Project Northwoods (47 page)

“We’re taking over, baby,” came the confident voice of a pinstriped mobster from down the hall. He smiled, pushing up his trilby hat with the end of his machine gun. His boyish grin and curly hair made him look less like a hardcore criminal and more like a child playing cops and robbers. “The Italian Mob just saved your ass.”

CONTAINMENT

THE ELEVATOR DOORS OPENED TO THE PANOPTICON.
Arthur stepped out of the oversized car, Catalina, Mat, and Talia fanning out behind him. Catalina and Mat already had their weapons drawn as they moved in opposite directions, checking corners for signs of life. When they met in the middle, Catalina motioned to the ramps leading down to the observation deck, where they disappeared.

It was everything he had ever dreamed of made solid. The monitors flickered between different cameras, showing the occasional guard about to be caught unaware as droves of goons descended into the various halls. Tim had already liberated A-Wing from the looks of it, but the others were being more systematic about the entire ordeal.

It was like magic, in a way. Something that had been classified as too unfeasible to allow a villain to build was standing, and he was its master. The surge of energy was enough to keep him riding high as violence erupted on the monitors, some Enforcers refusing to surrender quietly. He strode toward the central security computer, swung the backpack with Mollie inside of it off, and set it on the floor. Sitting down, he felt a rush of power as he pushed toward the console. He tapped at the keyboard and a screen popped up with numerous separate windows, each labeled ‘high-security’.

“Damn, Art, you certainly don’t dick around with this stuff, do you?” Mat asked, his head angled up at several monitors as he made his way back up from the observation deck. Catalina cracked her neck and knuckles as she approached him from behind.

“People can’t come and go without my knowledge,” Arthur said with a degree of annoyance. “Of course, this place should have more security personnel, but hey.” He tapped out a series of keystrokes before spinning in his chair to face the others.

“Works in our favor, doesn’t it?” Talia muttered, crossing to Arthur as he leaned over, took the computer out of its backpack, and began to withdraw cables.

“So what’s the next step?” Catalina asked, adjusting the rifle strung across her back.

Arthur plugged a cable into Mollie. “I just locked the heroes out of the system, once again making this place a Fortress.” He ran the cord into the USB port of the security computer. “Mollie here is going to bring the defenses online.”

“And only use them if necessary,” Mollie chimed. “We are here on a mission of mercy.”

“That’s my girl,” Arthur said with a smile. He pulled the Home Drive from his pocket and slid it into a spare port on his laptop. “Just in case.”

“You worry too much,” the virus cooed.

“Tier Two liberated,” a voice over the headset buzzed.

Catalina brought her hand up to her earpiece. “Acknowledged. Begin defrosting procedures on Sleeping Beauties.”

“Copy,” came the reply.

Mat laughed a bit. “It’s like being in a military movie.”

Talia’s eyes flicked across a series of monitors above her, watching the color images sweep back and forth across the yard. “I can’t believe they’d leave something like this so… open.”

“Heroes have won everything, ever,” Arthur said, watching the same bank of monitors. “Leaving this place minimally defended is perfect. It leaves more time for… I dunno…” He struggled to think of something specific that heroes did. “Heroic things.”
Excellent. Well done, dumbass.

One of the cameras swept to a far corner. The resolution wasn’t great at the distance it showed, but two lights flanked something in the perimeter wall. “What’s that?” Talia pointed at the screen. “Something in the wall?”

Arthur squinted at the screen. “Did you see anything unusual while you were in the system?”

“No, everything was pretty much as expected.” Talia kept her eye on the camera feed as it moved away, obscuring the view.

“Mollie, any anomalies?”

“Not from preliminary analysis.” Something whirred in her computer. “But I have detected a threat in the high security level above us.”

Arthur squinted. “What?”

“Well, he does not know he’s a threat yet,” Mollie sighed, bringing up the video feed. Sure enough, an older man in a lab coat, with wild hair and headphones, was watching a sleep chamber and taking notes.

Arthur felt Catalina leaning on the arm rest of his chair. She was suddenly in his vision as she leaned ever closer to the screen. “Why don’t we make him aware of his new status?” She pushed off and went back to the elevator.

Unsure of why he felt the need to supervise her, he stood up immediately. “Wrong way, Catalina.” She stopped and turned to him. He jutted his thumb in the direction of the other elevator, the one which led higher into the Panopticon. “It’s this one.”

Catalina made her way toward it. “I’ll take care of the pest, you three stay put.”

“Mollie can handle things here,” Arthur said, taking a step toward the elevator. “We should all go.”

The mobster cocked an eyebrow. “Why?”

Talia, in sync with Arthur, stepped forward. “He could be a valuable source of information.”

“Or a hostage!” Mat shouted, apparently pleased to be included in the game.

Catalina looked them over and rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She walked to the elevator. The card reader changed color thanks to an unheard command by Mollie. “Fun for the whole family.”

The doors opened as their earpieces hissed to life. “C-Wing liberated.” Before anyone could give them clearance, the goon at the other end continued: “Poor dopes. Most of them are in sleep units. Proceeding to defrost.” Arthur hit the button for the high security floor, and the doors whispered shut. With a barely audible hum, the elevator started its ascent.

“Alright, birdies, this is Mama Falcon,” Allison announced on the earpiece, much louder than necessary. “We’ve landed on ‘level four’ and are proceeding to thaw the meatsicles, over.”

Talia, Arthur, and Mat all turned to look at Catalina, who was engaged with intently watching the doors. “Anyone says a word and I’ll break their fingers.”

Talia shrugged. “Fair enough.”

They felt the car slow, then stop before the doors whispered open. The large room was painfully fluorescent, the sickly green-tinted light spilling over the banks of computers and monitors. At the far end, the man in the lab coat was watching the sleep chamber intently, occasionally making marks on a sheet of paper. Catalina brought her gun up and motioned Mat to go around to the other side, cutting off at least two of his escape routes. Arthur and Talia trailed behind Catalina as she approached.

“It’s about time you got here,” he said, his thick German accent echoing in the chamber. “I asked for my Pizza Rolls an hour ago.” He turned, then shuddered in shock at the sight of Catalina approaching. “Who are you?”

“We’re the new owners of this place, doc,” Catalina chimed.

The doctor quickly turned to run, but was met with the muzzle of Mat’s gun pointing in his face. “Ah, probably not the best move, there.”

“H-how did you get in here?” he sputtered. “The Fort is…”

“Impenetrable,” Catalina interrupted. “Yeah, we get it.” She gestured to the sleep chamber. “Who’s your guest of honor, Maelstrom?”

He stared at her, fear electrifying his eyes. “You know my name?”

She smiled. “Can’t think of too many other former Nazis calling themselves heroes.” Catalina took a step forward, causing the man to cower. “Answer the question.”

“In this chamber is the murderer of our beloved Dark Saint.” He straightened, trying to appear defiant in the face of death.

“Zombress…” Talia said, shocked.
They hadn’t actually been able to kill her… so they made her a prisoner, drugged and sedated her to the point of irrelevance.

The others exchanged looks of surprise. They had all thought…
known
that she had died that morning. Since no one had come right out and said otherwise, Arbiter merely let people’s imaginations leap to the logical conclusion. The assumption that she was dead was all that was needed.

“Yes, the so-called Queen of the Dead and Fear.” He snorted in contempt. “And there, she shall stay for her terrible crime.”

“And who’s that?” Mat asked, snatching the doctor’s attention. He gestured with his gun to another occupied sleep chamber partially hidden behind a bank of computers.

“No one of concern to you,” Maelstrom said, his attempt at subterfuge sabotaged ruined with a notable increase of nervousness.

“Let’s ask them, then,” Arthur said, moving his way past Catalina. Dr. Maelstrom stood agog as he approached, pivoting to keep him in eyeshot as Arthur walked past him on his way to a keypad. He tapped at the buttons, rapidly pounding out a sixteen digit long pass code, whereupon a red light turned yellow. He took a step back from Zombress’s chamber when he was finished.

“Of course…” Dr. Maelstrom said with a degree of awe. Arthur turned his head and found that the hero had approached him, staring at him from arm’s length.

“Step away from him, doctor,” Catalina warned.

Maelstrom stretched out his hand, reaching to touch Arthur’s face. “I never thought I’d see you… in person.” Instinctively, Arthur backed away. “Your resemblance to Dante…”

Hearing the name made Arthur’s stomach knot. He swatted the doctor’s hand angrily. “Don’t talk about my father.”

His demand went ignored. “But… you aren’t supposed to be here.” The doctor smiled, brought his hands up in an inverted ‘V’ under his mouth, and shook his head. “No… it wasn’t supposed to happen like this.” He pointed at Arthur. “What have you done?”

“Have you forgotten there’s a gun on you, doctor?” Catalina shouted. “Calm down!”

He cast a glance in Catalina’s direction, then returned to Arthur. The glimmer in his eye was replaced by a twitch of panic and fury. The pinpoint pupils darted as though scanning the floor for some kind of clue. He took a step away from Arthur. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It wasn’t…” His hands found their way to the top of his head, clenching his chaotic hair.

A crown of red lights began to flash above the further chamber, followed by the hiss of pressurized air releasing. Moments later, Zombress’s chamber behaved similarly. Catalina moved toward the first chamber as the door finished sliding upwards, revealing an unconscious girl. Arthur recognized her as the so-called traitorous hero…
Morgan
? Clad in what appeared to be a Fort-issued orange outfit, she slumped against her restraints. Before Catalina could react, the bindings released and the girl fell haphazardly into the mobster’s arms. She wasn’t particularly heavy, nor was Catalina weak by any stretch of the imagination, but the mobster still stumbled backward at the sudden weight.

Mat helped his boss ease the prone body to the floor as Zombress’s chamber opened, the door revealing her bare flesh in a bizarre parody of a curtain rising. Catalina, busy with the girl, proved to be the only one other than Maelstrom who didn’t avert their eyes away from Zombress’s naked form. Her eyes fluttered open drowsily. With a hiss, the restraints released, and she caught herself on the floor in a crouch. With a great deal of effort, she stood upright as a pale white, flowing dress materialized over her body. On her back, a black skull gazed off behind her, red tears falling from the empty sockets.

Once at her full height, she inhaled deeply before rolling her shoulders and holding her head high. She cast a spiteful glance at Dr. Maelstrom. “I’ll get to you later, Herr Doctor,” she growled, making it hard to tell if it was scorn or outright disgust in her voice. She looked at the others, finally settling on Catalina. “Miss Capone… I honestly hadn’t expected you to engineer my rescue.”

“It wasn’t me,” Catalina said, removing the PDA from her pocket. She looked over at Arthur. “Lovelass over there was the one who was able to do it.”

Zombress’s eyes fell on him. He smiled meekly and threw up his hand in greeting. “Hi.”

She squinted. “You were at the Heroes’ Guild.”

Dr. Maelstrom covered his mouth in shock. “No… impossible…”

“Yes, ma’am,” Arthur dutifully answered.

She approached him. “Lovelass?” He nodded, a gesture she returned. “I can’t say I’m sorry for your loss.”

He looked away from her. “Then don’t.” Catalina was trying to pry open an eye of the unconscious girl so she could scan her.

Zombress smiled, less enthused and more sympathetic. “I always imagined you to be more your mother’s son.” She shifted her weight onto one foot and folded her arms. “Dante’s raving over Julia clearly betrayed his preference.” Something beeped.

“You knew about me?” he asked, slightly astonished.

“Well, well, Aquaria…” Catalina said, rising. The girl slid off her lap and crumpled to the floor.

“Catalina, what are you doing?” Talia asked, stepping forward.

Catalina aimed her pistol at the unconscious girl, prompting Talia taking a defensive step away from the mobster. “We have a rat to take care of.” Zombress leapt toward her, shoving Catalina backward as she gripped her gun arm and yanked it upward. The motion was so quick that Arthur could only process it as a blur of smoke. “She’s a hero, Zombress!”