H.E.R.O. - Horde (39 page)

She scanned in and hugged Mia - I thought she was going to kiss the woman the way she pressed up against her - turned to me and waved.

Rael walked past me toward her and I saw her face light up with a smile, then frown, and then a look of just being glad to see him.  I wondered what had been going on with them.

He kissed her, and Mia said, "Hey!  There are people ... wait a second, no there aren't ... carry on."

He certainly looked like he missed her, and at first it appeared that she intended to only quickly kiss him, but they stood there for a good minute making out.

They only stopped when the front door opened and Tina walked in.

Tina said, "Hi guys!  Whoa!  Nookie!  Nookie!  Aw, don't stop."

The pair separated and Stephanie said she needed to put her duffle bag in the locker.  She and Tina hugged - she pressed up tight against Tina as well, and Tina kissed Stephanie rather than the other way around.  I remembered last weekend, and Tina's weakness for Stephanie's pheromone thing, so I walked over and separated them, since Rael just grinned and watched.

I lightly punched Rael on the shoulder, almost knocking him over, and said, "Come on, man - you know that Tina likes her smell."

"What?  I like that Tina likes her smell too."

"You're terrible."

Stephanie looked at me and said, "Thanks, Lance."

As they walked toward the women's locker room, I heard her say to Tina, "If you'd have been near me yesterday you'd have been all over me, my pheromones were a lot more powerful...."

The two came out after a few minutes and began working out - Mia's equipment was heavy enough for both of them to get in a good workout, at least.

While they worked out Rael mentioned his meeting with Hellshock yesterday and his plan to find the drug vendor.

I asked, "So what did you do?"

"I dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and went down to the metal bar the red guys came from the night before."

Stephanie said, "Orcs - they are red orcs.  At least that's what Razorwing and Rayna both think."

Rael said, "Holy crap, I know you met with Diva yesterday, but you also saw those two?"

Stephanie laughed, "No, I also saw Tiriffa - the alien woman - and Captain McCain.  Oh, and Chrome too, and another new super."

"No shit?  I thought you had school."

"I did.  Before lunch the new super - who turned out to be the lead guitarist of the metal band playing
both
the previous nights - thought he'd see what using his power on me would do."

I asked, "What did it do?"

"He amplifies your powers and control over them.  Sadly, I wasn't expecting it, and ended up flying through a wall at school."

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, sure I am - Diva ended up bringing Rayna along with her little creature that heals when it licks you."

Suddenly she pursed her lips and stared at Rael.  "That was
your
idea?  You were with Diva?!"

Rael nodded, "Yeah, she called and asked for my help."

"What were you two up to?"

"Buying her sports clothing and weights for a photo shoot yesterday afternoon.  Apparently her agent hated the one we did out at the park, it made Diva look too, I don't know, normal."

"I thought you helped
me
shop like that?"

Rael held up his hands, "You've been running all over for a week and a half.  I've hardly been able to see you.  Even on your nights off you're getting together with your study group and stuff."

"Sorry, I keep meaning to make time to get together with you."

"Well, let's see if we can find time this weekend, okay?"

"I'd love that."

I said, "Anyway - Rayna came?"

"Yeah, and apparently when that guy amps up someone and they use their powers Tiriffa can detect it.  So Diva went and got her while I was still unconscious."

Rael said, "Whoa, Tiriffa can detect it?  So it must be a drug then or Tiriffa would have detected the occurrences on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights."

"No, she wasn't on that system those days.  She has to have the scanners looking for events or something."

"Damn."

"Anyway, after I woke up Captain McCain called for me to go to the jail and mind scan the orcs, and we found out the same band was playing both times the red guys changed."

Rael said, "So the band is doing it?"

"No - Rayna wondered the same thing.  She and Razorwing went out to arrest the members, and the first one was the guitarist - but he was at the University with me."

"He was with you?"

"No, he was in another building, but was in a class."

"Ah."

"So then she called me to arrest him."

I said, "Hmm, we can do that?  I mean, I suppose we can - I've just never heard of an H.E.R.O. agent going in after someone, we're always stopping crimes when they occur."

"Right.  I went to get him, but there were too many people around and he got outside, but then he gave himself up and the other two showed up."

I asked, "Other two band members?"

"No, Rayna and Razorwing."

"Oh, okay."

"That's when he let on about his power, and I scanned him and found that he wasn't actually doing anything to cause the orcs to show up - but they noticed that people got up and left both the prior nights during the same song, during a guitar solo."

Rael snorted, "The solo must have sucked pretty badly for them to get up and leave."

"No, I heard it in several minds, it's the opposite.  It's really jamming and gets you all hyped up."

I asked, "By hyped up do you mean his power hyped up, or just gets your adrenaline going?"

"I think both, I have a feeling his power kicks off in a sphere around him when he really gets into a song like that."

"Okay, so you're thinking it's a super in the crowd then?"

"Could be, but Tiriffa thought that it might be possible for his type of energy to also kick off the meteorite effects if they were in a drug or something."

Tina said, "Like, oh my god!  You have to get me some meteorite and this guy!  Please please please please!"

Rael said, "Tina, I don't think you understand, every guy that's changed is becoming this brutish thug-like creature that is violent and just wants to fight."

Stephanie said, "Actually, in addition to that I found that their emotion centers have been wiped, or corrupted somehow.  They are filled with hatred and anger.  On top of all that their memory center gets locked off and they can't learn anything new."

Tina looked despondent.

Stephanie looked at her, "Sorry, Tina.  I'd do it for you if it wouldn't mess you up, but this ... not so good."

Rael said, "Oh ... that explains why they went rampaging then.  I wonder why they happened to hit a Goth club both nights, though."

Stephanie replied, "If it is a super changing the people then that might be part of it.  If not then it's probably the band."

"Why do you say that?"

"The guitarist pretty much hates Goths, and I got a clear picture that the entire band feels that way.  It's even in their songs.  If the guys changing into orcs like the band a lot they probably listen to the songs over and over...."

I said, "That's horrible."

She gave me a sour face, "Freedom of speech, gotta love it."

Rael said, "Well, that bites, had I known it was the same band I would have found where they were playing last night."

"They didn't play last night, but they do tonight."

"Where at?"

"Bang Time."

Rael looked up and called out, "Hey, Mia!  Does your computer have web access?"

She called over, "Sure, you need it?"

"Yeah, if I can."

He walked over; Stephanie apparently saw what he was thinking and jumped off the bench to follow him.  I followed out of curiosity, as did Tina.  With such a large group walking over, Mia came over to see what was of such interest.

Rael sat down and pulled up a web search for Goth clubs in Metrocity.  Then he did a location check for Bang Time and found that it was quite close to Spellbound.

He said, "Spellbound - that's Rapture's club."

I said, "Rapture?  Who's that?"

"She's a really hot mutant.  Actually, she looks a
lot
like Steph, except that she has gold wings and she walks around in chains."

I asked, "Like she's locked up?"

"No, like jewelry for clothing."

I said, "Okay, so let me get this right - we've got the guys changing at two clubs these guys play at.  The red guys all end up hating Goths, and the closest Goth club is Spellbound?"

He nodded, "Right."

"That sounds fairly obvious - we should call in the heroes and hang out at the bar."

"No, you can't just do that, whoever is either causing this or giving out the drug can't know a bunch of heroes are in there.  Any bricks or obvious people - like Razorwing - need to be hidden - perhaps on rooftops.  Only those who blend in could be inside."

Stephanie said, "I could be outside and just watch through mindviews."

"Yeah, that should work."

Tina said, "This is so exciting!  Can I come?"

I smiled, "Sorry Tina, these orc guys have murdered numerous people already.  I'd feel horrible if you died because you came with us."

Rael said, "Don't you work at night?"

She nodded.  "Yeah, I have to work.  That, like, sucks though.  You have to tell me about it tomorrow morning, okay?"

I nodded.

Stephanie said, "You know, if Tiriffa can detect the use of power like that, it might help to have her there if we think the person might be on hand."

Rael nodded.  He asked, "Hey, did she mention if they found a cure yet?  I got her in for a blood sample from the red guys - the orcs."

Stephanie shook her head, "Qarath had a pair of screens up that looked chemical and biological, but he didn't say if he'd found anything.  I'll fly down to them today and ask Tiriffa about tonight, and while I'm there I'll check with Qarath about the blood."

Rael said, "Hey, they've got a second ship, don't they?"

Stephanie nodded, "Well, they have theirs; the military has the K'Vor right now.  Why?"

"I was just thinking that we have two alien craft on the planet."

"It's pretty cool; I got to play with one of their computers yesterday."

I said, "Wow, that's nice of them.  Are they a lot better than ours?"

"Well, they are instant in response time, but apart from the hovering screens I think we'll catch up to them in interfaces in a decade.  Their screens float, though, and you can actually feel a response from touching the image."

"Whoa, that's pretty cool.  Did you ask how they did it?"

"No.  Tiriffa's mentioned before that she's a specialist in this dark energy research.  She probably doesn't know."

"Never know if you don't ask."

"True, I suppose I could.  Maybe if I got the basics from her mind I could pass it on to Jim and Mike and they might become gazillionaires by coming up with the design."

Rael said, "It's worth a try - especially if the aliens don't care about the tech."

I said, "Anyway, back to stopping more murders....  I'll contact the bricks I know - Zonk seemed cool, and Big Man from the bridge ordeal.  Steph - you know Diva, Rayna and Tiriffa.  Rael, you want to contact Hellshock?"

He nodded, "Sure thing.  Should we contact the Goth mutants?"

"Yeah, they should be warned about the danger.  People died the last few nights; it would irresponsible for us to allow anyone else to die."

"I'll do it then."

"I think we've got our plan, then.  Shall we get back to work here?"

The others nodded and we returned to the girls' workout.  Once they left, Rael and I spent the rest of the morning working on the new addition for Sweat & Steel.

I took time out to call the other bricks.  Both were in and aware of the need to hide on the rooftops.

Chapter 30 - The Day Flies By

Psystar's Viewpoint

My morning classes flew by.  I called and let Jim know I had work to do over lunch and flew down to see Tiriffa.  I landed outside their ship - the door was closed, although it opened a short time after I landed.

Tiriffa walked out and hugged me right away.  I grinned; she must be following my example from the last few days.

I said, "Hi Tiriffa, how's it going for you guys today?"

"We are not leaving today - Captain Trilk is still repairing the ship."

"Oh, I mean how are your efforts on the research and on the cure for the red guys?"

"Ah, that is progressing well on both items.  Qarath believes he has found a regression method, but we do not have a chemical lab here to build it."

"I'll call Captain McCain and see what he can do for that.  I have a question - can your portable device detect when one of us gets, umm, hyped up like I did yesterday?"

"Of course."

"What's the range on it?"

"Perhaps one of your miles."

"We think we know where the next event will take place - where more of those red guys will be created tonight.  Would you be willing to join me to go there and watch for it?"

"That would be wonderful to obtain more data."

"Awesome, thanks.  Hopefully by then the captain will have found a lab and can let us know as well."

"Excellent."

"So what did you think of Rayna's dragon?"

"She was the first gifted with that particular ability that I've seen, and was fascinating to watch.  It reminded me of one who could create objects, but not living matter."

"Really?  That's pretty cool.  We don't know when the event might occur, but the band starts at 9 P.M., and each of the previous times occurred close to 10 P.M."

"I will be ready when you need me to be."

"Great, thanks Tiriffa.  Hey - thank Qarath for his work on the cure, I appreciate your help in saving these people from a horrible life."

"I am glad we are able to assist you.  Your enthusiasm ought to be saved for when we have the compound made and it is seen to be successful, however."

"Okay - but I look forward to that point.  I'll call Captain McCain on the way back to school - thanks again for your help."