Part Three

The exhibit was in the technology hall of the museum complex near the city's center. The exhibit was in the elegant main building, which still appeared modern a half century after construction. There were also several annexes - mostly older buildings - nearby and a large storehouse out in an industrial area. The museum as an institution was nearly as old as the nation and highly respected. Some people - including wealthy donors to the museum - objected snootily to "popular culture" exhibits such as this one. They preferred that what they saw as a dignified institution restrict itself to more "serious" displays. Such as incredibly expensive paintings and sculptures and - for technology - stock tickers and bank vaults. However, the "popularizing" displays garnered far more support with everyone else, so they continued despite the objections.

The specific event for which super help had been requested was a display of items from classic theme park attractions. This included automated vehicles from both amusement rides and visitor transportation, surprisingly sophisticated automatons of several types, sections from "living" structures and a complete automated (though for exhibit only) kitchen. Many of these were presented in sequences, showing how the current versions had come from earlier ones. Energia's duties involved guiding people through a progression in the development of robotic avatars used in various attractions.

Even as she greeted the next tour group, she marveled at how the war damage to the city was now almost unnoticeable. This building had only been lightly affected, and most of the others in the complex were likewise spared. However, the civic center across the street - visible through the front doors and windows of this building - had needed to be almost completely rebuilt. All of those repairs had been finished more than a year earlier, and now you couldn't tell they'd ever been damaged.

"This portion of the exhibit demonstrates how the animated manikins advanced in sophistication," said Energia, or "Sue" as her nametag read. "The earliest ones were, indeed, barely more than manikins with motors added. Fortunately, park management - realizing how unconvincing they were, even at a distance - formed a team called the Advanced Technologies Research Department. This was soon nicknamed the Head Shop. Both their organizational structure and nickname were inspired by Lockheed's famous Skunk Works. Company management was belatedly very upset when someone later pointed out that the nickname was also slang for a place to buy drug paraphernalia. The managers felt that those in the workshop had put one over on them, but by then the nickname had stuck."

She found the way her voice echoed from the high ceiling to be a bit distracting, as were the voices and footsteps in the large, busy foyer from those outside the walled pathway which she led her charges along. Fortunately, the next part of the tour was in an enclosed function room. She led her group from the first section, across a short stretch of marble-floored open foyer, through a door and into the next portion of the tour.

"Here you see the first results of their work. These manikins were intended to replace those we just saw in the same attractions. The improvements are obvious, though they still don't stand up to close examination."

There were many murmured sounds of people being impressed.

Nearby, on a nearly parallel path, Blue Impact (her nametag read "Constance") was giving a similar spiel on the equipment used to move visitors around the park. Energia and Blue Impact - already in disguise - had been fitted with attractive dresses the night before and this morning had been mixed in with several other hosts who guided visitors around the exhibits and gave presentations. Only upper management knew they were supers. All the hosts had received a set of briefings and printed documents to study for their particular parts of the show. The exhibit was scheduled to last for a month, but the attack would likely come in the first few days... if it came at all.

The show was pretty impressive, and involved several parallel chains of exhibits, each with a multi-stage tour through multiple rooms, all starting and ending in the huge main lobby. Energia wasn't a techie but knew enough about technical matters through training and experience to appreciate the importance of the items being displayed. However, her appreciation was only a fraction of that exhibited by the team's gadgeteer.

"Yeah, you don't see magic doing anything like this!" said Gadgetive, enthusiastically, over their earbuds.

"What about some of the famous magical automatons?" said Blue Impact, in a low murmur, just loud enough to be picked up by her earbud through bone conduction.

The older super was currently walking back to the start of her part of the tour, with no-one close to her. She was therefore free to talk, though quietly.

"Not the same."

"They look and act the same," said Energia, in a similar murmur, taking advantage of the ambient noise to comment as she lead her crew through an open - and busy - stretch of hallway.

"Okay, let's talk digital, then!" snapped the gadgeteer. "The integrated electronics communications system used for the later-made of the devices on exhibit and their modes of operation were part of the foundation used to form first ARPANET and later the Internet. Let's see the elves develop intercontinental digital communications!"

"Actually, the Bluegrass Elves have what they call 'the Enternet' aka 'the wood wide web,'" said Blue Impact, quietly. "Glomahr told me about it. They use the fungal rhizomes which pervade a wood or forest to send messages and even monitor conditions the plants are experiencing. They use their fingers to interact with the plants and rhizomes, so it's also digital. They've been doing this for thousands of years, though the nicknames I mentioned are, of course, modern."

"Not the same thing," said Gadgetive, smugly. "Besides, that's biological and psionic. Not magical."

Energia reached the next part of her tour just then and had to stop talking over the radio and prepare to resume her spiel. Blue Impact also got back to the start of her tour. Gadgetive, of course, was under no such constraints.

"Most of what's on exhibit here was the work of a pretty small group," she said. "You hardly mentioned any names in your spiels, and those were all bigshots. Upper managers. The actual workshop was run by Abner Sturgeon, who was probably a gadgeteer and maybe a true mad inventor. He's not mentioned at all in the stuff for the exhibit, and barely in any of the official histories, even though he was instrumental (sorry about that) in designing the equipment which made their park a hit. After the founder of the company died Abner had a falling out with the corporate executives who took over from him. He finally 'retired' in a fit of exasperation.

"Poor old Abner," said Gadgetive, finishing with a sigh. "He was dead, alone in his home, for three days before anyone started worrying about him. They had to call in one of his former coworkers - Emil Logsdon - to figure out how to get in safely to check on him. Abner had spent his last eight years occupying himself modifying his home into a fully integrated mechanical system. Just to show his former bosses that his ideas would actually work."

Energia gritted her teeth and smiled at her tour group, as Gadgetive rattled on. All the undercover duties fell to her and Blue Impact due to one of the few things Gadgetive and Vic had in common: They both refused to wear a dress. The amusement that shared attitude brought Energia kept her mood pleasant with the guests at the exhibit in spite of Gadgetive's occasional rants.

* * *

"Second day of this," said Gadgetive, tiredly. "When do we get some action?"

Her post was on the roof near a skylight over the middle of the foyer. Vic was stationed similarly above the main entrance.

"Be careful what you wish for," said Vic. "By the way, Blue Impact, be sure to thank whoever thought to put a portajohn up here. I do wish we had a bit more shade, though."

"It's only another seven and a half hours," said the team leader, amusement in her voice.

Still, the day ended with no unusual activities. Well, until they got inside the lair and were descending the stairs to the living quarters level. Vic took her helmet off then instead of waiting as usual until she was in her quarters, and Gadgetive did one of the few legitimate triple-takes the others had ever seen.

"You all right?" said Energia.

"You're... different," said Gadgetive, to Vic, making it an accusation.

"I am?"

"Oh!" said Energia, laughing a bit as she got it. "Vic took her extensions off. That's her natural hair length."

"Oh. Yeah. It fits better under the helmet this way," said Vic, touching her short hair. She also gave a bit of a laugh. "It meets Bureau hair length regulations like this, too. Yesterday I dressed for work in my room, then took the helmet off in my room later, so I guess you hadn't seen me like this before."

Gadgetive stared a bit. Then, muttering under her breath, she pushed ahead, hurried through the door and on to her room.

"Is it just me, or is she worse than usual lately?" said Blue Impact, irritated.

"I think she's just still upset that we have an 'unexpected' guest for Spring Break," said Energia. She looked over at Vic, who was obviously uncomfortable. "Don't take it personally. She'd react the same way to an additional cat."

"I don't actually find that reassuring," said Vic.

* * *

"You're looking a bit under the weather," said Blue Impact to Energia, the next morning, as she and the others had a quick breakfast at the lair before heading to the museum.

She and Energia were actually in civvies and disguises involving wigs (a new one for Energia; a different one for Blue Impact). They would carry their costumes to work in gym bags, which would be stashed in a janitor's closet near the front atrium at the museum.

"I can't get that ride theme song out of my head," said Energia, tiredly.

"Best way to get rid of an ear worm," said Vic, "is to listen to another song."

"I actually tried that. It worked for a while, and I was able to get to sleep, but then I woke up with the ride song playing in my head, again."

"You sure it wasn't Gadgetive playing something in AM RF which only you could perceive?" said Blue Impact, impishly, looking at the team gadgeteer.

"Huh?" said Gadgetive. She suddenly looked thoughtful. "Oh. Yeah. That would work for her."

"Oh, thanks, teach," said Energia, glaring back and forth between the other two members of Tricorne. "You've given her an idea."

"Hey, I'd never do that!" said Gadgetive. "I mean, as a short term prank, while you're awake, maybe. Not to keep you from sleeping. Sleep is important."

Vic managed to hide her smirk. She had realized early in her visit that Gadgetive was pretty much constantly short on sleep.

"Well, let's load the dishwasher and get going," said Blue Impact. "It's Thursday, and things will ramp up tomorrow. Let's enjoy what will hopefully be a - relatively - quiet day."

"You had to say that," said Energia, with a sigh.

* * *

Later, with Vic and Gadgetive at their concealed posts on the roof, Energia and Blue Impact - already in their civilian disguises - donned their hostess outfits with the others who were giving the tours. As they prepared to start their day, Blue Impact thought she heard Energia muttering under her breath. Moving closer, she realized what the other was saying.

"Please don't let there be a robbery," "Sue" muttered. "Please don't let there be a robbery."

"Worried about your new dress?" said "Constance" quietly, as the two supers lagged behind the other hosts.

"Of course I'm worried about my new dress! They said we could keep them afterwards!"

"Well, if some..."

There was an enormous crash, something not just heard but felt.

"Mech attacking the building!" shouted Vic, over their earbuds.

"Shit!" yelled Energia. She looked frantically around. "I just realized, we're further from our costumes here than at any point on the tours we give!"

"Then we better hurry!" said Blue Impact, taking off running.

"Now we're running in high heels!" shouted Energia.

* * *

By the time they got to the atrium Gadgetive and Vic were both at floor level inside the large room, having descended through a skylight via the former's rope. Nearly everyone else was gone, even the security guards. This was not surprising, because the two supers were fighting several armed and very well protected drones. Fortunately, the armaments seemed to be less-then-lethal. That didn't mean they were safe to be hit by.

Blue Impact - thanks to her superior reflexes - made it to the janitor's closet first. Her and Energia's ID badges had been coded to unlock this door and a few others in addition to those the regular hosts' badges opened. Energia ran in as her teacher held the door. Neither bothered turning the lights on; both had senses which made that irrelevant. Both had also practiced putting their costumes on quickly, even in difficult situations.

Again, Blue Impact finished first. She charged out the door and into the atrium while Energia was still getting her bodystocking secured, causing the latter to emit a squawk of outrage. The oldest member of the quartet took in the scene as she ran. Vic was mainly dodging; machines were not the sort of opponent her abilities were best against, though she was far from helpless. Gadgetive was faring better, since this was the sort of foe she was good against, but there were several drones. If Vic hadn't been drawing the attention of half of them the gadgeteer would have been swarmed.

Blue Impact made full speed towards the closest drone. She caught it with a place kick just as it was turning towards her. She even managed to aim it at another drone. That put those two out of action. Blue Impact continued to evaluate the rapidly changing situation as she moved to the next target.

The drones were flying spheres, a bit less than a meter in diameter, method of propulsion unknown. They could sprout tentacles with claws or weapons from concealed ports. How many of either they had was currently unknown. They weren't hugely fast but they were quite maneuverable. As witnessed by the throbbing in Blue Impact's foot, they were also very solidly built.

On top of all that, Blue Impact could see a much larger sphere working to widen the hole in the wall through which the drones had entered. That device was big enough to have a person inside. She didn't know for certain that it did, but figured that was pretty likely.

A drone targeted her, and she dodged. One thing in the favor of the defenders was that for some reason they retracted a weapon-equipped tentacle after a shot, then redeployed it. A flaw in the programming, or was the maneuver necessary to recharge/reload the weapon? Something to be determined later. Blue Impact leapt into a diving roll and came up with a chunk of wall, which she threw at another drone. It dodged, resulting in a glancing blow, but that still kept it from acting against any of the trio for a moment.

Energia finally arrived, flying into atrium above the fray. She zapped a drone with each hand, using focused heat rays. Disabling them took several seconds.

"Get the big one!" Blue Impact shouted.

Energia gave a short nod and flew towards where the larger sphere was still clumsily widening the hole. It suddenly found the loose material it was removing shoving hard against it, moving it backwards, allowing Energia to fly outside and gain altitude.

"They're using graviton manipulation," said Energia, changing tactics. "Hang on..."

The small spheres inside fell and rolled. The big one dropped, but recovered, its stronger drive resisting Energia's efforts. She tried a heat ray, but the thing had some sort of protective field. Magnetism and electricity likewise proved useless. That left visible light, but a brief test of that proved the armor too tough to burn through quickly.

"Hah! You supers never learn! My foamed cermet armor can withstand over three thousand kelvins!" shouted an amplified voice.

Energia did a quick evaluation, then flew away.

"What the Hell..." said the operator, confused. Then he grinned, hanging in his uncomfortable but secure harness inside the sphere. "Hey, did I just scare off the big, bad hero?"

"Nope," said the big, bad hero. "Check your rear camera."

Instead, the mech quickly spun around, throwing the man inside painfully against the straps. He gaped as he saw Energia, glowing and smiling, with a hand on the large transformer in the small lawn on one side of the museum property.

"Smile. Wait for flash."

"Shit!" he screamed, as he frantically tried to target her.

Too late. The eye-searing, visible-light beam which streamed from her other hand cut deeply into his armor. Energia went all around the mech, leaving just a central cylinder containing the cockpit. This dropped to the pavement with a loud clunk and began rolling.

Energia intended to use her Meissner effect to stop it, but was interrupted when the rear hatch blew off as the occupant ejected. The operator at least had the presence of mind to wait until the hatch was pointing away from any close structures. Though he did scrape along the pavement - with much sparking - before the ejection pod could turn upwards. All that, however, didn't stop Energia from snagging him in mid-rocket boost, holding the pod until the flames stopped, then grabbing the pilot as the pod ejected the seat and his parachute deployed. Energia separated the inventor from his seat and deposited him - a bit ungently - onto the grass near the hole he had made in the wall.

She thought he might give a defiant speech swearing revenge or retribution or perhaps try to escape. Instead, as Energia corralled the still-rolling cockpit, he chose the third most common choice of gadgeteers and mad inventors in such situations.

"My mech!" he wailed. He crawled over to the nearest part. He cradled as much of the huge, heavy armor section in his arms as he could and rocked it. "My beautiful creation..."

Energia watched to make sure he wasn't actually trying to get manual control of some weapon. However, he just sat there, holding it and crying, until Blue Impact arrived and zip-tied him.

"Is that it?" said Energia, landing beside Blue Impact.

"We took care of all his drones. You took care of his battle mech. There's property damage but nobody hurt, beyond being scared and some minor bruises and scrapes. Looks okay."

"That's what you think!"

The amplified voice made all three of them start. A quick look in that direction showed men in armor running towards them. Armor which looked like exaggerated versions of what police wore when on riot duty.

"We are RIOT SQUAD!" shouted the smug man with the bullhorn, confirming that analysis of their style of dress. "And you are quashed!"

If they had simply attacked without the warning they might have had a chance. Instead, the leader had to posture. Something the others in the group complained about later, including directly to him.

Thanks to that warning, Energia leapt into the air while Blue Impact did a diving roll to the side. As a result, the attacks against them - beanbag rounds, spinning nets and pepper balls - found their only target in the already captured inventor. He was hit with multiple pepper balls and two nets. Meanwhile, Energia tried a mass electrical jolt tuned to the human nervous system. It was only partially effective, due to the shielding in their body armor. Then she had to frantically dodge, as stun bags, pepper balls and several nets came at her from multiple directions.

The fight was then well and truly engaged. There were successful attacks on the part of both sides but nothing definitive, leaving the situation hanging in the balance. Fortunately, Gadgetive and Vic - who had been making sure the drones inside were all completely out of action and that no bystanders were under the debris - arrived on the scene and quickly turned the tide decisively against the second set of attackers.

Gadgetive found herself mainly defending the others. She jammed the attackers' communications, gummed up several of the weapons and generally made herself useful without having much time to become more offensive. Vic, on the other hand, very quickly took out three of the six still standing after Blue Impact's first counter attacks. The older super soon found herself in an informal competition with the martial artist as to how many each took care of. It finally came down to Vic facing the last attacker by herself while the others were busy restraining those already downed. That last member of Riot Squad standing being the man with the bullhorn.

He threw this at Vic, and used the moment she needed to dodge to prepare for her defeat. He could see that he was at least twice her age and knew he had been training hard since his teens; there was no way she had enough experience to stand against his superior skills. Smiling, the man moved in, planning on an elaborate display of his martial prowess. He started with a feint, designed to set up his target for a series of other feints and stunning blows, which would culminate in a devastating finishing strike.

Vic blocked the feint and bounced off the block into a heel-palm strike to the man's helmeted forehead. His head shot backwards. Fortunately for him, the rest of his body followed. He hit the pavement hard and didn't move.

"Wow..." said Gadgetive, wide-eyed behind her mask as she saw this. She turned to Blue Impact and grinned. "Okay, she might be useful after all..."