Hero Engine (23 page)

A vine shoots out of the depths of the water and wraps around Tess’ ankle. Tess looks down at the vine and pulls her foot free. By the time the plant has let go of her foot, three more have taken its place. A grunt. “I’ll kill you all,” she cries. Tess waves an arm across the air. The Patriot’s wracked body slams straight into Flaura, and the two of them sink into the ocean.

Tess turns and flies away from Headquarters. The underwater building falls as soon as she’s gone. The whole million tons of floating skyscraper goes careening into the ocean like something out of a Transformers movie. The wave created by the structure crashing back to sea would make Godzilla himself turn a lighter shade of green. I see the massive tidal wave coming with enough time to grab some oxygen and dive in to the water to avoid it smashing down on top of me.

The churning water spins my body around. There’s no light. No way to tell which way is up. I’d always heard about people getting disoriented in the water and I never really understood it until right this moment. There’s no time to think. I commit to the direction I think is up and swim as hard as I can.

Ten feet: No light, no life.

Fifteen feet: No light, no life. Arms burn.

Eighteen feet: I’m about to give up. Just open my mouth and take a big drink and be done.

Twenty feet: A glimpse of light. I’m going the right way.

I kick my feet with everything I’ve got. My jellied arms pull at the water around me. Another flash, this one looks close enough to touch. I break free of my underwater coffin and drink in the air with all the greed of Wall St.

Something floating in the water bumps my back. It’s Flaura’s body. She’s unconscious, but breathing. The Patriot is draped across her. He also looks like hell, but he’s alive. I grab a vine draped across Flaura’s shoulder. I think it’s part of her ‘clothing’, but right now, it’s a tow strap. One arm holds the two heroes while the other paddles us to safety.

Halfway back to what’s left of the base, I catch a glimpse of something moving off to my right. I change my course so I swim directly into its path. The ‘it’ is Ann, still dragging Ulrich’s body. He’s not moving. We meet up and the five of us pull toward the floating Hive.

When we finally get back to the base, the only lights on seem to be emergency lights of some kind. A ring of flood lamps circle the flight deck and point to the sea. There are a handful of people standing on the deck throwing life preservers. A man spots us and yells. Three people show up next to him and they all throw ropes down.

We tie Ulrich, Flaura, and The Patriot’s bodies to the ropes and let the workers haul them up first. Another set comes down and we tie ourselves up for a lift. At the deck, hands reach out and grab me, drag me up to the ground. I roll to my back just as all of my vision darkens to nothingness.

THE GENTLE SOUND
of the ocean wakes me and I open my eyes to the blinding afternoon light. I try to sit up and muscles I never knew existed threaten to tear in half at such a ludicrous command. The things I ask of my body. I manage to push up to one elbow and shield my eyes from the sun with my free hand.

“Take it easy, Jim,” Ann says. She is holding a bag of liquid over my head.

I follow the plastic tube from the bag all the way down to the needle sticking in the crease of my elbow.

“You needed fluids,” Ann says. “That and sleep. Yeah, apparently you’ve been chasing down an AWOL superhero and not getting enough rest.” She attempts a smile, but it comes out awkward.

“Great. How long have I been out?” I pull the needle out of my arm and press my palm against the hole to keep from bleeding.

“Just a few hours. Not too long.”

With great effort, I sum up enough energy to push to a sitting position. We are on the deck of SHI Headquarters. Injured people are scattered all around and medical workers scurry among the host of injured.

“How bad is it?”

Ann sighs. “Powers out in all but the most important sections of the Hive. This is all the injured they’ve managed to bring up, but there are still search parties going through, floor by floor. Structurally, everything held up by some miracle. There are no leaks and the Hive has resumed its normal floating pattern.”

Vince appears from the door that leads into the Hive. He spots Ann and me and walks over to us. His demeanor gets more and more glum every time I see the poor guy. He’s going to trade out his gum for Nitro’s and Xanax by the time this whole thing is over.

“How’s the search?” I rub my cheeks to work some kind of feeling back in to my body.

Vince crouches. “We made it through all the floors and evaced the injured. I’ve got teams picking up the deceased now.”

“How many?”

He squints up at the sun for a while before answering. “The tallies aren’t in yet. No telling until the search is over. Equipment and falling debris seems to have been the biggest cause. The Hive is built to withstand hurricane force winds, but last night…Well, that was something else entirely.” Vince’s jaw pops as he chomps at his gum.

“How many heroes were lost?” I think about an unconscious Granite Fist sinking down into the depths. A chill runs across the tops of my arms.

“Four that we know of. Icestro, Granite Fist, Abaddon, and Arcanos were all lost in the battle with Tess.”

“Do you still think she’s innocent,” Ann asks.

Vince lowers his gaze from the sun to meet Ann’s eyes. He holds it for a while. “I…I don’t know. I believed her innocent, but after last night, after seeing the destruction she’s set on causing…I just don’t know.”

This is the first time Vince has shown any doubt. I would have thought that would seal the case. Tess is crazy, gone off her rocker, and taking it out on the world. I’ve found the person who seems the guiltiest is generally guilty. Forget all the dime-store detective novels. In real life, the prime suspect is almost always the perpetrator. Missing wife? The husband did it. Dead drug dealer? Rival drug dealer. Dead prostitute? Either an angry John or her pimp. Solving crimes is not hard; proving it is.

All that being said, this whole fucking mess feels more like a ‘B’-list movie than an actual case. From hillbilly racists to French sociopaths, I don’t know what’s what anymore. Tess seems like the obvious candidate, but it just doesn’t fit. I don’t like it. Maybe her parents made an impression on me. The biggest question I can’t answer is, if she isn’t the reason for all of this, who is?

I pull my head back to the moment. “How long until everything here is back up and running?”

“Engineers think they can have power back on within the hour. The place is a mess, but almost nothing is irreparable.”

“
Almost
nothing?” That doesn’t sound good.

“The Engine.” Vince’s voice is barely a whisper. He could either be trying to keep it down so no one else on the deck hears, or he may have just lost the will to speak. I can’t tell.

“Did they get it fixed before the attack?” Last I heard they had no idea how the Engine worked, let alone how to fix it.

“No, but the blast must have weakened it more than we thought. The impact of Tess dropping the Hive completely destroyed the Engine. There’s nothing left but pieces of clay and dust. The few that are privy to the situation say it’s a complete loss.”

Ann’s hand rises up to the hollow at her throat. “Add that to the fact that nine heroes have been killed in the past thirty-six hours and that means…” Her voice trails off.

“That means if Tess isn’t stopped soon, there will be no more Super Hero Initiative. No more superheroes, period.” Vince voices the concern that Ann couldn’t.

“What about The Patriot’s team? Hell, what about The Patriot?” Dragging Flaura and him back to the Hive last night clicks. I had forgotten about it until just now. Vince didn’t mention either of them with the dead heroes, so I guess that’s good.

“The Patriot, and Flaura for that matter, are both doing fine because of you. I’ve been told you brought them to safety last night and they are both appreciative of it – even if they aren’t here to voice it.” Vince looks like he want to pat me on the back, but isn’t sure how to go about doing it.

“Where are they?”

“I sent all the heroes out to anywhere Tess might show up. One for as many major cities as I can cover and one in every city where Tess has ties. Flaura has gone back to Houston and The Patriot has taken his usual residence in New York City.” Vince wipes his palms down the legs of his pants. The poor guy has got to be sweating his head off.

If this thing continues much longer he’s going to be out of the job. What would he do after that? I imagine it would be hard finding a job for any one government when he resides over all of them, at the moment. That is a different problem for a different day, though.

Ann stands up, shakes out her legs. “So what about us? What should Jim and I do?”

“I want you two to keep doing what you’ve been doing. Dig into this thing and figure out what is going on. Also, be on the ready, Ann. If Tess shows back up we need your powers.”

“If I can get close enough. We tried in the plane last night and…”

Vince stands and sets a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I know. I saw. You both acted with a bravery beyond what anyone could ask of you. I will make sure to have another plane readied for you. We should have a new one here in an hour, max.”

A high-pitched whine sounds and lights all around the deck kick on as the Hive hums back to life.

Vince claps his hands together and looks up at the sky. Thanking the gods of electricity, no doubt. “There is a meeting room on the top level. I will have it cleared for you two to continue your work.”

WE TAKE UP SPACE
in the office Vince promised us. The room holds a long wooden desk surrounded by chairs, and one entire wall is made up of signatures of people or something. Across from the wall with the scribbled names is a window that views rows of cubicles. Ann walks over to the window and flips a switch. Blinds snap closed in between the panes of glass, leaving us on our own.

“How are you feeling?” Ann’s eyes track up and down my body, like a computer scanning me for injuries.

“My body hurts, my head hurts, I’m tired, and I was part of a giant showdown with a homicidal superhero. So, yeah, I’m peachy.”

“So you think she is homicidal then, yeah?” Ann pulls out a chair and takes a seat, staring at the wall of writing.

“Yes.”

Ann turns a sharp look in my direction.

I hold up my hands in defense. “Is she homicidal? Yes. She proved that when she killed Cendy and Icestro and the others. Was she pushed to being homicidal by something bigger? I think so. I just don’t know what.”

Ann’s face softens. She’s got bags under her eyes full enough to steep tea in. I don’t imagine I look any better. She says, “I think so too. It’s just hard to see clearly when everyone thinks she’s guilty, you know?”

“Yeah.” I pace down the room, trying to think of a situation where all this shit makes sense. “Do we have any of the letters left? The ones from mystery person to Dumont?”

Ann shakes her head. “They are all in the plane, at the bottom of the Atlantic.”

“Perfect.” I make it to the end of the room. There is a black wall that holds dead video monitors. The kind that all the rooms have, showing views of cityscapes to help with claustrophobia. I turn around and pace back the other direction.

“Let’s say for a minute, hypothetically, that Tess had nothing at all to do with those letters,” Ann says

“Okay?” That’s easy enough. Anyone could have written those damn letters.

“If she didn’t write them, then that means there is a giant conspiracy, right?”

“Right.” I walk the other way.

“So, what if she found out about it?” Ann stands up from her chair. Her hand rises up to her chin and she matches my pace on the opposite side of the desk.

“That’s possible.”

“What if it was one of the other heroes?”

That’s a pretty damn big jump and I tell her as much. “Why would a superhero work
with
the Anti-Hero Alliance?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they wanted the Engine destroyed for something else? Either way, we’re sticking hypothetical here, remember.”

“Oh-kay.” I say it slow, she’s starting to lose me a little.

“So, you are Tess and you just find out that someone with as much power, or more, than you is plotting something big and scary and deadly. What would you do?”

I scratch my face. “Um…get the hell out of here, I guess.”

“All right. Say you run away, yeah, but someone follows you. They know you know their secret and need to keep you from spilling the beans.”

“Seattle.”

“Yeah, Seattle. Maybe Tess tried to escape and someone followed her, attacked her in Seattle and she was defending herself.”

The clip I saw at the station back home plays back in my head. I see Tess floating there, screaming for someone to get away from her. Everyone thought she was talking about the humans flocking around her, but all of those humans could have easily covered up a superhero or two. She could have been attacking them, did attack them. She killed two heroes.

Ann reaches the end of the room and turns. Her index finger taps against her chin as she thinks. “So, if you knew this big thing was happening and people could possibly be in danger, serious danger if this conspiracy is big enough, where do you go next?”

I shrug. “The cops?”

Ann scowls and turns her head to the side like she’s about to smack me, a kid testing mommy’s patience. “Try not to think like such a copper, would you?”

I take a deep breath and think about it. “Um…I don’t know.”

“Well, I do. If I thought something major was in the works, I would warn my family.” Ann turns to me, ‘You get it now?’ written all over her expression.

“Houston.”

“Yes, Houston. What if she was there to try and warn her parents about something? Or maybe she just wanted to tell them she was innocent. I can’t be sure, but…”

“But Cendy was in Houston looking for her.”

“And Cendy attacked Tess with lethal force. Tess fought back, but did you notice that most of the damage in Houston was from Cendy’s bombs?”