Guardian's Rise

by Matthew Renard

  ‘Yes, indeed.’ Tubonay expertly backtracked. ‘However, whilst on the job, they protect this city - the city they live in and love. How could you not take the crime personally?’ He smiled at me. ‘What was the officer’s name? I don’t know everyone myself, but I could find out how the case went.’

  ‘Officer Pukalski.’ I informed him and watched as his face turned from polite to a mask.

  ‘Ah. I’m afraid I can’t discuss that particular case with you.’

  ‘I thought you didn’t know every officer personally.’ Emily said. ‘But you know her?’

  ‘No comment.’

  ‘So you know her?’ I provided.

  ‘I’m sorry, no comment. The missing person case is an open investigation. I can’t bend the rules for even the richest man in the world.’

  ‘So the girl wasn’t found?’

  ‘What girl?’ Tubonay blinked.

  ‘The...’ Something is not right here. ‘The missing girl? The one Pukalski was investigating.’

  ‘Oh. Yes, of course.’ He stepped back, nodding at Michael. ‘If you’ll excuse me?’

  ‘Of course, Commissioner.’ Michael seemed as confused as I felt. We watched him go, pulling a phone out of his pocket, and Michael rounded on me. ‘What was that?’

  ‘I honestly don’t know.’

  ‘I’ll go find out.’ Sammy suggested. He squeezed Geoff on the shoulder before slipping away, and before we could say anything, watched him speak to various people in the vicinity of the Commissioner. Never looking at him, never approaching him directly, Sammy seemed to stay on the side-lines, never entering into the bubble of Tubonay’s personal space, doing a variety of strange things. He took some selfies, shook a lot of hands, smiled and told jokes. He continued doing this for a few minutes after Tubonay had departed.

  ‘Do you think he even knows what he said he’d do?’ Emily mused, as we watched him. I shook my head, but saw Sammy look over at us as if he’d heard and winked.

  ‘Also...’ Emily sounded more thoughtful, ‘is it me, or does Sammy look more...worn down?’

  I glanced at Geoff, who shrugged. ‘He’s seemed quite tired recently, but you know him better than I do.’ I thought back to his behaviour as of late - the yawning, falling asleep on my bed after we got back from the Centre... there was definitely something amiss. I resolved to speak to Sammy about it but pushed it out of my mind after he casually sauntered back.

  ‘So.’ He began, putting one arm around Geoff, and another around the bemused Michael. ‘Hello, boys.’ He smiled winningly at them, before turning his attention to me. ‘That missing person case?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  It’s not some girl. It’s that cop you met. Pukalski.’ I began to speak when Sammy interrupted me. ‘They don’t think she’s missing, though.’

  ‘Well that’s go-’

  ‘They think she’s dead. Her, and the other officers who were with her.’

  I shivered. The memory of them walking slowly into Tarkenden Forest, unknowingly towards their deaths, entered my mind. Did one of them whistle as he walked towards his murder? Or was my brain playing tricks on me. I thought about Rick the Boulder, and about how I would never be able to one-up him, and most of all, I thought about Pukalski. I thought about that final nod she had given me. I thought about her ease with which she commanded the situation she had been in. Most of all, I thought about how I didn’t even know her first name. And now I’ll never get to ask her. I let out a deep sigh.

  ‘Is there a problem?’ A clipped voice asked from behind me. I turned and saw the balding man... the spider... standing in front of me, looking at me and Sammy. ‘It’s very nice to make your acquaintance, Mr Anson, thank you for your invitation to your party.’ He smiled. ‘I’m Doctor Arthur Penderghast.’ He looked at my friends. ‘And you are?’

  ‘Geoff Montgomery.’ Sammy’s date smiled, enthusiastically pumping Penderghast’s hand. ‘It’s a real honour to meet you, Doctor Penderghast. I’ve read all your papers.’

  ‘Why, thank you young man.’ Penderghast seemed genuinely touched.

  ‘Your theories on climatological tipping points and ecological thresholds are inspired work.’ Geoff seemed to want to go on, but Penderghast was more interested, at that point, in my date than in Sammy’s.

  ‘And you are?’

  An unreadable look flickered over her face as Emily drew herself up, in a manner I would have called borderline defiant if I didn’t know her better.

  ‘I’m Emily Roarke, Doctor. It’s a pleasure to meet you.’

  The doctor nodded. ‘Miss Roarke... of SabrexTech?’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘It’s a wonder our paths haven’t crossed before. I thought I’d met all the executives of the United Technology Conglomeration.’ He put his hand out, which she took, and shook once, firmly, before letting her hand fall. I noticed she rubbed her palm against her dress subtly, before plastering on a fake smile.

  ‘Well, if you’ll excuse us, Doctor. I’m rather hoping to get a kiss at midnight from Mr Anson here, and if we’re talking to you all night that’ll never happen.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ He turned his attention to Sammy, and I was grateful that he hadn’t been distracted that the floor had opened up and my stomach had leapt through it, at Emily’s comment about kissing me at midnight. ‘You know, I really must catch up with you about a special project in the New Year. Something that will change your perspective on things...’

  Sammy nodded, and for the first time I noticed a sheen of perspiration on his forehead. ‘Yeah, yeah. Sounds good, Doc. Listen, I need to...’ He jerked his thumb behind him, and smiled at me, noticing my gaze. ‘I guess I’m more tired than I thought. I’m going to sit down.’

  ‘Yeah, okay.’ I watched as Sammy stumbled gently towards his chair

  Emily dragged me away before I could hear much more. ‘Make an appointment!’ I called out to him, before he vanished behind the milling crowds.

  As we began to dance, I looked at Emily, who averted her gaze. ‘What was that all about?’

  ‘Nothing. I just... I’m not keen on people like him.’

  ‘Since when? Most of your job must have you working alongside scientists every day.’

  ‘And I don’t want my work following me home.’ Emily retorted angrily. ‘My private life and my work life shouldn’t interfere with each other.’ She began to squeeze my hand, and enhancements or not, it hurt. ‘Nobody can tell me what I should be doing, or who I should be seeing, or-’

  ‘Hey, hey!’ I tried to soothe her. ‘Em, calm down. What’s this all about?’

  She shook her head. ‘Never mind.’ She sighed, and we finished dancing along with the song’s end. She and I found our table, along with fancy “reserved for” cards. ‘Fancy another drink?’

  ‘Yeah. I’ll go this time, though, okay?’

  She nodded, and sat in her chair, as I made my way through the crowds to the bar. Getting our drinks, I turned back to see her out of her chair and approaching Doctor Penderghast.

  What’s all that about?

  I moved closer, attempting to replicate Sammy’s success with the Police Commissioner, and although I couldn’t hear what they were saying over the noise of the crowd and the music, they were having a heated and angry conversation about something. My lip-reading skills are abysmal at best, and I didn’t even want to guess at what they were saying. One thing was certain, however, from their body language and the way they were quietly arguing: they definitely knew each other.

  Bracing myself for the inevitable argument, I drew closer to them, and heard Penderghast retorting about how Emily was ‘...Losing sight of the main focus behind Project Chronos.’

  ‘I’m doing nothing of the sort, Doctor.’ Emily spat back. ‘Maybe we should go and speak to the Chairman. I’m sure he’d have something to say about your little pet project, and I doubt it would-’

  I cleared my throat, and Emily spun to face me. ‘Oh! Uhm... I...’

  ‘Doctor,’
I began, addressing Penderghast. ‘Kindly leave Miss Roarke alone. This is a social occasion, not a work event.’ I gave Emily her champagne, took her by her free hand, and nodded to Penderghast. ‘Kindly leave us alone, before I have you ejected from the party.’

  I pulled Emily gently back to our table, with her being surprisingly silent throughout the short trip. She also sat down in a thoughtful silence, and I got the impression she was measuring me up as she sipped at her champagne. I, however, didn’t want to be the first one to speak, so I sat back, also silently, and watched her watch me. That calculating gaze from our dinner the other night was back, but this time it seemed... colder. Almost reptilian, as if I could turn into a predator. Or prey.

  ‘How much of that did you hear?’

  ‘Not much.’ I replied honestly. ‘Something about a pet project.’

  ‘Nothing else?’

  ‘No.’ I tilted my head. ‘Why?’

  She sighed. ‘It’s that confidential project I’m working on. Doctor Penderghast owns Lemniscate International, and I’m assisting him in... something.’ She smiled sadly, her hand moving up of its own accord to rest against the engagement ring she was wearing around her neck, on a silver chain. ‘I can’t say any more than that, I’m sorry.’

  ‘It’s okay.’ I smiled back, trying to ignore her make-shift necklace again. ‘I don’t need to know any more, and I don’t want to get you into any trouble.’ I thought back on the other snippet I’d heard. ‘It’s not like anyone even needs watches anymore, right?’

  Emily looked at me as if I had said something completely irrelevant. ‘Uhh... sure?’

  That, more than anything else, began to worry me. I opened my mouth to ask more questions, when a shout came from nearby. I turned in time to see Sammy, falling out of his chair, collapse on the ground next to me.

  Chapter 17

  The Gates Of Disorder

  ‘So... what’s wrong with him?’

  ‘Nothing’s wrong with me, Jay. I’m just tired.’ Sammy tried to smile at me, but it faltered on his face, and turned into a huge, gaping yawn. I raised my eyebrow at that and turned to Doctor McMannus.

  ‘If we could...?’ McMannus gestured further away.

  ‘Yeah, you two sod off. I just need... to... close...’ Sammy drifted off before our eyes, unable to summon the energy to even finish the sentence. I snorted, and shook my head, taking the opportunity to look around Sammy’s office.

  It was beautifully decorated, although it didn’t seem to be in Sammy’s style; cream and beige walls were a marked difference from my wood panelled ones, and whereas I had thick blue carpet, Sammy’s flooring was black wood. As his desk was made of the same material, and had curved, flowing lines, it looked almost as if the desk had grown organically out of the floor. It had an understated elegance that most definitely was Sammy, although... I don’t know. I half expected wall hangings and posters of his favourite PIs. Hell, I would have posed for one myself, as Fire Guardian, just to get a laugh out of him. Right now, that would be infinitely preferable to seeing him like this; it was un-natural.

  ‘So. Doctor: what’s wrong with Sammy?’

  ‘He’s fatigued.’

  ‘Yeah, I can see that.’ I gestured towards my friend. ‘I mean, what’s medically wrong?’

  ‘I mean, medically, he’s fatigued.’ He shook his head. ‘You kids these days-’

  ‘I’m 27.’

  ‘-You think that because you understand a word, you can use it properly.’ McMannus sighed, scratching the bridge of his nose. ‘It’s like how “literally” no longer means literally. People punctuate with “ya know” and “like”, and it drives me insane.’

  ‘Doctor...’

  ‘My niece, bless her heart, has to write these things down. She’s a police officer, you’d like her.’ He nudged me. ‘Word for word reports. I don’t know how she copes.’

  ‘Doctor!’

  ‘Yes, yes, yes.’ He seemed impatient with me. ‘When I say Mr Edwards is fatigued, Mr Anson, I don’t mean he’s a little sleepy. I mean he has acute fatigue. How is he sleeping?’

  I peered over. ‘With his mouth open, drooling a little... on his couch. Lovely.’

  ‘I mean in general.’

  I shrugged. ‘We don’t talk about our sleep patterns, but he hasn’t complained about lack of sleep.’

  ‘Any history of diabetes, heart disease, or anaemia?’

  I thought about it. ‘Not to the best of my knowledge.’

  ‘Has he been overexerting himself recently?’

  ‘Oh, God yes.’ I nodded. ‘AwaTen sent him a WalkWidget, and he’s been pushing himself to get a high number of A.P.Ps.’

  ‘Ah, yes.’ McMannus nodded. ‘AwaTen Potential Points.’

  ‘You’ve heard of them?’

  McMannus pulled back his sleeve, to show a bright blue WalkWidget. ‘I must admit, I don’t get about as much as I could.’ He peered at the screen. ‘I’m on 2576 APPs.’

  ‘Okay...?’

  ‘Let’s just see what Mr Edwards has been up to.’ He reached down and picked up Sammy’s wrist, examining the red device. ‘Oh, my. Mr Edwards has reached 23,942 APPs this week. No wonder he’s exhausted, he must be working out constantly.’

  ‘Sounds about right.’ I tried to keep my voice non-judgemental, and I think I may have partially succeeded.

  McMannus undid the WalkWidget and slipped it off Sammy’s wrist. ‘Does he... ah. Yes, I see it.’ He took the WalkWidget to a small corresponding stand on Sammy’s desk, and clipped it on. It made a faint hissing noise as it did so, nodding with satisfaction at something. ‘There. His APPs have been logged with AwaTen. No need for him to miss out on his Awa-Ten score.’ He smiled indulgently, and I shook my head.

  ‘What the hell, Doctor? You’ve just told me Sammy’s medically worn out because of this thing, and now you’re... what? Uploading his high score from it?’

  McMannus frowned slightly, and then shrugged. ‘I will admit, it didn’t feel as good as when I upload my own scores.’

  What?

  ‘Anyway,’ McMannus continued. ‘It’s highly likely Mr Edwards has just been pushing himself too hard. His best friend is a Superhero now. Maybe he feels a compulsion to keep up?’

  That brought me up short - how had my changes affected Sammy? If you looked back on our lives, he would be the frontrunner for Hero, with me as the bumbling sidekick. Sammy was... amazing. Universally loved. With the exception of racists and homophobes (and most of them changed their mind about Sammy upon meeting him) everybody had always adored him. He thrived on that popularity, ate it up like a starving man at a buffet. He was tall, handsome, athletic, polite, friendly and personable. One time at school, a new kid came in and tried to usurp Sammy’s position as de facto head of the school by trying racism and anti-gay comments, and when those didn’t work, tried to fight him physically. Sammy had knocked the other guy to the floor in under five seconds, and then, standing over him, extended his hand to pull him back up to his feet. His strength and gentle nobility were a part of him, even then.

  People had been mistaking Sammy for me in Capehill, because he was everything you expected from a rich, kind person. I was the sidekick. I was the pity case that the wise, handsome and smart guy kept around, so everyone could say “what a fantastic guy that Sammy Edwards is.” That intensified when Emily had walked out on me, and when I lost my job, and when I couldn’t afford rent. Sammy was my lifeline, and although he had never been crass enough to talk about it with anyone (as far as I knew, at any rate), and he never chased up the fact I must have owed him thousands of pounds, we both knew who the better man was.

  Then I won the lottery.

  Overnight I went from a persistently broke, consistently unemployed man to an unemployed man worth billions in the One World Dollar, and even with the Foundation, my personal fortune was such that I could spend millions each year in interest alone, and never worry about touching the capital.

  Then I won another kind of lottery. If
“winning” is the right term to use.

  I became a Superhero.

  Okay, so sure, it wasn’t really my idea. I hadn’t asked for my legs and left arm to be basically blown off my body, or to lose my sight. But when you have the money to repair your body and make it better, you do it! Also, let’s not forget it was Sammy who tricked me into getting these flying legs. Sammy who help with my costume and gave me the ridiculous moniker “Fire Guardian”. He’d done so much for me, without complaint... now it was my turn to help him.

  The only problem with that was that I had only the most basic idea of how to start.

  ‘Maybe... there’s another possibility, Doctor?’

  ‘Go on.’ Doctor McMannus smiled indulgently at me, crossing his arms in a “look who’s going to try to argue medicine with a doctor” manner best left reserved for Anti Vaxxers. ‘What else could it be?’

  I looked across from him, to Sammy’s desk, to the spot it occupied on Sammy’s wrist. Enhancing my vision slightly, I noticed that there was a shiny outline left on his skin. ‘What’s that?’ I pointed.

  McMannus followed my finger to Sammy. ‘Oh, that? It’s nothing, just the contacts needed to make the WalkWidget work properly.’ He shrugged. ‘They help track the AwaTen Potential Points.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘I’m not sure, it’s proprietary technology. You would have to ask somebody at AwaTen... of course,’ he finished, ‘they would never tell you.’

  ‘Could this be connected to Sammy’s... fatigue?’

  ‘Yes, I always told you. He’s most likely pushing himself too hard.’

  ‘That’s not what I...’ I sighed. ‘Never mind, Doctor. Thank you.’ I mentally shrugged to myself. ‘You’ve been a huge help.’

  ‘You’re more than welcome, Mr Anson. Make sure young Mr Edwards here takes it easy for a few days.’ McMannus smiled at me, nodded once, and left.

  ‘I thought he’d never leave.’ A familiar voice croaked out from the sofa.

  ‘Hey!’ I grinned and was kneeling at Sammy’s side before I knew it. ‘You’re awake?’