Hero Unit (13 page)

Emily laughed. “I’m glad you aren’t going to
let them intimidate you.”

Ace snorted. “I got over being intimidated
when the biggest, baddest Fortress Class in the military tried to
assert his dominance. After I beat the hell out of him he realized
that I wasn’t just talk. The worst I’ll have here is the occasional
insubordination. Some of them will think they know better than me.
The worst will be the ones who try and act like my friends. Those
are the ones I really want you to keep an eye out for. They are the
ones that like to try and abuse relationships. I’m not going to let
that happen.”

Emily nodded again. She checked her watch.
“Damn. I’ve got to get back to the interrogation rooms. There’s a
new batch of Regs coming in. Walk me?”

It was a subtle reminder that Ace was
supposed to be escorting Emily at all times.

That and she wants to spend some time with
her friend.

“Sure.” She stood and they left her new
office. Ace closed the door, but didn’t bother locking it. Not with
the Captain right next door.

In the elevator a thought came to her and she
asked, “Are people getting the wrong idea about us?”

Of course they are.

Emily laughed. “I think at first they were.
Rumors were starting to circulate, but Torment and Angel dealt with
them. I think it relieved the men. There are quite few who are
infatuated with you.”

Ace blushed again. “What about you? I’ve seen
the way some of the officers look at you and besides you aren’t
officially E.E.D, just a consultant. It would be much easier for
them to date you.”

Emily colored slightly. “Only if they are
willing to accept double dates with you, otherwise my power makes
things…awkward.”

“You don’t want to know when a man is
thinking of-” Ace began, but Emily cut her off, “I most certainly
do not!”

Ace smiled a little. It was nice to get a
little bit back on her friend. Emily smiled reading quite clearly
what Ace was thinking. “It’s nice to have a friend again,” she
said.

“It’s nice to have one at all,” Ace
replied.

She left Emily with Torment down in the
interrogation rooms. She declined Torment’s invitation to join
them. There was too much for her to do before she would feel
comfortable rejoining the investigation. Back in her own office
(that was going to take some getting used to) she sat down and
started reviewing personnel reports. It was going to be a long few
days.

Chapter 13

“Well you were right; some of them hate you and the
Commissioner and Bones. Things could have gotten ugly in there, but
they all are waaay more afraid of you than anything,” Emily
reported as she and Ace drove back to the precinct. They’d held the
meeting with the new members of the Aerial Squad at the main NDPD
Hub. Ace felt a more neutral space than her own precinct would help
some of the officers.

“Well they accepted my orders readily enough.
We’ll see how they actually follow them,” Ace said.

“There are some that are planning on pulling
crap, but they are paired with people who either don’t care about
your relative seniority or they support you fully. There is going
to be a difficult adjustment period,” Emily said as she reviewed
the notes she had jotted down during the meeting.

That is an understatement.

“It’s a good thing I recorded the whole thing
then,” Ace said tapping her device.

“Is that legal?” Emily asked.

“I ran it past Bones and Commissioner Miller.
They both gave it the green light. They want this task force to
succeed as much as I do, probably more. You’ve seen the
numbers.”

“I haven’t actually seen them first hand, but
I’ve heard. The Aerial Squad does good work. I think it will give
the normals a feeling of security, at least some of them. There are
always going to be people screaming about invasion of privacy,”
Emily said.

“You heard about that did you?” Ace
asked.

Everybody’s heard about that.

Emily meant one of the cases from her first
day on air patrol. The perpetrator of a domestic disturbance case
was claiming his privacy was violated by Ace. It was one giant
mess. The department lawyers were currently working on building a
solid case. Ace had already had to testify twice. It made her very
glad that she always filled out incident reports and kept detailed
records of her actions.

“You think he’ll get it to stick?” Emily
asked concerned.

Ace shook her head. “Not a chance. The judge
overseeing the case is a hardass and damn good at his job. Used to
be a cop before turning lawyer then judge, the guy doesn’t stand a
chance, but people will always fight the system. And Article Two
was in effect.”

“And the department has your legal fees
covered?”

“That’s right. There is an account setup
specifically for the purpose of paying legal fees for officers
brought to court for doing their jobs.”

One of the old man’s best ideas.

Emily relaxed. “Good.”

They pulled into the station and up to the
newly installed security scanner. After a massive car bomb had gone
off in another precinct’s parking garage, Einstein along with all
the technomancers from the E.E.D and any Regs that he considered
trustworthy started working on the scanners.

Sometimes having another level of security
checkpoints to pass through was tedious, but well worth it to keep
things secure. Already Einstein had installed a much upgraded
version of the kinetic shield around all government facilities. Ace
had come to find that that had also included her house.

Once through the scanner and under the
protective field of the kinetic barrier they both relaxed a little
more. There hadn’t been any further attempts on either of them, but
there was a definite tension in the air.

“You in or out today?” Emily asked.

“I’m in. I’ve got reports to fill out, lots
and lots of reports,” Ace replied with mock enthusiasm.

Yay, paperwork. Man I’m glad I’m not
you.

“I do not envy you that job. Torment always
handles things for us. I keep a detailed record, but she does all
the official stuff. I honestly think she enjoys paperwork,” Emily
said as they entered the elevator.

“She probably finds it cathartic,” Ace said.
They rode the elevator in silence. Oddly the elevator went all the
way to the E.E.D floor without stopping.

There is something very wrong.

“What the hell?” Emily said.

The elevator stopped at the top floor and Ace
reacted as the doors were opening. She pulled Emily to one side and
braced herself as bullets pounded the back of the elevator.

“You hit?” Ace asked. Once the hail of
bullets ended.

“Just in the vest,” Emily replied. She had
taken to wearing the kinetic vest whenever they left the
precinct.

This is bad. You need to be very
careful.

“Stay down,” Ace said and stepped out of the
elevator and into chaos.

Chapter 14

There was gunfire throughout the floor. Ace saw the
three gunmen who had opened fire on the elevator and she rushed
them. They were wearing, of all things, ski masks and were carrying
high-end automatic rifles. Not that that saved them. She hit them
hard and fast, breaking arms, legs and weapons in quick succession,
leaving screaming men behind.

“Ace, get down!” Torment’s voice came from
her left and she dropped as a blast of familiar kinetic energy
flashed where she had been standing.

Mayhem. That bastard needs to die.

Rage swelled and Ace stood scanning the room.
That was the problem with Mayhem, he didn’t have to have line of
sight to set off his blasts. He could just let fly wherever he
wanted.

She saw Torment not far away holding a
bleeding wound on her right arm. Maniac was down next to her. There
were other officers down. Ace grabbed a radio, but there was no
response from the lower levels. That meant there were other Antis
around. Realizing that she’d been stupid to leave Emily behind in
the elevator she turned and was relieved to see her friend joined
by Bulldog and Angel. Both men were wounded, but they took Emily
from the elevator and headed out of Ace’s line of sight.

Satisfied that Emily was taken care of Ace
started walking through the floor looking for Mayhem. Occasional
explosions hammered her, but they were of little consequence, other
than leaving her clothing in tatters.

Eventually she got tired of looking for her
target, and getting shot, and having to subdue normals and Antis.
“MAYHEM YOU COWARD!” Her voice rattled to the windows. She wanted
to make certain that Mayhem heard her.

That got his attention. A massive explosion
bloomed around Ace and something wrapped around her, lifting her
off the ground. She tried to break the bands holding her, but
instead of breaking they flexed and flexed and flexed. Anytime she
stopped exerting all of her strength they snapped back into place.
For the first time in her life Ace panicked.

She continued to struggle, trying every trick
she knew to break psychic bands, but none of them worked. She was
pulled through a nearby window and up to the roof.

On the roof she was suspended upside down in
front of Mayhem. “I finally caught you Ace.”

He was actually quite handsome. He had a
square jaw and long black hair he kept in a tail. His military
issue clothing managed to compliment his olive complexion and dark
eyes. Ace wanted to slap the smug smile off his face. How he had
been able to pinpoint her location was something she was going to
find out.

“You didn’t catch me you coward. You have one
of your pet Antis holding me. You never were man enough to come
after me alone,” Ace snapped. Mayhem had a narcissistic streak and
insults usually caused him to act rashly.

Rage flashed across his features, but only
for a moment. “Ah Ace how I’ve missed you. But as you can see I’ve
learned to control my temper and I must say it has become very
helpful at times such as this. Now I will warn you once, if you do
not come peacefully I will destroy this entire building, just like
last time.”

That shut her up. Last time the building had
been empty, but there were hundreds of people inside the precinct.
“I see that you are still wise for one so young. And I am happy to
see you are keeping yourself in shape. I will certainly enjoy the
view while my employer speaks with you.”

Ace blushed. During the attack the state of
her clothing had been less relevant. Now, out in the open and
helpless for the first time in her life, it was just another stab
to her confidence.

Damn it, Ace, focus! Screw modesty!

She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate.
Her underused powers began to respond. There were so many powers in
use at that moment that there was no way they would be able to tell
what she was doing. She felt the presence of two other Exceptionals
on the roof with her and Mayhem. Ace figured one was responsible
for keeping her bound. The other was probably hiding them from her
senses.

“Now come along Ace,” Mayhem said and took to
the air. The other Antis followed, still invisible to her
sight.

Now that she had her targets Ace began to
relax. The Anti wouldn’t be able to hold her for long; even Fourths
had limits to how long they could sustain powers. And she knew the
more she fought the hold the quicker the Anti would wear out. Not
wanting to give herself away too quickly she began exerting subtle
pressure on her bonds.

That’s better. Now just keep at it. She
won’t last long.

Mayhem didn’t fly far. Unlike Ace and the Sky
Class of Exceptionals, Mayhem’s flight was an extension of his
energy powers. That meant the distances he could travel, especially
while carrying other people, were limited.

They made a series of short hops before
finally stopping on a building with a helipad on its roof. That’s
when Ace decided to wait to free herself. There was a chance she
would get a better idea of who Mayhem was working with if she saw
what came to pick up him and his allies. It would be a while before
the E.E.D would be able to mount a response to the attack on the
precinct, so Ace was on her own anyway.

They had a short wait until a large, unmarked
helicopter came to rest on the landing pad. Mayhem smiled and
waved. The door opened and two men dressed in black suits stepped
out. They looked like secret service copies. They were just missing
the dark sunglasses to complete the cliché. And still Ace waited to
make her move. The next man that stepped out of the helicopter only
served to confuse things.

Mickey “Pretty Boy” Valentine was a powerful
mob boss. Having him show up didn’t make a lot of sense. Mickey was
never one to act against the E.E.D. He didn’t want the Heroes
interfering with his “business”. He was well protected by an army
of lawyers and bribed officials, so he could handle the regular
police, but the E.E.D had more resources and different courts.

“I trust there were no problems?” Mickey said
as he approached Mayhem. The storm of the helicopters rotors was
starting to fade. Apparently Mr. Valentine was planning on staying
for a while.

“His methods were unacceptable. He brought in
gunmen and attacked the NDPD precinct where she works. This is
going to bring even more E.E.D scrutiny,” the disembodied voice
sounded female and she was standing not far from Ace. With a little
concentration Ace spotted the small disturbances in the roof dust
that marked one of her captors.

“I thought I was very clear on this matter
Mayhem. The E.E.D was not to be involved,” Mickey said. He didn’t
sound angry, or even annoyed which was damn creepy.

“I did my job,” was all Mayhem said. He stood
there facing the crime boss with his typical arrogant smile.

He’s planning something.

“Yes and in so doing you have endangered my
entire operation. If the E.E.D were to take notice of my operations
that would prove to be inconvenient for me and my associates,”
Mickey said. He still sounded like he was discussing the weather.
“I’m afraid our relationship is going to have to end
prematurely.”