“He really is a monster,” Megan eventually said. “I know that he is. I hate sounding like I’m defending him. I just don’t know if killing him is going to be good for the very people we’re trying to protect.”
I nodded. I got it, I really did. We fell silent again. As we sat I could hear distant sounds in the corridors, distorted by the bizarre composition and acoustics of the steel catacombs. Sometimes you could hear water rushing, as the city sewage pipes ran nearby. Other times I swore I could hear rats, though it baffled me what they could be living on down here. Other times the land seemed to be groaning softly.
“What are they, Megan?” I asked. “Have you ever wondered that?”
“You mean the Epics?” she asked. “Lots of people have theories.”
“I know. But what do you think?”
She didn’t reply immediately. Lots of people did have theories, and most would be happy to tell you about them. The Epics were the next stage in human evolution, or they were a punishment sent by this god or that, or they were really aliens. Or they were the result of a secret government project. Or it was all fake and they were using technology to pretend they had powers.
Most of the theories fell apart when confronted by facts. Normal people had gained powers and become Epics; they weren’t aliens or anything like that. There were enough direct stories of a family member manifesting abilities. Scientists claimed to be baffled by the genetics of Epics, but I didn’t know much about that kind of thing. Besides, most of the scientists were either gone now or worked for one of the more powerful Epics.
Anyway, a lot of the rumors were silly, but that had never stopped them from spreading, and probably never would.
“I think they’re a test of some kind,” Megan said.
I frowned. “You mean, like religiously?”
“No, not a test of faith or anything like that,” Megan said. “I mean a test of what we’ll do, if we have power. Enormous power. What would it do to us? How would we deal with it?”
I sniffed. “If the Epics are an example of what we’d do with power, then it’s better if we never get any.”
She fell silent. A few moments later I heard another odd sound. Whistling.
I turned and was surprised to see Cody walking down the corridor. He was alone, and on foot, which meant he’d left the industrial scooter—which had pulled the crates of supplies—in the hangar. He had his gun over his shoulder and wore his baseball cap embroidered with the supposed coat of arms of his Scottish clan. He tipped the cap to us.
“So … we having a party?” he asked. He checked his mobile. “Is it time for tea?”
“Tea?” I asked. “I’ve never seen you drink tea.”
“I usually have some fish sticks and a bag of potato chips,” Cody said. “It’s a British thing. Y’all are Yanks and wouldn’t understand.”
Something seemed off about that statement, but I didn’t know enough to call him on it.
“So why the dour expressions?” Cody asked, hopping up beside us on the crates. “You two look like a pair of coon hunters on a rainy day.”
Wow, I thought. Why can’t I come up with metaphors like that?
“Prof and I got into an argument,” Megan said with a sigh.
“Again? I thought you two were past that. What was it about this time?”
“Nothing I want to talk about.”
“Fair enough, fair enough.” Cody got out his long hunter’s knife and began trimming his fingernails. “Nightwielder’s been out in the city. People are reporting him all over, passing through walls, looking in on dens of miscreants and lesser Epics. It has everyone on edge.”
“That’s good,” I said. “It means Steelheart is taking the threat seriously.”
“Maybe,” Cody said. “Maybe. He ain’t said anything about the challenge we left him yet, and Nightwielder is checking in on a lot of regular folks. Steelheart might suspect that someone’s trying to blow smoke up his kilt.”
“Maybe we should hit Nightwielder,” I said. “We know his weakness now.”
“Might be a good idea,” Cody said, fishing a long, slender device out of his hip pack. He tossed it to me.
“What’s this?”
“UV flashlight,” he said. “I managed to find a place that sold them—or, well, bulbs anyway, which I put in the flashlights and fixed us up a few. Best to be ready in case Nightwielder surprises us.”
“Do you think he’ll come here?” I asked.
“He’ll start in on the steel catacombs eventually,” Cody said. “Maybe he’s started already. Having a defensible base means nothing if Nightwielder just decides to phase through the walls and strangle us in our sleep.”
Cheery thoughts. I shivered.
“At least we can fight him now,” Cody said, fishing out another flashlight for Megan. “But I think we’re poorly prepared. We still don’t know what Steelheart’s weakness is. What if he does challenge Limelight?”
“Tia will find the answer,” I said. “She has a lot of leads in discovering what was in that bank vault.”