Darkest Day (StrikeForce #3) (20 page)

“And what have you done about that alleged connection?” Eve asked in a smooth voice. The room went deadly silent behind me.

“I fought against Killjoy near Midtown a few months ago. And we’ve been trying to track down any samples Killjoy and Death may have created.”

“Ah, yes. The alleged ‘super hero drug,’” Eve said, doing the whole obnoxious-ass air quotes thing and everything. “An item that, of course, we have no evidence of.”

“Well, we’re certainly looking for evidence,” I said, trying to unclench my jaw a little.

“I’m sure. You know, no one has seen Dr. Death since the day of that fight you had with Killjoy,” she said

“Because Killjoy killed him,” I said.

“So you and your team mates claim. Yet no body was ever found, and nobody saw Killjoy anywhere near Death. You, on the other hand, were caught on camera flying near Death’s apartment not long before he went missing, and his apartment was found in absolute ruins.”

“Maybe you should be trying to get Killjoy to come in and talk about what he did that day,” I said, glaring at Eve through my mask.

“Maybe you should tell us what happened at a facility off of the Mexican coast that belonged to Dr. Death,” she said, and there went the cameras again.

“What are you even talking about?” I asked in a bored tone, and it earned a few chuckles from the assembled people.

“It was an international incident. Explosives were used. Private property damage is a serous crime.”

“Well. So is killing people. Which is why, again, maybe you should have Killjoy come in to be questioned. But I’m guessing you can’t find him, huh? And what about all of the super powered people who’ve been going missing lately? I haven’t heard a single peep about you doing anything about that.”

She stiffened. “What are you implying? A few missing supers aren’t exactly at the top of our priority list. And what about Killjoy? Did you kill him, too?”

I rolled my eyes. “Not likely. He seems to be steering clear of me for some reason. Can’t imagine why,” I said. “Maybe he’s a coward.” The cameras started again, just as I’d known they would, and this time I wanted it. This time, I wanted to use them to try to draw him out of his hole.

“A coward?” Eve sneered. “Killjoy is a hero.”

“Killjoy is a villain. He’s the villain formerly known as Raider, and he’s been right under all of your noses this entire time.”

“You’re delusional,” Eve said, her jaw tight, eyes sparkling with malice.

I leaned on the podium. “Smart girl,” I hissed, going with a suspicion that had been building during the questioning. “Sweet girl. There’s nobody like you. Sound familiar? You know he’s a ginger, don’t you?”

She froze, and red crept up her neck and face. The other members of her council looked at her.

“I see his lines haven’t changed any. You’ll want to be careful, Eve. He’s a snake and he will strike when you least expect it,” I added quietly. The cameras went again, and Eve seemed to collect herself.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she shot at me.

“Sure you don’t,” I answered. “I wonder when he approached you? I’m guessing it was shortly after he disappeared from sight like the coward he is. I bet he became real interested in you once it was announced that your investigation was beginning. He probably checks in all the time, just wondering how you are and what you were up to that day.”

She was glaring daggers at me now.

“You’ll want to watch yourself. Caine refused to answer questions about his past, but we can surely get into yours if you like.”

“Go for it,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. She sat silently, glaring at me. Ms. Thunder put her hand over her mike and began talking to Eve. The look on her face suggested that she was not at all happy and that Eve had overstepped some line. It went on for quite a while, and everyone started edging closer, trying to hear what they were saying to one another.

Finally, Eve removed her hand from her mike and glared at me. “Thank you, Daystar,” she said, and I gave her a lazy salute, which earned me a few more chuckles form the crowd, and I sat down next to Ryan.

“You handled that better than I did,” Ryan said, leaning close to me.

“Thanks. I think I need to puke now,” I said. He bumped his knee against mine, and I felt a stab of regret. It really was too bad that he was probably an evil psycho killer.

The Tribunal conferred for a few minutes, and I watched as Eve sat back and crossed her arms across her chest, pouting like a petulant child. A few moments later, Ms. Thunder cleared her throat and the crowd grew quiet again. “It is this Tribunal’s opinion that Alpha was indeed in collusion with the villain known as Dr. Death, and, vey likely with Killjoy as well, based on testimony and evidence provided by Portia, including emails between Alpha and his contact. It is also our opinion that Alpha has no business leading a superhero team, and henceforth place all StrikeForce related assets and properties in trust, to be managed by Portia or whoever serves as leader of StrikeForce in perpetuity. We find, by majority opinion, for StrikeForce, and find Alpha, Nightbane, and Crystal guilty of crimes against the super powered community.” The flashes and chatter began again, and Ms. Thunder held her hand up. “However,” she said loudly, and everyone piped down. “However, due to certain dissenting opinions among those on the Tribunal, we do not feel comfortable taking Alpha and his cohorts into custody as requested. We, again, the majority of us, do not feel comfortable with the task of imprisoning them in our facility. We are ashamed to admit that we are unsure of our ability to secure them, and that is an issue we will be forced to look at in the near future. We advise that Alpha and company remain in confinement here at StrikeForce Command and have already allocated a member of our own security force, Icer, who will assist in ensuring that the prisoners remain secure. This meeting is adjourned,” she said, and rapped the gavel twice.

The hearing was officially over, and I watched as James and Portia went to the front to speak to the Tribunal. There were things being signed, a few handshakes. The audience and media slowly started flooding out of the room, and then, finally, out of Command which made me breathe a lot easier. We all stood by and watched them exit, making sure nobody stayed who wasn’t supposed to be there. We stood in the lobby until the Tribunal left the room. then entered the elevators.

“They’re staying overnight and then heading back to their headquarters after their official sign-off meeting tomorrow morning,” Portia said tiredly when she joined us. “Nice job today everyone.”

We all nodded.

“Get some rest if you can. Hopefully we’ll have a quiet night.” With that, she took another elevator, heading up to her office. Jenson and David took off to pull together the last few files for the Tribunal to add to their casefile, and Toxxin, Chance, and the others all went off to eat or rest. That left me with Ryan in the lobby, and I wasn’t sure what to do.

“I’m not some kind of evil asshole,” he said after a few awkward moments.

My gaze jerked up to his face. “What?”

“I can practically read your posture. You’re leaning away from me and your heart rate is weird and erratic, and it has been since they asked me about my past. Is there something you want to ask me?”

I shook my head.

Ryan sighed, then took my arm and pulled me toward the front exit. “Let’s take a walk and patrol a bit.”

I let him pull me along. I promised myself I wouldn’t be stupid this time. We walked out of Command, nodding to the guards, then we strolled through the courtyard between the towers.

“You’re worried I’m Killjoy Part Two, huh?” Ryan asked, and I didn’t answer. “I mean, not that we’re involved the way you and Killjoy were,” he said. We stopped, and he crossed his arms and looked around. We were both still wearing our uniforms, our masks. His allowed me to see his eyes, and I was glad of it. I was also glad that he couldn’t see mine.

“You’re really good at shooting people,” I said quietly. “I was thinking you were maybe former military or something, but that doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’d keep secret, especially at a time like this.”

“Which leaves, what? Killer for hire? Sniper of some kind?”

I didn’t say anything.

“Jolene, do you really think I’m any of that? Some kind of killer?”

“I’m not the greatest judge of character,” I said, looking away.

“A psychopath fooled you. He took advantage of you at a time when you were lonely and pissed off and going through a bunch of changes. He was a friendly face when you were surrounded by enemies. That is what manipulative fuckers do. And you were on the right track regarding Eve and Killjoy, I think,” he added. “Jo, what are the odds that everyone you know is a psychopath who just wants to use you or hurt you or manipulate you?”

“I know,” I said. “My pulse went nuts because I was afraid to hear it, but at the same time, I need to know.”

“I was Secret Service,” he said quietly, glancing around. “Never had the honor of escorting or guarding a President, but I did all of my initial training and started the first phase of my field work. I guarded a few dignitaries. I loved my job. I did that until I was twenty-six, and then the Confluence hit and I couldn’t keep on doing what I had been doing.” He started walking again and I went with him. After a while, he continued talking. “So I was out. I eventually adjusted to my new powers, mostly. I worked a few private security jobs. One night, I was going to my car after work and I heard someone screaming. Not very close, but, you know,” he shrugged. “So I ran in that direction and there was this guy holding a woman, and she was frantically trying to get away. And the guy was… all I could think of at the time was that he looked like he was throwing lightning at the two guys who were trying to take him down. I didn’t think,” he said. “I ran at him, surprised him, knocked him down and out. The woman got free, and the other two guys came and helped me finish securing him. One of the guys was a teleporter. Kind of like Brianne. Really fast,” he added. “He ported the electro guy to the Tribunal’s main holding facility and then came back and the three of us talked. They were both dressed all in black, ski masks, the whole deal.”

Something about what he’d said jogged a memory. I was trying to figure out what it was that sounded familiar, but I wasn’t quite there yet. “The other guy’s things were flying and super strength. We used to mess with him and call him Superman.”

An image flashed through my mind. News segments about three vigilantes who’d been seen across the world, taking down a villain at a time. Men who shunned the spotlight in every possible way, yet, as time went on, it kept finding them.

“You were one of the Three,” I said quietly. The Three had been the only name the vigilantes had ever been given. They’d done their thing for a few years, the first four years or so after the first Confluence.

“Yeah.”

“So you hid your family after you started doing that?”

He nodded. “One of the guys we caught pretty early on went after our teleporter’s family. Luckily, he got there before anything bad happened, but it was enough of a wake-up call for us to start hiding anyone who mattered to us, erasing our pasts as best we could. And it worked. None of our families ever got messed with again.”

“But the other two guys…” I started.

“Yeah. They didn’t make it. Our flyer got taken out by one of the Russian villains we went after. And then our teleporter was ambushed and murdered—“

“By Raider. Killjoy,” I said, remembering more of it now.

“Yeah.”

“And then later, you fought Raider,” I said quietly, remembering that photo I’d come across when I’d started researching Raider, of Caine and Raider fighting.

“Yeah. That was after I’d joined StrikeForce, though. Portia and I had gone to London to spend some time with the British team and see how they did things, since StrikeForce was so new and clueless. Alpha sent us. And we came across Raider and I couldn’t stop myself. And I had him, until the rest of his crew showed up. At the time, I figured, well, I’m fucked now, but at least I’ll go out fighting, but then the British hero team showed up and things evened out. They captured Raider and a few of his teammates. Of course, they all escaped in transport to the Tribunal’s prison,” he said with a shrug. “People shit on StrikeForce all the time, but it’s like they have short term memories or something. All superhero teams screw up, especially at first.”

He paused. “Anyway, after Raider killed the other remaining member of The Three, I decided to hang it up. But I couldn’t quite stay away, so I started using my powers again, usually just to report crimes in progress to the police or to StrikeForce. Jenson’s not stupid. She was the one answering the phones back then, and she started wondering how this same guy kept picking up on these crimes. So one time when I called, she said that I should come in and think about joining up. She said that Alpha had noticed all of my calls and wanted to talk to me, that the team needed all the help it could get and that I actually seemed to care, which was more than some heroes could claim. Eventually, I did, and here we are.”

“But why are you so intent on keeping your time with the Three a secret? That’s nothing to be ashamed of. You were a hero then, and you’re a hero now.”

“The Three put away some of the worst of the worst. That’s a good part of why my two friends ended up dead. Villains don’t stay put away forever, and the ones you put away generally make promises to themselves to get back at the one who put the there. You have some experience with this,” he added, and I nodded. “And Alpha knew that too, and he knew how much my family means to me. He had me there. And I figure, if the last member of The Three seems to have just faded away, that would make me feel a little better, too. If they never connect me with The Three, I’m happy. There are still too many villains out there who’d like to settle a personal score with me.”

Part of me doubted him. He could be lying about all of it. I hated that despite Ryan having been there for me when I needed him, despite the fact that I trusted him, literally, with my life when we worked together, I couldn’t just take him at his word. But I also knew that it had nothing to do with Ryan, and everything to do with Killjoy.