Beguiled damsel book 5, p.26
Beguiled (Damsel Book 5), page 26
The words were waved away, with a bit of exasperation.
“No, I meant that, I’m a superhero, Hannah. Sooner or later we all end up being mind tricked, along the way. Granted, this is pretty big, but the truth is, you don’t have the right powers to make me think anything. Not that you’ve ever shown. So, there is a very, very good chance that you’re being screwed with, instead of this being you. It could be that, sure, since crazy is a thing, but I know you too well to think this seems right.”
That was refreshing to hear, and gave her hope for a moment, then she shook her head.
“But Al said it was me.”
Kate made a face then, and sighed.
“Sure. But think about it Hannah, Alistair Marks, unlike you, actually has the power to make all of us see things. To think things that aren’t true, as well… maybe to even do a lot more than just that. He’s not just a telepath, he’s probably the most powerful one in the world.”
The words got Hannah to roll her eyes.
“You’re saying that someone got to Alistair?”
There was a slow nod then.
“If he wasn’t in with the enemy the whole time? Maybe. I need to check some things, ASAP. Just in case. Can you hang here, alone? Or… No, I’ll get someone in to sit with you. Just in case you really are flipping out. Another part about being a superhero is learning that, half the time, you have the wrong idea about people. I could be making up a story about Al, because I don’t want you to be going down on us, at least possibly. So, hang here for a bit? Let me see… We need someone safe. Who won’t be expected…”
She nodded then.
“I have it. Hold here for a while?”
Then, because she was a show off, the woman suddenly vanished, leaving Hannah alone there, with her thoughts. No weapons, but plenty to obsess over, inside her head. Instead, she forced her mind back into the black emptiness, and held it. Just in case it really was all her.
A thing that seemed a lot more likely than Alistair being behind it.
Then, the boy wasn’t the only powerful telepath in the world. That thought gave her some comfort, while she sank inside of herself, so deeply, that she finally lost track of being herself at all.
Chapter seventeen
Hours later, she noticed movement in the room with her. She went for her gun, which wasn’t there, then rolled to the side, even as she forced her eyes open. The person there baffled her for a moment, but she understood after a second.
“Alex? Kate brought you?” That seemed unlikely, but the man nodded, seeming grave.
“She did. I think the idea was that no one would ever assume that she’d bring me in on anything, so it could throw off some plans. How are you feeling?”
She had to think about that, which she did before standing up from the floor where she’d managed to roll.
“Not bad? A bit paranoid, and worried that my mind is going, but other than that? Good. Clear, mentally. Then, I thought I was earlier, when I was attacking my grandmother and watching my life melt in front of me, on live television. You were told about that?”
The words got a nod, and came with a soft smile.
“In general, people don’t broadcast their delusions so powerfully that others see them. I have to agree with your friend, Katherine, on that score. Someone with powers is almost certainly doing this. My best guess is that Hitoshi, or his partners, did it.”
She had to shake her head at the words.
“Why bother with me, in that case?” Hitting almost anyone else at The Society would be more powerful and effective, after all.
The bald man tilted his head, thinking.
“It could have been several people being affected? At the same time, you’ve been annoyingly effective at both finding fugitives and of late, capturing them. Word has gotten around, in certain circles. You haven’t truly hidden that you are Damsel, either. Still, you might be the most obvious person so far, but what if all of your friends are being influenced? What happened with you was, perhaps, dramatic, but anyone who could make you think a fight with Liberty was real, might well do other, more subtle things as well.”
She didn’t know, though she hoped not. They probably couldn’t beat the other side if they could do that.
“Katherine thinks it might be Al?” She didn’t love that idea at all… He was young, but her friend. A person who had saved her life, probably several times.
That had the man, dressed in an expensive suit, in blue slightly shiny material, shaking his head.
“He has the correct powers for it, but don’t throw him out of your life just yet. Has he been acting strange?”
She nearly said no, but that wasn’t the truth.
“Honestly? Yes. He’s been being helpful and telling us more, lately. He said he needed to change what he was doing, since we’re fighting a war. Just in the last few days.”
“Oh?”
That was all that was said, the man sipping pensively at the drink in his hand. It wasn’t alcohol, but was in a small glass. One from her kitchen. It had more color than water, but she couldn’t tell what it actually was. For a moment she wondered if that was because what she was seeing wasn’t really there. Another delusion.
Instead of allowing her mind to fly away, freaking out over every tiny thing, she focused again, and tried to concentrate on what was happening around her, looking for the distortions. Nothing came to her, but she didn’t give up.
Nothing of note happened, so, after dark, she just went to bed. Wondering what would happen in her sleep. It would be the perfect time to kidnap her, she knew. She put her pajamas on, but didn’t even have a small knife on her. It was needed, but if she was being set up, Hannah was going to be left about as unguarded as possible.
In fact, after hours of fitful sleep, she woke up in the morning, as her alarm went off, at seven. Alex Darius, notorious supervillain, was dozing on her sofa. He opened his eyes as she came out, and gave her a nod.
“Did you rest well?”
She smiled, but didn’t lie.
“Not at all. I slept, but it wasn’t restful, really. I kept dreaming of people taking me in the night. No weapons, so… It’s happened before, too, so it isn’t even an irrational fear. Thanks, for staying? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now. I want to fix this, whatever it is, but… Can I? What can I do?”
The man nodded, seeming a bit annoyed with her. A thing that, after a moment, she understood. His whole issue in life seemed to be that regular people had a tendency to wait for the super types to fix everything for them, instead of fighting their own battles and solving their own problems. Here she was, dealing with something like that directly, and she was acting like she needed to be rescued.
So she clapped at him. Pretending for a moment that she wasn’t a lost little girl.
“I’m asking for ideas here. What can I do? Call Al and ask if he’s screwing with me?”
The man went still, then smiled, hugely. It was happier seeming that she would think was normal at all.
“Why not? He may lie to you, but he didn’t seem like a bad man, when we last met. If he’s a suspect, we owe it to him, to find out if it’s true at all, don’t we?”
“Right. Are you there Alistair? It’s me, Hannah. One of your best friends?”
~Hannah.~
“Um, not to be an asshole, but are you the one screwing with me? If so, why?”
Nothing came for a long while, and she honestly figured the boy wasn’t going to be her friend any longer, by the time the voice came back into her mind. Into Alex’s as well, she thought.
~They have my parents. If I tell anyone and they find out, they’ll kill them. If one of them vanishes, the other will die, instantly. Don’t say anything out loud, we’re being watched. All of us are. Everything is bugged.~
Instead of feeling a sense of relief, she was worried, her mind focusing on Al’s parents. There were two of them, but they knew several people who could teleport others. She was about to mention that, when Alex shook his head.
Trying to tell her something, without words.
It made sense that they could get them though, if they all worked at the same time. Except that, it was possible Alistair was being watched or monitored, in a way that would have his parents executed, if he didn’t do what he was told.
She thought at him then, trying to make a plan.
“You aren’t the one messing with me? Well, damn. I need to get away from people then, don’t I? Maybe use Max’s cabin, off in the woods. Well, thanks for sticking with me, Al. I should… Probably go and hide now. I’m such a goon.”
~They have the workers at the bakery, too. There are five people in all. There, in the shop. They can’t go home, the men there to kill them won’t let them leave. We can take three of them out, but then the other two will die. It’s why I’m stuck. If I do anything to them, then the whole thing will blow up. These people don’t care if they die or not. I mean, the two guys on the ground there figure they’re going to die and it doesn’t bother them. They’re super-fast, both of them. If anything happens, they start killing.~
Clearly, the boy knew if they intended to really do that or not. Unless he was screwing with her mind, still. It was a real problem, of course. Hannah didn't know if she could trust him at all, now. If he was willing to make her see and think things that weren’t real, then he might still be doing it. He would have no reason to trust that Hannah could get his family free, and protect them, after all.
She had to notice that he hadn’t come to her in the first place, either. Which could mean almost anything. From the idea that they couldn’t win, and his parents were dead if he didn’t help whoever had them, or that he’d wanted to do it himself. No voice intruded, explaining the reality to her, either. That might have been reassuring, but she understood his real idea there. The likely one.
The truth was that Hannah couldn’t trust anything he said, at the moment. That she needed to handle it on her own, given that. If it wasn’t all a trick to make her seem delusional, of course. She also got that the whole thing could, in potential, just be her, doing all of it.
Except that she wasn’t going to be able to put Al’s voice in Alex’s head.
If Alex was even there at all.
She took her time, but moved the bald man, and herself, to his underground bunker. That wouldn’t hide them from Alistair, but Hannah kind of had an idea that it wasn’t going to be easily bugged or monitored.
Looking around, Darius got the idea and nodded.
“We can speak here. I’ve had the place taken off grid, several months ago. Also swept for listening devices and cameras and isolated magically. You have a plan?”
She laughed, not meaning it.
“No? I mean, we can take people out of the bakery, but I get the layered plan there. If we move the captors, the place blows up. If we remove the hostages, we can only do so many at one time, and the others will be killed. Whoever is behind this is counting on us being so soft that we won’t just take what we can and sacrifice the others. Or that I won’t just take the brains of the men there, crippling them and then taking the hostages out, leaving them there physically, with the bomb in place.”
The man looked at her for a long time, then nodded.
“You can do that?”
“No. Not really. I might do that with one of them, but even that is guesswork. Still, if I can move the bomb, while the men are removed, that will work as well.”
The words had Alex bobbing a bit in place, which wasn’t normal for him. It seemed a bit nervous, in fact. He was normally deathly calm.
“If it were me, I’d prepare for that as well. With a drone strike or even one from space. In that case, removing the threat on the ground might well not be enough to prevent the death of the parents and their staff. I do not believe that a man like Alistair would be easily tricked into taking actions against his friends. That being the case, we need to assume that whatever the actual threat is, it will be complete and have many layers. We need to act accordingly, given that.”
Taking a deep breath, Hannah closed her eyes. Then, doing something she hadn’t considered before, worked, carefully, to bring in first Kate, then Devya, and even if it was a risk, Superion X, Accel and Death Princess.
Thankfully, none of them beat her up for doing it. Vidya did kind of go for Alex, but she stopped when she was nearly there, and didn’t punch him. It was close, but the man merely smiled at her. Pleasantly.
Then he spread his hands.
“Thank you all for coming? There’s a small issue at hand, it seems. At the same time, we cannot be assured that it’s real.”
At least Katherine nodded, even if everyone else seemed confused.
Thankfully, she explained.
“Hannah was attacked, with a complex set of delusions. Except that I saw parts of it as well. So did Devy. When I tried to check on Alistair, last night, to see if something was wrong, I didn’t find anything at all. I mean, I forgot what I was doing, and went to sleep. I just remembered that part, when I got here.” She seemed annoyed by that, which Hannah understood instantly.
She nodded, but Alex spoke.
“Indeed. I heard him admit to having been responsible. If that isn’t a further trick, his parents and several people in their employ have been taken hostage, their lives contingent on Mr. Marks serving whoever is behind the action, totally. The situation is complex, however, if we have it down correctly.”
Hannah had to explain the whole thing, several times, but Red Cape nodded, after a while.
“I see. So, if we remove the threat, we could be triggering an attack on the whole neighborhood? If we remove the hostages, there’s a chance that the speedsters there will kill some of them, before we can do all of it. Is there a chance we could distract them, given that? The hostage takers? There are only two of them?”
~Yeah. They aren’t normal though. Brainwashed, I think. They aren’t as fast as Accel, but if they leave the premises, or their life signs stop, even for a moment, the whole place will blow up. There are four different bombs, too, so just removing those first won’t work. I can’t even find out who’s behind this. I think they used a machine as an interface, to create a firewall.~
Hannah frowned, then let her face tighten.
“Okay, so, what if we have Null teleport in and take their powers? Then we can just knock them out, and walk everyone out the front door. Or, well, teleport them away, until the bombs are handled?”
Vidya shook her head.
“He’s good, but he can’t take down two people at once, specifically. Not in time. That means he’d have to put up a general nullification zone. Anyone going in would be left with no powers at all, if he uses his field effect.”
Everyone seemed to think that was a deal breaker, except for Hannah, she just grinned.
“So? I happen to know a fairly decent VR shooting team… Can we get armor for everyone? Then we teleport in, Null slaps up a field to even the playing field and we handle things. They have guns?”
~Knives. It works with their speed better than a firearm would.~
Chris rolled his eyes then.
“Only you have to leave them alive. Guns aren’t great for that.”
That was a real point. After a moment, she nodded and changed up her plan.
“So, we take some sticks? We need to get people who can do that… I… Maybe Chiropter and Linear?”
Everyone went still for a moment, with Superion X finally nodding.
“That might work. We can take in three people, at once? So, your friend Null and those two, if they’ll help us with it?”
The trick was going to be in contacting them, without just calling up. A thing that Hannah could do, after a fashion.
“I’ll get in touch with them, but, I need a room that can’t be monitored.”
Alex waved for her to follow him, toward the back of the facility. Not to one of the cells there though, to a small room just before that. It had chairs in it, and the door was so flimsy that even she could have gotten out, with a bit of work.
“I’ll be back with the others? I don’t really want them poking around, if it can be avoided. Not that I keep any real secrets here. It’s just the principle of the thing.” The man turned and left then, as she focused, bringing in Null first.
After all, the plan hinged on him. If it came to it, Hannah could go in herself, or some of the others could, even if it meant not having powers. The trick with the other men was that they weren’t used to relying on gimmicks as much as some people. They didn't have powers, so suddenly not being able to use them wouldn’t throw them off much at all. Well, Linear could heal now, but it was a new thing and not one that would be used in a fight.
Don, dressed in camping gear, blinked, then noticed her and smiled.
“This is different. What’s up?”
She shrugged.
“I need you to risk your life, turning off some powers and possibly fighting insane killers, with nonlethal weapons against knives. If the two men we have to take down die, bombs will go off.”
The boy, who was a man, clearly, even if a youthful seeming one, went still, then nodded.
“Okay. That’s going to be hard, but I can try. What kind of weapon do I get for it?”
She waved at the door.
“Go to the other room. Um, just to clarify, this is real. Not an exercise or game. If we screw this up, we’ll probably die. Hostages will, too. I’m going with you, but I need to see if we can get some others, first.”
“Sure? I mean, I think I can see the point of having me in. I can turn the powers off. I just, go out here?”
She nodded.
“Head to the right, all the way down. Close the door when you go out?” She didn’t explain why, though it was a good plan, as it turned out. When Brian popped into the room, he was himself, not in his leather fetish gear.
“Hannah?”
She nodded.
“We have a mission. Five hostages, with two speedsters and four bombs. We can’t kill the speedsters, but we can remove their powers. We have to take them out, non-lethally, to stop the explosions. We can teleport in and then remove their abilities. Null, the one who takes powers, is in on this with us already. We have three people who can teleport. I want Chiropter, if you can contact him for us? If so, I’ll pick him up, in ten minutes? I’m also trying for Linear.”
