Damsel no more, p.2
Damsel: No More, page 2
part #1 of Damsel Series
It was tempting, to go and live in a cage somewhere. A safe place, where it would be harder for people to get at her. Except that wasn’t living at all. It was becoming a prisoner. A thing that should be reserved for the people who did the wrong thing, not her. Not innocent people, either.
The trip to her house was spent in something close to silence. No one got after her for making too many wrong choices, even if she sort of had. Going out to the clubs, drinking and making a spectacle of herself had, almost certainly, marked her as being a target the night before. Though, it was possible that the guy with precognition had noticed her that way, and for some reason missed whoever had really stopped them.
That part bothered her a bit, when she thought about it. Someone had been there and saved her and the driver, then skipped out before she could even see who had done it. It was galling to be a victim, but worse to not be able to thank people for what they’d done. To owe a debt that large and not be able to repay it, in any way. It left her feeling both selfish and like she owed people who she, despite her wealth, could never pay off.
Which was true. All the cash in the world wasn’t enough for her life. Not to her.
She didn’t mention any of that, simply feeling too tired to bother, at the moment. Instead, when she got home, Hannah moved to the front door of her building, the doorman nodding to her, in his rich burgundy outfit. It was raining that day, so the man was inside the foyer, recognizing her as she entered with the six men. Five of them, since Teegs stayed with the vehicle.
“Miss Hannah! How are you...”
She smiled at the older fellow, who was good at his job, in that he memorized the names and faces of everyone in the building. If he didn’t know you, the door wasn’t going to be opened. He was also, she’d heard, quick with a cell phone, if it was needed.
“Hey, Lewis. Things are... not that great, really. I’ll live.” She waved at the side of her head, showing her bandages, and of course the half torn apart dress. “Kidnapping attempt last night. Super types. They didn’t get me though, so that’s one for our side?”
The man went wide eyed, then tightened his face, with something close to determination.
“I’ll keep a sharp eye out, then. Are you all right? Other than the obvious wounds, that is.”
She shrugged then and winced as she tried to nod.
“Concussion. That’s all though, other than some cuts I got in the fight. I should be fine. The police have the three who tried to grab me, so there’s that. Thanks.”
She was let in, and waved at the men, who all tried to follow her up. She was on the ninth floor though, and Lewis was still alive, so she doubted anyone had gotten past him.
“I’ll be good, I think. If not... Well, then life sucks, you know?”
She meant it, more or less. The men let her go though, since the truth was, no one would be waiting in her apartment for her. Not that she didn’t search the whole place, once she got to her door. It was tidy, since she wasn’t a slob and had a maid come in every day. Only for a few hours though, which was mainly the woman padding her paycheck, since the place wasn’t big and Hannah didn’t really do that much, there, most days. Her service prided itself on doing the work while the client was out, invisibly. Not that a person wouldn’t show up if she just stayed home all the time. That had happened once or twice, after all.
Still, after her search of the place, which probably wasn’t that useful, but did cover under her bed and inside both her closets, as well as each room and behind the shower door, she stripped and moved to the bathroom. There she scrubbed herself for nearly an hour, even if she felt a bit like falling down instead of moving, at the moment.
A thing that, once she had a night shirt on, and triple checked the doors, she almost literally did. It was after noon by a few hours when she laid down. That meant it wasn’t shocking to her when, ten hours later, and she opened her eyes, it was dark outside. Raining, as well.
She noticed that when she looked out the glass patio door that led to her balcony. That wasn’t tiny, really. Big enough for her to lay out on, with several friends, if it ever bothered to be sunny and warm enough. Not that she did that, most of the time. It was safe enough, since it was nine stories up and there were eleven more stories over her head. It was just that doing that kind of thing meant that people would try to get pictures of her. Even if she wasn’t famous, other than the bit she got because her parents had money.
Except that, of course, she sort of was. Katie was on television a lot, and had even had her own show for a while. A thing that might be picked up for a second season, even. Hannah had been on that, of course, if in the background. It was enough that topless photos of her would be popular online, if anyone could get them. Not that her modest chest and skinny frame would look all that good in them. So she avoided that kind of thing, most of the time.
Rolling out of bed, feeling stiff on a level that she hadn’t been expecting, even if she should have, she made a soft growling sound.
“Holy fudge. Even my hair hurts. This is ridiculous. Note to self, get healing powers.” Instead of looking into that, she sighed and dressed for the day. The night, as it was. After another shower. This one wasn’t as long, but she did her hair again, to make sure there was no blood in it. That was short and blonde. Almost a pixie cut, since that made it harder to pull, in a fight. It was tender and when she looked into the bathroom mirror, her face, running into her hairline, was a solid black and blue bruise on the right-hand side. To keep in balance, the other side was covered with dozens of small red cuts, naturally.
“And this is what it looks like when you win the fight...” Which she was still going to count it as.
Even if she did look like a woodchipper and a wall had mugged her. Hard.
Most of the time she ate her meals out. When she ate at all, which wasn’t that often, since thin was important to her. That didn’t mean she didn’t have a box of crackers and some vegie dip in the fridge. That, it turned out, was still good, so, taking time to plate that up, she settled at the dining room table, dressed in loose white slacks and a soft green top. The kind of thing that she wore when she knew being alone was in the cards, for an evening. Dressy enough to not feel bad, if anyone saw her, but comfortable enough she could curl up in front of a screen for a while and not feel trapped.
While she ate, Hannah pulled her phone and tapped at it for a while. There were several texts. Kate got one back, instantly, since hers was fairly panicked seeming. That meant reassuring her friend in writing.
“I’m fine. A bit banged up. No big thing.” When that had happened to her, Hannah didn’t know.
That she thought of having half her face turn blue with the other looking like hamburger as not being that important was just true, though. It hurt and wasn’t a great look, but the main thing was that it was annoying, more than anything else.
After hitting send, she had to actually call her father. The man still insisted on talking to everyone, like it was the nineties still or something.
“Hey Dad! It’s me. How are you doing?” It was late, but not so much that she couldn’t return a message that day. Failing to do that would probably have James and his crew at her doorstep before morning.
“Honey! We should... I was talking with James earlier, he said you already have a plan in place? I could have a team there in... Less than an hour. I have one standing by, in fact.”
She chuckled then.
“I’m just planning to get some real training. Not that what James showed me didn’t work, well enough. That and... I’m going to try and give up drinking. Drugs, too. That and start wearing flats. Heels get all the style points, and make my rear end look great but they just don’t work in some situations, you know?”
There was silence for a bit, then a long, drawn out, sigh.
“I see. Well, if you need anything, let me know? I know that you’re resistant to the idea of security, for some reason. Not that I get all of it.”
It was her turn to be silent for a bit, then, instead of going into it, for the fiftieth time, Hannah faked another chuckle.
“I’ll handle this. I... I just can’t take this anymore. Being a victim. Not that I was, for once. Still, I almost lost. Someone... I didn’t see them at all, but the three super creeps who tried for me were put down, hard, by someone. The driver was already knocked out and claims he didn’t see anyone, either. This is going differently the next time anyone tries it. I won’t need someone else to protect me.” She meant it, even though she had no clue how to make that happen.
She lacked handy superpowers. Even a gun would help, but that would take real training. For one thing, she was kind of afraid of them, if she were going to tell the truth. They were an object that meant things had gone wrong, in her world. Not that she wasn’t willing to get over that.
Her father laughed then. It was a soft thing.
“Well, I always told you that you could do anything you wanted in life. Be careful. This last batch... They weren’t after money. They told the police, before they escaped, that they were going to make the capitalists pay. I... don’t think their plan was to ransom you back to me.”
“Fuck.” She just sat there, at her table, crackers and vegie dip in front of her on a fine china plate, as she thought. For a long while.
When she finally spoke, it was firm, but not angry.
“Okay. So... I don’t get three years to get ready for them? I’ll... Well, running away, comes to mind, first.” She nearly mentioned the idea of staying at the summer house, in the Hamptons, then didn’t, in case the phone was bugged. That or making plans could be read by their precog.
Her father, who was a bit dry at the best of times, even if it was clear he truly loved his children, made a soft sound then.
“Indeed. Regardless, I’m not letting this go. We’ll handle this. I promise.”
Hannah nodded, getting the idea. One of the best things about being incredibly wealthy was that, when it came down to it, almost anything could be done. If a team of super-anarchists wanted his daughter dead as a threat to others of their kind, he could answer them with a purchased overwhelming force of his own.
She had a healthy allowance, but wasn’t going to manage that on her own. Not that she was planning to sit there and do nothing. She just didn’t have a clue at what action to take, that was all.
They didn’t speak on the topic again, since saying that kind of thing on the phone was asking for someone who didn’t need to know about it to listen in.
It wasn’t until she hung up, some minutes later, that she heard a strange tapping from the other room. That was, when she went to look, due to a man standing on her balcony. Dressed in dark blue, with a mask on his face. That covered the whole thing, in a flat expanse that showed it was armor, instead of just a really good disguise. It worked for that part too, of course.
Nine stories up. Which probably meant something dangerous as well. No normal people have ever just popped in for a visit from that direction, at least.
“Oh, goodie, visitors.” Holding up one finger, asking for a moment, Hannah left the room.
Chapter two
Hannah stormed back from the kitchen, into the front room, her bare feet getting good traction on the carpet. In either hand she had one of her rather expensive steel handled chef’s knives. The things had been sharpened using lasers, or so she’d been told. If that was better than using a rock for it, or however it was done otherwise, she didn’t know, but it had sounded cool, at the time.
That had been over a year before, but the things had barely been used. In fact, the huge thing in her left hand never had, unless the cleaning lady had done something with it at some point. She certainly hadn’t. That might mean it was even sharp.
Instead of running, or climbing, away in fear, the man in midnight blue simply bowed a bit. Then he spoke, his voice muffled, either from the mask that obscured his face, which looked hard, like plastic, or due to the glass. Then waving his right fingers a bit, the lock on the door engaged with a click.
Then he struggled to open the thing.
“You locked it, dumb-ass. Why would I keep it locked? This is nine stories up! It’s not like some asshole is going to, I don’t know, fly up here or drop from above using ropes, is it?” How that had happened she couldn’t tell at all.
The man waved again, and was suddenly inside. The air popped, when it happened. Probably meaning that he hadn’t needed to bother flying up to meet her at all. It was just teleportation. Holding his hands up, as if surrendering.
“Sorry. I wasn’t going for anything that dramatic.”
Then, instead of talking, or murdering her, if that was the goal of the moment, the man, who was in a light form of armor, it seemed, was suddenly back pedaling, trying not to be sliced up.
Hannah worked hard, swinging the blades as fast as she could. Doing nothing, since she couldn’t catch the man. Not until, moving on the diagonal, in an arc, he ran into the wall. Then, instead of being chopped to pieces as was appropriate to the moment, he waved his hands again. Making the knives lock in place, in the air.
She didn’t waste time trying to pull them free, simply letting go and turning, to run. Only to find herself floating in the air, about a foot up, having lifted suddenly. At the same time, her mouth locked shut with a click of teeth.
The man was holding his hands up, but didn’t move for a few moments.
“That wasn’t bad, really. I’m a friend though. We met, earlier? After a fashion, that is.”
There was a head shake, then.
“Sorry, I missed a blue colored teleporting super freak... Refresh my memory?”
That got a chuckle, at least. It sounded pleasant, if a bit insane.
“Ah. You did seem a bit out of it at the time. You were busily kicking three super villain’s behinds for them, when one of them managed to get a shot in? I hadn’t been planning to interfere, given you were winning but Red Bitch cheated, using superpowers, so it made them fair game.”
Hannah stopped moving her legs like she was running, then. It wasn’t doing any good, and she finally got the idea. At least what the man was claiming.
“You were the one that saved me? Us, I mean. At least if the driver wasn’t in on it. I hope not. We weren’t chatting all evening, but he hadn’t been a jerk or anything, you know?”
Calming down apparently was the right thing to do, since there was a brief gesture then, and she floated, rather slowly, back to the floor.
“Save you? Maybe. I wasn’t kidding though... If they’d been regular people, you might have won that fight. Against three people. All of them larger than you are. Which is why I’m here.”
That didn’t scan to her brain, but she got that this man, whoever he was, wouldn’t be a person she could drive off very easily. Instead of yelling for help, since the soundproofing on her building was incredible, she tilted her head.
“You came for the reward? You saved the princess, so now I get to spread my legs for you?” She shrugged. Part of her wanted to be offended by the idea, but when it came to her, she had to agree it seemed like a pretty good trade. Really, the guy didn’t seem to have a bad build or anything, so it would probably even be fun for her. “Fuck it. You earned that, I guess. Can I get a few days though, for my face to heal up first? You might as well get the best I can manage, right? Plus, no offense, but I’m a little sore right now, even if you are sweet talking me with delusions about me winning that thing, earlier. It wasn’t happening. I know that.”
The man nodded, which Hannah didn’t blink at. After all, if he really was there for sex, looking for that kind of prize, she’d be kind of evil to turn him away. Stupid, too. After all, she might need him the next time those freaks came around. Making friends was important, when it could be managed. Life had taught her that lesson, too.
There was a soft chuckle, which again, didn’t really sound all that sane, to be honest. Not dangerous though. Just a bit loopy, for some reason.
“Perhaps not. Still, outmatched, unprepared... And you still tried. Plus, they ambushed you and you took the flow of the pattern back from them. That’s not too shabby.” There was another hand wave then, but Hannah didn’t fly into a wall, or have all her clothing vanish, so figured it as a simple gesture, like normal people might have made.
When the man spoke, his voice was deep, but in that way guys used when they were trying to be manly and impressive, not like he was actually different in that way. In short, it sounded fake.
“As for claiming a reward... Well, that never works, does it? Besides, you aren’t the damsel in distress in this story. You are, very clearly, something different. Which is why I came. To offer you something...”
Hannah shook her head then.
“That’s different. I can’t... No, I have nothing here. What are you offering?” She half expected him to say her life. That or to give her superpowers.
Instead he shrugged.
“I know a woman. She trains people, if they’re worthy, to become more than they were. It won’t make you greater than human, or give you special gifts, unless they’re already within you. Still, it’s worth doing and she might consider it, if I recommend you.”
There was silence in the room, and Hannah smiled, suddenly. Then had to grab her face, in pain.
“Ow. Sorry... I was just going to point out that spoiled heiresses generally aren’t the people to bother with that way. This woman would take one look at me, remember the last tabloid I was in and kick me out of her dojo, or whatever it is. Lab?”
The blue masked head tilted back and forth then.
“Neither. She might reject you. If you do this thing, you’ll need to be prepared to truly do it. To put everything you have into the effort. Then, what you do with it after that, will be up to you. Just, I’m going out on a limb, bothering to recommend you to her. If she says yes, I kind of want a guarantee that you won’t become an anarchist or take to robbing banks.”
