Reckoners 01 - Steelheart

chances are slim it was the culprit.”
    “Look through the items anyway, Tia,” Prof said. “Maybe we can find a correlation to something Steelheart has done in the city.”
    “What about the darkness?” Cody asked.
    “Nightwielder’s darkness?”
    “Sure,” Cody said. “I’ve always thought it was strange that he kept it so dark here.”
    “That’s probably because of Nightwielder himself,” I said. “He doesn’t want sunlight shining on him and making him corporeal. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was part of the deal between them, one of the reasons Nightwielder serves beneath Steelheart. Steelheart’s government provides infrastructure—food, electricity, crime prevention—to compensate for it always being dark.”
    “I suppose that makes sense,” Cody said. “Nightwielder needs darkness, but can’t have it unless he’s got a good city to work from. Kind of like a piper needs a good city to support him, so he can stand on the cliff tops and play.”
    “A … piper?” I asked.
    “Oh please, don’t get him started,” Tia said, raising a hand to her head.
    “Bagpiper,” Cody said.
    I looked at him blankly.
    “You’ve never heard of
bagpipes
?” Cody asked, sounding aghast. “They’re as Scottish as kilts and red armpit hair!”
    “Um … yuck?” I said.
    “That’s it,” Cody said. “Steelheart has to fall so we can get back to educating children properly. This is an offense against the dignity of my motherland.”
    “Great,” Prof said, “I’m glad we now have proper motivation.” He tapped the desk idly.
    “You’re worried,” Tia said. She seemed to be able to read Prof pretty well.
    “We’re getting closer and closer to a confrontation. If we continue on this course we’ll draw Steelheart out but will be unable to fight him.”
    The people at the desk grew still. I looked up, gazing at the high ceiling; the sterile white lights around the room provided insufficient glow to reach the room’s farthest corners. It was cold in this room, and quiet. “When’s the last moment we could pull out?”
    “Well,” Prof said, “we could draw him to a confrontation with Limelight, then not show.”
    “That might be kind of fun on its own merits,” Cody noted. “I doubt Steelheart gets stood up very often.”
    “He’d react poorly to the embarrassment,” Prof said. “Right now the Reckoners are a thorn—an annoyance. We’ve only done three hits in his city and have never killed anyone vital to his organization. If we run, what we’ve been doing will get out. Abraham and I set in place evidence that will prove we’re behind this—that is the only way to make sure our victory, if we obtain one, isn’t attributed to an Epic instead of ordinary men.”
    “So if we run …,” Cody said.
    “Steelheart will know that Limelight was a fake and that the Reckoners were working on a way to assassinate him,” Tia said.
    “Well,” Cody said, “most Epics already want to kill the lot of us. So maybe nothing will change.”
    “This will be worse,” I said, still looking up at the ceiling. “He killed the
rescue workers
, Cody. He’s paranoid. He’ll hunt us actively if he finds out what we’ve been up to. The thought that we tried to get to him … that we were researching his weakness … he won’t take that sitting down.”
    The shadows flickered, and I looked down to see Abraham walking up to our cubicle. “Prof, you asked me to warn you when we reached the hour.”
    Prof checked his mobile, then nodded. “We should be getting back to the hideout. Everyone grab a sack and fill it with the things we found. We’ll sort through them further in a more controlled environment.”
    We got up from our seats, Cody patting the head of the dead—and steel-frozen—bank patron who slumped beside the wall of this particular cubicle. As they left, Abraham set something down on the desk. “For you.”
    It was a handgun. “I’m no good with …” I trailed off. It looked familiar.
The gun … the one my father picked up
.
    “I found it in the rubble beside your father,” Abraham said. “The transfersion turned the grip and frame to metal, but most of the parts were already good steel. I removed the magazine and cleared the chamber, and the slide and trigger still function as expected. I wouldn’t completely trust it until I give it a thorough once-over back at base, but there’s a good chance it will fire reliably.”
    I picked up the gun. This was the