Hero Unit (3 page)

“What is it? That’s my question,” Jacks said
looking weapon over from a safe distance.

“It’s a hybrid between a railgun and a Gauss
rifle,” Maniac said in answer to Jacks’ question. She was clearly
fascinated by what she was finding on the weapon. Her eyes were a
veritable storm of electricity. The answer had come more as a
reflex than a response to Jacks.

Jacks just looked more confused at the
answer. Ace’s head started hurting at the thought. She was well
versed in the hyper levels of weaponry that had been developed in
order to deal with Exceptionals. Why anyone would ever even
consider meshing a railgun and a Gauss rifle was beyond her.
“Shouldn’t that be impossible?” she asked.

“Most definitely. Whoever put this monster
together was a genius, probably smarter than Einstein,” Maniac
replied.

Jacks started swearing quietly under his
breath while Ace just shook her head. “What’s it made out of? I
can’t think of anything capable of withstanding that kind of
force.”

Maniac shook her head. “We’ll have to take it
to Einstein for that. You’re going to have to carry it Ace.”

With a resigned sigh Ace picked the weapon up
off of its mount and shouldered it. “No matter how many times I see
you do that…” Jacks said with a shake of his head.

“Deuce could have done it without touching
it,” Ace replied as she carried the gun from the room. She had it
over one shoulder and the mount under the other arm.

“Yeah, but that’s different. Powers like ours
don’t have the kind of effect that physical powers do. It’s hard to
explain,” Jacks said with another shake of his head. Lots of
Exceptionals of the various classes were like that. They were
constantly impressed by those with physical powers, despite what
their own powers could do.

Ace remained quiet as she carried the
impossible weapon out to their transport. Out on the street she
stopped, remembering something important. “Damn. Be right back.”
She sat the rifle down with its tripod and jumped, yet again, to
the top of the building. There she found the assault rifle Einstein
had given her.

“Almost forgot this,” she said back at street
level. She put her rifle back on her shoulder and then picked the
much larger one up off the ground.

“Good thing you remembered. Einstein’s going
to be mad enough you didn’t get a chance to fire it. Imagine if you
left it behind,” Jacks said.

Ace tried not to picture it as they loaded
themselves into the transport. She had enough problems. She didn’t
want to add the wrath of a mad scientist on top of it.

Chapter
3

“Hey rookie.” Ace looked up from her computer screen
where she was writing her report. She hated paperwork, but she did
it because she understood how important it was to the system. That
didn’t mean she wouldn’t take any excuse to look up from her
screen, even if it meant she had to deal with Left Hook.

Left Hook had come to the E.E.D just before
Ace, which meant in he had slightly more seniority than her. He was
also a jerk. Because of the difference in their seniority, small as
it was, he liked to try and pick on her. He was a Fourth and a
Speed Class. Ace was convinced that part of his problem was he was
only a mid-range, not an upper tier Exceptional.

“What’s up?” Ace asked. She didn’t bother
hiding her annoyance.

“Captain wants you down in interrogation.
Says one of the witnesses wants to talk to you,” Left Hook
replied.

That was unusual. Normally witnesses opened
up to Torment or Angel. Angel was the one in charge of Ace’s E.E.D
precinct. He was an upper tier Mental Class on par with Torment.
They also shared exactly the same powers. There were rumors the two
were dating, but Ace doubted that very much. Torment and Angel were
both sticklers when it came to rules and a relationship with a
coworker was a big time violation of department policy.

Ace saved her report and said, “Alright.” She
paused looked him in the eye and continued, “Touch my stuff and
we’ll have a repeat of what happened last time.”

He put his hands up in mock submission.
“Sure, I read you.” Left Hook had messed with her desk right after
her assignment to Torment’s Unit. She’d hung him upside down from a
flagpole, on the top of a building. They’d both been subject to
disciplinary action. A good cop Left Hook might be, but he was a
terrible person.

He’s an asshole.

The interrogation rooms were in the basement
of the precinct. Ace took the elevator and had to suffer through a
number of awkward moments when members of the regular police saw
her standing in the elevator. Most normals were adjusted to the
Exceptionals all the way up the Fourths. The first of the Fourth
Generation had been born over fifty years ago.

Things were different with her. She knew
about the rumors that people spread about her powers. Some were
right, others were wildly speculative. Yes she could, and had,
survived being shot by a tank, but no she couldn't kill a person
just by looking at them.

Well
you
can’t.

When she finally got to the basement she was
more annoyed. She did her best to keep it under control as she
showed her ID and was buzzed in. The entire floor was heavily
secured. Antis had been known to try and break out known associates
or witnesses against them. Not a one of the precautions could have
stopped Ace, but she didn’t want to break in. She didn’t want to be
there at all. She very much disliked taking part in interrogations.
She didn’t even like taking witness statements at crime scenes. It
always felt like she was intimidating people into talking, which
was a clear violation of their rights.

Captain Angel met her on the other side of
the mag-locked, all steel blast door. The Captain was tall and
thin. His dark skin and eyes could have made him intimidating, but
his face was perpetually smiling and his short, wiry hair was
completely white and had been his entire life.

Sure, he gets an easy Quirk.

His tie was loose and the top three buttons
of his shirt were undone. He looked stressed, despite the smile.
“Thanks for coming down here Ace,” he said extending his hand. She
shook it and said, “No problem Captain. What can I do to help?”

They started down the corridor. “Well, most
of the hostages you rescued didn’t know much. The normals for the
most part were grateful to make it out alive. The Regs were the
same. A couple had a few bits of intel for us, but not much more
than you’d already told Torment. And you were right; one of them
had put up a force field to protect them from that… weapon. However
there was one that was of particular interest. She’s an Unreg and a
Used. Said she spoke to you after you secured the scene.”

Ace nodded. She remembered the woman. She
hadn’t shown any of the usual signs of being a Used. “She seemed
like a normal when I spoke to her, though she did say that
Technosis was being used by the HSO,” Ace said.

Angel sighed and ran a hand through his short
hair. “That’s what we were afraid of. Anyway we need you to go talk
to her. Right now she’s scared and nervous. Apparently she’s an
upper tier mentalist. She’s strong enough to block out me and
Torment, and since she’s a Used she can’t drop her guard and let us
in to help.”

Ace nodded. She didn’t like the fact that
Angel had seemed to agree that the HSO was behind this incident.
That meant the organization was real. And if that was true that
meant they were likely responsible for Tomahawk’s death.

“I know what you’re thinking Ace. Just keep
it under wraps for now, okay?” Angel said.

He doesn’t know for certain either.

Again she nodded. Ace didn’t want to think
about a secret organization of Antis bent on world domination.
Stuff like that wasn’t supposed to happen in real life. Not after
the Exceptionals War.

Not everyone was satisfied with the outcome
of the War.

They arrived at the interrogation room and
Angel opened the door. Torment was sitting across the table from
the woman that Ace remembered from the crime scene. Torment was out
of her body armor. Instead she had on a black tank top and fatigue
pants. She had to suppress a small pang of jealousy. Torment was a
knockout, with model quality features and the kind of curves that
drew the eye. Ace tried not to make comparisons between her and her
commanding officer.

In the bright light of the room Ace could see
that the woman had been crying. Her green eyes were red-rimmed. Her
blouse was rumpled and the exhaustion was plain on her face.

She’s had a rough night.

“Ms. Carpenter, this is Ace,” Torment said as
way of an introduction.

“I know who she is,” Ms. Carpenter replied.
“I can’t help but know who she is.” There was resignation in her
voice when she spoke. She put her face in her hands, her long,
wavy, red hair cascaded forward.

“You said you’d be willing to talk to her,
correct?” Torment continued.

The woman nodded. She looked up and pushed
her hair back. “Just me and her. You two can watch from behind the
glass where Deuce and Jacks are placing bets.”

Ace blinked. Interrogation rooms were
supposed to be proof against mind powers. If she could read Jacks
and Deuce through the glass that meant Ms. Carpenter was one of the
most powerful Mental Class they'd ever encountered, easily as
powerful as Torment and Angel. The other two officers traded looks
and Ace just shrugged. It’s not like the woman would be able to
harm her.

But why you? No other Used has reacted like
this.

“Alright, Ace please do what you can,” Angel
said. Torment stood and the two of them left the room.

Once the door was closed Ace took the chair
formerly occupied by Torment and said, “I don’t suppose you’d be
willing to tell me your first name?”

“Emily,” came the reply.

“Why did you want to talk to me Emily?” Ace
asked. She wasn’t very good at interrogations, or even talking to
people for that matter. It was hard to develop conversational
skills when seemingly everyone you ever met was intimidated by
you.

“Because my powers are under my control when
you’re around. The first time in my life I’ve been able to turn off
the flow of information was when you walked into that room and
confronted Technosis,” Emily replied. She was crying, relief clear
on her features.

That can’t be true. We would know if that
was true.

Ace sat there stunned. She’d never had anyone
tell her that. She’d had to put down Used before. She usually saw
it as a mercy. Used were Exceptionals who had little to no control
on their powers. If they were physical powers it wasn’t usually a
problem. Mental powers were usually the worst. It was the most
dangerous Quirk there was.

By some miracle Emily had been living with
uncontrollable mental powers her whole life. She was lucky she was
still sane. “Are you willing to tell me what your powers are?” Ace
asked. She didn’t know what else to say.

“It can do what Angel and Torment can, just
more so, so much more. It makes me hear the thoughts of everyone
around me. And not just their thoughts, their intentions, their
motivations, their wants, their needs, the good and the bad, all of
it in a flood of maddening information that my power seems to seek
out. It’s constantly looking for more, until you showed up. Your
presence quelled my power, sent it running,” Emily replied.

She’s telling the truth. How can she be
telling the truth?

Ace sat there stunned. She’d never had a Used
tell her that. Not that most of them had been able to say much of
anything. “Can you give us more information about Technosis?”
Angel’s voice came over the intercom, filling in for Ace.

Emily nodded. She looked much better now that
she had apparent control over her powers. “Now that Ace is here I
can actually think and sort things out. Technosis is an upper tier
Third, a technomancer, born at the very end of that generation. He
was just a Reg until the HSO found him and started screwing with
his powers. They did generational gap tests on him, trying to see
if it was possible to take a Third up to a Fourth. It really
screwed his mind over. When they realized what they’d done to him
they stuck him in a lab and let him loose.”

“Is he really the one responsible for
Tomahawk’s death?” Ace asked.

“Not any more than a gun is responsible for
the death of someone who gets shot. The HSO used him to take down
Tomahawk, just like they used him to try and kill you. From what I
could tell the HSO is terrified of you,” Emily replied. She gave
Ace a look of sympathy.

“Did you see any of their other plans?” Angel
asked via intercom.

“No, just what Technosis knew, which wasn’t
much,” Emily replied.

“Thank you, Ms. Carpenter. You are free to
go. If we need anything else we will be in touch,” Angel said after
a brief pause.

Emily nodded and stood. As she was preparing
to leave she looked at Ace. There was uncertainty painted across
her features, but instead of voicing her concerns she thanked them
and left.

If what she says is true she doesn’t want to
leave and lose control over her powers again.

“Good job, Ace,” Torment said over the
intercom. Ace didn’t really have a reply. She didn’t feel like
she’d done much more than serve as a power dampener so Emily could
talk. She’d served her purpose, now she had to go back to writing
her report. There were other things on her mind though, personal
things.

It’ll be okay. We deal with it later. Focus
on what’s at hand.

Ace left the interrogation room and met the
others in the gray hallway. “We’ll put her under observation-”
Angel cut off as the blast door opened and uniformed officer came
running down the hall. “Captain Angel sir, Technosis just died in
the holding cell!”