Other People's Heroes (The Heroes of Siegel City) (7 page)

Morrie laughed. “Look, kid, I know you’re new and all, but you got to stop thinkin’ like that. I know you never seen Deep Six without his helmet, but him an’ Flambeaux are
brothers.
Twins
, even.”

“
Twins
? But... don’t tell me,
the Element Clan, right?”

“The same.” The Element Clan was a villain family that had vanished about two years ago, before Deep Six showed up. There were four members: the matriarch Earth, her daughter Air and the brothers, Fire and Water. They hadn’t been seen in a long time.

“When the clan broke up, Fire became Flambeaux and Water became Deep Six,” I said.

“Yeah. The brothers got their powers from... I dunno, space rays or somethin’. I got writers who keep track of that for me.” Morrie took a long drag off his cigar. “Hey, that reminds me, what’s
your
story? How’d you get juiced up?”

“Actually, I don’t know. I just started feeling them one day. I guess I was born with my powers.”

Morrie coughed so hard at this I thought he was going to spit a lung into my lap.
“Born
with ‘em? Nobody’ll buy a crap-ass origin like
that
! That’s the sort of thing a lazy writer comes up with because he can’t be bothered to cook up an original origin story. I’ll talk to the guys. If and when you get your own character, they’ll have a decent origin cooked up for you.”

“That’s generous of you, Morrie, really,” I said.

“Anyway, now that you’re in, Mental Maid is going to include you in her susceptibility field. That means no one who don’t already suspect somethin’ about you is likely to make any connections between you and any Cape or Mask in the city. Not unless you give ‘em
reason
to, that is. That’s why nobody’s ever figured out that Spectrum is really your buddy Elliott, even though his only disguise is that nappy beard.”

I sputtered. “
Scott
Elliott? After all these years... Sheila was
right?”

Morrie had a good belly-laugh at that one. “All this time an’ it
still
cracks me up. Think about it, kid. Spectrum has
hologram powers.
He just whips up a fake beard to turn into Elliott. His secret identity could be a friggin’
armadillo
if that’s what he wanted. Sheesh.”

“You paint quite a picture.”

“I’m gonna get your paperwork together, kid -- contracts, insurance forms, I’m sure you know the drill. You go take a load off in the lounge.”

I managed to suppress a chuckle at the thought of an organization like this requiring paperwork. “Sure thing, Morrie,” was all I said.

And as I left the office, I felt Mental Maid’s cold eyes following me.

WHERE THEY LET THEIR CAPES DOWN

At first I’d expected “Lounge” to be a euphemism, thinking I’d find some reinforced rumble area, or maybe a seedy bar. Nope. The Lounge had couches, snack tables, vending machines, video games, pool and ping-pong tables and a television area where several Capes and Masks were deeply engrossed in a repeat of some basketball game on late-night ESPN. Flux, apparently a big Georgetown fan, was using his gravity power to squeeze the Marauder against the ceiling.

“
Never!”

If nothing else could have convinced me that gaining super-powers didn’t change a person’s fundamental guyness, this did the trick.

“Hey, ‘Pretender’! Over here!”

I glanced in the direction of the voice to see the Conductor waving me over with a pool cue. Sindy was there too, along with the ugly growth she called a boyfriend.

“C’mon,” the Conductor said. “You know we don’t use goats until after his first rumble.” He took another cue from a rack on the wall and held it out to me. “You play?”

Noble got to break. As he hunched over, cape woefully inadequate at disguising his beer belly, he piped up with, “So what pissant Mask ID is Morrie giving you for the big debut?” I could almost
see
the venom dripping from his voice.

“I haven’t been assigned yet,” I said.

“Small wonder, with such a wealth of powers to choose from.” The cue ball rocketed forward and broke up the cluster, sending two solids straight into the pockets.

Sindy frowned. “He’s like this to anyone who doesn’t have a solo character.” She turned to Noble. “Not
everybody
gets one right off the bat, you know.”

“I’m still surprised
you
did,” he snapped.

She sort of buried her face and half-whispered, “so am I.”

I found myself first glaring at him, then smiling at her. I grasped her shoulder in a friendly gesture and said, “Well,
I’m
not.”

“What?” she said. At the table, Noble finally missed and the Conductor stepped up to take his turn.

“I’m not at all surprised you’re not mucking around in a bunch of different costumes. You’re powerful, beautiful, talented...”

“Talent? What talent do
I
have?” She began chalking her cue as the Conductor missed.

“Well, you’re obviously quite an actress. Hey, you had
me
believing you were a cast-iron bitch.” She smiled and took her cue to the table.

“That’s not acting,” Noble grumbled. I ignored him.

“I don’t remember the last time I met someone so genuine,” I offered. It was my shot now, her boyfriend’s supportive words had caused her to miss. “If someone like you can convince
anyone
to dislike you,
that’s
talent. Um... green stripey ball in that pocket over there.” I promptly scratched.

“You are
so sweet,”
she said in a voice that indicated surprise more than anything else.

“Just relentlessly honest,” I said.

“Relentlessly cornball, maybe.” Noble stepped back to the table and ran it, sinking each solid in turn. Finishing with the 8-ball, he knocked the chalk from his hands and stuck his cue in my face.

“How’s
that,
loser?”

“It’s just a game, man.”

There was a wheezing noise as a voice called out Noble’s name and told him to cool it. Morrie was walking across the lounge with a manila envelope in his hand. Next to him, as always, was Mental Maid, looking straight ahead, not registering anything. “Your next assignment, Doc. Practice is tomorrow at four p.m. Don’t be late this time. How about you, kid?” he said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Makin’ friends?”

“Yeah, it’s great, Morrie.”

“Good, good. Come on, Em-Em.” He filtered away, leaving Noble standing there, holding the envelope, staring through me like I’d just run over his puppy with a steamroller and invited him to the barbecue.

“Come on, girlie, I don’t like the company around here.” He grabbed Sindy by the hand and dragged her away. On the way out, Sindy looked back at me with a glance that said, “Sorry, what can I do?” Then she waved, and then she was gone.

I turned back to the Conductor. “Have I mentioned lately how much I hate that guy?”

“That was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Are you kidding? He
had
to have been using his telekinesis on those balls...”

“Not
that
. You actually stood there and complimented her in
front o
f him.
No one
does that.”

“How could anyone
not
compliment her?”

“Because they’re all afraid of
him
.”

“What, are they afraid he’ll crush them with his enormous ego?”

“Hey, Noble may be scum, but he’s also probably the most powerful guy in Siegel City since Lionheart vanished. Physically, anyway.”

“So what? There’s bound to be enough guys around here to take him
together,
right?”

“Maybe, but after what happened to Photon Man...” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the Conductor clapped his hand over it. “Forget I said that.”

“No, wait a minute, what’s the big secret about Photon Man?”

“Let it go.”

“Uh-uh. You can’t give me pizza and then say no pepperoni, bunky. Cough it up.”

The Conductor sighed and put his cue down. “Every so often somebody... does something bad. I mean, a serious crime, something against one of our own. A while back, someone discovered that Photon Man was skimming money from his heists. Normally the cash our Masks steal is subtly returned to its owner, who then ‘forgets’ the whole thing. When wrongdoing is discovered, the suspect is taken before a review board.”

“Review board?”

“Okay, Mental Maid. The
concept
is the same. You get up, you state your case, someone is appointed prosecutor, and Mental Maid passes judgment. But sometimes... and this is what Photon did, sometimes they rabbit.”

“Run away.”

“You’re quick on the euphemisms, for a reporter. When someone runs instead of facing the review, we go after him and bring him in.”

“I’m guessing that’s not quite what happened in this case.”

“Noble was the one that finally caught up with Photon Man. Unfortunately, no one figured on what Noble’s electromagnetic powers, at full force, would
do
to a guy who was essentially made of energy particles.”

“
Made
of energy particles?” I said.

“The things you learn on this side, eh?” He chalked up his cue a little more, trying to find the proper words. “Noble caught him, and... Photon Man
exploded.
”

“Oh. Um. Ew.”

“Right. Anyway, Noble got cleared of any wrongdoing, but he’s still... there are some of us who think it may not have exactly been an accident.”

“Wouldn’t Mental Maid have caught wind if he did it on purpose?” I asked, remembering the way she’d waved me through my scan.

“Have you
looked
at her, Josh? Those eyes, that skin... hell, just those freaky powers. There are some of us who think
she’s
got an agenda of her own, too.”

“Oh.”

“Since then, Noble’s been even less popular around here than he was before. And folks are even
more
frightened of him.” He shook his head clear. “Another game?”

“Yeah, I guess. I guess I find it hard to be scared of someone so... so...”

“So
Deliverance
?”

“Bingo. It gets me sick, the way he talks about her.” I didn’t think I needed to specify who “her” was. “What’s worse, he’s been brow-beating her for so long she’s started to
believe
his crap.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, he doesn’t like
you
very much either.”

“I get the impression he doesn’t like
anyone.
”

“Yeah but
dude
, the minute Noble saw
you
just now his emotions went all nasty and sour. It was like listening to emo rock in my head.” He started arranging balls on the table. “He’s scared of you, man.”

“Scared? Of
what
?”

“My guess? That she’s gonna open her eyes and realize she can do better than
him
.”

“And how does
she
feel about all this?”

“Confused. She thinks you’re a real sweet guy -- and you
are,
Joshie, you
really
are,” he quipped, “but she’s also been convinced for months now that she
deserves
that SOB.”

“So what do
I
do?”

“Hell if I know. But if you figure
that
out I’ll personally sponsor you for ‘Smartest Man on Earth’.”

I laughed at that, but my reporter’s instincts welled just then, squeezing out the one question I really wanted the answer to at that second.

“Hey, Conductor... when Noble killed -- I mean -- when Photon Man
died
... was there anyone else there? Any witnesses?”

The Conductor shook his head. “Nope.” he tossed me the cue ball. “You break.”

GUIDED TOUR

“Come on in, kid,” Morrie said a few days later, waving me into his office. I was there to begin my official training, but Morrie asked me to show up an hour before my session. In fact, I came in even earlier to hang around the lounge and take in everything I could -- it’s amazing what you can learn just sitting on a couch and listening.

I also encountered the Gunk again. He sat down and tried to hold a conversation with me concerning an article I’d written about the United Statesmen, but as he buddied up to me his powers turned my limbs to goo and I found it hard to concentrate. I managed to maneuver my way out of the conversation when it was time to meet Morrie.

Morrie was at his desk, cigar smoke filtering through his nostrils and curling past his eyes. Mental Maid was by his desk as usual, still staring at me. I caught a nice chill off that. “Gettin’ yourself situated?” he asked.

“Well, I’m gonna help you with the second. Hotshot’s waitin’ for you in the lounge. Guy volunteered to take you around the joint. The grand tour, as it were.”

“Sounds good, Morrie.” I left the office, still feeling Mental Maid’s eyes boring into the back of my head.

Hotshot had a big smile on his face when I met him in the lounge. “Hey, new guy! Nice to meet you -- officially, I mean. I’m Hotshot.”

“Yeah, I said, I know. Member of the original LightCorps. You knew Lionheart, didn’t you?”

“Everybody always asks that.”

“I’m Josh Corwood.”