Darkest Day (StrikeForce #3) Read online

  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.

  “So you’d kind of like to kick Killjoy’s ass, huh?” I finally asked.

  “To put it mildly. Yeah,” he said. “When you told me that day that Killjoy was Raider…” he shook his head.

  “Yeah. I did wonder why you were so pissed. I guess this explains it. I mean, none of them were happy with me when they found out, but you took it a lot harder.”

  “It was everything. Finding out that he was still alive and that he was our current number one most wanted. And it bothered me that you kept that from me. I took it personally, and that was stupid.”

  I shrugged. “I understand, though. And, um, you know I’ll keep all of this to myself.”

  “I know you will,” he said. We were still walking, making our way back toward the Command entrance. Then he blew out a breath. “Christ, what a crazy couple of days.”

  I nodded. “It’s starting to catch up with me a little, I think. I’m so damn tired, but I can’t rest.”

  “I know. When this is all over, I’m going to find a hot sunny beach somewhere, somewhere where I won’t hear a damn thing but the waves crashing, and I’m just gonna lay there and soak it all up until I can’t take anymore,” he said.

  I smiled. “That sounds pretty amazing.”

  “You could come with me,” he said. “But I don’t think you know how to actually relax.”

  “You might have me there,” I said. “Practice makes perfect though, right? I’ve never really tried that whole relaxing thing.”

  We walked in silence for a few moments, getting closer to the entrance to Command’s central tower. “What are you going to do now?” Ryan asked.

  I glanced over at him. “I’m not planning on going out to beat anyone up on my own, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Well, that’s a relief,” he said, and I laughed.

  “I’m planning on eating a lot of stuff that’s really bad for me, then going over the rest of those files from Daemon. Why?”

  He shrugged. “Just wondering. We could fit in a quick training session if you want.”

  I shook my head. “Maybe another time? I want to get through those files and find any other places where Killjoy might be hiding.”

  “Workaholic,” he said, shaking his head. “Is it true that Icer guy was involved with Jenson?”

  I nodded.

  “That’s nuts. David can’t stand him,” he said.

  “Well, that makes at least three of us who feel that way.”

  “I don’t trust him. I think we should avoid saying anything important when he’s around.”

  “We are totally in agreement on that,” I said. We walked back into Command’s main lobby, then went to the residence tower and took the elevator up to my floor. And as much as I wanted to get back to work on sifting through all of Daemon’s files, I felt more than a little twinge of regret when the elevator doors closed behind me, leaving Ryan behind on the elevator.

  I shook my head. I’d make it up to him eventually. One of these days, I’d figure out how to be a decent friend, how to be less obsessive.

  But not today.

  Part Two

  No Turning Back

  Chapter Twelve

  Later that night, after spending all afternoon either poring over files from Daemon’s house or talking to Daemon, I felt a little more together. The whole Tribunal thing had been more stressful than I thought it would, and my talk with Ryan afterward had been kind of draining and emotional. I walked into the team lounge, knowing I’d find the others there. Jenson, David, Ryan, Dani, Amy, Max, and Portia were all sitting there looking exhausted. I plopped down between Ryan and Max and leaned my head back. I listened for a second, and then groaned.

  “This was pretty much the last asshole I wanted to listen to today,” I said as Detroit UnPowered’s voice drifted from David’s tablet.

  “I know, but we need to know what he’s saying. His fanbase is too big to ignore,” Portia said tiredly.
r />   Ryan bumped my knee with his, and I closed my eyes and listened.

  “So there was a lot of evidence against Killjoy and Dr. Death and their other alleged cohorts, and specifically about Alpha, Nightbane, and Crystal. A lot. And it all sounded really compelling and I need to applaud the Tribunal for working to clean up StrikeForce. God knows it needs to happen,” Detroit UnPowered said in his disguised voice.

  “Yeah, they really strained themselves with all the work they put into it,” I muttered, and David chuckled.

  “But for me, and I don’t think I’m alone in this,” Detroit UnPowered continued. “For me, the interesting part of the day came with the last two people called to testify.” My stomach turned. Of course. Of course this anonymous asshole would focus on any suspicion about me and, because why not, about Ryan.

  “So I want to get into a little bit of that now. I watched the video of the hearing again, and I’ve been reading through the transcripts published online. I mean… I have questions, and I think we all should. Eve of the Tribunal asked both Daystar and Caine a few pointed questions about their pasts, which both of them elected not to answer. Daystar became, typically enough, confrontational and unprofessional about it, and while Caine remained respectful, he did get a jab in about Eve revealing her past if she expects that from others. To which I’d say, well, she’s not the one under investigation, is she?”

  “Neither were we, technically,” I muttered.

  “And then Daystar went one further, and accused Eve of being, in cahoots, I guess, with Killjoy. Which was just ridiculous.”

  “I still think you were right about that,” Portia said. “Did you see her face when you used that ‘smart girl’ line on her?”

  I nodded. “I’d put money on it. He told her a few things, I bet. Leaving out his own involvement, of course. He’s very charming when he wants to be, and he’s so silent and mysterious otherwise that it makes you feel special if he talks to you like a person,” I said, remembering how he made me feel and being completely sickened by the way I’d responded to him, the way I’d wanted him. “And Eve isn’t super well-liked by her fellow Tribunal members. You could see that when they were all sitting there. Other than the one guy on the end, it was clear that there was some animosity there.”

  “I thought the same thing,” Amy said. Detroit UnPowered continued yammering on on the tablet. “So now we have another tie we need to look at. We’ve got Killjoy and his people. We’ve got the Detroit Mafia through their relationship with Daemon. We’ve got whoever has been snatching super powered people. And now, we’ve got Eve, if not a couple more people on the Tribunal.”

  “Most of them with one thing in common,” Jenson said.

  “What’s that?” David asked.

  “Jolene has managed to piss them off somehow.” Everyone laughed, and Jenson sat up, resting her elbows on her knees, and looked at me. “I’m not kidding. That target on your back gets bigger with every passing day.”

  “I don’t think it’s as bad as you’re saying it is,” I said. “They’d be happy to take down any one of us.”

  “Yeah, but it’s personal with you and Killjoy. Which apparently makes it personal between you and Eve, at least as far as she’s concerned. And it was personal with Raider because of whatever she has with Killjoy, which made it personal with Render because he’s working closely with Raider. We’re just lucky we have a few of them in custody now, otherwise I’d be worried that you’d have bullets flying at you every time you stepped outside,” Jenson finished.

  “Yes, so I’ve pissed a few people off. And there are other issues to deal with, in addition to catching fucking Killjoy. We have no idea who’s behind the missing supers and even though I think we all want to think it’s Killjoy because that would be nice and neat, I don’t buy it.”

  “All I’m saying is that you need to be careful,” Jenson said.

  “I am careful.”

  “You’re out for blood and everyone knows it,” she said. “You don’t think they’ll try to use that against you?”

  I glanced around. “I think I’m going to head out for a while,” I said.

  Jenson jumped up. “Let’s do a movie night. Okay?” she asked. Then she glanced at Ryan, David and Dani. “We were going to watch whatever that old movie was you were talking about, remember Dani?” Jenson asked.

  To her credit, Dani only looked confused for a minute. “Oh, yeah. ‘Murder by Death,’ You guys will love it and I need to laugh a little,” she said. David and Ryan stood up and we all bid our other teammates good night.

  “That was super smooth, you guys. I bet they totally didn’t suspect that we were trying to ditch them,” I muttered as we walked toward the elevator.

  “We need to start goddamn working together,” Jenson said, hitting the elevator button. “You want to hurt him. We get it. We have leads now. We have targets. Let’s make a plan and hit the bastard. Let’s make it hurt, and it’ll hurt most if we make a planned, coordinated attack,” she added quietly, glancing around. “And I want to know who the hell his mole is. I swear I can barely move without wondering if I’m being watched.”

  “I know,” I said. I gave up. If they wanted to help me hurt Killjoy, who the hell was I to stop them?

  We let ourselves into my suite and started sifting through what we had. “Okay,” I said. “Like Jenson and Amy were pointing out in the lounge, Killjoy’s a danger on at least three fronts. He has his own little team, of which Render, Red Scare, and a few others that we saw at the hockey game are involved. He has his ties to Daemon’s family and the rest of the Detroit Mafia. And he has an in with the Tribunal, most likely through Eve.”

  “And his mole here in SF,” Dani said.

  “Right,” I said. “And I think we’ll get more leads on that once we do more digging. I hate that we’re being watched, but the Mafia shit and his team are a bigger danger right now.”

  Jenson nodded in agreement. We looked over the maps with the locations Daemon had given us, and a plan started coming together.

  “We sure we want to do this tonight?” Jenson asked.

  “Why? Are you sleepy?” I asked with a grin and she flipped me the bird.

  “I’m ready if you are. Just know that we’re not likely to catch him tonight. But we will do some damage and it’s likely to piss him off.”

  “Good. Hopefully that will force him out in the open,” I said. Everyone went to their rooms and changed into their black uniforms. David asked Max to prep one of the jets for take off, and he did, and a few minutes later we were off, Ryan flying with me through the night sky, Jenson, David, and Dani heading to Daemon’s family’s compound.

  We watched the jet take off, and Ryan turned to me. “Ready?” he asked, and I nodded. We didn’t have to go far. The facility where he was trying to replicate Death’s injection wasn’t too far from downtown, in an old factory in what used to be a busy industrial district. We landed on the roof and stayed still so Ryan could listen.

  “At least two people inside,” he said. “I can smell oil, so probably guns. But I’m pretty sure one of the guys in there is that Red Scare guy.”

  “How do you know?” I whispered.

  “The guy really likes that Axe body spray shit,” he said, and I bit back a laugh.

  “You ready?” I asked him.

  Ryan pulled the stun guns from the holsters on the back of his belt and nodded. I picked him up under his arms and we landed in front of the entrance to the factory. I sent a power blast at the doors, and they went flying inward, opening with a deafening screech and then a “boom.” A hail of bullets began immediately, someone shooting at us from inside.

  “Be careful,” Ryan said, and then he started stalking in, firing the stun guns at whoever was shooting at us. The bullets stopped almost immediately. Ryan ended up fighting the guy from the hockey arena who was making everyone feel sick, but he’d activated the scrambler in his mask and the guy’s powers didn’t seem to be having any effect. I could hear the sound
s of punching from where Ryan had charged, but my focus was Red Scare, who was running at me, whipping small knives at me as he did. I ducked most of them, and a couple bounced off of my body armor. To my surprise, I caught one. I flung it back at him, hard, and I think he was just as surprised as I was. It ended up sticking out of his thigh, and he screamed and lunged at me. He punched and I ducked, and then he hit out again, catching my chin with an uppercut that made my skull rattle. I sent a blast of power out at him and he went flying, crashing into the open doorway behind him, and I followed him in.

  It was a cooler of some kind, and on the wall right behind him were glass vials. Our intel had suggested that Killjoy was working on re-making the injection Dr. Death had created here, and it was looking like that had been accurate. Red Scare had broken a few when he’d fallen back into the rack, and as he stood up and came at me again, I used my power to send him back into the rack again, and more of the vials shattered. I sent a succession of several power blasts at the rack of vials itself and watched them all explode while Red Scare was pulling himself up again.