Hero Unit (20 page)

“See you there,” Ace said and they hung
up.

“So you’re finally going to act?” It was
Torment that spoke.

“You’ve been expecting this?” Ace asked as
she straightened from her desk and looked up at her commanding
officer.

Torment was armed, armored and there was a
look of almost excitement in her eyes. “Something like that. I’ve
just a touch of prophecy and every time it comes it’s because of
you. From you joining the E.E.D, to coming to New Davenport, all
the way down to you being on my team. Every time I saw you right
before you showed up. Minimal amounts of prophecy can be maddening
for people like me, but with you around it has been less of an
annoyance. Has Bones signed off on this?”

“I didn’t give him much of a choice,” Ace
replied. She kind of felt bad about that. It was not the first time
she’d used the intimidation that came with being a Fifth to get
what she wanted, but it was the first time she’d used it on a
friend or family. Torment winced a little at that.

“So what’s the plan?” Torment asked.

“Simple. The technomancers will kill the
power, but just for the Marriott. Anyone that comes out gets
scanned by you and Emily. Angela will spend her time guiding me to
where they’ve got Einstein. Anyone who gets in my way is collateral
damage,” Ace explained. She made her way to the elevators and
Torment followed her.

“I just figured out your pseudonym,” Ace said
as the elevator doors closed. “Your limited prophecy torments
you.”

Torment smiled. “You’re the first to put two
and two together. Course not many people know about the prophecy
part of my powers. How about you, why Ace?”

Ace shrugged. “That’s what my parents called
me. I have a given name, but they just always called me Ace. Never
could get a straight answer from them about why either. I don’t
think they really know where it actually came from.”

Torment laughed. “That’s just so damned
cute!” She looked at Ace out of the corner of her eye. “I suppose
that fits you though. You look nothing like a Fortress Class, but
I’ve seen you take Fourths apart like they were children. So I
suppose the origin of your pseudonym should be something
unexpected.”

They tried to figure out the origin of other
Heroes’ names as they rode the elevator to the parking level;
anything to preserve that little moment of levity. They arrived to
find the others waiting for them. Ace knew that her sister had
already told the others the plan so all she said was, “Any
objections or suggestions?”

“We know where and how to hit the hotel, so
we’re ready whenever you are,” Maniac replied.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Ace stated and they
loaded up.

Chapter 24

The New Davenport Marriott was big. One of the
largest hotels in the city. It was located not far from Memorial
Park. It also housed an even larger convention center making the
total structure cover a large part of a city block. Ace was just
glad that there were no conventions being held at that moment. She
couldn’t imagine trying to contain the chaos once they hit the
power if there were hundreds of more people present.

They dropped Maniac, Glitch and Pong off at
the different sub-stations around the Marriott block. Between the
three of them they would be able to cut power to just the hotel and
convention center.

Ace parked their transport in a public lot
and she and the rest of her team made their way to the hotel. The
others were wearing standard issue E.E.D equipment. That meant
people got the hell out of their way as they moved down the
sidewalk.

As they arrived at the front doors of the
hotel Maniac and the other technomancers radioed that they were
ready. Ace looked at Angela, who nodded. “Do it,” Ace radioed.

Not even a minute later every light that Ace
could see in the building went out. There was immediate panic among
those going in and out. The hotel staff didn’t manage much better.
With rumors stilling circulating about the HSO people were bound to
panic at the smallest things.

“You know what to do, sis, tell me where to
go,” Ace said and started wading through the flood of people now
flowing out the hotel doors.

The light from the mid-afternoon sun only
reached so far into the lobby. It was a good thing Ace was an
Exceptional or the press of evacuating people would have carried
her out like a leaf trapped by a current. Instead people rebounded
off of her and kept going. She was surprised the response was so
immediate until she heard the fire alarms going off.
Smart
move
, she thought. The technomancers were doing their jobs, now
Ace just had to do hers.

He’s somewhere in the middle of the
building
, Angela said as Ace made her way towards the
stairs.

Be careful in the stairwells. There are
some nasty surprises waiting for any Exceptional that comes near
them
, her sister warned her. Ace acknowledged that she’d heard,
but she pushed on.

The stairs were clear until the fourth floor.
At the fourth floor landing Angela said,
Careful, there’s a
surprise up the next flight of stairs.

Ace considered her options. It was doubtful
that whatever it was could hurt her, but at the same time she
wanted to keep property damage to a minimum. Instead of risking it
she exited the stairwell. With no windows the halls of the motel
were pitch black. Even Ace’s enhanced vision only gave her a dim,
black and white view of her surroundings.

You need to go up five or six more
floors.

Ace headed to a different set of stairs. The
door was rigged, which she discovered as she opened it. Electricity
arched across the metal frame and through her. Her radio was fried,
but she kept going. As long as she still had contact with Angela
she was fine.

I’ll keep everyone updated on our
progress
, her sister assured her as she continued moving
upwards.

She hit two more anti-Exceptional traps on
her way up, but they weren’t any more dangerous to her than the
first. It was when she reached the landing for the tenth floor that
Angela said,
You’re on the right floor, now you just have to get
to him. There aren’t any other Exceptionals but him on the floor,
so you’ll have to be extra careful.

Ace paused as she was about to go through the
door. No other Exceptionals. That didn’t make any sense. She didn’t
doubt her sister, but what was going on? How could the HSO not be
using Exceptionals? That was their whole identity, Homo Superior,
they were better than normals.
We are missing something
important, I just don’t know what it is
, she said to her sister
as she entered the floor and started making her way through the
darkness.

It was slow going. She had to move carefully
to avoid attracting attention. Like most fancy hotels the halls of
the Marriot were cluttered with useless decorations.

Even as careful as she was being and even
with her sister’s help she still got shot at a few times. Each time
she intercepted and cuffed the gunman. She was just glad they were
professionals. They fired off controlled bursts instead of opting
for the “spray and pray” method. Each time she spotted muzzle flare
she was able to zero in on her target.

She did eventually find the room that her
sister marked as the place Einstein was being held. She waited for
Angela’s okay before carefully trying the door handle. The door was
actually slightly ajar and she nearly closed it in her caution.
With as much care as she could manage she opened the door and
stepped into the room. “Einstein?” she whispered.

“Don’t move Ace it’s a-” She didn’t hear what
he said because she stepped down and there was a click, a flash and
everything went black.

Chapter 25

Ace could feel rocks under her skin. That wasn’t
good. She checked and sure enough found that she wasn’t wearing a
single piece of clothing and she most certainly was not in the New
Davenport Marriott. There was slightly more light here than there
had been at the hotel. Ace could make out the vague shape of a
small stone room that looked just a little too regular to have been
a natural formation.

“Hello?” her voice sounded muted.

“Welcome, Ace. We’ve been looking forward to
this day for a long time,” the voice came through a small speaker
mounted high up on the wall where Ace could just barely make it
out. It looked like something salvaged from an abandoned elementary
school.

“Cut the crap, where am I?” Ace replied.

Thank heaven you’re awake
. Angela’s
voice was muted. That had never happened before.

I don’t know where you are. I can’t find
you which means they’ve taken you outside the range of my powers.
Emily and I are in suppressors. I can’t talk anymore, good
luck
.

That was a surprise. Angela’s range covered
the entire city of New Davenport and its suburbs. Where was
she?

“You are in our testing facility,” the voice
replied. It was hard to tell if it was a man or a woman over the
speaker. The sound quality was terrible. “You see, we of the HSO
have been looking for a chance to study your unique abilities for
so very long.”

“Screw you,” Ace said.

“Now, now we let all of your friends leave
peacefully. If you are cooperative they will remain unharmed. If
your hostilities continue we will start killing them.”

Ace hesitated. Angela would be fine, like Ace
she was indestructible, but the others weren’t and the HSO had
already proved they were willing to kill Exceptionals who they
deemed a threat. “What’s the plan then?” she asked.

“See if you can escape. It’s that simple.
There are no-” the voice cut off as Ace broke through one of the
nearby walls. She found herself in a long, well lit corridor. It
ran as far as she could see in either direction. She turned and ran
to her left. After a short distance she leapt up and through the
ceiling. Whatever it was made out of was considerably harder than
anything Ace had ever encountered before.

Natural laws flexed more than normal as she
tore through whatever the strange material was. She guessed she’d
gone about ten feet before finally breaking in to open air. She
took in her surroundings and nearly went back down the hole she’d
just created. The room was full of people and she was still very
naked.

Everyone around her froze. They were all
dressed in black t-shirts and black cargo pants. Most of them were
carrying guns on their hips. There was no one distinct nationality
and it seemed as if every last one of them was looking right at
her. Judging by the long tables and trays full of food Ace figured
she’d ended up in the facility’s cafeteria.

She took all of this in, along with her
extreme embarrassment, before an alarm sounded. “Warning, the
prisoner has escaped. All personnel are to respond with lethal
force.” This time the voice was crystal clear and female.
Apparently this place warranted a better sound system than the
dungeon she’d just escaped.

Not wanting to find out what kind of lethal
force the people around her were equipped with, beyond standard
firearms, Ace ran towards the nearest exit to the cafeteria. A few
shots rang out, but she ignored them and hit the exit at a very
slow controlled run. Once through the doors she turned and pounded
the hinges until the metal was fused. Not wanting to be caught
standing still, Ace went down the hallway she found herself in.

The feeling she got from the place was that
it was a training facility. She pulled on her one mental power and
was surprised to find that there wasn’t a single Exceptional in her
range. She was truly starting to wonder if the HSO was really what
they claimed to be. If they thought Exceptionals were superior,
where were all their Exceptionals?

As she moved along the hall she checked
doors. What she found was relatively little. Most were just
bedrooms. Each one had space to accommodate two people. There were
computers in each of the rooms, but she didn’t bother with them.
Instead she looked for clothes.

She did eventually find some clothes that fit
her well enough. Feeling a little more confident now that she
wasn’t running around in her birthday suit Ace kept looking for
some direction. She wanted very much to find who was in charge of
this facility, but the place seemed huge and if they were all
normals she had to be exceedingly careful. The last thing she
wanted was a trail of bodies to haunt her.

“Attention all personnel, be on the lookout
for subject Ace, the Fifth Generation. She has been sighted in
residential block D4. All personnel form assault teams. Upgrade to
heavy armaments and engage. Lethal force is to be applied.” Again
the voice was loud and clear.

She didn’t like the sound of heavy armaments.
These were potentially the same people that came up with the
hybrid. Who knew what kind of equipment they’d have in a facility
like this? She decided she didn’t want to find out and kept
moving.

Eventually Ace found a door that led outside.
Instead of just bursting through she took time to look through the
small window. As she suspected there were heavily armed guards
pointing their guns at the door, just waiting to open fire. There
were other buildings visible and behind them shrub covered hills.
It reminded her of parts of eastern Oregon. Wherever it was she was
a long ways away from New Davenport.

“Don’t move!” someone shouted. Ace froze.

“Turn around!” It was a man shouting at her.
She turned slowly and saw a group of five or six heavily armored
men pointing all manner of firearms at her as they slowly came
closer. “On the ground!” She couldn’t see the men’s faces through
their shielded helmets, but there was a nervous tremor in the voice
of the one that was giving her orders.

“I wouldn’t come any closer guys,” she said,
trying to sound friendly.