Beguiled damsel book 5, p.4
Beguiled (Damsel Book 5), page 4
Rick cleared his throat then, and smiled.
“Possibly the most powerful telepath living right now. A seventeen-year-old boy, from Illinois. I’m working on getting him in with us. Incredibly moral and upstanding.”
Hannah nodded.
“He’s going off to college in the fall. If you hire him, keep that in mind? We haven’t picked a school yet.” She winced then and shook her head. “I’m also not certain if that’s really the plan. We keep saying school, but I haven’t seen paperwork or been handed an invoice yet. Things have been distracting, lately.”
She was willing to explain what she meant but oddly enough the two people who worked for a super group, in government service, seemed to understand that a big chunk of the police, Army, Navy and National Guard having died all at once was a major problem. At the same time a lot of gang members had gone down and, she thought, a few terrorist groups had lost a lot of people to the Black Soda incident. Crime had gone up a lot, but the worst things, murder and rape, really hadn’t. Not yet at least.
Rick closed his eyes then, seeming tired and as if the world were simply wearing on him. In a general fashion, instead of it being all about some jerk having called him up at four in the morning to capture some guy they just as well could have picked up at eleven. So far no one had even mentioned that part of things to her at all.
The man took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds and stood up as he exhaled.
“Good point, about the schooling. We’re more or less stressed to breaking here, right now, but that will pass and we need to make certain that we don’t let panic force us into poor long-term choices. So, right now, you need to get back to your guests. Unless we’re taking Red Bitch in, too? She has outstanding warrants…”
Hannah tightened then, not certain how to say what she wanted to. That it would be a betrayal for her to turn someone in, after helping them like she had. After a bit, she shook her head.
“That… We can’t. If someone comes to me for help and I do that…” She was already going to be feeling bad over taking Red Menace in, she could tell. It had been kidnapping, or close enough that she dreaded having to sit down and just thinking about the episode.
That was a personal issue though, and not one she was planning to discuss with the people there. Everyone she knew had agreed that taking the bad guys directly into government custody didn’t count that way. The only problem was, of course, that she kept thinking of things from their perspective. As a victim, not the person stopping criminals.
Shaking her head, she tried to rally a bit, as Larina smiled at her.
“I think I get the idea. If there’s a danger of being arrested when they come to you, a lot of people won’t do it. We don’t have to insist on that score. Not on this one, at least. Thank you for coming to us with this, Damsel. I can contact you later, about the matters we discussed?” She looked hopeful, but only a little, as if it wasn’t that important.
“Actually, let me get home and put everyone where they belong and I’ll write that up first thing. For you, specifically. I can’t send it off until later, since I need help doing that, but… I can get back with you here, if that works out? If not, well…” She shrugged. She would be allowed to act and give out some powers or not.
Once she sent off the requests, it would be out of her hands.
She stood up then and waved.
“Oh, um what am I allowed to tell people, about what happened with Alan Kincaid? We kind of just… Locked him up.”
Rick, his balding head shining a bit under the fluorescent lights in the ceiling, grinned then.
“That he’s being held in protective custody, pending trial. That will probably take six to nine months and be done there, with him still in stasis, but he’ll be allowed to defend himself. It’s extreme, but we can’t allow a person with his level of powers to simply roam free waiting for things like that. Don’t mention the facility name where he’s being held? It’s a secret, to prevent rescue attempts.”
Tiredly, she nodded.
“Got it. If I get asked anything I can’t answer, I just send people to you? Over the phone, I mean?”
“Exactly. When in doubt, call Rick. Day or night.” Larina winked at her, as if saying that was naughty or something, even if Rick was intensely polite and good about not flirting or anything like that.
From the chuckling they both did that way, it was kind of clear that it was an inside joke, not really meant for her at all. The playing reminded her of something though.
“Oh, we also need to talk to Stan about this. Behemoth, from The Society?”
Larina looked puzzled, and tilted her head quizzically toward Hannah.
“That’s different… Not that we can’t do that. Why?”
She shrugged.
“It’s the most important thing. Have you talked to Stan about it yet… He’s mentioned this to me, like ten times now.”
She grinned, getting one from Rick, in return.
“Ah? I’ll let you handle that, this time. Good call. The man is actually efficient. He’s your partner over there?”
She didn’t have one of those, so shook her head, then started the process to get herself home. That had her back in her own apartment, about half a minute later. That was a bit slow, even for her. Especially moving into her own bedroom, like she had. It wasn’t until she started to pull on some clothing that she realized something odd. The entire time she’d been gone, Hannah had been holding her forty-four, without realizing it.
No one had even looked at her funny, over it, either.
Feeling a bit silly, she changed, rapidly, then put a holster on, since walking around with a weapon in your hand was a bit too aggressive for her, day to day.
Chapter three
She felt a bit gross, not having showered yet, as she moved back into her living room. Also, a little tired, needing some coffee. That second part of things was provided for her, by Alistair, who walked over with one of her large ceramic mugs, filled with the stuff. It was warm, but not too hot to bolt back all at once. She took it black, out of habit, even if she could afford the calories of adding cream and sugar.
Then, it wasn’t a treat for her, just medicine. A drug used to make up for not having enough sleep the night before. When she was finished, Al grabbed the cup back, and left the room, hopefully to get her some more, as the other two people sitting there looked at her rather closely.
Freya was in sweats. They were tight on her in places and pulled up enough to show healing skin in others. She was bandaged as well, Hannah noticed. That was kind of the woman really, even if it looked like a third of Hannah’s first aid kit, which was sitting on her coffee table, was on the lady at the moment. That was the point of having that kind of a thing though. It just meant she needed to get another one. Possibly something a bit more substantial, in case the next person needed more than some extra-large Band-Aids.
The outfit, which was dark blue, belonged to Al, of course. Getting it back might be an issue, but she was willing to buy him something to replace it, which the guy would already know. Really, even if it was a bit of a pain, she probably needed to consider getting a pattern and making something for him to that end, herself. Buying clothing was probably allowable, but she was under orders to learn how to do things for herself, if anything came up.
From Dr. Pleny.
She recalled the man, looking a bit like an in-shape Toby McGuire, sitting at a table with her, in Lashondra and Debbie’s kitchen, leaning in, and suddenly seeming… different. Angry and forceful. Glaring insanely. Then telling her that, from then on, she needed to do things for herself, whenever possible. This, a bit of sewing like that, had to count.
Shaking herself a bit, as Al came back with the cup refilled, she looked at the others.
“Right. So… Red Menace was arrested. He’s in a stasis pod right now. I don’t know how it works, but it felt like some kind of time control device, not just freezing or an electric fence. The High Command took him. He’ll be given a trial, in six to nine months. Until then, you should be safe. At least…” She didn’t even shake her head.
After all, she didn't know how Red Bitch was going to respond. The woman surprised her, by simply taking a big breath.
“That’s something then, isn’t it? If he gets out again, I’m dead, but… I figured it would be more like two days before that happened, or maybe a few weeks. Half a year is better. They took him that fast? How?”
She nearly didn’t say anything, hiding that fact by sipping at her drink, which had been cooled down with extra water. Her teenage pal wasn’t saying anything either, so, of course, Alex figured it out and nodded, slowly.
The man was smart after all.
“Hannah has the ability to both find individuals and teleport them to new locations. My guess is that she did that here, much as she did for you earlier, Freya. The High Command works for the Federal Government, and has advanced holding facilities as well as access to more technical equipment, as needed. My guess would be the… Farlow Holding Facility. That, or the Montana Complex. They’re the two main locations that can hold someone like Red Menace.”
Hannah nodded, since the man would find out about the location, starting from that point, if he wanted to.
“Keep that secret, for now? We don’t want anyone to break him out. I’m already going to be shaking and crying later, having kidnapped someone like this. Doing it twice won’t really help me that way at all.” She was only half serious, but Alistair nodded at her.
“No one in the world is planning that or likely will be. I checked, earlier. If it helps, even he just thought of it as being arrested. Kincaid didn’t love it, but that was the only thing he was thinking about, as it happened. That it was legal. Well, that and annoying. The only person spinning that differently right now is you.”
It was a lot for the kid to say in regards to what was going on inside her mind, but she’d brought the topic up, so it was probably fair enough. Alex stood up, and moved toward her, giving her a hug. It was fatherly, but she did it back, needing the comforting. Even if that was a bit weak feeling.
“You’re fine for the moment though, even given that issue?”
Freya frowned then.
“Why would taking Alan be a problem for you?”
Hannah didn't really want to go over the whole thing, but the woman had been tortured earlier, and kidnapped herself, so she bit the bullet, and simply shared her own messy mental problems.
“I’ve been kidnapped so many times that I kind of have a hang-up about the whole thing, now. Not just being taken, but also doing that, or anything too close to it, to others. Even if it’s mainly legal and needed, so… yeah. I know, not that big of a deal to anyone else in the world, but it’s kind of hard for me. I’ll be fine. Even if this part sucks for me, this needed to be done.”
The big woman, who wasn’t exactly her friend, having tried to kill her before, personally, stood up then and moved in to give her a hug as well.
“You knew this would get to you and did it anyway? For me? That… Thanks. That’s…” The woman teared up a bit, but managed a small smile at the same time.
Al got things back on track for them. He was good that way.
“We need to move people around now. We should…” He looked away then, and let his face go hard, glancing at Alex, for some reason. “Mr. Darius needs to go with us. You two have to go in first. I should be there as well, I think. Red Fortune is worked up, so needs to have enough people there to remind him not to start punching people, first thing.”
Freya grinned at the words.
“That’s probably not untrue. Can I borrow a phone? Calling first might help, too.”
Hannah had hers, in her pocket, but Alex provided one first, which had been in his jacket, on the right-hand side. The move was quick, and seemed smooth, as if pre-planned.
The large woman dialed from memory, and waited for a voice to speak then.
“Gray? We’re coming there in a moment. Peaceful. There’s four of us in all. Don’t let Roy freak out. This is weird, but fine.” Then she hung up, as if saying that wasn’t going to make everything at least a little worse.
It would have if Hannah had taken the call at least.
That meant moving into place with everyone, one at a time. First Freya, then Alex and finally Al, since taking a teen boy into danger was the responsible thing to do, most days. She almost mentioned that, when they were all in the dumpy, very tiny, apartment, about two minutes later. Freya was being hugged still, by both men, and Red Fortune wisely had a gun in his hand, and was dressed in body armor, all in red, since it was a theme, seeming ready to fight.
Interestingly enough, Alex Darius was the one who spoke first. His voice was calm and a bit over cultured sounding. Almost British. It was a private school thing. Hannah had gone to one of those herself, for years, so could affect the same basic accent, when she wanted.
“This situation is, for the time being, rather well resolved. Red Menace has been placed in government custody, and won’t be able to easily escape, before his trial. That portion of things, well, I don’t always think highly of the legal system, but they won’t simply allow the man to walk out, if they can help it. Laws be damned, most likely. It isn’t the most final of outcomes, but of those legally allowed, it’s very close to that mark, for the time being.”
Not much happened for a moment, until Red Fortune looked at the gun in his hand and put it away. That went into a holster, but the belt wasn’t on him, being across the room. Hanging up, on a peg that was driven into the dingy white wall.
The room, now that she noticed it, smelled, a bit. Of stale cigarettes, alcohol and urine. Not that she was going to judge the place based on that. She started to, then realized that the tiny place was a safe house. It was meant to be a location no one would think to look for these people at. Plus, she’d slept in a literal hole in the ground before, herself, and was planning to do that again in a few days, since there was a training week coming up for her gang.
The kids she worked with, for some unknown reason.
Red Comrade let Freya go, and turned to her, then, a bit tentatively, gave her a hug, too. It was strange, but they all got one from the man. Even Alex did.
“Thanks. All of you. What do I owe you for this?” The three communists all went still then, as if it were going to be a real thing.
Alistair shrugged.
“Staying more or less on the right side of the law for half a year or so would work for me. Maybe help keep the peace?” He was, it was clear, actually teasing.
The super villains all looked at him as if he were being silly, getting it, too. Even Alex did that. Hannah grinned and nodded.
“That works for me, too. You three work that out. If you need money, give me a call? I mean, I’ll put you to work, but this isn’t the time to be running around ripping off ATMs, right? Really, if you can do it safely, we should have someone check in at all the food banks, and make sure there are no problems that way. I’ll call with a list?”
Everyone laughed, except Gray, who looked down at her, sighed and then nodded.
“Get me that and I’ll see what I can find out? No promises on the cash machines, since that helps fight capitalism, but we can make sure that the workers have someone looking out for them. That’s our thing.”
Red Fortune glared at the man, but Freya actually smiled.
“No shit, right? We can get you to teleport us around, if we find anything? Driving is fine, but…”
Hannah snorted at the woman, but also gave a nod.
“For real work? If you just want to go to Fiji for vacation, then I expect flowers first.”
On that note, she, one at a time, took Alistair back to her place, and after Darius finished handing the three business cards, got him back to his own home, directly. Before she could leave, the trim man put a hand on her arm.
“You need to be careful now, Hannah. You rather openly aided some people on both sides of a certain line, today. That will be noticed. At this point it shouldn’t be too grave of a concern, but that can change very quickly, when a new player takes the field.” There was a second hug for her from the man then, and he moved back, watching her until she vanished again.
That, she realized, would have been a lot more impressive if she could have managed it faster. Katherine did things like that, and it always got her to jump, just a bit, when her best friend managed it correctly.
Once she was back in her front room, she glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. It was seven in the morning already.
“Time to wake up for the day. Grr. Thanks for the coffee, by the way. You are a godsend, you know that, Al?” She went to the low table, where she’d set her mug and finished the whole thing in six large swallows. “Now, I need to do my exercises and then practice in VR for a while. What do you have planned?”
She always asked the boy that, and so far he’d been playful in his answers. Normally suggesting alone time with her computer and watching porn videos online. This time he just shook his head a bit.
“The same. I’m supposed to meet with the team later, for a practice session. At The Society, HQ. We’re all doing that today. Gregory is having us over for it.”
“What time?”
“Ten? We’re all on summer break. Um, I kind of volunteered you to take us there?” The kid actually held his breath, as if Hannah was going to refuse to help her trainees work harder, for some reason. Even if they mainly played, it was worth doing.
So, even feeling tired, she nodded.
“Got it. Let me get to this then, and we can set that up. Actually, you set that up. I need to start walking.” She did that in her living room, and ignored what Al was doing for the next three hours, walking, stretching and then showering and getting into VR for her own practice. The guys she worked with for that were all there, that morning, and did all right. Not that much better than they had been, of course.
Then, they were good to start with, so improvements were going to be a bit smaller and slower in coming that way. On the last game, Douchetastic showed up, and managed to end up on his own team, against Hannah and her friends. The man still won, but it was pretty close. Enough so that he seemed pleased when the whole thing was over.
