Part Seven

Well into the early days of the Thirties, "masked adventurers" sharing information was a rare thing. Even non-masked supers with an adventurous bent tended to share "secrets" with only a few, select groups of people. However, by the time Europe entered another war many of them had not only discovered kindred spirits who might have useful information, but some had even taken on apprentices. Among the earliest such partnerships, the original Night Master teamed up with the original Dragon's Hand in the mid-Thirties to deal with some Japanese spies they were both after. She quickly proved herself very useful in some ways, but he found himself teaching her the basics of his craft - as he had learned it from Mack Risk and a great deal of experience - in part so she wouldn't interfere with some of his other efforts. He soon made their arrangement formal, even hiring her as an assistant in their civilian identities. She was not only a talented pupil, well justifying his time and effort, but useful in those additional endeavors outside the scope of their original partnership, as well. She also helped the Night Master understand that a large part of the attraction of wearing the mask was not keeping their identity secret - though that was definitely a component - but creating an alternate persona. "You can be whoever and whatever you want to be. Even something more than human."

When Double Dutch and his own mentor, Dr. Freysdottir, asked for help with a matter all four had an interest in, the Night Master was therefore open to a partnership. Together they formed the first recognized superhero team, the Shepherds, actually named by a newspaper reporter who became involved with some of their adventures. Interestingly, while half of the original Shepherds had open IDs, the Night Master and the Dragon's hand kept their true identities secret for several years after that.

The informal but very useful network of information exchange they and those like them created grew with time, as more individuals and more groups began sharing more information. The very existence of this network was kept a secret, that fact shared only between those considered trustworthy and useful. The actual information shared was kept even more secure. In large part this secrecy was due to the efforts of people such as J. Edgar Hoover, who wanted to control the supers, or even rid the world of their problematic existence. The only contribution of some of the super minds who participated was helping organize this information, but that often proved vital. Some masterminds and inventors worked to improve the speed, security and reliability of the communications network, both physical and organizational. Part of this group effort involved the creation - and continual improvement - of electronic means of communication and information sharing.

With the creation of the Bureau of Special Resources early in the Twenty-First Century a new dimension was added to this process. Since the head of the Bureau was a veteran mask, the associated improvement to information quality and quantity for hero groups surprised none of the supers of the world... except for the most paranoid of masterminds on both sides of the law. Who simply didn't believe anyone would freely share anything useful. Still, information is only shared if someone shares it. Once shared, it is only examined if the people receiving it have the time and inclination to do so. With so much information around...

Between the Bureau's efforts on Kravaal Island and their knowledge of the work the FBI was doing there, many supers on many teams were aware of this new aspect which had been grafted to an old puzzle. Some were even able to add useful information of their own to help organize the pieces. However, all offers of volunteer or contractor help in the investigation of the lab were politely turned down. Truthfully, the FBI had plenty of properly trained people on scene and more working in off-site labs to analyze what those on the island recovered. The work in piecing together the puzzle this mystery presented was slow and painstaking, like so much of law enforcement work.

The follow-up of the body farm matter, and what the Assembly and the Bay Area Guardians were uncovering about possible shady dealings by the organization behind the super charity fund raising fights, was attracting much attention and speculation but currently little action. Unfortunately, that progress was too slow for some.

"So," said Cong, sounding determined, "we now have proof of a connection between the illegal activities on that island in the Strait of Georgia and the Super Fighting Federation."

"Super Battle Federation," said Steel Lace, patiently. "Except that while it's obvious there's some connection, there's no proof that the actual charity is involved. Since it does a lot of good work we want to proceed carefully. Neither is there strong evidence the local employment center we've been keeping an eye on has done anything wrong. Except for possibly being sloppy in their paperwork."

"Can we at least do something about that other island, the one with the frozen people?! I mean, it's in the US and we've already sent people there!"

"We already have the two supers who were with the man who was using psionic influence, and they're probably innocent dupes. Government agents - including Vic Peltior of the Bureau of Special Resources - are on the island, working on analyzing what's in the lab. We're still looking for that man. The only illegal activities that we know of on Kravaal Island aside from those acts he committed all occurred decades ago."

"There's no statute of limitation on kidnapping and murder!" shouted Cong.

"The two people we're holding for the FBI were both born well after those events," said Steel Lace, with exaggerated calm. "Likely the man with the mind control was, too. So far we don't actually have anything on Freepa and Bull-Rush; they were obviously mind controlled and are just being held for questioning. The only charges we have against the mind control guy is two incidents of improperly influencing and trying to influence people. Which he will be charged with if we ever find him."

"What more do you need to... do something?!"

"Something solid to base an intervention on!" said Steel Lace, just as loudly and firmly. "This isn't the Thirties! We can't just bull our way in some place, start beating information out of people and damn the consequences. We're not even certain where to intervene. Where are the bouts for The Super Battle Federation events even held? On that island in the Strait of Georgia? Probably, but even if the legal fights are there, where are the illegal ones held? Are there actually crimes being committed? Just what are those crimes?"

"That's not..."

"Look, there's plenty to do here, in this area, around San Francisco. Just two nights ago we broke up that drug distribution ring," said Steel Lace. "You were involved with that. You helped guard the warehouse until law enforcement could arrive and properly catalog and transport all the drugs."

"We can raid that local employment center! During the day! We have people on this team who can tell when someone is telling the truth. We just keep asking until we find someone who knows what's going on and we make them talk!"

"How many innocent people are you willing to go through before you find someone who knows something?" said Steel Lace, angrily. "How many civil rights are you willing to violate? Remember, the primary reason for those is to protect the innocent from the overzealous or corrupt. What if nobody there knows anything significant? Do we just mumble 'Sorry...' and leave?! No! We do not do those things in the first place! If we can't get something done using proper procedure then we don't do it! That's final!"

* * *

Mesa found Cong in the game room, at the pool table. This was not unusual; the younger strongman often found the concentration needed to clear the table in a controlled fashion to be calming. Except for one other young Bay Area Guardian team member playing an old console game, the place was empty.

"You need to learn to pick your battles," said Mesa, after watching Cong sink the colored balls for a bit. "Steel Lace is a stickler for procedure. She also sees challenges of procedure as challenges to her authority."

"Well, if that's the way she runs things someone should challenge her authority!"

"Cong... she's right. The rules are there for a reason. In fact, for several very good reasons. Yeah, there are times to break them, but those are few and far between and if we do break them we are knowingly prepared to face the consequences."

Cong leaned on the table, stick held loosely and forgotten in his left hand, his shoulders slumped, his head down.

"It's just... I can do all this stuff, and I want to do it!"

"I remember a kid I knew in high school," said Mesa, quietly. "He wanted to join the Hell's Angels, 'cause he thought they could do whatever they wanted. Only, they have their own rules, and they're hard on members who don't follow them. He got hurt pretty bad before he left them. I wish that had straightened him out, but it didn't. He eventually got fatally knifed in jail."

"So what are you telling me?" said Cong, hotly, suddenly turning to face the older super. The cue stick snapped in his hand. "Follow your rules or you'll kill me? Well, fuck you!"

"What?!" said Mesa, confused, as the other muscle man threw down the broken stick, turned and stormed out. "No! Cong! That's not...!"

His pleas were ignored.

* * *

"We're getting more and more information indicating that the Super Battle Federation gets most of its money from illegal fights," said Drake, the first day Vic was back at work in Detroit. "These are staged under the cover of being 'training bouts.' They're closed to the public... but open to people who can pay enough."

Vic had been replaced by two supers - a man and a woman - from the Cincinnati office. Polymer Pam and MagneStar were less experienced at federal law enforcement work than Vic but both were competent. Polymer Pam had even been an auxiliary member of the Planetary Guardians for a while, and was a resister. Between the two of them they should be able to easily handle the job Vic had been tasked to do alone.

"I thought the Federation was audited," said Vic, frowning. "They were actually commended for donating nearly all their income to recognized charities."

"All their legal income," said Drake, scowling. He waved some papers from his desk. "One of the things attracting attention is that they have occasionally given a bit more than what their public matches have earned, yet have had no problems meeting their expenses! If these reports are right - and checking that is still in the works - then they use the same facilities to host illegal matches for pure profit."

"So... what do we do about it?"

"The word from our bosses is to investigate, but not to intervene without specific orders," said Drake, all business. "There are international complications involved. Especially if that island in the Strait of Georgia is where the crimes are being committed. Worse, there are a lot of people - many whom are businessmen or diplomats, including some from other countries besides the US and Canada - who attend these matches. Meanwhile, so far at least, we don't even have the names of those who are in charge. Just those they hired to front the charity."

"Another island," muttered Vic, after a moment. "Ever notice how things run in trends?"

"If you ever want to make a statistician uncomfortable," said Drake, sagely, "ask about clustering."

* * *

"They have found more deceased people who shouldn't be there on that body farm," said Steel Lace. "Most of them have turned out to be missing supers, from all over the US and Canada and a few other nations. Who are not only there under false identities, but who are not designated in the facility's records as supers. Which means the data from the studies being done on them may be invalid for use with normal humans."

"You mean that if they're physically super they may not, well, decay the way non-supers would," said Mesa, nodding. "You'd think they'd welcome the opportunity to study a minority subset of the population who wind up the victims of revenge schemes far more often than most groups."

"Now that they know, yes," said Steel Lace, dryly. "The problem - well, apart from the big one of those individuals being placed there illegally - is that the extraneous bodies were being studied as normal humans, which was skewing the results. All that data has to be reevaluated. Most of the victims have no next of kin, so they stay on the farm. Of course, now the employees at the farm have to help the appropriate law enforcement agencies figure out how those bodies got there and who was involved. As well as checking to make sure all the bodies there were acquired legitimately. Which I imagine is going be both gruesome and difficult, if they can't find a cutoff point before which they don't need to check. Bizarrely, some of the identified deceased supers - most likely someone wearing their costumes - have been seen participating in live charity matches after what we now know was the date of their deaths."

"I hope that will finally provide enough evidence for us - or someone - to go after whoever is behind those super disappearances," said Cong, angrily.

"Oh, it will," promised Steel Lace, firmly. "We just have to be patient. Meanwhile, several missing persons cases involving supers have been solved thanks to this information. The fact that most had no known next of kin was probably a factor involved with their disappearance in the first place. However, at least a few families or friends of missing suppers have had closure because of this investigation. Since this illegal placement of bodies has been going on for at least three years, it has also seen a few cold cases reopened."

"We still need to do something about the missing supers!"

"We're working on that," said Steel Lace, flatly. She sighed, and looked thoughtful. "I'm wondering if these cases of missing supers are connected to the 'You're Arrested' murders. Those have tapered off hugely, but there's a legitimate concern they're only part of something larger, and may restart."

"That's something else we should have done something about," said Cong, voice low and ominous. "We can't just sit around and wait for these things to go away on their own!"

"We aren't," said Steel Lace. "Now, if there's nothing else, this meeting is over."

* * *

Unfortunately, while the meeting was over the matter was not settled.

A short time later Tiger and Steel Lace were in the Bay Area Guardians' administrator's office, discussing a budget matter. Just as the phone rang, Cong came storming in. Outside, the receptionist was holding her phone handset to her ear, waving desperately at Steel Lace through the briefly opened doorway, looking flustered.

"There's a proper way to..."

"I need to talk with you," said Cong.

"I'm in a meeting."

"Oh, my stuff can wait," said the socially uncaring Tiger, affably.

Steel Lace glared at him, but only briefly, because Cong immediately launched a rant about her inactivity.

"People are dying!" shouted Cong, as he finished.

"People are dying all over the world," said Tiger, with a shrug, before Steel Lace could speak. "Including in and around the Bay Area. Are our abilities better applied helping people here, or by going out to that unclaimed island? If we're going to act illegally - to deliberately break the law - would our efforts be better spent stopping an illegal fight racket or instead toppling a regime in South America which is aiding in the destruction of the Amazon?"

"You aren't helping," said Steel Lace, wryly, to Tiger. She turned back to Cong. "While it's not as straightforward as Tiger is putting it he does have a point. Besides, we're already working on stopping the local 'recruitment office' and there are others working on other aspects of the situation. However, we aren't the most appropriate group to handle problems like those. Except for the occasional disappearance of a super - and sometimes even for those - those are actually things more suited to the local police. I think our best bet - for now - in regard to this matter is to share information with them and other super teams and the Bureau of Special Resources and maybe brainstorm solutions. All of which we are already doing."

"Look, this doesn't mean I approve of what the bad guys behind those super fights are doing," said Tiger, reasonably. "You need to remember that we have to be careful to follow the laws. Sometimes that can hamper us in the short term, but in the long term doing that helps us to help others! We have to balance those factors."

"I'll show you balance!" snapped Cong.

He stormed out of the office.

"I hope he's not going to do anything rash," said Steel Lace, obviously concerned.

"I'd bet on it," said Tiger, with a sigh. "We better keep an eye on him."