Jack looked at the vault at bottom of his quarry’s house. Did he want to open it up? Did he want to let Guin do it?

He decided that he had the right tool for the job. He should open the thing up and share whatever he found. If he didn’t want to share anything, he could just say nothing was in the vault.

He didn’t have to give anything to Guin. The godfather probably had his own salvage teams. If he had to leave everything for them, they probably had some way to ship everything across town.

Could Magneto open the thing up with his magnetism?

If that didn’t work, he had some other tricks in his repertoire he could try.

He called Magneto. He shook his head. His hero couldn’t move things with his control over metal. Instead he fired an electrical shock into his target. That wouldn’t help with the vault.

He decided to try Nate Grey, the X-Man. That should be close enough that he could use his powers. The inventory gave him telekinesis and telepathy. That should be what he needed to move things around inside the vault door.

He pushed the button, dying his hair a browner red. His clothes were blue and gold. A small flicker showed the world the mental energy at his disposal.

He stared at the door, letting his ability search for a way around the door and locks. He started with the pins in the key lock next to the combination wheel. He pushed everything out of the way and turned the lock.

The next thing was to work the combination and move the tumblers out of the way so he could turn the lock bar and actually open the safe. He did that in a matter of seconds. He pulled the door out of the way and looked at the room beyond.

The vault stood empty. He frowned at the void.

It looked like the owner had packed everything up and fled. Why would he do that? A token force should be guarding his interests in the city.

He needed to report this and see what Mister Guin thought about it. Then he had to head North to find the Dark Rider. Unless Guin had a better option to find his rival, that was all he could do.

Why had the man packed everything up and left? If he knew that, he could find the guy and ask him in person.

Something was wrong with what he was seeing but he wasn’t a detective, and he didn’t think any of his heroes had anything like retrocognition. He could trail the guy as Wolverine if he knew what scent to follow.

Jack decided to test the walls of the vault before he left. He felt them with his

telekinesis. Nothing happened. It looked like there weren’t any secret doors.

He switched to Vision and made sure before closing the vault back up. He didn’t want someone to break in and steal the nothing left behind.

Maybe Guin could find the guy through the underground. That was a thought.

Jack made his way outside. The guy had days to move out of the city if he had left the city. He could have moved somewhere else and hunkered down. If he wore the Makeover, he could be trying to erase it.

He didn’t know if anyone could erase what he did. He didn’t want to find out. People would be doing anything cover up the markings to avoid any thought they had worked with the Montrose.

The smart ones would. The dumb and arrogant ones would still be thinking that no one could touch them.

Then they would meet Josie and that would change really quick.

He decided to try Guin’s home, and then the Silver Coin. He should be able to leave word at either one about what he had found. Then it would be up to the godfather what he wanted to do.

Jack wondered if Hawkeye would work in this situation. He thought about it, but he didn’t know what he would be looking for with the power. He could search everywhere and see the guy, but he wouldn’t recognize him.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

He slipped out of the house and headed for the gate. A switch to Quicksilver got him through the barrier. He switched to Makkari and rushed to Guin’s mansion. He switched back to normal at the end of the block and walked the rest of the way.

Guin had thought the other man was preparing for war. Maybe he was right. Where would he go if he was getting ready to fight?

Jack didn’t have the answers for that. He either had to search the entire city, or wait for developments. And he couldn’t wait long if the danger from the Dark Rider was everything the Appreciation Society thought.

Guin would have to wait for results until he put the Rider down. Then he could move back to this job.

Jack walked up to the gate. Linus wasn’t on watch today. The two new guys didn’t know him, and he didn’t know them. Would he have to do something to change their minds?

He was not above a demonstration to let them know he could punch through the gate if he wanted to do it.

“Move on,” said one of the goons. He waved his hand to indicate what he wanted.

“Mister Guin, or Linus, in?,” said Jack. “I’m supposed to talk to them about

something they wanted.”

“What’s the name?,” said the goon.

“Jack,” said Jack. He grinned at the look on the guard’s face. “I didn’t do anything bad. I’m just here to talk to Mister Guin about the favor he wanted paid.”

“All right,” said the guard. “Stay right there until we get this straightened out.”

Jack nodded. He put his hands in his pockets, and examined the neighborhood. Should he use the Vision to see if something was going on around the mansion?

He decided that wasn’t his worry. If someone came after Guin, he should he able to hold them off until he escaped with the men walking the grounds. If someone did try, that might be something he could use to help the godfather out.

The phone might be something he should work out in case they were needed to help protect the mobster.

The guard returned with Linus in tow. The big man frowned at Jack. Maybe he

expected the smaller man to take a while before he went about his business.

“Hey,” said Jack. He put on his most cheerful grin. “How you doing?”

“You got something?,” asked Linus.

“The guy is gone,” said Jack. “I went over to his house and looked around. He packed up a lot of his personal stuff and left. The vault in the basement has been emptied out.”

“That’s bad but not insurmountable,” said Linus. He looked up and down the street. “Come in. The boss will want to hear this with his own ears.”

“It’s probably nothing,” said Jack.

“We have to make sure,” said Linus. He opened the gate and ushered Jack on the grounds. “If he’s going to war, the first thing he’s going to do is get money to buy supplies and manpower.”

“What if he just left for better parts?,” asked Jack.

“The next nearest city is Gold Valley,” said Linus. “He might head north and cross the border, but there are a lot of frontier towns before you reach a city to set up in, and then the nearest city type place there is Fort Grain.”

“I guess you should spread the word to keep a look out for any of his guys still in the city,” said Jack. “I have to go North myself for a few days. If you get word about things, just leave it with Josie, or Elaine. They’ll hand it off to me when I get back.”

“I’ll send some messengers out to look around,” said Linus. “If he left town, why? He had a line of brothels and other things here. The Watch was leaving him alone. Why start over?”

“Maybe he got a new goal in life than being a criminal leader of a gang,” said Jack. “Some people do change jobs.”

“We’ll see,” said Linus. “Someone on the Watch might have got enough to make him draw in without having enough to arrest him. That’s more likely.”

“Has anybody started working on that building yet?,” asked Jack.

“I haven’t got word, so I am going to say no,” said Linus. “Maybe it wasn’t as

important as it looked.”

“Maybe,” said Jack. “If you see any more spots like that, leave word about them too. Josie will swing by and clean them out.”

“Why only women?,” said Linus.

“I don’t know,” said Jack. “Perfect servants with side benefits?”

“There are plenty around that you don’t have to sweep them up off the streets and they will be as loyal as the gold coming in,” said Linus. “This is something else.”

“When Josie finds whomever is at the top, we’ll ask him,” said Jack. “I’m sure he will have some answer about how he was bettering womankind or something.”

“Okay,” said Linus. “Sounds a little crazy to me.”

“It always does,” said Jack. “I’ll check in on that house to make sure he didn’t come back while I’m away, but it looks like either he went to a bolt hole, or he left town. I guess be on guard and ready for an attack until we know for sure.”

“I’ll put on a bigger detail,” said Linus. “I don’t like this at all.”

“If he is in with the Montrose, he might be trying to get his face fixed,” said Jack. “It might take him a while do that.”

“He can still give orders,” said Linus.

“True,” said Jack. “Before I forget, tell your boss I’m working on a rig so I can talk to him any time from anywhere in the city. If it works out, I won’t have to drop by, I can just call.”

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that,” said Linus. “I’ll put someone on the house to wait for Corle to come home.”

“If he’s coming home,” said Jack. “Don’t be surprised to see a for sale sign on the gate in the next few days.”

“All right,” said Linus. “I’ll talk to the boss. We need strategies for the options we see.”

“He might be hiding at one of his businesses,” said Jack. “Give me a list when I get back, I’ll go around and look at them.”

“He has never done that before, but he never left his house empty either,” said Linus. “He might have changed his habits.”

“He might be dead, and his crew are covering it up,” said Jack. “I have to go. I’ll be back in a bit. Have that list of locations and I’ll see what I can do about it.”

Jack waved as he walked off. The quest for the rival was still there. He hadn’t really solved anything.

One thing at a time, he decided. That was the best he could do.