Published at 12th of August 2022 9:14 pm

Book 2: Chapter 57: Past and Present

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“Impossible,” the Summers’ matriarch stated once Dan finished his tale. She was fully caught up, read in completely to Gregoir’s theory of an active Genius running about the city.

“Is it, though?” Dan warbled back. “Is it impossible?”

“The blueprints were purged quite thoroughly, and almost everyone who built it is dead,” Anastasia explained in obvious irritation.

“Almost?” Dan repeated.

He could hear her snarl. “With one notable exception, but that one fled the consequences of his actions and is about as likely to recreate the Genius upgrade as I am.”

Marcus. She was talking about Marcus. Who… had gone a little crazy, then vanished. Who had been investigating t-space for answers to his past mistakes, including the Genius upgrade. Dan had about ten seconds of intense, heart-stopping panic at the paranoid thoughts swirling through his head, before he remembered that Bartholomew must have received his upgrade long before Marcus Mercury had vanished from his space station into parts unknown.

“Ok,” Dan said, slowly. “Say you’re right. Can’t it be recreated? Anything created can be recreated, no?”

“Of course,” Anastasia agreed. “If you had the backing and resources of a first world country and access to some of the best equipment in the world.”

“The Genius upgrades were developed in the seventies,” Dan pointed out. “How hard could it possibly be with today’s technology?”

Anastasia scoffed. “I’ll forgive your poor understanding of the subject given your circumstances. The Genius Wars killed all interest in using upgrades to modify intelligence. Few, if any advancements have been made on that account. Anyone working on the Genius upgrade would be starting from scratch, with outdated technology, and facing massive stigma. Even accounting for all of that, assuming it was possible to recreate the Genius upgrade, only a fool would do so. What would be the point? A Genius cannot be controlled, and you cannot truly know where their passions lie until the upgrade has taken root.”

There was a pregnant pause between the two, as Dan deliberated his response. Anastasia seemed convinced, but Dan didn’t share her conviction, nor her past experience with the deadly upgrade. It gave him perspective, Dan thought, that Anastasia could not share. Everything she laid out seemed reasonable enough, but it assumed an inherent fear of the upgrade that Daniel simply didn’t have.

“Are you really going to ascribe rationality to a terrorist organization?” he asked, trying not to be too pointed.

“They are fanatics who think powers are the key to unlocking human potential,” Anastasia stated coldly. “Using an upgrade goes against their core principles.”

“Yes,” Dan stated in a dry deadpan. “Principles. Because fanatics aren’t known for doublethink.”

He could perfectly picture Anastasia grinding her teeth together. There was a very long, tense silence before finally she spoke, “There are three copies of the Genius pattern still in existence. One is with me, under lock and key. One is possessed by Marcus Mercury. The final is kept in a secure government facility…” She slowly trailed off.

“What?” Dan asked. “What is it?”

“I need to check on something” she offered simply. The simple sentence could not possibly encompass the near palpable rage that laced her tone. “I’ll get back to you, Newman. There might be something to your theory.”

The line went quiet. Dan heard a few fumbling sounds, and Abby voice piped up.

“I haven’t seen her so angry since… well, a long time. What did you tell her?”

Dan did his best to summarize, but Abby was every bit as lost by the end as Dan was. He glanced around, taking note of Gregoir having his own quiet conversation, presumably with Sergeant Kaneda Ito. Consulting with someone who’d served in the APD at a time when Geniuses were running rampant would be an enormous boon. Given Anastasia’s reaction, Dan was starting to give more and more credence to Gregoir’s theory.

“Text me, okay?” he asked Abby. “Let me know if Granny Terminator comes up with anything.”

“I will,” Abby promised. “Stay safe.”

Dan said that he would, silently hoping that it wasn’t a lie, and ended the call. Gregoir finished around the same time, glancing optimistically over to Dan.

Dan shook his head. “She said she’d get back to me, but it’s plausible.”

Gregoir’s mood seemed to brighten, then plummet. He smiled wryly. “I’d hoped she’d shut down the idea completely. Kenny said much the same.”

“Should we… alert somebody?” Dan asked slowly. “I mean, there’s no hard evidence but shouldn’t the idea be floated to someone in charge, at least?”

“Sergeant Kenny will alert the Captain, and he will send it up the chain of command,” Gregoir confided. He seemed hesitant. “I don’t know what happens from there. This is an unusual situation, and I find myself in unfamiliar waters.”

“So what now?” Dan asked.

“I know a friendly judge, Judge John Osmund, who may be willing to approve a search of Mr. Meyers’ records,” Gregoir revealed. “I’m dubious of the legal precedent, but I may be able to convince him.” He smiled brightly. “I nipped a scandal in the bud for Judge Osmund, by rehabilitating his nephew from a life of crime. With any luck, he’ll be willing to assist me.”

“What should I do?” Dan asked.

“Sleep,” Gregoir ordered, and only then did Dan realize just how exhausted he was.

He agreed to take a short nap, and call Gregoir once he’d woken back up. They parted, Gregoir with his own mission, and Daniel with a pressing need to sleep. He reappeared at home, and greeted Merrill with a few affectionate pats. He sent a quick text to Abby, telling her not to worry if he didn’t respond. Dan methodically stripped off his clothes and stepped into his shower. The hot water rushed over his head and down his back, washing away the stress of the long night and grisly morning. He felt his muscles loosen, and the dull ache in his feet seep away down the drain.

He stepped out when the water went cold, and toweled himself off. He flopped into bed, splaying himself out like a starfish and stared blankly upwards. His mind buzzed insistently, and he fidgeted like a man high on caffeine. Sleep would not come, despite his exhaustion. He tried the television, pulling up the local news and dropping the volume down low. A constant riot of fear and speculation ran rampant along the channel. The caster’s faces, so eerily beautiful, were twisted into agonized confusion and horror as they spoke about the mountain of ice that had appeared across the Austin skyline.

Dan laid his head back down. He spent a few minutes restlessly flopping around before giving it up as a bad job. He flopped over onto his stomach, wiggled forward like a caterpillar towards his nightstand, and opened up the drawer. The tome he drew out was thick, heavy, and old. Embroidered on the cover in neat stencil was the title: Marcus Mercury’s Guide to Everything.

Dan hadn’t touched the book in months. It was an unpleasant reminder of different times, but it held secrets within that he needed to know. Marcus had been at the forefront of the Genius wars, having partially been responsible for them, and had also lived through the glory years of the People.

Know thy enemy, as Sun Tzu had advised, and know yourself, in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. Dan was intermittently working on the latter, but the former could be found within this heavy tome. He flipped it open, scanning the helpfully detailed table of contents. He ran his finger down towards the halfway point, tapping on the chapter labeled: The People of Chicago.

Dan flipped through to page seven hundred and fifty, then scanned the header. He went page to page, looking for something to catch his eye. The entire book warranted further study—Dan had been exceptionally lazy on that account—but he was too tired to really comprehend the more complicated parts. Instead, he found himself stopping towards the end of the chapter, when the header changed to ‘The Fall of Champion’.

Dan glanced at the page through bleary eyes, and read:

The first of the Vigilante Acts killed any hope of the People ever gaining official government sponsorship, but Champion persisted in his attempts to legitimize his operations. By this point, the People’s operations had extended across the country in a series of loosely-connected vigilante teams bound together in common cause. Though Champion was nominally the leader of the organization, many theorized that the Vigilante Acts and his failure to secure his promised vision of the future, pushed him into the role of figurehead.

The People’s descent into radicalization and violence began with the surrender of Champion into federal custody. Against his own advisers, Champion placed himself at the mercy of the court, in an effort to plead his own case and the cause of vigilantism before the country at large. He erroneously believed he could appeal his arrest before the Supreme Court, and possibly overturn what he saw as a set of unconstitutional and immoral laws. This plan was born out of a fundamental misunderstanding of his own government’s motives, the legal system, and human nature.

Champion would never see the inside of a court room. His power, the ability to control the actions of others through voice alone, all but assured it. He was quietly moved to a high-security holding facility and suffered a fatal heart attack two weeks before his trial. The announcement of his death, and subsequent public funeral, was met by a wave of riots from the vigilante community. The People fractured into dozens of cells and went underground. Control of the organization fell to Champion’s lieutenants, with the power extremist Echo taking the reigns.

A new era of violence began.

Dan shut the heavy cover and sighed. The past was depressing. It seemed to be a constant in any dimension. But he needed to learn this. He needed to know and understand what he faced. Dan forced himself to make a commitment: he would spend time reading this every day, until he’d fully absorbed Dimension A’s history.

With that promise, he closed his eyes.

Dan’s eyes snapped open, and found the closest window. It was dark out. The clock on his nightstand read 7:15 pm. He blinked, having unexpectedly slept almost six hours. Dan flailed for his phone and saw a single missed call from Sergeant Ito, and texts from both Gregoir and Abby. He felt a few soft pinpricks on his shoulder, and Merrill crawled into view, plopping herself on his chest. She huffed at him, as he slowly sat up. Dan rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and glanced towards the still active television screen. He froze at what greeted him.

Governor Moorlin issues a State of Emergency!

Curfew declared city wide!

National Guard called into Austin!

Federal Assault Teams are being mobilized!

Head of Coldwater meets with Mayor Brooks!

A constant string of abridged alerts scrolled past the screen, too fast for him to keep up.

“What the fuck is happening?” Dan asked.

Merrill’s confused squeaks were his only answer.

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