“I’m getting the impression you’re upset with me.”
Alice hadn’t said a word since we had started driving and with me behind the wheel, it was beginning to make me anxious. So far, Sam struck me as a talkative person so hearing her sit in complete silence was unnerving to some degree.
“What gives you that idea?”
Even her reply was sharp.
“The silent treatment, for one,” I said. “This isn’t the first time a girl has been upset with me so I’ve learned the telltale signs.”
Alice shifted confidently in her seat and in the corner of my peripherals, casually brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. Everything about her posture screamed that she was annoyed. Her rigid shoulders, her lack of movement. It was out of character for her to act so stoney and the only explanation I could come up with was that she was mad about something.
“Is that so?”
“You could just tell me what’s wrong instead of being cryptic.”
“I don’t know,” Alice replied. “I’m tempted to let you sit there and reflect on what you did.”
Normally I’d let this simmer. If it were Lucy, Abby, or Mom, I’d give them some space and ask again later but I didn’t have that luxury with Alice. I needed to be able to trust to have my back so grievances like this needed to be cleared up quickly.
I’m not playing this game.
“How about you be straight up with me? We’re supposed to be a team,” I questioned with a stare. “Teammates are supposed to help each other out when they screw up. That’s the whole point.”
Alice grumbled under her breath.
“Okay, look… Gold is annoyed with you. It’s why I need to be careful when and where I let her out. If she gets particularly rowdy, she tends to bleed through me sometimes. Same with Pink,” Alice said. “She views these types of exchanges as a power play, Upgrade. She’s pissed that you butted in and offered to help without letting her say anything.”
I guess that’s why she gave me that look.
“I don’t see what the big deal is. He said he’d join after we helped him rescue his friend.”
“The read I had on him with Gold tells me that he’s not exactly fond of commitment. He can be a bit… wishy-washy,” Alice pursed her lips, trying to find the right words. “He might say that he’ll join but once we fulfill our end of the deal, he could dip if he’s not feeling the right vibe. His powers don’t exactly make it easy to force him into a position where he has to stick to his word.”
I could see Alice’s point. If there was an element of indestructibility to his morpher form, then using force would be as effective as trying to break a stone with a spoon.
“Well, we can’t make him join if he really doesn’t want to,” I said, giving Alice a flat look. She didn’t answer right away and I saw her eyes narrow as she started thinking. I resisted the urge to cringe a little when she bit her lip. “I don’t like that look you have.”
“There are other ways to secure loyalty.”
I shook my head. “We are not using his friend against him.”
Alice rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. That would foster resentment. I was thinking of something more practical. If we rescue his friend and then recruit her, he’ll have more incentive to stay. Plus, he clearly has feelings for her, so that would make things easier.”
“Oh, gee, emotional manipulation. That seems like a fantastic alternative,” I grumbled. “Not to burst your bubble but he said she didn’t have any powers. What good is someone with no powers on the team?”
Alice burst out laughing. When she saw how confused I was by my body language, she laughed even harder. “Oh my god, you're so dense.”
“Those ejector seats are looking awfully appealing right now,” I intoned with a clear warning. “Can you explain?”
“Come on, use your head,” Alice snorted. “You’re a Mechakinetic. Just make her something, like that suit your wearing. Outfit her in some high-tech gear and it won’t matter if she has powers or not. You’ve seen the stuff the ECU wears. Ninety-nine percent of them are just normal people decked out Mechatech.”
I… I could do that.
“This all depends if she even wants to join us and again, I’m going to be clear here, I’m not comfortable forcing anyone to do something they don’t want to do.”
“Chill, Upgrade. I know how this stuff works. Just trust me, okay? Let’s get through this. We can cross this whole ‘Anomaly stays or leaves’ bridge when we get to it. But just for future reference, please for the love of God, let me do the talking at these meetings,” Alice stressed. “Everything will go a lot smoother if I can steer the ship.”
“Fine,” I shrugged. “But don’t expect me to stay quiet if I think you're steering us into a hurricane.”
“If that ever happens, you have my full permission to wack me over the head,” She replied, giving me a wink. “That shouldn’t happen though, so we’re good for now.”
Poseidon’s Vault was an old building located near the harbor, which meant the drive there didn’t take too long. It was a two-story building that had once been a seafood guttery. It had shut down a couple of years ago due to health regulations and it had been all over the news about the contaminated produce they were hiding. Apparently, it had been run by an Evohuman that had been using their powers to experiment on the food. The details of their powers had never been released to the public but the operation had been quickly shut down by the ECU.
Then, somebody bought the building and converted it into a nightclub due to its enticing location. Its popularity was profound but it had been swallowed up by the Cains when Grim moved into town. Whether or not it hurt the business, I wasn’t sure but I knew that the place wasn’t safe.
“Looks like someone beat us to the punch,” Alice said as we pulled out outside the nightclub. The car park was barren and there looked to be no signs of life anywhere. She clicked her tongue in amusement. “Place seems really popular.”
Anomaly joined us the moment we exited the car. He landed in front of us, reforming from a puddle into his human form.
“Is this the place?” He looked on, eyeing the neon blue signs plastered on the side of the building. “It doesn’t look very lively.”
“Strange, isn’t it?” Alice agreed. She walked up to the front doors with the two of us flanking her. To my surprise, the doors slid open, allowing us entry. “Must be a rough time for business,” We entered the receptionist area and saw a lack of a receptionist behind the desk. There weren’t even any bouncers guarding the doors that lead into the main area. “Okay… must be a really rough time for business.”
“This feels off,” Anomaly said.
I had to agree. “The lights are on but nobody's home. I can’t even hear any music. This place is supposed to be a nightclub, right?”
“Yeah. Can’t say I was expecting this,” Alice observed. “Pandora must have seen the opportunity and moved in quickly while Gold Rush was injured.”
“That doesn’t explain why the place is empty. The building is open but the staff aren’t even here?” I noted, looking around. “Did they know we were coming?”
“The Cains don’t have a Mentalist capable of precognition. I’d know if they did,” Alice frowned. “I think.”
“You think? You said Grim’s attack was out of character. What if he has something at his disposal that no one knows about?” I asked.
Alice considered my words carefully. I could see the gears turning in her head as she pursed her lips and looked around.
“If they really do have someone like that, why run away? Why not set a trap for us?” She turned on her heel and walked through another pair of sliding doors into the main area. There was a flashy dance floor and disco ball. All the lights were flashing to an invisible beat, yet there was no one but us here to enjoy it. “This doesn’t make any sense. Gold can’t figure out if this is supposed to be a trap or something else.”
Anomaly transformed and looked around, his smooth head sweeping the area to check for anything. He shifted back and offered a helpless but frustrated shrug. “Nothing. I’m not picking up any sound. It’s just us here. Even if someone were breathing, I’d see it.”
Alice shifted to pink and blurred before disappearing. Anomaly did a double take at where she had been standing just a second ago.
“I thought she was a Mentalist?”
“She’s an Aspect,” I replied.
He groaned. “Shit, they’re even worse… fuck.”
I grunted. “Tell me about it.”
Pink reappeared seconds later, a disappointed pout on her lips. “Nada! It’s like everyone just poofed! Even some of the ashtrays are smoking.”
“So they figured out we were coming,” I summarized. I looked around and opened my security breaching app inside my helmet. I pinged all available ports and quickly found the network with all the security cameras. I flicked through all the cameras, coming up short. “Nothing on the cameras either. This place is a graveyard.”
“A creepy one,” Anomaly shuddered. “What now?”
Pink shifted back to Blue. “Upgrade, you're connected to the cameras. Can you rewind the footage and see what happened?”
I nodded. “Give me a sec.”
I rewound the footage, watching as our little group began walking in reverse until we were out of the building. There was nothing for about five or six minutes until I hit a blip and the whole recording turned to static. I watched the timestamp count back, noting how many seconds were in the blip. When the recording came back, the nightclub was filled with people. The blip was only seven seconds long.
“That’s weird. There’s a glitch in the recording with about seven seconds of corrupted footage. This place was filled with people before it.”
Alice grimaced. “How long ago?”
“Six minutes.”
“This is some horror movie shit,” Anomaly shifted uncomfortably. “You can’t evacuate a building like this in seven seconds.”
“No,” I agreed. “I’m going to try and watch it from other angles. I’ve got all the feeds up. I’ll see if I can find anything.”
I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for but I kept my eye open while Alice paced around in front of me, watching for any signs of trouble. Anomaly walked over to the nearest seat and sat down, eyeing the bar that was tucked away in the corner. All but one of the feeds had nothing evenly remotely of interest going on.
Up in the VIP lounge on the second floor, there was a meeting being held between a man in a white suit and a zebra-striped mask. He was sharing a drink with a younger-looking figure in a coat. I couldn’t tell if the person was male or female by how baggy the clothes were and the hood concealing their face. The camera angle didn’t provide much. All around them, guards with guns were stationed and Gold Rush was sitting off in a corner, her leg bandaged and elevated.
“Got something. VIP lounge upstairs. There was a guy in a white suit, zebra patterned mask.”
Alice scrunched up her face. “Masquerade?” She muttered the name, sounding completely baffled. “What the fuck is he doing here?”
“Who?” Anomaly spoke up, giving Alice a strange look. “Does this have anything to do with Mia?”
“What? No,” Alice shook her head like she was trying to stop his question from distracting her. “This is completely different. We’re dealing with a whole other barrel of fish here.”
“Who’s Masquerade?” I asked. “I’ve never heard of him.”
Alice gave me an understanding look. “I’m not surprised. He’s not even supposed to be in New Elpis. He’s a fucking Arms Dealer that operates out of Dubai. He’s business partners with The Iron Maiden.”
That name was familiar, another infamous super. There were few supers in the world that were world-renowned. Everyone knew all the S-Class ones but sometimes the A-Class could slip from memory. The Iron Maiden sounded familiar but I couldn’t place what they were notorious for.
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“Isn’t that the crazy Warlord that tried to take over Saudi Arabia or something?” Anomaly asked, confused.
“Almost. She waged war against the United Arab Emirates. She still is with her base of operations being in Dubai. The Iron Maiden and Masquerade have hundreds of supers under their command and own Fireiron Industries,” Alice explained. Her confusion only compounded as she began to rub her temples. “I just… I can’t figure out what he’s doing here.”
“Beats me,” Anomaly shrugged, sounding uninterested. He turned his gaze to me. “Anything else you got there or should we leave? We’re kinda wasting time.”
“He was talking to some guy in a black coat with a hood. I can’t tell if they are male or female.”
Alice shook her head. “I don’t even know who that could be. Any sign of Gold Rush?”
“Yeah, in the corner. She’s injured. Her leg is all bandaged up.”
I allowed the video to resume. There was no audio so I couldn’t tell what was being said but Masquerade and the unknown seemed to be immersed deeply in a conversation. Everything seemed normal right up until Gold Rush's head turned, looking at something out of frame. She then threw herself off the seat and vanished in a flash of light.
Masquerade and the unknown were on their feet drawing weapons before the video blipped. Seven seconds later, the building was empty.
“You were right. Someone beat us here,” I said, rewinding the footage to get another look. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any hint of who their attacker was in the other cameras. “They were attacked. Gold Rush managed to escape before… whatever happened, happened.”
“And whatever attacked them managed to empty the place in seven seconds,” Alice murmured. She looked around again, eyes scanning the ceiling, then the dance floor. “Were there people dancing before the blip?”
“Why does any of this matter?” Anomaly cut in before I could answer. “There’s nobody here and we’re wasting time.”
“No we’re not,” Alice shot back. “Something happened to everyone in this place and I’m not entirely convinced they left. Unless our attacker has some kind of mass teleportation power, there’s no reason Gold Rush would run away.”
“I messed up her leg,” Anomaly argued. “She’d run away from a mouse if she thought it could hurt her.”
“Goes to show just how much you know about the Cains,” Alice replied dismissively. “Do you want to know the one thing I’m curious about? Whoever did this managed to empty the building in seven seconds – but why stop to turn off the music?”
“Who knows,” Anomaly rolled his shoulders. “Maybe they're not fans of club music? I’m more of a rock ‘n roll kinda guy myself.”
“I’ve got nothing more on the cameras,” I said, backing out of the cameras. “We should probably go. I don’t like the idea of lingering longer than we have to.”
Alice suddenly stilled. “Oh fuck.”
I tried to turn to look at her but found none of the muscles in my body obeyed me. Panic surged through me as I tried to move. I could still see Alice and Anomaly in my peripherals and they seemed to be having the same problem. We were all stuck as if we had been frozen from head to toe in ice.
“What the hell?” Anomaly grunted. “I can’t transform!”
Laughter sounded from behind me.
“What do we have here? A couple of flies caught in our web.”
I couldn’t turn my head to see so I went into the cameras to investigate. I heard her before I saw what she looked like, heels clicking against the dance floor. When the cameras finally caught her, I saw the visage of a woman in an olive green costume, hair decorated with flowers and twigs. She walked right in between us, her gaze fixated on Alice. Then, she sighed.
“Alice,” She said slowly. “Long time no see.”
“Springsong,” Alice replied with false cheer. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Why the fuck can’t I move?” Anomaly hissed, glaring at Springsong. “Is this you?”
“Who else would it be, darling?” Her smile was saccharine. “You three made it rather easy.”
“We got caught by her song. Don’t bother trying to move,” Alice explained blandly. “We’re essentially her puppets now.”
I stared at her, bewildered. “What song? I can’t hear anything.”
Alice’s lips thinned. “Exactly. Scary, isn’t it?”
“It’s rude to talk about someone like they aren’t even here,” Springsong mused, strolling around in front of Alice. She brushed some of Alice’s hair out of her eyes almost like a caring mother would. It was unsettling to see and I could almost see how much Alice hated it. “Now, I’ve left your ability to speak to explain why you’re here. So, hurry it up. I don’t have all night.”
“I could ask you the same question,” Alice said, keeping her anger in check. “What’s got The Queen’s Court so interested in a place like this? Has Grim’s sudden activity got Gaea spooked?”
The Queen’s Court? Oh shit…
“Grim’s little display has everyone concerned,” Springsong replied swiftly. “Gaea’s put me in charge of investigating what’s got the old fossil all riled up and my findings have led me here. The only question is what you’re doing here,” Her gaze briefly landed on me and Anomaly. “I see you’ve picked up a couple of strays. No longer a solo act, are we?”
“Hopefully not,” there was venom behind Alice’s veiled smile. “We were just passing through. Don’t suppose you could let us go?”
“At least try to sound convincing, honey,” Springsong chuckled. “You expect me to believe you came all geared up to party?”
“I don’t know,” Alice said. “Depends on the kind of party.”
Springsong narrowed her eyes. “I’m not going to ask again.”
“Fine. We were going to pay a small visit to Gold Rush,” Alice said. “There’s a particular person that the Cains have and we’d like them back before anything unsavory happens, if you catch my drift.”
Springsong contemplated Alice’s words for a moment. “I see. Well, I’m sorry to say that we were unable to acquire Gold Rush. She’s slipperier than most.”
“You didn’t capture Masquerade either, did you?” Alice asked. This time, Springsong scowled. “Don’t look so surprised. People have been trying to capture him for decades. It’ll take more than your powers to snag someone like him. He came prepared for every eventuality. Let me guess, he had some kind of device? Portable teleportation, probably.”
“Yes,” Springsong confirmed, unamused. “He escaped, along with his underlings.”
Damn, that sounded useful. I’d have to figure out how to remake something like that. If I could get my hands on whatever it was, I could probably figure out the steps to how it was made.
“That doesn’t explain the blip in the cameras, or where everyone went,” Alice said. “Who’re you working with?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Alice smirked before switching to Gold for a few seconds. Satisfied, she switched back to Blue.
“That’s cute. You managed to bag Uplink.”
Springsong growled and turned away. “I hate Mentalists…”
“So, where’s the little twerp? Hiding somewhere apparently. I thought his speciality was security breaching but it's much more than that, apparently,” Alice grinned. “Oh, that’s—” Her mouth froze and no more words came out. Springsong shook her head, turning back to Alice.
“You never know when to shut up,” she grumbled. Turning, she walked away from Alice and over toward me. “Release your control over the network before Uplink has a tantrum and screams my ears off.”
I stared at her blankly. “What?”
“Your connection is overriding Uplink’s. Release it.”
I terminated my connection to the building's systems. Immediately, a stream of greenish light poured out of one of the security cameras and hit the floor. A figure appeared, much shorter than everyone else in the room. It was a boy, young, probably around eleven or twelve years old. He was dressed in casual clothes and a decorated face mask.
He stalked toward me and lashed out, punching me in the head. My helmet did its job perfectly and protected me against the blow.
CRUNCH!
The boy recoiled, clutching his hand. He cried out, sounding on the verge of tears. I resisted the urge to laugh while Springsong stared down at the boy, unimpressed by the display.
“I think I broke my finger…” Uplink sobbed.
“Serves you right,” the older woman glared down at the boy. “Who gave you permission to attack my captive?”
“He was messing with my powers!” Uplink retorted childishly. “I can’t use ‘em if he’s connected. He did it at the mall as well!”
Huh, so that was Uplink.
“You weren’t allowed to tag along so you could be an annoyance. I certainly didn’t ask for him to terminate his connection just so you could come out here and throw a tantrum,” Springsong muttered. “Bring out the owner so we can have a chat with him. Since Alice is here, it’ll make extracting information easier.”
Uplink mumbled something under his breath.
Springsong’s face turned thunderous.
“What was that?”
The child flinched. “Nothing!”
Another stream of green light surged from a camera and deposited someone on the floor. At the same time, I felt all my motor functions return to me. Alice cried in alarm and almost fell over while Anomaly stood up and transformed. Springsong paused, giving him a daring side-eye. Anomaly held his ground, glaring at the woman with blazing eyes of white fire.
“Don’t do anything foolish, darling,” Springsong intoned with a warning. “You are still under the effects of my power and I can do much more than immobilize you.”
“Yep, chill Anomaly,” Alice said, stretching her limbs a little. “No need to start a fight here.”
He reverted and crossed his arms. “Whatever. Just get this over with.”
“Alright, lets see what we have here,” Alice walked over to the man Uplink had summoned onto the dance floor. Springsong flanked her, putting a calculated distance between the two of them. It almost seemed like the two had done this before.
I watched from a distance as Alice began interrogating the man. It took all of two minutes to get the information they wanted. Springsong waved at Uplink and the man disappeared in another green flash, back into the security cameras. It was a strange sight but I was beginning to understand how everyone had disappeared in under seven seconds. Alice was right, they hadn’t left.
“Okay, I’ve got some good news and bad news,” Alice said, approaching me and Anomaly. Springsong and Uplink stood to the side but listened in as well, the latter glaring at me like he wanted my head to spontaneously combust. “Good news! Anomaly, your friend is likely being held at a decommissioned meatworks in the middle of Cain territory, and she’s apparently not being sold into human trafficking.”
He choked at her explanation, seemingly relieved. “That… that’s good, right?”
“Eh… bad news. We don’t know why she and the rest of her group are being held there. Double bad news as well, Grim has been noted to be present a majority of the time. Something ugly is going on there and that guy wasn’t privy to the juicy details,” Alice explained. “So rescuing her is going to be a problem.”
His shoulders slumped a little. “Shit…”
“Yeah. Worst still, Masquerade is involved somehow. So that complicates things,” Alice continued. Anomaly went to open his mouth but Alice quickly held up her hand. “But! It’s not all hopeless,” She gestured to Springsong and Uplink standing behind her. “We’ve got some backup.”
I stared hesitantly at Uplink, noting his unsatisfied scowl. “You guys are willing to help?”
“Grim is a problem that needs to be dealt with,” Springsong said simply. “I am willing to suffer a temporary alliance. Masquerade backing whatever he’s doing means bad things for Bayside so Gaea will understand my decision. If you are willing to take the fight to them, we will assist.”
“Our plan wasn’t to fight Grim head on,” Alice said. “I’m still piecing it together but the goal is to run him out of town.”
Springsong nodded. “Obviously. My offer stands regardless.”
“Are you sure?” I edged, looking at Uplink. “Pinocchio there looks like he wants to rip my head off.”
“Eat glass you piece of s—!” Springsong covered his mouth with her hand.
“His attitude is a work in progress but you have my word,” Springsong said. “He will cooperate when the time comes.”
“Can we go now?” Uplink murmured through her hand, still glaring at me. Springsong just nodded.
“Our work is done here,” she said, giving Alice a look. “Once you three leave, Uplink will return everyone back here. Alice, you know how to contact me.”
“Kisses,” Alice waved, turning on her heel. “Let’s go, boys.”
Anomaly and I followed her out. I watched over my shoulder as Uplink and Springsong atomized into a green light before flowing into one of the security cameras. He must be able to move through networks freely and bring people along with him. I wondered if he could bounce to other networks as well?
“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Anomaly asked. “She’s at a meatworks, right? Let’s go—”
“Woah there. Pump the brakes,” Alice turned and raised her hands. “We’ve got people who want to help us. We can’t just be going off without a plan of attack now. It’s time to coordinate and prepare, especially since we’re walking into territory Grim is known to watch over.”
Anomaly shifted on his feet impatiently. “How long do I have to wait?”
“A couple of days. I need to work things out with Upgrade here and coordinate with Springsong. Wednesday at the earliest. Friday at the latest.”
His hands balled into fists as he looked away. He clearly didn’t like the answer.
“Alice,” I started. “Look, he’s clearly worried about his friend. What’s your best guess on what’s going on? If she isn’t being trafficked then… what? How much time do we realistically have? Can we even afford to wait that long?” I stole a quick glance at Anomaly. He looked somewhat grateful for my contribution. “I know if it was one of my friends, I’d be antsy too.”
She chewed her bottom lip for a moment before switching to Gold. “With Masquerade involved, along with an unknown, there’s likely something else going on that’s bigger than monetary incentive,” She paused for a moment, her arms crossing and her fingers drumming against her arms. “He and the Iron Maiden run Fireiron industries which is a large scale mechatech company. Illegal weapons testing maybe. It’s hard to say without knowing who the unknown is.”
“I’ve got the recordings saved. You can analyze it later,” I said.
Gold nodded.
“I’m not going to lie to you and say she isn’t in danger. She is but we can’t just charge in there without a plan. Grim will just kill us,” Gold continued. “I know that’s not what you want to hear right now but this is how we’re doing things. We prioritize our lives first. We can’t rescue anyone if we’re dead.”
Anomaly grunted. “...Fine.”
“Hey,” Alice switched back from Gold, her tone sounding more sympathetic. “Don’t do anything reckless. I’ll message you. We’ll get your friend back but for the time being, don’t try to attack Grim on your own. You’ll just die.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“You were thinking it,” Alice countered immediately. “You might think you're indestructible, and to your credit you might very well be, but Grim is something else entirely. I wouldn’t take that risk if I were you.”
He stared at her for a moment, conflicted over what to do. I could see how antsy he was. It was clear he was impatient and wanted to go right now but Alice’s words had hit home.
“Alright. I’ll wait but come up with a plan quickly. I don’t want to wait too long,” He proceeded to shift into his transformed state but stopped halfway. He hesitated for a moment, reaching for his facemask. Then, he shook his head and let the transformation complete. Crouching down, he launched himself into the sky and disappeared over a building.
Alice released a shaky sigh and ran a hand through her hair.
“You okay?” I asked. She clapped her hands and rocked back and forth on her heels for a bit. “You look nervous, even sounded worried there for a minute.”
“Tonight has been a whole range of crazy I was not prepared for. Masquerade changes things, a lot. Gaea actually sending people out to investigate is freaky because she’s never really taken an interest in this stuff before,” She admitted, changing the subject. “This is way bigger than I thought it was. Even Gold is kinda speechless and that doesn’t happen often.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to me. The Cains still need to be taken down. I don’t care who’s backing them.”
“Well, in that case I’m going to need you to make me a weapon,” Alice then cracked a small smile. “And you’re going to need a bigger gun.”