Beguiled damsel book 5, p.10
Beguiled (Damsel Book 5), page 10
“Stoney. Do it faster, if you can. Forty seconds.”
That didn't happen, but when the giant stone golem appeared, he moved his finger again, back to the location Liberty had used, and asked for Accel. After that, she had to ask for a picture to go with the name. The man in black and red, Kata, was next.
Through the whole list of people, with Superion X being the last one to come back. She was sweating in her body armor by the end. The bearded man nodded.
“Your best time, so far, seems to be in the thirty second range for this type of pick up. Theoretically, you should be able to do one every five seconds, given the speed of your other work, earlier. You have a training program for this already?”
She kind of did, so nodded.
“Not that you can’t make suggestions, if you have something? I know I need to do better.”
Everyone was still there, but they were largely doing their own work. Liberty had taken a seat at the table, and answered her phone, when it rang. After a moment she waved a hand, as if for silence.
“That’s a lot. I’ll assign teams for each of the locations. Pass the data over, on line four, five and six. Brain Trust, catch that for us?”
There was some tapping, then the heavyset man spoke, as if giving a planned presentation.
“Superion X, Diaspora and Accel, we have a bank robbery, with two women using energy projection powers, on Seventh and Lincoln. Happening now. The police can’t respond. Rather, they have responded, but one man is currently trying to stop them and he’s out of ammunition.” All three of the people fled the room, at what was clearly a lot less than full speed for them. Where they went, Hannah couldn’t tell.
The woman in charge went on, rapidly.
“We also have a request, out of California, for backup. There’s been a six-point seven earthquake and they could use some help finding people. Who’s going in on that?”
Liberty stood up, then started pointing and calling out names. Many of whom weren’t in the room at all. Then she winked at Hannah.
“Can we get teleportation there?” She sounded almost sweet about it, as if she were a little girl, asking for a pony, and not thinking she’d really get one.
“I can do that. Let me…”
Brain Trust held up his right hand.
“We also have a missing person, called in by… Cake Girl? Working out of The Underdogs headquarters. The search name for that is Diggy? Luminous sent that along, from the sound of it?”
She tightened then.
“Fuck. I… Okay, everyone line up, let me find where you’re needed most, this…”
They did that, seeming to get the idea, and explained it to the people running into the room, one at a time, she hurried and went with them, never having put people at a distance from herself and not really wanting to take that long. On the last exchange, Liberty spoke to her, firmly.
“Take both of us The Underdogs? In case they need backup? Kara has mentioned that Diggy works with them.”
She nodded at her too youthful seeming grandmother, and got them there, into the upper meeting room, instantly. Kara was there, but not dressed up, with Linear and the muscle woman who Hannah only knew as Erica. For her part, she still had her own mask on, meaning everyone looked at Liberty, who was pretty famous for a superhero, first.
Linear nodded, his bare face going wide eyed.
“Thanks for coming. Diggy, David Jimenez, has been missing for over a day. He was supposed to be working a shift here, yesterday. That… He isn’t the most reliable person in the world, but he also isn’t the worst. We called after him, just to check in, and his brother said they couldn’t find him. There was no fight with the parents or anything first, either. We… I had a telepath friend of mine search for him, about ten minutes ago. He couldn’t find anything. Al?”
Hannah felt that hit like a ton of bricks, but nodded. Kara closed her eyes and said the words out loud, showing she understood more than would be expected about how things worked.
“If he can’t find someone, that pretty much means they’re dead, doesn’t it?”
That was what Hannah had been thinking as well, but she didn't bother to answer.
“Let me see what I can come up with?” If anything. She’d met Diggy, a few times after all. The kid was a pain in the rear, but also kind of cute. Funny and lively.
Instead of coming up with nothing, she located him almost instantly. A thing that had her grimacing, but which wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
“Drug coma, I think. He’s in the hospital, for some reason. Center South.”
It wasn’t a place that she’d ever been before, but apparently Liberty had the number for it in her phone, ready to go with almost no searching.
“Hello, this is Liberty, from The Society. Do you have either a boy named David Jimenez or a John Doe, approximately thirteen to fifteen years of age?” She paused then, and looked up. “Description?”
Linear spoke first.
“Dark hair, brown eyes, five-eight, about a hundred and fifty pounds, tan skin.”
That was repeated, the woman standing up, instantly.
“We can find someone to identify him. He’s still alive? We have him being in a drug induced coma?”
Whatever was said wasn’t understandable to her, but June nodded.
“Understood. We’ll have someone there directly.”
She stood up, seeming grave.
“He’s essentially brain dead. A massive overdose of an unidentified compound. Not a normal street drug, as far as toxicology is able to find.” She looked hard, as if ready to throw down with whoever had done that to the kid, if it hadn’t been self-inflicted. Possibly even then.
Everyone seemed stricken for a moment, with Linear nodding, then pulling his own phone.
“His brother is a friend of mine. From school. I’ll get his parents there. This…” He teared up, which was a bit too soon really. The boy wasn’t even dead yet.
Hannah, smiled, if grimly.
“Do that, then get with The Requiem and try to set up a portal to the Never. We need to take him over, so having parental permission will be good, if we can get it. I can do the magic. He isn’t dead, so this won’t be that large of a problem.” She knew that, for certain.
Not because she was perfect, but the truth was that she’d brought back the dead and nearly dead over there before, several times. That would work on the brain dead as well. Hannah didn’t let herself feel any self-doubt on the idea, either. It was simply the truth. It had to be, in order for the magic to work.
Technically she could have called Debbie for a ride over, but instead she got her phone out, dialed and passed it to Kara.
“Nevernever. You met.”
There was a wide-eyed nod then.
“Nevernever? This is Cake Girl. We need transportation to the Never. Um… Damsel is needed, to bring someone back. A friend of mine, who’s brain dead? Diggy.” There was a pause then, as she listened.
Kara nodded, her face drawn and afraid. It showed around the mouth.
“He’s in Center South, by the bridge? I… Damsel is right here. One sec…” The phone was passed back over, meaning she had to take her mask off. Linear stared at her when she did that.
“Hannah?”
“Here, Never. I can do the work. Linear is on with the family, setting this up. Sorry to be a pain, asking for a ride like this, but there could be some time pressure. The truth is we don’t know what’s happened here at all. It could be an overdose, or something else. Probably just what it seems, but we aren’t leaving one of our people like this.”
“I can be there in… An hour. Less if Wisp is available.”
Hannah nodded.
“I can have you here in thirty seconds. Give the word.”
“I need to change first. Give me five minutes?”
“Got it. Go.”
She hung up, so that part could happen.
“Five minutes. Someone mark the time for me?” She did it herself, but was in a trance, starting the move for Debbie already. No one spoke, except Linear, on the phone, who was serious, but not grave sounding.
“Mrs. Jimenez? A friend of mine thinks she can handle this, but that will take going to a different reality. We have that part set up, if you’re willing to let us do it?” He held his breath, but nodded. “Right. Costumed freaks. Exactly. People who have done this kind of thing before, successfully.”
He went silent, but finally spoke.
“We’re moving directly, then. I hope this works, too.”
Then he hung up, not seeming certain that it really would, at all. Hannah simply waited, ready to move Debbie, holding the field she needed over her, the move almost ready, for nearly a minute before she closed the deal.
For some reason, doing it that way barely hurt at all.
Chapter seven
Diggy, looking a lot like he was merely sleeping, gasped as the healing amulet, the same one that Hannah always used when she came for healing herself, touched him. That made sense to her, even though the sucking in of air was over the top. It didn’t hurt, or even feel like anything, in particular. At least it shouldn’t have, the boy glanced around, taking in the environment.
That was enough to get him to gape, instead of speak, at first. There were bushes with purple and gold leaves on them, for instance. The purple was, perhaps, normal enough, even for Earth, at least in the right jungle locations. The gold was the color of the metal though, and sparkled in the dappled sun that came through the brightly colored orange, red and yellow feathers of the trees.
Hannah had seen green and blue before as well, but none of them were visible at the moment.
The glowing ring of blue rocks was there and the thin round blades of grass, which seemed more like tiny bamboo plants than what she was used to seeing in people’s lawn, folded under their feet, or in Diggy’s case, his back. He rolled up to sitting before his brother and mother could hold him. It was a different enough scene that the boy, who was probably fourteen or so, didn’t pull away at first.
“Okay… So, that drug didn’t work and I died? What are you two doing here then?”
Linear, sans face mask, which was under his arm, cleared his throat.
“You nearly died. We brought you here to bring you back. Do you remember what happened? You took drugs?”
The kid, getting that he was probably in trouble, nodded and stood up. His eyes, after a moment, lighting on June. The woman might have been very old, but she looked to be a healthy seventeen or so. A bit old for Diggy, but not so much that the kid couldn’t hope to win her over, apparently. Still, he didn’t get smarmy about it, just taking in the costume. It seemed like that to Hannah, until it was her turn to be noticed. The amount of time spent on that was nearly as high, and there was no way in the world that she was as cute in her heavy cloth armor as June was in her purple tights and cute little black mask and cape.
He didn't bother lying to them, or if he was, the boy was a master of the art.
“All the cops are dead. A lot of them. The rest have quit. I watch television and have seen the news online. Things are getting bad. So I tried to get some powers. Just extra strength and all that? So I can protect everyone. The guy, he’s a scientist, he warned me that it might not work. That I could end up with brain damage or paralyzed. It was fifty-fifty, so I went for it. That wasn’t really his fault. I mean, sure, he gave it to me, but I asked him to.”
Liberty scowled then.
“Which is still his fault. You don’t give dangerous drugs to people like that. I want the whole story. Names, contact numbers, everything.”
Mrs. Jimenez moved in and cuffed the boy in the head. Not hard, but enough to get him to duck when her hand went back up for a second shot at the move. Hannah had to move back, the healing amulet in her hand making her better as well, since that was how it worked. The welts hadn’t been bad, but once they were gone she noticed the lack of discomfort.
The woman didn’t stop with a soft blow to the head.
“What were you thinking? Taking drugs from strangers? I raised you better than that! Tell me, what were you thinking? That you’d get powers and fight crime in your pajamas?”
Liberty softened a bit, at the words. Then glanced down at herself and smiled a bit.
“That seems to be the case. Still, you can’t just get on the dark web and expect to be given powers. Not real ones. For all we know you were dealing with a serial killer who uses guile to make his kills, instead of ambush tactics. You pretty much died, you get that, right?”
His brother, who looked a lot like Diggy, if with a leaner body and a dorky mustache, a tiny one that seemed nearly drawn on, moved in then. He didn't hit his brother though, just taking him by the shoulder.
“Look, I get you. I do. This is Jaime’s fault. Him and his friends at the food bank.”
Linear looked at the grass then and didn’t argue the point. June stayed silent as well. Hannah, for her part, nodded.
“Probably, if we’re going to be that blunt about it. When the police went down, The Underdogs stood up and protected you all. Some of the people helping with that are no older than Diggy here, even. If they can do it, why not him, right? That’s even more or less true, David. You can help out. Even having powers for that isn’t a horrible plan right now. What you did was too big of a risk, though. You have to measure things more carefully than that and get real training first, not just super strength or laser blasts. We aren’t bailing you out again if you fuck up this much. Not by being stupid. This is your one extra chance.” She was glared at then, not by his family, or Jaime, but by her grandmother.
As if she was being mean, insisting the guy protect himself and be intelligent about it. Which was true, of course. Sometimes you couldn’t afford to be nice about things. Even if it made people hate you. John had hinted at that with her. Now she was sort of getting the idea, from a different angle.
So she glowered at Diggy, hard.
“So, if your mom and brother sign off on it, we have a program for teens. It’s pure training, interning and doing paperwork, not fighting crime, but you can make a real difference. Yes, passing out sandwiches and running laps, instead of getting into fights in your PJs, but it might keep you out of trouble.” She shook her head then. “After all, that way we can assign you a mentor, to keep an eye on you. It’s up to your family, not you. If they say no, then you’re grounded. We’ll slap an ankle monitor on you and make you work at the food bank constantly.”
That part was mean, since they’d just had a huge scare. It was the brother, who glowered at Jaime, and spoke to him, directly.
“You’ll keep him from doing anything too stupid?”
The man nodded, even if he probably had no clue what she’d been going on about, program wise.
“You know it. Who’s going to be working with him? I mean… He isn’t exactly right in the head, is he? Taking drugs from a stranger… One who told him that he might die if he did?”
He was teasing, which apparently insulated the man in white from June’s glaring. That or she thought he was right. Either way, it seemed to be enough to win her over.
Liberty gave a nod, almost instantly.
“Damsel is in charge of making that kind of selection. It won’t just be from the roster of The Society, either. I was on with Agent Two from High Command earlier, and he’s willing to take some people on, personally. Doing that will be like interning at a real agency though, actually doing investigative work. You aren’t ready for that yet, from what I’ve seen, David. The question is then, can you get up to speed?”
The boy sighed then and shook his head, slowly. Reluctantly. Honestly.
“I’m not that smart, really. Horrible grades, reading is kind of tough for me… I really can’t do that. I can hit things, if I have powers, but… I’m not really very smart.”
Hannah, mask still on, smiled. No one saw it happening, of course.
“I know an alien who might be willing to help you with that. A real one. Superion X’s brother, in fact. I don’t know if he can actually make you smarter, of course, but he’s working out a language program for people traveling to his planet from here. You should ask him if he wants help with that? He can test it on you. On the good side, if it doesn’t work, you won’t even die from it.”
“I can do that. It isn’t saving lives, but… Sure?”
Diggy’s mom smiled at him then and wrinkled her nose.
“Fine. You can do this. Even with the alien. I better not hear about you disobeying them, however. I will ground you for the rest of your life, if you do that.” She sounded pretty serious on that score. Even if it was a bit harsh, really.
After all, the kid was almost certainly going to disobey at some point. He was a teen boy. That kind of thing was practically hard wired into them.
Liberty stepped back then.
“Nevernever? I think we’re done here, for now. Damsel, can you set things up, as discussed?”
“Yes. I need a contact number.”
David had a cell phone, but it wasn’t on him, having been left at home when he’d gone to meet the man handing out powers. Which was a thing she needed to follow up on, as soon as possible. With some help from her friends, in fact. After all, she, despite what she’d been doing all day, wasn’t a hero. She was helpful, hopefully, but that was all.
Numbers were passed, Miguel, the older brother, doing that for them. Meaning he could call her up if he wanted. Except, of course, there was no reason to do that, really. Her blank tan facemask and boyish, tiny and flat body didn’t speak to her being a great date. So, it probably wasn’t that big of an issue.
She had his number too, of course. Not that she wanted a date, in particular.
Hannah had one already, for later that night. At least if she could get home in time for it. Thinking about that got her to smile, since she actually had a boyfriend. Sort of. In that she’d told the man they were dating and he’d muttered about that being fine with him. It was Wednesday, and they were supposed to meet up at his place, at seven. If neither of them was busy.
