Martin Morgan handed over the ring. He wondered briefly if he was doing the right

  thing. He decided that Touhanbei had been a good guy. His apprentice should be just

  as good.

  “This is the ring Mental gave you?,” asked Ren. He examined the ring with the naked

  eye. He pulled out a loop, and examined the thing once more. “There might be

  something there I can use.”

  “I dusted it for prints when I could, but there weren’t any,” said Marty. “All I could

  find were smudges.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” said Ren. He took the ring over to his table. “I can make

  it say a sentence I believe. That should be enough to give us another toehold.”

  “So you can find the owner?,” asked Marty.

  “If I can’t, the next step is to check your old support network to see who could have

  set up the trap.” Ren took a dish from his shelf. He dropped the ring in it. “And if that

  fails, we can go back to the memories to see what more we can glean from them.”

  “That sounds reasonable.” Marty stepped back. He didn’t want the process to blow

  up in his face.

  “Trust me,” said Ren. He took two different bottles from his shelf. Marty could have

  sworn they hadn’t been there before he picked them up. “At the very least, if the man

  is still alive, I can turn the ring into a compass to find him.”

  Marty liked the idea of a pointer showing him where to go. He had lived with being

  the sole survivor and knowledge that someone out there still might want him dead.

  Being able to lay hands on one of the men responsible would be great.

  Then he would make the man pay for his part in what had happened.

  Ren poured the samples of the liquids into the dish. He capped them and set them

  aside before grabbing a lid for the dish. He covered the ingredients and ring as smoke

  filled the tiny space. He stepped back to let the chemical reaction do its thing.

  A face appeared on the inside of the transparent cover. Ren replaced that lid with

  another. He took the marked lid and put it on a stand to look through. The other lid

  kept the smoke in the storage plate.

  “I don’t recognize him,” said Marty. “Any way to identify him from the picture?”

  “Not really.” Ren put the lid on a piece of paper. “We’ll have to see if he has a mug

  shot somewhere.”

  “That might take a while.” Marty doubted anyone would listen to him now. His

  clearance as a Scout must have been revoked. Maybe there was someone he knew

  who could speed up the identification process. He couldn’t think of anyone off hand.

  “Either way,” said Ren. “We’ll still have a way to track the man down. His ring will

  give us that.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Marty. “How will it help us?”

  “I need to add a third chemical to the dish.” Ren went to the shelf and produced the

  bottle. “When I add this, the ring will want to go after the former owner.”

  “I don’t believe that,” said Marty. “Nothing does that.”

  “Watch.” Ren took the second lid off the dish. He poured the liquid in the third bottle

  into the fog. He closed the lid down on it.

  The ring had a jewel in it. That jewel pointed southeast of where they stood. Ren

  picked up the dish and turned it. The jewel kept reaching for the same direction.

  “So we have a compass,” said Marty. “That’s neat.”

  “If we can’t find out the identity of the man through normal channels, we can use this

  to find him.” Ren smiled. “It’s always good to have a fallback.”

  “Okay,” said Marty. “Where do we get started?”

  “Let’s start with the radio network.” Ren put the picture and ring in his bag. “If we

  can find the leak through ordinary means, we might not need the memories we have

  stored.”

  “The Scout headquarters is closed.” Marty looked at his hands. “The Foundation is

  keeping the land maintained. Everything should still be there.”

  “Let’s go and take a look at things.” Ren frowned at the hotel room. “Let me pack up

  and we can take the train up there.”

  “Take your time,” said Marty. “I’m going down to the diner and get something to

  eat.”

  “All right,” said Ren. “I will be down to join you in a few minutes.”

  “Okay.” Marty opened the door. He headed downstairs. He took Ren’s warning about

  elevators to heart and used the stairs. They were looking for an unknown enemy that

  had ambushed a seasoned team of powered humans. There was no telling what the

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  bad guys would do to the two of them.

  He crossed the street to the diner. He didn’t like the fact that his enemy could be

  anywhere. He wondered how long he had before they came at him.

  He had no doubt they would come at him once he showed he was making progress

  in finding out what was going on. They had ambushed his friends and killed them.

  There was no doubt they would try to do the same to him once he got close enough.

  He needed a back up plan in case something happened to him and Ren. He didn’t

  know what he could do about that. He had been on his own for a long time.

  He stepped inside the diner and went to the table where he and Ren had eaten earlier.

  How were they going to get down to the base? He had transportation for himself

  worked out. Maybe he could lift two men the distance to Scout headquarters.

  He ordered coffee from the waitress as he thought. Maybe he could lift them home.

  He had been working on new animals to call. One of them should fit the bill.

  Working on the network should be easy. He had learned a lot of the basics from Barry

  and Doug. And the equipment had not been updated in the ten years since they died.

  He should have thought of that. He had abandoned everything to dust. He should

  have done better than that.

  The fact that he had been twelve didn’t seem much of an excuse.

  He wondered what his adopted family would have thought of him.

  He spotted Ren crossing the street. Once he finished his coffee, they could fly down

  to the base and get started looking around. Now that he had help, maybe he could

  finally get things done.

  He should have thought about asking a detective to help before this, but he didn’t

  know anyone that fit the bill. The Mark might have helped, but he was too busy

  saving the world.

  Ren stepped in the diner. He nodded to the staff. He settled in his old seat.

  “I’m ready to go,” said Ren. “I thought we could take the train up north.”

  “I got the transportation covered,” said Marty. “I figured we would fly.”

  “Fly?,” asked Ren. “I didn’t know you could fly.”

  “I have some animal friends that I can call that should be able to carry the both of us,”

  said Marty. “The time won’t be as fast as a jet’s.”

  “I would like that,” said Ren. “I have never been able to fly on my own power.”

  “I always wanted to, but being able to ride through the air is almost as good,” said

  Marty. “Only Jim could fly on the team. The rest of us were ground bound.”

  “I understand.” Ren asked for a glass of water. “Doctor Tanbouhei has only showed

  me how to glide. It’s not the same as true flight.”

  “Let me finish my coffee.” Marty sipped from his cup. “Hopefully we will find a clue

  at the old place.”

  “We have multiple lines now.” Ren smiled. “I am confident we will net someone, if

  not the head plotter before things are done.”

  “We will have to prove everything in a court of law,” said Marty. “How do we do that

  with old memories?”

  “I am sure that by the time we are done, we will have more than old memories to hand

  over to a prosecutor,” said Ren.

  Marty finished off his cup. He stood. Ren followed suit. Marty paid for the coffee

  before they stepped out of the diner.

  Marty concentrated on his summons. He had been working on his powers the whole

  time he had been on his own. He could do more than simple animals now. His steed

  sprang into existence, lifting him up in a natural saddle at its shoulders. It called out

  its impatience as talons dug into the asphalt around the diner.

  “Is that a griffin?,” said Ren. He stepped back from the lion bird looking him over.

  “I didn’t know you could do that.”

  “It’s an animal. Calling animals into existence is what I do.” Marty extended a hand.

  “Climb aboard. We have places to go.”

  Ren used the hand to settle into a spot behind the former Animal Boy. He secured his

  traveling bag to his body. The griffin made a noise half lion roar and half eagle call.

  It jogged down the street while beating its wings. Then it was in the air and flying

  smoothly across the sky.

  “This is wonderful,” said Ren. “I love this. I wish I could do this.”

  “It works for me,” said Marty. “I used to not be able to do anything this big. I

  practiced using a book from the library.”

  “A book?,” said Ren. “What book?”

  “It was full of monsters,” said Marty.

  “Ah,” said Ren. “The library is full of things like that.”

  “I know.” Marty pulled out a pair of goggles out of a pocket. He pulled them over his

  eyes. “We should be at the old place in a few hours.”

  “I haven’t ridden anything like this before,” said Ren. “We might need to land

  sometime to give us a break.”

  “Okay,” said Marty. “We’ll aim for a place about halfway between where we are, and

  where we want to go.”

  “Excellent,” said Ren.

  Marty closed his eyes as he rested in the saddle. The bird lion would wake him if it

  needed him.

  It gave a call as it headed down for the ground. Marty’s eyes snapped open. He shook

  his head to clear it.

  “It looks like we’re going down,” said Ren. “The griffin seems to need to rest.”

  “Good,” said Marty. “I need to stretch my legs.”

  “This has been really great,” said Ren. “I have never had such a journey that felt this

  good.”

  “It looks like we’re going to land in that parking lot ahead.” Marty pointed at the

  clear spot. “Good job, Feathers.”

  The griffin touched down, and shook its head. It faded away as its riders dismounted.

  Marty stretched kinks out of his back as he looked around.

  “I see what you mean,” Ren put his travel bag down. He rubbed his legs with his

  hands. “I didn’t consider how a long ride would affect me.”

  “You’ll be sore in the morning.” Marty pointed at a gas station across the lot. “Let’s

  get some water, and something to snack on. Then we can get back on and finish the

  ride.”

  “I believe it.” Ren nodded. “I am sore now.”

  “Can you walk?,” asked Marty.

  “Yes,” said Ren. “I can manage.”

  Marty led the way across the lot. His mouth felt dry. He smiled at himself. His power

  seemed to make him thirsty the more he used it.

  A Gatorade would fix that.

  He opened the door of the place. Two shelves of food went to the right, pointing to

  cooler doors. A middled aged clerk with wiry gray hair and too much weight stood

  behind the counter on the left. Glasses perched on her round nose.

  “Hello,” the clerk said. Her voice was scratchy from too many cigarettes. “How’s it

  going?”

  “Fine.” Marty looked over the small selection of drinks. He found a shelf of Gatorade.

  He pulled one out. “How’s it going with you?”

  “Great.” She smiled. “One drink?”

  “I think I need some crackers too.” Marty picked up some Nabs. “Do you know how

  the weather is up northeast of here?”

  “It’s supposed to rain later.” She rang up the drink and crackers as Ren walked in.

  “Then sunshine for the next few days.”

  “Thanks,” said Marty. He opened the bottle and took a sip. “I appreciate that.”

  Ren staggered into the store. He smiled. He walked back and pulled a Coke from the

  cooler. He added some cookies and a bag of chips.

  “Is this all,” said the clerk, as Marty moved out of the way.

  “I think so,” said Ren.