Tesla Coil

Dave Lanski had a criminal career, but didn’t have any record of powers. He also didn’t look like any of Harold’s kidnappers. That didn’t absolve him of stealing the files.

Catherine finished resewing the metallic threads for her gloves, as they got a little worse for wear every time she shocked someone. Everything else had been quality checked and improved where necessary.

She watched the new Electron prototype, as if it would be filled and remove itself from the glass. She placed a hand against the glass with a wry smile.

“Camera, do I have any other plans for today?”

“Well, you’re supposed to meet Dr. Lawrence for lunch to see if he has any information on the break-in in a few minutes.”

“Minutes!” she pulled away from her moment, “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“You said you’d be fine while you checked the hoverdiscs, then you continued managing the rest of your gear.”

“Next time stop me after each project. Hell, stop me when I pause to drink water.”

“Understood.”

Catherine looked down at her messy outfit.

“I’m not ready for lunch. Call Lawrence and tell him I’ll be late!”

Despite tardiness, Catherine opted to take a car instead of a hoverdisc, for the sake of relative normalcy. Lawrence was thankfully unbothered, or at least as unbothered as Lawrence could be.

“You’re pulling me away from important work,” he said.

“You asked me here, not the other way around. Did you scrounge up any info?”

He offered her a thumb drive. Recalling Lawrence’s tech-savvy, she pocketed it to check at home, just in case there was malware of some kind.

“The accessed files were all on electrokinetics,” Lawrence explained, “Your late husband included.”

Catherine groaned. It felt like a week never went by where she didn’t have to worry about something Electron related.

“Any idea who they were searching for?” she asked, begging for a different answer.

“Three guesses, and the first two don’t count.”

Could people stop being obsessed with Electron for five minutes?

“There’s plenty of electrokinetics in powerful ranges,” she said, “So there’s no telling who they’ll go after, and the files don’t have full names on them, just the first three letters of first and last name.”

“Still managed a purge last time,” Lawrence reminded her.

“Yeah,” Catherine sighed, “I don’t know if I’ll find the guys, but I’ll try to mitigate the damage.”

“Thank you, Dr. Piec.”

“It’s just what needs to be done.”

Catherine flicked through the files, finding names and addresses to file away. She placed rubber ducks on the map for each of their addresses as Camera searched for a face on the security footage Lawrence had provided along with the files.

“Their faces were never seen,” Camera said.

“Of course not,” Catherine placed another duck, “Must have been professionals. Can you call Mandie for me?”

Catherine felt the phone ringing before hearing Mandie’s tired groan.

“It’s only two in the afternoon. Are you that beat?”

“I only went to sleep like an hour ago,” Mandie complained, “What do you need?”

“You have friends in the Court of Thieves, right?”

“Friends is a term for it,” Mandie answered, “But they won’t turn in their own if you have someone they might recognize.”

“Can you just send them the photo? I just need to narrow the fields down.”

“Yeah, yeah, just send it over. I’ll ask Camille.”

“Thank you!”

“You’re—”

Catherine turned her attention to the footage, just in case there was something Camera missed, but the AI was thorough.

“So it’s time for plan C.”

“Plan C? But your sister hasn’t responded.”

“I doubt this person is Court. They steal things, not information. This person is looking for Electron, or something close to him.”

“You’re close to him.

“Not like that.”

She had been on the list, but she rated below a 7 last she checked, while any assessments on Electron put him at a minimum of 15 if not all the way at 20 on the power scale. Pete’s file placed him at the latter.

She pinned down the last of the addresses. She sent a photo of the section near Nightingale to her sister, and the section near Elemaster to Rex, both with a quick request to keep an eye on the addresses in case someone attacked them. This led to an immediate call from Rex.

“What the hell is this about?”

“Someone’s trying to find Electron. They broke into the Quartz institute and pulled every file on Electrokinetics. Those addresses are the ones near you with a power rating of 15 or higher. They and their families are most in danger from whatever this plan may be.”

“Okay, yeah, why are you so sure this is about Electron?”

She let the silence linger so Rex could think.

“Yeah, yeah, everyone wants a piece of the knight in lightning armor or whatever. What are you doing about this?”

“Research,” Catherine admitted, “And a little bit of surveillance. Remember the ducks?”

“No, not the ducks. Are you seriously planning on terrorizing these people?”

“They’ll be inconspicuous. I just need to know if something’s after them. Are you willing to help?”

“Fine, yeah, I can keep an eye out. I’ll even call Tetra for help, maybe. What are you going to do if it’s one of yours?”

“I have a friend that can help out…” she looked at her completed gear.

“What friend?”

She hung up. Now was the time for a stakeout, multiple stakeouts.

Tesla Coil watched through her legion of rubber ducks. She considered keeping them after she handled this. They’d already alerted her to almost a dozen muggings she’d gotten to stop. She’d even had time to take one of them to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.

“Tesla Coil and her legion of Rubber Duck Spies.”

She fidgeted with one of the spares as she kept watching, trying not to be a stalker.

These people had lives. There were parents, spouses, siblings, grandparents, even a teenager who seemed to be banned from the kitchen in his house. She’d seen Pete destroy his car often enough to know why.

Another duck revealed that a bank was being robbed. She jumped on her hoverdisc and in moments was in front of the building. She heard the glass of the doors break as a bullet stopped in front of her. That would keep her heart racing.

“You’re just going to draw more attention if you keep shooting!” she threatened.

They shot her more. She stepped forward, through the shattered door. She didn’t want to waste a glove charge on these two if she could help it, and the forcefield stayed intact.

Flicking her wrist, she sent the hoverdisc into the first one, causing them to hit the bank counter and drop their weapon. She stole their position, watching their companion like a hawk.

She ran to pull the gun out of the second one’s hands when he finally pointed it back at her, then knocked her head against his, earning a satisfying thud on the ground.

“Was it just you two?” she asked as she kicked a gun out of the first one’s reach. The woman scowled back at her.

“That’s none of your business.”

Coil bent down to meet her position on the floor.

“It is if you want to stay conscious. I’ll figure it out either way.”

She spat, hitting Coil’s mask.

“I mean you could’ve gotten out of here, but okay.” she stood up and gave her a firm kick to the head to knock her out.

Just in case they woke up before she returned, she took the guns with her.

She took stock of the cameras. They didn’t give her the best map of the place, but they did show her two more people in the vault, though there might be more hiding in blind-spots.

She kept reminding herself that the next one could be around the corner to keep her heart rate up. The forcefield being subconscious was more a nuisance than a gift, but she knew the necessary bpm for not getting shot, which was good enough for her.

Her nerves paid off when she caught several bullets, most of them aimed at her chest. Even with the forcefield, she was grateful for the extra padding there.

“You know, bullets get boring after awhile,” she said.

“You again?” the telekinetic involved in Harold’s kidnapping asked.

“I know I called the police,” Coil said, “Why aren’t you in jail?”

He smiled.

“Insufficient evidence, TC.”

She flexed her fingers, looking for her next turn to the vault. It was right past him.

“Don’t even think about trying that thing with the disc, I’ll catch it.”

She wasn’t convinced, but it would take too much effort to navigate the hoverdisc all the way to her. Distraction was her best bet.

“I wasn’t just asking about ‘97 to distract you,” she moved closer, “I did want to know. I’m even working on preventing that type of thing from happening again. There was a break in at—”

“The Quartz institute?” he asked, “Everyone heard about that. Someone wants Electron, and everyone’s trying to get to him.”

“Is that why you stooped to kidnapping?”

“It ain’t stooping if you do it all the time.”

“Thank you,” she said, moving her face up to his.

“For what, pretty?”

“For making me feel less guilty.” she grabbed his face and sent a quick charge through it, incapacitating him. She gave him an extra kick once he was down for good measure.

“Don’t hurt kids.”

She checked the video on the vault, recognizing the strong guy now. The other one had to be the shapeshifter. She had expected him to stay incapacitated for a few more days.

“Come on out, Coil,” he said in a familiar voice. She spotted Knox on the security tape. “We heard you and Rory.”

She walked in, only for the muscle to grab her by the forearms, keeping away from her gloves.

“I could have sworn I heard something crack when I hit you before,” she said.

Knox let out a smile.

“Did you almost trust me, Catherine?”

Her eyes widened.

“You said you told me before that Electron was dead, but Tesla Coil said nothing of the sort.”

She’d pulled a Mandie.

“If you’re thinking of blackmail, you can’t actually prove it.”

Knox shook his head, pulling off her mask and taking a photo with his phone. She deleted it, sure to remove the footage from the vault cameras too.

He tried to take a photo again, and it immediately deleted.

“So are you robbing this bank for attention, or is there something you actually want?”

He rolled his eyes.

“Money, obviously.”

“So you definitely aren’t Knox because I know the size of that man’s trust fund.”

“What else do you know the size of?” He asked.

“That’s such a stupid—”

The muscle suddenly squeezed her, reducing the air. Then her heartbeat increased more. She watched it go up to dangerous levels as her oxygen levels went down.

She woke up to Saul—no, Dave Lanski’s face.

“So this was what your cousin told you to call off,” she groaned as she tried to find her bearings. She felt something inside her left arm when she tried to move it. She kept it still, trying to move her right arm and realizing it was tied to the other chair arm. Attempts with her legs proved they were similarly tied up.

“I needed the money.” Lanski said, “There were a few people recommended for this, but you were the best, Ms. Piec.”

“Dr. Piec,” she corrected, “Recommended for what?”

“I don’t know, but it has to do with the Electron papers. People noticed your ex was freakishly powerful for a lab tech.”

“He was head of diagnostics,” she corrected, “And he’s dead, not my ex.”

“Whatever, but since there’s proof that you two slept together, we know you have some of his power.”

She wasn’t sure how much time she had to correct that sentence, but she intended to use it.

“It’s not that I’d have any of his power, it’s that his powers affect me differently, and vice-versa. Any of his DNA got flushed out of me years ago, so whatever you’re planning with this logic won’t pan out.”

She tried to get out of the chair she was in, but her ties weren’t budging.

“Dammit.”

“Maybe that’s why they want your blood, maybe they just think it would make an impressive souvenir. Either way, beats me. Now stay still.”

He pulled a needle out of her arm, putting a bandage over the spot. She’d have to go to a hospital saying she did drugs at a party just to make sure she wasn’t affected by his probably less than standard medical practices.

She tried again to pull at the restraints, but it still didn’t work. She turned the lights off, maintaining a glare at Lanski.

At least she was still a technopath.

“No, no,” Lanski moaned, “The power can’t go out now!”

She searched for her gear, sure half of it had already been sold. The hoverdisc, though, was still at the bank. Focusing her attention away from the room, she pulled the disc out, lifted it high over any building, and had it make a beeline for her.

Lanski turned the lights back on. She turned them back off.

She had the disc hit the chair at high speed, shattering it, which gave enough freedom to get an arm free, then the rest of her limbs. She turned the lights back on as Lanski ran. She followed, having the disc trip him, the bag of her own blood flopping towards her.

“Whatever you want with this, isn’t happening.”

She stomped the bag, bursting it.

“Dr. Saul Lanski,” Catherine greeted, nostalgic to be outside her old haunt, even if she was only visiting the institute for business.

“Yes, Dr. Piec.”

“Your cousin tried to kidnap me.”

His eyes widened.

“Had me kidnapped, actually,” she specified.

“Listen I—”

“I don’t hold you responsible,” she continued, “But I need every bit of information you have on the break-in, because I think you have a better idea of what it was about than Lawrence did.”

Saul shook his head at the ground.

“They want to clone Electron.”

“Do they?”

“Yes, I wasn’t involved in the break-in, but that’s what Dave told me.”

Catherine stepped toward him. She was on the taller end, which gave her about an inch over Lanski.

“You better pray you weren’t involved, because you definitely knew about it.”

Lanski backed away.

“I had to, he threatened—”

“I don’t care what he threatened. You risked people’s lives by letting your cousin in. I’m only letting you off with a warning because I heard you call it off, but if you’re involved in anything like this again, you won’t remember having a job you cared about.”

Lanski swallowed and nodded.

“So your son’s alright?” Knox asked.

“Yes, sorry I never followed up. I was a little preoccupied.” No one had attacked the Electron candidates, which made it all the more worrisome.

Knox waved it away.

“I understand. It’s an old flaw of mine to be more occupied with the present than any semblance of the future.”

“And you have more of a future to worry about than I do.”

Knox looked away.

“Sorry,” Catherine said, “That’s probably not fun to think about.”

“You’re right. I’m too stubborn to die.”

“Aren’t we all,” Catherine said.

Knox lifted his coffee in a cheers motion.

“Do you trust me, Catherine?” Knox asked. Catherine flinched.

“That’s a no.”

Any excuses or apologies drifted away from her.

“I can’t trust anyone associated with Eisel. I don’t even trust Rodney.”

Knox locked his eyes to hers.

“I’ll do my best to prove myself despite my association. It’s hard to be friends with someone you can’t trust.”