Hero Unit (5 page)

Not that their tests led to anything.

“Do they really think we are superior just
because we have powers?” Emily asked.

Ace shrugged, placing the food she’d prepared
on her dining room table. The kitchen and dining room were part of
one long room. It made serving food easier. “What I think is they
are deluded, and dangerous. Just because we are born with greater
power does not make us better. Just like being a cop doesn’t put me
above the law. It means I should exemplify the law. Besides if we
were superior then why is it that Exceptionals don’t always have
Exceptional children? I have a brother that’s as normal as they
come. Well, normal by comparison, he’s actually pretty smart, and a
good athlete, but still a normal. Anyway that’s just their way of
trying to draw others to their cause.”

“Have they ever tried to recruit you?” Emily
asked.

“Not that I’m aware of. I think I’ve made my
position on Antis pretty clear. I was Tomahawk’s trainee after
all,” Ace replied.

“Tomahawk. He was very vocal about his views
on how Exceptionals should act,” Emily said with a frown.

It was true. Tomahawk had been very vocal
about the responsibility that Exceptionals had to protect those
that had no powers, or even those among the powerful protecting the
ones with less power. That had always been an odd part of her
relationship with him. She was so much more powerful than Tomahawk
had ever been and yet he was her mentor, her teacher. And according
to his beliefs it was her responsibility to protect him.

Don’t go down that road right now, Ace.
We’ll deal with that later.

“I imagine what he said offended a lot of
Exceptionals,” Ace said quietly.

Emily shook her head. “I imagine it did, but
not me. I knew that he didn’t know what I was going through. Hell,
he didn’t even know who I was. And I’m sure he would have
understood my decisions, but there were others that hated him for
what he said, for what he advocated.”

“Was Tech- Jim one of those?” Ace asked.

“Yes, yes he was. There were times he would
be so angry about something Tomahawk had said. He just couldn’t let
it go,” Emily replied. Ace could hear how sad she was about
Jim.

He was the right kind of person for an
organization like the HSO to recruit; someone angry at other
Exceptionals, someone with just enough power to be dangerous. She
finished eating and got out her device. By now Angel would have
ordered a background check on Technosis, and the additional
information Ace had just got from Emily would make the process
quicker.

“They probably knew him, it might have even
been someone in the company or even his family,” Ace mused quietly
to herself after sending the message to Torment.

“Who could’ve done that? Our company did
background checks,” Emily said. Ace had forgotten the other woman
was there. “Sorry. Also just so you know your thoughts are kind of
loud and hard to ignore unless I’m actively blocking you.”

She’s right. Angel and Torment both have to
actively block you out at times.

Trying to soothe Emily’s embarrassment Ace
said, “It really isn’t that difficult. We see people that have
built multiple identities. It’s the way most Heroes operate. If the
HSO has even a couple of technomancers, like Technosis, it’s even
easier. It’s likely there was someone among the people in your
office building that was an HSO plant. We need to figure out who
that was. In fact, I bet you have that information stored somewhere
in your mind. You said you power constantly looks for information,
then it would have found them out. You might just not know it
yet.”

“What if they used blockers?” Emily
asked.

“We have some of the most sophisticated
blocking tech in the interrogation rooms down at the precinct and
your power got through that, right?” Ace said.

Emily gave an uncomfortable shrug. “That was
an accident.”

You are terrible at dealing with people.

“Well let’s hope you ‘accidentally’ blew
through any blockers and got the information we need. How easy is
it for you to remember specific details?” Ace continued.

She was starting to get enthusiastic about
this case. Having Emily’s powers would make things easier. They
would have to be careful what information they used, laws were
pretty strict about power use in investigations, unless Article Two
was in effect. There were times Ace wished it was different, but
normals had to be protected.

“With enough effort I can remember anything
my powers have learned, but there were hundreds of people in and
out of that building every day. It could take weeks to sort through
it all,” Emily replied, looking less than thrilled about the
prospect.

Ace gave her a reassuring smile. “Angel and
Torment will be able to help. I’m going to let them know, that is
if you’re still willing to help.”

Emily hesitated before finally nodding her
assent. “Thank you,” Ace said and then sent another message to
Torment’s device. Hopefully they would have word soon about how the
investigation would proceed.

With the message sent Ace stood and said,
“Well I’m exhausted. It has been a long day, and I need sleep.”

Emily nodded, but stayed at the table.
“Remember, don’t leave. It is unlikely anyone can get in here and
if they do they’ll have to deal with me. But as soon as you walk
out that door you’re free game, so-to-speak.”

Subtle.

Ace wasn’t leveling a threat, or even trying
to scare Emily, but trying to help the other woman understand how
dangerous her situation was. If the HSO actually existed they would
know what kind of danger Emily’s potential knowledge would pose to
their plans. She was safer staying inside with Ace than anywhere
else. Hopefully she remembered that.

Chapter
6

“
What do you think Ace?” Tomahawk asked.

Oh please, not this one.

Ace shrugged. “Hard to say ‘Hawk. I lost
their scent.”

Please let me wake up!

They stood overlooking one of Detroit’s
industrial districts. They had been dispatched from New Davenport
to help the Detroit office of the E.E.D deal with a serious Anti
problem. Already three Heroes had been killed. Their injuries had
suggested a large caliber rifle. That’s when Tomahawk and Ace, the
two most indestructible Heroes alive, had been called in.

They had been able to track the Antis to
this particular industrial park, but Ace had lost the trail.
Tomahawk’s senses weren’t on par with hers and they had relied on
them too heavily. Their suspects had been in and out enough that
there were too many trails for her to follow.

“
Right, you take to the air. I’ll stick to
the ground,” Tomahawk said, his deep, gravelly voice full of anger.
“We’ll see if between the two of us we can flush the bastards
out.”

Ace nodded and took the air. They had to be
cautious with their investigation. Detroit’s mayor had been
reluctant to put Article Two into effect. He outright refused
Exceptionals Lockdown. His indecision was hamstringing the Hero
Units. Already some of the more sympathetic members of the Detroit
PD were starting to put pressure for the mayor to act. Heroes
weren’t the only ones being killed.

Don’t turn around, don’t look back.

Ace turned to say something to Tomahawk. She
saw her mentor standing tall, the largest, most powerful Fortress
Class of the Fourth generation. His dark eyes were scanning the
buildings. His shaved head made him come across as a hard-ass.

That moment in time froze for just an
instant before the projectile hit. Whatever it was tore through
Tomahawk’s armor and out his back in a spray of blood and bone.

“
NO!” Ace screamed.

Again and again the scene played. Over and
over she watched her friend and mentor die, helpless to stop
it.

Ace woke to the sound of her device going
off. With a shake of her head she cleared away the remnants of her
nightmare. She never slept without nightmares. Tomahawk’s death was
one that cropped up frequently.

Once her head was clear she carefully picked
up her device, suppressing the urge to smash it. The ID was Captain
Angel. “Yeah?” she asked. She only barely remembered to keep the
device camera pointed at her face. No need for the captain to know
what she did, or didn’t, sleep in.

No need to embarrass him either.

“Hey kid we need you downtown ASAP,” Angel
looked and sounded tired. She didn’t recognize where he was from
the details in the background.

“Where?”

“I’ll send you the location on your device,”
he replied. A map appeared on her screen, over top of her call with
the Captain. The GPS in her device had already planned out her
route.

“Be there as soon as I can,” Ace replied and
hung up. She pulled herself from her soft, warm bed and went to the
bathroom. A quick, cold shower later and she was more awake. She
dressed and went out to the kitchen. The clock showed it was eight
thirty pm. She checked the whole house bio-monitor and saw that
Emily was already in bed. Ace left her a reminder note not to leave
the house, grabbed a pre-made protein shake and left.

Ten minutes later found her standing outside
of the corporate headquarters for Tenth Avenue National Bank. To
save time, she’d flown in. The rest of her unit was already there
and geared up. Ace had her armor already on and she went to the
back of the personnel carrier, but instead of finding Einstein’s
assault weapon she saw the railgun-Gauss rifle.

I was afraid that was going to happen.

“Einstein insisted that you use it. He says
he’s got everything he needs from it and it would be a shame for it
to be dismantled.” Ace didn’t jump at the sound of Torment’s voice,
but it was a near thing.

“Really?” she asked.

“He already ran it past the higher ups before
even consulting me. They said better in your hands than in an
evidence locker where it might get stolen,” Torment continued. The
echo in her voice was sharp.

You’d think she was annoyed or
something.

Ace wanted to rebel against the decision, but
her time in the military had conditioned her to follow orders, no
matter how unpleasant they were. Only on a handful of occasions had
she ever defied a direct order. Both times it had saved lives. She
turned her thoughts back to the present. Right now she had to
concentrate, not dwell on the past.

Of all people
you
should never
dwell on the past.

She lifted the huge weapon from its rack in
the carrier. “This thing is so damned big though,” she said as she
put the barrel over her shoulder.

Crybaby.

“Einstein’s working on something to make it
less awkward for you to carry. At least that’s what he told the
Captain,” Torment said. Ace knew she was trying to be supportive,
or consoling, or something. It only sort of worked. Because Ace was
a Fifth and Torment a Fourth, her powers weren’t quite as helpful
as they could have been.

“Right,” Ace said. “What’s the situation? Cap
just told me to get here ASAP.”

“Bank heist gone wrong we think,” Torment
continued.

Ace was only confused for a moment. It made
sense for an Anti to target the corporate headquarters, rather than
a bank branch. A competent technomancer could extract way more
information from corporate servers than a simple vault. Because of
Ace their unit was only called in for the most extreme cases of
Anti activity. That meant whoever was in there was considered
highly dangerous.

Tenth Avenue is a fortress. I don’t think
Maniac could overcome their servers.

“I’m guessing Tenth Avenue’s security was
better than they anticipated,” Ace said looking the scene over.
This time there were plenty of regular cops, SWAT and gawkers. She
didn’t like the civilians being so close to a scene where there
were potential Antis, but it was their right.

“Do we know who’s inside?” Ace asked.

Torment shook her head. “Not for certain.
Maniac has confirmed a technomancer, but it’s not one she
recognizes. They’re duking it out right now. They have a blocker in
place for certain, but it’s a single-tasker. Its only purpose is to
block me. Since there are no hostages Jacks is making it
uncomfortable inside while Deuce is keeping anyone else occupied.
Jacks traced their heat signatures to the first floor in the
offices near the main entrance.”

“Alright, what do you want me to do?” Ace
asked still studying the building. She didn’t have x-ray vision,
but she didn’t need it. Maniac and Torment would be able to feed
her the information she needed.

“I need you to get in there and do what you
do best. Thing is, we need to take everyone in there alive if at
all possible. It can’t be coincidence that we’ve had two Anti
attacks in as many days. Not after the lull we’ve had. Something
about this situation stinks,” Torment said. She looked positively
annoyed and that was saying something. Torment was real good at
keeping her feelings off her face, even if her tone of voice gave
them away.

She’s right. This is not a coincidence.
Someone is up to something.

“If you want them alive then I’d best leave
this behind,” Ace said. She put the rifle back in the transport and
turned to face the building. “I’m guessing that’s bulletproof glass
on the main doors?”

“That’s what the CEO said. He’s given us
leave to do what’s necessary to protect his clients’ files,”
Torment replied.

Ace nodded. She knew what that meant. They
were free to use their powers, but they were supposed to the damage
to a minimum. Usually that was easier said than done. All it took
was a couple of Fortress Class, or worse Energy Class, to start
leveling buildings.

Nothing like a few explosions to destabilize
a structure.