The Framing of Jon Smith

[joegoda]

52759 / 50000 words. 106% done!

It was one of those days. Actually, it had been three of those days, when you start to do a thing, then a discovery about that thing sends you to another place. A discovery at that place sends you somewhere else, which in turn sends you BACK to where you started, which sends you to the second place, which sends you to the first place which then sends you to the last place, which was the place you needed to be at in the first place. Clear? Me neither.

"Barrick!" I wasn't happy, and I wanted the world to know about it. I stood in the lobby of the Barrick building, yelling for Barrick and making the security guards nervous. I didn't care. I wanted to see him on my terms, not his, and that meant out in the open.

"Barrick! Come out and play!"

A small crowd had gathered in the lobby and there were more leaning over the railings on the second and third floor. I could hear them talking among themselves. Questions of my sanity were a standard by now, even among my friends. Mutters of getting the guards and why doesn't security do something. I expected security to do something, I just had to wait for it.

One of the guards at the front desk, I think it was Martin, but I couldn't tell because they were all clones of each other, touched his earbud. His lips moved a bit and he nodded once. He rose from his chair and came around the desk.

"Martin!" I was hoping it was Martin. "Tell Bobby that I'm here won't you? He's missed our reservations and I so wanted to get back in touch with him."

It wasn't Martin. The lapel badge said 'Hank' on this one.

"Oops, my bad," I said cheerfully. I wasn't cheerful, but I wanted the crowd to see that I meant no harm. No weapons, no malice, nothing but a geeking looking old guy yelling for one of the most powerful men in the world.

"Hank," I said, starting to reach out to him. "Be a darling and let Mister Barrick know that I'm here. I am a bit miffed with him, which is why I might sound a bit, you know, put out."

"Mister Barrick knows you are here, Mister Smith." Hank's voice was only slightly less gravely than Martins. Still, same mold, different variations in the mixture. "He asks that you proceed quietly upstairs."

"But Hank!" I tried to sound hurt. "I so wanted to see Bobby down here, with all of the marvelous people in his building." I got closer to him and said, Soto voice, "He may not like what I have to say, and I don't want to end up dead, quietly, upstairs."

Hank nodded his understanding, turned away and muttered something into his throat mic. He nodded again and turned back to me. "Mister Barrick offers his assurance that you won't be harmed," he said softly.

"Ask him to swear on his mother's grave," I said, all smiling and all friendly like.

Hank stared at me from behind his shades like I was crazy. I could see his eyes. They were saying "This guy's crazy"

"No, really, Hank," I said, happily. "Ask him."

Hank, keeping his eyes on me because you can never tell what a crazy person will do, subvocalized, "He's asking you to swear on your mother's grave."

I could actually hear the cackle from Hank's earpiece. After he had run down from laughing at me, he said, "You can tell him that..." Barrick's voice cut off. "Never mind. I'll tell him myself."

There was a peal of thunder, and a flash of lightning and there he was, all eighty plus years of him, looking not a day over fourty and wearing some sort of golden armor that glittered like a snowglobe and actually tinkled when he moved. Tinkled, as in little bells. Did I mention that he was also about seven foot tall and extremely well muscled?

"Nice entrance, Bobby," I said. "Where's Roy and Siegfried?"

Barrick looked confused for a few seconds before he got it. Then he threw back his head and roared with laughter. "Very good, Johann. Very good!"

He strode up to me and tossed his arms around me and gave me a bear hug to end all bear hugs. I felt my ribs shift and heard one crack.

"It is SO good to see you!" he said loudly as he let me go and held me out at arm's length. "Let's go upstairs and talk, shall we? I have set aside some excellent dodge mead, which I understand you have come to enjoy."

"Your message said that Dante' was dead." I didn't budge from my spot and my expression didn't change, although part of me was screaming in pain from my ribs.

He let me go and stepped back, adopting a very sad expression on his face. I've seen that same sort of expression on paint by number clowns.

"It's true," he said as he shook his head. "Dante' and I came to some disagreements, so I had to terminate him."

"Barrick," I said, "In a normal world, terminate means fire, not kill."

"Ah, Johann," he replied, a grin fading back onto his face, "you and I know better, don't we. Terminate used to mean exactly what it still means. To do away with, to end, to stop. Dante' was moving in a disagreeable direction, so I stopped him."

"With extreme prejudice, I understand." I folded my arms across my chest. It made my arms hurt, but I wanted to look tough, so I didn't put them back down. "What happened, Bobby? You seemed like such a nice guy."

"I am a nice guy, Johann." Barrick raised his hands, palms up and indicated the world around him. "Look how much I have done for the people." He said this in the manner of 'Little People'. I knew what he meant. "I have done so much, and I ask for so little." His soft smile turned sly. "Now, I want to have something done for me."

"What, Bobby?" I was curious, although I suspected that I knew. "What could we possibly do for the man who can get anything?"

"I just want to be worshiped." Of course. What else?" "And, at the very least, if I can't be worshiped, then I will rule you."

"Why would we want to worship you?" I asked, "Or even allow you to rule us?"

"You really have no choice, Johann." Barrick's smile turned sad again. "You see, much as I'd hate to have to do it, I could destroy you all." His frown turned to a smile. "I can do it, you know."

"Like you did Mendlehousen?" I asked.

Barrick's smile turned in to a snarl. "Mendlehousen was a monster! He deserved what he got. Besides, I didn't kill him. Someone beat me to him."

"Someone, eh?" I barked a laugh. "Someone that you don't know of? Someone so strong that you don't know who he or she is?"

"I'll find out, Johann." He nodded fiercely. "And I will deal with them in my own manner."

"What about Mary, Robert?" I took a step backward. "What about Mary the Match and Armand?"

"Small price to pay, Johann." Barrick turned grim. "In every battle, there are some casualties."

"That was you down at the Warehouse fire, wasn't it?" I was guessing at what I already suspected. Barrick was in a bragging mood, let him. It just gave me more time. "It wasn't Armand, was it?"

"Armand?" Barrick laughed. "That little weasel. By what right did he believe he could ever win the heart of Mary? By what right?" His voice softened. "She belonged to me, you know. We were... together a long time ago, Johann. Long before you were born."

"I heard some stories," I told him. "I thought you two were just good friends."

"Oh," he said conspiratorially, "we were more than friends, if you know what I mean. We were more than friends."

I glanced around, without moving my head. Hank caught my eyes and nodded slightly. He quietly started moving from person to person in the room and advised them that they would probably be safer elsewhere. Nobody listened to him, of course.

"Not what I heard, Bobby boy." I taunted him. "I heard that you actually liked men, and that's why you and Mary never hooked up."

For a moment, I thought that Barrick was going to explode. His face turned very red and his pale eyes lit up with malevolence. The air turned thick and tense and I could feel the magic start to charge the air. I was seriously hoping that Vince and the gang had made it to the Warehouse district and was able to do what we had talked about. If not, I was probably going to turn into a briquette in about 10 seconds.

Then he did something to surprise me. He laughed. He laughed hard and long and from the belly. He laughed until tears flowed from his eyes and down his cheeks and splashed on the floor. It was a good five minute laugh, which was just fine with me. The longer the better.

"What the hell is so funny, Barrick?" I grew a bit annoyed. "I didn't think I was that good."

"Oh, my boy," Barrick said, wiping tears from his eye and chuckling deeply. "If you weren't so transparent, you'd be dead. You are just lucky that I'm a kind and loving God with a sense of humor."

God? Really? Man, this guy was determined to play that 'holier than thou' bit to the hilt. I had to call him on it.

"Mary made a mistake, you see." He smiled gently. "I loved her very much, more than I could ever tell her. I knew if I waited around long enough, she would see that." And then, his smile faded and grew into a grimace. "And then Armand came along. Spider like Armand. Stupid, selfish Armand."

"What happened to Mary, Robert?" Just keep talking, big boy.

"I let her go," he said simply.

"You let her go?" I was confused. "You let her go... where? I saw palm trees and ocean when she stepped through Dante's gate."

"Oh, you are a clever little boy, aren't you?" Barrick could have clapped his hands in joy if he hadn't been so sad. "You figured out it was Dante' playing demon. Very good, Johann. Very good indeed."

"And he was Tammy the ghost, too, right?" I wanted to make sure that everything was out in the open.

"He was. I didn't want him to, it just didn't seem right for a gnome to pretend to be a human, even a dead one. Dante' figured that it would be another way to keep you interested in the case."

"What happened to Mary, Robert," I asked again, this time with more force. More father like.

"I let her go!" he cried. "She's in a much better place!"

"She's dead, isn't she?" It was necessary for me to have him say this. "You had Dante' open a wormhole to... where? A dead world? Some other planet?"

"She's in a hell dimension," Barrick growled at me. "If she was going to make my life a hell, she should feel the same pain as I did. As I do. She's lucky if she's dead, and not a plaything of one of the inhabitants."

Hell dimension? "That's where you were right before... That's where you were when..." I didn't finish.

"Yes," he snarled. "I had some dealings in a dimension that is lovely to look at and very, very deadly for people to live in." He threw back his head and laughed wildly. "You think you know what a demon is? You know nothing. You know nothing. And I conquered them. I am their God, too!"

"You're not a god, Barrick." I kept my tone just this side of respectful. "You're just a man, a sad, sad little man, born of normal parents. NORMAL parent's, Bobby."

"It wouldn't be the first time, would it," he argued, "that a man born of common people grew to be a king. A God." He walked over to me and clapped me on my shoulder, hard. "Think about it, Johann. The rising of a new king... a new God." He looked around at the people gathered. "They deserve me."

"Why is that, Bobby," I asked through gritted teeth. Busted rib, bruised shoulder. I was gonna hurt like an SOB in the morning. "Why do they deserve you?"

He stepped back and looked at me, sadly appraising me. "I thought you would understand, Johann. We are so much... better than they are. That's why we're the Elites and they are the normals." He smiled, still sadly. "They can barely hold their world together." He paused and then asked me, "Do you know what I've been doing the last few weeks?"

I waited barely a second before answering. "Judging from the wooly mammoth I saw you riding, I'd say you went to the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios."

Again, he laughed. "Johann, you delight me!" He chuckled for a few seconds, relishing in it. "Of course, I knew you saw me. That was just one of the tactical errors that Dante' made. I understand he let you in on my little secret, as well."

"Which one," I asked him. "The one where you wore ladies underwear or that you secretly urk."

Urk tends to come out of my mouth when someone has me in a choke hold. Barrick lifted me up until my toes didn't touch the floor. I gotta tell you, it sucks to be hanging by your chin.

"Enough." He didn't yell, he just spoke. "Enough with your little taunts and your little jokes. I was going to make you a prince, Johann. I thought, of all of them, that you would understand."

"Why... me...?" I choked out. "What makes... me so special?"

"Because," he explained, "you aren't like the rest of them. You don't need to be connected to a power source. You don't tap into the world like the rest of us." He dropped me to the ground. He was panting from the exertion. Good. That means the gang was able to do what I needed. "You would be my emissary, Johann. Able to go anywhere. Do anything."

"Barrick," I growled from the floor, rubbing my neck, "that's crap and you know it. I don't have any magic, you moron. I am a one trick pony, able to see backwards and forwards." I coughed a bit. "That's it."

Barrick shook his head, sadly. "Oh, Johann. How little you know of yourself." Barrick's armor gained a little tarnish and his bells didn't tinkle quite so much. "Your parents were some of the most powerful natural wizards I'd ever killed. Your ability isn't driven from the earth. Like your mother and father, your abilities come from the very air you breath, the sun, the earth. Your parents were tapped into the Universal wellspring."

What? My hearing suddenly went dumb and the world spun off it's axis. "What?" I looked up at Barrick from the floor. "What did you say?"

Barrick knelt down beside me and placed the palm of his hand on the top of my head. "Granted you've had your challenges, Johann. You've always been a slow learner and your talents didn't grow as fast as I had hoped. And once you became my prince, I was going to train you, raise you up to your full potential."

I batted his hand away from my head. He looked hurt. Tough shit. "No. Barrick. What did you say about my parents?"

Barrick half stood over me. "You're much better off, Johann," he explained. "They would have only held you back. Filled your head with silly sentimental concepts."

"Barrick." My ribs hurt, my neck hurt, and now my head was hurting and I had a serious ringing in my ears. "Barrick. Did you say you killed my parents? Is that what I heard you say?"

"Why, yes, Johann." And he said this without any sense of anything. If I had asked him if he breathed in and out, he would have said "Why, yes, Johann." in exactly the same way.

I suddenly found the strength to stand up. I always heard that news like this would drive you to your knees, and I suspect it is true. Since I was already on my knees, there was only one way to go. So I stood up.

I looked Barrick in the eyes. Directly in his eyes. In fact, I was a little bit taller than he was, and his muscles were more toned the way an eighty year old rich guy should be. His armor, no longer gleaming in the sun, looked like so many tin cans hung around his old frame.

"What?" He looked around, confused. He was blinking rapidly and raised his hand to his brow. "What's happening here?"

"Bobby, I was gonna just teach you a lesson." I thought about that. Then I couldn't think about that any more. I had something else to think about. "You killed my parents."

"Johann," he said, still arrogant, still sounding like he was the big man. "I needed to! You wouldn't be who you are with them around. You would never know your potential!"

"You killed my parents, Bobby." I was still trying to wrap my head around it. "I never knew them, and you killed them."

"And got you to the orphanage," Barrick protested. "I watched you grow up! I made sure you were taken care of and were pointed in the right direction."

"Life in school was a living hell, Barrick. I never fit in anywhere!" I was starting to get pissed again.

"Yes!" Barrick nodded sharply. "You never fit in! You weren't going to. You were different, better than the rest of them! Don't you see that?"

"See what, Barrick? That you stuck me in a hellhole after you killed my parents?" It was my turn to pick him up. I grabbed him by the collar of his knight suit and drug him to his feet. "Why? Why did you do that?" I knew the answer. I wanted to hear it from his own lips.

"You were destined to be with me!" Barrick was foaming a bit at the corner of his lips. "You and I were destined to rule together! I waited so long for someone like you! Don't you understand?"

"Barrick," I began and then stopped. I dropped him on the ground. I had run out of words to say to him.

I tried. Really I did. I wanted to rant and rage at him about killing the parents I never knew. I wanted to punch him and kick him for taking a small boy and making him the circus freak in a world of normal people. But I didn't do any of that. Him kiling my parents didn't hold much rage there. Like I said, I never knew them. I was much more upset with him killing Mary than my unknown parents. It wasn't like they were my mom and dad. Those I never had.

As for being a freak, hell, we're all freaks in our own way. And I have lots of friends. Lots and lots of them. Some of them were just outside the building.

"Go back upstairs. I'm tired of you." I pointed my finger and thumb at him like a pistol, said "Bang." and he disappeared. Maybe there was something to his claim to my ability, after all.

I looked over at Hank and said, "I'm leaving now." I started toward the front door, stopped and turned back to him. "If I was you, I'd wait a while before checking on your boss."

I looked out the windows at the gathered crowd. I spotted Vinny and Rosie, holding hands. I saw Skitch with his pet Salamander, to whom I owed an apology. I saw a lot of the folks who all had once lived down in the shack at the Warehouse district, but couldn't anymore because of the fire that Barrick started.

Vinny smiled at me and gave me the thumbs up, letting me know that my guess was right. See, I remembered what Barrick said about the amount of available magical energy in any one given place. I remembered about him talking about owning a lot of land outside the city.

Barrick would pump up on that country land before taking off for one of his big adventures. That's where he went the night that he killed Mary. He pretended that he knew where they were, skipped out before I figured out too much and went to recharge. Then, in his madness, he went to the Hell dimension where he sent Mary to try to convince her of her love of him. Okay, I guessed at that last part. She may have already been dead. Still, I wouldn't put it past him.

As to who killed Mendlehousen, well... here's where I guessed really good. Knowing that the Escher Curse required so much concentration, and having seen so many people working so hard to keep me from knowing anything was going on at the brownstone, I just put two and two together and came up with five.

I was being focused on by everyone in the neighborhood so that Mary and Armand could escape under my nose. I saw them, using my rewind, coming out of the building. I just didn't see them in the present, because my senses, my eyes, were being distracted by everybody bending light around the two of them.

Which, by the way, is how Mendlehousen died. See, everybody knew about his 'hobbies'. NOBODY liked him. Like Tammy the ghost said, he was creepy. Everybody thought that Mary and Mendlehousen were having an affair of some sort. Mary changed that when she told them of her love for Armand and that he and she were planning to run away together.

Somebody, probably Dante' under the guise of someone in the 'hood - damned shape-shifters - gave the inhabitants of the neighborhood the idea that, even if they weren't terribly magical, everyone has a little magic. And if everyone drew what they could from the source, then that would lessen the amount of magic that Mendlehousen could use.

Then somebody else, someone who knew of such things, probably Barrick himself, suggested the Escher Curse. I suspect we shall never know who, because nobody is talking. And so, the entire neighborhood each took a little bit of the magic and twenty eight took one each of the dimensions required for the curse to work, and working together, created the twenty eight different directions that killed the Mendle Monster in twenty eight different ways.

Which is how I finished off Barrick. I figured he was the one behind the fire. I figured he was the one behind the killing and behind Mary's disappearance and... well, pretty much all of it. I knew he was crazy, I just didn't know he was a lunatic. How did I know? It was a hunch. And when I got the message that Dante' was dead, only Barrick could have killed him. When a gnome lives two centuries and more, they are pretty darn hard to kill.

So, before I came down to the Barrick building, I asked Vinny to go down to the Warehouse district and gather up as many people who could remember Mary; who loved the little match girl as much as we did. I told him about my theory about how to drain the magic from a place, and told him he had to have as many folks as possible. I told him that if he couldn't find enough people down at the Warehouse district, to try the neighborhood where the brownstone was.

From the looks of the crowd outside, he found about a hundred willing participants, each a magician in their own right, each pulling just enough of the reservoir of magical energy that it would sap what was available to Barrick and make him tame enough to confess.

Lucky me, he was just crazy enough that he confessed before he was drained. So, now his fate is in the hands of the people that took care of Mendlehousen. See, Mary the Matchgirl was loved by a lot of folks. Barrick killed her. I sent him back to his suite of rooms. I don't think I have to spell much more out.

As for me, maybe Barrick was right and my parents were magical superstars. I don't really care. I've seen what power does to people, especially magical types, and I don't like it and I don't want it. I'll be satisfied with helping the cops out every so often, picking up a paycheck from City hall and laughing with my friends when I get the chance.

I could use a bigger place, however. And I do believe one just came available.