When we got to Detroit, Antonia asked Baldwin to keep an eye out for me for a while. She even phrased it like that, “Baldwin, could you keep an eye out for Alchemyst for a while?” Rather than keep an eye on, or babysit. She, as usual, ignored my response of, “Louis.”

Baldwin rented a car this time, and we drove for a while, heading towards one of the more fascinating neighborhoods, a chunk of the neighborhood between Grand River and Woodward Avenues. Driving downtown offered a grand cityscape, towering skyscrapers and massive lower-slung buildings, even while we were out among the tiny single dilapidated homes. It’s only when you grew closer that you could see that most of the grand buildings from a distance were incredibly run down and badly maintained, crumbling facades and even the occasional row of historical buildings with broken windows and ancient architecture that looked like the 60’s precursors to modern strip malls.

We eventually pulled into an alley behind what looked like a theater that had been abandoned before color became a regular thing for movies, around it’s back parking lot which proudly displayed a burned-out hulk of a ‘57 Chevy and a body that looked like had been stripped for parts back when car parts were a Detroit specialty, and then into a wall that wobbled gently for a moment before stabilizing.

Hmm. Imaging technology probably repurposed metatech. The former lobby was now a small parking lot, maybe a dozen spots, and there were already two cars pulled into the well-appointed little lot. One of the cars was a nice little boxy Corolla, and the other one was a six-wheeled monstrosity that was as if Tim Burton had met and fallen in love with HR Giger’s art, influenced heavily by HP Lovecraft's non-euclidian geometry. Literally about as meta-tech as it was possible to get without everything being egg-shaped.

After we stopped, I got out of the car and looked around. “Home sweet home.” Baldwin stated, slipping out of the car. There was a quiet droning of what I assumed were automated fans as we walked towards what looked like the old ticket booth. The lot probably took up the entirety of the lobby and the projection rooms, although a relatively new wall with a blast door existed where the old theaters themselves were probably once located. He opened the back of the rental and tossed me both of my bags as well as taking his own and my costume armor bag.

“Are we actually staying here? Not a hotel?” I asked curiously as he checked out the ticket booth, and then moved to one side, where a laser seemed to flicker over his face for a moment. The door didn’t open, though.

He nodded, “Yeah, we both have to get scanned. Stand right here.” I took a step towards where he pointed, and then a laser flickered out and over my neck and chest. It beeped for a moment and then scanned my face, before a door in the side of the booth slid open. “Experimental AI. Stupid as shit, but it usually gets the job done without having to hire an actual operator.” And he guided us both into the booth.

He chuckled a little, “This is the fun part. Ever seen Maxwell Smart?” He asked, as the door slid closed and a quiet beeping began. He grabbed both of the ticket dispensers and pulled them down at the same time, and the floor we were on began to descend. Lights flickered on in the walls and above me, and two sides slid back to replace the floor above.

I nodded, I had seen the movie. After a few moments, the descent stopped, probably fifty feet down, and another door slid open. “Just remember to keep walking.” He stated. “Experimental AI has been known to accidentally clip off body parts if you don’t maintain a constant speed. It doesn’t react well to unexpected changes, like, say, an absolutely normal human being pausing at absolutely normal locations to reassess new situations.”

“Have you been here before?” I asked, walking at the same speed as he did. A door like a giant navy hatch undogged itself with a spinning wheel in the middle and then split in half. We went through to find another door, like the inside of a safe, unlocking itself from the walls. We stepped through and a third door slid upwards like a garage door. “Never.” He answered, “But the idiots put exactly this kind of system under the white house. That’s why President Williams walked with a cane during his second term. There was an alert, and he got clipped by one of the doors. Under those patent leather shoes of his one of his feet was fake. He used to make jokes about it constantly, but then again, he could make you piss your pants just by making jokes about a weirdly-shaped fried egg.”

Finally coming to the end of five very strange reinforced doors, we stepped through into a slightly more normal lobby, at least if the lobby belonged to Doctor Weirdo. There were windows along one wall that looked into either an aquarium made for swimming, so deep that I couldn’t see the far walls or a swimming pool decorated with fish and sea life. I could see distant lights, and I wondered if it led out into Lake Michigan.

The walls were covered with shelves, with what looked like boxes full of books sitting at the base of each one. One of the walls had a complex and almost incomprehensible control panel in front of a gigantic big screen, surrounded by an array of much smaller monitors. At least there were keyboards.

There was a door at the far end of the room that looked like it was lifted directly from a 60’s science fiction television show, with five lights above it and a single button with an up arrow beside it. In the middle of the room was a giant conference table that looked like King Arthur got into a fight with James Cameron. In the middle of the table was a globe, and it was lit and slowly rotating with a number of pinpoints of light representing, probably, cities.

Last but not least was an array of weirdly small shelves, each about four feet wide, a few inches deep, and maybe six inches tall, at about eye level to Aquantis or chest level to me. There were four of them, and they were empty.

You know what I said about egg shapes? The chairs were actually more or less egg-shaped. Not scooped or anything overhead, but the comfortable and ergonomic-looking chairs, eight of them, were each nestled against an egg-shaped back, and they were floating.

Baldwin sighed, dropped the bags on the table, and then flopped into one of the chairs, which went skittering across the floor, floating and banging his back against the tank wall with a loud clank. After a few moments, I could see something moving through the gloomy water, and Baldwin was using his feet to scoot the chair back towards the table.

“Umm..” I said, pointing towards the water wall, where something fast, green, and incredibly beautiful flashed past the tank wall. After a moment, she waved at me, naked as we were on the couch this morning and carrying a long pointed torpedo-shape strapped to her back, and then darted into a cylindrical area to my right. After a few moments the cylinder slide open, and Aquantis, dressed in her natural form and nothing else, slid into my arms dropping her tube on the floor casually.

“That was amazing.” I breathed into her oddly dry hair. The rest of her was still wet and a little slippery, but I didn’t mind. A naked girl in arms beats a little dampness at any time. A cough from behind me reminded me that we were not alone, and She laughed a little bit, crouching down behind my shielding bulk and popping the side of the tube open with a snap. It was a waterproof container packed with her clothes and costume, and she quickly pulled on the sexy swimsuit she was wearing when we first met.

“Did you swim all the way from Chicago?” I asked her and she nodded, slipping past me and poking at one of the floating chairs, which moved entirely too far at her gentle poke. “Yep, Grace gave directions to the Grotto, but a straight shot through the water was a lot faster than over land. It only took me about a three-hour swim to get here, and it was good to stretch my legs.” She stretched luxuriantly, and even though I had seen, and touched, every inch of her last night, I still let out a low, appreciative whistle. Her grin implied that she ate it up.

“The window is hidden by one of those light illusion things, though, that made it look like a dirt bank. The grotto is darker than the inside of a whale. Fortunately Captain Klutz, there, banged against the glass so I could locate it.” She bent over and looked Baldwin in the eye. “While I appreciate your direction, remember that we can hear very well. Sound travels underwater. Don’t bang on the glass. We don’t appreciate it.” She smiled at him.

Baldwin coughed a little, “Not to put too fine a point on it, but last night I was keeping an eye out. Apparently, you very much enjoy banging on the glass. I certainly appreciated it.” This was accompanied by her turning a shade of green I remember very well from the previous evening. Her blood may have been red, but her blushes and flushes were a nice dark green shading. She even had lovely darker green freckles peppering her nose and cheeks that translated perfectly when she shifted her appearance, although the first time I’d seen her they had been missing.

With a shake, the blush disappeared. Ahh, chromatophores were amazing. She then returned to my arms. “You know what’s kind of amazing?” She asked in a whisper.

I smiled, “Don’t get me started on the list when it comes to you. I could be talking for hours.” I chuckled a little in a similar low whisper. Post-sex flirting was, surprisingly, even more fun than pre-sex flirting.

She licked the tip of my nose, currently convenient because I was bent over to hug her. I started to stiffen a little against her hip, and she noticed and shook her head, “No, I mean yes, that’s amazing, but oosh, I am sore and wiped from it. I really want to do it again, but I think I might need a few days to recover. You are a very big boy, and I think you stretched me in ways I was never meant to stretch.”

I chuckled a little, and said “Oh don’t worry, you will adapt, although it might take lots of exercises to help you get into the shape to appreciate it.” I licked the tip of her pointed ear, and she shivered and replied, “Oh, I meant that you like to be close afterward also. Usually, guys just want to sleep, or shower, or whatever, but you carried me into the shower and actually cleaned me up even though I was mostly asleep. That is probably the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. If I were in any kind of shape to enjoy it, I’d be on top of you right now, but even with regeneration, I am still feeling it. Wonderful feeling, but you are just a bit much for me.” She teased, catching her breath as I sucked the elfin tip of her ear between my lips and started licking. “Stop that. We are in company.”

I had an evil idea. I think part of her reveled in embarrassment, so I asked Baldwin, “Hey, do you mind if she goes down on me right in front of you?” and I felt a tremble running down her frame as she instantly flashed arousal to my analysis.

“Yes, very much.” Baldwin replied. “I am not getting any, and I don’t want to watch anyone else getting any either. I’d also appreciate you not using me to get your subby new girlfriend all hot and bothered. If I’m getting a blow, feel free to grab her alongside, but until then, no fucking way.”

Well, Baldwin was pretty damned perceptive too. Then again, it’s kind of a job prerequisite. Lovely little Mariah had gotten angry for a moment when he had used the word subby, but soon was wiggling a little as I started licking the inside of her ear. I knew she wouldn’t enjoy a repeat of last night right now, but I felt free to be a little selfish before I finally just held her. She seemed to really enjoy being enfolded by a guy my size, I guessed.

“Fine, be a prude. See if I let you see curtain tits again.” I responded with a grin and suddenly realized that Blackhawk, or his suit, had walked in while I had been yapping. He dryly responded, the tone clearly audible even through his voice modulator, “As much as we would all enjoy a glimpse of your muscular chest, Alchemyst, I think we might be better served currently by remaining fully clothed.”

“I wasn’t… never mind,” I responded, and started trying to grab a chair. They were fiendishly difficult to hold still, and I finally resorted to straddling one of them and flopping down. It wiggled abominably but sunk far down with my weight, and when I grabbed Aquantis and dragged her into my lap, the whole thing finally started scraping the floor, making it easier to hold the position.

“Is this place your design, Blackhawk? I asked, slowly screeching my chair forward until Aquantis could rest her arms on the table. I was a little too low to do the same, so I just contented myself with talking over her shoulder. He quickly shook his head.

“No, It’s mine.” A voice responded, deeply projected from the direction of the elevator. I turned and noticed a powerfully-built black man, bald as an egg and sheaved in heavy Giger-tech armor without a helmet. He was an inch taller than me, at least, and walked towards the table, tapping the top of the headrest of one of the floating chairs firmly.

Three short legs dropped from the bottom of the chair to the floor, giving the floating device some support as the guy sat down on one, which sank only slightly at his weight. Baldwin tapped the headrest of his own chair, which dropped similar supports, and while I could not reach the headrest easily with Aquantis on my lap, she was able to tap a circular leather patch on top of the headrest of the chair we were sitting in, lifting it up about a foot as the thing stabilized and bringing my arms to table level.

The guy said, in stentorian tones, “I… am Technomancer.” After a moment, he looked around and said even more loudly and deeply, “I… am Technomancer!” At which point three deep, descending tones sounded from the walls, ominously enhancing the words. “Fucking AI.” I thought I heard him mutter under his breath afterward.

“You built this place?” I asked curiously.

He shook his head, “No, I just updated and did some redesign. This place was built in the 60s for a superteam called the Black Hammers, back before registration became mandatory. They didn’t last long, but a seismic sweep revealed this place, and when the call went out for local superheroes to go legit, I offered it up since I have a much more convenient secret lair with better tech. A lot of the old tech was nonfunctional, so I replaced or repaired what I could, and updated the security with things like the nanographic camouflage and biometric security, but the AI and these chairs were some of the original tech.”

I nodded, looking at his armor, “You are a technopath, right?” At his nod, I asked, “Is all of your stuff so… organic?”

Technomancer nodded, “Yeah. My field is nano-fluidics, which tends to look very alien, and striking fear into the hearts of criminals is a pretty important part of being an unregistered superhero, otherwise, no one listens to you when you tell them to give up and you wind up having to kick the crap out of every single crook you face just to maintain respect. I saw that alien movie a few years ago and the aesthetic was perfect. A few ass-kickings later and now, most of the street-level jerks will just give up or run away if I show up instead of trying to do the circle of death thing.”

“Circle of Death?” Baldwin asked.

Technomancer nodded, “Yeah. Detroit is still not so prosperous, since manufacturing is mostly automated these days. It never really recovered after everything got sent overseas in the eighties, and when it came back, well, automated factories don’t bring back that many jobs. Michigan still has corporate incentives, so there’s a lot of money in the Canadian exchange floating around, but the bottom rung is still mostly a drug, crime, and welfare economy.”

“As a result, a lot of street-level supervillains drift here. In New York, a street thug meta is just two steps away from decorating a prison cell due to all the heroes, but here, they can pretty easily become a big fish in a small pond. Lots of meta-run gangs running around, where respect is determined by how much butt you, personally, can kick. Having themes shows solidarity, and most gangs control maybe a block or two at most, so it’s a lot like that movie, the Warriors. Every gang seems to have its own shtick.”

He chuckled, “As a result, when gangs fight someone like me, they want to win, but each member also wants to be the one that gets credit for winning. So they tend to surround someone like in a Hong Kong flick, and instead of dogpiling them, they each move in to show how amazing they are as fighters. It’s called the circle of death and is the sole reason some of the local unregistered superheroes are here and can operate.

Technomancer sighed a little, “The whole catch and release program due to overcrowded jails is a double-edged sword. Breaking a few arms keeps the crooks from going too far overboard on the violence front, and there’s not enough money for the cartels to move in and take over, and a lot of thugs will just surrender when they are getting beat. But when you drop off a perp at the cop shops, if it’s not something like murder, you are almost guaranteed to see the same guy next month, wearing a scary new outfit and hustling protection from a store owner or pushing drugs.”

I nodded, “You are scary enough to keep the area you watch in line, but some of the other capes running around when the local gangs start getting a little too bloodthirsty…”

Technomancer nodded, “Exactly. If a gang starts leaving a trail of bodies, the capes have to start dealing lethally with them to bring them back in line and protect people. That’s why most of them had zero interest in being joiners when the DMA started talking about making vigilante teams. Most of them are good people, but they have had to put down the real monsters personally. The DMA made it very clear that killers would be outed and prosecuted, and rumors had it that they found some kind inquisitor that could identify people with a spotty history.”

He chuckled, “To be honest, some scary dude wearing a plague mask shows up and starts scanning people, and I am probably out of here myself. I am not a killer, but even I have to violate a few civil rights occasionally to keep folks like the Seven Samurai or the Orks from getting out of hand. You guys look pretty cool, but that guy there,” he waved towards Baldwin, “Screams cop, not meta. You guys are?”

Aquantis regretfully left my lap and chose her own egg chair, slapping the top and slipping into the seat. “We are still waiting for someone, plus the PR guy, and possibly a meta or two from other areas. I am Aquantis, out of Texas. My specialty is dealing with stuff on the water, obviously. Drug smugglers, murderers, people that like to dispose of bodies, coyotes, prison breakers, that kind of thing. Not much call for that in lake Michigan, but since I am pretty much the only aquatic hero running around, I get plenty of business.”

Baldwin pointed at me. “That’s Alchemyst.”

I sighed. “I am Louis. Louis McCarthy. I am just here short-term to help get stuff going, address any medical issues the locals have, try to help set up training and exercise regimens for getting the most out of your powers, and the like. I don’t know how much I can help you, though, since stuff like cyberkinesis and technopathy are intellectual powers, and I specialize in body training and healing.”

Baldwin chuckled, “That and his plague mask is in his other jacket.”

Technomancer looked at me in surprise, and then said, “So wait, this romance-cover refugee is the dreaded inquisitor, and he’s a healing meta?” He asked, snorting a little.

“Romance-cover refugee?” I asked. “The fuck?”

Aquantis laughed, “He’s right. Grow your hair out a bit, add some product, touch up the shave a little, and put on one of those blousy shirts open to the waist, and artists would be beating down your door to put you on the cover of books with some beautiful girl with big boobs in a shredded dress in your arms. You don’t have Fabio’s chin, but that intimidates a lot of girls, you are younger and your face is more welcoming. A couple of calls and your face and body could fill the spank bank of a million cat ladies.

I shook my head, “I have it on good authority that except for building up some muscle mass, my face is probably featured in more than one website devoted to creepy guys in school and weird people at Serve-Mart.”

Aquantis shook her head, “The muscles help fill out your face and make it more attractive. If you were starved-looking, I could see it looking creepy and kind of bird-like and skeletal, but like it is, it’s very nice, especially the freckles.”

Technomancer spoke, “Yeah, okay, so now that the mutual admiration society is done, seriously, what do you plan to do here? Blackhawk is going to help us train in crime-fighting and technological edge-play, and you are going to help us train physically and presumably improve our powers. But right now I only see two official members, it’s like a room full of teachers with only one student.”

I shook my head, “I will be honest with you. I could give a fuck about the DMA’s rules about killers. Heroes, cops, and soldiers sometimes have to take lives, and registered heroes kill people, even innocent people, all the fucking time. You are more than welcome to spread around that the inquisitor doesn’t give a damn about what the DMA thinks, but if someone is in the hero game as an excuse to beat and kill people in a socially acceptable way, I will personally beat them down. Sometimes a hero has to violate a few civil liberties to stop killers too, so if that’s what they have done, I don’t care.”

“I am not the team leader or the policy maker. I don’t even care about the law very much. Maybe this team will be charged with stopping purse-snatchers and car thieves, but I don’t care about that kind of stuff, that is the job of the cops. What I care about is stopping the monsters that prey on innocents. Murderers, rapists, abusers, and monsters, especially with powers, are the ones on my list of people to put in the ground. If one of the local vigilantes has that sort of background, I swear it won’t show up on any paperwork or anything I have to do with.”

I chuckled, “Also, I love the police. Their job sucks, and sometimes dealing with murderous shitheads day in and day out makes them less sensitive to the needs of the innocent and they do stuff like profiling and witch-hunting, but I consider it our job to help them if they are in over their heads. If we can ease their burden, especially with situations that will get them killed or force them to deal with the worst monsters constantly, I feel like they may become better and more responsive in the right way.”

I shrugged. “If the fuck-the-police types show up, they can hit the road. I don’t care about your politics, I just know a gun and a badge is often the only thing that stops the bullies. Someone devoted to cleaning up corruption is awesome and I will help them any way I can because a crooked cop is nearly as bad as a meta that uses their powers to abuse people, but if I notice a cop killer, I will put them in the fucking ground.”

I shrugged a little, and Technomancer nodded, “There are a lot of anti-cop type vigilantes here, but if you are serious about helping clean up the dirty cops, and don’t mind the folks that have had to go too far to protect themselves and their neighborhoods, We are liable to get more than a few new volunteers. Having someone to watch your back, that you can count on, is a big deal. Blackhawk is pretty well known, and has worked here in Detroit before with some of us, so that should be a big plus.”

He looked a little worried, “The DMA is not going to like it though, especially if we start crashing dirty cops. In places like this, sometimes the corruption goes all the way up. Not with the street gangs, but while the big boys might not have much of a presence here, they definitely have financial interests. They pay a lot for their protection, and are not going to appreciate it if that protection dries up.”

I shook my head. “I cannot promise that the DMA won’t interfere, but they won’t have my help doing it. One rule I am learning the hard way, though, is that in the end, the DMA sucks. They may be pushing the plan, but they are not the ones bleeding, and normal people are footing the bill. I don’t want to see that blood and money wasted.”

Baldwin chuckled, “Amen.”

Technomancer grinned. “I will spread the word that you are starting your own meta gang, then. I know at least three people that will be on it like a dirty cop on a cash bust, even if we are cop-friendly.” He nodded and got to his feet. “Excuse me while I make a few calls. Fair warning, though… some of the guys are a little rough around the edges. Fights to show who’s the boss are not that unusual even among allies, and the pretty white girl is probably going to be the focus of a lot of it.” He gestured towards Aquantis.

A ripple of motion and color drifted down Aquantis’ body, and she was back in her natural form, although her aquatic features seemed to be dramatically enhanced. Her fingers looked longer, her scales much more prominent, and she had spines of scales along the outside of her calves, forearms, under her jaw, and a crest that erupted from her hair and slid down the back of her neck. She even had a tail now and scooted forward to let the ridged member swing behind her. She was still pretty, but her breasts were barely more than vague bumps under her suit, and her shoulder vents and the slits under her ribcage were far larger, more pronounced, and fringed with gold. Her skin color had turned more richly bright green, and her much thicker scales were slightly duller, with less sparkle except for highlights and patterns of golden stripes.

“This is my speed form. It’s a shift, so I cannot maintain it when I am unconscious, but I cannot get to over 120 knots underwater without a more streamlined form. It’s not entirely Chromatophores, but if I get into a serious fight it is better at stopping injuries and causing damage.” She wiggled fingernails that looked more like claws at me. “Since you asked for the creature from the black lagoon.” She looked a little nervously at me as if waiting for my reaction.

I grinned, “I’d still fuck you unconscious.” I reassured her and was interrupted by yet another cough from Baldwin. “What?” I said, “I was a teenager once too, and monster girl hentai is really popular. Aquantis is a bonafide mermaid, and sailors have been dreaming of them for all of recorded history.” I justified.

Technomancer shrugged, “That’s probably better, but you might want to ease off on the bedroom stuff. Some people might take it as a challenge, and one girl I am pretty sure will join is a real Jesus freak and is likely to get all preachy if you talk like that around her. I get where you are coming from, but just know it might cause problems.”

Aquantis scooted her chair closer to mine, and whispered in my ear, “You know, I have a real mermaid form. It even works, although since everything is in the front it would kind of limit positions. It’s a lot faster than my native form, but I don’t use it much since it’s a little top-heavy and slower than this. Also, legs are useful. But if you are interested, I would be happy to give it a whirl in a few days…” She seemed to be visibly excited at the idea, which I probably wasn’t the only one to notice with her clingy swimsuit.

I grinned at her and had to change the way I was sitting to avoid embarrassing myself.