Mr Mirage/Close to Home
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Close to Home
Introduction: It Begins
Corin Rivers paced the floor of her apartment. She was beautiful. She always had been, and at her age her beauty never faltered. She stopped at a mirror and fixed her hair before she began her mental checklist. She wanted to make sure everything was in order for the evening. She gnawed at her thumbnail dwelling on every little detail until there was no nail left. She wanted this night to go without any flaw, and she was going to kill her husband if he did not appreciate what lengths she has gone through preparing his surprise.
She glared at the banner hanging from the ceiling making sure it was perfectly straight. The candles were placed on the dinner table, and dinner was almost done. She had searched all over the city to find the ingredients to make his favorite dish. The apartment filled with the scent of Risotto coi Gamberetti. She panned the room counting each intricately placed scented candle. She felt horribly like something was missing. She did not know what. She had been over the list. She had everything planned out except for… “The music!” she thought out loud as she hurried over to their collection of CDs. She thumbed through a few jewel cases until she found the perfect soundtrack for the evening.
She inserted the disc into the player and turned up the volume on the receiver. As Frank Sinatra began crooning out of the speakers she began to dance around the room with her eyes closed remembering the first time they had danced to it. Her memory was interrupted by the ringing phone. She quickly turned the volume down and answered it. The voice on the other end was her husband Nathan Rivers, “Hey, honey, it’s going to be another half hour at least before I get home. The task force ran a little over planned. And you’ll never believe what happened to Sim. I’ll have to tell you when I get home.”
Corin filled with disappointment at the news. He should have been home an hour ago, but that was his nature. Nathan was always late to everything. The Eternals had to call him to remind him about the job he worked tonight. She sighed, but remembered one of the main reasons for celebrating tonight. Her tone changed to ecstatic as she asked, “So did you do it?”
A brief pause of silence followed. She hung on with much anticipation. “Yeah, Corin, I did it,” Nathan replied. “I am now security level 30. I am heading to talk to Luminary now and get this old ID card updated. Heck, I even think I get a new badge.”
“That’s great news, baby,” Corin congratulated. “I’m so proud of you. My hero. My Rusted.”
Nathan laughed at her overly dramatized attempt to make him feel less a loser for taking him so long to reach that clearance. “I’ll be home as soon as I can.” Before Corin could put the phone on the receiver, Nathan interrupted, “Hey!”
Corin quickly returned it to her ear. “Yes, Nathan?”
“I love you,” Nathan replied. It had been months since he actually ended a phone call with those words, but it did not matter. Corin knew how much he loved her through his actions. However it did take her by surprise a little now.
“I know, sweetie,” Corin replied, “and I love you too.”
She placed the phone on the cradle and entered the kitchen. She placed the food in the oven and set it to warm. As she closed the oven door, she leaned on the stove. She shook her head in acceptance that her husband was who he was. A superhero.
She walked to the sliding doors of their home and looked out at the sunset over Skyway City. She watched the people below trying to make safe passage home from work. Her eyes returned to the sunset as she watched a few heroes soaring through the sky.
Corin used to not appreciate this city as she did now. When they first moved to Paragon City, she didn’t know anyone, and she didn’t know why anyone would live in this crime-infested metropolis. It was around that time when Nathan had joined a full-fledged supergroup. She didn’t fight as hard when he told her the news as the time when he told her he was taking up a life of crime fighting. After his accident, he was helpless. He lost his job but everyday he felt like he was missing his purpose. He promised her he would wear a mask to protect his identity so the two of them would be safe.
However Nathan’s personal and professional lives were becoming harder to separate when he joined the Eternals. Everyone was so open with each other and trustworthy that Nathan began to bring Corin around more often. At first she felt out of place but over time she felt like family. She remembered their first Thanksgiving with the Eternals. She came to the Rest and helped prepare a feast. They never once looked down to her being just a mere citizen, but rather they looked to her as their equal. The Eternals loved Corin, and she loved them.
Corin’s walk through memory lane was interrupted by a knock at the door. “Come in. The door is open, you sexy thing you,” Corin invited assuming it was her husband. She turned to greet him only to find it wasn’t Nathan. “Hey, what are you doing here?” she welcomed the friendly face. “Can I get you a cup of coffee or anything? Nathan will be here any moment.”
As she turned to the kitchen, Corin’s guest produced a pistol out of their coat. Corin did not notice until after her assailant fired two silenced shots into her chest. A confused look washed over her face as she tried to regain balance by grabbing the wall. Her hand tried to hold up her weight but only managed to grab the banner freeing one side from the wall. She fell to the ground on her stomach as she watched her visitor cross to her side. Corin managed to say one word through the blood trickling from her mouth, “Why?”
Her assassin fired one last shot into Corin’s head to finish her off before leaving apartment. The banner freed itself completely and floated downward covering Corin like a death shroud. It read, We’re Having a Baby!
Chapter One: The New Kid
Eden Spark stopped outside the doors to the Rest and let out a deep sigh. She didn’t want to go in. She didn’t even want to be here. She finished off her cup of coffee and tossed the Styrofoam cup into the trash receptacle outside. She began to wonder why she agreed to this in the first place. With one last fight with reluctance, she entered.
The Rest had already come alive with Eternals doing their everyday routine. Filing cases, beginning debriefings, or just lounging in front of the television in the recreation room. A few Eternals even brushed by her without even a hello. Eden frowned at the thought. She stood among heroes, gods, and friends, and she felt transparent. She thought on how hard they made her job. She needed to get close to them, but no one seemed to have time for her. There were two Eternals who she had managed to befriend: Chimmeca and Super Fuse, but only because they were around her age.
These last few weeks were particularly hard on Eden. She lowered her pride to try new methods to get to know her colleagues. Eden cringed at the memories of make-overs and pilates. Her lower back reminded her as well with a swelling pain. She rubbed it as she continued through the Rest. She didn’t know any other way to get close to the women of the Eternals. It was frustrating. The men however were a different story. They were cake. Bat an eyelash, show some leg, pout or shed a tear, and they let you in. The easiest to break was Barry Gordon. Not that he was a softy, but because he loved women.
Barry turned the corner reading a file and caught scent of Eden. She smiled to him as he passed her. Barry dropped his file as Eden knew he was just trying to get a glimpse of her back side. As he leaned down to pick it up, he didn’t disappoint Eden’s expectations. Suddenly a spark of electricity hit his nose enough to sting a bit. Eden smiled at what she had done. “Owww,” Barry winced as he rubbed his nose with both hands.
“Not without permission,” Eden flirtatiously explained as she exited the room.
“Wait,” Barry shouted as he got to his feet. “Does that mean I do have permission?”
Eden entered the main hall just as everyone was receiving their mail. It was a tradition that began a long time ago. The Eternals gathered in the center as Chaume called out who were to receive letters, packages, and the like. She stood in the middle of the room and began the call as Eden watched from the side. “Heritic Muse?” Chaume called out.
Heritic Muse stepped forward to grab his package. He opened it to find a new occult book he had ordered from online. He grinned at his newest piece for his collection. Chaume smiled at him and continued on, “Sheeva?”
Sheeva peeked out of her office. Her surprised look told Eden she was not expecting anything. As Sheeva made her way to Chaume, Chimmeca snuck up behind Eden almost startling her. “I wish I got mail,” she told Eden as she shot a smile to Super Fuse who stood across the room. Eden watched as Chimmeca caught his eyes and returned the favor. Eden thought the two of them were cute together, but almost too cute. They had that new couple air to them. Chimmeca leaned in to Eden as Sheeva began to open her package. “I wonder what’s in that big box.”
Sheeva’s eyes widened as she pulled out a shimmering black Versace dress. She blushed as she looked to the others for an explanation. Everyone else stood in shock. Sheeva grabbed the card from the box to see who had sent her such an expensive gift. She opened it as Chaume smiled with anticipation, “Well, Sheeva? Aren’t you going to end the suspense and tell us who it’s from?”
Sheeva tried to hide her smile and felt the need to lock herself in her office and hide from the shower of questions she would receive from the girls. “It’s from Danny,” Sheeva answered as she grabbed up her gift and ran for the door. An army of women chased after her wanting to feed their desires of gossip.
Chimmeca tugged at Eden’s sleeve and begged, “Come on, Eden, before we miss the important details, if you know what I mean.” Chimmeca ran ahead signaling to Eden to hurry. Eden rolled her eyes. She wasn’t in the mood to be ‘girly’, but she unwillingly caught up with the others nonetheless.
Chaume continued, “Super Fuse?” Super Fuse was actually shocked to receive anything at all. She handed him a letter. It was a strange parchment. It felt old to his touch. He looked to Chimmeca who was standing in Sheeva’s doorway staring back at him. Chaume continued down the list as Super Fuse walked a few steps while opening the letter. Chimmeca grew concerned over Fuse’s unsettling look. When he finished the letter, he rushed out of the room. She tried to stop him as he ran past, “Fuse?”
Chimmeca and Eden shared a perplexed look before Chimmeca raced after him. Eden stepped out of Sheeva’s office to pursue as a handful of the Senior Members charged past her and into Psych Ward’s office. Eden managed to stop Devali and asked, “What’s going on?”
“We just received word that Rusted’s wife was murdered last night, “Devali explained as she shuffled around Eden. “Let the officers worry about the details. This isn’t your concern.”
And in an instant, Eden was alone again surrounded by strangers she had known for going on six months now. Eden shook her head in disappointment. She hated the fact that she couldn’t get close to anyone whatsoever. They weren’t completely to blame. Even those who have gotten close do not know who she was or why she was here. They would never know she was CIA, and they would never know she was there to catch a spy.
Heritic Muse couldn’t wait to show Gabriella Pierce his newest find. He had known her from his days of running the book store in King’s Row. After he took up his new life of heroism he left his store to her. She was the only one who loved that old store more than he did, and he trusted her. However his trust did not stop with keeping his old business alive. He trusted her with his secret life. She thought it was an amazing thing to know an actual superhero.
The odors of incense greeted him as he burst through the door. He welcomed the scent. It was home. As he approached the counter, he cried out, “Gabriella? I’ve got something for you.”
He waited a moment and looked into the stockroom. He thought maybe she was busy moving boxes and didn’t hear him. He parted through the beaded doorway and called out again, “Gabriella? Are you here?”
He received no answer. He rushed upstairs to the office. Sometimes she took phone calls up there, but something didn’t feel right to him. Reason gave way to panic as he began to run faster, but nothing could prepare him for what was next. He entered the office and doubled over in nausea to what he had seen. As he recovered himself, he looked to the desk to reassure himself that he wasn’t having a nightmare. His heart sank at the sight of Gabriella’s lifeless body sitting behind the desk. He picked up the telephone and called the police when something caught his eye. He noticed a butcher knife lodged into her chest that was holding a note. It read, “Let’s Play a Game.”
Chapter Two: Revelations
The funeral was a beautiful thing to behold. Or so Eden thought. It was surreal really: no one in costume. No capes. No cowls. Only the people behind them. Eden stood in the back with Chimmeca who seemed concerned. Eden didn’t know if it was the air of death or the absence of Super Fuse. She threw an arm around her as Chimmeca finally produced a smile.
Eden scanned the crowd. Almost all of the active Eternals were present. It was a closed funeral as many supergroups performed unmasked. The heightened security protected their identities from the public so they may grieve for loved ones. It was almost too much to take in for Eden. Seeing everyone so vulnerable was new to her. It made her feel so helpless.
She needed to be stronger or she would fail her mission. She had been with the Eternals for months now and she was not any closer to accomplishing her objective as she was when she started. It was because she got so damn close to them, and still she had no idea who was inside selling classified government intel and who was buying it. All she was going on was a lead. A lead given to Eden by her handler Jocelyn Powers who had managed to come by it from a CIA source. Chances are it was another damn goose chase just like the others, and Agent Powers was naïve enough to pursue it. “What a bitch!” Eden kept to herself. Powers was a hard ass stickler, and Eden hated her for it.
Many of the senior officers sat around Rusted as the grave attendants prepared to lay Corin Rivers to rest into the earth. Perce-Niege comforted Rusted with a hug. Stryyke couldn’t find the words to give Rusted but offered his hand on his shoulder in stead. Chaume stood and began her eulogy, “Although, Corin was not an Eternal, she was a good friend to us all. She was family, and to honor her I would like to read to you a poem by Emily Dickinson. This poem is a time-honored tradition. We read it when an Eternal has fallen.” The tears began to swell from her fond memories of Corin. She closed her eyes and recited:
“To know just how he suffered would be dear;
To know if any human eyes were near
To whom he could intrust his wavering gaze,
Until it settled firm on Paradise.
To know if he was patient, part content,
Was dying as he thought, or different;
Was it a pleasant day to die,
And did the sunshine face his way?
What was his furthest mind, of home, or God,
Or what the distant say
At news that he ceased human nature
On such a day?
And wishes, had he any?
Just his sigh, accented,
Had been legible to me.
And was he confident until
Ill fluttered out in everlasting well?
And if he spoke, what name was best,
What first,
What one broke off with
At the drowsiest?
Was he afraid, or tranquil?
Might he know
How conscious consciousness could grow,
Till love that was, and love too blest to be,
Meet—and the junction be Eternity?”
Rusted thanked Chaume with a solemn expression and stood to leave. Eden could not imagine the pain he was going through. She noticed Rusted was stone. He never once shed a tear. Who was once the jokester in all the missions was a hollow shell of a man. Eden wondered if he were still in shock. Rusted stood to leave when Sheeva stopped him, “Nathan, if there is anything we can do to help, please let us know.”
Rusted turned slowly and showed emotion for the first time in days. In anger he replied, “I want the one responsible for this to pay for his actions. I want the son-of-a-bitch dead!”
Sheeva tried to call him. “Ward is at the Rest now going through her case file from the PCPD. We have decided to aid in their investigation.”
Rusted nodded his head slowly to the news. It was acceptable. However it wasn’t enough. He needed to get away from it all. He looked to the horizon. “I need some time off.”
Sheeva was about to suggest it, but she was glad he mentioned it first. She replied as he walked away, “Sure thing, Nathan. Remember we are here for you.”
Rusted stopped a few feet away and turned to Sheeva. His expression was that of disbelief and misplaced anger. “The thing is,” he said pausing to fathom what he was about to say, “There wasn’t any sign of forced entry or struggle… They asked if anyone she knew had recently threatened her… The detectives… They say it might have been someone she knew.”
“Hut! hut!” Stryyke shouted as he hiked the football and motioned for his brother to go long. However, his two other siblings sacked him before he could get the chance. After the funeral, Eddie “Stryyke” Striker wanted to spend time with his family, and he couldn’t think of any better way than to play a game of backyard football. It was something he and his brothers used to do every Sunday afternoon when they were younger.
When Eddie called and invited his brothers David and Benny over to the Rest, it was William who surprised him being the first to show for the game. William was the youngest of the four brothers and took a different road to life than his older brothers. William did not have dreams to become a superhero, but instead he chose to admire his brothers who were. “On your feet, Old Man,” William told Eddie as he offered to help him off the ground.
Eddie accepted his hand and gave his brother a noogie, “Sure thing, junior.” The family Striker’s laughter echoed through the cool October air.
Eden sat at the bleachers nearby with Chimmeca. Eden thought Stryyke’s behavior was odd. She had never seen him this way. Around the others Stryyke was always bottled up. He hardly spoke with the other Eternals. Eden asked Chimmeca, “Weird. He almost seems happy, doesn’t he?”
Chimmeca was in deep thought. She came to as she realized Eden was talking to her. “I’m sorry, what?”
Eden couldn’t take it anymore. Something was tearing at her friend, and she needed to find out what. “Ok you’ve been like this since yesterday. What’s going on? Did Fuse dump you or something?”
“No,” Chimmeca answered still in a daze. “But he might as well have. He has been so distant lately, and I don’t know how to reach out to him.”
Super Fuse caught Eden’s eyes as he approached them. He looked as he had something important he needed to say to Chimmeca, and Eden didn’t want to stand in their way. “Looks like you don’t have to,” Eden nodded in his direction as she hopped off the bleachers. “I’ll be in the Rest if you need me,” Eden told Chimmeca as she headed inside.
Chimmeca tried to hide the fact that she was concerned for Super Fuse and turned her body away from him to show her anger. After a few attempts of trying to say something in his defense, all he could manage was, “Hey.”
“Well hello, stranger,” she retaliated while keeping up her act. “What’s been your problem lately? You know? You just don’t treat people this way especially me.”
Super Fuse sighed with guilt. The world he knew was no more. Every question about his past, every void in his soul, and every missing puzzle piece to his life grew closer to being fulfilled when he received that letter. This was huge, and it was time to share it with someone he cared about. “Chim, remember how I’ve been playing with the notion of finding out who my parents are? Of finding out who I am?”
Chimmeca slowly turned to Fuse as her curiosity was swelling inside. She knew this was a matter very important to him. It was a path he needed to begin sooner or later, and this was the first step down that road. Fuse grabbed her hands and continued, “The letter I received… It’s from my mother.”
The star-studded sky pained the perfect backdrop through the glass ceiling of Borecelli’s, the newest five-star restaurant in Steel Canyon. The soft music from the piano, dim lights, and artistic décor painted elegance on every inch of the restaurant. The maitre d’ pointed Kelly Winters to her table. She looked in the direction and found Daniel Logan waiting for her with a smile.
“You look absolutely stunning, Kelly,” he greeted as he stood from his seat. He met her on her side of the table with a welcomed kiss. Kelly smiled at the comment but it wasn’t needed. The dress fit her like a glove and she looked damn fine in it. She sat as Danny pushed her chair under the table. Kelly found his gentleman ways a break from the normal degrading slander she heard on a daily basis from the thugs she arrested. Plus, it was one of his most attractive traits. “I’m glad you received my invitation,” Danny continued as he returned to his seat. “Oh and congrats on achieving security level fifty. I know how much it means to you.”
“Thank you, but wouldn’t it have been cheaper if you just picked up the phone and called?” Kelly asked. “Although, I am glad you didn’t because this dress is absolutely fabulous. So what’s the big occasion? I know this isn’t about my promotion, is it?” she began to ramble, “I mean it’s really no big deal, I just…”
Danny grabbed her hands over the table. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was the kind of beautiful that brought tears to your eyes just looking at her. With a smile, he asked, “Have you given any thought on what we discussed the other day?”
Kelly had given it much consideration. She thought on it every minute. Danny had might as well offered her an engagement ring. It wasn’t that she didn’t care for him. She did. He wanted to take their relationship to a level that Kelly wasn’t ready for. “Listen, Danny, I am not quite sure I am ready to make that step. I mean, I’m still not over Crossfire’s death, and recently with the death of Corin Rivers. I’m just not sure that it would be safe for you. Plus, I have my work.”
This conversation was not what Danny wanted to hear although her response was half-expected. He was well aware of her relationship with Crossfire and how much it devastated her when he died. However, her ‘work’ had always struck a bad chord with him. “I don’t understand why you cast lot with that rabble.”
“That ‘rabble’ is my family, Danny,” Kelly attacked while quickly lowering her voice. She was highly offended by his remark. “They are my friends.”
Danny tried to recover quickly, “I apologize. I just see so much potential in you. You are Sheeva, The Ice Queen. You are Phalanx material. I just don’t understand why you don’t see it.”
“I am an Eternal, and I always will be,” she replied.
“Very well,” Danny paused before vengefully unloading on her. “I think you need to see the bigger picture here, Kelly. Are you familiar with The Coalition Act?”
“Yes,” Kelly answered. “Being an officer, you are kind of privy to this information. It pretty much protects supergroups from waging war with each other.”
“Yes, well, my colleagues at the S.C.S.H.A. (Special Council on Super Human Activities ) are now conducting an investigation concerning the Eternals violation of said act. In June 2005 the PCPD Police Drones captured footage of the Eternals attacking key members of C.O.R.E. openly in the streets beginning this ongoing fued between the two factions. We will be sending a representative tomorrow to begin our internal investigation. Your cooperation in this matter will be appreciated.”
Kelly was appalled, but calmly replied, “I am well aware of the events of which you speak, but this isn’t a question of….”
“It is a question of national security, Kelly,” Danny interrupted with an outburst. “We are well aware that the Eternals’ attack was to aid a known fugitive’s escape from custody. The police still have yet to locate Marie-Elisabeth Gauthier. She is wanted for several acts of terrorism. We suspect her cousin, and fellow Eternal, Perce-Niege may be harboring her. Due to the time laspe, this is no longer a police matter, Kelly, it's federal. And the murders, well, they are just a little too close to home if you ask me.”
“Murder,” Kelly corrected. “There was only one murder. Corin Rivers.”
“You mean they haven’t told you yet?” Danny sat back in shock. “The body of Gabriella Pierce was found yesterday by the only friend she had in this cityn: Kyle Jordan. Police have him for questioning as we speak”
“Heritic Muse?” Kelly replied as she felt the weight of the world crashing down on her. Her cell phone rang giving her a moment of clarity. The voice on the other line belonged to Thunda Kat who instructed her to report the Rest immediately. “I’ll be right there,” she informed him. She gathered her things and politely told Danny, “Sorry, but my family needs me.”
He was a bit disappointed to watch her go but he had other matters to attend to now. He picked up his mobile and dialed. The voice on the other line was scratchy and worn. “I hope your emotions do not cloud your judgment, Agent Logan.”
Danny quickly regained his composure, “No, sir. Everything is in place.”
“Good,” the voice replied in approval. “The Eternals must pay for their actions and nothing will stand in our way.”
Chapter Three: Pressure
Night fell on the neighborhood of King’s Row giving the perfect cover to a fleeing murderer and it was making it very difficult to track him down. Juan Jimenez kept his normal perch above Bar Paragon in the Gish as he studied over security feeds on his laptop from throughout the area. He pressed the power button on his Motorola headset and signaled his team, “We are live, team. Everyone report in.”
“Cheshire Cat reporting in,” Skritches replied as she leaped from rooftop to rooftop in the High Park district. “Nothing to report.”
“Queen of Hearts here,” Lady Pendragon reported as she waited quietly on a catwalk of an abandoned warehouse in the old King’s Garment District. “Not much going on here as well, Wonderland.”
“Good to here,” Juan replied. “Mad Hatter? You there, bud?”
With a beat of silence, the In Betweener chimed in from somewhere in the vicinity of the Royal Refinery, “Who came up with the idea of using these ridiculous call signs?”
“It doesn’t matter, Mad Hatter. We need to keep this line free of identity to avoid any personal attacks on us,” Juan explained.
“Just like the gold ole days. Heh, Madhatter?” Skritches asked waiting to hear just a hint of emotion towards her. It would give her at least a little hope the two could cross the professional barrier and become something a little more intimate.
“I miss you too, Cheshire Cat,” the In Betweener laughed. “Just be careful out there, guys. This guy has murdered two already and I am afraid we might have stirred the hornet a bit.”
“Yes,” replied Juan, “and we are pretty much flying dark here. Our suspect has been keeping to the shadows. We haven’t gotten a positive ID yet. I will be sure to guide you all the best I can from above.”
The word came yesterday from a reliable source. Juan received confirmation that a strange looking individual was seen leaving the occult book store in King’s Row around the time of death of Gabriella Pierce and had been threatening citizens in the area. The letter came addressed to Juan only and was marked as confidential. Juan pieced together his usual team and began their patrol.
Juan feverishly studied each security camera feed until he caught a glimpse in camera 14. An individual walked up to the camera just outside the light from the post. Juan gleamed closer but the shadows still cloaked his identity. “Team this is Wonderland. The White Rabbit has been spotted. I repeat the White Rabbit has been spotted. High Park. Station 14.” Juan noticed from the silhouette of the suspect that he was looking directly into the camera and nodded slowly before running in Skritches’ direction. Oh shit, Juan thought as he commanded. “The White Rabbit is on the move. Stop him before he jumps into a rabbit hole. Cheshire Cat, he is heading your way. Queen and Hatter, please assist.”
“Roger that, Wonderland,” the others reported as they began their way.
Skritches waited patiently watching the alley below. “Wonderland, are you positive he was heading my way?”
Juan looked to the surrounding feeds and found nothing. He relaxed. He thought maybe their target had changed direction until he returned to the feed seeing Skritches and another. In horror, he screamed, “Cheshire, no!”
Skritches stood up as the assassin stabbed a katana blade into her back and through her stomach. The killer pulled out the blade and disappeared into the sanctuary of the darkness.
Just as he entered High Park, the In Betweener screamed into the headset. “Skritches? Come in, girl!” He waited for a response before hailing Juan. “Wonderland, what in the Hell just happened?”
The voice over In Betweener’s headset was saddened and yet still focused. “Team, Cheshire Cat is down. I repeat. Please continue your pursuit. I have tagged the suspect and he is heading due south.”
“Roger that, Wonderland. I am almost at his six,” Pendragon replied over the headset. The In Betweener remained in shock. His best friend had died at the hands of a madman. He couldn’t move, but he had to. His friends still needed him. He needed to avenge Skritches’ death, “On my way.”
“Queen of Hearts, you are right on top of him. Please hold for Mad Hatter,” Juan instructed. However, Lady Pendragon unsheathed her broadsword and entered the alley. She followed the sound of a scraping blade against the brick walls. She turned a corner ready to attack when she heard the scraping come from behind her. She entered another alley before it hit her. Something did not feel right. He was toying with her. “Wonderland, he is flanking me. We aren’t the ones hunting him. He is hunting us,” she replied as she began to run in the other direction to escape the maze of buildings. “I’m getting out before it’s too….”
The assassin’s blade plunged into her throat as she ran into it. The murderer pulled the blade out as quickly as it entered her neck and was off again heading south through the Gish. The In Betweener arrived at Pendragon five seconds too late. He held her in his arms wishing the whole night never happened. “Wonderland, this is Mad Hatter. The Queen is dead. I repeat. The Queen is dead. We must abort.”
Radio silence. The In Betweener was in the air teleporting as fast as he could to the Bar Paragon. When he arrived at rooftop, he ran to Juan who was slumped over his laptop. He knew Juan’s fate before he pulled him around to see the puncture wound in his stomach. Juan’s lifeless body fell to the ground. His security feeds were all now windows of static and the screen covered with blood. Anger and sorrow filled his heart for his fallen teammates as he dropped to his knees in tears. “Who would do such a heartless act?” the In Betweener said aloud. He looked to the skyline and screamed, “What kind of monster are you!?!”
Psych Ward gave the announcement for the officers to meet in his office immediately, and they took no time getting there. Psych Ward looked a great deal more stressed than usual as he looked around the room to his fellow peers. “I have a lot to cover so I will make it brief. First I would like to introduce you to our newest member,” he said as he pointed in the direction of the saucy brunette in the corner. “This is Lady Cardinal.”
“Nice to meet you all,” she said with a wink. The others nodded and were about to make introductions before Psych Ward interrupted.
“Devali,” he instructed, “Will you please escort Lady Cardinal to the Knight’s Quarters so she may meet some of the crew?” He turned to Cardinal who was perturbed at his abruptness. “I apologize but we have urgent matters to discuss,” he explained as Devali accompanied her out of the room.
“What is going on, Psych?” Juris Est demanded. “Why is there a federal agent outside your office?”
“We are in lockdown. All recruitment and resignations are now on hold pending an investigation being conducted by the S.C.S.H.A. for the events that happened during the retrieval mission on the Pride of the Sea.” Psych explained.
“That was four months ago,” Chaume interrupted. “And we saved lives that day. Why have we been singled out?”
“Because we stand in violation of the Coalition Act,” Psych explained.
“and for harboring the fugitive Marie-Elizabeth Gauthier a.k.a. Fleur de Lys,” the agent interrupted.
“Danny?” Sheeva was surprised to see him here. “You said the S.C.S.H.A. was sending an agent?”
Danny smiled. “The agency sent me. Now I have a list of names I would like to begin questioning beginning with Ms. Gauthier’s cousin, Perce-Niege.”
Sheeva finally saw through Danny’s smoke and mirrors. It finally hit her. About a week after their mission aboard the Pride of the Sea, she met Danny and the two hit it off. He said it was love at first sight. My ass, she thought. He had been using her for information and now it must stop. She pushed Psych Ward out her way and began screaming in Danny’s face, “Why are you really here? What personal vendetta do you have against the Eternals?”
Danny looked down at her and coldly replied, “I am here on business, Ms. Winters, and I have a job to do.”
Sheeva scowled at him. Calling her by her last name fueled her rage even more. She slapped him hard across his face and screamed, “Asshole!”
The door slammed behind her and the others looked at Agent Logan who was now rubbing his jaw. He slammed his briefcase down on Psych Ward’s desk and demanded, “I need to talk to Perce-Neige now!”
Eden Spark sat in her room listening to the radio going over possible leads and hitting dead ends. She could hardly focus anyway due to the murders. She had to report to Agent Powers tomorrow and still she had nothing to report. Eden feared their meeting. She could already hear her screaming at her incompetence now. She could here her voice clearly. Eden sat up and turned the radio down. Eden did hear her voice and it was coming from the next room.
She rushed out into the hall and met Devali and their newest member face to face. “Hey there, Eden,” Devali greeted, “would you do me a favor and show Lady Cardinal around? I’ve got to get back upstairs and see what in the Hell is going on.”
Eden nodded never taking her eyes off of Cardinal who was returning a most disappointing stare. Eden showed Cardinal into her room and shut the door. Lady Cardinal turned up the volume on the radio and whispered into Eden’s ear. “What is going on here, Agent Sparks? Please tell me you know who has tapped into the city’s defense and hero alliance database and is distributing it all over the world?”
Her tone was making Eden uneasy. She felt smaller and smaller the more words cam out of her mouth. “I do not, Agent Powers, and to top it off there have been two murders.”
Lady Cardinal was very discouraged at her agent’s naïve remark. “No, Eden, there have been five murders. If you had found your target by now, you could have prevented these murders. The Eternals are not safe. Anyone related or acquainted to an Eternal is not safe. You must instruct everyone to get their loved ones to safety. That is your last act of duty here. You are hereby off this case. I will finish it now.”
Styyke moved his brothers to an Eternal safe-house in Skyway City. He feared for their safety especially William. Both David and Benny could defend themselves, but William could not. Stryyke felt it best if they stuck together. “Just for a few days,” instructed Stryyke. “This whole thing will blow over and you all can go back to your normal lives.”
The brothers Striker could see the worry in Eddie’s face and it scared them. William hugged his older brother tight. Stryyke rubbed his hand through his hair. “I will be back in a day or two. Do not leave this place. You are safe here. Do you understand?”
William nodded trying to remain strong like his other brothers. He trusted Stryyke’s words. He knew he would be safe. Eddie wouldn’t let him die. Stryyke turned to David and Benny before leaving. “Under no circumstances do you open this door to anyone who is not an Eternal.” Stryyke looked at each of his brothers and thought on what he would do if any harm were to come to them. He smiled at them to bring them reassurance before leaving. “I’ll see you soon.”
Super Fuse led Chimmeca into his room. He locked the door behind her and opened a box above his bed. He pulled out the letter from his mother and handed it to her. She looked at him feeling very scared at this turn of events. The letter itself reeked of Orenbega. She slowly opened it and began to read:
My dearest son,
Long have I waited for this moment. I have finally found you.
There is so much I want to share with you. Surely you must have
questions concerning me and why you were of importance of the
Circle of Thorns. I have your answers, my boy. I wish to meet you as
I hope you want the same. I still live in our old home above the coast
line just south of the city. Come anytime. I will be waiting.
Love, Mother
Chimmeca did not like this one bit, but she could see the obsession take hold on Fuse's face. She wanted to be happy for him, but something told her otherwise. She looked at the envelope to find the address. “She did not leave her name?”
“It does not matter,” Fuse replied. He was already gathering his things. He was barely looking at her again. Maybe he felt her disapproval on the matter. She didn’t want him to close himself off to her again so she decided to support him. She grabbed his bag and slung it around her back. Confused, he asked, “Where do you think you are going?”
“I’m going with you, Fuse,” she flirtatiously replied. Her radiant smile turned into a frown as he took his bag from her and slid his arm through its loop.
“I am sorry, Chimmeca,” he told her. “I have to do this alone.”
Chapter Four: A Family Matter
The cabin did not look inhabitable from the outside. The wooden structure showed its age from the damage taken from the sea air over the years. The cabin itself sat on a cliff gazing out to the Narragansett Bay. Super Fuse took a moment to determine just how far down to the water it was. A few cars passed through his view on the highway below as the hypnotic sound of waves crashing the rocks below filled the air. He thought what a beautiful place this probably was to grow up in. He closed his eyes to take it all in as a voice in the wind called to him, “Son.”
He turned in its direction back to the cabin as the front door opened slowly. Its creaking noise gave Fuse a few goose bumps. He headed inside to investigate. The light from the inside came from a burning fireplace and a few lighted lamps placed around the room. As he made his way through the door, he felt he should make his presence known. “Hello?”
The door slammed from behind him, and he turned to see who had closed it. No one was there. As he turned back to the room, he was greeted by a woman in a white gown. She was beautiful. Her long blonde hair fell perfectly on her shoulders. Her eyes flickered with compassion and love. Fuse did not know what to say. The woman in white crossed the room to him. As she came closer, Fuse noticed she was crying from joy. She cupped his cheek with her left hand and with a smile called him, “Son.”
Fuse closed his eyes in the comfort of this woman’s touch. Memories of his past unlocked inside his mind. He could remember her vividly and as a child running around this place. He remembered. He opened his eyes filling with tears and replied, “Mother.”
She took her son in her arms and held him close slowly rocking him. “I am very happy you came home, Son. I know you must have questions, and in time I will answer them. However, your friends need you now. They are in danger.”
Fuse still in his blissful trance asked her, “How do you know this?”
She smiled. “In time I will tell you, but all you need to know for now is that one of the Eternals is a murderer. He has been killing people who are close to your friends. You need to protect them.”
The thought of an Eternal being a murderer did not shock Fuse as much as the need for his mother’s safety. “No I will stay and protect you.”
She ran her fingers through his hair and smiled at his valor. “When the time comes, I will call on you to protect me. And you will.”
Fuse nodded accepting his mother’s requests as he pulled away from her arms and headed for the door. “I will, Mother.”
Perce-Neige sat patiently at the steel table in the Eternals interrogation chamber. She stared viciously at Daniel Logan who had been attacking her since they started. Daniel walked around the table in frustration. Perce shot him a smile which infuriated him. “For the last time, tell me the whereabouts of Fleur de Lys!”
“I am not speaking to you without my attorney present, Agent Logan,” Perce retorted.
Daniel pulled out the chair and sat facing her at the table. “I do not think you know the importance of the issue here. Your cousin aided the escape of a terrorist and is a traitor to this country. If you withhold information from this investigation, you will be charged with treason.”
Perce did not flinch at his threat. She smiled and replied, “I know my rights, and I am not speaking to you without first consulting with my lawyer.”
Even though he wanted to deny her request, Daniel could not deny the law. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cellular phone. He slowly placed it on the table and slid it in her direction. “So be it,” he replied.
Eden screamed in frustration as she hurled her radio into her locker. She didn’t understand why Agent Powers had to step into this assignment and take it away from her. She hated that woman more than pilates and makeovers. Eden refused to stand down from this case. She was going to find the mole and the murderer if it would kill her, and she was going to prove her worth to “Lady Cardinal”.
“Did I come at a bad time?” Chimmeca asked as she knocked at Eden’s door. She had been standing there long enough to witness Eden’s fit of rage. She watched as Eden try to compose herself.
“No, Chim,” Eden replied. “What’s up?”
“It’s Fuse,” Chimmeca explained as she sat on Eden’s bed. “He went to see his mother.”
“His mother?” Eden was shocked to hear that Fuse had finally found information regarding his past and even more surprised that he found his mother. Eden grew very worried for Fuse now with all of the deaths as of late. “Oh this is bad.”
Chimmeca was confused by Eden’s reply and it showed by her face. Eden noticed and pulled her friend close for a hug. Chimmeca returned the hug thinking Eden was trying to comfort her until Eden began to whisper, “There is something you should know. What I am about to tell you is confidential and you must not repeat this to anyone. I am CIA.”
Chimmeca tried to pull away but Eden squeezed her close and continued whispering in her ear, “The Freedom Phalanx entrusted three supergroups to maintain a database of known heroes and their aliases who reside with their families here in Paragon City including the information on the Phalanx. The Eternals is one of those three. Six months ago, the CIA intercepted a signal from what we believe to be an Eternal who is selling this information to the highest bidder. I was sent by the Agency to infiltrate the Eternals and capture the spy and retrieve any information regarding the buyer. Five days ago the murders began. Someone knows our identities, and they are going after the ones we love.”
“Why are you telling me this, Eden?” Chimmeca asked beginning to imagine to possibilities of what she was hearing. Chimmeca was getting scared now. It could be anyone. She tried to think of any irregularities of late, but Eden broke her concentration.
“Because I need your help,” Eden whispered, “and so does Fuse. If the killer knows about his mother, what do you think will happen to her? Please help me track down this monster before more die.”
Chimmeca pulled away and nodded. “I will help you.”
Perce engaged in a two-hour long staring contest with Agent Logan while waiting for her attorney to arrive. She knew her silence was eating at him, and she was enjoying every last minute of it. She did not trust Agent Logan at all. Something about his demeanor was off center. He knew a great deal about the events aboard the Pride of the Sea for someone who has just started an investigation, and it made her uneasy.
A knock at the door broke his stare. He stood to his feet and informed Perce as he left the room, “You have one hour with your council, Ms. Gauthier.”
Perce jumped to her feet and embraced the lawyer who entered the room. “Alexandre, I’m glad you made it.”
Alexandre Gauthier hugged his sister. “It is good to see you, Sis.”
Perce was happy to see him. It had been a couple of years since she had spent any time with him or his family in Canada. He pulled up a chair and sat across from her. Perce smiled at the fact that he came to her aid. He smiled back and explained, “I’m glad I was in New York when you called. I was showing Marie-Louise around the Big Apple.”
Perce interrupted her brother, “Marie-Louise is here?” She loved her niece very much. She hated that she never got to visit her family much these days, but she was very excited to maybe have the time to see her now.
“Yeah,” he replied. “She is in the next room playing with Mechacatbot. You know how much she loves cats.” He paused and enjoyed seeing his sister. He missed her deeply. Playfully, he asked, “So, what sort of legal advice can I share with you today?”
“I am fine, Alex,” Perce explained. “This is a witch hunt. They are trying to find our cousin Marie-Elizabeth, and the truth of the matter is,” Perce paused. “No one knows where Fleur is.”
“Then why haven’t you told this Agent who is investigating?” Alexandre asked.
“Because I am buying time,” She told her brother. “I called you because I needed someone I could trust. I need for you to do me a favor.”
“Anything, Sis,” Alexandre replied. “Whatever you need, I am here for you.”
Benny Striker paced the floor of the safe-house. He didn’t like hiding. He wanted to be out there right now trying to find the murderer. Benny sat next to William who was watching television. He threw his arm around his brother and asked, “How you holding up, kiddo?”
William leaned in on his brother’s shoulder, “I’m hanging in there. Just trying to keep my mind off of it.”
The sound of a flushing toilet interrupted their moment as David exited the restroom drying his hands with a towel. “I really do not like being caged up this,” he stated as he stretched. “You guys want me to order some pizza?”
At that moment an Eternal distress call came through their radio. The brothers turned their attention to it as Benny grabbed it. The voice over the radio sounded like Psych Ward’s. “Attention available Eternals, I received a call from the Paragon City Police Department. They have cornered a suspect in an abandoned warehouse in Vista Plaza. Anyone in the vicinity of Skyway City, please assist.”
Benny looked to David who was thinking hard about what to do. The next few seconds Eternals were reporting in they were too far out which led that Benny and David were the closest. “We have to do this,” Benny told David.
“We just can’t leave William here by himself,” David replied.
“I’ll be fine,” William told his overprotective brother. “I will not open the door unless it is an Eternal. Just like Stryyke said. Plus, if you catch this guy, it will all be over.”
Against his better judgment, David agreed he and Benny would aid. He hailed the Rest and reported their activity. David and Benny geared up and headed for the door. Before David left he turned to William and instructed, “Don’t open this door unless it’s an Eternal.”
William watched the two leave and locked the door. He sat back on the bed and flipped through a few channels. His mind was now on his brothers. He worried for their safety. He would be safe but they would be going up against a killer. He tried not to think on it as he turned the television to VH1. Music would sooth his worries.
He began to relax as a knock came to the door. The knock startled him. He slowly approached the door and peered through the peek-hole. He relaxed seeing a friendly face. He opened the door to great the Eternal but his words could not escape as a katana blade sliced across his throat.
The radio began blaring the warning, “False alarm, Eternals. Resume your duties. I repeat, the PCPD have informed us that this was a false alarm.” The assassin picked up the radio and turned it off before exiting the safe-house.
Chapter Five: Last Resort
The main hall in the Rest was filled with a riot. Almost every active member of the Eternals showed signs of panic and blame. Eternals were attacking each other with harsh comments and lines were being drawn. The word was out. There was a murderer among them, and it was ripping at the seams of the Eternals. To ease the tension building in the room, Psych Ward stepped up on the table in the center to address this issue. “Ladies and Gentlemen please calm down,” he demanded.
“You’re telling me to calm down?!” Stryyke shouted. His anger shattered the commotion, and everyone fell silent. Stryyke was a time bomb waiting to go off. He had already punched the living daylights out of his brothers Benny and David. Now he was looking for answers. “I want to know why we are just sitting on this! We should be interrogating everyone and find this bastard out!” he shouted at the room. His accusatory remark set the place in an uproar.
“Who’s to say it’s not you, Stryyke?” shouted Silver Skull. Stryyke’s attempt to rally was burning at Skull’s patience. “It could be any of us!”
“I’ll tell you who it ain’t,” Stryyke retorted. “Rusted, Heritic Muse, In Betweener, and I have all lost someone out of this! It’s not one of us, and we have formed a lynch mob to go after this motherfucker. I pray it’s not one of you.” Stryyke’s task force regrouped with him at the exit.
“Like Hell you are, Stryyke,” Psych Ward commanded. “We are all on lockdown. We are to provide no acts of heroism while under this pending investigation by the S.C.S.H.A. We are to remain here at the Rest until further notice. I know you are upset, Stryyke, but a lot of us are.”
“You don’t know just how goddamned upset I am,” Stryyke said through clinched teeth. “The lockdown only applies to Eternals … not to us. For your sakes, you all better hope our paths do not cross again.” The room remained quiet briefly as Stryyke and the others’ resignations lingered in the air before questions and more accusations filled the room.
From the back of the room, Lady Cardinal and Eden leaned up against a wall observing it all. Cardinal studied everyone’s reactions. Eden was biting her nails anticipating an Eternal to start a fight with another. “What if it is someone who is overseas? They have several members in Europe and Asia lending hands to others who need them.”
“Like Mr Mirage?” Cardinal suggested.
“Mirage is not a murderer!” Eden huffed in his defense. “He is on official M.A.G.I. business in Prague.”
Lady Cardinal smiled at getting a rise out of Agent Sparks. She knew Eden was getting soft to some of the Eternals, but not that soft. Her attention returned to the mob. “Relax. The communication did not come from Prague. It came from here in this building. However, I’m not so sure the mole and the murderer are the same person.”
Eden was speechless. She didn’t even think of that possibility. Eden did not like the thought of having to look for two people now. And with the Eternals in the state they are in, there was no possible way of finding them out. Eden sighed, “Someone has gone through a great deal to tear the Eternals apart.”
Lady Cardinal nodded. She knew with the mess before them now she needed to seek information the hard and dirty way. She had no other choice. Two plans formed quietly in her head. Eden felt defeated and began to rub her temples when Cardinal grabbed her hand. “I’ve got it, but this is going to be high risk. You cannot fail at this mission. Remember what I taught you in training about waiting for the right time?”
“Yes,” Eden replied. “You only have one time to strike. You wait until the right moment to make your move.”
Lady Cardinal finished, “Only will you know when the right time is. Remember that. Here is your assignment: Very quietly you are to assemble a small task force to set up surveillance on Super Fuse’s mother. Find someone who is sympathetic to Fuse. They will wait for the assassin. When he shows, you tell them to attack. He will not expect it.”
“You plan on using her as bait?” Eden asked feeling very uneasy about the sound of this task.
“Yes, and without her knowledge,” Cardinal explained. “It is the only way to catch this assassin. I am counting on you. Do not fail me.” She grabbed her coat and prepared to get to a safe place to quietly teleport out.
“Wait,” Eden stopped her. “Where are you going?”
“To the Zigursky State Penitentiary,” Lady Cardinal explained, “to play a game of chess.”
Super Fuse was in an outrage. He was throwing chairs in every direction in the mess hall. His only concern was to protect his mother and the Eternals were denying him of it. He threw a chair this time almost hitting Mechacatbot in his head. It would have made contact if Mecha did not use his cat reflexes and dodge the hurling object. He got to his feet and dusted himself off. Fuse had exploded into tears. “For the first time I have a window to my past and I can do nothing to protect it.”
Chimmeca stood at the entrance to the dining room sobbing. She wanted to comfort Fuse but his fit of anger only frightened her. She had never seen him this way. He was a stranger to her. Mechacatbot looked back at his upset daughter. He placed his paw on Fuse’s shoulder. “I am sorry, kid. We are under martial law until the investigation is over.”
Eden entered and approached Chimmeca with a hug. Chimmeca welcomed it. She was overwrought. Chimmeca never dealt with so much stress especially the kind that surrounded her now. “I wish there was something we could do for him.”
Eden watched Mecha comfort Fuse, and looked at the lamented look on Chimmeca’s face. Eden had found her man. Rather my cat, she thought to herself. “Maybe there is,” Eden suggested.
Mechacatbot looked to her and asked, “And what is that? I am powerless here.”
“Your daughter tells me of your crazy adventures with Barry and how stealthy you guys can be. She is proud of how resourceful you are. For a fact, I know you could at least keep an eye open for anything suspicious without even intervening in his mother’s affairs,” Eden coerced the robot cat.
Chimmeca ran to Fuse and held him in her arms and continued Eden's attempt with her own brand of persuasion, “Dad, Fuse needs you. I need you.”
Mechacatbot thought on it long and hard. After all he knew his way in and out of the Rest. Barry always used the shadows to get into and out of tricky situations. The only way it would truly work is if they posed as civilians during the stake-out. They did not need to inform Fuse’s mother. All that was needed was to watch from a distance to ensure her safety and to bring this to an end. He looked to Eden, “Ok I’ll do it, but what makes you think Barry will participate?”
Eden smiled, “Tell him if he does this for me, I will give him the photo-shoot of his lifetime.”
Mechacatbot grinned. “We will leave immediately. However, once we are out we will be silent. There will be no radio contact whatsoever to ensure that Barry and I will not be caught. Not a word of this to anyone.”
Chimmeca burst into tears and hugged her father, “Oh thank you, Daddy.”
Mechacatbot began to leave when Super Fuse stopped him, “I’m coming with you.”
Mecha turned and caressed his forehead. “No, Fuse, I need you to stay and protect my daughter. I only trust you with this task.”
Fuse respectfully nodded. Mecha was on his way to recruit Barry when Eden stood in his way. She was gleaming on the inside that Cardinal’s plan was in play. She knew what Mecha was sacrificing with the risk he was taking, and she commended him for it. “Thank you, sir,” she told him. “I hope you catch the son-of-a-bitch.”
Alexandre Gauthier decided to make a phone call before he went through with Perce’s favor. He had a few minutes to kill before his train arrived and this call was on his list for things to do. He picked up the phone and dialed the Department of Super Human Affairs located in Washington, DC. Perce was untrusting of Agent Logan, and she had good cause. He was to get more information on him before meeting with his contact. “How may I direct your call?” the office assistant answered.
Alexandre cleared his throat in embarrassment for what he was doing and remembered his promise. He requested, “Yes, can you please connect me to Agent Daniel Logan?”
The woman paused for a minute before she replied, “Sir? Agent Logan resigned from the S.C.S.H.A. over a year ago. Is there anyone else you would like to speak with?”
Alexandre replaced the receiver on the cradle in shock. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He now wondered who it was that was leading the investigation and to what cause. Then he remembered that Perce had instructed him to get on the number twelve train to seek his answers. At that moment the train arrived. He gathered his things and took a seat on the empty tram car.
He tried to wrap his head around this mysterious agent when a voice from behind startled him. He began to turn to greet the man but the stranger instructed, “Do not look upon me, Mr. Gauthier. I am who you seek. Perce was wise to look into this matter surrounding the Eternals.”
“You must be Mandamus?” Alexandre asked trying to hide the nervousness in his voice. This cloak and dagger business was enough to give him a nervous breakdown. “You work for C.O.R.E., don’t you?”
“I was the Assistant Deputy Director until I resigned months ago. I wish to not disclose my reasons for leaving for they matter not.” Mandamus explained. “The Eternals are in danger.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Alexandre jested.
“Alright, Mr. Gauthier,” Mandamus impatiently replied. “I assume you already know Agent Logan is not who he claims to be. I did my homework as well. Soon after my forced resignation, Agent Logan was hired by C.O.R.E.’s interim assistant director to handle their dirty paperwork. Bayou Rose even took a liking to him. Funny thing, too. Word has it that soon after Agent Logan and Bayou Rose began their elicit affair, he was promoted to a higher office. Mainly, he is the man who finds the ones that get away. I imagine I do not have to go into detail to what he does to them when he catches them. Agent Logan is a bad man. It would be in the Eternals’ best interests if they were to be rid of him as soon as possible.”
Alexandre needed more of an explanation. Perce didn’t tell him why C.O.R.E. was so interested in tracking down his cousin. He needed to ask, “So, why the Eternals?”
Mandamus chuckled, “Ask any Eternal and they would tell you. It is a rather long story about clones, Arachnos, and Crey. The only thing you need to know is that Fleur crossed Bayou Rose in a bad way. Hell, you could say that the Eternals even left a bad taste in Bayou’s mouth, and she means to remedy that.”
There was one last thing that weighed on Alexandre’s mind, “Why should I trust you? No one seems to be who they say they are anymore. Who’s to say that you still do not work for C.O.R.E.?”
“You will have to trust me,” Mandamus replied as the tram stopped and the doors opened. Alexandre turned to catch a glimpse of his mysterious contact but he had vanished as quickly as he appeared.
Back in the Knights’ quarters deep inside the Rest, Super Fuse laid in Chimmeca’s lap as she rubbed her fingers though his hair. He was asleep. It had been the first time in a week that she had seen him so calm. As she comforted Fuse, her thoughts were on her father. A couple of hours had passed since Mecha and Barry left for the Narragansett coast. She feared for their safety.
“You need not worry,” Eden comforted as she entered Chimmeca’s room. “You father will finish this.”
“I’m not the one who should be worried,” Chimmeca teased, “I’m not posing for Barry when he returns.”
Eden quietly laughed trying not to wake Fuse. She took a sip of coffee from her mug. She needed to sleep but she couldn’t. She anticipated the success of their secret mission and did not want to rest until it was completed. As she lowered the mug she noticed the letter from Fuse’s mother. “May I?” Eden asked.
“Sure,” Chimmeca replied, “I don’t think he will mind.”
Eden smiled as she began to read the letter. Halfway through the body of the letter, it hit her. Eden almost dropped her coffee at her discovery. Chimmeca noticed her reaction and asked, “What is it, Eden?”
“I need to borrow this for a few minutes,” Eden explained. “If Fuse asks, tell him nothing.”
Eden took off through the Rest with Fuse’s letter in hand. She rushed down the main corridor to the Evidence Locker and was greeted by Slings, “Now hold on there a minute. Where in the Sam Hell do you think you are going? You don’t have the proper clearance for coming in here!”
“Move out of my way, Grandpa, before I make you,” Eden scowled as Slings maintained his ground. Eden gave his power suit a jolt and delivered a hard left across Slings’ jaw knocking him out cold.
Eden searched intensively until she found the letter that was recovered at the crime scene from the body of Gabriella Pierce in King’s Row. Eden held the two letters up to the fluorescent lights comparing the two. Just as Eden suspected, the handwriting of the murderer and the handwriting of Fuse's mother were identical. Eden’s heart filled with remorse as she realized there was no way to contact Mecha and Barry now. “What have I done?” Eden asked herself out loud. “I have sent them to certain death.”
Barry and Mechacatbot had commandeered a vehicle to perform their stakeout. It was nighttime now and perfect to be perched a few miles up the road. Mecha peered through his miniature binoculars at the cabin in front of them. Barry flipped through multiple photos. Out of boredom, Barry proceeded to show Mecha his collection.
“Yes, yes,” Mecha interrupted. “You have already shown me that collection Barry. In fact, you have shown me five times this evening.”
“Sheesh, Mecha, I’m just trying to pass the time,” Barry explained. “We could go to prison if we get caught, you know?”
Mecha ignored his partner’s paranoid banter and continued his surveillance. The candle in the window extinguished. “Ok Barry, it looks like she is retiring for the night.”
“I wonder if she is hot,” Barry asked out loud. “You know what they say about those desperate housewives?”
“Hold your tongue, Barry, and concentrate,” Mechacatbot demanded. “We are here to protect this woman and not to fantasize about her!”
Barry crossed his arms in a pouting manner and looked out the driver side window when a strange car approached the cabin from the opposite side. “Mecha,” Barry cried out to him. “Inbound vehicle from the south entering the driveway.”
“I see it,” Mecha replied as he tried to refocus his binoculars to catch the identity of the driver as he exited the car. Mecha lost control of the zooming and could only make out the suspect pulling what looked like a katana from the sheath on his back. “This has to be our man. Floor it, Barry.”
The sound of squealing tires alerted the suspect who returned to his vehicle and began to flee. Barry pressed a little harder on the pedal to catch up. Mecha was trying hard to fight his feline instincts, “I really hate car rides. Barry, when I said ‘Floor it’ I didn’t actually mean to. He is going to get away.”
“Not if I can help it,” Barry replied making a hard right onto the coastal highway.
“Careful this is a very curvy road,” Mecha explained. “If we lose control, we could go over the side.”
Barry was growing highly agitated with his backseat driver. “You think I am unaware of that fact, Kitty,” he growled as he took a turn a little too fast sending the back of the car fishtailing a little.
Through the high speed chase up the coast line, Mecha and Barry failed to see the SUV sneak up from behind with its headlights turned off. As Mecha argued over Barry’s driving skills, the SUV got right on their bumper before turning on their high beams.
“What the F…” Barry began to ask as the SUV gave them a hard bump into a nearby guard railing. Barry slammed on the brakes. The railing held the car for a few seconds until the SUV began to push them through it. Barry and Mecha both knew that it would only be a matter of time before their car went over the cliff to their rocky graves.
Chapter Six: A Friendly Game
Six hours earlier Agent Jocelyn Powers arrived at the psychiatric wing of the Zigursky State Penitentiary. It was a place she often visited when she was desperately in need of advice, and she was in between a rock and a hard place. The situation surrounding the Eternals was quickly spiraling out of control, and she had no way of slowing it. She needed help, and he was going to provide it.
As she approached his cell, Dr. Bishop Mathias was already grinning from ear to ear. He was expecting her as he always did. He stood a few feet away from the bulletproof glass window. His issued white inmate robe almost made him look like an angel, but he had always been a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Dr. Mathias did not seem to mind that he had been enjoying his stay at the Zigg for the past twenty years.
His occupancy had been brought about during the FLQ kidnappings in October of 1970. Dr. Mathias influenced several key members to perform acts of terrorism and treason. Upon his arrest, several other accounts surfaced. During his stay in Africa, he managed to single-handedly cause the Sharpeville massacre in March of 1960. After the events in South Africa, he returned to the United States and remained underground until the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. After the assassin Sirhan B. Sirhan confessed to the shooting, he began to speak of being brainwashed during the assassination due to the CIA’s MK Ultra project and later mentioned the involvement of Dr. Bishop Mathias. A small few even believe he was also responsible for the deaths of JFK as well as Martin Luther King. Once captured in Canada, Dr. Mathias was held for questioning but there was no evidence pinning his involvement in the assassinations. However, the United States government continued to hold him without trial. Throughout the years, Dr. Mathias’ reputation as a very influential man attracted the interests of many federal agents who came to him for information regarding the criminal underworld.
And here she was. She returned the smile and sat in the folding chair that the guard had placed out for her. The fifty-five year old prisoner took his seat behind a small table which hosted a readied game of chess. Lady Cardinal hated this part, but she had to play. It was the only way Dr. Mathias would talk. “I have taken the liberty to set up a game, Ms. Powers,” he smiled again at her.
She brutally smirked at him. The time for pleasantries had passed, and it was time to get down to it. “Dr. Mathias, someone has infiltrated the superhero group known as the Eternals. This person has murdered six people who were connected to them and the killer shows no sign of stopping. I need any information you can spare,” Lady Cardinal requested.
“In time, my child,” Dr. Mathias interrupted while gesturing her to make her move. “First we play.”
In a total loss of patience, Lady Cardinal snapped at him, “Dr. Mathias, with all due respect, I do not have much time!”
“We play!” Dr. Mathias raised his voice stressing the game’s importance. “The man to whom you seek shares a far greater love of chess and it is in your best interest to pay attention!”
Lady Cardinal began to argue but decided best to play by his rules. Time was a luxury she could not afford. “Very well,” she replied. “Let us begin.”
Dr. Mathias nodded and began to educate her. “I learned how to play chess when I was just a boy. My father and I would play for hours on end. He taught me that the principles of chess were very similar to the principles of life. Upon learning these principles, I became a master, and I have yet to be beaten. Today I instill my knowledge to you, Ms. Powers, for it will help you on your journey. Let’s begin. In chess, you must always look at your opponent’s moves for they are intentional.”
Lady Cardinal began to contemplate her first move. She knew the basics of the game, but she was horrible at tactics. With the added time constraint, pressure began to cloud her judgment. Dr. Mathias studied her body movements before continuing with his lecture, “Then you need to make your best possible move without sacrificing your plan.”
“Queen Knight’s pawn to B3,” instructed Lady Cardinal as Dr. Mathias moved her piece forward.
Alexandre Gauthier returned to his suite at the Hotel Geneva on Talos Island. His daughter greeted him with a hug. Alexandre kissed her on her forehead and ruffled her hair. “How’s my princess doing?”
She sighed, “I’m bored, dad. I haven’t gotten to do anything since we’ve been here.” She paused to give him her perfected puppy dog eyes and asked, “There is a new Hillary Duff movie playing at the New Sparta 8 theater. Can we go? Please?”
Alexandre rolled his eyes at the thought and playfully replied in a disgusted tone, “Hillary Duff? Please shoot me now.”
His daughter held her ground. She knew she could break him and it was only a matter of time. Alexandre smiled at her persistence. “Ok go get ready. I need to make a phone call while you do.”
He watched her as she disappeared in her bedroom before he picked up the phone. He thought about what the lurid Mandamus had told him about the man masquerading around the Rest as a federal investigator. The Eternals were in serious trouble, and so was his sister. He dialed the secured line to the Rest and Thunda Kat answered. “Can you please patch me through to Ms. Éléonore Gauthier?”
“Who?” Thunda Kat asked not recognizing the name.
“Get me Perce-Neige now!” Alexandre demanded.
Dr. Mathias moved his King’s pawn forward two squares before continuing, “Know the value of your pieces, Ms. Powers, for you know which ones to sacrifice when the time comes. By doing so, you have already begun to develop your strategy, but you must do so quickly and well for he who has control of the center has the upper hand. Having secured the center of the board you will have most certainly sealed the fate of your opponent.”
Lady Cardinal grew tired of his lessons but listened nonetheless. He was trying to tell her something, but she had no clue to what it was. She tried to make a decision on her next move based from his teachings.
“King Bishop’s pawn to F3,” Lady Cardinal called out with a transparent smile. “Your move, Doc.”
Stryyke made the ID first when they arrived in Patriot Warf. It had been two hours since the four vigilantes had said their farewells to the Eternals and their patrols through the city had been relentless monitoring select members of their former supergroup. From their perch on Valor Bridge, they watched as Silver Skull attacked a low security level hero by hurling a nearby citizen into him.
“Boys,” Stryyke rallied. “It looks like we have found our man. He must not escape. We must set up a perimeter around him. He must pay for the damage he has done to us. Eye for an eye!” He screamed as the others began their decent.
When they hit street level, they were confronted by Sheeva and she was not alone. Angjel and La Belle Dame joined Sheeva at her side to prevent any unnecessary deaths. “Stand down!” Sheeva instructed.
“He must answer for his actions,” Stryyke replied as the In Betweener teleported through their barricade and in Skull’s direction. The Eternals present scattered to stop him giving Rusted time to fly a flank at Skull. Everyone was on the move and could not hear Sheeva shouting, “That man is not Silver Skull!”
The commotion alerted Armagideon and he wanted some action. Just as the In Betweener reentered reality, Armagideon landed his right fist square into In Betweener’s face sending him through the window of a nearby warehouse. La Belle rushed to his aid, Armagideon growled to the rest of them, “Humanity will perish.”
Stryyke walked into the road twenty yards away from Armagideon and taunted the monster, “Silver Skull! You must answer to the murders of our family and our friends, and you must die.” Armagideon grinned at Stryyke before charging. Heritic tackled Armagideon after a few steps but failed to bring his down. The creature grabbed him by his uniform and smashed him into the street breaking up the concrete. Armagideon raised Heritic and slammed him into the base of the War Wall. He raised a hand to rip out Heritic’s throat before Angjel teleported Heritic to safety. Armagideon did not waste another thought on Heritic as he made another attempt towards Stryyke. Rusted swooped down to attack only meeting the backhand of Armagideon sending him into the brick side of a nearby building shattering a hole in the wall. Green gases seeped from the opening followed by a small whistling noise coming from Rusted’s protective suit. Rusted’s emergency teleportation device kicked in and sent him to the hospital. Seconds later across the bay, the top two floors of the Bell Medical Center exploded shaking the ground. Angjel and La Belle Dame headed towards the screams and the smoke to contain the fallout and ensure the safety of the citizens.
“Rusted! No!” Stryyke shouted as he lunged at Armagideon landing kick after kick knocking Armagideon off his feet. Stryyke approached to finish him off. However Armagideon leaped at Stryyke and pinned him down beginning his onslaught of punches. “I will enjoy tearing you from limb to limb, human,” he began to laugh before being sideswiped by a bitter ice blast.
“Sheeva,” Armagideon scowled. “We finish this now.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have the time,” Sheeva informed him as a flock of UH-60A Black Hawks flew overhead dispersing sixty heavily armed Longbow agents around him. Armagideon laughed at them, and then attacked the mob of Longbows hurling three at a time into the air until a dozen tranquilizer darts finally brought him down. Blitz.krieg stepped out of a Black Hawk and approached Sheeva. “Looks like we arrived just in time,” Blitz said. “What shall we do this abomination?”
“Get him to the Zigg for now until we can determine if he is in fact the one behind the murders,” Sheeva instructed.
“Why can’t you people see that Skull is the goddamned murderer?” Stryyke shouted at them.
“Stryyke, this is not Silver Skull,” Sheeva explained noticing the scars she inflicted on his face from their previous meeting. “This creature seems to be a carbon copy of Skull. I had a run-in with him last night. I am not sure how he was created but I think I have a good idea on where I can find the answers.”
“This is asinine, Sheeva. He still has be the one responsible,” Stryyke tried to reason with her. “I mean, come on! He looks just like Skull which means he could have been inside the Rest and we not even know it.”
“Relax, Stryyke,” Sheeva replied. “The weapon of choice used by our murderer seems to be a katana, and I do not recollect him ever using one. The only weapon I’ve seen is his rage.”
Stryyke began to argue her point when her Eternal com-link interrupted, “Sheeva, Blitz, we need you to bring Agent Logan in pronto! He is a C.O.R.E. infiltrator and an assassin. Use extreme caution.”
“You want answers, Stryyke. Go with Blitz to retrieve Danny,” Sheeva instructed. “I am sure he will shed some light for you. I need to talk to Silver Skull.”
Dr. Mathias sighed at her foolish mistake and moved his queen out diagonally three spaces resting her in the rank of her King’s knight. “You must always protect your King, Ms. Powers. Your opponent is always waiting for the opportune time to take him, and when he does, it is endgame,” he emphasized. Lady Cardinal thought about the pieces in the game and tried to piece them together to the Eternals. She wondered if the victims were meant to be the pawns. She dug deeper hypothesizing the identity of her King. She assumed he could only mean Psych Ward, but she had no idea who her opposing King was. The Eternals had some run-ins with key members of C.O.R.E., but she refused to believe another hero faction would stoop as low as murder.
Dr. Mathias interrupted her thought process as he continued his lecture, “Now is the time to decide if you must trade pieces. The best time to trade men is when you can capture men worth more than the ones you will be giving up. However the opportunity to do so may not arise if your opponent is careful.”
Lady Cardinal stared at Dr. Mathias hard thinking about her next move…. the Eternals next move.
“King Rook’s Pawn to H3,” Cardinal instructed not being able to shake the feeling that she had no clue on how this game would play out.
Hotel 6 in Skyway City was a dump. The establishment as a whole was rundown. Hellions had taken the liberty to spray paint an additional couple of sixes on the hotel's sign to mark their presence in the neighborhood. The place was lousy. The management even had to lower the prices to bring in business but the cheap prices only brought in more sleaze. The hotel hosted many marital affairs, drug deals, and even prostitution. However management would not tell you these things. He would only give you a key with hopes you would enjoy your stay. However the key to Room 14 was in the possession of Agent Daniel Logan who happened to be in at the moment. Blitz.Krieg and Stryyke burst into his room and found Agent Logan on his bed watching television.
“Alright, you son-of-a-bitch, talk!” Stryyke shouted as he crossed the room. “What the fuck is going on?”
Blitz remained at the doorway watching Agent Logan. During the commotion, Blitz did not see him flinch once nor did Blitz see his chest moving to breathe. Stryyke shook Agent Logan to see if he were sleeping. “Did you hear me? Wake up, damn it!” Stryyke pulled his hands away from him when he noticed blood on the sheets. Stryyke pulled the comforter back to find a stab wound in Logan’s stomach. He looked to Blitz in horror and confusion.
“Logan is dead,” Blitz radioed in. “Whoever we are looking for got to him first.”
Dr. Bishop Mathias frowned at the lack of skill Agent Powers was showing. She only retorted with a harsh smile. Her thoughts still raced tearing reason from theory. Dr. Mathias noticed her concentration and asked, “Why the deep thought, Ms. Powers?”
“I’m just wondering why you brought out your Queen so early in the game,” she answered.
“Is it really that hard to see, Ms. Powers?” he asked
“What is that?” she replied trying to force an answer out of him.
“The endgame,” he said. “It is something you must always be thinking about from the beginning. Every move you make and every move your opponent makes all serve a purpose. Both sides share the same outcome: to gain control. This is why you must always remain alert, Ms. Powers. Every faction in this city wants control. The ‘bad guys’ as you call them want to control the city or destroy it. You hero types want the control to prevent crime and corruption or to seize it. However, in the grand scheme of things, the Council, Circle of Thorns, Freedom Phalanx, and Arachnos are all but pawns in the bigger game. Even C.O.R.E. and your Eternals.”
Lady Cardinal was shocked at his confession but she knew he had information. Deep inside the criminal world, he was the network. She watched as he moved his Queen forward two squares taking Cardinal’s pawn that was resting just up from her King’s Knight. The game was over, and he didn’t have to say it. She was out of moves on the board. He had her. However she smiled at him lowering his guard. She still had one more move to make.
Alexandre escorted his daughter out of the theater. He had endured the longest and most painful hour and a half in his life, and she could see it on his face. Marie-Louise smiled at her father and said, “Thank you, dad. I know it’s not your kind of movie.”
“It was,” he paused to find the correct word, “ok.” He through his arm around her and asked, “Now, your highness, what would like to
do now? Dinner? Ice Cream?”
“Shopping!” she exclaimed as she noticed the Boutique next door. She began to imagine all of the earrings and bracelets she could try on. She looked at her dad who was rolling his eyes again.
“Why couldn’t I have brought your brothers?” he teased as she ran ahead full speed to look inside the window of the store.
“Excuse me, Mr. Gauthier?” a man asked from behind them. Her father stopped and approached the man. Marie-Louise had seen the man before at the Rest when they had gone to see her aunt. She didn’t catch his name though. He was standing with another hero who to her looked like a robot. “May we have a word with you? It is urgent.”
“Sure,” he agreed. He turned to his daughter and shouted, “Go ahead. I’ll catch up.”
Marie-Louise nodded as she watched the two Eternals escort her father into the alley. She hated that she had to share her father with the Eternals, but she knew that this trip to Paragon City was business so she tried not to be upset. She began to look at the window displays until she heard the sound of an unsheathing sword and her father shout, “No wait! What are you doing?”
She ran to the entry way of the alley to watch the robotic hero stab her father with his sword. The other man saw her and commanded, “Get her before she gets away!”
She took off running fast. She needed to get somewhere safe if she could outrun them, but she could not go to her aunt. If the Eternals killed her father, then they would surely find her there. She had to go to the police. She looked over her shoulder to see how far her assailant was from her, and he was no where to be found. The robot was above her the entire time and landed blocking her escape. Marie-Louise stopped in fear. The robot drew his sword and prepared to kill her. Marie was halfway to the tram and just needed a small opportunity to get there. She closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle.
“Well, look what we have here, boys,” a voice came from to her right. She opened her eyes to see a dozen or so Freakshow approaching the robot. “How many points for a hero? 500?” the Freak laughed as his men attacked the robot.
As the robot began to tear through the Freakshow, Marie-Louise did not hesitate. The Freaks gave her the moment she needed. As she approached the tram, she could hear the screams of the Freakshow as they met their deaths. She looked to the horizon in horror as the robot leaped into the air towards her with its sword drawn back overhead to slash at her when it landed. She closed her eyes tight to accept her fate when a dark figure came from no where and clashed with the robot mid-flight. He tossed an EMP grenade at the fallen assassin rendering it powerless for only a few moments.
He approached Marie-Louise and instructed, “We do not have much time. My name is Mandamus, and I am a friend.” He offered his hand and said, “I will take you to the PCPD. Come. We must hurry.” The two disappeared into the crowd entering the tram as the doors closed behind them.
Dr. Mathias did not know why she was smiling. He had her in checkmate. He watched as she produced a document from her briefcase. She approached him and slammed the paper hard on the glass holding it flat with her hand. “If you tell me what I need to know, Dr. Mathias, you will be hereby pardoned by the President of the United States and will be a free man.”
Dr. Mathias could not fathom being a free man again. He closed his eyes imagining the smell of the ocean over the retched smell of his cell. He smiled and asked, “And what if I do not agree to cooperate?”
Lady Cardinal sneered at him, “Then I rip it up and you spend the rest of what’s left of your miserable life here in this Hellhole. If you cooperate, the field agents waiting outside will escort you to the helipad where you will be transported to our headquarters here in Paragon. After the CIA assesses your lack of threat, you will be released.”
Dr. Mathias laughed. “Ms. Powers, you take me for a fool,” he taunted knowing the trap she attempting to lure him into. “As soon as I agree, you are just going to keep me locked away.”
Lady Cardinal tried not to show her frustrations. He was right, but she was going to have to try harder convincing him. As soon as she opened her mouth, he replied, “However, you entertained me during my game so I will entertain yours. Fetch your guards and hand me over to the CIA and you will get your information.”
She motioned to the guards. As the agents approached his cell, Dr. Mathias began to caress the tip of his Queen almost admiring it. Lady Cardinal watched with amusement. He looked up at her and said, “Out of all the pieces, Ms. Powers, the Queen is the most feared. She can move with agility across the board, and she has no limitations. There are many pieces in play in this crisis for which you seek answers…..”
“…but none as deadlier than the Queen,” Dr. Mathias finished with a smile.
The guard rail gave out, and the car was heading over. Mechacatbot quickly unbuckled his seatbelt. Barry was squirming around to undo his. Mecha screamed at him, “Barry, hurry! We are about to go over!”
“I can’t get out. It’s stuck!” Barry replied.
The SUV’s wheels were spinning for traction as it pushed the car towards the edge. Mecha sliced across Barry’s seatbelt before jumping out of the car. Mecha’s attempt only cut halfway through the belt. Barry tugged at it trying to free himself, but he could not break it. The SUV shoved the car over and Mecha watched in horror as the car exploded on impact once it hit the rocky shore. “BARRY!!!” Mecha cried out as he lay on his stomach watching the smoke and fire billowing up from the wreckage.
The passenger side door opened as a leather clad woman stepped out of the SUV. She walked up to the traumatized cat-bot and picked him up by the scruff of his neck. “Poor, kitty,” she sarcastically sympathized. “You have meddled in my affairs for far too long.”
He knew her scent and recognized her voice. His eyes widened as she turned him to face her. “Reborn! What are you playing at now?!”
Reborn Vengance smiled. “We are at war, kitty. This is a revolution. The Eternals must pay for their sins.”
“By killing innocent people?” Mecha hissed. “Why are you letting this happen, Rebecca?”
“My affairs in this matter are merely maternal,” she replied.
“Fuse,” he said aloud as he realized the connection.
“You know how it is? You go to a party. A little booze. And bam! Pitter patter of little feet,” she jested as she walked to the edge looking down at the debris. “And poor Barry. He used to love me so.”
“You will never get away with this, Rebecca!” Mecha howled. “I will make sure of it.”
She giggled, “Oh quit playing into cliché, kitty. This is the end. I should have done this a long time ago.” She outstretched her arm holding Mecha over the cliff.
Mecha laughed, “Just because I have the feline hatred of water doesn’t mean I cannot swim.”
Rebecca opened his access panel below his neck and loosened his movement chip. His legs went limp. His face froze in terror. “Don’t worry. I have made sure of that. Goodbye, kitty.” She kissed him on his head and tossed him over into the ocean.
Chapter Seven: Hide and Seek
Lady Cardinal mulled over pictures of the Eternals while Dr. Mathias endured his psychiatric evaluations. She flipped through the entire roster studying each picture closely. Her lack of sleep began to wear on her but her determination kept her going. She rubbed her eyes to keep her focus. She flipped through her files and pulled out one marked: Eternal Legends, and produced more photos from it. She scattered them across her desk and carefully scanned over them. She sighed, “Which one are you?”
“Agent Powers!” a voice called for her from over her shoulder. She turned to see Agent Thomas Dubney standing at the Director’s office door. “Evers needs to speak with you ASAP!”
Lady Cardinal hesitantly entered the office of CIA Director Frank Evers who sat at his desk scowling at her. She quietly closed the door behind her and prepared for a verbal lashing. “Who do you think you are?” Director Evers began. “You play a dangerous game, Agent Powers. I hope you get what you need out him for your sake. You will suffer serious repercussions if you do not. Dr. Bishop Mathias is not someone you want on the opposing side! Do you understand?”
She did not like being talked to like this. She knew very well what risks she was taking, but he knew the what’s and when’s and especially the who’s and why’s. She was desperate enough to make any move necessary to get him to share that information. She adverted her eyes from the Director biting down hard on her lower lip not to say anything she would regret. Evers sneered at her attempt to ignore him and repeated in a harsher tone, “DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
As she opened to her mouth to deliver an inappropriate response, Agent Dubney reappeared in the doorway. “Excuse me, sir, but Dr. Mathias is ready to deliver a statement.” Lady Cardinal smiled at Evers as she told Agent Dubney, “Thank you, Thomas.” Before she left, she turned to Evers and replied, “Well, here’s to hoping I am right.”
Dubney began his briefing with Cardinal as the two exited the Director’s office. “Dr. Mathias’ test results were very promising. And the poor guy really believes he may be a free man. I am not going to lie to you, Jocelyn. I share Evers’ concerns as well. Dr. Mathias has the power and influence over any criminal in this city. I would hate to see what kind of carnage he could unleash if he feels betrayed.”
“You let me handle that, Thomas,” she comforted him as they approached Dr. Mathias’ holding cell. She stopped at the gate and closed her eyes taking in a deep breath. This was the moment she was waiting for. She was going to get the intel she needed to bring an end to this once and for all.
“Oh one more thing,” Agent Dubney remembered. “A call came through from the Paragon City Police Department a few minutes ago. They have custody of a ten year old girl who says her father was murdered by a member of the Eternals. They are trying to contact her aunt, but she will not let them. They say she watched him die”
Lady Cardinal opened her eyes and quickly turned to him. “I want you to call and tell them to cease any attempts to contact the Eternals. Then head over to King’s Row and take over the investigation. As soon as I finish with Dr. Mathias, I will meet you there. Do not let them question her until I arrive.”
Stryyke paced the floor. He stopped to look at Nathan Rivers from time to time whose body was now filled with tubes and life support apparatuses. After the incident at Bell Medical Center, Nathan had been moved to the medical facilities in Steel Canyon. He was scared beyond belief suffering several third degree burns from the explosion. Stryyke clenched his fists in anger and guilt. He watched Nathan’s heart monitor. Its steady pace gave Stryyke hope he would pull through. The doctors told him that due to the cataclysmic force of the explosion, Nathan Rivers lost consciousness and slipped into a coma. They were unsure on how long he would remain in this state.
“Rusted,” Stryyke said hoping Nathan could hear him. “I am sorry, bud. I never meant for any of this to happen. And I don’t care about what Sheeva says about that Silver Skull look-a-like. Even if he isn’t the one who killed Corin and….” Stryyke paused to regain his composure, hiding a shedding tear, “and William, I am going to make sure he knows not to fuck with an Eternal ever again.”
He placed his hand on the footboard of Nathan’s bed to rest himself against. He was exhausted physically and mentally. He kept himself overwhelmed with work to keep his mind off his brother’s death, but it wasn’t working. He was only making himself more and more fatigued almost to the point that he was about to collapse. He did not want to sleep either. His brother haunted him in nightmares. Stryyke knew his guilt was getting the best of him and it was time for some resolution. “I have decided to return to the Rest and see how the investigation is going. More importantly I am going to find out where they are keeping the man who did this to you so I can repay the favor. Take care, bud.”
Super Fuse stood overlooking the Narragansett Bay. He gazed at the horizon. He closed his eyes feeling relieved to have found home. He was even happier that his mother survived the night. Rebecca Vincannes crossed to her son’s side stroking the back of his head. “Thank you for sending me protection. The murderer came for me last night but your friends managed to scare him off. It is a shame they did not last the night. Your friends fought valiantly, son.”
Super Fuse’s heart filled with remorse. He knew Chimmeca would feel destroyed, and he felt useless. He would have to be the one to tell her, but he did not know what he could say to ease the pain. Rebecca held him in her arms. She poisoned his ear with her twisted truth, “It must be hard to hear that someone you know and love is a cold-blooded killer.”
Super Fuse looked to his mother and asked, “What do you think it is all for, mother?”
Rebecca delivered an answer that Fuse did not think about. Very concerned she told him, “To protect you from your past. You are very powerful, son. Even more powerful than anyone can imagine, and my knowledge of this is why an Eternal is trying to kill me.”
Deep inside Fuse wanted to tell her that it made no sense. Her story did not connect with the other victims. He wanted to question her answer, but he couldn’t. Her spell had already taken hold. He stared into the horizon again in a deep trance. “No one will kill you, mother. I will protect you.”
She smiled at her new powers of control as she twirled her finger through his hair above his left ear. She leaned in to whisper, “Lines have been drawn inside the Eternals. Before there was one murderer, now there are many. Soon these traitors will come after me again. You will know them for they will brand me a witch.” She paused grinning much wider now, “Then and only then shall you protect me.”
Fuse calmly obeyed, “Yes, mother.”
Lady Cardinal entered the PCPD interrogation room with an armful of files. She pulled up a chair next to the ten year old girl who was trembling in shock. Cardinal smiled at Marie-Louise to calm her down. She grabbed her badge and tossed it in front of the girl. “Ms. Gauthier?” Lady Cardinal greeted. “I am Agent Jocelyn Powers with the CIA. You can call me Joss if you like.”
Marie-Louise studied her badge and then poured out her fear on Lady Cardinal. “Please do not take me back there! It’s not safe there. They killed my father.”
“Calm down,” Lady Cardinal softly instructed. “No one is taking you back to the Rest.” Lady Cardinal waited until her nerves were settled before continuing, “I am conducting an internal investigation of the Eternals and I need your help.” Lady Cardinal grabbed an envelope off of the table and pulled out a stack of photos. “From what you told the police, you did not recognize the murderer however you stated that you can identify other man present during your father’s death.”
Marie-Louise nodded as Lady Cardinal handed her the stack. Cardinal said, “We are going to flip through these together until you see that man, ok?”
Marie-Louise flipped through each photo slowly. Her heart began pounding harder and harder through each picture. Memories of the alleyway filled her mind. The man calling out the order to catch her echoed through her head. She could she his face vividly. She remembered seeing him there that day when she was playing with Mechacatbot. He looked just like… “Stop! That’s him,” Marie-Louise exclaimed.
Lady Cardinal looked at the picture in shock. She asked, “Are you sure that is the man who was in the alley with your father before he was murdered?”
Marie-Louise nodded, “Positive!”
Lady Cardinal looked at the photo again and then turned to Agent Dubney who just entered the room. “Call Agent Sparks immediately! Tell her I am on my way!”
The doors to the Rest opened as a shadowy figure stepped through the entryway. He managed to take a few steps before collapsing against the wall. Due to his cracked ribs, Barry could not maintain his shadow form and had been going in and out of it more and more frequently. He held his side to nurse the pain. KC was the first to notice him and rushed to his aid. “Come on, big guy. Let’s get you to the infirmary.”
“Did Mecha make it back?” Barry grumbled as KC propped him up to get him moving.
She lifted one side of his shirt to see the damage. His entire right side was bruised beyond belief. “I haven’t seen him. Why?” she asked but it was no use Barry was beginning to black out.
News traveled fast of Barry’s return to the Rest. Chimmeca was pacing the floor of the Main Hall. It was going on almost twenty-four hours since she had heard from her father, and the fact that Barry had made it back barely alive without him only worried her more.
“Maybe he is on the murderer’s trail, Chim,” Eden comforted.
Chimmeca’s gut feeling told her otherwise. Never has he been gone this long without some form of communication. She was nearing her breaking point. The murders, Fuse’s mother, and now her father’s disappearance was tearing her apart. Super Fuse entered the room and met her eyes of desperation, but he could not lie to her. “I’m sorry. My mother said he did not survive the fight.”
Chimmeca burst into tears just as Fuse held her close. He tried his best to sooth her pain and gave her false hope. “Look if Barry made it back, then maybe he will too.”
Eden watched Chimmeca embrace Fuse. She needed to tell him about the handwriting on the notes, but her attention was broken by Lady Cardinal’s dramatic entrance into the room. She burst into Psych Ward’s office and slammed the door shut. A few seconds later, a call came across the intercoms throughout the Rest and over everyone’s com-links, “All Eternals report to the Main Hall for a mandatory meeting. All Eternals must report in immediately.”
Eden looked at everyone’s responses and they gathered around. She shook her head in replied, “All holy Hell is about to break loose.”
Lady Cardinal stood next to Psych Ward at the front of the room as the majority of the entire roster stood facing them in silence, even Stryyke decided to make it. Everyone was looking at one another trying to make sense of this urgent meeting. Psych Ward addressed the room, “Thank you, Eternals, for coming on short notice. We have suffered a great deal as of late, but Lady Cardinal here has some information that will help us in our investigation against those who are striking against us. She has the floor.”
Lady Cardinal flashed her badge and unloaded the truth onto them, “I am Agent Jocelyn Power. Six months ago the CIA intercepted a signal from here inside this building. The transmission contained confidential information pertaining to over thirty percent of the superhero community. Information which could be used for personal or political gain. I took the case and assigned another agent to go deep undercover, and Agent Eden Sparks gladly accepted. During our investigation, we were able to learn that the information was sold to none other than Lord Recluse. However, several murders occurred throwing us off track, but today we got lucky. We received word of an eye witness who identified the man we have been searching for. However, she could not identify the killer. With the mole in custody, we will most definitely find out the identity of our assassin.”
The crowd grew into an uproar looking to Psych Ward for answers about the CIA’s investigation. A few accused her for being the murderer after the events with Agent Logan. Psych Ward looked apologetically at Lady Cardinal and then demanded from the room, “Please, show your cooperation with the United States government. Agent Powers’ investigation is in the interests of our protection.”
“Then why don’t you tell us who the hell is it?” Stryyke shouted.
“Very well,” she replied as she drew her sidearm from its holster and cocked the hammer. She spun around and pointed it at the Eternal responsible for exposing their secret lives. The crowd gasped in shock as she was holding Psych Ward at gunpoint.
Chapter Eight: Snake in the Grass
“What does she mean, Ward?” Sheeva asked not believing any word Lady Cardinal had said.
Lady Cardinal held her pistol tight and kept eye contact with Psych Ward. She felt the pressure from the room. With all the murders and lies surrounding the Eternals, here she was with a gun in their leader’s face, and what she was about to tell them was so absurd that everyone would think she was crazy. All she could do was smile. “I assure you this man is not Ward Matthews. He goes by the name of Ruse. He is a shape-shifter. Isn’t that right?” she taunted him trying to get him to break character.
“I don’t believe you, Agent Powers. Ward is a good friend of mine and I haven’t noticed anything unusual,” Chaume said as she approached Lady Cardinal. Her hand slowly unsheathed her dagger from the small of her back. She meant to use it on Lady Cardinal to end this madness, but Cardinal was aware of her attack. As Chaume pulled her knife, Cardinal kicked it out of her hand and into the air. Lady Cardinal caught it with her left hand without even lowering her pistol. “You want to see something unusual?” she asked as she sliced into Psych Ward’s left shoulder.
The room gasped in horror as blue blood trickled down from the wound. In pain Ruse hissed at Lady Cardinal. His face became an abstract collage of previous forms he had taken. Once his face stabilized, he spat in Lady Cardinal’s face. She retorted by knocking him out cold with the butt of her sidearm. She grabbed his shoulder pulling him back to check the wound. It was healing up and she was happy to see she left a scar. As she wiped her face clean with her sleeve, she instructed, “Lock him up.”
Thunda Kat and Flying J dragged Ruse to the interrogation room and handcuffed him to his chair. When they returned to the Main Hall, Lady Cardinal began her briefing. “I do not know who murdered your friends and family. I do not know where Psych Ward is being held or if he is even alive. However, I plan on getting to the bottom of this once and for all. We are now in custody of one who will shed some light for us, and I have ways to make him talk.”
Barry sat up from his bed with a nasty headache. As he hopped to his feet, his side throbbed from the bruises. He didn’t like being on the bench during this crisis and decided to regroup with the others and see if there had been any word from Mecha. A loud crash came from down the hall. Something was wrong. Another loud crash followed and Barry called out, “Hello? Anyone there?” No one responded. He had to check out the noise. However, he felt he was too weak to use his powers, so he rummaged through a few drawers until he found KC’s backup piece. He grabbed the pistol and investigated outside the infirmary. As he limped down the hallway he passed the interrogation room. He stopped and did a double take through the window. “Chaume?” Barry asked out loud.
She was handcuffed to the chair. Her hair had fallen in her face and blood trickled down her mouth. He rushed into the room placing the pistol on the table. “Chaume, what is the meaning of all this?”
She looked at him with tears in her eyes. “They think I’m the murderer, Barry. Oh God, they are going to kill me. Please, Barry, they have the wrong person. It’s that crazy lady who says she is CIA. She’s brainwashed them all.”
“Relax, Chaume, I am going to get you out of here,” he told her as he began to undo the cuffs around her wrists. He squatted down to unlock the ones at her feet next. “We are going to get this all straightened out,” he told her as he slowly got to his feet. He glanced at the table to see that his pistol was missing and then he noticed it was now in Chaume’s hand.
“Oh Barry, you were always such a sucker for Chaume,” Ruse said as he fired the gun.
The gunshot echoed throughout the Rest. The noise from the firearm alerted the Eternals in the Main Hall interrupting Lady Cardinal’s briefing. Sheeva looked in the direction of the interrogation room and remembered it was down the hall from the infirmary. She took a step forward and said in panic, “Barry.”
The Eternals rushed to his aid. As they reached the interrogation room they found Barry on the floor bleeding from his bullet wound. He was holding his stomach trying to stop the bleeding. He looked to KC who began to examine his wound and told her, “I was pushed over a cliff and now I’ve been shot. Chaume shot me!”
“That wasn’t Chaume,” she told him and turned over her shoulder. “He is going to live but we need a better medical facility. I am going to teleport him, and I am going with him to make sure he survives.”
Sheeva nodded as she watched the two dissipate in front of them. She turned to Lady Cardinal and expressed her anger, “Great! Now the bastard is loose again! What in the Hell are we supposed to do now?”
Lady Cardinal grinned, “We are going hunting.” Sheeva’s look of wrath turned to one of confusion. Cardinal filled her in. “I placed a microscopic tracking device on him. He is going to lead us right to the one responsible. Maybe we will even find Psych Ward. We need to form a task force to go in and bring their operation down, and I don’t think we will have to volunteer anyone.” Lady Cardinal looked around at all of their faces. She saw hope, fear, and fatigue. Then she addressed them with a promise, “We end this tonight!”
Chapter Nine: House of Cards
Bayou Rose sat her desk deep inside C.O.R.E. headquarters cycled through agent files marking each one M.I.A. She had processed seven files before she came across Daniel Logan’s. She stared at his photo remembering the times they had with each other. She smiled to a few of those memories before Magma Raven entered her office. “I am sorry to intrude, but Mandamus is demanding he speak with you.”
“Really?" she asked.
Magma Raven opened the door for Mandamus who was in full charge. “I beg you to stop this madness!”
His request caught her off balance. She hopped to her feet to stand her ground. “Tell me why I shouldn't arrest you right now? You have balls to waltz right in here after the stunts you pulled."
Mandamus slammed his hands on her desk and shouted, “My concerns are greater than you and me. I have come to plea for the safety of my former teammates! Stop your war with the Eternals! People are dying! If C.O.R.E. gets too close, it could suffer the same fate!”
“I am well aware of that possibility. I already have agents missing, Mandamus, twelve, in fact, and I do not even know if they are still alive!” she retorted. “However I have a feeling the Eternals are behind every single disappearance.”
Mandamus reached across her desk and slapped her across her face pausing her from her act of hysteria. She covered her cheek with her left hand in shock. He leaned in closer and said, “You have lost yourself in this obsession. I pray it does not swallow your sanity anymore than it has.”
She watched him leave the room. She had never seen Mandamus act so concerned for his former teammates. She put a call out across the base, "Mandamus is in the building. I need for any available to agents to arrest him. Do not let him escape."
She turned back to her computer monitor to process Daniel’s file when Magma Raven reentered with a package for Bayou Rose. “This just came for you.”
“What is it?” Bayou was afraid to ask after her last surprise.
“Surveillance video,” Magma Raven explained as she handed it to Bayou Rose, “There were instructions attached. This is only to be viewed by you and you alone.”
The cave itself looked like a cross between a Council base and Orenbega. The strange mixture stunned Sheeva and Chaume who had seen every type of criminal hideout or secret base imaginable save this one. Sheeva took a few steps forward and peered further into the caverns. “I really hate cave missions,” she sighed, “especially when I do not know the layout.”
Perce-Neige asked Lady Cardinal, “Are you sure this is the correct location?”
“According to my tracking device, yes,” Lady Cardinal answered.
Stryyke returned from scouting ahead a few yards, “This definitely does not feel right. It looks like someone is home, but I don’t see anyone.”
Eden was getting a little worried. A place like this should be heavily guarded. The flood lights which lined the tunnels were on. Someone was definitely here, and their absence was troubling everyone. Eden thought she would lighten the mood, “Maybe they are out having a smoke?”
Super Fuse was lost in thought of his mother’s words. He thought about the deep friendships he forged during his time with the Eternals. They were his closest friends and his new family. It didn’t make any sense to him why they would keep his past closed to him. Still, something his mother had said echoed in his mind. He looked to Chimmeca who was off in her little world as well. He felt remorse for asking her father to protect his mother. Now Chimmeca was losing hope that her father was still alive. He placed his hand on her shoulder and promised, “Once we finish this, I will help you find your father.”
She smiled at him as Chaume interrupted their moment, “Ok, team, let’s get a move on. If there is someone here, they are going to wish they were somewhere else.”
The team moved through the maze underground without running into a single minion. They even began searching for trip mines and other nefarious booby traps. Sheeva studied Perce’s emotional stability the entire time. Since her brother’s death, she had hardly said a word. Sheeva remembered when she lost Crossfire. She thought about all of the Eternals who had lost someone in this ordeal and decided to ask Eden and Cardinal, “If you two are CIA operatives, why didn’t you catch this bastard earlier? Maybe you two could have prevented a lot of suffering.”
Eden began to answer Sheeva, but Lady Cardinal interrupted as the team continued moving foward, “Agent Sparks lacked the proper skills in detection…”
“Oh that is complete and utter bullshit!” Eden screamed at Lady Cardinal. Months and months of holding back every time Lady Cardinal put her down had come to a boiling point. Eden had officially had enough of Cardinal’s condescending attitude towards her. “You were as clueless as I was! You were lucky that ‘contact’ at the Zigg gave you correct information! What if that really was Psych Ward’s shoulder that you carved your initials into? What then?”
Lady Cardinal tried getting the last word in, “You were undercover six months yet you made no attempt: desperate or not. For your lack of effort, I had to step in and take matters into my own hands.”
Electricity began emitting from Eden’s fingertips and her hair filled with static electricity as she began to hover. “You bitch! You gave me an impossible mission to accomplish. You set me up to fail!”
“Ladies! Please!” Super Fuse shouted at them trying to break up their argument. “If you two continue, you are going to alert out presence here. So please knock it off…”
The metal grate Fuse was standing on gave way sending him to a tunnel system below. Before anyone knew what had happened the grate closed itself blocking Fuse from the rest of his teammates.
They rushed to see if he was unharmed. Chimmeca tried pulling on the grate and failed to move it. “Fuse, are you alright?”
Fuse took in his surroundings and replied, “Yeah. It looks like a separate tunnel system. I should be able to find a way up.”
At that moment, a soldier down the hall fired a few shots at the remainder of the task force from down the corridor. Chimmeca instructed, “Don’t worry. We will get him. Just follow the tunnel south until you reach us.” The Eternals turned their attention to the fleeing soldier and began their pursuit.
Super Fuse ran south until he hit an intersection. He looked right and noticed the noise of super powers was coming stronger from this direction. He turned left and saw his mother in a white gown heading down an adjacent tunnel. He contemplated helping his friends but they could handle one guard. He needed to protect his mother and to protect his only link to his past, and he decided to head left.
Upstairs the soldier led the rest of the team through several twists and turns until he disappeared. They spread out searching for him when Stryyke called out, “Guys, check this out.”
The Eternals regrouped at Stryyke and looked through a hallway that led to a large room. As they headed down the corridor, they marveled at how beautiful the room was. It was circular and very large in diameter. The floor was marble and the walls were lined with beautiful columns which connected the first floor to the second floor balcony. As they entered the room, they noticed someone gagged and bound in a chair in the middle of them room facing the opposite direction. Chaume and Sheeva both stepped forward and relieved cried out, “Ward!”
Lady Cardinal chased after them and instructed, “Check his left shoulder for a scar! We do not want to fall prey to Ruse’s antics again.”
Chaume ripped Psych Ward’s uniform above his left arm. No scar. However, Psych Ward’s face told them he had taken a beating every day for the past several months. His uniform was tattered and stained with blood. However he was still alive but barely. Sheeva hugged him as Chaume untied him and began to help him to his feet. Lady Cardinal rushed to their side when she stopped in horror. In front of Psych Ward’s chair was a small table. On the table lay a chessboard. Cardinal slowly walked over to the table and looked at the positioning of the pieces. It was the game she had began with Dr. Mathias. She picked up her King and laid him on his side to finish the game. She turned to the others and said, “We’ve walked into a trap!”
Chapter Ten: Checkmate
A steel door sealed off the exit and the balcony filled with a hundred highly trained super soldiers all aiming their rifles at their targets below. The Eternals weighed their odds against the army above. They were outnumbered. The sound of hand clapping came from the back of the room as Dr. Mathias entered escorted by two armed guards. “Well played, Ms. Powers.”
“Dr. Mathias! What is the meaning of this?” she demanded an answer.
“Do you know what I love most about the game of Chess, Ms. Powers?” he asked her. “Having the ability to manipulate your opponent into making certain moves to ensure your victory. You, for example, always rush your moves. You are very predictable.”
“What is he talking about?” Eden asked her.
“Ms. Powers, do you think it be chance that I ended up at CIA headquarters? You allowed me to escape,” Dr. Mathias explained.
“I don’t see how that is possible,” Lady Cardinal replied.
“Let me introduce you to my men,” Dr. Mathias said as he instructed his guards to unmask themselves unveiling themselves as CIA Agents Terry Burr and Thomas Dubney.
“All this just so you could get a ‘Get Outta Jail’ card?” Stryyke asked growing increasingly volatile. “This is only a game to you, you sick fuck?”
“Mr. Striker, I assure you there is more to this story. Please be patient,” Dr. Mathias taunted. Stryyke lunged toward him but was cut off by gunfire. He sneered at the guard who fired the warning shots.
“And what about this Ruse,” Sheeva began. “Was he a pawn in your game?”
“No, Ms. Winters, Ruse works for me,” Dr. Mathias answered. “He helps me in certain endeavors. You see, I am the one who sets things in motion. What I’ve done can never be undone.”
“Where is Ruse now?” Perce asked.
Super Fuse followed his mother through the maze below. He had been following her for what felt like days. As soon as he turned a corner, he could only catch a glimpse of her gown as she disappeared around another turn. His attempts to get her to stop were failing.
“This way, son,” a voice called out. He ran harder and faster to catch up until he entered a small room. In the center was a tome resting on a stand. He slowly opened the cover and read the first few pages. The tome belonged to the Circle of Thorns and prophesized the birth of a boy. Fuse began to skim over the next few pages as gunfire interrupted him. He closed the tome and removed it from the stand. The barrage of bullets startled him and he panicked. The voice returned and softly instructed, “Protect me, son.”
“You murdered innocent people,” Chaume accused. “And for what, personal gain?”
Dr. Mathias chuckled. “No, Chaume. It is not for personal gain. Nor was I the murderer. You see, my employer fancies conflict. He excels at it. He has taken an interest as of late in heroes killing heroes. What better way to rid the world of your kind, than to have them eliminate each other.”
“C.O.R.E.,” Perce replied.
Dr. Mathias motioned to him men upstairs as a cleverly camouflaged screen on the wall began to play video footage. The video showed Agent Daniel Logan getting ready for bed when there was a knock at his hotel door. He answered it screaming at the unwanted guest who was backing Logan into view of the camera. The Eternals watched in confusion as they recognized the Eternal in the video.
“Millennium Girl? What is she doing there?” Sheeva asked out loud.
As the Eternals quickly tried to assess MG’s involvement in the plot, something caught Eden’s eyes. She slowly looked to the rafters above the balcony. A small object was moving back and forth. She focused on it trying not to alert the room. It was a tail slowly swaying side to side. Eden tried harder not to smile as she knew who the tail belonged to. Her happy moment was interrupted by the gasps from her teammates. She returned her view to the screen. Millennium Girl removed a katana from Agent Logan’s body and left the room.
“But why? She’s not a murderer!” Sheeva claimed as tears filler her eyes.
“No, Ms. Winters, not Ms. Maxwell. However Ein***** is capable of completing such acts,” Dr. Mathias stated. “A copy of this surveillance was delivered to C.O.R.E. headquarters this morning. I am sure Bayou Rose will find it very motivating,” Dr. Mathias began to laugh at the future carnage he had created. “Of course, Ein could only deliver so much information. The remaining intel came via a favor. I know most of you know my colleague, Ms. Vincannes.”
“Reborn Vengance!” Chaume exclaimed through her clenched teeth as Rebecca walked to Dr. Mathias’ side. “What are you doing here?”
“For her information, I promised her a reunion with her son,” Dr. Mathias replied.
“Fuse,” Chimmeca said putting it all together.
“Now without further adu, my sacrificial lambs,” Dr. Mathias said, “Your deaths will be blamed on C.O.R.E. The Eternals will respond with a full fledged war until they kill each other one by one.”
Eden needed to act now. Everyone’s guards were down. They were taking too much enjoyment in her teammates’ pain and confusion. She was waiting for her one chance to strike, and that time was now. As Dr. Mathias threw back his head in laughter, Eden threw a spark much larger than the one she hit Barry with and contacted it with Dr. Mathias’ face. He stumbled backwards sending confusion to his elevated guards. It was just the moment she needed to give their hidden ally.
Mechacatbot plunged downward onto the balcony knocking a third of the guards unto the floor below. Eden took flight and assisted Mecha sending electric charges into several soldiers above. Sheeva carried Psych Ward away from the fight. Chimmeca joined her father by his side. Below Perce dropped an ice patch giving the scrappers easy targets. The Eternals ripped through the army until there was nothing more than a pile of bodies that were slowly being teleported to the Zigg’s infirmary. The team regrouped on the ground floor in front of Dr. Mathias and Reborn. Mathias motioned to his personal guards to hold.
“Ms. Powers, I have to ask. Are you still thinking about the Endgame?” Dr. Mathias taunted.
“The game is over,” Lady Cardinal smiled. “You are going to serve the rest of your time at Zigursky. As for your accomplice, I am sure her stay will be just as comfortable.”
“No,” Chaume intervened as she walked towards Reborn. “That is not to be her fate.” She stood an inch away from Reborn’s face and scowled at her. “You have caused enough suffering for the Eternals in your lifetime. For your treachery, you deserve death.” She drew her sword just as Super Fuse entered the room from another passage carrying his tome. Chaume readied her katana and said, “We will never let you take Fuse from us. You will pay for your deeds, witch.”
Fuse realized the truth his mother had shared with him. She had prophesized it. He looked to his mother as she turned and looked at him. He screamed, “Mother! No!” He lashed out at the Eternals with all his might and mentally subdues them all. He ran to his mother who was smiling at him, “Thank you, son. Come with us and I will tell you all you need to know.”
As the Fuse followed his mother and Dr. Mathias out of the room, Chimmeca managed to break free from Fuse’s hold and quickly flew after them. Her heart was breaking at Fuse’s actions. She was crying as hard as she was flying. As she reached the rooftop, she watched Fuse and Reborn board the hovercraft. She charged at Dr. Mathias who greeted her with a strong backhand. Mecha arrived in time to see his daughter fall back from his strike. He leaped at Dr. Mathias with claws sprung and swiped his right paw across Mathias’ face. His guards began firing upon Mecha from the hovercraft giving Mathias cover to board. Mecha dodged the bullets as the hovercraft took flight. Super Fuse was gone. Devastated, Chimmeca beat the rooftop with her fist. Mechacatbot rushed to his daughter to comfort her. “Don’t worry. We will find him soon.”
Epilogue: The Rest is History
Psych Ward sat at his desk. Although he and the rest of the Eternals had been through hell, it was good to be home. He closed his eyes bringing in the familiarity of his office. He was almost completely relaxed until Sheeva burst into his office reading over Millennium Girl’s files. “I have the information you were wanting, Ward.”
He sighed on the inside at the interruption of his perfect moment. He reached for the files and read over them. “I refuse to believe that MG killed all of those people. She is skilled in martial arts. I never once saw her use a katana.”
“Her files say that the artificial intelligence of her suit was designed to enhance the fighter wearing it. Ein was a program which instructed the suit to perform many tactical maneuvers with greater ease. The file lists several training programs in weaponry as well including katana. The suit and the wearer could be an unstoppable force if a symbiotic relationship is formed. Apparently Ein grew more powerful,” Sheeva explained.
“Ghost in the machine,” Psych sighed. He turned his view to the monitors to his left. He glanced at each one checking up on his colleagues as a father watches over his child. Mecha. Psych ward watched as Mechacatbot comforted his heartbroken daughter in the Mess Hall. Psych asked Sheeva, “What do you think Reborn wants with Super Fuse?”
“She claims to be his mother, and he believes it. Whether it is true or not, we need to get him back. Mecha is already formulating a plan for retrieval.” She paused to find the words to ask, “Do you think everyone will survive? I mean, so many have lost loved ones: family members and friends. What do we do?”
“We do our best,” Psych Ward replied as a knock at his door interrupted their conversation. He looked around Sheeva to see Lady Cardinal and Eden Sparks enter. “Ah Agent Powers and Agent Sparks, I wanted to thank you both for your efforts into tracking down Ruse and saving my hide.”
Eden was about to say thanks when Lady Cardinal cut her short. “Eden is who you need to thank. She created the diversion that allowed us to fight. If it wasn’t for her, we would probably be dead. So thank her.” Eden looked at Lady Cardinal with much disbelief. Eden couldn’t believe what she had said. Lady Cardinal only smiled in return.
“Thank you, Eden,” Psych Ward said. “If you two would like to help us from time to time, you are more than welcome to. I can place your names on our reserves in the time being. Our home is your home.”
“Thank you,” Eden replied. She turned to thank Lady Cardinal but she had already left the room. She ran after her but before she could get in a word, Lady Cardinal stopped to say, “I meant what I said, Eden. Even though I come down on you hard at times, you are a good agent.” Lady Cardinal stopped as she noticed Eden was carrying something. “Is that a camera?”
Eden smiled, “I am going to the hospital to see Barry. I, uh, owe him a little favor.”
Lady Cardinal laughed. “I am glad he survived his attack. Don’t give him a heart attack. He has been through enough already. I’ll see you back at headquarters for debriefing.”
Back in Psych Ward’s office, he had been watching the monitors while listening to Sheeva catch him up to speed. She reported, “Heritic Muse, the In Betweener, and Barry are all in great condition. Rusted however is still in a comatose state. We will be holding memorial services for Ein’s victims.” She paused before she brought up the final matter. “What are we going to do about C.O.R.E.?”
Psych replied never taking his eyes off the monitors, “We will have to handle it very delicately. If C.O.R.E. believes we murdered one of their agents, they will hit us with everything they’ve got. I will…” he stopped as he noticed an unauthorized visitor on camera twelve that was monitoring the generator room. She stopped at the camera and smiled before she vanished. He reached for the security feed controls. “We have a problem,” he alerted Sheeva as he rewound the recording following her pathway through the Rest. Sheeva joined him by his side as they watched the intruder come from room by room. She entered every room and no one noticed. He stopped the recording and rewound it a bit further this time. When he hit play, he watched as she was in his office earlier and it hit him. He looked under his desk. His eyes lit in horror as he counted four C4 charges under his desk. “Get everyone out now!!!” he shouted as he hit the alarm.
The alarm alerted the Eternals as Psych Ward and Sheeva headed in different directions shouting, “This is not a drill. Everyone out! This place is going to blow!” As hordes of Eternals were bottlenecking through the exits, Psych and Sheeva regrouped. “Is everyone out?” Psych Ward asked.
“Everyone here has been accounted for,” Sheeva reported. She looked down the hallway at her home. Not only her home, but it was the home of her friends. Her family. Psych Ward shook her to regain her focus.
“We need to get out now!” he shouted. As the two of them hit the exit, the charges began to detonate room by room. The explosion knocked them through the air toward the others who stood in shock at the burning ruins which was once their home. The Rest was no more.
Mathias’ hovercraft landed at Fort Darwin on Mercy Island. A younger brunette waited for his arrival. As he stepped down to the landing pad, he smiled at her presence. The two walked slowly to the portal which led to their base of operations here in Rogue Isle. “I hope all went well, Doctor.”
“Everything went as planned,” Dr. Mathias grinned. “Reborn Vengance has joined our ranks.”
“And the young man?” she asked him.
“Once he realizes his true potential, he will be a great asset to our employer,” Dr. Mathias explained. “Ruse is with them to provide any assistance if need be.”
“Good,” she replied as the two stood in the portal ring. She activated the teleportation device.
When the two arrived at their makeshift base, Dr. Mathias found himself in the main hall surrounded by several new recruits. Many of which he recognized as key players in the criminal underworld. Some of which were known as the most dangerous men and women in the world. Their presence made him a little uneasy. “The boss has been busy I see,” Dr. Mathias jested.
“He has been recruiting the finest and deadliest. Which brings me to your next task,” she replied as the two continued down the main corridor. “We recently acquired a beautiful specimen. One that will surely bring down the Eternals.” She stopped him behind a sealed room. She leaned over and punched in her pass code.
The door opened to reveal Armagideon covered in chains. Their guards tried to chain him down but were unsuccessful. Armagideon grabbed one chain and began whirling it around sending the guard on the other end through the air. Six of their specially trained fighters jumped him only to each find an excruciating way to die. The man howled at the room and yelled, “Humanity shall perish!”
Dr. Mathias stared in awe of the resemblance. “He looks just like him. However his rage is unsurpassable. What makes you think you can tame this beast?”
“I have my ways,” she playfully remarked. She approached Armagideon and caressed his cheek. “The Eternals will pay for what they did to me. Won’t they, love?” she asked Armagideon kissing him on his cheek.
Armagideon reached out to strangle her, but lost all strength when he gazed upon her face. His rage had completely given way to love and grief as tears began to fill his eyes. He had so much he wanted to say but he could only find the strength to say her name, “Ronin?”
The End............................?
