Part Fourteen: Wheels Within Wheels
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Hostage Situation
Part Fourteen: Wheels Within Wheels
[A/N 1: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
[A/N 2: The reason this (and the chapter of Darker Path preceding) is so late is because I've been on holidays for the last 12 days, and will be for another two. Currently (Oct 12), I'm in Melbourne (Australia), basically on the other side of the country from Townsville, my home town. Over that time, I've visited three capital cities (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne) and racked up over 2,500 km in the air (with another 2,000 km to go). I've also attended my best mate's wedding, visited Taronga Zoo, gone whale watching, and had a look at the Melbourne Aquarium. Right now, I'm in the middle of a three-day session of visiting the Melbourne PAX convention. It's been fun, if exhausting. Whoo.]
Director Emily Piggot, PRT ENE
Despite the almost universal agreement among the capes and officers under her command (the obvious exception being Assault) that Marquis needed to be kept on as short a leash as possible until the opportunity came to boot him back into the Birdcage, there had been a surprising lack of volunteers to head up the surveillance effort. Emily wasn't sure whether this was an indication of how much respect (or even outright fear) Marquis was held in, a disinclination to piss her off by failing in this remarkably important task, or (least likely but also least palatable) an undercurrent of sympathy for Assault's point of view.
No matter what the reason was, she didn't like it. She liked even less the fact that Calvert had volunteered for the duty; not because she thought he couldn't do it, but because his insinuations at the meeting had her concerned about how he might go about it. Marquis was the highest profile case they had going at the moment, and even a whiff of mishandling would bring down all sorts of unwelcome attention from those above her in the chain of command.
Unfortunately, the fact remained that he was indeed the only volunteer, and Emily really needed this to happen. If she listened to her misgivings and scratched his application, not only would there be zero surveillance on the man at a time when she absolutely needed eyes on him twenty-four/seven, but people like Chief Director Costa-Brown would be asking her pointed questions about why she chose to deny the PRT the chance of getting eyes and ears on a notorious criminal.
She couldn't even articulate why she disliked and distrusted Calvert so much. It was indeed true that he'd shot his superior officer in the back once upon a time, but that had been judged a case of exigent circumstances by a court-martial: not good, but not bad enough to actually incarcerate him for. On the other hand, the court had been operating under the unspoken but very real need to hush up the PRT's repeated missteps and outright blunders during the Ellisburg operation, which had almost certainly (though Emily doubted she'd be able to find a single officer willing to admit to this) swayed the verdict toward 'shut up and go away'.
But beyond all that, there was something else going on with him, something that made her neck hairs stand on end. If he'd been a cape, she would've been able to understand it, because this was exactly how she felt about capes. But he wasn't, so that couldn't be it. She just didn't know what it was.
Still, immediate requirements took precedence over ill-formed worries, so she pushed the latter aside and gave the man standing before her desk a hard stare. "Commander Calvert."
"Ma'am?" Calvert's posture was correct and his tone respectful. She chose to ignore everything else for the moment, because she needed this to happen.
"I've had a brief prepared for you, covering Marquis' place of residence and the places and people he's been visiting so far. You will conduct surveillance on him, specifically according to the guidelines provided within the brief. You will not exceed that mandate in any way without first checking with me personally." That was about as unequivocal as she could get without actually going along on the op with him.
Calvert nodded thoughtfully. "How close are we allowed to get?"
She'd expected questions like this. "It will all be in the brief, but in short: you are not to initiate contact with him. If he makes your people in any way, then you will break contact, report in, and resume surveillance via less direct means."
"And Panacea?" he asked.
"Panacea was never in the Birdcage." She made the observation as blunt as she could. "You will only surveil her in the context of being near him. The strictures against making contact are just as stringent for her, because every time we annoy her, we make it just that little bit harder to put him away again even if he slips up."
"She may carry messages for him." It wasn't quite an objection. "How do we guard against that?"
She'd already considered the problem. It was very much a rock-and-hard-place situation. "For now, the assumption is that she isn't willing to participate in criminal activity for him, and that she's smart enough not to carry a letter to another criminal. If we find proof to the contrary, then I will alter the rules of engagement. But until that time, you will operate to both the letter and the spirit of the brief. Is that clearly understood?"
"Yes, ma'am." They were both aware of the recorder in the desk, ensuring that there would be zero misunderstandings as to who was at fault if Calvert's team overstepped their bounds. She wanted Marquis back in the Birdcage just as badly as the rest of the PRT did, but she knew damn well that if it wasn't done by the book, it wouldn't be done at all. "One more question. What are the options regarding searches for incriminating material, in the case of questionable activity? Who do we go through to get warrants for that?"
"Me." She stood, hands planted firmly on her desk, ignoring the twinge from her calf muscles. "I want you to impress on each member of your strike squad just how important this is. I'm fully aware that that there's a lot of emotion riding on this. We all want Marquis behind bars again, but the last thing I need is any of my subordinates colouring outside the lines to get us there, like the Brockton Bay Brigade did back in the day."
"What they did worked," he protested. "He went to the Birdcage."
"That was ten years ago. Things were different, then. He had a huge number of charges against him, and there wasn't a lawyer on the east coast willing to step up and defend him adequately. If we slip up even once, he almost certainly has the funds to hire on someone like Quinn Calle. Hell, Calle might even choose to do it pro bono, just for the exposure it would get him."
"Calle's just a lawyer—" he began, the hint of a sneer in his voice.
"A lawyer who gets more villains off the hook than any other member of the Bar," she cut in. "I don't want to see even the suggestion of going off the reservation with this. We have to do it by the book, every step of the way. No bullshit beg-for-forgiveness-afterward stunts."
He didn't look thrilled. "It sounds to me like you're tying our hands before we even get started."
"Not my doing." She shook her head. "It's just the reality of the situation. Any case we bring against him has to be even more immaculate than normal. Double-check everything, document everything, and for God's sake have your body-cams running every second you're within a city block of him. Is that understood?"
"Body-cams." It wasn't quite a protest. "Is that an order, ma'am?" PRT strike squads didn't tend to use body-cameras, as delicate electronics didn't tend to stand up to cape powers. Sometimes she suspected they pushed back against the idea more as a matter of principle than out of actual practicality, but this time they were going to be shit out of luck.
"It is very much an order, Commander Calvert. Putting Marquis away again is going to take more than a bit of luck, which means we need to stack the odds in our favour as hard as we can. Also, when it comes to actually slapping the cuffs on him, I don't want either Calle or Panacea being able to claim that we treated him differently to any other suspect."
He took a deep breath but the expected push-back didn't materialise. This was good for his career, because she had exactly zero tolerance for any backtalk from him right at that moment. "Message received loud and clear, ma'am. I'll get right on it."
She didn't smile, because she still didn't trust him as far as she could spit him. Unfortunately, right now she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Seating herself again, she watched as he left her office, closing the door behind him.
I just hope this doesn't blow up in my face.
Coil
Thomas Calvert didn't slam Piggot's door on the way out, mainly because he had a firm handle on his temper. The nerve of that damned woman! She was all but accusing him of intending to do… well, exactly what he had planned.
She hadn't come out and said it to his face, of course. That made the narrative harder for him to manipulate, which had probably been her intention all along. If she didn't give him something concrete to object to, he couldn't play the injured party. This made it harder for him to put her on the back foot.
The irritating thing was, while he was more inclined toward sneaking and double-dealing, she had ten years of experience in handling people like him. Unlike some who eventually gave way and let him do what he wanted, she had a limit. Beyond that point, she tolerated zero bullshit.
In the other timeline, she had managed to goad him into saying something unwise. She used that as an excuse to relieve him of duty, pending a court-martial for insubordination. While he could kill her in that timeline—something he had done a thousand times before, just because he wanted to—it would get him nowhere.
The only way to continue on as a PRT officer in good standing was to accept the mission as she'd given it to him, and make the best of things. Of course, his capacity for making the best of things was only matched by his ability to lie, cheat, murder and steal his way to victory, so he felt reasonably optimistic in that regard.
The broad strokes of his plan were still viable. Panacea had to die, to make way for the fall of Marquis (whether this led to the morgue or the Birdcage, he didn't care) and the disgrace of Emily Piggot.
His plans would come to fruition, and he would end up on top, no matter how many people had to go down to make it happen.
Few things in life were a guarantee. This was one of them.
Medhall Building
Kaiser
"Have you seen Purity?" Max looked up from his phone, after it had gone to voicemail four times in a row. The first message he'd left had been a masterpiece of restraint, but in the second and third he'd allowed more than a little sarcasm to creep into his tone. His fourth had been downright scathing, but that still got him no closer to speaking with Kayden.
"Hm." James tilted his head in thought. "Not for some little time. She spoke of an errand she needed to attend to. I chose not to inquire as to its nature."
"Well, maybe you should have." Max gave him a hard stare. "With the ABB off the board, we have an opportunity like no other. We can't have our most pivotal members simply vanishing into the ether without giving the rest of us notice, or at least leaving their phones on."
James raised an eyebrow. "She's a proud woman, Max. I have no doubt she needs her space, just like the rest of us do."
"She's my wife." Max's grip on his phone tightened, his voice edged with irritation as he replied. "If anyone's got the right to know what she's doing and where she's going, it's me."
"Hm." This time it was a chuckle rather than an introspective sound. "I've been married for twenty years, and I know for a fact that's a privilege and not a right. If Purity chooses not to accord it to you, then you do not have it."
James's claim might have made sense to some people, but not to Max Anders. "Well, where would she be, if not here or at her apartment with Aster?"
This time, James gave him an odd look. "You do not think she has other places she can be?"
"I know she has her phone on her when she goes shopping, and she doesn't usually shower at this time of day." Max knew he was being extremely generous and fair-minded about the whole thing. He'd given her time to get out of the shower, if that was what she was doing. However, she still hadn't answered or called him back.
"So you do not think she may be simply out for a stroll, or down at the Boardwalk? Is that not where she met Panacea?" James seemed intent on downplaying the whole situation. Were he not happily married, and had Kayden been anyone else, Max may have suspected him of trying to cover up an affair or something similar.
"She knows damn well that she needs to be available at any hour of the night or day." It was only common sense. Her position as his lieutenant in the Empire Eighty-Eight was contingent on her being able to step up at a moment's notice. Also, she was his wife (in his view, the separation was merely attention-seeking behaviour) which put the seal on the whole matter.
"Well, then, have you attempted to call the apartment landline? It may be that her cell-phone is out of charge, or otherwise malfunctioning." James spread his hands and raised his eyebrows, and after a moment Max conceded that he might have a point.
"Okay, fine. I'll call it now." Max had to pause to get the number out of his phone's storage, not being one that he knew by rote. "But if she's not there, then there's something seriously wrong going on."
"I doubt there's any real problem. Anyone who knew her real identity would come after us first, while if someone did attack her and Aster without knowing who she was, it would involve a closed-casket funeral. But suit yourself." James leaned back in his chair and watched as Max located the number.
When he tapped the call icon, it rang several times, to the point where Max was about to end the call. But then it was picked up.
"Hello?" It was Theo's voice. He sounded nervous, but that was normal for the boy.
"Theo." Max spoke firmly. "Tell me where Kayden is."
"Uh … Kayden's fine. She, uh, just stepped out for a minute. Everything's fine here."
Max inhaled sharply, frustration boiling over. "I didn't ask how she was. I asked where she is. Has she been at the apartment while I called? Where is she, Theo?"
"Uh, I don't know right now, but she's fine." Max's antennae went up. Something was off. "Uh, gotta go. Aster needs me." The phone handset went down, and the call cut off.
"Well?" asked James. "Where is she?"
"Not certain." Max stared out the window for a second, deep in thought. "Theo said she was fine, that everything was fine … but he didn't call her to the phone. I think he was lying about something."
Now James tilted his head. "Max, I've met your boy. There is no way on earth he would have the nerve to lie to you. Or anyone, to be honest. He's far too timid. Are you sure you're reading the situation correctly?"
Max pinched his earlobe lightly with his thumbnail as he worked his way through the thought process that James's question had sparked. "He'd never lie to me of his own accord. He knows better than that. But if he was put up to it by someone else, he might. Which means …" Abruptly, he stood up from his chair. "I have to get over there, right now."
"What? Why?" James rose as well. "Do you think there's a problem?"
"Well, if there isn't, there soon will be." Max reached under his desk and pressed the button that electronically locked his office door. Then he pressed the intercom button that connected him to his personal assistant. While Ms Harcourt was an absolute gem for organisation and administration, Max still had no idea of her political beliefs, so she hadn't yet been read in on his true identity, or even the secrets of Medhall. It would become remarkably inconvenient if they had to dispose of her because she objected to such things. Better to keep her in the dark and continue to benefit from her numerous talents. "Please hold all my calls and reschedule my appointments for tomorrow. I will be busy for a while."
"Yes, sir." Ms Harcourt didn't ask any questions, which was one of her more endearing qualities. She took the information she was given, and ran with it.
Satisfied all was secure on that front, Max stepped aside from the chair and turned to the back wall of his office. Reaching out, he pressed the hidden switch that slid aside the panel concealing the secret elevator, then laid his hand on the biometric scanner thus revealed.
The elevator door opened and Max stepped in, with James following behind. It was a snug fit, though quite adequate for two adults. Any more people than that, however, would find it somewhat cramped.
There was no need for buttons inside the elevator, as it only had two destinations. Once the door closed, the elevator started its descent. It was fast, but Max still chafed at the time it was taking.
"Talk to me, Max." James seemed to be fully aware of his disquiet. "What do you think is happening at Purity's apartment that requires your presence right at this moment?"
"I'm not one hundred percent sure," Max reluctantly admitted. "But Theo was definitely nervous about something, and either unable or unwilling to get Kayden to come to the phone. This says to me that something's wrong in that apartment, and I need to find out what."
James nodded. "You make a valid point. Do you want me to call the rest of the Empire in on this?"
As the elevator door opened, Max considered that. On the one hand, if Kayden was taking advantage of the current unrest to make some sort of move toward taking Aster out of his reach, he didn't want his marital problems broadcast far and wide through the team. However, on the other, if there was an actual problem at Kayden's apartment, having backup could be invaluable.
"… just the ones who can respond the fastest," he hedged. "Whatever's going on, we don't want to jeopardise Kayden's secret identity."
In truth, Max only cared about that insofar as it was linked to his own secret identity; if she hadn't been married to him, or part of the Empire, he wouldn't have given a damn.
"Understood." James may or may not have picked up on that nuance, but Max didn't give a damn about that either.
They climbed into one of the anonymous cars that Max kept in the sub-basement garage for getting around town on the quiet, and he accelerated toward the exit ramp while James made the call.
If it turned out to be just a case of miscommunication on Theo's part, he would have harsh words with the boy about saying what needed to be said. However, if it was more serious than that, then he absolutely would not stop at harsh words.
One question niggled at him as he drove:
Why is Theo still at Kayden's? He was supposed to be back hours ago.
Kayden's Apartment
Panacea
"Uh, gotta go. Aster needs me." Theo put the phone down, then stepped away from it.
Around the room, the removalists Dad had hired continued to ferry packed boxes out the door while others packed the last of Kayden's belongings according to her instructions. Dad, who had stood by with his hands clasped behind his back while Theo answered the phone, raised an eyebrow. "I presume he didn't buy your act."
"Sorry, sir." Theo's shoulders slumped and his eyes darted away, avoiding contact. "I can never lie to him. I'm too scared to."
I stood up from the sofa I'd been sitting on, allowing two of the guys to pick it up and walk out the door with it, and put my hand on Theo's shoulder. "Hey, don't beat yourself up. What did he say, exactly?"
"He, uh, wanted to know where Kayden was, and why she wasn't answering her phone." Theo shrugged. "I did my best, but he just kept pushing."
"Well, I'm glad you did." Kayden stepped in and hugged him. "If I'd answered it, he'd probably have me half-convinced to stay by now. That man has a talent for getting under my skin."
"But why are you even moving?" asked Theo. "I thought you liked this apartment."
Kayden grimaced. "I do, but I'm entering into a working arrangement with Mr Matheson, and your father won't exactly approve. We both know he doesn't, uh …"
"Take things like that lying down?" Dad suggested. "From what I've seen, the man's a control freak of the highest order."
Theo hunched his shoulders, falling silent. I could see he agreed but was too scared to voice it. I'd only met Theo an hour ago, but he was throwing out all the signs of someone whose upbringing had been less than stellar. I could sympathise.
"That's actually being kind to him." Kayden nodded toward her stepson. "It's also why I want Theo to come with. The moment I vanish, Max is going to assume he knew something whether he did or not, and if I left him behind, the interrogation would not be kind. Besides, Aster needs her brother."
"The need to be with one's family is something I am well acquainted with," Dad assured her. "Whether you move into my main accommodation or one of the subsidiary properties I am in the process of purchasing, there will be room for all of you." He glanced around. "It seems that our work here is almost complete. I've never needed to vacate a premises ahead of a vengeful ex-husband, but there's a first time for everything."
"And that's our cue." I took Theo's arm. "C'mon, let's get Aster downstairs."
"Um, okay." Theo followed, his eyes revealing a swirl of unasked questions. I noticed his hesitation; even without his natural shyness—something I planned to help him overcome—he clearly felt overwhelmed by the rapid pace of events.
Aster, on the other hand, took it in her stride. Despite the ongoing upheaval of almost every part of her life, the little munchkin was at her cutest today, gurgling and pointing at things from her stroller as Theo and I rode down in the elevator. We exited the building and headed for the car—a nice anonymous sedan—that Dad had bought a little while ago. With the spare key fob—Dad had thought ahead—I bipped it open as we were walking up to it.
"Okay, so there's stuff going on that I still don't really understand." Theo got Aster out of the stroller while I opened the back door of the car. I watched as he leaned in and got her settled in the baby seat, a lot more expertly than I would have.
I started to try to fold the stroller down, but I couldn't quite get the hang of it. "Well, ask away. And can you give me a hand with this?"
"Sure." He reached in and flicked a catch I hadn't spotted, and the whole thing just collapsed in on itself. "There you go. Uh, this thing between your dad and Kayden, it's not just a business thing, is it?"
I tilted my head and looked at him speculatively. From the first moment I'd met him, I'd suspected there was a brain in that head, and he'd just proven it. "No, it's not," I confirmed. Reaching down, I popped the trunk and stuck the collapsed stroller on top of the luggage already there, then closed it again, just as Dad and Kayden exited the building. "Let's go."
When I'd made the suggestion that we team up with Purity, her first response was that it was impossible, that Kaiser would work against us at every turn. Whether this came about via pressure in her civilian life, outright attacks on Dad or me by the Empire roster, or somewhere in between, something would happen. The chance of innocents being caught in the firing line as a direct result was somewhat more than zero, and I was not fine with that. Neither, gratifyingly enough, was Dad. To be fair, for him it was more of a public-image situation, but so long as the end result remained the same, I wasn't about to criticise him for his actual reasons.
This had led to the next logical point in our discussion. While we couldn't do much about preventing attacks from the Empire while Dad was out in costume (not that he went out in costume all that much), we could absolutely remove Kayden from the line of fire. Dad was buying properties discreetly, using methods that might have been questionable (but I was reasonably sure weren't illegal) to keep our identities under wraps. Legality aside, I figured the moral aspect was probably more important at the moment.
We climbed into the back seat of the car, with Aster between us, and closed the doors just as Kayden reached it. Behind us, I heard the U-Haul truck (with Dad at the wheel) start up and trundle off down the street. The front door opened, and Kayden got in. "Ready to go?" she asked.
"Absolutely," I said, feeling the adrenaline singing through my veins. We weren't in any danger—at least, I hoped we weren't—but this was still way out of my usual comfort zone. I wasn't quite sure when I'd started to see that as being a good thing, but I suspected meeting Fred Jones had something to do with it.
"Aster's secure?" she asked next, even as she started the car. I surreptitiously tugged at my seatbelt, wondering exactly when I'd done it up—excitement was funny like that—and looked out the window to see if I could spot Kaiser coming. It seemed there was nothing to worry about yet, but that was going to change very shortly if Dad was right (and he usually was).
"Yes," Theo replied as he snapped his belt into place. "I made sure of it."
And then, just after the truck trundled around the corner up ahead, a car came down the street past the corner, moving at speed. Not one person in ten recognised me as Panacea out of costume on a good day, but I ducked down anyway. With my eyes just above the windowsill, even though it whipped past in a fraction of a second, I was absolutely certain that the driver was none other than Max Anders. I didn't recognise the guy in the passenger seat.
"Don't look back," Kayden said quietly as I sat up again. I realised that she and Theo had ducked down as well. "It'll take them a couple of minutes to realise the place is empty. We do not want them recalling a car with suspiciously familiar people in it." With admirable control, she pulled the car away from the curb and started off after the truck.
"No, we don't," I agreed, then let out a long sigh. "Theo, are you alright?"
"Uh huh." Theo's tone was a little higher than it had been before. "Mom, what's this really about? Amelia says it's not a business deal. Is this a cape thing?"
I raised my eyebrows. Theo was connecting the dots a lot faster than I'd expected him to.
Kayden's next sigh was one of resignation. "Yes, it's a cape thing. But I'm going to need you to keep that to yourself, okay? Not just for my sake, but for theirs."
Theo nodded slowly, his eyes going from Kayden to me. "Mr Matheson … he's Marquis, isn't he?"
"Theo—" she began, but I held up my hand.
"It's okay, Ms Russel. Yeah, Theo. He's Marquis, and he's my dad as well. I guess I kind of gave it away just by showing up, huh?" The word that Panacea was Marquis' daughter was only a little less prevalent by now than the word that Marquis was out of the Birdcage. Anyone who was even slightly on the ball when it came to current events was fully aware of both facts.
He shrugged modestly. "I guess. Though most people didn't grow up with capes."
I grinned. As divergent as our lives were on most points, that was definitely an aspect we had in common. "Right back atcha."
Kaiser
"Where the hell is she?" Max's voice echoed through the empty apartment as he stormed from room to room. He threw doors open, the sounds of them hitting the walls echoing through the empty apartment, each thud punctuating his growing anger. Every room was the same: stripped of everything useful, including any clues to Kayden's current whereabouts. There wasn't so much as a Post-it note, or a fridge for it to go on.
When he returned to the living room, he discovered that James had remained by the front door, gazing around with a calculating air. "She's gone, Max. Were I a betting man, I would wager a large amount of money that she never intends to return."
A flicker of understanding crossed Max's face as he pieced together the implications of James's words. "And she's kidnapped both my son and my infant daughter in the process. We need to find her, to get them back." Kayden would pay dearly for this betrayal.
"Hm." James nodded. "Look around. What do you see?"
Irritated, Max did as he was told, but no great epiphany burst upon him. "An empty room, in an empty apartment. What are you trying to show me?"
"How well furnished was it?" pressed James. "Did she have more than could fit into her car?" The car that, at that moment, was still parked outside.
"Yes, it was well furnished." Just the sofa alone would have required extensive disassembly before it would fit into Kayden's sedan, and it would certainly have taken up all available space. "I'm not quite sure what you're getting at."
"Four words." James seemed almost to be savouring Max's current inability to think through the problem. "Who. Helped. Her. Move?"
"Oh." Max's head came up and he looked around the living room with new eyes. Kayden's possessions would certainly have required a considerable amount of effort to move in bulk, especially given that she was living in the place as of yesterday. There was no way that she would've been able to move everything out in less than a week, even with Theo's assistance. "Oh."
James gestured at the open door. "People living in these conditions tend to be nosy. While you were rampaging, I asked a few questions of her neighbours, assisted by a couple of minor bribes."
Max chose to ignore the word 'rampaging'. He was Kaiser. He didn't rampage. "And what did you find out?"
"That a medium to large group of men wearing overalls marked 'Brockton Bay Removalists' spent the last hour emptying out Purity's apartment," James reported. "They were accompanied by Purity herself—not in costume, of course—as well as another man and a teenage girl. No specific descriptions of the man or the girl, save that they were white and average looking. Maybe brown hair, but that's not a given."
"So, basically we're looking at forty percent of the men and girls in Brockton Bay." Max tried not to sound too sarcastic, but it was difficult. "Not sure how helpful that is."
"The company name might be," James prompted. "If we ask them about the job they did …"
Max's brain finally managed to fight off the pervasive distraction and clicked into gear. "Of course! We can get a name for their employer and a destination for where they took Kayden's things!"
"That's what I was thinking, yes." James raised an eyebrow. "Do you think we should also contact the police, over the kidnapping charges?"
For a moment Max was tempted, but then he shook his head. The time for the legal system would come later, after he'd brought Kayden to heel himself. Until then, the police would just get in the way.
Purity
The new apartment can do with a makeover, Kayden decided as she directed where the removalists were to put things. However, it wasn't high on her priorities right then, and it was definitely something she could handle on her own accord. The important part was, she and Aster were out from under Max's thumb (hopefully forever) and she'd managed to take Theo with her too.
She still wasn't quite sure how Marquis had managed this. It certainly wouldn't have been paid for by Panacea; from her own conversations with the young cape, Amelia didn't charge for her services. Turning, she looked at the supervillain and his daughter the hero.
"Will it suffice?" he asked, misinterpreting her glance, or maybe not. The man was a master of tact, when he chose to be.
She gestured around at the apartment, and smiled. "It's perfect. I was just wondering … well, I hope I'm not bankrupting you, that's all. All this, at short notice, it can't be cheap."
His smile, though austere, was genuine. "Hardly. Even if it were twice the price, I wouldn't begrudge you. As you pointed out, and as Max was eager to cash in on, I do owe you a significant debt of gratitude, and I always pay my debts."
Kayden shook her head dismissively. "That's a Max thing, not me. I was never going to call that in, and you know it. Besides, Amelia saved my purse from being snatched the first time we met, and Aster loves her."
His smile widened. "Your daughter does seem to be a good judge of character, I'll grant her that."
"Um …" Theo began, then shut up again.
Kayden and Marquis turned to look at him at the same time, which didn't do anything for his assertiveness right then. Panacea gave him an encouraging nod, and that seemed to help.
"If you have something to say, lad, we're listening." Marquis echoed his daughter's nod.
"Uh, well, I was just wondering … Max has a whole lot of money. Couldn't he, you know, pay those guys who moved all Kayden's stuff to find out where we're living now?" Theo looked from Marquis to Kayden, then to Panacea.
"He certainly could," agreed Marquis approvingly. "Sound thinking there, young man. Fortunately, your father will have to work a great deal harder than that to get ahead of me. The removalists who packed the truck are not the same ones who are unpacking it. In fact, I hired them from an entirely different company."
Kayden got it first. "So what you're saying is that when Max drops a bundle to bribe those guys, all he's going to get is that they packed the truck and then watched you drive it away."
Marquis gave her a measured nod. "That, my dear Ms Russel, is exactly what I am saying."
Panacea snickered at that. When she caught Theo's eye, he might have smiled a little before he ducked his head.
At least Aster was happy to laugh at the joke, even if she had no idea what it meant.
Krieg
"I'm sorry, sir."
To James' practised eye, the overweight man behind the counter of Brockton Bay Removalists didn't look nearly as sorry as he would've been, had he known exactly who he was apologising to. Still, he managed a reasonable simulacrum of the emotion, given that he'd just tucked away a sizeable amount of money to give out what should have been confidential information.
Max, who had handed over the money, seemed to be having trouble comprehending what he'd just been told. "What do you mean, your people didn't unload the truck at the other end?"
"I don't know how else to say it, sir." The man—his nametag read GERARD—spread his hands in a supplicating manner. "We were only paid to show up at that address and load the stuff onto the U-Haul that was already there. It was a one and done."
Max let out an aggravated sigh. "Receipt. Now."
"I, uh—"
James leaned across the counter. "If you can't give him anything else, I strongly suggest you give him that." He did his best to sound encouraging rather than menacing, but he suspected a little of the latter had crept in, from how quickly Gerard complied.
"Right, right, uh, here." Gerard turned his computer screen around so that James and Max could both read the information. It had been highlighted, possibly because Gerard could see how close Max was to doing something fatally drastic to him.
"Wait." Max frowned. "Where's the name of the payer?" He turned his attention to Gerard. "Did you at least sight ID?"
"Uh, no. He paid over the phone. As he wasn't hiring a truck from us, all we needed was the address and the cash. The lady who owned the stuff was there, she let our guys in. She had ID, plus a key and everything." He paused then added virtuously, "We check for stuff like that."
James peered at the highlighted line. In the payer column was simply a string of numbers, something he'd seen before. "Very well," he said, straightening up. "We're done here. Very sorry to have bothered you."
"What?" Max turned and stared at him. "We're not done here. They've got information—"
"Nothing we can use." James gestured to the door. "Let's go. I'll tell you outside."
Max gave him a sharp look, but left. James could tell from his posture that he was looking for basically any excuse to go back in and extract his bribe from Gerard, using any and all means necessary. It wasn't that Max needed the money—what he'd handed over basically amounted to a rounding error in his finances—but it was the principle of the thing.
Once they were outside, away from prying ears, Max turned to James. "This had better be good. If I can get the payer's name from them—"
"We'll never get it." James knew Max hated being cut off like that, but it was for the best. "I recognised the number. It's a Number Man account code."
"Oh, for fuck's sake." Max shook his head. "Why didn't I recognise that? There's no way Kayden has access to one of those accounts. I'd know about it, for one thing."
"Well, someone does." James eyed Max carefully. "What are you going to do now?"
"Find her by finding who paid for it." Max turned and started off down the sidewalk toward where they'd left the car. "How many people in Brockton Bay have a Number Man account, anyway?"
James didn't have to think too hard to get an answer. "If Lung had one, access to it died with him. The Empire's got one. Maybe Coil. Nobody else that I can think of."
Max snapped his fingers. "Coil. That's it. He's the one who paid for the removal service. Has to be."
"What? Are you sure?" James frowned as he got into the car.
"No, no, think it through." Max started the car, revving the engine a few times. "He finds out she's Purity, maybe offers her a substantial bribe to come work for him. She knows I'll take Aster away from her if she stabs me in the back like that, so she gets him to relocate her, probably into whatever secret base he's got. And he knows I'll move heaven and earth to find her once he takes her, so this is his big move to keep the Empire on the back foot while he pulls some stunt of his own."
James considered that, then frowned. "The neighbours said there were two people other than Purity on site. Both average looking, one of them a teenage girl. The last I heard, Coil was tall and skinny, which wasn't mentioned at all. And who's the girl?"
Max pulled the car out into traffic. "Well, of course Coil wouldn't show up in person. Showing up would mean unmasking, which he would definitely never do. The man was clearly his representative, and the girl … hmm." He paused, considering. "I'm not sure about the girl."
"If we're following that theory …" James ventured. There were still a few holes in it that he wasn't sure how to plug. "Circus could possibly pass for a teenage girl." The androgynous villain had worked for Coil a few times in the past, or so the grapevine had it.
Max nodded slowly. "So she would've been added muscle in case someone showed up from the Empire Eighty-Eight. That's thoroughly underhanded. Exactly Coil's style." To give emphasis to his words, he accelerated through a traffic light that was just about to turn red, leaving a trail of angry honking in his wake.
"There's one thing I'm still trying to figure out," James mused. "Why would Purity go to Coil in the first place? If she's trying to rebrand as a hero, I can't see that as being the way to go. Can you?"
Max glanced over at him. "When we catch up with her, that's absolutely one of the questions I'll be sure to ask her."
End of Part Fourteen
Part Fourteen: Wheels Within Wheels
[A/N 1: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
[A/N 2: The reason this (and the chapter of Darker Path preceding) is so late is because I've been on holidays for the last 12 days, and will be for another two. Currently (Oct 12), I'm in Melbourne (Australia), basically on the other side of the country from Townsville, my home town. Over that time, I've visited three capital cities (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne) and racked up over 2,500 km in the air (with another 2,000 km to go). I've also attended my best mate's wedding, visited Taronga Zoo, gone whale watching, and had a look at the Melbourne Aquarium. Right now, I'm in the middle of a three-day session of visiting the Melbourne PAX convention. It's been fun, if exhausting. Whoo.]
Director Emily Piggot, PRT ENE
Despite the almost universal agreement among the capes and officers under her command (the obvious exception being Assault) that Marquis needed to be kept on as short a leash as possible until the opportunity came to boot him back into the Birdcage, there had been a surprising lack of volunteers to head up the surveillance effort. Emily wasn't sure whether this was an indication of how much respect (or even outright fear) Marquis was held in, a disinclination to piss her off by failing in this remarkably important task, or (least likely but also least palatable) an undercurrent of sympathy for Assault's point of view.
No matter what the reason was, she didn't like it. She liked even less the fact that Calvert had volunteered for the duty; not because she thought he couldn't do it, but because his insinuations at the meeting had her concerned about how he might go about it. Marquis was the highest profile case they had going at the moment, and even a whiff of mishandling would bring down all sorts of unwelcome attention from those above her in the chain of command.
Unfortunately, the fact remained that he was indeed the only volunteer, and Emily really needed this to happen. If she listened to her misgivings and scratched his application, not only would there be zero surveillance on the man at a time when she absolutely needed eyes on him twenty-four/seven, but people like Chief Director Costa-Brown would be asking her pointed questions about why she chose to deny the PRT the chance of getting eyes and ears on a notorious criminal.
She couldn't even articulate why she disliked and distrusted Calvert so much. It was indeed true that he'd shot his superior officer in the back once upon a time, but that had been judged a case of exigent circumstances by a court-martial: not good, but not bad enough to actually incarcerate him for. On the other hand, the court had been operating under the unspoken but very real need to hush up the PRT's repeated missteps and outright blunders during the Ellisburg operation, which had almost certainly (though Emily doubted she'd be able to find a single officer willing to admit to this) swayed the verdict toward 'shut up and go away'.
But beyond all that, there was something else going on with him, something that made her neck hairs stand on end. If he'd been a cape, she would've been able to understand it, because this was exactly how she felt about capes. But he wasn't, so that couldn't be it. She just didn't know what it was.
Still, immediate requirements took precedence over ill-formed worries, so she pushed the latter aside and gave the man standing before her desk a hard stare. "Commander Calvert."
"Ma'am?" Calvert's posture was correct and his tone respectful. She chose to ignore everything else for the moment, because she needed this to happen.
"I've had a brief prepared for you, covering Marquis' place of residence and the places and people he's been visiting so far. You will conduct surveillance on him, specifically according to the guidelines provided within the brief. You will not exceed that mandate in any way without first checking with me personally." That was about as unequivocal as she could get without actually going along on the op with him.
Calvert nodded thoughtfully. "How close are we allowed to get?"
She'd expected questions like this. "It will all be in the brief, but in short: you are not to initiate contact with him. If he makes your people in any way, then you will break contact, report in, and resume surveillance via less direct means."
"And Panacea?" he asked.
"Panacea was never in the Birdcage." She made the observation as blunt as she could. "You will only surveil her in the context of being near him. The strictures against making contact are just as stringent for her, because every time we annoy her, we make it just that little bit harder to put him away again even if he slips up."
"She may carry messages for him." It wasn't quite an objection. "How do we guard against that?"
She'd already considered the problem. It was very much a rock-and-hard-place situation. "For now, the assumption is that she isn't willing to participate in criminal activity for him, and that she's smart enough not to carry a letter to another criminal. If we find proof to the contrary, then I will alter the rules of engagement. But until that time, you will operate to both the letter and the spirit of the brief. Is that clearly understood?"
"Yes, ma'am." They were both aware of the recorder in the desk, ensuring that there would be zero misunderstandings as to who was at fault if Calvert's team overstepped their bounds. She wanted Marquis back in the Birdcage just as badly as the rest of the PRT did, but she knew damn well that if it wasn't done by the book, it wouldn't be done at all. "One more question. What are the options regarding searches for incriminating material, in the case of questionable activity? Who do we go through to get warrants for that?"
"Me." She stood, hands planted firmly on her desk, ignoring the twinge from her calf muscles. "I want you to impress on each member of your strike squad just how important this is. I'm fully aware that that there's a lot of emotion riding on this. We all want Marquis behind bars again, but the last thing I need is any of my subordinates colouring outside the lines to get us there, like the Brockton Bay Brigade did back in the day."
"What they did worked," he protested. "He went to the Birdcage."
"That was ten years ago. Things were different, then. He had a huge number of charges against him, and there wasn't a lawyer on the east coast willing to step up and defend him adequately. If we slip up even once, he almost certainly has the funds to hire on someone like Quinn Calle. Hell, Calle might even choose to do it pro bono, just for the exposure it would get him."
"Calle's just a lawyer—" he began, the hint of a sneer in his voice.
"A lawyer who gets more villains off the hook than any other member of the Bar," she cut in. "I don't want to see even the suggestion of going off the reservation with this. We have to do it by the book, every step of the way. No bullshit beg-for-forgiveness-afterward stunts."
He didn't look thrilled. "It sounds to me like you're tying our hands before we even get started."
"Not my doing." She shook her head. "It's just the reality of the situation. Any case we bring against him has to be even more immaculate than normal. Double-check everything, document everything, and for God's sake have your body-cams running every second you're within a city block of him. Is that understood?"
"Body-cams." It wasn't quite a protest. "Is that an order, ma'am?" PRT strike squads didn't tend to use body-cameras, as delicate electronics didn't tend to stand up to cape powers. Sometimes she suspected they pushed back against the idea more as a matter of principle than out of actual practicality, but this time they were going to be shit out of luck.
"It is very much an order, Commander Calvert. Putting Marquis away again is going to take more than a bit of luck, which means we need to stack the odds in our favour as hard as we can. Also, when it comes to actually slapping the cuffs on him, I don't want either Calle or Panacea being able to claim that we treated him differently to any other suspect."
He took a deep breath but the expected push-back didn't materialise. This was good for his career, because she had exactly zero tolerance for any backtalk from him right at that moment. "Message received loud and clear, ma'am. I'll get right on it."
She didn't smile, because she still didn't trust him as far as she could spit him. Unfortunately, right now she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Seating herself again, she watched as he left her office, closing the door behind him.
I just hope this doesn't blow up in my face.
<><>
Coil
Thomas Calvert didn't slam Piggot's door on the way out, mainly because he had a firm handle on his temper. The nerve of that damned woman! She was all but accusing him of intending to do… well, exactly what he had planned.
She hadn't come out and said it to his face, of course. That made the narrative harder for him to manipulate, which had probably been her intention all along. If she didn't give him something concrete to object to, he couldn't play the injured party. This made it harder for him to put her on the back foot.
The irritating thing was, while he was more inclined toward sneaking and double-dealing, she had ten years of experience in handling people like him. Unlike some who eventually gave way and let him do what he wanted, she had a limit. Beyond that point, she tolerated zero bullshit.
In the other timeline, she had managed to goad him into saying something unwise. She used that as an excuse to relieve him of duty, pending a court-martial for insubordination. While he could kill her in that timeline—something he had done a thousand times before, just because he wanted to—it would get him nowhere.
The only way to continue on as a PRT officer in good standing was to accept the mission as she'd given it to him, and make the best of things. Of course, his capacity for making the best of things was only matched by his ability to lie, cheat, murder and steal his way to victory, so he felt reasonably optimistic in that regard.
The broad strokes of his plan were still viable. Panacea had to die, to make way for the fall of Marquis (whether this led to the morgue or the Birdcage, he didn't care) and the disgrace of Emily Piggot.
His plans would come to fruition, and he would end up on top, no matter how many people had to go down to make it happen.
Few things in life were a guarantee. This was one of them.
<><>
Medhall Building
Kaiser
"Have you seen Purity?" Max looked up from his phone, after it had gone to voicemail four times in a row. The first message he'd left had been a masterpiece of restraint, but in the second and third he'd allowed more than a little sarcasm to creep into his tone. His fourth had been downright scathing, but that still got him no closer to speaking with Kayden.
"Hm." James tilted his head in thought. "Not for some little time. She spoke of an errand she needed to attend to. I chose not to inquire as to its nature."
"Well, maybe you should have." Max gave him a hard stare. "With the ABB off the board, we have an opportunity like no other. We can't have our most pivotal members simply vanishing into the ether without giving the rest of us notice, or at least leaving their phones on."
James raised an eyebrow. "She's a proud woman, Max. I have no doubt she needs her space, just like the rest of us do."
"She's my wife." Max's grip on his phone tightened, his voice edged with irritation as he replied. "If anyone's got the right to know what she's doing and where she's going, it's me."
"Hm." This time it was a chuckle rather than an introspective sound. "I've been married for twenty years, and I know for a fact that's a privilege and not a right. If Purity chooses not to accord it to you, then you do not have it."
James's claim might have made sense to some people, but not to Max Anders. "Well, where would she be, if not here or at her apartment with Aster?"
This time, James gave him an odd look. "You do not think she has other places she can be?"
"I know she has her phone on her when she goes shopping, and she doesn't usually shower at this time of day." Max knew he was being extremely generous and fair-minded about the whole thing. He'd given her time to get out of the shower, if that was what she was doing. However, she still hadn't answered or called him back.
"So you do not think she may be simply out for a stroll, or down at the Boardwalk? Is that not where she met Panacea?" James seemed intent on downplaying the whole situation. Were he not happily married, and had Kayden been anyone else, Max may have suspected him of trying to cover up an affair or something similar.
"She knows damn well that she needs to be available at any hour of the night or day." It was only common sense. Her position as his lieutenant in the Empire Eighty-Eight was contingent on her being able to step up at a moment's notice. Also, she was his wife (in his view, the separation was merely attention-seeking behaviour) which put the seal on the whole matter.
"Well, then, have you attempted to call the apartment landline? It may be that her cell-phone is out of charge, or otherwise malfunctioning." James spread his hands and raised his eyebrows, and after a moment Max conceded that he might have a point.
"Okay, fine. I'll call it now." Max had to pause to get the number out of his phone's storage, not being one that he knew by rote. "But if she's not there, then there's something seriously wrong going on."
"I doubt there's any real problem. Anyone who knew her real identity would come after us first, while if someone did attack her and Aster without knowing who she was, it would involve a closed-casket funeral. But suit yourself." James leaned back in his chair and watched as Max located the number.
When he tapped the call icon, it rang several times, to the point where Max was about to end the call. But then it was picked up.
"Hello?" It was Theo's voice. He sounded nervous, but that was normal for the boy.
"Theo." Max spoke firmly. "Tell me where Kayden is."
"Uh … Kayden's fine. She, uh, just stepped out for a minute. Everything's fine here."
Max inhaled sharply, frustration boiling over. "I didn't ask how she was. I asked where she is. Has she been at the apartment while I called? Where is she, Theo?"
"Uh, I don't know right now, but she's fine." Max's antennae went up. Something was off. "Uh, gotta go. Aster needs me." The phone handset went down, and the call cut off.
"Well?" asked James. "Where is she?"
"Not certain." Max stared out the window for a second, deep in thought. "Theo said she was fine, that everything was fine … but he didn't call her to the phone. I think he was lying about something."
Now James tilted his head. "Max, I've met your boy. There is no way on earth he would have the nerve to lie to you. Or anyone, to be honest. He's far too timid. Are you sure you're reading the situation correctly?"
Max pinched his earlobe lightly with his thumbnail as he worked his way through the thought process that James's question had sparked. "He'd never lie to me of his own accord. He knows better than that. But if he was put up to it by someone else, he might. Which means …" Abruptly, he stood up from his chair. "I have to get over there, right now."
"What? Why?" James rose as well. "Do you think there's a problem?"
"Well, if there isn't, there soon will be." Max reached under his desk and pressed the button that electronically locked his office door. Then he pressed the intercom button that connected him to his personal assistant. While Ms Harcourt was an absolute gem for organisation and administration, Max still had no idea of her political beliefs, so she hadn't yet been read in on his true identity, or even the secrets of Medhall. It would become remarkably inconvenient if they had to dispose of her because she objected to such things. Better to keep her in the dark and continue to benefit from her numerous talents. "Please hold all my calls and reschedule my appointments for tomorrow. I will be busy for a while."
"Yes, sir." Ms Harcourt didn't ask any questions, which was one of her more endearing qualities. She took the information she was given, and ran with it.
Satisfied all was secure on that front, Max stepped aside from the chair and turned to the back wall of his office. Reaching out, he pressed the hidden switch that slid aside the panel concealing the secret elevator, then laid his hand on the biometric scanner thus revealed.
The elevator door opened and Max stepped in, with James following behind. It was a snug fit, though quite adequate for two adults. Any more people than that, however, would find it somewhat cramped.
There was no need for buttons inside the elevator, as it only had two destinations. Once the door closed, the elevator started its descent. It was fast, but Max still chafed at the time it was taking.
"Talk to me, Max." James seemed to be fully aware of his disquiet. "What do you think is happening at Purity's apartment that requires your presence right at this moment?"
"I'm not one hundred percent sure," Max reluctantly admitted. "But Theo was definitely nervous about something, and either unable or unwilling to get Kayden to come to the phone. This says to me that something's wrong in that apartment, and I need to find out what."
James nodded. "You make a valid point. Do you want me to call the rest of the Empire in on this?"
As the elevator door opened, Max considered that. On the one hand, if Kayden was taking advantage of the current unrest to make some sort of move toward taking Aster out of his reach, he didn't want his marital problems broadcast far and wide through the team. However, on the other, if there was an actual problem at Kayden's apartment, having backup could be invaluable.
"… just the ones who can respond the fastest," he hedged. "Whatever's going on, we don't want to jeopardise Kayden's secret identity."
In truth, Max only cared about that insofar as it was linked to his own secret identity; if she hadn't been married to him, or part of the Empire, he wouldn't have given a damn.
"Understood." James may or may not have picked up on that nuance, but Max didn't give a damn about that either.
They climbed into one of the anonymous cars that Max kept in the sub-basement garage for getting around town on the quiet, and he accelerated toward the exit ramp while James made the call.
If it turned out to be just a case of miscommunication on Theo's part, he would have harsh words with the boy about saying what needed to be said. However, if it was more serious than that, then he absolutely would not stop at harsh words.
One question niggled at him as he drove:
Why is Theo still at Kayden's? He was supposed to be back hours ago.
<><>
Kayden's Apartment
Panacea
"Uh, gotta go. Aster needs me." Theo put the phone down, then stepped away from it.
Around the room, the removalists Dad had hired continued to ferry packed boxes out the door while others packed the last of Kayden's belongings according to her instructions. Dad, who had stood by with his hands clasped behind his back while Theo answered the phone, raised an eyebrow. "I presume he didn't buy your act."
"Sorry, sir." Theo's shoulders slumped and his eyes darted away, avoiding contact. "I can never lie to him. I'm too scared to."
I stood up from the sofa I'd been sitting on, allowing two of the guys to pick it up and walk out the door with it, and put my hand on Theo's shoulder. "Hey, don't beat yourself up. What did he say, exactly?"
"He, uh, wanted to know where Kayden was, and why she wasn't answering her phone." Theo shrugged. "I did my best, but he just kept pushing."
"Well, I'm glad you did." Kayden stepped in and hugged him. "If I'd answered it, he'd probably have me half-convinced to stay by now. That man has a talent for getting under my skin."
"But why are you even moving?" asked Theo. "I thought you liked this apartment."
Kayden grimaced. "I do, but I'm entering into a working arrangement with Mr Matheson, and your father won't exactly approve. We both know he doesn't, uh …"
"Take things like that lying down?" Dad suggested. "From what I've seen, the man's a control freak of the highest order."
Theo hunched his shoulders, falling silent. I could see he agreed but was too scared to voice it. I'd only met Theo an hour ago, but he was throwing out all the signs of someone whose upbringing had been less than stellar. I could sympathise.
"That's actually being kind to him." Kayden nodded toward her stepson. "It's also why I want Theo to come with. The moment I vanish, Max is going to assume he knew something whether he did or not, and if I left him behind, the interrogation would not be kind. Besides, Aster needs her brother."
"The need to be with one's family is something I am well acquainted with," Dad assured her. "Whether you move into my main accommodation or one of the subsidiary properties I am in the process of purchasing, there will be room for all of you." He glanced around. "It seems that our work here is almost complete. I've never needed to vacate a premises ahead of a vengeful ex-husband, but there's a first time for everything."
"And that's our cue." I took Theo's arm. "C'mon, let's get Aster downstairs."
"Um, okay." Theo followed, his eyes revealing a swirl of unasked questions. I noticed his hesitation; even without his natural shyness—something I planned to help him overcome—he clearly felt overwhelmed by the rapid pace of events.
Aster, on the other hand, took it in her stride. Despite the ongoing upheaval of almost every part of her life, the little munchkin was at her cutest today, gurgling and pointing at things from her stroller as Theo and I rode down in the elevator. We exited the building and headed for the car—a nice anonymous sedan—that Dad had bought a little while ago. With the spare key fob—Dad had thought ahead—I bipped it open as we were walking up to it.
"Okay, so there's stuff going on that I still don't really understand." Theo got Aster out of the stroller while I opened the back door of the car. I watched as he leaned in and got her settled in the baby seat, a lot more expertly than I would have.
I started to try to fold the stroller down, but I couldn't quite get the hang of it. "Well, ask away. And can you give me a hand with this?"
"Sure." He reached in and flicked a catch I hadn't spotted, and the whole thing just collapsed in on itself. "There you go. Uh, this thing between your dad and Kayden, it's not just a business thing, is it?"
I tilted my head and looked at him speculatively. From the first moment I'd met him, I'd suspected there was a brain in that head, and he'd just proven it. "No, it's not," I confirmed. Reaching down, I popped the trunk and stuck the collapsed stroller on top of the luggage already there, then closed it again, just as Dad and Kayden exited the building. "Let's go."
When I'd made the suggestion that we team up with Purity, her first response was that it was impossible, that Kaiser would work against us at every turn. Whether this came about via pressure in her civilian life, outright attacks on Dad or me by the Empire roster, or somewhere in between, something would happen. The chance of innocents being caught in the firing line as a direct result was somewhat more than zero, and I was not fine with that. Neither, gratifyingly enough, was Dad. To be fair, for him it was more of a public-image situation, but so long as the end result remained the same, I wasn't about to criticise him for his actual reasons.
This had led to the next logical point in our discussion. While we couldn't do much about preventing attacks from the Empire while Dad was out in costume (not that he went out in costume all that much), we could absolutely remove Kayden from the line of fire. Dad was buying properties discreetly, using methods that might have been questionable (but I was reasonably sure weren't illegal) to keep our identities under wraps. Legality aside, I figured the moral aspect was probably more important at the moment.
We climbed into the back seat of the car, with Aster between us, and closed the doors just as Kayden reached it. Behind us, I heard the U-Haul truck (with Dad at the wheel) start up and trundle off down the street. The front door opened, and Kayden got in. "Ready to go?" she asked.
"Absolutely," I said, feeling the adrenaline singing through my veins. We weren't in any danger—at least, I hoped we weren't—but this was still way out of my usual comfort zone. I wasn't quite sure when I'd started to see that as being a good thing, but I suspected meeting Fred Jones had something to do with it.
"Aster's secure?" she asked next, even as she started the car. I surreptitiously tugged at my seatbelt, wondering exactly when I'd done it up—excitement was funny like that—and looked out the window to see if I could spot Kaiser coming. It seemed there was nothing to worry about yet, but that was going to change very shortly if Dad was right (and he usually was).
"Yes," Theo replied as he snapped his belt into place. "I made sure of it."
And then, just after the truck trundled around the corner up ahead, a car came down the street past the corner, moving at speed. Not one person in ten recognised me as Panacea out of costume on a good day, but I ducked down anyway. With my eyes just above the windowsill, even though it whipped past in a fraction of a second, I was absolutely certain that the driver was none other than Max Anders. I didn't recognise the guy in the passenger seat.
"Don't look back," Kayden said quietly as I sat up again. I realised that she and Theo had ducked down as well. "It'll take them a couple of minutes to realise the place is empty. We do not want them recalling a car with suspiciously familiar people in it." With admirable control, she pulled the car away from the curb and started off after the truck.
"No, we don't," I agreed, then let out a long sigh. "Theo, are you alright?"
"Uh huh." Theo's tone was a little higher than it had been before. "Mom, what's this really about? Amelia says it's not a business deal. Is this a cape thing?"
I raised my eyebrows. Theo was connecting the dots a lot faster than I'd expected him to.
Kayden's next sigh was one of resignation. "Yes, it's a cape thing. But I'm going to need you to keep that to yourself, okay? Not just for my sake, but for theirs."
Theo nodded slowly, his eyes going from Kayden to me. "Mr Matheson … he's Marquis, isn't he?"
"Theo—" she began, but I held up my hand.
"It's okay, Ms Russel. Yeah, Theo. He's Marquis, and he's my dad as well. I guess I kind of gave it away just by showing up, huh?" The word that Panacea was Marquis' daughter was only a little less prevalent by now than the word that Marquis was out of the Birdcage. Anyone who was even slightly on the ball when it came to current events was fully aware of both facts.
He shrugged modestly. "I guess. Though most people didn't grow up with capes."
I grinned. As divergent as our lives were on most points, that was definitely an aspect we had in common. "Right back atcha."
<><>
Kaiser
"Where the hell is she?" Max's voice echoed through the empty apartment as he stormed from room to room. He threw doors open, the sounds of them hitting the walls echoing through the empty apartment, each thud punctuating his growing anger. Every room was the same: stripped of everything useful, including any clues to Kayden's current whereabouts. There wasn't so much as a Post-it note, or a fridge for it to go on.
When he returned to the living room, he discovered that James had remained by the front door, gazing around with a calculating air. "She's gone, Max. Were I a betting man, I would wager a large amount of money that she never intends to return."
A flicker of understanding crossed Max's face as he pieced together the implications of James's words. "And she's kidnapped both my son and my infant daughter in the process. We need to find her, to get them back." Kayden would pay dearly for this betrayal.
"Hm." James nodded. "Look around. What do you see?"
Irritated, Max did as he was told, but no great epiphany burst upon him. "An empty room, in an empty apartment. What are you trying to show me?"
"How well furnished was it?" pressed James. "Did she have more than could fit into her car?" The car that, at that moment, was still parked outside.
"Yes, it was well furnished." Just the sofa alone would have required extensive disassembly before it would fit into Kayden's sedan, and it would certainly have taken up all available space. "I'm not quite sure what you're getting at."
"Four words." James seemed almost to be savouring Max's current inability to think through the problem. "Who. Helped. Her. Move?"
"Oh." Max's head came up and he looked around the living room with new eyes. Kayden's possessions would certainly have required a considerable amount of effort to move in bulk, especially given that she was living in the place as of yesterday. There was no way that she would've been able to move everything out in less than a week, even with Theo's assistance. "Oh."
James gestured at the open door. "People living in these conditions tend to be nosy. While you were rampaging, I asked a few questions of her neighbours, assisted by a couple of minor bribes."
Max chose to ignore the word 'rampaging'. He was Kaiser. He didn't rampage. "And what did you find out?"
"That a medium to large group of men wearing overalls marked 'Brockton Bay Removalists' spent the last hour emptying out Purity's apartment," James reported. "They were accompanied by Purity herself—not in costume, of course—as well as another man and a teenage girl. No specific descriptions of the man or the girl, save that they were white and average looking. Maybe brown hair, but that's not a given."
"So, basically we're looking at forty percent of the men and girls in Brockton Bay." Max tried not to sound too sarcastic, but it was difficult. "Not sure how helpful that is."
"The company name might be," James prompted. "If we ask them about the job they did …"
Max's brain finally managed to fight off the pervasive distraction and clicked into gear. "Of course! We can get a name for their employer and a destination for where they took Kayden's things!"
"That's what I was thinking, yes." James raised an eyebrow. "Do you think we should also contact the police, over the kidnapping charges?"
For a moment Max was tempted, but then he shook his head. The time for the legal system would come later, after he'd brought Kayden to heel himself. Until then, the police would just get in the way.
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Purity
The new apartment can do with a makeover, Kayden decided as she directed where the removalists were to put things. However, it wasn't high on her priorities right then, and it was definitely something she could handle on her own accord. The important part was, she and Aster were out from under Max's thumb (hopefully forever) and she'd managed to take Theo with her too.
She still wasn't quite sure how Marquis had managed this. It certainly wouldn't have been paid for by Panacea; from her own conversations with the young cape, Amelia didn't charge for her services. Turning, she looked at the supervillain and his daughter the hero.
"Will it suffice?" he asked, misinterpreting her glance, or maybe not. The man was a master of tact, when he chose to be.
She gestured around at the apartment, and smiled. "It's perfect. I was just wondering … well, I hope I'm not bankrupting you, that's all. All this, at short notice, it can't be cheap."
His smile, though austere, was genuine. "Hardly. Even if it were twice the price, I wouldn't begrudge you. As you pointed out, and as Max was eager to cash in on, I do owe you a significant debt of gratitude, and I always pay my debts."
Kayden shook her head dismissively. "That's a Max thing, not me. I was never going to call that in, and you know it. Besides, Amelia saved my purse from being snatched the first time we met, and Aster loves her."
His smile widened. "Your daughter does seem to be a good judge of character, I'll grant her that."
"Um …" Theo began, then shut up again.
Kayden and Marquis turned to look at him at the same time, which didn't do anything for his assertiveness right then. Panacea gave him an encouraging nod, and that seemed to help.
"If you have something to say, lad, we're listening." Marquis echoed his daughter's nod.
"Uh, well, I was just wondering … Max has a whole lot of money. Couldn't he, you know, pay those guys who moved all Kayden's stuff to find out where we're living now?" Theo looked from Marquis to Kayden, then to Panacea.
"He certainly could," agreed Marquis approvingly. "Sound thinking there, young man. Fortunately, your father will have to work a great deal harder than that to get ahead of me. The removalists who packed the truck are not the same ones who are unpacking it. In fact, I hired them from an entirely different company."
Kayden got it first. "So what you're saying is that when Max drops a bundle to bribe those guys, all he's going to get is that they packed the truck and then watched you drive it away."
Marquis gave her a measured nod. "That, my dear Ms Russel, is exactly what I am saying."
Panacea snickered at that. When she caught Theo's eye, he might have smiled a little before he ducked his head.
At least Aster was happy to laugh at the joke, even if she had no idea what it meant.
<><>
Krieg
"I'm sorry, sir."
To James' practised eye, the overweight man behind the counter of Brockton Bay Removalists didn't look nearly as sorry as he would've been, had he known exactly who he was apologising to. Still, he managed a reasonable simulacrum of the emotion, given that he'd just tucked away a sizeable amount of money to give out what should have been confidential information.
Max, who had handed over the money, seemed to be having trouble comprehending what he'd just been told. "What do you mean, your people didn't unload the truck at the other end?"
"I don't know how else to say it, sir." The man—his nametag read GERARD—spread his hands in a supplicating manner. "We were only paid to show up at that address and load the stuff onto the U-Haul that was already there. It was a one and done."
Max let out an aggravated sigh. "Receipt. Now."
"I, uh—"
James leaned across the counter. "If you can't give him anything else, I strongly suggest you give him that." He did his best to sound encouraging rather than menacing, but he suspected a little of the latter had crept in, from how quickly Gerard complied.
"Right, right, uh, here." Gerard turned his computer screen around so that James and Max could both read the information. It had been highlighted, possibly because Gerard could see how close Max was to doing something fatally drastic to him.
"Wait." Max frowned. "Where's the name of the payer?" He turned his attention to Gerard. "Did you at least sight ID?"
"Uh, no. He paid over the phone. As he wasn't hiring a truck from us, all we needed was the address and the cash. The lady who owned the stuff was there, she let our guys in. She had ID, plus a key and everything." He paused then added virtuously, "We check for stuff like that."
James peered at the highlighted line. In the payer column was simply a string of numbers, something he'd seen before. "Very well," he said, straightening up. "We're done here. Very sorry to have bothered you."
"What?" Max turned and stared at him. "We're not done here. They've got information—"
"Nothing we can use." James gestured to the door. "Let's go. I'll tell you outside."
Max gave him a sharp look, but left. James could tell from his posture that he was looking for basically any excuse to go back in and extract his bribe from Gerard, using any and all means necessary. It wasn't that Max needed the money—what he'd handed over basically amounted to a rounding error in his finances—but it was the principle of the thing.
Once they were outside, away from prying ears, Max turned to James. "This had better be good. If I can get the payer's name from them—"
"We'll never get it." James knew Max hated being cut off like that, but it was for the best. "I recognised the number. It's a Number Man account code."
"Oh, for fuck's sake." Max shook his head. "Why didn't I recognise that? There's no way Kayden has access to one of those accounts. I'd know about it, for one thing."
"Well, someone does." James eyed Max carefully. "What are you going to do now?"
"Find her by finding who paid for it." Max turned and started off down the sidewalk toward where they'd left the car. "How many people in Brockton Bay have a Number Man account, anyway?"
James didn't have to think too hard to get an answer. "If Lung had one, access to it died with him. The Empire's got one. Maybe Coil. Nobody else that I can think of."
Max snapped his fingers. "Coil. That's it. He's the one who paid for the removal service. Has to be."
"What? Are you sure?" James frowned as he got into the car.
"No, no, think it through." Max started the car, revving the engine a few times. "He finds out she's Purity, maybe offers her a substantial bribe to come work for him. She knows I'll take Aster away from her if she stabs me in the back like that, so she gets him to relocate her, probably into whatever secret base he's got. And he knows I'll move heaven and earth to find her once he takes her, so this is his big move to keep the Empire on the back foot while he pulls some stunt of his own."
James considered that, then frowned. "The neighbours said there were two people other than Purity on site. Both average looking, one of them a teenage girl. The last I heard, Coil was tall and skinny, which wasn't mentioned at all. And who's the girl?"
Max pulled the car out into traffic. "Well, of course Coil wouldn't show up in person. Showing up would mean unmasking, which he would definitely never do. The man was clearly his representative, and the girl … hmm." He paused, considering. "I'm not sure about the girl."
"If we're following that theory …" James ventured. There were still a few holes in it that he wasn't sure how to plug. "Circus could possibly pass for a teenage girl." The androgynous villain had worked for Coil a few times in the past, or so the grapevine had it.
Max nodded slowly. "So she would've been added muscle in case someone showed up from the Empire Eighty-Eight. That's thoroughly underhanded. Exactly Coil's style." To give emphasis to his words, he accelerated through a traffic light that was just about to turn red, leaving a trail of angry honking in his wake.
"There's one thing I'm still trying to figure out," James mused. "Why would Purity go to Coil in the first place? If she's trying to rebrand as a hero, I can't see that as being the way to go. Can you?"
Max glanced over at him. "When we catch up with her, that's absolutely one of the questions I'll be sure to ask her."
End of Part Fourteen
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