“Hey,” he said as Zielinski approached.
Zielinski removed his glasses, putting them into one of the pockets on his vest. “Hey.”
“Let’s go show the team what we’re working with.”
They walked into headquarters side by side. Strong was in his office, on the phone but with the door open. Caleb sat behind his command center, and Blaze, Frost, and Sonica sat in the chairs in front of him. The four of them paused their conversation when he and Zielinski walked in.
“We come bearing a gift,” Aiden said. He swung the gun around to his front, making sure the safety he’d found was engaged before passing it over to Caleb.
“Interesting,” Caleb said with a note of hushed excitement in his voice as he took the weapon and set it on the table.
Sonica stood. “I’ve seen that somewhere before,” she said as she came over to look at the weapon.
Blaze got up too. “It’s a stun gun.”
Caleb looked up at him in surprise. “How did you know?”
“I’ve seen what it can do.” He turned to Aiden. “Where’d you get it?”
“Zielinski took it off a couple of muggers who’ve been assaulting people in the Playground. At first, I thought the guy was a rando who had a hard-on for harassing sex workers. But now he’s got weapons, back up, and a secondary team of muggers. Combined with the all-white uniforms some of them were wearing tonight, it’s starting to look like they’re a paramilitary religious cult or something.”
“You said they were in all white?” Blaze asked in his gravelly voice.
“They weren’t at first,” Aiden answered. “But yeah, tonight, two of them were.”
Blaze straightened from studying the stun gun and crossed his arms over his chest. “They’re members of the Purity Alliance.”
Aiden had never heard of them. “Who?”
“A group that’s against adult themes in media. The only art they find acceptable is pure—nothing sexual and easy on the violence. They were the group who attacked the convention Danny attended this summer. They dress in all white and they used this same type of weapon.”
“I’ve heard of them.” With a few quick keystrokes, Caleb went to their website and put it up on the main monitor for everyone to see. “I thought they were only in fandom, but maybe they’re branching out.”
Stardust supplied more info on the culprit “Every time he mugs someone he goes on rants about filth. And he always tears up the cash if he gets his hands on it, which means money isn’t the motive. The Players he’s robbed are extra pissed about that part.”
“Yeah, the ranting sounds like them.” Blaze turned his dark eyes to Aiden. “You’re lucky you didn’t get hit by this thing. It completely freezes you. I used my electricity to zap the people who’d been stunned at the con back to consciousness but I have no idea what it would do to someone who was frozen for a prolonged length of time.”
Caleb suddenly bounced in his chair, a gleeful grin spreading over his face.
“Ooooh! That means I’ll have to test it out.”
“You can’t play with the bad guys’ weapons,” Sonica chided.
“We need to know how it affects people and what works on un-stunning if one of you gets hit by it. Or, what happens when the effects are allowed to wear off on their own.”
Frost quietly agreed. “You have a point.”
“Okay, then,” Caleb rubbed his hands together. “Who is going to be my guinea pig?”
Everyone went quiet, none of them making eye contact with Caleb. Aiden studied his nails. The black lacquer was chipping.
Caleb sighed mournfully. “I guess I can test it on myself. Even though I’m the only one here without any level of advanced healing. And it will probably take me much longer to recover from the hit.”
It was a masterful guilt trip, complete with a sad little frown and slumped shoulders, and capped off with another mournful sigh. They didn’t stand a chance. Everyone groaned before they all volunteered to take turns being hit by the stun gun after Caleb finished studying it. Only Blaze was exempt, since Caleb wanted him at the ready to shock each volunteer out of their freeze.
“Good job grabbing it,” Aiden said to Zielinski. “You gave us our best clue at who we’re dealing with.”
Zielinski cleared his throat before responding. “Thank you.”
