Devious Origins

CHAPTER 31

Operation Trojan Horse got off to a slow start. Joe wasn't able to provide much detail regarding his demons. Consequently, the early stages of our new mission were spent largely on investigative work, building up a profile of the villains and their victims. We started with public records, both from the city police and campus security, but that gave a very incomplete picture. It is an unfortunate truth of sexual assault that it goes unreported more often than not. This is even more the case when drugs are used and the assault victim can't clearly recall all the details. Reporting a rape is never an easy thing. It involves the constant retelling and reliving of the event. Feelings of embarrassment and shame and fear. Accusations that they are lying or that they are somehow to blame. This is especially true if it goes to trial. The most common defense tactic is to attack the victim. Is it any wonder so many assaults go unreported?

We spent several days just tracking down these unreported cases, collecting data, and looking for patterns. Tilly was a big help with this. She reached out through the members of the neighborhood watch and via her contacts at WEAV. DualCore created an on-line questionnaire that allowed anonymous reporting, and the message went out by word of mouth and social media. We collected dates and places and demographic data, but no names, and we disguised the whole thing as a study run by a doctoral candidate in the Criminal Sciences Department. We had to strike a careful balance, gathering enough specific details to sift out the patterns, yet keeping the study looking academic and innocuous enough that our quarry would not recognize it for the detective work that it really was. The last thing we wanted was for the demons to realize we were actively hunting them.

The survey worked shockingly well. We collected thousands of responses covering many years. Most of the events did not fit the profile we were looking for, but many did. A pattern began to emerge, but it was a murky one at best. What we really needed was detailed testimony from some of the victims, a more interactive dialog. Something an anonymous survey just couldn't supply. I knew of at least one person that could help provide us this sort of dialog, someone who might have some of the details we were looking for, but I wasn't looking forward to the conversation.

Tilly waved to me as she approached. I waved back. We had agreed to meet next to the abstract sculpture in the quad, an enormous metal monstrosity of polished panels and twisted beams. I sat on the sculpture's concrete base, leaving a space for Tilly to sit next to me.

"So Barry, what's up? You sounded kind of serious on the phone."

"Oh, well... it's nothing all that... well, first I just wanted to thank you again for all your help recently, especially with the survey. My friend really appreciates it."

"That friend being Dee, right?" She gave me a curious look as she said it.

"Um, well she is involved, yes." I hadn't told Tilly the entire story behind the survey. I hadn't exactly lied to her, but I also hadn't volunteered much in the way of details. As far as she knew, it really was the academic study it purported to be.

"That's really interesting, because I don't think she's a student in the Criminal Sciences department."

"Yeah, I think you're probably right about that," I admitted.

"In fact, I've got some friends in Criminal Sciences, and they don't know anything about this survey."

"Well, about that..." I tried to come up with a response, but nothing came. This was not the conversation I thought I would be having.

"Look, I know your friend Dee is doing more than just the typical neighborhood watch kind of thing. That was obvious the first time I met her. I know she's trying to help in a very... proactive way. What I don't know is how this survey fits in with that."

I started to fashion a response but was distracted from it by the sight of Dee walking toward us from across the quad. I started to call to her, but then stopped again.

It wasn't Dee.

The young woman wore black tights, and goggles, and carried a skateboard. She even had the same haircut. But it wasn't Dee. I sat there, my mouth still slightly open, as the young woman approached then walked right past us on her way to some other part of campus.

"Did you just see that?" I asked Tilly.

Tilly gave a short laugh. "Yeah, and that too." She pointed to another woman on the other side of the quad. She was farther away, and I might have missed her if Tilly hadn't pointed her out, but now that I was looking, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Dark tights, goggles, similar haircut. She was taller than Dee, and her hair was lighter, but the attempt to mimic Dee's look was unmistakable.

A chill went down my spine. "I don't believe this."

"Well, what did you expect?" Tilly replied. "You run around playing superhero and getting your image plastered all over the Internet, you start to collect a following."

I sat, dumbfounded, while the world shifted around me and my brain adjusted to this new reality. "The YouTube video..." I finally said.

"Yes, YouTube, and Pinterest, and a variety of Facebook posts. After that first video went viral, other people started posting, describing their encounters with the mysterious hero. A few even posted pictures. If even half the accounts are accurate, our Dee has been a busy little vigilante."

"This... is not good."

"Oh I don't know. From all the reports, it seems like she's done a lot of good."

I shook my head. "No, you don't understand, there are these people..." But then I stopped again. Some part of me resisted explaining, and I didn't really understand why. Was I still foolishly trying to protect Dee's secret? Was I embarrassed to admit my part in all the craziness? Was I worried that dragging Tilly into things would just endanger her too? None of those reasons seem to have much merit, and yet I hesitated.

"There are these people..." Tilly prompted, waving her hand in the universal sign for 'please go on'.

How would I explain? It all seemed so crazy when I thought about it, especially when you took any one part of it in isolation. Even stepping back and looking at the whole crazy jigsaw puzzle, it was hard to believe. Still, if I was going to tell her any of it, I would have to tell the whole thing.

I took a breath, and began. "When I first met Dee in the Student Union, she told me she was a superhero."

And then the rest of the mad story came spilling out after.