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Chapter 09
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Ohm Wire awoke with a wince. Her head hurt. Her costume was a tattered mess. Her memories slowly flowed back in.
Wait a minute, where am I? What happened to David?
As she got up, Ohm Wire felt the scraps of tattered cloth hanging from her body. She was otherwise still in one piece, though she could feel remnants of everything that had happened. No, it wasn’t a dream. It was too real to have been one.
The wax was gone from her breasts, but she could still feel it. Smell it.
No one was present who she knew, but Ohm Wire felt a bond somewhere that she could not explain. It was faint and distant. Part of her wanted to reach out and tug on the invisible binding to see what followed. Instead she cleared her mind of the sensation and focused on where she was, or who else was here.
There was a transparent barrier at the opening of the metallic cell she was in. The cell was easily double her height, and the width and length of the space seemed like it could fit a king-sized bed, though it was empty aside from herself. Upon examining her surroundings and the two guards in the small room, she had a good idea where she was. It was a lair belonging to the Vambracemen.
Vambracemen were a self-proclaimed heroic militia who had fashioned themselves in the image of the first Captain Patriot. They were anything but pure if history was anything to go by, and yet they continued to roam the country, upholding the law in ways that the police could not. Not legally, though some have tried.
“The prisoner is awake,” said one guard out of the two present.
“How did I get here?” Ohm Wire asked.
“Is that some kind of joke?" asked the other. "You walked in here just this morning. You seemed awake when it happened. Mostly awake, anyway.”
“Then can I walk back out please?”
“Sorry, you’re wanted for your involvement in several crimes, and questioning in five counts of murder.”
“Five? That sounds excessive.” In truth, she wasn’t sure she had a better response. She was sure, however, that she hadn’t killed anyone. Kyra knew also that she wanted to test the barrier.
So she poked it.
“Mommy, look what I can do.”
“That’s great dear. You’ll make a good ballerina someday.”
“But I don’t want to be a ballerina. I want to be one of those.” The little girl that was Kyra pointed at the pole dancer on the TV screen in the other room.
“Roger, what have I told you about watching that around our daughter?”
It turned into a big fight between her mommy and daddy that lasted for three hours, skipping past her usual dinner time.
“Aah!” Ohm Wire screamed.
The friendlier guard said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Those things were infused with magic to trigger memories, not just to prevent you breaking out, but to disrupt any attempts you may have to lie come interrogation time.”
“Has this thing ever really kept people from breaking out?”
“There hasn’t been a failure yet. The barriers surround the walls of each cell too, so there’s no breaking out that way, either.”
“Damn it—“ she made the mistake of pounding a fist into the barrier.
“How could you do this to me?” Kyra shouted again to her mother as they rode the ferry from Founder’s Creek to Nerva. The ride had gone long enough already that Kyra would have to swim across the ocean water for several miles.
They had packed up their belongings and left home for good without any notice.
“Dad’s still away in Europe, my friends are still at Kingston, and now I’ll never know if the boy I like likes me back or not. You’re the worst mother ever!”
Her mother slapped her.
“Don’t talk back to me like that, Kyra Belle Hobbs!” She sighed, and sat on a seat provided upon the deck of the ferry. “This was a hard decision for me to make. I wish I could have waited to the end of your Junior year of high school, if not when you left for college, but this opportunity came up now. Now! It was this, or possibly waiting until my retirement to see the next chance. They needed me in Nerva. I was the only dance instructor certified to teach teenagers that they could find. Oh, Kyra, I’m so sorry. This must seem so selfish to you.”
Kyra then said the unthinkable, “I wish you’d died, or left me to live on my own. Don’t talk to me; not ever again.” She stormed off to the other side of the ferry, leaving her mother in tears.
She jolted back from the barrier. “Ow, ow, ow, what the hell? Can’t a girl retaliate in peace? How does touching something with my hand zap long-forgotten memories through my mind, anyways? And don’t you say magic.”
The Vambraceman guard, who was perhaps the nicest one Ohm Wire had ever met that was still alive, hummed a moment and said, “Some sort of mystical jargon that baffles the minds of most scientists and infuriates them whenever it is brought up.”
“So, magic then.”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“You’re a nice guy, but I think I hate you right about now.”
Both guards laughed at one another.
The one who had talked before finally peeked inside the cell when Ohm Wire sat in the corner. He said, “If it’s any consolation, miss Ohm Wire, I’d like to think you’re not the coldhearted villain everyone says you are.”
“Why’s that?” she asked.
“You’re wearing Mortar’s armlet. So, either someone from the Dallevan League gave that to you, or you took it by force.” His words made her feel for the armlet she was wearing.
“Have you not seen how hard I punched that barrier?” she asked
“Anyone might. Even me during my hero days. I’d probably have punched and kicked it a few more times than you did a couple moments ago.”
“You were a hero?”
“Small-time.” He showed his own armlet. “They were nice enough to take me in, but then the group fell apart five years ago. Something about the man in charge disappearing, and one of our own getting killed. I didn’t hear too many details. I just took it as a sign, and went on to help the Vambracemen during their reconstruction. They needed a few good men, and Psi Wizard assured me I had the stuff to do it.”
“And now you’re on guard duty.”
“Yes, miss.” He did not want to talk about that. He had made a few mistakes in the face of politics within the organization.
“I never did like the Vambracemen. They’ve got a history of not treating good people the way they deserve.”
“It’s my problem, miss. I’ll handle it in time. Until then, I have a job to do.”
“There’s the attitude I know and love,” Ohm Wire grumbled. Not even a minute passed, and Ohm Wire said, “What do you do about food and restrooms inside these cells?”
A few minutes later, a clear, protective tube came down from the ceiling, and a bowl of mashed potatoes with green onions and butter was teleported into the cell. The tube ascended without taking the bowl with it.
“Cool,” said Ohm Wire, “So what do you do about restrooms inside these cells?”
Sergeant Griswold was his name. Guard duty had been thrust upon him by some higher ups, Kyra learned, but she did not prod further. All she knew was that the man cared for justice in truth, but some others around the base wanted Ohm Wire dealt with. She asked him if he knew any other heroes that joined the Vambracemen like he had done, and the sergeant said that a buddy of his did, but he hadn't seen or heard from him lately. Kyra was quick to change the subject. She almost kicked herself for bringing her lover up.
“You have a boyfriend who’s a hero?” he asked.
“An ex. Or current. It’s complicated. I don’t even know if he’s alive.” The confusion frustrated Ohm Wire as she tried to explain it.
“What’s his name?”
“Adamast Cross.”
“You and Adamast? You’re pulling my leg.”
“What, why?”
“Is that how you got the armlet?”
“Not exactly. It’s a long story,” she said.
“It’s a long shift.”
“Why hasn’t the captain come to interrogate me anyway?”
“He’s been busy for some time. He can show up in the next hour, or the next week. If it were up to me, I’d let you go by now, but keep an eye on you.”
“Would you now?”
Playfully, the sergeant said, “Girl, you’re trouble.”
She must have dozed off, because Ohm Wire awoke to deep, twisted laughter, which faded when she opened her eyes.
The guards were gone; so was the power. The room was dark as night, and lit as if it were the outdoors. Ohm Wire moved forward until she saw a body that was out of sight from her cell. It was the sergeant. Someone killed him and carved “JUSTICE” into his chest.
Ohm Wire turned away before someone whispered, “Help me.” She turned her head to find the sergeant reaching for her, though he was clearly a still corpse besides the lifted arm. “Someone help me.”
It frightened her. She ran for the door. What help she hoped to get outside, she did not know.
The door slid open. Beyond it was more darkness, but the air rippled like fluid that had been hit with a pebble. Ohm Wire reached into it. Everything around her changed like an impossibly seamless quilt.
A doctor walks past in the next room, off to save another life. A woman packs groceries into her car, never knowing what half would expire before getting home because other lives matter more. A man in charge of a construction team makes call after call until one decides the fate of a known villain. A magically gifted scientist pulls a lever he hopes will save the world. A man in a suit and hat receives terrible news, and falls to his knees. An Arachne agent uncovers his “TRAITOR” scar after wiping himself down with a towel. A bum throws a gust of wind at someone, knocking them in front of a moving vehicle, thinking it would give him a chance to play a hero again. Two Vambracemen enter the room with Sergeant Griswold and a sleeping Ohm Wire only seconds before they kill him with a single shot of a gun. The bang fills the room after 2:16, the moment that the clock on the wall is sucked into the wall violently.
Ohm Wire jolted up. She was back in her cell.
Sergeant Griswold perked his head. He said, “Oh hey, you’re back with us?”
“Wh-what happened?” she asked, her face dangerously close to the barrier.
“You passed out. I can’t really tell with your white eyes, but you look fine now.”
“My eyes aren’t white, they’re a greenish-blue.”
“I can get a mirror for you if you’d like.” His smile was infectious.
“Where’s the other guard?”
“He went to find a medic. We can’t have detainees die on us, now can we? The problem is, he’s been out for more than a while now.”
Ohm Wire rubbed her head. Her skull was ringing. “Sorry, I must have been more tired than I thought. I just had a strange nightmare. What time is it?”
“It only just turned 2:16. You’ve officially been here a day and a half.” It had been early Sunday morning when he was put in charge of guarding her, meaning it was Monday afternoon now.
“2:16?” The door opened, and she gasped. Two men entered the room; the same as from her dream. “No.”
“Sergeant,” said one of them, “We’ve come to relieve you of your duty, permanently. Captain’s orders.” He held up a gun.
The sergeant rolled his eyes and held out his arms. He tried to flex an energy field, the same that kept him awake for days at a time when necessary, or alive when he needed to contain anything dangerous that was in motion. Yet, nothing happened. He twitched his arms and tried again. Still nothing.
“No!” Ohm Wire screamed, pounding on the barrier.
