Wilderness hannah, p.19
Wilderness Hannah, page 19
part #3 of Damsel Series
It was, now that they were back in touch, probably the kind of thing they should discuss. Avoiding topics like that wouldn’t make them go away. It would just lead to her being surprised when they came to blows over it, later. Not that she could take her mother in a fight. Even if powers weren’t used, that one would be close. Hannah practiced shooting things a lot, but her unarmed fighting was weak. A big part of that was down to her lack of size, really.
Everyone else in her family were normal that way, but she’d ended up being kind of tiny, for some reason.
Calls started to come in, most of them going to Lash, directly. As the head of The Requiem.
Two came to her, surprisingly. She had a report on that, at about the same time that Lashondra did.
The darked skinned magic woman from another reality looked at Red Cape and Death Princess, and called them by their chosen names.
“Superion X, Diaspora... I have word that The Defiant, The Society, and The Locus are all standing by, in case we need to storm the island. I asked them to wait, in case our current operation fails. I was asked to let you know that they stand with you, Superion? Everyone was very pleased to find that you two survived, by the way. I... Don’t think that we would be getting through the day without a bloody war, if that hadn’t come about.”
She seemed to mean it, though no-one mentioned why that was, exactly. Loyalty, probably. After all, when the chips were down, the Red Cape always showed up. Fame was in there too, most likely. After all, Wisp did that too, always being there for everyone, but if his wife and kid had been murdered like that, Hannah had to wonder if that many people would be standing behind the man in blue.
Maybe.
That was the only answer she had, at the moment. Oddly enough, Red Cape would probably have been there for Wisp, if it was needed. Even if it was just the two of them, handling things.
She spoke then, going over her own calls.
“The Underdogs are also standing by. Tinner is calling in some of his magic friends. Street artists, and low-level people with powers, but if you go in, you have backup that way. Alex Darius is offering to bankroll the whole operation. Ships and supplies, that kind of thing, if it’s needed.”
Red Cape, a man who probably couldn’t be hurt by almost anything physical, who could take a bar of steel as big around as his arm and work it like warm taffy, nodded, his face seeming serious.
“If it comes to that, I’ll go alone. I won’t let this damage all those people and their reputations.”
Hannah was still trying and largely failing, to hold herself in a trance state, so that she’d notice what was about to happen. She didn’t really see anything going on, but suddenly knew what was about to occur. There were multiple, possibly hundreds, of different outcomes, but one main theme to them.
“Wisp is taking people in now. Fade is on chase duty, with the others following. No-one is that impressed with the speed of the little jet. They’re taking Wisp? He can’t fly that fast, but Solar Storm is pulling him along.”
That part was clear. Her brother was in his old outfit for that, not his Mr. Sparkles one. Meaning that his new identity wasn’t there at all. In case he had to kill someone.
The shocking part wasn’t what happened next, which Hannah couldn’t follow using psychic powers. No, it was the report that Wisp gave, about five minutes later. Teleporting into the room with a decently hot woman, who looked like she could have starred on television, in her own show. One called Life of Kate. Though about ten years older than Kate, the resemblance was uncanny. Not just a bit similar, either.
No, Doctor Sendra, clearly, was Katherine Sinclair. Aged up a bit, but it was close enough that the Doc probably could have shown up at her place and claimed that she’d had a hard night, and Hannah would have bought it. At first at least. The woman started to scream and yell, of course.
“I’ll fucking kill you all! You... Traitors! I’m your family and you’re siding with these... Cretins?”
Wisp was added to the lineup of staring, which wasn’t aimed at Hannah at all, for once. Even Lash and Debbie were ignored. The Doctor did stare at Reese and Megan, when she noticed them there, after about twenty seconds.
“How? I killed you... You were both dead.” She sounded a lot more like Kate now, too.
There was probably a story there, but Hannah didn’t ask for it, in the moment. There would be time for that, later. Also, while she was curious, if Wisp wanted to claim that his powers came from being struck by lightning, while meditating, at fifteen, well, that wasn’t a horrible origin story. It beat being buried in a box, after all.
Debbie chuckled, darkly. As if someone was about to die.
“Death doesn’t mean the same thing, to everyone. You messed with the wrong people, Sendra. Now, tell us, who put you up to this? You aren’t stupid enough to have gone after these two on your own. Someone else was behind this.”
The dark-skinned woman glared, and seemed like a drill instructor from a movie, suddenly. The projected intent was harsh and deadly, though no-one was about to die. Not in the next few seconds, at least. Hannah was able to track that much, even with all the distractions around her.
The Doc sneered. It wasn’t a good look for her.
“I won’t talk, and you can’t make me. You think you’re in charge here, with your telepath and your Damsel... But they are only two people. You have an army arrayed against you. The invisible hand, coming for you when you don’t expect it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other places to be?”
Hannah waited for the woman to vanish, teleporting away, so wasn’t that shocked when she did it. What was shocking was that she’d pulled her forty-four and shot just before that happened. Hitting incredibly low. The bullet looked to have hit Sendra in the middle, on the lower right-hand side.
Wisp vanished, at the same time, with Diaspora glaring, heaving, she was breathing so hard.
“We can take the Island. Sendra is weakened, and won’t heal as fast as the rest of us. She’s older, so the work Father did wasn’t as refined on her. Our sister gives pursuit, as well. It would be a mistake to underestimate her. Now we should...”
The woman, seeming very upset, speaking with a cute accent that was an awful lot like what Veronica had going on, froze then, as if not certain exactly what to do.
Hannah shrugged.
“Call your father and see if he knows about this? She was headed there, but that was clearly meant to do something else. She can teleport. Unless that’s very close range or something? Wisp can go pretty much anywhere on the planet, I think. How he’s following Sendra, I don’t know.”
Veronica looked at the others standing there and slowly shook her head. As if she had an idea as to how that worked, but wasn’t going to burn Kate’s life to the ground that way. Again, Hannah had to feel that one was kind of a story worth hearing. Sendra was so obviously Kate that there had to be a connection. At the same time the Sinclair family was old money. Katherine Sinclair had been her friend, since their mid-teens, even.
Things weren’t, she had to think, making sense, suddenly. Probably because she just wasn’t in the loop that way. Instead of whining, she tried to work out how to call an island. Veronica waved at her, when she muttered about that.
“Satellite phone. I know a man who has one we can use. Damsel, Diaspora and I will handle this part. We need to take a trip. My car is outside.”
The words weren’t filled with anything except a simple sounding plan. Hannah didn’t trust it, but she didn’t scream for help, either. Once outside, Hannah was gestured to the front passenger’s seat, with Diaspora going into the back. The woman grumped about that, a little bit.
“Always at the back of the bus, aren’t I?”
Veronica nodded, grinning.
“Hannah has a firearm, so rides in the shotgun position. Plus, I think I need to explain things to her. We don’t have a lot of time. I can read her facial expressions, if I can see them.”
Diaspora sneered.
“Big deal, so can I. I take your point. What’s to explain, however?”
Veronica sighed.
“Everything. Pretty much our entire lives. We don’t have that kind of time, of course. We need to get to Tyler’s. Hannah is a friend of his, so he might lend her his sat phone.” She paused, for what seemed like a long time, with Hannah not speaking at all, just waiting.
Finally, the driver went on.
“It was slightly over twenty years ago, when we left the Island. It was a... Well, think of the worst things you can, like hell... Then put it on a lovely tropical island. That will get you close. Our father was, and is, a monster. A geneticist who doesn’t hold to any rules of man at all. So all of us were changed, to meet his whims. Sendra was the oldest of his daughters. He has hundreds of children, or has over the years, but most were animal-based chimeras, who he thinks of as disposable. When they speak of his daughters, they mean us, the good-looking ones. The sex slaves. That... I know that it sounds unlikely. Each of us was made to be powerful. Pretty. In the image of his only true love, or at least the woman he obsessed over for half a century. Samantha Sinclair.”
The name sounded familiar, being Kate’s mother and all that.
“I see.”
Veronica nodded.
“Now, the seven of us are, obviously, all clones of that woman. Sendra, Devya and Katherine are all exact clones, of course. Other than their powers. They all have various abilities that way. Around teleportation, mainly. When we fled, little Kate was five, so Sendra found her a place with the Sinclair family. They offered to take in the rest of us, but that couldn’t happen. The government didn’t want us together. We’re too powerful for that. So, we were put in different places. Lived different lives.”
There was more silence, for a long time, then Diaspora spoke, from behind them.
“The treaty signed means that each of us must aid America, in times of need. We have powers, so most of us dress in pretty costumes and fight crime, of course. Except Leslie. She’s a medical doctor. That counts as well, or at least no-one has insisted she play dress up with the rest of us. Except for Sendra, who spent her time aiding in other ways. Building machines to hold and remove the powers of those who would seek to harm our new people. Only... She was never a pleasant person.”
Veronica took over then, smoothly.
“That is the danger of such things. Each of us has great power, but genetic manipulations can also lead to problems. Issues. Like how I don’t just have a high sex drive, I have an insane one? Or how Diaspora is prone to fits of battle fury? Katie isn’t bad, that way at all. Really, Devy isn’t either. The mistakes made in Sendra were smoothed out as Father went on. So...” She sighed. “We aren’t just sisters. We’re all clones, of the same person. Some of us look different, since genetics isn’t always certain that way. Meaning that your best friend is my twin sister, more or less.”
From the back seat, Diaspora grunted.
“Mine too, then. Eh... By the way, who is her best friend?”
It took a minute, but Veronica explained that part. That Katie, their sister, was the one with that job.
They rode in silence the rest of the way, after that.
Chapter thirteen
The world tried to overwhelm her. To trigger a panic attack or at least a fear response, as Tyler got his sat-phone out, and hooked it up to a screen, since of course both he and Doctor Pond would have access to such things. He was able to tell that fact from the number presented, which came from Diaspora. Tyler didn’t goggle at the woman, but he clearly understood who was sitting there, in the back of his shop.
Being served coffee by Terry Lamond, as it turned out.
Veronica and Hannah had hugged both of them, coming in the door. Diaspora just kept shifting around, as if ready to hit something, very hard. Hopefully she’d refrain from that kind of thing, because the space they were in, while cluttered and a bit low rent looking, was probably filled with a few hundred thousand dollars’ worth of raw materials. Tyler was good, not rich, after all.
Still, even if she could have paid for it all, that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be annoying to have your projects beaten up, as you stood there and tried to humbly request you not be put out of business. Ty leaned in, past the group of women, putting himself between Veronica and Hannah, to type the needed codes in. That was more work than just dialing a number would have been. There seemed to be coordinates needed, for both sides. A thing that he had to look up, to make the process work.
After about ten minutes of waiting, the screen flicked to life.
There was a man there, who seemed to be of African ancestry, except that he was covered with a fine layer of fur, and the hair on his head, while very short, was smoothed to his head, and not curly at all. Other than that, he probably could have walked the streets of a major city and not been thought of as strange. Not until he spoke.
The man clearly had an accent. Fang teeth as well. Making him seem more like a fuzzy vampire than anything else.
“Sisters...” He stopped, staring at everyone else in the room, then made a low, angry sound. “Outsiders. What do you want?”
The man sounded moody, at the very least. He kept eyeing Veronica as well, as if wondering if she’d be free later. Which made the part where he’d called her sister a bit gross. Not that Hannah was going to judge them. After all, they were from a different culture.
Diaspora growled back.
“Lucas. Playing secretary to father now that all the intelligent people have left?”
Hannah, not even considering things, hit the woman on the arm. Not hard, thankfully. As it was, she’d probably gotten close to starting a fight, just doing that.
“Be nice. Sorry there, Lucas. I’m Hannah, we have Ty and Terry in the background. Would it be possible to speak to Doctor Pond, do you think?” She pitched her voice to be professional seeming. A thing that might not mean anything to an animal man, if that’s what the fellow was.
Instead of cursing her for being different or annoying, Luc tilted his head.
“I don’t know? Let me go and ask after that, if you don’t mind waiting, Hannah? It could take a while. The island isn’t that small and Father’s lab is secured when he’s working.”
She didn’t know if the connection could last that long, but smiled at the guy. After all, he was being nice to her. Probably getting that she was small and would be easy to catch. For what, she didn’t know, of course.
The dark-skinned man, who wasn’t wearing a shirt, showing impressive musculature, smoothly got up, and ran away.
Hopefully to find the fellow they were looking for.
Lucas hadn’t lied to her at all, since getting Dr. Pond took the better part of a half hour. When the man came in, she was a bit taken aback. Not because he was fierce seeming, or really that strange on the outside. The round-faced man looked like he should have had glasses on, but didn’t and as if he needed to have a bald spot. A thing that also wasn’t there. He also looked to be about twenty or so, instead of the over fifty he’d pretty much have to be for the timelines of what she’d heard to line up. Also, clearly of Indian extraction, from his tan skin and facial features.
She nearly asked if his father was home, when Veronica spoke, her voice slightly annoyed sounding.
“Father. There’s been a problem. Sendra tortured and murdered two people here in the U.S. The wife and only child of the man called Superion X.”
There was a blink then, which seemed a bit too quick for a normal person.
“The alien you work with, Vidya?”
Diaspora moved forward a bit, as if trying to be heard.
“Yes. The one who cannot be stopped, and who called me earlier with blood lust in his eyes. Sendra left a video and then admitted to it in person, when friends of mine retrieved her. From a plane, in flight. One headed to Little Paradise, directly. That was clearly a message. You are being set up. Do you know why, or has our dear sister finally outgrown the need for your approval?”
The man, seeming fast, but slightly fussy in his movements, smiled then. It was freaking creepy.
Then, Hannah knew he’d raped his own daughters, when they were younger. Using biological tricks for at least Veronica, but it had still been done and even if they weren’t his biologically, she didn’t love the idea. A thing her friend more or less seemed to be shrugging off.
Still, there didn’t seem to be a lot of love lost.
“I... Can’t claim to know anything about this one. Making it so my children can’t outgrow a need for me sounds like a good idea, actually. I’ll need to see if I can workout how to do that. Some kind of imprinting, perhaps? Like a baby duck?”
Vidya leaned in again.
“Listen, Father. A force of superhuman beings has been brought together, which even you cannot defeat. I mean that, as well. The Island will be gone by tomorrow, if you do not tell us what we need to know in order to save you. I gave the orders for that myself, in fact. The invasion and destruction of all of you? You made me too well, in certain ways, Father.”
The man made a silly face then.
“Oohhh? That sounds fun then! We should have a party first, before the battle. As for me losing, well, perhaps. If that happens, I strongly doubt that this planet will survive a year, but please, if your anger is more valuable than the lives of the entire world, feel free, Vidya. I await my punishment.” Then the man gave a fruity sounding laugh, that indicated he was either acting insane or actually was.
Hannah nodded. The symptoms were a thing she’d covered in college, of all things.
“Kuru? You do know that you aren’t supposed to eat people don’t you?” She was calling names, but the symptoms really were a lot like what the man was currently showing.
The man sobered then and nodded.
“Very good, miss. Yes, it’s a prion disorder, due to cannibalism, and while I’ve managed to slow the progress, I’m certain it will eventually kill me. I have some years yet, of course. Unless I don’t?” He glanced at everyone there, moving as if on the good kind of speed. The one that was designed to almost be a low-level superpower.
