Light and Shadows VI: A Darklight Shines
by J. Darksong
Epilogue:
“Jimmy?!?”
I jerked, nearly jumping through the ceiling, and ripping open the nicely tight patches of gauze and tape that had been keeping my heavily medicated burns and blisters across my chest, sealed off from the air. Whirling around, I glared hotly at the one who’d just startled me. “What the hell?.. Mom?!?”
“Language young man!” she admonished me, glaring right back. Her expression softened as she gestured towards my bandaged chest. “Are you okay, son? That looks like it hurts.”
“Meh, it was fine until about thirty seconds ago, when my MOM and sister nearly gave me a heart attack and made me rip my bandages and stitches open, by materializing out of thin air in my hospital room.” I smirked, in spite of myself. “Uhm,.. What are you guys doing here?“
“What are we doing here?” Katie asked me, tilting her head to the side “You’re kidding right?” Holding the remote in her hand, she unmuted the TV, turning the volume back up on the news story I’d been watching earlier.
“...again today’s top story,” the cute blonde reporter stated, as a picture of myself and Officer Baker appeared to her left side. “Last night, while the city slept, a nuclear terrorist attack was narrowly averted, thanks to the actions of a lone Utah State Trooper and a masked costumed Super. Many of you may recognize the man as River City’s own hero, ‘Darklight’, who was recently in the news several weeks ago under vastly different circumstances. Acquitted of murder, assault, and various other crimes by a somewhat controversial courtroom decision, he has since made something of a name for himself on the other side of the law—”
A shadow tendril through the TV’s power cord, silencing the annoying, very-NOT-cute reporter. “Yeah, I guess we did make the national news, huh?” I yawned and stretched, carefully. “If one of you had answered the dozen of messages I left you last night, maybe you’d both be in the spotlight as well!”
“You called...” Mom began, taking out her cell phone. She gaped in surprise. “Wow... twelve missed calls... I don’t know what to say, Jimmy. I must have left it on vibrate by accident...”
“Same here,” Katie said, glancing down at her own call list. “We were all together last night, having a pizza party at my place... guess we’ll have to be more careful next time, huh mom?”
“Yeah... more careful..” Mom replied, frowning slightly, staring off into space as if lost in thought. “An... anyway... are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, yes, I’m okay. I just got a little singed around the edges, that’s all. One of the terrorists got a lucky shot with a high powered plasma rifle, and while my costume took care of the worst of it, it doesn’t cover all of me.” I gestured to my neck and shoulder area, which was still very red underneath the bandages. “Kinda ripped through the blisters a bit with all the running and tumbling, but nothing a little Neosporin won’t fix.” I shrugged. “All things considered, I think I came through the whole ordeal better than Regina did. I apparently dislocated her shoulder when we jumped out of the helicopter onto the train...”
Mom and Sis glanced at each other before turning back to face me.
“You jumped ONTO a moving train?!?” Mom asked me, wide eyed.
“You jumped OUT OF a helicopter?!?” Katie exclaimed, just as shocked.
“Yes, and yes,” Officer Baker replied, stepping into the room, her arm in a sling. She gave me a wry grin. “And I’m kind of surprised he’s not permanently deaf in one ear from all the screaming I did on the way down.”
“Yeah, me too,” I commented drily, rubbing my right ear. Mom and Katie gaped at her a moment in complete silence. Was it me, or did the atmosphere in the room suddenly get decidedly chilly?
“HI, I’m Regina Baker,” she said, extending her free hand. “You must be his family?”
“Yes, we are,” Lacie replied stiffly, staring hard at the outstretched hand for a moment before shaking it once, and letting it drop. “We met briefly a few months ago... when you testified in court.”
Ahh. That explained it. “Oh... yeah... right,” Regina said, having the grace to look away blushing. “I said some... rather unflattering things about your son back then, didn’t I?”
“Unflattering?” Katie snarled, hands clenching into fists. “That’s an understatement if I ever heard one! He told us what happened after the trial as well, when he came back here to apologize to you personally!”
“Katie, it’s okay, just relax,” I said, reaching out a hand towards her, only to feel her pull away.
“No, Jimmy, it’s NOT alright!” Katie replied angrily, eyes flashing. “I remember what you said. Her words to you were, oh, wait, let me see... ‘You can shove your apology up your ass, and if I ever get the chance to pull you over again I won’t rest until I put you UNDER the jail, even if I have to make up a reason, even if it costs me my badge!’ Does THAT sound familiar?”
Regina winced. and I stood up. “Katie, please! That’s enough! A lot has happened over the past few hours—”
“No, it’s okay, Jimmy,” Regina said softly, stepping forward. Looking my sister square in the eye, she nodded. “You’re right. I did say that... and a lot more. I had a very low opinion of your brother. I was angry and upset about what happened at the trial. Afterwards, when it turned out that my cruiser had been destroyed by my own actions, not his, my Captain read me the riot act. I got demoted back to dispatch, humiliated... I was a laughing stock. I was... angry. At him, at my fellow cops. But mostly, I was angry at myself, for the simple fact that I’d done all this to myself. And... I took out my frustration on him.” She smiled ruefully. “And despite all that... when I was in trouble, when my colleagues and co-workers, and all the people who were SUPPOSED to be my friends turned on me, he helped me. He saved my life. He saved my daughter’s life. He saved this entire city. And I can never thank him enough for that.” She turned to look at me. “I was so very wrong about you Jimmy. I know I said it a lot last night, but let me say it again in front of your family: I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. “Don’t sweat it, okay? Geez... if you say ‘sorry’ anymore it won’t even sound like word anymore.” Turning to face Katie and Mom, I asked, “So... can we all be friends now? Everyone, pals?”
“Yeah,.. I guess,” Katie said with a sigh. “I suppose if you can change your opinion of him, I can change mine of you, Officer. And, to be fair, my brother CAN be a little hard to warm up to at first.”
“Gee, thanks,” I grumbled, as everyone else chuckled at my expense.
“I do have a question, Jimmy,” Lacie said after a moment. “Where is Freya?”
Mom’s car? I nearly cursed aloud, and would have if she hadn’t been standing there expectantly. “Oh. Um, about that...” I began, feeling suddenly more uncomfortable under her gaze than I had during the whole incident last night. “I was, um... I had to stop the hijacking, you see... and then the helicopter... and the train... and, um...”
“The State Police arranged to have it towed back to the station,” Regina cut in, saving my ass. “It’s parked out front in the visitor’s parking. If you like, I can drive you over to pick it up.”
“Thank you, dear,” Lacie replied with a smile. “I’d best go see to her straight away, and see what kind of maintenance work she’d going to need.” To us, she said, “I’ll be back in a while, kids. Oh, and Jimmy? The shop called last night, Your Jenny is all finished, detailed, and ready to go. I arranged to have it brought here for when you’re ready to head back home.”
“Thanks mom,” I said as she and Regina left. Alone with my baby sister, I chuckled. “You know, I almost wonder who she came here more worried about—me or her car!”
“Oh Jimmy, you know the answer to that,” Katie teased. “Freya, of course!”
We chuckled at that a bit, then talked, catching up a bit. After a moment or two, another familiar head poked its way into my room. “Ah! Hello there,” Stephanie Brooks called out, walking in, holding a vase of flowers with balloons tied to it. “Sorry to intrude. I heard you’d been admitted, and thought I’d drop off a little ‘get well’ gift.”
“Hey! Dr. Brooks!” I said, smiling at her. “Thanks for the visit, and the flowers, but I’m fine. They made me stay overnight for observation, but other than a few moderately painful blisters, I’m okay.”
“Oh, well, that’s good to hear,” she replied. “And that’s all? No after effects from being around the warheads? No radiation exposure?”
“Nothing worth mentioning,” I replied with a sigh. “No exposure whatsoever. The device was pretty amazing; so little radioactive material and really good shielding was what made it so hard for NEST to track them down, after all. If Officer Baker hadn’t been there with me, there’s no way I would have ever known where to find it.”
“Ye... yes, yes, I see. Of course,” she said, looking away, the look on her face made it obvious my explanation just confused her further. “That’s why it took so long.” Shaking her head, she forced a smile. “At any rate, we’re all very thankful of the wonderful job you did last night. If not for you, the terrorists would have succeeded, and hundreds of thousands of people would be dead... perhaps millions more would be sick from radiation poisoning.”
“Not to mention the rest of the country being held hostage by terrorists with the rest of those bombs,” Katie pointed out, sliding an arm around my shoulder.
“Yes, about that,” I said, thinking. “The rest of the shipment. Did it arrive safe and sound? I’d hate to think of what we might be looking at if the other forty-six devices managed to end up in the wrong hands.”
“Have no fear of that, my boy,” she said confidently. “The shipment reached its destination as scheduled, right on time. I was there myself to personally oversee the transfer. With the organizers of last night’s attempted siege under wraps, and the final unit you recovered, this incident is officially over.”
“Yes, and thank goodness for that,” I said with a sigh. “Guess I can finally sleep easier from now on.”
“We all can,” Dr. Brooks agreed, placing the flowers on counter beside my bed. “Well, James, Katherine, I hate to run, but I have a few other stops to make before I head back into the office. Try and take it easy now. And tell your father I said hello, next time you speak to him.”
We promised we would, then I stood up and walked over to the flower vase. “I think we might have a problem, Sis.”
“Huh? What do you mean? What kind of problem?”
“Did Dr. Brooks seem a little... strange to you just now?”
She frowned, considering my words. “Um... well I can’t say I really know her well enough to say, but she didn’t seem that different from the last time I’d talked to her.”
“Well, I talked to her quite a bit during and after the trial, and a few times last night during all this... and, I dunno... she just seemed a bit... off. Like the words she was saying, were coming from a script or something...” I frowned. I wasn’t really a ‘flower’ guy, but these blooms smelled kind of... funny.
“Like she wasn’t really herself, like someone pretending to be Dr. Brooks, but just trying too hard?” Katie said slowly. Then, we turned, looking at each other simultaneously, having the exact same thought at the same time.
“Dammit!” I cursed, tossing the flowers into the trash can, rushing over to open the window, wincing as my sudden movements aggravated my blisters. “I should have seen it! How the hell didn’t I see it?”
“Shit!” Katie groaned, smacking her forehead. “Dammit, I should have known figured it out, first. I mean, I’ve only dealt with a few dozen cases of people affected by those damned mind control chips!” She glanced at me. “Are you okay? The flowers?”
“Fine, sis. Some kind of chemical mixed in the water they’re soaking in... probably meant to asphyxiate us slowly over time. I don’t think we took in enough to hurt us. If it has sat in here for a couple of hours, though...”
“Come on, Jimmy, we can still catch her—”
“No, wait,” I said, still thinking furiously. “Not yet. We have to let her go for now.”
“What? Why?” she asked in surprise. “She just tried to KILL YOU?!”
“Because the last thing I heard Wallace Wellesley and Ted Whitten say to the terrorist leaders before we moved in was that ‘arrangements’ had been made to secure the rest of the nuclear shells... that they had someone on the inside. If Dr. Brooks was telling the truth about being there to personally oversee the transfer of the rest of the nukes last night, then this isn’t over yet. It’s just begun. And the last thing we need is to tip our hand and let her know we’re on to her.”
“Okay, good point... but why not just take her down now and disable the chip?” she asked. “If you free her from its control, I’m sure you’d tell us everything she knows.”
“But what if she’s chipped, she doesn’t know everything.” I argued back. “If she’s chipped, then she is definitely not the Mastermind behind this. And if the one calling the shots finds out that she has been discovered, we might lose the only lead we have to him and the rest of the nukes.” I sighed rubbing my temples. This was a problem that went waaaay over my pay grade. If I were getting paid for this, anyway. “I say we talk to Mom and Officer Baker when they get back. and see what they think. Let the pros handle things from here on out. As for me... I just want to catch my breath for a bit, lick my wounds... and not worry about people trying to kill me for a little while.”
A lone figure sat in a small alcove atop a nearby building adjacent to the Utah State Hospital, peering through a pair of small but powerful binoculars. She heard footfall at her right, and turned, knife leaping to her hand in reflex, only to yelp in surprise, and relax as she recognized the man attached to the foot.
“Sir! I, I, I’m sorry,” she stuttered, blushing. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I know, Number Thirteen,” Richard said drily, leaning forward, gazing down at the hospital directly across from them. “I like to keep my people on their toes. You know the old saying... there are those that Watch, and then those who Watch the Watchers.” He gestured with his hand. “How’s he doing?”
“Seems to be just fine, Sir,” Watcher Thirteen replied, peering through her binoculars again. “From what the nurse on the inside relayed, just a few minor injures... some first degree burns from a plasma discharge. Otherwise, just fine.” She shook her head. “Amazing. The guy is just a kid, not even old enough to buy beer. I’d have bet a million bucks that there was no way he’d be able to stop that bomb from going off.”
“And you’d have lost that bet,” he replied calmly. “He might be young, but he is a hero. You can never count his kind out until after it’s all over—they’re known for snatching victory from the very jaws of defeat, after all.” Stepping forward, he gestured, and she handed him the binoculars without hesitation. “And even then, they sometimes cause an upset.” Peering through for a moment, he grimaced. “Ah. His sister is there with him. How long has she been there?“
“Not long. She and his mother arrived about half an hour ago.” She shrugged. “And they just had a visitor as well. Intel says she’s FBI... but she seemed to have tried to make a play of some kind... poison gas in a get well bouquet. Luckily, the twins seem to have figured it out quickly enough to dispose of it.”
“More’s the pity,” Richard mused. “With all of the Boss’ main enemies in one place at the same time, it would have been nice if someone else did the dirty work for us. Not that Omega Girl would go down that easily, of course... still, one can dream, can’t they?” He sighed. “The last person assigned to the girl failed to kill her, the boy just survived almost certain death from fully armed terrorists and a nuclear attack, and just now, they both managed to avoid poison gas. I think perhaps it’s time for a more ‘hands-on’ approach. We’re going to have to pay them a visit, personally.”
“Sir?” Watcher Thirteen asked.
“The Boss has recently changed his policy concerning his brother’s offspring,” he replied offhandedly, changing the zoom on the spyglass, focusing in on the young blonde. “He has the data he needed from the both of them now, as well as the DNA scanning device taken from their home. There’s no reason to spare their lives at this point, other than pure sentiment... and since it would certainly deal a devastating blow to his brother, he’s decided to make this an object lesson.” He sighed softly. “It’s kind of a waste, I think, but orders are orders. And it will serve to break his brother’s spirit before their final confrontation.”
“I see,” Number Thirteen said, coming up behind him to peer over his shoulder. “And you don’t think it’s possible that he planned for someone going after his children while he was away?” Richard laughed.
“Not hardly. The man is a bit detail oriented when it comes to technology, but he’s somewhat lacking when it comes to people! Hell, I’ve been looking after his kids more than he has this past year! No, Thirteen... Eugene Frasier will never see this com-uurrrk!”
Gasping, he staggered back, clutching at the thin, scarlet soaked metal blade jutting out of his chest, his heart. Stunned, he glanced back behind him, staring into the smiling face of his subordinate. “Wh... whaat? You’re not... Raven...” he said weakly, as he dropped to his knees, his shirt flooding with red as his blood and strength flowed out of him. “Whhyy?” he managed.
The girl’s visage changed before his eyes, shifting, transforming into another familiar face. “Eugene Frasier sends his regards,” Xirix stated clearly, gleefully, making a show of wiping the blood from her hands. “He also bade me to deliver a message... one besides the one sticking out of your chest. ‘I see a lot more than ye might think, laddie’,” she replied, mimicking his voice perfectly. “Your part in this little drama is now over, Richard” she continued in her own voice, “but don’t worry. Your Boss will be joining you soon enough.“
Not bothering to watch the last few seconds of his life fade away, Xirix turned and walked away, heading towards the roof access. She felt a great sense of satisfaction at having accomplished her goal. Her orders hadn’t specifically stated that she kill the target, but they hadn’t prohibited her from killing him either. Plus, the guy was a total asshole. The world is better off without him. I’m sure Master will be pleased either way. Pausing along the way back out, she took out her cell phone, and typed a quick text message: TARGET NEUTRALIZED. IMMEDIATE THREAT AGAINST OFFSPRING TERMINATED. GOING TO STANDBY UNTIL NEXT SUMMONS. Sliding her cell back into her pocket, she stepped into the building, closing the door behind her...
Xirix blinked, looking around. “What the... where the hell?” Frowning, she glanced around at her surroundings. “Where the hell am I? How did I get here? Last thing I remember was going shopping!” Scowling, she made her way downstairs, exiting what appeared to be a maintenance doorway. Leaving that area, she sighed, letting out a sigh of relief as she entered an area with other people, Ah. Okay. That’s better. I guess I AM at the mall after all. But... why did I feel the need to go all the way to Provo just to go shopping?
At the thought, a brief red flash exploded in her mind’s eye, a rapid flickering that seemed to come from inside her head. She shuddered slightly, eyes jiggling and moving rapidly, almost as if having a waking dream. Then she blinked, nodding to herself. No. No need to worry about it. There’s nothing strange about it. I just wanted a change of scenery, that’s all. Besides, I got more than enough money from my last job to travel on the spur of the moment if I want. Satisfied, the shapeshifting thief smiled. She made her way back down the escalator, intending to pick up a few new outfits. She blended into the mall crowds, and disappeared.