Beguiled damsel book 5, p.14
Beguiled (Damsel Book 5), page 14
All of that sounded more complicated than she would have imagined.
“Got it. I think. We can do that work, but the rest of the system has some holes in it, right now?”
The man waved for her to follow him out of the command center.
“Pretty much. It’s easier if they have powers, in a way. Now, with you working here, at least. Though, we need to actually pay you something for the work? Just to have you on the books. Minimum wage or something like that?” He was kidding with her, but she got the idea.
If they were paying her, they owned her work. At the moment she was volunteering, so could just not show up, or refuse to do things, without having to quit.
So she shook her head.
“Sorry, I can’t join any teams. We talked about that. If you pay me, then we have a different relationship. I can be helpful, but you have to get me here, if I take your money, I’m your bitch. If you want that kind of thing with me, send flowers.” It was a blunt statement, and not the kind of thing good girls used at work.
Of course, if the man sent the flowers, she’d probably give him a real shot at dating her. Brian was nice, and on paper everything she was supposed to want in a man. Good looking, charming, muscular, tall and rich. Most of that was actually kind of nice in bed, even.
She just wasn’t really going to commit to a man who dressed in a rubber gimp suit to fight crime as a bat. Even if he was a good guy. Plus, it was kind of clear he didn’t really have time for her in his life. Even one day a week was pushing it for him. When they went out, the man always had an eye on his watch, and two of the four times they’d literally tipped off the tabloids that a couple’s dinner was in the offing.
Which was about showing the man as a playboy, not for anything else. Just establishing his cover, so people wouldn’t know about his real job. Punching people in the head.
Hannah could get behind it, of course. Being seen with the guy in public, or even getting caught having sex, was all fine with her. She could even recommend the man to others, as a booty call. The issue with him was that he wasn’t ever going to be serious about settling down. Not as long as he could dress up and play superhero.
Which, she guessed, was why she wasn’t one of them. If she was needed to walk away from that kind of thing the next day, she wouldn’t miss it at all. Really, if people would stop coming at her, kidnapping her or trying to kill her, Hannah de Peyser would have stopped practicing daily, even. It was needed, and she wasn’t giving up, but inside, she wasn’t the kind of person that everyone seemed to think she was, or should be.
Not a party girl, or a waste of space.
Not a victim, or the damsel in distress to be rescued…
Not a hero.
Which didn’t mean she couldn’t practice and work on her kidnapping issues, by helping her friends collect some very bad people. So she grinned.
“For now, why don’t we do what you had planned, then work out who you want to take first? We can get the worst people off the street, at least for a little while. So, what’s the plan?”
That was for her to just find all twenty-six of the men and women on the top ten most wanted list, which, as it turned out, wasn’t called that at all. It was just the most wanted, with no number involved. Seven of them had powers, and one of them was a good enough telepath that the man noticed her looking at him, and freaked out. No attack came, but she watched the man literally run out of his house.
Then get into his car and speed off, frantically.
“Well, that’s going to make him harder to find. What’s he wanted for?”
Rick had to look that up, but whistled, when he got it.
“Bank robbery. Using his powers, which got him on the list. He forced the bank to think he was owed millions of dollars, and walked out with it openly. Just, like he was a big account holder. He even filled out the paperwork with the IRS. Not with his own name or anything.”
Hannah wrinkled her nose.
“I was kind of hoping that we’d, you know, stop rapists and killers? A guy who fooled a bank is… I guess it’s real enough, but it feels…”
That got the other man to nod along with her.
“That’s the job. We don’t decide what counts as a crime or not. Plus, having people mess with your reality like that isn’t fun. People think it won’t be a big deal, but it robs you of your sense of reality, for a while. I’ve had it happen to me, three times. Though, if you want, we can tuck him to the back of the list? Just ours, and he’ll be at the top, as soon as we clear all of this. Shall we go on?”
“Yep. Let’s see here…” She didn’t do the job that Alistair or Aliza could have done, if they’d been there, but she collected fake names, phone numbers, addresses and even when they’d be home. In a few cases when they’d be coming and going. Then, right in front of her, Rick called his contact at the FBI, and managed to sound glib.
Friendly and like it was a social call.
“Tony! I have something you might like. You’re on speaker, by the way. Hannah de Peyser is in with me. The new intern.” That got the man to shrug, and grin.
Tony, who sounded like a man who enjoyed smoking unfiltered asbestos, wheezed. Then spoke as if he’d just finished gargling gravel.
“What ya got? Unless it’s an offer to hook us up with a famous intern? She there to learn stuff for a show? My wife watched that Life of Kate stuff. The last season wasn’t even horrible. I liked the bit with the bear.”
Hannah snorted.
“I didn’t, to be honest. I nearly wet myself. Thankfully it wasn’t a big bear. Also, that it wasn’t that hungry, or I’d be bones right now.”
That got a deep, raspy, chuckle.
“No doubt. Now, you have a present for me? Other than the introduction? The wife and I will have you over for dinner, soon. Both of you.”
Rick smiled at the phone on the desk then.
“How about the current location of everyone on the most wanted list, with likely whereabouts for the next three days?”
There was silence for a few moments, then a clearing of the throat.
“You can actually deliver on that?”
“We can. In fact, let me… Sending that now. We’re going to handle the ones with powers, if that works for you? I know you’d normally pass this off to The Society, but we have access to a teleporter who can take people from anywhere.”
There was a whistle from the speaker on the table in front of them.
“I’ve heard of this. That would be Damsel? The one doing all the recent takedowns? That you, de Peyser? You found that girl, on the show. I thought that was fake…”
She sighed.
“That was real. Even the part where Kate Sinclair personally tackled the woman who had set the whole thing up. I had to learn some new tricks, since then.”
“Ah? You’re working with High Command? Just super groups? The FBI can use that kind of thing, I think, if you aren’t a bigot against us normal types.”
Rick rolled his eyes at the words.
Hannah shrugged.
“If it’s needed? Everyone I’ve talked to thinks pretty highly of the FBI ability to take people down. We’re only doing the powered ones out of here to make the High Command look good. If someone is being difficult, we can set that up for you? Oh, also, we’re going to do the serial killers? That will be harder, because of the court cases?”
The man on the phone cleared his throat again.
“We… don’t always take that type to court. If we know for certain and can’t make a case…”
She winced. Not because he was talking about murdering people to stop even more deaths of innocent people. Hannah could see that happening, especially right then, when it had to be hard to make any cases, as far as data collection went.
No, it was that he’d done it over the phone.
“Don’t speak about anything over the phone or electronic media. Don’t use magic for communications, either. Can you pass the word on that? Everything is monitored right now. Everything. Even your innocent friends and family.”
She sounded paranoid, or should have, but Rick made a grumbling noise.
“That’s real, Tony. We can’t go into more right now. In person? It’s a real call. Even jokes like you were just making. Not everyone is going to get our gallows humor.”
Snorting, Hannah laughed a bit. She sounded nerdy. That got her to smile.
“Right? Still, we can really find those people, if you have any data about it? Maybe without that.”
Tony, the harsh voiced person who probably looked nothing like he sounded, huffed.
“I think I get the idea. Let’s see if any of this pans out first? This looks good. Picking up even one of these people could make a career. Thanks, Rick. Hannah.”
The man got off the line, a bit abruptly, the phone actually making a clicking noise.
Rick pointed at the desk.
“That, is an excited man. Then, we just passed him eighty percent of what he needs to be the director in ten years. When do you want to schedule the rest of this?”
“Getting people? We can… When you’re ready? Now works, if we have enough cells?”
“Just four. Three, at the moment. One is already down, from Red Menace. We’re fixing it now, but still… We should work in batches of three, given that?”
She nodded, but the man picked up the handset of the old-fashioned telephone. It even had a curly line going to the base unit. That had push buttons, not a dial. Tapping four of them, he held the device to his face. The dark black looked heavy and cold to her.
“Capture team to the cells. Incoming prisoners. Operator teams to the cells.”
Hannah stood up, having an idea which direction they needed to move. She dropped into a deeper state, and set up for bringing people to her. Going slower had worked before for that, so she took the list of names from her work buddy, and pointed at the first one.
“Darrel McNaught?”
“That works. How long will it take?”
She made a face, then shrugged.
“About five minutes for each one? I can do it faster, but I want to try something new that won’t hurt. Not as much.”
That got a nod. Then, she was ready to get their new friend Darrel to visit with them about ten minutes before the team was there and ready. Everyone else was in armor, or a uniform. Hannah just moved to the side of the room, out of the way, instead of standing in the front this time.
Rick glanced at her, and gave a single nod.
“When you’re ready?”
“Three… Two… One!” She brought the man, who was dark skinned, had deep black hair and an uneven facial structure. A soon as he was in the vault, the man tried to escape, not even asking where he was. The gas took him out, without foam needing to be used.
As soon as that was done, Rick got her to take the man to the holding facility. This was the Montana one, not the nicer one with the stasis pods. They had really heavy metal cells, instead. Then, over half an hour, they took the next five, leaving only the last one, the telepathic bank robber, to run free.
Sighing, she waved at the empty cell when she came back.
“We should do the last one, too? It’s not… Well, he stole millions, right?”
That got a nod, but no one seemed that excited about the idea. This time, when the man appeared in the box, Hannah moved forward, hoping she wasn’t about to have her brain cooked.
“Hi! We’re recruiting for the High Command, would you like a job? You have to give the money back, and maybe change your name, but it’s way better than life on the run.” She was a bit glib sounding, but the man stared at her for a moment, his face, which seemed careworn and tired, his big beard gray and brown, nodded.
“Sure? I clearly can’t escape any longer. What do you want me to do?”
She didn’t know, but Rick and Maverick both moved forward, the homely man waving as he did it. To the person in the cell.
“If you’re serious, we can get you out of there and not put you in a holding facility like the other six who were taken, earlier. You read minds and can influence people? What kind of range do you have?”
Hannah listened, not being too impressed when the man answered.
“About a mile or so? I have to be sort of close, really. Some people can block me, too.” He glanced at her then, waving his fingers, as if she were that someone. She was in a trance and focused on teleportation as well as prescience, but wasn’t blocking the man on purpose at all.
When they let him out, Hannah was ready to shoot him, but that ended up not being needed. He simply left with Rick and Maverick, to do some paperwork. Trusting the men totally. Probably because they were actually trustworthy.
It left her standing there, with nothing to do again. At least until she started to walk out and noticed Devya waving at her.
“There you are! We’re doing another training set tonight. Something different. Patty is insisting. I think she’s a bit bored. She’s as smart as anyone, but too trusting, so she kind of has to live away from the rest of us, most of the time. She gets lonely. At Sinclair house again? At nine?”
She nodded, even if that was close to when she liked to go to bed, if possible. A thing that sounded both like an old lady and insane to her. Less than a year before, she’d normally gone to bed at ten, after all. In the morning. It had been a very different life.
“Sure thing. I wonder what we’re doing?”
Agent Seven, dressed for work in fake military blue fatigues, grinned.
“Not a freaking clue. I just got a call, informing me that we needed to be there. Vidya is coming as well. Veronica, too.”
Hannah made a face when the last name was mentioned.
“I heard that I helped to raise some of you? I’ve been sleeping with her. That’s creepy.”
The words were just shrugged at.
“Not that bad? You didn't raise her, just some of the younger girls. Veronica was, what… fifteen, sixteen, back then? She’s older than she looks. Most of us are, of course. It’s how we were built. So, yeah, she’s safe for you, that way. It’s not too bad. We… Aren’t supposed to talk about this kind of thing with you. That was really clear. Your rules, too.”
Hannah nodded.
“That probably makes sense. I’ll shut up now. Honest.” She meant on that topic, but the other woman looked up, as Crypt walked by and turned to follow the smug looking cowboy, not saying goodbye.
On the good side, it was something to do for the evening, so she went home, and thought about how to spend the next hour or two.
Nothing happened at all, so she sighed and turned on the news, wondering if anything she knew about would be talked about. She doubted it, but was a bit shocked at the one thing that she actually knew something about.
“Aliens want you, at least if you’re willing to be nice.”
The piece, which was on CNN, didn’t mention her, or Neary, by name. The planet Ryhh was mentioned, and Superion X. A thing that reminded her to get in touch with her space pals. They had the lists of names, the first half of it anyway, with recommendations from her on the topic, but it sounded like they were probably going to have more work than anyone really wanted.
Meaning she did have something to do, actually. That was calling Neary. A thing she did by getting in touch with his sister-in-law, Megan.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Megan. Hannah here. Is Neary around?”
“He is… Let me pass him the phone.”
After a moment, the man’s tenor spoke, gently.
“This is Neary.”
“Hey. Hannah here. I have a test subject set up for your language program? I’ll do it too, but we have more people than that. Including the new one. Diggy. He’s fourteen, I think. Working with the new training program that The Society has going on. That… Well, we have a new partner for you to work with? Todd. Well, actually we should have Heline work with him, since you’re pretty much set that way, working with everyone like you do. He’s older, and is willing to undergo conditioning, so that he won’t be too much for your people to handle.”
“Wonderful! We can start on that, the language training, as soon as you’re ready?”
“Fun! We’re all out in the field, training for the next week, but after that? Not that you aren’t welcome to come with us. Sleep in a tent and eat food cooked, poorly, over an open fire. There will be more training than that, of course. Nothing too hard, since it’s for kids.”
That had been what she’d asked for, anyway.
Max, the man putting the whole thing together had seemed fine with that idea. She wasn’t certain that he’d taken her meaning the right way. She’d asked for the kids to get special treatment. Now she was wondering what he might think that meant. A vision of the kids being sent out alone into the wilderness at night came to mind. That was a bit much, for the first week of training. In the second or third it would be fair, of course.
Neary sounded pleasant, but a little shaky.
“I’m already sort of doing that, staying here. I’m not certain going away from the safety of one of your large social gathering points would be wise for me. There are animals and probably people I don’t know out there.”
That was going to be true. Even if she didn't think it was that big of an issue, she smiled. After all, it wasn’t that long before when she’d never done anything like that at all, herself.
“We can make that work, too. Though, if it won’t take long, I can come over tomorrow and do it? The first part, at least.”
“At… Noon, here? I can have everything ready by then. This is just for you?”
“Right. Everyone else can go later, if I make it.”
“See you then. Thank you for participating, Hannah. People back home are most impressed with how much care you’ve all put into seeing to our safety. Especially you. You have an invitation to come and visit with us, when the others do? Our version of television wishes to do a report on the whole experience. Is that allowable, do you think?”
