The Angel of Earth

by

Rodford Edmiston

Part Fourteen

"You finally caught him?!" said CornFed, impressed.

"Her, actually," said Mike. "Which was only a bit of a surprise. Yeah, we finally caught her and just now got permission to tell folks who helped. Though what was a surprise is that she's a raving looney, and violent on top of that."

"Psychologists and mental health advocates all over the world are wincing at your diagnosis," said CornFed, dryly. "However, we can discuss that later. Please continue."

"We figured the Phantom Zoom was just self-deluded, but she's 'way beyond that," said Mike, not sure what CornFed was talking about. "Also, though I am a bit reluctant to admit it, her capture was largely thanks to Mannequin. Both for their analysis about the most likely next target, and their advice on how to catch and hold the suspect. Anyway, we still don't know her - the Phantom Zoom's - legal name, but are working on it."

"Good work; my congratulations to both of you."

"Well, without Blackpool and the Empowered Matters Agency we wouldn't have been able to acquire the materials for the improved net so quickly. Without your help and the clues spotted by Insight we wouldn't have had the information we used to figure out where to put it. The local police there helped us with the installation and capture. So it was definitely a group effort."

"Thank you. Still, you two organized everything. Catching her is good work and very good news."

"Speaking of news, word about this capture is already spreading, even though an official public announcement hasn't been released! I hadn't realized just how much attention the Phantom Zoom and her crimes were getting. I've already had multiple requests for interviews. Several from that lady reporter in New York who is so interested in Malak."

"She probably wants to interview the prisoner, too," said CornFed, laughing.

"Very insistently."

* * *

Mike didn't like the location where he currently found himself. Of course, he was currently in a federal prison. Worse, it was a maximum security prison. Worse than that, it was the only one in the US with a wing intended to hold dangerous empowered. Worst of all, that wing was where Mike was now walking down a hallway. He wasn't alone, either.

The place was cramped. The walls, ceilings, floors and doors were laced with inertium, at enormous expense, which meant the size of everything was kept to a minimum. However, this material stopped people from phasing though and blocked a few other powers... though far from all. Of course, the reinforcement also added greatly to the strength of the structure. The people in charge of this part of the facility were very cagy about what other means they used to hold empowered and protect both the other population of the prison and the guards. From what Michael was feeling, though, there were definitely other measures in use. Fortunately, he was there as a visitor, and not an inmate. That only partially assuaged his unease.

This wing of the federal prison was actually run by the Empowered Matters Agency. The rest of the facility contained a fairly mundane assortment of rapists, robbers, kidnappers, murderers and just plain antisocials. Michal Schmierer and Mannequin were there as guests of Blackpool. He, in turn, was allowed entry - with his carefully vetted guests - due to being an employee of the agency in charge of it. Even he had to ask for permission ahead of time. That Blackpool's two guests were instrumental in capturing the latest inmate of the wing had helped them only a little in gaining access.

They stopped outside the door of a particular cell. As soon as their guide opened the peep window the woman inside began screeching insults and abuse at them.

"See?" said the guard. He winced. "And hear? She's still in there."

"You were right," said Mike, nodding to Mannequin. "All we needed was a better net."

"A stronger, more elastic net, made of synthetic spider silk," said Mannequin, almost preening at the praise, "and spring-loaded tensioning reels which would give the net more yield. Followed by quickly putting the stunned perpetrator in inertium manacles. Result: Bingo!"

"We already have multiple requests for interviews," said Blackpool, turning to the guard. "So far we have turned down all of them. However, we can't keep that up much longer. You can expect me to return with more guests, and soon."

"The cell is holding," said the guard, calmly confident. "Check with the warden, but I don't see any reason not to let people talk to her. Let them see first-hand just how crazy the Phantom Zoom is."

* * *

"Well, while I was not intending to garner government support, I can't claim it's unwelcome," said Mannequin, airily, as they again approached Phantom Zoom's cell, this time as part of a group escorting Melody Gundersen. They were currently answering questions from the reporter.

"You should be grateful for that," said Michael. He turned to the reporter. "The method we used to capture the Phantom Zoom was mostly Mannequin's idea. So they're getting a lot of credit among certain people."

The small group stopped at the appropriate cell. The guard with them knocked on the little door covering the cell window.

"Hey! Janine! Make yourself presentable! You've got guests."

Her real name - Janine Sawyer - had been discovered just the day before. She refused to confirm that this was actually her name, but she did answer to it.

"This cell won't hold me for long!" she shouted, as the cover was opened. "My space masters will set me free! Neither will your trick net stop me again!"

"Without those 'tricks' your career would have come to a sudden and likely fatal stop," said Mike, after moving to the window. "There were people already talking about things like stringing inertium wire across the road at your neck height."

That news would have at least given most people pause. Not her.

"That wouldn't work! My space masters will save me as long as I keep serving them!"

"Are you serving them now?" said Melody, peeking around the edge of the window, in an attempt to get something which wasn't shouted, dogmatic denials.

That, at least, did finally stop the noise.

"Now, what's this about aliens?"

"They aren't aliens," said Janine, slowly and clearly, as if to a not particularly bright child. "They are the original inhabitants of Earth. They magnanimously left to make room for subsequent intelligent species. Only they got humans, instead! They killed the dinosaurs for less!"

Melody could definitely emphasize with those who doubted that most humans were actually intelligent. However, that was not what she was here to discus.

"So what's their plan? To recruit empowered to reshape humanity? Or just to get rid of us?"

What followed was a rapidly delivered, incoherent and disjointed rant about the general terrible state of the world and the horrible actions of a few specific people, sprinkled with a bizarre mixture of bits and pieces from established religions, cultish beliefs about UFOs and the empowered, and things Janine had apparently come up with on her own. One of the few things Phantom Zoom was consistent about was to put the blame for her actions on others. Especially Malak.

"If it weren't for him, the Great ReWipe could have happened much sooner. He keeps trying to

things instead of letting it all come crashing down so the space masters can start over!"

"So they gave you powers to help with their work," said Melody, making a valiant attempt to follow Janine's revelations.

"No, you idiot! Well, yes, they gave me powers, but all powers come from them! It's just that most people they give powers to refuse to admit that!"

"You are inconsistent," said Melody, stunned by the woman's delusions. "First you say the aliens - the space people - are the bad guys; then that they'll rescue you, out of the goodness of their hearts."

"They are not 'bad guys,'" said Janine, scornfully. "They aren't 'good guys' either. They're helping me because I'm doing their work. They are above good and evil."

"Aaron says he can prove mathematically that..."

"Fuck his math!" Janine screamed, interrupting the reporter and lunging at the window, causing Melody to pull back in reflex. "I hate that false angel! That cock sucker is the supreme deceiver, a modern Lucifer!"

"He and his clinic have helped me greatly," said Mannequin, speaking for the first time, sternly and in defense of his friend. Then, more sympathetically, "I hope he'll be able to help you, as well."

"So instead of just killing me, like you falsely bragged you could, you save me as a sacrifice to your fallen angel!" she shouted. "I will not be captured! I will not be held! The space people know I've been trying to contact them and will come to save me! Let's see how smug you are then!"

"So what were you looking for in those collections?" said Melody, trying to continue to sound politely inquisitively, but finding that increasingly difficult. "A space radio?"

"Proof to show others!" Janine cried. "Proof of the true origin of their powers, to shove in their faces! Proof, so that more will join the holy crusade! As well as empowering devices the space people might have left behind. To make myself stronger and to keep the wrong people from getting powers!"

"You're already pretty powerful," observed Melody.

"Yes, but still not enough to fight Malak! No! But I'm smart, and they dismiss me at their own peril!"

"Why would you want to..." said Melody.

"He's set himself above us mere mortals," shouted Janine, ignoring the reporter. "He does all this goody-goody stuff but it's like a billionaire spending a tiny fraction of his money on famine relief! He doesn't really care!"

Mike wondered if the woman could end a sentence with anything other than an exclamation mark.

"You haven't seen him agonizing over the things he can't do," said Melody, passionately. "He's pretty much the opposite of how you're painting him. It tears him up inside that he can't do more!"

"You have been taken in by his act! Not me, though! I can see him for what he truly is! The bastard is going down! They'll make sure of that, when I talk to them and tell them how dangerous he is!"

"Your space friends," said Mike, now sure of her limited punctuation.

"You've never met him, never spoken with him," said Melody, determined to defend her friend. "How can you judge him without knowing him?!"

"I haven't been taken in by his powers of persuasion!" the madwoman shouted. "Well, no more of that, for anybody! I've taken measures to end all that! I don't need the space people to do it, either!"

"What have you done?" said Blackpool, his voice deceptively calm.

"I have arranged for others to fight him. People who are both powerful and already seeking to destroy him."

"She's delusional," said Mike, dismissing any threat the speedster might pose. Blackpool silenced him with an upheld hand.

"He thinks he's so smart!" the Phantom Zoom continued. "So does The Grand Protector! I'm smarter than all of them! I sent messages to both to meet for peace negotiations. With any luck they'll kill each other!"

Blackpool immediately turned, ran to a shadow and disappeared into it. Much to the alarm of the guard with the group and, later, his superiors.

* * *

"Well, I suspected that invitation was some sort of setup," said Aaron, when Blackpool told him about the Phantom Zoom's actions. The were in Aaron's office at the Repository. The older man was sitting while the man in black was standing in front of his desk. "I wasn't going in unprepared. This, though... I wonder if there's any chance of using this information to bring The Protectorate down..."

"You seem very confident you can bring them down," said Blackpool.

"Hanuman's evaluation is that some of them are quite strong in their powers, but none has any great depth of application."

"Which means?"

"Some of them are very powerful, and they have a wide range in their powers, especially as a group, but they haven't learned... flexibility in application. Depth of use. As Mannequin puts it, they aren't thick enough."

"From what you told me about Hanuman, he and you and Ningirsu and a few others - including Mannequin - transact on levels The Grand Protector and his cronies - most people, in fact - are oblivious to," said Blackpool, trying to be helpful.

"A good way of describing it," said Aaron, nodding. "By the way, that list includes you, lately. Though only to a small extent so far. I don't believe any of The Protectorate operate on those levels. That will be a big help."

"They seem rather determined to end you," said Blackpool, sounding doubtful. "Even with that advantage, I don't like the odds."

"You are probably correct," said Aaron, with a tired sigh. He looked at the federal agent. "As they did with Hanuman, they will likely make a surprise attack with as many members as they can muster for the task. They seem to have learned not to split their forces, following that debacle with Ningirsu. Since it is widely known that I defeated Hanuman, The Protectorate are likely to have all available members come after me in one force. Do you have any suggestions for how to equalize this situation?"

"I honestly don't think you can avoid a fight," said the man in black, after a few moments of thought. "They have their claws dug too deeply into too many important people. Even without their mentalist's influence. They are already bragging about 'bringing justice' to Hanuman, despite a few rumors going around that he is still alive. Following that 'successful' operation by quickly defeating you would likely bring even more support, and silence more critics. They probably think they'll even sway the public support you have to their side.

"However, with help from myself and some others you should be able to choose the battleground. I suggest the open area just downhill from the chemical Repository."

"Are you sure?" said Aaron, startled.

"Yes. They almost certainly will catch up to you, eventually. We just arrange to have that happen at a time and place of our choosing. We can have several empowered of our own waiting to help if you need it. You know the terrain around here. The Repository itself should be unaffected by anything short of a direct assault."

"That could work," said Aaron, nodding thoughtfully. "We should start right to work organizing, though. The Protectorate could be here at any moment."

"I have one thing to do first."

* * *

Blackpool used a shadow outside the prison for his return, to avoid causing additional alarm. He presented himself at the main entrance, and went through the necessary protocols required to be brought to the office of the assistant warden in charge of the Empowered Matters Agency Special Holding Facility wing of the prison as quickly as he could. Finally, he was approaching the appropriate door, beyond which he found chaos.

Professional interrogators of prisoners were realizing their tactics might be worse than nonproductive against people who considered themselves free citizens. The fact that they were required to operate in their boss' office for this interrogation was further hampering their work.

"How many times do I have to tell you that we don't know how he did that!" yelled Melody.

"Actually, I don't exactly know how I did that," said Blackpool, as the door opened and he stepped into the room. "I acted on an impulse, and it worked. I haven't had time to figure out the details of how and why, yet."

Melody was obviously furious, at least partly at him. Well, he would deal with that later, after they got home. Mike was obviously irritated. Most worryingly of all, Mannequin seemed completely unconcerned.

"They've been interrogating us since you left like that!" said Melody.

The assistant warden for this special wing was not happy with the unapproved exit, through powers, from a supposedly power-proof facility. However, the fact that Blackpool - a long-respected special agent of the Agency - had returned to try and explain the situation helped him accept it.

"I expect a full report from you on how you managed to exit our facility using powers rather than your feet," the assistant warden said, sounding irritated.

"Agreed," said Blackpool. He gestured at those who had been with him. "They, as implied, know nothing about that. So, are they cleared to leave?"

"All right," said the assistant warden, reluctantly. "Get them out of here. In fact, all of you get out of here."

* * *

They managed to keep quiet until they were outside the prison wing's structure. They were actually in the guest parking lot, standing beside Michael Schmierer's car, before any of them spoke again.

"Did you get to Malak in time?" asked Melody.

"Yes. Fortunately, he was already suspicious, and checking on the presumed peace message. By the way, Mannequin, he'd like to see you back at the Repository."

"Roger," said the seemingly genderless figure, snapping a proper military salute. "Can you give me a lift? That's quicker and easier than making the trip on my own."

"All right," said Blackpool, tiredly. "Mike, thank you. I'm sorry you had to get caught up in the mess I left behind."

"Not a problem," said the private detective, smiling as he shook hands with the man in black. "Just remember this next time I need a favor from the Agency."

"Will do."

"I need a ride, too," said Melody. She smirked. "If you can manage two passengers at once."

"Not a problem," said Blackpool.

"Ooh!" said Mannequin, changing into an exaggerated duplicate of Melody. "We'll be shadow sisters!"

"Let's go," said Blackpool, the tiredness back.