Sowing Doubt Ch. 8 (Patreon)

A/N: Patrons get an early chapter or two! The Bench is doing another event on the solstice so I'll be releasing several chapters at once on that day. This is one of them! But you folks get it early! Enjoy! 

Chapter Eight

I flailed backwards, banging chairs and music stands out of the way as I landed on my butt on the hard tile floor. I jerked back to the bomb, horrified as my heart leapt into my throat. No explosion. The thing sat there, inert. As if it were mocking my terror. A bomb. A fucking bomb! 

I shook, and I was paradoxically relieved to be shaking with something other than social anxiety. I might’ve broken a little. The fear froze my limbs solid and I didn’t move for a full minute. I’d opened the drawer and the bomb hadn’t exploded but that didn’t mean it couldn’t. 

After an eternity of gathering my courage, I stood over it and examined it as closely as I dared. It was a long pipe with cords. That didn’t… necessarily mean it was actually a bomb, now that I thought about it. The sound it was making though. That wasn’t natural. Could it be a prop? Something for a play or a musical? I hoped it was… but I didn’t think so. 

It was close enough to the look of a pipe bomb that I only knew about from book descriptions and movies. There weren’t any noticeable differences, but from the sounds it was making I could tell that there was some sort of incredibly tiny signal generator. The sound was similar to the sub-vocal sounds I could hear when cops used their two-way radios. This was more annoying though. Louder, though not in a way that anyone else could hear. Louder to that subvocal sense that I had. That ability that let my ears interpret sounds normal people couldn’t hear. 

Until I’d seen the bomb I hadn’t made the correction but I now suspected it was a special type of radio wave. I was doing a lot of guessing but I suspected that meant the bomb could be detonated remotely. 

… Meaning… meaning every one of them might be…

‘Oh god. Someone has planted bombs all over the city,’ I thought. 

My first thought was to call the police. School was over and it wasn’t particularly dangerous to many people. But if one bomb was discovered then whoever had planted these bombs could set off the others. 

I sent a pulse out in the opposite direction of the school. Most of my pulses had been in the same direction lately, covering the school, or later in the evening on the boardwalk. Usually I’d faced towards the ocean though, which meant I hadn’t been fully utilizing my range. Now that I had something to find – something direly important – I aimed my full range to where I thought it would cover the most ground. 

My range was almost five miles, though the angle was relatively thin. Fifteen, maybe twenty degrees. Near the middle and end of the cone, that gave me a huge area to work with, but close to me I couldn’t hear nearly as much. 

… But I could hear enough.

There weren’t many bombs in the first mile… but the cone of my power was thinnest there. The next four miles held almost fifty of the signals. 

I got up and I ran. I had to get towards the outside edge of town. From the boat graveyard I could probably get a view of most of the city. I could warn them of one bomb now, but Coda could warn the protectorate about all of them. Maybe even guide them to each bomb. 

I quashed the irrational fear that this might somehow be blamed on me, but I sure as hell wasn’t calling the police, or even the protectorate as Taylor Hebert. Coda could do what Taylor couldn’t.

God… almost half of them were moving. People were carrying these things! 

I boarded a bus heading roughly towards the boardwalk, but got to work on the way immediately. I braced myself for the headache and was surprised at the mildness of it when released a pulse towards the Protectorate rig in the bay. 

I could almost feel my relative anonymity slip away but this was an emergency of the highest order. Fear of the bombs overrode my fear of invading the privacy of the Protectorate.

I found Armsmaster in his lab where he usually was. Due to overheard conversations… because I simply couldn’t resist sending a pulse out to the bay to learn about the Protectorate every once and a while, I’d overheard his name during the last week and made a mental note in my mind to never use it. They’d never trust me if I casually revealed that I knew some of their secret identities. 

And they needed to trust me now, or a lot of people could die. 

Armsmaster was currently hunched over a desk fiddling around with a component of some sort. I could tell by the clacking noises that he was installing something into something larger but my ability to sense sounds didn’t act like echolocation or anything so sophisticated.

My hands trembled. Personal anxiety warred with a desire to do something good, and I bulled right through. I made the sound occur just behind him, as if I were a person standing there. I used the voice of one of the women on the ferry that would soon be docking at the rig for a tour to speak to him. “Armsmaster, S-Sir?” 

The man reacted instantly, the sound of his halberd scraping along the desk immediately filled my ears. He stood, his head darting left and right as his heartbeat quickened. 

He caught on incredibly quickly. 

“Coda,” he growled. His voice was low and dangerous. “We had suspicions. Do you know the penalty for spying on Protectorate capes?” 

I trembled and fumbled for words. I wasn’t even near him! 

“I… I wouldn’t! I wouldn’t do that!” I lied. “I… something really bad h-has… I found something really bad–!”

“So bad that you couldn’t call like you did last time? Do you have any idea how big of a problem this is? I’m going to have to go to Master/Stranger containment for this, and whatever you tell me isn’t going to–!”

“There are bombs!” I interrupted. 

He paused for a whole heartbeat. His heart did too. When he answered again, the annoyed anger was replaced with a low and dangerous rage. “So… that’s how it is. You will tell me where, right now, and if you’re lucky I’ll make sure you only go to the birdcage for daring to–!”

“No! No not… I’m not threatening you!” I interrupted, and he blinked. I could hear his eyelashes move. “I… I’m sorry! I’m so scared right now. There are… I… I don’t…” I was overwhelmed. My voice wasn’t working properly. I was shaking. Even though I wasn’t making any noise a few of the passengers on the bus were looking at me oddly. 

I forced myself to calm down. “I’ve… been hearing these odd sounds. A-around town. With my powers. But I didn’t think anything of them. S-some new type of cell phone or something. I didn’t question it. But I f-found the source of one of them. It… it was a f-fucking bomb. I didn’t know who else to tell, and I have no idea when they might blow up!” 

Armsmaster remained silent but his heartbeat quickened if anything. Rather than worried though. When he next spoke, his voice sounded excited. 

“Are you serious? You found a bomb? By sound?” he asked, sounding skeptical, but his heart was doing something funny. Not slowing. Racing. Even faster than when he’d thought I’d threatened him with bombs.

I almost sighed in relief now that I was no longer on the other end of his rage. I was more than three miles away from him and the man was still terrifying. I got my shaking body under control and tried to be as professional as I could. 

“Th-they. They sound weird. Like some of the pieces of Kid Win’s armor, or your Halberd. It’s like… like when you hear a gnat flying around but it’s on the other end of the room. It… it looked like a pipe bomb from the tv shows. I don’t know if its real but I… if it is…”

He paused for a short time as if in thought. I could hear him running his fingers through his beard. When he spoke again, his tone was calm once more, but his heart was still flying. He was excited. 

I felt a well of disgust in my gut, but pushed it down. It wasn’t my place to judge Armsmaster for his thrills. 

“When did you start hearing these sounds?” He asked. “Just after the Undersiders fought Lung?”

“I… yeah. How… how did you know?” I asked. 

“Bakuda. So Lung did take her. God dammit, I should’ve seen this coming. Coda, I thought… well, never mind. You did well. I can handle this. Yes. Give me… yes I think I can do something for this. Where is the bomb? Wait. When you said… when they might blow up?” 

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” I screamed, taking care to keep the panic off my face while I sat on the bus. “There isn’t just one. There might be hundreds of them! I don’t know how many, but I’m trying to find out now. They’re all over the city!” 

“All over…? Has Bakuda gone insane?” the man whispered to himself. “Coda. Get a better view of the city. I don’t care how. Stay in contact with me, and I will do everything I can to fix this. You did the right thing,” he said, sounding every bit the hero.

Moment of truth. “I-I… I can’t. I need to… direct my power. The rig isn’t near the city so… I have to… when you’re in the city I’ll be able to talk with you again but in order to find them I’ll have to drop contact with you.”

“Dammit, then call the Protectorate line!” 

I yelped at his rage. “I’m sorry! I don’t have a phone!” 

Oh shit! Did I just use my real voice?

“Don’t have a…!? You’re a communications shaker and you don’t carry a… of all the idiotic–!”

“Armsmaster,” came a sudden voice that shocked me. No one else was in the room! I had all the tethers! Who the fuck?

Armsmaster seemed to collect his temper at the voice. “Right. Coda. This is Dragon. I will begin coordination immediately. Hundreds of bombs is a priority A or possibly S class threat. Armsmaster, I have a few ideas. Coda, do you know how these bombs are detonated? Did they have a timer? A trigger of some sort?”

“Dr-Dragon?” Oh god, the Dragon? “I… I don’t know! The one I found looked like a pipe bomb. It… didn’t have a trigger or a timer or anything. The second I saw it I ran. It’s… nobody is near it now. But it…” Dammit if I revealed the location wouldn’t that give them a hint to my identity? I’d wanted to remain anonymous! “It’s… in Winslow. The band room. Bottom drawer of the podium.” 

Fuck my secrecy. Hundreds of people could be hurt or killed if I didn’t try to get those bombs disarmed now. What the fuck did that mean for all the moving ones though? Why the fuck would people be willingly carrying bombs around?

“A school? That… monster,” Dragon said with more disgust than I’d have believed possible through a speaker.

“Th-that’s not the worst part,” I said somberly. “S-some of the bombs. Some of them are being carried. A lot of them are being carried.” 

The bus finally arrived at the edge of the boardwalk and the second I got out from behind the irritatingly slow other passengers on board, I sprinted straight for the boat graveyard. From there I could probably find the vast majority of the bombs in my power’s area of influence. 

“Remotely detonated. Probably at least some of them are being remotely watched too. If it’s Bakuda, she’ll probably know if her bombs are disarmed. We can’t evacuate,” Armsmaster said, his mind tackling the problem without fear or hesitation. I felt envious of the speed at which he came to terms with the magnitude of the threat. “She might set them all off at once. Other options?” 

“A device to disable the detonators, a device to disable the signal, or a way to deactivate the bombs all at once,” Dragon said. “Informing Director Piggot now. Coda, are there any bombs on the protectorate rig or the PRT Headquarters?”

I was about to answer but Armsmaster continued talking. 

“Option One, negative. Possibly uses esoteric frequencies we do not have a baseline for.” Armsmaster was fiddling frantically on a new desk with new instruments and some sort of small metal saw, but his stream of words never ceased. Was he talking to himself? “Without some of the bombs to examine, we could make a mistake or fail entirely. Option thee is equally problematic. Would alert the tinker, and bombs themselves may be resistant to tampering. Option two is best but range is an issue. City-wide EMP?”

“Catastrophic economic fallout. Evidence in every city to experience one. It still might be worth it though.” Dragon responded, though she sounded distracted. “Coda! Are there bombs on the Rig or the PRT HQ?” 

I jumped at the sudden steel in her voice as she repeated the question. Did she want me to interrupt them!? “N-No. I mean. None on the Rig. I don’t know about the PRT building yet.”

Dragon immediately returned to her conversation with Armsmaster. “The damage an EMP would cause is worth the risk, but only if we can determine it would actually halt the signal. Does she use the internet or are her detonators tinkertech, too?” 

“Evidence during previous bombing attempt indicates rudimentary detonator for exceptional bombs,” Dragon responded almost immediately. The two’s stream of words was so fast I almost had trouble following it. “Odds are good that the detonator isn’t tinkertech but it’s a bad idea to chance that. We don’t know how long she prepared for the Cornell bombings. Bombing a school is not at all out of character for her.”

Did… did they forget about me?

“Uhm… I think… I think the bombs use radio-!”

“Coda? Winslow High School. The band room, correct?”

“Yes,” I said, happy to sound certain about something for once. “Definitely.” 

“One of my suits in enroute, but Velocity is also on his way already and should beat me there. Am I correct in assuming your power only works in one direction?” she asked. 

I grit my teeth. Now… wasn’t the time. “I… need to turn it towards the city to find them all. I won’t be able to speak to you when I do though. S-sorry about the phone.” 

I hated apologizing. I’d been planning to get one, but how could I have known I’d need one so soon!?

“That’s alright, Coda. You’ll be able to speak to me and Velocity if you have access to the PRT building. Please turn your power to finding the bombs. Velocity is moving to Winslow. You said you moved the bomb and it didn’t explode, correct?” she asked. “Did you close the drawer you said you found it in?” 

“N-No… he should be able to see it, right there in the drawer. It’s still open. I feel like I’m lucky I didn’t get blown to pieces. I… sorry. I should’ve mentioned this before. An Asian kid was the one who dropped it off in there. I noticed him with one of the sounds and was c-curious. I think… I think he was targeting the Empire. The choir meets there first thing the mornings and they’re mostly empire kids.”

I realized that I was damning myself, revealing so much about my school but what the hell could I do? A fake voice could only get me so far. Especially if Armsmaster could just yell me into using my own fucking voice! 

‘God dammit I am such an idiot!’ 

“More possible confirmation of Bakuda’s involvement,” Armsmaster commented. 

“Please speak to Velocity when you turn your sensory power towards the city. He will be our contact until we can develop something to counter the bomber’s signal. He is expecting to hear you. Advice him immediately on anything relevant you find and he can quickly relay your information to the rest of the Protectorate. PRT Bomb squads are already mobilizing, as well as police units with expertise. Coda? Thank you for doing this.” 

My face turned red. I didn’t say anything. My throat locked up. 

I turned to face the majority of the city once I’d nearly reached the beach in the boat graveyard and released a pulse. I probably wouldn’t get all of them but I would get the vast majority. To my horror, there were easily over a hundred bombs. My ability to process all the sounds in my range led me to a count of two hundred and eleven. 

That said, fifty five of those bombs were located at the same location. All but two were moving along with individual heartbeats. 

I located Velocity almost instantly. The thing moving faster than anything moved was easy to spot and he was already most of the way to Winslow. Since my power let me hear the past hour, I was instantly informed of Dragon’s conversation in the PRT HQ with a woman whose breath sounded strained. She’d been shouting and frantic as soon as Dragon had spoken to her but was calming down. Her heartbeat was arrhythmic and I worried for her health a little bit. I assumed this was Director Piggot.

“D-Dragon? This is Coda. C-Can you still hear me?” I said, now using a different voice since I no longer had the woman on the ferry. 

“Good god,” gasped the director, her heart speeding up all over again. “That is unsettling.”

“I… I’m sorry. M-Ma’am,” I said as politely as I could. “Dragon… I heard your voice here and thought I should let you know that I think… I think I know where the bomber is.” I said. 

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