The Adventures of
Star Eagle
Epilogue
“This is one hell of a mess,” Reilly
said, shaking his head slowly.
Drummond nodded. “Strangest thing I’ve seen in fifteen years
of police work.”
“Been a lot of
strange things going on since that superheroine showed up.”
“Yeah,” Drummond agreed. “Star Eagle she calls herself. “She’s a little different from the other
heroines, or so I understand.”
Damn rights,” agreed Reilly. She seems to have none of the superheroine
hang-ups about killing. She’s littering
the city with bodies from one end to the other.”
“Cleaning out the sewers,” responded
Drummond.
“That don’t make it right,” said
Reilly. “It’s still murder, even if the
average Joe does like what she’s doing.”
Drummond nodded agreement. The media were calling the heroine “
Both men turned as one of the
uniforms scrambled out of the burned-out building accompanied by the fire
investigator.
“What’d you find?” Drummond said to
the investigator.
“Looks like arson all right,
lieutenant. Someone was very generous
with several jerry-cans of gasoline.”
“But there’s more lieutenant,”
interjected the uniform.
“Name, son?” asked Reilly.
“Jones, sergeant,” the uniform
answered.
“Appreciate your eagerness, son,”
said Reilly, “but let the inspector finish.”
“I think I am for now, sergeant, and
there is something the constable should be telling you.”
Drummond and Reilly looked at Jones
expectantly.
“Bones, sir,” said Jones addressing
Drummond. About a dozen men were
cremated in that fire. At least that’s
what the inspector thinks.”
God damn,” said Reilly quietly, his
tone indicating amazement.
Let’s take a look,” said Drummond.
Following Jones into the ruins of
the warehouse, they worked their way toward the area of greatest fire
damage. “Looks like this is where it started,” said Reilly.
“Right sergeant,” said the fire
inspector. “Someone went to a bit of
trouble to make sure that this part of the building was obliterated.”
“Here lieutenant,” said Jones,
pointing to a charred heap in the center of what had once been a room.
“Christ. A mass cremation,” said Drummond.
They poked about the area for a few
minutes, but did not actually enter the room.
They wanted to leave it as undisturbed as possible for the forensic
team.
“This is strange,” said
Drummond. “Looks like some sort of
electronic apparatus, or what’s left of it.”
“A burner of some sort,” said Jones.
“Burner?” asked Drummond. “Doesn’t look much like a
stove.”
“Not that kind of burner, sir,” said
Jones. A DVD burner. Used to record movies.”
Reilly and Drummond looked at the
constable inquiringly.
“I used to work in the field for
awhile,” said Jones. For a small outfit
recording weddings and such, before I went into the force. DVD burners are something I am familiar
with. This was a commercial unit. There’s a lot of melted plastic around here
too. Looks like they
had a big stockpile of blanks.”
Reilly stroked his jaw. “So Wolf Kemper had a DVD
burner in his warehouse. Question
is why?”
“Maybe he decided to get involved in
illegal porn, surmised Drummond. “Who
knows, the bastard was into everything else.”
“Think that’s him?” asked Reilly,
pointing to the pile of bones.
“We’ll find out, replied
Drummond. I’m sure forensics can put
together enough info to let us determine who the bones belong to. Maybe one of our crime problems just got
solved.”
“And created another,” said
Reilly. “Now we have to find out who did
this and why. Things just keep on piling
up. First Vlasov and his thugs are wiped
out and now Kemper. Something nasty is
going on.”
“Star Eagle,” muttered
Drummond. There was no way of
knowing. The double mass murders could
be part of a gang war. But the presence
of the ruthless superheroine certainly complicated things.
“Melissa,” called Karla. “Have you considered changing your modus
operandi?”
“My what?” said Melissa from the
kitchen, where she was shredding lettuce.
“Your methods of operation, Karla
answered. “This TV special credits you
with permanently erasing over three dozen of Grand Centre’s worst scum in the
last month or so. I don’t think it puts
a very favourable spin on your career.”
“Was it wrong to get rid of all that
evil?” asked Melissa entering the room with a paring knife in one hand.
“No,” said Karla, thinking of her
father. “They probably all deserved
death, but the media are in a frenzy. A lot of talk about vigilante justice and the
rights of the accused and such”
“Oh,” said Melissa, “I knew about
that. I studied your legal system and
the rights of individuals. But when I
looked at your society I didn’t notice many people paying much attention to it,
so I thought it didn’t matter.”
Karla didn’t smile at Melissa’s
accidental joke. What had been done to
her had been truly horrifying. Melissa
had told her a little about her ordeal, but there were some things she had been
very vague about. But Karla could guess
what had happened. Her own ordeal had
been horrible enough. What would it have
been like to be chained to a bed and raped over and over again?
Melissa looked at her pensive
friend. She was really impressed by
Karla’s command of the English language.
The redheaded Russian girl had
improved immeasurably and was using language that even she did not
understand. More importantly, however,
Karla had shown herself a true friend.
She had risked her life to try and save her and had paid a high price
for her intervention. She considered her
friend’s advice.
As Star Eagle, Melissa had struck
terror into the hearts of criminals throughout Grand Centre. The city’s crime rate had already dropped
several points. However, it would do little
good to wipe out crime in Grand Centre if she was viewed on the same level as
the thugs she eliminated. She would take
the advice. From now on she would be a
kinder gentler Star Eagle. No more
killing. She would apprehend the
villains and let the justice system deal with them.
“Vhat you thinkink, darlink?” asked
Karla shifting into an exaggerated Russian accent.
“I think maybe you are right,” she
said. “I need to adjust my
technique.” She noticed a small package
sitting on the coffee table in front of Karla.
Karla followed hr eyes. “Oh,” she said. “I got this from a boy in my class. It’s a gift.”
“A boyfriend?’ asked Melissa.
“He’d like to be, but we’ll see.”
Melissa wondered what it would be
like to have a boyfriend. It was a part
of Earth culture that she found fascinating.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know. It’s nicely wrapped though.” Karla pulled on the pink ribbon that secured
the foil wrapped package.
The foil fell away. Karla gasped and immediately took the package
from the room.
Melissa called her back. “No, wait.”
Her face was pale and she felt slightly ill, but she had to deal with
this problem sooner or later. “Let me
see it. I have to find out.”
Karla brought the package back. “You’re sure?” she asked.
Melissa nodded swallowing. “Just put it down.” She pointed to the tabletop.
Reaching out tentatively she picked
up a dark, fragrant piece of zentoc.
“I…, I think it’s alright.” She
raised the chocolate to her nose.
“Yes,” she said after a long
pause. “No weakness. No reaction.”
“You’re cured then? Karla
asked. “Chocolate won’t hurt you?”
“It seems that way. “Perhaps it is something to do with my Terran
body. Somehow the overdose I had burned
the influence of the zentoc out of me.”
“Wonderful,” said Karla. “Give me back the box. I thought I was going to have to eat these in
secret.”
Karla bit delicately into a square
of chocolate. “Mmmm, these are the
best. He must really like me.” She held out the box to Melissa. “Want one?”
“No thanks,” said Melissa. “I don’t want to push my luck. No sense in tempting fate.”
Karla came up to her and placed her
hand on Melissa’s shoulder. The girl
turned and smiled. She had a lot to
learn about Earth, but she had achieved quite a bit in her first month of Earth
life. Star Eagle’s career was just
beginning. She had already struck fears
into the hearts of criminals everywhere in Grand Centre. And she had learned how to adjust to the
complexities of Terran culture. But most
important she had made a friend. Karla
would not betray her. Her friend’s
willingness to risk her life had proved that.
It was a good base to build on.
The Earth would soon hear more of Star Eagle. She was just getting started.