SHN 10.11: And In The Darkness, He Smiled

Star Harbor Nights is an ongoing serial anthology. Visit www.starharbornights.com to get the whole story.1

In a dark bedroom, Lily lay curled up on the bed, unmoving. Everyone had left her alone. The woman named Raven had watched over her for a while, but she'd gone. Her sisters had come in. Dandy said something that sounded like scolding... Willow didn't say anything, just tried to put her hand on Lily's shoulder. Lily had just rolled over, hugging the blankets around her. They didn't understand. They loved her because they were supposed to love her, but they never understood her and they'd never really wanted her. They didn't know what she'd lost. They didn't know what she'd done to the one person who loved her because she wanted to.2

It was too much... she had to get out of the strange bed, out of the strange building. She had to get away... get back to her Staces, back to where she was safe. She ached all over, inside and out, and nobody seemed to care. Staces would. She would know what to do to fix her.3

In the conference room on the second floor of the adjacent townhouse, Perfect's council of war was getting underway. It had a depressingly low turn-out. With so many heroes laying low in the face of increasing suspicion and official hostility, few were willing to show up on the word of a new and relatively unknown crimefighter. She knew that more would arrive after the sun set. She'd got a confirmation from the legendary waterfront guardian, the Dock Shadow, who was likely to bring friends, including  the martial artist Diana Peacock, whom Perfect had recently met and fought beside.... but given the apocalyptic nature of the information she and Alcheman had uncovered on the purloined hard drive of Bishop O'Halloran, she couldn't wait for nightfall to get started.4

The already present group included three of Perfect's teammates: the technowizard Alcheman, the silent storm-wielding woman Raven, and the young Dani Harris, transformed by a magical hero ring into the Blue Warrior. Also present were the youngest and eldest Binder sisters, Dandy and Willow. The mutant Hollywood was there, too, along with his telepathic friend, Jessica Powers. Hollywood had brought a potted tulip, which he swore would be able to repeat everything that was said word-for-word to his partner, the dryad Vine. He was unusually subdued, almost sulking... a serious legal challenge to Vine's right to occupy the land where'd she'd lived for hundreds of years was under way, spearheaded by Perfect's new employer, the anti-vigilante politician John Lydia. When Jessie had explained that Perfect was only working undercover, he'd been overjoyed... until he learned she wasn't interested in sabotaging or undermining Lydia's campaign from within. He'd agreed to come to the meeting when Jessie convinced him of the enormity of the threat... but he really didn't want to be there. In fact, he ended up leaving several times then changing his mind and coming back. Nobody noticed, of course, since it happened at the speed of light.5

Jessie, who operated on the west coast under the name Mindfyre, was positioned by the window facing the street and keeping her mind open. She was scanning to sense the approach of both friends and foes... the neighborhood was under surveillance by at least one suspicious person, the police woman Stacy Bishop. Jessica had felt the jagged edge of Stacy's mind encroaching on the area several times during the day... she was currently coming and going. Each time she got too close, Jessica sent out a suggestion, giving her the feeling she should be looking somewhere else. It was tiring, as she wasn't used to doing so much grunt work with her telepathy, or keeping herself open so long, "listening" over such a wide area... especially when she'd had to selectively block out the minds of those in the building, especially the anguish of the recently orphaned Dani and the conflicted agony of Lily. Throught it all, she was keeping her physical ears on the conversation in the room. When everything went down, she was going to be a part of it, and she needed to be ready.6

Perfect had printed summaries of her and Alcheman's findings, with samples of the translated ritual and the hidden instructions encoded in the bishop's spam e-mail, and put them in three ring binders which she passed out to all those in attendance. She'd also brought fruit punch and sugar cookies. Jessie wasn't sure if she should be impressed or frightened. 7

The print outs detailed the bishop's plans, which revolved around the ritual sacrifice of five consecrated churches to an unnamed lower power, in order to open a gateway between the earth dimension and the distant realm in which the power was currently trapped. Four of the required churches had already been destroyed, three in fires that did not kill anybody... and one more in an explosion that killed over three hundred people, including Dani's parents. That bombing was being largely blamed on vigilantes and heroes like those who gathered to oppose the bishop's plans, mainly because it had ocurred at the wedding of a prominent member of the anti-vigilante political movement and two of the three survivors were now known superbeings. That one of them, Lily Binder, had fled from the church moments before the blast didn't help public perception.8

From earth, the entity would be able to spread through adjacent realities and in theory, eventually envelop all of existence. The bishop's e-mail messages indicated that he expected to be given dominion over the earth in exchange. The existence of the e-mails proved the bishop was corresponding with an agent or agents elsewhere in the city, other people who were acting on his orders. The subject of who those servants might be was the current topic of discussion.9

"Consider the timing... it was shortly after the first church fire that the Bone Lords gang performed their ritual and became undead," Alcheman said. "I had previously determined that they had backing from some powerful occult force... how else could a pseudo-Satanic street gang suddenly accomplish such an impressive mystical feat? Still, from all indications, the undead Bone Lords were nothing more than semi-intelligent wraiths... after their rising, they couldn't have maintained an e-mail correspondence, much less carried out any errands that didn't involve a straightforward attack."10

"So the gang wasn't his only allies," Perfect said. "If he, or whatever being he's dealing with, was able to create something like the horde of wraiths, what kind of power level are we talking about?"11

"If he's got some kind of elder being backing him?" Dandy asked. "There's no limit to how much power he might have... me and my sisters are pretty strong, especially when we combine our magic together, but it's hard to get Willow to focus and Lily... I don't know what to say about Lily. We really need someone whose magic flows from a higher source, someone like an elemental guardian or an avatar of some kind."12

"I sent the Champion League an alert on their secret priority number," Perfect said, "but there was no response. Maybe if I send them some more specific information, we can get Kether. She closed the dimensional rip in the park like it was nothing."13

"Compared to what may be coming, that rip was nothing," Alcheman noted. "Of course, every bit helps."14

"I could get the Pantheon down here," Jessica offered again. "I tried calling already, just to see... they're away taking care of a superpowered incursion in Sudan, but they should be back before everything comes to a head. I don't know much about Morrigan's actual abilities as a sorceress, but I've seen some pretty powerful people who were terrified of her."15

"Good thought," Perfect said. "I'd feel better if I knew where Jeroboam had gone off to... he's not exactly the most pleasant person, but he knows his way around a mystical battle. He comes and goes so much, I didn't think anything of it when I didn't see him for a few days... but I'd love to know if he'll be back in time."16

"In time for what?" the gunslinger asked, stepping through the door.17

"What?" Jessica asked, startled. "I didn't feel you at all!"18

"Let's just keep it that way," Jeroboam said, moving towards an open chair. "I'm a man that likes his space. So what's going on here... somebody forming a posse?"19

"Something like that," Perfect said. "Take a binder off the pile... we're up to page 27."20

"Why don't you give me the abridged version?" he asked. "What am I killing and when?"21

"Whatever nasties Bishop O'Halloran can bring through a dimensional aperture, and whenever it opens, assuming we can't stop him," Dandy said. "I'm Dandy, by the way."22

"Good to know... I'm right peachy myself," Jeroboam said. "So... why aren't we just taking out this Hallorahan guy?"23

"Well, he's kind of a public figure," Perfect said, "and without knowing what kind of power he actually has, we don't know if we'll succeed. Right now, our only advantage is that he's got no idea anybody's on to him. He thinks all the information we have was destroyed."24

As the assembled heroes debated the merits of a frontal assault versus more information gathering, Lily was wandering numbly through the twilit streets around Perfect's neighborhood. Every joint in her body hurt... every limb seemed impossibly heavy. She wanted to give up and lie down, but she was afraid. Gradually, she became aware that she was heading in a specific direction, and then slowly, her tired brain realized that she was following a trail... she'd picked up a scent, an impossibly familiar scent. She broke into a sort of run, ending at the mouth of an alley. Stacy was there, dressed in plainclothes but with her belt holding her gun, club, and other equipment. She was searching for something at the blocked off end of the alley, seeming unsure of what she was looking for.25

"Staces!" Lily shouted, running towards her.26

"Lily! What are you doing here? Oh... of course. I knew Little Miss Perfect was hiding something but I never dreamed it was you," Stacy said. "I'm going to have to have a long chat with her, about taking things that don't belong to her. Someone needs to tell her that it's against the law."27

"I'm sorry, Staces," Lily said, throwing her arms around her lover, who only pushed her away. "What's wrong?"28

"I really thought I could do it," she said sadly. "I really thought I could fix you... but you weren't broken after all. You were just born bad inside. Why'd you run away from me, Lilypad? Why'd you run away?"29

"I didn't... I had to get out of the church," Lily said. "I had to get both of us out of there, before it..."30

"Before the bomb went off? What did you know? Did one of your freaky friends set up the bomb?" Stacy asked. She punched Lily in the stomach, doubling her over. "Did they warn you off?"31

"No!"32

"Three hundred people died, Lilypad," Stacy said, grabbing her by the back of the head and slamming her face into the side of a big blue metal dumpster, then letting go. "Three hundred good and honest, hardworking people died because of you."33

"I didn't do anything," Lily cried, down on her knees.34

"And children, Lilypad," Stacy went on, kicking her in the side of the face, knocking her to the ground. "There were kids inside that church. Families... mothers. Do you know how many people's mothers you killed?"35

"I'm sorry, Staces, I'm sorry!"36

"Stop calling me that!" Stacy shrieked, losing all control over the register of her voice. She continued, punctuating every word with a sharp kick to the ribs. "My. Name. Is. Stacy. Bishop. Not Staces... Stacy!"37

Back in the conference room, Jessica felt a sudden spike of stabbing pain in her head, repeated seveal times.38

"I... need to get some air," she said.39

"Is something wrong?" Perfect asked.40

"I don't know," she said. "I don't think so. This doesn't feel like a psychic thing... just a headache."41

"I have some aspirin," Alcheman offered helpfully. "Or an herbal remedy, if you're allergic."42

"No, thanks," she said. "Just need to take a walk and clear my head. Maybe have a quick look around the neighborhood, make sure... nobody's around who... shouldn't be."43

Once downstairs and outside, the pain returned, stronger than before. She realized it was a directional sensation... and when she moved to follow it, the pain became more focused, but also somehow more bearable. It was like scratching an itch... except that it really wasn't like that at all. She had no frame of reference, though, and no better basis for comparison. She followed the mental tug, becoming immersed in it. Suddenly, she was in the opening of an alley, watching one woman stomping on the unmoving form of another. With sickening clarity, she heard bones crunching. It took her an endlessly extended moment to realize that she was watching Stacy Bishop, the suspicious cop, beating her own girlfriend to death.44

"Takes a pretty big woman to beat up someone who doesn't fight back, doesn't it?" Jessica asked, fighting back waves of nausea and vertigo.45

Normally, Jessica kept her mind shielded. Reaching out with her kinetic powers was second nature, but for her telepathy, anything beyond basic empathy required an active, focused effort. She'd considered herself lucky that her powers had developed that way... there were some telepaths who couldn't even live in populated areas, they were so open to the hurt and grief that surrounded them from all sides. She'd never been one of them.46

Now, possibly because of the sheer level of emotion or the strengths of the minds involved, she felt waves of raw emotion flowing into her. She felt the hard, cold, mad rage that washed off of Stacy, pounding like a drumbeat at the edges of her psyche. She he felt the pain radiating off the downed Lily, not as pain but as the awareness of it. At first she had been horrified by the tableau in the alley... now, as the pain fed into her, she became enraged. She knew uncontrolled anger was dangerous for a psi of her power, so she channelled it back, down to the back of her brain, where she could work it out in a controlled fashion. The pain kept coming, feeding her rage; she kept pushing it back. The ongoing subliminal assault from Stacy's mind didn't make it easy.47

"You'd better keep walking... this is police business," Stacy said, arrogantly flashing her ID and badge.48

"Police business?" Jessica spat. The badge was torn out of Stacy's wallet, flung with hurricane force to embed itself several inches deep in the wooden fence at the end of the alley. "I don't see any police here."49

Stacy stared over her shoulder at the still-vibrating piece of metal for several seconds before turning her gaze back to Jessica, madness dancing in her eyes.50

"You just made the last mistake of your life," Stacy said, grabbing her nightstick off her belt. She charged, swinging the truncheon at the psionic's head. The blow was halted mid-swing by an invisible force; the nightstick pulled out of Stacy's grip, twirling end over end as it smashed against the brick wall and shattered into splinters. 51

"Won't be needing that. The gun either," Jessica said, mentally ripping it from its holster and flinging it over the fence. She felt a rising pulse pounding in her ears that nearly drowned out the sound of her own words. "I've never met anybody whose mind was so ugly inside, it hurts to look at... but you? Whatever was beautiful in you died long ago. You'e all broken inside. Maybe that's why you want to fix everyone. You want to something to fix? Start with your wrist."52

With a sudden wrenching motion, the bones in Stacy's snapped. She howled and grabbed it with her other hand.53

"You like controlling people with drugs?" Jessica said. Stacy's eyes went wide. Jessica's mind was linked up with Lily's, and she felt keenly the ache of the addiction fostered by Stacy. She couldn't help comparing it to the horror her friends had recently been through in Crescent City, when their actions were controlled by chemical devices designed by a madman. "I'm in her mind. I know everything you did to her... I know what she went through. I know what it felt like. Now, so do you."54

She flooded Stacy's system with the physical memory of withdrawl, compressed into a single instant. The woman staggered, but incredibly, kept her footing.55

"The sick thing is... you didn't even need to do that," Jessica said. "She was already so badly beaten. She wanted so badly to love you. I can feel it in her... she would have stayed with you through anything. She was already addicted to you."56

"You know, I can revisit every hurt on you that you've ever given this woman. The bruised kidneys," Jessica said, painfully squeezing the indicated organs with her mind. Her psychokinesis had always acted as an extension of herself, but now, tapping her seething rage, she was able to inflict the injuries she read from Lily's memory without thinking, and she did so. "The black eyes. Busted nose. Broken teeth. Cracked ribs. Everything."57

Unbidden, a swirling nimbus of psychic lightning began to form around her head. Stacy was pushed and tossed in a variety of directions by the psychic attacks, then she dropped heavily to the ground.58

"I could beat you until you pass out, and then wake you up and do it all over again," Jessica said as Stacy writhed on the ground in pain, her nervous system now receiving direct stimulation from Jessica's kinetic power run amok. The words were flowing from her mouth as freely as the power flowed from her mind. She was dimly aware that her feet were no longer on the ground. "I can make you feel it all... but what you did to her that I can never do to you is make you believe you deserve it, and that would be real justice. I can't do that... but I can make you suffer. I can make you burn."59

Jessica could feel Stacy's body temperature began to rise, could see her clothes began to smoke and smolder. She hadn't used her pyrokinetic abilities on another human being, not since... not for a long time. It was only recently that she'd been persuaded by Garrote to really cut lose with her flame again at all. Now, as she felt the power building, she felt like laughing and crying at the same time. 60

"Stop it," Lily gurgled, coughing up blood. Incredibly, she had managed to prop herself up on one arm. Blood and tears streamed down her face.  "Leave her alone!"61

Lily gestured weakly and a piece of scrap lumber by the side of the dumpster wobbled through the air, clattering to the pavement below Jessica's feet. The tiny, ineffectual attack had spent Lily's strength and she collapsed into unconsciousness.62

Literally and metaphorically, Jessica came down to earth.63

She emptied the contents of her stomach out on the ground between the two broken women, then squatted, dry-heaving for longer than she knew.64

Back in Perfect's conference room, Pamela Entweiler, the eight and a half foot tall mutant strongwoman formerly known as Pummella, arrived carrying the solid-frozen form of Perfect's crimefighting partner and teammate, Ray Vallenzio. The only sign of damage from the catastrophe she'd survived was the absence of her thick, wavy blonde hair. She was dressed in a trenchcoat. Ray, as usual, was stripped to the waist, exposing his mystical red brands. He'd been caught in an attack stance by one of the bishop's spells, and was now stiff as stone and completely unresponsive.65

"Knock knock," Pamela said. "Did somebody order a half-naked man?"66

"How did you get in?" Perfect asked her irritably.67

"Um, I had a key?" 68

"I got new locks," Perfect said.69

"And now you're going to need a new door. Look, I know you and I aren't exactly best girlfriends but I had a church blow up in my face so cut me some slack, okay?" Pamela said. "Anyway, you're going to want to turn on the TV... I think we might have made the local news."70

Perfect, who was holding the remote anyway, turned on one of the giant plasma screens and flipped to a local channel, where a female newscaster was narrating over a still photo of Bishop Rory O'Halloran.71

"...miraculously survived an eight story fall after being hurled through the window of Star Harbor General Hospital by a superpowered attacker he identified as Ray Vallenzio, the self-described 'fabulous Fire-Breather.' Vallenzio was seen fleeing the hospital in the company of St. Bede's bombing survivor, Pamela Entweiler, who was apparently not as badly injured as reported. Bishop O'Halloran was treated for shock on the scene and released."72

The picture cut to the anchorwoman back in the studio73

"The bishop declined to speak to the press, saying he was too badly shaken, but city councilman and state senate candidate John Lydia had this to say:"74

The familiar face of John Lydia appeared on screen. The friendly, almost fatherly attitude that Perfect had come to associate with the politician was gone, replaced with a mask of anger.75

"As much as it pains me to say it, it's clear now that a conspiracy of masked elements was behind the horrific wedding attack. At this point it seems likely that the bride, Ms. Entweiler herself, was involved, and she only allowed herself to be caught in the blast to throw off suspicion. The whole thing may have been organized as retribution for those of us who would take a stand for law and order, who would take control of our city back from these costumed thugs with a God complex. No longer content with violently and selectively enforcing the laws of the land, they now seek to impose their own order on those who threaten their power. In light of these recent events, I urge the police and the district attorney to take appropriate action... and to my constituents, let me repeat what you already know: John Lydia does not back down. Come November, there will be a new order in this state..."76

Perfect switched off the screen.77

"You threw the Bishop out the window?" she asked.78

"Seemed like the right thing to do at the time," Pamela explained. "Look, he's completely physically invulnerable, and he froze Ray like a statue by saying a few words. What else could I do?"79

"What words?" Alcheman asked.80

"I don't know... it was some weird language. For all I know, it was klaatu verada nycto," Pamela said. "Or bippity boppity boo. All that stuff sounds alike to me."81

"Drat... if I knew the language, I'd have a better chance of undoing this spell... and figuring out where he's getting his power from."82

"He called it the 'forbidden tongue,' if that helps."83

"It might... but that's still a rather broad description. I could come up with a general purpose counterspell," Alcheman said, "I just hate to resort to shotgun techniques without trying for a specific diagnosis and solution. 84

"He's so warm," Willow said, nuzzling her face on Ray's bare chest. "Keep him like this?"85

"No, Will," Dandy said. "And stop that!"86

"Fine," Willow said, shooting her spoilsport sister a baleful glare. She muttered a few words and then bit Ray on the flesh part of his arm.87

"Ow, hey!" he yelled, jumping back. "Willow, what did I tell you about teeth that... time that never happened because I've never, ever done anything with you, heh... hiya, Dandy. Um... what am I doing here? Oh my God, he must have teleported me... I have to get back to the hospital. The bishop's going to kill Pam!"88

"That's so one hour ago," Pamela said. "The Cliff's Notes is, he froze you with a spell, then spent forever talking apparently just because he loves the sound of his own voice. I woke up, tossed the bishop out the window, and now we're wanted for the church bombing."89

"You threw the bishop out the window?" Ray repeated. 90

"Let's not lose focus of what's really important here," Dandy said. She was holding a whining Willow back away from Ray's extra warm form by the scruff of her neck. "Which is me ripping your arm off and beating you to death with it, you slime. I told you to stay away from my sister!"91

"Hey, she comes on to me!"92

"Stop it! Nobody's ripping Ray's arms off until the crisis is resolved," Perfect said, "after which it's going to be done on a first-come, first serve basis. Now can we focus? Bad guy at large. World ending."93

"Young lady, how on earth did you do that?" Alcheman asked Willow.94

"Magic," she said, with a coldly cutting air of what-a-stupid-question.95

"She's never trained that much, but she seems to be kind of a natural," Dandy said. "If only we could get her to do that kind of stuff all the time... unfortuantely, she doesn't seem to like performing on demand."96

"Well," Perfect said. "I guess this means the element of surprise has gone... out the window. The only question is, what do we do about it?"97

"I know what we do," Dani said. They were the first words out of her mouth since the meeting had started.98

"We kill him."99

Next: The End100

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