Soda supreme, p.13
Soda Supreme, page 13
Like him being an intense weirdo who fought crime while wearing leather fetish gear. She understood that part. Then again, she actually did understand that part.
“So... I’m your new girlfriend? Cool. That’s so much better than simply not being invited. Also, kind of foppish, you not even calling after the other night, given that. Unless we’re just starting now? That works better. We can go out on Wednesdays? The weekend is the busy season, or so I hear?”
The man chuckled again.
“All right. If you’re going to insist. Be ready. Wednesdays at seven? I’ll call if I can’t make it?”
She got that.
“The other way around, as well. I’ll see you on Saturday? Save a dance for me. And, you know, we should sneak off and make out. Maybe get caught doing it? Will there be media there?”
The phone was silent for a bit.
“There could be, if you want? That might not be a bad idea. We can hint at things? I’m a bit old for you...”
“A bit, but only that. It isn’t gross or anything. I won’t even have to explain myself to my father. Well, that you’ve decided to settle down a bit and only date three women at once, but you know, aren’t going out with fifteen, any longer?” She was being a bit snarky, but it got another laugh.
“I’ll see you then, Hannah. Nice talking to you.”
“You too, Brian. Bri? Sweetheart? I’ll work on that.”
They hung up then, and she actually felt kind of giddy about it. Not because she was hearing wedding bells, but she seemed to have an actual, only partially fake, date. The man was hot, too. True, she was just going as his beard, but if he put out, even that would be pretty sweet. Not that she wasn’t a bit banged up for that kind of thing, at the moment.
She needed to heal things up, as soon as possible. It was too late to call her lawyer to check on that, and the same was true of almost everyone else she knew, unless it was an emergency. So, instead of bothering anyone at that moment, she sat on the sofa, the cream-colored material soft and comfortable, as she drove her mind into giving up... Everything. At least the conscious portions of it.
Then she turned her mind toward a sense of the psychic.
Nothing more than that. She wasn’t trying to read minds, or find someone. Not see the future, either. Just relaxing in a loose awareness of anything that came in. Nothing much did, of course. Not until she felt a wave move over the world. It was from a long way off, from the feeling of it. It glinted a bit, in silver. Like magic, only not, at the same time. Above her.
In space.
She tried to look at what was there, and over time noticed a fuzzy teardrop. A thing that wasn’t metal, but had a hard shell, and was partly empty inside. With two people. They felt like human beings, at least. Hannah had to pay attention for a long time, but they weren’t really doing anything. Speaking, in a strange language. The man and the woman both looked good, but again, like people. Clear skinned and bright eyed, but not special. Not even good enough for television. At least not without better makeup.
She managed to look forward then, to see where they were headed. That part was harder, though, when she jumped directly to the destination, she got the idea. At some point in the future, they were landing at Christopher Kant’s house. On the roof of his apartment building. Doing so while invisible.
The time frame was the hard part. It was that night, but could be hours away.
It was a strange thing to pick up, so, letting go of what she’d seen, she called the man up. That was answered, almost instantly.
“Damsel?”
“Incoming, at your place. Two people, coming from space? A medium thin man, with dark hair and a woman with a blonde bob? I’m not getting any hostile intent from them, but other than where they’re heading, not much else, either. The time frame isn’t perfect. Call it inside eight hours?” She sounded drifty, but was coming out of the state she’d been sitting in.
“I... Understand. Let me... Can I call you back in a bit?”
“Sure?”
She hung up. So that he could do whatever it was he needed to.
Twenty-five minutes later, or perhaps longer, her phone chirped at her again. The man started speaking the instant she picked up.
“My brother, and a woman from the Anthropological Society are coming in. It... They’re investigating me, to see if I interfered with the situation here, bringing Reese and Megan back. We have that technology, but you need council clearance first.”
Hannah nodded then, since it was the kind of paper pushing red tape thing she should have expected.
“I can come over and explain then? You didn’t do it. I did. I didn’t ask you first, either, so, no interference there, other than me thinking you have a cute behind and wanting you to like me? Is that enough, or do we need to make them disappear? One of them is your brother, so that would be harder to do.”
Because Chris wasn’t an asshole.
He cleared his throat.
“Honestly, they’ll be fine with that. This is my fault. I was worked up and sent off a message, first thing, saying that they’d been murdered, then that it had been fixed and they were alive again. I should have given the specifics. Later, after I calmed down. Honestly, I just forgot.”
“Can we do that in the morning, or do I need to get over there, first thing?”
“That second one? If it was just my brother, we’d put him in the guest room, but I don’t know the other person. She sounded nice enough, on the... Phone. My job could be on the line here, so I need to make a good showing, if possible. It’s late, but the time differences...”
Hannah blinked.
“Wait, is this a day trip for them?”
“Yes... About six hours each way, so not a popular one. Plus, most of my people are too frightened to come here. Neary is decently brave. This other person must be as well. They won’t have had the treatments and training I did, first, so, you know, they’re just people?”
“Neat. I need to call Debbie? She was part of that, so might be needed. A few of the others, as witnesses?”
“Would you? It probably won’t be needed, but I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous. If I don’t prove my case, I’ll be recalled and sent home. Megan and Reese are from here though...”
That sounded complicated, so she nodded.
“I’m on my way. Let me see who I can get in for this.”
She called Lashondra and Debbie, first, which had both of them willing to show up, since it was work related for them. If late. Hannah was tired enough that she moved to the kitchen, which had been cleaned, the maid service obviously having been in, and made some coffee. It was, it seemed, going to be a long night.
Then she called everyone else. A lot of them were busy, but they had a half dozen witnesses planning to show up, to make sure Chris knew he wasn’t alone. Hannah just had to hope that this woman from the anthropological society wasn’t a bitch. On the nice side, she was able to call a cab, and the driver didn’t act weird about her making a trip at one in the morning.
She’d changed clothing, and put on some makeup, so that the bruises wouldn’t show too clearly, first. She had cash with her, and her cards, but used the paper money, at the far end, so that the trip wouldn’t show up as her having been visiting with Superion X, if anyone ever bothered to look. The government would get it, but hopefully the bad guys wouldn’t.
Not that they didn’t already know.
Someone was monitoring everyone, had released a magical plague and launched attacks on almost every major nation around the globe. Megan and Reese had been tortured and killed, even. That seemed related, but the woman who had done it, Dr. Sendra, hadn’t seemed to be working with her father, Dr. Pond, directly. Both of them had claimed things that sounded like they had information from the future. The time travel kind, not the fuzzy and weak things she got, trying to not be ambushed.
Thinking that, as she got into the building, which didn’t have a doorman at all, Hannah tried to hold her mind still and to be ready for anything. So, after walking up to the top floor, which was a hike, not having taken the elevator, even if she didn’t know why that was, she could feel people moving inside. When she knocked, one of them came to the door. Megan.
The woman hugged her. She seemed halfway freaked, already.
“Hannah! Thank God you’re here! Christopher was telling us that we might have to move to Ryhh, if he has his license revoked. I don’t even speak the language there...”
She held the hug, for a moment. The woman was a friend of hers, even if she did think Hannah wanted to perve out on her teen son. Reese was in the background, and didn’t move in for his own cuddles, probably being smarter than that, instead of not wanting them. It would just add to Megan’s tension, at the moment.
Before she could speak, people started popping into the room. It was more than just the people she’d called, for some reason. Lashondra moved in and passed out her own hugs.
“Character witnesses, in case it’s needed? How long do we have to plan?”
That, it seemed, was actually about two hours. Everyone who had been part of the operation that day showed up, however. Even Solaire did.
Hannah walked over to her mother, who was in casual clothing, and seemed uneasy. Given that she was, more or less a super villain and in a room with dozens of people who should have been trying to grab her, that just made sense. No one did that. Then, the last thing they’d heard of from her had been the woman, her son and two others removing Dr. Sendra off a moving plane, over international waters. Taking her into official custody, for the United States government. Three of them had been super villains, too. It had sent a message.
That apparently was buying her some slack, at the moment.
The Society, all of them, which numbered over twenty people, were there as well. Lichen was, along with Stoney and June. The younger looking woman walked over, her face going blank, on seeing Solaire.
Hannah winced, expecting a problem, given everything. She wasn’t in any kind of shape to throw down with half the room, either, so hoped her mother wasn’t going to have to do that. After all, she was there to help out Superion X. Even if it could cause problems for her.
June just shook her head. Then gave the woman an awkward hug.
“Hello, Marina.”
Looking a bit out of sorts, Marina took a deep breath.
“Hello, Mother. How have you been?”
Chapter nine
It was the kind of scene that could have commanded the attention of the room. Only, Hannah discovered rather quickly, even those on the various super teams didn’t know who Marina Seres was, if she wasn’t in costume, and maybe not even then. Also, the words weren’t yelled, so not everyone heard the declaration. It wasn’t like a soap opera at all, given that.
The women locked eyes, and seemed ready to start fighting, or at least arguing, when Hannah spoke.
“So, the real question here is, how did Hannah end up being so short? I’ve had genetic tests done, and Dad is actually my biological father, so... Where did all this tiny come from?”
Both of the other women, easily over five-six, turned to look down at her. Showing off their giant stature, to mock her. At least she read it that way.
June seemed baffled, at least.
Marina, shrugged.
“Your grandfather’s side of the family, probably. The de Peysers are all decently tall, really. He’s a shape shifter, so I have no clue how tall he was to start with.”
The words had a furrowed brow coming, from June.
“I’m missing something... Explain?”
Her daughter gave a wicked smile, then rolled her eyes.
“This is my daughter, Hannah. I... wait...” She looked around, then called out, her right hand raised. “Nate! Over here!”
Her brother, lean, pale and blond, walked over, seeming annoyed when he noticed who was calling him, with Linear moving in directly behind him. Seeming concerned.
Other people were starting to look, since it seemed like drama was about to happen. Hannah grinned.
“This is June, our grandmother? Mom’s mother. She wants to meet you. Just to shorthand it, she’s a good guy. So, like us, but not so much like Mom, right now.” She shrugged. “Not that the Khan Collective is evil, really. Some of them are incredible a-holes, but some are just trying to make a better world. Making Mom more gray hat than black, really.” She wiggled her right hand in the air.
Marina noticed the splint, and pointed.
“What happened?”
June did the talking then, being up on that part of things, even if she hadn’t gotten that Hannah was her own granddaughter at the time. Which, she decided, was kind of cool. It meant the woman had, possibly, liked her for herself, not just as a way to get close to her for family reasons.
“She was kidnapped, from her bed, while she slept. She fought her way out of it, and handled the others involved, not just the men in on the grab. The entire team involved, inside twenty-four hours. It was impressive. I’ve seen the files on it. There’s a lot more to it than it sounds like. Oh, Marina, have you heard of a super drug being put out?”
The trim woman, whose hair was deep black, with no roots showing, nodded.
“Black Soda? Also called Supreme. We were floating the idea of distributing it, but decided it wasn’t useful to our ends. Zero Six was pushing for that. Zero Four, as well. I get the idea. Letting ordinary people have a fairly safe minor power set would allow them to fight back against the tyrants of the world, without being a real danger to us.”
It was a weird way to put it, but had a certain logic to it, as an idea. Hannah had figured the best thing to do was simply stop it, because it could be used by criminals. It was dangerous to use, as well. The idea that ordinary people might use that kind of thing just to protect themselves or to stop tyrants hadn’t even occurred to her.
It had to the revolutionaries.
Still, she shrugged.
“Six and Four? I’ll send them some messages. Maybe not Six, really. He’s evil. I need to take him down, if I can ever work out how. There might be merit to the idea, even if he liked it. We should think about that. It isn’t illegal to have powers, and if people know that this has real dangers with it as well, then they can make an informed decision. At the same time, if we can set up a lab or license for it, that will make it harder for criminals to get it. At least it won’t make it much easier.”
Like with guns. The bad guys would always get them, for their crimes. Making them illegal just meant that good people wouldn’t have them to protect themselves with. The things were dangerous too, so the idea that the state had a right to stop people from taking the risk was a poor one.
June, interestingly, tilted her head, then let it bob, side to side.
“The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed?”
That made sense too, so she nodded.
“Which doesn’t mean we shouldn’t track this down. Right now, only criminals seem to be able to get this. At least that I know about. Finding the source makes sense, given that. I mean, is that the plan, or is it just a side effect, since people figure that the government will automatically ban it, if they can?”
It was probably the truth. A conversation started then, about the topic. The idea of people being able to have that kind of thing was oddly popular. Hannah would have thought that they’d all think of it as infringing on what made them special, to tell the truth.
They ended, about an hour later, when Chris walked into the room with two rather nervous seeming people. The ones that Hannah had seen coming, in fact. She waved and smiled, hoping that was something that would seem friendly enough, at least. Apparently not, since the woman went white and seemed like she was about to be beaten.
“Hello! I’m Hannah... This is... Everyone. Just to start things out, I arranged for Megan and Reese to get treatment, after they were hurt. My intervention was done in a different reality. I can do magic there. Um, Debbie Reynolds opened the rift for us? I can show you that? It’s magic... your people aren’t good with that?”
Christopher nodded.
“It’s the energetic imprinting we use in our technology. It’s very close to being magic itself, and can interact poorly with things like that. Magic?”
Hannah thought for a second, then shrugged.
“Cameras function over there. We can take one over and do some magical things, to show that it works? What’s needed to clear Chris? We also have character witnesses and can get you several million more. If that doesn’t work, we can hold a ritual duel to the death, I suppose?”
The last line had Neary, the brother, who really did look like a smaller, less built, version of Christopher, to go very wide eyed.
The woman actually relaxed.
“Ha! I got that one. A joke. I’m Heline Neckress. Local area anthropologic...” She stopped, made a face and looked at Superion X, then spoke in a flowing, rather musical seeming, language.
He waved his hands after a second, when she stopped talking.
“The Anthropological Chairperson for Earth and this solar system. Just for Ryhh and our planets. Basically, my boss, if from a different portion of the system?”
The blonde woman, who was nearly six feet tall, if not slightly over that, went still.
Hannah got that one.
“Meaning we’re the primitives being observed? That’s a slightly different job than I thought you’d have, Christopher. Still, this wasn’t him using forbidden technology, and anyone on Earth, or in our solar system, is under my protection. At least if it’s within my power to help them. That includes both of you, at this moment, as well as Christopher and his family at that time. Do you refute any part of that? If so, let me know and we can go over the evidence. This situation, Reese and Megan being helped, was my doing. I, as much as anyone on this planet, is in charge of that kind of decision.”
She was being a bit firm, but the two people actually moved back, as if they were going to be physically beaten for doing their jobs, or in Neary’s case, being in the wrong place, at the wrong time. She stepped back as well. Several steps.
“So... I’m your new girlfriend? Cool. That’s so much better than simply not being invited. Also, kind of foppish, you not even calling after the other night, given that. Unless we’re just starting now? That works better. We can go out on Wednesdays? The weekend is the busy season, or so I hear?”
The man chuckled again.
“All right. If you’re going to insist. Be ready. Wednesdays at seven? I’ll call if I can’t make it?”
She got that.
“The other way around, as well. I’ll see you on Saturday? Save a dance for me. And, you know, we should sneak off and make out. Maybe get caught doing it? Will there be media there?”
The phone was silent for a bit.
“There could be, if you want? That might not be a bad idea. We can hint at things? I’m a bit old for you...”
“A bit, but only that. It isn’t gross or anything. I won’t even have to explain myself to my father. Well, that you’ve decided to settle down a bit and only date three women at once, but you know, aren’t going out with fifteen, any longer?” She was being a bit snarky, but it got another laugh.
“I’ll see you then, Hannah. Nice talking to you.”
“You too, Brian. Bri? Sweetheart? I’ll work on that.”
They hung up then, and she actually felt kind of giddy about it. Not because she was hearing wedding bells, but she seemed to have an actual, only partially fake, date. The man was hot, too. True, she was just going as his beard, but if he put out, even that would be pretty sweet. Not that she wasn’t a bit banged up for that kind of thing, at the moment.
She needed to heal things up, as soon as possible. It was too late to call her lawyer to check on that, and the same was true of almost everyone else she knew, unless it was an emergency. So, instead of bothering anyone at that moment, she sat on the sofa, the cream-colored material soft and comfortable, as she drove her mind into giving up... Everything. At least the conscious portions of it.
Then she turned her mind toward a sense of the psychic.
Nothing more than that. She wasn’t trying to read minds, or find someone. Not see the future, either. Just relaxing in a loose awareness of anything that came in. Nothing much did, of course. Not until she felt a wave move over the world. It was from a long way off, from the feeling of it. It glinted a bit, in silver. Like magic, only not, at the same time. Above her.
In space.
She tried to look at what was there, and over time noticed a fuzzy teardrop. A thing that wasn’t metal, but had a hard shell, and was partly empty inside. With two people. They felt like human beings, at least. Hannah had to pay attention for a long time, but they weren’t really doing anything. Speaking, in a strange language. The man and the woman both looked good, but again, like people. Clear skinned and bright eyed, but not special. Not even good enough for television. At least not without better makeup.
She managed to look forward then, to see where they were headed. That part was harder, though, when she jumped directly to the destination, she got the idea. At some point in the future, they were landing at Christopher Kant’s house. On the roof of his apartment building. Doing so while invisible.
The time frame was the hard part. It was that night, but could be hours away.
It was a strange thing to pick up, so, letting go of what she’d seen, she called the man up. That was answered, almost instantly.
“Damsel?”
“Incoming, at your place. Two people, coming from space? A medium thin man, with dark hair and a woman with a blonde bob? I’m not getting any hostile intent from them, but other than where they’re heading, not much else, either. The time frame isn’t perfect. Call it inside eight hours?” She sounded drifty, but was coming out of the state she’d been sitting in.
“I... Understand. Let me... Can I call you back in a bit?”
“Sure?”
She hung up. So that he could do whatever it was he needed to.
Twenty-five minutes later, or perhaps longer, her phone chirped at her again. The man started speaking the instant she picked up.
“My brother, and a woman from the Anthropological Society are coming in. It... They’re investigating me, to see if I interfered with the situation here, bringing Reese and Megan back. We have that technology, but you need council clearance first.”
Hannah nodded then, since it was the kind of paper pushing red tape thing she should have expected.
“I can come over and explain then? You didn’t do it. I did. I didn’t ask you first, either, so, no interference there, other than me thinking you have a cute behind and wanting you to like me? Is that enough, or do we need to make them disappear? One of them is your brother, so that would be harder to do.”
Because Chris wasn’t an asshole.
He cleared his throat.
“Honestly, they’ll be fine with that. This is my fault. I was worked up and sent off a message, first thing, saying that they’d been murdered, then that it had been fixed and they were alive again. I should have given the specifics. Later, after I calmed down. Honestly, I just forgot.”
“Can we do that in the morning, or do I need to get over there, first thing?”
“That second one? If it was just my brother, we’d put him in the guest room, but I don’t know the other person. She sounded nice enough, on the... Phone. My job could be on the line here, so I need to make a good showing, if possible. It’s late, but the time differences...”
Hannah blinked.
“Wait, is this a day trip for them?”
“Yes... About six hours each way, so not a popular one. Plus, most of my people are too frightened to come here. Neary is decently brave. This other person must be as well. They won’t have had the treatments and training I did, first, so, you know, they’re just people?”
“Neat. I need to call Debbie? She was part of that, so might be needed. A few of the others, as witnesses?”
“Would you? It probably won’t be needed, but I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous. If I don’t prove my case, I’ll be recalled and sent home. Megan and Reese are from here though...”
That sounded complicated, so she nodded.
“I’m on my way. Let me see who I can get in for this.”
She called Lashondra and Debbie, first, which had both of them willing to show up, since it was work related for them. If late. Hannah was tired enough that she moved to the kitchen, which had been cleaned, the maid service obviously having been in, and made some coffee. It was, it seemed, going to be a long night.
Then she called everyone else. A lot of them were busy, but they had a half dozen witnesses planning to show up, to make sure Chris knew he wasn’t alone. Hannah just had to hope that this woman from the anthropological society wasn’t a bitch. On the nice side, she was able to call a cab, and the driver didn’t act weird about her making a trip at one in the morning.
She’d changed clothing, and put on some makeup, so that the bruises wouldn’t show too clearly, first. She had cash with her, and her cards, but used the paper money, at the far end, so that the trip wouldn’t show up as her having been visiting with Superion X, if anyone ever bothered to look. The government would get it, but hopefully the bad guys wouldn’t.
Not that they didn’t already know.
Someone was monitoring everyone, had released a magical plague and launched attacks on almost every major nation around the globe. Megan and Reese had been tortured and killed, even. That seemed related, but the woman who had done it, Dr. Sendra, hadn’t seemed to be working with her father, Dr. Pond, directly. Both of them had claimed things that sounded like they had information from the future. The time travel kind, not the fuzzy and weak things she got, trying to not be ambushed.
Thinking that, as she got into the building, which didn’t have a doorman at all, Hannah tried to hold her mind still and to be ready for anything. So, after walking up to the top floor, which was a hike, not having taken the elevator, even if she didn’t know why that was, she could feel people moving inside. When she knocked, one of them came to the door. Megan.
The woman hugged her. She seemed halfway freaked, already.
“Hannah! Thank God you’re here! Christopher was telling us that we might have to move to Ryhh, if he has his license revoked. I don’t even speak the language there...”
She held the hug, for a moment. The woman was a friend of hers, even if she did think Hannah wanted to perve out on her teen son. Reese was in the background, and didn’t move in for his own cuddles, probably being smarter than that, instead of not wanting them. It would just add to Megan’s tension, at the moment.
Before she could speak, people started popping into the room. It was more than just the people she’d called, for some reason. Lashondra moved in and passed out her own hugs.
“Character witnesses, in case it’s needed? How long do we have to plan?”
That, it seemed, was actually about two hours. Everyone who had been part of the operation that day showed up, however. Even Solaire did.
Hannah walked over to her mother, who was in casual clothing, and seemed uneasy. Given that she was, more or less a super villain and in a room with dozens of people who should have been trying to grab her, that just made sense. No one did that. Then, the last thing they’d heard of from her had been the woman, her son and two others removing Dr. Sendra off a moving plane, over international waters. Taking her into official custody, for the United States government. Three of them had been super villains, too. It had sent a message.
That apparently was buying her some slack, at the moment.
The Society, all of them, which numbered over twenty people, were there as well. Lichen was, along with Stoney and June. The younger looking woman walked over, her face going blank, on seeing Solaire.
Hannah winced, expecting a problem, given everything. She wasn’t in any kind of shape to throw down with half the room, either, so hoped her mother wasn’t going to have to do that. After all, she was there to help out Superion X. Even if it could cause problems for her.
June just shook her head. Then gave the woman an awkward hug.
“Hello, Marina.”
Looking a bit out of sorts, Marina took a deep breath.
“Hello, Mother. How have you been?”
Chapter nine
It was the kind of scene that could have commanded the attention of the room. Only, Hannah discovered rather quickly, even those on the various super teams didn’t know who Marina Seres was, if she wasn’t in costume, and maybe not even then. Also, the words weren’t yelled, so not everyone heard the declaration. It wasn’t like a soap opera at all, given that.
The women locked eyes, and seemed ready to start fighting, or at least arguing, when Hannah spoke.
“So, the real question here is, how did Hannah end up being so short? I’ve had genetic tests done, and Dad is actually my biological father, so... Where did all this tiny come from?”
Both of the other women, easily over five-six, turned to look down at her. Showing off their giant stature, to mock her. At least she read it that way.
June seemed baffled, at least.
Marina, shrugged.
“Your grandfather’s side of the family, probably. The de Peysers are all decently tall, really. He’s a shape shifter, so I have no clue how tall he was to start with.”
The words had a furrowed brow coming, from June.
“I’m missing something... Explain?”
Her daughter gave a wicked smile, then rolled her eyes.
“This is my daughter, Hannah. I... wait...” She looked around, then called out, her right hand raised. “Nate! Over here!”
Her brother, lean, pale and blond, walked over, seeming annoyed when he noticed who was calling him, with Linear moving in directly behind him. Seeming concerned.
Other people were starting to look, since it seemed like drama was about to happen. Hannah grinned.
“This is June, our grandmother? Mom’s mother. She wants to meet you. Just to shorthand it, she’s a good guy. So, like us, but not so much like Mom, right now.” She shrugged. “Not that the Khan Collective is evil, really. Some of them are incredible a-holes, but some are just trying to make a better world. Making Mom more gray hat than black, really.” She wiggled her right hand in the air.
Marina noticed the splint, and pointed.
“What happened?”
June did the talking then, being up on that part of things, even if she hadn’t gotten that Hannah was her own granddaughter at the time. Which, she decided, was kind of cool. It meant the woman had, possibly, liked her for herself, not just as a way to get close to her for family reasons.
“She was kidnapped, from her bed, while she slept. She fought her way out of it, and handled the others involved, not just the men in on the grab. The entire team involved, inside twenty-four hours. It was impressive. I’ve seen the files on it. There’s a lot more to it than it sounds like. Oh, Marina, have you heard of a super drug being put out?”
The trim woman, whose hair was deep black, with no roots showing, nodded.
“Black Soda? Also called Supreme. We were floating the idea of distributing it, but decided it wasn’t useful to our ends. Zero Six was pushing for that. Zero Four, as well. I get the idea. Letting ordinary people have a fairly safe minor power set would allow them to fight back against the tyrants of the world, without being a real danger to us.”
It was a weird way to put it, but had a certain logic to it, as an idea. Hannah had figured the best thing to do was simply stop it, because it could be used by criminals. It was dangerous to use, as well. The idea that ordinary people might use that kind of thing just to protect themselves or to stop tyrants hadn’t even occurred to her.
It had to the revolutionaries.
Still, she shrugged.
“Six and Four? I’ll send them some messages. Maybe not Six, really. He’s evil. I need to take him down, if I can ever work out how. There might be merit to the idea, even if he liked it. We should think about that. It isn’t illegal to have powers, and if people know that this has real dangers with it as well, then they can make an informed decision. At the same time, if we can set up a lab or license for it, that will make it harder for criminals to get it. At least it won’t make it much easier.”
Like with guns. The bad guys would always get them, for their crimes. Making them illegal just meant that good people wouldn’t have them to protect themselves with. The things were dangerous too, so the idea that the state had a right to stop people from taking the risk was a poor one.
June, interestingly, tilted her head, then let it bob, side to side.
“The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed?”
That made sense too, so she nodded.
“Which doesn’t mean we shouldn’t track this down. Right now, only criminals seem to be able to get this. At least that I know about. Finding the source makes sense, given that. I mean, is that the plan, or is it just a side effect, since people figure that the government will automatically ban it, if they can?”
It was probably the truth. A conversation started then, about the topic. The idea of people being able to have that kind of thing was oddly popular. Hannah would have thought that they’d all think of it as infringing on what made them special, to tell the truth.
They ended, about an hour later, when Chris walked into the room with two rather nervous seeming people. The ones that Hannah had seen coming, in fact. She waved and smiled, hoping that was something that would seem friendly enough, at least. Apparently not, since the woman went white and seemed like she was about to be beaten.
“Hello! I’m Hannah... This is... Everyone. Just to start things out, I arranged for Megan and Reese to get treatment, after they were hurt. My intervention was done in a different reality. I can do magic there. Um, Debbie Reynolds opened the rift for us? I can show you that? It’s magic... your people aren’t good with that?”
Christopher nodded.
“It’s the energetic imprinting we use in our technology. It’s very close to being magic itself, and can interact poorly with things like that. Magic?”
Hannah thought for a second, then shrugged.
“Cameras function over there. We can take one over and do some magical things, to show that it works? What’s needed to clear Chris? We also have character witnesses and can get you several million more. If that doesn’t work, we can hold a ritual duel to the death, I suppose?”
The last line had Neary, the brother, who really did look like a smaller, less built, version of Christopher, to go very wide eyed.
The woman actually relaxed.
“Ha! I got that one. A joke. I’m Heline Neckress. Local area anthropologic...” She stopped, made a face and looked at Superion X, then spoke in a flowing, rather musical seeming, language.
He waved his hands after a second, when she stopped talking.
“The Anthropological Chairperson for Earth and this solar system. Just for Ryhh and our planets. Basically, my boss, if from a different portion of the system?”
The blonde woman, who was nearly six feet tall, if not slightly over that, went still.
Hannah got that one.
“Meaning we’re the primitives being observed? That’s a slightly different job than I thought you’d have, Christopher. Still, this wasn’t him using forbidden technology, and anyone on Earth, or in our solar system, is under my protection. At least if it’s within my power to help them. That includes both of you, at this moment, as well as Christopher and his family at that time. Do you refute any part of that? If so, let me know and we can go over the evidence. This situation, Reese and Megan being helped, was my doing. I, as much as anyone on this planet, is in charge of that kind of decision.”
She was being a bit firm, but the two people actually moved back, as if they were going to be physically beaten for doing their jobs, or in Neary’s case, being in the wrong place, at the wrong time. She stepped back as well. Several steps.
