Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Nine: An Old Friend (Patreon)

“Now that you’re done with the Wolf Armour, what’s next?” Anne asked.

“Gideon’s trying to get a deal worked out with the U.S. Army for the next lot of Boar suits.”

“Bet Doyle was mad the Brits got the gear first.”

“Not really. From what Frasier told me, the U.S. appropriations process is a lot longer and they want tons of test data. The Brits are more willing to try new things.”

“Since their capital’s the one that almost got blown up. And Windsor likes you.”

“So does Frasier … I think.”

“Yeah, but he’s no Avi Goldman. Plus, he’s a colonel and Windsor is commander of the whole British Army. What about General Xavier?”

“I haven’t heard back from Xavier for a while… you know, maybe the U.S. Army is upset with me.”

“They’ll come around. Once they see the Second Infantry Brigade with all the new gear we’ve given them, they’ll be banging at your door. Well, BAE-Dragonfly’s door.”

“Speaking of which, some of us have to get back to work tomorrow, so I’d better head for Quartermain Heights tonight.”

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The walk from 2508 Pendleton to Quartermain Heights isn’t long. Fifteen minutes of leisurely stroll, and I can do it in eight at a dead run.

Three, if I really don’t care about being spotted.

With an evening walk from Pendleton to Quartermain, unlike autocar traffic or bus routes, there’s no electronic signature of your passage. Nothing to link the strolling teen on the sidewalk with Belessar.

As my public profile had risen over the months, I’d learnt to be more cautious.

Once upon a time, this route hadn’t been very safe, either. Small groups of thugs used to hang around in the alleys off Quartermain, and a shakedown wasn’t uncommon.

Then someone went and decapitated the ultra leadership of the Grunters and the Blackhats. (Cough, cough.) And suddenly the cops were making dozens of arrests and hauling career criminals off the street.

Quartermain Heights had become vastly safer in the few months.

Other gangs might have tried to muscle in on the turf, but the Tanisport P.D. was fairly clear that they didn’t want to create - or allow - newcomers to fill the vacuum. Organized crime divisions went to work, street patrols went up by an order of magnitude, and even Soundwave put in an appearance now and then to ‘show the flag’.

In most other cities where ultra criminals had been put away, new ones had taken their place soon after. It was a common problem faced by heroes - arrest one supervillain, and another will soon rise to take over their turf.

However, Tanisport had managed to duck this trend for a few reasons.

First, Tanisport counted four active officially sanctioned superheroes on retainer with the city - Lady Lumina, Soundwave, Viking and Quintana - all of whom were no slouches in a fight. And, unusually for a city this size, all of whom had multiple alien defenses under their belt.

Second, in addition to the Tanisport P.D., there was also a sizeable military presence near the city now. The sleepy Army base now buzzed with activity. And while the Army didn’t officially fight supervillains, it was now old news that Phoenix Company - which cross-trained with the military - most certainly did.

Nobody wanted to argue with thirty power-armoured mercenaries with plasma rifles.

The third point still caused me a little guilt. Unlike in other cities, the supervillains in Tanisport had not been arrested. They’d been killed outright.

Officially the heroes’ policy was still ‘arrest and detain’, but everyone knew it wasn’t the officially sanctioned heroes who were doing the fighting.

And right now, Belessar was the man who’d killed multiple Carnotaurs and shot down alien strikecraft.

Fourth, Tanisport was the home of Nanocloud and her suspected city-wide surveillance grid.

Fifth, suppose you managed to defeat Belessar. You would then have to deal with a psychotic, pyromaniac supervillain with a body count in five figures who was still listed as a global terrorist and had powered armour gifted by her boyfriend to boot.

Supervillains were greedy. They weren’t stupid. The risk of setting up operations in Tanisport was just too high.

Without ultra support, the gangs were no match for the ordinary efforts of the Tanisport P.D., who - when not having to deal with entities that broke the laws of nature and science - were actually quite effective at their jobs.

Seeing a police car parked in the street didn’t surprise me. That happened when a familiar face stepped out of the car.

Detective Dannie Bears hadn’t changed much from the last time I saw him. “Andrew! Been a while!”

“Good day to you, Detective,” I smiled back. Internally, I was trying to figure out why he was here - coincidence?

“How’s your sister doing?”

“She’s fine.”

“Good, good. On your way somewhere?”

“Visiting a… shop.”

The detective glanced at my hands, devoid of grocery bags.

“An auto shop. A garage, I mean.”

“Ah. This late?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’ve got time. Perhaps I could drop you off?” The detective gestured to the passenger seat of his vehicle.

“I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble…”

“Nonsense. Besides, I like to spend some time with folks I’ve helped afterwards, just to ensure they’re doing okay. Let me give you a ride, and we can catch up.”

I snapped off a quick Observe. Bears wasn’t mind-controlled or acting under someone’s orders.

And if I didn’t get into the car, that would be a lot more suspicious.

“Where to?”

I rattled off the address as we got moving.

As we started moving, Bears spoke up. “So, how have things been at home?”

“Fine. We’ve been doing things.”

“Studying?”

“Yes, Anne’s in school. Our dad - Paul Drake - he recovered some time ago, so we’re fine now.”

“That’s great news. And how’s school?”

“Gave my exit exams last year.”

“Good. College? Or a job?”

“I’m exploring options for a bit. We’re still recovering from our dad’s illness.”

“Understood. You took classes at school afterwards, right? With Mr. Saito?”

“... how’d you know that?”

“The DA’s office kept tabs, of course. If you’d skipped the sessions we’d have had to call you in for counselling.”

“Oh.” A thought crossed my mind. “Is Mr. Saito also a counsellor?”

“You’re certainly perceptive. Yes, Mr. Saito is also a trained trauma counsellor and has worked with at-risk teens before.”

“So… the course was also to let him observe me?”

“Got it in one. We’ve a long tradition of physical fitness instructors serving as role models for young men. Saito has a degree in child psychology under his black belt.”

“Well, I’m glad I passed.”

“Indeed. Taken up any other sports?”

“A few.”

“Such as?”

“Swimming, track, archery, javelineering…”

“An interesting combination,” nodded Detective Bears. “Javelineering is pretty popular these days. Ever since that video released.”

“What video?”

“A supervillain in power armour floats above the battlefield and raining shots down at people, and suddenly he gets slammed into by a high-powered javelin. And then Belessar steps out of the van to face Gravitic.” Bears chuckled. “It sounds like a scene out of an action movie. Inspired a lot of folks to sign up for Brahampton’s javelin training, gave them a fresh lease of life. Before that, they’d only had one student in the last three years.”

It took a moment for the words to sink in. In that time, Dannie Bears brought the car to a halt and turned to look me in the eye.

“You’ve done a good job protecting this city.”

I flinched. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“May we please drop the pretenses? I know why you chose Brahampton for your showdown with Agni. Ultrahuman with a younger sister still in school, javelin expert, based in Tanisport and with zero hesitation when it comes to killing? There aren’t too many suspects, Andrew Drake. Or should I say, Belessar.”

HIDDEN QUEST FAILED: PROTECT YOUR TRUE IDENTITY FROM THE POLICE.

A POLICE DETECTIVE HAS UNCOVERED YOUR SECRET IDENTITY. TRY TO CONVINCE HIM NOT TO REVEAL YOU TO THE PUBLIC.

“Detective Bears,” I said slowly. “I’m not sure why you’ve got this wrong impression…”

“The Crawley gang wasn’t the first time you’d killed.”

“Pardon?”

“When I spoke to you, you were way too calm. Too calm for someone facing violence - real violence - for the first time in their life. Not too calm for a second encounter. You fought during the attack on Tanisport, didn’t you?”

I thought back to my first conversation with Bears for a moment… and cringed.

“Fine, I fought,” I said cautiously. “How’d you figure it out anyway?”

“Two things. The number of people who can say they spotted an alien patrol and successfully hid is very, very low. Superpowers don’t normally run in families, so the chance of having a sibling duo in Tanisport, both with powers, is roughly one in a hundred thousand.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Did you hide from the patrol, or fight it?”

“It wasn’t a full patrol,” I sighed. “It was one Sarnak, and I beat his head in with a hubcap.”

“You killed an alien in hand-to-hand combat in your first fight with an improvised weapon. Looks like the Crawley gang definitely picked the wrong house to rob.”

“It wasn’t pleasant.”

“I didn’t mean to make light of your experience. But looking back, do you think a man like Ezekiel Crawley would pose a threat to you today?”

“Hardly.”

“That’s good. I’ll do what I can to keep your secret, but I need something in return.”

Here it comes, I thought. “Detective, I’m not sure what I can do to help….”

“The Tanisport P.D. is trying to trace out the remains of the Grunters. We came across a … rather concerning link.”

It involved the Grunters? That was worth listening to, at least.

“The Grunters used to have a fighting club just below Torrance Towers. You know about it?”

“They shut it down after the mansion raid.”

“Torrance Towers is city property. Leases have to go through the Mayor’s office.”

My mind flashed back to a day long ago, when Anne had spotted Mayor Aldiss at the club.

“Mayor Aldiss isn’t who he used to be,” continued Bears. “After the attack, he gave up visitation rights to his kids and cut off contact with his ex-wife. Lives alone, works virtually all the time. Attends balls, working towards his re-election campaign. Bringing in contributors. And from what we understand, somewhere along the lines he made a deal with the Grunters to allow them certain accesses.”

“Such as?”

“Such as, the Torrance Towers lease. Also, the Grunter mansion, they got special licenses issued shortly after the alien attack. Licenses that normally take years, done overnight. Said to be a reward for their service in protecting their city.”

Agni had pointed out that Aldiss was on the take – and he was a secret inventor to boot. I’d dropped that investigation on Paul’s suggestion, and with London coming up…

“Whatever the reason, I believe there’s something wrong with him, and I’d appreciate it if you could look into the problem.”

“You want me to investigate the Mayor of Tanisport?”

“I can hardly do it myself. Plus, you have access to resources the Tanisport P.D. can’t even dream of. Like Nanocloud’s citywide surveillance grid.”

“That’s not a real thing. We don’t have enough nanobots to make that work…”

“You can bug a building from top to bottom, though, and you don’t need a court order. If you can figure out what the issue with Mayor Aldiss is, I’d consider it a public service.”

I took a deep breath. “Detective, Mayor Aldiss is an inventor. I’m not about to snoop on him. Too much chance of being traced back.”

“He’s not an inventor.”

Whatever I’d expected, that hadn’t been it. “Huh?”

“When Aldiss first ran for public office, the old mayor put together a team to dig into his background. Some ex-cops, including a buddy of mine. They went through his past with a fine-toothed comb.” Bears leaned back. “He’s not an inventor, or any kind of ultrahuman.”

I frowned. “What if I told you I had evidence he is one?”

“What evidence?”

“Suppose someone saw him with a – mysterious device.”

“Could be something he bought on the black market. Do you know what the device does?”

“… no?”

“Did you follow up on the device you saw him with?”

“.. No.”

“Any reason why not?”

I frowned. “We didn’t want to get caught. He could have tracked us down with it…”

“Over the last few months, there have been several people – detectives, police and private, as well as journalists – who tried to investigate Aldiss.” The detective’s voice was soft. “All of them abandoned the investigation partway through. Every time, the reason given was the same – they couldn’t find anything, and there was a risk they’d get caught. By Aldiss. Nobody wanted to investigate him – because they could be traced.”

“… How many people?”

“At least five separate groups I’ve spoken to. Individual journalists, private investigators working for politicians, cops working on Grunter cases… each of them gave the exact same reason. They stopped investigating because they were afraid they’d get caught.”

Six, counting us.

Six groups of people who’d started digging into Aldiss – and abandoned the investigation midway.

“Here’s a possibility,” Bears suggested. “What if the device Aldiss has – is intended to convince people to stop investigating him? Because it tells them they are going to be caught?”

“An ‘ignore-me’ psychic repulsion field,” I muttered. “One that tells investigators that there’s nothing to find – or convinces them that searching is risky.”

“Perhaps. Such a thing might be in the realm of very advanced inventech – the kind that could be created by a top ten inventor.”

“If people are aware of the field’s existence, then the effect wouldn’t work.” I thought for a second. “I’ll need some time, Detective.”

“Thanks. I think we’re about at your stop now; have a good night.”

NEW QUEST ALERT: MAYORAL SHENANIGANS.

INVESTIGATE THE BEHAVIOUR OF MAYOR ALDISS AND UNDERSTAND HIS LINKS TO THE GANGS, IF ANY.

REWARD: NEW SKILL UNLOCKED.

FAILURE PENALTY: BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN. LET’S JUST LEAVE IT AT THAT.

TIME LIMIT: 30 DAYS.

THIS IS A MANDATORY QUEST.