Strike 3: The Returning Sunrise (8 page)

“I was just thinking—I want to say again how honored I am that you’ve let me be a part of this, and I’m so excited for what’s next. But…I couldn’t help but notice some impatience in there.”

“They are just eager to meet the Daybreaker.”

“Yes, I know, but I would hope their eagerness does not distract them from their commitment. From their commitment to helping build the new world. We’ve got a great team assembled here, and I really think some of their impatience and some of their suspicions could be alleviated if they were able to meet the Daybreaker.”

“He is not ready yet.”

“I know he’s not ready for them. But perhaps he is ready to meet me.”

Rigel turned to Nova, then looked back to Daniel.

“He knows me already,” Daniel said. “Or at least he probably does, from seeing me on television as the governor. And I’m from his world. I’m from literally only miles away from him. I think I would be a comforting face.”

Rigel stared at the governor. “He does not need comfort.”

“He might. Everyone needs comfort, even someone like him. It might be beneficial for him to see someone from his world. Someone from his own area of the country. And I could even convince him to meet the others.”

Rigel looked to Nova.

“It’s not time,” Nova said. “It’s not wise.”

“I just want to do what’s best for the council,” Daniel said. “And what’s best for the plan. It might be good for him.”

Rigel thought it over. “You may see him,” he said.

“What?” Nova asked. “Are you serious? You’re not going to let the council meet him, but you’re going to let
him
meet him?”

Rigel ignored Nova. “You may meet with him, Daniel. But very briefly. Follow me.”

Nova followed Rigel and Daniel toward the Daybreaker’s office. “Rigel, this isn’t—this isn’t what we’ve planned.”

“We will be there with Daniel,” Rigel replied. “And it will help the Daybreaker to see someone he recognizes.”

***

After lightly knocking on the door to the Daybreaker’s office, Rigel turned the doorknob and stepped inside.

“Hello, Daybreaker,” the red giant said. “I hope we aren’t interrupting you.”

Standing on his tippy-toes behind Rigel, Daniel peered over the red giant’s shoulder. The governor was shocked by how young the Daybreaker looked in person. He was just a normal, seventeen-year-old boy with thick dark hair, appearing like any other student that the governor met on his many trips to the high schools around his state. At the moment, the Daybreaker was wearing a white suit jacket, white pants, and white tie, and looking out a massive window at the city of
Harrison
below him. The window was right behind the Daybreaker’s desk, and it ran the entire length of the back wall of the office, reaching from the floor to the ceiling.

Following a silence, the Daybreaker turned away from the lights of
Harrison
and looked toward the door. The governor furrowed his brow, surprised; the Daybreaker looked sickly, with pale skin, dark blue circles under his eyes, and an expression that was mostly blank.

“Would you like us to come another time?” Rigel asked.

“No,” the Daybreaker replied. His voice, too, was that of a teenager. But filled with longing, and without energy. “I was just thinking.”

Rigel motioned to the governor. “If you’d like, I’m interested in introducing you to a friend of ours.”

The Daybreaker glanced at Daniel, then looked back to Rigel. “I told you I don’t want to see anyone but you and Nova.”

“I know, but I thought it would be good for you to meet this person. He’s going to help us. Do you recognize him?”

The Daybreaker looked the governor over. “He looks vaguely familiar.”

“Hi, Daybreaker,” Daniel said nervously, stepping forward with his hand outstretched. “My name’s Daniel Melfi. I’m the governor of
Rhode Island
. You might have seen me on television. Or maybe online.”

The Daybreaker looked down at Daniel’s hand, then shook it. “Yes, I recognize you.” The Daybreaker turned and walked back to the window. “Why is he here?”

“Well,” Rigel said, “he has offered to help us, sir. He came to Nova and I recently with some wonderful ideas, and we agreed it would be great to have him on the council. It will be incredibly helpful to have one of this country’s current leaders able to spread our voice to the other leaders of the
United States
.”

The Daybreaker didn’t turn around. “Okay. I can understand that.”

“Would—would you like to speak with him?” Nova asked.

“Sure. Leave us and close the door.”

Daniel spun to Rigel, surprised, his eyes wide.

“You want—you want us to leave you alone with him?” Rigel said.

“Yes. I’ll let you know when we’re done speaking.”

Daniel stared at Rigel, anxious, with fear across his face. But Rigel only nodded.

“Okay,” the red giant said. “We’ll be right outside.”

Rigel and Nova walked out of the office and closed the door. Daniel was left alone with the Daybreaker.

“Thank—thank you for agreeing to speak with me, Daybreaker,” Daniel began. “I understand you don’t do this with most people.”

“No, I don’t,” the Daybreaker said. He finally turned away from the window and sat down at his desk. “Take a seat. Tell me why you’re here.”

Daniel sat down in a chair across from the Daybreaker. “Well, let me first say how honored I am to be a part of this. This is—this is truly a world-changing event. This is a historic time for the planet Earth: a time when we have made contact with beings from another world. I could not be more grateful and beyond proud to be involved with it.”

Daniel waited for a response, but the Daybreaker simply stared at him.

“For my whole life,” Daniel continued, “I’ve always wanted to be a part of something like this. Part of a moment that will be remembered forever. I’ve always known I was meant to guide this world towards something better, and it’s why I became a politician. This is truly a dream come true for me.”

“I’m glad we could help you with that,” the Daybreaker said.

Daniel nodded. “You have. And I’m glad I can help you. In any way that I can. Whatever needs to be done, whatever message you need me to deliver to
Washington
, to the people of the world, I will do it. You just need to tell me what to say.

“Because there are going to be other people out there like us, who know this world needs fixing. Terrible things happen here everyday, Daybreaker. You know that. This is a horrible world we live in. But it doesn’t need to be. It wasn’t always. And now we have the means to fix that. In ways I never could before as governor. I thank you for that.”

The Daybreaker stood up and walked to the window. “So let me get this straight. You are willing to turn your back on your people—your country—to help us. You are willing to do what we have to do to remake this world.”

“I am. I absolutely am. Rigel and Nova have laid out the plan for me, and I am on board. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do: make Earth a better place. And no one is going to be able to do it as well as you and this council.”

“You understand the methods we are going to use to change this world?”

“I do.”

“You understand how this is going to look? To the other people of Earth? To the people of Rhode Island who elected you, even to your own family? When they see that you’ve aligned yourself with us, they are going to feel betrayed. Like you lied to them, turned on them.”

The governor nodded. “I understand that. They may feel that way at first. But I can read the writing on the wall, Daybreaker. I can see where the future lies. And it’s with you and the others in this skyscraper. Not with the people outside of it. You are the ones who are going to create real change in this world. And I know I want to be a part of it.”

“Even though you are not from our world,” the Daybreaker said. “Even if it means putting some of your colleagues in danger. Even if it means going back on what you told the people of your state. Even if it means betraying your friends in
Washington
.”

Daniel nodded. “I know what must be done. I know what’s best for me, in the long run. And that’s to align myself with you. No matter the cost to anyone else. They will understand, someday.”

The Daybreaker stood at the window, without turning around, without looking at Daniel. He only watched the flickering lights of the billboards outside and the cars driving through the streets far below. An airship drifted by the window. Daniel grew uncomfortable.

“You know,” Daniel began, his voice wavering. “We are actually very similar, you and I.”

“Oh yeah?” the Daybreaker asked.

“Yes. Rigel tells me—he tells me that before you found out who you really are, where you’re really from, he told me that you were a teenage kid living in
Bridgton
,
Mass.
I’m from
Cranston
,
Rhode Island
, originally. Not far from you at all.” The governor smiled. “So we are like homeboys, really.”

“Oh,” the Daybreaker said, “that’s nice.”

The Daybreaker turned around and walked toward Daniel.

“Ya know,” the governor began, “I bet we even went to some of the same—”

The Daybreaker reached out and grabbed Daniel by his neck. Daniel was shocked, clutching at the Daybreaker’s hand and trying to scream, but he couldn’t. As Daniel’s eyes bulged and he gasped for air, the Daybreaker’s grip only tightened. For the first time, the Daybreaker showed an emotion: anger.

Lifting Daniel up, the Daybreaker pulled him from his seat and forced him to stand. As he held the governor’s throat, the Daybreaker walked with him toward the window.

Finally, the Daybreaker let go of Daniel’s neck enough to allow him to speak.

“What are you—what are you doing?” the governor asked. “What’d I say? Please, please, what are you doing?”

The Daybreaker stepped forward with his hand still on Daniel’s throat and pressed Daniel’s back against the glass.

“You would go against anyone to join us,” the Daybreaker said. “Your friends, your peers, even your own family. Because you see us as better, you would align yourself with us. You see us as the future, and you would like to be a part of it, even if it means turning on everyone who has ever trusted and loved you. Why? For fame, for power?”

“No, that’s not true,” Daniel said, clawing at the Daybreaker’s arm with both of his hands. “That’s not what I meant—I was just saying—”

The Daybreaker lifted Daniel up by his neck and pressed him even harder against the window.

Daniel began to cry. “No, please, what are you doing? What did I say? You took it all wrong, I was just saying—”

“You would betray all that you know for something better. I can’t allow people like you to be a part of this.”

The Daybreaker’s hand—gripped around Daniel’s throat—began to glow with blue electricity. The electricity then spread from the Daybreaker’s fingers, through Daniel’s body, and into the massive window behind him. Streaks of blue energy spread across the glass like spider webs.

Daniel saw the streaks of blue electricity surrounding him. Then he heard the glass begin to crack.

“No, no, please,” Daniel said, tears falling down his cheeks. “I have a family. I have kids, a wife. Please. I have a son and a daughter, please, please, let me go. I’ll leave here, I’ll—”

The Daybreaker pushed harder against the window. The cracks grew. The blue electricity now snapped from the Daybreaker’s eyes.

Suddenly, the entire window behind Daniel shattered, in a hail of broken glass and a blue, electric flash. The air from the outside rushed into the skyscraper.

“No!” Daniel screamed, now dangling in the open air above the street. “Help me! Help me! Somebody help me! He’s going to kill me!”

With a bang, the door of the office flew open, and Rigel and Nova rushed in.

“Daybreaker!” Rigel shouted. “What are you doing? What—”

The Daybreaker let go of Daniel’s neck. With a scream, the governor sailed downward through the air and plummeted toward the ground. As Rigel and Nova ran across the office and reached the blown out window, they looked down to see the governor land on the roof of a parked taxicab, 110 floors below them. The taxi’s alarm went off and the people walking by on the street screamed. Daniel didn’t move. His body looked like a twisted paper clip.

The Daybreaker walked away from the window and toward his desk.

“Never bring people like that to see me ever again,” the boy said. “Have someone clean that up.”

Rigel and Nova stood at the broken window, looking down at Daniel’s body. Neither one of them said a word.

In a deserted area of
Boston
,
Massachusetts
, on the shore of the
Charles River
at
8:47
in the evening, a swirling portal of red energy appeared, snapping with electricity and floating in mid-air. Soon, four figures emerged from the mirrored portal, and as Strike, Orion, Keplar, and Scatterbolt stepped onto the damp ground of Boston, the gateway behind them disappeared with a loud
SNAP
!
, leaving nothing of itself behind but a faint crackling and humming in the air. Now, thanks to Orion’s portal pistol, the four heroes were only a few dozen feet away from the outside of the Dark Nebula.

“You know, Orion,” Keplar said, as they walked toward the exterior of the poisonous dome, “sometimes I think about my life before I met you, when I was just a young pup and I wasn’t attempting to break into super-villain strongholds. Sometimes I miss those days.”

“You were also about to be imprisoned for life when I met you,” Orion said, “so there’s that.”

“Good point.”

Reaching the cloudy, black-and-purple Dark Nebula, Scatterbolt turned to the others and held up the blowtorch-like device in his hand.

“I still can’t believe Junior was finally able to invent something that can cut through the Dark Nebula. How cool is that?”

Suddenly a stream of orange fire shot out of the blowtorch’s barrel and headed straight for Strike’s head.

“Whoa!” the hero shouted, as he dove out of the way. The fire hit a tree behind him and turned it immediately into a pile of ash.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Scatterbolt shouted, holding the smoking blowtorch. “I didn’t know it was on! I’m just so excited!”

Orion carefully took the blowtorch from Scatterbolt. “Okay, before we head in there with three people instead of four, I’ll take that and adjust the settings. It took two months, a small fortune, and I’m pretty sure a good portion of Junior’s sanity to create this torch, so let’s be a little more careful.”

“Yeah,” Keplar added, “and let’s remember he wasn’t that sane to begin with.”

Strike got up off the ground, dusting the dirt off his uniform. “So this thing— which clearly has a way-too-sensitive trigger—is really gonna cut through the Dark Nebula?”

“That’s the theory,” Orion said. “All of our information tells us this is a safe spot for us to cut—it will open to one of the only parts of
Harrison
without much security. But, before we cut, we gotta use these.”

Orion retrieved the four silver, ballpoint pen-like devices from his pocket. He handed one to each of the others.

“I’ve used these fakers before, but the hologram never lasted very long. Junior and
Wakefield
tell me that these new models are much improved, however, and will allow us to spend much more time in the Dark Nebula.”

“Because these will conceal our identities from whoever sees us,” Scatterbolt said.

“Right. When turning this on and keeping it with you, anyone who looks at you will not see your true identity. Which is good, since I’m told we are the city of
Harrison
’s number one enemies.”

Strike inspected the pen-like device. It was completely featureless, except for the button on its top. “Will this thing even protect us from security cameras?”

“Yes, it essentially covers your body in a perfectly life-like hologram, so even cameras and other technology will be fooled.”

“Awesome, I love this kind of stuff,” Scatterbolt said. “Who am I gonna be? Someone cool, I hope.”

“My contact on the inside has acquired four identities for us. There is some kind of celebration going on in the Trident skyscraper tonight, and nearly everyone in the city has been invited. Our identities will be a family that was invited to the party but are not able to attend.” Orion pointed to the button on his faker. “Just hold this down for a second or two and your new identities will take hold.”

Scatterbolt held his thumb down on the button. Strike was shocked with how quickly the faker worked; within seconds, the little robot was replaced by a human, green-skinned, nine-year-old boy with dark hair.

“Okay,” Scatterbolt said, looking himself over. “I was hoping to be someone a little more cool than a nine-year-old for once, but green is my favorite color.”

Strike pushed his button. The skin on his hands quickly turned green, and soon he was a healthy, handsome, teenage Rytonian boy.

“Okay,” he said. “Pretty cool.”

Keplar pushed his button. In shock, Strike watched as the six-foot-tall dog was replaced by an overweight, green-skinned blonde woman in a flowery dress.

“What the hell?” the dog shouted, looking down at himself, his voice now that of a deep-voiced female. “Seriously? This is what I get?”

Strike and Scatterbolt dropped to the ground, doubled over with laughter.

“Oh my god!” Strike shouted, holding his stomach. “That is hilarious!”

“That’s the best thing I’ve ever seen!”

Keplar turned to Orion, pointing at him with his painted pink fingernail. “You did this on purpose! I’m the mom? Why the hell am I the mom? I’m not going in there like this!”

Orion couldn’t hide his smirk. “These are the only identities we were able to acquire. We had four identities, and because of your body size it makes the most sense for you to be the mother. I’m sorry, it’s all we had.”

“This is krandor! You just did this to mess with me! You just did this so I look like an idiot!” The dog looked himself over. He tugged at the yellow and purple flowers covering his body. “And seriously, couldn’t I have worn a prettier dress? This is the best dress I have?”

Catching his breath from laughing, Strike turned to Orion. “Who are you gonna be?”

“I,” Orion said, pressing his button, “am being your uncle.” Orion’s image was replaced by a fifty-ish, green-skinned man in a tuxedo. “The good news is we also have these.” The old man handed each of the heroes a little metal case. “These special contact lenses will allow us to see each other as we really are. So, if we look at each other, we’ll see our real identities, not the fake ones. That will make it much more easy to identify each other in the field.”

“Good,” Strike said, “because if I have to look at Keplar like that anymore, I’m definitely not gonna be able to concentrate on the mission.”

After carefully putting the contact lens into his eye, Strike blinked and looked at his friends. Once again, he saw a blue-and-white Siberian husky, a purple-and-green robotic boy, and a grey-haired man in a red coat.

“There?” Keplar asked. “Is that better?”

Strike shrugged. “Weirdly enough, I actually think I liked you better the other way.”

Keplar closed his eyes and raised his nose. “Don’t get any funny ideas, I’m a woman with values.”

“Now, if you look at yourself in a mirror,” Orion explained, “you will still see your fake identity, so don’t get freaked out if you pass your reflection, okay? Is everyone ready?” He handed the blowtorch back to Scatterbolt. “Here you go, start cutting. And please be more careful this time.”

Eager and excited to get another try at the blowtorch, Scatterbolt knelt down and began using its orange flame to cut through the swirling wall of the Dark Nebula.

Strike stood next to Orion. “You totally didn’t need to make Keplar the mom, did you?”

Orion smiled. “I’m sure we could have figured out a way to make him the father. But I figured we could all use a good laugh. Plus, it’s good karma for him, considering how many times I’ve had to deal with his angry ex-girlfriends.”

***

A few minutes later, Strike, Orion, Keplar and Scatterbolt were walking along a quiet sidewalk in the northern section of
Harrison
.

“Okay,” Orion said. “As you can see, a lot has changed around here.”

“You’re telling me,” Strike replied. Even though he was in
Boston
, he was surrounded by a foreign world: the city’s trendy stores and college bars were replaced with diners and ice cream shops, and three silent, gliding blimps were floating in the sky overhead. The boy was having a hard time figuring out where he was, but then it hit him; he was on
Newbury Street
. His favorite place to grab a slice of pizza before a Red Sox game—Vesuvio’s—was now a butcher shop, with sausages, racks of lamb-like animals, and the ribs of some kind of beast hanging in the window.

“They have certainly made it their own, that’s for sure,” Orion said. “And there’s even less people out and about than I thought.”

“Yeah, this is really creepy,” Scatterbolt said. “Where is everybody?”

“The big celebration is happening at the Trident skyscraper, and it seems everybody that was invited decided to go. Which is great news for us, because it means less eyes on us in the streets.”

“You okay over there, Keplar?” Strike asked, eyeing the husky.

Behind them, Keplar was looking at his reflection in the window of a department store, checking out the figure of the large-boned Rytonian woman looking back at him.

“I’m not sure,” the dog replied. “I think I’m having a hot flash. Is that possible?”

Orion laughed. “No, it’s definitely not. Okay, our target is right in the middle of the
Boston
Public
Garden
, next to Boston Common. Everyone here knows what the Trident looks like, and we all know it won’t be hard to miss.”

Sure enough, soon Tobin saw it; the soaring, three-pointed skyscraper with its hundreds of crystal clear windows was resting at the eastern end of Boston Common, in the middle of the
Boston
Public
Garden
, towering over every other building in sight.

“Remember,” Orion said, as they drew closer to the building. “We know that the next phase of Rigel’s plan involves two major components. Keplar and Scatterbolt, you will investigate whatever is in the basement computer mainframe, while Strike and I head to the 105
^th
floor to see what we can find.”

“And there’ll be a car waiting for us outside in case anything goes wrong?” Strike asked.

“Yes. My contact has gotten us a getaway car that closely resembles the vehicle of our nice little family here. If there’s any sign of trouble, we are to get out of the building and meet back at the car immediately. Everything make sense to everybody?”

“Yup,” Strike said.

“Got it,” Scatterbolt agreed.

 “Nothing makes sense anymore,” Keplar replied. “I’m starting to look at the world in a whole new light. Why are men such jerks?”

“You know,” Orion said, “this should have no mental effect on you. It’s just a hologram.”

“Then I suddenly have way more issues than I ever knew about.”  

As the group made their way to the front entrance of the Trident, Strike noticed a group of people waiting to get into the building, along with a large, green-skinned bouncer, who was holding an electronic tablet.

“Uh-oh,” Strike said. “There’s a line. You sure our names are on the list, O?”

Orion stepped into the back of the line. “I’m positive. My person on the inside has assured it. Plus, we have one important factor working for us: Rigel is way too overconfident, and security is incredibly lax. He thinks there’s no way we’ll be able to get past the Dark Nebula, and is clearly not prepared for us to be here. So, when you get to the front, just act natural.”

“I will,” Scatterbolt replied. “I’ve already created a whole back story for my guy. My name is Felix and I’m a computer science prodigy billionaire with my own video game company. I’m also just an adult who looks like a kid, and I’m married to the most beautiful supermodel on Capricious, a woman named Larianne Esmeralda.” 

“How about we just stick with ‘you’re a nine-year-old Rytonian kid named Felix?’” Strike suggested.

“Okay,” Scatterbolt said. “It might be easier that way.”

“Just slightly,” Strike said with a smile.

Keplar caught another glimpse of himself in the skyscraper windows. “I just can’t stop thinking about how wide this dress makes my hips look. Seriously, my body has just never been the same since the baby.”

 Strike stepped forward in line. “And, I’m officially creeped out.”  

“Guys,” Orion whispered, growing impatient, “can we please take this just a tad more seriously since we’re almost at the bouncer?”

Strike looked up; the heavy-set, scowling bouncer was staring down at him. His round face desperately needed a shave, and also featured a tattoo of a twisting string of barbed wire around his right eye.

“Name?” the bouncer asked.

“Uh, Kurt Peterson,” Strike replied.

The bouncer checked his list. As Strike peered forward, he could see that there was more information than simply the names of the guests on the tablet.

“Where are you from?” the bouncer asked.

“You mean now?” Strike replied, remembering the information Orion had told him to memorize. “I’m from right down the road, on
Baum Street
. But back home in Capricious I lived in the town of
Barrie
.”