1.2 Partners Part 7

“Hello, this is Sentinel,” I say as I answer the message.

I’ve taken the time to put on the Sentinel armour before answer. It has only been about three minutes since I noticed it.

The screen shows a man in his early thirties with long dark hair. It goes down to his shoulders and has curls towards the en while his beard is rather stubbly.

“Hello Sentinel or rather Daniel Griffin,” says the man as he puts away a smart phone, “I am Agent Frank Darren Lewis of MI9. I have been appointed the new liaison to League of Heroes.”

“I thought you have to have been active for at least a few years and some other major requirements for you can get officially recognised by the government,” I reply, not letting out any reaction at being addressed by my real name.

“The League of Heroes has been active since the early fifties,” says Agent Lewis, “It’s just about to get a bunch of new members.”

“Eleven to be precise,” I reply.

“Could I have roll call please?” asks Lewis.

“If you insist,” I answer, “Lantern, grandson of the original, Commando, granddaughter of the original, Vision, grandson of Psychic, Gateway, granddaughter of Gateway and daughter of Warden. Plus Night Beast and Multiform, granddaughter and grandson of Shadow Beast. Monster form and shapeshifting respectively. There’s also Accelerate, Vibration’s granddaughter. She also has ice powers as you know. Bolt’s grandson is also joining. We also got a couple of grandkids of former supervillains. Bulk’s whose grandkid going with that name. And Storm Knight, one of Black Storm’s grandsons. That’s it.”

“That is a lot,” says Lewis, “Plus a couple of villain descendants. That might not go over well.”

“We trust them with our lives and what we hold dear and that what counts,” I retort, “Not what the public, media or politicians think.”

“I was thinking more of the murderous vigilantes,” answers Lewis, “They might go for payback against them. Making them pay for what their grandparents did or that sort of thing. Especially the more psychotic ones out there.”

“We’ll take them down as a team if they do,” I reply, surprised at the hardness in my voice, “We also got Laura to help us if needed when it comes to dirtier stuff like that.”

“Ahh, the Aquiline,” says Lewis with a shake of his head before grinning, “You caused a major impression when you revealed you were on a first name basis with her. That will give some second thoughts to anyone who wants to mess with you. I would appreciate if you could pass on a message. 

The head of MI9 would like a friendly meeting with her.”

“I’ m sure she’ll agree,” I reply, “She seem to like you guys, says you’re clean. Whatever that means.”

“It means we’re the good guys I hope,” says Lewis, “And that you can trust us.”

“I suppose,” I say before asking a question that been bugging me since we started talking, “Why are you doing this? What does MI9 get out of supporting us? We both know that you don’t do thins unless you get something out of it.”

“To put simply, it is a matter of mutual benefit in a good way,” says Lewis, “We both want to help people and do our jobs. You will get officially recognised and supported like the Albion Defenders even it’s not to the same degree as them. It’ll also give you security clearance and access to our data and resources along with aid in other matters. We get the League of Heroes back and the public relations that come with it. Not to mention another team of relatively experienced superheroes to help out. Most of the cities in the states each have their own super team, sometimes two while other countries are lucky to have even one. We’ll get two. And you already got your HQ, funding, training and the other stuff. We don’t have to pay for that. Another bonus for us.”

“I understand,” I reply, “There is something that you should know.”

“What’s that?” inquires Lewis, surprise showing on his face.

“I suspect that Hall and Edison were given their heavy firepower to cause trouble for us,” I say, 

“Especially given how soon it was after our fight with Vistorix.”

I pause for a moment, thinking as Lewis takes it in.

“I just thought of another thing,” I continue as he doesn’t respond, “We never found out what Vistorix was after. The idea that he was attacking Brockenhurst was a cover story by Laura.”

“I see,” replies Lewis, his face troubled, “We should look into it. All the same, it is better now that you guys are active. Especially if you’re right about Vistorix and this business started before you restarted the League publicly.”

“Anything else?” I inquire, “I ought to get home soon.”

“Just one more thing you should to know,” says Lewis, “Chief Constable Dean is pretty angry with you for your vigilantism in his turf. But the public opinion is holding out pretty well so he can’t take action against you without looking bad. The fact you haven’t done anything wrong and Inspector Oakley and the other officers at the bank are supporting you. The hostage you rescued are publicly praising you for saving them without any harm done to them. But beware all the same. Dean hates you and will nail you given half a chance. I’m sure he’ll warm up to you time, once Dean has gotten used to you being active.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” I reply, “Goodbye Agent Lewis.”

“Bye it is,” agrees Lewis, “But I’m sort we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other soon.”

He ends the call and I sit there troubled.

What if our secret mastermind had started his plans before we became active and we’re just getting in the way?

Not to mention that having the local chief of police hating our guts is almost as bad.

I’ll have to ask Laura to look into our mastermind business. This secret, covert ops stuff has always been the speciality of the Aquilines.