Hero Unit (19 page)

“Damn,” Ace said. She knocked on the
Captain’s door and waited for his permission before entering.
Unsurprisingly Torment was there, but so was Bones. All three of
them stared with the same dumbfounded expression that Emily had
upon seeing the twins.

“This is my twin sister Angela,” Ace said.
Her sister didn’t need a Hero identity. She officially didn’t exist
outside of the E.E.D’s most secure database. “She’s a registered
officer of the E.E.D and she’s here to help us.”

There was silence in the room for at least a
minute. “My powers are the opposites of my sister’s. I’ll be able
to locate Einstein, but first I need access to his personnel file,”
Angela said. She held up her badge for all present.

“How do we know what you’re saying is true?”
Torment asked. She looked incredibly skeptical.

“Check the E.E.D database,” Ace suggested.
Both the Captain and Torment turned to their devices, but Bones
stood and without hesitation gave Angela a hug. “I always
wondered…I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you,” he said.

“Me too,” Angela said, returning the hug.

“So there are her records and her E.E.D
profile. I don’t suppose we are ever going to get an explanation as
to why she has been hidden from us for the past twenty-five years,”
Captain Angel said. Ace shrugged in apology.

“Right, so you say you can find Einstein,
well here’s his profile.”

He turned his monitor for all to see. Angela
took a chair and started looking over the information. “She’s your
opposite, right?” Emily asked quietly.

“She is,” Ace replied. She wasn’t going to go
into much more detail than that. Let everyone think that Angela was
just a Mental Class, like they thought Ace was just a Fortress
Class. Emily got a faraway look in her eye for a moment and then
shook her head like she was trying to clear her thoughts.

“You okay?” Ace asked.

“Your sister is just very persuasive, and
persistent. Just like you,” Emily replied. There was a small smile
on her face.

“I think I have what I need,” Angela
announced and stood up. “This might take a little while, so be
patient.”

Power filled the room as Ace’s twin opened
her power and started looking. “What is she doing?” Emily asked
quietly.

“She can trace down Exceptionals by following
their power signature. Reading Einstein’s profile gave her a
starting point, now all she has to do is follow the trail left by
his power. At least that’s how she explained it to me. I get the
feeling it is much more complex,” Ace replied.

“There aren’t many Exceptionals who can do
that; it’s a pretty rare power,” Bones added.

They waited in silence after that. After half
an hour Angela finally sat down slowly in her chair and opened her
eyes. “I’ve found him. They’ve got him pretty heavily guarded. Even
my sister is going to have a hard time getting to him without any
collateral damage. Here’s the address,” she wrote down the address
on a piece of paper on Angel’s desk.

“Can you describe the building?” Bones
asked.

“Give me a moment at your computer Captain
and I’ll pull up its schematics,” Angela replied.

Angel moved out of the way and Angela made
her way carefully around to his chair. Ace could feel how tired she
was. This was the first time she was consciously using her powers,
not just being used by them. The effort was bound to take its toll
on her sooner rather than later.

“Here it is,” Angela said after only a few
minutes at the computer.

“They’re keeping him at the Marriot?” Captain
Angel said as he looked at the screen.

The look on Angela’s face dared him to
challenge her. “Send Ghost in to confirm if you want.”

“I’d rather not risk her, if there is as much
security as you say even Ghost might have problems. How are we
going to do this people?” Captain Angel asked.

Chapter 22

“They are going to expect a frontal assault. I mean
we have Ace, they are going to expect and probably want us to use
her,” Torment said.

“We don’t dare, not in such a public area.
There are always going to be people in that building. And even if
we were to evacuate that would give them way too much warning. They
could have Einstein moved out before a single member of the E.E.D
could get to them,” Bones added.

“No matter what we can’t let them put normals
in more danger. That’s been the whole point of this offensive. They
want to damage the public perception of the E.E.D and cause a wider
rift between normals and Exceptionals. They will be able to incite
worse incidents if there is an air of distrust,” Torment said.
Emily had told her all about the suspicions that she and Ace had
about the HSO’s motives.

“Captain, can you bring your technomancers to
my sister’s office? There are some security measures that were
present in that building that I would like to discuss with them,”
Angela asked.

“What? Why?” Captain Angel asked. The
question clearly was unexpected. He fixed Angela with a look,
expecting an answer. He was under a lot of stress at the moment so
Ace let his belligerence slide.

“I have every type of power that my sister
does not, but I’m…out of practice with some of my powers. I need
people like Ace’s partner Maniac to help me,” Angela replied. She
kept her tone even.

“Do it Angel. The technomancers might be able
to find a hole that we can exploit,” Bones said.

“Right sorry, I’m just not thinking clearly,”
Angel reached for his device and he collapsed. Ace caught him
before he could hit the floor and she laid him down gently. Torment
was already dialing Moses while Angela put her hand on Angel’s
head. Her eyes were closed and then she shook her head. “He’s
overworked his powers. He’s been in direct mental contact with all
of his officers since Einstein was taken. He’s worn out, exhausted,
and only rest will take care of that.”

Ace sighed in relief. Losing Captain Angel
permanently would be nothing but bad for the E.E.D. “Torment,
you’re in charge of this office while Angel is recovering then,”
Bones said glancing in her direction.

“Yes sir,” she replied with a nod. She then
made the call that Angel had been about to make.

With Blip’s murder there were only three
technomancers in their office. Maniac was one, the other two Ace
knew, but not well. The first was Glitch, a female officer with a
bit of a hard-ass reputation. The other was Pong. He was quiet and
sort of flew beneath the social radar of the office.

All three came to Captain Angel’s office
where Torment briefed them on the situation. All three stared at
Angela when they were told who she was. Maniac looked at Ace and
then back to Angela and then back to Ace. Ace smiled and nodded.
Maniac’s eyes narrowed and Ace knew she was going to hear about it
from her partner. They were partners she should have been one of
the first to know about Angela, screw the situation.

I warned you about that.

Once Angela had led the technomancers to
Ace’s office the rest of them tried to figure out the best option
for rescuing Einstein. “Here’s another problem, and I know what the
law says, but we can’t let Einstein get killed. The HSO would be
able to use that against us just as easily as normal casualties,”
Emily added.

Ace shook her head in frustration. She was
getting to the point where she wanted to hit something, and that
was bad. “I need to be excused,” she said and got up to leave.

“Are you alright?” Torment asked, half rising
from her chair.

“Yeah, just need to blow off a little steam
is all,” Ace replied. Torment nodded. Ace went to the elevator and
punched in the floor for the gym.

Chapter 23

Ace wasn’t sure how long it was before her sister
came and found her. “You know it scared the hell out of me when you
left like that.”

“Sorry about that,” Ace replied. She’d
already gone through one heavy bag and her current target wasn’t
looking much better.

“Well now we know the limit of my control,”
Angela continued. She sat and watched her sister as she worked.
“That will change. Emily can handle being on the other side of town
from me, for a little while at least.”

“You know I know everything that’s going on
in your head, right?” Angela asked as Ace continued to pound the
heavy bag. She didn’t bother with gloves or wraps. She just pounded
it bare knuckled.

“Just like I know what’s going on in your
head,” Ace replied.

“So this is kind of like talking to myself?”
Angela said with a smile. Ace laughed. “Yeah I guess it is. Maniac
still pissed at me?”

“Yup, but she’ll get over it. She’s good
people. She’s just worried Emily or I is going to take her place as
your partner,” Angela replied. “She likes you and wants to be kept
in your circle of friends.”

Ace hadn’t thought of that. She hadn’t
thought of much beyond the HSO case recently.

“Everyone is worried that I’m going to start
replacing people just because I have new friends, or a sister. It
would be nice if people talked to me about such things before
jumping to ridiculous conclusions.”

Angela smiled.

“So do you agree with their plan?” Ace
asked.

“You know I don’t,” Angela replied.

“But we’re still going to do it,” Ace
said.

“They see it as the only option. The
technomancers have agreed as well, though they weren’t happy about
it either,” Angela said. She was frowning. It was a bad situation
with no good options, but the plan might work.

“Someone’s not making it out of this one,”
Ace said at last. She vented the last of her anger in one last
punch to the bag. The material buckled and collapsed. Time for a
new one.

“You can’t be certain of that, not even I’m
certain of that,” Angela said.

Ace shook her head. “I learned one thing
serving as a soldier, when the enemy is the one calling the shots
someone on our side always dies.”

Back in Ace’s office she thought over the
details of the plan, and of the whole situation. There were parts
of both that bothered her. It was like she was only seeing part of
the puzzle. The HSO wanted the Exceptionals to rule, maybe to even
wipe out all the normals, which didn’t make any kind of sense
because there was no guarantee that an Exceptional would be born
from Exceptional parents.

In any case that was supposedly their whole
goal. Taking Einstein made sense within the parameters of that one
goal. The knowledge and expertise that he had, combined with his
powers made Einstein a powerful tool. That was why the HSO had
kidnapped him.

What didn’t make sense within that goal was
what they had done to Exceptionals like Technosis and the nameless
technomancer at the Tenth Avenue Bank. She had to wonder how far
the HSO was willing to go to achieve their goal. Even when they
rescued Einstein there were still other Exceptionals out there who
they could experiment on.

Finally she stood and left her office.
Thinking was getting her nowhere. What she needed to do was act. It
was about time the HSO really understood what it meant to pick a
fight with her. She’d had enough of their plans, of doing things
their way. She was going to make them respond to her. No more
playing things safe. She was going to give the HSO exactly what
they wanted; her.

“Kill the power in the Marriot. I’m going in
and I’ll get Einstein out,” she said as she walked into Angel’s
office. Bones was manning the captain’s desk. Angel had been taken
to Genesis West by Moses. Bones had stayed on to help organize the
offensive against the Marriott.

“We decided that might provoke them-” her
uncle began but Ace cut him off, “I am tired of playing their
games. If they want to take one of ours they are going to find out
that I do not fear them. It is about damn time they realize what it
means to piss off a Fifth.”

Bones gave her a hard look. “I could order
you detained.”

Ace raised an eyebrow. “With all due respect,
sir, I dare you to find someone stupid enough to try that.”

“What about your sister?” Bones
countered.

“She’s the only one that could, but she
agrees with me. She’ll be there as my backup. This has to stop and
I’m going to stop it. I won’t lose any more good people to the
HSO’s plans when there’s something I can do to prevent it. Our
enemies, all of our enemies, are going to learn that at least in
this town they had better walk small or they’re going to have a
whole lot of me and my sister to deal with. Now you do what you’ve
got to do, sir, but I’m taking at least Maniac with me and we are
going to end this right now,” Ace said. Her voice was flat. There
was no anger, just determination. She was going to end this, no
matter what it took.

Bones leaned back in his borrowed chair. He
gave her a long look and then said, “Do it.”

Ace nodded and left the office. She dialed
Maniac on her device. “What’s up?” Maniac asked as her face
appeared on the screen. There was definite relief written on her
features.

“Get the rest of the squad and your
technomancer buddies and meet me at the carrier. We’re going in
after Einstein my way,” Ace replied.

Maniac grinned. “You got it partner.”

They hung up and Ace was about to call Emily
when her caller ID popped up on Ace’s device. “Read my mind?”

Emily laughed. “Not me. Angela said to give
you a call. We’re still working on getting her an E.E.D registered
device. She told me the basics of your plan. Are you sure about
this?”

“You know I am,” Ace replied. She was at her
desk picking up her new service piece and dropping off her body
armor. She really truly didn’t need it. Even if the HSO did somehow
find her weakness body armor was unlikely to help her.

“I just needed to hear it directly from you.
Despite how connected you and your sister are there can still be
differences of opinion between you, and yes even different levels
of conviction,” Emily said. “We’ll meet you at the carrier.”