West Pacific Supers: Rising Tide (18 page)

“Wait!” hissed
Larry, who was dressed in black robes and wearing a gothic mask to conceal his
face. Dr. Brandeis had doubted Larry’s ability to pull off posing as Dr.
Wraith, but he was hamming it up well. Of course, Larry thought that they were
doing some reality TV show or something and kept peering into gratings and the
like where he probably suspected there were hidden video cameras. “I think this
is too easy – we must be wary and have all six senses attuned if we are to
succeed in our diabolical plan!”

“Yes, of
course…everyone keep your…six senses attuned,” said Dr. Brandeis with a worried
look to Erica.

The group moved
quickly underneath the Dynamic Solutions complex to the tertiary access tube
which rose up into the complex carrying electricity and water, and removing
sewage.

“They’ll have some
monitor in the tube,” said Gregory. “I should probably go first to neutralize
it.”

“Aye, but I should
go with you,” said Kill
O’Watts
in a fake Irish
accent, which was apparently part of his secret identity. Dr. Brandeis found
him moronic, but he had potent powers, which apparently meant he could get away
with being a moron. Ian actually thought he was amusing and kept him around as
a bodyguard when expecting trouble.

“Yes, that sounds
like a plan,” said Dr. Brandeis amiably. Gregory nodded and rather agilely
bypassed the lock on the gate into the tube and then started climbing up the
ladder. “Cliff, Erica, you’re next. Yuri, you follow me and Dr. Wraith up.”

Dr. Brandeis felt
confident as he gave the order, not only because Erica had made him memorize
reciting it with a confident voice, but also because he had gotten her to
explain most of the orders he would be giving. Cliff was a wildcard and Erica
wanted to be near him, whereas Yuri had a reputation for reliability and thus
could anchor the rear to protect Dr. Brandeis. He was beginning to understand
the rules of the game, who you kept close and who you kept far. It was all
about position with supervillains, who stood where and all that. Kill
O’Watts
was loyal to Ian so Dr. Brandeis figured he was a
check on Erica. At any moment you could be betrayed, but at least with this job
it wasn’t like robbing a bank where once everyone had the money things could
fall apart quickly. Still, as Erica said: never piss off someone with guns or
super powers that can hurt you, but also don’t look weak. Dr. Brandeis was
unsure how you could do both at the same time, but he was trying hard,
especially as everyone here could probably kill him easily, well, except for
Larry.

“The game is afoot,
my lads, and we are closing on our quarry,” said Larry in an English accent
that was more like an impersonation of Sherlock Holmes than Dr. Wraith who had
a slight Southern drawl. Apparently, Larry hadn’t studied the videos Dr.
Brandeis had given him to prep his performance. There was nothing worse than a
lazy actor.

The climbing of the
ladder was easier than Dr. Brandeis expected, but he had started working out a
few months ago. Ian was a stickler for healthy living. Soon the group was lined
up at the gate that led into the lower basement of the complex. Gregory
overcame the camera system with but a thought and picked the lock with a sonic
tumbler. The group was soon in the subbasement level and spreading out.

“Alright, Gregory –
there should be an access point to the security system over there,” said Dr.
Brandeis. He noticed a disapproving glare from Erica. Gregory was supposed to
‘find’ the access point, but no one seemed to notice the slip, at least that
they showed.

“You are correct,
Boss,” said Gregory who starting cutting through the wall. “I sense the
circuitry behind the wall.”

Cliff had moved over
to watch the nearest door. Yuri was standing, waiting for instructions, and
Erica was trying to keep her eye on everyone. Kill
O’Watts
was doing the same, though he was watching Erica the most. Dr. Brandeis felt he
should say something to break the tension. “We are doing well, team. Obstacles
are dropping one by one and soon we shall have our prize!”

It was corny. He was
worried that Larry’s Dr. Wraith was rubbing off on him poorly. Erica raised her
eyebrow and subtly shook her head, but it didn’t matter. Dr. Brandeis was the
real evil mastermind here and loving it. Soon Gregory had a hole in the wall
and was mentally manipulating the security system. “We’re in! The system won’t
notice us.”

“I hope you’re right
about that,” said Cliff grimly.

“Fear not, Gregory
is here,” quipped Gregory.

“Yeah, whatever,”
said Cliff. “Are we going yet?”

“Yes,” said Dr.
Brandeis. “Out the door and then to the first corridor that goes right to the
second staircase, which is our ticket up.” The group exited the basement and
moved quickly down the hallway. Erica was checking her HoloBerry. She nodded at
Dr. Brandeis as she hit a few buttons, which meant the end of Bad Luck’s good
luck.

Dr. Brandeis jumped
at the sound of two gunshots from the staircase that Cliff had just entered;
they were quiet shots as they were all carrying Argos-baffled firearms, but it
was loud enough to startle him.

“What the fuck?”
hissed Erica as she slammed opened the door and looked up to where Cliff had
just dropped a security guard. Dr. Brandeis followed quickly and was stunned to
see the two dark red stains on the chest of the security guard lying down on
the stairs, a guy with gray hair wearing a Dynamic Solutions Security uniform.

“I got him,” said
Cliff, who sounded satisfied with himself. “We can use his keycard for the rest
of the doors.”

Dr. Brandeis felt
ill, but he had to say something. “Ah, right. Good job, Cliff.”

“There’s a storage
closet down here,” said Erica, gesturing to Yuri who dutifully headed up the
stairs and lifted the security guard like a sack of potatoes, actually a fairly
light sack of potatoes for Yuri, and then shoved him in the closet.

“Very realistic,”
muttered Larry. He then stared straight at a security camera and loudly
announced, “and this is why people shouldn’t mess with Dr. Wraith and his
minions. Soon we will have our prize and the world will tremble in fear!”

“Someone might have
heard the gun shots and that speech,” offered Gregory.

“Yes…let’s get
going,” mumbled Dr. Brandeis who was transfixed by the blood stains on the
stairs. Cliff was already moving forward and Erica was following him up. Kill
O’Watts
followed them and was now watching Cliff more than
Erica. Gregory nudged Dr. Brandeis who lurched up the stairs. Yuri was still
stuffing the security guard into the closet but he caught up quickly, bringing
up the rear.

They finally arrived
at double doors, which opened with the guard’s keycard, leading them into the
loading area, which was a cavernous area with loading platforms and trucks,
that was connected to the labs and offices behind and also the larger assembly yards
to the north.

“Oh shit!” yelled
Dr. Brandeis. The QHRA was on a loading platform, but hadn’t been loaded onto
the tractor-trailer that was parked next to it.

Erica growled. “It
was supposed to be loaded.”

“Apparently not,”
said Gregory.

“Yuri, can you lift
it?” asked Erica.

“How much it weigh?”
asked Yuri.

“Almost eight tons,”
said Erica.

“English or metric?”
asked Kill
O’Watts
.

“Does it matter?”
snapped Erica.

“No…I don’t think I
can lift that much,” said Yuri. “I can handle five American tons.”

“We’re screwed,”
said Erica, who looked like she wanted to kill someone.

“Ah…yes…but my
gravity powers might be able to lift it,” offered Larry, looking sidelong at
Dr. Brandeis who shook his head. “Or perhaps my gravity powers have been
neutralized by the dampening field… ”

“What are you
talking about?” broke in Cliff suspiciously. “I don’t think you’re really Dr.
Wraith at all. You’re like an idiot or something! Dr. Wraith has death rays,
not gravity powers. And what the hell is this about a dampening field?”

“My death rays are
gravity-powered,” improvised Larry. “Don’t question me again or I will melt
that feeble mass you call a brain!”

“Shut up you two!”
snapped Erica.

“Hold on, Erica, the
lift equipment is here – Gregory can probably use it, so let’s load it ourselves,”
said Dr. Brandeis. Ian had told him that when people start questioning the
chain of command, you deluge them with busy work; plus it might actually work.

“How long will it
take, Gregory?” asked Erica.

“An hour to do it
safely, 20 minutes if you want it rushed,” said Gregory, heading towards the
controls for the lift equipment - winches, chains, and robotic arms - arranged
along the ceiling of the room. “The chains and links are already on the device
so that should speed things up.”

“Alright, Erica and
Cliff secure the perimeter. Yuri and Kill
O’Watts
,
you help Gregory load it up and I’ll check the QHRA to make sure it’s ready to
be moved,” said Dr. Brandeis, who felt in control of the situation again. Sure
a guard had died, but you couldn’t make geological history without breaking a
few eggs, plus he would pester Ian to make sure the guard’s family was
compensated for his death. Ian had promised to take care of Pam if anything
happened to him, but life was full of risks – that’s what made it exciting.

He climbed up to get
a closer look at the QHRA. The final product, which he had indirectly helped to
design, was impressive. He knew it by heart; it was the key to their whole
plan. Hopefully it would work. He checked the power amplifier and spatial inverter
that Consolidated Technologies had built. He heard the lift equipment working
and saw the cranes moving into position. He moved over to help clip one massive
toggle hook to the chains around the QHRA. Yuri and Kill
O’Watts
were helping with the other ones and moving faster than Dr. Brandeis, so he
stepped away to let them take over and to also get away from the nearly eight
tons of metal that would soon be swinging from chains.

It was all coming
together…and then another security guard entered the room. Dr. Brandeis
wondered what the hell was up with all these security guards – weren’t they
supposed to just eat donuts and watch the video monitors! Erica shot the guard
in the head with one shot. It was a gruesome sight, with stuff flying out the
back of the skull. Dr. Brandeis nearly vomited and instinctively touched the
back of his own head. He did realize though that Erica had established
dominance again over Cliff: she killed her guard with one shot to the head. It
was a little scary to Dr. Brandeis that he was following this, but then he had
minored in anthropology in college.

“Time is running
out,” yelled Erica.

“Indeed,” said
Gregory. “I can sense them going through the video feeds – they’re looking for
trouble.”

Dr. Brandeis could
guess why. Bad Luck had been foiled and were no doubt causing mayhem, but the
main team was behind schedule and that spelled trouble. The
Cosmopolis
Police Department would soon be here; that was not good. People were dying and
he was going to prison. He started to feel faint and then the ground moved.
More accurately, the QHRA was lifted off the landing area and moved to the
tractor-trailer, which caused the platform to lift a little as the weight moved
off of it. Once it was set down, Erica started yelling. “Alright, we’re out of
here! Cliff, Yuri, Watts, anchor the device. Dr. Wraith up on the trailer, Dr.
B up in the cabin with Gregory. Let’s move!”

Dr. Brandeis didn’t
need any more direction. He climbed off the platform and raced to the passenger
seat in the cabin of the tractor-trailer. Gregory was already climbing into the
driver’s seat and seemed to be starting it up mentally. Of course, if Gregory
was killed, then Dr. Brandeis would be expected to drive the tractor-trailer.
He had been spending several hours a week learning how to drive a
tractor-trailer; it had been empowering, he could see the allure of being a
trucker. You lorded over the road like an ancient king. A big truck wasn’t just
a truck – it was like a train or battleship.

Soon the doors of
the loading area were opening. Two security guards rushed into the room at the
same time as the tractor-trailer headed to the main loading doors, which Erica
was opening. The guards were dropped before they could even process the
situation. One was shot by Cliff, the other electrocuted by a bolt of lightning
from Kill
O’Watts
that boomed throughout the area.
The tractor-trailer moved out of the loading area and began accelerating
towards the east gate; it was the only gate not to have installed barriers that
could be raised and lowered. Alarms were now sounding, which wasn’t good, but
right now there was nothing to stop the tractor-trailer. They barreled towards
and then through the east gate. It was exhilarating. Gregory was laughing
maniacally and put in a CD that started playing some loud obnoxious music, but
it did seem to fit the situation. Dr. Brandeis let out a cheer. The truck was
moving away from the complex.

Then stepping out a
bit ahead was a black woman, long black hair, shiny black costume with a white
star on her chest, and swirling black clouds around her. Dr. Brandeis
recognized her, but his mind froze trying to put a name to the face, or more
accurately the costume, since the face was currently covered in a mask.