Tyler and Susie stood in front of
the wall-mounted monitor in Lab 3, waiting for Serene to show her report on the
tablet they recovered a few days ago.
Maria Gomez, also known as Phantom, gave the tablet to him after she had
a look through it. She told him it had a
list of machine parts, their serial numbers, and some GPS information. To be safe they had Serene scrub through the
tablet and make a digital copy of it to share with Detective Lin.
Serene generated her report using
data from the tablet, a report that had to be paired down. Tyler locked the door as Susie asked “Is Sam
still out of town?”
“Only for another day or two. Some sort of family emergency upstate.” He
said and pulled two chairs to the monitor.
Pressing the corner of the monitor he said “Serene, start report on
information found in the Order tablet.”
“Of course, sir.” The A.I. said and
the screen started to show 3D renderings of machine parts. She continued her explanation with “The
tablet recovered from Brooklyn Navy Yard had much more information than the
previous tablet obtained some months ago.
Primarily, it contains information for machine parts, battery cells, and
GPS data. These lists, however, seem
incomplete; I suspect there must have been a second tablet that would have
given a fuller picture as to what these parts would be used for.
“Several pieces have obviously
corresponding parts that build parts like an arm joint or articulated knee cap,
to name a few. Each part has its own
serial number but they do not correspond to known data banks; therefore this
serial number system must be how The Order lists their inventory. When it comes to GPS data, there are seven
locations marked as frequently visited since the device last had a data
wipe. All this to say, there are machine
components that paint only part of the picture as their use and GPS data has
seven locations marked in the last two weeks.”
The two siblings sat there for a
moment and didn’t say anything. Susie
looked to her brother and said “Remember, VDN-016 wasn’t found after The Agent
helped you capture Mercy Jones. Maybe
The Order found a way to reverse engineer it and is trying to make their own.”
“That a very reasonable idea given
what we know.” Tyler said and paused.
Looking at the monitor, he said “Serene, prepare a data packet of the
digital copy of the tablet to send to Detective Lin. Also, try and get her on the line.”
After a moment, Detective Lin
answered and said “Well if it isn’t my favorite person to hear from.”
“If you don’t mean that now you
will soon. I’m going to be sending you a
digital copy of a tablet I recovered from the Navy Ward. I apologize for not telling you about it
sooner but I knew you would’ve had me hand it over.”
“This, right here, is the reason I
can’t sleep well at night.” Detective Lin said and sighed deeply. Now more frustrated she said “You know I’m
going to ask you to hand in the actual device, right?”
“Don’t worry, I already planned on
handing it over. I’ll drop it off at
your headquarters tonight. In the
meantime, you’ll find the digital version has GPS data that you can use to set
up more raids.” Tyler said sending the digital copy now.
They could hear her writing something
down and say “Once again, the ECU thanks you for your continued
cooperation. Any information is useful
and I’ll have our tech team look over what you sent.”
“Just trying to help.” Tyler said and hung up. He looked to his sister and
said “All in all, that went well.”
The two of them knew from
experience that The Order was likely to start clearing out any location they
knew the tablet had data for. The ECU
would be setting raids on two buildings in the East Village if he knew how they
worked. He contacted Maria and worked
out a plan to meet in Hell’s Kitchen and check out Peir 88. The night came and he headed out to meet with
his new partner to see what was going on.
Reaching the agreed address, Tyler
found Maria leaning against a service staircase entrance. She turned to him and said “I don’t have
access to the city security cameras like you have but I noticed a couple small
boats get nice and cozy with our destination.”
He looked out toward the piers and
saw three boats, one catamaran and two deck boats, docked at the pier. One person was watching them but he
couldn’t be sure there weren’t more in the catamaran. He looked to Maria, also hoping his sister was
listening, and asked “Did you see anyone leave them?”
“They were already there when I got
here. Before leaving for here, I tried
to find out if there were any boats allowed to dock here tonight. Everything I found said the only boats with
permits aren’t expected till two in the morning.”
“That all seems right as far as I
can tell. The thing is, the footage shows
the boats coming in twenty minutes ago but everyone that left them was all
plain clothed. Either way, approach with
caution.” Susie said, clearly still typing.
Tyler nodded, looked to his new
partner, and said “Soothsayer says the only people to leave those boats weren’t
obviously Order. However, this wouldn’t
be the first time they used plain-clothed agents to look less suspicious.”
“I got it, be cautious. Observe before engaging and all that.” She
said and started off the building. Tyler
flew over to the pier and landed in the parking lot, invisibly, directly in
front of the boats. A minute or two
later Maria was next to him, also invisible, and said “How come I’ve never
talked to this Soothsayer person?”
“It’s just one-to-one communication
for now. In an emergency she would talk to you.” Tyler said, hoping that would
be a good enough answer for now. They
continued watching the boat guard for a few more minutes, he looked nervous
until getting a message on an earpiece.
Tyler looked over at Maria and said “You go down and see if anything is interesting on the deck boats.
I’ll keep watch up here.”
“Sounds good.” Maria said and
headed down to ground level. After a
moment, he saw her sneaking around the person and getting on one of the deck
boats. She looked around for a minute
and got right off it. She moved to the
next second deck boat as Tyler heard something from inside the building. The watchman pressed his earpiece and said
something he couldn’t hear. It must have
been some sort of confirmation because he heard a lot more movement from
inside.
Tyler double-checked Marias'
position and saw she put herself in the corner of the deck boat. He gently landed on the ground level as a storage
door rolled open; out came four men each holding two boxes. They were making a b-line for the catamaran
boat.
Tyler revealed himself, pointing
his gauntlets at them, and exclaimed “Stop and tell me who you are and what’s
in the boxes.”
The first man didn’t even take a
chance and ran straight for the first deck boat Maria checked. The second man simply dropped his boxes and
ran from the scene. The third man tried
to run to the catamaran while the fourth ran to the second deck boat. While the last two ran toward their boats,
several Order agents stepped onto the decks of the catamaran and started firing
at him. He realized there wasn’t much he
could do in this situation but it, at least, confirmed it was an Order
operation.
The cover the agents pervaded was
enough for the two men to get to their boats and pull away from the pier. The catamaran sped away when the deck boat
suddenly stopped and then turned back to the pier. Tyler could see Maria holding her staff to
the back of the man driving the boat, clearly pressing it into their shoulder
blades. The boat pulled into the pier
and she dragged the man out from the boat.
Before Tyler could get a word in,
Maria had her staff pointed at the man’s chest and said “What was in the
boxes? I don’t know if you noticed but
all your friends left you.”
“We were just hired to move those
boxes. Honest, I don’t know who those
guys were or what’s in the boxes” he said, keeping his hands clear in the air.
Tyler, gently, lowered the staff
and offered a hand to the man. Serene
was able to identify him as George Marks, a construction worker with no
criminal history, so he felt he could trust Mr. Marks. As he stood up, Tyler said “Mr. Marks, if you
didn’t know those guys were on that larger boat what were your instructions?”
He looked over them once again and
said “There was an ad out for moving people who could piolet a small boat. Me and my buddies have some experience in
that field so I got us the gig.”
“There weren’t any red flags in
that operation?” Maria said, still on edge.
“Listen, lady, when someone’s
offering two thousand dollars for three hours of night work you don’t turn it
down. Especially when you have a family
to put food on the table for.” Mr. Marks said, pointing a finger at her.
She seemed to soften at his
explanation and shuffled her feet a little.
Tyler looked to the man and said “If you were paid upfront, I would
make sure you and your buddies check your payment is clean. You guys got yourselves working for The
Order, a situation I recommend getting yourselves out of.”
Mr. Marks rubbed the back of his
head and looked around. Susie was
already explaining the situation to Detective Lin so Tyler decided to look through
the boxes left behind. The two Mr. Marks
had in the boat were full of power cells while the two dropped onto the pier
were assorted mechanical parts.
“More parts, I wonder if The Order
is moving all of their different storage locations to just the one?” Maria
asked, looking over the contents again.
“That’s an exhalant question
Phantom; one I’m sure we’ll find the answer to one day soon. “Detective Lin
said, apparently standing right behind them.
Maria let out a startled shriek, turned invisible, and moved behind
Tyler. The detective looked at him and said “Didn’t mean to frighten you but the
noise is still loud at this time of night, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is detective.” Tyler said,
realizing that Mr. Marks wasn’t in sight.
“If you’re looking for George Marks,
he willingly went with my accompanying officer back to headquarters.” Detective
Lin said and bent down to look over the boxes.
Tyler felt Maria shift to right behind him as the detective surveyed the
area. Looking back at him, she said “I’m
guessing you two tampered with the scene of the crime by moving two of these
boxes from that boat.”
“That is a very unfun way to put it
but yes. I’m guessing you’ll take it
from here.” Tyler said.
She smirked, and said “You two are
welcome to hang around and watch but you’re no longer needed at the scene.”
He heard someone running away from
the scene and realized that he no longer felt Maria behind him. He looked in the direction of the noise and
bid the detective farewell, then turned invisible. He followed Maria to an alley a few blocks
away and asked what happened.
She looked at him, a little
sheepishly, and said “Honestly, she just surprised me. I don’t mean to keep taking off when she’s
around but I don’t know if she’ll recognize me.”
“I could be mistaken but I don’t
think your brother worked for the ECU.
I’m pretty sure the detective won’t know who you are under there.” Tyler
said, keeping an eye out for people passing by.
She took a deep breath and said
“You’re probably right. It’s just hard
to, properly, explain what I’m feeling.”
He put a hand on her shoulder and
said “I’m not sure what has you stressed out suddenly but maybe turn it in for
the night. There’s plenty for us to do
in the upcoming nights.”
“Not a bad idea, thanks.” Maria
said and became invisible again. He
could hear her climbing up a fire escape and then watched her tracker move
across the city.
He made some of his normal rounds
but didn’t stay out past midnight that night.
The next day, being a weekend, he had a lunch planned with Susie,
Jennifer, and Brenda. Much like Sam,
Brenda had been out of the city for a week but didn’t say why. She wanted to have lunch with all of them to
see what’s been going on in their personal lives and catch up on school stuff. They all agreed on The Roost for lunch and
met up for one.
They sat outside despite the
less-than-ideal weather; fortunately, there was a table under a permanent
canopy. They all had their food, sat
down, and started to catch up. Brenda
regulated them with her family exploit about leaving the state to attend an
important business meeting her mother had.
Apparently, she was receiving an award for her work and the whole family
was asked to attend the function.
Afterward, they caught her up on
school stuff she missed and warned her that one teacher had a bunch of work for
her to do. In turn, Tyler said he was
almost done writing the report for the “NRG Proposal”; assuring her he would
have it done in no time.
Taking a sip of her drink, Brenda
said “I heard someone is working with The Mirage while I was away. Does anyone know anything about that?”
Tyler and Susie stayed quiet while
Jennifer said “I have. It seems like he
started working with a woman who goes by Phantom. She has a bit of a reputation un in the Bronx
for hitting hard and getting the job done.”
“Really, is there more to this
story?” Brenda asked, leaning forward.
Jennifer pulled something up on her
phone and said “I know some people online who watch out for stuff like this and
they noticed the two of them going together lately. Someone even got a picture of them talking in
an alley last night.”
She showed the group her phone and
it showed Tyler talking to Maria; it looked like it was taken a few stories up
at an angel he didn’t see last night.
Tyler and Susie shared a look while Jennifer continued “They
couldn’t hear what they were talking about but Phantom turned invisible and
used the fire escape. She went right
past his window.”
Brenda looked at the picture again
and asked if she could send it to her.
Tyler and Susie, abruptly, left the table but left money for their
lunch. With just the two of them there
Brenda asked “Is everything alright with them?”
“As far as I know. I don’t know if anything’s going on with
Susie but I know Tyler’s been helping someone at The Lab with research in
invisibility using ultraviolet wavelengths.” Jennifer explained.
“Invisibility using the ultraviolet
spectrum. If that could be achieved, it
would mask the object's heat signature significantly. Who’s doing that research?” Brenda asked.
“Someone named Maria. Do you know her?”
“Not personally. There are a lot of people there I don’t really
know but I would like to meet her if she’s getting somewhere with that
research. Especially since she would’ve
convinced Dr. Smith about it.”
Jennifer had a strange feeling and
asked “Why, would that be weird?”
“Not weird, just not useful in
non-military situations. As far as I
know, Tyler isn’t allowed to work on stuff like that. So, he’s working on it under the table or he
lied to you. Either way, he’s avoiding
something.” Brenda said, clearly not comfortable with her suggestion.
Jennifer shifted in her chair and
looked toward his empty one. She shook
her head, confident he wouldn’t lie to her, but couldn’t help the feeling. She needed more to go on first, people don’t
react the best when you only have flimsy evidence at best. Besides, maybe Brenda was wrong. Dr. Smith was his father; Tyler, likely,
could work on any kind of project he wanted to.
She would trust him, for now, but still wanted to be wasn’t lying.
The next day, Sam returned from her
family emergency. She went back to The
Lab to find Susie and Tyler hard at work doing something on computers. She told them that their grandfather had a
minor accident but he would be fine at this point. When she asked what happened while she was
gone, they explained everything. After
they were done, she said “You got a new partner then. That doesn’t explain why you’re on forums
about the Mirage.”
“The two of them haven’t been as
careful as they thought. One person has
been very diligent in following them around.” Susie said.
“Right, I think I see what you’re
getting at. So, you’re just making sure
they haven’t been found out then.” Sam said looking over her shoulder.
“We set Serene up to watch for new
posts from the forum user to be sure we know what they post. I told Maria to stay off the streets for a
night or two till we knew more about all this.” Tyler said, shutting his
laptop.
Sam took Susie’s seat and said “Let
me take over this for you guys. I’ll dig
into your whole situation and let you know if there’s anything you don’t
already know.” They thanked her and
headed out for a late lunch. She put in
her headphones and said “Serene, get me up to speed on who Maria Gomez is and
any other relevant information.”
“Of course, Ma’am. Pulling up her profile now.” Serene said and
started going over the file.
That night, Tyler decided he wasn’t
going to go out as the Mirage but Maria insisted on hitting the streets. He could feel that something was bothering
Jennifer so he thought he would take her out for dinner. They arrived at a, slightly, nice place and
had a table on the outskirts of the dining area. He wasn’t sure what could be bothering her
but he was determined to make sure she had a good night.
While they waited for their food,
he said “I’m no mind reader but I can tell something’s been bothering you.”
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about
it.” She said and took his hand. She looked around again and said “This is a
very nice surprise dinner you’ve taken me to.”
“I’ve had my eye on this place for
a while now actually. They had an
opening and I thought you needed some sort of distraction.” Tyler said.
“Like I already said, this is a
nice place. Thank you for noticing
something was bothering me.” She said and their food arrived.
They ate their food and were
starting to decide what they should have for dessert when he saw a notification
on his phone from Serene. It was a
message that read ‘Sir, Detective Lin is requesting to hear from you’. He made an excuse to get up, saying Susie
needed to talk to him a minute and left for the bathroom. After making sure it was empty, he told the
A.I. to put him through to the detective.
She picked up the phone and asked
“Mirage, is everything okay you weren’t available right away?”
“I’m fine detective, was just busy
when you tried to get me the first time.
Can I help you with something?” Tyler said, keeping a close eye on the
door.
“I know you and your partner have
been taking on Order locations based on data from the tablet you
recovered. You sound like you’re still
busy but would your partner be available to talk about something Order
related?”
He thought about how to respond to
that for a minute. He settled on “I’ll
be honest; she seems a little unsure of our arrangement. However, I know she’ll do anything to help
take down The Order.”
“Any idea where she might be?”
He looked at her communicator's
position and found she was already stalking out an old Order warehouse in North
Bronx. Returning to the phone call, he
said “Looks like she’s checking out the Order warehouse where I found those
hostages. Some advice, if you’re sending
people to pick her up make sure they identify themselves the moment they see
her.”
“Thanks, you sure you’re not
available? I was going to go over
details of a raid I was hoping you two would be a part of.” The detective said.
“Her presence will be good enough
for the two of us. Just give me the
details later. Talk to you later
detective.” Tyler said and hung up the phone.
He returned to the table and found
Jennifer still looking through the dessert menu. It seemed like something might be wrong but
she didn’t let on anything was. They
ordered, and ate dessert and started to get ready. As they were heading out, he noticed that he
got another notification from Serene. If
it was urgent, she would get Susie to take care of whatever was going on.
After dropping her off back at her
apartment building, he asked “Alright, Serene, what going on?”
“Miss Gomez was attempting to get a
hold of you. She still seems to be out
for the night so I can patch her through now.” Seren explained.
He glanced around and said “Yeah,
get a hold of her.”
There was a moment where, after she
picked up the call, he could hear her still breathing. She said “I think I might’ve made a big
mistake.”
With that, she explained. She was heading out of the warehouse and
noticed two figures approaching her. One
called out “Phantom, please follow us, we’re….”
That was all they were able to get out before she knocked one to the
ground, knocking them out, and striking the other in his knees. They fell, an audible crunch as he did, and
pinned him to the ground. She demanded
he explain who he was when she saw his ECU badge. Just as she started to back away from him,
she heard Detective Lin ask a question over their walkie-talkie.
“Alright, listen, it’s going to be
fine. I’m sure Detective Lin will
understand what happened and I’m sure they’ll be okay. Let me talk to her and you get off the streets.”
Tyler said, quickening his pace to get home.
When he got home, he rushed right
to his room, downed the ‘Hero Suit’, and headed to ECU headquarters. The flight to Mott Haven wasn’t long and he
found that Detective Lin had left her office window open. Looking in, he saw her sitting at her desk
looking toward the window. He took a
deep breath and let himself in.
Appearing next to the desk, he said
“I guess you were expecting me.”
“Yes, I have. I’m guessing you heard about what happened.”
She said, clearly unhappy.
“Listen, I know it wasn’t good what
she did. If it helps, she’s really
freaked about what happened.” Tyler said, pacing the floor.
“Sit, you’re making me nervous.”
She said pointing to a chair. Once he sat
down, she continued to say “My boss isn’t happy about any of this and is less
willing to look the other way in the matter.
I’m still willing to make this situation work but this incident puts
some kinks in the works.”
“I understand. Is there anything you need me to do?” Tyler
asked, wishing his sister was at her computer.
“Just trust me and the two of you
stay out of our way for the immediate future.
I’ll contact you when I have something else to tell you.” Detective Lin
said and stood up. Tyler did the same
but must not hide his nervousness because she said “Relax, I’m working my
end here. I have your back.”
“I trust you. Just let me know how things are going from
your end.” Tyler said and left out the window.
He thought about dropping in on
Maria but decided against it and went right back home. The next day he didn’t see much of
Jennifer. He noticed she spent the lunch
talking to people she knew from clubs so he had lunch with his sister. They talked about what happened the previous
night and decided they should go right to The Lab after school. While there they caught Sam up with what
happened while she worked out models for their official work.
The wall monitor came to life and
Serene said “Sir, Detective Lin is contacting you. Should I put her through?”
“Yes, put her through.” Tyler said
as he sat by the monitor. After a moment
he asked “Can I help you with something detective?”
“Just updating you on the condition
of the two officers. One is perfectly
fine while the other needs minor surgery to repair their leg.” Detective Lin said.
Both women perked up at the mention
of what kind of injury the officer sustained.
Tyler made a note of it and said “Thank you detective; I’ll be in
touch.”
Susie looked between the three and
said “I’m glad I’m not the one to tell her what sort of injury she gave him.”
He was about to say something when
he saw Jennifer was calling him.
Answering, he said “Hello dear, what’s up?”
She sounds like she was walking
somewhere as she said “I was hoping to talk to you about something. Are you home or at The Lab?”
He thought about asking if it could
wait but decided against it. Instead, he
answered with “I’m at The Lab. Susie
also happens to be here so she’ll meet you at the lobby.”
“Okay, be there soon.” She said and
hung up.
He turned around to tell Susie
about meeting her in the lobby but she was already gone. Sam pointed to the door and said “She put two
and two together. Does it sound like a
fun conversation?”
“Not really.” Tyler answered
plainly.
He didn’t have to wait long for
them to be at the door. Susie had a look
on her face he didn’t like but he had to pretend he didn’t notice it. As they walked into Lab 3, he introduced Sam
to Jennifer and made pleasantries. She
looked at the two women and asked them to leave so they could have a private
conversation. Once alone, she set her
bag down and looked at the space.
After what felt like forever, she
looked at him and said “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to have this talk with
you.” There was another long pause but
she said “You’ve been lying to me and I want to know why.”
He thought about denying that it
didn’t sound like a good idea. He looked
at her and said “Yes, I have lied to you recently but it’s for a good reason.”
“Are you seeing someone behind my
back? You know when you said you had to
call your sister at dinner? You know who
called me, your sister.” Jennifer said, obviously upset.
He was lost for words but realized
that was an obvious conclusion of his recent behavior. He had to figure out what he could tell her
without giving the actual reason. Still
thinking, he said “I’m not seeing someone behind your back. I can’t tell you the reason, you just have to
trust me.”
She stood up and exclaimed “I would
like to but I’m not sure I can. What is it if you’re not seeing someone behind my back?”
He was getting frustrated but had
to keep it down. Taking a breath, he
said “I’m protecting you by not telling you.
Please you must believe me.”
“I’m sorry but that isn’t good
enough right now. Even if I don’t like
it I need to hear it.” Jennifer said, stepping closer to him.
He realized there was only one
answer he could give to satisfy everything she brought up. He steadied his resolve and exclaimed “I’m
the Mirage and I’m dealing with a lot at the moment.”a lot at the moment.”
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