by Captain Sammitch
2058 hours
Memorial Lawn, Central Park:
Phil strode calmly across the lawn that bordered the sculpture garden. He knew he was crossing a large open field. He knew he'd be a sitting duck for any of the snipers that he knew were out there. He knew his shielding power only worked maybe three times out of four - and it would only take one shot to kill him on this field. But none of that mattered.
He was on a mission.
A sentry watched him from a tree. He picked up his radio. "Smith is crossing the lawn now."
"Anyone with him?" the lookout with Fisher asked.
"Nobody," the sentry said. "But he looks like he's carrying something."
"He'll be armed to the teeth, I'm sure," Fisher said. "Smith needs options. He always looks for an alternative." He smiled. "But I'm sure he'll play ball in this situation." He turned to the two agents in his car. "Bring her out."
The two men picked up the sedated Gabi and brought her over to Fisher. Fisher used some smelling salts to awaken the girl, who blinked and looked around. "Where am I?" she asked faintly.
"You're safe," Fisher said. "Phil is coming for you now."
Gabi's eyes widened. She tried to jump to her feet but staggered around feebly. "Don't exert yourself too much," Fisher instructed. "We had to give you some sedatives to make sure you didn't vanish on us again."
Gabi sat down. A single tear trickled down her pretty olive-complected face.
"Don't cry, Miss Riviera," Fisher said. "There's nothing to worry about. As soon as he shows up, we'll all get in the car and go for a little trip." He smiled at Gabriela. "You and your boyfriend will have new employment."
"What... kind... of employment?" Gabi asked quietly.
Fisher chuckled. "I'd tell you, but then I'd have to... that's getting really tired, you know? Let's just say you'll find out soon enough. But don't worry," Fisher reassured her, "the package includes travel and adventure of all kinds." He looked her over. "And we can get you on some sort of weight-loss plan too."
Gabi glared at him. "That doesn't help your cause very much."
Fisher laughed. "I couldn't resist." He grinned at her. "I'm sure Phil appreciates a lady of rounder persuasion, so why should you change? Don't worry about the diet plan."
Gabi stood up. "You had better hope Phil goes along with your plan, or I'll kill you before he can get to you." She felt around her waist for the holster with the Colt but couldn't find it. She looked around the ground for it, but as she bent down, her substantial behind split the seams of her pants. Gabi's face reddened, and she quickly sat back down, intent on denying Fisher the satisfaction of a brief glimpse of her underwear.
"Black, huh?" Fisher was enjoying himself now. "A little surprise for Mr. Smith, I see."
"Sir," the lookout said, "he's almost here."
Fisher smiled at Gabi one last time. "We'll finish this later." He turned to see none other than Phil Smith walking across the sculpture garden to meet him.
"I was wondering whether you'd get cold feet or not," Fisher said. His watch beeped. "Right on time. I like that."
"Where is she?" Phil's tone was about as warm as high noon in Antarctica.
Fisher gestured toward Gabriela, who sat on the ground behind him, flanked by two operatives carrying MP5s. "She's all right, except for the sedative we gave her to calm her nerves."
"And for other reasons," Smith muttered, glaring at Fisher.
"Well," Fisher said, "time is running short. Shall we?"
"I don't like you, Fisher," Phil said. "I don't like you one bit. I think you're a slimy, manipulative little sonofabitch who isn't beyond stooping to anything. I think this proves my point." Phil gestured to the still-weeping Gabi. "But," Phil went on, "I don't think I have too many options other than the one you've given me. So let's talk about this."
"An excellent idea," Fisher replied.
back on the Lawn
"This way!" Gant shouted to Patterson.
The older man was having a bit of difficulty keeping up. "I'm coming, Rob! Just watch yourself!"
They sprinted across the open field. "I see them in the sculpture garden," Gant said. "Be careful here."
"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" a booming voice ordered. Gant and Patterson whirled around only to find themselves encircled by FBI men with automatic weapons.
"What's the meaning of this?" Gant shouted.
"You're compromising the investigation," the leader of the FBI operatives said calmly, stepping forward. "We're merely forcibly detaining you long enough for Agent Fisher to complete his work."
Gant's hands balled into fists. Patterson breathed deeply.
Their work had just hit the fan.
the garden
"I'll make this easy," Fisher said. "MAW is basically writing you a blank check. You get on board with us and take care of a handful of small obligations, and you're set. The police will never find you, nor will the Colombians, nor will anyone else who might come looking for you. You help us develop our systems for locating and working with metahumans, and I'll give sanction to any and every kind of research required to find out who you are. And Gabi? We'll give her whatever she wants. We need her help too, after all. We'll set you two up with a six-figure stipend, a seven-figure home, a permanent security detail, the works. You can have a family, build a life for yourselves, whatever you want to do. All this in exchange for helping me and my people imrove the condition of metahumans everywhere."
Fisher grinned at Phil. "It's anyone's dream, Phil. And it can be yours. All you have to do is follow me."
Phil smiled. "That is a nice offer, Agent Fisher. Incredible, actually." He looked at Gabi. "And I still get what I want most - the woman I love." Gabi beamed at him. "And," Phil said, "A chance to find out who I really am." He grinned as he thought about it. "Yeah."
His smile faded.
"What is it?" Fisher asked.
Gabi leaned forward. She could feel Phil working inside her head, clearing away the mist of the sedatives clouding her mind.
"A long time ago," Phil said, "there was a man who looked at a group of people and only saw that they were different. Maybe in his mind they were a threat to him, maybe he needed a scapegoat for his problems, maybe he just needed someone to hate. I don't know. Anyway," he went on, "he decided that the only way he could rest easier at night was if he knew who each one of them was and where they were at all times."
"What are you getting at?" Fisher asked.
"Soon," Phil explained, "that just wasn't enough. He wanted the support of those around him, and for that he had to find a common enemy. Since he already had all those people written down and located, he decided they would be the easiest target. Citing them as a threat, he took away their means of defense and isolated them from the rest of society, using their differences against them."
Fisher knew where this was going.
"Later on," Phil said, "that wasn't enough either. He had a fight on his hands, and he needed to get all his people behind him. So he took the people he had isolated and made defenseless...and he slaughtered them. Six million of them. Something he would never have been able to do if he hadn't first gone through the painstaking process of locating and documenting them."
Phil looked at Fisher intently. "If you decide to go forward with your plan to locate and document all the metahumans in the world, how can anyone be sure someone won't end up killing all those metas? If you do that, then you're no different from Hitler. And if I decide to help you, if I sell my soul for a stipend and a house and an identity I've lived without for so long, then I'm no different from you."
Fisher looked down. He thought a moment. "Well said, Mr. Smith. Very well said." He gave a signal, and the two operatives trained their guns on him and Gabi. "Unfortunately, your silvery words don't change facts. I've placed a very reasonable offer before you, and there are consequences to rejecting my offers."
Phil stiffened.
"Let him go, Fisher!" It was Sergeant Gant. The cop was surrounded by FBI agents with guns, but he still pointed at Fisher menacingly. "You're tampering with our murder investigation, and you're unlawfully detaining my suspect outside of your jurisdiction."
Fisher rolled his eyes. "Sergeant Gant, I don't have time to deal with this. There are more important things behind this than you know."
Gant glared at the FBI man. "I heard, Fisher. I heard it all. I have no interest in your fascist trash, you Nazi bastard."
Fisher's jaw dropped. "I can't believe you're letting a serial killer influence your judgment!"
"Phil Smith killed fifteen men," Gant said, "but he's nowhere near as evil as you are. Smith hunted kidnappers, rapists, child molesters. You are laying the foundation for the extermination of an entire population."
Fisher held up a hand. "Don't confuse the issue with your grossly overextended, contrived morality. Smith is a metahuman, therefore he belongs to me."
"Let him go," Gant insisted.
"Shut him up," Fisher ordered.
The agent nearest to Gant took a step back. "I'm not shooting a police officer, Agent Fisher. I thought we were all on the same side." The other agents near him nodded to each other and let Gant go. "We can't go along with this, Fisher," the agent said. "I know it's your division, but I got a wife and kids, and I'd never be able to look at myself in the mirror if I let this thing go down."
"I can't believe this is happening!" Fisher exclaimed. "Are you all going to make things difficult for me?"
"Give me my suspect," Gant ordered. "I'm gonna have him taken in for psychiatric evaluation. He killed people, but he's no serial killer."
"You're not getting this," Fisher said. "I'm in charge here! You all know that if you go up against me, you lose your jobs. Now don't be stupid." He motioned to his MAW guards. "Take these two."
In a flash, Phil had the .44 out and gunned down both operatives before they even pointed their MP5s at him. He leapt into the air, using his telekinesis to carry him over Fisher's car to where Gabi was.
"Get him!!!" Fisher shouted.
Chaos ensued from that point. The MAW agents loyal to Fisher didn't know whether or not to actually shoot at Phil or Gabi, and they were afraid of wounding their FBI comrades. The other FBI agents weren't about to shoot at the MAW agents or Fisher, but they didn't want to risk either Phil or Gabi being hurt. Gant and Patterson were intent on getting Phil out of there and back to Fourth Precinct. And Phil played all three sides off each other as he began fighting off the MAW agents who got too close. In moments, the backup Gant and Patterson had ordered sped across the lawn, ten cruisers and twenty NYPD officers strong.
Phil punched a MAW operative out and helped Gabi to her feet. "Run!" he shouted. Phil dove behind a sculpture of a pink elephant as the MAW agents came after him.
"Shoot him!" Fisher shouted.
"Open fire!" the FBI commander ordered.
"Deadly force authorized!" Gant shouted to the cops.
For years afterward, the incident would go down in the annals of law enforcement as the Gunfight in the Garden.
Phil came out from behind the elephant with a pair of silenced Ingrams. He advanced on the MAW agents, Neo-style, firing at anyone who shot at him. The MAW operatives tried to fight back, only to be cut down by the FBI shooters. And the NYPD was angling towards Gabi, forming a protective circle around her and taking out anyone who came too close.
Sixty law-enforcement agents, an enraged FBI unit director, and two angry metahumans were battling it out in a sculpture garden not much bigger than two tennis courts. Whatever happened, it wouldn't be pretty.