Part Nine

Somebody must have called ahead, because the rear gates were open and embassy staff members were standing outside, ushering the rig in. Vic was very glad the service entrance was double wide. Blue Impact, Energia, Gadgetive and - of course - Vic were allowed onto embassy grounds. The gates were then shut solidly behind them.

"It's all yours," said Vic, gladly, after she had the vehicle safely stopped where directed. She left the engine running as she climbed down from the high vantage point. "Well, the cargo container is. I don't know who actually owns the truck and trailer."

"Thank you," said a very well dressed, grey-haired woman who seemed to be in charge. "We will make certain whoever those belong to get what is their due."

Okay, that sounded politely ominous.

Several men were already busy inspecting the container, and seemed positively joyous.

"It seems to be completely intact," said the woman, after receiving a report from that group's supervisor. "There are no holes cut in the sides or bottom which we can see. We'll know for certain once we get it open. Yes, we will be careful and do that out here, just in case."

"Need any help with that?" said Gadgetive, grinning as she produced a powered cutting tool which looked like it could peel a tank.

"Ah, no," said the woman, a bit alarmed. "Thank you. We'll handle the rest."

Muttering in irritation, Gadgetive put her toy away and moved to join the other three super heroes standing nearby.

"Looks like our part of the job is done," said Blue Impact. She was smiling in satisfaction. For a change, everyone in her group was everyone happy with the situation. Well, almost everyone.

"You all right?" Energia asked Vic, noting that her college buddy seemed a bit thoughtful about something.

"Yeah," said Vic, slowly and quietly. "I think so. At first I had no idea what I was doing. I haven't felt that inept since the first time I tried to put on a bra. As things proceeded, though, I had a lot less trouble with the driving than I expected."

She gave them a strange look.

"The... machinery told me what to do."

"Huh?" said Energia.

"Well, duh," said Gadgetive, with a smirk. "I'm glad someone around here finally admits it."

"Wait... What?!" said Blue Impact. She looked at Gadgetive. "You don't seriously... I thought you were joking when you talked about that before!"

"Joking?" said Gadgetive, blankly. "Why would I joke about something so universal? Just because the rest of you don't want to admit it..."

"Gadgetive," said Vic, seriously. "It's not universal. This is the first time it's happened to me, and it's probably connected to my sense of perception."

"Yes, it is! Universal, I mean. I don't know why you people won't just admit that devices tell you what they're doing! It's... Universal! You just have to pay attention!"

"It's probably like me listening to storms or aurorae," said Energia. "I didn't know I was the only one hearing that stuff until I got powers training."

"No, everyone has this!" snapped Gadgetive. "It has nothing to do with powers. I've heard lots of my teachers talk about how 'you need to listen to the machine'!"

"They mean hear and feel the vibrations," said Blue Impact. "Just pay attention to the cues devices are giving you."

"Exactly!"

"That's not the same thing as what you're talking about, though."

"Yes, it is!"

"Oh, hallelujah," said Energia, rolling her eyes. "Here comes Constantine!"

"He's here?!" said Vic, startled, as the other members of the group reflexively whipped around to look.

"Not officially," said the superhuman monarch, as he came down the steps beside the loading dock. He was wearing an exquisitely tailored three-piece suit, and a slight smile. "Though legally, since we are on Moldarian soil."

Vic decided not to ask how he was traveling across US territory legally without government permission. Which no US administration had done in decades, despite multiple measures being taken recently towards that end.

"There's still a lot of wrap-up," said Blue Impact. "The Assembly grabbed the people who were watching the warehouse, but we still don't even know who was behind this."

"When you find the perpetrators you can have them," said Constantine, graciously. "They were smart enough not to harm any of my people. I have my country's treasures, and this time I will ensure that they arrive safely."

"Thank you," said Blue Impact, relieved.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, we need to do a full inventory."

He had just started to turn away when someone piped up.

"Wait," said Gadgetive, obviously irritated. "We found this and brought it here, and you're saying we can't see what we rescued?"

"Not just now," said Constantine, seeming to be amused by the gadgeteer. Like most masterminds, he also had a bit of the gadgeteering bug, and may have empathized. "Each item is in a separate, custom shipping container, inside that larger container. With multiple layers of padding. We'll need several days to unpack the things, do a full inventory and examine them for damage. However, I will make certain you all receive invitations to the grand unveiling once they are ready for display."

* * *

At least the embassy staff gave them a ride back to where the team had liberated the semi. The limo was quite comfortable, and had classic amenities with the minimum of modern conveniences intruding. It was a very substantial vehicle, as well; there was even room in the trunk for Blue Impact's motorcycle, laid out carefully on a tarp. She was actually reluctant to get out.

Once they were at the scene of the crime, Blue Impact noted that besides people from the Assembly, there were also costumed members of two other nearby super teams present, as well as a generous handful of Port Authority security personnel. The head of the port security people promised more of their group were on the way, as were city police. In fact, he seemed a bit irritated the latter weren't already there.

"We decided to call the Intrepids and The FX for help," said Champion, as she carefully lifted Blue Impact's motorcycle out of the limo's trunk. Once it was safely on the ground, she gestured at the additional costumed and uniformed people present. "This is going to be a headache for a lot of people at a lot of levels. There's international, national and local aspects to the crimes involved."

"Ah, let the lawyers sort it out," said Energia, grinning, very aware that Blue Impact was an attorney and taught law at the Pine Island Academy.

The security personnel were waiting for the city police before doing anything more than securing the area and supervising the costumed crime fighters. Among other tasks, they were making sure some helpful super didn't contaminate the evidence. Well, any more than it had already been compromised by the activities of Tricorne and Vic. They were also keeping the bystanders back; and there were a lot of bystanders.

The driver of the car who had tried to back into Vic was gone. Witnesses said he'd been taken away in an ambulance, only minutes after the semi left and before Sharma and Champion arrived. There was a flatbed vehicle recovery truck standing by to load the wrecked car. However, the truck driver couldn't touch it until the police arrived and worked with port security to do a preliminary examination. An older man, he waited with visible impatience for someone to do something about the situation.

Meanwhile, the side lane which the open warehouse gate opened onto had been blocked off at both ends with orange cones and yellow tape. Fortunately, it was not a major thoroughfare.

Seeing how many people were not yet there who needed to be, Energia checked her watch. She was astounded to note that only a little over an hour and a half had passed since her last check, which had been just before the car had approached the warehouse. Energia half-wondered if her watch were wrong. It wouldn't be the first time, though this watch was supposed to be very resistant to her powers.

"The Intrepids even stopped by our base and picked up Dr. Gorgeous and some of our security people on the way here," Champion continued. "They're all inside, inspecting where the truck was parked. Carefully, from a distance. We haven't heard yet from either the city or the Port Authority on the matter, but I figure someone will need to both guard this whole building - and wherever the people watching it were hiding - and go over it with a microscope. I have volunteered our people to help with that. On top of everything else, we need to figure out where they got those neutralizers. They're older, semi-portable models, but still effective."

"Well, we have at least some of those presumably immediately responsible, for both the ship's deconstruction and the container's improper storage," said Dr. Gorgeous. "However, we still don't know who was behind either of those efforts or the overall plan. Neither do we have the actual hijackers, nor whoever switched the containers."

"None of those you caught are talking?" said Blue Impact.

"Actually, when we explained to them just what they were guarding and from whom it had been stolen, they not only talked, they provided documentation," said the Black Mask, with a slight smile. "None of which led anywhere, unfortunately. They don't even know when whoever wanted the container was going to have it retrieved. They needed work and were paid - in cash - to watch from hiding. Part of their job was to call certain phone numbers if someone found the truck, then to delay whoever found it until help arrived. That's pretty much all they know.

"Oh, and they left the neutralizers behind when they chased after you because they thought the devices weren't working. They don't seem to have heard about countermeasure devices and none of us felt a need to enlighten them."

"It looks like active heroes may have to routinely use counters the way cops on the street wear ballistic vests," said Blue Impact, sourly. She sighed. "All that is beside the point, though. That point being that we still have a huge mess, here."

"So it looks like the cleanup is going to be a long, hard slog of investigative work," said Energia, nodding, as she looked around the scene again.

"There definitely seems to be a dearth of useful evidence," said the Black Mask, nodding.

"I can help some with that," said Blue Impact. "After a lot of paperwork, it turns out the owner of both the warehouse and the dry dock is one Barnekov Greene. Unfortunately, Mr. Greene seems to be completely fictional, a person who is almost certainly not real. A red herring set up to take the fall in this and several other shady and outright criminal deals. I have to wonder if Ar... one of my informants considers 'him' to be a rival, which would explain why she was so eager to share what she knew about this crime."

"We still have no idea whether whoever was behind this is a mundane but very clever criminal - or group of same - or a super of some sort," said Bowman, sounding tired. "Though I'm leaning towards the latter."

"I'm starting to believe this actually is the work of a mastermind," said Blue Impact, scowling. "If only because the plan turned out to be so needlessly complex. Well, some of the complexity was successful in creating diversion and delay, but some of the details of this plot served no purpose except to point out how clever the person behind this mess is."

She didn't notice - none of them did, actually - the driver of the vehicle recovery truck smiling just a bit at hearing this.

"That... fits with what little the Bureau is getting from the FBI," said Vic, carefully, as she put her phone away after making yet another update to her boss. "Officially. Unofficially, during one of my calls I also heard someone in the background mention a name I probably wasn't supposed to hear: John Gaughn."

To the surprise of several those standing outside the warehouse, the Black Mask reacted strongly to that name.

"Mr. Gone? Damn. He hasn't turned up in over eight years. I'd hoped he had finally died, or at least retired. Yes, if he's involved, there's definitely a mastermind at work."

The driver of the vehicle recovery truck decided that maybe he should wait in his vehicle.

"I hear sirens," said Blue Impact, looking around.

Several police cars arrived in short order, accompanied by a fire truck and an ambulance. The paramedics, it turned out, were there for the driver of the car. Who was long gone.

"There was already an ambulance here to get him," said Champion, startled. "At least, that's what several people told us."

"We - that's our unit and the fire truck, both - were sent to the wrong gate, which was closed and locked with nobody around," said the ambulance driver, as puzzled as Champion. "If this hadn't been called in as a low priority we'd have told dispatch to send another unit, while we tried to figure out how to get there. The police arrived while we were trying to force the gate, and told us to check our directions. We had to call in several times before someone figured out where we supposed to actually be, and how to get there from where we were. We had to go around a long way to get to the closest gate, then here. As far as I know, we're the only squad responding to this call."

"Damn," said the Black Mask. "I hope that wasn't a fake ambulance, here to rescue that driver."

With the arrival of the city police the investigation got well and truly under way. The quartet from the bakery lair found themselves making detailed statements, right then and there. That including showing the cops where the truck had been inside the warehouse, and walking and talking them through the escape. Besides all that, processing of the crime scene was now fully under way, and would be for a while. Meanwhile, other officers were interviewing the members of the Assembly and the Intrepids.

Blue Impact explained to Vic, Energia and Gadgetive that this attention to detail was due to the awareness by the city and the Port Authority that there would likely soon be federal agents involved beyond Vic. People who were specialists in maritime crimes. In fact, the investigation would almost certainly involve international maritime agencies.

Once the police were done interviewing the heroes the quartet was finally able to get back to their team vehicle. They flew the short distance to Blue Impact's lair. There a celebration commenced.

* * *

The post adventure wind-down included an evening at the old bakery for Tricorne and Vic. The four were all planning on getting up early the next day to resume their civilian pre-Christmas activities; once the short but intense celebration was over things were very relaxed.

"Hey, did you see this news item about the Canadian diamond mining company which found the second-largest rough diamond ever?" said Energia, checking headlines on their TV. "They named it the Template Diamond!"

"Wait..." said Gadgetive. "Is that the same company that Template saved from Timmy Thurlough's freeze ray?"

"Yep."

"Hah! Take that, Timmy! That'll teach you to mess with the laws of thermodynamics!"

"That's not the reason for..." Blue Impact began.

"Good luck getting her to understand the actual reason for Template to feel gratified," said Energia, rolling her eyes.

"Huh?" said Gadgetive.

"Anyway," said Blue Impact, firmly, "there has been another complication in the case."

"Great," said Gadgetive, rolling her eyes.

"The car which nearly backed over Vic is missing. The company the tow truck supposedly belonged to says they didn't get the call. No-one the cops have asked actually made a call for a tow truck. It apparently just appeared, waited for the city police to okay transport, then vanished with the car."

* * *

Between Christmas and the end of the year, the Moldarian embassy announced they were finished with the unpacking, inventory and cleaning. They also reported that all the items were present (according to both a very old paper inventory dating from early in the Twentieth Century and the memory of Constantine). The entire collection was put on private exhibit in the embassy's ballroom for a few days. Attendance was by invitation only. Tricorne and Vic were among those invited.

The quartet met at the old bakery just for their tour of the treasures, then proceeded to the embassy in Tricorne's large flyer. Blue Impact planned to park on the street outside, but as the travel pod settled onto its landing gear embassy personnel opened the main gate and motioned them inside. Blue Impact shrugged, and simply taxied to where they directed. They wound up parking in a spot reserved just for them. There was a sign and everything.

The quartet received a private tour of the exhibit. The display of artifacts turned out to be worth the wait. The ancient treasures of Moldaria were modest compared to those of, say, Great Britain, but they were historic and tasteful and for the most part exquisitely beautiful. As well as being both symbolic of a significant amount of history, and having even been involved in some of those events.

While much of the treasure was indeed gold and gems, more of it was things like books, scrolls, official registries, portraits and even some garments. An item which intrigued Vic in particular was the only known surviving example from the first printing of the Holy Bible in the native language of Moldaria.

"There were multiple attempts to return some or all of these items to Moldaria since they were put into the keeping of the United States during the Great War," said the woman giving them the tour. This was the same, white-haired woman who had dealt with the four supers when they brought the semi into the embassy compound. "For Constantine's coronation in 1951 we tried to have just the coronation regalia returned, but we had to make do with substitutes."

They were not allowed to touch anything. This was in part due to many of the items being fragile. However, this was also due to them having just been cleaned and restored, for the first time in over a century. Neither was there any mention of how the items were going to be transported back to their native land. Nor of how Constantine had arrived at or left from the embassy, that day he had met the heroes after their rescue of his nation's treasures. The quartet was told some things, though.

"The objects will be on display for another five days. Then they will be returned to Moldaria. The ancient vault in the palace has been upgraded just to make certain they remain secure."

* * *

As the solstice passed and Winter began to wane in the northern hemisphere, many were complaining that they'd never actually had any Winter. Even some who denied that the climate was warming. One consequence of the lack of a hard freeze was that ice in some areas of the arctic - much of Europe's northern glaciers - never really stopped breaking up and floating off into the sea. One iceberg in particular carried something long frozen. As icebergs do, it melted unevenly and became unstable. Inevitably, it rolled over. A dark mass was now exposed which had been below; the ice around this began melting faster than the rest, even in the weak Sun of that latitude. Well before the last of the clear ice covering it had fallen away, a part of the dark mass began metabolizing, though at a very low rate. Soon - on the time scale of glaciers and their iceberg calves - the figure in the ice began to stir.

* * *

The elderly mastermind took a quick look around. He'd already sent his most important items on ahead, along with his staff. Now it was just him and one suitcase to go. Things he didn't want even his highest aides to know about. Everything left behind here was expendable.

This debacle had cost him a great deal, in time, money and violated agreements. He'd even had to take care of some of the evidence himself. Though that had provided the unexpected bonus of standing right there while those costumed buffoons were oblivious to his presence. He hadn't even been particularly well disguised.

It's all in the presentation, he thought, smugly.

As he exited the penthouse apartment he almost left the door propped open, as an act of defiance. However, closing and locking it might buy him a few seconds. He did that. As he turned, he almost collided with a unfamiliar man.

"John Gaughn?"

"Who wants to know?" said the old man. He was in too much of a hurry to deal with this...

There was a blast, and all of his thoughts ended, forever.

"You're arrested."