Kingdom of Heroes (6 page)

“What,” he asked, “no front door, no Barren museum, no tour guide, no lobby with giant statues dedicated to The Iron Knight?”

“No,” she answered as she stepped into the lift. “Just an elevator that goes to the fortieth floor.”

He stepped into the elevator beside her. The fit was tight but cozy. “Well that’s a shame,” he said as the doors began to close. “I was really looking forward to taking that tour.”

_______________________________________________

The Iron Knight armor teleported onto the top of a building in downtown Metro City. On the streets below, The Speed Demon took part in his nightly habit of taking a midnight run through the city streets. With the curfew in effect and the roads completely empty, it was the speedsters favorite time to run. The Iron Knight armor stood on the roof of a twelve story building, watching the blur of a man moving below him. The armor tracked him, the glowing red eyes following The Demon’s every move, tracking his every motion. The machine teleported from the rooftop, disappearing again.

The armor reappeared directly in front of Billy North, the man otherwise known as The Speed Demon.

“Whoa,” North said, screeching to a halt. “Anthony, old man, where the hell did you come from? And what the hell are you doing out here in your armor? And where the hell have you been? We haven’t seen you in months.”

“
Anthony Barren is dead
,” the computerized voice said.

“Seriously, dude,” North said, a look of confusion covering his smooth shaven and youthful face. “Whatever you’ve been up there smoking, dude, it’s cool. I mean, you could’ve shared, but mostly, we were just concerned.”

Gun barrels ejected from the armor’s wrists, and both arms raised, aiming directly at North. “
Barren is dead
.” Bullets began to shoot out of the armor.

North moved out of the way, causing each and every bullet to fly safely past him. “Dude!” he yelled. “What the fuck was that?”

The armor reloaded internally, as more bullets from the machine’s payload loaded into the wrist guns, then opened fire again. North avoided each shot, running behind the armor before it could catch up to his movement.

“I don’t know what’s going on with you, dude, but this shit is fucked up. I’m outta here.” And with that, North took off down the street, leaving nothing but the blur of his silhouette behind him.

The machine opened a panel on the wrist, pushed a button, and teleported away again.

_______________________________________________

The Ice Queen and The Detective walked out of the elevator, entering Anthony Barren’s penthouse apartment.

“Damn,” The Detective said, looking around at the size of the place. Despite being only a single story, each room seemed larger than the other. The darkness only accentuated the size. “This place is bigger than my hometown.”

“And where the fuck was that?” Ice asked without looking at him.

“Nowhere,” he answered, pulling the gun out of his coat and readying it in his hands. “So has this place been secure? Anything I should know?”

“Anthony’s weekly prostitute found the body approximately four hours ago, around 5:30 p.m.,” she said, as the two of them walked slowly through the apartment, working their way to the back living room. “She called the police; the police called The Agent; the Agent called me, and I retrieved you. The police blocked off the building, and no one’s been up here since the hooker.”

“Prostitution still legal?” he asked without looking at her.

“Like I said earlier, we make sure everyone has work.”

He stopped and rested against the wall, slowly leaning his head through the doorway that led to the back living quarters. “You know, this is a strange world you and your friends have created here.” He sniffed the air and nodded towards the dark room. “The body’s in here, been dead for at least five hours or so.”

She moved herself to the opposite side of the doorframe. “You get all of that from your nose?”

“What can I say,” he said in return, “it’s a talent.” He put the gun back in his coat. “Relax. We’re the only ones here.”

They walked into the room. The Ice Queen found a light switch on the wall and flipped it, illuminating the area. Barren’s body laid crumpled on the blood soaked couch, the top half of his head missing. The fireplace in front of the couch was a bloody mess, covered in pieces of skull and what was left of Barren’s brains. The fire itself had long since died out.

“Well, somebody sure as hell wanted him dead, that’s for certain,” The Detective said, walking around the couch, taking in the whole scene.

Ice walked beside him, a look of disgust covering her pretty face. “What do you see? What happened here?”

“No sign of forced entry, no sign of a struggle, a single bullet hole in the wall, see it there.” He pointed to a small hole, barely noticeable amidst the carrion that had once been a man. “The killer stood behind the couch and placed a single shot into his skull, and apparently, Barren just let him do it.”

Ice covered her mouth and nose, seemingly trying to block out the smell. “He’s been depressed for the past year or so. We haven’t actually seen him in person for months; we only talked to him on the phone, or he would video conference all of the meetings. Could it have been suicide?”

“Not unless he paid someone to do it for him.” The Detective touched the blood on the wall, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger. “There’s no way in hell he fired that bullet himself. Any neighbors on the lower floors who could have seen something?”

She shook her head. “No. Barren owned the whole building. The other thirty-nine floors are, well were, his labs and the storage areas for his armors and inventions.”

“Must be nice,” The Detective said, half serious, half trying to be funny. “I’ve spent the past year in an electric box.”

He walked over to the body and moved what was left of the head around from side-to-side. He found a small patch on the back of Barren’s neck; it looked almost like a small round bandage. He turned toward The Ice Queen. “What’s this?” he asked.

She turned to see what he was talking about. “Telepathic blocking patch. Barren invented them a few years back. Completely blocks any kind of psychic attack.” She turned around and lifted her hair, revealing a duplicate patch on the back of her pale neck. “See. All of The Seven wear them.”

“I’d wear one, but I sincerely doubt anyone really wants to be in my head. Too many dirty thoughts.”

She ignored him. “I don’t get it. This place has more security than any other building in the country outside of The Agent’s tower; how could someone just walk in here and kill the man without being invited?”

“Security?” he asked, looking around the room. A computer sat in the corner, ten feet or so from the couch. The Detective walked to it. He touched the mouse, and the screen lit up, asking for a password. “Any idea what his pass code might have been?”

“Not a clue,” she said as she stood next to him, staring at the screen along with him.

He felt her shoulders rub against his and realized this was the closest he had come to intimate touch in a long time. He rubbed his forefinger across the keyboard, feeling for something.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Feeling for the deepest fingerprints to see which keys he’s used the most.”

“You can do that?”

He turned and smiled at her. “Extra sensitive senses, remember? That includes touch. E-O-P-H. These four have the most residue.”

“Hope,” she said without hesitation.

He typed the word into the computer, bringing up the systems menu. He clicked the link labeled ‘Security Cams’ and searched for the right time. “Nothing,” he said, staring at the blank screen.

“How can there be nothing?”

“All footage from five this afternoon on has been wiped clean. There’s nothing to see.”

“Godamni-” Ice started to say, only to be interrupted by the sound of gunfire and yelling coming from the street forty floors below them. Without hesitation, they both ran to the elevator.

_______________________________________________

The armor tracked Speed Demon’s every movement, allowing it to keep up with the speedster despite the armor’s inability to move at the same speed. North ran full out through the empty city streets, but the machine was able to anticipate the projected path, allowing it to teleport within striking distance of The Demon.

“Seriously, dude,” North yelled at the armor that appeared in front of him. “What the fuck is your problem?”

“
You have to die, North
,” the computerized voice said, just before teleporting away and rematerializing a hundred yards away, directly in front of The Speed Demon yet again. “
You all have to die for what you’ve done
.”

“I haven’t done nothing to you.” North ran hard, but the Iron Knight armor continued to show up directly in his path. “Go…“ North ran past it again, “fuck…” and again, “yourself” and again. He couldn’t get away.

“
You and your friends have already fucked me over enough for one lifetime, Demon,
” the armor answered, continually appearing in North’s path. “
This all ends now, tonight, for all of us.
”

Speed Demon continued running, then stopped directly in front of the Barren Building, where a group of policeman, a dozen or so, were already gathered, having been brought in to create a barrier due to Barren’s murder. The armor appeared next to him. “Shoot this motherfucker!” North yelled to the cops, who immediately followed the order, pulling out their pistols and shooting at the armor.

The armor’s deflector shields blocked all of the bullets, and then the machine raised its wrists, returning fire and placing bullets into each cop who had fired their weapon. The armor looked at North. “
This was the plan? To find police so they could shoot me? Sad.
”

“Just needed a distraction.” Speed Demon launched himself at the armor, throwing punches faster than the eye could see. Sonic booms could be heard from every fist that connected, causing the armor to momentarily take a step back. The machine threw a clumsy roundhouse back, which North easily allowed to go above his head.

“Fuck you!” North screamed, punching the armor as hard and fast as he could in the mid-section. A crack in the machine’s ribcage began to form, which North noticed. He began to concentrate on that exact spot, trying hard to open it up further.

The armor grabbed The Speed Demon by the throat, the mechanical hand squeezing itself completely closed, crushing North’s windpipe. The machine gripped until it held The Speed Demon’s spine in its grasp and placed its other hand on North’s shoulder. The armor pulled up, ripping The Demon’s head from his body with the spinal cord still attached.

_______________________________________________

The Detective ran from the building first, just in time to see The Iron Knight ripping The Speed Demon’s head off of his body. The Detective stopped in his tracks, staring at the blood covered machine holding Billy North’s head and backbone in its hand.

“Billy!” Ice screamed as she ran past The Detective.

The machine, still holding the head with its right hand, saw her and raised its left wrist gun, opening fire on The Ice Queen. The Detective jumped, pushing her out of the way as bullets flew past them both. Gunfire trailed behind them as he continued running with her in his grasp, until finally landing behind a parked police car.

“Stay here,” he said.

“Fuck you!” she yelled at him. “This motherfucker just killed Billy, and I’m not going to just cower here beh---”

The Detective leaned in and kissed her hard on the lips as bullets continued to fly dangerously close to their heads. He pulled back, taking in the complete look of shock covering her face. “Now that I’ve got your attention,” he said, suddenly relishing the fact that she tasted like strawberries, “I’m going to run out and get his attention. When he’s focused on me, blast him, shoot him, freeze him, whatever it is you do, with everything you’ve got.” He pulled the gun out of his coat. “You know what to do?”

She nodded.

He was suddenly quite happy with himself for stealing that kiss, realizing it may well be the last one he would ever have. He ran out from cover; bullets followed him even as the machine continued shooting at the car Ice used for cover. He knew it was going to take something special to get this asshole to pay all of its attention to him. He continued dodging bullets, running closer and closer to the machine, until he noticed something; he dove at the machine, ramming the barrel of his pistol into a crack in the armor’s midsection.

He pulled the trigger three times; without warning, lines of electricity rolled across The Iron Knight. Sparks flew from the armor, and for a split second, the world around The Detective turned into darkness. Then the lights came back on, and the armor threw him off, like a child tossing a stuffed animal.

The Detective looked around. They stood on the top of a parking garage. His bullets had somehow caused them both to teleport away. He aimed his gun at the machine.