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dochermes"Repel"
1/15/2000
At mid-morning, Jeremy Bane found his new team scattered through the headquarters building. He could have assembled them with a Blue Alert to the conference room, but he wanted to see how they were using their off-duty hours. He found Sable in the gym, doing overhead pulldowns. She wore sneakers, white shorts and a baggy sweatshirt that said CORTLAND U on it. As Bane came up unseen behind her, she picked up a pocket notepad and wrote down the amount of weight, the reps and put a tiny upward-pointing arrow to indicate she thought she could handle more next time. Lauren Sable Reilly was a serious-minded, over-organized young woman from a demanding family. At twenty-one, she had dropped out of journalism school to join the new team of Tel Shai knights; Bane and Cindy had helped her learn to manage her powers of increased perception and she had been eager to join up with them.
As the Dire Wolf came around in front of her, Sable grinned to greet him. She was attractive in an unconventional way, with thick straight black hair, a snub nose and wide mouth and eyes so dark as to seem black. Her father was Irish, which explained her name, but her mother had been Cuban. "Good morning, captain."
"Hi, Sable. Getting used to the Nautilus machines?"
"Like it better every day. It feels good to build some muscle. I never tried to be physically fit before."
Bane nodded. "You know not to rush it. Your body tells you how fast to go. I'm going to call a meeting at two o'clock."
She lifted a thumb in an okay gesture. "I'll be ready, captain. A shower first, of course."
The tenth floor of the headquarters building had originally been the roof until Bane had ordered it closed over to create the hangar for the helicopter CORBY. As he expected, it was here he found Megan Salenger. All he saw was a pair of tan work boots sticking out from under the black helicopter, with an array of specialized tools on an unrolled canvas strip. Bane crouched, grabbed one toe and wiggled it. "Hey, Trom Girl! Come up for air."
As she slid out and got to her feet, he backed up a step. She wiped oil from her nose with a rag and stood at attention.
Megan was only five feet three, slim and small-boned. She had a short mop of black hair, huge dark eyes in an inquisitive foxlike face. Bane knew she had been raised from infancy by the emotionless Trom to act as a liaison with Humans. But she still had normal Human feelings and sometimes slipped at pretending she didn't. "Yes, captain?"
"Whenever you have free time, you start taking things apart. Don't you ever watch a movie or go to lunch with some friends?"
She gave him a puzzled look. "This craft is in serious need of maintenance. It has been neglected for years. Also, the building's security system is outdated and the air filtration system is not up to acceptable standards. Does our budget allow new roof monitors?"
Bane placed a hand on her shoulder gently. "We can discuss that later. I think I am going to assign you recreational periods where you go for walks or go shopping with Unicorn. Right now, I want you to reassemble this machine and have it ready for use by two o'clock. Can you do that?"
Her eyes flashed to the wall clock and back. "Yes."
"Good. Report to the conference room when you're done. I'll see you then."
Two more members of the new team were in the recreation room, listening to NPR. Josef Jubilic had been raised in Chujir by the Blind Archers cult, and had used his skills to carve a career as a counter-assassin across Europe. At twenty-five, he was the oldest of the new team, a tall lean man with sandy hair and a long bony face. Off duty, he was wearing jeans and a tan polo shirt. Leaning back in an easy chair, Josef was working his way through THE NEW YORK TIMES with a half-forgotten apple in one hand.
Keeping him company, not talking but just sitting quietly nearby, Sheng Mo Yuan was bent over a table with a thick journal in which he was writing furiously. His obsession with martial arts had taken over completely once he had left Chujir and become exposed to the styles of countries in the world. At the moment, he was fascinated by pugilism, Western boxing, which he felt was seriously underrated. His journal was written in Chujiran with many English words scattered in, as well as little caricatures and diagrams. Sheng had taken the war name Argent, because his family name meant "silver" in Chujiran and was pronounced "arjin" in the old school, and he had found the coincidence interesting.
Both men straightened up as Bane entered. A gaunt man six feet tall, the Dire Wolf had cold grey eyes under dark feral brows and was a striking presence. As usual, he was wearing all black- slacks, turtleneck and sport jacket. "Good morning, Sheng... Josef. I am calling a meeting at two o'clock in the conference room. I think we have something to investigate."
"Great! Action at last," Sheng smiled as he clapped his hands together. "I have been hoping for some trouble."
Bane gave one of his barely perceptible smiles. "You'll get your share. As you were, guys."
Walking up one flight of stairs to the conference room, the Dire Wolf was brooding again over how young his team was. They were all within a few years of twenty. True, he himself had only been twenty-one when he had first started working for Kenneth Dred, but still...At forty-four, these new Tel Shai knights looked unsettlingly like kids to him. He entered the conference room and thumbed on the lights.
For a long silent minute, he stood in the doorway and gazed out at the room. There was that long oak table with its twelve chairs, five to a side and one at each end. He could not help remembering the friends and allies who had sat there over the years. Gone now, nearly all of them. Only a handful remained alive and unruined. The Midnight War took a heavy toll. And now he was going to lead five eager youngsters into the slaughter...
Annoyed with himself, Bane went to his chair at the head of the table and dropped down angrily. In front of him was a stack of newspaper clippings, transcripts of TV news reports, intercepted police communications and personal reports from his agents of things they had found on their own. Over the long years of his career, the Dire Wolf had gathered a diverse group of informers. He did not accept rewards from eople whose lives he had saved, or the lives of their loved ones, but he did ask that they inform him if they heard of anything supernatural or inexplicable. Most were glad to do so, largely to spare others what they had gone through. It was from one of these reports that he first learned of Repel.
Time passed as he studied the clues and hints, trying to piece them together. At one-thirty, he got to his feet and stretched, then walked over to the tall high windows that looked down on East 3th Street and pulled the heavy curtains aside. As he gazed down somberly, a yellow taxi eased up to the curb directly in front of the KDF building and a small blonde woman leaped out. She was dressed all in white and carried two huge Bloomingdale bags. Unicorn. Of course. He watched the youngest member pay the driver, snatch up her bags and vault up to the front door taking two steps at a time. Bane sighed. He should be annoyed with Unicorn's irreverence, her flightiness, her lack of discipline. But he saw something in the young woman that could one day make her a great hero.
If I don't exile her to Fanedral first, he thought.
Just before two, his team assembled in the conference room. Megan and Sable had changed to slightly more formal clothing, slacks and blouses. Josef wore a dark blue suit, complete with narrrow black tie. Sheng was put on the field suit, but had not brought the visored helmet. As everyone took their suits, Ashley Whitaker burst breathlessly into the room. In her snug white jeans and white long-sleeved pullover, with her platinum blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, she made a dramatic impression. "Everything's gonna be okay, Unicorn is here!" she announced.
"It's a great relief to know that," Sheng grumbled.
"Let's get started," Bane began. "I've been following something I think falls within our agenda. A man who calls himself Repel."
II.
"In the past ninety days," he continued, "there have been five robberies in New Jersey and one in Manhattan by our target. All took place late at night, mostly on weekends. Two bars, a liquor store, a convenient mart and, most recently, a credit union. All were held up by a single individual who announces himself as 'Repel.'" He has been observed wearing a revolver in a flap holster, although he has not used it yet. Suspect is described as a big muscular man, several inches over six feet and built like a football player. He wears unremarkable dark clothing... pants, work boots, a nylon jacket, plus gloves and a full-face black cloth mask with eye holes."
The Dire wolf started handing around the various clippings and reports, giving his team time to read them and pass them on. "If he were just a common hold-up man, I do not think we would concern ourselves with him. Nothing against nabbing an occasional minor crook, but our mandate is for bigger game. I think this Repel has some sort of gralic power, a wild talent in the same class as those the six of us possess. He's in our underworld."
Sable was first to scan and digest the reports. "If these are accurate, bullets do not harm him. A bartender struck him across the back to the head with a softball bat, no effect. Two men at the liquor store tried to seize him but couldn't and they cannot explain why."
"Interesting, eh" Bane said.
Sheng made the clippings into a stack and handed them back. "Perhaps he has my power. He can make his body so resilient as to be almost invulnerable."
"I don't think that's quite it," Bane said. "The men who tried to grab him said they could not get a good grip on him. The bartender said his bat seemed to bounce back without actually making contact."
"Hah!" burst in Unicorn. "A force field. Am I right, of course I'm right."
A buzzer sounded on a console to his left, and Bane turned in his chair to throw a few switches. He saw a monitor view of the stoop outside on East 3th Street. "Inspector!" he said into a microphone. "Just a minute, I'll open the door, come up to the second floor."
A few minutes later, a stocky figure in a trademark off-white raincoat appeared in the doorway of the conference room. He had a deeply furrowed face, curly grey hair and the mutilated remains of a cigar he seemed to have been chewing for some time. "Hiya, Bane, this your new posse?"
Standing in welcome, the Dire Wolf said, "Inspector Harold Klein of the NYPD, Homicide. Good to see you. This is my new team of Tel Shai knights. Sable.. Argent.. Trom Girl..the Blind Archer.. Unicorn."
"I'm gettin' old all right," Klein said. "I woulda said they should be in junior high."
Bane gestured for Klein to have a seat, and Sable and Argent slid down so the Inspector could take the chair to Bane's left.
I called before cause I got a hunch you folks are already talking about what I came to discuss. Repell?"
"Yes. What can you tell us, Klein?"
"Welll, until last Friday he wasn't really my business. I followed his activities but I got enough of my own problems. When he left Jersey and pulled a heist in our town- MY town- I drew the line. Last Friday, he robbed a Federal Credit Union on 5th Street. A man died."
"Go on," Bane said.
"So, this guy Repel is grabbing money from the tellers, holding his gun but not aiming it. An off-duty officer draws on him, tells him to stand down, and Repel laughs at him. The officer is at point-blank range. As Repel swings up his revolver - a Smith & Wesson 38 by the way, the officer fires once." Klein hesitated. "The bullet hit Repel in the chest, bounced back as fast at it went out and caught the cop right in the firehead. He died instantly."
"Whoa," Argent burst in. "Are you telling us that the cop was killed by the ricochet of his own bullet?!"
"Exactly. I knew Van Aken, good cop, I met his family. Now he's gone and leaving a widow and a child. And this Repel freak is operating in my turf. As you can imagine, the force is out full blast to track this creep down. But I know you, Mr Dire Wolf, and I know the kind of partners you work with. You have capabilities not available to us normal mortals." Klein paused to give Bane a dubious look. "How much can I say about the set-up here?"
"Go right ahead," Bane answered. "I'll be working with this team and they need to know the arrangement."
The Inspector grunted skeptically. "I suppose. Awright, listen. There is no working relationship between Dire Wolf here and the NYPD. We do not supply him with any information not available to the general public, we do not tip him off as to where suspects may be, we definitely do not use him as a freelance vigilante. All of that would be highly illegal. You kids got that?"
With a completely deadpan expression, Sable said, "We understand, sir."
"Dandy. The cops in Jersey have been looking into a missing persons report. Thirty year old taxi driver named Jorge Vargas. His fits the general size and shape of this Repel joker and he hasn't shown reported for week since last week. His landlady says most of his clothes are missing. Then there is a flurry of stolen cars, the boy seems to like Jeeps and Blazers, and he only uses them for two or three days. He seems to have a nice collection of stolen license plates, too."
Bane said, "You have a small army working with you, Klein. We can't match you in manpower or thoroughness. So we will approach from a different angle. I agree this Repel is a menace worth taking seriously, he's something out of the natural run of things. We'll go looking for him."
Getting up a bit stiffly, tugging his pants up, Klein grumbled, "I'll call you, you'll call me. Good luck to both of us." He smiled at the new KDF team. "Nice meeting you kids."
Sable got to her feet. "I'll see you out, Inspector."
"Thanks, miss, but I can find my own way. See ya later."
After he was gone, Bane flicked on the monitor screen on the console to his left and watched Klein go out the front door. As it clicked shut, he made sure the alarms were back on and the building was secure.
"How long has that guy been a cop? A hundred years?" asked Argent.
Bane gave the Chujiran knight a sour look. "In the ten years after the first team disbanded, I ran my detective agency from this building. Klein was and is my liaison with the NYPD and we nailed a lot of killers between us. Maybe someday you can match his record, Sheng."
Sable had neatly assembled the clippings and reports into the folder, handing it over to Bane. "Where do we start, captain?"
"With the obvious. The police have already covered the crime scenes but we have abilities not available to them. Sable, I want you to search the apartment where Vargas lived. Take your time, use your enhanced perceptions. Sheng, you go with her in case of trouble. Megan, I would like you to investigate the credit union on 885th Street. Your Trom sensors may spot something. Josef you accompany here. You have experience and might catch some clue. I'm going to call our network of investigators and agents to see if they have any information." Bane leaned back and looked over his team.
"Hey!" yelped Unicorn. "What about me?!"
"I have nothing for you at the moment," Bane said. "You stand by as back-up."
"well, I guess," the little blonde said, obviously miffed.
"I want the Mustang," Argent declared as he jumped up. "Trom Girl can drive that battleship Buick."
"If it makes you happy," Megan said. "Come on, Josef."
As the new team hurried from the room, Ashley Whitaker gave Bane a quizzical look. "Jeremy, today is Friday."
"And Repel's crimes take place on weekends? You're right. There's no time to lose."
As Unicorn watched in silence, Bane began making phone calls. Over the years, he had gathered a network of people who owed him favors, up to saving their lives. Instead of accepting rewards, he had asked them if they would be willing to just keep an eye out for weird events. "Hi. Bleak? Yeah, Bane here. Listen, have you been following these Repel robberies?"
III.
By six o'clock, Bane had a headache and too much information to digest easily. After half a hour, Unicorn had left the room without comment, The calls went on. After thanking his last informant, a DMV worker named Keegan, Bane got up and rubbed his face wearily. Sitting still was torture for him. Seeing no one else in the room, he hung his jacket over his chair, yanked off his boots and went into a shortened version of his DohRa form. Starting with poses and stretching, he moved into a series of combination kicks and punches until he was whirling full blast, then settled down again into some stances. Finally, barely breathing faster, he bowed to his Teacher Chael far away at Tel Shai. Now he felt much better, warmed up and at ease.
He had turned up two other possible suspects. One was Carl Lindley, age forty-four,who had done two years for robbery at Napanoch. He was now living in Paramus, working at a garage doing oil changes and minor repairs, and had no alibi for Friday night. Lindley had done some body-building in prison and matched the description of Repel, but Bane just didn't get a feel that this was their guy. The other possibility lived in Jersey City, an ex-Marine named George Aldrich who had been arrested for brawling but released without trial. He was seperated from his wife, living on government support, and had been spotted at the credit union the day before, looking hostile. Not compelling evidence.
Vargas still seemed to be the strongest candidate, but Bane was unhappy with the whole situation. His sources had been rich on speculation but light on facts. As he stood there frowning, Unicorn came back in the conference room. The little blonde was holding a tray with two grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and some onion rings. Handing it to Bane, she said casually, "I know you're always starving, captain, what with your enhanced metabolism and all that."
"Thanks, Ashley," Bane said as he dug in. It was true, he ate enough for three people and burned up the calories without trouble. "What have you been up to?"
"Standing by. You know, ready to jump up at a moment's notice and boldly go help my fellow teammates if they are in trouble?"
"You took a nap."
"Yep," she said blithely. "What's the latest on this Repel business?"
Before Bane could answer, the phone rang and he snatched it up as Unicorn stole one of the onion rings. "Yes?"
"Captain, this is Megan. Not much relevant to report here. I've downloaded a copy of the security camera film without them knowing it and have enhanced the image. If we get a look at Vargas, my Link will compare him with the image and give up positive ID or negative."
"Well, that's a good start," Bane said. "Report back here."
"Understood," Trom Girl said and hung up.
Unicorn had changed into her own field suit, the black boots, trousers and snug jacket with built-in weapons. Evidently, she expected action at any second. Strapped across her back was the three-foot leather sheath holding the actual Unicorn horn from which she derived her name and powers. "Megan explained to me once how her Trom tech works. It takes different sections of the video and measures the images, then combines them all to make a 3D image much sharper than the original. She's a smart cookie, you know."
Bane finished the second ham and cheese and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Ashley, do you think you can neutralize this Repel character?"
She made a scoffing noise. "Absolutely. I have to be within arm's reach and I have to say my phrase, but I'm sure I can remove his powers. The horn has never failed."
"Good." The Dire Wolf went to the waist-high refrigerator in the corner and got a bottle of water. As he drank, Sable and Argent appeared in the doorway. Unicorn announced, "You're back," perhaps unnecessarily.
Lauren Sable Reilly yanked off her down-filled winter coat and threw it onto a chair as if it smelled bad. "I have never felt more soiled," she announced.
"You learned a bit too much about the suspect?" asked Bane.
"WAY too much. Being able to focus my senses to microscopic levels is not always a delight. This Vargas is a pig. Not just his hygiene- if you can call it that!- but his tastes in entertainment. Rape videos! Well, actually porn featuring simulated rape I guess, and lots of violent horror movies. Some books on true crime and serial killers. I didn't want to shift my vision to look for semen stains, I bet the room was covered. Ugh."
shrugging out of his own coat, Josef told her, "You should mention the clues about his recent activities, Sable."
"Right. Most of his clothes and belongings are fairly shabby and worn. But he has a brand new big screen TV, some nice jewelry, three watches and a shiny new Glock with a hundred rounds of ammo hidden in the closet. The conclusion is that he recently has come into some money, right?"
"That figures," Bane said. "What did the landlady say?"
"He's a creep, but he pays on time. Bad attitude, always getting in little disputes. He hasn't been there for a few days, he told her he was starting a new job but he would be back. She hopes she never sees him again."
The Dire Wolf sighed. "He might be the worst jerk in New Jersey, but that doesn't really matter to us. We need to know if he's a gralic-powered jerk. Any books on the supernatural?"
"No," Sable grumbled. "Just true crime and girlie magazines."
Bane was silent and the five knights of Tel Shai watched him. After a few seconds, he said, "Sheng, go to the hangar and warm up the CORBY to standby status. The rest of you, get into your field suits and report up there. We may be in for a dull night of sitting around but I want to be ready if Repel is sighted." As everyone scattered, the Dire Wolf left the conference room also, trotting lightly up the stairs to the third floor and his private quarters. Here he stripped down, put on the silk-thin Trom armor and his own field suit. Lowering the helmet over his head, he clicked the visor shut and checked that all the systems were functioning.
Going quickly up the stairs to the tenth floor, he saw the rotor blades on the CORBY was just barely moving and the lights inside the cockpit were on. His team was standing there in their own black commando outfits. Josef had the Y-shaped leather quiver and his unstrung longbow, which he rested against a wall. Bane walked over to the communications console and patched the police scanner into the hangar's speakers. After a few minutes of routine messages, the Dire Wolf said, "We might as well occupy ourselves while waiting."
Going over to a round table in one corner that had a few chairs around it, Sheng and Josef broke out a deck of cards. Unicorn watched and kibitzed, not particularly helpfully. Sable got a notepad and began writing down details of what she had seen in Vargas' apartment in case something significant had escaped her. And Megan Salenger immediately started sorting tools and supplies.
"I haven't done proper inventory this week," she said.
With a faint smile, Bane said, "That can wait. I want you to sit with the gang and learn poker."
"What? Surely my time can be better used..."
"That's an order, Trom Girl. Watch and learn."
"Very well, captain." She walked over and sat down next to Unicorn, who gave her a cheery, "Hey there, science nerd!"
IV.
An hour went by. Bane remained intent on the crackling messages from the police band. It seemed a quiet night for crime, the wind chill was near zero and even crooks wanted to stay home. He grew impatient. Realistically, he knew nothing might turn up. Repel might have made enough loot for the moment, he might find his powers had faded, he might be in a hospital with pneumonia. Crooks often just vanished and were never heard from again. He glanced over at his team, and saw that Sable had been drawn over to the poker game. She was explaining the rules to Megan and pointing out what a poor player Sheng was.
At ten-thirty, Bane abruptly turned the scanner off and snapped, "Everyone in the CORBY! Sable, you take the stick, I'm in the co-pilot seat. Let's go." Within seconds, all six were strapping themselves in. As he sealed the pressurized hatch, Bane hit the switch that rolled open the huge overhead panel. The black night sky showed overhead as freezing air rushed in.
In the pilot seat, Sable said, "Clear of the floor. Landing gear retracted. We're lifting off." The silent helicopter rose straight up, the roof panel closing automatically beneath them. With no visible external lights, the black craft was close to invisible on the overcast winter night. "Waiting for course," Sable said.
Bane told her. "Twenty miles north of the Tappan Zee bridge. Full cruising speed."
"Understood," Sable said, Her face was dimly seen in that backglow of the gauges and instruments. The windscreen of the CORBY used a Trom version of light enhancing that let her see outside as if it were a summer noon, but to an observer, the helicopter would be at best a vague shadow gliding high overhead.
As they headed north, Josef asked, "Captain, none of us heard the message. What's the situation?"
"A trooper car was found with its lights flashing. The officer was dead by the side of the road, his neck broken and his sidearm missing. Someone had yanked the video camera out of the car and smashed it."
"Sounds like he pulled over the wrong car," Argent said. "You think it's our target?"
"All my instincts say go after him." Bane turned to Sable. "Listen, I'm going to take over the controls. You use your telescopic perception to watch for any suspicious vehicle. Klein says he favors Jeeps and Blazers. The rest of you, keep your eyes open too." The Dire Wolf dropped the copter down a bit. They passed over the scene, where two more State Police cars had pulled up, lights flashing.
A few minutes later, Sable spotted a likely vehicle but as they neared, she said, "False alarm. A happy family, an overweight grandfather at the wheel. Two children in the back eating. Loud pop music."
"Wait, what?" asked Argent unbelievingly but they kept going.
Another two minutes passed and Sable suddenly said, "There!" She pointed to a rest stop that had a fast food restaurant, gas pumps and picnic area. "The gate in the link fence has been broken. Going up that access road is a white Bronco."
As Bane swung the helicopter in pursuit, Argent blurted out, "I can't believe it! How can your eyes be THAT good?"
"You have your powers, I've got mine. There he goes, he's turning onto that dirt road. The driver looks like he could be Vargas, he matches the descriptions."
"Let's have a chat," said Bane. The stealth helicopter hurtled past the speeding Bronco, then swung around to face it. He brought the CORBY down to treetop level and deliberately turned up the rotors, stirring up a tornado of dirt and dust that made the Bronco skid to a halt. The Dire Wolf switched on the high-intensity spotlights and blinding white light blazed down to illuminate the scene. A man jumped out of the Bronco and covered his eyes with the back of one hand.
Leaning in between Sable and Bane, Megan Salenger held up her Link. "Compensating for glare," she said. "ID positive. Yes, that is Vargas. We've found him."
As the landing gear lowered and the CORBY settled to rest, Sheng Mo Yuan popped open the rear hatch and leaped out. He hit the ground running and headed straight for Vargas. In the blinding spotlight, the man loomed up almost a foot taller than Sheng and a good hundred pounds heavier. He had curly black hair, a square sullen face and a nose that had been broken more than once. Oddly, he made no attempt to run. He stood his ground, arms lowered and waited.
Argent had ocussed his gralic force into speed. Only Bane could have matched him as he hurtled across the frozen ground in a blur and leaped up to whip out a spinning reverse kick directly at the man's face. The next instant, Sheng tumbled backward ten feet in a clumsy somersault and skidded face down on the dirt. He had been completely surprised. Bending over Sheng, Repel gave him a solid kick to the ribs. Sheng rolled with it, got to his feet and threw a tight hooking punch but, before it would connect, his fist was thrown violently backward and the recoil spun him around. He barely kept his footing. Seeing an opening, Repel slammed a punch to the stomach that doubled Sheng into a foetal position and dropped him to the dirt again.
"He tagged Argent," Josef Jubilec said as he emerged from the CORBY and strung his longbow. "Sure looks as if he can touch us but we can't touch him."
"I say No Fair," Unicorn chirped. "Let me handle him, captain."
"Not yet," Bane said. "We'll save you for last. I want to see if there are other ways to defeat this sort of thing. Sable, circle around to his car and see if he left the keys in it. The rest of you, stand your ground. He's coming this way."
Stepping forward, the Dire Wolf called out, "Jorge Varga! We want to talk to you!"
"Turn that light down first. Who are you? FBI? CIA?"
As Bane gestured, Josef reached into the cockpit and dimmed the spotlight to bearable level. The Blind Archer moved off to one side, looking for a clean shot.
"We're a private research organization," Bane said. "We want to know the secret of your ability."
"I bet you would!" Repel laughed. "Flying around in a black helicopter with no insignia? Come on, you guys are government spooks. You can't stop me. I'm unbeatable."
"Forgive my skepticism," Bane muttered and his left hand came up with the airgun. He fired half a clip of anesthetic darts. At that distance, he could not see what happened to the thin metal darts but certainly Repel did not seem affected.
"Look, let me go And I won't hurt you," Vargas shouted. "If you stay out of my way, everything will be sweet."
Bane said, "Megan, how's the neural shock?"
"I've already tried it, but with no results. I can't understand this."
The Blind Archer notched an arrow, drew the string back to ear and let fly in one motion. The arrow had a round bulb of hard rubber rather than a pointed barb. It went right for the center of Vargas' chest but bounced backward and spun erratically.
"Interesting," said Trom Girl. "Objects don't just glance off him, they are repelled directly backward with nearly the same momentum. Of course, some energy must be lost in the transfer."
The Dire Wolf locked eyes with the smug Vargas. He thought of going in physically, trying to use wrestling or aikido. But he figured it wouldn't work. The men who had attacked Repel said their hands slid off him without being able to get a good grip. And getting in close would leave him vulnerable to blows from an opponent who knew how to hit. Bane restrained himself with difficulty. He had a strong urge to attack this Repel anyway, to try a few punches but his better judgement took over.
No, there had to be another way...
Coming up beside him, Sable whispered, "Captain, I can see something around him. A disturbance in the air near his skin."
"A gralic shield?"
"Exactly. I can't see the energy itself but I can catch the shimmer as air is displaced a fraction of an inch away from his body. It's not always on."
Bane said, "He can sure turn it on and off fast. You say the air is moving through the gralic field?"
"Say. It IS."
The Dire Wolf suddenly had a predatory smile. "And the spotlight bothered him. Okay, we've got him now. Team, eyes down." He began walking toward Repel. "Vargas, you're a murderer and I'm taking you in. We'll read you your rights in a minute."
Repel started to laugh but it cut off as soon as it started. There was something in this man's voice that said he wasn't bluffing. For the first time since his power had manifested, he felt uneasy... even afraid.
Quicker than anyone there could follow, Bane unclipped a small metal ovoid from the back of his belt and flung it, not directly as Vargas, but right overhead. The man watched it and said, "Huh?" just before the dazzle grenade detonated with a glare brighter than looking directly at the sun and detonated with a deep thumping noise that stunned anyone within reach. Repel dropped to his knees, blind and deaf.
Like his team, Bane had been protected by his helmet. In the instant after throwing the dazzler, he had snapped down the visor, which cut off most of the sudden glare. The sound pods had kept his ears safe. But Vargas had one ruptured ear drum and his eyes swam in a white haze from which he could make nothing out.
I noticed You could see and hear," the Dire Wolf growled as he stood over the stunned man. "So light and sound went through your field. And you can breathe with your field up". From inside his field jacket, Bane drew a metal aerosol tube and discharged a stream of white vapor directly into his enemy's face. Vargas sagged unconscious. It was the same chemical used in the anesthetic darts. Rolling the limp form over, Bane clicked handcuffs to hold the man's wrists behind his back. "I said I was taking you in," he told the unhearing man.
"His field is off as long as he's unconscious," Sable said. "Keeping him restrained should not be difficult."
"Time to radio the State Police to take custody. They've got a grudge against him." Bane stood up as Unicorn approached.
"Hey! Captain, seriously, I could have handled this in two seconds flat. I could remove his power and we'd have him in custody in a blink. Why did you make me stay back?" With tiny fists on hips, she did her best glare.
Bane regarded her seriously. "Ashley. Look at it this way. If we face a character like this again, what if you're not available? We need a back-up method. Right?"
"Oh.. I suppose," she pouted. "I still feel like I got rooked."
The Dire Wolf stared down at the snoring man. "I doubt if his gralic field will work against the electric chair."
4//2000- 11/30/2013
1/15/2000
At mid-morning, Jeremy Bane found his new team scattered through the headquarters building. He could have assembled them with a Blue Alert to the conference room, but he wanted to see how they were using their off-duty hours. He found Sable in the gym, doing overhead pulldowns. She wore sneakers, white shorts and a baggy sweatshirt that said CORTLAND U on it. As Bane came up unseen behind her, she picked up a pocket notepad and wrote down the amount of weight, the reps and put a tiny upward-pointing arrow to indicate she thought she could handle more next time. Lauren Sable Reilly was a serious-minded, over-organized young woman from a demanding family. At twenty-one, she had dropped out of journalism school to join the new team of Tel Shai knights; Bane and Cindy had helped her learn to manage her powers of increased perception and she had been eager to join up with them.
As the Dire Wolf came around in front of her, Sable grinned to greet him. She was attractive in an unconventional way, with thick straight black hair, a snub nose and wide mouth and eyes so dark as to seem black. Her father was Irish, which explained her name, but her mother had been Cuban. "Good morning, captain."
"Hi, Sable. Getting used to the Nautilus machines?"
"Like it better every day. It feels good to build some muscle. I never tried to be physically fit before."
Bane nodded. "You know not to rush it. Your body tells you how fast to go. I'm going to call a meeting at two o'clock."
She lifted a thumb in an okay gesture. "I'll be ready, captain. A shower first, of course."
The tenth floor of the headquarters building had originally been the roof until Bane had ordered it closed over to create the hangar for the helicopter CORBY. As he expected, it was here he found Megan Salenger. All he saw was a pair of tan work boots sticking out from under the black helicopter, with an array of specialized tools on an unrolled canvas strip. Bane crouched, grabbed one toe and wiggled it. "Hey, Trom Girl! Come up for air."
As she slid out and got to her feet, he backed up a step. She wiped oil from her nose with a rag and stood at attention.
Megan was only five feet three, slim and small-boned. She had a short mop of black hair, huge dark eyes in an inquisitive foxlike face. Bane knew she had been raised from infancy by the emotionless Trom to act as a liaison with Humans. But she still had normal Human feelings and sometimes slipped at pretending she didn't. "Yes, captain?"
"Whenever you have free time, you start taking things apart. Don't you ever watch a movie or go to lunch with some friends?"
She gave him a puzzled look. "This craft is in serious need of maintenance. It has been neglected for years. Also, the building's security system is outdated and the air filtration system is not up to acceptable standards. Does our budget allow new roof monitors?"
Bane placed a hand on her shoulder gently. "We can discuss that later. I think I am going to assign you recreational periods where you go for walks or go shopping with Unicorn. Right now, I want you to reassemble this machine and have it ready for use by two o'clock. Can you do that?"
Her eyes flashed to the wall clock and back. "Yes."
"Good. Report to the conference room when you're done. I'll see you then."
Two more members of the new team were in the recreation room, listening to NPR. Josef Jubilic had been raised in Chujir by the Blind Archers cult, and had used his skills to carve a career as a counter-assassin across Europe. At twenty-five, he was the oldest of the new team, a tall lean man with sandy hair and a long bony face. Off duty, he was wearing jeans and a tan polo shirt. Leaning back in an easy chair, Josef was working his way through THE NEW YORK TIMES with a half-forgotten apple in one hand.
Keeping him company, not talking but just sitting quietly nearby, Sheng Mo Yuan was bent over a table with a thick journal in which he was writing furiously. His obsession with martial arts had taken over completely once he had left Chujir and become exposed to the styles of countries in the world. At the moment, he was fascinated by pugilism, Western boxing, which he felt was seriously underrated. His journal was written in Chujiran with many English words scattered in, as well as little caricatures and diagrams. Sheng had taken the war name Argent, because his family name meant "silver" in Chujiran and was pronounced "arjin" in the old school, and he had found the coincidence interesting.
Both men straightened up as Bane entered. A gaunt man six feet tall, the Dire Wolf had cold grey eyes under dark feral brows and was a striking presence. As usual, he was wearing all black- slacks, turtleneck and sport jacket. "Good morning, Sheng... Josef. I am calling a meeting at two o'clock in the conference room. I think we have something to investigate."
"Great! Action at last," Sheng smiled as he clapped his hands together. "I have been hoping for some trouble."
Bane gave one of his barely perceptible smiles. "You'll get your share. As you were, guys."
Walking up one flight of stairs to the conference room, the Dire Wolf was brooding again over how young his team was. They were all within a few years of twenty. True, he himself had only been twenty-one when he had first started working for Kenneth Dred, but still...At forty-four, these new Tel Shai knights looked unsettlingly like kids to him. He entered the conference room and thumbed on the lights.
For a long silent minute, he stood in the doorway and gazed out at the room. There was that long oak table with its twelve chairs, five to a side and one at each end. He could not help remembering the friends and allies who had sat there over the years. Gone now, nearly all of them. Only a handful remained alive and unruined. The Midnight War took a heavy toll. And now he was going to lead five eager youngsters into the slaughter...
Annoyed with himself, Bane went to his chair at the head of the table and dropped down angrily. In front of him was a stack of newspaper clippings, transcripts of TV news reports, intercepted police communications and personal reports from his agents of things they had found on their own. Over the long years of his career, the Dire Wolf had gathered a diverse group of informers. He did not accept rewards from eople whose lives he had saved, or the lives of their loved ones, but he did ask that they inform him if they heard of anything supernatural or inexplicable. Most were glad to do so, largely to spare others what they had gone through. It was from one of these reports that he first learned of Repel.
Time passed as he studied the clues and hints, trying to piece them together. At one-thirty, he got to his feet and stretched, then walked over to the tall high windows that looked down on East 3th Street and pulled the heavy curtains aside. As he gazed down somberly, a yellow taxi eased up to the curb directly in front of the KDF building and a small blonde woman leaped out. She was dressed all in white and carried two huge Bloomingdale bags. Unicorn. Of course. He watched the youngest member pay the driver, snatch up her bags and vault up to the front door taking two steps at a time. Bane sighed. He should be annoyed with Unicorn's irreverence, her flightiness, her lack of discipline. But he saw something in the young woman that could one day make her a great hero.
If I don't exile her to Fanedral first, he thought.
Just before two, his team assembled in the conference room. Megan and Sable had changed to slightly more formal clothing, slacks and blouses. Josef wore a dark blue suit, complete with narrrow black tie. Sheng was put on the field suit, but had not brought the visored helmet. As everyone took their suits, Ashley Whitaker burst breathlessly into the room. In her snug white jeans and white long-sleeved pullover, with her platinum blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, she made a dramatic impression. "Everything's gonna be okay, Unicorn is here!" she announced.
"It's a great relief to know that," Sheng grumbled.
"Let's get started," Bane began. "I've been following something I think falls within our agenda. A man who calls himself Repel."
II.
"In the past ninety days," he continued, "there have been five robberies in New Jersey and one in Manhattan by our target. All took place late at night, mostly on weekends. Two bars, a liquor store, a convenient mart and, most recently, a credit union. All were held up by a single individual who announces himself as 'Repel.'" He has been observed wearing a revolver in a flap holster, although he has not used it yet. Suspect is described as a big muscular man, several inches over six feet and built like a football player. He wears unremarkable dark clothing... pants, work boots, a nylon jacket, plus gloves and a full-face black cloth mask with eye holes."
The Dire wolf started handing around the various clippings and reports, giving his team time to read them and pass them on. "If he were just a common hold-up man, I do not think we would concern ourselves with him. Nothing against nabbing an occasional minor crook, but our mandate is for bigger game. I think this Repel has some sort of gralic power, a wild talent in the same class as those the six of us possess. He's in our underworld."
Sable was first to scan and digest the reports. "If these are accurate, bullets do not harm him. A bartender struck him across the back to the head with a softball bat, no effect. Two men at the liquor store tried to seize him but couldn't and they cannot explain why."
"Interesting, eh" Bane said.
Sheng made the clippings into a stack and handed them back. "Perhaps he has my power. He can make his body so resilient as to be almost invulnerable."
"I don't think that's quite it," Bane said. "The men who tried to grab him said they could not get a good grip on him. The bartender said his bat seemed to bounce back without actually making contact."
"Hah!" burst in Unicorn. "A force field. Am I right, of course I'm right."
A buzzer sounded on a console to his left, and Bane turned in his chair to throw a few switches. He saw a monitor view of the stoop outside on East 3th Street. "Inspector!" he said into a microphone. "Just a minute, I'll open the door, come up to the second floor."
A few minutes later, a stocky figure in a trademark off-white raincoat appeared in the doorway of the conference room. He had a deeply furrowed face, curly grey hair and the mutilated remains of a cigar he seemed to have been chewing for some time. "Hiya, Bane, this your new posse?"
Standing in welcome, the Dire Wolf said, "Inspector Harold Klein of the NYPD, Homicide. Good to see you. This is my new team of Tel Shai knights. Sable.. Argent.. Trom Girl..the Blind Archer.. Unicorn."
"I'm gettin' old all right," Klein said. "I woulda said they should be in junior high."
Bane gestured for Klein to have a seat, and Sable and Argent slid down so the Inspector could take the chair to Bane's left.
I called before cause I got a hunch you folks are already talking about what I came to discuss. Repell?"
"Yes. What can you tell us, Klein?"
"Welll, until last Friday he wasn't really my business. I followed his activities but I got enough of my own problems. When he left Jersey and pulled a heist in our town- MY town- I drew the line. Last Friday, he robbed a Federal Credit Union on 5th Street. A man died."
"Go on," Bane said.
"So, this guy Repel is grabbing money from the tellers, holding his gun but not aiming it. An off-duty officer draws on him, tells him to stand down, and Repel laughs at him. The officer is at point-blank range. As Repel swings up his revolver - a Smith & Wesson 38 by the way, the officer fires once." Klein hesitated. "The bullet hit Repel in the chest, bounced back as fast at it went out and caught the cop right in the firehead. He died instantly."
"Whoa," Argent burst in. "Are you telling us that the cop was killed by the ricochet of his own bullet?!"
"Exactly. I knew Van Aken, good cop, I met his family. Now he's gone and leaving a widow and a child. And this Repel freak is operating in my turf. As you can imagine, the force is out full blast to track this creep down. But I know you, Mr Dire Wolf, and I know the kind of partners you work with. You have capabilities not available to us normal mortals." Klein paused to give Bane a dubious look. "How much can I say about the set-up here?"
"Go right ahead," Bane answered. "I'll be working with this team and they need to know the arrangement."
The Inspector grunted skeptically. "I suppose. Awright, listen. There is no working relationship between Dire Wolf here and the NYPD. We do not supply him with any information not available to the general public, we do not tip him off as to where suspects may be, we definitely do not use him as a freelance vigilante. All of that would be highly illegal. You kids got that?"
With a completely deadpan expression, Sable said, "We understand, sir."
"Dandy. The cops in Jersey have been looking into a missing persons report. Thirty year old taxi driver named Jorge Vargas. His fits the general size and shape of this Repel joker and he hasn't shown reported for week since last week. His landlady says most of his clothes are missing. Then there is a flurry of stolen cars, the boy seems to like Jeeps and Blazers, and he only uses them for two or three days. He seems to have a nice collection of stolen license plates, too."
Bane said, "You have a small army working with you, Klein. We can't match you in manpower or thoroughness. So we will approach from a different angle. I agree this Repel is a menace worth taking seriously, he's something out of the natural run of things. We'll go looking for him."
Getting up a bit stiffly, tugging his pants up, Klein grumbled, "I'll call you, you'll call me. Good luck to both of us." He smiled at the new KDF team. "Nice meeting you kids."
Sable got to her feet. "I'll see you out, Inspector."
"Thanks, miss, but I can find my own way. See ya later."
After he was gone, Bane flicked on the monitor screen on the console to his left and watched Klein go out the front door. As it clicked shut, he made sure the alarms were back on and the building was secure.
"How long has that guy been a cop? A hundred years?" asked Argent.
Bane gave the Chujiran knight a sour look. "In the ten years after the first team disbanded, I ran my detective agency from this building. Klein was and is my liaison with the NYPD and we nailed a lot of killers between us. Maybe someday you can match his record, Sheng."
Sable had neatly assembled the clippings and reports into the folder, handing it over to Bane. "Where do we start, captain?"
"With the obvious. The police have already covered the crime scenes but we have abilities not available to them. Sable, I want you to search the apartment where Vargas lived. Take your time, use your enhanced perceptions. Sheng, you go with her in case of trouble. Megan, I would like you to investigate the credit union on 885th Street. Your Trom sensors may spot something. Josef you accompany here. You have experience and might catch some clue. I'm going to call our network of investigators and agents to see if they have any information." Bane leaned back and looked over his team.
"Hey!" yelped Unicorn. "What about me?!"
"I have nothing for you at the moment," Bane said. "You stand by as back-up."
"well, I guess," the little blonde said, obviously miffed.
"I want the Mustang," Argent declared as he jumped up. "Trom Girl can drive that battleship Buick."
"If it makes you happy," Megan said. "Come on, Josef."
As the new team hurried from the room, Ashley Whitaker gave Bane a quizzical look. "Jeremy, today is Friday."
"And Repel's crimes take place on weekends? You're right. There's no time to lose."
As Unicorn watched in silence, Bane began making phone calls. Over the years, he had gathered a network of people who owed him favors, up to saving their lives. Instead of accepting rewards, he had asked them if they would be willing to just keep an eye out for weird events. "Hi. Bleak? Yeah, Bane here. Listen, have you been following these Repel robberies?"
III.
By six o'clock, Bane had a headache and too much information to digest easily. After half a hour, Unicorn had left the room without comment, The calls went on. After thanking his last informant, a DMV worker named Keegan, Bane got up and rubbed his face wearily. Sitting still was torture for him. Seeing no one else in the room, he hung his jacket over his chair, yanked off his boots and went into a shortened version of his DohRa form. Starting with poses and stretching, he moved into a series of combination kicks and punches until he was whirling full blast, then settled down again into some stances. Finally, barely breathing faster, he bowed to his Teacher Chael far away at Tel Shai. Now he felt much better, warmed up and at ease.
He had turned up two other possible suspects. One was Carl Lindley, age forty-four,who had done two years for robbery at Napanoch. He was now living in Paramus, working at a garage doing oil changes and minor repairs, and had no alibi for Friday night. Lindley had done some body-building in prison and matched the description of Repel, but Bane just didn't get a feel that this was their guy. The other possibility lived in Jersey City, an ex-Marine named George Aldrich who had been arrested for brawling but released without trial. He was seperated from his wife, living on government support, and had been spotted at the credit union the day before, looking hostile. Not compelling evidence.
Vargas still seemed to be the strongest candidate, but Bane was unhappy with the whole situation. His sources had been rich on speculation but light on facts. As he stood there frowning, Unicorn came back in the conference room. The little blonde was holding a tray with two grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and some onion rings. Handing it to Bane, she said casually, "I know you're always starving, captain, what with your enhanced metabolism and all that."
"Thanks, Ashley," Bane said as he dug in. It was true, he ate enough for three people and burned up the calories without trouble. "What have you been up to?"
"Standing by. You know, ready to jump up at a moment's notice and boldly go help my fellow teammates if they are in trouble?"
"You took a nap."
"Yep," she said blithely. "What's the latest on this Repel business?"
Before Bane could answer, the phone rang and he snatched it up as Unicorn stole one of the onion rings. "Yes?"
"Captain, this is Megan. Not much relevant to report here. I've downloaded a copy of the security camera film without them knowing it and have enhanced the image. If we get a look at Vargas, my Link will compare him with the image and give up positive ID or negative."
"Well, that's a good start," Bane said. "Report back here."
"Understood," Trom Girl said and hung up.
Unicorn had changed into her own field suit, the black boots, trousers and snug jacket with built-in weapons. Evidently, she expected action at any second. Strapped across her back was the three-foot leather sheath holding the actual Unicorn horn from which she derived her name and powers. "Megan explained to me once how her Trom tech works. It takes different sections of the video and measures the images, then combines them all to make a 3D image much sharper than the original. She's a smart cookie, you know."
Bane finished the second ham and cheese and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Ashley, do you think you can neutralize this Repel character?"
She made a scoffing noise. "Absolutely. I have to be within arm's reach and I have to say my phrase, but I'm sure I can remove his powers. The horn has never failed."
"Good." The Dire Wolf went to the waist-high refrigerator in the corner and got a bottle of water. As he drank, Sable and Argent appeared in the doorway. Unicorn announced, "You're back," perhaps unnecessarily.
Lauren Sable Reilly yanked off her down-filled winter coat and threw it onto a chair as if it smelled bad. "I have never felt more soiled," she announced.
"You learned a bit too much about the suspect?" asked Bane.
"WAY too much. Being able to focus my senses to microscopic levels is not always a delight. This Vargas is a pig. Not just his hygiene- if you can call it that!- but his tastes in entertainment. Rape videos! Well, actually porn featuring simulated rape I guess, and lots of violent horror movies. Some books on true crime and serial killers. I didn't want to shift my vision to look for semen stains, I bet the room was covered. Ugh."
shrugging out of his own coat, Josef told her, "You should mention the clues about his recent activities, Sable."
"Right. Most of his clothes and belongings are fairly shabby and worn. But he has a brand new big screen TV, some nice jewelry, three watches and a shiny new Glock with a hundred rounds of ammo hidden in the closet. The conclusion is that he recently has come into some money, right?"
"That figures," Bane said. "What did the landlady say?"
"He's a creep, but he pays on time. Bad attitude, always getting in little disputes. He hasn't been there for a few days, he told her he was starting a new job but he would be back. She hopes she never sees him again."
The Dire Wolf sighed. "He might be the worst jerk in New Jersey, but that doesn't really matter to us. We need to know if he's a gralic-powered jerk. Any books on the supernatural?"
"No," Sable grumbled. "Just true crime and girlie magazines."
Bane was silent and the five knights of Tel Shai watched him. After a few seconds, he said, "Sheng, go to the hangar and warm up the CORBY to standby status. The rest of you, get into your field suits and report up there. We may be in for a dull night of sitting around but I want to be ready if Repel is sighted." As everyone scattered, the Dire Wolf left the conference room also, trotting lightly up the stairs to the third floor and his private quarters. Here he stripped down, put on the silk-thin Trom armor and his own field suit. Lowering the helmet over his head, he clicked the visor shut and checked that all the systems were functioning.
Going quickly up the stairs to the tenth floor, he saw the rotor blades on the CORBY was just barely moving and the lights inside the cockpit were on. His team was standing there in their own black commando outfits. Josef had the Y-shaped leather quiver and his unstrung longbow, which he rested against a wall. Bane walked over to the communications console and patched the police scanner into the hangar's speakers. After a few minutes of routine messages, the Dire Wolf said, "We might as well occupy ourselves while waiting."
Going over to a round table in one corner that had a few chairs around it, Sheng and Josef broke out a deck of cards. Unicorn watched and kibitzed, not particularly helpfully. Sable got a notepad and began writing down details of what she had seen in Vargas' apartment in case something significant had escaped her. And Megan Salenger immediately started sorting tools and supplies.
"I haven't done proper inventory this week," she said.
With a faint smile, Bane said, "That can wait. I want you to sit with the gang and learn poker."
"What? Surely my time can be better used..."
"That's an order, Trom Girl. Watch and learn."
"Very well, captain." She walked over and sat down next to Unicorn, who gave her a cheery, "Hey there, science nerd!"
IV.
An hour went by. Bane remained intent on the crackling messages from the police band. It seemed a quiet night for crime, the wind chill was near zero and even crooks wanted to stay home. He grew impatient. Realistically, he knew nothing might turn up. Repel might have made enough loot for the moment, he might find his powers had faded, he might be in a hospital with pneumonia. Crooks often just vanished and were never heard from again. He glanced over at his team, and saw that Sable had been drawn over to the poker game. She was explaining the rules to Megan and pointing out what a poor player Sheng was.
At ten-thirty, Bane abruptly turned the scanner off and snapped, "Everyone in the CORBY! Sable, you take the stick, I'm in the co-pilot seat. Let's go." Within seconds, all six were strapping themselves in. As he sealed the pressurized hatch, Bane hit the switch that rolled open the huge overhead panel. The black night sky showed overhead as freezing air rushed in.
In the pilot seat, Sable said, "Clear of the floor. Landing gear retracted. We're lifting off." The silent helicopter rose straight up, the roof panel closing automatically beneath them. With no visible external lights, the black craft was close to invisible on the overcast winter night. "Waiting for course," Sable said.
Bane told her. "Twenty miles north of the Tappan Zee bridge. Full cruising speed."
"Understood," Sable said, Her face was dimly seen in that backglow of the gauges and instruments. The windscreen of the CORBY used a Trom version of light enhancing that let her see outside as if it were a summer noon, but to an observer, the helicopter would be at best a vague shadow gliding high overhead.
As they headed north, Josef asked, "Captain, none of us heard the message. What's the situation?"
"A trooper car was found with its lights flashing. The officer was dead by the side of the road, his neck broken and his sidearm missing. Someone had yanked the video camera out of the car and smashed it."
"Sounds like he pulled over the wrong car," Argent said. "You think it's our target?"
"All my instincts say go after him." Bane turned to Sable. "Listen, I'm going to take over the controls. You use your telescopic perception to watch for any suspicious vehicle. Klein says he favors Jeeps and Blazers. The rest of you, keep your eyes open too." The Dire Wolf dropped the copter down a bit. They passed over the scene, where two more State Police cars had pulled up, lights flashing.
A few minutes later, Sable spotted a likely vehicle but as they neared, she said, "False alarm. A happy family, an overweight grandfather at the wheel. Two children in the back eating. Loud pop music."
"Wait, what?" asked Argent unbelievingly but they kept going.
Another two minutes passed and Sable suddenly said, "There!" She pointed to a rest stop that had a fast food restaurant, gas pumps and picnic area. "The gate in the link fence has been broken. Going up that access road is a white Bronco."
As Bane swung the helicopter in pursuit, Argent blurted out, "I can't believe it! How can your eyes be THAT good?"
"You have your powers, I've got mine. There he goes, he's turning onto that dirt road. The driver looks like he could be Vargas, he matches the descriptions."
"Let's have a chat," said Bane. The stealth helicopter hurtled past the speeding Bronco, then swung around to face it. He brought the CORBY down to treetop level and deliberately turned up the rotors, stirring up a tornado of dirt and dust that made the Bronco skid to a halt. The Dire Wolf switched on the high-intensity spotlights and blinding white light blazed down to illuminate the scene. A man jumped out of the Bronco and covered his eyes with the back of one hand.
Leaning in between Sable and Bane, Megan Salenger held up her Link. "Compensating for glare," she said. "ID positive. Yes, that is Vargas. We've found him."
As the landing gear lowered and the CORBY settled to rest, Sheng Mo Yuan popped open the rear hatch and leaped out. He hit the ground running and headed straight for Vargas. In the blinding spotlight, the man loomed up almost a foot taller than Sheng and a good hundred pounds heavier. He had curly black hair, a square sullen face and a nose that had been broken more than once. Oddly, he made no attempt to run. He stood his ground, arms lowered and waited.
Argent had ocussed his gralic force into speed. Only Bane could have matched him as he hurtled across the frozen ground in a blur and leaped up to whip out a spinning reverse kick directly at the man's face. The next instant, Sheng tumbled backward ten feet in a clumsy somersault and skidded face down on the dirt. He had been completely surprised. Bending over Sheng, Repel gave him a solid kick to the ribs. Sheng rolled with it, got to his feet and threw a tight hooking punch but, before it would connect, his fist was thrown violently backward and the recoil spun him around. He barely kept his footing. Seeing an opening, Repel slammed a punch to the stomach that doubled Sheng into a foetal position and dropped him to the dirt again.
"He tagged Argent," Josef Jubilec said as he emerged from the CORBY and strung his longbow. "Sure looks as if he can touch us but we can't touch him."
"I say No Fair," Unicorn chirped. "Let me handle him, captain."
"Not yet," Bane said. "We'll save you for last. I want to see if there are other ways to defeat this sort of thing. Sable, circle around to his car and see if he left the keys in it. The rest of you, stand your ground. He's coming this way."
Stepping forward, the Dire Wolf called out, "Jorge Varga! We want to talk to you!"
"Turn that light down first. Who are you? FBI? CIA?"
As Bane gestured, Josef reached into the cockpit and dimmed the spotlight to bearable level. The Blind Archer moved off to one side, looking for a clean shot.
"We're a private research organization," Bane said. "We want to know the secret of your ability."
"I bet you would!" Repel laughed. "Flying around in a black helicopter with no insignia? Come on, you guys are government spooks. You can't stop me. I'm unbeatable."
"Forgive my skepticism," Bane muttered and his left hand came up with the airgun. He fired half a clip of anesthetic darts. At that distance, he could not see what happened to the thin metal darts but certainly Repel did not seem affected.
"Look, let me go And I won't hurt you," Vargas shouted. "If you stay out of my way, everything will be sweet."
Bane said, "Megan, how's the neural shock?"
"I've already tried it, but with no results. I can't understand this."
The Blind Archer notched an arrow, drew the string back to ear and let fly in one motion. The arrow had a round bulb of hard rubber rather than a pointed barb. It went right for the center of Vargas' chest but bounced backward and spun erratically.
"Interesting," said Trom Girl. "Objects don't just glance off him, they are repelled directly backward with nearly the same momentum. Of course, some energy must be lost in the transfer."
The Dire Wolf locked eyes with the smug Vargas. He thought of going in physically, trying to use wrestling or aikido. But he figured it wouldn't work. The men who had attacked Repel said their hands slid off him without being able to get a good grip. And getting in close would leave him vulnerable to blows from an opponent who knew how to hit. Bane restrained himself with difficulty. He had a strong urge to attack this Repel anyway, to try a few punches but his better judgement took over.
No, there had to be another way...
Coming up beside him, Sable whispered, "Captain, I can see something around him. A disturbance in the air near his skin."
"A gralic shield?"
"Exactly. I can't see the energy itself but I can catch the shimmer as air is displaced a fraction of an inch away from his body. It's not always on."
Bane said, "He can sure turn it on and off fast. You say the air is moving through the gralic field?"
"Say. It IS."
The Dire Wolf suddenly had a predatory smile. "And the spotlight bothered him. Okay, we've got him now. Team, eyes down." He began walking toward Repel. "Vargas, you're a murderer and I'm taking you in. We'll read you your rights in a minute."
Repel started to laugh but it cut off as soon as it started. There was something in this man's voice that said he wasn't bluffing. For the first time since his power had manifested, he felt uneasy... even afraid.
Quicker than anyone there could follow, Bane unclipped a small metal ovoid from the back of his belt and flung it, not directly as Vargas, but right overhead. The man watched it and said, "Huh?" just before the dazzle grenade detonated with a glare brighter than looking directly at the sun and detonated with a deep thumping noise that stunned anyone within reach. Repel dropped to his knees, blind and deaf.
Like his team, Bane had been protected by his helmet. In the instant after throwing the dazzler, he had snapped down the visor, which cut off most of the sudden glare. The sound pods had kept his ears safe. But Vargas had one ruptured ear drum and his eyes swam in a white haze from which he could make nothing out.
I noticed You could see and hear," the Dire Wolf growled as he stood over the stunned man. "So light and sound went through your field. And you can breathe with your field up". From inside his field jacket, Bane drew a metal aerosol tube and discharged a stream of white vapor directly into his enemy's face. Vargas sagged unconscious. It was the same chemical used in the anesthetic darts. Rolling the limp form over, Bane clicked handcuffs to hold the man's wrists behind his back. "I said I was taking you in," he told the unhearing man.
"His field is off as long as he's unconscious," Sable said. "Keeping him restrained should not be difficult."
"Time to radio the State Police to take custody. They've got a grudge against him." Bane stood up as Unicorn approached.
"Hey! Captain, seriously, I could have handled this in two seconds flat. I could remove his power and we'd have him in custody in a blink. Why did you make me stay back?" With tiny fists on hips, she did her best glare.
Bane regarded her seriously. "Ashley. Look at it this way. If we face a character like this again, what if you're not available? We need a back-up method. Right?"
"Oh.. I suppose," she pouted. "I still feel like I got rooked."
The Dire Wolf stared down at the snoring man. "I doubt if his gralic field will work against the electric chair."
4//2000- 11/30/2013
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