Blood Obsidian

Issue 46

Hope falls silently in the dark ... - Part 4

Chief Watson watched as his officers swarmed into the facility and began to work with smooth, practiced, efficiency for which he could only feel great pride. They were good at their jobs, immediately collecting every piece of evidence they could find. Of course, he had removed the pictures that could compromise the kid's identity, but the gaps would tell his teams something was missing. He'd handle the fallout from that if it ever came.

As he watched, however, he couldn't help but remember what the kid had said. Wondering what was going on here and, thinking about it, he had to admit, something felt off. Not quite right, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Finding this place, and the other one that the kid now checked, now felt a little too easy. The half-finished flying platforms. The grenades without their munitions. The photographs hanging with such convenience, telling them exactly who Fiend's next targets were. He heard his cell phone ringing and, looking around again, answered the call.

"Say that again." His hand rose to his hip, resting on the butt of his holstered pistol. "And you're certain nothing else was taken? ... And Morrison, he ... He's throwing a fit. Uh-huh. Not happy. I see. So, what do we know?"

He closed the call, tapping the phone against his lips. This was all they needed. The supers wing of evidence lock-up was one of the most secure places in the city. Countless villains had tried to break into there for the deadly weaponry seized over the years and had failed. Yet, tonight, someone had walked in, taken the biggest, most sophisticated battle armour they had impounded and walked out once again, locking the doors behind them. Thieves were one thing, but security conscious thieves? That was new.

"Sir, I think you ought to see this." A forensics officer called out to him, waving back toward the inside of the facility. "It's ... odd."

Of course it was. Nothing in this city was normal. Who needed normal, anyway.

-+-

Inside the domed facility ...

Caitlyn could see nothing above them, not even with the night vision afforded by the suit, but, up at the very top of that dome the darkness was almost complete. There was no light at all for the suit to enhance. Keeping her eyes facing upward, Caitlyn began to guide Aunt Mary and Rayna back to the tunnel entrance and, to their credit, they didn't ask questions. They did as she wanted them to which, especially concerning Aunt Mary, felt more than a little off-putting.

Once again, everything felt wrong about this place. In fact, the whole situation didn't feel right. She had almost made it to the tunnel entrance, their exit from this dome, but Caitlyn had expected Alden to attack by now. He had never shied away from attacking anyone Caitlyn cared about. Why did he hold back now, when he clearly had the advantage.

The large roof space of the dome gave Alden all the clear air he needed to manoeuvre his flying platform. It was almost certain that he could see them, even if they couldn't see him. Why, then, hadn't he rained down those quirky grenades, even if only to stop Caitlyn from escaping? And where was the laughter? That terrible, high-pitched laughter used to seed terror into her heart. She knew that was one reason for that laughter, and it worked, but she could not hear Alden laughing.

"Say, did he say anything to you guys?" Only around twenty more feet before they reached the exit. Caitlyn only had to get them there and she could hold Alden back, giving them time to escape. "Did he say where Al ... uh ... Ms Allen was?"

"He said something about being the 'good guy', but, I don't know. That mask doesn't look like something a good person would wear. And that laugh! Oh, my." Clearly Aunt Mary had never seen Fear's mask. Then again, no-one but the bad guys and select heroes had seen that. "And 'Blood Obsidian' doesn't exactly scream 'hero'."