Chapter 18 Cross Lines
As a microwave hummed, warming a TV macaroni dinner, Mr. Tension sat watching the news about the ongoing investigation into the missing mutants.
“No such leads have led to the twelve people that might include the assistant to former Mayor Dra—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Mr. Tension groaned as he turned off the television, just as the microwave went off. Getting off the couch, he straightened his glasses before pulling out his meal for the night, nearly burning himself in the process. He leaped back for a moment, waving the pain away from his hand when a knock on the door caught his attention. Swinging back to it, he raised an eyebrow in puzzlement and tensed his fist. The first thing he did was leap over to the wall, where he kept a wooden baseball bat, and carefully tiptoed to the door, looking out its peephole in hopes that it wasn’t who he thought it was.
To his relief, he saw that it was Sarah Stone, and he set the bat down behind the door before peeking his head out. “Sarah Stone, nice to see a familiar face,” he smiled, trying to hide his nerves and failing to do so thanks to his brow twitching uncontrollably.
“Hello, Mr. Tension. You remember my friend Eddie and Maroo, right?” Sarah gestured to the two guys behind her with a swipe of her arm. “We’re here because you said something about my father being involved with that project. Remember back during Christmas? It was a few months ago, but do you mind if we come in and—”
“Not at all, not at all,” he said, turning back quickly and heading to the kitchen in the corner. “I was just about to have some dinner. Please, come in, come in.”
His apartment was not what you would expect from a governor of the city. It was just a small room with a bed in the back, a couch and TV, and a kitchen in the corner. There was also a door, which was either a closet or a bathroom, on the opposite side of the kitchen. Sarah observed the place carefully.
“Oh, hard times,” he said, noticing her glances. “With these mutations, a lot of panic among the smarter has happened, and I—” he winced, trying to grin.
“I see,” Sarah replied, though that wasn’t the reason for her looking around the place. She actually wanted to make sure there weren’t any recording devices around.
“Maroo, oh, I just heard about your mother. She still isn’t found. I’m sorry about that, lad,” he softly remarked. Maroo could only drop his eyes in sadness, but Eddie noticed and set a comforting hand on the boy''s shoulder, which made him smile, if only a little.
“Alright, so what was this project my father was working on? I remember moving into a military base and seeing an underground lab, but I didn’t think it was anything special at the time,” Sarah asked as she took a seat on his couch.
“Wow, getting straight to the point, are we?” Mr. Tension laughed as he pulled out a spoon and began to dig into his dinner at the counter.
“Forgive my sudden urgency, Mr. Tension, and subsequent bluntness, but—” Sarah lowered her head and took a deep breath before raising it and shouting, “I know my father was involved with the mutations!” Her eyes were full of rage when she spoke.
“Sarah!” shouted Eddie in surprise at the rash exchange.
She ignored him and pressed the subject further, growing more enraged with each passing word. “Somehow, everyone involved with that project has gone missing or is dead. I’ve found records of them hiring a crazed criminal who wrote a school paper on genetics. That same criminal was responsible for the deaths of my father and mother and has been mutating people this whole time, and for some reason, you are just sitting here not even phased. MR. TENSION, WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE MUTATIONS?!”
From her outburst, Mr. Tension only dropped his spoon, his jaw dropped at first. Only for wild and warm laughter to erupt from him next. “Oh, Sarah, you’ve got to stop reading those comic books.” Even so, Sarah sat unamused with him as he continued to laugh in her face. “Your father wasn’t involved in some weird mutations; what happened to him was a dreadful accident, that’s all,” he said as he finally got his laughter under control. “Your father was involved in a much different project, one all about steroids.”
“Staroi—” Sarah blinked and shook her head. “But you said this was a weapon greater than the nuclear bomb. How are steroids bigger than that?”
“I told you, that’s what your father used to tell me, and I always thought it was silly,” he said as he picked up his spoon and began eating again. “Anyway, the goal was to create—and I quote your father,” he smiled, only stopping for moments at a time to eat his macaroni and cheese, “a steroid that boosts the average human’s strength to its absolute max. But not just strength; speed and agility, finding the perfect body type between these two extremes. A soldier who could do anything and everything on the front lines. To their surprise, they did find such a fellow. Some young troubled kid, who was on a one-way ticket to prison, got a chance to fight for his country.
I don’t remember his exact name, but once they put him in the field, he was quick to rack up the most kills in the military. In hopes of replicating him, they tried simple training, but that wasn’t going to work. However, with a steroid created from his blood and a few other typical, easy-to-form compounds, they successfully duplicated him and were going to make an entire army—had the FDA not involved themselves. You see, most of the test subjects for the steroids were animals, and when the public found out how quickly the method of the steroid could kill, they ultimately were forced to pull the plug.
“Could kill,” Sarah narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
“Yes, can you imagine it? For the price of cutting your life to nearly half or even a quarter, the strength the steroid could give would have been inhuman,” Mr. Tension told them with a mystique and wonder tone in his voice. “But ultimately, you would die too quickly, and I don’t believe that young lad survived either—the one who it all started with. Passing zero. It had nothing to do with crazy superpowers, though. The mutations—”
He was interrupted by the sound of someone kicking in the door.
“Alright, you low son of a bitch, you better—who are they?” growled a strange square-headed man who entered the doorway.
In response, Sarah leapt up along with Eddie into a fighting stance. The man was three times the size of Eddie, but it was clear by the shape of his head that he had to be a mutant.
“Stop! All of you, stop!” panicked Mr. Tension. “Trust me, you don’t want to tangle with this guy; he’s a—”
“A mutant, yeah, we know!” yelled Maroo, who leaped onto the countertop in one jump. Impressive for a kid his size.
“He’s not a mutant!!! He doesn’t have crazy powers like those guys on TV; he’s just—”
“I was a test subject for a crazy lunatic, thanks to this shithead over here!” he pointed at Mr. Tension.
“You mean the steroids? Whatever that was, I’m more than certain is responsible for whoever is creating mutants! Do you know the name of the scientist who did this to you?” Sarah asked, raising an eyebrow.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“I want no trouble with that guy, and if you knew anything about him, you wouldn’t either,” growled the square-headed man. “They call him the Reaper; not someone you want to mess with,” he growled. “Now I just want my payment so I can get back to my cousin, so pay up, Tension!” He said, his tone growing louder with each word.
“Fine, fine,” Tension walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a brown case. “Here, take it, just don’t mess with—”
“The Reaper, who the hell is he?” Sarah insisted, wanting more information. “I believe Doom is the same man who worked on those weapons. Please tell me, what were they working on?”
“If he’s behind this, then I suggest you stop searching for him. That jackass isn’t someone you should ever go around. Even with my steroids, I had no chance against him.”
“Believe me,” Sky turned away from him so he wouldn’t see her eyes turn into green slits. “I’m going after him, and I’ll bring him to justice if it’s the last thing I do,” she demanded before she began to leave. “Fine, don’t tell me; I can tell this isn’t going to lead me anywhere after all. Maroo, Eddie, let’s go,” she ordered the boys, who for a moment looked at each other with the same thought in their minds: She’s gone crazy. Before ultimately following her out the door, leaving Mr. Tension and whoever the strange square-headed man was.
…
Once inside the car and heading down the road, Sarah sighed as she rubbed her forehead. “I don''t know, okay? I don''t.”
Maroo sat in the back of Eddie''s car, tired from being up so late. Then he noticed a piece of paper crumpled at the bottom of the trunk. His curiosity took over, and he unrolled it, revealing a flier for the tournament.
“What you got there?” asked Sarah, who had noticed something had caught his attention. He handed her the paper with a yawn.
“Oh yeah, Ray told me about this. They’re holding a fighting tournament for a fundraiser.”
“Hey, that''s it!” shouted Eddie.
“What is?”
“The tournament! What if we join?” he asked excitedly.
Sarah''s eyes widened as she picked up on Eddie''s idea. “And if we do, we can get close to Cornelius and possibly Doom.”
“We could infiltrate and capture Cornelius and force him to tell us the truth: who Doom really is.”
“Possible,” Sarah replied. “It''s a good plan, but what if it leads us nowhere again? What if it’s just that and nothing more?”
“We could hack into their servers. They must have a computer or something.”
“Perhaps. It''s a start,” Sarah smiled.
Maroo yawned again. “Let''s get home. Maybe Ray has something on them we could use.”
“Sure, I''ll give you a ride home,” Eddie told them, jumping into the truck along with Sarah.
As they drove, Sarah noticed Eddie tapping on the steering wheel, a look of concern on his face.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“I''m a bit worried about Sky. She has been acting weirder and weirder these past few days.”
“She doesn''t really want to talk, you know her. She''s always been a bit shy—well, shyer than the rest of us.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. Whatever it is, if she doesn''t get through it, she might get hurt in battle. I don''t want her part of the tournament. Maybe we shouldn''t tell her.”
“Look, we should at least ask her if—”
“No, if we do that, she’ll just come anyway. Perhaps it’s best if we don’t bother her with this.”
“You care about her that much, huh?” Sarah smiled.
He didn''t respond, only looked back at the road. Suddenly, he stopped the car dead in its tracks, almost sending Sky through the windshield if she hadn''t had her seatbelt on.
“What! What is it?”
“Is… is that Ray with my dad?” he asked.
Ray was indeed in the shadows, barely visible, talking to both Miss Thompson and Mr. Crush.
“The tournament is only a few months away. We could use it to capture the Reaper,” said Ray.
“Yes, the Reaper never misses the tournament, but even if he doesn''t join, just capturing his second-in-command would be enough. Once we have him, we could make him talk and get everything we need,” Miss Thompson replied.
“As long as my son’s not involved, we need to keep your friends from interfering. We’ll discuss more at headquarters. For now…” Mr. Crush was interrupted when someone yelled, “Hey!” as they stepped out of their truck. Mr. Crush’s eyes widened when he saw it was his own son. Miss Thompson grew quiet at the sight of Sarah, who had also joined.
“Eddie! Ray, what are you doing?” she added.
“I, uh, well…” Ray tried to think of an excuse.
“Don’t even try. Let me guess: you’re working with my dad and the FBI. Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Oh, we’re, uh, trying to plan for your birthday,” his father lied.
“Give it up; we’re caught,” Ray gave in. “Look, guys, this is too dangerous. The guy we’re after has killed many and turned so many more into mutants like us. We need help. I needed help. Let’s just leave this to the professionals, like your dad.”
Eddie couldn''t believe what he just heard, but it was Sarah who stepped in. “No, no one can be trusted. Not with the information I know,” Sarah groaned.
“What info do you have? Let’s compare and contrast,” said Miss Thompson. “Do you even know who the big bad villain is?”
“Trust me, I know enough to know not to trust any of you,” she said, jumping into action and taking Miss Thompson by surprise. However, Miss Thompson was able to dodge Sarah''s attack, if only barely. She then countered with a kick, only for Sarah to catch her leg and toss her, but Ray caught her, saving her from a fall.
“What’s gotten into you?!” shouted Ray.
“We must capture them; we can use them to learn whatever we need to,” Sarah ordered her team, and Eddie didn''t hesitate to go after his father.
Mr. Crush, however, used his own moves to outdo his son. “Hey, hey, listen, Eddie, please,” he begged.
“Sorry, Dad, I know you''re just doing your job, but we have our job to do as well,” he said, using his powers at top speed to take Mr. Crush by surprise. However, it was Ray who stopped Eddie from knocking his father out.
“Are you serious? What has gotten into you two? We’re on the same side here,” she spat, not understanding. “You’ve got to trust me.”
“Trust you? The girl who didn’t tell us about the FBI? What have you not been telling us, Ray? How long have you been working for them?” asked Sarah.
In the midst of all this, Maroo snored soundly asleep in the back of the truck.
Mr. Colsin grabbed his walkie-talkie. “We need backup at my location! TWO MUTANTS!” Eddie was able to kick the walkie-talkie out of his father''s hand and crush it. “Sarah, we got problems!” he shouted, only for Ray to punch him to the ground.
Sarah tackled Ray, but she quickly grabbed her by the neck. “Sarah, I don''t want to hurt you; you''re my friend.”
“Friend, huh? Some friend you are,” she spat.
The words struck Ray''s heart. She gasped in utter shock and bit her lip, wondering what she should do. Finally, she growled, “Fine, if you''re going to act like wild mutants, I guess I''m going to have to bring you in like wild mutants.” She closed her hand around Sarah''s throat, but Sarah used her ice powers to make Ray slip and nearly fall. However, she caught herself with a flap of her wing and quickly righted herself mid-air.
“Hmmm, funny; last time we fought, I remember you kicking your ass," smirked Ray.
“This is going to be like last time; a lot’s changed since then.” Sarah took a fighting stance.
Meanwhile, both Miss Thompson and Mr. Crush readied themselves for a fight against Eddie.
“We have to stall them until backup arrives,” Eddie’s dad called out.
“You think?” Miss Thompson replied, a bit out of breath already from dealing with Sarah.
“Eddie, please, you need help,” his father pleaded once more.
“Trust me, Dad. I know what I am doing.” He then rushed in at top speed and punched his father in the gut, knocking him to the ground. Miss Thompson pulled out her gun and fired a warning shot at his feet, just missing him.
As much as Eddie didn''t want to admit it, he wasn''t faster than a bullet, and this was getting dangerous. “Put the gun down!” he ordered, but Sarah stood her ground. “The next one’s going in your skull!” she yelled. “Now turn yourself in!”
The sound of the gunshot finally made the young boy in the back of the truck wake up. “Huh? What’s going on?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Sarah used her ice powers to slide around Ray, but she accidentally tripped on her own powers and crashed into her instead. Ray used the opportunity to grab hold of her and lift her off the ground using her wings to take flight.
“You really should get better at skating with those powers, you know,” Ray told her opponent.
Sarah smirked. “Trust me, my plan wasn’t to get away.” She used her fire powers to burn Ray’s wing, making her cry out in pain and plummet to the ground. Though they weren''t very far off the ground, it still resulted in a hard hit for both of them, and a crater was formed.