Paragon
Chapter 9

10:00 P.M. the clock said. Zeke simply stared at the green numbers next to the bed while his mind raced. He wondered what it was that Phalanx needed his help with and why the Paragon couldn’t do it himself. After all, if he was as old and strong as any of the evidence they had about him suggested, the man would be insurmountably more powerful than Zeke could ever even hope to be. He didn’t like the idea of being someone’s errand boy, nor did he appreciate the thought of being the Paragon’s pawn in life-long struggle against his nemesis. Zeke had his own battles to fight, but if they had a common enemy, it made sense to unite their powers, right? He shook his head; he was starting to give himself a headache.

Kira had gotten up about a half hour ago to make something for them to eat before Zeke ran off to meet the Paragon. Zeke sat himself up and stared at the wall for a moment as the images of his sister on the operating table still firmly imprinted in his vision. Then Jon poked his head into the room, a stern expression across his face.

“You need to see this.” He said and then ducked back into the living room. Zeke dragged himself out of the bedroom and was met by the fresh smell of bacon, Kira knew him so well. Jon was tinkering with his touch screen devices and motioned for Zeke to sit on the couch next to him.

“Find something interesting?” Zeke yawned and plopped down on the cushion next to his friend.

“You could say that.” Jon said and then turned one of his screens towards Zeke who tilted his head curiously at the title of the schematics he was viewing.

“Project Deify,” Zeke read aloud. The pages Jon was swiping through showed research involving attempts to modify the genetics of people who already had abilities and amplify or alter them. On some subjects the studies showed they were trying to give men with super-strength enhanced bone density and higher levels of strength. In others, they tried to bestow powers similar to Kira’s even though they already had abilities of their own. “They’re trying to make Paragons?” Zeke inquired without pulling his gaze away from the slideshow.

“It looks like it, but all their test subjects rejected the changes and either died or became comatose and braindead. They haven’t found what genes actually give us our powers yet so they can’t really tell which ones to modify.”

“Why is he trying to make Paragons when he’s made a living off of getting rid of Supers?”

“I guess we’re going to have to find out, aren’t we?” Jon sneered.

“This doesn’t make sense. The man built an entire company on weapons, then made a weapon that turns our kind into puddles, then spends billions of dollars to research the Super gene and attempt to not only replicate it, but enhance and bestow it as well. Why? What does he gain from this?” Zeke was thinking out loud. He wracked his brain trying to discern the angle Vladimir was trying to play but Zeke couldn’t think of anything.

“Maybe he wants to give everyone powers?” Kira called out from the kitchen.

“No, that still doesn’t make sense because he just came out on the news saying he has a ‘cure’ for us. None of this follows, I’ll have to ask Phalanx about this when I see him tonight.”

“So, you are going to see him then?” Jon asked with one eyebrow raised. Zeke nodded in response.

“Yeah, I think I have to. If the world’s oldest Paragon needs my help, I should think it’d have to be something really important.” Zeke said.

“You’d better be off then. Its 10:30 now.” Jon said and pointed to the clock behind Zeke who nodded and walked into the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck.

“Be careful, alright?” She said and cupped his cheek with her palm.

“I’ll come back in one piece. You just stay indoors, alright? Don’t go anywhere without Jon. Promise me.” Zeke pleaded.

“I promise I won’t be alone, Zeke. Go figure this shit out.” She said and then handed him a strip of bacon which he munched on happily.

It only took Zeke fifteen minutes to find the address Phalanx had written down for him. It was an old warehouse that had clearly been abandoned for some time, barely three blocks away from Drake Tower. Zeke wasn’t particularly comfortable being this close to the place but the desire to find out what the Paragon wanted outweighed that dislike. He hovered above the buildings and searched for any sign of Phalanx but found none.

“Perhaps I’m early…” he told himself as he scanned the area. He wasn’t sure why but he had the distinct feeling he shouldn’t go into the warehouse just yet. He floated around the perimeter, keeping his head on a swivel for any signs of nullifiers or the Paragon. Finally, he saw a lone figure standing on the flat, gravel roof of a small two-story appliance store. Zeke landed behind him and saw that it was indeed Phalanx, though he’d changed his aesthetic slightly.

“You came,” Phalanx said as he turned around. Zeke had almost forgotten how large the man was in person. Tonight he wore, what seemed to be, a modified version of the suit he was portrayed wearing in the history books. A thick metal breastplate that housed a glowing generator, filled to the brim with electric energy the Paragon could absorb at any time to give himself a boost and shaped into a patriotic star, stretched upward and out into a set of rounded pauldrons covering his massive shoulders. Slated metal plates swooped down from the shoulders over his arms to large mechanical fists that whirred and hummed when he moved his fingers. The Paragon was covered, head to toe, in light-grey and deep blue metal that shined righteously in the moonlight. Billowing behind the Paragon was a crimson red cape that came up over his neck and shoulders into a lordly mantle.

For once his Spartan-styled helmet didn’t look out of place, in fact, it was now very apparent that the helmet was part of a much larger suit that he’d simply been using to cover his identity thus far. The eyes of the helmet glowed light blue like the clear sky.

“I’ve always wondered why you dressed yourself like the star spangled banner, though I must admit, I like the changes to your costume.” Zeke quipped with a smile. The paragon made no motion or sound. He simply stood there with his mechanical arms crossed staring at Zeke through his helmet. “Seriously though, before we do anything; why the flag?” He asked.

“Because it is an idea.” The Paragon said. His voice was modulated into a low rumbling, mechanical sound.

“Are you seriously about to quote ’V for Vendetta’ at me?”

“People don’t follow other people. They follow ideas, images. They follow promises and prospects. A person will follow a person; a man will follow someone he loves and trusts. But people, the masses, they follow the image the man portrays. Theatricality plays a heavy part in what we do, storm-bringer, whether you’d like to admit it or not. Why do you think Supers donned costumes and campy names like ‘Steel Dynamo’ or ‘Icewoman?’ You have the Rook, Lady Lightspeed, Lieutenant Lazer, even criminals started to take up names because it gave people something to fear. Gangs use names to become infamous, do you know how many lawyers call themselves ‘The Hammer’ because it sounds like they’re going to win your case? Hell, even UFC fighters don nicknames that give their spectators, their fans, a name to chant when they’re winning!” Phalanx ended his tangent with a laugh and a shake of his head. Zeke took a moment to think about it and the Paragon was right, of course. Rappers take on fake names that are catchy so people will remember them; rock bands use a logo of some sort that draws interest; even books have cover art to draw your attention, why wouldn’t Supers do the same?

“So you chose the flag so that people would have some sort of patriotic duty towards loving you?” Said Zeke.

“I chose this flag as my visage because it resembles something this world hadn’t seen until America was founded. Even in Sparta there were slaves and women seen as objects.”

“You don’t strike me as the feminist type.”

“I’ve met women who could rip your heart out with their teeth and spit it back at you so hard it’d take your head off. It’s wise to show respect. You, for instance, I can respect because you saw an opportunity to help another with little regard for your own safety. In so doing, you discovered that the weapon our people fear so intently is useless against you. That’s given you a certain confidence, has it not?”

“I guess it has, what’s your point?”

“My point is that you should learn the value of an image; of an idea. I think, on some level you do, otherwise you wouldn’t keep the Mohawk, or you’d fight with your shirt on instead of taking it off every time you step into that ring. But you do because you know the image you carry. There’s a savagery to your aesthetic yet you fight with precision and agility and people pay you to see it.”

“You’ve seen me fight?”

“I’ve seen a great deal of you these past few weeks, storm-bringer. Now that I know you’re immune to the effects of the nullifier, I have a request.” The Paragon said and then turned and pointed to the warehouse. “Underneath this warehouse is another facility similar to Manticore, the facility I sent you last night.”

“Yeah, about that, we nearly got killed down there. How do I know you didn’t send me to die?” Zeke asked, taking a step forward and clenching his fists.

“You don’t, and I’m not going to waste either of our time explaining why that’s a stupid question.”

“Why not? Seems like a man who’s lived a few centuries has all the time in the world.” Zeke was getting tired of the Paragon being cryptic and he certainly wasn’t interested in walking into another laboratory full of sick experiments all by himself. The Paragon took a deep breath and turned his attention back to Zeke.

“I have time, you don’t. One doesn’t live a few thousand years without discovering two things: patience and opportunity.” For a moment there was silence and Zeke found himself tilting his head in curiosity. “There is a time to wait and plan,” Phalanx went on, “and there is a time to seize. You don’t get old without learning both, and you can’t become successful with just one. This is the latter.”

“So what’s down there that you want me to see?” Zeke asked, walking to the edge of the rooftop and looking out over the warehouse.

“Not see, storm-bringer; find. There are several things in there that I need brought to me, and a few others I need destroyed.” The Paragon said.

“And they are…? Or is this going to be one of those ‘you’ll know it when you see it’ things that’s going to piss me off?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake… Fine, why can’t you do this?”

“That entire building is protected by a resonator that emanates a frequency similar to the kind put out by the Nullifier weapons, only much more lethal. I can’t set foot in there, even with my armor.”

“But you think, because I can resist the Nullifiers, I can?”

“Precisely.”

“I have one condition.” Zeke said and folded his arms across his chest and stared up at the glowing blue eyes of the Paragon’s helmet. “You tell me what’s down there that I need to find, and before you start with more cryptic sage bullshit, let me spare you my sarcastic quips and be blunt. Last time I went down into one of these I nearly got myself, my best friends and my lover killed. I nearly became a science project but I was lucky I was able to quietly pull energy from another room without alerting anyone. If you want me to risk my life for what’s down there, then I’m not walking in blind like that again and I’m not going on a damned scavenger hunt with a blindfold on. If you trust me enough to get this done then trust me enough to tell me what the fuck I’m doing down there.” There was a long pause. The Paragon’s helmet tilted to the side and then scanned Zeke up and down. Zeke stood his ground and remained silent until he heard a response from the Paragon. He was going home to Kira tonight and he wasn’t going to be able to do that if he didn’t know what he was up against.

“You’ll be searching for two things while you’re down there,” Phalanx said and then stretched out his left, mechanical hand which opened up a panel and showed a small ear bud in his palm. “This will allow us to communicate while you’re down there. The first thing you’re going to look for is a phylactery.”

“A what?” Zeke exclaimed in confusion. The Paragon shook his head and sighed.

“A vial of blood; my blood more specifically, and a rather large one at that,” Phalanx explained.

“Why is there a vial of your blood in a research facility owned by Draco Industries?” Zeke inquired.

“That is a very long story which we definitely do not have time for. Suffice it to say the Dragon managed to get my blood and uses it to conduct his experiments and grotesque rituals and I am determined not to let either continue.”

“Fair enough, what’s the second thing I’m looking for?” He asked.

“Lady Lightspeed.” Phalanx said calmly.

“I’m sorry, repeat that one? She died back in ’08 didn’t she? Shot down by a nullifier-squad, it was all over the news.”

“The sooner you learn to distrust ninety-five percent of the material in the modern era’s ‘news,’ the sooner you’ll develop a lot more intelligence. Believe me when I say they twist stories involving you too and they’re not gentle with it, no-no. Lady Lightspeed is alive, though barely. It’s taken me years to find her but she is being held down in this facility and I need you to bring her to the surface.”

“How is she alive if the building is protected by a lethal nullifier?” Zeke asked.

“Her room is likely protected from the sonic frequency so that she can be kept stable. If she is still alive, you need to bring her out.”

“So, you want me to break in to a top secret, heavily guarded facility, fight everyone inside, break a vial filled with your blood that’s being used to conduct horrific experiments, and then save the unconscious princess and fight my way back out of the castle with a body over my shoulder. Is that the gist of things?” Zeke said, shaking his head and sighing in slight disbelief. He didn’t think the task would be easy, but it still sounded like he was out of his league; especially considering he’d be alone this time.

“You’ll have about fifteen minutes once the alarm is sounded before backup shows and then you’ll really have your hands full. So I’d suggest making it a short campaign. You could also, if you come across it, disable or destroy the nullify-resonator and then I’d be able to help you. Though if there are any hand-held nullifiers in there they’ll likely turn me to jelly.”

“Can’t your suit dampen the frequency or something?”

“Still working on that,” the Paragon said with, what sounded like, a smile beneath the voice modulation.

“Fair enough; be ready to high-tail it out of here when I get topside then. I don’t want to stick around this close to the tower any more than I have to.” Zeke said and then placed the ear bud into his right ear and took off into the air towards the warehouse. “Can you hear me?” Zeke said once he felt he was out of earshot.

“Loud and clear,” Phalanx said, though through his ears, the voice came through unmodulated. “Oh and storm-bringer?”

“I have a name you know,” Zeke said.

“Remember that your image is already all over the news and security feed on Vladimir’s network. Remember that an image has power; you can use it to make the people love you or fear you, but whether you want one or not you have an image. The choice you have is whether to choose one for yourself or let the masses choose it for you.” Phalanx said and Zeke could almost hear the man smiling through the audio. Zeke thought about this and wondered how he could produce such an image. He stood on the roof of the warehouse and looked down through the windows; nothing. It was as abandoned as the outside made it look.

An image, Zeke thought, what’s my image? How should the world see me, if they indeed are going to be watching me? Then Zeke did the only thing he could think to do. He took his shirt off. He felt the cold wind on his chest and he strangely felt empowered by it. The feeling of the cold beating against his bare skin sent surges of adrenaline through his body. Normally, he would wear a t-shirt or a long-sleeve tee, like what he’d worn that night, to cover the color of his skin, just in case anyone happened to see him floating around. He’d never really felt chilled gusts collide with his bare skin before but it felt like heaven. He felt like he’d just powered down ten shots of espresso and it was incredible. His eyes flashed with power and widened from the surge of energy that flooded into him.

“The tattoos are a nice touch, storm-bringer.” The Paragon said.

Really? Zeke thought, All I did was get half-naked. How is that impressive? Though I don’t look much different when I’m in the ring… Something he decided he would worry about later. If the image of a shirtless man wearing black hand-wraps with blue skin, a red Mohawk and red tattoos was intimidating then he felt like he should enter a costume contest. Why does the wind feel so damn good? It feels… strong. It feels like it’s part of me…

Zeke shook his head and tried to put the thought out of his head. He could experiment with that later. He flew down into the supposedly abandoned warehouse through a broken window that looked down into the wide-open complex from the north edge of the ceiling. It smelled musty, like an old car in an old garage that nobody had paid attention to in decades. A plume of dust even rose and scattered as he touched his feet to the ground. Zeke looked around, searching for visible signs of entry.

Nothing. The entrance was well hidden as he’d expected.

Zeke closed his eyes and focused. He opened his senses and searched for electrical energy to trace. When he opened his eyes he discovered much more than he’d anticipated; every wall around him lit up like construction lights and the floor beneath him was one large blob of energy that pulsed with power below. There was nothing to trace because the power was all around him. The place may have looked abandoned but it was the farthest thing from.

Shit, he thought, there goes that idea… how do I get down there?

“Phalanx,” he said, pressing his hand to one ear, “any idea how I can get downstairs?”

“On the east side of the building there should be an access elevator. However, that entrance will likely be monitored so unless you want to go in guns blazing, you might want to look into alternate methods.”

“Any ideas on how I might do that?”

“The schematics I have shown that to be the only way in or out.”

“Fine,” Zeke sighed, “how do I shut off the resonator when I find it?”

“Hopefully, there’s an off switch. If not, you’ll have to find a way to hack into the system.”

“And what if I never learned to hack?” Zeke added.

“A hammer might work,” Phalanx laughed right into Zeke’s ear making him wince a little. Zeke sighed and turned his senses towards the east end of the building. Sure enough, there was a small echo of power sitting just above the floor by the corner of the complex. Zeke made his way over and started searching for some kind of panel or button that might allow him access.

“There doesn’t seem to be any kind of panel or lever for me to open it with…” Zeke commented as he turned his head this way and that. His senses couldn’t find anything because every time he opened them the whole floor lit up like he was standing on the sun, he was lucky he could see the elevator.

“One second…” The Paragon said followed by a pause. Zeke was surprised there wasn’t elevator music playing.

Hah, he thought, elevator music. Then, without warning, the floor to his left started to open up and a large elevator rose out of the floor.

“How did you…” Zeke wondered aloud.

“I have some access to some of the systems, but I can’t get to the resonator remotely. I’ll have access to security cameras and I might be able to keep them from sounding the alarm for a short time but eventually they’re going to realize something is wrong. When that happens, you won’t have much time.”

“Right, fifteen minutes. Where’s the resonator?”

“I’ll guide you to it if that’s how you want to play things.”

“I don’t like the idea of storming this place by myself, I’d rather have backup.” Zeke said and then stepped into the elevator. There was only one button on the inside that said “Basilisk” on it.

This guy has a hard-on for mythology it seems. He thought and pressed his finger against the button. The doors slid closed and he felt the pressure of the box descending into the ground. The entire front of the elevator was taken up by the doors so there wasn’t any blind spot he could hide in if there was anyone waiting for the elevator.

“Can you still hear me, storm-bringer?” The Paragon asked.

“Surprisingly yes; this thing has amazing reception.” Zeke quipped and snickered to himself.

“You’re going to come out of the elevator and take the first hallway to your right. Most of the staff seems to be in some kind of meeting so you should be free and clear for now. There’s going to be a shift switch with security in about five minutes, until then I’ll be keeping any video feed off of you.”

“How in God’s name do you know all this?” Zeke asked as he felt the elevator start to slow down.

“You don’t think I’d send you in here completely blind, do you?”

“The thought had occurred to me that we were completely winging this, yes. It’s not particularly a problem, I’m good at improvising.”

“You can amaze me with your winging-skills next time, storm-bringer.”

“There’s a next time? Oh goody,” Zeke said; his tone dripping with disdainful sarcasm. The elevator came to a halt and Zeke stood in a guarded stance as the doors slid open to reveal a short hallway that came to a four-way intersection roughly ten yards from where the elevator was. Nobody was in the hallway and for that Zeke was quite thankful. “The last facility, Manticore, focused on grotesque surgeries and genetics research. The doctor there said the other facilities worked on other projects, any idea what this one focuses on?” He asked as he walked slowly down the hallway. The floor was laid in smooth marble with forest green paint on the walls. The décor actually had somewhat of a calming effect on Zeke, despite the fact he knew there were likely horrible things going on somewhere in these halls.

“Again, not sure you’d believe me if I told you.”

“I thought we were past the part where the immortal, dressed like a flag, told the blue man with lightning on his fingertips that he wouldn’t believe something.” Zeke said as he stepped into the hallway to the right that continued down as far as his eyes allowed him to see. Zeke felt a surge of déjà vu strike him as he stared down a hallway filled with glass windows and doors; part of him very much wanted to turn tail and leave without looking in a single window if they held anything similar to Manticore.

“The wing you’re going down to reach the resonator works on cybernetics. The long and the short of that is they’re lobbing off arms and legs to see if they can successfully attach robotic tools and weapons to the nervous system. The hallway with my blood focuses on occult research.” There was that word: Occult. Jon had given him more than a decent scare when it came to that kind of material and Zeke felt a lump swell in his throat at the thought of experiencing it.

“I suppose that’s also where Lady Lightspeed is being held?” Zeke said as he took slow, deliberate steps down the hallway. He didn’t want to look into the windows. He didn’t want to see what they held.

“Correct. Once you-“ the hiss of static rang in Zeke ear and he found himself cursing out loud.

“Phalanx? Phalanx?!” Zeke hissed and then spat out a list of curses. He hoped that it was just the fact that he was deep underground and the transmission was getting interrupted by something. He repeated his attempts to hail the Paragon a few more times before giving up and tearing the earbud out. The static was starting to give him a headache. Then, he realized he had another problem altogether. The only direction Zeke was given toward the nullifier that prevented Phalanx from getting into the facility, or even coming near it any more than he already had, was to take a right. He had no direction after that and now he was staring down, what seemed like, an endless hallway with more doors and passages than he had the time to count.

Relax, Zeke, he thought, reassuring himself, it’ll be fun… Right? He took several steps forward and found himself almost to one of the windows on his right. He didn’t want to see inside, yet at the same time he had to. If this place was doing equally atrocious deeds as Manticore had been he had to find a way to shut it down so that people wouldn’t suffer. He slid towards the wall and crept towards the glass and dared a glance inside.

Tables; all he saw were desks, chairs, papers and folders. It was an office. The room was actually its own little office complete with three desks, three chairs and a set of cabinets and even a mini-fridge likely stocked with packed lunches and snacks. Zeke let out a sigh of relief, there was nothing awful or nightmarish in here besides the boredom of monotony. Though some days, that alone could be a nightmare, or so Zeke was told by people who actually worked in cubicles. They didn’t even get a decent view.

Zeke walked down the hallway peeking into each room, still marveling at the site of the tiny offices. He turned his head up when he saw a sign with arrows and directions. The left hallway led down towards “Patient Rooms” while the right led to more offices. The hallway directly in front of him directed him towards the “Control Room.”

It can’t be that easy… can it? He wondered as he continued moving down towards the Control Room. There’s gonna be guards in there for sure. Hopefully Phalanx has kept their eyes away from me long enough to at least get there… It didn’t take long for him to find the door that opened into the control room. It was protected by a key-card lock. Zeke swore and paced around for a minute. Maybe I can overload it… He thought. He looked down at the panel where the card was meant to be swiped across and searched with his senses. There was plenty of energy around him and plenty more inside the device. Zeke reached out his hand and used his will to pull energy from the swiping-device. It stored a lot more than it had looked and was connected to the main power source; there was no way to siphon it dry or overload it without causing something to explode.

“Shit,” he swore out loud and ran his hands through his Mohawk. He fumed in frustration as he paced up and down the hall. Then he thought of something. If the controls for the Nullifier were inside this room he might be able to overload the device from here. Normally he found it was easier to siphon or dump power when he was physically able to see the object. Going solely off his extra senses was a much more difficult endeavor, though he had managed to siphon energy from a nearby room when he was stuck at Manticore. He couldn’t think of anything else and he wasn’t sure how much time there was going to be before security came after him, not to mention that meeting the whole building was supposedly tied up in.

Zeke closed his eyes again and took in a deep breath. His senses came alive as lines of circuitry and power coursed through his vision. Anywhere there was electrical power there were lines of orange light for him to see. He could follow these lines all the way to their source and see where each line led but in some cases it became difficult when there was an abundance of energy all flowing in different directions. With his eyes closed, Zeke searched the locked room in front of him for sources of energy and their displacement. He found circuits, conduits, lights, generators; every energy outlet he found displaced some kind of electricity.

Maybe it’s not controlled in this room… It shouldn’t displace electrical impulses, right? It should be generating sonic frequencies. It should… Ah, there it is. Finally, he came to a large mass of electrical energy directly underneath what seemed to be an empty void. In his vision he could see a large sphere of blackness that distorted the electricity around it in pulsing waves that darkened the orange light. Zeke had never seen this before but he assumed it was the resonating nullifier due to the way the power reacted to the device. Then he started to drain it.

Zeke watched and felt the orange glow leave the device as he drained it. At first it felt like having an adrenaline surge; he felt awake, wired and giddy all at once. He continued draining the device hoping that, like a battery, it would simply die once it was completely drained. The lights flickered around him and electricity hissed in his ears. He drained half the device’s power and tasted bile in his throat; his muscles began to spasm but he kept his will focused on the device and continued to pull energy into his body. He heard electrical snaps against his ears and popped his eyes open thinking a circuit may have exploded out of the wall or the keycard panel had popped. Instead, he discovered that he had siphoned so much electricity that it was coursing around his body rapidly.

Spidery-legs of arced lightning jumped from muscle to muscle around his form. Where it touched his pants, it left scorching burn marks on the fabric yet where it touched his skin, no mark was left. His eyes glowed with power and radiated yellow light. He closed his eyes again and searched with his senses and saw the device restoring its own power again. He wouldn’t be able to simply drain it even though he had siphoned off more than three quarters of its power before stopping.

Zeke looked down at his hands and noticed they were shaking; lightning arced between his fingers and his palm, up his arm and around his shoulders. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this strong; the last time he felt this alive. He’d never siphoned this much energy before; a few watts and amps here and there; enough to wake him up or give someone a quick Taser-shock. Anything more than that and he tended to feel sick, like he had while draining the device in the other room, but he’d broken past that point and fought it off and now he was full to burst. Yet, somehow, he felt almost hungry for more.

“Fuck it,” he said aloud and found that his voice had almost an electrical buzz to it which made him smile thinking about what other effects this power might have on him. He approached the door once more and tapped his finger to the keycard panel. Power left his hand and overloaded the console in the blink of an eye with an electrical burst and a puff of smoke. The door slid open with a hydraulic hum. Inside were two guards who had each turned to see the source of the commotion; their eyes widened and mouths dropped open at the sight of the infiltrator before them. For a second, Zeke wished he could see himself through their eyes and wondered how he looked. One guard broke out of his trance and reached for his sidearm.

Zeke launched himself forward faster than he’d intended and touched his fingers to the guard’s forehead; again power left his hand, though significantly less than the console outside the control room had suffered, and struck the guard unconscious. The force of the electric energy that struck the guard sent him out of his chair and into the wall behind him. Zeke quickly turned and pressed his two fingers against the other guard’s neck but did not discharge his power. The man had been reaching for his sidearm as well but froze halfway when he felt the cool skin of Zeke’s fingers against his neck.

“The nullifier that protects this facility, how do I turn it off?” Zeke said with a tilt of his head. The guard stuttered out some nonsense gibberish in his fear. He slowly moved his hand away from his sidearm and raised them in the air.

“Please… I… I have a kid…” The man managed to get out through his quivering lip. He looked next to tears leading Zeke to believe that this was just a job; a paycheck to keep a roof over his head and put his kid through school.

“If you tell me what I need to know, I’m not going to hurt you, got it?” Zeke said and the man nodded quickly. “So I’ll ask again; how do I disable the nullifier that protects this facility?”

“How… how do you even… Wait you’re…” The man’s eyes widened even more as his eyes bulged from their sockets. It occurred to Zeke that it just dawned on the man that Zeke was a Super currently doing just fine even though the building was supposed to be, by all intents and purposes, Super-Proof.

“I need to make sure this thing goes off and doesn’t come back on, understand? You help me out, I make sure you get back to your kid for breakfast. Right?” Zeke said and leaned in closer while pressing his fingers deeper into the skin of the guard’s neck. “What’s your name?”

“J-J-James…” James said.

“And your kid?”

“Denise…”

“Well James, let’s make sure that Denise has breakfast with daddy tomorrow, m’kay?” Zeke said and tapped James’ head with his knuckles. He reached down and grabbed the sidearm still holstered in James’ belt and tossed it to the other side of the room and then turned his glowing eyes back to the guard and tapped his foot impatiently.

“It doesn’t really turn off…” James said. “We’re supposed to suppress it for no more than twenty-five minutes at a time when Supers are being transported around the labs; it’ll turn itself back on if its left unattended for more than that.”

“Where is the actual device?” Zeke asked and James pointed across the room to a window that displayed a very large orb that thrummed. The air around the orb was distorted in waves that indicated the sonic pulse was so strong, it was actually moving the air around it. “How did I not notice that…?” Zeke said and pointed his left hand at James’ feet which immediately became encased in bricks of ice. The man yelped and tried to move his legs but the ice crept up and trapped his thighs and hips keeping him firmly rooted to the ground.

Time to try something new, Zeke thought as he changed his stance so that his feet were decently spread apart, as if to resist some sort of impact. Zeke took a deep breath and closed his eyes and then once more saw the lines of energy running to and from the nullifier on the other side of the glass. He guessed that the glass was ballistic and heavily resistant, so breaking it was out of the question. Instead, he decided to be creative.

The electrical energy that jumped around his body suddenly disappeared as he poured it back into the circuit lines and into the room the device was stored in. Zeke formed his hands like he was holding a large ball and used them to guide the electricity inside the device. He pulled amps and volts from the circuitry and conduits around him and electricity started to dance around the machine.

The arcs of electricity that leapt and screeched around the room were erratic and hard to control. Electricity tended to want to go in one direction and manipulating it was a fear Zeke had to practice for months before he was able to get arcs to change direction or split, and even then it was, by his standards, sloppy. Yet the energy that he felt inside him gave him confidence and mastery.

Zeke’s hands were firm and rigid and spread out to his sides. Inside the room he had managed to create a dome of electric energy surging with power around the device. He took several deep breaths and then clapped his hands together violently. The dome shrunk with crushing speed and the device turned bright red, like a giant ember. Zeke held the lightning dome around the nullifier, focusing his will on forcing the ball to get smaller and smaller as it melted away the metal machine. Globs of molten metal started falling to the floor and solidified on impact. Zeke was panting as he strained to keep the electricity in its form; he wanted to make sure he didn’t just damage the outer shell, he wanted to make sure the device was impossible to repair.

Zeke let out a roar like thunder and firmly pressed his wrapped hands together and squeezed until the ball of lightning had completely melted away the orb. A hiss of static rung out from the room that once held the nullifier and Zeke straightened himself out and allowed himself a smile.

“I was expecting more of an explosion, though I suppose it’s worth remembering that high amounts of electricity will melt metal.” Zeke laughed and turned back to look at James who stood half physically frozen and half mentally frozen in awe of the spectacle. “Someone definitely heard that, so I’m going to be on my way. Stay put.” Zeke smirked and left the room without freeing James from his icy prison. Walking out into the hallway once more, Zeke saw that there had yet to be any resistance; something he was very grateful for.

Where to now? He wondered and then decided to see if Phalanx could be reached. He pulled the tiny earbud out of his pocket and placed it back in his ear; the static was gone.

“Phalanx, can you hear me?” He said as he pressed the bud into his left ear. No answer came so he tried again. “Phalanx? Phalanx! Damnit.” He cursed and tore the bud out of his ear again and placed it in his pocket. He sighed in frustration and made his way back to the four-way intersection in the facility.

East wing will have his blood, patient rooms is likely to have Lady Lightspeed… It’ll be too difficult to get the phylactery if I have to carry a Paragon over my shoulder, best get that first. Zeke nodded to himself. He walked straight through the intersection, down the path he’d originally come from.

“Going so soon?” A thick, toneless voice said behind him.

You’ve got to be kidding me, Zeke thought and stepped backwards until he was in the middle of the intersection. Why do they always have to be so damned dramatic? Zeke looked down to his right and saw the hall was empty. He turned and looked to his left which was also void of any life; Zeke turned his attention towards the control room and saw absolutely nothing. That’s not creepy…

“Why don’t you stay awhile?” The voice said in a soothing manner. For a moment, Zeke thought he was about to be put to sleep again but was glad when he found himself perfectly awake and wired. “The Paragon is here too, we brought him in for a special visit.”

“What’ve you done with Phalanx?” Zeke barked and continued switching his attention between the four hallways.

“Nothing yet, are you going to attempt to save him, Paragon?”

“I’m not a Paragon, but I will kick your teeth in if you had the balls to show yourself.” Zeke’s eyes flashed with power as he turned his head every which way, trying to find the source of the voice. He was getting frustrated and angry and still had plenty of power coursing through him to finish off any opponent.

“You came to retrieve his blood, yes? Ironic that you’ve brought me an unlimited source of it.” The voice said and then cackled in a stentorian manner.

Blood, Zeke thought, whoever this is probably runs the occult wing; which means I get to deal with another Doctor Vivisector type who’s probably as sick as they come; only this one deals in magic, if there even is such a thing. Zeke raced down the hallway towards the occult wing. Electricity trailed behind his body as he ran with speed he previously thought unimaginable.

Intermission

Vladimir grins to himself, quite satisfied with his find. It didn’t take long for him to find the nuisance, not with his resources. He knocks on the door and only a few seconds pass before it is opened by a little girl, scarcely older than eleven. She stares up at Vladimir with a curious look in her eyes.

“Mary, who’s at the door?” Another woman calls from somewhere else in the house.

“Who are you?” The little girl asks.

“My name is Vlad, little one.” He says with a smile on his face. The little girl looks uncomfortable and suddenly Vladimir feels a second presence in his mind. The girl’s stare intensifies. He feels her rooting around his thoughts. She’s a telepath. “Might I come in?” He says and focuses his mind on hers. He sees flashes of memory; the Paragon with blue skin and her laughing with another red-headed woman. Distant thoughts of happiness and joy that sickens him to his very core.

Vladimir peers into her thoughts and sees that this is the Paragon’s sister and even feels the bond they share. It is warm, comfortable, happy.

It makes Vladimir feel nauseous.

My brother is going to kill you, the little girl thinks, forcing Vladimir to tilt his head curiously and then smile. He crouches down in front of her, still smiling.

No, he thinks and projects nightmares into her mind.

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