Death Makes Me Stronger 4, page 6
And to confirm my theory about who the Mastermind was once and for all.
Chapter 4
“I need to call Raven,” I said as silence fell on the lab. “It’s been too long since we’ve checked in with each other, and I want to make sure that she’s okay.”
“See if she can tell us anything about the bunker,” Golden Weaver added. “She and Paul will be able to tell us if any of the people in the break room were supers.”
“Will do,” I winked and then reached over to squeeze my partner’s hand. “Don’t overdo it with your training.”
“I won’t,” she said and then turned back to Orion. “I’m ready for another round.”
I watched the two for a few seconds and then pulled myself away to call Raven. Golden Weaver knew her limitations better than anyone, but the spider-like woman was as stubborn as they came, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she pushed herself hard enough to pass out from the mind-controlling nanobots again. I turned to shut the sliding door to the lab and saw the psychic-blocker bracelet was already lit up with bright white light, but the gorgeous woman stood strong even as Orion upped the attack.
“She’ll be fine,” I told myself as I headed to the elevator.
“Back to your room?” the Watcher asked as the elevator doors locked me into the tiny box. “Alone?”
“Let’s go,” I laughed and then braced myself.
The metallic box took off like a rocket, and I pressed myself against the wall for the sudden stop I knew was coming when we reached the thirteenth floor. For just a second, gravity seemed to be suspended as the elevator came to a jarring halt and I was tossed upward like I’d been tossed from a catapult. But I landed on my feet with practiced ease, and smiled when my knees didn’t buckle like they had the first few times the mysterious woman had messed with the elevator’s speed.
“You’re getting better,” the Watcher said as the doors opened. “I’ll have to up my game.”
“I look forward to it,” I chuckled and headed out.
Raven’s phone rang so long that I thought it would go to voicemail, but the goth woman answered just in time. Every muscle in my body relaxed at hearing my girlfriend’s voice, even if she did sound like I’d just woken her.
“Hey,” she said in an adorably sleepy voice. “What time is it?”
“It’s a little after noon,” I said and let myself into my temporary apartment. “Did I wake you up?”
“Mmhmm,” she mumbled. “But it’s okay. I missed hearing your voice. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other.”
“We’ll see each other soon,” I promised. “Have you been eating?”
“Paul and Briar have brought my meals,” Raven said. “I’ve practically been sleeping in the morgue. We’re all hands-on deck after that bunker was found. I’m guessing that you already know about it?”
“I was there,” I sighed and pulled off my face mask.
Raven was so quiet that I thought that the call had been disconnected, but then she sniffed and took a deep unsteady breath like the goth woman had been crying.
“I’m so sorry, John,” she whispered. “You saw Admiral Freedom, too?”
“Yeah,” I said as I ran a hand through my hair. “I was the one that took him down from the chains.”
Another silence filled the line, and I could practically feel the goth woman’s worry through the phone. It was hard to think about the break room and Admiral Freedom’s mutilated corpse without tearing up, but there would be time to grieve once the Mastermind was caught. And that would only happen after we figured out exactly what the douchebag planned to do next.
“Have you and Paul finished running the dead guys’ DNA through the system?” I asked to distract myself from the wave of emotion that wanted to drag me under.
“Yeah,” the coroner said and then cleared her throat. “None of them were supers. Neither the ones that were topside in the factory, nor the ones that were killed in the break room. The ones in the factory all had Vis in their systems, but they were killed before it could burn through them.”
“Are you sure it would have?” I asked and made myself comfortable on the couch.
“Definitely,” Raven said around a yawn. “Some of them were already showing signs that they were about to start burning up. Paul ran the Vis from the bunker, and it’s definitely part of the new batch that’s been going through the city. Anyone without the supergene will die within minutes of taking it.”
“That has to be the Mastermind’s endgame,” I frowned and tapped my foot on one arm of the couch. “If he wants to make a world without normal humans, then spreading this new Vis far and wide will definitely do that. And there’s nothing that anyone can do to stop the deaths once it’s in their system.”
“No,” she agreed. “It’s like any other drug. They just have to wait until it burns through them.”
“And the earlier batches were weak enough that they gave non-supers powers, so they’ll think that’s still the case and want to take it,” I said. “It’s the perfect marketing scheme. I might have taken it when I was a teen. And I’m sure that there’s a lot of people out there that would just for the chance of becoming a super.”
“It’ll be a massacre,” my girlfriend said around another yawn.
“Get some sleep,” I laughed and shook my head. “Thanks for answering, but you need to get some rest. I’ll see you soon.”
“I won’t be at the funeral tomorrow,” Raven said. “I have too many bodies to examine, and Paul will be working in the lab.”
“Okay,” I said with a nod that she couldn’t see. “We’ll be able to see each other more once this is all over. Oh, and I’m going to send a few psychic-blocking bracelets over to the morgue. You should wear it at all times and give one to Paul and Briar.”
“I already have one,” she mumbled as if the goth woman was already half asleep.
“These are better,” I smirked. “You’ll have them in the morning.”
“Mmmkay,” she said.
Soft snores filled the line as if Raven had fallen asleep with the phone still up to her ear. I shook my head and listened for a few more seconds before I hung up and texted Orion about sending the bracelets to the morgue for my friends. My girlfriend and her friends probably weren’t on the Mastermind’s radar, but they did have a lot of contact with the dead, which meant that they might be able to untangle enough information about the Mastermind that he might start to feel the heat. Either way, it was better to be safe than sorry.
The inventor responded in seconds to let me know that it would be done, and to his credit, Orion resisted the urge to ask me why the coroner would need three of the bracelets. Of course, the nosy guy would probably ask the next time that we saw each other, but hopefully the experiments with Golden Weaver would distract him. He’d find out about Raven and the others at some point, but it was dangerous to be friends with a superhero right now, and the sleep-deprived man knew enough to understand that some identities needed to remain a secret.
I looked around the room as my mind started to race with questions and possible plans. Marty was supposed to send me the blueprints for the underground tunnels, so I grabbed my laptop and pulled up the email with the blueprints. I studied the specs for what seemed like hours, and even checked the conspiracy blogs for comparison photos, but none of them showed any tunnels that ran underneath the river, so clearly there was still some missing information.
Our best bet would be to map them out ourselves, but that would take months of hard work and a team big enough to wander around. The comms had also gone down when we were under the river, and Marty’s in-earpieces were some of the best that I’d ever come across. So there was the very real possibility that our teams would lose touch with each other in the concrete maze, and that meant the teams would be effectively operating on their own. That would be the worst-case scenario, especially if they actually managed to find the Mastermind’s hideout.
“I am so tired,” Anora snapped me out of my thoughts as she came into the apartment.
The superhero peeled off the new suit that the Designer had given her, plopped down, and then squeezed herself between me and the back of the couch. There were faint red smudges beneath Anora’s nose like she’d had at least one nosebleed during the training, but there weren’t any other obvious injuries. Golden Weaver yawned as sleep tugged her under, and I brushed my partner’s blonde and black hair out of her face.
“Sleep well,” I whispered.
I adjusted the laptop so that I could still read the conspiracy blogs while Anora slept next to me and then went back to my research. There were a lot of theories about Vis and its origins, but nothing definitive had been proven. I did find a couple of people that talked about it having the supergene that was stolen from Rusna, but even they didn’t know who the manufacturer was.
The sun set hours before sleep washed over me, and the next thing I knew, an alarm blared over the speaker system in the corner of the room. I jolted awake with my fists at the ready like Inferno, or some other supervillain, had broken into Heroes Society, but the screeching noise gave way to Vera’s voice.
“Good morning, heroes,” she said. “You have one hour before we meet in the lobby. You are expected to leave with us for Admiral Freedom’s funeral. The National Guard will be our escorts. Please arrive promptly as we will leave at eight a.m. exactly. And you should wear your hero costumes.”
“I’m going to rip her eagle wings off,” I muttered as I sat up.
“That’s a fight that I would pay to see,” Anora said as she came out of the bathroom.
Steam billowed after the superhero as if she’d used every drop of hot water in the entire tower. Anora’s tan skin stood out against her yellow and black costume, and my eyes immediately dropped to the curves that the skintight outfit accentuated. Golden Weaver was hands down the most attractive woman in the Heroes Society, and I made a mental note to thank the Designer for the way the new nanobot stripes hugged her perfectly round ass.
“Did you sleep well?” the gorgeous woman smirked and then leaned down to steal a long kiss.
“I did,” I said when we finally broke apart. “Did you already have coffee?”
“I did,” she laughed and pointed to the counter. “Breakfast was delivered a little while ago, but I wanted to jump in the shower. There might be some hot water left. I suggest you hurry, though, because Vera is very serious about us leaving at exactly eight a.m.”
“Already way ahead of you,” I chuckled and hopped up.
It didn’t take me long to get ready, and soon my partner and I were headed down to the lobby. The other heroes all filtered in like they had lead in their shoes, and of course, Blue Frost was one of the last to come down the elevators. I turned to stare at the ice super as he stumbled out into the hallway like the Watcher had dropped him too fast for him to adapt, and a smile crawled across my face.
“You’re lucky that he can’t see you laughing,” Golden Weaver whispered against my ear.
“You can’t, either,” I said. “Are you sure that I am?”
I didn’t have to see my partner’s face to know that she’d lifted an eyebrow at me, and it took all of my self-control not to burst into laughter. The last thing that we needed was for the overly sensitive Blue Frost to realize that we’d made a joke at his expense, especially since Vera’s feathers were already puffed up like the eagle-woman was ready to fight the world. I was glad that the glare she shot at the ice super wasn’t directed at me, and even that conceited jerk hung his head like a scolded child without a word from the head of the Heroes Society.
“Now that we’re all here,” Vera said with a glare at Blue Frost. “We can go. The National Guard is outside. They are ready and very willing to lock up anyone if they get out of line. That includes us. Please be on your best behavior as we mourn our fallen brother.”
“Why should we mourn him?” the mousy girl that hung around Blue Frost snapped. “It’s his fault that we’re all in this mess in the first place.”
“Because he was one of us,” Alexiar said with a stern look at everyone. “Whether he went down a dark path or not. We are going to celebrate the good deeds he did before he became the villain that we know him to be now.”
A few of the other heroes grumbled, but most of them fell quiet when Vera flapped her wings once like a teacher warning a group of rowdy elementary students. An uncomfortable silence fell on the lobby, but the eagle-woman just turned and opened the blacked-out front doors to reveal a courtyard filled with National Guard soldiers.
There were two tanks out by the road with their cannons pointed directly at the Heroes Society like we would come out swinging, and at least fifty more soldiers armed with assault rifles stood just behind the tanks. I recognized a couple of them from the underground bunker’s cameras, but thankfully, none of them seemed too interested in me. The escort team watched us carefully like they were prison guards rather than a protective shield, and a clear path had been marked out for us to follow all the way down to the main city cemetery.
“This is ridiculous,” Blue Frost huffed as we started forward as a group.
The ice super had managed to weave through the other heroes so that he was near the front with Vera, and I rolled my eyes at the conceited jerk. He had no idea what had really happened in the bunker, but Blue Frost wasn’t the only one that looked irritated that we had to go to the funeral. Alexiar and Sun Streak had even fallen back to let the other man take the lead like they were sulky teenagers being forced to go to a family gathering.
Vera shot a look over her shoulder to remind all of us that we were supposed to be respectful, but there were still a lot of sour faces in our little group. Some of the heroes stopped in their tracks when we finally reached the cemetery. It was like the sight of Admiral Freedom’s tomb was enough to remind them that any of us could go evil under the right circumstances, and the protestors’ shouts confirmed that a lot of the city thought that we already had.
A tall white statue of Admiral Freedom stood in the far back of the cemetery with oak trees around it to give the stone hero shade. Barriers were set up everywhere to keep out the protestors, and New Liberty’s finest were in full riot gear as if they expected things to get out of control. At least the tanks that had escorted us had stayed out on the streets, but the fallen hero’s resting place was anything but peaceful as we all took our seats in the hard white plastic chairs that had been set up in front of a makeshift stage.
I sat between Golden Weaver and Vera while Alexiar and Sun Streak sat on the other side of the eagle-woman. The number two and three heroes each had red-rimmed eyes as if they’d cried all night, but Alexiar’s stern glare showed no other signs of emotion while the brunette sobbed gently like the statue actually held Admiral Freedom’s body. I balled a hand into a fist as the image of his corpse flashed unbidden across my mind, but then the mayor strolled out onto the stage, and white-hot rage replaced my grief.
The thin man was in another tailored suit that made him look more like the grim reaper than the city’s leader. It was hard to think of the man as a threat as he stood in front of bodyguards that towered over the politician like the trees behind Admiral Freedom’s statue. The mayor looked like a strong breeze would break him apart, but there was no doubt in my mind that he was at least working with the Mastermind.
My attention shifted to Kyle Isles as the PR guy stood to the side of the makeshift stage. His eyes met mine, but there was no accompanying headache like I usually had when the unassuming man looked at me. I nodded once just to acknowledge him and then turned my head back toward the mayor, though I still watched Admiral Freedom’s right-hand man out of the corner of my eye.
“Welcome, everyone,” the mayor said and lifted his hands to quiet the protestors. “Today we gather to mourn the loss of one of New Liberty’s greatest heroes.”
“You mean one of its greatest traitors!” someone shouted.
“He didn’t do this!” a woman screamed and glowered at the first man. “He’s being framed.”
“The investigation is still ongoing,” the mayor said as if the other two hadn’t spoken. “And while we all grieve the deep betrayal of everything that he used to stand for, we can all agree that Admiral Freedom saved many lives over the years that he stood as a shining example of all things good in New Liberty.”
Cheers warred with angry shouts all around the cemetery as protesters and supporters lifted their voices to be heard. The National Guardsmen that had followed us were on high alert with their assault rifles at the ready like they would mow down the crowds if they got too rowdy, and every muscle in my body tensed. The people of New Liberty were allowed to voice their opinions, no matter how misinformed they were, and if the soldiers and cops tried to hurt them, then I’d step in.
“Everyone,” the mayor said and flashed one of his famous smiles. “Please, now is not the time to debate how the heroes have failed us within the last few months. We must mourn not only the loss of a once-great superhero, but of the dreams that we placed on his shoulders.”
Vera’s wings flicked out as the eagle-woman clacked her beak, and I realized that the warrior had strapped her sword on as if she expected a fight at the funeral. It wouldn’t be too much of a surprise given the current atmosphere, and even I’d just thought that fists were about to fly. Still, I knew enough about her to know that the head of the Heroes Society would never go to war unless she had to, and after a few deep breaths, she managed to calm down, though the glare she shot at the mayor was hot enough to melt steel.
A couple of the heroes in the row behind me started to grumble about how Admiral Freedom had completely destroyed the Heroes Society, but the crowd slowly started to calm down as the mayor smiled at everyone and then asked them to wait until the end of the service to voice their opinions.
A small headache formed behind my right eye as the Mayor gazed at the unsettled crowd, but it was nothing like the migraines I felt when Kyle Isles spoke to me. There’d long been a suspicion that the thin man probably had some slight psychic powers in order to sway the crowds to his side, a necessary evil for most politicians in this day and age. That seemed to hold true as he waited for the throngs to stop yelling, and after a few minutes, even the protesters went silent.
