Part Six

The next day was a Saturday, and supposedly a day off for Tricorne, at least as far as giving lectures was concerned. However, they were still cleaning their breakfast dishes when they got an emergency call from Ma. Blue Impact took the call, then quickly put it on speaker, while Ma did the same. The bakery quartet gathered around the kitchen phone.

"Go ahead," said Blue Impact.

"The Black Badge just showed up at our back door, badly injured and requesting sanctuary. He says he was attacked by the New Breed, and asked us to notify you folks." They could almost see Ma's grim smile. "This is the first time we've used our infirmary for anything more than first aid. Anyway, besides his request to speak with you, I wanted Blue Impact's professional opinion about the legality of this situation."

"He's wanted for questioning in several states and cities," said Blue Impact, frowning in thought. "However, not in this state or city. Since you're a volunteer emergency response team and not a law enforcement agency you're not obligated to report his presence to anyone. It could cause problems for you later if some agency which does want to speak with him learns about this, but if you keep his presence secret there should be no repercussions."

"He's not wanted on federal charges, either," said Vic. "Not even for questioning. However, I'd really like to talk to him."

She grinned.

"Strictly as a private citizen of course."

"We definitely need to have someone there when you do," said Tone. "Ma?"

"I'm available," said the oldest member of The FX. "Maybe we should have Theoretical Stranger there, too. Though I suggest we moderate the inquiry while mostly observing. Both Blue Impact and Vic have a lot more experience at this sort of thing than any of us. We need to treat it as a learning experience."

Vic wasn't sure how her own skill at questioning people compared to Blue Impact's, but she hadn't done too badly with Artemis. An arrangement was quickly reached.

* * *

Tricorne's large apergy flyer landed gently on the roof of the Fox building. The quartet cleared security and they were soon part of a group standing around the bed of The Black Badge. The team's medic stood nearby, scowling in disapproval at this disturbance of his patient's recovery. The Black Badge was still wearing his mask and gloves, since most of his injuries were to his legs and lower back.

"You wanted to see us?" said Blue Impact.

"Yeah. Watch out for the New Breed. They're killers, planning to eliminate rival masks, including heroes."

"We already knew they included DareKill, Helen Frye and Blackjack among their number," said Blue Impact.

"I can confirm those three, and you can add Lemuel Crue and Harass to that," said The Black Badge, apparently not surprised they already knew that much. "Being suspicious of them, I decided to check them out. Two days ago they ambushed me as I went to meet an informant."

Energia noted, as before, that the fabric of his costume was actually hard to focus on, appearing blurry, Moreover, in the better light of the clinic she could see that there were polarized lenses in the eyepieces of his mask.

"Two things saved me," said The Black Badge. "I knew the area, and they got a message saying to hurry up and finish with me because something else had come up. I went to ground in a location they didn't want to enter, so they wrecked the place from outside then responded that I was taken care of and left."

"Some heroes," said Energia, sourly.

"Were you able to tell who was giving them orders?" said Blue Impact.

"No. The voice was electronically distorted. However, during the fight I realized they were all known costumed criminals who usually work as muscle for masterminds," said The Black Badge. "I recognized Helen Frye immediately, saw the pattern of behavior they all had in common, and pieced together who the others were while I was patching myself up later. I rested as long as I dared, then made my way here. Both to warn you and to get better medical care."

"We already suspected they're all actually criminals," said Blue Impact.

"I can definitely confirm that. They've committed multiple crimes since forming the New Breed. They've just been smart enough to stay away from cops and keep on the move."

* * *

"Now we need to figure out what to do with this information," said Blue Impact, as they entered the meeting room in the headquarters of The FX.

"Well, tell the local police!" said Posey.

"How do you know what we're talking about?" said Vic.

"We were monitoring from here room over the intercom," Posey replied.

"We all were," said Sircada. "I thought we told about that."

"The New Breed has not been seen in this city," said Ma, getting back to the point.

"So... The State Police?" said Posey.

"Yes. They have committed a few criminal acts in the state. I'm certain all law enforcement in this region knows about those and what else the New Breed have done. Unfortunately, the only thing we could tell them is that we have unconfirmed IDs for that team's members."

"There are people in various law enforcement agencies who will be able to make use of that information," said Blue Impact. "We also need to - quietly - spread the word among super teams and every singleton super in the area who gets along with other supers."

They quickly made a list of who to notify. Blue Impact volunteered to handle some individual supers and teams she had contacts with. Vic would call the Bureau of Special Resources. The FX would handle other supers and teams and law enforcement agencies.

"With that decided, what do we do about The Black Badge?"

"Count what he told us as payment for his medical treatment," said Blue Impact. "Then we all need to get to work on finding and corralling the New Breed."

"I'm not sure we're ready to take them on," said Isarda, looking and sounding doubtful. "We're all experienced, but new at working as a team. They've been operational for months, taking down individual supers and even some entire criminal gangs of supers."

"Don't worry; we are definitely going to help," said Blue Impact. "So will any other team and most individual supers in the area. These people are bad news, and giving supers in general a bad image."

* * *

Vic made a point of stopping by the infirmary while the others were finalizing the plans.

"Just thought you'd like to know that we're getting the word out," she told The Black Badge.

"Good."

"I will be the one calling the Bureau of Special Resources. Do you care if I mention that the information came from you?

"No. I should be on my way well before they or anyone else can officially react."

"The Hell you will," said the infirmary medic, mildly.

The three of them actually laughed a bit at that, all of them well aware that as soon as he felt up to it, The Black Badge would sneak out without anyone spotting him. At least, that was the standard procedure.

"If you don't mind me asking," said Vic, hesitantly, "what led you to taking up the mask?"

"I... made a mistake and got someone killed," the prone man said, quietly. "I vowed I would do whatever I could to help people from then on."

Vic nodded, realizing that was all she'd get out of him on the matter.

"I know the feeling," said Vic, also quietly. "In my case, the guy didn't die, but I made his injuries worse. From pure ego, thinking I could help when I couldn't."

"To paraphrase the great philosopher, 'a person's got to know their limitations.'"

"Well, you rest and heal. I'm going to find a quiet room and make that call."

* * *

The various law enforcement agencies and supers were still trying in their various ways to get a handle on the new information about the New Breed when an alert went up on the city police department's Web page about an odd theft.

Lieutenant Sandra McCorsky notified all and sundry of the theft of an item from the collection of the great-grandson of a man who had been in the Yukon for the Klondike Gold Rush. The images she posted of the missing item bore a strong resemblance to the item from the astroid chunk. There was a warning that this was suspected to be a magical or mad science item, and not to touch it, but report it if found.

"Ho. Lee. Uh..." said Gadgetive, when Blue Impact called the team together in the lounge area and showed them the post.

"She got the case because the item had been tentatively identified as advanced tech of a mysterious origin," said Blue Impact. "Since it had been in the collection of a wealthy family for over a century and not officially identified as alien, it was grandfathered in instead of being seized by the government."

"So, we need to talk to Lieutenant McCorsky and confirm the connection," said Vic, nodding.

"I don't think we need to bring the whole team into her office," said Blue Impact, smiling at that mental image.

"I'll go," said Energia, before Vic could volunteer. "I haven't done much flying, lately. Now that the weather is finally clearing this will give me a chance to get out and get some fresh air."

"I'll call and let them know to expect you."

* * *

Energia was already attracting a considerable amount of attention even before she landed. She made a graceful touchdown in a no-parking area and began walking towards the doors. She was well aware of the image she presented. Red hair, colorful costume with a medium-length cape, her already above average height accentuated by the heels on her boots. Not to mention other natural assets being accentuated by padding. Standing straight, shoulders back and head up, her level of fitness noticeable even through the layers and airbrushing of her costume, she was attracting enough attention that people in the parking lot were moving towards the rear of the building just to get a look at her as she walked the last bit of distance to the police building.

Even though she used the rear entrance, Energia still had to confront security. She stopped at the station beside the metal detector.

"Would you tell Lieutenant Sandra McCorsky that Energia is here to see her?"

"One moment, please," said the security guard, as he lifted the phone handset.

People outside began crowding around the door. So far, no-one was approaching from inside the building, but that was certain to change soon. Energia wished these people would get lives. Fortunately, the guard finished his inquiry quickly.

"She says you can come ahead."

"What about going through the metal detector?" said Energia, smiling slightly. "I'm carrying lots of metal on my person, though with my powers I could keep it silent despite that."

"Yeah, which is why we use personal vetting, instead of the metal detector, for supers," said the guard. He gestured at the ceiling-mounted video camera pointing at the security station. "She took a look and said she was expecting you and recognized you."

"Oh. Thank you. I know the way."

Energia walked a short distance down the hall, pushed through the door marked STAIRS and headed up. Even if she hadn't already known which was the right landing, it was obvious; there was an odd sort of dimness in the lighting there, as if it couldn't quite dispel the shadows on the door. A feeling which only grew more pronounced as she passed through into the corridor beyond. The whole floor gave an impression of dinginess and neglect, even though a closer look showed no dirt or dust. Soon she was entering the office of the supernatural squad. They were the only office on this floor; the rest was used for long-term storage.

"Welcome!" said the Lieutenant, grinning and extending her hand she met Energia in the outer room of the squad. "Enter freely, and of your own will!"

Energia knew the origin of that quote, and did not find it funny in the least. Still, she shook hands and followed the Lieutenant into her office. She took the indicated chair, then waited for her host to take her own seat.

"I understand Tricorne is interested in the Grantman Artifact theft," the Lieutenant said. "We don't know exactly when the item was stolen, but the owner distinctly remembers seeing it eight days ago. No alarms sounded, and we can't find any sign of forced entry, but it's definitely gone. Grantman told us he just happened to check something else in the collection yesterday and noticed the case which normally holds the Artifact was empty."

"When we at Tricorne saw your image of that stolen item, we recognized it as looking like something else we recently learned about."

"Oh, really?" said McCorsky, leaning forward expectantly.

"A different item, but similar. It was embedded in the meteorite which was recently stolen from the mineralogy museum."

That startled her. Energia handed over a copy of the best image the investigators had been able to make of the mystery object. The Lieutenant examined this, and nodded.

"I can actually see the connection," said McCorsky. "The stolen item I posted about was found at the foot of a glacier, embedded in what was described as 'a chunk of iron.' It was likely meteoric, and the finder just didn't realize that. He did note in his diary that he spent many hours when the weather was too bad to prospect worrying at that 'chunk' until he freed the object."

"Do you have any idea what the object was?" said Energia.

"Best guess was an alien computational device," the Lieutenant replied. "Like those discrete data handling components used in the first Myrmidons, which were integrated memory and processing units. Though these are very different stylistically."

She gave the super a wry grin and shook her head.

"Sometimes I wonder just how many aliens visited Earth in the distant past."

"Whoah..." said Energia, now more worried than ever about the thefts. "So... Someone stole that, and likely the same party took the one from the museum. Are they after stored knowledge left in the memories? Or do they need the processing power? What?!"

"There your guess is as good as mine," said McCorsky, spreading her hands.

She opened a desk drawer and pulled out several large photo prints.

"Here, keep these. They're archival images of the object found in the Yukon. They should give you a better idea of what both devices look like."

"Thank you," said Energia, leafing through the prints. "Yes, these are nice and sharp and detailed. I'll see what Gadgetive and maybe some others can make of these."

"Just remember, if you find either object, call here."

"You'll have to fight with at least three federal organizations over them, if they're ever recovered," said Energia, smirking. "Though they may be so busy fighting each other you might be able to sneak in, grab both objects and run before they notice."

The Lieutenant actually laughed at that.