Beguiled damsel book 5, p.11
Beguiled (Damsel Book 5), page 11
Behind them, having been active muttering and waving her hands, Debbie ripped a long gash in space open. It glowed red at the edges and showed a city street on the other side. One that was directly outside of The Society HQ building. That was probably a statement about how official they were being, more than being the most convenient spot to work from for her. Then, Hannah didn’t really need to worry over that too much. She needed to practice teleportation anyway. Where she started from didn’t matter that much, given that.
She tried to hold a sense of being ready to move, instantly, given that.
Then, moving forward, she nodded a few times and put her hand out.
“Teleportation back to your place?” She’d never been there, but it wouldn’t be hard to find. Not after all the practice that she’d had. Mrs. Jimenez didn’t seem too certain about that part of things, but did take her hand, after a bit of hesitation.
A minute later, even with promises to call and goodbyes, Hannah had the three people back at their tiny shared apartment, and Debbie ready to take her hand as well, to go back to her house. Liberty shook her head.
“Come up? Both of you? We need to go over some issues.” The tone wasn’t dark or anything, but Hannah had to wonder if a fight was about to start. If so, she was going in blind that day, it seemed.
It would probably be something that she’d done. Debbie had been perfect the whole time, after all. Her grandmother had glared at her, several times. So, if anyone was going to get a scolding, it was kind of clear who it was going to be that day. Instead, after bypassing security, and hitting an elevator that only took them directly to the top floor, June started to speak.
“I know that I don’t have a right to offer spots in your program like that, Hannah. I should have kept my mouth shut, but that kid risked his life, for a chance to help other people. That should earn something other than just being grounded.”
Hannah took her mask off then, still holding her healing amulet. It was on a decently nice chain, but she didn't have any pockets, other than the one her cell phone took up totally, and it didn’t go with her body armor. So she wrapped it around her left hand and held her mask with it carefully. That way her right hand was free to draw her forty-four, if the need arose.
Her voice was calm, even if it wasn’t a topic that she would have expected to need going over, if she’d been asked to make a guess about what June might want to talk about.
“No big thing. I’m still not totally certain how I, of all people, ended up running the teen outreach program. I mean, I was there for it all, but that doesn’t sound right at all, does it?”
Debbie, her friend, if a newer one, nodded.
“I agree. Still, it was you or Luther, and he can use a bit of a moderating influence. Not one to pull many punches.”
Hannah kind of agreed, really. The man was good at teaching though, and was willing to, which made him kind of special, even if he was sort of an asshole.
“We have him in on this, too. Diaspora, as well. I also have Max Welerd coming for real classes in survival. He’s a professional in the field and actually good with people. Still, this is going to be half camp out. Like, for real. I’ve never done that, myself.”
June looked at her then, as if she might be half alien. Really, it was a bigger move than that, the woman being used to the real thing like she was.
“You’ve never gone camping? Didn’t you at least go to summer camp?”
“Nope. I went to different countries when I had time off of school. At least until I was sixteen, then I spent a lot of time hiding, when I wasn’t in a protected environment. Which did nearly nothing for me, of course.” As they walked into the conference room that Hannah thought of as the main portion of things, even if it probably wasn’t really, Aliza looked up and waved at her, then beamed at Nevernever.
“My people are here! Yay! What’s up? I was literally about to look up how to crochet, if you can believe that? That’s how bored I am. Everyone else was called out, and then nothing happened. Brain Trust is at dinner, so I’m stuck here, watching that nothing take place… I didn’t even bring a book.”
Hannah grinned.
“Ha! See, I totally have something for you. I need to find a person who gave a kid some dangerous drugs. I don’t have a name, so this could take some time, but I think I can find him, based on what I know so far. I can do the first part, locating him, and you can get all his information for us? Then we send a few of the boys over to bring him in?” Not that she couldn’t put him directly in a cell. That lacked the accidental beating that would happen when he tried to escape, though.
A thing she didn't bother mentioning, since it wasn’t funny, or, if she was being honest, meant that way.
Liberty gave her a bizarre, strained expression then.
“Because the girls aren’t good enough for that? I guess their powers aren’t exactly martial, but we shouldn’t hold them back too much.”
The clock said it was only two in the afternoon, even if it felt way later than that. Time passed a lot differently in the Never, which was part of it. The rest had to do with her having hit the ground early, at a guess. It meant she had a bit of time before she had to leave though, for her date with Brian.
Hannah snorted, softly.
“I sort of meant we should send Behemoth, Pyric, and maybe some of the other guys, to rough him up for us. I won’t send the kids for that kind of thing. Plus, they really aren’t trained for that, yet. I mean honest retrievals, not the imaginary beatings.”
That went over better, at least. June grinned, suddenly and seemed relieved, for some reason.
“Ah! Got it then. Good. I was worried that we were going to have the girls being treated differently than the boys. That’s annoying. I fought against that kind of nonsense for almost a hundred years, so I don’t want to let things backslide on my own watch.”
Hannah just nodded. After all, not being expected to handle the hard things had been how she’d been treated most of her life. It had nearly destroyed her, in the end, even if it had been well meant the whole time. Doing that to anyone else was probably a bit rich, really.
“I agree. Not… Well, we probably shouldn’t have the untrained kids do this sort of thing. Not yet. Once they’re up to speed, we might consider it? Not today, just for my own peace of mind? This thing with Diggy is kind of rattling me. Also, there was some other stuff.” She glanced at the women, one of whom was about to be inside her mind, so just shrugged.
Then explained.
“John admitted that he’d tricked me, so that I’d take the deeply held cap off of my powers. Then told me to get to work, and actually finish improving. I’m working on that. Hence that training, earlier? Kate and some of her sisters were making me teleport around blindfolded, while shooting me with a paintball gun. They did the hard parts, too, so it was fair enough. I can manage to teleport and dodge a bit better now. Not perfectly at all. Then… I found out that I was the one who saved them from Little Paradise, twenty-odd years ago. Rather that I will be doing that, later? Also, that I apparently helped to raise a bunch of them for about five years? Clearly that hasn’t happened yet. Reese is the time traveler, not me. I… I’m not supposed to know about it. I guess I left them orders not to talk about it to me? That, it’s messing with my head, too.”
Everyone looked concerned, except Aliza, who just tapped the table a few times.
She made a face, which seemed smart, given her glasses.
“Okay, so if you left orders not to tell you about this, then you already knew this was going to happen. So, if you need for something to be shared, you’ll get a letter or someone will come and talk to you about it. That could take a while. Really, it probably won’t happen. So, I say we distract you with this current project? If you can work, I mean?”
She could. For all her claims earlier, even without a name, the target of the man who had given Diggy drugs that nearly killed him showed her a face almost instantly. Then, instead of digging for his identification, and slowly drawing the picture that the words made in the air, Aliza started talking.
“Dr. Morris Travis. I have the address, phone number and… Yes, he gives drugs to people, attempting to turn them into superhumans. It… He has had successes. It’s research more than anything, hence giving it away. Still, even he felt bad about giving it to a kid. He was afraid that David would tell on him if he didn’t get what he wanted. Not a great excuse, but a real enough one. People pay big bucks for a good treatment program. Testing for it is illegal, obviously, since they tend to either make you special or kill you. Mainly the second one.”
June moved to a computer at the side of the room.
“Give that all to me. Address, first?”
The work took a few minutes, but only that. Then the woman stood up, and simply left the room. Why that was, didn’t get mentioned. She was gone for long enough that Hannah started asking questions of the woman, who wasn’t old at all, seeming about nineteen, who sat across from her. About the target of the moment.
“Is he married or does he have someone special?”
“Divorced. Two kids. One of them a boy about David Jimenez’s age, in fact. He noticed that part. He isn’t a total monster, but… Yeah. That wasn’t the right thing. He knows that.”
“Does he have any powers of his own?” She was willing to research that one. She’d missed that kind of thing once herself and nearly gotten Reese killed, thinking it was a pretty safe situation.
The dark-skinned woman, nodded, looking at Debbie, pretty closely.
“Yeah. He used the formula on himself and survived. It’s kind of a Jekyll/Hyde thing, really. Strength, speed, minor shape changing. Some advanced healing. It’s enough that we need to let whoever picks him up know about it. We need to be the ones doing it, too. Not the police.”
Hannah sighed, but decided she could take the man. She was going to have nightmares about kidnapping that night anyway, so having an extra person involved wouldn’t be that different. Most likely. She was about to say that, when June came back into the room.
“It’s arranged. We can’t rough him up for this, but we can pick him up and he’ll go directly into federal custody. True, probably working as a scientist, unless he sucks at it, but his freedom will be gone for at least ten years.”
Aliza shook her head.
“Longer than that. He has powers. Enough to be too dangerous for prison. Hannah was thinking of putting him directly in a cage, because of that factor. She isn’t wrong, either. He can beat the cops, if we bring them in, most likely. We should get that new guy in as well. Null? Even if we don’t strictly need his power, practice is important.”
That made some sense, really. Given his power set.
Debbie looked curious, so June explained. Not knowing that Deb had been there when the kid had gotten his powers.
“He can turn powers off. Untested, but if you put this man directly in a cell, he can act from outside, safely enough. Let me call him in. He’s local?”
That was true, so Hannah nodded.
“Most of the time. A college student. From upstate, when school isn’t in session. I can collect him, if he wants in on this? I need the practice, anyway. I’m slow doing that, still.”
That reminded her to hold herself ready to move, at any moment. The field she was generating was a little weak, of course, even when she tried harder, after noticing that.
Liberty dialed the number with a tap, after finding it in the computer system, and spoke, her voice pleasant enough to be calling up for a date.
“Don? This is June, from work? We have an assignment for you, if you’d like in on it? Hannah offered to pick you up, so you won’t have to catch a cab or anything. Do you have time right now?”
There was a pause, then a delighted sound.
“Wonderful! Get to a place you won’t be noticed. You have one minute.” Then she hung up, and pointed at Hannah, rather directly.
“That’s your time frame. Can you locate him and…”
“I have him. The transport is already started. Let me see… Tell me when I get to a minute?” After all, he was scrambling to get a clean shirt on, and running a brush through his slightly too long hair. It looked good on him, even if he wasn’t exactly a pretty person. Short hair would work too, since he was decently thin.
Debbie spoke, after a bit.
“Now.”
This time she felt the air pressure change as Don appeared in the room with them. He wasn’t superhuman looking, but did seem clean and well groomed, which counted for a lot in life.
Hannah waved.
“We have a pick up, as soon as we can manage it. The target has abilities. A scientist who’s testing a super drug on the public, including at least one kid. He, the kid, nearly died. I mean, we had to take him to a different reality, in order to save him. He was brain dead, so it counts as a real death.” That wasn’t the literal truth, since he’d still be able to breathe on his own, but it was close enough for the day, as far as she was concerned.
Don closed his eyes, wincing and looking grim. Then he opened them, seeming determined.
“Damn. So, I need to go and shut his powers down? Do I get help? I guess I can do it alone, if I have to. I’ll want some weapons for it.”
Liberty smiled at the words, which got Don to pay attention, almost instantly. She was cute, after all. A bit dorky seeming, but if you didn't know her real age, that just meant a lot of guys might assume she didn't think she was too good for them.
How that might work out in real life, she didn’t know. The woman had suggested dating might be possible for her and that she went for guys that Hannah might also be interested in. So, Don might not have been outside of the realm of possibilities for the woman, if he played his cards right.
June seemed pleased enough with the idea he was putting forth, about handling things himself.
“Not on this one. The plan is to put him directly in a cell, the same way you were brought in. Then you shut down his powers, standing safely outside. If you can’t for some reason, then it won’t hurt anything. You’re already trained to do take downs on your own though, against normal people, aren’t you?”
It was meant to be playful, but Hannah thought for a second and then nodded.
“In a pinch, he actually is. With firearms, and blades. Possibly other weapons. I’d want to test him on those first. Still, if we’re doing that, we need to send a team, whenever possible. Get him some body armor like mine, at least.”
That had the woman going still for a moment, then, slowly, nodding.
“Your training program in VR?”
“That and things he’s done on his own. I’m not sure about your unarmed fighting. How is that?”
He waggled a hand in the air.
“Average or a little above? Some boxing at the Y, and a few weeks of karate, when I was fifteen. Nothing special.”
Hannah waved at the guy then.
“That’s part of the program you’re in though, so you’ll be getting better at that soon. My brother is doing that training for us. Now, we have a plan, shall we go and stand in front of the cell?”
They did that. It took a lot longer to get there, riding the elevator, than it did for her to finish the transport. Then Null located the man, and locked his powers down tight, in about fifteen seconds. It wasn’t instant, and he had to have the people in sight for it to come up at all. It was a good thing to know, really. Part of it was down to knowing what to do, so she didn't doubt he could learn to speed things up, with practice.
Possibly by a lot.
The man inside the cell, visible through the glass, was ordinary looking. Thin, and worn, with deep lines on his face, to show his age. He seemed to be about sixty, even if he had a decently young son. That could happen, so she didn’t really think much about it. Liberty moved to a small speaker and turned it on, allowing them to communicate. Otherwise, the steel and thick glass wouldn’t have let that happen.
The man sounded scared. Almost lost.
“What… What’s going on here?”
Liberty leaned in a bit, even if there was no visible microphone.
“You’re under arrest, Doctor Travis. You killed a young boy yesterday. Close enough to put you in prison for life. We managed to save him, using extreme measures but that won’t get you off the hook. Not for this. You should have walked away. You know that, don’t you? He was a kid. No one would have done anything about you on his say so.”
The man closed his eyes then, and after a bit, nodded.
“I know. That… So, off to prison? I notice that I can’t change? That… I probably couldn’t get out of here anyway. This cell is impressive. This is what, doubles up tank armor? Where am I?”
Hannah wouldn’t have told him. June did, instantly.
“The Society headquarters in New York City. You’re about to be transferred into a holding facility, pending trial.” She looked away then and frowned. “Unless you want to skip the pretense and simply sign up with us? The government. The truth is, if you don’t, you’ll just be killed. If you do, then you’ll probably be allowed to keep working on your current project. Maybe other ones as well. You won’t profit from it, but it beats a bullet, doesn’t it?”
The man, clearly intelligent enough, in most areas, nodded.
“I guess it does, at that. What do you need me to do?”
That, as it turned out, involved waiting for a DHS agent, an older man that Hannah had met before, to get there. He nodded at Liberty, then glanced at Don, finally ending on Hannah. If he recognized her, it didn’t show on his face at all.
He had a file of papers in his right hand.
“Doctor Travis? You seem to have…” The man faked looking at the papers. This time, Hannah being directly next to him, she could see they weren’t actually blank. She’d thought they had been, the first time. “State conditional metabolic enhancement, super strength, speed and healing? You might have noticed that we’re currently blocking your powers? Just to keep you informed, after we remove that impediment, if you start to change in any way that is atypical, our personnel will execute you instantly. If for any reason these people cannot do so, the chamber you are in will fill with a lethal gas. If that doesn’t work, then an explosive will destroy the room. Yes, that will kill us as well, but the point is, you aren’t escaping today. Do you know why you’re here?”
