Does the end ever justify the means? For The Balance the answer on this occasion was yes. It wasn’t just that they owed it to Bethany to try and rescue her father, it was also the right thing to do and that was the truth of it.
They’d discussed the best way to remove the controlling parasite from Sir Damien Dalton and, other than kidnapping him and forced removal, there weren’t many options open to them. Or at least options that didn’t result in the parasite either killing him in a manner that made resuscitation impossible or forcing him to run; still under its controlling influence.
The fact that whatever procedure they chose to use would most likely result in his death was something they accepted stoically. Just as long as it wasn’t a permanent condition, or so they hoped.
There were a number of issues to address. If they were to continue working on the side of law and order after this they needed disguises. Akira could use his illusions but he couldn’t maintain that and use his other mystical abilities at the same time so he elected for the classic wig and physical disguise option. Mary had discovered that her new glamour was not limited to her human form – it was an integral spell after all and she could change into the ‘glamour’ that was her younger image even when she was in insubstantial form. As no-one outside of the Balance had seen that form yet she hoped she would be able to pass for either a ghost or a phasing young meta-human. Sam at 6’ 8” and draconian seemed the hardest to disguise but Akira had asked Annie for the loan of the holo-belt and a programmed new personae altering his appearance into a very tall, well-built human male.
The latest planning session had started with Akira confessing about the amulet theft to the team. He then presented Sam with the pre-programmed belt and to Mary’s surprise he gave her a pair of long sleeved gloves; heat-resistant in case she needed to pull the same stunt with Abyss as last time.
They were all aware that as soon as Akira started to use his mystical abilities Abyss would likely home in on him and they needed to include that eventuality into their plans. Sam’s suggestion that Akira went somewhere abroad (by train) and used his magic to attract Abyss away from their proposed kidnapping did not go down well with Akira who pointed out that left him alone facing the beast… He toned down his attitude when he remembered what Mary had told them about the creature’s origins and relationship to her.
Several plans were discussed and quickly dismissed. Mary hiding inside the restaurant toilet ready to grab him when he went was rejected and the idea of acquiring an ambulance was also ruled out as too likely to go wrong.
Eventually a plan formed. Adam would hire a large lorry and equip it with whatever medical equipment Annie requested. Brain surgery to physically extract the parasite forcibly was ruled out in favour of allowing the creature to leave voluntarily as their best option. They elected to make Dalton undergo clinical death – brain cells begin to die after approximately 4-6 minutes of no blood-flow. Hopefully that would be enough time for the parasite to elect to leave Dalton voluntarily and if they combined that with a suitable alternative host to encourage a prompt migration…?
For the latter, they needed the assistance of a stormer… After some discussion they elected to ask Reni for his help. Agreeing to meet at the Challenger-Wildeman’s it was agreed that Akira would chat with him about whether or not he would help them.
Akira elected to provide Reni with a very limited amount of information about what they proposed; that they had a little endeavour to capture an alien creature currently residing in a prominent businessman. They needed a stormer to be nearby when the creature left him.
“What for?” Akira replied “We need a stormer to put the creature at its ease once it’s left its host until it’s captured. There would be no danger to you and no danger to its host that way.” When he saw Reni’s hesitation he offered to “make it worth your while…” Negotiations around an offer of mentorship foundered on the rocks of teenage hormones. He’d do it but in return he wanted a date with Tess!
Reni having agreed in principle, Akira was then forced to discuss their proposal with Tess; her first question on hearing that they wanted his assistance to attract out the parasite was “Would Reni be safe?” Akira assured her that he would, 100% guarantee. He then suggested that the team might support and mentor Reni to which Tess made it clear that attending Claremont Academy was her preferred option for him. So he finally built up the courage and presented Reni’s request to her. Doctor, patient status was immediately bandied around (and dismissed as she wasn’t actually his doctor) and after being assured that all that was being asked was a meal together she reluctantly accepted.
In the meantime Sam had approached Max to see if he could obtain another canister of the kairomones – his last; though he could manufacture more but would need time to synthesise it.
The plan was a goer. They would plan for a 3am assault on Dalton’s penthouse apartment and hope to bypass the security and his new team of Dalton Defenders.
Whilst Adam sorted out adapting the vehicle so Reni would be kept safe behind a sheet of plastisteel with air holes to allow the scent of the kairomones to attract the parasite whilst keeping him safe (provided he didn’t panic – he was extremely strong and could likely tear his way free if he chose to).
In the meantime Annie, assisted by Sam, arranged for an operating table, a defibrillator, anaesthetic and adrenalin to be on hand in the rear of the van. Sam was also to try and use his Draconian persuasion on Dalton as he recovered in the hope he could persuade him that everything was just a bad dream… Bethany had confirmed that she had a plan to misdirect her confused but hopefully no longer influenced father as a follow up and they agreed to have her on speed dial.
Dalton’s security was composed of the two original Dalton’s Defenders who’d been injured in the warehouse when Banshee and Chrono had first arrived in this parallel universe; Heartbreaker, now renamed BlackHeart, was a skilled human especially with weapons, a skilled tactician and the leader of the team. Thankfully she wouldn’t be on duty that night. Instead the other team member, Impulse now renamed EMP was on duty and he would be easier to deal with. His power had been an energy form that disrupted human impulses but the injury had apparently changed him somehow and he had become closer to an electro-magnetic storm which could shut down equipment as well as the human synapses of his foes.
The remaining members of Dalton defenders were composed of a disbanded team that had called themselves the Elementals before they’d been closed down as vigilantes. They had been considered unsuitable to get HCP status at least currently and had instead hired themselves out as a corporate security team. They all had access to elemental powers of one type or another. Some like Geo were immensely strong and capable of creating Earthquakes or like Cryo of generating blasts of ice or creating things out of ice. The team was very unequal in both power and training; Electro for example was a power-suited individual specialising in electrical-based attacks but her power supply ‘ran down’ quickly whilst Hydro was virtually useless away from a large water source.
They were working in shifts and four of them would be present in the penthouse throughout the night.
3am and the lorry pulled up as close to Pyramid Towers as they legally could get. Reni stepped half a sleep into the front section of the vehicle and sat down on the chair whilst Adam fitted the plastisteel glass. In the meantime a disguised Sam and Annie prepared to take someone’s life.
Banshee activated her glamour and left the van in her insubstantial form – a semi-transparent ghost of a girl drifting towards the Towers. She gradually worked her way through the air vents and after a few wrong turns ended up in the penthouse kitchen watching EMP checking the apartment’s security cameras and the remaining three team members, Pyro, Geo and Cryo arguing over ordered-in pizza and which channel to watch on TV. Knowing it was only a matter of time before they caught her (or saw her on the CCTV monitors) she risked crossing from the kitchen into the laundry room and out the back door into the service corridor and from there to the bedroom. Hiding under the bed still in the glamour she waited for Akira to arrive acutely aware that the camera in Dalton’s room was active.
Checking the time, Akira, complete with wig (and the surveillance drone ‘Tinks’ just in case they needed the evidence) teleported to the tower and then onto the balcony; his presence triggered the security lights and forced him to immediately turn invisible as the three ex-Elementals teamies rushed to open the balcony door from the living room and hurry outside.
Akira managed to dodge round them in time to get into the living room but then found himself temporarily trapped between the three teens and EMP who’d rushed to see what had happened.
A bird landing on the balcony seemed the most accepted explanation for the activated sensors and they returned to their pizza and TV. Akira then managed to manoeuvre himself to a better location from where he was able to get through the corridor doors into Dalton’s room without alerting anyone else and rushed towards the bed switching off his invisibility. As he did so, Banshee came out from under the bed, momentarily went substantial and back to insubstantial again having grabbed Dalton. As they misted together, Akira jumped into the bed and tried to activate his illusions of Idolon and make himself Dalton’s duplicate. It was a hasty spell that only partly worked, but under the covers he hoped it would be enough. Banshee struggled Dalton in their insubstantial state towards the door from his room to the balcony but the doors were locked and she couldn’t risk turning substantial long enough to open them!
Realising the problem, Akira as Dalton was forced to leave the security of the bed and rush over to open the balcony doors long enough for Banshee and her passenger to get outside and start to drift down to the ground; Mary holding on to him for his life as he panicked and fought to break free.
The opening of the balcony doors alerts EMP who comes into the room to check on Dalton forcing Akira to imitate Dalton’s voice and shout at him that he was only to be woken up if there was an intruder for God’s sake and if he wanted to continue working here he needed to not wake his employer up for no reason… EMP quickly retreated back to the CCTV monitors.
On the ground, Banshee dragged the real Dalton to the rear of the van and hauled him inside just as Reni again asked if he was “absolutely safe?” Sam confirmed he was, grabbed Dalton as soon as Banshee released him and shoved him on to the operating table where Annie immediately administered anaesthesia and used an electrical shock to stop his heart as Sam quietly released the kairomones in with Reni who was completely oblivious to the action.
Timer was now starting its countdown, and then they felt it; a vibrating hum that left them with a feeling of vertigo. The van went completely dark, all instruments ceased to function including the van itself. Something was happening in the apartment above that had resulted in EMP releasing an uncontrolled electro-magnetic pulse that had caused nausea in everyone nearby and taken out all the electrics in the Towers as well as in the surrounding streets.
Thankfully Annie was unharmed; her robotic shell was fully shielded. Aware that the parasite may even now be loose in the back of the vehicle with them, Sam looked around with his darkvision. He saw the creature moving under Dalton’s skin and emerge bloodily from Dalton’s ear cavity and scurry towards its intended new host; Reni. He grabbed at it, only slightly squishing it in the process but still alive and put it inside a container and sealed it.
Annie was currently administering chest compressions on the lifeless Dalton but without much success. They needed power but from where?
Pushing the rear doors open he rushed round to Adam and asked him what would still be working? He pointed to an old model car and said the battery..? Without waiting Sam rushed over, picked up the car and ran back with it to the van where he dropped it on the ground, ripped open the bonnet, pulled the battery out and passed it to Adam. To his surprise Adam didn’t immediately try and exchange it with the vehicles dead battery, instead he ran towards Annie and connected it to the defibrillator and got it working. Sam rushed back in and between Annie and himself started work on bringing Dalton back from the dead.
Back in the Penthouse Apartment the cause of EMP’s outburst was now apparent as Abyss fully materialised inside the now dead apartment, the screens and security completely fried it was determined to get to Akira as Dalton with the Defenders working to stop it (and partially succeeding).
Akira realised he needed to help and as he reached inside to drop his illusion and activate his shield in the darkness, he felt a small Pooka-like giggle deep inside himself and realised suddenly what the amulets gift was. Taking his psychic shield he moulded it in his mind into a cage which he pushed round Abyss isolating its powers from harming everyone there.
In the meantime, having revived Dalton, Adam removed the battery and had gone to replace the van’s dead one with it whilst Sam has taken the confused and bleeding Dalton aside and used his draconic persuasion on him persuading him that this was all a bad dream and that he must have fallen out of bed and hurt his head. Mary elected to use her healing tunes to help with the healing process then grabbed him again and turned them both insubstantial and drifted back towards the penthouse and the chaos above.
As the fight with Abyss continued in the dark, Banshee managed to get Dalton back into his bed. Still buzzing from the EM pulse and the stress of containing Abyss in the force cage Akira continued to imitate Dalton’s voice and shouted out that he was injured and was bleeding from his ear and someone needed to call a Doctor.
Knowing that once he and Mary were no longer there, the threat from Abyss would also leave – Mary drifted out and away whilst Akira drops his force cage and teleported out exhausted, grabbing the deactivated drone as he did so.
Below, Adam had managed to get the vehicle running and was ready to get them as far from the scene as possible. First stop was returning Reni who’d failed to see what happened due to the power out, home and the others back to the BASEment.
Assured that the electro-magnetic pulse had fried the security footage inside the apartment, Sam returned the now dysfunctional holo-belt to Annie as they left Bethany a message that they had been successful.
As soon as they left they knew Abyss would no longer have reason to stay in the apartment. What Akira had also realised that he no longer felt that phantom connection to the creature – EMP’s burst had somehow broken the psychic connection that had been used to target him via the tuft of hair. The person who’d set Abyss on him would need to find some other means of directing the creature back on his trail.
Perhaps the Library would be open to them, even if it was only temporary?
It was several hours later before they heard anything back. Bethany phoned them to say that Dalton now had other things on his mind than wondering what had happened to him last night. The removal of the parasite had left him dazed and slightly amnesiac only for Bethany to unveil her surprise. For her own birthday she’d presented him with legal papers requesting the courts grant her legal status as an adult and granting her independent of him as her parent.
As they were digesting the fact that Bethany’s first act following the freeing of her father was seeking emancipation from her father’s authority, Akira’s comms rang – it was a reroute of his office number; “”Mr Steadman, Akira Steadman? My name is Lucius Cabot of Cabot, Cunningham & Crowley. I was appointed by the courts to oversee the disposal of the estate of Michael and Gwendoline Steadman nee Trevaine and I’ve reason to believe you may be their son? Would it be possible to arrange to meet and discuss the disposal of your parents’ estate?”
Superhero Adventures, UK Style 