Infiltration (24 page)

Monitor shrugged. “That depends on the big man.”

“Yeah, the Diabolist.”

“No,” Monitor said, eyeing me suspiciously. “The
big
man.”

“Oh, right. The boss.”

“Yeah, the boss,” Monitor said, still giving me a funny look.

“Sorry. I must still be disoriented from the transference.”

That seemed to allay Monitor’s concerns, but I was sweating bullets. I had almost stepped in it there; I’d need to be very careful in the future, but I had learned something extremely valuable: someone other than Diabolist Mage was in charge.

Presumably, the person running the show was somewhere on the premises. I still didn’t know where I was, but I got the impression — based on the wide hallways and ten-foot-tall doors everywhere — that the building we were in was enormous. It also seemed ancient, with all of the floors and walls cut from harsh, gray stone. Occasionally, one of the walls would dare to sport some artwork — usually an aged portrait of some aristocratic noble in a timeworn frame. Overall, the place had an antediluvian feel to it.

As we walked — up stairs, across landings, down hallways — I quickly debated my options. Telepathic communication was on the first page of my playbook, so I mentally reached out, trying to contact Mouse, Electra, Gramps…anyone I knew. No luck. We were either in a remote location, or simply outside my telepathic range.

Of course, I still had the beacon on me, which hopefully meant that the Alpha League now knew the location of their adversaries. With any luck, they would be busting down the doors here in a few hours — I checked Proteus’ watch, only to find that it had stopped working — depending on exactly where we were geographically.

Also, I could always teleport back to Alpha League HQ, and then come back here with the cavalry in tow. A slight chill seemed to pass through me as I considered that option, and it occurred to me that I probably didn’t have enough intel yet. Exactly how many bad guys were there? What was this magical weapon that they had? Who was the ‘big man’?

As I pondered these and other questions, Monitor guided me up a final stairwell, around a corner and to another long hallway. Unlike the previous passageways we’d traversed, however, this one had evenly-spaced doors on either side running down its entire length.

We marched about a third of the way down the hall and then stopped in front of a door on the left wall.

“Well, here you are,” Monitor said, and then went back the way we’d come. Apparently we’d arrived at our destination.

I tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped inside.

The room I found myself in was nothing special. It was about fifteen-by-fifteen feet in size and contained three single beds — one against the rear wall, and one against each of the side walls. At the head of each bed was a small nightstand with two drawers. There was also a bathroom and a mid-sized closet with sliding doors. The interior of the closet was divided into three sections, each of which contained a distinct style of clothing, as well as several of the black bodysuits that almost everyone here seemed to favor.

Beyond that, the room was fairly nondescript — there wasn’t even a window. Taking into account the division of closet space and the number of beds, it was also safe to assume that I had roommates. Needless to say, I wasn’t keen on the idea of having to share living space with other people — even if it just turned out to be a couple of hours. (I was here as a spy, after all.) Despite the fact that it was a flagrant invasion of privacy, I rifled through the drawers on the three nightstands, looking for any usable info. Thanks to pictures, letters, and other personal items, I was eventually able to figure out which bed was mine (the one on the right) but not much more than that.

I was tempted to flop down on the bed and take a moment to catch my mental breath, but didn’t feel like I had the time. I needed to do some recon, and it occurred to me that it might be better to do so as inconspicuously as possible. That being the case, I headed to the closet and took another look at the clothes hanging there. I took a wild guess as to which section belonged to Proteus, grabbed one of the black bodysuits from that area, and then changed clothes at super speed. A moment later, I was dressed like almost everyone else here. Then I turned invisible and phased through the wall.

Being unfamiliar with my surroundings, I flew around randomly at first, trying to see as much of my new home as possible. This was part of my typical routine, as it let me mentally register physical locations so I could teleport there later if necessary. Had Mouse been present, he probably would have chided me for having changed clothes since I was gathering intel while invisible. Long experience, however, had taught me that when in Rome, do as the Romans do. (A motto to abide by even if you’re invisible.)

I flew through the place as fast as I could without arousing suspicion. (At super speed, someone would have eventually found it odd that there were gusts of wind blowing through a building that didn’t appear to have any windows.) I was happy to find that my initial impression was proven correct: the structure was enormous — practically a castle. Moreover, in phasing through walls, ceilings, and floors in all directions, I slowly began developing a mental blueprint of my new home.

As I made my way through various rooms, I also tried to garner an estimate of exactly how many residents the castle had. My best guess was that there were several hundred, but — by eavesdropping on a number of conversations — I determined that most of them were ordinary human beings. Less than a hundred were actually supers of any sort.

There was only one odd thing of note that I encountered. As I was exploring, I noticed that if I went far enough in one direction, I eventually came to a wall that, for some reason, I couldn’t phase through. I could phase
into
the wall, but I couldn’t go
through
it to the other side. It was as if the wall was a swimming pool: phasing into the wall was like jumping into the water — easy enough to do. Phasing through to the wall’s other side, however, was like being in the pool and trying to swim through its concrete bottom.

This was completely foreign to my experience; I had never run into anything that I couldn’t phase through before. Even more, I came across this anomaly four times with walls in four different directions. (I also found the same phenomenon limiting my phasing ability when I flew up as high — and as low — as I could.) In short, there was some kind of barrier keeping me from phasing through what I assumed were the outermost confines of the castle.

Unfortunately, I didn’t explore every nook and cranny of the castle — far from it — but after about forty minutes of snooping I had gathered a respectable amount of information. I teleported back to my quarters to reassess my intel and decide on my next move.

I made sure that I was invisible when I popped back into the room. As luck would have it, no one was there. After becoming visible, I sat down on my bed and mentally began to take stock of my situation.

The main issue, of course, was whether or not it was time to fly the coop. I had information regarding the enemy’s numbers, their leadership, and their position. (Or rather, the beacon I was carrying should indicate their location.) On the flip side, I still didn’t know who the main guy in charge was, I didn’t know their plans, I didn’t have any new information on the weapon they had been using, and I was sure that the items from the satchel had helped them in some as-yet-unknown way. I felt an odd frigidity, like an icy breeze, as I contemplated what to do, but promptly dismissed the feeling. Weighing everything in the balance, it seemed that the best course of action was to stay until I found out more.

I had just come to that conclusion when the door to the room flew open. I jumped into fighting stance as a young blond man rushed into the room. Like everyone else here, he was wearing a black bodysuit, along with a pocket belt.

“Easy there, killer,” he said, smiling at my aggressive reaction to his entrance. “It’s just me, Case — your roomie? One of them, anyway.”

After he said his name — Case — I came to the sudden realization that I had heard of this fellow before. He was a cruel, vicious criminal wanted in a score of countries for kidnapping, murder, and a dozen other felonies. The fact that someone with his reputation was here said a lot about the company I now found myself keeping.

I was so focused on recalling everything I could about Case that I didn’t really notice that he was saying something to me about calming down. At that juncture, I noticed that I was still in an aggressive stance — something that was making Case incredibly tense.

“Sorry,” I said, sitting slowly back down on my bed. “Guess I’m a bit jumpy with everything going on.”

“Yeah,” Case replied, relaxing. “I heard you came back from your trip a little addled.” He twirled a finger around near his temple. “Hopefully the same thing won’t happen to me.”

“To
you
?” I asked as he started going through his nightstand drawer. “Are you going somewhere?”

“My group is mobilizing. Now that you’ve come back with the goods, Diabolist Mage and the big man say that we’re ready to kick this thing off. Why waste a second when it’s time to take over the world?”

As I pondered what he’d said, Case pulled a small, misshapen piece of metal from his nightstand. He kissed it, and then went to put it into a pocket on his belt.

“Good luck charm,” he explained. “Ran all the way back here to get it. It never feels right when I shoot people without it.”

“Shoot people?” I repeated, somewhat surprised.

“Only if we’re lucky,” Case mentioned with a wink, and empathically I felt a perverted, sadistic streak in him, a desire to inflict pain not just on others, but on others weaker than himself. “Well, I’m off.”

He turned and left the room, closing the door behind him. A second later, I turned invisible and phased through the door, following him.

Chapter 29

Case ultimately ended up in the same chamber where I had initially made my appearance here. Still invisible and staying right on his tail, I phased my way inside. Standing at the doorway when Case entered was Gorgon Son, who handed him body armor, as well as a weapon from a gun case — a laser gun identical to those used by the guys who had attacked Alpha League HQ.

Case was one of the last guys to enter. His group consisted of about twenty people in all, and just looking at them gave me the unmistakable feeling of déjà vu. In essence, I got the distinct impression that some — if not all — of those gearing up had definitely comprised the band that had attacked us. (In fact, I also noted that they all had the same type of wristbands with crystals that the attackers had worn.)

Also in the room was Diabolist Mage. Staff in hand, he seemed to be waiting patiently as Case’s group finished adjusting their armor and checking their weapons.

When I had been in this room previously, there hand been a lot of bodies present and I hadn’t been able to take a good look around. Now, with fewer people blocking the view, I was able to notice something I had missed before — specifically, a mass of complicated-looking machinery that sat against one wall, emitting a low humming noise.

To a certain extent, the machinery resembled some of the complex computer equipment I had seen in Mouse’s lab, with various lights, dials, and buttons. At the same time, however, it had bizarre symbols carved into the metal in some places, and sparkling crystals attached to it in others. Several peculiar, opaque tubes ran from the machinery into the floor and the wall. Finally, one portion of the machinery extended forward about five feet, resembling something like the barrel of an oversized weapon (and pointed directly at Case’s group). Frankly speaking, I had no idea what to make of it.

Next to the equipment stood what I had at first presumed was a headless mannequin in a lab coat; I was stunned when I saw it move, touching a few dials on the equipment. Intrigued, I took another look and saw that the “mannequin” actually had a head after all, albeit one no bigger than the palm of my hand. At that juncture, I recognized the guy in the lab coat: an evil (but brilliant) scientist known as Grain Brain.

For a second, I wondered if he could be the person in charge, but decided against it. Grain Brain was typically the type to sell his services rather than initiate something on his own. He was more likely an employee here rather than the proprietor.

My attention, however, was drawn away from him as Diabolist Mage — finally satisfied that the group before him was ready — began to speak.

“Everyone knows the plan,” he said. “Failure will be dealt with harshly, both by myself, and by
him
.”

There were a few audible gulps at the last word, but the Diabolist didn’t seem to notice. He turned and pointed his staff towards the equipment against the wall, and a purple ray of light shot from it, engulfing the machinery. A moment later, the symbols on the equipment began to glow with a yellow illumination as the opaque tubes seemed to pulse with life, like the exposed veins of a colossus, and an audible droning filled the air.

In a flash, I knew what was going to happen. Case’s group was getting ready to attack someone or something else. The equipment in this room was the transfer mechanism, some kind of weird amalgam of science and magic.