Yesterday's Heroes (Consortium of Chaos Book 1) (16 page)

Her smiled faded and she looked at
her boots.  “I uh…I don’t actually have one.  Most of my work is really done…behind
the scenes…I guess you could say?  So I’ve never needed one.  I don’t really
interact much with capes, as I’m sure you remember.”

Wyatt nodded and started testing
doors to see if one had been left unlocked.  “Yep.  I remember every run-in I
ever had with you.”

She brightened.  “Really?  Wow. 
Like which ones?”

He tested a window.  Well…there was
that time you broke Poacher out of that holding cell the Squad was guarding. 
I’m STILL not sure how you did that exactly.  One second you were there and
talking to me.  The next?  Gone.  Hell, until Peter told me, I didn’t even know
that the pretty dark-haired security guard I saw was even INVOLVED.”

Her grin widened.  “Pretty?”

He quickly focused on shaking
another door.  “Yeah.  You did yourself up right that day.  Totally distracted
the other guys…they uh…”  He tugged harder on it.  “….They were totally
distracted and….”  He took a step back.  “…Nothing’s open and this is taking
too long.”  He took a step back and formed what appeared to be a police battering
ram with his powers and slammed it into the door.  It broke off its hinges and
fell into the building with a crash.

She winced.  “That wasn’t very
stealthy, Wyatt.”

He shrugged.  “When in Rome,
right?”  He ushered her inside.

She stepped into the darkness.  “So
you were saying?”

“About stealth?”

“No, about how you remember every
time we ran into each other.”

He glanced around the room.  “That’s
it.”

“What do you mean?”

He crept around a table filled with
beakers of multicolored liquids.  “What do you mean, what do I mean?  I mean, I
remember every time I ran into you.  Period.  End of story, let’s concentrate
on the mission.”

She waived a hand.  “Oh, forget the
mission.  Holly doesn’t even really need that piece anyway.  She’s only
building the damn machine, cause she wants it to snow this weekend so she can
have a snowball fight in the parking lot.”

Wyatt frowned.  “You mean we’re
risking capture…and our
lives…
to steal a multi-million dollar piece of
cutting edge technology, to build an ultra-powerful weather machine capable of
destroying mankind…which you want to use for the sole purpose of having a
snowball
fight?”

Harlot nodded.  “’Fraid so.” 

“Don’t you guys
have
a guy
who controls ice and snow already, without us having to go out and steal
weather machine parts?  I
know
you do.  Blue haired psycho.  Likes to
freeze things.”

She nodded.  “Uh-huh.  ‘Congelatio’.” 
He opened his mouth to ask a question, and she cut him off.  “Everyone asks
Marian that very question.  It means ‘frostbite’.”

“So, why didn’t he just call
himself Frostbite?  Con…
whatever
, sounds like a sex act.”

She giggled.  “A question we’ve all
asked him.  Repeatedly.”  She shook her head.  “But Pak’s at his parent’s anniversary
party right now, so I doubt he’ll be back by this weekend to make it snow for
us.”

“Well, he
might
.  How long
has he been gone?”

“…Not long.  Two years or so.”

Wyatt gave an astonished gasp.  “Two
years? 
Two years!?!
 His parent’s had a
two year
anniversary
party?  Bullshit.  That’s not a party.  He
moved
or
died
.”  He
shook his head.  “Nope.  You’re cutting off his salary and benefits as soon as
we get back to the Lair.  You’re an evil organization dedicated to world conquest. 
You
don’t
run a charity.”

“Well, in any case, that’s why we
need the machine parts.”  She smiled weakly.  “If it makes you feel any better
though, Holly promised to make us hot chocolate after the snowball fight.  And
her hot chocolate is soooooo good.  Oh my god! 
She makes her own
marshmallows!
  She made us some at the Christmas party a couple weeks ago
and…”

He pinched the bridge of his nose
again, visibly trying to keep from yelling about something.  “WHY were you
having a Christmas party in February?”

She laughed.  “Because she wanted
to have one, silly.”  Her face began puzzled.  “She wanted one, so we had one. 
We basically do whatever we want to do, in case you haven’t noticed.”

He made a non-committal sound and
scanned the catwalk high above them.  “Except behave like
professionals
,
apparently.”

She followed his gaze up to the
roof.  “Why?  Are you allergic to fun or something?  Didn’t you guys have
office parties at the Freedom Squad?”

He laughed.  “Hell, we didn’t have
an
office
.  I barely saw most of the team, and didn’t like the others. 
We all tried to steer clear of each other whenever possible.”

She frowned.  “Well, that’s just
sad
. 
It sounds so boring and lonely.”  She looked over at him.  “So, who did you
talk to?  I always imagined all you guys as being…close.  You know?  You always
SEEMED like family and I thought you’d…”

He cut her off, his words sharper
than she expected.  “My family is
DEAD
.  I don’t even know those
people.”  He went back to watching the roof.  “Grab whatever it is you need to
grab and find Holly.”  He pointed at a skylight.  “They’re here.”

She squinted up at the skylight.  “How
do you know?”

He pointed towards the offices
behind her, indicating that she needed to hurry.  “Because it’s what I’d do. 
Go.”

She raced into the lab office to
find Holly already there.  She was studying several boxes on a table in front
of her, her lips pursed in thought. 

Holly pointed at one of the gadgets. 
“I THINK this is the one we’re after…”

Harlot looked down at the thing which
looked to all the world like a vacuum cleaner motor.  “You sure?”

Holly nodded.  “Absolutely, Harl. 
That’s why I prefixed my statement with ‘
I THINK’,
to really drive home
my
utter certainty.”
  She picked up the device and stuffed into her toy
sack.  “Let’s go.”

They rejoined Wyatt in the main
area of the laboratory.  He pointed at the roof.  “There are four of them up
there.  That’s standard in a low level situation like this.  They’ll wait and
nab us as we try to leave.”  He pointed at Holly.  “Go out there and walk
towards the car.  They won’t be expecting three of us, because you guys almost always
work alone.  They’ll try to stop you and then we’ll come up behind them. 
Agreed?”

Holly blinked.  “I’m sorry, what? 
I wasn’t listening, I was wondering who PAYS for all this stuff?  This lab is
always creating these weird science things that are destined to be used for
immoral purposes, but no one ever seems to USE them for anything but evil?  I
mean…if I wasn’t around to steal them, where would they ACTUALLY go?  What
other use can any of this stuff have?  Why were they making a weather machine
part in the first place?  It’s like they…”

Wyatt’s mouth fell open.  “Who the
hell cares!?! 
Go out there!”

She rolled her eyes and glared at
Harlot.  “You see?  The New Guy thinks he’s in charge again.  Ordering around
the people who ACTUALLY work here.”  She opened the door.  “And stop yelling! 
We’re supposed to be being
stealthy.
”

She shuffled through the door and
there was a brief silence.  A moment later, there was a slight sound as the
heroes descend from the roof, and dropped to the pavement behind her.  What
sounded like Mr. Fahrenheit’s voice echoed through the building.  “Party’s
over, Missile-Tow!  Hope you asked Santa for a good lawyer this year, because
you’re going to jail!”

Wyatt shook his head.  “God, I hate
it when people do that.”

Harlot nodded.  “YOU hate it!?! 
Hell, welcome to the club.  Do you have ANY idea how annoying it is to hear the
SAME hackneyed lines being spouted from the mouths of a dozen different Capes
trying to be clever?  TRUST me…a couple months with us, and it will drive you
CRAZY.”

He stalked towards the door.  “Some
would argue that it’s already too late for that.”  He threw open the door and
immediately smashed a quickly constructed energy mallet into the back of
Banal’s head. 

Harlot had never liked that name. 
What a strange title for someone who was a superhero.  The oddly named man
crumpled to the street and his companions turned in surprise to see Wyatt
looming in the door behind them.  She inched up behind him and tried to peer
over his shoulder to watch the fun. 

Wyatt pointed to Mr. Fahrenheit.  “I
think you should leave, Charlie.  You aren’t going to like what happens here if
you don’t.”

The caped man put his hands on his
hips in the stereotypical “Hero” pose.  Wyatt was MUCH better at it.  Wyatt
looked strong and noble in that stance; this guy just looked like a total poser. 
“Well, well.  Look who’s finally hit rock bottom.  Hanging out with Consortium
trash now, Wyatt?  Some of us HAD hoped that we could convince the board to let
you back into the fold, man.  Forget about all that shit downtown and invite
you to get back to work with us.  Should have known better.  There’s no hope of
that now.  You’ve really fucked this up by making friends with these
criminals
.”

Wyatt crossed his arms over his
chest.  “You know another word for hitting bottom?”  He smiled.  “Having both
feet on the ground.”

The man stalked forward.  “You and
your new friends are coming with me, Wyatt.  You need to…”

Wyatt rapidly formed a bat and
smacked him in the head with it before the man could finish his sentence.  Mr.
Fahrenheit toppled over onto the concrete.  The other heroes were too stunned
too move.  They simply watched their fallen friend for a long moment. 

Harlot took advantage of their
distraction and fired off her grappling hook gun at Tangent.  It hit him square
in the face and he toppled backwards over the retaining wall and into the river
which ran along the edge of the parking lot.

Clandestine began to move and Wyatt
pointed at him.  “Holly, hit him with something!”

She blinked.  “With
what
exactly?”

His voice turned into a yell.  “I
don’t give a shit!  Pull something out of your little bag of tricks there! 
Just do it before he powers up!”

She shrugged and opened her bag,
then tossed a handful of dice at the man.   They tumbled across the pavement towards
Clandestine, and bounced off his boot.  All five die came up “six,” then
detonated.  The blast blew him off his feet and into the side panel of a car in
the parking lot.  His head smashed into the window and then he slumped down
unconscious and bleeding. 

Holly smiled icily.  “…
Yahtzee
.”

Harlot blinked at the carnage,
still in shock.  “Wyatt?  We…we just beat Mr. Fahrenheit, Clandestine, Banal
and Tangent.  In
seconds!
”

Holly looked around the parking lot
warily.  “Wait…we
WON?
”  She frowned.  “No.  That can’t be right… We
NEVER
win.  What the hell happened?”  Her eyes swept from side to side in
suspicion.  “What’s going on…?”

Harlot was still in shock and
tiptoed towards the unconscious man in front of Wyatt.  “This is…
Mr.
Fahrenheit
.  I mean, this is
REALLY
him!”

Wyatt looked over his shoulder to
check for any other attackers who may be coming up behind them.  “Yes, I can
see that.”

She poked at the man with her
foot.  “No, this is
REALLY
him!”

He nodded and stalked towards the
man.  “Yes, I believe we’ve established that, Harlot.  Thank you.”

She bent down and lifted up one of
his arms and then let it go.  It flopped back to the pavement limply.  “Wow.” 
She looked over at Holly.  “Can you get a quick picture of us for me?  I want
to post it to my Facebook wall.  That’d be AWESOME!”

Wyatt rolled his eyes and grabbed
the unconscious man’s arm.  “I really don’t think that will be necessary.”  He
hefted him into a dumpster and then tossed Clandestine and Banal in as well. 
“He’s not worth it.  Trust me.”

Harlot scowled.  “Really?  I heard
he was nice to his fans.”

Wyatt tossed her their utility
belts.  “Here you go.  For your collection or whatever.”  He wiped his hands. 
“His
fans
yeah, as long as they’re hot…  So, sure, he’ll probably be
SUPER nice to you.  Saw him bail on this mission where we were supposed to
rescue some diplomat’s kids from their crazed kidnapper once, so that he could
go have an orgy with some beauty pageant girls in Vegas.  Two of the kids died
as a result, and he later got sued for child support by both Miss Idaho
AND
Miss Nebraska.”  He pointed to Clandestine’s crumpled body in the dumpster.  “And
Claude?  Hell, he killed the Squad’s cat once.  Ran the fucking thing over with
the Liberty Cycle and then just threw it away.  Peter and I looked for it for
three
days
straight before Drover finally told us what happened.”

Harlot gasped and stopped looking
over her new collectibles for a moment.  “Wait…not
The Fantasti-Cat!?!”
 
Her lip trembled.  “I thought he went back to his home planet…Oh god…that’s so
SAD
…”

Holly walked over to the dumpster
and peered inside.  “How could you EVER be friends with these freaks, Fabricator? 
Sweet Christmas, but they’re dicks.”  She thought it over for a minute and
gestured to the dumpster.  “Want me to torch it?  Could be very festive watching
these assholes burn…We could even roast some marshmallows…”

Wyatt shook his head.  “I told you,
I’m not trying to kill them, just wreck their lives.  If they want to kill
themselves
as a result though, I wouldn’t exactly be crying.”

Holly snorted.  “You can get Guilt
Trip to talk to them.   Trust me, he’ll have them running for the razors if
that’s what you want.”