No Master Plan Here (Madness Runs in the Family) (20 page)

             
The elevator was positioned at the edge of the building and had glass walls facing outwards so that one could see the view of the city. It descended a dozen floors, the ride quiet as Anansi leaned against the glass, Rose tapped her foot, and Denise tried to stay out of Rose's line of sight.

             
When the doors hissed open, Rose led the way out onto a floor with no windows The walls were grey and the carpet was a greyish blue. The hallway split into several directions, but Rose led them straight forward, towards a pair of double doors with a security device on the side. Rose gave a hand print and an ocular scan to the security device before the doors hissed open, allowing them past.

             
Inside the doors was a large room with an expansive ceiling that probably accounted for at least two floors. Cubicles lined the outside of the massive square room, parting in areas to create pathways. Beyond the cubicles in an inner square was rows of tables and workbenches. Armor, weapons, and devices of all sorts littered the tables, and two large and partially assembled exoskeletons took up one large section in the corner opposite the entrance they had used. People filled the room, working at their various places and projects.

             
“Welcome to the Maker's Collective, the place that keeps Blue Steel on top of the world of innovation,” Rose said with pride. “Jake may be a genius and may make some of the best stuff around, but he's a bit hard to rely on when he's off crusading.” Anansi stuck his tongue out at Rose, who returned the gesture. Denise smirked and shook her head.

             
A bald man approached the trio, looking more like a college professor in his tweed jacket and pipe hanging from his lips than a scientist. He nodded a greeting, more focused on Anansi than the two women. “Anansi, right?” Anansi nodded, extending his hand to the man. The man took it and shook it vehemently with both hands.

             
“Richard Ways, head of the Maker Collective, and may I say, what an honor it is to meet you, sir. Ms. Redpath has told us about you and let us in on a few of the projects you've sent us over the years, and they're always brilliant. I saw your fight with Archangel back in '14 and you were fantastic.” Anansi chuckled and worked his way from the scientist's hand.

             
“Calm down. I'm just another guy, just with cool toys,” Anansi said. Denise could see he was uncomfortable with the praise he was receiving. Richard shook his head, tugging at Anansi's sleeve to lead him into the work areas.

             
“You aren't just a guy with cool toys, you're a celebrity around here.” Denise noticed that as they walked, they drew stares, all focused on Anansi. Anansi's posture grew stiff as he walked. He had noticed as well, and was beginning to freak out. Richard continued without pause.

             
“Around here, we're mostly Class ones and twos, nothing really to notice by ourselves. None of us are the sorts to be out there, doing things, even if we were more powerful.” Richard turned around, walking backwards. He nearly bumped into a woman who shifted out of his way at the last second. “But you and The Suit, you're out there with the Works and the Bruisers and the Blasters. You make it so that people take Makers seriously.” Richard paused, scratching the stubble on his chin. “Or at least more seriously. You make people see Makers can be more than lab rats, and that makes a lot of us happy around here.”

             
Denise grabbed Anansi's hand, his tightening around hers. He seemed to relax some with her there.

             
“A lot of us spend time on the database that ranks powers. It's our pet project. There's an ongoing debate about you.

             
“See, The Suit is easy to figure out. Comparing his strength and speed to a Works, he comes out somewhere in the Class four section, but you're more ambiguous because your style isn't as direct.

             
“As you know, there isn't any Class five Maker super out there. Class fives are ridiculously rare, but there seems to be at least one of every type at any given time.” Richard stopped, glancing back at Anansi and Denise.

             
“I think you're ours.”

             
“You lot have rated me a Class three for years,” Anansi said, looking at a man mixing chemicals. “Why the change?”

             
“It stems from our forum, really. We use it for classification discussion and keeping in touch with contributors that don't work here in the Collective. One of our best contributors has been someone under the alias KT3.141592653.”

             
Anansi's hand clenched over Denise's. His eyes lost focus as he retreated to his neural link, talking to Kay. Denise stepped forward, drawing attention from Anansi. “What is so special about Kay?”

             
Richard seemed to notice Denise for the first time. He coughed and smoothed his coat. “Well, simply put, Kay is the most advanced artificial intelligence we know of, and we are pretty sure we know of all of them. She has personality, thought, will, and analytical power comparable to advanced supercomputers.

             
“A lot of Makers have their own AIs as helpers, even The Suit has one named Rorschach, who is the next most advanced that we know of. We pitted the two of them against each other in a series of analytical challenges over the course of several months, when they had time away from their other duties.”

             
Richard paused for effect. Denise rolled her eyes and gestured for him to continue.

             
“Kay ran circles around Rorschach. Combined with the fact that Rorschach is more of an analytical engine without a personality, it makes Kay really unique. I'd go so far as to say she was a person.”

             
“And that's why you think I'm a five?” Anansi said, his eyes gaining focus again. His grip loosened on Denise's. Richard nodded. Anansi shrugged, sticking his free hand into his coat pocket. “Okay. Did you get the file I sent over?”

             
“The robot body, right?” Anansi nodded, drawing a look from Denise. “Yes, we did, and we're glad to help you make it, though we were wondering why you were coming to us for it. Your labs are probably better equipped to handle the delicate work.”

             
“I haven't gotten everything back in order since coming back to the States, so I don't have any labs up and running right now, which leaves here with any chance of making this project work.” Richard nodded, gesturing to the corner across from the exoskeleton projects.

             
“We cleared a section for you to work and got you the parts you asked for. Anything else you need, let us know. Ms. Redpath said our resources are yours, as if we would have refused you anyways.”

             
“Thanks, I'll let you know.” Richard left, presumably to resume working on his own project. Denise walked beside Anansi as he moved to the tables indicated by Richard.

             
“Robot body?” she said, squeezing his hand to ensure his attention.

             
“Yeah. I figured that we could even the odds in the fight by having three on our side instead of just two.”

             
“So you're building a body for Kay to use to back us up?”

             
Anansi nodded, stripping out of his sweatshirt and tossing it onto the table. He looked down at the blueprints on the table, sifting through the papers and, deeming them all present, started gathering tools he would need. Denise stood back, out of the way.

             
“Do you need me for this?” Anansi glanced up as he dug about in a tool box. He shrugged as he took an armful of tools and dumped them onto the worktable. Denise sighed and rubbed her temples. “Let me rephrase. Would you like my help, or would I just get in the way?”

             
Anansi looked from the worktable to Denise, face scrunched up as he thought. “I don't really need you for this. According to Kay, they've got most of the structural things already fabricated for me, so this should only take the rest of the day, barring things not working.” He looked back at the worktable.

             
“I'm free today, so I can keep Denise occupied while you have your hands full with your mad science, leetle brother,” Rose said. She had walked up as they talked, and her voice made Denise jump. Rose had changed into less formal clothing since she had left them at the entrance to the Maker's Collective, choosing a tight pair of jeans and a shirt with a blue police box on it. She had let loose her hair, giving her a vastly less severe appearance. Anansi nodded to Rose.

             
“If you could,” he said as a dismissal, immediately turning back to focus on his work. Rose took Denise by the arm and led her away from Anansi and out of the Maker's Collective area through a different exit than the one they had taken.

             
“Is there something I should know?” Denise said in the hallway, looking back as the door shut behind her. Anansi was often closed off when he was working on a project, but he had never completely shut out her offers of help before.

             
“Don't mind him,” Rose said once they had entered the elevator. “He's always like this when he's got someone to kill.”

             
“You say that like you've seen this before,” Denise replied, leaning against the glass opposite Rose. Despite the air conditioning, being in the enclosed space was uncomfortably warm and it all seemed to be radiating from Rose.

             
Rose's expression darkened and she looked out over the cityscape as they descended lower into the building. “Has Jake ever mentioned our father?”

             
“Nothing but that he is dead.”

             
Rose nodded, seeming to expect the response. “Our father was a piece of work. I'm sure you heard of the Bruiser type called Demon from the early days of supers.” Denise nodded, remembering the file on the man. Charles Wainwright, better known as Demon for the form he took when he fought, had been a licensed vigilante a decade or so ago with a penchant for causing a large amount of collateral damage and injuries to civilians and targets alike. He had eventually been forcibly retired, given a pension to ensure he remained so, and had been mysteriously killed two years later. Details on his family had not been listed in his file.

             
“Demon was our father, and once he was retired, he turned his aggression on the Family. Jake and I killed him to protect our siblings and mother.” The declaration was made without a hint of regret or fear and rang true to Denise.

             
“You helped?” As an answer, Rose held out her palm. A flame burst into being over her palm, hovering there until Rose closed her fist and snuffed it.

             
“There's a reason I'm telling you this, Denise,” Rose said, her voice growing cold. The temperature in the elevator rose several degrees. “It tells you the lengths that individuals in the Family will go to when protecting each other. If you betray Jake again, they will never. Ever. Find your body.” Rose smiled, an expression devoid of mirth and bearing more than a hint of danger. Denise swallowed hard and nodded.

             
The elevator dinged as it reached the ground floor. Rose's expression immediately changed to amiable. “Good! Are you hungry? I know a good Indian place near here.”

Chapter 22

             
[You've quite the audience right now.]

             
Anansi glanced over his shoulder to see half a dozen of the Collective Makers gathered around as he worked. Kay had started tagging individuals she recognized with either forum aliases or names if she knew them. He shrugged and returned his gaze to the partially assembled metal skeleton he was working on.

             
“So I do,” he said in a dismissing tone. He was trying to focus and while Kay was helping him get all the wiring in the legs right, she was also distracting him with chatter. He got a feeling of nervousness across the neural link. He set down his pliers and closed his eyes, slipping into the mindscape he shared with Kay.

             
[What's the matter?] he said, an avatar forming, appearing as him in his costume, except the helmet had digital facial expressions. Kay formed an avatar as well, her blue green body lacking the usual detail she put into it.

             
[I'm nervous about this.] An image of the robotic body appeared between the avatars, hovering on the darkness. Anansi frowned down at it.

             
[Why?]

             
[A myriad of things could go wrong. What if having a body alters my personality? What if I like it and the body is destroyed? What if we mess up and this kills me?] Kay began pulling on her hair and biting her lip. She looked up at Anansi, seeking encouragement.

             
[It'll be fine. You will still be you, if you get broken, I'll fix you, and unlike me, you have a data backup. Shouldn't you be more worried about me getting broken or killed?] Anansi's expression changed to indicate sticking his tongue out at Kay. Kay returned the expression.