Chapter 47: You’re Cordially Invited

Perry was standing in the middle of the road, cars swerving around him as he glanced at the website again. He reached over and zoomed out and panned from side to side until he liked what he saw, then let it snap back to close focus.

“You don’t seem very happy.” Hardcase said.

“That suit I lost the other day had some proprietary tech in it, and I couldn’t find it.”

“Do you have trackers in your suits?” Hardcase asked

“Yeah, went to the place it last registered and found a suit-shaped hole in the sand.” Perry said with a scowl. A beach-comber had his suit, and knew enough to find and disable the homing device.

It was just a matter of time before the knowledge of machine casting came back and bit him in the ass. He just had no idea what form it would take.

Honestly the worst-case scenario wouldn’t be some madman or tycoon attacking him for his secrets. Perry could deal with that.

No, it would be if some jerk got the Nobel prize for stealing his work.

That would be intolerable.

“I noticed you’re spending a lot of time with Wraith,” Perry said to get his problems off his mind, opening up his bag and setting down the repurposed microwave into the middle of the road.

“Is…is that okay?” Hardcase said, flinching every time a car swerved around them. “Do you think this is safe?”

“It’s just…every friend Wraith ever had was a total jerk, and it’s about time she finally started hanging out with people who are actually cool. Like yourself. So, thanks for being Wraith’s friend.”

“Oh.” Hardcase wiggled in place a bit. “Wraith is really cool.”

“Yeah, I think-“ Perry paused in the middle of programming the microwave-drill’s depth. “I think it had something to do with her dad. Like, he only let her hang out with people whose parent were rich, which kind of naturally meant a lot of her friends were jerks.”

“So, why was she your friend?” Hardcase asked.

Perry glanced up at her and grinned. “Because my parents are rich.”

“Oh. But they didn’t seem…stuffy.”

“Well, no, my dad grew up a potato farmer, and my mom was a hellion, so they’ve never been snobs in that sense.” Perry said, glancing at the monitor strapped to his wrist again.

“Is that…a naked man showering?” Hardcase asked, glancing at his forearm.

“Ayup. Hold this.”

Perry took a bouquet of roses dangling a vibrant pink card from a string out of his duffel bag and handed it to Hardcase.

Perry would’ve stopped to admire how red Hardcase got, but he was preoccupied.

“You might want to stand back about three paces, so you don’t get any vaporized rock on you.” Perry said, pressing Defrost then Beef.

***Chemestro***

Another day, another talk with Lu’Ann,

It was gradually becoming easier to tolerate the woman’s touch. As a matter of fact, he almost found himself looking forward to his next desensitization session with her.

Which was not the point of the training. I don’t need to gain some kind of addiction in order to shore up a weakness.

Chemestro decided to inform Father of the burgeoning desire. Father would return the Therapist to it’s natural habitat, and Chemestro could detox for a few weeks then return to life the way he liked it: Rigid, structured, and with no one telling him things weren’t his fault.

Chemestro shuddered despite the warm water, and mentally switched topics.

He had another job as a sweeper this evening. It paid a hundred thousand a night, but it wasn’t the money he was looking for: It was the prestige. Father had raised him to take the place of Solaris, the leader of Nexus.

So he needed to be immaculate, he needed to be popular, and without a speck of dirt to indicate otherwise.

Then why did Father direct me to antagonize Paradox? Surely avoiding a conflict of any sort would be far better for Chemestro’s prestige.

After all, Solaris himself had been given reason to watch him with a closer eye. Which wouldn’t have happened had he not been involved with Paradox.

The only reason Chemestro could think of for jeopardizing Father’s life goals for him was…if Father believed Paradox would eventually surpass him.

Or he’s making decisions based on emotion, a small part of Chemestro whispered.

No, Chemestro thought, shutting the water off with finality. Father never makes decisions based on emotion. Never.

He grabbed the towel hanging outside the stall and began drying off, heading for his clothes, when he heard an unusual hum.

Like he’d practiced, Chemestro ditched the towel and dove into the shower stall before turning himself completely permeable.

ZZZZZ

The ear-splitting hum of a high-powered laser echoed through Chemestro’s lair, followed by a clatter of metal on metal.

We’re under attack! Chemestro thought, sinking into the floor with the aim of taking whoever was attacking them from below.

They’re not going to live to regret this… Chemestro thought, making the ground one-direction light-permeable.

Above him, some kind of rotund spider-bot made of substandard junk was wandering around Chemestro’s lair, scanning for him. It had a strangely colorful plant sticking out of the top, with a pink tag dangling on the ground behind it.

Probably some kind of chemical weapon, Chemestro thought, eyes narrowing. Chemestro turned the contraption to dust with contemptuous ease, before purifying the air, making sure there were no contaminants left, leaving only the tag, as it had appeared to have some writing on it.

Without leaving the safety of the concrete, Chemestro used his power to flip the tag over. It was folded in the center two mirrored halfs, each side pointy on the bottom with a lump on the top.

He opened it.

Be my nemesis!

You’re cordially invited to meet me at Nexus at 3:00PM Thursday afternoon to make it official. Be there!

-Paradox

P.S. I know where you live now.

I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!

Chemestro dusted the letter and returned to the surface as alarms began to blare throughout Father’s base.

The door to his lair slid open and The Contenders marched in. Each of the stone-faced teens had a power that rivalled -but did not exceed- his own.

“Father wants to speak with you,” 812 said, the scar Chemestro had given him turning his lips down into a permanent scowl.

Chemestro reached for his hyperweave, the magical bracers and amulet buried in the pile.

“Now.” 812 said, light warping around him subtly.

“Fine.” Chemestro followed them out.

They formed a circle around him and marched straight to the Punishment Room.

He kept his breathing and heartrate under control. He could handle pain.

The door slid open and 812 moved out of the way, allowing Chemestro to step past him into the unlit room.

The door hissed closed, and light blinked on with a distinctive click!

The Punishment Room was revealed, and it wasn’t what Chemestro was expecting.

The cold steel had been replaced with hardwood floors and the restraint table had been replaced with a couple of upholstered chairs. One of them bore Father, his container resting on the seat.

The hairs on Chemestro’s neck stood up. This was different. Chemestro did not like different.

“Take a seat.” Neuron said.

He sat.

“So, your rivalry with Paradox has become a security concern. He knows where your lair is.” Father said.

“Yes sir.”

“And by extension, that means he knows where my lair is.”

“Yes sir.”

“How do you think he found you?”

“Magic.” Chemestro said with a shrug.

“Don’t fool around, the boy’s a Tinker.”

“Who on Earth is better positioned to find a way to Tinker with magic?” Chemestro asked.

Father paused, the currents around his container going silent.

“You’re not wrong. Young man, you’ve revealed a Flaw In My Thinking, and a very valuable opportunity.”

Chemestro tried not to smile. Anything good that ever happened to him was a result of pointing out a Flaw in Father’s thinking.

Bouyed by optimism, Chemestro continued.

“Father, may I ask a potentially impertinent question?”

“Ask away.”

“If my goal is to replace Solaris, and therefore must be without the stain of controversy, why suggest antagonizing Paradox?”

“Solaris doesn’t have any enemies, it’s true.” Father said. “But did you know why he doesn’t have any enemies?”

Chemestro shook his head.

“Because they’re all dead or turned to subordinates. Why, just a month ago or so, he vaporized a cowl that was playing fast and loose with the rules.”

“Young man, your task is to find a way to kill Paradox without anyone suspecting your involvement, or subordinate him to yourself. This will serve as excellent practice for when you take hold of the reigns of power.”

“I understand.” Chemestro said.

“Now,” Father said, rising above the chair. “Your punishment for allowing Paradox to discover your lair...”

Chemestro relaxed all the muscles in his body. Whatever happened, he didn’t want to give away anything, nor tear a tendon from hypertension.

“Get out.”

Chemestro cocked his head.

“Your lair has been compromised. You must make a new one.” Father said.

“I can just…go?” Chemestro asked.

“Did you think you would spend the rest of your life as the leader of Franklin city living in my underground lair?” Father asked, a hint of amusement in his modulated voice.

“I…” hadn’t thought that far ahead, Chemestro admitted internally.

“You’ve got half a million in clean money in your official nexus bank for sweeping on the wall, which should be plenty for a young man to afford an apartment.”

“Sir, what about The Therapist?”

“Oh, you can take it with you if you wish, it’s extraneous without you. I’ve hired a team of professionals for the three thousands.”

“Is there anything more?” he asked.

“No, that’s it.” Father said. “You may go.”

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“Then I’ll be leaving, Father,” Chemestro stood and made for the exit.

“I’ll be keeping an eye on you, son. Exceed my expectations.”

“Sir.” Chemestro nodded and left, heading straight for his lair, ignoring the staring three thousands as he swept into his lair and put on his magical protection as quickly as he coul-

***Perry***

“Well, that was intense,” Perry muttered as the streaming website that watched his scrying bowl went black again. “Looks like he’s one of Neuron’s pet projects.”

Neuron was a cowl deeply in contention with Dad over who was the better Tinker, and…

And they’re competing vicariously through us! Those jerks!

Perry intended to give Dad a stern talking to when he got home…preferably out of Mom’s earshot. He was mad at Dad, but didn’t want him to get blasted.

Not quite yet.

“He can’t have been telling the truth,” Hardcase said. “Solaris would never kill someone.”

“I don’t know,” Perry said with a shrug. It did seem kind of odd that Solaris didn’t really have any nemesis. Perry had previously chalked it up to no one being powerful enough that it made sense to try.

Now…he wasn’t so sure.

“So Chemestro is going to try to kill you?” Hardcase asked. “That’s terrifying.”

“Nah,” Perry said, attaching the video to an email and creating a dead-man’s switch.

“There’s no way he could avoid suspicion now,” Perry said, pausing the video and turning it around to face Chemestro, who’d just risen out of the concrete. “Right, buddy?”

“You’ve got something on your suit,” Chemestro deadpanned.

Perry glanced down and witnessed his suit turn to dust, along with the clothes beneath it.

A second later, Perry was standing ankle deep in a pile of dust that used to be his clothes and armor.

“I just tuned that!” Perry shouted, shaking his fist at Chemestro’s receding form. “Not cool, man!”

Once Chemestro was out of sight, Perry’s stealth drone came down from the rooftops, its entire front dominated by a huge camera with a lens the size of his head.

“One million frames per second,” Perry chuckled to himself. Now all Perry had to do was run the footage through an algorithm to find out what materials disintegrated slowest, and why, and then try and increase that resistance to immunity.

He had Chemestro right where he wanted him. it felt liberating…breezy, even.

“Alright, I’m gonna head back to my lair and start decoding this footage. You doing anything else tonight?” Perry asked.

“I-I-I G-G-Gotta…Dinner. I –dinner with my family!” Hardcase said through her palms.

“Gotcha. I’ll talk to you later.” Perry said, timing the oncoming traffic to jog over to the sidewalk and begin his long walk back to base.

“S-See you later!” she said.

Perry sent his recon drone ahead and started ambling back towards home. He briefly considered stopping by a shop and trying to buy something but he figured it would be more effort than it was worth.

I got plenty of spare clothes at the lair.

People started at the naked young man walking along the sidewalk, but his chest was puffed out and he strutted along like he owned the block, so they didn’t bother him with more than a double take. He was obviously in a great mood.

Aside from a brief conversation with a police officer, Perry made it back to his lair completely unmolested.

He marched into the office, past Brendon, who frowned, craning his neck to track him as Perry walked around the reception desk and into the Employees Only area.

“I just had a solid win against Chemestro!” Perry shouted as he arrived at the bottom of the staircase.

“What, did you steal his secret recipe for – Why are you naked!?” Heather shouted, doing a double take before hiding behind the steel punching bag, as if his nudity was going to reach out and bite her.

“Eh, Chemestro was being a sore loser, but it got me even more useful information,” Perry said as he slammed open the locker beside the workout area and slipped into his gym clothes.

Heather peeked out from behind the punching bag and sighed in relief upon seeing him dressed.

“Did you walk all the way back looking like that?”

“Yep,” Perry said, sitting down at his computer and downloading the video of his armor getting turned into dust from his drone. “With my Body stat, it was perfectly comfortable.”

“But…people?” Heather asked.

“Who cares?” Perry said with a shrug.

And now, to apply the algorithm.

The sophisticated program began chewing on the data, telling him it would be hours before it was done.

“Are you going to go to dinner with your family tonight?”

“Eh,” Perry shrugged. “I wanna get a head start on analyzing this data and – hey, what are you doing!”

“Your mom told me to make sure you make it to dinner,” Heather said, slinging him over her shoulder. Something about it being literally treatment for your damaged soul. I take that woman at her word.”

“But…but…” Perry reached out towards his computer like a lover being torn away from her beau.

“You’ll thank me later,” Heather said as she took the stairs two at a time.

No freaking way do I thank you for interrupting my work.

“Brendon, dinner at Perry’s place?” Heather asked as she exited the staircase behind the reception desk.

“Oh, oh yeah, that sounds great! Mrs. Z is a great cook.”

“Yeah, it’s almost magical.” Heather said.

“Exactly!” Brendon said, his expression brightening.

“Umm…are you gonna carry Perry the whole time?” Brendon asked, jogging along beside Heather’s ground-eating gait.

“That depends,” Heather said. “Perry, can we trust you not to run away the moment I let go of you?”

“Nope,” Perry said, arms crossed and scowling.

“There you have it.”

***Chemestro***

Chemestro had a bit of difficulty finding a place to rent, as most apartments vehemently rejected supers due to the inherent risk of damage. They took one look at his hyperweave and waved him off.

He finally found a run-down apartment complex that rented to supers. The building was covered with the scars of minor battles, with singed walls, broken windows…and water damage.

Chemestro surveyed the room and inhaled the musty odor.

Is this what freedom smells like? It was repugnant.

I’ll have to buy my own building and make it my own, because this is unacceptable.

A child’s shrieking voice swept past the thin, poorly seated door that could be removed with a single kick.

“This place is…nice?” The Therapist said

“They’re charging ten thousand dollars a month.”

“Holy crap!” she exclaimed.

“Indeed,” Chemestro said before turning on lu’ann and using a nudge of his powers to turn her body and clothes semi light-permeable, highlighting several implants Father had placed inside her to ensure she couldn’t escape.

Chemestro allowed the collar and backup implants to fall through her body, removing all of them simultaneously in order to avoid killing her.

Lu’ann shivered at the sensation of the the high-tech implants falling out of her body.

“Your services are no longer required,” Chemestro said. “Return to your natural environment, Therapist.”

“Umm…” She said, glancing around the room until she spotted a heavily chewed pen. She grabbed the object and scribbled on her hand for a moment before grabbing his palm.

The training had paid off, Chemestro was pleased to note, because he resisted the urge to punch her.

“There’s the address of my office. In case you want to talk.”

Chemestro glanced down at the address on his palm, written in blue ink, then back up to the frizzy-haired, brown-eyed woman.

“Leave.”

“Yep, yep, right away,” Lu’ann said, bolting for the door.

Chemestro watched her leave through the wall, until she was out of sight down the road. He glanced down at the blue ink on his palm.

With a sigh, he removed the ink from his palm and put it on the refrigerator.

“Aren’t you a sweetheart?” A voice from behind him brought Chemestro to full alert.

He spun to face the intruder.

It was a man, slender, with pure white hair and wrinkles…perhaps in his seventies, with an expensive-looking three-piece suit that had an old-fashioned design. The buttons seemed to be made of real ivory, or perhaps bone.

Golden stitchwork roiled up his sleeves like smoke, If Chemestro looked closely enough, it appeared to be moving.

“What do you want?” he asked, readying his power to disintegrate the old man. Self-defense was plenty of justification, should the old man start something.

“Paradox is going to surpass you.” The old man said. “Every move the two of you make counters the other and brings both of you to new heights…” he glanced at the bracers underneath Chemestro’s hyperweave.

“But Paradox is growing faster than you are. You’re already near your apex. Soon enough you won’t be able to hold a candle to him.”

“What. Do you want?” Chemestro gritted out.

“I want you to kill Paradox,” the old man said.

“He recorded a conversation with Father instructing me to do so without being suspected. It’s impossible.”

The old man shook his head.

“Just difficult.”

He pulled out a vial from his coat, filled with a viscous, iridescent liquid that shone like a raven’s wing.

“If you used a power no one knows you have, who would suspect you?”

“Get out.” Chemestro said, nodding toward the door.

“What if you didn’t have to take orders from your father anymore?” the old man said, rocking the vial of mysterious fluid between his fingers. “Be your own man. That would be within your power as well.”

“I’m plenty powerful enough without drinking an obvious trojan horse peddled by mysterious old men. Leave.”

“I’ll visit again when you’ve had time to reconsider,” the wrinkled old man said with a grin before vanishing along with the vial.

The security in this place is awful, Chemestro thought, shaking his head before laying down on the stained mattress and staring at the stained ceiling.

He would start looking for a new place first thing in the morning.

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