Tales of the Scarlet Knight Collection: The Call Read online

  “Yes. That includes the Dragoon’s claws.”

  She opened her eyes. “Oh. So I have to be careful with him, don’t I?”

  “Unless you want to wind up as fish food, yes.”

  “Great.” Though she was wearing the armor now, Emma didn’t feel like a superhero. She still felt like Dr. Emma Earl, not the Scarlet Knight. She hoped that would be enough.

  ***

  She dropped down the hatch into the sewers. The Sewer Rat wasn’t there, but some of his friends were. They watched her far more suspiciously than she would have thought possible for rodents. The Sewer Rat had probably tasked them with making sure she left without disturbing anything in the sewers. She was more than happy to do so; she climbed up the ladder to the first manhole she saw.

  The armor augmented her strength so the manhole cover was as light as a dinner plate. She tossed this aside and then found herself standing about a block away from the museum. From what she remembered, the Dibbler Sausage plant was located in the industrial section, closer to the harbor.

  While it augmented her strength, the armor did not increase her speed by much. There was also the problem that even in a city with as liberal a dress code as Rampart City, red plate armor with a gold cape stuck out. Marlin was prepared for that eventuality. “Climb up the side of this building here.”

  She knew the gloves allowed her to do that, but they seemed like ordinary gloves. “How?”

  “Put them to the wall.”

  Emma did this and the gloves stuck. When she pulled them away, she saw tiny suction cups had appeared along the palms. These didn’t seem enough to hold her weight, but as Marlin had said, it was magic armor. Still, she didn’t look down, afraid that if she did she might fall down like in a Wil E. Coyote cartoon.

  Once she reached the top of the building, she looked around at the city. Executive Plaza and Robinson Tower were off to her left; she hoped she wouldn’t have to try to scale that with only the gloves. The harbor and industrial sector were to the right, the distant lights of ships visible on the horizon.

  “So now what?” she asked Marlin.

  “Now you use the boots to bounce over to that next building.” When she stared blankly at him, he said, “Bounce a little on the soles of your feet to get the boots warmed up. Then when you’re ready, take a big bounce to launch yourself.”

  “Right.” She tried to hop a little, the soles turning more rubbery. With this in mind, she backed up as far as she could and then took off running. Once she gauged she was about a foot from the edge of the roof she took a bigger bounce as Marlin had said.

  As he said, she went hurtling through the air, waving her arms frantically as she sailed over the alley. When she saw the other rooftop quickly approaching, she flipped down the visor so she wouldn’t break her nose when she came down. She landed face-first on the rooftop and lay there for a second before she pushed herself up.

  As promised, the armor kept her from being injured from the fall. Before Marlin could tell her what to do, she had already gathered speed for her next jump. The older parts of Rampart City had been built close together, which made it easy enough for her to jump from one to the next. The problem was always with the landing; she always wound up on her face. At that point she was glad no one saw her or she wouldn’t give much of an impression as a superhero.

  By jumping from one building to the next she finally reached the industrial sector. Standing on the roof of an old warehouse, she could look down at the old Dibbler Sausage plant. The plant still had the logo of a grinning pig on the water tower, although that had become faded over time. Most of the lights had gone out, either worn out or destroyed by vandals long ago. “I can’t see anything,” she said.

  “Tap the visor once,” Marlin said.

  She did this and the world around her turned to shades of green. “Why didn’t you mention this earlier?”

  He snorted at this. “We usually have a whole training regimen we go through. You’re getting the old baptism by fire.”

  “Lucky me.” With the night vision she could see three rectangular buildings plus a few smaller outbuildings. “Can you get inside and see where he is?”

  “Of course I can.” Marlin began to float away but then stopped. “One last thing. The cape also works like a parachute. Flip it up and you can slow your descent to land somewhat softer. And before you ask, I didn’t tell you before because it isn’t much help with short jumps, so stop bellyaching.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Yes, well, I’ll be right back.”

  She decided to give the cape a test after she launched herself from the rooftop. As Marlin had said, the cape snapped up in the air and billowed open like a parachute. This allowed her to land somewhat softly, although she still fell when her knees buckled. She stood up and then dusted herself off.

  Marlin returned and said, “He’s in the center building.”

  “Is he still alive?”

  “For now, but maybe not much longer.”

  “Then we’ll have to hurry,” Emma said. She ran to the edge of the building and tried to make as little sound as possible. If Marlin were right the Dragoon would be concentrating on Mr. Graves. He also wouldn’t know she had the armor now. “Okay, I’m going to sneak up on him and try to knock him out. Then I can save Mr. Graves.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Marlin said. “Wrap the cape around yourself to turn invisible.”

  With the cape wrapped around her body, she felt like a walking crepe; she didn’t seem invisible either. “Will he really not be able to see me?”

  “Only those pure of heart can see through the cape’s magic.”

  “Great.” I hope this works, she added to herself as she shuffled into the building.

  ***

  Percival had never wanted to know how kippers were made, but now he would get a first-hand education on the subject. This new Dragoon had carried him to the old sausage plant and tied him down to a conveyor belt. Percival thought of those old cartoons where the villain ties the damsel in distress to the railroad tracks, except no hero would come along to save him from the train.

  He’d known from the start what the Dragoon wanted. Before he could embark upon sowing destruction and evil as he usually did, he wanted to eliminate the greatest threat to him. This of course was the Scarlet Knight.

  When they had started this game, Percival had been at the far end of the conveyor belt. Now he was almost to the end of it. By turning his head slightly, he saw the belt would drop him into an industrial mixing bowl, where he would be ground up into Dibbler Dogs. Not exactly the end he had imagined for himself.

  “I’m losing patience, old man,” the Dragoon said. “Tell me where the armor is and I’ll spare your life.”

  “The hell you will.”

  “True, but I will at least make your death swift and relatively painless.”

  “You think I’d trust you?”

  “You don’t have a choice, old man.” The Dragoon came to stand beside Percival, tracing one claw along the scar on Percival’s left leg. “What you endured before will be a trifle compared to what I will do to you this time.”

  “Kill me and you’ll never find the armor.”

  “It won’t alter my plans much. I will have to dispose of your replacement. He will probably be even weaker than you.”

  Percival smiled at this. “I killed two of you sods. If I were young enough I’d lop off your head too.”

  “It’s a pity you won’t get to try. I would have enjoyed that.”

  On a catwalk above them, a blur of yellow caught Percival’s attention. He kept his eyes on the Dragoon, but he could still make out that yellow blur moving steadily down the catwalk, towards them. It couldn’t be, he thought. There couldn’t possibly be a new Scarlet Knight already. Shouldn’t he have felt the Call go out?

  “All right, you wanker, I’ll tell you where it is.”

  “Where?”

  “Untie me and guarantee my safety.”

  “You th
ink I am that foolish? If I untie you, you’ll give me a false location and then hope to disappear.”

  “That wouldn’t matter much, would it? You’d still be able to find me unless maybe I had the leg cut off.”

  “I could help you with that,” Dragoon said. If it were possible, the beast would have grinned evilly. Instead it traced a claw across the scar, hard enough to draw a trickle of blood. Above, the new Scarlet Knight had reached the end of the catwalk and was beginning to come down a ladder, a tricky feat with the cape around his body.

  “I suppose we’re at an impasse then.”

  “Perhaps. Or perhaps you need more motivation,” the Dragoon said. He leaned closer to Percival, his red eyes glowing. The Scarlet Knight reached the halfway point of the ladder. “Perhaps we could make a different trade. Say the location of the armor in exchange for the life of a certain young geologist.”

  “You don’t have her. If you did, you would have brought her here already.”

  “She’ll be easy enough to find. She’s a silly little girl. She would probably come on her own if I told her you were in danger.” At last the Scarlet Knight reached the bottom of the ladder. He began to shuffle towards Percival and the Dragoon with the cape on to remain invisible, at least to the Dragoon.

  “Emma would never be that stupid.”

  “Of course she would. She loves you.”

  “If you touch a hair on that girl’s head—”

  “You’re not in a position to make threats, old man.”

  The Scarlet Knight continued to creep towards them. That was until he kicked an old wrench with one boot. The Scarlet Knight froze while the Dragoon turned around. The Dragoon held up his right hand and pointed it right at the Scarlet Knight’s chest. Percival waited anxiously for the Dragoon’s reaction. The Dragoon continued to glare at where the Scarlet Knight stood for a moment before he turned back around; he probably thought it was a rat.

  “Now, old man, tell me where the armor is or the girl dies.”

  At last the Scarlet Knight let the cape drop to reach for the Sword of Justice. It was then Percival saw this new Scarlet Knight had breasts. A woman? The Order must be hard up for candidates.

  The new, female Scarlet Knight had the Sword of Justice halfway out of the sheath before the Dragoon spun around. He wasted no time to fire all five claws on his right hand. The Scarlet Knight dove to her left and rolled on the ground so the cape covered her body again. The Dragoon fired a claw on his left hand at where the Scarlet Knight had come to a stop, but it only embedded itself in the metal floor.

  “Is that the best you can do, fool?” the Dragoon growled. “You are more pathetic than this old man.”

  But the Scarlet Knight did have something up her sleeve. She had crawled towards the Dragoon, close enough that she could whip her legs around to sweep the Dragoon’s feet out from under him. The Scarlet Knight rolled away as the Dragoon toppled. Then she got to her feet and delivered a solid punch to the Dragoon’s back to knock him flat on the ground.

  “Now while you’ve got him down, finish him off,” Percival said.

  The Scarlet Knight followed this advice and reached for the Sword of Justice. But the Dragoon moved quicker than Percival would have expected; the Dragoon rolled onto his back and fired a pair of claws at the Scarlet Knight. She stepped aside, but wasn’t quick enough to keep a claw from knocking the sword from her hand.

  The Scarlet Knight didn’t bother trying to pick up the sword. Instead she galloped over to the conveyor belt. With one tug she snapped the chains that held Percival down. Like the Dragoon, she draped Percival over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry and then took off running as if he weighed nothing.

  By this time the Dragoon had gotten to his feet again. The claws on his hands had regenerated so he could launch another salvo. The Scarlet Knight ducked, the claws going over her head. She spun around and held up her right hand. Percival craned his neck so he could see the Sword of Justice tremble and then rise into the air. The golden blade tumbled end over end towards the Dragoon, far too slow and clumsy to actually hit him. He swatted it with one hand.

  Whether by design or chance, the Sword of Justice rose high enough to slash through a pipe over the conveyor belt. Greenish liquid flooded out of this, raining down on the Black Dragoon. The Scarlet Knight wasted no time in collecting the Sword of Justice and then running from the sausage plant as fast as she could. Percival heard the Dragoon roar with rage.

  It soon became clear this new Scarlet Knight was green enough that she hadn’t perfected her jumps yet. With her first jump they cleared the fence around the plant before she fell face-first onto the ground. Percival grunted as a sharp pain tore through his injured leg. “Sorry,” the Scarlet Knight said; her voice sounded strangely familiar.

  She hopped onto a fire escape and then carried him up to the roof of a building. They made a few more awkward jumps, during which she turned enough so she wouldn’t pin his legs beneath her when she landed. With each jump she apologized. “It’s all right, lass. Landings took me a while too.”

  They continued like this until they cleared the industrial sector. As they landed on the top of an apartment building, Percival said, “Let’s take a break, shall we?”

  She nodded and then helped to prop him up against an air conditioner. “Thank you, lass. Now, why don’t you let me see who you are?”

  “I shouldn’t,” she said.

  “You can trust me. We’re part of the same fraternity.”

  The Scarlet Knight considered this for a moment and then nodded. She reached up with both hands and then pulled the helmet off. The moment she shook red hair away from her face so he could see her eyes, he began to scream. “No! Not you! Anyone but you!”

  Chapter 15

  She had thought Mr. Graves would be angry with her for rescuing him, but she never thought he would be this angry. If his leg weren’t in such bad shape, she imagined he would have jumped up to wring the life out of her. As it was, his face turned as red as her armor. He bellowed, “How could you do this?”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “He was going to kill you. What else could I do?”

  “You could let me die! I’m a useless old man.”

  She knelt down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. “No you’re not. Not to me. You’ve always been like my grandpa. I couldn’t let him—” She stopped as tears came to her eyes. She supposed this wasn’t becoming for a superhero, but she didn’t care at the moment. “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry too, love. I know you were only doing what you thought best.” In a far more menacing voice he added, “This is your fault. Why didn’t you try to stop her?”

  Emma turned her head to see Marlin floating behind her. The ghost glared down at Mr. Graves. “I’m not the one who chose her. She heard the Call and came down there. That’s how it works. Nothing I can do about it.”

  “You could have told her not to do it. You could have found someone else.”

  “I don’t have that authority.”

  “Who does?”

  “Only my master has that power.”

  “Then go find him. I’d like to give him a piece of my mind.”

  “The master isn’t here. He’s resting until the world needs him again.”

  “Oh, that’s a fine excuse. Imagine him using an innocent young girl like Emma for this. Doesn’t the man have any shame?”

  “I’m not helpless,” Emma said. “I did rescue you.”

  Mr. Graves smiled a little at this. “I know you did, lass. I’m very grateful you saved my hide, as old and wrinkled as it might be.” He shook his head. “But this is no kind of life for you. You’re too good for this. You should be in that museum, making all sorts of new discoveries. Beating up petty criminals is the type of job for someone like me.”

  “Because you’re a man?”

  “No!” He shook his head again. “No, lass, because an old bloke like me doesn’t have any brains. Pushing a broom and using my knuckles is about all
I can do.”

  “That’s not true. You showed me around the museum—”

  “You showed yourself around the museum. I walked along and unlocked a few things for you.” He gave her hand a soft pat. “Is this really the sort of thing your parents would want for you?”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “Of course it’s fair. You think your mother would want you running around at night getting shot at? You think Gladys would want that for you?” He shook his head for a third time. “All they ever wanted for you was to get a good education, to put that brain of yours to work. So now that you’ve saved me, take that armor off and go home.”

  “What about the Black Dragoon? He’ll come after you again.”

  “I can deal with him,” Mr. Graves said. He pushed himself up to his feet, but she saw the wince on his face as he did so. “I killed him before and I can do it again. You leave that armor here and get yourself home.”

  “I couldn’t do that,” Emma said. “He’d kill you and it would be my fault.”

  “Better he kills me than kills you.” Mr. Graves sat against the air conditioner and let out a tired sigh. “If anything happened to you, I couldn’t live with myself.”

  “Now wait a minute, both of you,” Marlin said. “You can’t unretire now. You gave up your claim on the armor and she’s claimed it as hers.”

  “So you’re saying no givesies backsies, is that it?” Mr. Graves said.

  “Yes, if you want to think of it in a juvenile way like that.” Emma’s face turned warm when the ghost pointed to her chest. “It’s already shaped itself to fit her. You think you can squeeze into that?”

  “I can damn well try,” Mr. Graves said. “Or I can use the sword and cape. That should be all I need to sneak up on the bugger and put the sword into him.”

  “You’re going to kill him?” Emma asked.

  “The man inside at least.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “That’s how it’s always been done, hasn’t it?”

  “For about the last four thousand years,” Marlin said.

  “But it’s a man inside that suit. You can’t kill him. What about a fair trial?”