Masks Seventeen: Part Three

by

Rodford Edmiston

They waited anxiously as the timer Randy had started counted down. They were one of the few couples on the planet where the husband knew exactly what the wife was going through. That often led to a great deal of sharing and empathy as well as jokes which were sometimes quite ribald. Just now they were both all but holding their breaths, and very deliberately looking anywhere in the small bathroom except at the little stick Karen held.

The timer sounded, and Randy quickly shut it off before turning back to Karen, who was peering at the stick.

"Well?" said Randy, eagerly.

"Positive!" said Karen, triumphantly. She held up the small tester, obviously ecstatic despite her determination to deal with either result in a calm manner.

"Well, it is your turn," said Randy, with a smirk.

"Oh, wow," said Karen, suddenly dropping onto the toilet, staring at the result. "I know we both wanted another kid, but seeing this..."

"Just remember," said Randy, leaning down to hug her one-armed, "I'm here to give you pointers."

"Oh, you," said Karen, suddenly overcome with giggles.

They walked into the small living room, Karen still stunned.

"You gonna hold that thing all day?" said Randy, nodding at the tester.

"You put yours in Roy's scrapbook! Well, after several enormous mood swings and a couple of panic attacks."

"I think I had all that coming," said Randy, mock-
defensively. He kissed her. "Anyway, I've got to head to the island in about fifty minutes. Yet another meeting with the engineers. Should be home well before supper."

"I think I'll make something special tonight," said Karen, playfully.

"I'm looking forward to that," said Randy, grinning.

* * *

Deep under the Harz Mountains Ike (Doctor Device) Kenniman was already meeting with some engineers. Fortunately, he spoke fluent German.

"Once we got the new hydroelectric generator in here to take the load we shut off the old power plant," said the man in charge of repairs and maintenance to the old Nazi base. He had to speak up a bit to be heard over the sound of flowing water, and his voice echoed slightly in the power chamber. "We then tore the old one down and gave it a full inspection. The equipment is incredibly well designed and built; we figure it had another twenty or maybe thirty years of operational life. They actually used some of the water as a once-through coolant and lubricant!"

"If the Shilmek hadn't bombarded the place and caused some damage the generator would likely have been the first part to fail," said Ike, nodding. "There's some fantastic engineering, here. We're actually learning things about what works for long-term installations."

"Any update on when the permanent generators will be installed?" said the tech.

"My factory is custom-building two Kenniman Kinematics Catalytic Fusion units for here as we speak," said Ike. "Both equipped with strippers to take hydrogen out of the water. Either could more than take the load for the entire base. Once they're installed and running, we'll put a pair of the largest PowerSell units in the containment room, in case something interrupts main power. With the new wiring and control panels we're installing, the dimensional distorter should keep running indefinitely."

The other man grimaced, and may even have shuddered.

"Der Schmale... One of my great-grandfathers was murdered by that maniac. What more can we do with something like him beyond containing him for now?"

"We've got long-term planners working on that," said Ike.

* * *

"It official!" said Energia, joyously, as she flew into the common room of Blue Impact's lair. "We're incorporated as Tricorne!"

As usual for the Winter school break, the trio of female supers were together in the team's ex-bakery headquarters. This year, though, there was an extra incentive for the gathering: Their senior member had finally conceded to properly organizing their group. Only a few days remained before the Spring semester began, and for a while they had thought the process wouldn't complete until after they dispersed to their various schools.

"Great!" said Gadgetive, as she used body english with the custom game controller to maneuver her character on the large screen. "Where's the boss?"

"I flew on ahead with the news. She's coming in a bit."

"Great," Gadgetive repeated, getting back to her game.

"What are you playing?" said Energia, who thought the images looked familiar.

"Elder Scrolls: Equestria," said Gadgetive, absently.

"Oh! I didn't know they'd made a game out of the show!"

"What show?"

"Argh. There's an animated series and comic book."

"That was quick. The game's only been out a few weeks."

"The show came first, then the comic, then the game," said Blue Impact, as she entered. She stopped and dramatically held up a large, padded envelope. "So, anybody want to see our official papers of incorporation?"

"That's them?!" said Gadgetive, startled into forgetting her game. There was a horrible equine scream from the TV.

Ignoring the virtual mayhem the two younger members hurried over to their teacher. Who made a show of opening the envelope and pulling out the certificate.

"Wow," said Energia, after a few moments of silence. "There it is. All formal and everything. Even our logo."

This was artwork featuring a stylized tricorne hat with one of the members standing on each corner. Blue Impact was at the center rear, Energia on the left and...

"Heh. They actually made me as tall as you," said Gadgetive, elbowing Energia in the ribs.

"We'll have patches with this logo to put on our costumes in a couple of days," said Blue Impact, sounding pleased. "I also know where we can get this properly framed."

"Just remember," said Gadgetive, ominously, "what the government gives it can take away."

"Once it's framed we can put it on the wall over... There?" said Blue Impact, pointing.

"No, above the com center," said Gadgetive.

"Yeah," said Energia, nodding in agreement.

"Okay. Over the com center it is."

* * *

Yet another day of administrative work at the Pine Island Academy. Yet another evening meeting with the engineers. This time to finally deal with something which they and the security staff had been complaining about since Sung had nuked the school.

"We need another upgrade to the power generation infrastructure?" said Template, not actually surprised.

"Yeah," said Junker, nodding. "Pine's zero point power plant was over-designed enough to serve us the first couple of years, but when we added those second-generation shield projectors..."

"Good thing we did, too," said Template. "The first system we had would have collapsed under Sung's nuke."

"...we had to add two Lunie fusion plants to drive 'em," Junker continued, ignoring the interruption. "They had enough reserve capacity that when we kludged together that third shield unit from spare parts they and Pine's plant together could also power it, just barely. The two newest shield generators are the biggest yet; we need another full fusion generator for each, plus upgrades to the distribution system. Even the planned geothermal generator wouldn't be enough by itself. We've already contacted Dr. Device for some custom generators; multi-cycle fusion units which are more powerful for the size and also more efficient than the Lunie generators. They'll be the most powerful electrical generators on the island. Gonna cost us a fortune, but we can't do without."

"Why haven't we duplicated Pine's zero point device?"

"Too idiosyncratic," said Junker, with a sour expression. "The folks investigating the base after it was taken couldn't even figure out how to shut it down. Pine made the stuff he planned to market easy to reproduce. He wasn't planning to share his zero point gadgets. It took us until two years ago just to figure out how to safely turn it off. Then another two months to figure out how to turn it back on! We think we have good procedures for both, now."

"Argh..." said Template, rubbing her head. "We do need to consolidate. I know a certain level of redundancy is important, but we've got too many shield generators and too many power sources."

"Yeah. Well, once we get the two newest installed we plan to use them as the main protection. They're designed from scratch to synch with each other. We'll keep the three second generation projectors as backups, powered by the grid with priority connections. Each of the two newest units will be independently powered by the new fusion reactors, with grid connections for power sharing both ways."

"I guess we can use the other units for spare parts," said Template, nodding.

"Only the second generation projectors have any parts compatible with another unit," said Junker. "However, we can sell the first force field unit we installed to a super team. Then we keep the three second generation units on standby as a backup to the new projectors. As for the power plants, we'll have main power from several renewable sources and several fusion generators, while keeping Pine's zero point unit off but ready to turn back on if it's needed."

"Selling that first force field projector will help offset the costs a bit," said Template, nodding. "Okay. We have a plan. It's an expensive plan, but it's a good one. I'll brief Eve, but don't see her making any changes."

"Good. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, after all that's happened, but I have a feeling..."

"Yeah," said Template, nodding. She lowered her voice unconsciously. "Me, too."

Junker sighed and rubbed his face, looking tired.

"Frankly, I'll be glad to stop using Pine's zero point generator. There's always been an unexplained drain somewhere, which seems to fluctuate for no reason we can determine. The thing spooks me."

* * *

"Speaking of Sung," said Eve, after Template finished briefing her, "they've finally released the inventory of the treasures he had hidden away. At least, what was in the repositories he actually used in this latest plot. He may still have others we don't know about."

"Go on."

"The majority of value was in gold - bars and coins from multiple sources, some centuries old and including much from shipwrecks - but most of the rest was in artwork. A great deal of that was known to have been looted by the Nazis, the Soviets and the Chinese during and following World War Two. There's several pieces thought to be lost, and even a couple thought to have been found!"

"Not all that surprising; any of that. I hope they're going to return the traceable items to the next of kin of the last known legal owners."

"Everyone but the Chinese have already said they will do that," said Eve, looking annoyed. "They are claiming that not only does everything in the two deposits found on their territory belong to them - regardless of who it was stolen from - but much of what was found in vaults in other nations does, as well."

"Typical," said Template, dryly.

"One of the more interesting vaults - which he barely touched, fortunately - was full of items looted from Moscow in three different wars. About half these went missing during the Great Patriotic War era. A significant portion of it dated from the Napoleonic invasion of Russia!"

"Whoah. Wonder where he found that."

"Sung isn't talking. However, at least the Amber Room can now be properly restored." She smiled at a fond memory. "So beautiful...

"However, the reason I mentioned that is that there are standing rewards for some of the items. All those who partook in their recovery will have a share, the portion depending on the person's exact role."

"Huh. It's so rare for costumed heroes to collect a reward I hadn't even thought about that. I guess some folks are going to be rich. Or at least wealthier than they were."

"Connected with that," said Eve, her expression carefully neutral, "the death of Energex has been confirmed. Which means you are due for a reward."

"I don't want it. I won't take money for killing someone."

"Then graciously accept it and donate it to the school," said Eve, smoothly. "We were never able to collect the court-ordered compensation for the damage he caused in his previous attack on the school."

"That sounds acceptable." Template gave a sour grin. "I imagine he would be really annoyed by that.

"So, do you have any questions or comments on the shield generators and power plants?"

"No," said Eve. "I agree that we need all that. I just hope we can get a decent price for that original shield generator. Most of our benefactors were heavily impacted by the War and our finances will be strained with all the repairs and improvements we have planned."

"After what the Five Great Powers did I'm just glad the new shield generators have an improved psi-resistance rating."

She grinned at Eve.

"Despite the inconvenience to you."

Part Four

"I'm in position. No-one else here," said Sharma, over the team's earpieces. "I've persuaded the device to cease counting. Starting the disarming process."

"We'll start the diversion, then," said Champion, grinning for some reason.

Jade Eagle watched Champion out of the corner of her eye. The woman seriously puzzled her. This new Champion hadn't been on the team even as long as Jade Eagle had, but the senior members not only accepted her as team leader, they acted as if she had held that position for years. Yet she was definitely not either of the previous two Champions.

Jade Eagle knew that this woman had previously been a male security supervisor. Exactly how he and become she and empowered was still unknown to her. She supposed that "Paula" had been with the team from its foundation and was a professional who had proven herself to the veteran team members. Which would explain the confidence the others placed in her.

While the details of the new Champion's background remained unclear, Jade Eagle found that accepting this person as leader was easy. She was competent, assured and very much in control of herself and the situation, without being overbearing. The trust the senior members showed her definitely helped with the acceptance. Jade Eagle still found the situation... curious.

"All right," said Champion, rising from where she and Jade Eagle waited prone on a rooftop. "Let's get this started."

The bad guys were still loading their loot into the delivery truck as the team members approached from two horizontal directions and one vertical. They were counting on the bugs and human lookouts they had posted before entering the depository to warn them of any intrusion. Their plan was both bold and simple: Wait for a holiday when the area would be empty of anyone except the security staff, take that out with gas bombs placed ahead of time, loot the place at their leisure, then rupture a gas main by remote-triggered explosion to delay the detection of their crime. By the time emergency crews cleared an access to the vault and the owners opened it to discover the robbery, the thieves would be out of the country.

They hadn't counted on someone who worked in the business center across the street having to work on a special project during the holiday. Or that she - taking a break - would just happen to look out the break room window at just the right moment to notice something suspicious. Or that, having her suspicions raised, she would use her professional-grade DSLR with an excellent long lens to confirm them. Or that she would be enough of a super fan to recognize that some of the thieves were known criminal supers. Or that, realizing the police would be short-handed due to the holiday, she would call the Assembly directly.

Thanks to Sharma, their training and equipment and some long-distance help from Dr. Gorgeous they had neutralized all the bugs. Thanks to Champion and Jade Eagle they had captured all the lookouts with no warning given. Now, with their mystic in place where she could do the most good, the rest of the team attacked.

There were eight well-trained norms, plus a pair of veteran supers on the team of criminals. They were just starting to realize that their live lookouts had missed a scheduled reporting in when the Assembly charged. Each member headed for specific targets as assigned by Dr. Gorgeous.

Champion's first target was the driver. She dove through the open passenger window of the delivery truck and caught him with a hard left cross while still above the seat. He was a normal in protective gear, and took a couple more punches to subdue, but that first one stunned him enough to make the rest easy. She used a pair of sturdy zip ties to secure him to the seat belt anchors, and took the keys out of the ignition.

Outside, Jade Eagle had already rendered nearly half the norms incapable of action; the other robbers were distracted by her, Thunderer and Maciste, not even noticing what was happening inside the truck.

Champion slipped back out the passenger window, then vaulted over the truck, catching the gunmen on the other side by surprise. In a whirl of activity she quickly disarmed each of those still active, in the process dumping them on the ground. Before they could recover she and Jade Eagle - who besides being able to fly was low level superhuman in speed and resilience - zip tied them. When finished Champion took a moment to note with satisfaction that none of the prisoners were seriously hurt. Then she moved to help Maciste with Bombast while Jade Eagle watched the prisoners. The team's strongman already had the bad guys' brick on the ropes; with Champion helping they quickly finished him.

Leaving Maciste to apply the restraints, Champion checked on Thunderer. She had Gurner stunned and in cuffs.

"You got anything to cover his face?" said Champion.

"Yeah. Gonna use an elastic bandage from my medical kit."

"That should do it. Just be sure he can breathe." She stepped back a bit to let Thunderer work and used her com. "Champion to Sharma. Status, please."

"Done," said the team mystic. "Bomb inert. No hostiles here, of course."

There was a bit of understandable amusement in that last bit. Naturally, none of the bad guys would stick around where they had set a bomb. Champion was just glad Sharma had a way with machines. Unlike her predecessor, Dr. Piano, who couldn't program a DVR even with the manual.

"Okay. You stay with that until the city bomb squad can get there."

"Roger."

Champion hopped back on top of the loot-filled delivery truck and surveyed the situation. She smiled in satisfaction. Even without every member present - and once a team's membership got beyond five it was not unusual that one or more wouldn't be able to make an operation - they were a good team. A very good team.

They stayed for the cleanup and to give statements to the police.

* * *

The meeting was a tense one. The defense of the capital was taken seriously even in peaceful times. This soon after many buildings and much of the infrastructure had been damaged in an enemy attack the defenders were borderline fanatical. Unfortunately, some of them may have crossed that border.

"Protocol calls for warning before shooting!" said Howers.

"We sent multiple warnings on all the standard aircraft frequencies," said the FAA representative, blandly.

"To a flying man."

"Well, how are we supposed to contact someone like that?" snapped the FAA rep. "If he doesn't carry a radio, that's his responsibility!"

Howers turned to the Air Force representative.

"Protocol calls for sending warnings. Procedure calls for using multiple methods. In the past helicopters have flown to intercept low and slow targets, such as supers. Helicopters with external speakers. Why wasn't this done here?"

"The whole area was covered in dense fog, with heavy clouds above that and intermittent rain," said the Colonel, with an easy shrug. "It was unsafe to have anything flying. That's how we knew this had to be the act of someone desperate."

"What if it had been a light plane with a family on board, lost in the fog and desperately trying to find a safe place to land?" said Howers, unable to keep the anger completely out of his words.

"We can tell the difference," said the Colonel, icily.

"Right. What if it had been a kid alone in a light plane, on his or her first cross country flight, lost in the fog?"

"Children are used the world over for suicide bombings."

Howers had to actually stop, close his eyes and take several deep breaths before he trusted himself to speak.

"What I'm hearing here aren't reasons," he said, with forced calm, "or even justifications. What I'm hearing is excuses for NOT DOING YOUR FUCKING JOBS!"

They had the nerve to look surprised. Howers swept his gaze around the room.

"You're all on suspension while this is investigated. So help me God, if this turns out to be what it now appears to be, I'll make sure you get tried for first degree murder. Though you'll probably be able to plea bargain it down to manslaughter."

He rose and stormed out, his speed fueled by anger and leaving the people he had interviewed stunned.

* * *

Ike Kenniman was known for his high energy level, but even he was looking tired as he met with the members of the Intrepids.

The meeting was to confirm details negotiated by video link and e-mail, and settle a few more. When the business was completed, they all just sat for a bit, there in the echoing gymnasium of the old Guild Hall, on the other side of the mountain from the Assembly base.

"One more item," said the Black Mask. "Something we mentioned in our original request but which seems to have fallen by the wayside. We need a new super monitoring system terminal."

"I've decided not to replace the satellites," said Ike, abruptly. "Probably should never have built them. I know that system came in handy for plenty of legitimate uses, but there's ground-based units - some with over-the-horizon capability - to do the job, now. It's a lot easier to control who has those than to keep folks from decoding the satellite signal. You can get those detectors from several sources, which eases my burden a bit. I'm not going to make them."

"I can't say I blame you," said Bowman. "We - well, I - had hoped you would include planet-wide damping fields for neutralizers in the new satellites, though."

"I could have snuck them in," said Ike, "but there's some serious talk about making the counter devices more easily available. If the supporters of the bill in Congress have their way, any incorporated team in good standing will be able to keep those on hand legally."

"Now that's good news," said Jet Jaguar, enthusiastically.

"What's your opinion of the state of the country's recovery?" said the Black Mask, realizing business was over for the day.

"Surprisingly good," said Ike, nodding. "The biggest shortfall is in new electrical substation transformers. For reasons I've never understood, transformers for large substations are only available from manufacturers outside the US, and even in normal times they take over a year to get. Fortunately, between preparations to handle the effects of a Coronal Mass Ejection hitting the Earth's magnetosphere, anti-terrorism measures and getting ready for the War we had a bunch of replacements on hand already. Folks have also been able to repair some of the damaged ones, and route around damaged areas in the distribution network by salvaging equipment from otherwise dead substations and moving it to areas where the system is ready for them."

They spoke for nearly another half hour, Ike appearing glad for the break from business. However, he finally had to beg their leave.

"I need to finish some estimates for the Pine Island Academy," he told the Intrepids.

"Thank you for making time for us," said the Black Mask, as the two men stood and shook hands.

"Trust me. You folks are high on my list of priorities."

* * *

Paula was still getting occasional therapy sessions with either Sharma or Dr. Gorgeous. These were much less stressful lately, and usually shorter. Today, after Paula griped a bit about Susan's sense of humor she and Dr. Gorgeous mostly just chatted.

"You seem far better in your general mood since actively resuming your work as Champion," said Lucille.

"Yeah. Getting back in the saddle has really helped. I guess I missed it far more than I thought."

"So are you quitting your job in security?" said the team genius.

"Yeah," said Paula, a bit sadly. "I need to be on call. Roger can handle the job just fine, now."

That Paula was the new Champion was no secret to team or staff. Many in both groups even knew she had been the first Champion. They might not be clear on all the details, but held their curiosity in check out of respect for her privacy.

"My new job title is Security Consultant Specialist," said Paula, rolling her eyes. "Which provides excuses for all the times I'll be away as Champion while keeping me on the payroll."

"Well, unless we get requests for your services from other teams rebuilding after the War, that should leave you free for team operations," said Dr. Gorgeous, with a laugh.

"Speaking of which," said Paula, standing, "I've got a training session in a bit with the other team members. Mostly just routine practice, but we're also going over some weaknesses spotted in today's operation."

"See you next week, then."