Second Generation Super-Villain

Book 2:

Powers

by John Rookwood

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2023 by John Rookwood

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to johnrookwood@yahoo.com

 

 

Chapter 1

 

Friday came around at Pharmacom and I made sure to show up in person, loaning the Squad power to Nigel so he could do maintenance and prep work for the trip into Cape May on Saturday.

He knew what to do to get everything in place for the modifications that would be made to the Oberlander and I didn't want to take any chances with the higher ups at Pharmacom. For all I knew they might have someone who could detect powers at work. So I showed up in the flesh, did the boring data entry and chatted with Carl while the systems ran the simulations.

"What do you think brought in the executives?" I asked him as I snacked on yogurt covered pretzels.

"Well, since none of the local managers are sweating, I figure the secret R&D team made a breakthrough." Carl commented as he scanned the results of his latest sim.

I knew they had, at least in part. The Pharmacom black project had created a short term super-serum that they tested on the homeless. The recipients got powers but had to be boosted every four days or on the fifth their power faded. Maybe that was the goal but I felt like something more permanent would have been a bigger deal. Still it would be enough to interest the military.

The executives showed up in the canteen during the lunch hours and wandered around chatting with people, seemingly at random. At one point a woman in her late twenties to early thirties, wearing red pantsuit that cost more than my weekly paycheck sat down with me and Carl.

"Carl!" she said pleasantly, "Still doing data entry? Or have you finally moved up to take over the department?"

Carl shook his head. "You know I don't want that kind of headache Anne." Carl said in recognition. It was obvious they had history.

"Your the best damned data man we have," Anne the executive said, "but you could be so much more."

Carl shrugged. "I get paid well and I do the job. I like where I am and plan to stay there until I retire. If you want an up and comer, talk to Scott here. He's fresh out of college with a degree and big ideas."

Anne looked at me, "Is that so Scott? What ideas?"

Clearing my throat, I said. "Well, I know a lot of people are doing research into super powers and how to give them to non powered people." I watched her and saw the slightest twitch of her ear at that statement. "But I wonder if there are ways to remove or even transfer powers from one person to another. Imagine a system where people who abuse their abilities could have them removed, stored long term or even given to someone more deserving."

Anne's eyes showed interest. "That would reduce the cost and risk of imprisoning supers immensely."

Carl chimed in, "Store them? Like, once a prison term was up they could get them back?"

"Perhaps." I said, "But imagine if we could auction off a criminal's power to recoup the losses they inflicted."

That got Anne's attention. "Do you have any preliminary data on such a drug?"

"No, and it wouldn't be a drug per say, more of a chemical process." I said, "Since I'm new and stuck in data entry and simulations I can't get access to the labs to work on it, so at the moment it's just theoretical."

Her interest piqued, Anne told me, "I might be able to arrange lab time for you, I'd like to see where you can go with this concept."

'Bingo!' I thought to myself as I smiled. "I'd certainly appreciate that miss... um..."

"Anne Hendrickson." she introduced herself. "I'm the VP of research."

"Shouldn't you be sitting with the researchers?" I asked.

"I know all of them and get regular reports on what they work on." she said, "When we visit a branch like this one we switch things up to get other views."

"Oh, that sounds very progressive." I noted.

"It works for us." she said. "Now then when could you start working on your ideas and what would you need?"

"Um." I said feigning being caught unprepared, "It would help to see what we already have in the pipeline, after all I don't want to duplicate work that's already been done. It would be a waste of time and resources."

Anne considered that, "I'll have to run your file and get you clearance but that's do-able. After that?"

"It will depend on which way the research goes," I said. "I might need special equipment but it's far too early to say, and I prefer to work on my own, at least until I have something to show you."

"Goodness Carl, I do believe you've found me another one!" Anne exclaimed. "First you bring me the divine miss Masters and now this young man. Perhaps you'd be of better use as a recruiter."

"Bah." Carl said, "I'd never accept the job. The reason I knew about Dani and Scott is I've worked with them, talked too them, listened to their ideas, and most important, I've done it outside of a recruiting office. Neither of them was trying to impress me or sell me on their ideas. That's why I backed them."

"Danielle has done amazing things in the past six months that she's been in charge of her department." Anne informed me. "All right Scott, expect to hear from me on Monday."

She stood and offered me her hand which I shook.

"Thank you miss Hendrickson." I said, "I won't disappoint you."

"If you do, I'll hand you over to miss Masters as a lab rat." she said, then she laughed. "Just kidding. PETA would be furious if we still used rats."

And then she was off to chat with someone else and Carl and I were alone.

"Wow." I said "That was unexpected, thanks for going to bat for me."

Carl snorted, "Meh, I just shoved you into the batters box, you hit the home run on your own kid. Anne trusts my judgment, but you sold her on your idea. Best of luck with it."

"Damn, now I'll have to spend the weekend putting together a proposal." I muttered.

"Nah." Carl pointed out. "You won't know for sure if you'll even get the job until sometime Monday, and even then you hedged your bet by asking to see the current research. That'll buy you a few days to get your ducks in a row. Although I'd watch your back if you decide to challenge Dani for funding, she's brilliant but also unforgiving. If you siphon off her budget, she'll want your head."

"Great." I said without enthusiasm. "So you're saying I've put a target on my back?"

"It was bound to happen sooner or later. Dani will either want to recruit you or get rid of you if she thinks you're a threat to her own project." Carl said as he gathered up his lunch tray. "Better for you that it's happening now, since she won't be expecting it from someone so new."

I didn't have a response to that so I cleaned my own lunch tray and headed back to the simulation center to finish out the day.

After all, I still planned to conduct a raid on miss Master's research lab this weekend. If I got the promotion, knowing what she knew would be handy since I had doubts she'd hand it all over just on miss Hendrickson's say so. Plus, if I didn't get the promotion, well then I'd still have her research. One way or the other her data would soon be mine.

 

 

Chapter 2

 

On Saturday morning, our crew of Nigels pulled the Oberlander into port and began taking on fuel even as two different crews arrived to install new equipment.

By early afternoon the new boat connections were in place and a tractor trailer with an extra-wide three story tall load rolled up beside the ship, it's cargo wrapped heavily enough to disguise the fact that it carried prison cells. I let Nigel and his copies handle everything, they wore matching jumpsuits but each wore different hats, sunglasses and bandannas or face masks to disguise the fact that all eight of the crew were the same guy. Meanwhile I held a war council with Dolly and Leta.

"We need to break in, but in such a way that know one realizes we raided the place." I said. "Now I know enough about the system to be able to access it but I don't have the passcodes."

Dolly shrugged, "I can pick the locks easy enough but those scanners you told us about will make things difficult."

"What of Interfaze? Could he be hired to assist you?" Leta asked. "He has been of great use to your father."

I shook my head. "First off, he's semi-retired and second, dad warned me about using any of his contacts, so he's out."

"Plenty of other hackers in the digital sea." Dolly pointed out as she pulled out her tablet. "I bet I can find someone on Hencher."

While she searched for a code cutter, I spoke to Leta, "We're going to need a distraction. I'm considering adding invisibility to your power set for this operation."

"As you wish, master." she said. "As an invisible giant, I'm certain I can create considerable chaos."

"Hey!" Dolly said, looking up from her device. "Don't go promising miss melons here the see-through power just yet. If we hire a hacker, they might need it."

Damn, she had a point.

"Okay let's see what other options we have then." I muttered.

"Fire is a very chaotic power as well." Leta offered. "If I am careful, I am certain I could create sufficient distractions with strategically placed fires."

"Hmm." I said. "Maybe we need to expand the variety of options we have at our disposal. What are the odds of us nabbing a super or two tonight?"

"Pretty good." Dolly interjected. "I've got a feeling Slag will be on the move tonight, probably Autopilot too."

"What of Wrecking Ball and Quaker?" Leta inquired.

"Those two are lazy." Dolly said as her fingers flew over the touchscreen. "They made good hauls recently so they'll be spending the loot and won't pull another job till they're reduced to eating pot noodles."

"Who else works this part of Jersey?" I asked.

"Well," Dolly said, "Smooth Talker has been known to pass through now and then, his power makes people want to believe him. It may or may not be something you can hijack. Slag's melting gun would be pretty sweet but we have Flashburn's pyro power already so he's not a high value target. Autopilot's ability to control machines is fabulous and all but I dunno if it goes beyond stuff ya drive, plus she can only operate one machine at a time." Another flurry of taps followed before she said, "Now Menagerie is a shape shifter who can turn into animals, which is nice and she loves to go after expensive furs and jewelry, which I totally respect. Then there is Blur, the speedster. He's fast as hell but only for a few minutes, then he runs outta gas. With the Cape May five out of action any or all of them might be active tonight. Heck we might even see some out of town crooks show up if they think it's easy pickings out here."

Leta put in her own two cents. "I believe some of the other heroes in the state might migrate to this area as well. Goldenrod the psionic warrior is known to move around as needed, as is Playback."

"Who's Playback?" I asked, not familiar with the name.

"He is a psychic who often works with Goldenrod, his ability is 'post-cognition', he can touch objects and see what took place around them." Leta explained.

"Okay he needs to go on the hit list if he shows up." I said. "That kind of trick could spell big trouble for us."

Leta nodded, "Of course master. We should also be on the lookout for Clover and Typhoon. Those heroes might also make their way here to fill the void."

Clover was one of the Jersey heroes I had read about, she was a luck manipulator and Typhoon had wind control powers. I was more worried about her than him since probability control was a hard thing to counter.

"I got us a hacker!" Dolly declared.

"How much is he gonna cost me?" I asked.

"Not much, just ten thousand for the job plus whatever he finds in the database." Dolly said.

"Um, no." I said. "You know what's in that data. I don't want that information getting out."

Dolly looked at me like I was an imbecile. "Duh boss, that's why you're gonna pay him extra to insure he plays nice."

Oh, right.

I nodded. "Right... offer him double but no copies allowed."

Dolly grinned that manic grin of hers, "Yup Yup! That'll work. See, you know how to do the villain thing, ya just need a bit of help here and there!"

"Okay." I said "Get him lined up for the job tomorrow night. Tonight we're going hunting."

"Cool!" she said, "Rubberella, Diva and Autolycus will kick ass and take powers."