Of course, you had to communicate with the bots to hear anything. Still, despite my fears, I got confirmation that my bots had connected to the available communication satellites far above us.

I hoped to start listening in. The bots’ cameras showed the damaged spaceships and henchrooks crawling out of the wreckage. I also caught a look at the three flyers who’d landed on the ground.

One wore navy blue and white powered armor with wings that resembled a fighter jet. I recognized him as “Scream Eagle,” a mercenary who’d stolen a suit intended for the military. I’d heard worrisome things about the suit in Double V’s powered armor forum.

The other two were weirder. A woman wearing a green costume covered with designs of vines and animals. She also wore a dark green cape and a quiver with a bow and arrows. She called herself Artemis. Some people in Double V’s forums said she believed she was the Greek goddess Artemis. Others thought she was performing a bit of schtick because why would a goddess be robbing banks and hiring out as a mercenary?

Along the theme of debatable supernatural identities, the other person on the ground wore an unremarkable blue and gold costume, complete with a mask. The weirdness came from the person. A being of indeterminate gender, the person had blond hair, white wings jutting out of their back, and a soft golden glow to their skin.

I’d never heard of any super of that description.

It was hard not to wonder about their origin. Was it a construct? A real, possibly amnesiac, angel that happened to be confused about who they served? A fallen angel? Most likely, I was looking at a normal super with the ability to present themself as an angel.

On the other hand, life was strange and it might be none of the above.

The angel reached out to touch a henchrook lying on the ground. Golden light extended from its hand and the henchrook shuddered and pushed itself off the ground, backing away from the angel as if afraid.

I filed that detail away for later but noted that the angel stepped inside the spaceship. Whatever happened when it healed, henchrooks started walking out of the ships unhurt even in broken and damaged armor.

I checked the other bots’ feeds to see if any had a good shot of the fourth flyer, the one who’d stayed in the air. It took a moment of scrolling back and forth in time, but one had.

Much like the “angel,” this one’s costume didn’t ring any bells. Like the angel’s, it was blue, but unlike the angel’s costume, it used red and white as accents. That made it red, white, and blue, but not in a patriotic sense. There were no flags or nods in that direction.

If anything, it looked more like a military uniform than a superhero’s, in part because he didn’t wear a mask.

Despite his light skin, his high cheekbones and the slight curl of his black hair reminded me of Izzy—which meant a very bad possibility had been introduced. A quick check in my memory, assisted by my implant gave me a picture of Dixie Superman, Izzy’s grandfather.

This guy, whoever he was, wasn’t wearing a Confederate flag on his armor, but his facial features matched up. The age didn’t, but given the Nine’s willingness to clone people, the age didn’t have to.

Plus, for all I knew, Dixie Superman could have other descendants. In fact, it was more likely than not. Izzy’s grandmother had remarried. Dixie Superman spent his life trying to rally the South to revolt and preaching the need for more white babies. It seemed almost impossible that he wouldn’t create a few of his own.

Listening in on the bots, I could hear the sounds of sirens and human chatter as soldiers rolled up in jeeps, some talking into walkie-talkies, others shouting at their men.

The soldiers started helping henchrooks out of the ships, messing up the crime scene if they thought of it that way. As the “criminal,” I couldn’t complain.

Aside from the “angel,” the supers had started looking at the ships and then Artemis and Scream Eagle took to the air again, doing loops above the ships as if checking for us.

Dixieclone (his nickname until I heard a real one) asked, “Is there any sign of them?”

Artemis shook her head, “None. I don’t see any footprints. It’s as if they disappeared or flew away.”

Scream Eagle hovered in the air, “I talked to a few of Rook’s minions. They say the attackers teleported in and out.”

Artemis frowned, “I don’t like it. From the reports, they’re all mercenaries and we’ve hired every one of them at one time or another. It’s a strange coincidence that they’d show up here as Rook arrives especially with what leadership has been saying.”

Dixieclone held up his hand to his lips and said, “Don’t talk about that.”