The Red Ranger, Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

The Traitor

Katie plugged her flash drive into the small community computer used in the barracks and pulled up the files she had found. Joshua looked over her shoulder as a long string of coding appeared on the screen.

“What are we looking at here?” he asked.

“Right here,” Katie said, highlighting a line of code in the middle. “It’s wrong. It doesn’t match the coding for the makeshift suit you escaped with.”

Joshua raised an eyebrow. Katie knew much more about coding than he did, so he decided to just take her word for it. “Alright?” he said.

Katie clicked on the bit of code itself and an entirely new file popped up on screen. Joshua leaned forward. It seemed to be a message written by James, addressed to him.

“Hey, Josh,” it read. “I hope you not do actually see this. I’m rhino this just in case happens something does.”

The letter went on like that, full of typos and words out of order. It looked to be several paragraphs long, going on for quite a while. After reading the first few lines, he simply skimmed over the rest. He focused instead on the weird spots and missing words. Knowing James, Joshua figured there had to be a code here. He went over it a few different times, trying to figure out any sort of pattern. Where was the key? He thought. He reached over Katie and navigated back to the coding page. He scanned the whole page before focusing on the incorrect bit of code that had led them to the message. An idea occurred to him.

“Hand me that scrap piece of paper,” he said, pulling up a chair. Katie passed the paper to him and he started writing the numbers of the incorrect code down. He then clicked back to the message again and started matching them up word by word. Slowly he started to see the pattern.

“There you are,” Joshua said, smiling slightly at his brother’s cleverness. He scribbled down each word on the piece of paper, working his way through the message. Once finished, he read through it and pushed it over to Katie so that she could read it.

Katie read through it a few times, before looking up at Joshua. “What’s this virus he’s talking about?”

“When we escaped, James used a virus to wipe every piece of information on the Ranger Project from the Black Cross’s system,” he explained. “According to this message, he also programmed the virus to leave behind just a tiny bit of itself inside their system after it was finished.”

Katie reread the message again. “He says he left us a code, that when plugged into a computer containing traces of the virus, those traces will react to the code.” She flipped over the paper, squinting at it a bit. “But that doesn’t help us here, really. We’d have to break into a Black Cross complex to . . . ,” her eyes widened. “The mole.”

Joshua nodded. She had caught on to the same thing he had.

Katie looked at him. “James left us a way to expose the traitor,” she said. “Anyone who has had contact with the Black Cross’s server from this base, their computer should have traces of the virus in it.”

Katie scanned the message one more time. “Where’s the code, though?” she asked.

She sat forward and scanned through James’s message on the computer again. Her eyes widened for a second and she navigated back to the coding page. “You don’t think?” she said.

She and Joshua looked at each other.

“The incorrect bit of code is the trigger code too?” Joshua said.

Katie scanned over the code for a second, figuring out what it would all do. “It is,” she said.

Joshua looked at the ceiling, smiling and shaking his head. “James, you beautiful genius, you.” He scratched at his chin, and studied the code. “Now, we’ve just got to plug this into every computer attached to the Ranger Project to see if one was used by the mole.”

“Right,” Katie said. “But the mole could be anyone. We’d have to do it without letting them catch on until it’s too late.”

“Right,” Joshua said. “Which means we can’t tell anyone in the Ranger Project what we’re doing.”

“And that will make us look suspicious,” Katie said.

Joshua sat back, letting his strategic mind work. Katie would be best for the job since she was better at stealth and intel gathering. Lunch was almost over, meaning the complex would be full of people soon, so they wouldn’t be able to do anything until the end of the day.

“Right after we’re dismissed for dinner,” he said. “I want you to double back, act like you left something behind. That will ease suspicion for anyone still in the complex, but it should be mostly empty at that point. Once you're in, plug the code into every single computer. Don’t rule anyone out. Not Dayton, not General Kenpachi, no one. Not even me. I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

“I got it,” Katie said, pulling the flash drive out of the computer. “I’ll see it done, Captain.”

Several hours later, after they had gone back to work and spent the rest of the day going over the suit’s performance with Anthony, General Kenpachi dismissed everyone to dinner. Joshua and Katie joined Dayton and the cadets on their way to the mess hall. A short distance out from the lab, Katie stopped.

“Oh,” she said, “I think I forgot my pack. You guys go on ahead.”

Dayton and the others glanced at her and shrugged. “Want us to save you something?” Dayton said.

“No that’s okay. I won’t be long.” Katie nodded to Joshua. Joshua nodded back.

Leaving the group, Katie doubled back to the Ranger Project headquarters. As expected, the halls were mostly empty, most stragglers finishing up what they were doing so they could get to the mess hall. Katie walked with purpose so as not to arouse any suspicion. She came to the first room, waited until no one was around, and poked her head.

She crossed to the room’s sole computer and plugged her flash drive in. Once the device was up and running, she entered James’s code. No reaction. The computer remained exactly the same as far as she could tell. She clicked on a few applications just to make sure she wasn’t missing anything before shutting it down. This computer was clear.

Katie stepped out into the corridor and made her way to the next room. That computer turned out to be clear too. Carefully, Katie worked through every room in the complex. Eventually, she came to General Kenpachi’s office. She stared at the door for a moment, truly hoping he didn’t turn out to be the one. She had grown fond of the old man. She poked her head inside to make sure he wasn’t around before hacking into his computer as well. She plugged in the flash drive and repeated the process, breathing a sigh of relief to find that his computer didn’t react either.

After a few more rooms, only the computers inside the lab remained. Katie wondered for a minute if she would find anything at all. It was possible that James’s code was faulty. Or that the Black Cross had already eradicated the traces of the virus from their systems. She didn’t dare hope that there truly wasn’t even a mole at all.

Katie came to the lab door. She let a group of scientists pass by before tapping her keycard and letting herself in. The lab was empty for the moment, most of the computers having gone to sleep. Katie started with the computer next to the door and worked her way around the room. None of those on the left side reacted in any way.

She came to Anthony Starr’s computer in the center of the room, connected to the worktable where the makeshift suit James had built lay. Katie looked over the suit for a minute before booting up Anthony’s computer and plugging in her flash drive. She typed in the code, not expecting much to happen just like all the others. This time, however, the moment she typed it in, the entire computer lit up with hundreds, if not thousands, of files being forced open, each one popping up one after the other, to the extent that Katie worried they might crash the system.

Her eyes widened. “There’s no way,” she said. She glanced up at the door. “Anthony is the traitor?”

She started her flash drive downloading everything that had come up.

She leaned in close to the screen. It looked like most of them had been buried deep inside no-name folders within no-name folders within no-name folders. Most were either given no names at all, a series of incomprehensible numbers and letters, or simply “Mom.” Most of them looked like they had been protected behind heavy-duty security measures, but those had all been blown clean through by James’s.

She started clicking through each file. Most of them contained heavily sensitive information regarding the Ranger Project, from blueprints to recruit lists. She found her own file, alongside those of Joshua, Dayton, Doug, and Harriet. And then there were the correspondences. E-mails and messages sent back and forth between Anthony and the Black Cross dating back several years, long before the Ranger Project or EAGLE even existed. Back to the early days of Black Cross activity.

Katie pulled up a small video file created just recently. The face of the Golden Mask appeared on the screen, spreading his arms and welcoming Joshua to his trap. From the description Joshua had given in the debriefing, this looked like the video that had played inside the compound this morning. Katie squinted at the Golden Mask on the screen, a terrible thought occuring to her. She went back to the e-mails and scanned them for any reference to the Golden Mask. Every single one seemed to be in reference to Anthony himself.

“Oh, Jesus,” Katie said.

“Looking for something?”

Katie froze. She stared up to see Anthony standing just inside the door watching her, his arms crossed over his chest, one eyebrow raised. Katie stared at him, her mouth open. “Doctor Starr,” she said, quickly putting on a casual smile. “I thought you had gone to dinner.”

Anthony stared at her a second longer before flashing her his lopsided smile and shrugging. “Forgot to call my mom,” he said. “You?”

“I forgot my pack. And General Kenpachi asked me to get something off the computer since I was on my way back.”

“The general sent you?” Anthony asked, stepping closer.

“Yeah,” Katie said. “That intel I found today, he needed some information from the central computer to help match up some things. Don’t worry, I didn’t mess with any of your stuff.”

She glanced down to see that the download had completed. Katie pulled out the flash drive and closed out of everything. “There we go. All done!” she said, holding up the flash drive to show him. She locked up the computer and stepped away, walking casually over to her locker to collect her pack. Anthony watched her silently, stepping around his computer to look at the screen..

“Well, I’m glad you found what you were looking for,” he said.

“Thanks,” Katie said. She shouldered her pack and waved. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you,” Anthony said, nodding, his eyes not leaving her for a second. Katie turned her back to him to show him she didn’t suspect anything and opened the door. She kept walking, down the hall and out of sight of the door. Once out of view, she stopped and leaned against the wall, her mind racing. Anthony was the Golden Mask, she thought. That meant he’d led the attack on the base. That meant he’d held both Joshua and James hostage and tortured them. That meant he’d murdered James. She had to find Joshua and General Kenpachi, now.

“Everything alright?”

Katie looked up to see Anthony standing in the doorway, watching her. Katie dropped her pack and opened it up. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “Just had to make sure I had everything.” She dug through it, giving it a once-over before zipping it up and slinging it over her shoulder again. “We got it. Good night.”

“Good night, Lieutenant Young.”

Katie kept heading down the hall. She could feel Anthony’s eyes on her back. She kept walking, maintaining her casual pace while trying to keep her nerves under control. He won’t try anything, she tried convincing herself. Not as long as we’re inside the base and the security cameras are rolling.

She rounded the corner and almost ran headlong into Dayton. “Hey,” her friend said, smiling brightly. “Where you been? You never showed.”

“Oh,” Katie said, relieved to see his face. “I got held up,” she said. “No big deal. How was dinner?” she aked.

“Oh, it was great,” Dayton said, rubbing his stomach. “We saved you a bowl. We left it in the barracks—”

“Great!” Katie said. “Let’s go get it right now.” She grabbed his arm and steered him quickly in the opposite direction.

Dayton glanced back at Anthony. “What’s going on?” he asked. He nodded to Anthony who nodded back.

“Nothing,” Katie said. “Just starving. Can’t wait for dinner.” She flashed Dayton a warning look. He registered the look, seeming to gather that something was wrong. “Alright,” he said. “Let’s go. It should still be warm.”

“That’s great,” Katie said. They walked around the corner, out of Anthony’s view. “How many bowls of curry did you get through today?”

They walked together, through Ranger Project headquarters and out the high security door, making a beeline for the barracks. Joshua sat waiting on Katie’s cot, a large bowl of curry sitting beside him. He got to his feet as they came in.

“What did you find out?” he said.

“Not yet,” Katie said. “We need to find General Kenpachi. Immediately. Come with me. Both of you.”

Joshua took in the serious expression on her face and glanced at Dayton. Dayton simply gave him a confused shrug.

“Lead the way,” he said.

Katie led them both through the compound, to General Kenpachi’s personal quarters. She knocked on the door, Dayton and Joshua watching the corridor. The general opened the door, dressed in his civvies.

“What is all this?” he asked, taking them all in.

“We need to talk, sir, immediately,” Katie said, glancing behind her. “May we come in?”

Kenpachi looked at her face. He must have recognized how spooked she was. “Come on in,” he said. He stepped aside to let them in and closed the door behind them. “What’s all this about?” he asked.

Katie pulled the flash drive from her pocket. She handed it to him, her head down. “I owe you an apology, sir,” she said. “I lied to you during the debriefing today. I did find something. Something important.”

General Kenpachi held the flash drive in his hand. He scanned her face, then the faces of Joshua and Dayton behind her. “That’s a very serious offense, Lieutenant,” he said.

“I know, sir,” Katie said. “I’m sorry.”

General Kenpachi was silent for a moment, considering the small device he held. “And what did you find?”

Katie glanced back at Joshua. “A message, sir, left behind by James Cage. And a code to identify the mole inside the Ranger Project.”

Kenpachi’s eyes lit up. He gripped the drive and looked up at her. “I assume, then,” he said, “that the fact you are coming to me with this now means that you have discovered the traitor’s identity.”

Katie nodded. “I do, sir.”

“Whoa, seriously?” Dayton said, his mouth open. He thought back to their encounter in the corridor. “Oh,” he said. “Then--”

“Yes,” Katie said, nodding. She glanced at the door. “This room is soundproof?”

General Kenpachi nodded. “It is.”

“Alright,” Katie said. She took a deep breath. “The traitor is Anthony Starr.”

The room was silent, everyone staring at Katie. General Kenpachi furrowed his brow. “Anthony Starr?” he said. “That doesn’t make any sense. He’s been with the Project since the beginning. The suits were his idea. Are you absolutely certain?”

“Yes, I am. All the evidence is on that drive.”

She turned to Joshua. “There’s one more thing,” she said. “He’s not just a mole, Josh. He’s the Golden Mask.”

The Red Ranger, Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Joshua and Katie

A short time later, Joshua and his team returned to Snack Shop Gon, taking the secret elevator down to the lab, where Anthony and the science team waited to greet them.

“Welcome back,” he said.

Joshua nodded to Anthony as he sat down on the nearby bench, tapping his morpher and deactivating his suit. While he let the medical team look him over for any injuries, James’s body was brought into the lab and laid down on a stretcher, the grotesque black cross still carved into his chest. Joshua stared at his brother’s face, his mind still numb. General Kenpachi stepped into the room, looking down at the body with a grim expression on his face.

“Take him away, please,” the general told a couple of the medics. “Make sure he’s well taken care of.”

Yes, sir,” one medic said.

“How are the kids?” Joshua asked once the body had been removed.

“They’re alright,” the general said. “We got them back to their school and their parents were notified. They’re all in good condition and all accounted for.”

“Oh, good.” Joshua breathed a sigh of relief.

A few minutes later, the entire team got together in a nearby conference room to be debriefed. Joshua gave his account of the day’s events and then each of his team took their turn adding in any additional details. Joshua didn’t really pay too much attention to the meeting, his mind in another room with a couple of medics and a corpse. He only came back to the present when Katie failed to mention the intel she’d said she’d found. Joshua looked at her strangely, but didn’t say anything about it right that moment. If he knew Katie, she likely had a good reason for it.

After about a half an hour of back-and-forth, General Kenpachi released them to go back to their barracks to get ready for lunch. Joshua walked silently down the hall with his team as Dayton, Doug, and Harriet talked excitedly about the events of the day’s mission and the lasagna being served in the mess hall. He noticed Katie didn’t seem to be talking much either.

“You guys go on ahead without me,” he told his crew once they reached the barracks. “I’m just going to lay down for a while.”

He crossed the room and slumped down onto his personal cot. Dayton and the cadets glanced at each other, watching him with concern.

“Alright, Cap,” Dayton said. “We’ll save a place for you, okay?”

Joshua nodded, but didn’t say anything more. His team went to their personal footlockers and started changing, carrying on their conversation. Joshua ignored them, waiting for them to leave. After a few minutes, Dayton, Doug, and Harriet finished up and headed out for the mess hall. Joshua opened one eye, watching the few other soldiers go about their business. He rolled over, pretending to go to sleep. Images of the day’s events, the sight of his brother’s body, and the memory of the days both he and their parents had died ricocheted around in his head, slamming into each other at full force. He clenched his fists, trying to force the images to just go away and leave him alone.

Katie sat on her own cot nearby, watching Joshua and waiting for the soldiers to clear out. He was pretending to sleep, but she knew him better than that. Once the last soldier was gone and the room was empty, Katie got up off of her cot and crossed the room to Joshua’s cot.

“Captain Cage,” she said.

Joshua ignored her, pretending to be asleep.

“May I speak with you?”

Joshua was silent for a couple more seconds before grunting to show he was listening. Katie sat down on the cot beside him. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Joshua opened one eye and looked over at his friend. He swallowed several times before answering. “I’m fine,” he said, his voice hoarse.

“No, you’re not.”

Joshua shook his head. His second-in-command could be annoyingly persistent. He sat up on his cot and turned to face her. His eyes were red, his whole frame feeling heavy. He really didn’t want to talk right now. “I’m fine,” he said. “Really, it’s not a big deal.”

Katie crossed her arms and gave him a look that said she could see right through him.

Joshua shook his head, his eyes still seeing James laid out on the table before him. “Do you have a brother?” he asked her.

“I do,” Katie said. “A little brother. Taran. He’ll be ten years old this August.”

Joshua looked up at her. “That’s a bit of an age gap.”

Katie smiled. “Just a bit. Our parents took their time with the second kid. He lives with them back home in Turtle Cove.” She fiddled with the hem of her uniform. “He’s a sweet kid. You’d like him.” Her face got hard. “If anyone ever did anything to him like what they did to James, I’d rip them all limb from limb.”

“I think I know the feeling,” Joshua said, scowling at the floor.

“I never really knew James,” Katie said. “Not the way you did. Tell me about him.”

Joshua smiled sadly. “I don’t know what to say,” he said. “He was smart. He was so smart. He got into all the best schools and graduated with the highest honors. Our parents were always so proud of him. He could solve any math problem you put in front of him. Sometimes, we would go out of our way to find overly complicated equations for him to solve, only for him to figure them out in about fifteen minutes.”

Joshua looked at his hands, holding them like he didn’t know what to do with them. “I could never do that. Even passing remedial math was a struggle for me. I was always more of an athlete than a scholar. And even then, James always tried to keep up with me.” Joshua smiled, remembering an incident from their childhood. “There was this one time, James tried to climb up a really big tree to try and impress me and got himself stuck up there. He knew how to get down, he just couldn’t actually do it physically. I had to climb up there and get him, but the branch broke and we both ended up with broken arms for the next month.”

A faint memory pulled at the back of Joshua’s mind. He pulled over his footlocker and dug through it for a second, pulling out a pair of dog tags, both old and weathered with age. Engraved on them were the names James and Joshua Cage. Katie leaned forward to get a better look. “Old dog tags?” she asked.

“Our first dogtags,” Joshua said. “From just after we joined EAGLE. When we eventually got new ones, James let me hold onto them as a keepsake.” He held them lovingly in his hand, brushed his thumb over the engravings.

“Want to see them?” Joshua asked, offering them to Katie.

“Sure,” Katie said. Joshua placed them in her hand. She held them carefully, turning them over.

“We both joined EAGLE shortly after our parents died. We made a promise to each other that we’d do whatever it took to bring down the Black Cross.”

“You must have really loved your brother,” Katie said.

“Yeah,” he said. “I did.”

Katie handed the dog tags back to him. Joshua looked them over once again, the realization sinking into his heart that he’d never see the awkward kid who got stuck up a tree or the smart young scientist who let his brother keep his old dog tags ever again.

The loss finally sank into his heart. After so many weeks of pushing down his feelings and hiding from his grief, he couldn’t keep it back any longer. Despite himself, tears spilled from his eyes and down his cheeks. He doubled over, his body shaking. He covered his face, still trying to hide his pain.

Katie got up off of her cot and moved over to sit beside him. She put her arm around him and just let him cry.

“It’s not fair,” Joshua said. “James worked so hard on this suit, and he never even got to see it finished.” He undid the strap around his wrist and held the morpher in his hand. “How can I pretend to be a ranger, when I couldn’t even save the guy who built it? Instead, he had to go and take the blast for me.” He set the morpher down on the bed between them. “I don’t deserve to be a ranger.”

Joshua buried his face in his hands, shaking some more. Katie sat silently, letting him grieve. She picked up the small morpher and held it in her hand.

“Well, you look like a ranger to me,” she said. Joshua looked up at her. Katie shifted to face him and get a good look at his face. “In the time that I’ve known you, you’ve been a good leader, you have taken care of your team, and you have cared, a lot, about the people you are trying to protect. That sounds like a hero to me. I think James would be proud to see you as a ranger.”

Joshua rolled his eyes. “I think you’re laying it on a little thick,” he said.

Katie grinned. “Maybe,” she said. “Look. You didn’t save James. That’s going to happen sometimes. You don’t always get to save everybody. But you saved those kids today, didn’t you? And there’s a lot of other people you’ve saved in the past. And there’s plenty more you’ll save in the future. And if nothing else, at least you got James’s body back where it belongs.”

Joshua shook his head and stared off into empty space. Katie watched him, wishing she could help him more. She reached out and took his hand. “Look, Josh,” she said, calling him by his first name. “I know it hurts. And it’s going to keep hurting. But I want you to know you’re not alone in this. You still have me. You still have Dayton. And Doug. And Harriet. We all care about you. I care about you. You can lean on us if you need it.”

Joshua looked over at her. He smiled and squeezed her hand a little. “You’re right,” he finally said. He looked down at the morpher in Katie’s hand. He held out his hand and she handed back to him. “I suppose James wouldn’t want me just sitting here moping all the time.”

He dropped Katie’s hand and reattached the morpher to his wrist. He gave James’s dog tags one last look-over before stashing them back inside his footlocker where he knew they’d be safe. He sat up and took a deep breath. The pain was still there, but he made an active choice to let James go. A slight bit of the burden lifted from his heart.

He looked over at his friend and comrade. “Thank you, Katie,” he said.

“No problem, Joshua,” she said.

Something tugged at the back of Joshua’s mind. “You said you found something, right?” he said. “Something in the lab where James and I had worked?”

Katie nodded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tiny flash drive. “I think he left it behind in case something happened to him in the escape. He had it really well hidden, so I think the Black Cross missed it when they were clearing out.”

Joshua took the flash drive and held it up. “What was it?”

“Well, that’s the thing,” Katie said. “It didn’t look like it was anything important, just a goodbye message to you, I guess, but it’s written weirdly. A lot of words are out of place and flipped around. I think he hid a code inside it.”

Joshua looked at the tiny flash drive. He remembered the secret codes that they had used while in the Black Cross compound. It was definitely something his brother would do. Joshua handed the device back to Katie. “Show me,” he said.

The Red Ranger, Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

The School Bus

Three days later, Joshua stood on top of a warehouse in his civvies, using binoculars to watch the warehouse across from him. On the street below, cars passed on their way to work, the drivers blissfully unaware of what was about to happen.

Joshua looked back at General Kenpachi, who stood beside him with a sniper rifle. He nodded, and the general pulled out his radio. “All teams, check in,” he said.

“We’re all good here,” Katie’s voice said. Joshua spotted her head poke up momentarily on the building to the north.

“I’m good too,” Dayton’s voice said. Joshua directed his gaze to the street, where Dayton waved from behind a tree. Harriet Nixon crouched behind another tree nearby. “Ready when you are.”

“I’m here too,” Doug Cummins said. Joshua checked the building to the south, where the young cadet’s round face popped up.

“Everyone’s in position, Captain,” General Kenpachi said. “We’ll wait for your signal.”

Joshua nodded. He pulled out his own radio and clicked it on. “How are things looking on your end, Anthony,” he asked.

“Everything looks good here, Josh,” Anthony’s voice came through from headquarters. “We don’t detect any movement.”

“Good,” Joshua said. “Keep me updated.”

“Will do. Good luck out there, Captain. We’ll stay connected to you while you’re in there.”

“Please do,” Joshua said. “Over and out.”

He switched off the radio and stepped up onto the ledge of the building. He tapped his morpher and within seconds he found himself inside the bright red suit once again, looking out through the blue visor. He raised his arm into the air so that his teammates could see him. With another step, he dropped from the building to the ground below, landing like he had merely taken a single step down.

He crossed to the street, Dayton and Harriet stepped out to join him. He could see Katie and Doug’s teams approaching the building from the north and south. Joshua’s team crossed the street and approached the warehouse’s front door. Joshua nodded to Harriet and she stepped up to the door, placing a small charge on the door’s frame.

“Good to go, Captain,” she said.

“Thank you, Nixon,” Joshua said. He gestured for everyone to step back. He tapped on his visor, checking to see if any enemy soldiers were hiding nearby. He held out his fingers to Harriet and counted down from three to two to one. Harriet hit the detonator.

The charge blew. A small explosion blew the door open. Joshua and his team waited a couple of seconds, waiting for gunfire.

None came.

Joshua stepped carefully to the doorframe, holding his gun at the ready and looking inside to see if anyone was coming. No one. That’s weird, he thought. He stepped inside, waving for Dayton and Harriet to join him. The team stepped carefully down the corridor, keeping an eye out for anyone coming.

“Katie, Doug,” Joshua said into his helmet. “How are your teams doing?”

“We’re good, Captain,” Katie said. “We just got inside on our end.”

“We did too, Captain,” Doug said. “I don’t see anyone around. Are we sure this was the right building?”

“Positive,” Joshua said. He and his team rounded another corner. Still no one. He tapped the side of his visor, switching it to infrared vision. The whole building seemed empty, except for one large cluster of heat signatures in the very center of the building.

“Wait,” he said. “There’s a large group there.” He pointed in the cluster’s general direction.

“That smells like a trap to me,” Dayton said.

“What should we do, Captain?” Harriet asked.

“Keep going,” Joshua said. “Be careful,” he said.

They worked their way through the building, watching their every step and keeping an eye out for any traps. They checked each room as they went. Most of the rooms had been cleared out, the whole building seeming abandoned. Joshua kept his eyes on the cluster in the middle.

“Captain, come in,” Katie’s voice said.

Joshua touched his ear out of habit. “I’m here, Katie. What is it?”

“I think I’ve found the lab you and James worked in,” she said. “I’m going in to check it out, see what I can learn.”

Joshua was silent for a moment. “Alright,” he said. “Be careful.”

“Will do, Captain.”

They rounded the next corner, and bumped right into Doug and his team.

“Hey, guys,” Doug said.

“Hey, Doug, Joshua said. “Find anything?”

“Not yet, Captain.”

“Let’s keep going. Stick close to us for now.”

Doug and his team fell into place behind Joshua, Doug and Harriet sharing a quick hug.

Joshua led them around a few more doors before coming to the door into the middle room. Up close, the cluster seemed strange, the individual heat signatures moving around erratically, seeming smaller than the average person. “Everyone stand back,” Joshua said.

He balled up his fist and punched the door with all of his might, the heavy steel crumpling like paper and crashing to the floor.

Inside was a massive room, like a hangar or a parking garage, except with no visible exits anywhere. In the very center of the room, a single school bus had been parked. It was packed with small children, between the ages of five and ten, screaming, crying, and pounding on the windows while the two adults Joshua could see were doing their best to keep them all calm. The driver seemed to be slumped against the wheel, unconscious.

“A school bus?” Dayton asked. “What’s that doing here?”

“I don’t know,” Joshua said. He tapped on his helmet. “General Kenpachi, Anthony, we’ve got a school bus full of kids here.”

“What?” Anthony said incredulously.

“Did we receive any reports of missing kids?”

“Not that I remember,” General Kenpachi said.

Joshua scanned the room with his visor, switching between his vision settings. It looked like wires had been laid all around the room under the floor, rigged up to explosives.

“This whole room is rigged to blow any second,” he told his teammates.

Dayton, Doug, and Harriet all stared at him with wide eyes. “Why would someone do such a thing?” Harriet asked.

A second heavy steel door slammed into place in the doorframe behind them, trapping them inside. Secret doors opened up all around the room and thirty Black Cross soldiers filed in, surrounding them on all sides. Joshua’s teammates packed in around him as the soldiers threatened them with their guns.

“What is all this?” Joshua demanded.

A peal of laughter ripped through the room. High on the opposite wall across from them, a large monitor clicked on and the gleaming golden head of the Golden Mask appeared, his artificial smile still as wide as it had always been.

“Well, well, well,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “If it isn’t my dear old friend, Joshua Cage. It’s so nice to see you again. And look at that, you’ve brought your whole gaggle of friends to see me. Isn’t that nice?”

“You?” Joshua said, clenching his fist. “You’re still alive?”

The Golden Mask rubbed at his chest for a second, seeming to cringe in pain. “As you can see,” he said. “I am still alive, no thanks to you. That suit of yours did quite a number on me, I must admit. But you didn’t keep me down for long.”

He spread his arms dramatically. “What do you think of my little present? I prepared it special, just for you, Captain Cage. I hope you like it.”

Joshua looked down at the children locked inside the bus and the bombs lining the room. “What sort of game are you playing?” he demanded

The Golden Mask chuckled. “We knew you’d be back eventually, Captain Cage. So, I put together a little test for you, just to see how you would handle it.” He fell silent, tilting his head back and forth as he studied Joshua’s suit. “It truly is a marvelous suit your team has made. Much better than the old one. So, let’s put it to the test, shall we? Let’s see if you can get through all my men, save those kids, and get them all out of the building before the bombs go off, all without losing any of your friends here. You have about five minutes. Have fun!”

The monitor turned black and the Golden Mask disappeared, leaving Joshua and his team alone with the horde of Black Cross soldiers. Joshua clenched his fist, planning out his next moves.

“Everybody, get down.”

Joshua moved with lightning speed, moving in a circle around his friends, taking down those soldiers nearest them with a sweeping kick and clearing a path. “Get to the bus!” he shouted.

The team ran for the bus, crouching the whole way. Joshua followed them, pulling out his blaster and sniping any soldiers who came near. At the door to the bus, Joshua scanned it, seeing that the door frame was lined with triggers to set off the bombs if they tried to open it. “Harriet, can you do anything about that?” he asked

“I can try, sir,” Harriet said, crouching down to study the connectors running from the door frame. Everyone else gathered around her, shielding her and picking off every last soldier that came near. Thanks to Joshua’s sharpshooting prowess, they were able to take down most without much trouble.

“I can’t,” Harriet said finally as Dayton shot the last one. “They’re connected to every single bomb in the place. I can’t even try to deactivate one without setting off all the others.”

“Got it,” Joshua said. “Thanks anyway.”

Joshua considered the problem. He noticed that the bombs were only connected to the frame and not the door itself. He drew his whip and shifted it into its rapier form. With a series of swift, precise cuts, he sliced a person-sized hole in the door before changing his weapon back into its whip form and pulling the door free, leaving the door frame behind and the triggers untouched.

“There we go,” he said.

He leaped over the door and into the bus. The kids screamed as he stepped up to face them, probably thinking he was another Black Cross mask. Joshua quickly pulled off his helmet, showing them his face. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said. “I’m a good guy. We’re with EAGLE, we’re here to help.”

He looked to the two teachers on board. “There’s bombs on the door here, so the kids will have to step over them. My team is waiting to help you.”

The older of the two teachers nodded. “Come on, kids,” she said, getting up and helping to corral her students. “Let’s follow the nice man down the steps.”

She and her companion ushered the kids one by one out of their seats and down the steps. Dayton and Doug stood on either side of the door waiting to receive them, lifting each of them up over the door and onto the ground.

“Doug, lead them back to the exit,” Joshua said.

“Will do, Captain,” he said. “Everybody, follow me and watch your step.”

One of Doug’s team stepped up to take his place. The kids filed out, kept in line by their teachers. Harriet worked studiously nearby, trying to figure out the explosives.

“Come on, hurry, hurry,” Joshua said, hurrying each child past until the last one had been helped over the door, leaving just the second teacher who hopped over on her own. “That’s everyone,” Joshua said, checking the empty bus.

“Except the driver,” Dayton said.

Joshua looked up, rememberign the driver still slumped over the wheel. “Right,” he said. He turned and tried to shake the driver. “Hey, buddy,” he said.

No response. He had been strapped down to the wheel and the seat with his head facing away from the door. Joshua switched to infrared to see that his body wasn’t giving off any heat.

“I think he’s dead,” Joshua said. He tore the bindings tying the driver to the wheel and sat the body upright, jumping back and almost falling down the steps as he came face-to-face with the burned, decaying face of his brother. James’s body had been dressed up in a blue, one-piece uniform, the chest left open to show that a large cross shape had been roughly carved into it and the edges of the wound burned black. Joshua fought back the urge to vomit and stared at his brother in horror.

His mind went numb. The whole world disappeared, except for him and his brother’s mutilated body, dressed up and treated like a doll.

“Hey, Captain,” Dayton said, pulling at his arm. “Come on, Captain. Captain Cage. Josh!”

Joshua woke from his stupor and looked down at his friend. “Are you okay, buddy?” Dayton asked, concerned.

Joshua forced himself to remember their situation. The kids who needed his help. “Yeah,” he said. I’m okay. Help me get him out of here.”

“Sure thing, Captain,” Dayton said, grabbing the railing hoisting himself over the door frame. Together, they undid the bands lashing James’s body to the driver’s seat and hefted him onto their shoulders. They hopped out of the bus and rejoined the kids who were gathered around the heavy steel door with Doug and Harriet.

“Everyone, stand back,” Joshua shouted.

The crowd parted, and Joshua handed off James’s body to Dayton. He balled up his fist and punched it with all of his might, crumpling it. He punched it again and it flew into the hallway beyond.

“Let’s go,” Joshua said, ushering everyone through. “Doug, take the lead. Your entrance was closer.”

“Yes, sir,” the young cadet said.

The team ran through the building, Doug leading them back to the entrance. As they ran, Joshua kicked on his communicator. “Katie, what are you and your team doing?”

“We’re just heading out, sir. I think we found something important.”

“Well, get out of the building. Fast. The whole thing’s going to blow in about a minute.”

The door appeared before them. Doug barreled through it like a human cannonball and held it open so the kids could run past. The teachers stayed with the team to help check that every single kid was present and accounted for. Once all were through and the teachers had followed, Joshua and his team closed the doors behind them.

“Keep going,” Joshua shouted. “Head for the street. Get out of the blast radius.”

According to Joshua’s visor, they still had forty seconds left. Thirty-nine. Thirty-eight. A tremendous explosion rocked the world, knocking everyone off their feet, an intense wave of heat washing across their backs. “Cover your heads!” he shouted. Joshua crawled to the nearest group of kids and covered them with his body, debris simply bouncing off his armor like it was nothing.

After a few seconds, Joshua raised his head, looking back at where the building had once stood, now a smoking pile of rubble. “Are you all okay?” he asked the kids he’d been protecting.

“Yeah,” they nodded.

Beside him, Dayton had been covering a couple more kids, James’s body still draped over his shoulder. “Are you alright?” Joshua asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Dayton said, shaking himself off. “You can’t keep me down.” He looked back at the mess behind them. “What a blast.”

Joshua looked back at the rest of the kids. Doug, Harriet, and their teams had covered a few more kids each. Everyone seemed to have come through just fine with only a few minor scrapes and bruises to mention.

“It went off early, right?” Doug asked.

“Yeah,” Joshua said.

“Why?” Harriet said. “And why the kids.”

Looking at James’s body and remembering the Golden Mask’s message to him, as well as the ease with which they dispatched the soldiers, he suspected it had all simply been to screw with him, but he didn’t say that out loud. He tapped the side of his head. “Katie, come in,” he said. “Are you and your team alright?”

“Yeah, we’re here, Captain,” her voice said. She coughed a little. “We’re all fine.”

Joshua breathed a sigh of relief. “Where are you?”

“Over here. On the other side of the building. Give me a second.”

About thirty seconds later, three figures appeared through the dust cloud, rounding where the corner of the building had been. “Is everyone okay?” Katie said, running to them. Her eyes scanned the crowd of small children surrounding them. “Why are there kids here?” Her eyes fell on the mutilated body of James on Dayton’s shoulder. It all seemed a bit too much for her to process at the moment. She looked at Joshua. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” Joshua said wearily. “You said you found something important?”

Katie glanced around at the group. “Yeah,” she said. “I’ll tell you later. Let’s focus on getting these kids out of here for now.”

Joshua nodded. “Good idea,” he said. He tapped his helmet. “General, Anthony, we could use an extraction please.”

“Coming right up, Captain,” General Kenpachi said.