Part Eight

The next day - Sunday - they finally got the call from Samual Logsdon, just after 8:00 AM. Naturally, he wanted to meet them at Abner's house as soon as possible. Fortunately, the four current occupants of the lair had expected activity this day and were up early.

On this, their second trip to the upscale neighborhood, the team earned quite a bit more attention. Or at least attention of a higher volume. Even as they disembarked from the flyer a middle-aged man stormed across the street, shaking his fist at them. Interestingly, the other inhabitants who had been watching the costumed quartet now vanished.

"What are you doing here?" the man shouted, angrily.

"Sir, we are conducting an investigation into the disappearance..."

"I don't care about that. You're creating a disturbance!"

"Actually, we were waiting quietly for the son of the owner," said Blue Impact, annoyed. "You're the one creating a disturbance."

"What?!" he snapped, obviously outraged. "How dare you! Do you know who I am?!"

"No," said Gadgetive, boredly.

"I'm Byron Carstairs!" he declared, seeming to be more outraged that they pretended (in his mind) not to know him than at their presence.

He paused, with a smug grin, waiting first for recognition to dawn, then for the hasty, embarrassed pleas for forgiveness. None of which happened.

"Sir, we are here with the permission of the owner's son. He should be here shortly," said Blue Impact, recognizing his expectations but having no intention of fulfilling them.

"You... you... I'll call the police!"

"I'm a federal law enforcement officer with the Bureau of Special Resources," said Vic, tiredly, pointing to the badge on her belt.

"I'm calling the police!" the man shouted. He turned and hurried away, continuing over his shoulder. "The real police! Not some... government agency!"

There was a blare of horns from the Mercedes he stepped out in front of. Something which the man ignored. Fortunately for Mr. Carstairs, the car was planning to pull to the curb in front of the flyer, so it was already slowing. The driver and sole occupant was Samuel Logsdon, whom they were there to meet.

"What was that all about?" said Logsdon, staring after Carstairs as he exited his car.

"Most likely jealousy over our advanced transportation," said the team leader. She offered her gloved hand. "Mr. Logsdon? I'm Blue Impact."

She introduced the other three.

"Yes, I saw you four on the security video when I was checking it remotely the other day," he said, shaking their hands, too. "Unfortunately, that connection only shows what the outside cameras see. The signal goes to an off-site security cache."

He opened the gate and entered, motioning for the quartet to follow him.

"Oh, and please call me Sammy."

"No arsenal popping out of the ground," said Blue Impact, looking a little uneasy as they traversed the concrete walkway to the front door.

"Those are inert," said Sammy, with a vague gesture towards the places under the sod where the weapons were stored. "All fakes, just for show, but they keep people out. Never had a forced entry or had anyone trespass more than once."

"There's a two-car garage..." said Vic.

"I normally pull in there, to avoid attracting attention," said Sammy, glancing in the direction Carstairs had gone as he climbed the three steps to the small stoop. "However, when bringing guests inside this is far simpler."

"We appreciate this access," said Blue Impact, as he opened the door and held it for the four women. "If only to check one more box in our investigation. However, you mentioned something about records..."

"My father has all the documents involving Abner and his creations here," said Sammy, pulling the door closed behind him. "He says that makes keeping those separate from his business and other interests easier."

Sammy led them through what seemed like a perfectly ordinary front hall, into a living room. He flipped a wall switch and the ceiling light came on. There was also a series of muffled clicks as parts of the trim below the ceiling unfolded to reveal impish faces. Bizarrely, their eyes seemed to follow the humans as they moved. People and animals in what had appeared to be ordinary framed landscapes or portraits came to life. In one painting a windmill turned its blades, and birds slowly glided across the background. Hidden and silent projectors began showing images on the ceiling.

"It's like being in the Dwarf House," said Gadgetive, voice barely above a whisper.

"Abner had a strange sense of whimsey," said Sammy. "I spent a large part of my childhood in this house, so it doesn't seem all that strange to me. I am very aware of how it affects most people, though. You better believe that Abner had an override to turn all this off when he wasn't showing it to visitors. I'm not even showing you the full suite of features. Those tend to make conversation difficult, due to the music and voices. Some of the interactive characters will occasionally get into positive feedback loops talking with each other. There have been times when I was glad the more grumpy characters in this house couldn't pull themselves off the wall and finish an argument with a fist fight."

The furnishings were very typically late Sixties in style and perfectly maintained. There was not the least speck of dust. Energia had the impression that as they left each room automatic cleaners - in her imagination like something from an old cartoon - would emerge to quickly and quietly remove any dirt from the carpet or flooring.

"Even most of the furniture in these rooms has animation features," said Sammy. He flashed them an impish grin. "Don't sit at the dining room table unless you want all the stuff on it to come alive, with the centerpiece unfolding into a very short French waiter and asking for your order."

"Yow!" said Energia.

He was trying to keep a light mood, but Blue Impact could tell there was a substantial underlayer of worry. Considering that his elderly father was still missing she could definitely understand that.

Sammy gave them a brief tour of the house, including the garage, which let them check to make certain there was nothing amiss in the entire house. Gadgetive was close to swooning at all the delightful, whimsical additions Abner had made. Though Sammy was careful to point out that the main bedroom and its bathroom and Abner's study - all on the second floor - were largely mundane.

"He knew first-hand how annoying this stuff could be after a few hours," said Sammy, with a sad smile. "Now, the records are in the basement. The stairs down are in the kitchen, which is why I saved it for last."

In the kitchen the old-fashioned fluorescent fixture in the middle of the ceiling came on with a plink and a slight hum. There were fewer animations in here, and they were very unobtrusive. Though as the group passed through the doorway at the top of the stairs a face in the upper door frame smiled down at them.

The basement had no amusement park style active decorations, but instead was nearly filled with humming, clicking, rotating and oscillating parts. Now Gadgetive did swoon, though that might have been from the subtle aromas of machine oil and ozone. The others worked around her.

Sammy pointed to filing cabinets along one wall, and a workbench along another.

"Abner used the workbench to make and maintain all this. My dad was no slouch at technical stuff, but he wouldn't touch anything Abner made without his supervision or, later, checking the detailed notes Abner left. Dad primarily used the bench for going through these papers."

Some of the papers involved records for utilities and property taxes. The rest were either fan mail or people interested in buying the property. There was a large overlap between those last two groups.

A quick check showed nothing suspicious in either set of records for the past several months.

"We could search further back," said Blue Impact, straightening with a sigh. "However, in my professional opinion if there were something here connected with your father's disappearance it would have been in the records we've already checked."

They spoke with Sammy for a while, about where his father might be and the larger set of crimes, and about Abner's work. Gadgetive was especially interested in the latter.

"Gadgetive," said Blue Impact, with exaggerated patience, "this is not the appropriate time. After we find Mr. Logsdon you can speak with him about this."

Gadgetive might have been about to protest the waste of opportunity, but Vic suddenly held up a hand.

"Getting a cell phone message."

She pulled out her Bureau-issue phone and took the call.

"That was from the FBI team working on the case. They've uncovered a lead to another warehouse. They definitely want us along."

"Sammy, thank you for helping with this," said Blue Impact, putting a reassuring hand on his upper arm. "Hopefully, this clue will lead us to your father."

* * *

"Okay, the thefts could have been just to make the person behind them rich," said Energia, frowning in thought as the flyer went high above airliner routes and hurried south. "What I'm seeing, though, smacks of a larger, much more complicated scheme. With the collectible item thefts just used to fund the big, overall plan."

"Something which also includes revenge of some sort," said Blue Impact, nodding. "Though 'includes' may be an understatement. I suspect that the revenge aspect is the primary motivation in all this."

"Okay, how many masterminds are there currently running around loose whom this would fit?" said Vic, her expression mirroring that of Energia.

"Not many, if you assume they don't have much in the way of starting financial resour..."

Blue Impact stopped, looking startled.

"No. They couldn't have let him go again."

"What?" said the others, in fair chorus.

"He was found guilty by the International Court of the UN and sentenced to life in Scheveningen Prison! For, among other crimes, detonating a nuclear device in the stratosphere! Even if he escaped they would have warned people, surely, and he couldn't be running things from inside... Or could he?"

"Perfect cover," said Gadgetive, nodding thoughtfully. "Most folks wouldn't suspect he could do it, and if he's caught he gets to embarrass the people who dared judge him!"

"Sung," said Vic, nodding.

"Unlikely," said Blue Impact, countering her own suspicion of a moment before. "There are plenty of others whom this profile would fit. As well as many who could emulate that approach as a cover. He's just on our minds due to recent events."

"Still something to keep in mind," said Gadgetive.

"Heads up, people," said Blue Impact, as the travel pod descended towards the location Vic had been given. "Looks like they went ahead again."

"And got in trouble, again," said Energia.

Blue Impact guided their vehicle in a descending spiral to get a good view of the site. The warehouse was - like the previous one - in an industrial and shipping area. It was off to itself, with a large, paved area all around, meant for parking semi trailers. This was all currently empty, except for utility poles and such. Plus more than a dozen human-shaped mechs of various types but with distinct family resemblances.

"Are those Thessalian hunter-killer robots?" said Energia, alarmed.

"Peloponnese," said Gadgetive, sounding distracted. "Plus several other older models. Be glad they're not all Thessalians, or even Peloponnese; that many of either of those models would definitely give just the four of us a hard time."

This warehouse was apparently more important to the mastermind than the previous one. The FBI was already heavily engaged with multiple humanoid machines. They were obviously bulletproof; at least, for certain potencies of bullets.

The pod landed and the quartet hurried to where the FBI agents had taken cover behind their vehicles. Fortunately, it seemed that the units were programmed to stay within a certain distance of the factory. They would pursue to that limit, but no further.

"We thought they might have more supers," gasped Agent Sanders. "We stocked up on neutralizers. Which, of course, don't work on these things! We haven't even seen any people here, just machines!"

"Well, we have a gadgeteer and those are gadgets," said Blue Impact, confidently. "We should have this licked pretty quick."

"I see three Chaonia, two Epirus, a Peloponnese, even a couple of old Bisaltia units," said Gadgetive, who seemed more impressed than worried. "Be careful of those. They look crude and are slow but they're very strong and tough and can break a neck or fracture a skull with one blow. Wow. Now I see more coming. Probably in response to our arrival. Looks like they're all in original condition, too, except for weapons!"

"Less admiration," said Blue Impact, "more information! How do we stop these things?!"

"I could do an EMP..." said Energia.

"Won't help," said Gadgetive. "The original emulates these are based on were designed to go where their creator couldn't, including inside nuclear reactors. The Bisaltia were specifically intended to survive a nuclear war! All those models are hardened, against pretty much anything. You can jam their communications, but they all are capable of independent operation."

"So it's do this the hard way," said Blue Impact, raising her fists.

"No, no, no! This is history, here!"

"Then come up with a way to stop them while doing as little damage as possible!" snapped Blue Impact. "Especially to people! There are lives at stake, so make it quick!"

Gadgetive suddenly took off her backpack.

"You remember when we fought Bluebot?" she said, as she began taking stuff out.

"Of course," said Blue Impact.

"Well, I figured out a way to stop him with a twonky of my own, to sabotage the one which had taken him over."

"Tell me you can use that to stop these."

"Yeah. These things are all commercial models; if they haven't been altered I know how they think, literally. Just give me a few minutes to modify the design of my worm and get my fablab to make a dozen or so, then load them into my launcher..."

"Remember, you've got people here who can hand deliver things," said Blue Impact.

"Oh. Right. Okay, just... keep an eye on them until I can get these made."

That, fortunately, proved easy. The devices milled around, obviously watching the intruders, but would not go beyond a certain limit. They wouldn't even use their weapons unless someone came inside that invisible boundary.

"Okay," said Gadgetive, laying four small, rough-textured balls on the trunk of the FBI car they were behind. "These are for the Peloponnese models. Those are the newest and most capable ones here. Just put one of these against the ventilation grill on the back below that bulge. Hold it long enough for the twonky to deploy and get a grip. It will do the rest."

"How long will the deployment take?" said Blue Impact.

"Uhm, well, it varies according to the exact placement, how the unit is moving, how..."

"Are we talking seconds or minutes?"

"Or years?" said Energia.

"Oh! Just two or three seconds."

"Not easy, but doable," said Vic, nodding.

"Just remember, besides being remotely controllable, those units communicate with each other. That should hold true even between models, since they're cooperating and not fighting each other. So watch for units ganging up on anyone attacking one of them."

"Agent Sanders," said Blue Impact, turning to the head of the FBI contingent. "How are they armed?"

"Electrical and sonic stunners," he said, ticking things off on his fingers, "beanbag guns, net guns, pepper balls, and maybe a few other things. All considered less lethal, but still not fun. A third of us were down by the time we were able to start withdrawing. If they had pursued us we'd all be down."

"Roger. Looks like she's holding true to her goal of not killing anyone. Okay, I have a full-face filter mask I can put on and am tough enough that the other weapons shouldn't stop me."

"I can hover with my plasma wall up and draw fire," said Energia. "I can also use my powers to impede those things. Though only a few at a time."

"I bet I can draw fire and dodge well enough not to get hit," said Vic. "My armor has a filter for the helmet I can deploy, and built-in sound protection."

"Gadgetive, get back to making more of these things for the rest of those things. Vic, here, see if you can place these without taking too much risk. I've got the other two."

A surprisingly short time later they had all the drones under Gadgetive's control, in part due to help from the first units her twonkys suborned. As it turned out, Vic could - with only a bit of difficulty - put the twonkys in place without getting hit, which greatly helped speed the operation. Though she and Blue Impact were still downwind of several deployed paintballs filled with pepper powder or indelible stain which hit near them.

"That went better than I hoped," said agent Sanders, straightening and stretching his back once the all clear was given. He grinned at the supers. "Well done."

For the first time, Energia noticed that Sanders was a bit older than the other agents. His hair even showed quite a bit of grey.

No wonder he had to stretch his back.

"How did you find this place?" said Blue Impact, now that they had a moment to catch up.

"As a precaution we planted trackers in several types of gadgets we felt were likely to be targeted," said Sanders. "Several came here, with a few going to another location, a business downtown. It's the headquarters of some sort of technology company. We didn't have enough agents to hit both locations at the same time, so we just have a few watching the other site until we can finish here."

"I'll have Gadgetive tell those drones to enter the warehouse ahead of us," said Blue Impact. "We can use them to check if there are any more inside, as well as for traps."

However, once they got the nearest warehouse door open they realized the interior had been very thoroughly torched. The supers and FBI personnel fell back, coughing at the nasty smoke, except for Vic and Blue Impact, who still had filter masks on. Those two took a quick look inside, then came out and confirmed the worst.

"No signs of life," said Blue Impact. "I could see that there were people in there earlier, though. They must have disabled the sprinklers, started the fire and left somehow while we were busy."

"Great," said Sanders, sourly. "I'll tell the people we have watching the office building that we're on the way."

"Let them know that we four will be there before the rest of you," said Blue Impact. Her tone made clear that this was not negotiable.

"Before that, though, better let Gadgetive wipe you two down," said Energia. "You may have noticed how we're all keeping our distance. You both kind'a unclean, right now, with all the pepper balls and such."