CHAPTER 49: XLIX - THE SHORESIDE SAFEHOUSE (PART 2)

Alex pulled out small tool out of his wrist armor. The device looked like a large USB with a small grey and black screen. He put the device away and sauntered over to the front entrance.

He stopped in front of the automatic doors of the entrance and scanned the lobby. The area was scarcely populated, with just a few businessmen and disappointed families enjoying a cheap continental breakfast.

Alex looked around and spotted all the cameras looking down on him.

"If they’re watching, they definitely know I’m here already. I should’ve worn a mask..." Alex thought to himself.

He reached under his sweater and pulled the wrist tool back out, holding it in his hand. As he continued to scan the area, he spotted an upset young woman stomping toward the front counter, holding her hotel keycard loosely.

He walked toward her, tripped and bumped into her, knocking the keycard out of her hand and onto the floor.

The young woman put her hands on her hips, "Watch where you’re going, dumbass."

Alex pretended to scramble on the floor and picked up her keycard meekly, "Sorry, ma’am. I just slipped and—"

The young woman snatched the keycard out of his hand and muttered, "I don’t have time for this."

Alex jumped to his feet and hurried to the elevator.

He lifted the USB to his lips and whispered, "Did you copy that, MECHS?"

A humanoid-sounding but distinctly robotic voice replied cheerfully, "Affirmative, user. I copied the data on the hotel keycard. Clone keycard is ready for use."

Alex tapped the USB against the card reader next to the elevator call buttons.

"Good job, MECHS. Looks like you do have some uses sometimes."

MECHS responded with something that almost sounded like annoyance, "While I do not possess the ability to predict enemy attacks or hack into databases as you have repeatedly requested, I assure you I have a multitude of features that can prove useful to you. New hint available for user. Would you like to hear it?"

Alex entered the elevator and sighed, "Here we go."

MECHS continued, "User, why did you not leverage your status as a local superhero to gain easier access to the elevator? The charade with that young woman was avoidable."

Alex pressed the button for the third floor and watched the elevator close slowly, "Because MECHS, we don’t know who in this hotel is working with the Black Company. If I announced myself to them, that would just make it even easier for whoever is possibly here to set a trap for me or escape."

After a brief silence, MECHS responded flatly, "User’s response acknowledged. No more hints available."

Alex whispered, "MECHS, re-enter silent mode." He placed the USB back into his wrist armor.

The elevator came to an abrupt stop, and the doors opened. Alex looked to the left and saw destruction as if a storm had rolled through. Doors were blown off their hinges, and light fixtures had busted and were on the floor. Scorched papers and burned computers were scattered in the middle of the hallway.

Alex walked to the left side, stepping over the broken desktop towers and smashed furniture, and picked up a miniature desktop computer, with the whole thing being small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.

"One of those miniature Linux computers," He thought to himself, "These aren’t like normal computers; they’re probably using them to monitor cameras and control their security systems. There’s a lot of them too..."

Alex dropped the computer and walked back to the right, "I don’t hear Etienne yet. I’ll let him start on that end, I’ll start on the right."

Alex walked to the end of the hall and opened the farthest door. Unlike the other side of the hall, the room was pristine and untouched. The bed was neatly made and tucked. The TV sat on the floor, and on the TV stand sat a huge curved monitor and a large desktop tower.

Alex powered the computer up and it loaded a password screen relatively quickly.

He sighed and pulled the USB out of his wrist. He carefully plugged it into the computer.

Alex crossed his arms and leaned against the nearby wall, "MECHS, exit silent mode. Brute force into this computer and scrape the hard drive for any data at all."

The computer flashed between screens for a few seconds, several windows opened and closed until a command-line interface appeared.

"References to all files deleted. Hard drive is 95% overwritten, original data is unrecoverable. Cracking encryptions and scraping remaining hard drive space."

Alex hung his head and thought to himself, "We’re doing all of this to find the Black Company, but what happens when we do? Like Etienne said, we can’t handle Ms. Friendly even if all three of us jump her. And the leader, Isaac, seems like he has some power as well. If only the INHO let me access my other forms..."

Alex picked his head up and looked as the computer made a chime and exited from the command-line interface. On the blank blue background were three text files, sitting side-by-side.

"Hard drive scrape complete," MECHS stated flatly, "Recovered data displayed on the desktop."

Alex grabbed the mouse and clicked on the first file immediately.

He frowned as he skimmed the short list of fruits and vegetables.

"Is this someone’s grocery list or something?" He thought to himself.

Alex closed out the window and opened the next text file.

It read: Initiation 3 Summer Group

Dirty Bomb - Portland

Cupid - Portland

Melpo - Gearhart

Thalia - Gearhart

Floren - Brutal

Alex read the words over and over and furrowed his brow.

"Who’s computer is this? Did this person coordinate those attacks?"

Alex stared at the text for a while longer before closing it. He slowly moved the mouse over to the last file, but paused before clicking on it.

"MECHS, what is the name on this hard drive?"

"User assigned label for hard drive is Code Talker," MECHS stated matter-of-factly.

Alex pulled back and rubbed his chin, "I know that name. He was one of the most notorious cyber criminals in California, but investigators never found a speck of info about him. Now the real Code Talker, or at least someone impersonating him, is affiliated with the Black Company. This just keeps getting better."

He shook his head and finally opened the last file. He backed away from the computer and covered his mouth before he even finished reading it.

A million thoughts ran through his mind at once, "This cannot be real. It can’t be."

Alex walked back over to the computer and read the text file one more time:

Bosses new number

503 (XXX) - XXXX

Alex’s eyes bulged as he read the message over and over, "This has to be a trap. Or a red herring. Maybe the building will explode when I call this number. But if there’s even the slightest chance it’s real..."

He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and put it near the USB, still stuck in the computer.

"MECHS, call the number on the screen and encrypt all of my data."

The number dialed on his phone, and he put it up to his ear. The ringing went on forever, but just as Alex went to close his phone, a voice finally chimed in on the other end.

"Hello? Who is this?" A familiar voice, tinged with exhaustion, asked.

"Isaac..." Alex spoke breathlessly.

Isaac let out an audible groan, "Code Talker. I told that idiot to remove everything. And he left one of the...hold on. Why are you calling me right now? Why didn’t you turn this number over to the INHO?"

Alex panicked slightly at his words.

"I could have this number and any data with it wiped within the next twenty minutes. By the time you step one foot in the headquarters, it’ll be a dead lead."

Alex stuttered, "I...I didn’t think this was really..."

Isaac laughed heartily, "Oh man, you didn’t think this was my number? You have a lot to learn about being a hero, kid."

There was a tense and palpable silence on the phone for a few seconds.

Isaac finally spoke, "Tell me something. This is Mechaboy, right?"

Alex inhaled, "Yo-you know—"

Isaac cut him off, "Yes, yes. I know it’s you. There are only a few heroes in the state, and you’re all different from each other. That’s not what I wanted to ask you, though. I want to know, are you satisfied with being a hero? Are you fulfilled?"

Slightly taken aback, Alex asked, "What kind of question is that?""

Isaac continued, "I’m just asking. Because if I were you, I’d hate all of hero society. They pushed the responsibility of protecting an entire state onto you, a high schooler. And even when that state became violent and dangerous, they only begrudgingly sent a few heroes to help after you got injured."

Alex remained silent.

"Your master all but abandoned his position. And I’m sure you already know, there won’t be any repercussions for him. He’s out in California, enjoying the fame and the limelight of being a hero in a major market, and you’re here. Fighting for your life."

Alex’s breathing became heavier, but he remained silent.

Isaac’s voice slowly became more energetic, "You know, I talked to Nafeez about you. When I visited him. He said he thinks you’re a potential candidate to join us. He said he saw the same fire, the same determination, the same conviction that we have, in your eyes. Like you’re tired of being pushed around by the world too, just like us."

Alex exhaled, "Are you trying to recruit me?"

"I’ll be frank with you, Mechaboy. I’m comfortable with the number of members on my team right now. I’m not actively looking to recruit more. But we could always use someone of your strength."

Alex paced around the room and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I’m going to keep this line open, Alex. If you ever become disillusioned with being a hero and you want to try something else, give me a call. But if you turn this number over to the INHO or try to track me with it, I’ll know that’s you declining my invitation forever. And you’ll be my enemy, just like the rest of them."

Alex bit his lip and hung up the phone, slowly placing it in his pocket.

"MECHS, re-enter silent mode," He spoke softly and placed the USB back into his wrist socket.

He walked over to the window and took a deep breath in, reflecting on the conversation.

Boom!

A loud noise knocked Alex out of his meditative state. He propelled out of the window using the propulsion boots of his first form, and flew around the building. He spotted a glowing orange figure, falling out of the building.

Explosions formed around the figure’s body and spread toward the building.

Alex swooped into the building and instantly spotted Etienne, grabbing him just before the explosions could swallow him up.

The side and back windows shattered, but the front window stayed completely intact. Dirty Bomb waved to Etienne and Alex and crawled toward the front window. He reached into the front window with his hand, and it disappeared. The glass of the front window seemed to ripple like water. He crawled through the front window and disappeared from sight.

Alex flew down to the old car and sat Etienne down next to it.

Etienne examined the front window and touched it, to no avail.

"More metahuman nonsense. It’s getting hard to keep up. Did you find anything in there, Alex?"

Alex tapped his chest and disengaged his first form, letting the metal pieces on his joints fall to the floor.

He bit his lip and turned away from Etienne, "No. I didn’t find anything. But I do know who may have just joined Isaac and the Black Company."