Resistance (15 page)

“It was a long time ago,” says Norio. “How may I help you?”

“We have reason to believe that a super we are looking for is in your custody,” says Uzma. “Her name is Rowena Okocha.”

“At the Hisatomi zaibatsu, we like to employ humans before supers,” says Norio. “It is not a matter of prejudice, I hope you understand: we just like to make sure humans are not forgotten.”

“We didn’t say you employed her,” says Uzma. “We said you abducted her.”

“I have never heard of this woman,” says Norio. “I abduct so many people, though, that I might have forgotten your friend. Could you perhaps show me some evidence of my misdeeds? It might jog my memory.”

Uzma senses a sudden movement behind her. It’s Wu: she seems unwell. She leans on Jason, rubbing her head.

“What’s wrong?” asks Uzma.

“I don’t know,” says Wu. “I’m really tired.”

“Me too,” says Anima. “Can we go to that spa you talked about while you flirt with the hot suit?”

“Give me a minute,” says Uzma.

She turns to Norio, who has been watching this exchange with quiet fascination.

“You know, there’s one way to settle this quickly,” she says. “Take off those headphones and those glasses. I’ll know you’re telling me the truth, then, and we’ll leave you to your business.”

“I have shown you nothing but hospitality,” says Norio. “Accusing your host of being a liar is usually considered bad form.”

“Look, I’m tired,” says Uzma. “Nowhere near as tired as some of these guys, but tired enough. I have a headache, and my back still hurts, and you’re not as smooth as you think you are. You’re, what, twenty-two?”

“A little older,” says Norio. “Why?”

“You have time to talk as much as you do,” says Uzma. “I don’t. Our informant may have been wrong, or lying. The easiest way to find out and end this matter is if you help me out.”

“You must accept my word.”

“I cannot do that.”

“You insult me.”

“Sorry about that,” says Uzma. “Take off the damn glasses.”

There’s a soft hiss behind her, and a thump. Uzma turns, and sees Wu has slumped forward and fallen face first on the roof. Jason moves to pick her up, but he’s clearly very tired too; he staggers.

“Perhaps the rest of your team would be more comfortable inside?” says Norio. “Jai here should be more than enough to protect you from Azusa and myself.”

There’s another crash behind her. Anima has fallen into the Zen garden.

“What did you do?” Uzma asks.

Norio smiles. Uzma blinks: he looks a little blurry.

“Jai, hold Norio upside down from the roof’s edge,” says Uzma.

Jai moves forward.

“Wait,” says Norio. He pulls off his glasses and earphones.

“Ask away,” he says.

“Where is Rowena Okocha?” Asks Uzma.

A grunt behind her, and Wingman falls down.

Azusa and Norio are both perfectly still.

“Rowena is in Hiroshima. In a hospital I own. As a doctor, not a patient.”

“What have you done to my team?”

“Nothing. I did not bring them the tea, or force them to drink it.”

“You gave us… Rowena’s blood?”

“I won’t tell you.”

“What?”

Norio looks concerned. “Is your power working?” he asks. “Are you all right?”

Uzma realises suddenly how sleepy she feels. Her tongue seems to have grown to twice its usual size. She turns to Jason, and the world spins as she moves, and Jason is of no use to her, lying flat on the floor like that.

“You forget… Jai… didn’t drink your tea,” she slurs.

“No, he didn’t, did he?” Norio smiles at Jai.

“Jai, take him out,” gasps Uzma, and sinks to the floor.

Jai takes a step forward, and his eyes glaze over.

“But Jai went to the steam room,” says Norio to the fallen Uzma. “And even Jai has to inhale.”

Jai takes another step forward. His face is contorted with effort; he raises a swaying arm.

He slumps to the ground. Azusa steps forward, extracts a pistol from a pocket, and shoots three more darts into Jai’s neck. Instead of bouncing off, the darts sink into his flesh, and Jai twitches and convulses on the floor.

“Kill him,” says Azusa. “Finish it.”

Norio laughs. “First I’m going to make him remember,” he says.

“What he did to your father?” asks Azusa.

“No,” says Norio. “What it feels like to be human.”

Jai doesn’t waste any time blinking and looking around groggily, wondering where he is. A second after his eyes open, he’s on his feet, in the warrior stance, wholly alert.

He’s in a cube made of reinforced glass, lit up with a spotlight from above. The cube is in a large hall. Squinting, he scans the hall. His armour lies dismantled a few feet away from the cube, helmet sitting on the breastplate. Norio is passing the time fencing with a bullet-headed robot. Jai waits patiently for a few seconds until Norio notices he’s up; Norio issues a command to the robot, and hands it his katana.

Norio walks up to the cube and stares at Jai in silence.

Jai stretches slowly, shaking the fatigue out of his muscles. He frowns.

“I feel different,” he says.

“Haven’t been beaten in a while, have you?” says Norio.

Jai looks him in the eye, and Norio almost flinches.

“Is it difficult, knowing your powers have gone? You’ve been superhuman for eleven years,” says Norio. “Do you feel older?”

Jai isn’t listening. His eyes are closed now, his face screwed up in concentration. He breathes in, deeply, and shakes his arms and shoulders.

“Let me bring you up to speed. You killed my father,” says Norio. “And now you’re here, and about to die. If you’re in pain, don’t worry. It won’t last long.”

Jai opens his eyes and grimaces.

“You talk a lot,” he says. “I don’t like that.”

Norio smiles. “I don’t like it either,” he says. “Sometimes I hear the words coming out of my mouth, and I think, is this really me? I used to be really quiet. I’m still quiet at work, and at parties. But all this dealing with supers and what’s basically magic – I change into someone else. Have you ever kept a diary? Or written a secret blog?”

Jai says nothing, but his expression makes clear that he has not.

“Anyway, so it’s a whole other me. I get talkative. And then I get surprised. But I’m sort of committed to this now. And you should really be trying to keep me talking as long as you can, you know. Assuming you want to keep living as long as possible.”

“I used to talk a lot too,” says Jai. “I must have enjoyed it then.”

“More than killing innocent people, or less?”

Jai examines his prison.

“I’ve done a fair amount of research about you,” says Norio, “but I didn’t realise you failed as a supervillain because you were boring.”

Jai looks puzzled. “You want a conversation,” he says.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to know the man who killed my father. To look him in the eye as I take my revenge.”

“You kept me alive so you could talk to me before killing me?” Jai considers this for a while, and a smile spreads slowly across his face. “You’re new at this,” he says.

“I am,” says Norio. “But I spent a lot of time planning our meeting, and you’re letting me down.”

“All right,” says Jai. “What is the point of this?”

“Well, you have a lot of enemies,” says Norio. “I wanted you to know exactly which one of them beat you. I wanted you to know that it was an ordinary human that took the whole Unit’s powers away.”

“I see,” says Jai. “What is your name?”

Norio grits his teeth and tells him.

“Who was your father?” asks Jai.

“A great man. He deserved a better death.” Norio’s hands are shaking.

“Yes,” says Jai. “Yes. You were talking about this earlier. I wasn’t paying attention. He was killed when I threw a monster at your tower.”

“I suppose it means nothing to you. You’ve killed so many people.”

Jai shrugs.

“You’ve removed my powers and brought me here to kill me,” he says. “Is that negotiable?”

“No,” says Norio.

“Have you ever killed anyone before?” asks Jai.

“Yes,” says Norio.

“Was that for revenge too?”

“No.”

Jai turns away, and sits, cross legged, on the floor of the cube.

Norio waits for a whole minute, his irritation mounting.

“What?” he asks.

“I haven’t had a real conversation in eleven years,” says Jai. “And this one is pointless. I am tired.”

Norio pounds on the glass. “Face me!” he yells.

Jai turns around, and looks at Norio with something approaching interest.

“Did you really take the whole Unit’s powers away?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

* * *

The first thing Uzma feels is a hand on her forehead. She grabs it, twists, and opens her eyes. It’s an elderly lady in a white coat, and she’s squealing in pain. Uzma lets her go, feeling most sheepish.

She’s in a low bed, one of several in a long, narrow hall. Soft light filters in through paper walls. Her teammates lie on four other beds near her. Anima stirs as the woman shouts at Uzma in hoarse, angry Japanese, the rest are remain unconscious.

“Where are we?” Uzma Asks the woman. Or just asks, she remembers, as she gets no answer. Her heart sinks.

“Where is Jai?” Uzma Asks. Silence, again. Uzma rubs her throat, fighting back tears. Her voice sounds different, hoarse, older.

A panel at the far end of the room slides open and Azusa walks in.

“Are you all right?” Azusa asks. “We were very worried.”

“What?” Uzma splutters.

At a gesture from Azusa, the nurse rushes out of the room.

“You seem weak. Save your energy,” says Azusa. “You will experience occasional bouts of dizziness and nausea for the next few days. Other visitors who experienced similar symptoms did. And please keep your voice down. This is a place of business.”

Uzma’s head spins, she doesn’t know if it’s Azusa’s words, or if the realisation that she’s lost her power is beginning to set in.

“First of all, I would like to apologise for the recent unfortunate events,” says Azusa. “You are not in any danger. As soon as your teammates have woken up, we will escort you to your hoverjet and you can be on your way.”

“Where is Jai?” asks Uzma.

“Who?” asks Azusa.

“Jai!”

“You speak of Jai Mathur, the super-terrorist and war criminal? He was killed by the heroes of the Unit eleven years ago in London.”

Uzma takes a deep breath. “My teammate. The Faceless.”

“He left after your recent accident,” says Azusa.

“Accident?” Uzma fights back tears of rage. “You poisoned us!”

“Not at all. We were unaware that you were all allergic to our special tea,” says Azusa, her voice perfectly level. “But we provided you with immediate medical care. I hope your report to your superiors will reflect that.”

Uzma gets out of bed. Her legs shake, her head spins. But the only thing she’s aware of is world-destroying fury.

“What the hell are you trying to pull?” she yells. “You took away our powers!”

Azusa nods. “An unfortunate incident,” she says. “I urge you not to be angry, and once again, do keep your voice down, you are disturbing our employees. There is nothing to be done now, we should all move on and remain on cordial terms.”

Uzma has many things to say, and they all try to come out at once. What emerges is an incoherent splutter.

“Please be advised that the removal of superpowers is not illegal in any country,” says Azusa.

“Oh it will be, soon enough,” snaps Uzma. “You’re going to pay for this.”

“Though of course the unauthorised
acquisition
of superpowers is punishable by death in several parts of the world,” says Azusa. “The Hisatomi zaibatsu’s legal team are prepared to make any clarification you require, but I can tell you informally that legal action will prove futile. I do not understand why you seem offended: you are still human. Like myself, and everyone who works here. Do you find that repugnant?”

Uzma stands up.

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” she says. “We are the world’s greatest superteam. We’ve saved millions of lives.”

“I watch the anime,” says Azusa. “All shows get cancelled eventually. I’m sure you will be remembered fondly by your many fans.”

“We’re going to beat this,” says Uzma. “This is not over.”

“Speaking of beating things, I must warn you that further disorderly conduct will give us grounds to restrain you with necessary force,” says Azusa. “I advise you to rest until your colleagues are up and about, and then depart in an orderly fashion.”

“What have you done with Jai?” asks Uzma again, trying to match Azusa’s calm and failing utterly.

“I do not know of any Jai,” says Azusa. “I must warn you that this conversation is being recorded, and your repeated references to a super-criminal would cause a great deal of harm to your team’s reputation should these recordings be accidentally leaked to the media. Especially considering that you will be rendered irrelevant to the world after your unfortunate loss of power. Perhaps the acquisition of more enemies would be unwise.”

“I see,” says Uzma.

“Thank you,” says Azusa. “Would you like some tea while you wait?”

Uzma takes a step forward, fists clenched. And then she sees a flicker of pure joy in Azusa’s eyes – something tells her Azusa is dying for a reason to beat her senseless. Uzma sits down on her bed instead, steeling her face into perfect composure, and waits for Azusa to leave. Then she starts shaking her teammates awake.

* * *

At a gesture from Norio, Awesome Boy stomps up to the cage. Jai observes the robot with interest; its arms and legs extend and contract as it walks, like pistons. It isn’t a robot built to care for the elderly or the young; it’s a warrior. It stands in front of the cage and transforms: one of its hands retracts its fingers, and sprouts spikes in its place; the other transforms into a plasma cannon.

“I’m offering you a choice my father never had,” says Norio. “Would you like my robot to kill you, or should I do it myself?”

“You,” says Jai.

“It will be slower,” says Norio.