"Forbidden Knowledge Cosmetics"
May. 17th, 2022 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"Forbidden Knowledge Cosmetics"
7/3-7/28/2012
I.
"Don't! Master, no! If you die, what should become of me?" The young woman who was crying was small, almost thin, still in her teens, with a thick head of bristling white hair and clouded blue eyes. She wore regular street clothes, jeans and a T-shirt and a red denim jacket. But across her back was sheathed a three-foot knife with a blade made of bone. In that dim basement of a house in Poughkepsie near the Hudson River, she pleaded with a shriveled old man who sat in a wheelchair before an eight-foot tub full of steaming fluid.
Dr Vitarius had reached the stage where the alchemical potions which had kept him young for a century finally failed. He was bent and withered, with only a few stray hairs on his scalp. All his teeth were gone. His hands shook. But there was still an edge of command in his shrill voice. "Obey me, Jin! I will not be denied."
Starting to weep, Demrak Jin picked up a burlap sack of white powder and poured it all in into the tub. Immediately, hissing vapor rose and swirled throughout the basement. Vitarius had managed to rise, struggling out of his yellow silk robe. His ruined body was already smeared with a thick black tar. Without a word, he took an unsteady step and fell into the steaming tub. Demrak Jin shrieked and stumbled back from the fumes. The liquid seemed to boil and agitate, then some new stage was reached and it turned into a cloudy dark foam.
The girl from Ulgor got to her feet. She was sure her master, who had given her refuge here when she had nowhere to go, was now dead. Still weeping loudly, she went to the stairs leading upward and flipped the light switch. Long fluorescent tubes flickered and the workplace became visible. Tables were crowded with tubes in wooden racks, notebooks and piles of loose papers, bottles and cannisters of every possible shape and size. Everything had been shoved back to make room for a stone tub eight feet long and four feet high, and in that tub Vitarius had thrown himself.
As her crying wound down to sniffles, Jin sat on the floor with her knees up, hugging herself. Her head was bent. Eventually, she began to think about her next move. How could she live here without the doctor? She had no documents, no legal status. She was an illegal alien from a realm that Humans did not even know existed. The Gelydra raised her head to look at the tub, the contents had settled into a gooey froth. And a big muscular hand reached up out of that solution, grabbed hold of the edge of the tub with a smack. Jin almost passed out. Closer to seven feet tall than six, muscular and hard, Dr Vitarius rose smoothly to his feet. He looked down at himself, touched the different parts of his body, and began to laugh.
"It worked! The opposites balanced! I am whole again, young and burning with life!" He noticed the girl for the first time. "Jin, come closer. Here. Don't be afraid."
With obvious dread, the young Gelydra got up and stepped toward the tub. "Master, it IS you. I- did not dare hope."
Stepping out of the tub, Mercado Vitarius picked up two mundane bath towels and cleaned himself. His skin was again a deep bronze, like a metal statue, making his blonde hair and hazel eyes stand out weirdly. The ancient alchemist looked to be about thirty now, despite the fact he had been born in 1794 Philadelphia. Throwing the towels in a corner, he stretched and flexed in sheer joy. Then he thought of his young acolyte and said gently, "You have never seen me like this, Jin. When I took you in, I was already a weak old mummy."
Demrak Jin bowed her head and said nothing. Her heart was just beginning to return to its normal rate.
Reaching for the silk robe, Vitarius pulled it on, its back splitting as his massive shoulders stretched the material. "Come with me, my little friend. There is so much to do! So much I have missed. Good food, wine. Women. To run again in the sun. And most importantly," here his eyebrows lowered over those golden brown eyes while he still smiled, "revenge upon the world and everyone in it!"
II.
Three weeks later, Demrak Jin stepped off a Greyhound bus outside the Port Authority building. She had never been in New York City, hardly realized what it was, but her need was desperate. In her pocket was a map she had drawn herself and a few hundred dollars, nothing else. Questions of the helpful people at the public library back near Vitarius' home had allowed her to plan this trip and she had rehearsed it mentally so many times that she could only hope it would go well. She moved out onto 42nd Street and 8th Avenue and was stupefied by the noise and color and movement. That only lasted a moment or two. This city was big but it was still a city of Humans, and she had a pragmatic mind.
The Gelydra did not think she would need the map yet, she had but to move with the crowd as they crossed over to the next street east, and then keep repeating the process. Even though she was only three inches over five feet tall, slim with thin arms and legs, Jin was in fact stronger than any of the big Human men who towered over her. She walked with a quick determined pace until she saw a street sign that matched the symbols she had copied on her map, THIRD AVENUE. Now she must turn to her left, away from her swordhand side, two more blocks.
There on the corner, with its own tiny parking lot, stood a yellow brick building. She had made it. Jin let out a breath she did not know she had been holding. As she approached, the double doors slid inside automatically. From here on in, her preparation would be no help. The Gelydra stood looking around, uncertain. A man stepped out of a sliding glass door to a walk-in clinic to her right, holding a clipboard stuffed with papers. He watched her turning around and said, "Can I help you, miss?"
Jin started. Then, realizing he was no threat and wore doctor garb, she said, "I am looking for someone. He lives here, I think."
"Well, no one lives here. Maybe he works here."
"The Dire Wolf. Jeremy Bane."
"Him? Oh, I know him all right," the doctor smiled. "He's given us some busy nights in Emergency One. See those stairs? Go on the left side of them. His door is at the end of that hallway." The man turned and went back inside the clinic. Demrak Jin followed his instructions. With the stairs that led up to the second floor on her right, she was in a short hallway which ended in a metal EMERGENCY EXIT - ALARMED door. To her left was a wall of the same yellow brick and a plain wooden door with a brass plate that read DIRE WOLF AGENCY. She pressed the doorbell twice and waited for a response. Nothing. After a minute, she did it again and still got no answer. Jin pressed her hand to her mouth. What could she do now? She had to be back before nightfall. The Gelydra closed her eyes, leaned back against the wall and tried to think.
Someone was behind her. A lifetime at war made her react by whirling into a crouch and lunging upward with a six-inch knife she kept fastened inside her jacket. To her utter shock, a hand caught her wrist and stopped it dead. Jin had won duels and survived battles and she would have bet that no one could intercept her thrust that way. She was so stupefied that she let him take the knife from her, and stared with open mouth.
The man who had disarmed her was six feet tall, slim and straight, with black hair and angry grey eyes. Still holding her wrist, he let those eyes flicker over the knife before he dropped it in the pocket of his black sports jacket.
"Mr Bane! It is you," she said in her faint accent. "I have come to you for help."
"You have a funny way of showing it," he growled. "That thing was within six inches of my face. I remember you. You worked for Dr Vitarius. Demrak something?"
"Demrak Jin." She bent one knee and lowered her blonde head, prompting Bane to release her wrist. Almost kneeling, she said, "I offer my humble apology for my attack. If you as a superior wish to strike me twice, I will not resist."
"Wait, what? Boy, I can tell you're from Ulgor. I'm not going to strike you if you don't try to stab me again. Deal?"
The Gelydra straightened. "Please, may we speak? It is most urgent."
"Sure." Bane moved past Jin, still keeping a wary eye on her and unlocked his door. They entered a small room big enough for a coffee table with newspapers on it, two straightback chairs and another door. "This is your office?" she asked in alarm.
"What? Oh, hell no. This is the waiting room." He led her through the second door into the office. On the wall opposite them as they entered was a leather couch under a picture window showing Third Avenue. To the left was a bookcase and to the right was a desk with two chairs in front of it. "Have a seat and start talking."
Lowering herself slowly while he went behind his desk to sit, Demrak Jin said, "Before I begin, I am not sure what is the honorable action to take. I need counsel- there is a great menace stirring-"
"Okay, wait. Do you have a dollar?"
Taken aback, she dug through her denim jacket and came up with a crumpled single. Bane reached out and took it. He said, "You are now my client and I am working in your behalf. As such, anything you tell me falls under the laws of confidentiality and I cannot be forced to disclose them. Do you understand?"
"I think so. I have now hired you to help me?"
"Yes. I'm taking a big chance because I haven't even heard what your problem is. But you look like you're going to have a heart attack if you don't tell someone what's bothering you."
The Gelydra exhaled and her shoulders loosened. She was not pretty, almost funny-looking in fact, with a pug nose in a wide face and narrow light blue eyes. A typical Gelydra, thought Bane. They reminded him of seals.
"Thank you. Now I may tell you. My master, Dr Vitarius, has gone quite insane. He is mad in the old sense of the word. Not long ago, he mixed a potion to restore his youth and it worked. He is now young and healthy. But I think his mind was damaged somehow."
Bane watched her. "The last time I saw you and him, Mercado was looking every day of his hundred-odd years. He said his alchemy couldn't keep him young any more."
"I believe he experimented, perhaps a new potion of his own devising. He is most wise in these matters. He now seems to be about thirty, maybe less. But he has changed. For one week, he indulged his every desire. There were feasts, drunken binges, loud music, prostitutes coming and going. I don't think he slept for days in a row. Then one morning, he seemed tired of that. He cleaned up the debris and straightened his workshop. He ordered supplies and began working day and night, only stopping to eat and briefly sleep."
"Sounds reasonable so far. If an old man got rejuvenated, of course he would do all of that."
"Mr Bane, I am his personal servant and bodyguard. As you knew, I am a Gelydra of Ulgor, with all that implies. I heard him muttering of revenge and destruction and retribution. Not that he explains these things. But the past few days he has started talking about how things will be better when he has cleansed the earth."
"Cleansed the earth? Cleansed it of what?"
"People."
That made him blink. Bane thought for a second. "Vitarius has always been a hero. One of the better ones, actually. although he never went to Tel Shai. Mr Dred spoke highly of him. But then... being resurrected from being aged near death implies an alchemical solution so strong it might affect his brain."
"He took me in when I had been exiled from my own people. I owe him much. He is a good master, never beating me or summoning me to his bed, but treating me like a trusted student. I am not happy to be in such a situation, where I feel I must betray him." She lowered her head. This was an Ulgoran trait when upset, to look straight down. As she did so, Bane noticed two round bumps on her scalp, up high on her highline and he realized she had the sonar weapon as Atron once had.
"Jin. Look up. Listen to me." After she did so, he said slowly, "The Vitarius I knew- that Kenneth Dred knew- would want us to stop him if he has gone bad. Think about that. If you went into a Gelydra berserk and were going to harm little ones, you would want to be stopped. Wouldn't you?"
"Yes. Yes, I would. I see your point but what do you mean 'if he has gone bad.' I told you what he said."
The Dire Wolf said, "To be honest, I only have your word for any of this. It is my duty to be sure what the facts are before I act, and Dr Vitarius deserves to be given a chance to speak. You may have misunderstood what he said. People do say things they don't really mean, it happens all the time."
"I must leave soon. My master has gone to the Albany city to inspect equipment before it is shipped to him. He should be home by dark and I must be there when he returns. I have my ticket for the bus in an hour."
"No, I will drive you up to Poughkeepsie. There is still a lot we have to discuss and I have hundreds of questions." Bane stood up. "Jin, I want you to go sit in the waiting room for a few minutes. I want to change clothes."
She gave him a blank look. Bane went on, "Just cooperate. I will be ready in a minute or two. Read one of the magazines out there."
Still not understanding why he would not change clothes in front of her, Demrak Jin left the office and closed the door behind her. It was not modesty that made him ask her to step outside, it was that he wanted to keep his hiding place secret. Moving quickly as a fast change artist, Bane wheeled the trick bookcase around on its casters to expose the pit in the floor. He yanked the steamer trunk up, stripped down and got into the full field suit as rapidly as if the building were burning. The field suit had another layer of Trom armor inside and provided more protection than his street clothes. Flinging his regular outfit into the trunk and concealing it beneath the bookcase again, he snatched up the helmet and grabbed his laptop from its net on the side of the desk. Ready for war in less than a minute, the Dire Wolf rushed to the waiting rooom and found Demrak Jin had gone.
II.
Running out to the street, he caught no sign of her. Damn the girl. But then, Bane thought, it was hard enough for her to have come here at all. He thought of going to the Port Authority to intercept her but decided against it. Let her go. It might be better this way. Bane swung left and headed down four blocks to the Imperial Garage where his Subaru was kept. One of the few ways in which his wealth was indicated was the way he switched cars every two or three months. He picked out a new one, traded in the old and paid in full, coming back to pick it up when the paperwork was done. To himself, he said this was a practical matter. It made it harder for enemies to keep track of him and gave him a little camoflauge. But if he were being completely honest, Bane would have admitted he just enjoyed a day of trying new cars and driving away in one every now and then.
Lately he had been thinking about getting a motorcycle as well. They offered many advantages. More than once, he had been told that for a multi-millionaire he certainly lived modestly but he just had a naturally spartan personality. Still, a Harley-Davidson would be good for chases in city traffic. Bane said hello to the guard on duty and went to the lower level. The extra security devices Megan Salenger had installed still flashed green and blue on top of the rearview mirror. He started up the Subaru and pulled out into traffic. At least two hours of driving ahead but once he got to the Thruway it would be straight and unbroken.
Heading north, the Dire Wolf dug through his memory for everything he could remember about Dr Vitarius. Nothing sinister that he knew of. The man had been born in Central Europe in the late 18th Century, brought here by his parents. He was a precocious child, even a genius, and had been apprenticed to an apothecary in Philadelphia. From an early age, Vitarius had spent all his free time experimenting with and reading about alchemy. All his money went into the art while he lived like a pauper. By the time of the American Civil War, he had developed many of the potions that Midnight War alchemists still used. The serums he used on himself extended his life span indefintely and also made him continue to grow. By the dawn of the 20th century, he was several inches over six feet tall and a solid mass of muscle.
At the hour mark, Bane pulled into a service stop to fill the tank, check the tires and clean all the windows. This was so ingrained in him he hardly knew he was doing it, but it had been life-saving more than once dangerous situations. He went in the building to use the bathroom, bought a sandwich and a bottle of water and took off again. He kept remembering more the longer he tried. Vitarius was not a crusader. When threats to people were close at hand, he fought them but he certainly didn't patrol the city at night looking for trouble. In the early 1930s, he hosted several assemblies of heroes at his home on East 38th Street, among them Kenneth Dred.
Driving at just over the speed limit, the Dire Wolf liked the mental image of a young, gnomish Kenneth Dred fighting the Midnight War with the same twin silver daggers he had later given to his young protege. Bane was wearing them at that very moment, strapped to his forearms, the most valued possessions he owned. In 1937, Vitarius had gone on a world tour at a very inappropriate time and had sold his home to Dred. It was that building in which Dred had lived until his death in 1979, which Bane had inherited and used as headquarters for the KDf.
Vitarius had popped up now and then, even when Bane was a young man barely of voting age working for Dred. Then, a year earlier, he had called Bane out of nowhere to ask for help because a young assistant had stolen one of his potions. That had been a mean business, the Dire Wolf remembered... he had to resort to a trick to catch an opponent much faster than he was.
By now he was ready to get off the Thruway, cross the Mid-Hudson Bridge and head into Poughkeepsie. Grant Street was to his right as he came off the bridge, only a few blocks inland. Bane went one street further on, turned right and then right again and stopped on Grand Street within sight of the big two-story white frame house. The sidewalk right in front of the front porch was split by an old elm. Bane sat in the car and thought about Jin's story. He had no reason to believe or not believe her either way. He had met her for only a few seconds and knew nothing about her. Gelydrim from Ulgor were a strict, almost feudal people with intense loyalty and vicious feuds.
No, he did not have enough to go on. His feeling was that she was genuinely upset and telling the truth, but even the best investigator can be fooled by a good liar or a genuine sociopath who believes the lie. Watching the house, he was startled to see men going in and coming out with different packages. They wore light blue shirts and dark blue trousers. Couriers? This was interesting. Dark brown delivery vans with open sides pulled up, loaded or unloaded and went away again.
The Dire Wolf slowly got out of his car, carrying his helmet, and walked up the street to the house. Had Vitarius gone into business? That would be unexpected but why not? Maybe he wanted to raise funds and decided to cash in on one of his creations. He walked up to the front porch and in through the open door. Standing in the front hall checking out a receipt for a driver was a thin man below average height, wearing a dress shirt and slacks but no tie. He looked mild, even puny, that was deceptive. At seventy,
Dodger still carried an explosive sense of danger with him.
The dark blonde hair was thin and far back on the forehead, the sunken face was lined. He was still Dodger.
"Hi there," said Bane as he entered.
"Oh hell. Why am I not surprised." Dodger handed one copy of the bill to the driver and turned to face his visitor. "Dire Wolf, I never know where you will turn up except that there will be mayhem and carnage a minute later."
"Fair enough," Bane said. It was true. "I came to visit Mercado. Is he here?"
"Nope. He should be back around suppertime. What's up, Jeremy?"
"I should be asking you that. It looks as if Vitarius has opened up a mail-order business."
Dodger grinned wickedly. "Nailed it the first time. See these rows of boxes here? All marked FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTS? That's his line. Skin care. Hair. Bowel cleansing. Sexual potency. Whatever your problem, Forbidden Knowledge Cosmetics has what you need."
"You must be joking. No, wait,Dodger joking? I take it back. Does any of this stuff work?"
"As far as I know, all of it works. I tried some. I'm regular for the first time in years. This stuff is quite the sensation, I'm surprised you haven't heard of it."
Bane bent to inspect a box on one of the stacks that stood chest high. The label had a mortar and pestle with vapor rising, and the words in silver script, FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE. This one was for clear eyes. He stood up. "What does the FDA have to say?"
"None of their business. These are supplements, not medicine or vitamins. FDA approval is not needed."
Bane met Dodger's eyes and said, "I heard gossip about Vitarius. Something about him being young again."
"You'll know when you see him. That's all I have to say."
The Dire Wolf got out of the way of another delivery man. He saw a middle-aged woman come out of a back room, pencil behind her ear and get Dodger's signature. When things had settled down, He said to Bleak, "Guess I'll come back later. I wanted to ask Vitarius about something related to Midnight War but he seems to have thriving business."
At that moment, Demrak Jin appeared in the doorway, her white hair brushed back and damp. She looked tired. Before she could react, Bane said, "I remember you. We met the last time I was here. Jenny, right?"
"Jin. Demrak Jin. Can I help you?" her voice was cool and steady.
"I don't think so, thanks. I came to see Dr Vitarius but I'm told he won't be back until later."
"Perhaps I can call you when he returns?" she said. Bane thanked her and gave his number. He gave Dodger a wave and headed back out onto the street. She had handled that well, he thought. Dodger would have no reason to think they had met in Manhattan that morning. Going back to his car, he headed deeper into Poughkeepsie and found the Barnes & Nobel. Taking his laptop from its net behind the driver seat, he went in and found an empty table in a corner. Getting a bagel and a bottle of water, he settled down to a little research.
Forbidden Knowledge had started from nothing and become a craze in just a few weeks. Mostly just word of mouth, almost no advertising. Products were not sold in stores. Bane skipped the testimonials and looked for criticism. Every one agreed that the products were miraculous. They really did make skin look young, stop toothaches, strengthen fingernails, make scars almost vanish, whatever you wanted. No one apparently had any problems with the products.
Bane read on. The claims made by the makers were minimum, with nothing promised beyond that it was worth a try. It was the astonishing results that were behind the sensational rise of the line. He signed off and closed the lid with a somber expression. Well. Vitarius certainly had the alchemical knowledge to create useful cosmetics and health products if he wanted to. Nothing wrong with that, in fact it seemed like he deserved a medal for selling supplements that actually were effective. He got up and headed back outside. As he neared his car, the Link on his belt chirped. These were not cellphones although they could interact with cellphones. They were Trom communicators. He lifted it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Meet me by the river. By the picnic tables," said a female voice. The connection broke off. He put the laptop in its net, started up the car and headed back toward the river. It was a hot day in August, but not muggy and quite comfortable. He went along a rudimentary side street and down a concrete ramp that opened to a picnic area with two redwood tables, benches and a wire litter basket. A railing marked where the ground sloped down into the Hudson itself. Bane looked over the railing. There was a narrow strip of land where the water washed up, and fifty yards away three teenagers went standing in a circle giggling, watching seagulls. Right below him, climbing up out of the water was Demrak Jin.
She was wearing what looked to be not a bathing suit but black silk bra and panties. As she leaped up the rise and vaulted the railing, she showed amazing nimbleness. She did not have bulging muscles but was sleek and hard like the lifelong swimmer she was. The strange blue eyes met his and she did not smile.
"You wanted to see me?" Bane said, offering her a hand which she did not seem to notice. A neat bundle of clothing was stacked next to where he was standing. Drying herself off with a towel, she climbed into jeans and a plain white T-shirt with a pocket over the left breast. She picked up her red denim jacket but did not put it on. Bane noticed her head was soaking when she came out of the Hudson but it had dried completely before she had been in the air thirty seconds. She was a Gelydra all right.
Jin said, "May we sit?" and Bane went with her to a bench. She seemed much calmer and more self-possessed when he had seen her that morning. As she wiped her feet and tugged socks on, the Gelydra watched him thoughtfully. "What do you think?"
Bane told her. So far, he had no reason to think Vitarius was up to anything nefarious. In fact, he seemed to be doing good work. She scoffed.
"I hear him make comments that frighten me," she told him. "Clearing the earth of people. Does that sound pleasant? Someone asked him what his next line of products would be and he said there would be no one to buy a next line. How do you take that? He told me he had only needed me as a bodyguard three times, one against a burglar, but soon I might be called upon to really earn my pay. Would I kill his enemies to protect him? Of course I said I would, it was my trade." Demrak Jin scowled at the ground. "Your name was mentioned. This man who does his paperwork, Dodger. He is a bitter and unhappy man."
"That's Dodger, all right."
"My master mentioned to Dodger that he had worked with you a number of times. My master turned to me later and said, Soon it will be your task to send the Dire Wolf to Hell. He expects me to kill you if you get in the way."
Bane watched her closely. "You're a Gelydra. Would you try?"
"Of course. It would be my duty. I am not sure I would succeed or survive myself but we of Ulgor are born at the same time a shark hatches and the spirit of the shark is our spirit."
"Hopefully, we can avoid that. Jin. Tell me, what do you think he is planning?"
"A massacre of some kind. Everything he hints at it leads to that. It must be these foolish products he is selling."
Bane stood up. "If he does intend anything like that, of course I will stop him no matter what it takes. That's my word as a Tel Shai knight. You did the right thing to come to me, Jin."
She still looked miserable. "I hope so. I feel disloyal to my master. When we Gelydrim disobey an unlawful order, we are blamed ourselves and all we can do is fall on our swords."
The Dire Wolf kept remembering she was from a culture as rigid and demanding at Samurai-era Japan, with many of the same values. He said, "When do you need to get back?"
"Soon. They know I am a sea creature. I need to soak often or I get weak and sickly." She rose as she said that, and gave him a tragic look, then raced up the ramp to the byroad. Grant Street was only a few minutes walk away.
Bane sat there thinking. If Dr Vitarius had gone bad, really mass-murdering bad, why was he giving Jin clues what he was up to? Why would he mention him, Bane, with the suggestion he might be coming to investigate? Was he somehow deep down trying to have someone stop him? It could be. There had been conflicted psychos before. The Dire Wolf was troubled by the whole situation. Usually he had a clear agenda and an enemy that was out and out evil. This time, he was not sure what he should be doing. Rising, he went to the car and headed back to Grant Street.
III.
At ten after six, a taxi pulled up at the big house on Grant Street and a giant in a white linen suit emerged. Watching from down the block, Bane felt his heart jump. Look at the size of that guy, with the dark skin and the blonde widow's peak. Vitarius all right. He got out of his car and waited until the Alchemist had paid the driver and gone inside. A few minutes later, a woman in a business suit left the house after discussing something and, since the stream of delivery vans had stopped, it seemed business was concluded for the day. Bane reached inside and got his war helmet and tucked it in the crook of his arm as he walked up to the house.
The front door was still open and Bleak was on the porch, having a cigarette. The Dire Wolf came up the wooden steps and said, "I'm back."
The small blonde man took a drag and nodded for him to go in. If anything, the front hall had become even more crowded with cases and packages. Vitarius would need to lease a warehouse soon. As Bane entered, the giant Alchemist saw him and frowned. "Jeremy? I did not expect you."
"We need to talk, Mercado."
"Very well. Come down to my workshop."
"No," Bane said firmly. "Not the workshop." If there was going to be a fight, he did not want it in the middle of all of the potions and powders. It would be like tackling a soldier in his own arsenal. Vitarius gave him a mocking look and agreed, "Very well," leading the way to the main parlor. This had been kept very open. There was a long couch and several chairs, a few little tables with lamps or statues, but the floor was mostly unobstructed for some reason.
"You can't be making all these products here in this house," Bane said. "So you must be supervising production somewhere else. The products are brought here, where you open them and add your alchemical ingredients yourself. Then they are shipped out."
"Oh, very good. Detective work has given you the beginning of reason. What you say is obvious but accurate."
Bane saw Demrak Jin peeking through the doorway, but he ignored her. "The thing is, all this goes against what you believed for a hundred years. You say the Great Art is meant to be secret, known only to those who have struggled to learn it, that the vast mass of mankind is better off not knowing of its existence. But selling these products by the truckload... you must realize some of it will be analyzed in labs."
"They can try," Vitarius smiled. He was standing in the center of the room, fists on hips. "Come, Dire Wolf. You have not commented on how I look?"
Bane held the helmet in front of him with both hands, looking down at it. "You found a way to rejuvenate yourself. Congratulations. But I have reason to think the rebirth affected your mind, Mercado. You came back to youth but you have been changed."
"Really? Yes, I suppose I have. What of it?"
The Dire Wolf said, "What is your ultimate plan here? What are you building up to with these products?"
Now Vitarius grinned but his eyes remained cold, and the effect was terrifying. "Are you sure you want to know this?"
"Absolutely."
"On your own head, then. In one year, I will release more of these lotions and supplements but with Colatrin added. It's an alchemical solution. A month or two after that, the combination will react in the bodies of those who have been using Forbidden Knowledge cosmetics. They will die! All of them! Their skin will peel off, they will burn with fever, their livers will shut down! It will be wonderful." He laughed to himself. "There are too many fools in the world as it is, don't you think?"
As he heard this, Bane lowered his helmet over his head and clicked the visor shut. He knew Vitarius would have not boasted of this if there was any chance he would leave that room alive. And yet...he had admitted it so quickly. On some level, he wanted to be stopped. "Dr Vitarius, I am sorry to hear you say that. The shipments with the second ingredient have not gone out yet? No one will die if your products-"
He was cut off as Vitarius flung a handful of green powder at his face. It blew into a cloud that clung to him, eating away the outer layer of his field suit and corroding his helmet. Bane jumped back. He couldn't see, the visor was pitted and dissolving. His hands stung. Bane yanked the helmet off and gasped just before a fist nearly the size of his head drove right into the center of his face, Vitarius was not just big, he was strong and he had two lifetimes of experience. Bane fell and rolled to one side to avoid a big foot that stomped down where his head had been. The Wolf was back up on his feet just as the Alchemist flung a pellet that exploded against his chest and caught his jacket on fire. The material was flameproof but it was now covered with a burning gel. Bane yanked his jacket off and whipped it right at Vitarius, slinging it around his head.
In those two seconds where the Alchemist was occupied getting the burning clothing off his head, Bane attacked as hard and as fast as he could. He closed in and threw a dozen alternating straight punches to the ribs and chest in less than four seconds, hopped back and blasted a high side kick to the heart with everything he had. Vitarius was lifted off his feet and landed up against the chintzy couch. Still moving, Bane came in and caught another of the alchemy powders that Vitarius was pulling from inside his sleeves. Freezing white foam spread over his face, cutting off his air and coating him with ice. The Dire wolf clawed at it and broke it off. He took a deep gasping breath and swung back, expecting another alchemical attack. Instead, Vitarius had just stuck a lozenge under his own tongue. "You remember Velocitin, don't you?"
There was only one chance. As he yanked the silver-bladed daggers from the sheaths under his sleeves, Bane was tackled by a whirlwind of fists. He could not see them coming. he was being hit from every direction at once. In one part of his mind,he realized that was what his opponents felt when he himself was attacking. one of the daggers clattered to the floor as a wide looping roundhouse crashed against his head, spinning him completely around. He hit the floor, not completely conscious.
Dr Vitarius roared with glee. The effects of the velocitin not only increased his speed several times, it caused aggressiveness. The hazel eyes were wild.
"Ah, you have not idea how many solutions I can kill you with," he ranted. "The bone dissolver? The petrifying spray? Perhaps the solution that shrinks your skin until it splits and comes off! No, wait, I have it." The giant Alchemist bent and picked up the dagger Bane had dropped. "This is an ironic twist that I-"
Through the center of his chest, a white bone blade suddenly protruded in a gout of blood from the heart. The huge man weakened at the knees, dying even as he managed to turn and catch a glimpse of Demrak Jin behind him. Then he fell face down and she screamed, "Forgive me, master! My hands are red."
Jeremy Bane tried to get up and couldn't. He had not often taken a beating like that. Breathing slowly and deeply, he got to his hands and knees and managed to stand up. His hands and face were raw from the chemicals Vitarius had splashed him with. He hoped he wasn't poisoned. The Dire wolf took a step, nearly fell and steadied himself. He was getting clearer.
Jin tugged her sword free from Vitarius, and dropped to her knees. She was sobbing with her whole body, almost convulsing. PLacing the hilt of her sword on the floor, she touched the point to the pit of her stomach and leaned back, preparing to impale herself. Bane had been watching for this. He plunged in and smacked the sword from her grasp, knocking her over on her side.
"No, let me die! I cannot live with this dishonor!" she scrambled for the sword as Bane kicked it far across the room. The Dire Wolf bent over her and gave her a sharp stinging slap to the face. Her eyes cleared and focused on him because of the unexpected pain as no words would have done.
"Listen to me!" he shouted in a commanding voice he seldom needed to raise, "I take command of your fate. I will shelter you in this land and give you sanctuary. You will have a safe home. If you wish, I will sponsor you for Tel Shai service. But in any case, your life belongs to me for the moment." He glared into her tearful eyes. "Do you understand?"
"Yes..."
"And I forbid you to take your life. Just now, you protected your new master as was proper. Do you accept that?"
"Yes...master. I see your wisdom." She straightened up and got to her feet.
"Do not call me master. Call me captain if you cannot use my first name." He took her hand, which had stopped trembling. "Let's go. You can stay with my friends in the city, they are knights your own age. Come with me now. Anything you leave can be returned for later." Bane realized he was now as upset as she was. That slap had gone against all his instincts and yelling at a distraught girl was difficult as well. But otherwise she would have killed herself as soon as she was left alone.
The Wolf led her from the house. There was no sign of Dodger, but he had always left as few footprints as possible and would have left quietly when the fighting started. Bane did not think he had to worry about the man. He himself would come back and call the police and straighten matters out as best he could. The notes Vitarius had left about his murderous plan would help defend Bane, but right now he could not worry about his own fate. There was a Holiday Inn down the road next to a pancake house and he would get a room for Jin to wait in, with orders not to leave. It did not occur to him how incongrous it was for him to be renting a motel room and leaving a teenage girl in it, nor what the desk clerk would be thinking. His thoughts were elsewhere. He was remembering Vitarius.
4/16/2013
7/3-7/28/2012
I.
"Don't! Master, no! If you die, what should become of me?" The young woman who was crying was small, almost thin, still in her teens, with a thick head of bristling white hair and clouded blue eyes. She wore regular street clothes, jeans and a T-shirt and a red denim jacket. But across her back was sheathed a three-foot knife with a blade made of bone. In that dim basement of a house in Poughkepsie near the Hudson River, she pleaded with a shriveled old man who sat in a wheelchair before an eight-foot tub full of steaming fluid.
Dr Vitarius had reached the stage where the alchemical potions which had kept him young for a century finally failed. He was bent and withered, with only a few stray hairs on his scalp. All his teeth were gone. His hands shook. But there was still an edge of command in his shrill voice. "Obey me, Jin! I will not be denied."
Starting to weep, Demrak Jin picked up a burlap sack of white powder and poured it all in into the tub. Immediately, hissing vapor rose and swirled throughout the basement. Vitarius had managed to rise, struggling out of his yellow silk robe. His ruined body was already smeared with a thick black tar. Without a word, he took an unsteady step and fell into the steaming tub. Demrak Jin shrieked and stumbled back from the fumes. The liquid seemed to boil and agitate, then some new stage was reached and it turned into a cloudy dark foam.
The girl from Ulgor got to her feet. She was sure her master, who had given her refuge here when she had nowhere to go, was now dead. Still weeping loudly, she went to the stairs leading upward and flipped the light switch. Long fluorescent tubes flickered and the workplace became visible. Tables were crowded with tubes in wooden racks, notebooks and piles of loose papers, bottles and cannisters of every possible shape and size. Everything had been shoved back to make room for a stone tub eight feet long and four feet high, and in that tub Vitarius had thrown himself.
As her crying wound down to sniffles, Jin sat on the floor with her knees up, hugging herself. Her head was bent. Eventually, she began to think about her next move. How could she live here without the doctor? She had no documents, no legal status. She was an illegal alien from a realm that Humans did not even know existed. The Gelydra raised her head to look at the tub, the contents had settled into a gooey froth. And a big muscular hand reached up out of that solution, grabbed hold of the edge of the tub with a smack. Jin almost passed out. Closer to seven feet tall than six, muscular and hard, Dr Vitarius rose smoothly to his feet. He looked down at himself, touched the different parts of his body, and began to laugh.
"It worked! The opposites balanced! I am whole again, young and burning with life!" He noticed the girl for the first time. "Jin, come closer. Here. Don't be afraid."
With obvious dread, the young Gelydra got up and stepped toward the tub. "Master, it IS you. I- did not dare hope."
Stepping out of the tub, Mercado Vitarius picked up two mundane bath towels and cleaned himself. His skin was again a deep bronze, like a metal statue, making his blonde hair and hazel eyes stand out weirdly. The ancient alchemist looked to be about thirty now, despite the fact he had been born in 1794 Philadelphia. Throwing the towels in a corner, he stretched and flexed in sheer joy. Then he thought of his young acolyte and said gently, "You have never seen me like this, Jin. When I took you in, I was already a weak old mummy."
Demrak Jin bowed her head and said nothing. Her heart was just beginning to return to its normal rate.
Reaching for the silk robe, Vitarius pulled it on, its back splitting as his massive shoulders stretched the material. "Come with me, my little friend. There is so much to do! So much I have missed. Good food, wine. Women. To run again in the sun. And most importantly," here his eyebrows lowered over those golden brown eyes while he still smiled, "revenge upon the world and everyone in it!"
II.
Three weeks later, Demrak Jin stepped off a Greyhound bus outside the Port Authority building. She had never been in New York City, hardly realized what it was, but her need was desperate. In her pocket was a map she had drawn herself and a few hundred dollars, nothing else. Questions of the helpful people at the public library back near Vitarius' home had allowed her to plan this trip and she had rehearsed it mentally so many times that she could only hope it would go well. She moved out onto 42nd Street and 8th Avenue and was stupefied by the noise and color and movement. That only lasted a moment or two. This city was big but it was still a city of Humans, and she had a pragmatic mind.
The Gelydra did not think she would need the map yet, she had but to move with the crowd as they crossed over to the next street east, and then keep repeating the process. Even though she was only three inches over five feet tall, slim with thin arms and legs, Jin was in fact stronger than any of the big Human men who towered over her. She walked with a quick determined pace until she saw a street sign that matched the symbols she had copied on her map, THIRD AVENUE. Now she must turn to her left, away from her swordhand side, two more blocks.
There on the corner, with its own tiny parking lot, stood a yellow brick building. She had made it. Jin let out a breath she did not know she had been holding. As she approached, the double doors slid inside automatically. From here on in, her preparation would be no help. The Gelydra stood looking around, uncertain. A man stepped out of a sliding glass door to a walk-in clinic to her right, holding a clipboard stuffed with papers. He watched her turning around and said, "Can I help you, miss?"
Jin started. Then, realizing he was no threat and wore doctor garb, she said, "I am looking for someone. He lives here, I think."
"Well, no one lives here. Maybe he works here."
"The Dire Wolf. Jeremy Bane."
"Him? Oh, I know him all right," the doctor smiled. "He's given us some busy nights in Emergency One. See those stairs? Go on the left side of them. His door is at the end of that hallway." The man turned and went back inside the clinic. Demrak Jin followed his instructions. With the stairs that led up to the second floor on her right, she was in a short hallway which ended in a metal EMERGENCY EXIT - ALARMED door. To her left was a wall of the same yellow brick and a plain wooden door with a brass plate that read DIRE WOLF AGENCY. She pressed the doorbell twice and waited for a response. Nothing. After a minute, she did it again and still got no answer. Jin pressed her hand to her mouth. What could she do now? She had to be back before nightfall. The Gelydra closed her eyes, leaned back against the wall and tried to think.
Someone was behind her. A lifetime at war made her react by whirling into a crouch and lunging upward with a six-inch knife she kept fastened inside her jacket. To her utter shock, a hand caught her wrist and stopped it dead. Jin had won duels and survived battles and she would have bet that no one could intercept her thrust that way. She was so stupefied that she let him take the knife from her, and stared with open mouth.
The man who had disarmed her was six feet tall, slim and straight, with black hair and angry grey eyes. Still holding her wrist, he let those eyes flicker over the knife before he dropped it in the pocket of his black sports jacket.
"Mr Bane! It is you," she said in her faint accent. "I have come to you for help."
"You have a funny way of showing it," he growled. "That thing was within six inches of my face. I remember you. You worked for Dr Vitarius. Demrak something?"
"Demrak Jin." She bent one knee and lowered her blonde head, prompting Bane to release her wrist. Almost kneeling, she said, "I offer my humble apology for my attack. If you as a superior wish to strike me twice, I will not resist."
"Wait, what? Boy, I can tell you're from Ulgor. I'm not going to strike you if you don't try to stab me again. Deal?"
The Gelydra straightened. "Please, may we speak? It is most urgent."
"Sure." Bane moved past Jin, still keeping a wary eye on her and unlocked his door. They entered a small room big enough for a coffee table with newspapers on it, two straightback chairs and another door. "This is your office?" she asked in alarm.
"What? Oh, hell no. This is the waiting room." He led her through the second door into the office. On the wall opposite them as they entered was a leather couch under a picture window showing Third Avenue. To the left was a bookcase and to the right was a desk with two chairs in front of it. "Have a seat and start talking."
Lowering herself slowly while he went behind his desk to sit, Demrak Jin said, "Before I begin, I am not sure what is the honorable action to take. I need counsel- there is a great menace stirring-"
"Okay, wait. Do you have a dollar?"
Taken aback, she dug through her denim jacket and came up with a crumpled single. Bane reached out and took it. He said, "You are now my client and I am working in your behalf. As such, anything you tell me falls under the laws of confidentiality and I cannot be forced to disclose them. Do you understand?"
"I think so. I have now hired you to help me?"
"Yes. I'm taking a big chance because I haven't even heard what your problem is. But you look like you're going to have a heart attack if you don't tell someone what's bothering you."
The Gelydra exhaled and her shoulders loosened. She was not pretty, almost funny-looking in fact, with a pug nose in a wide face and narrow light blue eyes. A typical Gelydra, thought Bane. They reminded him of seals.
"Thank you. Now I may tell you. My master, Dr Vitarius, has gone quite insane. He is mad in the old sense of the word. Not long ago, he mixed a potion to restore his youth and it worked. He is now young and healthy. But I think his mind was damaged somehow."
Bane watched her. "The last time I saw you and him, Mercado was looking every day of his hundred-odd years. He said his alchemy couldn't keep him young any more."
"I believe he experimented, perhaps a new potion of his own devising. He is most wise in these matters. He now seems to be about thirty, maybe less. But he has changed. For one week, he indulged his every desire. There were feasts, drunken binges, loud music, prostitutes coming and going. I don't think he slept for days in a row. Then one morning, he seemed tired of that. He cleaned up the debris and straightened his workshop. He ordered supplies and began working day and night, only stopping to eat and briefly sleep."
"Sounds reasonable so far. If an old man got rejuvenated, of course he would do all of that."
"Mr Bane, I am his personal servant and bodyguard. As you knew, I am a Gelydra of Ulgor, with all that implies. I heard him muttering of revenge and destruction and retribution. Not that he explains these things. But the past few days he has started talking about how things will be better when he has cleansed the earth."
"Cleansed the earth? Cleansed it of what?"
"People."
That made him blink. Bane thought for a second. "Vitarius has always been a hero. One of the better ones, actually. although he never went to Tel Shai. Mr Dred spoke highly of him. But then... being resurrected from being aged near death implies an alchemical solution so strong it might affect his brain."
"He took me in when I had been exiled from my own people. I owe him much. He is a good master, never beating me or summoning me to his bed, but treating me like a trusted student. I am not happy to be in such a situation, where I feel I must betray him." She lowered her head. This was an Ulgoran trait when upset, to look straight down. As she did so, Bane noticed two round bumps on her scalp, up high on her highline and he realized she had the sonar weapon as Atron once had.
"Jin. Look up. Listen to me." After she did so, he said slowly, "The Vitarius I knew- that Kenneth Dred knew- would want us to stop him if he has gone bad. Think about that. If you went into a Gelydra berserk and were going to harm little ones, you would want to be stopped. Wouldn't you?"
"Yes. Yes, I would. I see your point but what do you mean 'if he has gone bad.' I told you what he said."
The Dire Wolf said, "To be honest, I only have your word for any of this. It is my duty to be sure what the facts are before I act, and Dr Vitarius deserves to be given a chance to speak. You may have misunderstood what he said. People do say things they don't really mean, it happens all the time."
"I must leave soon. My master has gone to the Albany city to inspect equipment before it is shipped to him. He should be home by dark and I must be there when he returns. I have my ticket for the bus in an hour."
"No, I will drive you up to Poughkeepsie. There is still a lot we have to discuss and I have hundreds of questions." Bane stood up. "Jin, I want you to go sit in the waiting room for a few minutes. I want to change clothes."
She gave him a blank look. Bane went on, "Just cooperate. I will be ready in a minute or two. Read one of the magazines out there."
Still not understanding why he would not change clothes in front of her, Demrak Jin left the office and closed the door behind her. It was not modesty that made him ask her to step outside, it was that he wanted to keep his hiding place secret. Moving quickly as a fast change artist, Bane wheeled the trick bookcase around on its casters to expose the pit in the floor. He yanked the steamer trunk up, stripped down and got into the full field suit as rapidly as if the building were burning. The field suit had another layer of Trom armor inside and provided more protection than his street clothes. Flinging his regular outfit into the trunk and concealing it beneath the bookcase again, he snatched up the helmet and grabbed his laptop from its net on the side of the desk. Ready for war in less than a minute, the Dire Wolf rushed to the waiting rooom and found Demrak Jin had gone.
II.
Running out to the street, he caught no sign of her. Damn the girl. But then, Bane thought, it was hard enough for her to have come here at all. He thought of going to the Port Authority to intercept her but decided against it. Let her go. It might be better this way. Bane swung left and headed down four blocks to the Imperial Garage where his Subaru was kept. One of the few ways in which his wealth was indicated was the way he switched cars every two or three months. He picked out a new one, traded in the old and paid in full, coming back to pick it up when the paperwork was done. To himself, he said this was a practical matter. It made it harder for enemies to keep track of him and gave him a little camoflauge. But if he were being completely honest, Bane would have admitted he just enjoyed a day of trying new cars and driving away in one every now and then.
Lately he had been thinking about getting a motorcycle as well. They offered many advantages. More than once, he had been told that for a multi-millionaire he certainly lived modestly but he just had a naturally spartan personality. Still, a Harley-Davidson would be good for chases in city traffic. Bane said hello to the guard on duty and went to the lower level. The extra security devices Megan Salenger had installed still flashed green and blue on top of the rearview mirror. He started up the Subaru and pulled out into traffic. At least two hours of driving ahead but once he got to the Thruway it would be straight and unbroken.
Heading north, the Dire Wolf dug through his memory for everything he could remember about Dr Vitarius. Nothing sinister that he knew of. The man had been born in Central Europe in the late 18th Century, brought here by his parents. He was a precocious child, even a genius, and had been apprenticed to an apothecary in Philadelphia. From an early age, Vitarius had spent all his free time experimenting with and reading about alchemy. All his money went into the art while he lived like a pauper. By the time of the American Civil War, he had developed many of the potions that Midnight War alchemists still used. The serums he used on himself extended his life span indefintely and also made him continue to grow. By the dawn of the 20th century, he was several inches over six feet tall and a solid mass of muscle.
At the hour mark, Bane pulled into a service stop to fill the tank, check the tires and clean all the windows. This was so ingrained in him he hardly knew he was doing it, but it had been life-saving more than once dangerous situations. He went in the building to use the bathroom, bought a sandwich and a bottle of water and took off again. He kept remembering more the longer he tried. Vitarius was not a crusader. When threats to people were close at hand, he fought them but he certainly didn't patrol the city at night looking for trouble. In the early 1930s, he hosted several assemblies of heroes at his home on East 38th Street, among them Kenneth Dred.
Driving at just over the speed limit, the Dire Wolf liked the mental image of a young, gnomish Kenneth Dred fighting the Midnight War with the same twin silver daggers he had later given to his young protege. Bane was wearing them at that very moment, strapped to his forearms, the most valued possessions he owned. In 1937, Vitarius had gone on a world tour at a very inappropriate time and had sold his home to Dred. It was that building in which Dred had lived until his death in 1979, which Bane had inherited and used as headquarters for the KDf.
Vitarius had popped up now and then, even when Bane was a young man barely of voting age working for Dred. Then, a year earlier, he had called Bane out of nowhere to ask for help because a young assistant had stolen one of his potions. That had been a mean business, the Dire Wolf remembered... he had to resort to a trick to catch an opponent much faster than he was.
By now he was ready to get off the Thruway, cross the Mid-Hudson Bridge and head into Poughkeepsie. Grant Street was to his right as he came off the bridge, only a few blocks inland. Bane went one street further on, turned right and then right again and stopped on Grand Street within sight of the big two-story white frame house. The sidewalk right in front of the front porch was split by an old elm. Bane sat in the car and thought about Jin's story. He had no reason to believe or not believe her either way. He had met her for only a few seconds and knew nothing about her. Gelydrim from Ulgor were a strict, almost feudal people with intense loyalty and vicious feuds.
No, he did not have enough to go on. His feeling was that she was genuinely upset and telling the truth, but even the best investigator can be fooled by a good liar or a genuine sociopath who believes the lie. Watching the house, he was startled to see men going in and coming out with different packages. They wore light blue shirts and dark blue trousers. Couriers? This was interesting. Dark brown delivery vans with open sides pulled up, loaded or unloaded and went away again.
The Dire Wolf slowly got out of his car, carrying his helmet, and walked up the street to the house. Had Vitarius gone into business? That would be unexpected but why not? Maybe he wanted to raise funds and decided to cash in on one of his creations. He walked up to the front porch and in through the open door. Standing in the front hall checking out a receipt for a driver was a thin man below average height, wearing a dress shirt and slacks but no tie. He looked mild, even puny, that was deceptive. At seventy,
Dodger still carried an explosive sense of danger with him.
The dark blonde hair was thin and far back on the forehead, the sunken face was lined. He was still Dodger.
"Hi there," said Bane as he entered.
"Oh hell. Why am I not surprised." Dodger handed one copy of the bill to the driver and turned to face his visitor. "Dire Wolf, I never know where you will turn up except that there will be mayhem and carnage a minute later."
"Fair enough," Bane said. It was true. "I came to visit Mercado. Is he here?"
"Nope. He should be back around suppertime. What's up, Jeremy?"
"I should be asking you that. It looks as if Vitarius has opened up a mail-order business."
Dodger grinned wickedly. "Nailed it the first time. See these rows of boxes here? All marked FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTS? That's his line. Skin care. Hair. Bowel cleansing. Sexual potency. Whatever your problem, Forbidden Knowledge Cosmetics has what you need."
"You must be joking. No, wait,Dodger joking? I take it back. Does any of this stuff work?"
"As far as I know, all of it works. I tried some. I'm regular for the first time in years. This stuff is quite the sensation, I'm surprised you haven't heard of it."
Bane bent to inspect a box on one of the stacks that stood chest high. The label had a mortar and pestle with vapor rising, and the words in silver script, FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE. This one was for clear eyes. He stood up. "What does the FDA have to say?"
"None of their business. These are supplements, not medicine or vitamins. FDA approval is not needed."
Bane met Dodger's eyes and said, "I heard gossip about Vitarius. Something about him being young again."
"You'll know when you see him. That's all I have to say."
The Dire Wolf got out of the way of another delivery man. He saw a middle-aged woman come out of a back room, pencil behind her ear and get Dodger's signature. When things had settled down, He said to Bleak, "Guess I'll come back later. I wanted to ask Vitarius about something related to Midnight War but he seems to have thriving business."
At that moment, Demrak Jin appeared in the doorway, her white hair brushed back and damp. She looked tired. Before she could react, Bane said, "I remember you. We met the last time I was here. Jenny, right?"
"Jin. Demrak Jin. Can I help you?" her voice was cool and steady.
"I don't think so, thanks. I came to see Dr Vitarius but I'm told he won't be back until later."
"Perhaps I can call you when he returns?" she said. Bane thanked her and gave his number. He gave Dodger a wave and headed back out onto the street. She had handled that well, he thought. Dodger would have no reason to think they had met in Manhattan that morning. Going back to his car, he headed deeper into Poughkeepsie and found the Barnes & Nobel. Taking his laptop from its net behind the driver seat, he went in and found an empty table in a corner. Getting a bagel and a bottle of water, he settled down to a little research.
Forbidden Knowledge had started from nothing and become a craze in just a few weeks. Mostly just word of mouth, almost no advertising. Products were not sold in stores. Bane skipped the testimonials and looked for criticism. Every one agreed that the products were miraculous. They really did make skin look young, stop toothaches, strengthen fingernails, make scars almost vanish, whatever you wanted. No one apparently had any problems with the products.
Bane read on. The claims made by the makers were minimum, with nothing promised beyond that it was worth a try. It was the astonishing results that were behind the sensational rise of the line. He signed off and closed the lid with a somber expression. Well. Vitarius certainly had the alchemical knowledge to create useful cosmetics and health products if he wanted to. Nothing wrong with that, in fact it seemed like he deserved a medal for selling supplements that actually were effective. He got up and headed back outside. As he neared his car, the Link on his belt chirped. These were not cellphones although they could interact with cellphones. They were Trom communicators. He lifted it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Meet me by the river. By the picnic tables," said a female voice. The connection broke off. He put the laptop in its net, started up the car and headed back toward the river. It was a hot day in August, but not muggy and quite comfortable. He went along a rudimentary side street and down a concrete ramp that opened to a picnic area with two redwood tables, benches and a wire litter basket. A railing marked where the ground sloped down into the Hudson itself. Bane looked over the railing. There was a narrow strip of land where the water washed up, and fifty yards away three teenagers went standing in a circle giggling, watching seagulls. Right below him, climbing up out of the water was Demrak Jin.
She was wearing what looked to be not a bathing suit but black silk bra and panties. As she leaped up the rise and vaulted the railing, she showed amazing nimbleness. She did not have bulging muscles but was sleek and hard like the lifelong swimmer she was. The strange blue eyes met his and she did not smile.
"You wanted to see me?" Bane said, offering her a hand which she did not seem to notice. A neat bundle of clothing was stacked next to where he was standing. Drying herself off with a towel, she climbed into jeans and a plain white T-shirt with a pocket over the left breast. She picked up her red denim jacket but did not put it on. Bane noticed her head was soaking when she came out of the Hudson but it had dried completely before she had been in the air thirty seconds. She was a Gelydra all right.
Jin said, "May we sit?" and Bane went with her to a bench. She seemed much calmer and more self-possessed when he had seen her that morning. As she wiped her feet and tugged socks on, the Gelydra watched him thoughtfully. "What do you think?"
Bane told her. So far, he had no reason to think Vitarius was up to anything nefarious. In fact, he seemed to be doing good work. She scoffed.
"I hear him make comments that frighten me," she told him. "Clearing the earth of people. Does that sound pleasant? Someone asked him what his next line of products would be and he said there would be no one to buy a next line. How do you take that? He told me he had only needed me as a bodyguard three times, one against a burglar, but soon I might be called upon to really earn my pay. Would I kill his enemies to protect him? Of course I said I would, it was my trade." Demrak Jin scowled at the ground. "Your name was mentioned. This man who does his paperwork, Dodger. He is a bitter and unhappy man."
"That's Dodger, all right."
"My master mentioned to Dodger that he had worked with you a number of times. My master turned to me later and said, Soon it will be your task to send the Dire Wolf to Hell. He expects me to kill you if you get in the way."
Bane watched her closely. "You're a Gelydra. Would you try?"
"Of course. It would be my duty. I am not sure I would succeed or survive myself but we of Ulgor are born at the same time a shark hatches and the spirit of the shark is our spirit."
"Hopefully, we can avoid that. Jin. Tell me, what do you think he is planning?"
"A massacre of some kind. Everything he hints at it leads to that. It must be these foolish products he is selling."
Bane stood up. "If he does intend anything like that, of course I will stop him no matter what it takes. That's my word as a Tel Shai knight. You did the right thing to come to me, Jin."
She still looked miserable. "I hope so. I feel disloyal to my master. When we Gelydrim disobey an unlawful order, we are blamed ourselves and all we can do is fall on our swords."
The Dire Wolf kept remembering she was from a culture as rigid and demanding at Samurai-era Japan, with many of the same values. He said, "When do you need to get back?"
"Soon. They know I am a sea creature. I need to soak often or I get weak and sickly." She rose as she said that, and gave him a tragic look, then raced up the ramp to the byroad. Grant Street was only a few minutes walk away.
Bane sat there thinking. If Dr Vitarius had gone bad, really mass-murdering bad, why was he giving Jin clues what he was up to? Why would he mention him, Bane, with the suggestion he might be coming to investigate? Was he somehow deep down trying to have someone stop him? It could be. There had been conflicted psychos before. The Dire Wolf was troubled by the whole situation. Usually he had a clear agenda and an enemy that was out and out evil. This time, he was not sure what he should be doing. Rising, he went to the car and headed back to Grant Street.
III.
At ten after six, a taxi pulled up at the big house on Grant Street and a giant in a white linen suit emerged. Watching from down the block, Bane felt his heart jump. Look at the size of that guy, with the dark skin and the blonde widow's peak. Vitarius all right. He got out of his car and waited until the Alchemist had paid the driver and gone inside. A few minutes later, a woman in a business suit left the house after discussing something and, since the stream of delivery vans had stopped, it seemed business was concluded for the day. Bane reached inside and got his war helmet and tucked it in the crook of his arm as he walked up to the house.
The front door was still open and Bleak was on the porch, having a cigarette. The Dire Wolf came up the wooden steps and said, "I'm back."
The small blonde man took a drag and nodded for him to go in. If anything, the front hall had become even more crowded with cases and packages. Vitarius would need to lease a warehouse soon. As Bane entered, the giant Alchemist saw him and frowned. "Jeremy? I did not expect you."
"We need to talk, Mercado."
"Very well. Come down to my workshop."
"No," Bane said firmly. "Not the workshop." If there was going to be a fight, he did not want it in the middle of all of the potions and powders. It would be like tackling a soldier in his own arsenal. Vitarius gave him a mocking look and agreed, "Very well," leading the way to the main parlor. This had been kept very open. There was a long couch and several chairs, a few little tables with lamps or statues, but the floor was mostly unobstructed for some reason.
"You can't be making all these products here in this house," Bane said. "So you must be supervising production somewhere else. The products are brought here, where you open them and add your alchemical ingredients yourself. Then they are shipped out."
"Oh, very good. Detective work has given you the beginning of reason. What you say is obvious but accurate."
Bane saw Demrak Jin peeking through the doorway, but he ignored her. "The thing is, all this goes against what you believed for a hundred years. You say the Great Art is meant to be secret, known only to those who have struggled to learn it, that the vast mass of mankind is better off not knowing of its existence. But selling these products by the truckload... you must realize some of it will be analyzed in labs."
"They can try," Vitarius smiled. He was standing in the center of the room, fists on hips. "Come, Dire Wolf. You have not commented on how I look?"
Bane held the helmet in front of him with both hands, looking down at it. "You found a way to rejuvenate yourself. Congratulations. But I have reason to think the rebirth affected your mind, Mercado. You came back to youth but you have been changed."
"Really? Yes, I suppose I have. What of it?"
The Dire Wolf said, "What is your ultimate plan here? What are you building up to with these products?"
Now Vitarius grinned but his eyes remained cold, and the effect was terrifying. "Are you sure you want to know this?"
"Absolutely."
"On your own head, then. In one year, I will release more of these lotions and supplements but with Colatrin added. It's an alchemical solution. A month or two after that, the combination will react in the bodies of those who have been using Forbidden Knowledge cosmetics. They will die! All of them! Their skin will peel off, they will burn with fever, their livers will shut down! It will be wonderful." He laughed to himself. "There are too many fools in the world as it is, don't you think?"
As he heard this, Bane lowered his helmet over his head and clicked the visor shut. He knew Vitarius would have not boasted of this if there was any chance he would leave that room alive. And yet...he had admitted it so quickly. On some level, he wanted to be stopped. "Dr Vitarius, I am sorry to hear you say that. The shipments with the second ingredient have not gone out yet? No one will die if your products-"
He was cut off as Vitarius flung a handful of green powder at his face. It blew into a cloud that clung to him, eating away the outer layer of his field suit and corroding his helmet. Bane jumped back. He couldn't see, the visor was pitted and dissolving. His hands stung. Bane yanked the helmet off and gasped just before a fist nearly the size of his head drove right into the center of his face, Vitarius was not just big, he was strong and he had two lifetimes of experience. Bane fell and rolled to one side to avoid a big foot that stomped down where his head had been. The Wolf was back up on his feet just as the Alchemist flung a pellet that exploded against his chest and caught his jacket on fire. The material was flameproof but it was now covered with a burning gel. Bane yanked his jacket off and whipped it right at Vitarius, slinging it around his head.
In those two seconds where the Alchemist was occupied getting the burning clothing off his head, Bane attacked as hard and as fast as he could. He closed in and threw a dozen alternating straight punches to the ribs and chest in less than four seconds, hopped back and blasted a high side kick to the heart with everything he had. Vitarius was lifted off his feet and landed up against the chintzy couch. Still moving, Bane came in and caught another of the alchemy powders that Vitarius was pulling from inside his sleeves. Freezing white foam spread over his face, cutting off his air and coating him with ice. The Dire wolf clawed at it and broke it off. He took a deep gasping breath and swung back, expecting another alchemical attack. Instead, Vitarius had just stuck a lozenge under his own tongue. "You remember Velocitin, don't you?"
There was only one chance. As he yanked the silver-bladed daggers from the sheaths under his sleeves, Bane was tackled by a whirlwind of fists. He could not see them coming. he was being hit from every direction at once. In one part of his mind,he realized that was what his opponents felt when he himself was attacking. one of the daggers clattered to the floor as a wide looping roundhouse crashed against his head, spinning him completely around. He hit the floor, not completely conscious.
Dr Vitarius roared with glee. The effects of the velocitin not only increased his speed several times, it caused aggressiveness. The hazel eyes were wild.
"Ah, you have not idea how many solutions I can kill you with," he ranted. "The bone dissolver? The petrifying spray? Perhaps the solution that shrinks your skin until it splits and comes off! No, wait, I have it." The giant Alchemist bent and picked up the dagger Bane had dropped. "This is an ironic twist that I-"
Through the center of his chest, a white bone blade suddenly protruded in a gout of blood from the heart. The huge man weakened at the knees, dying even as he managed to turn and catch a glimpse of Demrak Jin behind him. Then he fell face down and she screamed, "Forgive me, master! My hands are red."
Jeremy Bane tried to get up and couldn't. He had not often taken a beating like that. Breathing slowly and deeply, he got to his hands and knees and managed to stand up. His hands and face were raw from the chemicals Vitarius had splashed him with. He hoped he wasn't poisoned. The Dire wolf took a step, nearly fell and steadied himself. He was getting clearer.
Jin tugged her sword free from Vitarius, and dropped to her knees. She was sobbing with her whole body, almost convulsing. PLacing the hilt of her sword on the floor, she touched the point to the pit of her stomach and leaned back, preparing to impale herself. Bane had been watching for this. He plunged in and smacked the sword from her grasp, knocking her over on her side.
"No, let me die! I cannot live with this dishonor!" she scrambled for the sword as Bane kicked it far across the room. The Dire Wolf bent over her and gave her a sharp stinging slap to the face. Her eyes cleared and focused on him because of the unexpected pain as no words would have done.
"Listen to me!" he shouted in a commanding voice he seldom needed to raise, "I take command of your fate. I will shelter you in this land and give you sanctuary. You will have a safe home. If you wish, I will sponsor you for Tel Shai service. But in any case, your life belongs to me for the moment." He glared into her tearful eyes. "Do you understand?"
"Yes..."
"And I forbid you to take your life. Just now, you protected your new master as was proper. Do you accept that?"
"Yes...master. I see your wisdom." She straightened up and got to her feet.
"Do not call me master. Call me captain if you cannot use my first name." He took her hand, which had stopped trembling. "Let's go. You can stay with my friends in the city, they are knights your own age. Come with me now. Anything you leave can be returned for later." Bane realized he was now as upset as she was. That slap had gone against all his instincts and yelling at a distraught girl was difficult as well. But otherwise she would have killed herself as soon as she was left alone.
The Wolf led her from the house. There was no sign of Dodger, but he had always left as few footprints as possible and would have left quietly when the fighting started. Bane did not think he had to worry about the man. He himself would come back and call the police and straighten matters out as best he could. The notes Vitarius had left about his murderous plan would help defend Bane, but right now he could not worry about his own fate. There was a Holiday Inn down the road next to a pancake house and he would get a room for Jin to wait in, with orders not to leave. It did not occur to him how incongrous it was for him to be renting a motel room and leaving a teenage girl in it, nor what the desk clerk would be thinking. His thoughts were elsewhere. He was remembering Vitarius.
4/16/2013
