Chương 74: Hotel Richmond

There was raucous cheering and celebration through the night as Technofiend's robotic minions fell to pieces. Whatever mechanism Technofiend used to control his main body also controlled the swarm. The concert had resumed with little ado afterwards, the songstress the event was centered on believing now was the perfect time to celebrate. As my body wound down from the excitement, I did take an opportunity to bask in it where I could. But it just didn't really feel like the excitement I had against Technofiend.

No one was in danger. There was no fighting to be had. And yet this was the moment where I felt least comfortable. I guess there's no cure for a personality. In all the celebrations, we had been brought to the backstage for a quick debrief when comms returned. It was mostly just excited chatter from the other three, loose praises of each other and myself over our contributions to the fight. I had nothing to really say as the energy had already begun leaving my body.

I just sat in this dolled up room with red walls, on some plush stool of some kind, shoulders slacking from inability to lift them. However, when I thought I would completely tap out, the door swung open and a voice put my heart right back in motion.

"You are so goddamn lucky." Tancred. Turning, I could see a bandage over his nose, and a face that said to not ask about it. Well, unfortunately I already knew full well what caused that.

"You took even one second longer to deal with Technofiend, Agent Houston would've been here to deal with them. Literally had to talk them out of my own damn request," he explained to me as I just observed him. There was something almost amusing about seeing him scramble from things not going his way. I wonder if he considered how cathartic it was for me, or if he was too caught up in his own emotions at the moment. For now, I just watched him go off.

"But no, defying my expectations, you found your nuts and actually decided to do something instead of mope." Closest I'd get from a spoken praise from him, I guess.

"Except for one small issue." Oh, God.

"You broke his fucking transmitter when you decided to kick him so hard NASA and Roscosmos had to call the upper brass asking about what the Hell they saw from the International Space Station! The thing we could've used to reverse the signal and find where the Hell he's transferring things from! You dumbass!" I rolled my eyes, my palm cushioning my face as I tilted my head down.

"Sorry for making sure he was stopped," I sniped.

"Yeah, yeah, totally sorry. Fucking brat. Anyways, we've got journalists out the wazoo. Who here wants to talk to press?" He asked, looking towards the others. They all cheered for the idea. He pointed his thumb behind him.

"Billy's gonna take you to 'em. Do your interviews. What about you, Herc?" I shook my head.

"Tired." The roll of his eyes behind his sunglasses was so intense it could be felt.

"Course you are. First time you actually pulled your weight." As the others left, Tancred stood there with his hands in his pockets, pretending to admire the interior of the room. He didn't care.

"I read the letter."

"I know you did."

"How?"

"You wouldn't have decked me if you didn't. Would've just walked right past me." That actually got a chuckle from me. Sickening.

"No. I would've done it regardless. You've needed one."

"Guess the hefty pair you got wasn't just for fighting supervillains."

"Thought you wanted to play bad guy too." He shrugged, refusing to look at me.

"It's not that I want to. It's that I am a bad guy. The SC has me as one of their various auditors. My role has primarily been apprehending superpowered threats, if not killing them outright. I was given this position because they couldn't find anyone else with the group management credentials. I'm just doing what turned my own packs of killers into efficient gearworks."

"Traumatizing them, humiliating them, dragging them by the legs into things they shouldn't?"

"No." He stated it flatly, letting the pregnant pause sit for a moment before giving birth to follow-up.

"No, I just make the necessary steps that others don't need to take. You let your men take on too many regrets, they end up like you. Mopey. Waiting until the last second to do anything. Didn't even think that letter would mean anything to you."

"It didn't."

"Then what did?"

"I didn't want people to die. Technofiend was looking for me anyway. Simple." The agent clicked his tongue, leaning against one of the red walls, back facing towards me.

"Sounds about right."

"The letter was bullshit anyway. I'm from Richmond. I saw Darrell-""Darrell?"

"The... he was in the foster program. His mom needed to put him while she tried to get a new home, they lost theirs. She took him back, and I found him OD'd on a street corner after I got kicked out."

"Oh, yeah. We did a background check on most of the kids they had on record at your foster home. There was a kid with that name and he has an obituary. I can verify he is from Richmond." He then turned, pointing a finger at me.

"You aren't. We don't know where you're from. You were dropped off in a hospital in Chesapeake with a note stating your date of birth and nothing else at two years old. Virginia CPS took you to Quinby since their house had space on short notice."

"That doesn't make sense, I've never even heard of Quinby but I know the layout of Richmond like the back of my hand!"

"Yeah because you'd been haunting it like a bone-breaking specter for six months. You put me in King Minos' labyrinth for six months and I'd be able to recite the Minotaur's address by fucking heart too."

"No, it can't be, I-""When did Murphy's Hotel get demolished?"

"What?"

"When did it get demolished? You know it like the back of your hand, and if you were in Richmond the whole time, you'd know."

"You know I can't remember a lot-""But you remember Richmond's layout. When did Murphy's Hotel get demolished?" I got up from my seat, striding towards Tancred, feeling him shrink in my gaze.

"Don't fuck with me, Tancred." Despite his shrinking, his face remained straight.

"Two thousand and seven. Was a big event. You ask any Richmond native your age or older, they remember it because it was one of the big landmarks for navigation. Very prominent historical building. It's an office complex and parking garage now." My throat felt chapped. One of his calloused fingers tapped my chest.

"But you didn't remember. You didn't even know. Maybe you still don't believe me. Maybe you don't want to consider the fact that there was a 'You' once who no longer exists anymore. That's not my problem. My problem is making sure the 'You' who exists right now does his goddamn job. I ever see another mope show from you like this past stretch? I'll find a brand new way to ruin your understanding of your life." The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

My fist clenched.

"Go on. Hit me again. You know you can do it now without killing me. Get your payback on the old man. Will it make you feel good? Did it feel good the first time you slugged me?"

"It felt fucking great, you asshole."

"Then why aren't you doing it again, tough guy?" Why wasn't I doing it again? I could've knocked him out then and there. Fuck it. I raised my fist- And he flinched. His body tensed up. I could see it, for just a second. I made this asshole flinch. He couldn't see it, but there was a smile behind my mask.

"Because that looked on your face was even better than what hitting you would've felt like." His body slouched as he realized what happened, trying to play nonchalant.

"Shitrag. Get out of my face." I could've hit him again, then and there. But no. I got my satisfaction. Stepping back to the little felt stool I was on, I dropped onto it with little ado, hand resting on my knee. Tancred, meanwhile, turned and approached the door. Before he left, he spoke.

"Proud of you. Keep it up." As the words hit me like a speeding train, the door slammed behind him, leaving me alone with my thoughts. He was screwing with me. Not worth thinking about. In the quiet space he left, in this weird little backroom that smelled like perfume and glitter and the walls were such a deep red you'd expect it to pulsate, all I could do was sit. Not think. Not feel. Just let the little candle in me burn out for the time being....... Time flew by. Minutes into hours into days.

It's been another week now. Closing in on July. I finally regained some measure of composure in myself across that time. Putting the costume on. Patrolling normally, not just lunging from building to building. Casney was still occasionally training me. We weren't interacting as much now, and I thanked God or whoever else made sure of that. He still had no answers for my powers, but when I brought up that Jairo and May could see "ghosts" around me with their EMF vision, he mentioned there might be an idea.

He did, however, add on that there's no guarantee he could follow through with it. Two steps forward, one step back, I suppose. As the rubber band of time snapped back to me, it was as Spectroma and I were rushing in on a supervillain alert. Someone at the bank in the Downtown Mall was causing a big ruckus and had a giant axe to go with it. Spectroma had gotten so used to using her powers to bounce around everywhere that she could keep up with me lunging from building to building.

Not as fast as my hardest leaps, and nowhere near Jairo, but she was more nimble than you would expect from someone bouncing around with recoil. Over our earpieces, Tancred's voice could be heard as we closed in on the mall.

"You two got the luckiest timing I've ever seen. They're already looking to do renovations on the roof of the bank. There's already demo marks on it, big white circle. Herc, bust through and make an entrance for Spec. Be showy with it." Didn't like taking orders from him, but admittedly I was still hooked on the feeling those spotlights on me gave. In our following bounds, we saw the rooftop of the mall and the giant circle he was talking about. Bullseye.

The gap was a bit wide, but Spectroma had figured out an amusing trick with the hard light she could make. She was able to effectively flatten it into a disc, and when timed right, it was pretty easy to just use for downright anything. In my case, a platform to get me closer to our destination without making too much noise before it was too late. As it carried me over the target, I bounded off, rocketing straight down to the concrete. THOOM Fourth floor. THOOM Third floor. THOOM Second floor THOOM And ground floor.

As the dust washed over me, various VWOM s and VWAM s came out beside me as Spectroma used her blasts to slow her fall. When it all cleared, we could see the source of the problems. A big, hefty man about half a foot taller than me, wielding a axe with a head the size of a car tire, and the haft long as I am tall. He looked like he lived a lifestyle of hard-labor and TV dinners. As he saw us, he began speaking in this whiny voice.

"I knew you'd come! Babe warned me someone would try to interfere! I'm not letting you stop me! I need to get the gold from the vault so we can buy back the lumber mill! Leave us alone!"

"Babe?" I asked. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOH The noise rumbled through the air as the hefty man's body contorted and swelled, turning into a brilliant azure and long horns from either side. Jesus Christ he was a human cow. My finger was on my earpiece faster than I could start talking, resulting in a second of dead air before I asked my question.

"Tancred, did you know this fucking guy turns into a bull?"

"Excuse me?"

"Giant blue bull man. Big axe. Said something about a Babe talking to him!"

"Oh for crying out- He's a lunatic who thinks he's Paul Bunyan AND the cow he rode in on! Kick his ass and we'll get him on mood stabilizers or something after!"

"Put the axe down!" Spectroma yelled.

"We don't want to have to hurt you, but if you keep threatening people with it we're going to use force!" MOOOOOOOOOOOOH Didn't sound very coherent now. Didn't stop Spectroma, though.

"Please! There's probably a misunderstanding, we can help you! We don't need to use force if you listen now!" Clop Clop Clop Heavy hoofsteps across the tile as he started approaching, bits of the tile cracking under his greater mass. All the people in the bank used the opportunity to scramble out of the front doors. Smart, honestly.

"Last warning," I decided to give, raising my fists. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH He swing, his large body moving an even larger axe far faster than should even be reasonable. You should not be able to get that kind of mobility from a potbelly, but here I was seeing it in person. VWAM VWAM A blast from Spectroma knocked it off-kilter as another slammed into his head. I took the opportunity, rushing at him and getting my arms around one leg.

Focusing all my strength for just long enough, I hefted him off his feet and yanked him out of the bank. Destroyed buildings were just higher collateral risk. It's an open area outside, even if there might be civilians. Sunlight cascaded across us both as I finished my run by slamming the ox-man back first into the concrete, tearing a gouge out from it. MOOOOH A thick blue arm sent me rolling away into the concrete, having not had a chance to dig my heels in.

As I pushed up to my feet, I could see the ox was still working on getting up. Inexplicably, empathy put an idea in my head that possessed me to the point of touching my earpiece.

"Hey, Tancred."

"What is it?"

"If I beat him, can I keep his axe?"

"What? No! That's evidence, you moron!" Yeah. That's what he needs. Access to that axe in the nearby evidence locker. They're not gonna put him in any institution until after the courts deal with him. If he snaps again without any help, that axe could be lethal- MOOOOOOOOOOOOH Oh yeah, should keep an eye on- Axe in the air. Thrown right at me, vertically. No time to dodge with how fast it was movi- VWAM Right through the middle of the haft, one of Spectroma's blasts tore it in half.

The change in orientation slowed it down, and exposed the flat side for me. Perfect. Turning on a heel, I readied my stance before swinging my leg up and into the flat of the axe. KLANGG It then rocketed back towards the ox man, slamming into his face with a BWONNNG As the ricochet sent it embedded into the concrete, Paul Bull-nyan as I had taken to describing him later on took one Clop Two Clop Three steps Clop Before falling face-first into the concrete, unconscious.

"Supervillain stopped, Tancred."

"Good. Wait until the PD arrives to apprehend the maniac before you go running off. We're gonna need to use Dumb Metal cuffs on his fingers instead of his wrists so there's gonna be a requisition order." Without another word, I just watched the ox-man laying there, as civilian onlookers began cheering and yelling for me again. Okay. I can get used to this.