I woke up with a terrible taste in my mouth and a terrible smell in my nose and realized I was naked except for a layer of truly disgusting gore. I looked up to see a woman, dressed in a nice set of skintight armor that showed off her shape very well, in a mask that left her eyes uncovered but was vaguely reminiscent of the old-style ninja hoods. Her outfit was a dark gray, and she had a lighter gray sash tied around her waist and a headband of the same color tied around the forehead of her mask, although it left waist-length, lustrous black hair exposed.

I coughed and realized that I had coughed up what looked like a piece of flesh, and then rolled away from the woman and coughed even more as I spewed. Fortunately, it was just a gray pastiche of this morning’s breakfast and not a piece of Totem that I remembered wondering about in my dream.

The Woman had a wonderfully soothing voice as she slowly recited what sounded like mantras in Japanese. She was sitting za-zen style and looked up at me as I sat forward, away from the mess I had made, noticing the much bigger mess I had made all over the ship. I almost spewed again but held it in.

I noticed that Magical Skeletor was holding out a Brown towel towards me, grinning from ear to ear. “Here. You might want to cover up and shower. I have already called a clean-up team, and I want them to deal with this before the crew arrived.”

“You aren’t dead,” I said and was grateful that the taste of the rum I had drunk was covering up the tastes of bile and half-digested breakfast and whatever weird crap had gotten into my mouth while I was busy fighting. I was sort of grinning the whole time, and I imagined that whatever was in my mouth had just gotten lodged there, rather than being intentional. I didn’t remember biting anyone, anyway.

“Do I still need to speak in Japanese?” The voice asked from beside me, and I shook my head at the woman. “Err, no.” I said, “But thank you. I think you kept me calm and let me sleep, and I am sorry for asking you like that.” I wrapped the towel around my waist.

I could hear her chuckling, “It is not any problem. I usually meditate after a job, and I needed to recite the Mantras myself. Your alter ego was very blunt, but also flattering, although I feel a bit of a competitive urge with this Callie you spoke of. I have a very nice body and have worked hard to keep it so. I would like to see someone that can match me.”

I scratched my head, a little confused. Oh right. Why had I thought of Callie while I was a little out of my head? I liked her, sure, but I had not seen her in three years, and we might have only spent five hours together, in total.

“Umm. I am glad I didn’t offend you too much, but right now I am naked and covered in gore, and yes you are very attractive and I don’t want to tie being splashed with gore and being attracted together, so I think I need to go take a shower.”

She laughed lightly and then nodded, “I can understand that. You might also want to grab something to cover yourself before the cleanup crew arrives.”

I nodded, flushing a little, and headed towards the showers.

I had forgotten that the showers had gone cold, although the water pressure was still good, as I was rather brutally reminded when I turned it on. Someone had left me a pair of slightly too small sweat pants while I had been showering, and the fact that I hadn’t noticed implied strongly that whoever had done it was amazingly stealthy. I came back through the passages and heard voices talking in the Kitchen. I really didn’t want to see the messes on the main deck, so I gladly entered.

“… So I left him locked in the fan room. With the tourniquet on he won’t bleed out, although if we put him in a boat and set him adrift he will be dead before he hits civilization.” That was Redshift, with his thick Georgian accent, I now realized.

Kjootoo was in a fresh outfit, immaculately spiffy, as usual. “We might have to ask the lad here to heal him. He is a witness, and after what the three of you did to their crews, I think it would be good to allow them to get a first-hand account of what happened. Especially the part where Hyde was using Totem as an improvised melee weapon.” He chuckled evilly, and I wondered if I was ever going to live that down.

Yes, I had killed people. They were pretty awful people, though, and while I had lost count I knew it was more than ten. Interesting to note, though, that while Hyde certainly enjoyed mental clarity, he sort of lost the ability to count to higher than three. I was not stupid as Hyde, but I would probably need to have a much clearer idea of what I planned to accomplish the next time I used the ability, especially when it would be time to chill out.

“How long was I out?” I asked them as I started rummaging around for something to eat. No one else was eating, but my stomach felt horribly hollow.

Max, or Akiko, answered, “Just a few minutes.” She touched the side of her face, and the bottom half of her mask slid down to rest around her neck. I was right, she was very beautiful and very Asian. It was probably a good thing that she had been wearing the mask because I was nearly as attracted to exotic Asian beauty as I was to redheads. I am not sure what I would have done as Hyde.

I nodded, “Oh, I thought I was down for a long time.” I looked at Kjootoo. “I didn’t really mean to wreck your ship, but apparently my hearing is much more sensitive when I am like that.” I sighed. “The gunshot noise was hurting quite a bit.”

Kjootoo grinned even more broadly, “I expected to lose the ship and my life. You did nothing wrong. In fact, with your permission, I would like to have Tino cut the video and send it to a few of the cartels. Hyde looks somewhat unlike you, and before that, you were wearing a mask. Your transformation was far faster than any of the shifters I have ever seen before, You went from you to the giant in less than a heartbeat.”

I nodded, I hadn’t expected that, but the power said freedom. Freedom is not really freedom if you had to spend half an hour writhing on the ground waiting for it to happen. “But what happened to you? I thought you died.”

Kjootoo laughed out loud. “I was incredibly lucky. Do you remember that potion you gave me? I tucked it into the breast pocket of my coat. That fool totem started to use his signature move, cutting a cross into the chest of his victim, instead of simply lopping off my head. The Loa were right, I was truly dead, and then my heart started beating again when the broken potion bottle doused me. I may be fishing pieces of broken glass out of my chest for a while, but by the time I knew what was happening you were pushing a regeneration potion down my throat.”

He looked down at himself. “I might not be fishing out pieces of broken glass, actually. That second potion did an absolutely amazing job. I knew you had enormous potential, but I might have to ask you for more wishes someday.”

I chuckled a little and then Redshift, behind me, said, “I want that video. I would be disappointed at my kill count, I only had three, but when I saw what became of the rest, I desperately want to see what happened. I will eat my disappointment to watch Totem being used as a whip.”

“Nunchucks,” I said. At Kjootoo’s raised eyebrow, I explained, “The whole time I was thinking I was Bruce Lee, and I was using Totem as my nunchucks. To be fair, I was never very good with nunchucks, so it kind of got messy. I think I hit myself a couple of times too.”

All three of them started laughing, even the delightful Akiko, and then when they finally calmed a little, she said apologetically, “I am afraid that I can see it now. You were like that fat child in the recording studio video, with Totem as the microphone stand, lashing about like it was a lightsaber. It was beautifully uncoordinated, a deadly dance of unskilled glee as you acted as though the troops were…” she looked like she was struggling for the right word.

“Pinatas?” asked Kjootoo.

She nodded, “Yes, Pinatas. I do not usually glory or find humor in bloodshed, but Totem has killed several of my friends and acquaintances over the years. Hyde was striking them so hard that they exploded in a manner that was more akin to a horror movie created by an amateur computer graphics artist or a game design studio, rather than reality.”

I sighed. Ick, was it really that bad? I didn’t want to think so, but my memories were telling me it had been. Hyde didn’t even really think of them as people, just noisy toys to be played with until they stopped making so much noise. I can see why I needed to be careful about that level of freedom. Not only was it addicting, but I lost all sense of right and wrong.

Kjootoo was not smiling anymore. “In answer to your earlier question, You are capable of protecting my Caelo. You didn’t attack us, which means Hyde has restraint. If you swear to never hurt her, you may court my daughter. I will not threaten you if you break her heart, since the idea is foolish and hearts get broken all the time for any number of reasons, and I am unsure if my threats would be vacant. Hyde appears to be a class D, but he is so specialized that he is far closer to a class B threat versus individuals, even if he is not destructive enough to be classed as such. But you may not simply be intimate with her.”

I shook my head, “Hyde is me, but me without any filters. At the time I asked, I would have done anything that held still long enough. Well, not entirely, since I didn’t try to do anything with Maximum, but right now I don’t think that it would be a good idea to court anyone. I need to get my head on straight, not to mention that your daughter is also illegal.”

Kjootoo shook his head, “Illegal by your culture’s standards, perhaps, but not by mine. In Haiti, at her age, she is well on her way to becoming an old maid. Not for marriage, of course, but her circumstances are rather unusual, and she has not found a boy that will look past her handicap yet… not one I would accept, anyway.” He shrugged, “But your idea is fair. So speaking, what of this Callie woman? I assume she is a woman, but you are American, I could be wrong.”

I shook my head, “Yes she is a woman. Not all Americans that like weights are gay, despite Hollywood’s implication. Callie is… a meta, the first one I had ever met. We sparred, and I liked her. We are not an item, though, since we probably spent no more than five hours over two days together, and that time was spent fighting in full sparring gear, mostly with her kicking my ass.”

Redshift snorted, “There is Russian saying. You know a woman you can love when you can drink with her, fistfight her, and make love to her, and she will come back for more. That is why Russian women are so crazy.” He chuckled a little, the accent fading a bit. “I just made that up. Russian women are amazing, it is Ukrainian women you cannot trust. I am pretty sure if I search hard enough there will be some Russian wisdom regarding fist fighting with women, but between you and me, getting hot for a woman beating your ass is weird.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, “Unless you are one of those men that enjoys being abused?”

I shook my head again. “So first I am bisexual and then I am a masochist. No, I was her sparring partner. She needed to practice against blockers, my job was to let her practice offense while I defended She was a member of a super-team based out of Atlantic City, and I was working in a Gym close enough for a flyer to stop by occasionally and train.”

Maximum pinched her lips. “A flyer out of Atlantic City named Callie. Are you perchance referring to Callisto?”

I nodded, “Yes. She was just learning the ropes of being a superhero. I take it you have heard of her?”

The silence could be cut with a knife. Finally, Akiko said, “Yes, I have had… dealings with Callisto. She is a very dangerous woman.”

I sighed and braced my elbows against the table, putting my head in my hands. “Let me guess. You have lost friends and acquaintances to her as well, like Totem?”

She shook her head. “No, she is not a killer, but she has arrested them. She is worthy of respect as a warrior although she does have a habit of interfering with our business.”

I looked at her, “Right now I am trying not to take sides in the whole superhero supervillain thing. There are supervillains that are monsters, that need to be stopped by any means necessary, but there are also supposed heroes that are just as monstrous, that are shielded from the consequences of their actions by Proteus and the press. I am trying to be the best man I can be, to choose the right course regardless of whether I am called a hero or villain for it, but aside from the cartels, who already hung a target on my back, I am not ready to make permanent enemies.”

She nodded, “You have already made permanent enemies of the cartels, especially if we send the video, but perhaps they will be too terrified of a man who can use their strongest asset as a gardening implement. Most professional predators are terrified by a stronger predator. I was going to suggest we return you to Atlantic City to meet this woman but perhaps it would be better to drop you off close and allow you the use of a boat to take yourself ashore. Some of us have a rather large bounty on our heads from Proteus and would be loath to drop temptation on such a woman’s lap to collect such a bounty.”

I nodded, slowly, as the sound of a bell rang off of the ship’s port side.

Kjootoo’s man pulled into the Farley Marina and dropped me off in a rather nice speedboat. I had a feeling, based on the number of weapons removed from stashed locations, that the speed boat had a rather more nefarious purpose in mind. Ships were occasionally robbed around Haiti, although in the last decade the robberies just involved money and goods rather than stealing the ship and killing the crews. I had to remember that in the end, Kjootoo was still a criminal, as were, most likely, Maximum and Redshift.

I had a card that had ten thousand dollars on it that Kjotoo insisted I accept. It was one of those anonymous Visa debit cards, which I had no way of refilling, but it should keep me going until I was back in the system, if I wanted to be back in the system. For now, playing along seemed like the best idea, I wasn’t too worried about being permanently stuck in the system.

My soul was much lightened because my heart was pure and my cause was just. Okay, my pure heart was feeling a little black around the edges after ruthlessly slaughtering dozens of cartel, but I did feel that my cause was just. Not to mention that right now, not having school debt looming over my head added a lightness to my step that was surprising.

After the clean-up crew had cleared the ship of bits, the regular crew had returned. We had taken a day to head north so I could be dropped off on one of the gigs, and I decided I had best clear out when we got word that Caelo had reawakened. Kjootoo had gotten the idea in his head that, after my stupid question as Hyde, I was the perfect man to protect his daughter, and when he started mentioning Haitian wedding traditions and seemed overjoyed that I was nominally Christian, I felt it was time to make myself scarce.

Atlantic City certainly seemed to be a fun place, as even the jog from the Marina into downtown showed dozens of eateries and a few hotel-casinos. Even during the day, the lights were a bit dazzling, but that was par for the course in a gaming and vacation town.

Gambling held zero attraction to me, and while drugs might have been appealing on some level, it was more of a case of what could I use them to make to keep my ass alive, rather than a desire to space out in an alley someplace. AC had an active police force, though, and the daytimes were for vacationers and tourists, not the seedier side of life that would appear when the sun went down.

I had lunch at a small Bistro that claimed to serve Louisiana-style food and real beignets. The barbecued ribs, chicken, pulled pork sandwich, and various side dishes were pretty good, but I had eaten real beignets before and these tasted like they came off of an assembly line. Decent enough, but half of one was more than enough to convince me that they were a waste of time. Magnetically attracted as usual to the pretty girl behind the bar, I found out that protector headquarters was way on the other side of town, but a bus stop less than a block away was a straight shot.

She was blushing as I left and I realized I looked a bit like a hobo. It had been a couple of days since I shaved and I was sporting the buddy movie shadow, and Tino had come back with a couple of slightly too tight tee shirts as well as some of his old shirts, which I sort of used like overjackets. I was in boat shoes and missed my boots, but I was pretty sure that walking into protector HQ without my anklet would ensure a warm reception. My shorts were Tino’s extras with a lot of drawstring action and displayed my hairy Popeye calves to poor effect.

I even had a day pack, finally, with some extra clothes. I shopped a Serve-Mart for a few minutes while I waited for the posted bus times, and managed to grab a few more tee-shirts and some shorts, underwear, and socks to shove in the bag along with more energy bars and yuppie waters. I wouldn’t buy shoes from Serve-Mart, though. I had some pride, and with my lifestyle, the cheap shoes would probably be in tatters even before these boat shoes.

I barely managed to make the bus in time, I had left time to go through the checkout, but there was some kind of law that the Serve-Mart ‘express’ lane was always manned by an ancient woman with arthritis so bad that even pushing eleven or less light items across a scanner took more time than a professional model’s bathroom breaks.

The AC protectors, whom I had assumed were Callie’s team, were based out of an old, but very large, church. It was almost a Cathedral, with flying buttresses and several towers, and looked like some building that was probably a historical landmark of some sort, right up to the weathered tombstone graveyard off to one side.

I didn’t have any potions on me or in my bag, since I had a sneaking suspicion that I’d be searched at some point, but I did have a large silver flask with a skull in a top hat stopper filled with what Kjootoo claimed was his finest Rum that he’d presented me just before I left, ‘just in case'. I was pretty sure he was aware, at least peripherally, of what I used to trigger Hyde, and had a feeling I might be in trouble at some point.

I wondered. I hadn’t used any meta powers to kill those men, but Hyde was way, way beyond what any of them could handle. Sure, they had been trying to kidnap or kill me at the time, but was I any better than the metas that unloaded their special abilities on people that had no way of fighting back against them? I had no way to ensure my peace of mind, but I had to settle for the fact that they had chosen to attack, knowing that they’d be facing metas with only their guns as weapons.

Was it a meta, slaughtering normals, or was it suicide by stupidity? There was little in the morality I had grown up with, or even my own interpretations, to give me a clue as to the ramifications of my own self-defense. I had even taken out the ones that were running away like ducks in a carnival shooting game. I hadn’t really been in total control at the time, but was that any better than a drunk driver taking out a family of four in a car accident? Obviously they were anything but innocent, and I guess if I wanted to live with myself I had to keep that in mind.

Looking at the cathedral, I guessed that this lovely building was not where they lived or trained, but it was probably their public interface staffed with lawyers and Proteus personnel, fodder for tourists and PR agents. I walked up to the front and slid through the ornate front doors, reclaimed wood swiveling easily as I stepped into a minor paradise of carpets and heavy wooden furniture and a front desk that looked like it had been repurposed from a turn of the century luxury hotel and then bent into a half-circle with a young Super, in full costume, seated behind it tapping away behind a monitor.

He looked up when I approached the desk, and I saw him checking me out. I sighed. I didn’t mind so much when a girl did it, but when it was a guy I knew I would have to disappoint him eventually, especially considering the lingering look he was giving me. Considering his own decent musculature under the unitard most hero types seemed to favor, I imagined he was probably another Gym bunny.

“Is there any way I can help you?” He asked with a big smile as I stepped up to the desk. I offered him my hand and said “Hi, My name is Louis McCarthy. I was looking for someone who might still be on the protectors, although it’s been years. Does Calliope work here? I was her old punching bag and was in town and wanted to say Hi.”

David Murchison (Quantex)

Human, body, class G(G)

Power: 44 (6)

projected lifespan: 28 years barring mishap. Current Age: 27

Friendly, moderately aroused, ready for lunch

Recent HIV infection, unaware, should seek medical consultation

Oh boy. Not a meta, he was probably hired to look the part. How do you tell someone they had HIV? Certain viral infections were still incurable by modern medicine, although based on his lifespan it could be controlled easily enough with medication, and I was pretty sure I had a recipe that could take it, but if I offered, or even told him about it, I was right back to being Alchemyst again instead of Louis. I might as well have shown up as Hyde.

“Yes, Calliope is still part of the team.” He said, releasing my hand. “I can send a message, but I do need to warn you, lots of people show up claiming to be connected to people on the team, so she might not be willing to see you.”

I nodded, and he started tapping on his computer. I had a feeling that as soon as my name hit whatever messaging system he was using there would be flags raised all over. His eyes widened as he waited, and he waved towards a row of seats. “Umm. Yeah. Someone will be here to see you soon. If you could just wait, over there?”

He looked nervous suddenly and I smiled at him, “Let me guess... parole violation? That’s sort of why I am here, I am turning myself in.”

He nodded, looking a little less uncomfortable, “Well, okay. If you would have a seat, someone should be here soon.” He gulped a little and I wondered what exactly they had in my Proteus file? I walked over to a nice, comfortable couch, and then relaxed into it, putting my left ankle on my right knee. He seemed to be calming down a bit, and I wondered who would show up. I hoped it was Calliope, but based on his nervousness I wouldn’t be too surprised if it was a whole swat team with machine guns. With that in mind, I put the bag on the other side of the couch, and tucked my hands behind my head, lacing my fingers together and relaxing. Might as well get used to the position.

He kept typing on the keyboard and glancing at me. “You know, I don’t bite. Trust me, I have been in a position to bite plenty of times, and I haven’t. Is it going to be particularly stressful? Would it be easier if I were on my hands and knees?”

He shook his head. “No, there’s just a warning that you are highly dangerous, and someone is coming to fetch you shortly. Would it be too much to ask for you not to kill me?”

I shook my head, “Not at all, I wouldn’t think of it. Highly dangerous is a matter of point of view. I used to train for UFC and MMA fighting, and anyone that knows how to fight is slapped with that label if they get into any trouble with the law, even if it’s just public intoxication and indecency. My violating parole was just a technicality, not that that really matters to you, or that I expect you to believe me, but I don’t like scaring people, especially cute people.” I grinned and was pleased that he relaxed even more.

I decided to throw caution to the wind. “Hey, not to put too fine a point on it, but do you know what the Human Immunodeficiency virus is?”

He nodded slowly, “Yes, of course.”

I nodded back, “I have a lot of medical training. Can I suggest getting yourself checked out? I think I saw some of the markers, but I could be wrong. Just as a favor, though, before someone rushes in here and throws me in handcuffs, could you promise me you will get checked out?”

He slowly nodded, looking very worried. “Yeah, insurance here covers that kind of thing. What kind of markers do you see?”

Before I had to answer, I heard the doors open. Expecting the worst, I glanced back towards the door with my hands still behind my head, only to be met by a vision in a smart-looking business suit. Perfect body, lustrous strawberry blonde hair down to her waist, amazing legs under the suit’s short skirt, and a dangling badge on a lanyard, which she immediately flashed at Quantex.

“Court Agent Vellman. Here to pick up Mister McCarthy,” The lovely vision said to him, and I realized... Those eyes, that mouth, and cute upturned nose, that was Callie. With red hair? Her eyebrows even matched, albeit being slightly darker and adding in a dusting of red freckles across her nose and cheeks. The last three years had treated her well, and she looked more… finished, I guess. Certainly more attractive, in a slightly more severe way. What can I say? I prefer my women to look like women, rather than teenagers. That hair was amazing and suited her far more than the blonde look had, at least in my eyes.

She glanced at me as David nodded, and then said commandingly, “Get up. You have a lot of questions you need to answer, convict.”