Wilderness hannah, p.13
Wilderness Hannah, page 13
part #3 of Damsel Series
There was a stirring in the masses of people, dead ones, but they formed a line, and seemed to be talking to one of them, which had Trevor looking pleased.
“So, tomorrow at... six? I’ll bring food. I need your address?”
She provided that and her cell number, since things could come up. She got his, as well. Veronica pulled up, and hopped out of her car, smiling.
Date with her the next day or not, Trevor went wide eyed, seeing the lovely, curly haired woman walking up.
“Hannah! You have a new friend?”
“This is Trevor. He sees ghosts. We have a date tomorrow. So no poaching until at least after that. Trevor, this is Veronica. She’s super nice, and is a part time Uber driver. Honestly, you should get her number, too. She has a boyfriend, but it’s an open thing, I think?”
She nodded.
“That’s right. Here...” She took his cell and put her own number in and let him do the same. Then she patted him on the arm. “Nice meeting you! I can call if anything with ghosts comes up?”
“Sure? Does that happen to you a lot?”
There was a friendly, almost sexy, look then.
“Not a lot, but it has come up, a few times in my life, so far.”
“Oh. Sure, then?”
Veronica moved off with a wink, hurrying, smiling as she did it. Hannah followed, and climbed in next to her friend, in the front passenger’s seat.
When they took off, the woman circled the block, then headed in the wrong direction. At least if the goal was taking Hannah home for the evening.
“So, is there a thing?”
Veronica nodded, happily.
“There is. We’re having a meeting, of our new team. Something is going on, so the world needs us, Hannah. We, the smaller players, can’t sit by anymore, hoping that the big guys will handle it all for us! It is the time for us, The Underdogs, to stand up and let the whole world know that we’re making our mark!”
She didn’t know anything about what the woman was saying, but Veronica did things like that. At least this time the woman wasn’t bringing her to fight children. That had happened once. Thankfully, they were able to talk their way out of it, so Hannah didn’t have to have her behind kicked by some annoying pre-teens.
Possibly. After all, the woman drove into the right neighborhood for that, and right there, on the front stoop of the food pantry, the very kids themselves sat, looking... Pretty normal and not like would-be toughs or anything like that at all.
Hannah nodded.
“So, the kids are the new team? That...” She was about to say it made sense. That or question Veronica’s intelligence. Both were mean, and probably unfair. After all, things were going screwy and these kids, while not showing obvious superpowers, had just as much right to try and fix the world as anyone else did.
Veronica nodded, but it was at the boy in the front, not what Hannah had said.
“Diggy. Will you protect my car, while I’m inside? It could be a while.”
The boy, who was nicely plump, though a bit less so than the last time they’d met, nodded.
“Sure. What do I get out of it?” He sounded tired, and a bit bored, as if sitting on a stoop in the cold weather wasn’t that much fun.
Veronica, who was a giant horndog and designed that way biologically, looked at the boy as if he might just get lucky, then she shrugged.
“Five dollars? For each of you?” That was about what a parking space would cost, Hannah guessed, so didn’t think anything of it really.
Then, she didn’t really know that kind of thing, not having a car at all.
Diggy, who was slightly round faced, rather rosy cheeked and needed to run a comb through his black hair, nodded.
“Got it, Veronica. Jen, you should go inside and see if Jaime needs anything. It’s too cold for all of us to stay out here, constantly.”
It was chilly, of course. Hannah had her ugly jacket on and felt warm enough though, really. On her way up the steps, Diggy smiled at her, not getting up.
“Hey! You’re that woman from that show my mom watches, right?”
It was at that point she understood that the kid didn’t recognize her. They’d only met once, and she had had a mask on. A little one, that didn’t really cover her face. Veronica had been there, but had looked like a black glass statue at the time, so she was pretty well covered that way.
Thankfully, Hannah hadn’t called all the kids’ names out.
“Maybe? I’m Hannah... I have been on television, recently.”
Kara, the Hispanic looking girl, who was going to be a heartbreaker in a few years, if she wasn’t doing that already, stood up.
“Hannah de Peyser? From Life of Kate? Wilderness Hannah? What are you doing here?” She seemed a bit put out by it, at first, as if it didn’t make sense for any reason.
She just pointed at the building.
“This is a Life of Kate Foundation food bank. Did you think that I was just saying those things as I was about to die in my little lean-to in a windstorm? I’m in on this thing, for real. You all are, too? Working here, with us?”
The girl ducked her head a bit and nodded.
“We don’t get paid for it, but Jaime and Tinner make sure we get enough food and... Things are kind of tight at home, so it helps. We stock shelves and sweep up? That and make up boxes for people. Sometimes we carry things. You know, if the old people can’t get things home, on their own?”
Hannah hugged her, even if they weren’t old friends.
“Thanks. All of you.”
Diggy sighed and put his hands out, as if asking for a hug.
“Come on, don’t leave me out. I work here, too.” He was ridiculous about it and being goofy, on purpose, so got a hug of his own. The boy next to him got one as well. Little things, that didn’t involve contact with any part of her that was going to be too interesting, but they seemed shocked that it happened at all.
Then they went into the building and up to the fifth floor. It was empty, except that one of the apartments there had its door open and there were people inside.
Strange, rather interesting, people.
Chapter nine
Veronica stripped in the hallway, showing her flesh tone undergarment, which turned dark as she transformed into Cry Diamond. She was all glossy and black after that, looking like an obsidian statue, instead of a person. Except she moved and could speak. She still sounded like herself, but out of all the super types Hannah knew, her disguise was actually the best. No one seeing statue her would assume that Veronica was actually the same person.
The glass appearing lady turned to her then and gave an exaggerated head shake.
“Ah, right. I thought you might not have your uniform on you. You’re really bad about that.” The woman dug in her pants pocket, holding those in her left hand, and came out with a lacy red sex mask. That was thrust in Hannah’s direction, as if it only made sense.
It didn’t, but just in case it was a sex party and not crime fighting in public, she slipped the thing on. Though, if it was about getting busy, she needed a shower first. She’d gotten a bit sweaty, trying to not be hit by little bean bags earlier.
Then, a bit excitedly, Veronica tugged her into the room, where everyone else was, for some reason, dressed up in fancy uniforms. She actually felt a bit underdressed, for a moment. Everyone turned and looked at her and Cry, but no-one acted like it was all that special, either of them being there. That made sense, given that several of the people in the room, an empty apartment, were kind of famous.
Hannah wasn’t a big supe groupie and never had been. She barely watched television most days and her reading had, for a long time, been made up of rumor websites, with the occasional humor web-page thrown in. Sure, the day before she’d seen hours of coverage, but only because it had been important to her personally, in the moment.
Even given that though, some of the people in the room with her were ones she honestly recognized, from having saved people. A few had even made the gossip sites online, occasionally. The thing there was that she didn’t think she could have named even one of them, other than the people who were already hers.
Linear, Cry Diamond and of course, Mr. Sparkles. She grinned on the last one, since her brother, Nate, was wearing a rather over the top shiny gold outfit, with white tights and boots that had gold-colored buckles. A full-face mask as well, but even that didn’t hide who he was from her. Linear had a new outfit, too, still in all white, but with a different cut and a brighter color than the last one, being clean, but his lower face showed, so she got that it was Jamie.
The rest were colorful, except for one man who was clearly wearing some kind of suit that allowed him to blend into the background. Not perfectly, but it was a cool looking effect. She got the idea, in that, while it was clothing, he sort of looked like the wall behind him. If she were trying to shoot him at say, ten meters, Hannah might well miss, not really knowing where he was. At the same time, inside of that, she would have to aim center mass, instead of for the head. If the fellow was smart, he was walking around with great body armor on. If it was a he. That wasn’t a thing she could easily tell, after all.
One of the men was floating, about a foot off the ground, his hands out to the sides, palms down. He was pretty lean seeming, but like Mr. Sparkles, he had a full-face mask on, this time in all red. There was a freaky black face painted on it, that made him look a bit like a jack o’lantern. When he landed, Cry Diamond moved to the front of the room, with Linear and Mr. Sparkles on either side. Jaime went first, speaking to the other eight people there.
“Each of you has been invited here today for a reason. In recent days, all of us have been asked, or required by circumstances, to risk our lives for the good of the public. Some of us don’t have a large network of friends who are willing or able, to back us up. I’m asking each of you to consider joining us, in a pact of mutual aid. A lot of you have done incredible things, but who’s there for you when you need help? We are, if you want us to be.”
A woman, dressed like an American flag, stepped forward. Hannah had seen her, years before, holding up a building crane that had collapsed. That one had made the news in a way that even Hannah hadn’t missed. Her voice was strident and overly theatrical. Not that Hannah was planning to tell her that.
The bitch could lift cranes. She didn’t want to start a wrestling match over a personal critic, if she could help it.
“You’re starting a super group? That almost never works, does it? Half the people in this room are limelight-squatting role-players who just happen to have some kind of power and the other half are well meaning goofballs, who are ultimately not important to the world at all.” She seemed a bit mean, so Hannah, feeling a bit annoyed, waved at her. When the woman looked, she forced her voice to be very innocent seeming.
It was clearly a tiny bit phony sounding.
“Sorry... Which one are you?” There were delicate finger movements in the air, as if Hannah was trying to place the Flag Lady in her proper position, based on what had been said. Which would, probably start at least an argument.
The woman didn’t act as if she didn’t understand. Then, she also didn’t try to claim she was the single exception, there. What she did do was chuckle a bit and smile.
“Why, I’m not very important, at all.” She waved at her outfit then. “While also trying to steal the limelight, hence finding it annoying when other people get part of my thunder.”
“Oh.” Hannah smiled then. “I’m just here because someone wants to use my building as a headquarters, for free, I bet. I’m fine with that, but you have to do it in a way that doesn’t disrupt the people using the food bank, downstairs. Plus, if you’re serious about really being good doers, volunteer to help, at least a few hours a month? That will also give you a reason to be here that you can back up on paper, if it becomes needed at any point, so...”
Jaime extended a hand in her direction. It was a sudden move, done with a good amount of energy.
“Thanks! See, we’re practically a real group already. So, is anyone in? We also have full tech support and everyone will be linked into a private phone network, that will be pretty hard to hack. It only works in a three-state area, but...”
The camo-man spoke then, his voice rather girlish. As in, he sounded like he might be fifteen, tops. Also, a female.
“I’m interested. I do have some projects where having some muscle might help, occasionally. Are there any other perks? I mean, do we get paid?”
Jaime sighed and slumped in place, several of the others seemed to be annoyed by anyone asking such an obvious question, and Nate clenched a fist. In frustration, it looked like. Which made no sense at all, since he had about a hundred million he could use for anything, if he wanted. It grew fast enough that he could have footed the bill for the whole thing without it being at issue at all.
Except that, of course, Mr. Sparkles, or whatever he thought his name was going to be, would be noticed if he started spreading that kind of cash around.
Hannah tilted her head then, thinking. She could cover that kind of thing as well. It wasn’t her team though, even if she was helping out by letting them use her building. Clearly that was all about her both having the space and getting free volunteers for the food bank.
“No, but if you have real, reasonable, expenses, we can help out. It won’t be the same as having a full-time job, naturally. If you need to smooth out some bumps, caused by living two lives, we can help. You have to let us know, by putting that kind of thing in writing and giving it to, um, Cry Diamond?”
Jamie was her first choice for that, but only one person in the room actually cried diamonds regularly. A painful thing, but she’d spoken about funneling some money to other people before, a couple of times. The ones who didn’t have big money backers. She just hadn’t known how to get that done.
Veronica got the idea, so smiled and nodded.
“That works. We aren’t a bank, but if you have a real need? We can do that.”
The feeling of the room actually seemed a lot friendlier, suddenly. Linear moved around with an encrypted data pad, taking contact information and handing out over-sized cell phones. Things that were, they were all promised, not on the normal system at all. They were, in fact, actually radios. Ones that used a frequency that no-one else did at all. Technically the FCC could have had a problem with them being used. If they even checked that particular band, which, from what she was hearing, didn’t seem too likely at all.
There were no snacks, or drinks, since too many people there had face masks on. People marked who else was there, and one man had simply left, not being a joiner, but her data wasn’t asked for at all. That made sense to her, since, as she kept telling everyone, she wasn’t a superhero. She wasn’t even a regular hero. Not really.
She just knew some freaks who ran around punching people for fun.
Which wasn’t how most of them really viewed what they did, of course. Some people, many of whom weren’t very nice, had powers. So other people with powers were needed, to keep that first group in check. That was all. Hannah didn’t want to be mean about it, since it was a real enough factor in the world.
If not for the weirdoes in tights, a lot more people would have died, annually. That kind of thing had saved her bacon, at least once, so she wasn’t totally down on the idea. Not for other people, at least.
Everyone had to sneak out of the building, which Hannah cleverly did by taking the little red mask off and handing it back to Veronica, after she reabsorbed her liquid diamond body armor. Most of the others headed for the roof, or used the back exit to the place. She just walked out the front, to find Tara holding a pen and piece of paper.
“Um, can I get your autograph? For my mom, I mean?”
“Sure? What do you want it to say?”
The girl thought for a second and then shrugged.
“Ah... How about, this is good for one free pass, to undo a grounding or other punishment for non-serious offenses, then your name?”
She just wrote that out, since it was hilarious. The kids all got selfies with her as well. Diggy asked her to kiss him on the cheek while he had Luke, one of the other guys in the gang, take his picture.
“You know, so I can put it online and say that this is my girlfriend, who lives in a different city? From when you came in for the hot sexy times we had?” There was a sly earnestness to the way the boy said the words. As if it were his real plan, but he was telling her, so she couldn’t be too made about it later.
“Hmmm. Okay, but if the cops ask, remember to tell them that it was all a joke? I do not need a lawsuit like that. Or, that wouldn’t be a lawsuit, would it? Just an arrest for charges I really don’t want on my record.” The words came with a link, and Diggy, flirt that he was, took her hand.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about anything too bad. I’ll just hint and let their dirty minds do the work for us?”
She smiled and nodded, then, being careful not to be rude, let go of his hand.
“Okay. Don’t go over the top though, or no one will believe you. Claim that... I don’t know, we met and you aske me out... And I didn’t say no? Something that makes you look good, without being unrealistic. Like... I said you were cute? Oh, um, your cute.”
The guy, who wasn’t old enough to be plotting an internet disinformation campaign for real, smiled at her again.
“Got it. Good plan, actually. Thanks, Hannah.”
They got to leave then, the car fine and the kids paid by Veronica, who didn’t speak, until she was in the car.
“That was a good idea. Not just paying people, but giving them some cash if they need it. Most little teams like this can’t really do that, so it makes us seem real, but not like we’re a secret government operation, at the same time.” She shrugged. “The Society and The Requiem get most of their money that way. From the feds? They aren’t the only groups that do that. Which, it isn’t a big deal, but if they’re the ones paying, they can kind of pull the strings, from time to time. This way we can just do what’s needed and not have to let people die, because some politician doesn’t want their donor’s criminal operation interrupted by too much.”
