Soda supreme, p.2
Soda Supreme, page 2
Vidya held her hand up, and then nodded.
“Oh? All right, then. We’ll hold here. Hannah, can you find this person?”
Alistair already knew where the man was, but she nodded. She knew he existed and even without a name, the man who had planned to kidnap her that night would probably narrow the field of individuals down, a lot. She was shaking, from reaction and was in pain, but she couldn’t allow any of that to stop her from doing her part. She was saving herself that day, after all.
“I think I can. Let me... I need to sit down, off the road.”
Wisp came back, as she moved, Vidya still talking on the phone. After a bit, the woman hung up, and both of them moved along with Hannah. The van stayed in the street. No one else had come by, as of yet.
Vid waved in her direction.
“Damsel is going to find the location of the person behind this. We have SX and Accel coming here, for back up. Who else do you want for this?” Wisp was the one being asked, since she was the superhero there and Hannah was her best friend.
Hannah answered, anyway.
“Carl, Veronica and John.”
Wisp tilted her head.
“John?”
She nodded, understanding the idea.
“Oh, sure. If the rest of you beat this creep for me, you’ll kill him. John can do that for us.” She didn’t really mean it, simply wanting to include the man because he’d had a hard time in the last year. So had some of the other people she knew, but she wasn’t planning to bring Reese in on this kind of thing. Except, of course, that she probably should. The boy had practiced fighting with bare hands and weapons, even if he was too young to carry anything.
He wasn’t a superhero, but he was trying to not just be a crime victim, like she was. He’d been murdered. They’d gotten him back, but that kind of thing left scars. Things that living a soft and easy life weren’t really going to manage to fix very well. Feeling useful and included might. A little.
“Reese, as well. We’ll want him to hold back, but let him observe, if possible.”
Kate was silent for a long time. If her face held any kind of expression, it couldn’t be seen past her mask. When she spoke, it was bland. Almost perfectly so.
“Understood.”
Then she vanished, with a soft pop, teleporting away again.
Vidya shrugged.
“Reese?”
She nodded.
“Practice, if it’s fairly safe. You don’t become stronger by avoiding life. He... We can’t let him avoid the hard things. I don’t think he’ll survive if we do that to him.”
That got a grunt, as Hannah, without using her hands, sat on the grass at the side of the road. It took her a while to get into a trance, but the actual person she needed to find wasn’t that hard for her to manage. He was about half a mile away, in a farmhouse. Still waiting for her to get there.
Beaten and raped, because he didn’t want to have her be too into fighting, him being overweight and not that good at violence. At least on a personal level.
“Eugene Leptis. That way. The next driveway on the left side of the road. We can walk there in about ten minutes, without even working up a sweat. Less if we hurry.”
She tried to point with her left hand, as she normally did when she used psychic powers, only to find that really wasn’t going to work for her, now that the swelling had set in.
“Ah.” Her eyes opened then, to see that other people had come while she sat there. “Help me up? Don’t tug on the left side.”
Reese moved in quickly. The boy, who was fit enough, but not special seeming, other than being pretty young, was very careful to help her up without even trying to cop a feel. Then, she was covered with dried blood. That had to be a mood killer.
“Here... What are we going to do? Have... Superion X and Accel go get him?”
He seemed earnest and Superion nodded, his bare face seeming stern, instead of holding his normal cute smile. What he wasn’t doing was screaming at his son for being out and about at three in the morning, or whatever time it was. Green Running Guy, who thought his code name was Accel, as if he were a spread sheet, took several steps in that direction.
John was already there, standing back, seeming annoyed, with Cry Diamond being directly beside him, even if they weren’t the best of friends in the world. Then, she didn’t hate the man. She hated her father and John Fawks was, more or less, Dr. Pond’s friend. Associate, at least.
That was all.
Hannah shook her head.
“Not this time. Eugene isn’t even armed, if you can believe that. Not a fighter of any kind, either. We can just walk up and take him. Reese, why don’t you do that part for us? Knock on the door, I mean? Cry Diamond can stand to the side, ready to make the grab. John, you’re here to beat the man for us?”
He snorted.
“Sure? Are we going that extra-legal with this? I’m in, but we might want to ditch some of the goodie-goods here, if that’s the case. Us three can handle it.” He glanced at Reese then, and got a slow nod back. As if that made sense. The rest of the people there were heroes, after all.
She stuck out her tongue, and rolled her eyes.
“Not really, but we can pretend for a bit, right?”
Red Cape, who Hannah knew as Christopher now, went still.
“Is sending a boy the best plan?” His voice was soft, as if not wanting his son to hear him say the words. Even if he was standing right there.
Vidya laughed.
“For an unarmed man? An adult, but this is no ordinary boy. This is a good enough plan. We should all disguise ourselves. Except you, Hannah.” She said that as if it made sense.
Which it did, as soon as Veronica explained it to her.
“Because Hannah de Peyser was the one being taken, not Damsel?”
Her sister pointed at her.
“That one. This way?” The woman, known for being direct, as well as physically powerful, and more than a little violent, marched off, in the correct direction. Hannah had to struggle, to keep up.
Luther, dressed in a tan full mask, with a duster on, that was a strange gray-tan coloration and an outfit that looked pretty post-apocalyptic, with boots that had buckles, heavy tan trousers and a lot of straps across what was probably very high-end black body armor. That portion of things was almost invisible, looking like heavy cloth, but no more than that.
“I’m on the van. Are we driving that up for the act?”
Hannah hadn’t been thinking that, but Reese nodded.
“We should. I’ll ride with you? I need to hide my face. A...” That had a strip of cloth coming out, from Vidya, who simply tore a piece of her own shirt off, to make a kerchief. That left her abs showing, which was kind of hot, not that Hannah was feeling randy at the moment. Her abs were nearly as good, even after having gained some weight.
Gritting her teeth, Hannah nodded.
“I’ll get in the back, then? That sounds... Fun.” She didn’t love the idea of going back into the kidnap van, but she did it, feeling as if Luther was going to drive off with her, to bury her in a box. Instead, the others walking, except Red Cape, who flew into the air, faster than Hannah could track in the dark, she and Reese got into the rape-mobile, with her kneeling down in the back, in a drying puddle of blood.
It was her mess and her pjs were trashed anyway. When they pulled up the outdoor light was on, and Reese, with his makeshift mask, made out of Diaspora’s shirt, which was kind of bad ass, got out. He didn’t have to pound on the door. That had opened as soon as they pulled up. Hannah couldn’t see it, but Carl, helpfully, mentioned it.
“Here we go. One man... Big. Three hundred and fifty pounds, at a guess. Be careful kid, fat doesn’t mean helpless. Unarmed five minutes ago doesn’t mean he didn’t grab the gun behind the door.”
Reese, sounding a little nervous, was already outside the van. He didn’t answer. Instead, he did something that sounded like someone else. Calling out, his voice suddenly deep. A fake thing, that was raspy and harsh.
“The bitch is in here. She... didn’t come easy. She had a knife on her.”
Eugene, his voice sounding very normal, coughed.
“I... The telepath was supposed to keep her out?”
Reese answered, as the van door opened.
“Yeah. That didn’t really work, after a bit. There’s a bit of a mess.”
When the door pulled wide, Hannah climbed out, the man not even moving back, even though she had a knife in her right hand. He’d been warned of that part.
“Eugene! So nice to meet you! Your hired men are all in the hospital. Now, do you want to come peacefully, or...” She hadn’t been planning to say anything, but the moment was open for it.
Gene tried to run. It was nearly comical. The man was not fast or ready for action. Then, evil didn’t require that. Just that you were willing to do bad things. She got ready to fight the man, and started to walk after him, when Reese danced forward and kicked the big fellow in the back of the right knee. He went down hard, with a gasp of pain.
Then he was pretty well surrounded.
“Oh... My...”
Vidya was in her costume now, which was interesting, and Superion X floated in the air, just visible in the light from the house. Wisp was standing to the side, with her hand out, and Carl was looking down the barrel of a fifty-caliber hand cannon. A Desert Eagle, even if Hannah couldn’t really see it, in the dim light. She knew that the man would have four of them on him, when in uniform.
John simply moved in and punched the man in the head. Hard.
“You don’t get to just leave, boyo. We should take him in and tie him to a chair, for his beating? Or do you want him to just be raped in prison, Miss?” The man did sinister well. It was almost enough to freak Hannah out and she actually understood the game being played.
It was enough that Eugene made a distressed sound.
“I didn’t do anything. I just...”
Hannah coughed. It was fake, so she didn’t cover it. Besides, she needed to cradle her left arm for a bit.
“You just hired a bunch of people to do it for you? Even to beat and rape me first, to soften me up for you? That’s still illegal. Like... Fifty or sixty years in prison. Even having failed in that part, heading up a kidnapping will get you to about twenty. This has to be aggravated. As for wanting him raped in prison...”
She sighed and shook her head.
“No. I mean, I doubt he can make it without being someone’s bitch, but we shouldn’t set that up. We should...”
Reese moved in suddenly, and kicked the man, who was trying to get up. It was a solid blow and put the large fellow on the ground again.
“Stay down! You came to beat him, right?” He was speaking to John, who nodded.
“Yes. It was felt the rest of you might kill him. That isn’t wrong. I should get something to wrap my hands up with.”
Vidya got some more cloth, this time from Eugene, tearing his t-shirt into strips. It was clean, at least, and not that thick, being made of blue and black cotton.
The man moaned.
“You can’t do this! You’re heroes, from that team... I didn’t do anything!”
Luther laughed. His voice sounding like death warmed over. Not that different than he normally did, just meaner.
“Didn’t you? You had a woman kidnapped, to rape her. Then you were going to kill her. Did you think you’d get away with that? This is Hannah de Peyser! If you succeeded here, how did you think you were going to escape? Did you think no one would care? That her parents wouldn’t hire the best telepath they could find and track you down? Or that you wouldn’t be stopped first? I mean, I get that you didn’t know it wouldn’t work just because she’s her, but even without that part of things, you should have worked out that this wasn’t a great plan.”
The man groaned again, then spoke, which was foolish of him. Once you started lying, the best plan was to always keep lying, no matter what anyone else said about the matter.
“I just wanted to have sex with her. I’m disgusting, so... No one would want me that way. No woman. I didn’t have any choice! It’s her fault. All of you. You Stacys and Chads... You can’t understand how hard it is just to be me! I deserve to have a woman! I deserve to be loved too.”
Everyone else was too baffled or dumbfounded to answer, but Hannah did, after rolling her eyes.
“Or, you could have lost some weight, practiced some social skills and then... I don’t know, not been a psycho rapist? That might not work, but it’s better than prison, isn’t it?”
The big man laughed then. It sounded deranged.
He slipped a hand into a pocket, the one on his oversized jeans, on the right, and pulled it out, with what looked like nothing being in it.
“You know, I always knew I wasn’t going to get away with this. I spent everything I had on hiring those people. I rented this place...” Carl seemed to be getting ready to shoot the man, as he put his hand to his mouth, grinning. “I figured that it would be the cops, not a super team. I knew that you’d find me. Eventually. Well, fuck it. I’m not going to be kicked around anymore.”
Then, he just sat there, for about ten seconds, doing nothing. Until he rose in a sudden movement, one that was faster than Hannah would have thought he was physically capable of, and started to throw hands with everyone he could reach. Reese fought back, the other man actually knocking him backward, physically, by about five feet, with a single powerful move. The kid had to roll out of it at the end, there was so much force behind the action.
Then he tried for John, as three of the others got to him. Grabbing at him. They were all hit, hard enough to make them pause. Vidya got it first, and called out what was happening.
“Combat drugs! I’ve never seen this before.”
Eugene, fat and not at all in shape, moved like a large cat, suddenly. He was fast, agile and breathing like a steam engine. His bare flesh started to turn red. It wasn’t a special thing, just like what pale skin did when it was burned, or hot. It was splotchy in certain areas. On his neck and hands.
Still, drugged or not, the man went down when Cry Diamond moved in and punched him several times. He didn’t go out, even if he had a broken jaw, from the noise the impact had made. Then he wrestled with the others, for a while, barely being held down, which caused more snapping noises. His bones breaking as he struggled to escape, under super human hands. There was no reaction to pain at all, however.
Red Cape pinned the man finally, but barely kept him in place. There was bucking and punches from the ground that didn’t do much to the hero in blue and red, but would have probably killed her in about ten seconds, if she’d been too close to the man herself. After about three minutes of this, struggling in a way that seemed highly improbable, the man stopped moving. Vidya grunted.
“His heart is gone. Probably shredded. That... I’ve never seen this before. I actually heard his heart give out. It popped...”
Hannah blew out a giant breath.
“He probably knew it would do that. We... What do we do now?”
The answer to that, as always, was to call the police. After all, everything important was already over. For the time being, at least.
Chapter two
Hannah didn’t know what she thought was going to happen when the cops were called, but it was different than what really did. Well, honestly, she’d been kidnapped before, and was kind of an old pro at the mop up from it. She needed to call her father, and her lawyer, to make sure everything went well as far as the court cases went.
What went on this time was faster than it had been in the past.
“You have a broken arm?” The Sheriff Deputy, a woman, who seemed to be rather excited that something so massive had happened in her neck of the woods, kept turning to look at Red Cape. She wasn’t just checking him out, seeming to be into hero worship, instead.
Not that he didn’t have a tight behind to examine. The woman simply wasn’t bothering with that kind of thing.
Hannah nodded, wondering if she should say anything at all, without her lawyer being there. She nearly didn’t answer, but then nodded.
“Wrist. The left one. I should get to the hospital. Wisp can get me there fastest, I think.”
The woman, who was big boned, but also powerful seeming for a girl, nodded.
“Kate Sinclair? That’s wild, isn’t it?” She winced. “Crap. You were kidnapped. Um... Were you hurt in other ways? We need to know, if there was a sexual assault.”
She shook her head, knowing that she really needed to have her mouthpiece do that kind of thing for her.
“No. They claimed it was in the plans, but I managed to fight well enough and then help came. Um, not to be a pain, but I should wait...”
The Deputy scowled then.
“Wait for what? To go to the hospital?”
A voice came from behind her then. Really, it was from behind Vidya, who clearly had seen whoever it was walking up.
“She should wait for me to show up, first. I’m Tomas Lichen. The head lawyer and agent supervisor, for The Society.”
It was fun to pretend that law enforcement were all a bit stupid, but the Deputy tilted her head then and let her eyebrows come up almost instantly. Her expression didn’t seem slow. Not even a little bit.
“Why would that be needed? Miss de Peyser is a private citizen. Yes, The Society showed up, and thank you all for that, but this is my jurisdiction. You folks don’t even have one of those, do you?”
Instead of getting angry or defensive, Lichen smiled at the woman.
“That’s true, of course. But her attacker, at least one of them, used drugs that seemed to give them superpowers, for a brief time period. We aren’t always allowed to let the public know about things like that. Also, at least two other people with powers were involved in this. We generally take over, as a courtesy, when that kind of thing takes place. We have the experience and frankly, even though your force here seems... Incredible, compared to most similar units I’ve seen, you also seem to be a bit understaffed to handle a nationwide investigation, which we might well be looking at. You could pass this to the FBI, but they’ll hand it to us anyway, and then we can’t work with you, here, which might be important. The FBI is good, but they aren’t locals. So, it’s the best plan, for the moment.”
