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Suddenly Memories: Datalaughing
By Dac
The three hero hunter squad leaders stood outside the wrecked tenement as their men cordoned the building off, waving aside every civilian who was walking past. The sun was breaking over the eastern edge of the city, revealing a sorry sight. The building was a charred ruin, smoke rising above the early morning fog, and the paramedics were still moving bodies out of it. Langley still shuddered to think about the scene as he and his two colleagues had arrived at it. People were running wanton all over the place, terrified out of their wits, clawing at each other and attempting to flee from the building. No one could agree on what was terrifying them so much, and the stories from the residents who had survived got steadily more bizarre. One man had been screaming about a giant rat, a child had described a giant man with a knife, and a woman they’d found with a gun in her mouth was crying about her mother-in-law’s pit bulls. One poor delusional soul had been screaming about a giant bipedal crocodile, and one of the worst cases was a man almost catatonic with terror who couldn’t stop screaming “THEY’RE IN ME! THEY’RE IN ME! THEY’RE IN ME!” before he was sedated.
Howard rubbed his temples wearily. “What a night,” he said. “I haven’t had one like that before.”
“Nor likely to again,” added Doherty wryly. “What was the final count?”
“33 dead, another 17 taken to hospital with varying degrees of injury, and 12 still unaccounted for,” Howard proclaimed. “And the one stranger no one knows anything about.”
“Have we got him out yet?” asked Langley.
“Not yet,” said Howard. “He’s still holed up on the fifth floor. The cops wanted to evacuate the place first.”
“We have authority over the cops,” pointed out Doherty. “Can’t we tell them to piss off?”
“We can, but I won’t,” said Howard. “I don’t like pissing them off. I hate it when the Guardsmen come in and tell us how to operate, and it ain’t fair if we do the exact same thing to the cops. We gotta stay on their good side.”
“Alright, so they wanted to evacuate the place,” Langley jumped in before the others could start bickering. “It’s evacuated. What’s stopping us going in and getting him out now?”
“Got a call from command,” said Howard. “They’re sending in a Guardsman.”
“Speak of the devils,” snorted Doherty. “Who we got? Electric boy? Mindfuck man?”
“They didn’t say,” shrugged Howard. “He should be here in five. They want us to take him in. Something about a guy locked in his room in the middle of a riot, all contained inside one building, piqued someone’s interest up high.”
“What’d you tell them?” asked Langley.
“Everything we know.”
“So, not much.”
“Nope.”
“We know a bit,” said Doherty. “Some of the ones who could talk say they say some guy they’d never seen before go into an apartment they thought was abandoned. Not long after, babies were waking up in their cribs, absolutely freaked. Next up, little kids, same thing. Then just about anyone who’s asleep gets it as well, until everyone has woken up in a panic, seen visions of something buttfuckingly terrifying, and a panicked riot ensues.”
“All of which amounts to not much,” insisted Langley. “We don’t know how or why any of this shit happened. We don’t even know if this mysterious stranger is connected at all.”
“But we know he never once made a sound inside that room, never panicked, nothing ever happened to him,” replied Doherty. “We know he’s still alive in there because our gear picked up a heartbeat behind a door, and he’s the only person we’re aware of who apparently isn’t affected at all by any of this.”
“He may not be connected at all,” said Langley stubbornly.
“But he might be.”
“But he might not be.”
“Uh, guys?” said Howard nervously. “Heads up. Incoming.”
Doherty and Langley looked up curiously. A helicopter appeared over the buildings and descended towards them in the street. Several cop cars reversed out of the middle of the road, forming a rough circle as the helicopter came to a stop. Langley shielded his eyes from the air whipping from the rotors as Howard and Doherty both began shouting to make themselves heard.
“Since when do Guardsmen travel by chopper?” cried Doherty.
“They don’t,” answered Howard. “Not for this short a distance. The Leader doesn’t bother with it.”
“Then who the hell’s-” began Doherty, but he stopped midsentence as disbelief cracked his face apart. The other two glanced at each other when the same thought struck them and they all turned to stare at the helicopter. The side door opened, and they barely stopped themselves from gaping.
A thin, lithe man walked calmly towards them, looking for all the world as though he was oblivious to the helicopter behind him. His hair and coat whipped back and forth, but aside from that he walked unflinchingly across the asphalt, his face completely blank. As he walked, heads turned among the cops and civilians, and had the helicopter’s rotors not been making such a racket, the buzz of conversation would have audibly died down. He walked briskly, but there was a liquid grace to his movement, something belying the power emanating from the man. Langley felt a chill up his spine as the man approached them, pulling on a pair of gloves. The three hero hunters stood up straight rigidly, shooting each other furtive glances, as the Leader walked over to them.
“Hello, boys,” he said. “I understand there’s a man cornered in there, is that correct?”
His voice could not have been louder than a normal speaking voice, yet it pushed through the dying roar of the helicopter like a cold knife through flesh. Langley breathed deeply, feeling light-headed. He realised he was sweating, being this close to the living legend. The Guardsmen were a point of contention among the hero hunters, most of them viewed as effective, deadly and clever, but arrogant and reckless. The Leader was another story. Rumours flew behind his back among his foot soldiers, stories about how he’d talked opponents into killing themselves while captured, stories about how he’d convinced heroes to turn into monsters, and stories about how he’d persuaded people to kill each other rather than him. Langley often snorted at such stories. He knew the Leader was powerful, and had a healthy respect for a man who could bend the uncouth Guardsmen to his cause, but the stories were ridiculous.
In the man’s presence, he felt strange, and the stories didn’t seem so ridiculous. He nodded, feeling strangely compelled to do so.
“Show me,” said the Leader flatly.
The three hunters didn’t hesitate. All of them spun on their heels and walked straight for the tenement doorway. Behind them the Leader followed, his hands held behind his back, and his mouth formed a very sinister smile.
The hunters drew their weapons and edge inside, looking around cautiously. The fire had long since been put out, but the first floor was still smoking slightly. Two of them led the way upstairs with Data following them calmly, as though he was strolling through the park, and the third brought up the rear, breathing heavily. They swiftly progressed up the stairs to the fifth floor, and the first hunter trooped down the corridor to a nondescript door in the middle. He looked back as the others approached and nodded. The other two both stepped forward, their weapons cocked, and the three of them glanced at each other. The first one gave a thumbs up, and the other two nodded tensely.
“Oh, for god’s sake,” grunted Data, and he kicked the door inward with startling speed. The door fell open with a groan as the weak lock broke free and fell to the ground. The hunters swept into the room rapidly as the Leader sauntered in and they all looked around. One of them was already roaring commands.
“On the ground!” he bellowed. “On the ground, now!”
Data looked over where the hunter was yelling. There was nothing in the room besides a filthy mattress in the corner and a shadowy figure on top of it. He sat huddled on it, his knees drawn into his chest, his hair falling in mangy clumps around his eyes and ears. He barely seemed aware of their presence as the hunters converged on him, still snarling furiously. Data ignored them and stared at the hunched up figure, and knew instinctively the man was doing the same. The eyes gleamed in the dim light, staring straight through the hunters and at him. Data lowered his eyes and stepped forward, and even over the yelling of the hunters he could hear the man inhale sharply.
The man knew who he was. Knew what he was.
Data brushed past the hunters casually and approached the mattress. The hunters fell silent immediately, and he looked over his shoulder at them.
“Go guard the door,” he said. “We’ll just be a minute.”
The hunters hesitated, eyeing the hunched man dubiously, but Data made a tiny gesture and they hastened to obey, moving out into the corridor. One remained in the doorway, keeping an eye on Data and the other man warily. Data turned back to the hunch man, who was staring back at him unafraid. Data smiled.
“So,” he said. “Who have we got here?”
The man blinked and didn’t say anything.
“What’s your name, friend?” pressed Data. “Do you have a name?”
Silence met his words. Data sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the man and entwined his fingers, still smiling calmly.
“I can wait,” he said. “I’ve got all day. I’m not here to harm you, or throw you in a prison or anything like that. I want to know about you. There’s a lot you can tell me. Your name. Where you’re from. How you did what you did here. You have nothing to lose by telling me, you know. You know who I am. You know what I am. So tell me. What’s your name?”
He waited patiently for his aura to do its work. The man would spill the beans, Data had no doubt of that. All he had to do was wait. They sat in silence for several minutes, while the hunter in the door watched in confusion. Data watched the man incessantly, barely blinking, and the man stared right back, as though daring Data to look away. He didn’t. Both stared each other down until the silence was almost maddening.
“Dominic.”
Data kept his face carefully blank as the man moved his knees downward and crossed them, mimicking Data’s pose.
“My name is Dominic,” he said.
“Pleasure,” said Data. “What is it you do, Dominic?”
Dominic’s eyes flicked back and forth uncomfortably. They lingered on the hunter still in the doorway, but the hunter made no move. Data shook his head.
“You don’t have to worry about them,” he said. “They won’t scratch their asses without my say-so.”
“What I do,” said Dominic slowly. “I do the sort of thing that they’re trained to kill.”
Data chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about that,” he said pleasantly. “They don’t attack every superhuman in existence. That’s not what I pay them for. They only hunt down the ones who cause trouble.”
“I cause trouble,” said Dominic nervously. “Look at this building. Look what happened here. I did that. I caused that. I didn’t want to, but I did.”
“How?” asked Data gently. “How did you cause it?”
Dominic hesitated. Data listened to his breathing, rapid and ragged as it was. Dominic had to be young, barely 20 years old. He looked malnourished, and he wasn’t exactly big, but he was strong. Data could see muscles under his holey weatherworn shirt, and more than a few scars. The kid had been through hell, and not just the previous night.
“I cause nightmares,” breathed Dominic. “Then when people wake up...they still see things. Sometimes they go away in a few minutes, sometimes they go away after a few hours. Sometimes people keep seeing them forever, and they never go away. Not until the people die. I can’t stop it. I still hear them screaming at night. That’s my nightmare. Wherever I go I hear more people screaming. They don’t stop screaming...I can’t make them stop...”
He trailed off. The only sound was his breathing, a choked, strangled noise. Slowly, Data reached out and put a hand on the man’s shoulder. Dominic flinched and shrank away from the touch, but Data put his hand firmly down.
“Hey,” he said. “I can help you.”
Dominic looked at him uncertainly. “How?”
“I have a lot of people with superpowers working for me,” he said. “Some of them are just as dangerous as yours. But I have worked with those people. They’re all friends of mine, and I worked with them to ensure they have complete control over their powers. I can do the same for you, if you want. I can help you learn to control it.”
Dominic watched him warily, as though Data were a leopard waiting to pounce. “And then what?” he asked. “Would I work for you?”
“Not if you don’t want to,” said Data. “I’d certainly welcome you on board if you wanted, but if not, you’re more than welcome to leave and do whatever you will. I’d arrange a home somewhere for you, you could get a job and live a peaceful life however you wanted. That’s up to you.”
Dominic’s eyes flicked around the room furtively. Data ignored them, waiting patiently for Dominic to meet his gaze. When the young man stopped looking everywhere else, his eyes settled back on Data, and he gave a small, uncertain nod.
“I had a feeling you’d say yes,” he said. Standing up, he extended a hand and pulled Dominic to his feet. “Come on. Let’s get you somewhere safe.”
***
Data leaned back in his chair, looking out over the city. Several floors below, SuperGenius had been flown in from the airfield base where he held sway to the makeshift laboratories in the city and was already getting to work on Dominic. The scientist didn’t like leaving his main labs, but the timing had been lucky; someone had recently broken into the airfield base and nearly killed SuperGenius himself, apparently, so Data flew SuperGenius into the city under the pretext of increasing security at the airfield.
“Hey, as long as you’re here, I need you to have a look at someone for me,” Data had added, like an afterthought. He doubted SuperGenius was fooled, but it was convenient to let him think he was smarter than the leader and feed his ego.
“Oh?” SuperGenius had replied. “What’s wrong? DarthJ3sus overcharge himself again?”
“No, we have a newcomer. He induces nightmares in people, ones that don’t go away immediately when the victims wake up. He’s going to need help controlling it. Once security back at your base is beefed up I’ll send him with you, but since you’re here now, why not get started?”
The thrill of a new project had quashed any complaints SuperGenius had, and the radioactive man had scuttled away to begin studying the new arrival. Satisfied for the moment, Data watched his city beneath him. He was still playing games of chess with everyone around him, but for the moment he was at least three moves ahead of all of them. He was reflecting on an odd proposal a defecting enemy had brought him not long ago when he heard commotion outside his office. He turned in time to see Marksman, Elite and Brodie all walk through, Elite’s power suit clanking as they crossed the office. Jessica was outside, looking anxious.
“Sorry, they just barged in,” she said.
“It’s OK,” he called. “Shut the door, will you?”
It closed quietly behind the three Guardsmen. Brodie leaned over the desk looking apprehensive, and the other two flanking him didn’t look much better. Data looked around at them, frustrated.
“What the hell, guys?” he asked. “Can you at least pretend to act like subordinates?”
“What’s with this rumour that you’ve brought in a new superpowered guy?” asked Brodie incredulously. “Isn’t it worth telling us that we’ve got a new teammate?”
Data sighed with disdain. “He’s not a Guardsman. He might never become one. It’s all up in the air right now. Where the hell are these rumours coming from?”
“SuperGenius brought some labhands,” Marksman chirped up. “They were chatting with the guards. We overheard something.”
“Who is it?” asked Elite. “Big Daddy? Psyker?”
“What? Huh?” said Data, baffled.
“NSA?”
“Who? No, wait, stop. It’s not one of us,” said Data hurriedly. “It’s some guy. Supes asked him about that and the guy didn’t have any idea what he was talking about. His name’s Dominic. We found him in a tenement this morning.”
The Guardsmen looked at each other in confusion. Brodie turned back to Data in disbelief.
“You’re making some squatter you found one of us?” he cried.
“No, I’m not!” said Data, exasperated. “I don’t know if he would want to become a Guardsman, so I’m just going to help him get his powers under control. After that, if he wants to work for me, I’ll find some use for him. If not, well, I’ll send him out into the world, find him a home.”
“Really?” said Elite. “Why not just kill him?”
“Jesus Christ, dude,” said Marksman, shocked.
“What?” said Elite defensively. “Guy causes nightmares. The way Supes’s people were talking, he killed people by doing that. The guy’s dangerous, and you don’t send people like that away and forget about them. They might come back and do some damage.”
“You thinking about Alloy?” asked Brodie.
“A bit, yeah,” said Elite, looking down coldly at the desk made out of their old foe. “The Old Guard got away, and when they came back they ripped up the city and put me in this fucking suit.”
“I see your point, Elite, but I don’t think we need to worry about this one,” said Data. “He’s not a threat to us. He’s just a confused kid, and once we help him out he’ll be just fine.”
Brodie remained sceptical. “Data, I hate to point out the obvious, but you can see the weakness in anything. Doesn’t this plan of yours just scream with the possibility of backfire? He’s not one of us, we can’t predict him. He’s not from where we are.”
“A lot of plans do, and I have no choice but to risk it when there’s no other option,” said Data lightly. “But to answer your question, no. This one doesn’t. You forget, people don’t betray me easily, and those that do regret it. This kid won’t. And it’s not like everyone from our home is on our side. The Family are still out there fighting, aren’t they?”
Brodie looked momentarily stricken, but quickly sobered up to looking doubtful. The others didn’t look much more convinced.
“If you say so...” replied Marksman uncertainly.
“Trust me, guys,” said Data. “I didn’t make it this far by making these decisions lightly. I know what I’m doing.”
They all hesitated, then Brodie nodded and made for the door. The others followed as Brodie looked over his shoulder. “Sorry to barge in,” he said.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Data. “Just leave this one to me.”
***
He woke up with a strangled cry, sitting bolt upright with sweat streaming down his face. All around him were familiar figures, all screaming at him. He looked around frantically, but after a mere few seconds he could see right through the illusions. His perception of weakness gave them away; they couldn’t hurt him. They weren’t real. They faded away into the darkness, and Data rubbed the sweat off his brow. He looked out the window and saw dawn encroaching behind the mountains, and moved to get dressed. As he did, he picked up his phone and dialled.
“Yeah?” said SuperGenius.
“Got a minute?”
“Your place or mine?”
“I’ll come down,” said Data. “But this is private. Send everyone else out.”
“OK.”
Data hung up and splashed cold water on his face. This was the third night in the row, and it wasn’t just him. Powerbomb had punched a hole in the wall before calming down, DarthJ3sus had nearly blown up his quarters, and even Jessica had needed to be sedated. Data wondered wearily who was going to come and complain to him next as the elevator descended and he moved out into SuperGenius’s lab. The glowing man stood waiting for him, peering quizzically at the bags under his eyes.
“Rough night?”
“Well duh,” said Data dryly. “Any progress on Dominic?”
“Not much,” said SuperGenius. “As far as I can tell, it’s some kind of aura that isn’t physically limited, which is why it can reach you up top and a few floors down, but it automatically limits to within the building. I think it does that naturally, otherwise all the buildings around that tenement would have been affected, not just the one he was in.”
Data rubbed his brow with his fingertips, squinting at SuperGenius. “That doesn’t make sense. For it to act like that, it had to be controlled.”
“This is just as I’ve seen it,” said SuperGenius. “And my power dampeners don’t work on him.”
“I thought you said they were still in a test phase.”
“They are. I was hoping to get lucky on him. Elite nearly kicked my face in yesterday until I told him I’d had no breakthroughs.”
“I’ll deal with the Guardsmen,” said Data. “If any more of them interrupt you, tell them to come to me.”
“Gladly.”
“Do you have any good news for me?”
SuperGenius shrugged. “He’s comfortable, and he seems pleasant enough. I think he likes it here.”
“Swell,” said Data. “That’s all I fucking need. He’s happy as a clam while everyone else is on edge just by him being here. We’ll be lucky if Brodie or Elite or Powerbomb don’t rip him apart.”
“With respect, you were the one who brought him in.”
“Oh, shut up, you,” growled Data. “You’re doing fine just because you never fucking sleep. If we could all do that we could all be as flippant as we want, but we fucking can’t, OK?”
SuperGenius arched his eyebrow. Data folded his arms and fumed for a minute, glowering around the area, until SuperGenius spoke again.
“It’s that bad, huh.”
“Worse,” said Data.
“Tell me about what you saw.”
“Just memories,” said Data sullenly. “Ones I buried, for good reason. It’s not just nightmares he calls up, I think. Talking to the others, I think he brings out everything you fear and attacks your subconscious mind with it when it’s unguarded.”
“What did you see?” asked SuperGenius curiously.
Data turned and glared at him. SuperGenius stepped back in alarm, looking unnerved. Data’s eyes flashed with something dangerous, something he usually kept suppressed unless the situation was dire. The situation at the moment didn’t warrant it, but Data was tired and didn’t think.
“That’s not something you ever want to get into, my friend,” said Data quietly. “Stay out of there.”
“OK, sorry,” said SuperGenius quickly. “Forget I asked. What about when you woke up? There were images, how did they fade away?”
“I saw they weren’t real,” said Data. “I could tell they couldn’t hurt me, and they just faded away.”
He noticed SuperGenius suppressing a laugh. “Wow,” mumbled the science officer. “Stop believing in them and they go away. You dreaming about fairies, boss?”
In the time it took to blink, Data stepped close to SuperGenius, so close their noses nearly touched. The sudden movement startled SuperGenius, who fell backwards in fright. He stared up at Data, breathing hard, and Data pointed viciously at him. SuperGenius flinched at the finger thrust in his direction.
“Suppress it,” Data said quietly. “And keep the snide remarks to yourself. This has to stop. All of it.”
He turned and walked towards the door. When he reached it, he hesitated as a sudden thought struck him. He looked back at SuperGenius, who froze in the act of standing up.
“Do me a favour,” said Data. “Send someone through the archives, see if you can find any reference to a similar power, or someone like him.”
“OK,” said SuperGenius uncertainly. “What are you thinking?”
“Nothing yet,” mumbled Data. “You probably won’t find anything, but I need to be sure. If there’s information in there for whatever reason, we can use it.”
With that he walked briskly from the room, closing the door silently behind him.
***
The next night passed, and no reprieve was brought about. Data sat gloomily in his office, having already had to deal with complaints from a group of guards about the situation. The conversation had lasted about three minutes, most of which consisted of Data staring coldly at the guards until they all backed out the door. Data rubbed his brow again. The lack of sleep was really starting to bother him, and the others were getting even worse. He picked up the phone and called SuperGenius again, and then put in a call to the only other one didn’t seem affected at all. He ate a small breakfast before walking down to the lab again, where SuperGenius was sitting on a bench, waiting calmly.
“Good morning,” said SuperGenius calmly.
“Whatever,” said Data. “Where the hell’s Celtic?”
“He’s in the can. Don’t ask me what he’s been eating but it sounds painful.”
The toilet flushed and Celtic pulled the door open, grinning broadly. “That shit was rancid,” he announced. “It was like concentrated hatred in a shot! Oh, hey boss.”
SuperGenius blanched. Data closed his eyes and shook his head.
“I’m not even gonna ask,” he grunted. “You know about our new friend Dominic, right?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard the horror stories.”
“You haven’t had the sleeping problems the rest of us have,” said Data. “I’m assuming you sleep sometime, so why aren’t you being affected?”
Celtic shrugged unhelpfully. Data looked at SuperGenius.
“I don’t think the aura extends that far down,” said SuperGenius. “People on the ground floor aren’t having problems either. Celtic’s underground, so he’s probably just not close enough.”
Data thought that one over for a moment. Celtic held out a hand for SuperGenius’s clipboard. SuperGenius handed it over resentfully and Celtic flipped through it casually. He gave a low whistle, impressed.
“Got a doozy here, guys,” he said.
“We know,” said SuperGenius. “We’re working on it.”
“Not in here, you’re not,” said Data, rubbing his forehead.
SuperGenius did a double take. “What?”
“How far does the aura extend? Give me your best guess.”
SuperGenius stared into space as he calculated in his head. After a moment he looked down. “About 20 feet. Both up and down.”
“Why not sideways?” asked Celtic curiously.
“I don’t know, but it doesn’t,” said SuperGenius. “It goes through floors and roofs and most walls, but not the ones on the edge of the building.”
“Oh. Well, that...doesn’t make an ounce of fucking sense.”
“That’s what he said. Go figure.”
“Both of you, shut up,” barked Data. “I’m trying to think.”
The two of them exchanged a bewildered glance. Celtic looked sidelong at him, his eyes narrowed.
“You OK, Data?” he asked. “You’re really on edge. And you’re not being all stylised and loquacious when you talk.”
SuperGenius blinked. “How’d a sewer rat like you learn a word like loquacious?”
“Bite me, Dr Quinn.”
“Enough,” growled Data. “Both of you, just shut up! Celtic, I haven’t slept properly in days and I constantly have to listen to everyone else bitch about how they haven’t slept properly in days. Of course I’m on edge. Now listen. Your prison, how far down does it go?”
Celtic shrugged again. “I dunno. I think the deepest cells are...uh...30, maybe 40 feet below...oh.”
Data nodded resolutely. “Take him down there. Just for a little while, at least. Supes, you can experiment on him down there if you want to. If not, do what you can up here. As soon as the security on the airfield is ready you can take him back there. Until then, he’s underground.”
SuperGenius was rigid with alarm and his face was pale, but Data was already moving for the door.
“Data, wait!” he cried. “That’s a very bad-”
“I don’t want to hear it,” snapped Data. “Deal with it. Pick it up from when you left off. Celtic, make him comfortable, he’s not a prisoner. I’m gonna go and sleep for a week. Wake me if anyone dies.”
He closed the door behind him. SuperGenius still looked utterly shocked, but Celtic simply grinned once more and moved to follow him. “You heard him,” he said. “Bring him down in ten. I’ll get something ready for him.”
***
Data jerked awake, looking around. To his surprise he seemed to be in his office, and there was a small drool patch on his desk. He wiped it away, disgusted. Evidently he was so behind on his sleep that he’d fallen asleep at his desk the night before. Just as he was wondering what had woken him up, he heard another scream and the door thudded open. He could just barely see Jessica cowering behind her desk, but his attention was held by Celtic in the doorway. Celtic rarely looked presentable, but this time he looked like he’d taken a stroll through a warzone. His clothes were torn, his hair was askew and he was panting from exhaustion.
“You need to get your nightmare boy the fuck out of my prison,” said Celtic cheerily.
“What the hell happened?” asked Data.
“A fucking riot, that’s what,” said Celtic, sitting down across from him. “Half my guests woke up screaming and every time we went in to sedate them they broke free and ran wild. We sealed the exits so none of them got out, but we lost three guards and five inmates, and god knows how many injured either themselves or others. In the end I had to fry just about everyone down there.”
Data stared at him in disbelief. “Shit, that must have been hell,” he heard himself say.
“Actually, it was kind of fun,” grinned Celtic. “It felt nice to have a reason to do it. All the same, we need to get him out of there. You want those prisoners alive, it’s not a good idea to lock them up with someone who drives them all bonkers just by being nearby.”
Data processed that as his brain finished waking up. The more it did, the more foolish he felt. He shook his head and muttered darkly. “Should’ve seen this coming, why the fuck didn’t I see that coming? It was the most obvious thing to happen, how the hell didn’t I see it?”
“Well you’d barely slept for days when you made the order,” suggested Celtic.
“You’re not helping,” grunted Data flatly. “Give me a minute.”
He rested his forehead on his hands and took a few deep breaths, thinking things over. He yawned and stretched out. “Didn’t you see the images?” he asked in confusion.
“Yeah, but they didn’t do much,” said Celtic. “Just more people to kill, really. But I couldn’t hurt them any more than they could hurt me, so I just ignored them and sorted out everyone else. I didn’t even notice when they faded.”
Data digested that and spent a few more minutes thinking. Celtic fidgeted impatiently, but didn’t interrupt. He’d never seen Data need a moment to think about things before. It struck him how weary Data looked. His clothes were rumpled and messy, and his cheek was dark from sleeping on it. Eventually Data straightened up, frowning.
“All right,” he said. “Your prisoners are relocating. There’s some suitable areas underneath SuperGenius’s base, we’ll send them there.”
“All of them?” echoed Celtic. “That’ll be a hell of a job.”
“Not all at once, but yes, all of them,” said Data. “We’ll transport them by train, bit by bit. If they ever riot again and they get outside, it’s going to be shit on the streets.”
“And the nightmare boy?”
“I’ll go down to see him,” said Data. “We might need to send him somewhere else-”
The door thudded open again and SuperGenius walked in hurriedly. Data let out an audible groan.
“Oh, what the fuck?” he said. “Can’t any of you people just fucking knock?”
“Data, you have to see this,” said SuperGenius. He sounded out of breath, as though he’d just run up the stairs. In his hand was a manila folder. He held it out to Data, who took it dubiously and opened it up. His eyes widened as he read the documents inside.
“Oh, you motherfucker,” he muttered venomously. “You little bastard...both of you, with me. We need to pay our friend a visit. Jessica! Get my gun!”
He stormed towards the door, leaving Celtic and SuperGenius to stare at him. Celtic looked back at SuperGenius in confusion.
“The hell was that about?” he asked.
SuperGenius held up the folder for Celtic to see. Stamped on top were the words ‘OLD GUARD’.
***
Data kicked the door down and stormed into the cell. Dominic was sitting cross-legged at the other end of the room, a smug grin on his face as Data stalked in. When the light caught Data’s face, the grin wavered for a moment. Data’s black anger was evident on his face, and he felt a tiny twinge of satisfaction to note that Dominic was more than slightly unnerved by it. He walked in and seized Dominic by the scruff of his neck.
“Turn it off,” he spat.
“I can’t, you know that-” began Dominic, but Data threw him bodily into the hallway. His face hit the opposite wall with a sickening crack and he hit the ground, groaning.
“Quit lying,” snarled Data. “Enough. We found you. In the Old Guard’s records, we found you. A kid who wanted to be Mr Invincible’s sidekick, who looked up to Captain Liberty and Violent History and all the rest of those idiots. The little orphan boy Dominic Darkness, who drove people insane with nightmares. Invincible sent you away and said you could join them all and be a hero once you’d learned to control your power. Isn’t that right? You could control it all along, you just tried to make it look like nothing was your fault.”
Dominic spat out some blood as he tried to stand up. “I didn’t think you’d find that reference. I didn’t think you kept the Old Guard’s history.”
Data rolled his eyes. “Do you think I’m an idiot? I didn’t get this powerful and rip the Old Guard to pieces by overlooking the minor details. Stay down!”
He kicked Dominic viciously in the ribs. Dominic grunted with pain and fell over again, rolling over and smiling up at Data as SuperGenius and Celtic watched, unsure whether to be amused or unnerved.
“You still took your time finding that minor detail, though,” said Dominic.
“Just like you took your time making your way back here,” said Data. “That was, what, ten years ago?”
“Twelve,” said Dominic. “Mr Invincible told me to make sure I’d mastered it, and if I killed anyone with it not to return. So I took my time learning how to control it, until finally I was even better than your prison warden over there, or any telepath. I could block mental manipulation, so whatever mind-screwing you do to people, I can just block it out. It took me twelve years to master it. Twelve years. Twelve long fucking years travelling, going through all the remote locations. Russia. Africa. Australia. Alaska. Twelve years of travel and mastery of my skill. And then once I’ve finally done it, I get back here, back to my home, and what do I find?”
“A world where your Old Guard has been deposed and a new power is in charge, yeah. Did that actually surprise you?” queried Data in disbelief. “Did you seriously not pick up a newspaper for 12 years?”
“I took my promise seriously,” said Dominic. “Let me up.”
“I’d rather you stayed down there,” warned Data. “If you try, I will hit you again. So the Old Guard is dead, and you go in for revenge?”
Dominic’s eyes boggled for a moment, and he threw back his head, laughing hysterically. “Revenge?” he cackled. “Do you think that’s what this is about? What do you take me for? Some weepy kid who saw his parents murdered? Or his uncle, or something like that? This isn’t about me. This was never about the Old Guard. I don’t know what they did in my absence. As a kid I looked up to them, but no one’s perfect. For all I know, they might have deserved to be deposed. Not murdered, as you did to them, but I can’t let my rose-tinted childhood affect what I don’t know. It’s not about what you did to the Old Guard.”
“Bullshit,” said Data. “Don’t be all high and mighty on me. It was a part of it, at least. Admit it.”
Dominic smiled sickly. “OK, there was a bit of personal motivation. But that wasn’t the main reason,” he hissed.
“Then what?” demanded Data. “Why’d you do it, if not for revenge? Why come in here and try to break everything from the inside? Damn it, why?!”
Dominic kept smiling, but his eyes were glaring hatefully. “Let me up,” he said flatly.
Data made no move. Dominic slowly climbed to his feet, blood still streaming from his nose. He stood up straight, and there was some audible cracking as he did.
“Why?” repeated Data softly.
Dominic’s eyes hardened and his grin upended into a scowl. “You ruined it all,” he growled. “You have power beyond anyone else. You command the strongest superhuman fighting force ever and countless armies. You’re in charge of the most powerful country in the world and most of the others are your allies. But you ruined it all.”
“How?” demanded Data. “How the hell did I ruin it all? What the hell are you talking about?”
“You run a dictatorship and rule through tyranny!” snapped Dominic. “You’re a big kid and the world is your crazy toy box! You remake everything in your image and demand everything go as you say it does like a kid who found his dad’s gun! That’s how you ruined it all, for god’s sake! You’re a monster on a throne of blood!”
His voice got louder as he went on. SuperGenius and Celtic both watched, arching their eyebrows as he went on, until he all but yelled the last sentence. There was enough pause for both of them to breath when Data snorted derisively.
“Oh,” he said. “So it really is all about the Old Guard. I killed them, you assume I kill everyone else who I disagree with.”
Dominic’s jaw fell open. “Did you listen to anything I just said?”
“Yeah,” said Data. “You accused me of being a big kid, and yet you’re the one who doesn’t seem to have a clue what I’ve been doing since I became the Leader. Did you actually research what I’ve done at all? You’ve spent some time in other countries. Go and see what I’ve done to help them. I’ve rebuilt economies and eliminated totalitarian governments the world over. Don’t preach to me that I’ve ruined it all. You’re just upset that I had to kill your old heroes and you assume I did the same thing to everyone, which is a bit fucking rich coming from the guy who drove a building full of people nuts just to get inside my front door.”
“I did what I had to-”
“So did I, you fucking hypocrite,” barked Data. “Those people aren’t screaming now, are they?”
Dominic looked aghast and opened his mouth to speak, but Data cut him off again before any words could escape his mouth.
“Shut up. You’ve done enough,” he snapped. “I’ve had enough of you. I’ve had enough of self-righteous little snots who assume that just because I’m in charge of the country that I’m the bad guy, without doing a single bit of research to see anything that I’ve done, positive or negative. You hear me? Do your fucking homework, little boy. Twelve years learning to control your power and you didn’t grow up at all. You still assume the costumed jackasses are automatically right because they save little old ladies from trees and open pickle jars for the kittens, and never stop to think of the consequences of anyone’s actions. This isn’t an easy job, you little shit. I’ve done plenty of things I’m not proud of as the Leader, but damn it, every single thing was necessary! Don’t you fucking dare stand there and tell me otherwise when you don’t even know what those things were!”
Dominic’s mouth was hanging open in shock. SuperGenius looked taken aback by Data’s outburst, while Celtic seemed only mildly interested, as though he’d heard it all before. Data ignored the Guardsmen, his vision limited only to the scrawny figure in front of him. He pointed up the corridor.
“Get out,” he said. “I’m giving you one last goddamn chance. Go back into the world. Go hide in the wilds like you spent the last dozen years, or go looking to see what I’ve done, I don’t care. Don’t you dare show your face around here until you know what I’ve done, what I’ve had to go through, just to keep everything going to hell. Once you understand all that, if you still want to challenge me, then we’ll talk. But until then, get the fuck out of my country and don’t come back.”
Dominic stood where he was, trembling with barely-suppressed fury. Data stood motionless, only just keeping his own demeanour calm. They stared each other down for a long time, daring the other to move first. Finally Dominic narrowed his eyes. Data tensed, silently willing the boy to just get it over with. Instead, Dominic opened his mouth to speak.
“Tell me,” he whispered. “What nightmares did you see when I hit you with it? What did the mighty Leader see that was so terrifying?”
“Get. Out,” said Data faintly.
Dominic laughed mirthlessly. “You could have saved the world,” he hissed.
There was a thud as Data leapt onto the man and wrapped his hands around Dominic’s neck. SuperGenius and Celtic both started with shock as Data smashed Dominic into the wall, strangling him. Data’s rage was palpable; Dominic was lifted clean off the ground, flailing and kicking his feet, but Data shook him violently. All the while, Data was bellowing at the top of his lungs.
“I DID SAVE THE WORLD!” he roared. “I DID SAVE IT! WHY THE FUCK CAN’T ANY OF YOU MORAL GUARDIANS EVER SEE THAT?! WHY CAN’T YOU SEE THE WORLD BEYOND YOUR OWN NOSES! I SAVED THIS WORLD AND I’M GOING TO SAVE IT AGAIN, FROM YOU PEOPLE AND WORSE!”
No one could tell if Dominic heard him. He spluttered and coughed and choked, but his writhing was futile. Data’s vicelike grip didn’t slacken, and after several minutes Dominic’s eyes rolled back and his body went limp. Data opened his hands and Dominic fell to the ground with a dull thump. Quickly his hands went to his belt and pulled out his handgun. SuperGenius started forward in shock, but Celtic thrust out a hand to stop him. Data didn’t notice either of them. He thumbed the safety off and scowled down at the limp body before him.
“Disgusting,” he muttered, and pulled the trigger six times.
SuperGenius gaped openly, and even Celtic seemed shocked. Data calmly holstered the gun and turned away from the body, walking past them as though nothing had happened. They saw his face as he walked past them. It was blank, emotionless, as though absolutely nothing had happened.
“Burn that,” he said. There was no trace of anger, or any other emotion in his voice. He simply walked up the corridor as though the whole affair had been as interesting as a small patch of rain. He walked briskly up the corridor and vanished from sight, leaving SuperGenius and Celtic to stare in mute shock at the mess he’d left behind.
The Leader ascended the tower silently. He crept up the stairs to the front entrance before walking over to the elevator. A file clerk recognised him and saw the look on his face. Instinctively he scurried away in fright. The elevator door opened and the guards inside slowly filed out until they saw him standing there, waiting. Hurriedly, they got out of his way and backed against the wall until he’d walked in. The doors closed shut and the Leader closed his eyes. The loyalty he inspired was the best kind. He didn’t often feel the way he did at that moment, but when he did everyone around him simply got out of his way without a word. It felt cathartic. No questions. No queries. No requests. Just loyal silence. He walked into his office past Jessica’s desk, where she kept her gaze pointedly fixed on her computer screen. He closed the door behind him and walked over to the window, looking out across his city. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes again.
1/24/2012 5:54:12 AM
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