Death Makes Me Stronger, page 13
“I’ll be careful,” I promised. “As much as I can, anyway. Can you keep this between us?”
“Keep what?” she asked with a hint of a smirk. “I’m making strawberry tarts today. They’ll probably be like hockey pucks and not good enough for the rats, but I’ll keep some back for you. And your lady friend. Junior says she’s thin enough to be a skeleton.”
“I’m sure they’ll be great,” I said and then pulled the door open.
Mrs. Krux nodded once and then swiped at a tear that had the audacity to escape. It was strange to see such a vulnerable moment from the old lady, but everything seemed to be coming into focus. If her husband had been a super, then it would make sense that Junior would have powers and why her son was so good at keeping this place functional. And if Mr. Krux had died in the line of duty, then it would explain why my landlady was so standoffish about the Hero Society and the government.
I spent the trip to the morgue wondering who Mr. Krux’s superhero identity might have been. Maybe I could convince Briar to do a search, but then I wondered if that was even a good idea. If my landlady wanted me to know what had happened, she’d tell me, probably after she’d stuffed me with banana bread.
“Hey,” the security guard at the morgue said.
I almost jumped out of my skin and looked around as my mind came back to the present. The mystery of Mrs. Krux and Junior must’ve consumed me so much that I’d just walked to the morgue on autopilot, though at least it was a lot less dangerous for me than it used to be. I shook my head, forced a smile, and then waved at the now familiar guard.
“Hey,” I said. “Do I need to get a badge and sign in?”
“Already done,” he said and handed me a laminated pass. “Dr. LaLune filled out all of the required forms for you earlier this evening. She says that your work is vital to some new methods of death detection or some such thing. I couldn’t really understand all the jargon. The bottom line is that all you have to do is flash that pass, and whatever guard is on duty will let you through. It’s only good for a month, so you’ll have to renew it after that.”
“Thanks,” I said and clipped it onto the bottom of my shirt. “See you later.”
The guard nodded and then went back to his book while I strolled through the gates and across the parking lot. It was eerie to see the vacant lot with only a few cars under light posts, and it didn’t help that the fog from the bay had started to roll in. It was like I was about to enter the land of the dead, especially when I tugged open the door and a blast of cold air wafted out.
“Welcome back,” Raven said as I came through the swinging double doors into the morgue. “I’d started to think that the gods of death had decided to keep you this time. Please excuse the mess. I’ve just finished checking in one of my new charges.”
“No problem,” I said and tried to ignore the blood smeared across the metal autopsy table. “How are you doing?”
“I’m well, John,” she said, but there was a slight wobble in the goth woman’s voice. “You just took longer to return than expected.”
The petite woman grabbed a hose connected to the ceiling and began to spray down the autopsy table. The blood poured into a drain on the floor as she retrieved some kind of sanitary spray and began to wipe down the stainless steel. She refused to look at me during the entire process like she wasn’t sure if I was a ghost or not.
I dropped my bag on the table near the door and then rushed over to take Raven in my arms. It had to have been terrible to see me die, especially since her charges were usually dead by the time she met them. I held the petite woman tightly, and she let out a small sob before she sniffed and pulled away.
“I’m completely fine,” I said and caught a tear that threatened to ruin her perfect black eyeliner. “Good as new. Just like the last two times.”
“It was so awful,” she shook her head. “Paul had to carry you to the bed. I-I didn’t realize how problematic it would be to see you die. My emotions are clearly deeper than I expected.”
“Mine, too,” I said and reached down to take her pale hands in mine. “You don’t have to be there for my other deaths. If we do it again.”
“Of course I will be,” she sniffed and squared her shoulders. “I’ll be better prepared now. And death comes for us all. I will simply remind myself that there is no guarantee that you will be back each time.”
I nodded and watched as she went to sit at the computer desk. The goth woman was as soft as the kittens plastered all over her personal notebook, even if there were spikes all over her boots and belt. I smiled as I realized how much she meant to me already, though it made sense since the assistant medical examiner had been there after each of my three resurrections.
“I think that the reason it took so long this time was because it was so close to my last death,” I said and dragged the stool over to sit next to her. “It could also be that my ability only lasts for so long.”
“We will have to test that theory,” Raven said and flipped open her notebook. “Of course, I think that you should wait for a little while before you die again. At least until we find a way for Paul to test your blood again.”
“I’m one hundred percent behind that,” I chuckled and spun around on the stool. “I think I’ve died enough in the last few days to buy me at least a week.”
Raven smirked as the tension started to drain out of her shoulders. Her handwriting was so clean and precise that it was easy to read the notes about my theory. The assistant medical examiner was more scientist than goth queen of the dead, and some of the symbols brought me right back to my science classes in high school.
“So,” I said as she turned to the computer. “How did your last charge die?”
“Car accident,” she said and began to type in the notes from the autopsy. “It was fairly standard, though tragic. The man had just become a father for the third time. I believe that had something to do with his demise. There were bags under his eyes and higher levels of melatonin in his brain as if it had recently been flooded. I’ve seen it with other patients who died from exhaustion-induced demise.”
“How do you know about his kids?” I asked and looked at the computer screen. “It doesn’t say anything about his family.”
“No reading my official notes,” Raven said in a stern tone. “Those are official government property. I know that he just had another child because his wife came in to identify his body. She had a newborn in her arms and she also mentioned that her two daughters were with their grandmother while she came to the morgue.”
I nodded and scooted back until the screen protector made it impossible to read the notes. I knew I would be annoyed if some random stranger had read my autopsy results or the results of a loved one, and I also knew that if anyone found out about my powers, there was a very real possibility that’s exactly what would happen. But I wasn’t going to be that guy, so I turned to look at a diagram of the human skeleton instead.
“I hope they had life insurance,” I said and thought about work. “There were a few calls that came in like that. It’s more common than you’d expect. Well, maybe not you, but I sure as hell didn’t expect so many new parents to die from just stupid stuff. One guy literally walked into a bullet once because he didn’t realize that there was a mugging in progress.”
“I believe Jonesy did that autopsy,” she said and finished up the notes, turned to me, and flashed a small sad smile. “That man had been taking care of his granddaughter while his son and daughter-in-law were taking a much-needed vacation. It was tragic, but his wife was able to take care of the child, and Jonesy said that the old woman had laughed and said that her husband would’ve thought it was hilarious. They apparently joked around about dying from stupid stuff like that all the time when they were newlyweds.”
“I had plenty of people that called in and laughed about the way their loved ones died, or the accident that they’d been in that made them call in,” I shrugged. “People deal with grief in different ways.”
The door swung open as Paul walked in with a file in hand. The human golden retriever smiled from ear to ear at the sight of me, and I shook my head at how excited he was. The beefy CSI was the perfect foil to his wife and her best friend, though his profession did involve the dead just as much as Raven’s did.
“You’re back!” he exclaimed and then handed the goth the file. “We were starting to worry. Raven almost cried when the twenty-six hour mark came and went without any sign that you were going to wake up. Of course, you did heal. That was truly disgusting to see. You bloated like a floater even though we brought you out of the water as soon as the power went out.”
“Gross,” I shook my head. “Not sure that I want to watch that one.”
“Valid,” he said and then clapped his hands together. “Have you tried the taser yet? I don’t want to miss that.”
I looked between Raven and Paul as my pulse spiked. At least they didn’t have a cattle prod, but I’d seen somebody get tased in high school, and it had stuck with me all the way through college. I hated the spark sound that it made, but it was probably the easiest way to make sure that my body was immune to electricity now.
“We haven’t used it yet,” Raven said and scooted back in her chair. “I wanted to finish up with my last charge before we began the next experiment with John.”
“Good idea,” Paul said as he went to retrieve a camera.
“How many of those do you have?” I laughed. “There’s the one from the bathroom, the one still set up in my bedroom, and now this one.”
“It’s the one from the bathroom,” he said and checked the battery. “I already downloaded all of the video from earlier. Briar was very glad that she wasn’t there for that specific moment. Also, your building is surprisingly sturdy. Only your breaker tripped. I think she’s doing research on the history of your building now. Once my lovely wife sinks her teeth into a mystery, there’s nothing in the world that could stop her.”
“A mystery?” I asked and stood to pace out some of my nervous energy.
“Yeah,” Paul shrugged. “She said something about the wiring being more advanced than she’d normally see in an old factory. The last I heard, she was checking to make sure that no villains lived in the area.”
“It would be a good place to hide,” Raven said and retrieved a taser from a cabinet. “The dump is so close that not many people want to live in the area.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. The duo had kept my secret so far, but it didn’t seem right to spill my theory about Mrs. Krux and Junior. Of course, Briar’s research would be logged if the museum that she worked for was paid by the government, so it would be better for me to just tell them what I suspected. That way my landlady wouldn’t be exposed.
“I’m almost positive that Junior is a super,” I said and stuffed my hands in my pockets. “Mrs. Krux warned me about being a hero today, and I’m almost positive that they both figured out that I’ve come back to life. They won’t tell anyone, but I think that’s because Mr. Krux was a hero in their old country. He probably ‘died’ on a mission, and they came here to hide out from any enemies.”
“That would explain why they’re so protective of the building,” Paul said and tugged his phone out. “I’ll tell Briar not to look into anything while she’s on her work’s Wi-Fi, and definitely not on her work computer. She’ll understand. She may technically work for the government, but her approach is very much the keep your enemies close kind of outlook on life. I’m fairly certain she’s hidden more than just you with the John Doe tag in the system.”
“The government shouldn’t have access to everyone who is a super,” I nodded. “I wrote an entire paper about it. There’s a lot of rumors that they’ve forced supers to do their dirty work. At least, they did way back in the day when everyone first came out. And of course, there’s the rumors that some of our best superheroes were actually given their powers through government experiments.”
“Governing bodies have never been trustworthy,” Raven said and then tested the charge on the taser. “They have their purpose, but it is best not to allow them too much access.”
“You work for the government,” I pointed out. “And I’m kind of trying to work for the government. Not that I really like the idea of working for them since they clearly track us, and there are too many rumors of what they do in the dark, but they’ve made it impossible to be a superhero without their approval and a license.”
“There are plenty of people who work without a license,” Paul pointed out.
“Villains and vigilantes,” I laughed. “But I want to be able to actually help people, and the Hero Society has the best resources. I’d be able to have backup when I needed it, and you know that those government payouts can be very helpful. It’s worth paying the fee for the interview and the application like I’m trying to join some country club. It’s even worth being watched by the government so that I can call in the cops. Besides, vigilantes always get caught, and sometimes they get in more trouble than the villains. It’s not like Rusna where they grab people off the street.”
“Those government payouts are nice,” Raven smirked. “Briar and I have the same outlook. Besides, the dead have nothing to do with the government, and they deserve to have an advocate on their side. It is the overarching body of faceless lawmakers and generals that we must worry about, not those of us in the trenches walking hand in hand with death and the daily tasks that keep our society functioning.”
“Fair enough,” I said and then clapped my hands together. “That’s the same reason that I’m willing to jump through the hoops to join the Hero Society. The people need advocates, too. Even if some of them are as annoying as Admiral Freedom. And despite the rumors and blogs, there’s no real hard evidence that our government is as terrible as some of the others around the world. I just don’t trust governing bodies as a general rule, but they’re necessary, and if they are corrupt, then it’ll be a whole lot easier to take them down from inside the Hero Society. Besides, the government may pay for a lot of the Hero Society’s gear, and the city will pay me when I take down a villain, but technically the Hero Society is a freelance organization.”
“Yeah, like mercenaries,” Paul chuckled.
“Mercenaries that don’t kill people,” I shook my head. “Just imprison them. Listen, if the heroes hadn’t stepped up when supers were first discovered, then this world would’ve devolved into complete chaos. It’s a tightrope to walk with the license and being part of the Hero Society, but it’s worth it. I’ve always wanted to help those who couldn’t fight for themselves, and now I have the ability to do just that. It’s the reason that I worked at the insurance company so that I could help people file claims and get their lives back to normal. Now, I’ll be able to do it with superpowers, and in a much more real sense. And, like I said, if the blogs and rumors are true, then it’ll be so much easier to take them down from the inside, but I’m fairly certain that someone would’ve already outed them if they were that corrupt. We don’t live in one of the police states.”
“Yet,” Raven said. “But we are being watched. I understand why you want to join the Hero Society instead of being a vigilante, but know that if there is corruption, then we’ll be here to help you take them down.”
“Briar will be first in line,” Paul laughed. “Of course, she probably already has a list of people that might be able to help you. But so far the government hasn’t done anything that really deserves our scrutiny, and those blogs are usually exaggerated.”
“Anarchy is a nice ideal, but it’s clear that humans, and especially supers, can’t be trusted without someone in charge,” Raven nodded.
“Okay,” I said and clapped my hands together. “While I’d love to keep up this philosophical discussion… we should probably get to the test before I lose my nerve.”
“You literally sat in a bathtub while Rave threw in a hair dryer,” Paul said with an exasperated sigh. “And you took on Inferno. How could a taser be too scary?”
“It’s the sound,” I said and hopped up and down a few times. “It’s just… creepy.”
“At least it shouldn’t hurt,” Raven said and came around the side of the table.
The taser looked huge in the assistant medical examiner’s petite hand, and adrenaline shot through me as sparks arced between the two metal electrodes. It wouldn’t be nearly as bad as the bathtub, just like there hadn’t been pain from the bunsen burner, or the crowbar, but it still freaked me out.
“It won’t hurt,” I said and then forced myself to remain still. “Do it now. It’s like ripping off a Band-Aid. I just need to get through it once.”
“You’ll be fine,” the goth woman said, though I wasn’t sure if it was more to herself than to me.
Raven tossed both of her long braided ponytails back, took a deep breath, and then hit me with the taser. The electrical pulse shot through me, but instead of pain, it felt like I’d just downed an energy drink. Blue sparks danced at the ends of my fingertips, and I lifted them to see little lightning bolts shoot upwards into the fluorescent lights above us.
The morgue went completely dark for a few seconds before the power came back on, and glass shards rained down on top of me. Raven and Paul jumped back in time for the sharp pieces to miss them, but I didn’t even bother since they wouldn’t hurt me anyway.
“Son of a bitch,” I whispered as the corners of my lips pulled up. “I can shoot fucking lightning!”
“That was literally the coolest thing that I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Paul said in a strained voice.
The beefy CSI had the camera pointed at me as steadily as he could manage as he practically vibrated with excitement. If he’d had a tail, then it would have definitely been wagging behind him, and I was right there with him. Paul and I met each other’s eyes, and it was like we were both kids again.
