Dream Eater - Three Glimpses
chibipoe
May I tell you of the glory that is Catradora?
- Location
- Astoria, Oregon
Interlude - Three Glimpses
The phone began to ring. Brian thought about ignoring it as he was in the middle of dinner.
"Sorry, Aisha," Brian said. "I've got to take this."
"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm going to watch some TV."
He waved a hand and brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
"Brian, I need you to come pick me up," Lisa said, a note of very obvious panic in her voice. "Like, now."
"Lisa? What the hell. Where have you been? I've been trying to get in touch with you for days!"
"No time for that," she hissed. There was a surge of noise in the background, making what she said too hard to understand. "—And hurry up. I'll be at the corner of Bleecker and Greymalkin Lane!"
"Lisa, I'm having dinner with my sister, I can't just leave her… and you've hung up. Great." He stared at the phone for a moment and pulled up recent calls, dialing the last number. After a moment, he got a message that the phone was no longer in service.
"Damnit, Lisa," he muttered, putting his phone into his pocket. Judging from what Lisa had said, it sounded like she was in trouble. Sighing, he walked back into the living room where Aisha had moved to.
"I need to go out for just a bit," he said. "Stay here, don't let anyone in and don't leave."
"Stay here and don't leave kind of mean the same, bro," Aisha retorted without looking away from the TV. "Going out for a quickie?"
"What? No! Why would you even ask that?" he demanded. "A friend just needs a pick up. I won't be gone long."
"Sure, whatever," she replied. "You got any popcorn I can fix?"
"I think there's some in the cabinet over the stove," he said, grabbing his coat and keys. "I'll be back soon." He didn't hear her response before he left, taking care to lock the door up tight.
He hit the road soon after, taking note of the mostly abandoned streets. He had caught an announcement on the news earlier of the PRT announcing that the gang war was apparently over. The Undersiders had kept a low profile through most of it, especially with Lisa dropping out of touch so abruptly. Brian waited for the light to change before flipping on the radio.
"—And now, to everyone's favorite group of capes, New Edition, performing one of their classic hits, If It Isn't Love!" A moment later, a fairly upbeat song started with a quick drumroll and he tapped on the steering wheel for a bit, driving forward when the light changed.
He pulled into a parking space near the corner she had said to meet at, looking around for any sign of her. There weren't a lot of people out and even at this hour, her blonde hair would be easy to pick out. A few minutes passed and he watched some people come and go, more than one giving him an odd look. Even with the announcement from the PRT today, there weren't a lot of people who willingly came out this late yet.
And they're probably wondering why I'm sitting out here.
A moment later, his attention sharpened as a figure slipped out from some shadows across the street, making a beeline in his direction. For a second, he tensed at the sight of the large, dark coat hanging off the figure's shoulders. But then, he realized just how slight they were. A dirty, tangled mop of hair poked out above the collar.
"Shit, Lisa?" he asked. He hit the automatic lock so she could climb in the passenger seat. She fumbled with the door and pulled it shut after entering, holding one arm close against her torso.
"Lisa, what the—" he began.
"Drive, now," she said, her face becoming visible from within the oversized coat. Dirt smudged one cheek, covering what he thought was a bruise. Or rather, as he looked closer, the corner of the bruise that was most of her face.
"What the hell happened to you?" he demanded, feeling all the anxiety and anger he had kept bottled up over the week begin to burst.
"Brian, please," she said, the words rough, as if she had strained her voice somehow. "Just drive. Turn left or right, I don't care, but get me the fuck away from here! Please."
He shifted out of park and pulled away from the curb, the frown never leaving his face. After a few blocks, she seemed to relax just a bit and drew a slightly dinged laptop from the folds of her coat. As she did, his eyes fell on a ring of shiny metal around one wrist, with the broken end of a chain dangling from it. Angry red marks were visible around that wrist as well.
"What the hell happened to you?"
She didn't answer immediately, carefully twisting in her seat to look back the way they had come. He glanced her way briefly and saw her eyes fixed back slightly skyward.
"What are you doing? Come on and sit down before some cop decides to pull me over," he told her. "Last thing we need is someone stopping us and you looking so beat up. I've seen how that goes."
She sat back down, looking frustrated for a moment before she tugged at the handcuff still circling her wrist.
"Leave it," Brian said. "We'll go to the warehouse. I've got some stuff there for disinfecting and I can get it off there too."
"Thank you," she said quietly. "And thank you for coming."
"Thank me by explaining what—" a thunderous roar drowned him out and something slammed into the car. He resisted the panicked impulse to turn the wheel incorrectly and corrected for the slide, managing to bring the car under control. His eyes went to the rear view mirror, immediately looking out the back window at what he saw. A pillar of fire swirled into the night sky, maybe half-a-block away from where he had just picked up Lisa.
"What the fucking hell was that?" He took one last look at the fading pillar before driving off. Flaming shrapnel was falling around, but it was too far away for him to be affected and he began calming the further away he got.
"I don't think our boss is going to be accepting my resignation now," Lisa said. With the bruising, her usual grin was almost grotesque.
"What?" he said. "Did you do that?"
Something went across her face for a moment and she shook her head in a sharp, rapid movement. "No. That. Wasn't me. What it was… shit… I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? That's your entire thing, knowing stuff. So what do you mean you don't know?"
"I don't, okay?" she retorted, her eyes drifting back toward the fading display. "Just… drive, please?"
Brian nodded. "We'll talk about this more at the loft."
"If that's the farthest away we can get right now, sure," she muttered, throwing a haunted look back down the road again.
"Thanks ever so much," she grumbled, setting the laptop down. "Rachel here?"
He shrugged. "She's out checking on her dogs. Been there more than here lately." He gave her a look. "What happened to you?"
"Hand," Brian said, coming back with some tools and a first aid kit. Lisa raised her hand as he began working at the lock on the handcuff. Regent's eyebrows went up at the sight of it.
"Going to guess that isn't the fun kind," he observed. "Mine are—"
"Fluffy with prints, I know," she interrupted. "Ugh, I'll tell Rachel myself later. Long or short version?"
"Short," Alec said, already looking bored and beginning to turn back toward his game.
"Long," Brian corrected. "Starting with where you've been. You went out last week and then just dropped out of touch."
She held her arm up, earning an annoyed look as it upset whatever he was doing. "As you can see, I was indisposed and phones weren't an option." He took her hand back and resumed work on the lock. A moment later, it clicked and dropped away.
"Thank you," she said as he started cleaning the chafe marks from the cuff. "Short version. We used to work for someone. If you heard that latest explosion, well, then you know why we don't work for him anymore."
"I'm sorry," Alec said without looking away from the television. "I couldn't hear it over the sound of my video games."
Brian glared and pressed a damp gauze pad on her forearm. "Hold that there for a moment." He stalked over and switched off the video game console.
"Ok, finished," Alec said, twisting to look toward Lisa. "You were saying?"
"Our employer was actually Coil," she said as Brian started on her arm again. "A week ago, I was talking with someone that he was targeting, hoping to warn her and get her help. He… was apparently several steps ahead of me."
"So, you've been his prisoner for the past week?" Brian asked.
"Bingo," she answered. "Until a few hours ago, at least. At that point, well…"
"This explosion?" Brian prompted. "You said earlier you knew who…?"
"I know who and some of the what, but not so much of the why and how," she told them, wincing as Brian worked some of the disinfectant into a particularly sensitive spot. "As it stands, I managed to salvage what I could, but we won't have my former employer's backing, or money. So, it's just us now."
Alec shrugged. "I didn't even know we had a secret backer. So nothing's really changed."
Lisa sighed as Brian wrapped her forearm. "I'm glad you're so sanguine about this. We'll need to just keep a low profile for a while. After this week, I'm sure the PRT and Protectorate will be on alert and come down on anyone stepping out of line hard."
"How do you know that?" Alec asked. "You've been away for a week getting smacked around for kicks or whatever."
She glared at him for a moment. "Too useful. Got told things. Figured the rest out myself."
"Go get some sleep," Brian ordered. "You look like crap and we can talk more in the morning."
"There's still more I need to—" Lisa began, before her mouth stretched out in a yawn. She picked up the laptop. "Okay, fine. Get Rachel here and I'll explain what I can then." She started toward her room. They could fill her in on what she had missed this week then as well.
She sat the laptop down on her desk after she entered the room. She knew it well enough that navigating in the dark wasn't a problem. Lisa settled on her bed gingerly, glad she had kept Brian from noticing some of the other injuries.
Need to go see the doctor first thing in the morning. The thought made her frown a bit, but she accepted it as necessary. None of the injuries were life-threatening, but it was best to have them look her over just in case there was something she had missed. She was glad she kept Brian from noticing them, taking a slow shuddering breath when she sat on her bed.
The quiet dark of the room seemed to squeeze in around her, almost suffocating. Any minute now, Coil, or his men would burst in and proceed to teach her a lesson about betrayal. Lisa sucked in a breath and fumbled for the lamp. It came on, filling the room with soft light. Relaxing, she sighed and began gently massaging her forehead. The dull ache that had been bothering her from frequent use of her powers was finally threatening to break into a full on migraine.
But she was free. He was dead.
She shook her head. No, she couldn't be sure of that without seeing the body.
Hebert was unlikely to have left anything identifiable. A spike of pain accompanied the thought and she almost bent over, wincing as the movement brought a different kind of pain from her torso.
Several ribs cracked, possibly broken. Another stab of pain came along and she hissed, reaching for the painkillers she kept in the nearby drawer. A couple were swallowed and she headed for the bathroom, filling a small cup with water that she downed in one gulp.
The pain in her head lessened slowly, but still remained as a dull throb that she decided was manageable. She sat back down, looking around at her room for a long moment. Her room. With no lingering worry that he might realize she had been working against him. No gun to her head any more.
He was dead, a fact she was certain of even without seeing the body. Hebert's rampage had left little doubt of the outcome. It had been punctuated by the pillar of fire.
What the hell did Hebert do? Lisa thought about the moment in the mall, when she had approached the girl. The fries were supposed to have been cold, but she had seen that they weren't.
But her power hadn't given any hint that she was capable of what happened back there. And the carnage with the guards. She had made their heads explode. The bodies alone were testament to that, to say nothing of when she had seen a pair of guards simply drop, the walls near them decorated with what remained of their skulls.
In the space of moments, the bunker had gone from her prison and place of punishment, as well as Coil's safety, to a slaughterhouse. All because of one person that she had tried to help. That she had also pointed Coil at.
Lisa shook her head, pushing that thought aside, just as an image of one of Coil's soldiers, turning her way and raising his weapon, only for his head to burst. He didn't even have a chance to react. And standing behind him, her eyes looking like she had seen forever and not quite come back, had been Taylor Hebert.
A hand clamped over her mouth and she staggered back toward the bathroom, barely reaching the toilet as her stomach rebelled at the image of blood and other things splattering the walls. A moment later and she slumped to the floor, holding one arm to her side as her ribs protested the sudden action.
Damn. Probably need to see the doctor sooner rather than later. She carefully climbed to her feet, heading toward the door. Brian was probably still here and wouldn't object to ferrying her over. She could figure out what she was going to do if Hebert came looking for her, or if she went looking for her first.
The thought of whether Taylor found her first sent a chill running down her spine. How the hell was she going to explain this whole mess to the others?
Of all the things that Triumph thought being a member of the Protectorate would involve, standing watch over an enormous crater was not anywhere on the list. Well, not just a crater. The surrounding area was also devastated, there were buildings with crumbled and shattered walls in any direction he cared to look.
He hadn't heard exactly how far the damage went, but it was clearly the work of something major. He hoped, however, that it wasn't the signal for a restart of hostilities. The ABB's non-cape numbers were low, as were the Empire's. The Empire had also lost several capes in the fighting, so they had taken a hit there as well.
"That's a really big hole," Dauntless remarked, coming to stand beside him. "Any thoughts on what caused it?"
"Immense heat and the application of pure force," he said. "I'd estimate that it originated from somewhere in the center of the building's lower levels. Lower levels, I will add, that aren't on any of the building plans filed with the city."
He raised his hands when he saw Dauntless staring at him. "What?"
"That's a lot more precise than I expected to hear from you," was the reply.
Triumph shrugged. "Do you know how many times this week I've written down something similar to that? I lost count. As to the plans, the city actually has digital scans of those and I did a search while standing here." He held up a tablet computer before stowing it away in a belt pouch.
"Report," Armsmaster said as he approached.
"We've established a perimeter and have the police redirecting any traffic," Triumph said. "There's a few spots within three blocks that may have been exits, but the squads haven't attempted to gain entry through any yet."
"Investigate them and see what you can find out, but be careful," he instructed. "Have a squad begin performing a survey of the surrounding area. We may have to advise the city of damage underground."
"Yes, sir," Triumph replied, moving away and calling out to others to relay his instructions. Armsmaster stared at the crater, as if he could wrest answers from it by simply staring.
"What was this place, anyway?" Dauntless asked after his commanding officer said nothing.
"Officially, a warehouse registered to a now defunct shipping company," Triumph said, coming back over. "Least that's what the records you had me pull say. Triton Shipping. They closed up shop here a few years ago. Not sure why they didn't sell, but the place has sat abandoned since then."
"Not so abandoned, it seems," Armsmaster mused, adjusting a setting on his halberd. "I'm going to take a closer look." He pointed the halberd outward toward a section of the foundation and a second later a grappling hook shot out with a burst of air, piercing the concrete. The leader of the Protectorate pressed a button and launched forward, down into the crater.
"Did he just…" Triumph began.
"Fire a grapnel from his halberd and descend into a potentially unstable crater to investigate it for what might have caused this?" Dauntless sighed. "Yes."
"So, we… what? Wait for him to come back? Should we go down after him?" Triumph asked.
There was a brief burst of static, then Armsmaster's voice rang in their ears. "Don't bother. I can already tell there's nothing else worth staying down here for the moment. I did find something that I'll take back to my lab, so I'll be right up."
"That was quick," Triumph remarked.
Dauntless shrugged. "Judging from up here, I doubt there was much really salvageable. Bet he goes back down tomorrow to look again in daylight, just to be thorough."
"Twenty says he doesn't," Triumph challenged. "You heard him, nothing down there. Armsmaster won't waste his time digging around in the daylight."
"You're on," Dauntless replied, grinning beneath his mask as he heard the familiar tink of Armsmaster's grapple impacting into a new spot. A moment later, his commanding officer pulled himself up into view. Dauntless offered a hand quickly, grasping the other man's forearm and helping him the rest of the way up.
"I'll need to review that at my lab," he told them once he was standing, indicating a metal box with visible damage on it. "I have a few things we've been working on for salvaging data on damaged drives. I'll perform another sweep tomorrow, when there's more light." He took the drive back before heading off.
Dauntless kept a straight face as he held out his hand. Triumph growled, dug into a pack on his belt and handed over twenty dollars. "You set me up."
"It was your suggestion," Dauntless countered. "Not my fault you made a sucker's bet. Anyway, come on, I'll pick up some donuts on the way back and you can share."
"You used to be a cop, right?" Triumph asked. "Isn't that living up to the stereotype?"
"There's actually a reason for it, if you can believe it," Dauntless said as they started walking towards his car. "Lot of times you're stuck in your car for hours and you need something that keeps relatively well and can give you a boost of energy. Hence, donuts."
"Really?"
"Nah," Dauntless laughed, clapping a hand on the newest Protectorate member's shoulder. "But it sounds reasonable, right? I ate donuts because I liked donuts."
"Think there's anything on that computer?" Triumph asked. "And he said something 'we've' been working on. Who is we?"
"Probably Dragon." He shrugged. "Anyway. I'll drive, we'll see if we can catch up to him." He indicated the rapidly shrinking image of Armsmaster on his motorcycle.
"Before, or after donuts?" Triumph asked and Dauntless chuckled at the hopeful note in his voice. The past week had everyone stressed and the incident with that building had put everyone on edge again.
"After," Dauntless said. "I know a place and it'll be hilarious if we make it back before he does." Triumph shook his head and settled into the passenger seat and they drove off.
Armsmaster idly reached for a donut while the computer did its work. It had taken some time to clean away any debris or accumulations of soot from the drive. He had a device that could do that, but for something delicate like this he preferred to do it manually.
"Something's bothering you." He hastily put the donut down, grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth and chin in case anything flaked off from the pastry. Dragon's amused face graced the screen and he grimaced, disposing of the napkin before turning his attention to the monitor.
"I don't like unsolved puzzles," he said. "And what I found tonight is one."
Her face turned, like she was looking at something off-screen. "You haven't submitted your report yet."
"I'm waiting until I see if there's anything useful here," he said, indicating the screen. "I may just have suspicions. I don't believe this incident was a bomb that we somehow missed."
"Who do you think it is?" she asked, a flash of what he thought was frustration appearing on her face. He hadn't put any of his thoughts into a computer yet and she was likely wishing she had access to those.
"The damage seems remarkably identical to an incident a few months back," he said. "Only on a significantly larger scale. We weren't able to determine who was responsible, though we did have suspects. Lung was one, given the amount of fire damage, but none of our Thinkers could provide a reason for him to go smashing through the Boat Graveyard. One suggested that he might have been there to interrupt a possible alliance meeting between the Empire and a powerful independent cape, but that was dismissed."
"Someone like that, depending on how powerful we're talking about… I'd estimate that the Docks would have been a casualty, so I can see why that was deemed unlikely," Dragon said. "Are you going to share or do I have to go looking myself?"
"Our other suspect was Sirin," he said. "That was set aside as well when she never displayed any signs of pyrokinesis."
"And you think this incident tonight was similar?"
"Scale is the only difference I saw in my initial survey. I won't know conclusively until I can conduct a more thorough investigation. And even if the two incidents are connected, I doubt I'll find anything that will tell me the cause was."
"It could always have been Lung," she observed with a light tone.
Armsmaster snorted. "We'd have noticed a lot sooner if Lung were ramped up enough to have done this in one shot, so no, I don't think it was him."
"Sirin, then? Or someone new that we haven't heard about."
"Perhaps," he began. "Glory Girl spoke to Assault last week, worried that something may have happened to Sirin. They didn't find anything to give them a lead and she hasn't been seen since the incident with the Empire."
"It is possible that she simply left, you realize," Dragon pointed out. "Perhaps she felt responsible? The Empire's actions were precipitated by her defeating four of their own."
His eyes fell on a suit of his armor sitting in one corner of the lab, badly scarred from multiple fights over the past week. "Possibly. She's certainly stubborn enough to want to stay, but… simply leaving so that she'll be left alone can't be ruled out. Hell, that was all she really wanted to beg—"
A discordant shriek, like metal rending, erupted from the speakers. The sound quality fluctuated wildly. "Stop! I… anything you want. There has to be something! I have resources!"
Silence for a second, then a voice replied, static breaking up some of the words. "...Want? What I… want?"
"Yes! Anything!" The man's voice pleaded.
"I...want... " The girl or woman's voice faded out for a moment and he wasn't sure if she had continued speaking. "I know you. Coil."
"Pause," Armsmaster said. "Restart at beginning and set system to record." He fished out a notepad and began writing down the words as well, neatly marking down what had already been said and waiting for it to catch up.
"Ms. Hebert," the man, Coil, said, prompting Armsmaster to stare at the speakers again, making several notations. "I know we've had our differences, but I do have resources. Anything you want, I can make it happen. I promise."
"Want…" Her voice trailed off, sounding lost. It sharpened. "I want you to tell me the future."
"The future?" Armsmaster said out loud. Dragon didn't comment as he mulled the words over. The way she said them suggested some sort of significance, but there hadn't been anything so far that provided further context. Except… a suspicion began forming in his mind as the girl resumed speaking.
"The f-future?" Coil spoke. "I can't—"
"If you could," she answered, the words sounding strained, as if she was forcing them out. "You'd know you… what I want, you can't give."
"I have money!" he protested. "A lot of it. If I can't do it myself, I can—" Armsmaster frowned as whatever Coil was about to claim broke off in a cry of pain.
"Nothing," she said, the focus that had filled her earlier words gone. "What you can do and what you are…has no worth."
"I swear," he tried again, a panicked and pleading note overwhelming his voice. "Anything you want, money, power, name it and it's yours!"
The next words were distorted and he couldn't make sense of them, other than one word before the system alerted him that there was nothing else salvageable.
He sighed, leaning back in his chair in thought. "Damn," he said, staring at the word but not really reading it. "So. That is where she's been. But what the hell does phoenix mean?"
"The phoenix is a mythological bird," Dragon said, cutting off with a faint smile at the look he threw her.
"I know what one is," he said. "What does it have to do with-" He cut himself off, grabbing a folder and sorting through it. Not finding what he wanted, he tapped the mouse several times, navigating to a specific location and bringing up a picture.
"What would you say that looks like, Dragon?"
"There is some similarity to artistic and historical depictions of one," she answered after a moment. "I don't understand what this has to do with the person Coil mentioned. I gather from your reaction that you know who she is."
"I do," he said, but didn't volunteer anything further.
Dragon made a thoughtful sound. "You clearly knew who Ms. Hebert was, as I said. And you earlier mentioned Sirin, whose name is a reference to a russian mythological bird creature, and that she had been absent. When the recording finished, you said 'that's where she's been'. Now a mention of another mythological bird. I assume Ms. Hebert and Sirin are the same?"
He sighed. "Yes. Though I don't think you had to lay out your chain of logic for me."
"I prefer to be thorough," she said, her avatar making a motion that he thought was a shrug. She was silent for a moment, her expression distracted. "Oh, she's the one you've been venting about before. Those conversations make more sense now."
"Don't they just?" he asked with a bit of a grin as she, he assumed, finished looking up the information on Sirin.
"Quite," she said, her avatar's head shaking once. "Though, what are your thoughts on the conversation we heard and what it means?"
"Judging from the destruction tonight, I'm tentatively labeling the location as Coil's hideout," he mused. "I'm tentatively labeling Coil missing, presumed dead."
"And Ms. Hebert?"
"Well, the question now is whether she survived and vacated before that place went up," he said. "It's possible she simply brought it down while she was inside as retaliation for whatever Coil did. In fact…"
"In fact?"
"Just flagging the system in case she happens to turn up in a hospital," he said. "Dauntless is over at Brockton Bay General, for example, so it'll alert whoever might be closest to investigate."
"And if she does turn up again?" Dragon asked.
"While I'll be glad she's alive, that's more complicated. There's unlikely to be anything conclusive in that mess that could prove she was responsible. If something did turn up that proved otherwise, that could change things. The conversation by itself isn't proof of anything but a confrontation."
"I sense a but," Dragon remarked.
"A couple of things," Armsmaster began, reaching over for a set of schematics and making some notations in the margins. "She wasn't exactly receiving positive public attention after the brawl with the Empire. There was noise again from those who want more stringent restrictions on Parahumans, to say nothing of the Mayor's office expressing concerns about how much damage she did."
He chuckled. "Fortunately, no one listens to the extremists, and the Director was able to divert the Mayor, especially with the gang war. That's quieted down at least, but if this gets out, all that would be right back in focus."
"There's more, isn't there?"
"Maybe." He shrugged. "PR had something planned. That was why Glenn was here personally. Her dropping out of sight upset that. Who knows what they'll do when I bring this to them?"
"I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think," Dragon said. "You should be more positive, Colin."
"When situations stop giving me reason not to be, I will," he said, glancing at his phone. It had begun to vibrate.
"What is it, Dauntless?" he asked, the phone's vibration sequence telling him who it was.
"Well, sir, I did find Taylor Hebert," the other man said. "I even spoke to her briefly. She was admitted as a Jane Doe with no ID late last night. Claims no recollection of the past week. I came back and accompanied some police as they suspected rape, based on her condition upon arrival, which was apparently unusual enough to warrant my involvement. I was heading out when I realized why the system sent me that alert. Now, though…"
"She's gone, I take it?"
"...Yes sir. It appears she's left. However…" Dauntless paused for a moment. "Doctor's tests found a lot of crazy drugs in her system. They were breaking down, but the Doctor who explained them to me talked about them like they were unusual, not your usual run of the mill stuff. She had some marks on her neck like repeated injection spots and some chafing consistent with restraints."
Armsmaster grimaced, but took note of it anyways. "Anything else?"
There was a long pause. "One thing, sir, but I'd prefer to discuss that in person privately, if you don't mind."
"Will it help in locating her?" he asked.
"I do not believe so," Dauntless replied.
"We'll discuss it later then," he said. "Get back here and give me your report, as well as any information the hospital can provide." He cut the call off, dropping the phone onto his workspace.
"Not positive news?"
"Ms. Hebert survived," he said. "She was at the hospital and is now gone. Dauntless had something else to talk about, but whatever it is, he'll have to wait until I get free of the Director."
"You're going to deliver your report, then?"
"Unfortunately," he grumbled. "First, I'll swing by and see if they found anything else in that crater. After that I get to make the Director's day. Thanks for sticking around to talk, Dragon."
"Any time, Colin," she replied and the monitor that had been hosting her avatar went blank. Shaking his head, Armsmaster organized his notes and then tapped a few commands into the computer. The Director was not likely to appreciate his findings. But first, he had to check with the crews that were tackling the survey of the crater and see if they had uncovered anything else.
The phone rang twice before the agent picked up. "This is Kellyn, sir."
"Anything else come out the crater?" he asked.
"We managed to put together a rough outline of the bunker's layout," the agent said. "Without the plans, there's some questions of accuracy, but we believe we have a solid layout with the exception of the parts that were destroyed in the explosion. Those parts are, obviously, an estimation. There's a few sections that we are still trying to map, but it is slow-going."
"Anything else?" Armsmaster asked.
"We've found human remains, sir," Kellyn said and he closed his eyes, counting slowly back from ten.
"How many?"
"Impossible to tell, sir," Kellyn replied. "Most aren't intact. Identification is unlikely without fingerprinting or DNA analysis, I would estimate. The one intact body we found… well, he was missing his head, sir."
"Say again?" Armsmaster asked.
"His head was missing, sir," Kellyn repeated. "The examiner we had on site believed that his head, um, exploded, but was withholding from making a final determination until he got back to the coroner's office to perform a proper examination."
"Estimate?"
"If we're correct, there was at least forty, sir."
"Damn," he made a note on his papers about that. "Anything else? Equipment? Paraphernalia that might confirm whose base this was?"
"An armory, sir," Kellyn told him. "There's a lot of damaged equipment, but a fair bit that isn't. Other than that, nothing yet. We've withdrawn from the site for now due to poor lighting conditions, but we'll be continuing in the morning."
"How stable did it appear?" Armsmaster asked.
"Touch and go, sir. That's been our biggest issue. We have to check each area several times before moving on. No one's been hurt, but there were a few close calls."
"Submit your reports for today when you can, and carry on," Armsmaster said. "Report if you find anything else unusual."
"Yes, sir," Kellyn said, hanging up.
"What a mess," he muttered. "Now I have to add telling the Director about a possible mass homicide to the list."
The alert buzzed, letting him know someone was at the door to his lab, waiting for entry. A glance confirmed it was Dauntless and he admitted him, surprised that he had made such a quick return.
"Dauntless," he said in greeting. "You mentioned something you wanted to discuss?"
"Two things, actually, sir. But I'm… not sure about the second. First, I'd like to report that I uncovered the identity of the independent cape, Sirin."
"I'll have the appropriate paperwork sent to your email," he replied. "Sign and return it."
"You… aren't surprised, sir?"
He shook his head. "Suffice to say, no. What else?"
"Well, I figured it out as I was preparing to leave," Dauntless went on. "Something weird happened then. I was downstairs, in a stretch of hallway with no one around. And I clearly heard Ms. Hebert say: 'Sorry, Dauntless.'"
"You're certain she wasn't around, or you didn't imagine it?"
"It's possible, I suppose," Dauntless answered. "But I had left her in the hospital room and I visually checked the area several times. It.. wasn't exactly hearing, though, sir."
"What? You either heard her or you didn't, right?"
He tapped the side of his head. "It was like she was inside my head saying that, sir."
Armsmaster regarded him for a moment. "When was the last time you had a full night's sleep?"
"When was the last time you did?" Dauntless retorted. "I'm tired, but I don't think I'm to the point of hearing voices. And if I were, why would they be of a girl I've spoken to a handful of times?"
"The alternative is that this girl did something that we suspect is an ability of The Simurgh," Armsmaster said. "Tell me which sounds more unbelievable."
Dauntless fairly radiated frustration and Armsmaster sighed, holding up a hand. "Alright. Go over this with me, in detail. You spoke to Ms. Hebert… once, or twice?"
"Twice," Dauntless said. "The first time while making rounds to reassure the patients and such. I'd heard from the nurses that she apparently was missing a whole week and figured I'd cheer her up. She was nice, but I figured she had just gotten caught up in one of the explosions and that was why she was missing a week. Short-term amnesia, maybe."
"The second time," he went on, "was after the hospital had requested some detectives. They were concerned about rape and there were claims about her arriving under unusual circumstances, so parahuman involvement became a possibility. I was there, as you know, so I got the alert. I didn't learn anything new then, though."
"Was she injured in any way?"
"Chafe marks from where she had clearly been restrained at some point, and seven or eight spots marking repeated injection sites. Other than that… well, she looked underfed. Given that they said she was lit up with some seriously potent stuff, that doesn't surprise me."
"Alright, after your second meeting, then what?" Armsmaster asked.
"I was heading out when it happened. It had just hit me who she might be, and then I heard her. By the time I got back to her room, she was gone."
"Damn," Armsmaster said. "I wish she had stayed. No telling where she is now and with this crater incident… Damn."
"There might be a way to find out, sir," Dauntless offered. "One of the nurses mentioned that she did call someone and had a visitor."
"Who? Her father?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "Glory Girl."
"That might be helpful," Armsmaster allowed, then frowned. "What about your conversations with her? Did she say anything that might shed light on where she was?"
"First time, it was small talk. She asked some questions about what had been going on. I gave her some general information, stuff that you can hear on the news. The second time, I got her permission to take a closer look at her neck. My helmet's scanner took some pictures." He drew a folder out from under his arm. "And everything I could get from the hospital."
"Let me see your helmet," Armsmaster said, reaching for a cord and plugging it into a hidden port when it was passed over. "There. I've copied over the pictures. Good thinking there."
"Thank you, sir," Dauntless replied. "Looking back, I think she was a bit nervous when we came back. The police didn't catch on, but… I'm certain of it now. Probably why she rabbited. Afraid she had been ID'd."
"Well, I'm certain she'll turn up soon," Armsmaster said. "Either causing a ruckus or being part of one. She seems drawn to those."
"What are we going to do, sir?" Dauntless asked.
"I'll have a better idea once I've spoken to the Director. Probably with Glenn too. Until then, proceed following our standing orders. I want thorough notes about the incident you relayed to me."
"I thought you didn't believe me?"
"I'm skeptical, but I try to avoid ruling out anything," he said. "File your report then go get some sleep."
"Yes, sir!" Dauntless saluted and quietly left. Armsmaster looked at the additions to his notes and the newly added pictures, assessing the new information.
"Hopefully, he's just imagining things," he said to himself. "Or some power that allows ranged communication. Something like Screamer's, maybe."
"Questions for later," he decided, shaking his head. Should focus on what I know for sure now. Hopefully, I'll catch the Director in a good mood. He tapped in a few commands, dialing her private line.
--
The phone began to ring. Brian thought about ignoring it as he was in the middle of dinner.
"Sorry, Aisha," Brian said. "I've got to take this."
"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm going to watch some TV."
He waved a hand and brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
"Brian, I need you to come pick me up," Lisa said, a note of very obvious panic in her voice. "Like, now."
"Lisa? What the hell. Where have you been? I've been trying to get in touch with you for days!"
"No time for that," she hissed. There was a surge of noise in the background, making what she said too hard to understand. "—And hurry up. I'll be at the corner of Bleecker and Greymalkin Lane!"
"Lisa, I'm having dinner with my sister, I can't just leave her… and you've hung up. Great." He stared at the phone for a moment and pulled up recent calls, dialing the last number. After a moment, he got a message that the phone was no longer in service.
"Damnit, Lisa," he muttered, putting his phone into his pocket. Judging from what Lisa had said, it sounded like she was in trouble. Sighing, he walked back into the living room where Aisha had moved to.
"I need to go out for just a bit," he said. "Stay here, don't let anyone in and don't leave."
"Stay here and don't leave kind of mean the same, bro," Aisha retorted without looking away from the TV. "Going out for a quickie?"
"What? No! Why would you even ask that?" he demanded. "A friend just needs a pick up. I won't be gone long."
"Sure, whatever," she replied. "You got any popcorn I can fix?"
"I think there's some in the cabinet over the stove," he said, grabbing his coat and keys. "I'll be back soon." He didn't hear her response before he left, taking care to lock the door up tight.
He hit the road soon after, taking note of the mostly abandoned streets. He had caught an announcement on the news earlier of the PRT announcing that the gang war was apparently over. The Undersiders had kept a low profile through most of it, especially with Lisa dropping out of touch so abruptly. Brian waited for the light to change before flipping on the radio.
"—And now, to everyone's favorite group of capes, New Edition, performing one of their classic hits, If It Isn't Love!" A moment later, a fairly upbeat song started with a quick drumroll and he tapped on the steering wheel for a bit, driving forward when the light changed.
He pulled into a parking space near the corner she had said to meet at, looking around for any sign of her. There weren't a lot of people out and even at this hour, her blonde hair would be easy to pick out. A few minutes passed and he watched some people come and go, more than one giving him an odd look. Even with the announcement from the PRT today, there weren't a lot of people who willingly came out this late yet.
And they're probably wondering why I'm sitting out here.
A moment later, his attention sharpened as a figure slipped out from some shadows across the street, making a beeline in his direction. For a second, he tensed at the sight of the large, dark coat hanging off the figure's shoulders. But then, he realized just how slight they were. A dirty, tangled mop of hair poked out above the collar.
"Shit, Lisa?" he asked. He hit the automatic lock so she could climb in the passenger seat. She fumbled with the door and pulled it shut after entering, holding one arm close against her torso.
"Lisa, what the—" he began.
"Drive, now," she said, her face becoming visible from within the oversized coat. Dirt smudged one cheek, covering what he thought was a bruise. Or rather, as he looked closer, the corner of the bruise that was most of her face.
"What the hell happened to you?" he demanded, feeling all the anxiety and anger he had kept bottled up over the week begin to burst.
"Brian, please," she said, the words rough, as if she had strained her voice somehow. "Just drive. Turn left or right, I don't care, but get me the fuck away from here! Please."
He shifted out of park and pulled away from the curb, the frown never leaving his face. After a few blocks, she seemed to relax just a bit and drew a slightly dinged laptop from the folds of her coat. As she did, his eyes fell on a ring of shiny metal around one wrist, with the broken end of a chain dangling from it. Angry red marks were visible around that wrist as well.
"What the hell happened to you?"
She didn't answer immediately, carefully twisting in her seat to look back the way they had come. He glanced her way briefly and saw her eyes fixed back slightly skyward.
"What are you doing? Come on and sit down before some cop decides to pull me over," he told her. "Last thing we need is someone stopping us and you looking so beat up. I've seen how that goes."
She sat back down, looking frustrated for a moment before she tugged at the handcuff still circling her wrist.
"Leave it," Brian said. "We'll go to the warehouse. I've got some stuff there for disinfecting and I can get it off there too."
"Thank you," she said quietly. "And thank you for coming."
"Thank me by explaining what—" a thunderous roar drowned him out and something slammed into the car. He resisted the panicked impulse to turn the wheel incorrectly and corrected for the slide, managing to bring the car under control. His eyes went to the rear view mirror, immediately looking out the back window at what he saw. A pillar of fire swirled into the night sky, maybe half-a-block away from where he had just picked up Lisa.
"What the fucking hell was that?" He took one last look at the fading pillar before driving off. Flaming shrapnel was falling around, but it was too far away for him to be affected and he began calming the further away he got.
"I don't think our boss is going to be accepting my resignation now," Lisa said. With the bruising, her usual grin was almost grotesque.
"What?" he said. "Did you do that?"
Something went across her face for a moment and she shook her head in a sharp, rapid movement. "No. That. Wasn't me. What it was… shit… I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? That's your entire thing, knowing stuff. So what do you mean you don't know?"
"I don't, okay?" she retorted, her eyes drifting back toward the fading display. "Just… drive, please?"
Brian nodded. "We'll talk about this more at the loft."
"If that's the farthest away we can get right now, sure," she muttered, throwing a haunted look back down the road again.
***
Alec whistled the moment he saw her. "You look like shit."
"Thanks ever so much," she grumbled, setting the laptop down. "Rachel here?"
He shrugged. "She's out checking on her dogs. Been there more than here lately." He gave her a look. "What happened to you?"
"Hand," Brian said, coming back with some tools and a first aid kit. Lisa raised her hand as he began working at the lock on the handcuff. Regent's eyebrows went up at the sight of it.
"Going to guess that isn't the fun kind," he observed. "Mine are—"
"Fluffy with prints, I know," she interrupted. "Ugh, I'll tell Rachel myself later. Long or short version?"
"Short," Alec said, already looking bored and beginning to turn back toward his game.
"Long," Brian corrected. "Starting with where you've been. You went out last week and then just dropped out of touch."
She held her arm up, earning an annoyed look as it upset whatever he was doing. "As you can see, I was indisposed and phones weren't an option." He took her hand back and resumed work on the lock. A moment later, it clicked and dropped away.
"Thank you," she said as he started cleaning the chafe marks from the cuff. "Short version. We used to work for someone. If you heard that latest explosion, well, then you know why we don't work for him anymore."
"I'm sorry," Alec said without looking away from the television. "I couldn't hear it over the sound of my video games."
Brian glared and pressed a damp gauze pad on her forearm. "Hold that there for a moment." He stalked over and switched off the video game console.
"Ok, finished," Alec said, twisting to look toward Lisa. "You were saying?"
"Our employer was actually Coil," she said as Brian started on her arm again. "A week ago, I was talking with someone that he was targeting, hoping to warn her and get her help. He… was apparently several steps ahead of me."
"So, you've been his prisoner for the past week?" Brian asked.
"Bingo," she answered. "Until a few hours ago, at least. At that point, well…"
"This explosion?" Brian prompted. "You said earlier you knew who…?"
"I know who and some of the what, but not so much of the why and how," she told them, wincing as Brian worked some of the disinfectant into a particularly sensitive spot. "As it stands, I managed to salvage what I could, but we won't have my former employer's backing, or money. So, it's just us now."
Alec shrugged. "I didn't even know we had a secret backer. So nothing's really changed."
Lisa sighed as Brian wrapped her forearm. "I'm glad you're so sanguine about this. We'll need to just keep a low profile for a while. After this week, I'm sure the PRT and Protectorate will be on alert and come down on anyone stepping out of line hard."
"How do you know that?" Alec asked. "You've been away for a week getting smacked around for kicks or whatever."
She glared at him for a moment. "Too useful. Got told things. Figured the rest out myself."
"Go get some sleep," Brian ordered. "You look like crap and we can talk more in the morning."
"There's still more I need to—" Lisa began, before her mouth stretched out in a yawn. She picked up the laptop. "Okay, fine. Get Rachel here and I'll explain what I can then." She started toward her room. They could fill her in on what she had missed this week then as well.
She sat the laptop down on her desk after she entered the room. She knew it well enough that navigating in the dark wasn't a problem. Lisa settled on her bed gingerly, glad she had kept Brian from noticing some of the other injuries.
Need to go see the doctor first thing in the morning. The thought made her frown a bit, but she accepted it as necessary. None of the injuries were life-threatening, but it was best to have them look her over just in case there was something she had missed. She was glad she kept Brian from noticing them, taking a slow shuddering breath when she sat on her bed.
The quiet dark of the room seemed to squeeze in around her, almost suffocating. Any minute now, Coil, or his men would burst in and proceed to teach her a lesson about betrayal. Lisa sucked in a breath and fumbled for the lamp. It came on, filling the room with soft light. Relaxing, she sighed and began gently massaging her forehead. The dull ache that had been bothering her from frequent use of her powers was finally threatening to break into a full on migraine.
But she was free. He was dead.
She shook her head. No, she couldn't be sure of that without seeing the body.
Hebert was unlikely to have left anything identifiable. A spike of pain accompanied the thought and she almost bent over, wincing as the movement brought a different kind of pain from her torso.
Several ribs cracked, possibly broken. Another stab of pain came along and she hissed, reaching for the painkillers she kept in the nearby drawer. A couple were swallowed and she headed for the bathroom, filling a small cup with water that she downed in one gulp.
The pain in her head lessened slowly, but still remained as a dull throb that she decided was manageable. She sat back down, looking around at her room for a long moment. Her room. With no lingering worry that he might realize she had been working against him. No gun to her head any more.
He was dead, a fact she was certain of even without seeing the body. Hebert's rampage had left little doubt of the outcome. It had been punctuated by the pillar of fire.
What the hell did Hebert do? Lisa thought about the moment in the mall, when she had approached the girl. The fries were supposed to have been cold, but she had seen that they weren't.
But her power hadn't given any hint that she was capable of what happened back there. And the carnage with the guards. She had made their heads explode. The bodies alone were testament to that, to say nothing of when she had seen a pair of guards simply drop, the walls near them decorated with what remained of their skulls.
In the space of moments, the bunker had gone from her prison and place of punishment, as well as Coil's safety, to a slaughterhouse. All because of one person that she had tried to help. That she had also pointed Coil at.
Lisa shook her head, pushing that thought aside, just as an image of one of Coil's soldiers, turning her way and raising his weapon, only for his head to burst. He didn't even have a chance to react. And standing behind him, her eyes looking like she had seen forever and not quite come back, had been Taylor Hebert.
A hand clamped over her mouth and she staggered back toward the bathroom, barely reaching the toilet as her stomach rebelled at the image of blood and other things splattering the walls. A moment later and she slumped to the floor, holding one arm to her side as her ribs protested the sudden action.
Damn. Probably need to see the doctor sooner rather than later. She carefully climbed to her feet, heading toward the door. Brian was probably still here and wouldn't object to ferrying her over. She could figure out what she was going to do if Hebert came looking for her, or if she went looking for her first.
The thought of whether Taylor found her first sent a chill running down her spine. How the hell was she going to explain this whole mess to the others?
~~~~~~~~
Of all the things that Triumph thought being a member of the Protectorate would involve, standing watch over an enormous crater was not anywhere on the list. Well, not just a crater. The surrounding area was also devastated, there were buildings with crumbled and shattered walls in any direction he cared to look.
He hadn't heard exactly how far the damage went, but it was clearly the work of something major. He hoped, however, that it wasn't the signal for a restart of hostilities. The ABB's non-cape numbers were low, as were the Empire's. The Empire had also lost several capes in the fighting, so they had taken a hit there as well.
"That's a really big hole," Dauntless remarked, coming to stand beside him. "Any thoughts on what caused it?"
"Immense heat and the application of pure force," he said. "I'd estimate that it originated from somewhere in the center of the building's lower levels. Lower levels, I will add, that aren't on any of the building plans filed with the city."
He raised his hands when he saw Dauntless staring at him. "What?"
"That's a lot more precise than I expected to hear from you," was the reply.
Triumph shrugged. "Do you know how many times this week I've written down something similar to that? I lost count. As to the plans, the city actually has digital scans of those and I did a search while standing here." He held up a tablet computer before stowing it away in a belt pouch.
"Report," Armsmaster said as he approached.
"We've established a perimeter and have the police redirecting any traffic," Triumph said. "There's a few spots within three blocks that may have been exits, but the squads haven't attempted to gain entry through any yet."
"Investigate them and see what you can find out, but be careful," he instructed. "Have a squad begin performing a survey of the surrounding area. We may have to advise the city of damage underground."
"Yes, sir," Triumph replied, moving away and calling out to others to relay his instructions. Armsmaster stared at the crater, as if he could wrest answers from it by simply staring.
"What was this place, anyway?" Dauntless asked after his commanding officer said nothing.
"Officially, a warehouse registered to a now defunct shipping company," Triumph said, coming back over. "Least that's what the records you had me pull say. Triton Shipping. They closed up shop here a few years ago. Not sure why they didn't sell, but the place has sat abandoned since then."
"Not so abandoned, it seems," Armsmaster mused, adjusting a setting on his halberd. "I'm going to take a closer look." He pointed the halberd outward toward a section of the foundation and a second later a grappling hook shot out with a burst of air, piercing the concrete. The leader of the Protectorate pressed a button and launched forward, down into the crater.
"Did he just…" Triumph began.
"Fire a grapnel from his halberd and descend into a potentially unstable crater to investigate it for what might have caused this?" Dauntless sighed. "Yes."
"So, we… what? Wait for him to come back? Should we go down after him?" Triumph asked.
There was a brief burst of static, then Armsmaster's voice rang in their ears. "Don't bother. I can already tell there's nothing else worth staying down here for the moment. I did find something that I'll take back to my lab, so I'll be right up."
"That was quick," Triumph remarked.
Dauntless shrugged. "Judging from up here, I doubt there was much really salvageable. Bet he goes back down tomorrow to look again in daylight, just to be thorough."
"Twenty says he doesn't," Triumph challenged. "You heard him, nothing down there. Armsmaster won't waste his time digging around in the daylight."
"You're on," Dauntless replied, grinning beneath his mask as he heard the familiar tink of Armsmaster's grapple impacting into a new spot. A moment later, his commanding officer pulled himself up into view. Dauntless offered a hand quickly, grasping the other man's forearm and helping him the rest of the way up.
"I'll need to review that at my lab," he told them once he was standing, indicating a metal box with visible damage on it. "I have a few things we've been working on for salvaging data on damaged drives. I'll perform another sweep tomorrow, when there's more light." He took the drive back before heading off.
Dauntless kept a straight face as he held out his hand. Triumph growled, dug into a pack on his belt and handed over twenty dollars. "You set me up."
"It was your suggestion," Dauntless countered. "Not my fault you made a sucker's bet. Anyway, come on, I'll pick up some donuts on the way back and you can share."
"You used to be a cop, right?" Triumph asked. "Isn't that living up to the stereotype?"
"There's actually a reason for it, if you can believe it," Dauntless said as they started walking towards his car. "Lot of times you're stuck in your car for hours and you need something that keeps relatively well and can give you a boost of energy. Hence, donuts."
"Really?"
"Nah," Dauntless laughed, clapping a hand on the newest Protectorate member's shoulder. "But it sounds reasonable, right? I ate donuts because I liked donuts."
"Think there's anything on that computer?" Triumph asked. "And he said something 'we've' been working on. Who is we?"
"Probably Dragon." He shrugged. "Anyway. I'll drive, we'll see if we can catch up to him." He indicated the rapidly shrinking image of Armsmaster on his motorcycle.
"Before, or after donuts?" Triumph asked and Dauntless chuckled at the hopeful note in his voice. The past week had everyone stressed and the incident with that building had put everyone on edge again.
"After," Dauntless said. "I know a place and it'll be hilarious if we make it back before he does." Triumph shook his head and settled into the passenger seat and they drove off.
***
Armsmaster idly reached for a donut while the computer did its work. It had taken some time to clean away any debris or accumulations of soot from the drive. He had a device that could do that, but for something delicate like this he preferred to do it manually.
"Something's bothering you." He hastily put the donut down, grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth and chin in case anything flaked off from the pastry. Dragon's amused face graced the screen and he grimaced, disposing of the napkin before turning his attention to the monitor.
"I don't like unsolved puzzles," he said. "And what I found tonight is one."
Her face turned, like she was looking at something off-screen. "You haven't submitted your report yet."
"I'm waiting until I see if there's anything useful here," he said, indicating the screen. "I may just have suspicions. I don't believe this incident was a bomb that we somehow missed."
"Who do you think it is?" she asked, a flash of what he thought was frustration appearing on her face. He hadn't put any of his thoughts into a computer yet and she was likely wishing she had access to those.
"The damage seems remarkably identical to an incident a few months back," he said. "Only on a significantly larger scale. We weren't able to determine who was responsible, though we did have suspects. Lung was one, given the amount of fire damage, but none of our Thinkers could provide a reason for him to go smashing through the Boat Graveyard. One suggested that he might have been there to interrupt a possible alliance meeting between the Empire and a powerful independent cape, but that was dismissed."
"Someone like that, depending on how powerful we're talking about… I'd estimate that the Docks would have been a casualty, so I can see why that was deemed unlikely," Dragon said. "Are you going to share or do I have to go looking myself?"
"Our other suspect was Sirin," he said. "That was set aside as well when she never displayed any signs of pyrokinesis."
"And you think this incident tonight was similar?"
"Scale is the only difference I saw in my initial survey. I won't know conclusively until I can conduct a more thorough investigation. And even if the two incidents are connected, I doubt I'll find anything that will tell me the cause was."
"It could always have been Lung," she observed with a light tone.
Armsmaster snorted. "We'd have noticed a lot sooner if Lung were ramped up enough to have done this in one shot, so no, I don't think it was him."
"Sirin, then? Or someone new that we haven't heard about."
"Perhaps," he began. "Glory Girl spoke to Assault last week, worried that something may have happened to Sirin. They didn't find anything to give them a lead and she hasn't been seen since the incident with the Empire."
"It is possible that she simply left, you realize," Dragon pointed out. "Perhaps she felt responsible? The Empire's actions were precipitated by her defeating four of their own."
His eyes fell on a suit of his armor sitting in one corner of the lab, badly scarred from multiple fights over the past week. "Possibly. She's certainly stubborn enough to want to stay, but… simply leaving so that she'll be left alone can't be ruled out. Hell, that was all she really wanted to beg—"
A discordant shriek, like metal rending, erupted from the speakers. The sound quality fluctuated wildly. "Stop! I… anything you want. There has to be something! I have resources!"
Silence for a second, then a voice replied, static breaking up some of the words. "...Want? What I… want?"
"Yes! Anything!" The man's voice pleaded.
"I...want... " The girl or woman's voice faded out for a moment and he wasn't sure if she had continued speaking. "I know you. Coil."
"Pause," Armsmaster said. "Restart at beginning and set system to record." He fished out a notepad and began writing down the words as well, neatly marking down what had already been said and waiting for it to catch up.
"Ms. Hebert," the man, Coil, said, prompting Armsmaster to stare at the speakers again, making several notations. "I know we've had our differences, but I do have resources. Anything you want, I can make it happen. I promise."
"Want…" Her voice trailed off, sounding lost. It sharpened. "I want you to tell me the future."
"The future?" Armsmaster said out loud. Dragon didn't comment as he mulled the words over. The way she said them suggested some sort of significance, but there hadn't been anything so far that provided further context. Except… a suspicion began forming in his mind as the girl resumed speaking.
"The f-future?" Coil spoke. "I can't—"
"If you could," she answered, the words sounding strained, as if she was forcing them out. "You'd know you… what I want, you can't give."
"I have money!" he protested. "A lot of it. If I can't do it myself, I can—" Armsmaster frowned as whatever Coil was about to claim broke off in a cry of pain.
"Nothing," she said, the focus that had filled her earlier words gone. "What you can do and what you are…has no worth."
"I swear," he tried again, a panicked and pleading note overwhelming his voice. "Anything you want, money, power, name it and it's yours!"
The next words were distorted and he couldn't make sense of them, other than one word before the system alerted him that there was nothing else salvageable.
He sighed, leaning back in his chair in thought. "Damn," he said, staring at the word but not really reading it. "So. That is where she's been. But what the hell does phoenix mean?"
"The phoenix is a mythological bird," Dragon said, cutting off with a faint smile at the look he threw her.
"I know what one is," he said. "What does it have to do with-" He cut himself off, grabbing a folder and sorting through it. Not finding what he wanted, he tapped the mouse several times, navigating to a specific location and bringing up a picture.
"What would you say that looks like, Dragon?"
"There is some similarity to artistic and historical depictions of one," she answered after a moment. "I don't understand what this has to do with the person Coil mentioned. I gather from your reaction that you know who she is."
"I do," he said, but didn't volunteer anything further.
Dragon made a thoughtful sound. "You clearly knew who Ms. Hebert was, as I said. And you earlier mentioned Sirin, whose name is a reference to a russian mythological bird creature, and that she had been absent. When the recording finished, you said 'that's where she's been'. Now a mention of another mythological bird. I assume Ms. Hebert and Sirin are the same?"
He sighed. "Yes. Though I don't think you had to lay out your chain of logic for me."
"I prefer to be thorough," she said, her avatar making a motion that he thought was a shrug. She was silent for a moment, her expression distracted. "Oh, she's the one you've been venting about before. Those conversations make more sense now."
"Don't they just?" he asked with a bit of a grin as she, he assumed, finished looking up the information on Sirin.
"Quite," she said, her avatar's head shaking once. "Though, what are your thoughts on the conversation we heard and what it means?"
"Judging from the destruction tonight, I'm tentatively labeling the location as Coil's hideout," he mused. "I'm tentatively labeling Coil missing, presumed dead."
"And Ms. Hebert?"
"Well, the question now is whether she survived and vacated before that place went up," he said. "It's possible she simply brought it down while she was inside as retaliation for whatever Coil did. In fact…"
"In fact?"
"Just flagging the system in case she happens to turn up in a hospital," he said. "Dauntless is over at Brockton Bay General, for example, so it'll alert whoever might be closest to investigate."
"And if she does turn up again?" Dragon asked.
"While I'll be glad she's alive, that's more complicated. There's unlikely to be anything conclusive in that mess that could prove she was responsible. If something did turn up that proved otherwise, that could change things. The conversation by itself isn't proof of anything but a confrontation."
"I sense a but," Dragon remarked.
"A couple of things," Armsmaster began, reaching over for a set of schematics and making some notations in the margins. "She wasn't exactly receiving positive public attention after the brawl with the Empire. There was noise again from those who want more stringent restrictions on Parahumans, to say nothing of the Mayor's office expressing concerns about how much damage she did."
He chuckled. "Fortunately, no one listens to the extremists, and the Director was able to divert the Mayor, especially with the gang war. That's quieted down at least, but if this gets out, all that would be right back in focus."
"There's more, isn't there?"
"Maybe." He shrugged. "PR had something planned. That was why Glenn was here personally. Her dropping out of sight upset that. Who knows what they'll do when I bring this to them?"
"I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think," Dragon said. "You should be more positive, Colin."
"When situations stop giving me reason not to be, I will," he said, glancing at his phone. It had begun to vibrate.
"What is it, Dauntless?" he asked, the phone's vibration sequence telling him who it was.
"Well, sir, I did find Taylor Hebert," the other man said. "I even spoke to her briefly. She was admitted as a Jane Doe with no ID late last night. Claims no recollection of the past week. I came back and accompanied some police as they suspected rape, based on her condition upon arrival, which was apparently unusual enough to warrant my involvement. I was heading out when I realized why the system sent me that alert. Now, though…"
"She's gone, I take it?"
"...Yes sir. It appears she's left. However…" Dauntless paused for a moment. "Doctor's tests found a lot of crazy drugs in her system. They were breaking down, but the Doctor who explained them to me talked about them like they were unusual, not your usual run of the mill stuff. She had some marks on her neck like repeated injection spots and some chafing consistent with restraints."
Armsmaster grimaced, but took note of it anyways. "Anything else?"
There was a long pause. "One thing, sir, but I'd prefer to discuss that in person privately, if you don't mind."
"Will it help in locating her?" he asked.
"I do not believe so," Dauntless replied.
"We'll discuss it later then," he said. "Get back here and give me your report, as well as any information the hospital can provide." He cut the call off, dropping the phone onto his workspace.
"Not positive news?"
"Ms. Hebert survived," he said. "She was at the hospital and is now gone. Dauntless had something else to talk about, but whatever it is, he'll have to wait until I get free of the Director."
"You're going to deliver your report, then?"
"Unfortunately," he grumbled. "First, I'll swing by and see if they found anything else in that crater. After that I get to make the Director's day. Thanks for sticking around to talk, Dragon."
"Any time, Colin," she replied and the monitor that had been hosting her avatar went blank. Shaking his head, Armsmaster organized his notes and then tapped a few commands into the computer. The Director was not likely to appreciate his findings. But first, he had to check with the crews that were tackling the survey of the crater and see if they had uncovered anything else.
The phone rang twice before the agent picked up. "This is Kellyn, sir."
"Anything else come out the crater?" he asked.
"We managed to put together a rough outline of the bunker's layout," the agent said. "Without the plans, there's some questions of accuracy, but we believe we have a solid layout with the exception of the parts that were destroyed in the explosion. Those parts are, obviously, an estimation. There's a few sections that we are still trying to map, but it is slow-going."
"Anything else?" Armsmaster asked.
"We've found human remains, sir," Kellyn said and he closed his eyes, counting slowly back from ten.
"How many?"
"Impossible to tell, sir," Kellyn replied. "Most aren't intact. Identification is unlikely without fingerprinting or DNA analysis, I would estimate. The one intact body we found… well, he was missing his head, sir."
"Say again?" Armsmaster asked.
"His head was missing, sir," Kellyn repeated. "The examiner we had on site believed that his head, um, exploded, but was withholding from making a final determination until he got back to the coroner's office to perform a proper examination."
"Estimate?"
"If we're correct, there was at least forty, sir."
"Damn," he made a note on his papers about that. "Anything else? Equipment? Paraphernalia that might confirm whose base this was?"
"An armory, sir," Kellyn told him. "There's a lot of damaged equipment, but a fair bit that isn't. Other than that, nothing yet. We've withdrawn from the site for now due to poor lighting conditions, but we'll be continuing in the morning."
"How stable did it appear?" Armsmaster asked.
"Touch and go, sir. That's been our biggest issue. We have to check each area several times before moving on. No one's been hurt, but there were a few close calls."
"Submit your reports for today when you can, and carry on," Armsmaster said. "Report if you find anything else unusual."
"Yes, sir," Kellyn said, hanging up.
"What a mess," he muttered. "Now I have to add telling the Director about a possible mass homicide to the list."
The alert buzzed, letting him know someone was at the door to his lab, waiting for entry. A glance confirmed it was Dauntless and he admitted him, surprised that he had made such a quick return.
"Dauntless," he said in greeting. "You mentioned something you wanted to discuss?"
"Two things, actually, sir. But I'm… not sure about the second. First, I'd like to report that I uncovered the identity of the independent cape, Sirin."
"I'll have the appropriate paperwork sent to your email," he replied. "Sign and return it."
"You… aren't surprised, sir?"
He shook his head. "Suffice to say, no. What else?"
"Well, I figured it out as I was preparing to leave," Dauntless went on. "Something weird happened then. I was downstairs, in a stretch of hallway with no one around. And I clearly heard Ms. Hebert say: 'Sorry, Dauntless.'"
"You're certain she wasn't around, or you didn't imagine it?"
"It's possible, I suppose," Dauntless answered. "But I had left her in the hospital room and I visually checked the area several times. It.. wasn't exactly hearing, though, sir."
"What? You either heard her or you didn't, right?"
He tapped the side of his head. "It was like she was inside my head saying that, sir."
Armsmaster regarded him for a moment. "When was the last time you had a full night's sleep?"
"When was the last time you did?" Dauntless retorted. "I'm tired, but I don't think I'm to the point of hearing voices. And if I were, why would they be of a girl I've spoken to a handful of times?"
"The alternative is that this girl did something that we suspect is an ability of The Simurgh," Armsmaster said. "Tell me which sounds more unbelievable."
Dauntless fairly radiated frustration and Armsmaster sighed, holding up a hand. "Alright. Go over this with me, in detail. You spoke to Ms. Hebert… once, or twice?"
"Twice," Dauntless said. "The first time while making rounds to reassure the patients and such. I'd heard from the nurses that she apparently was missing a whole week and figured I'd cheer her up. She was nice, but I figured she had just gotten caught up in one of the explosions and that was why she was missing a week. Short-term amnesia, maybe."
"The second time," he went on, "was after the hospital had requested some detectives. They were concerned about rape and there were claims about her arriving under unusual circumstances, so parahuman involvement became a possibility. I was there, as you know, so I got the alert. I didn't learn anything new then, though."
"Was she injured in any way?"
"Chafe marks from where she had clearly been restrained at some point, and seven or eight spots marking repeated injection sites. Other than that… well, she looked underfed. Given that they said she was lit up with some seriously potent stuff, that doesn't surprise me."
"Alright, after your second meeting, then what?" Armsmaster asked.
"I was heading out when it happened. It had just hit me who she might be, and then I heard her. By the time I got back to her room, she was gone."
"Damn," Armsmaster said. "I wish she had stayed. No telling where she is now and with this crater incident… Damn."
"There might be a way to find out, sir," Dauntless offered. "One of the nurses mentioned that she did call someone and had a visitor."
"Who? Her father?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "Glory Girl."
"That might be helpful," Armsmaster allowed, then frowned. "What about your conversations with her? Did she say anything that might shed light on where she was?"
"First time, it was small talk. She asked some questions about what had been going on. I gave her some general information, stuff that you can hear on the news. The second time, I got her permission to take a closer look at her neck. My helmet's scanner took some pictures." He drew a folder out from under his arm. "And everything I could get from the hospital."
"Let me see your helmet," Armsmaster said, reaching for a cord and plugging it into a hidden port when it was passed over. "There. I've copied over the pictures. Good thinking there."
"Thank you, sir," Dauntless replied. "Looking back, I think she was a bit nervous when we came back. The police didn't catch on, but… I'm certain of it now. Probably why she rabbited. Afraid she had been ID'd."
"Well, I'm certain she'll turn up soon," Armsmaster said. "Either causing a ruckus or being part of one. She seems drawn to those."
"What are we going to do, sir?" Dauntless asked.
"I'll have a better idea once I've spoken to the Director. Probably with Glenn too. Until then, proceed following our standing orders. I want thorough notes about the incident you relayed to me."
"I thought you didn't believe me?"
"I'm skeptical, but I try to avoid ruling out anything," he said. "File your report then go get some sleep."
"Yes, sir!" Dauntless saluted and quietly left. Armsmaster looked at the additions to his notes and the newly added pictures, assessing the new information.
"Hopefully, he's just imagining things," he said to himself. "Or some power that allows ranged communication. Something like Screamer's, maybe."
"Questions for later," he decided, shaking his head. Should focus on what I know for sure now. Hopefully, I'll catch the Director in a good mood. He tapped in a few commands, dialing her private line.
--
Last edited:
