Soda supreme, p.10
Soda Supreme, page 10
She nodded.
“Some will. Like Gene? He planned to die at the end of the whole thing. Any news on that front? I heard the Sheriff, talking about how all of the men have powers?”
Patting her hand, a bit absently, Kate nodded.
“Supreme, for the four in the van. Two of them had that up and running when you fought them. Not the driver. One of the others didn’t want to risk being charged up, having second thoughts. Using that kind of thing really does a number on the body, I guess. We don’t have any direct leads as to where it’s coming from. It’s out there though and sounds bigger than we first thought. Um...” She looked at Carl then, as if wanting him to speak.
The man nodded, his face going hard.
“Unrelated. We have a missing person we need found. They’re probably dead. Al can’t get a read on them, at least, which pretty much means that, most of the time. No one wanted to bug you with it, but it might impact some Requiem work.” He left it there, as if waiting for her to say no.
“Got it. Who’s guiding me on this. I’m partly in a trance already.”
She closed her eyes, and went deeper. Enough so that, after a while, she felt the words coming in, more than anything else. It was Kate talking to her. Asking her the right questions.
“It’s a shallow grave. About... This deep.” Her hands went apart, the right being over the left, even if that one didn’t hurt, at the moment. Not that she could notice.
“The man inside, it’s a man... He doesn’t have any identification on him... Let me see...” She sat there, looking at the picture, the edges black, but the center seeming like she could actually see what was there. It wasn’t much, even as she noticed the body. Not until she worked backwards. Finding the men who had buried him. They looked a bit like hikers, and had packs.
“Entrenchment tools, not shovels.”
Then she went back further, and found the man with his Carolina driver’s license. It took a long time to trace out the letters and numbers on it, but she thought she was keeping her place, even if she couldn’t really see the letters to read them. Not clearly.
Then she worked out the names of the three men, and why they’d done the work. They weren’t the killers. No, the person behind that was operating at a distance, behind bank accounts and code names. She could tell that kind of thing was involved, but it was nearly meaningless to her.
Finally, she opened her eyes, Kate having asked her to do that.
“That works. Sorry about pushing you this way...”
Hannah looked at her, rather blankly.
“I’m trying to stay ready, anyway, so this isn’t a problem. I should probably go to The Society and go over their wanted list. I did some of that last night. Can you get me there? Vidya worked with me on that. She can guide, but I don’t know if I can Uber, right now.” Hannah took a slow half breath. “Call, first?”
They did that, it seemed, as Hannah sunk deeper, just sitting there. Standing when told to, her drawn weapon in her hand. Then, there was a strange feeling. A sense of energy building around her and Kate, an ephemeral thing that wasn’t so much about power, as it seemed to be about a sense of where they actually were. Not where they needed to be, or planned to go, where they actually existed, in space.
Which was the lobby of The Society Headquarters. On the top floor, by the secretary’s desk. Wisp had her face mask back on, but Vidya, who met them, along with June, both in costume, didn’t have one in place.
Kate’s voice came at her.
“She’s already in a working state for this. She found a murder victim and who buried him, for us, and figured that coming here next would work? If you aren’t busy. I can come pick her up, when you’re ready?”
She was probably speaking directly to her sister, but June moved in and gave Wisp a hug.
“Thanks, Wisp. It was kind of you to help us like this. We can call you, or have Hannah taken home, whichever is easier for you both?”
Kate snorted a bit, but sounded pleasant.
“You know who I am?”
June giggled, a bit girlishly.
“Wisp, I knew who you were from the first time you stopped a bank robbery. When you were fourteen. It’s my job to know who people are, in our world.”
That seemed to be the case, since the woman led Vidya and Hannah to a work space, a big room, that wasn’t the same one from the day before, though it had a large table and comfortable chairs to work at, and stayed as they covered the next names on the list.
Again, a lot of those were old, or had honestly retired, so were set aside. A few were given a lot more attention than the others. Serial killers, people trying to actively take over the world, or simply harm others, using various tricks and techniques. She got more of that, as they worked, than she had the night before, as if it was, finally, becoming familiar to her. Not easy, but easier than it had been before.
June ran and got her water twice, and showed her to the restroom, after a while.
Then she made her stop for the day.
“We need food. Stoney is cooking, I think. I mentioned that we’d all be there. This was... Amazing, Damsel. You even have locations and the new names people are living under. This way. Do you need me to hold your hand?” That didn’t seem to be demeaning or meant to be. From what little she was picking up from the woman, it was more or less about her having dealt with people who worked in deep trance states before. That was all.
Hannah shook her head.
“Thanks, but I can’t. I need my gun hand free and the other isn’t going to take to being held too kindly, right now. Stupid court system. If it was fair, I could just get this healed up, using magic. I’m tempted to do that anyway and fake it, but as sure as I do, someone will demand x-rays to prove I was really hurt in the first place.”
That had never happened before, but June nodded and patted her on the back.
“I’ve seen that kind of thing, more than once. It used to be worse, back in the twenties and thirties. We were feared back then. As if we might secretly be monsters, not just people who did some strange things. That was part of why we started the whole team here. To try and make a better name for people that were different. It’s worked, a bit. Things are better.”
Hannah nodded, then suddenly jumped to the left, a green blur moving past them. It would in about half a minute, she thought.
“Clear the hallway. Incoming. Twenty-five seconds. From that direction.” She moved to the wall, and flattened herself, so her legs wouldn’t get hit.
The others were slower, but did the same thing, in time. Green Runner was the blur, obviously, and in his arms he had what seemed to be a young boy. A kid no older than twelve, or so. He was in green as well.
The man slowed, but only enough to scream at them.
“Infirmary, he’s sick!”
Hannah followed, before the others did, for some reason. Just keeping up with the blur, or rather where it had been. She had no clue where the infirmary was or if she was needed there at all. She wasn’t a healer, after all. Not unless she was in the Never, of course. Then she could do some nifty things with magic.
She walked, but did it quickly, the others keeping up, by jogging. By the time they were in the room, she’d come out of her trance a good bit, thanks to the shock. She tried to fight herself back into place, but it wasn’t working very well. The boy on the bed groaned, and was listless, but not bleeding. From the symptoms it was Tri-D. Which meant magic was at play.
Demon magic. A thing that she could see, if she was careful and tried hard enough. It took her a minute, as the others spoke, none of them guessing at the right thing, finally she smiled.
“Got it. That black smudge inside of him is Demon Magic. Tri-D, I bet. I don’t have a talisman for that, on me.” An oversight, but she wasn’t a doctor or anything, so it had never come up before.
Blinking, she grabbed for her phone, only to find she didn’t have it on her.
She felt like a moron, but didn’t let it show.
“Vid, call Kate and ask her to bring one of those by for us? The faster we act, the less damage this will do. How long has he been like this?” It looked like late first stage, from the little she knew on the subject.
Already on the phone, moving faster than was really trackable, Vidya almost shouted.
“Wisp, Society HQ, with a Tri-D amulet, now! Same floor... Desk!”
Then the woman turned and ran out of the room, as Green Runner Guy stood there, as if he were helpless. That wasn’t the truth at all, so Hannah moved in and touched the boy. His outfit wasn’t identical, seeming to be a child’s play version of what the adult had on. It was vinyl and had a mask that was held on with elastic. A green plastic one. The shoes didn’t match, but were nice. New Nikes. The soles were worn down, and they’d been broken in, which, when she looked down, were kind of like what the adult version had going on.
The shoes were clearly new, but had been used a lot, at the same time. It was probably a speedster thing. Both of them had brown hair and eyes and were rather similar looking. She nodded, after a moment, putting things together in a way that she normally wouldn’t.
“Clones?”
The older one nodded.
“My baby brother. A clone. Is that important?”
She shook her head.
“Probably not. Just that if he can get this, you can too. Help is coming.” That was literal, since she noticed that there was someone sprinting down the hallway.
Vidya came in, and handed the talisman to Hannah, since she was the one who knew how to use them. It was a simple silver coin, on a string. There were markings on the outside, a circle, with a bunch of symbols inside. Those basically said, heal and be well, in some ancient language. It had been John’s idea, since people trusted the magic more, when it looked right.
Unlike what a doctor would do, she didn’t put it on the boy’s head.
No, she tucked it directly over the shadow of the magic inside of him. The effects weren’t instant, but they were really fast. So much so that the blackness inside the kid had turned to a pale silver, and tried to move out to heal others, after undoing the damage, before Wisp even made it into the room. Jogging.
Hannah just followed the trail that way, and handed the amulet to Green Runner. Accel. After all, he was clearly infected as well.
Then, there was a good chance they all were.
Chapter seven
Gregory, or Fast Kid, as Hannah decided to call him, since he didn’t have a real code name, being thirteen or whatever he was, managed to make it to the dining room, on his own, not twenty minutes after the amulet had been taken off of him. That wasn’t normal at all, but everyone there simply nodded about it.
The kid did everything faster than normal, including heal, it seemed. He sat directly next to Hannah, when they got to the table, and leaned into her in a way that seemed to indicate he liked her. It would have been a bit annoying, normally, since he was a little handsy about it. This wasn’t a boy who liked her due to having just had his life saved or anything. No, he wanted to get laid and it was pretty clear that he was about to try to go for it, even if there were other people in the room.
Hannah had to take his hand off her leg, but smiled about it.
“None of that. I need to try and stay in a trance here. I don’t have powers, so have to make up for it by paying attention.” She didn’t bring up psychic things, or how everyone, even the boy sitting there, was as good at that kind of thing as she was, at least naturally.
The boy pulled his hand back and managed to look a bit sheepish.
“Sorry. I misread the signals.”
She nodded.
“Yep. When in doubt, keep in mind that no girl is going to want to make out in front of a crowd. Not on a first date. Not that this is a date. You sweating and moaning in a hospital bed wasn’t that attractive.” The kid wasn’t either, really, but he did lean pretty well, and while too energetic, she could have put up with that, if he were about ten years older.
His older brother, who turned out to be Nick, glared.
“I swear I wasn’t like that at his age. I blame the internet. We try to keep him out of the porn, but he’s actually not bad at getting around the blocks we had put in.”
That got an eye roll, but it actually seemed to be playing, not Fast Kid acting like being superhuman made him special.
“I know, I know... Um, thanks, Nick. For getting me fixed up? That sucked. Tri-D? I thought that was over. It went away and we don’t have to wear masks now...”
Kate, sitting without her mask, next to where Stoney would be later, who was actually nicer seeming as she brought out several large bowls and trays, with decent looking food in them, than she had been the night before.
Katherine had her mask on the table, next to her plate.
There was a glance at Gregory, and a hard expression.
“Not exactly. We managed to get some magic for it. It’s actually a spell, not a virus. So, we needed special tricks to beat it. It can do damage to those that have it. I don’t know how that will hit you...”
Hannah shrugged.
“Honestly? This was caught really early and the spell hadn’t really gotten into your body yet. A bit, which is why you felt sick, but it was just starting when it was subverted and destroyed. My bet is that you won’t have any negative effects from it. Nothing long term. You should get past a real doctor for that, but you should be fine, really.”
The kid leaned into her, but just bumped her arm with his. They were about the same size, so it worked.
“I heal quick, so that won’t be a thing. Good. It’s not gone? From the world, I mean.”
“Nope. We have a treatment, not a cure. We can stop it, if we get to infected people fast enough, so everyone thinks we won. We haven’t. Not really.”
Stoney tilted her head, and settled into the chair that had been set aside for her. She was in an orangey-yellow outfit. It had an apron over the front still, which she hadn’t taken off, as if she wanted to protect her clothing. The rest of it was kind of in the standard superhero fashion, with spandex and all that. Tight enough to show some rolls of thickness, and other things that many people would have tried to hide, most of the time.
Dinner was meatballs in a white sauce, with mashed potatoes and green beans. A lot of rolls and butter, as well. It wasn’t the kind of thing Hannah normally ate, but it wasn’t rabbit roasted on a stick, either, so she gave it a try. It was, if odd to her, and a bit too seasoned with green peppers, not bad.
“This is great. Thank you. Stoney, is it?”
The woman smiled at her, seeming rather matronly.
“That or Deena. I know I look different, when I go out on duty. All big and gray, as I am. Made of stone and all that.”
Everyone else seemed to get the idea, and Hannah simply didn’t. That the woman was a superhero was clear. She just had no idea who she was, really. Instead of mentioning that, because it could sound bitchy, she grinned.
“I’m not a superhero, myself. How about you, Gregory?”
The kid smiled at her, and then gestured at his Halloween costume. It looked to be of about that quality, at least.
“Well, you know, when they let me outside, I have to dress like this, so all the girls know not to take me seriously. I mean that, too. I can’t even have a real mask, just this plastic stuff. As for fighting crime... well, I used to want to do that, but lately I’ve been considering the idea of being a psychotherapist. There really isn’t that much crime that the police can’t handle. We’re sending Nick and Vidya out to handle people who need to be dealing with Officer Jones, ya know? Maybe even a social worker?”
She could see that. It wasn’t perfectly true, but it probably did happen, occasionally.
“Yeah. It has to be hard, really. I mean, you have to send the big guns, if you think they might be needed, and then they get there and you have Superion X facing down that dangerous shoplifter who’s standing there wetting themselves, wondering if they’re going to accidently die, because they wanted a free package of Pringles.”
The words had her glared at, by everyone but Gregory and oddly enough June. She nodded, and smiled rather sweetly.
“Exactly. We’d be best used if we had better intelligence. That’s always hard, when we have thirty seconds to figure out what to do. Mistakes do happen, and we really shouldn’t be going out, half the time. The other half... Well, the police can’t take on a lot of modern threats. They have to try, occasionally, and end up dying for it. So that one goes both ways, before you give up on the idea totally, Greg. As for a better mask... We can probably manage that. Something bland, for when you go running?”
Stoney cleared her throat, but explained for the guests.
“Gregory here has to run, several times a day. At the speeds he travels at, the running track here isn’t even nearly large enough. The current idea is that, wearing the outfit he is he’ll either be seen as Accel, or as a child playing at being him, if he stops long enough to be seen on camera.”
Hannah hadn’t ever considered that kind of thing. She walked daily, but she could skip, if she needed to. Having a power that forced her to do something like that seemed insane. Also like it was the kind of thing that people wouldn’t tell you about. She’d never asked even her own friends if there were drawbacks to being them. It seemed an oversight, suddenly.
Like a thing that normal people would have talked to their friends about.
“That’s not a bad plan. Not great for picking up women, granted. That one is just going to be tough, for a few years. I mean, you can’t really do the fun stuff until you get a car, right? I’m pretty sure this place is wired, top to bottom, so bringing a date back here won’t work.” She had a vision of Stoney, holding a rolling pin, with curlers in her hair, running down a hallway, then.
Ready to beat Greg for trying to get some.
The boy got the idea, at least.
“I know. Living here sounds like it should be cool, but it’s mainly a pain. I can’t even tell my friends at school about it. So, you know, pretty much no social life, right? Not even regular stuff. Going to the store or something like that, with pals. I’d hang with Reese, but... You don’t know who that is, do you?” He sounded pretty certain of that, for some reason.
