered “old fashioned”. As it glided up to the Foundation, I stepped out and into the brisk December air. Whilst the snow had pretty much all vanished, it was still pretty chilly out and I hurried my way into the heated reception area. The chirpy woman smiled and nodded at me.

  ‘Hello!’

  ‘Uhh... hi.’

  ‘Welcome to the Anson Foundation. How may I help you?’

  I blinked. ‘I was... on my way up to see Michael?’

  ‘Michael...?’ The woman’s green eyes seemed intelligent, but...

  ‘Michael Taytum?’

  ‘Oh, I see. And do you have an appointment with Mr Taytum today?’

  Do I? I mean... no, wait. ‘I didn’t think I would need one.’

  The woman tssked at me. ‘Well, Mr Taytum is a very busy, not to mention important, person. I’m afraid that if you don’t have an appointment, you can’t get in to see him today.’ She indicated the door. ‘Thank you for visiting us today.’

  ‘Alright.’ I felt more than a little bewildered. ‘I’ll just...’ I turned to leave, and actual
ly made it to the door, my hand on the cold glass panel, then froze. ‘Actually, I’ll just go up to my office, I guess.’ I turned back to the woman and smiled at her.

  ‘Your office?’ The woman sounded more than a little incredulous. ‘And who might you be?’

  I sighed inwardly. ‘I’m Jason.’

  The woman looked at me blankly. ‘I’m afraid,’ she began, sounding the exact opposite of afraid, ‘that I’ll need a last name as well.’

  I’d had enough. Without saying a word, I raised my hand slowly, extending my forefinger and pointed at the wall behind her. The wall with my last name on it.

  The woman followed my gesture and looked at the wall. Then turned back to me.

  ‘You must be joking.’

  I shook my head.

  ‘This is preposterous. If you don’t leave right now, young man, I’m going to call for security.’

  ‘I’m Jason Anson! Why is that so hard to believe?’

  ‘I’ve seen photos of Mr Anson. And it is hard to believe because Mr Anson is tall, and Mr Anson is handsome,’ she stood from her chair and did her best to loom over me in triumph, ‘and Mr Anson is black!’

  I hate Sammy.

  ‘Look, could you...’ I felt a headache coming on. ‘Could you call for Anna? Michael’s PA? Get her down here and she can vouch for me.’

  ‘Fine.’ She reached for a phone, picking up the handset and dialling a short number. ‘We’ll see about... yes! Hello, Miss O’Reilly? This is Cheryl from reception. There’s a...’ Cheryl looked me over with distaste on her features, ‘gentleman here who claims to be Mr Anson. However, he looks nothing like...’ She paused. ‘Yes, he is. Well, he’s short.’