Part Five

"Guess what?" said Blue Impact, a couple of hours later, back at the lair. "Turns out the person who owns the house is the same Emil Logsdon who had to let the police in, years ago. He is part owner of the real estate company which bought the house, which is why there's no record of further transfers. He just had the company say it was waiting for a buyer to develop the property, in order to head off complaints about the house not fitting with the rest of the neighborhood. I guess he took it over as a private project. Or maybe as a memorial to his friend."

The other three had been in the lounge area, talking about the case while their leader worked in her private corner. When she finally had something to tell them, Blue Impact was pleased to find that they were already together and close by.

"It did fit in when it was built," said Energia, who had learned to appreciate old things from her maternal grandmother. "The whole suburb was bought out, usually one lot at a time, and the other old houses torn down, with the properties often being combined to make room for McMansions."

"Well, yes," said Blue Impact, with a straight face. "Anyway, the bad news is that when I tried to contact Logsdon I couldn't. He seems to have disappeared. Even his wife doesn't know where he is. She just spent several hours calling around to their children and grandkids and other family as well as friends and business acquaintances. No-one has seen him since early this afternoon."

"I bet he's inside that house," said Energia, with conviction.

"His wife says he went to check on it after the attempts were made on the exhibits this morning, but no-one saw him actually arrive there and he's not answering his phone. Because of the circumstances the police are already looking for him. His car has an emergency location device and the police say his vehicle was found abandoned in a culvert well away from the path he should have taken to get from where he was to the house."

"Shit," said Vic, alarmed and angered. "I bet someone kidnapped him to force him to let them into the house and something went wrong."

"Well, he's almost eighty, and while he's in good health any rough treatment of someone that age could definitely have serious health results. Also: language."

"So we need to find him soon," said Energia.

"He needs to be found soon," said Blue Impact. "Not necessarily by us, but by someone. Soon."

* * *

"This case is turning out to be pretty big," said Blue Impact, at breakfast the next morning. "Though there's still nothing probative, both local and federal investigations - plus my own checking - have shown connections between all three robbery attempts at the museum and several similar recent crimes."

"Shit," was all Energia said. The others stayed silent.

"Please be more careful with your language," said Blue Impact, tiredly. "I know you're well past legal age, but it still gives a bad impression."

"You can tell she's older than she looks," said Gadgetive, smirking. She was absent-mindedly tapping her fingers on the table they sat around. The others had learned to ignore that.

"Yeah, but she has a good point," said Vic, a bit reluctantly. "They train those of us who work for the Bureau of Special Resources - including part-timers like me - to mind our manners. Something I forgot until she called me on it yesterday. Perception can be as important as reality to some people. We must be like Caesar's wife, and avoid even the appearance of impropriety."

"So," said Blue Impact, resuming. "At least five out of seven recent tech crimes we know of have connections to the works of Abner Sturgeon. Investigators say that the ruby heist has connections - though they're more tentative - to whoever planned the other crimes. We therefore need to check on more of Abner's work, and try to find some way to track down whoever is behind all this."

"Not a lot to go on," said Vic. "Doro says all the thieves we caught were paid through intermediaries. The few of those who have already been caught in connection to the other crimes gave testimony indicating they were also contacted indirectly."

"Again, all signs of a cautious, competent mastermind at work," said Blue Impact. She sighed. "We need more information."

"None of his stuff is still actually used by the theme parks," said Gadgetive, thoughtfully. "They may have some in storage, though. That could be a target."

"The FBI has already thought of that," said Vic, nodding. "The company's official line is that they reused or scrapped all the old equipment. Most of the stuff in the show here, for example, actually came from private collectors, with the rest already being in museums. Which means the exhibit organizers unintentionally gathered it all in one place for the thieves. The FBI is making Abner Sturgeon's old employers give them inventories of what the company still has, though, and they're also keeping an eye on whatever is left, wherever it is."

"So, this hypothetical mastermind will probably seek other targets," said Energia.

"More likely, if there is one mastermind behind all this they'll redouble their efforts," said Vic, speaking from personal experience. "They may back off a bit, or postpone some operations, but they'll always come back to their original goals. If only to prove that the dullards working against them don't have a chance."

"So, what is there for us to do?" said Energia. She noticed that for some reason all four of them were leaning close together over the kitchen table, speaking quietly. She deliberately leaned back a bit, and the others followed her example.

"Unless we can get permission from the police to examine the evidence at one of the crime scenes," said Blue Impact, "or find someone who can get us in that house, we just wait. Which is the hardest role."

* * *

After the meeting ended Vic headed to her room, intending to change into her training garb and get some exercise. She had only been there for a few minutes when there was a knock on the door. From both the sound and her sense of perception she knew it was Blue Impact, but Vic had learned not to let folks know she could tell those things unless she didn't mind freaking them out. Of course, with Blue Impact the difference in knocks was pretty obvious, given her denser tissues. Though most people still didn't notice.

Vic quickly pulled her gi top on over her sport bra as she went to the door but didn't bother tying it, simply closing it and letting friction hold it in place.

"Hi, boss," she said, smiling. "What's up?"

"Have you got a moment to talk?"

"Sure. Come on in."

As the team leader entered Vic quickly tied her top closed but made no other changes, since Blue Impact got immediately to the subject.

"Have you noticed any... problems with Energia the past few months? You've seen more of her recently than I have, and I'd appreciate your insight."

"I've known her for a few years, but you've known her longer," said Vic, frowning as she thought about the question. "Though, yeah, I knew her before the war, so... She was really down for several months after Maldren left, which is understandable. I know how I'd feel if Michelle had to leave."

"Is she getting over missing him, though, or is she just covering that up?"

"I honestly can't say. She does still seem down on occasion, but who isn't?"

"Okay. Sorry for putting you on the spot like this, but you have been closer to her at college than I have at the Pine Island Academy, recently."

"Yeah. If I notice anything more definite, I'll let you know."

"Thanks."

* * *

The break came late that afternoon. Vic received a call from Doro, instructing her to call the head of the local FBI investigation. The others knew about the calls, but since Vic went to her room for the second - and stayed there for nearly an hour - they had no idea what was going on. Until Vic called them all together in the main room.

"Okay, the FBI says they were able to track some of the stolen old tech to a warehouse in a freight center about fifty miles north of here," said Vic, unable to keep from pacing across the short-nap carpet which covered the floor of the lounge area. "They're planning a raid and want us along in case whoever is behind this has more supers on hand guarding the place."

"When will the raid be?" said Blue Impact.

"Seven thirty tonight. They claim they picked the time because it's late enough the suspects will be getting sloppy but early enough the agents will have good light. Frankly, I think that's just the earliest they could get everyone there."

"Well, we can make it. Did they have any recommendations for how we should approach, or when and where to meet them?"

"They sent me a text with full instructions."

"Indirectly, I hope," said Energia, a bit alarmed.

"Yeah. This is my Bureau issue phone. It has gadgeteer security measures, including spoofing what cell repeaters it's using."

"Good," said Blue Impact. "Let's get those instructions printed."

* * *

Tricorne + 1 arrived at the rendezvous point just before the assigned time, to discover that the agents had gone ahead. There were just a few people left behind at a communications van to coordinate. One of the agents standing guard outside the van walked over to meet the team as their flyer landed.

"Yeah, sorry," said the agent. He didn't look or sound sorry. "They saw some activity and decided to go ahead. We probably won't even need yo..."

Sounds of explosions and automatic weapons fire from the direction of the warehouse presented an ironic denial to his statement before he could even finish it. He spun around and stared at the smoke starting to rise in the distance. Energia shot into the air as the other three jumped back into their pod and quickly followed her.

They immediately found themselves in a war zone... only it was a battle with just one person against the supers and agents. The FBI personnel were engaging a gargantuan, extremely stocky man who was casually tossing forklifts and pieces of building at them. Usually with one hand.

"Who is that?!" said Energia, as she circled overhead.

"I don't know, but this is a potentially lethal situation," who was baling out before the flyer touched down, leaving Gadgetive to handle that chore. "Don't hold back."

"I doubt he'd notice me if I held back, from the looks of him."

Blue Impact hit hard enough to crack the pavement, then ran towards the antagonist. The pod landed just as Energia opened up. She hit the figure with a heat blast which melted and ignited the asphalt in the pavement he stood on. He yelped, looked up at her with a glare, and leapt.

Energia - expecting this - dodged out of his way and hit him with a flash attack as he passed. Dazzled, he couldn't see where he would land and hit badly. Then immediately bounced back to his feet.

"Tough, strong, fast..." said Energia, taking evasive action as he ripped a chunk from a neighboring concrete loading dock and hurled it at her. She grabbed it magnetically by the steel reinforcement and sent it back at him. He punched it out of the air. "May have fast regeneration, too. This isn't going to be quick or easy."

"On my signal, blind him again," said Blue Impact, changing direction. "Gadgetive, when she does, you hit him with as many nets or webs or whatever you have available as you can. Then Vic and I will move in and pound on him until he yields."

The tactic had worked before. It worked on this guy. At first. This time, unfortunately, as the cocoon of contractile webbing tightened, he simply shrugged and it burst asunder.

Blue Impact was already racing towards him, and he was facing away from her so she continued. She changed her attack to a leaping double kick, however. She caught him over his right kidney and actually shoved him off balance forward and made him grunt a bit. Then he turned and slammed his fist downwards. Fortunately, Blue Impact was already rolling away, so instead of spattering her he just showered the area with a spray of broken pavement. This also left him open for Vic.

The martial artist blind-sided him with a hook kick to the gut. To the brute's obvious surprise, he grunted and staggered backwards. He still recovered in time to swing at her. Vic didn't even try to block this but did a backflip away from him. He charged after her, and Vic found herself fighting alone against the monster whose undivided attention she now had.

He was no clumsy brawler, something he had already demonstrated. While he obviously preferred brute force attacks, he also had enormous skill. If he had hit Vic even once, she would have been out of the fight and maybe even dead. However, as experienced and quick as he obviously was, she was highly skilled, just as quick and far more agile. Moreover, every time she hit him, she hurt him, while he couldn't touch her. Vic even managed to split his lip and bloody his nose with a leaping front snap kick, from which she went into another backflip, to land cat-like on her feet. He looked less surprised and more impressed with each of her successes. He still wasn't going down. He was also obviously healing as they fought.

The others tried to help, but Vic and the huge man were moving too quickly and erratically. Finally, she caught him with a side kick to the solar plexus. She had been using the Purple Art and ki projection and her skill with every blow before this, which was the only way she was able to hurt him. This time she put everything she had into the strike, worried that they were moving back towards the FBI agents. This commitment to the attack left her vulnerable, but fortunately her gamble paid off. He gave a huge grunt, staggered, then curled around his gut and fell to the ground.

Vic backed away, breathing hard but not really panting, and watched. Slowly, she relaxed. She stood and watched as Blue Impact and Gadgetive cautiously moved in and bound the guy.

"I don't know if this will hold him," said Gadgetive, worried. She looked up at the slowly approaching feds. "Let's hope they have a neutralizer."

As it happened, they did. The quartet pulled back as the FBI agents attached the unit to a tripod and shone its baleful glare down on the huge man.

"There," said the tech who set it up. "That will hold him!"

"If he's a genetic super," said Blue Impact, pointedly.

"What other kind is there?" said Moshe Sanders, the agent in charge, absently.

Blue Impact sighed but decided not to enlighten him just then.

"Why don't we see what he was guarding so vigorously?"

* * *

As it turned out, documents. Stacks of boxes of actual, physical papers.

"What. The. Hell," said Agent Sanders, as he looked up from the box he had opened and around at the rest. He shook his head. "All right, get some more of those open and take a look at what all this is."

They didn't need long to learn that it was strange.

"Uh, boss? This one is a paper trail with receipts showing that President Gibbons sold votes to China."

"WHAT?!"

"This one has him taking bribes to promote removing embargoes on several nations which are known supporters of terrorists."

"This one shows how the Vice President is plotting to assassinate the President, declare martial law and use that to become dictator."

"Hold on," said Agent Sanders, scowling. "What is this, headlines for tabloids?"

"There's stuff here going back years," said Sanders' main assistant, who had skipped to the rear of the pile and opened a box there. "Even to before Thurlin."

"Over here!" someone called out, from deeper in the warehouse. "There's weird, mechanical-looking things!"

"Pantographs," said Gadgetive, after those not busy inventorying box contents hurried over. "Specifically, these devices are used to reproduce handwriting. I'm also seeing old teletype machines. Though both categories of device have a lot of extra stuff driving them."

She pulled out a compact flashlight and began examining the equipment in detail.

"Da... Wow... You use this terminal, here, to select a preprinted form and a machine to print or write what you want on the form. Only someone has added a text generator. An electromechanical text generator. You type in someone's name and this..."

She straightened, froze for a moment, then spun around, wide-eyed behind her mask, to face the others.

"This is some of the Head Shop's work! I remember, they used these in the reproduction newspaper office in the theme parks to produce humorous documents for park visitors. Things like fake wanted posters, newspaper pages and the like. Wouldn't take much modification to make this produce what's in those boxes."

"So the purpose of this warehouse is to produce scandal documents. Why?!"

"Agent Sanders, this is very typical of mastermind type planning," said Blue Impact, sternly. "Specifically, this is intended to create short-term confusion. To distract those in power and those who work for them. Obviously, these documents were intended to be 'leaked' to various news agencies. The idea being to get everyone in the government busy disproving the claims instead of looking for the stolen items and whoever has them."

"That's crazy!" said one of the agents.

"You try telling a mastermind that!" said Vic, who had been the subject of such an operation.

"It might have worked, at that," said Agent Sanders, nodding. "If these had been leaked piecemeal... At the very least, news agencies would have been distracted from covering the thefts and various government speakers would have been busy issuing denials."

He looked around the large, open area in what was supposed to be a disused and empty warehouse, and sighed.

"We're still going to be stuck cataloging all this. Though, since we found it before it could be released, we can make that a low priority."

"You better hope they haven't released any, yet," said Vic, direly.