A Change of Pace – Chapter 91

“Oh crap.” Mason exited the tube ten feet up and flailed his arms like a chicken as he fell.

<Why do they keep doing this to me?> He grumbled as he hit the asphalt.

He rolled with it so he didn’t break anything, because flimsy asphalt and earth were much more likely to crack than him. He got to his feet and brushed off his black uniform. He reached up and felt his full face-mask still firmly attached to his face. It would be a bummer to fail his first trial right off the bat because he couldn’t keep his identity hidden.

“Dispatch, give me a route to the objective.”

“You need to go six blocks north out of the city, follow route five, and then take a right onto Mountainbrook. You’d better hurry. The situation is growing more tense every second a Hero isn’t on the scene.” Coach Meyers’ slightly perturbed voice informed him.

<She said I could use dispatch to answer my questions? Was I not supposed to ask that?> Mason shook his head and took a deep breath. He needed to stop psyching himself out and get to work.

Kyoshi had come back from the trial grinning like she’d just won the lottery. She didn’t give him any information because she wasn’t supposed to, but she did tell him the trial involved real people and not robots or projections. Beyond that, the only thing she accidentally slipped was that the guy had been big.

Big was a relative term to Mason, so he assumed she meant average person big not Mason Jackson big.

The wheels in his head turned as he ran. Six blocks up took him out of the more metropolitan part of the city. It looked like the city from their first semester final, but some things had changed. It was smaller, with less skyscrapers, but a lot more industrial-looking buildings. He found route five and followed it farther out of the city. In less than two-tenths of a mile the landscape changed to suburban developments with a strip mall to meet their needs. He checked the street signs until he found Mountainbrook.

<Number thirty-two.> He remembered the briefing. <Mr. Little.>

Mason was at the far end of the street, but he still saw the flashing lights of the police cruiser at the other end. He also saw two uniformed officers trying to talk down a large man. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but if the arm waving meant anything things weren’t going well. Mason sprinted the rest of the rest of the way and came to a heavy-footed halt.

<Make your presence known.> Mason remembered what Angela had told them long ago during their training.

<Sometimes a person’s reputation is enough to stop a fight before it even starts.> Mason’s sheer size might be enough to do just that.

“Hello, gentlemen. What’s the problem?” His deep voice rumbled, but he made it sound like he’d just stumbled across them while taking a walk.

“I’ll tell you what the problem is.” Mr. Little ranted, pointing accusingly at the two officers. “It’s police harassment that’s the problem. I’m just minding my own business, on my property, and these two wannabes show up.”

Mason heard the slight slur in the other man’s voice. Confirming the unconfirmed report from Dispatch that he was intoxicated.

“These two men are just trying to do their job, Sir.” Mason gestured to the cops while nodding for them to start moving back.

“Yeah,” Mr. Little huffed. “If their job is to harass a black man who’s just minding his own business.”

The two officers took offense to that, especially since one of them was also black. Name calling and insults were flung back and forth as Mason tried to regain control of the situation. But it didn’t help. Mr. Little kept calling Mason a sell out and a slave to the man. The drunk even used air quotes around “the man”.

Nothing bad was happening. No one was getting hurt, and the situation was contained, but Mason was pretty sure that his final grade wasn’t going to look so good unless he resolved the situation.

“Sir, I’m going to need you to calm down.” Mason put more authority into his voice and took a step forward.

“Don’t you come on my property without a warrant!” Mr. Little roared. He didn’t back down.

“Sir, everyone just got called out here on a simple noise complaint, and you shouting at us is only making it worse.” Mason moved to the side to get between Mr. Little and the cops.

The officers got the gist and slowly started to back away without taking their eyes off the two large men.

“Fuck you, Hero man! I do what I want with what’s mine.”

“Dispatch,” Mason spoke into his communications device. “Looks like we’re going to need that…” He didn’t get to finish.

Mr. Little lunged with a surprising amount and speed and threw a haymaker at Mason’s head. Mason got his arm up to block, while simultaneously thinking how stupid was the guy to attack a Hero, but neither of that mattered when the punch landed and Mason was lifted off the ground propelled over the white picket fence that separated Mr. Little’s yard from his neighbors.

Mason landed roughly, but was able to roll with it and come up in a fighting stance. It was a good thing too, because Mr. Little had already charged through the fence toward him. Mason threw out a jab to slow the man down and create some separation, but Mr. Little just batted it aside. The other man went low, avoiding Mason’s weak attempt at a grapple, and pulled his legs out from under him.

<Should have sprawled.> Mason thought stupidly as he fell on his ass and Mr. Little crawled on top of him.

“Dispatch, what the hell!” Mason yelled back as the two fought for better positioning.

Mason had only started on learning a ground game to go with his boxing, and his lack of experience was showing.

“A search on Mr. Samson Little shows military records indicating a ten-year career with ForceOps. You should approach the situation cautiously.” Coach Meyer replied. Mason could hear the smile in her tone.

“A little too late for that.” Mason had successfully trapped Mr. Little’s leg and stopped him from getting a full mount, but judging by the man’s strength and supposed skill that wouldn’t last long.

Mr. Little was also grinding his elbow into Mason’s cheek and that was annoying as hell.

<Ok, let’s try this.> Mason tried to remember Coach McMillian’s lessons on how to get out from beneath someone in this situation.

Mason made sure he pulled Mr. Little close and trapped one of the smaller strongman’s arms between them. Then Mason reached down between the guy’s legs and grabbed his other hand, that was already down there, by the wrist. He forced Mr. Little up while he slid down. Mason also made sure to quickly tuck his head in closer to Mr. Little’s chest so the other man couldn’t push him back down and drive his elbow into his skull. From there he needed to move quickly.

Mason grabbed Mr. Little’s foot with his bottom hand and moved it into a position where he could get a good grip with his top hand. Then, with explosive force, Mason scissored his legs and got up on his knees. He grabbed Mr. Little’s knee, pulled, forced his head forward, and was now the one on top.

His excitement of having successfully escaped the compromising position was short lived. Mr. Little drove his knee up into Mason’s side knocking him loose and sending him tumbling across the lawn.

“I thought they taught you Heroes better than this.” Mr. Little jumped to his feet and started to circle Mason.

“I’m taking it easy on you, Sir. You hadn’t done anything wrong until then. Now you’re in trouble. Assaulting a Hero is a serious offense.” Mason lied about the first part, but solid it on the second. “Turn around, get on your knees and put your hands behind your head and this ends peacefully.”

Mr. Little didn’t even answer. He just charged.

Strongman versus strongman fights were some of the worst fights there could be. The rock-paper-scissors nature of superpowers wasn’t at play. It was simply a rock smashing into another rock until something gave, and the stuff around the two rocks was much more likely to crumble before the rocks themselves. As a Hero, Mason was the one at a disadvantage. He needed to protect himself, civilians, property, and the attacker if possible. Although, this time that didn’t look like it was going to happen.

Mason met Mr. Little’s charge head on and they collided with tectonic force. Both throw punches, kicks, elbows, knees, and anything else they could to weaken the other man. They gripped and grappled for the best position to hit their opponent.

That was another thing Mason hadn’t realized about really strong people fighting until he joined the HCP. It was all about positioning. Sure, Mason could throw a forceful punch, and hit Mr. Little in the face, but that wasn’t going to do as much good as people thought. Only a certain amount of force was going to get transferred from Mason’s fist to Mr. Little’s face. The rest would bleed off as the man went flying. To deliver a really good hit against another strongman, or woman, you needed to get them up against something sturdy enough that it would hold up while the target took the maximum force of the blow.

That was why half of the fight with Mr. Little was spent rolling around on the ground and trying to get into a mounted position. Strongmen fighting was ugly, dirty, and only made for good TV in the movies. Mason’s fight with Mr. Little was a perfect example.

It ended with Mason kicking the other man in the nuts. Mr. Little squeaked helplessly and collapsed.

“That’s enough, Jackson.” Coach Meyers stated over their Dispatch link as the two cops rushed forward. “You’re done for now. Keep your phone on you and ready for your next trial.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Despite winning, Mason knew he’d lost, and his tone conveyed that.

“Hit the showers and get out of here. If you’re lucky you’ll be back in time for breakfast.” The link went dead as a healer popped into existence with a suited DVA teleporter and went to work on Mr. Little.”

“Sorry about that.” Mason offered a weak apology to the barely coherent strongman before leaving.

The warm shower to wash away the sweat and dirt wasn’t as refreshing as Mason would have liked. He sat there under the scalding water thinking over the situation again and again.

<I could have kept my distance and not taken that step.> Mason concluded after thinking it over. <That seemed to be what set him off. But then what would I have done to calm him down?>

He got dressed still thinking about the issue and rode the lift back to the surface. Kyoshi agreed to meet him for breakfast and talk about it. His beautiful girlfriend looked tired when he arrived. She’d only gotten a few hours of sleep, and was already stressing about an upcoming conventional final.

“How’d things go with Mr. Little?” She asked with a smile that still made his heart skip.

“Probably not as good as you.” Mason showed her the bruise that was forming on the side of his face.

“Really?” Kyoshi’s brow furrowed in confusion. “He wasn’t that bad. We talked a bit, and when one of those cops made a stupid move I put him down pretty simply. He didn’t resist or anything.”

“Seriously,” Mason growled, surprising Kyoshi. “We had a knock-down drag-out brawl. We broke a fence, tore up the neighbor’s yard, and it would have been a lot worse if I hadn’t kicked him in the balls.”

“You what?” Her eyes went wide.

Then she started to giggle.

“What?” Mason’s shoulders sagged.

“Nothing,” Kyoshi quickly regained her composure and looked him in the eye. “A win is a win. Learn from your mistakes and don’t make them during the next challenge.”

And that was that, at least from Kyoshi’s perspective.

<Easy for you to say. I’m the one that might have just bombed my HCP final.>

<You know I can hear you, right?> She raised an eyebrow from across the table and Mason blushed.

<You accomplished the mission, Mason. Probably not in the way Coach Meyers wanted it done, and I’m sure you’ll lose some points, but you got the job done. I bet others won’t even get that far.>

<Yeah, you’re right. As usual.> Mason sighed, and Kyoshi smiled smugly.

“Now eat up. You’ll need your mental strength for your Math exam. It starts in a few hours, so you have a little time left to study.”

“Math.” Mason groaned, and set his forehead down on the cold tabletop.

It was a bad idea because it was sticky from something.

Kyoshi patted him on the shoulder and continued eating her cereal and fruit.

 

***

 

Lilly sat in her flat across the Atlantic admiring herself in the mirror. Everything was set, and she was ready to kick some ass. All she had to do was get over the lingering apprehension in her gut.

<You’ve got this.> She pumped herself up as she looked back over herself.

Her black grinning volto mask stared back at her through the mirror like it was mocking her. The last time she’d worn this full get-up she’d almost died. She was a hundred percent now, but that could have been different if Seraphim’s poison barb was just a couple inches to the left.

<Can’t live in a world of “ifs”.> She reminded herself.

She took a deep breath and adjusted the electromagnetic rifle hanging from her back. It was the only new piece of her outfit, and it didn’t quite fit right. But she needed it so she sucked it up.

She absentmindedly caressed the handles of her holstered Glocks and ran her hand around her belt. She felt the comforting circular bulge of the many grenades she’d brought. It was an odd thing to find comfort in, but she had stopped thinking things were weird long ago. If she hadn’t, she would have gone crazy from all the weirdness of the world, and her sex life wouldn’t have been nearly as enjoyable.

That made her think of Seth, which didn’t help things at all.

Everything was finally coming to a head. This was the endgame, the finale, the big shebang. She hadn’t had nearly enough time with the only man she’d ever loved, and she prayed to a God she didn’t believe in that she’d have more. But that was a big “if”. It was very likely that her cover would get blown in the next few days. She might keep it intact, but she couldn’t count on that. At the very least their small group of close-knit friends at Townhouse 117 was going to get torn apart. That was just the reality and she’d already accepted it. Seth might accept it in time, but there was no guarantee.

<People don’t usually react well to getting betrayed,> she sighed, turning away from the mirror and moving back to the large electrified cage in the center of the flat.

She gave the room one last look over for anything suspicious. Minus the large shark cage in the middle of the room it looked like any other flat in the building.

<It’s showtime.> She thought to herself as she closed the cage behind her.

She made sure she had the key in one of her body armor’s various pockets and then disappeared in a flash of darkness.

The flat vanished and she reappeared in the underground mansion she’d grown up in. Her spreading darkness told her that her room had been cleaned up recently, which was a solid indication that her father was restless. That was normal. A man as skilled and professional as him always got extremely detail-oriented in the final stages of an operation. Cleaning her room might have been a stress reliever for him.

<So me not picking up after myself was actually for his benefit. I should do it more often.> She deluded herself with a small laugh as the darkness faded.

“Dad, I’m back. Hurry up or we’re going to be late!” She yelled down the echoing hallway.

There was no response, but that was ok. He was probably off at his own personal armory getting things together. Lilly’s own table back in her underground bunker had extra ammunition piles up almost as high at the ceiling. There were more grenades, some strong enough to hurt a strongman, and the automated machineguns that Mika had finished for her. All she had to do was set those bad boys up and they could cover multiple avenues of approach. They could fire at anything that moved, anything with a human heat-signature, or she had a tablet secured in a backpack on the table that would allow her to control the guns remotely. She was still figuring out what she wanted to do.

<I do want to have just a bit of fun. But I’ve got to see how things play out first.> She couldn’t forget the entire reason she was on this assignment in the first place.

“Dad! Come on!” She yelled again.

The man that stepped into her room wearing nothing but a bathrobe was not her father.

He was taller than Lilly, about 6’2”, with cold, dark brown eyes and a close-cropped patch of white hair. He was athletically skinny, with wiry muscles underneath taught skin. The skin looked like well-worn tan leather. The person clearly spent a lot of time working out in the sun.

Finding a partially naked, large man in your room would have freaked out most people, but not Lilly. First, because without anything to protect him she could easily put a knife in his heart. Her hand had automatically gone to one of her throwing knives. And second, because she knew him. She’d known him all her life.

“Uncle Curtis!” She shrieked with joy and threw herself at the older man.

“Geez, kiddo.” The man grunted as Lilly hit him like a shoulder-launched missile. “Take it easy.”

“What are you doing here?” She pulled away after a fierce hug and looked him over.

<No new scars, not getting fat and happy while living off the grid, everything looks good.> She did a quick mental survey.

“I wouldn’t miss all the fun.” He smiled.

The way the facial movement pulled his tight skin would have freaked out just about anyone else, but Lilly was immune to his dangerous, some would say evil, charms.

“You mean you wouldn’t miss the money.” She grinned back.

“You got me there.” The smiled grew wider, stretching the skin even tighter over his face; so tight it looked like it might rip. “Let me throw on my gear and we can shoot the shit before your dad gets back.”

Lilly nodded vigorously. It had been too long since she’d sat down with one of her mentors. She knew dozens of villains that would give their left nut to have just five minutes with the infamous Armsman.

Lilly, feeling a billion times better, skipped down to the kitchen and grabbed some juice. She’d need to keep her energy up. Ten minutes later Armsman stepped into the kitchen. He was wearing the olive fatigues that had been standard army issue back in Vietnam. They were undoubtedly updated to be mildly resistant to ballistic projectiles, but they looked the same as they had forty years ago. What was different now was his medieval breastplate.

Back in the seventies Armsman had worn a legit steel breastplate because that was the best protection from a Hero putting something through his heart. His power made any power-based attack disintegrate on contact, but a bullet was still a bullet, and a piece of building thrown by a strongman was still going to crush him. That was part of the reason he’d worked with Hellgate. A teleporter to move quickly and a nullifier to incapacitate; there was a reason they’d terrorized the country back in the day.

But that was then and this was now. Uncle Curtis was pushing seventy, and although he looked like he was in fantastic shape, probably thanks to regular high-priced healing sessions, age still took its toll. That, and technology changed.

The breastplate Armsman was wearing this time had the memorable metallic sheen to it, but Lilly knew that was spray painted on. Below the reflective layer was a ceramic composite that was much stronger than plain old steel.

<But some things never change.> The rest of Armsman was covered in various weapons. He was a master in all of them, thus the reason for his name.

“Let’s chat.” He leaned his six-foot spear up against the granite island, and removed his treasured katana form his back.

“Sure. Want any?” She pointed at the juice.

“No, I’m good.” He waved her off. “I just want to see how your holding up after offing that pretentious, ass-faced teleporter.”

His colorful identification of the late Hunter made her giggle.

“I’m fine, Uncle Curtis. It isn’t the first time I’ve offed someone.”

“It’s not that part. It’s the lifestyle change that I wanted to make sure you’re chill with.”

“Chill?” She mocked him. “You’ve been sitting on the beach smoking weed for too long.”

“Don’t change the subject,” he snapped seriously. “You went from a nobody to legendary status overnight, but you’ve got a kill order on your head, kid.” Armsman deadpanned. “I’m not saying what you did wasn’t a hell of a job,” he clarified when he saw the hurt look on her face. “I just want to make sure you’re ready to accept the responsibility that comes with it.”

“Geez,” Lilly glared at him as she got to her feet and started to pace. “Why does everyone always say that?”

“Because we’re people who live that life and know how much it can suck sometimes.” He replied flatly.

“Let me put it to rest for you then.” She stopped pacing and looked him dead in the eye. “I’m fine. Let it go.”

Armsman studied her for a second and then nodded. “Message received. But you know you’re always welcome on my island if you need a place to crash.”

“I know.” Her expression softened with her Uncle’s acceptance. “Is anything new on your tropical paradise. You still keep all those Thai whores around.”

Sadly, Lilly never got an answer to the question because her father stepped into the room. He was wearing his form-fitting black costume and devil mask. Because of that she couldn’t tell if he was happy, sad, or excited.

“Good you’re both here.” He gave a nod to his oldest most trusted friend.

“When someone says they want to give me a million bucks then I tend to make myself available.” Armsman grinned.

“I’m giving you a chance to work for it. Nothing about this is freely given,” Hellgate corrected. “Either way we need to get moving to the rendezvous point. They’re probably waiting for us.”

“What do you want me to do?” Armsman asked. He wasn’t part of the jihadists plan.

“Lilly, take your Uncle here.” He pulled out a picture for her to hone in on. “That’s a solid overwatch position for him to keep an eye on us for the deployment stage.”

“So I’m sitting around with my thumb up my ass while you two play at whatever you’re doing?”

“And if everything goes right then you get that million dollars for doing nothing.” Hellgate shot back. Lilly could hear the irritation in his voice.”

“I thought I was going to at least get the chance to kill someone. It’s been months.” The legendary supervillain actually sounded sad about it.

“You might.” The was a small burst of flame and a weapon appeared on the granite countertop. The flame quickly dissipated leaving a big ass sniped rifle. “Fifty caliber.” Hellgate informed. “If one of the jihadists tries to stab us in the back you put a bullet through their head.”

“Deal.” Armsman’s eyes lit up at the proposition.

“We’ll know where you are at all times and you’ll know where we are at all times. We’re also going to have separate comms. If everything goes to shit, then you’re going to get a shot at Seif al-Din.”

“That little pig-fucker.” Armsman growled at the other supervillain’s name.

Armsman didn’t like this generation of villains, especially the religious fanatics. Lilly saw the same thing when she dealt with the mob and gangs around the country. The younger generation didn’t have any respect or follow the unwritten rules of supervillainy. Now, kids just wanted to kill and blow things up with no regard to who they hurt. It took the professionalism out of the job, and despite his cruel and ruthless reputation, Armsman was an old school professional.

Since he was one of the few people on the planet who could actually hurt the adaptive healer Armsman saw it as his duty to put the younger jihadist in his place.

“But only if shit goes sideways.” Hellgate reiterated, like he was reading his old friend’s thoughts.

“Fine.” Armsman swore, crossing his heart.

“Lilly, are you ready.” Hellgate turned his attention to his daughter and his body language softened.

“I was born for this shit dad.” She answered confidently. “I’ll get it done.”

“Good.” Hellgate looked around the room and nodded. “Grab your gear and let’s go.”

They all grabbed their various weapons. “Shall we?” Armsman held out his arm like a father about to escort his daughter down the aisle.

“Yes, we shall.” Lilly grinned underneath her mask, took his arm, and they disappeared in a puff of darkness that was momentarily illuminated by a blast of fire.

They appeared on a tall rooftop in the middle of downtown. They quickly began to set up a hide so he wouldn’t be seen. A few minutes later, the old villain was secure under the same camouflage netting that Lilly had used when watching the hotel in Daytona.

“I’ve got your back,” Armsman stated as he settled in behind the rifle.

Anyone that thought Armsman was only a master of bladed weapons would be making a fatal mistake.

“I know.” Lilly gave him a departing smile and disappeared.

Her shadow expanded as she plopped back into existence in the same hotel room she’d met Damascus in many times, but this time it was much more crowded. Dozens of men stood ready in the now crammed suite. They were all dressed in unassuming civilian clothes. The only thing uniform between them was their full beards.

“And our last addition has arrived.” The cultured English accent of their boss was unnerving.

The man she’d watched step off the boat through her scope smiled and nodded at her. He was at the center of the mass of men. He seemed to have a gravitational force to him. His soldiers were drawn to him. She could see it in their eyes. They admired him, they loved him, and they would willingly die for him.

Hellgate stood on the opposite side of the circle of men, staying a step away from them. Both his and Lilly’s body language said, “We’re here working for you but don’t think we’re with you.”

“Your intelligence on this city is greatly appreciated, Wraith. As is your handling of our enemy’s foremost teleporter. That will allow us to deal a crippling blow and retreat with our prize.”

Lilly just nodded.

Seif al-Din returned the nod and motioned to the paper maps strewn in front of him. “You all know what to do. Allahu Akbar.”

“Allahu Akbar.” The men chanted back.

“We shall pray and then we shall begin.”

Lilly didn’t know what to do as the dozens of men rolled out prayer rugs and faced away from her.

<Focus on the mission, and focus on Seth.> She knew there was a way they could get through this together. She just needed to figure it out.

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A Change of Pace – Chapter 88

Lilly appeared in her room in a blast of darkness. Her new, fancy rifle was slung over her back and she had the rest of her gear bundled in a bag. She tossed the bag into a corner of her room and headed for the shower.

<These guys might wear their stench like some badge of honor, but this is America bitches. We don’t think smelling like pig fart is a good thing.> She gagged as she remembered the last time she’d been around these people.

She’d kicked ass and taken names but that didn’t stop them from smelling like shit. She hoped they’d bathed before traveling, because moving around incognito was a lot easier if you didn’t smell like you were bringing the sewer with you.

She turned the shower to hot and jumped under the pulsing streams of her state-of-the-art shower head. It would have felt great if it didn’t burn like a motherfucker.

<Ugh.> She groaned. Despite her best efforts, she’d still burned on that rooftop.

She turned down the heat and gingerly washed herself. After she dried off she’d have to put on a generous amount of aloe.

“Lilly, are you back yet?” Altair knocked on her door as she was blow drying her hair.

“Yeah, I’m in here.” She yelled back.

Her father let himself in and started to arrange a series of folders on her unmade bed. After she was confident she smelled pristine and was presentable she joined him.

The information laid out had the basic first step of their plan. It had information on the three men she was meeting. They all looked like hairy fur balls in all of their pictures. Every one of them had deeply tanned skin, big, bushy black beards, and thick almost unibrow eyebrows. They looked like a stereotypical jihadist.

<They’re just going to love me.> She couldn’t wait to see their faces. <And if they have a problem with me I’ll just shoot them in the face.> She was confident she’d be able to manufacture some sort of accident before they had to report back to their boss.

The information her father was giving her was only the basics though. There weren’t many operational details. “They are playing their cards close to the vest.” He answered when she pressed for more information. “They are the clients and we have to obey their wishes.”

“Whatever.” Lilly sighed, and started to pick out her outfit.

She couldn’t go traipsing around Orlando in her Wraith gear. That would bring Seraphim down on her world-class ass and ruin everyone’s day. At her father’s insistence, she wasn’t going to wear anything too revealing. Because then their clients would get upset, shit their collective chickens, do god knew what, and then Lilly might have to put them down. And that would be bad for everyone.

It was warm again in Orlando so layers were out of the question. She pulled out a pair of jeans, nothing skin-tight, but not loose either. Baggy ones that would make her look more like a dude. She slipped on her favorite cyber-punk t-shirt and ended with a hooded windbreaker. She pulled up the hood to see how she looked.

<Not great but it’ll have to do.> She pulled her dyed blonde hair into a ponytail and slipped it through the back of a baseball cap. <That should offer a little more anonymity.>

One last look in the mirror showed that she looked like any other college kid who’d stuck around during spring break. The windbreaker was even a UCF one just to add to the impression.

“Ok, I’m ready to go.”

Her father scrutinized her appearance for a moment before giving his nod of approval.

“You will meet them here.” Altair showed her a picture of the location. “And I’ve already scouted this site. It should be safe for you.”

Lilly scrutinized the alleyway and took in all the detail. “Ok, see you soon.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and disappearing in a wave of darkness.

She reappeared in the same alley he’d shown her in the picture. The shadow blast of her teleportation told her it was all clear, so she walked to the back door she was told was unlocked and entered through the building’s service entrance.

You’d think she’d be meeting three terrorists in some rundown factory or seedy motel. Nothing could be farther from the truth. She wound through a couple of corridors and emerged into an upscale lobby of a four star hotel in downtown Orlando.

<They take hiding in plain sight to a whole new level.> She thought as she walked across the lobby.

The file told her where all the cameras were so she made sure to angle her face away from them. The last thing she needed was someone tracing all this back to the hotel and discovering her identity. That would suck on so many levels.

She walked over to the elevator like she owned the place, got in with an elderly couple, and hit the button for the top floor. <Because of course the well-funded jihadists are in the penthouse suite.>

The couple didn’t pay any attention to her. They were too busy bitching about an election. Apparently the two candidates running were unpopular.

She was alone when she reached the top floor. The elevator opened and she stepped into a foyer area. To get into the next section of the floor she needed to swipe a card. Thankfully, that had been part of the prep package. She slid the card through the reader, it beeped green, and she pushed it open.

Her three contacts stood at the far end of the suite that took up the entire floor. Equipment was strewn all over the place; equipment that if the hotel maid saw she’d be calling Homeland Security. Just with a quick glance Lilly saw, AK47s, grenades, C4, tangles of wires that looked like the beginnings of IEDs, a handful of artillery shells, cell phones lined up neatly and labelled, and several sets of body armor.

“We did not order a whore.” The leader stepped forward.

This guy did not look like one of the guys in the picture. He didn’t have the big, bushy, black beard. His hair looked like sterling silver, all of his hair: beard, mustache, eyebrows, and short-cropped military-style hairdo.

“You fucking wish.” She shot back, adding a little extra swagger as she walked into the room. “I’m your guide, and the only reason you have any fucking chance of doing anything in this town. So shut your stupid face or you all can go circle-jerk each other somewhere else.”

The two men beside the leader bristled with anger and started toward her. Lilly’s hand went to the small gun in the small of her back. These might be the people she was working for, but there was no way in hell she was going into this thing unarmed.

Before the two muscle-heads got close the silver-haired leader held up his hand. “My apologies. You must be Wraith.” He gave her a small bow.

She couldn’t hide her surprise.

He snapped a few words in Arabic and the two goons backed off. “We have heard of you killing American Heroes.” The way he smiled creeped her out a bit. “You have done a great service to our cause, and we thank you for that.”

“Um…ok.”

<How does anyone respond to that?> She didn’t like these chauvinist pigs, and she certainly didn’t like doing them any favors.

“How about we get down to business?”

“Excellent idea. And before I am rude and offend you, my name is Damascus.”

“Nice to meet you, Damascus.” She said just to be nice. “Now let me know where you want me to show you around.”

“Certainly.” He waved to a large map spread out on the bed.

There were markings all over the city in different colors. She gleaned some of the plan from the obvious nature of some of the markings, but others she had no idea. Damascus just watched her for a while and let her take it all in. If she didn’t know better she would have sworn the guy was trying to impress her.

“It is a three-pronged attack.” He moved up beside her to explain sections of the map.

He moved too close for comfort. Lilly took a half step away just to be safe and grabbed a hidden knife in case he got handsy.

“The first step is to disrupt communication.” He pointed at several sites and a few radio stations. “We will either shut it down or take it over so our message can be heard.” She could tell which ones were to be blown up, they were marked in red, and the ones to be taken over in green.

“Once we have full control of the communications network we need to work on transportation.” More red marks slashed across Interstate 4 before it reached Orlando as well as the 17, 441, 417, 408, 429, the Florida Turnpike and a few other smaller roads into the city.

Lilly counted the number of roads to be destroyed and it roughly matched the number of artillery shells in the room. <That’s gonna be one hell of an explosion.>

“With avenues of approach destroyed it will take time for the American Army to respond in force. It will also cut off commerce to the city. Since your grocery stores run on just-in-time ordering within a few days they will all be out of food with nothing new coming in.” Damascus’ creepy smile was back.

“What about the Heroes? They’ll have teleporters or they’ll just go around your blown-up roads.” She asked.

“It will be more than broken stone blocking the entrance to the city.” As he said it silver tongues of flame sprouted from his finger tips and seemed to dance to some unheard song. “And the Heroes. They will have their hands full dealing with our commander.”

Lilly knew it was coming, but it still sent shivers down her spine. She’d met the man they called Saif al-Din once before and he was scary as fuck. And that was before she’d read up on what he’d done. She didn’t know how he’d stand up to all the Heroes that would be called in, but Damascus’ confidence in his boss told her the super-terrorist could and would.

<Whatever, not my problem. I’ve got my mission. I’ll make sure Seth’s safe, and then it’s off to some tropical island for a little until shit settles back down.> It was as good a plan as any.

“After transportation, we take out the utilities.” Several red marks were drawn through places like the city’s power plant, which was just now getting fully rebuilt. “And thanks to the intelligence you gathered for us we know everyone’s response time to our actions. We will strike hard and fast, and everything will crumble before the Americans can respond.” Damascus’ eyes were ablaze with fiery purpose.

<I need to show them around and get away from these nut-jobs.> Lilly got the feeling they really shouldn’t be doing this. But it was too late to turn back.

“Ok, so I’ll take you to these places but your guys are setting all your shit up.” She summed it all up.

“Yes, of course. And you will execute your part of the plan when the time comes. It is perhaps the most important part of all.” He handed her a manila envelope.

Inside was a picture, directions, and a proposed time table for getting the job done. Below it all was the bonus they were going to pay her. Her eyes bulged at the number of zeroes on the page, but she remained professional, or at least professional by her standards.

“This is doable,” she replied nonchalantly.

“Good.” The silver-haired terrorist’s smile was back. “Let us start with the communications locations. Some are not far from here. Perhaps a walk to enjoy the fresh Florida air.”

“Damascus. Judging by the timeframe you have on this assignment you’ve given me we really don’t have time to go for a romantic stroll. I said it when I walked in here. I’m not you whore. I’m here to do a job, so let’s stop dicking around and get to work.

The man’s smile faltered for a split-second. Anger clouded his expression until he got it under control. “Of course, you are correct. We cannot delay.” He snapped orders to the other two men, who immediately went to work with the explosives. “Very well, Wraith. Please lead the way.”

Lilly reached out and grabbed the man’s hand, ignored her stomach turning over in repulsion, and teleported away.

 

***

 

Seth stumbled into the air-conditioned building. The world was still spinning slightly from his successful streak at the beer pong table, but he was good. All he really cared about was the chill that crept over his body.

It was hot outside, hotter than the last few days of spring break. His tan skin was starting to get burned in a couple areas and he had sand in his shorts. With his slight alcohol-fueled skew on reality, the most pressing issue in his life at the moment was getting an ice cream cone.

The shop had a cow for a mascot, and a life-sized plastic one was standing by the wall. Or at least Seth thought it was plastic. In his current state, it seemed to be swaying where it stood.

<Pull it together.> Seth shook his head and concentrated on the mission. <What flavor do I get?>

“Hey there.”

Seth jumped a foot in the air at the high-pitched voice behind him. There was also a slight stinging pain in his butt where the person had pinched him.

“What?” Seth answered stupidly.

“I said hey, isn’t it polite to say hey back?” The girl behind him asked.

She stood with her arms crossed over a sizable pair of breasts contained by a purple bikini top. Her skin was a dark ebony and her dark brown hair curled around her shoulders. His smile was both inviting and mischievous with just a hint of intoxication. It was the default expression on just about every college student on the beach.

“Yeah…hey.” Seth finally replied.

“My name is Bianca, what’s yours?” She asked sweetly.

“I’m Seth.” He automatically held out his hand for Bianca to shake.

She took it and shook firmly. “Wow, those are some big hands. You know what they say…?”

Seth probably did know what they said, but he just couldn’t think about it at the moment. The pull of the cool chill of an ice cream cone was starting to creep back up on him.

“So,” Bianca frowned a little at his lack of response to her statement, “where are you staying?” We’re over at the Sands.” She motioned to a few girls in line behind them.

One was another ebony skinned beauty with big, gold hoop earrings and blonde hair that looked very unnatural on her. The other was a Hispanic girl with sharp eyes and an even sharper glare for Seth. Both wore bathing suits similar to Bianca’s and were similarly endowed in the chest area. In fact, the other two seemed to be fending off other guys trying to chat them up.

“I’m down the beach a bit.” Seth replied noncommittally.

He might be a little wasted, but his tongue wasn’t loosened enough to give away the HCP’s hotel’s location.

“You mind if we come along?” Bianca asked, her smile revealing adorable dimples.

“Um…” Seth struggled to answer. His mind said one thing but his penis said another.

Visions of a four way were flashing through his head. Bianca’s friends turned their attention on him, waiting for an answer, and possibly thinking he might be a little brain dead because of the delayed response.

Girls like these didn’t get told no.

“Move bitches, coming through.” A new voice snapped him out of his physiological dilemma, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Liz strutted into the ice cream shop like she owned it and the buildings next to it. She completely ignored the guys starting at her. Instead, she fixed her own smoldering glare on Seth. She was wearing a black fishnet top over a black bikini top that was struggling to contain her. A matching short skirt flared around her hips and covered just enough to leave the imagination guessing. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she had an expensive-looking pair of aviators on that she pushed up into her hair as she entered.

The three girls, including Bianca, silently hissed as she approached; like a pack of hyenas suddenly confronted by a lioness.

“Hey there stud.” She pulled herself inappropriately close to Seth and shoved her tongue down his throat.

Suddenly, the heat outside had nothing on the heat pressed against him.

<I’m really going to need that ice cream now.> He thought has he tried to control the physical reactions to his super-hot girlfriend sucking his face off in the middle of a crowd.

Before he ran out of breath she pulled back and gave him a small peck on the nose for good measure. And then she turned on Bianca.

“He’s taken, Skankarella.” Liz said it so politely you’d think she was thanking Bianca for a large donation to a worthwhile charity.

“Oh no she didn’t.” The friend with the hoop ears looked ready to throw down as she started to undo the two pieces of jewelry.

Liz just smiled as the girl got all riled up.

Sometimes how someone reacted to the threat of imminent violence told you a lot about who they were and if they should be messed with. Thankfully for hoop-girl Bianca was a little more observant.

She held up a hand to hoop-girl. The other girl looked at Bianca in surprise before reattaching her earrings. “Bitch ain’t worth it.” She muttered.

There was a short stare-down between Bianca and Liz where something was communicated. Whatever it was Liz clearly won. Bianca puffed herself up, making sure to show off all her assets as she marched out the door with her small entourage.

“Beach bunnies.” Liz shook her head and turned back to Seth.

“What?” Things were such a whirlwind he had trouble focusing.

“Beach bunnies,” she repeated, taking a step forward toward the waiting server. “Women who go to beaches like Daytona for spring break and fuck their way through the week. They trade pussy for hotel rooms, booze, and whatever else that can get their dirty traps on. That skank would have used you for a place to crash tonight. She might have not even put out for you.” Liz frowned as she looked over the menu.

“Huh.” Seth let it sink in, and realized Liz knew an awful lot about being a beach bunny.

But Seth also knew a lot about being a boyfriend, and his instincts told him to shut the hell up if he wanted to get laid.

“Well, thank you.” He put his arm protectively around her waist and she melted into him. “Can I interest you in an ice cream cone?”

“I’m interested in a lot of things.” Liz smiled back. “But right now I just want to spend the day with you.”

Seth sensed the shift in her tone and pulled back to get a good look at her. “Liz, is everything ok?”

Whatever he thought he saw quickly vanished as a billion-watt smile lit up her face. “Of course it is.” She draped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss. “I just needed to get away from Orlando and back to you. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.”

They smiled at each other, and then the coughing cashier ruined the moment.

“Can I get you two anything.” It was a middle-aged woman, and she didn’t look too happy at having two kids making out in front of her and holding up the line.

“Give me two cookie doughs.” Seth ordered, knowing what Liz liked.

She smiled at him, accepted the cone and dragged him outside.

“I’ve always wanted to go for a moonlit stroll on the beach.” She said as they walked down a crowded Atlantic Avenue.

“It’s the middle of the day.” Seth looked up and had to protectively cover his eyes with his hand.

The ice cream was already starting to melt.

“I guess we’ll have to think of something to do until then.” She grinned back.

The subtext was not lost on Seth this time. He grabbed her hand and half-pulled, half-dragged her back to the hotel.

 

***

 

The hotel sheets had a high thread count. Daisy was sure of that. She used to have a lot of money. In fact, she still did. Once upon a time she’d used that money to buy nice sheets with a high thread count, and these felt like those.

Of course, she hadn’t been sharing the bed before.

She savored the soft feeling on her bare back for a moment before sitting up. She grabbed the sheet and pulled it against her chest as she sat up.

<Just because I finally slept with him doesn’t mean he gets a free show.> A smile pulled at her lips as she recalled that first night, then the morning, afternoon, and night every day since.

It was embarrassing in an age where sex was given more freely than before, but it had been a long time since Daisy’s last time. Judging by the activity over the last few days, she’d been determined to make up for lost time.

<It doesn’t hurt that Topher is very satisfying.>

She looked over and smiled at the naked bulk of her boyfriend. He was snoring softly and sprawled over a large chunk of the king-sized bed. She watched him for a moment before letting the sheet fall and crawling on top of him.

“For the love of god, woman. You’re going to be the death of me.” He sighed tragically once she’d coaxed him awake.

“Well at least you’ll die happy.”

Thirty minutes later, she stepped out of the bathroom towel drying her blonde hair. Topher was still in bed drinking a lot of water just in case she was up for round two. As much as Daisy wanted to she had other responsibilities to attend to.

“I’ve got to go do a headcount to make sure no one has been stolen.” She said casually as she tossed the towel into a used pile they’d started to collect near the door. “Head down to grab some breakfast and I’ll join you soon.”

“Yeah sure.” He replied, still slightly out of breath. “Just let me get my sea-legs back and I’ll get right to it.”

She laughed, gave him a kiss, and left the room. Like every morning since they got here, Craig was waiting in the hallway with a shit-eating grin.

“You’re glowing this morning, Daisy. Is all the sex good for your complexion?”

She shot him a good-natured glare. “My love life isn’t the one we should be worried about.”

It was no secret that trips like this involved the exchange of bodily fluids from a lot of the HCP students. Daisy’s job was to monitor the situation and make sure someone didn’t do something they’d regret. But her job ended there. The HCP students were training to be Heroes, and that meant they had to be accountable for their own decisions. If they knocked up some chick in Daytona during freshman year of college that was a problem they’d have to deal with.

“You got it?” Daisy asked, as she walked down the hall occupied exclusively by HCP students and pounded on doors.

Sometimes the thought of their physical training coaches was enough to make the kids think twice about unprotected sex, but sometimes it wasn’t. So they had a plan B.

It started as a trickle at the end of the hall. Students started to appear from rooms and walk down the hall toward the elevators. It still surprised Daisy that she rarely saw the same pairs emerging from the rooms.

<That has got to be awkward when they get back to campus.> She thought. <I guess what happens on spring break stays on spring break…except herpes.>

The first pair got to them and Craig held out a plastic jack-o-lantern. His kids used matching ones when they trick-or-treated in the fall, but this time it was full of condoms instead of candy. Under the watchful eyes of the two instructors the HCP students passed by and everyone, male and female, grabbed a few.

“Wrap it, before you tap it.”

“Cover your stump, before you hump.”

“No glove, no love.”

“Chain the beast, before presenting the feast.”

“If you can’t shield your rocket, leave it in your pocket.”

“Sheath that knife, she ain’t your wife.”

“Especially in December, gift wrap your member.” The last one was a little outdated.

Craig had a one-liner for every couple passing them, and it was really hard for her to keep a straight face. Together they did the same routine on each of the floors until they had a count of everyone.

Everyone was present and accounted for.

<Whew.> Her biggest fear was losing a student. <Just one more day.>

It had been her mantra over the last week as the days slowly counted down. Despite how nice it was to sit in the sun all day long, and spend her inside time wrapped up in the sheets with Topher, this whole week was just a pause in reality. There were still problems awaiting her when they got back.

The prep for the semester final was starting in its end phases. Angela was still coping with the loss of her father. Seraphim was still patrolling/terrorizing the Orlando underworld. Wraith was still on the loose, and the news from Rabat was not good. The siege was over, but the bad guys had to have gone somewhere.

Daisy knew in her bones something big was coming. Her past was coming back to haunt her while her present and future hung in the balance. It was a daunting thought, but whatever the legal dweebs at the DVA might say Daisy was a Hero.

And Heroes didn’t let shit like this stop them from doing their job.

Previous                                 Next

A Change of Pace – Chapter 87

<Why the hell did I agree to do this?> Daisy wondered.

She was lying on a beach. The sunlight was streaming in overhead from a cloudless sky. The temperature had just crept back into the eighties, so it felt perfect coupled with the soft sea-breeze coming in off the Atlantic. If she wanted to try, she guessed that the water was probably decently warm too.

It was, by all stretches of reality, paradise.

“You did it because you’re a good person. Well, fifty one percent because of that. The other forty-nine percent is because you’re the low woman on the totem pole.”

Hands started to caress her back sending dual shocks of pleasure and anticipation up her spine. They were oily though, which told her that this caress was half massage, half making sure she had the proper amount of sun lotion for someone of her light-skinned complexion.

“Did I say that out loud too?” Daisy asked the man attached to those strong hands.

“Yeah,” Topher laughed. “I get you’re still technically working, but this is one hell of an assignment.”

Daytona Beach was alive with spring break. Just about everywhere you went was crowded with college kids looking to make memories. But at the speed most people were going they weren’t going to remember anything. Of course, that group also included the guests at a posh, private resort at the end of the beach.

The HCP had been doing business with the resort, actually owned by a retired Hero couple, for the last decade. It was always safer for the HCP to provide a safe and secure outlet for the students to drink their faces off during the short holiday. The hotel itself was actually concealed behind a mirage, and people who found themselves wandering too close to the property’s private beech suddenly found important things they needed to do elsewhere. The property’s proprietors were able to keep up the illusion easily enough, and for the price the school was paying them they better.

“You say that now,” Daisy tried to grumble, but his knuckles kneading her shoulder blades felt too good. “But just wait until someone gets launched half a mile out to sea, or lightening starts striking during the middle the day. A fire burning down the hotels is going to be the least of our problems.”

“Is she being a Debbie-Downer?” Another man walked up to the sun-bathing couple.

“She’s her usual charming self, Craig.” Topher answered.

“Glad to hear it,” the speedster gave the couple a critical stare. “Anything to report?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be watching them too?” Daisy huffed, sitting up onto her elbows.

Then she realized she’d undone her bikini top to get a better tan, and quickly plopped back down onto her sizeable chest.

Topher noticed, Craig pretended not to.

“Um. . .well, I’ve got my own surveillance operation going.”

Not too far away a small tornado of sand was forming thanks to a ten-year-old redhead running in super speed circles.

“Shit, gotta go. Rosalie!” His yell faded as he blurred across the beach.

“Supervillains couldn’t bring down that man, but a ten-year-old and a seven-year-old might just pull it off.” Daisy mused as Craig fussed with his speedster daughters. “I pity that man in a few years.”

“Why?” Topher continued to massage bliss and relaxation into her back.

“Teenage girls.”

“Oh.” Topher’s shudder translated down into his massage. “Yeah. I remember Debora being a raging bitch for about five years.”

“Be nice,” Daisy chided him, swatting behind her but failing to hit anything. “Plus, I don’t think the raging bitch thing ever ended.”

They both laughed, and for a moment it felt like a real vacation. But it was more than that.

This week was the week. Despite how everything was going now, Topher had been very reluctant to take time off at work to spend a week at the beach. The Orlando PD was still busy hunting down the last few remnants of the Fist, and a select few need-to-know people were preparing for the likely next attack. Topher was one of those need-to-know people with his DVA clearances. So pulling him away from the planning process had taken the silver bullet in her arsenal.

Today was the week she’d decided to screw his brains out.

He had the leave signed off on in about ten minutes when she broke the news to him.

So here they were. Sitting on a paradise inspired beach. She was topless and he was massaging her back. The only thing missing was cheap seventies music and this could be the start of any number of pornos.

But if she could rely on anything with Topher, it was for him to be a gentleman. Even if she wished he’d be the one to initiate. All he had to do was slide one of his hands over her back, down, her side and he’d be able to cop a feel of some side boob. Then it would be on like Donkey Kong on Viagra.

But he didn’t and the vision of them humping like bunnies in heat quickly faded from her mind. Her attention turned back to the students.

Even having two of their professors sitting roughly two hundred feet away wasn’t stopping them. Every drinking game imaginable was being played by everyone from the underage freshmen to the seniors who were supposed to be setting a good example.

Daisy watched with an amused smirk as giant Mason Jackson tried to master flip cup. It was not going well. When you could easily envelop a red solo cup in your hand you tended to have a little trouble. If Jackson was bad than Kyoshi Schultz was downright embarrassing.

<They need to do a study on that girl.> Daisy concluded.

The advanced-mind had lethal grace when in the combat cells, but ask her to walk a straight line completely somber and she looked like she was six shots into an all-night ragger. Daisy already knew the younger Super was playing up the clumsiness during her other classes to divert attention from her Super hair and eyes, but not everything she was doing was an act.

As if on cue, Schultz went running from one station of the booze game to the next. Tripped on the sand, got said sand into a dozen cups of cheap beer, and face planted hard. Jackson was at her side in a second, but it was already too late.

“Can you strap me up back there you big strong man.” Daisy put a little sultry in her voice just to drive Topher crazy. “Thanks.” She sat up and made sure her boobs wouldn’t pop out in front of her students. “Give me a minute, I need to check on clutz-zilla over there.”

***

Angela watched the nonstop party from the edges. She had her book open on the towel in front of her and was trying to study. It was hard with all the drunken yells coming from her inebriated classmates, and then there was the sand. Sand got everywhere; on her towel, in her book, and in her bathing suit. It was a royal pain in the ass…literally.

Finally, she couldn’t concentrate anymore. Coach Meyers was marching toward the tables where Kyoshi had just fallen. Angela suppressed a twinge of jealousy as the athletically built, tall, busty instructor glided across the sand. Becca and Kyoshi had helped Angela get over her body issues during the first semester. Alec also helped; telling her she was beautiful always brightened her day. Lastly, seven months of HCP training had finally stripped off the last of the stubborn baby fat. She still had more of a muscular build than most women, but she had basically accepted it.

But then Coach Meyers started walking around in a bikini and Angela just had to know her workout regimen. The woman was beauty, brains, and brawn all in a six foot three Barbie package.

Angela shook her head and banished the thoughts. She was supposed to be the freshmen class monitor and Kyoshi injuring herself fell underneath her job responsibilities. Angela snapped her book shut and went to check on her friend.

“I swear, I’m just fine.” Kyoshi’s eyes were unfocused, her words slurred, and her nose leaking blood.

“You just broke your nose, Schultz.” Coach Meyers announced just as Angela arrived.

“No I didn’t.” Kyoshi protested despite the visual evidence of a distinct crook in her once perfectly straight nose.

“Babe, we probably need to get you to a hospital.” Mason put one massive hand on his girlfriend’s lower back to steady her and another comfortingly grasped her hand.

Angela saw that and suddenly wanted Alec to be here.

“Good idea, Jackson, but not necessary.” The HCP instructor pulled a slim phone out of the thin waist-strap of her bikini bottom. “I’ll make some calls and we’ll get Ms. Schultz back into fighting shape.”

Kyoshi gave a loud “Woohoo” to the news, which started a chorus of the irritating noise. Angela did not participate in it. Kyoshi saw that and turned her full drunken attention on Angela.

“Angela! Come have a drink with me.” Kyoshi tried to pull away from Mason, but he didn’t let her.

“I think we should hold off drinking until you get fixed up.” Angela crossed her arms defiantly.

They didn’t have to wait long.

Dr. Sanderson appeared with a loud pop and a puff of sand. A man in a government issued black suit stood placidly in the background as the HCP healer walked over to take a look at Kyoshi. He gave a side glance at Coach Meyers, but nothing more.

“Just a normal break,” he confirmed as golden mist detached itself from his body and flooded over Kyoshi. “That should do it.”

The mist faded leaving a rapidly blinking Kyoshi. “Did I…? Oh no.”

Apparently, Dr. Sanderson’s healing had the additional effect of sobering up the advanced mind.

“It’s ok, babe.” Mason pulled his slightly shorter, but still ridiculously tall girlfriend into a big hug. “Why don’t we go for a swim and then work on your tan.”

Mason’s skin, aside from being incredibly dark already, was also super powered. He couldn’t get a sunburn unless he was walking on the sun. Kyoshi was the opposite. Her ancestors did not come from places that worshipped the sun.

“Ok.” The now meek and embarrassed advanced mind followed her boyfriend to the water. She shot Angela and apologetic look, but Angela waved it off with a smile.

She was the monitor. This was her job.

With one problem dealt with she gave the area a quick scan. There were just under a hundred students on the trip, and just about all of them looked like they were knee deep in inebriation. She didn’t care about that. She cared about her classmates doing something they’d regret.

“Anna, if you want to fuck Jason then go back to your hotel room!” She called out as she passed the two students.

The volatile electrokinetic was practically lying on top of the freshman class’ second ranked student. Angel was pretty sure the woman was one second away from slipping off her top and letting the guy motorboat her.

<I’m the monitor.> She took comfort in that as Anna turned around and gave her the finger.

But then she did grab Jason by the hand and dragged him toward the hotel.

“Wrap it before you tap it!” She yelled after them, which got her a two-finger salute from Anna.

<That’s better.> Angela smiled to herself as she returned to her towel and her book. But she didn’t want to study.

Instead, she took out her phone and dialed a number from memory.

“Hello,” Alec answered two rings later.

“Hey, it’s me,” Angela didn’t really know what to say. She just wanted to talk with him.

You could cut the sexual tension in the air during spring break with a spoon, and her kind-of boyfriend was at home helping his parents do spring cleaning.

“Hey.” The excitement in his voice made her heart flutter. “So how is your spring break going?”

“Oh, you know. Pretty sure there should be a mandatory teen pregnancy course before you’re allowed to go on spring break.”

He laughed, and her smile broadened.

“So,” she asked blushing slightly. “Do you want to grab dinner sometime after we get back?”

***

Anika lounged on her chair by the pool. Her olive skin drank in the sun like a solar battery. Her silver bikini was classically scandalous, but it went well with her tattoos. After having to keep the clearly Super marks hidden most of the time there was something incredibly freeing about letting the whole world see them.

The staff around the pool did more than enough staring. One towel boy even walked right into the water. Again, Anika didn’t mind the extra attention. They were all young, attractive, and in incredible physical shape. There was no harm in showing off a little.

“Mmm.” Becca groaned, fidgeting to get into a more comfortable position.

Her speedster girlfriend was cuddled up against her side on the small pool chair. What had started as romantic cuddle by the pool had turned into the blue-haired woman sleeping while Anika watched.

Becca was dressed in a more conservative one-piece, but Anika still found it incredibly sexy. A few thin horizontal straps were the only fabric connecting the back above Becca’s waist. On the front, a diamond shape had been cut out below the speedster’s breasts but above her waist; which highlighted her taught stomach. Occasionally, Anika ran her fingers over this section of flesh to make sure all this was real and she wasn’t dreaming.

Of course, there was the added bonus of Becca liking the attention.

Anika kept her hands to herself for the moment. Becca had been running around all day and she had to be exhausted. On top of that, they didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.

With nothing else to do she turned her attention to the man in the chair next to hers.

“No Liz?” she asked Seth.

The broad-spectrum elemental manipulator shook his head as he took a sip from his pina colada. He might not be twenty-one, but when the hotel staff saw the platinum credit card and a wad of cash for tips they turned a blind eye. Everyone else had to deal with the beer they brought. Thankfully, Coach Meyer and McMillian weren’t being sticklers.

“Nope. This is HCP only.” Seth sounded like he wished his own girlfriend was curled up against him.

“Everyone knows Liz though. She went on that short beach trip last year before parents’ weekend,” she replied.

“I brought that up, but the Coach Meyers still said no. Apparently, there are insurance issues.” Seth’s shrug said he thought the excuse was total bullshit.

“Oh well. Maybe it’s a good thing.” She sighed and lay back in the chair.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Seth bristled.

“Just that it might be good for you two to get some healthy separation once and a while.” She cracked one eye to look at Seth.

“You’re one to be talking.” His eyes roamed over Becca who was basically lying on top of her.

Now it was her turn to bristle. “You know I’m right,” she shot back. “Whenever you two are together you’re joined at the crotch. And don’t try to deny it.” She raised a hand to stop his retort. “The walls are pretty thin in that townhouse.”

“Yeah, they are.” Seth’s eyes bored into hers. “Don’t think the rest of us can’t hear you two.”

Anika blushed momentarily but that was snuffed out by the anger.

“At least I don’t leave Becca for weeks at a time with no explanation and then show up out of the blue like nothing happened.”

It was a low blow, and she knew it the moment it left her mouth.

Seth’s tanned skin flushed with embarrassment and anger. “What is your problem? You’ve never liked her. Is it because you wanted some of this and she got to it first?”

Anika couldn’t help but laugh. “Typical guy thing to say. You’re thinking with your dick instead of your head.” Seth tried to reply but she kept on going. “I don’t like her because she came out of nowhere. She wormed her way into your life, and because we live with you, now she’s in our life. On top of that, she knows all about us. One word from her and we’re all out of the HCP. Did you even think for a second about that? About what it would do to your roommates? About what it would do to Becca?”

The blue-haired speedster stirred as Anika got more animated.

“Her whole town pooled money to send her here. She’s had the courage to come from a small town to the big city, and to try and become the Hero everyone in her town knows she is. Then she discovered herself, she discovered me, and she lost a lot of that backing because she doesn’t like dick like a “normal” girl.” She couldn’t stop a brief sneer from flashing across her face.

“But she’s still brave enough to go forward with her dream of helping people. Even the people who see her as less of a person because she loves me. And you, Seth, have put all of that in danger by bringing Liz into our lives without our consent.”

Seth’s tanned skin was flushed red with emotion by the time Anika finished.

“I’m sorry, but Liz would never do anything to hurt any of us. She’s already proven that to me, and to all of you multiple times.” He shot back.

“Really?” Anika raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Seth practically growled trying to keep his voice low to avoid drawing the staff’s attention. “She saved my life when we first met. Some shit-fuck drug dealer tried to put a bullet in me, and Liz risked her life to save mine. She didn’t even know me. You sit there and talk about heroics, but she is a hero whether or not she has the license. And unless you’ve forgotten,” he continued. “she also stood up for you guys after you went costume shopping. I’m pretty sure someone tried to mug you. You would have been forced to jeopardize your secret identities to deal with it, but then Liz stepped in. She made sure that none of you got expelled. And on top of that, she hasn’t done anything to deserve this treatment from you.” Seth took a deep breath to calm himself.

“I’ll admit that we have some relationship stuff to work out. We aren’t Mason and Kyoshi, or even you and Becca, but we love each other; so please respect that.”

Seth’s passion surprised Anika. Until now, she thought he only had passion between his legs. So, begrudgingly, she forced herself to acknowledge some of his points. But that didn’t mean she had to like Liz.

“Fine, I can respect that.” She stated after a pause. “But you need to respect that she holds the future of six good people in her hands.” She saw Seth struggling to figure out who the sixth person was, so she cleared that up. “That includes you.” She smiled at him, and then her face turned serious again. “Make sure she understands all of that the next time you two have a fight or things need to get worked out. Because I am not going to let Becca fail because of someone else’s foolishness.”

Her eyes stabbed into Seth’s, driving home the point.

“Wha…what’s goin’ on?” Becca yawned, finally waking up.

“Nothing.” Anika waited for the yawn to finish before planting a kiss on those lips.

“Yeah.” He nodded to Anika, showing that he understood and accepted her viewpoint. “In fact, I was about to get some more drinks. You want anything?”

“That looks yummy.” Becca pointed at Seth’s nearly empty pina colada. “Can I have one of those?”

“Bartender!” Seth called, causing a man to scramble toward them.

“Yes, Sir. What can I get for you?”

Word of Seth’s generous tipping had obviously spread.

“Can I get three more of these delicious pina coladas. And,” he drew the man in close enough to slip a twenty in his breast-pocket, “make one of those extra strong. The small one might not look it, but she’s got a hollow leg.”

The bartender looked over at Becca, who smiled brightly and waved at him.

“Yes, Sir.” He nodded and ran back to the bar to fill the orders.

Anika watched the man go, and smiled. <Since that’s out of the way we can get down to really enjoying the rest of our break.> 

As if to emphasize the point, Becca cuddled closer, which sent her libido into overdrive.

 

***

 

Lilly watched the couple dozen HCP students walking around the hotel grounds. She laughed as Kyoshi face planted, but she made sure to always keep an eye on Seth and her target. Thankfully, both were lounging by the pool and having a very animated discussion.

<Wish I was there.> She told herself for the hundredth time. <Stupid rules. Rules are meant to be broken…Maybe I can sneak in for a quickie.> She smiled at the thought.

Despite it being a great idea, she quickly discarded it. This was a recon mission. She wasn’t to be seen or heard by her target. And if she tried to sneak in and ambush her boyfriend then the budding telepath would know.

<She’s ruining all my fun.> Lilly sighed.

She pulled back from the scope of the rifle. She moved her neck to either side, feeling the cracks of pressure being released from her vertebra. It felt good; especially after peering through the scope for the last few hours.

Lilly was about half a mile away from the resort Seth and the rest of the townhouse’s HCP students were staying at for the week. Life would have been easier if she could have tagged along for the trip, but that would have been too easy. So instead, she was sitting on the top of one of the tallest buildings on the beach and looking down on them.

It had been tough to find them at first. Seth hadn’t been able to give anything but vague details, and the building’s defense themselves were formidable. Formidable, but not unsurmountable. It took some trial and error but Liz was able to overcome the effects of the mirage.

Using technology, Liz was able to penetrate the light-altering properties of the mirage; but not as good as she would have liked. Instead of being able to get a clear picture she got a modified IR version. All she saw was white humanoid shapes moving around the space. It had taken her all of last night, and then several hours this morning to figure out who was who. Thankfully, she’d spent enough time around these people to figure out who was who.

Mason and Kyoshi were easy. They were two of the biggest people there. Seth was easy too, because she’d installed a passive tracking app on his phone. It might be a little stalkerish, but she had a job to do. With that knowledge, she’d been able to discern where Anika was.

<I really wish I had audio.> Lilly complained again, but it was too risky.

All she was planning on doing was staring through the scope of her new electromagnetic rifle for the next few days. <Not exactly the spring break I had in mind.>

On top of being boring, she didn’t like sitting out in the open like this. She’d camouflaged her sniper’s nest, but there was only so much she could do. She had a piece of tech genius smart fabric which adapted itself to its surroundings. She’d used it as overhead cover so anyone flying overhead would only see more rooftop. There wasn’t much of a risk of that. Daytona Beach only had one independent Hero working the streets, but there might be more on call due to the influx of drunk and dumb college students.

She wasn’t in her full Wraith costume either. It was just too damn hot for that. She’d opted for her grinning volto mask, a cyberpunk t-shirt with a shoulder-holstered Glock, and tan combat-pants; although she’d lost the pants in the last hour and was in bikini bottoms now.

<If someone walked up here right now it would be really awkward.> She giggled at the imagery.

Midway through the giggle her phone vibrated. She took her eyes back off the scope and rummaged through her nearby pants. She pulled the phone out on the fourth vibration and pressed it to her ear.

“Yeah.” She held the phone between her head and shoulder so she could return her attention to the scope.

Good thing too. It looked like Seth and Anika were arguing about something. <Bitch.> She automatically thought. <No one talks to my man like that.> It didn’t matter that Lilly had no idea what they were even talking about.

“I need you back here.” Her father’s voice flatly stated over the line.

“Dad, I’m on vacation. Can’t this wait? I’m trying to get my drink on.” She answered in the code they’d developed for this surveillance.

“No, it can’t wait.” He replied. “Family just got in. They haven’t seen you in so long and they wanted to catch up.”

“Oh…ok, sure. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The message was clear. Their clients advanced team had reached Orlando and Lilly needed to play tour guide.

<Better put my pants on for this one.> She thought. <These religious zealots tend to shit a chicken if a woman doesn’t have her hair covered. I can’t imagine what they’d do if they saw the hair downstairs.> She mentally chuckled at her unique sense of humor.  

Working for these people sent a shiver down her spine and made her gut churn, but a job was a job; and completed jobs got you a reputation.

In her line of work reputation was everything.

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A Change of Pace – Chapter 84

The metal door to the combat cell opened soundlessly. On the other side there was heavy breathing and a grunt as Becca pushed the door completely open and stepped out. She was limping slightly, had her arms curled protectively around her chest, and was sporting a swelling bruise that seemed to cover half her face. It had been one hell of a fight. But despite the damage, nothing was able to wipe that big grin off her face.

A grin that was echoed on the woman waiting for Becca at the end of the hallway.

“And they say Wheaties is the breakfast of champions.” Anika stepped forward to give her girlfriend a big hug. “You ate that bitch alive.”

Becca continued to smile, but her disapproving eyes swept over Anika. “Lorelei put up a good fight. I ain’t exactly fresh as a daisy right now.” The speedster winced as Anika let her go.

“Either way you showed that stuck up bitch.”

Becca didn’t revel in fighting another woman, but she did find some pleasure in moving into the number eleven rank in the freshman class. And if it had to be Lorelei Gilford, the queen SUB, then that was the cherry on top.

The former number eleven ranked freshman had put up one heck of a fight though. A blaster, with laser beams coming out of her eyes, and a more durable than human physique, Lorelei was a tough nut to crack. Even so, Becca had chosen her specifically for her first match of the new semester. Even if it was almost March by the time they had it.

Becca knew that Lorelei’s beams could hurt her, but they’d have to touch her to do that. In the whole match Becca had only taken a glancing blow, which explained the limp and burn on her leg. Despite that Becca had just been too fast for the SUB. By the time Lorelei’s brain sent the mental command to move her eyes to a spot Becca was already gone.

And with the ability to slow down her perception, Becca was always one step ahead. There was the slight hiccup of Lorelei’s defensive strategy, which consisted of randomly blowing up parts of the combat cell to make an obstacle course, including a wall of rubble to protect herself. That was the explanation for Becca’s probably dislocated shoulder.

The face bruising was the easiest to explain. Becca had to get in close to take down Lorelei. Once there, she learned that the SUB was about as durable as she was. And the ensuing slug fest ended with Lorelei eating pavement and Becca with more than a few black and blues. It spoke to Lorelei’s supreme hand-to-hand fighting skills that she had been able to hit Becca at all.

Not that Anika was going to bring up that part. This morning it was all about the “W”.

“Not a bad way to start a Monday morning.” Anika smiled, as she gave Becca a kiss on her non-bruised cheek.

“I can’t think of a better way to start the week than to lend my services to two injured students.” Dr. Sanderson announced his arrival with the statement and a rush of golden mist that completely enveloped the two women.

Even Anika felt the exhaustion of waking up early on a Monday morning vanish.

“You are cleared to go, Ms. Whitfield.” The HCP healer announced after he’d looked her over and taken her vitals. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks a bunch, Doc.” Becca gave him a brilliant smile, devoid of any bruising, and then rushed hand-in-hand with Anika toward the locker room.

Monday morning meant an early class for both of them, so they have to get back to the townhouse quickly if they wanted to eat together. Anika also needed to shower and change. She’d come to watch the fight in her pajamas.

“If you want to head back and get ready I’ll shower and meet you there.” Becca suggested, not wanting to waste her girlfriend’s time.

“And miss the show. . .no way.” Anika grinned mischievously. Forcing Becca to blush.

Despite the innuendos that Anika kept throwing her way Becca showered quickly, even for a speedster. Time with Anika was precious and she wanted to make the most of it.

Pancakes, eggs, OJ, and enough bacon to make people wonder about the leftover pig population in Orlando comprised the real breakfast of champions. Becca made it while Anika got the table ready and stayed well away from the food. Becca was the homemaker type. With a family of farmers and younger siblings, that left Becca cooking a lot of meals growing up. That translated well into her and Anika’s relationship, because Anika would burn toast even if you gave her step-by-step instructions on how to do it.

Becca had learned this over a few ruined dinners and the new dynamic was set into place. Becca cooked and Anika did everything else.

“So Spring Break.” Anika crunched on a double-strip of bacon.

“What about it?” Becca was devouring her fourth pancake. Her speedster metabolism and a freshly healed body was the culprit of her ravenous hunger.

“What are we doing?” Anika sat expectantly with her hands steepled in front of her. “We are doing something aren’t we?”

“Um. . .” Honestly Becca hadn’t thought about it one bit.

Everything had been crazy since the day they got back to school. Training kicked back in full-force on the first day. Becca was really learning how to fight for the first time in close combat training. She had all of her regular school work to consider. Dean Ditmar had nasty habit of assigning more assignments in their Ethics class, and what time she had left was spent with Anika or friends. Becca literally hadn’t even had time to think.

<I don’t even know when it is.> Becca thought, not knowing how to tell Anika.

Anika had always been a little more into the partying crowd than Becca. Well. . .as much as an HCP student could be into the partying scene; which was just dipping a toe in.

<We’ve got a couple of weeks to go, don’t worry.> The always comforting mental voice of Kyoshi filled her in, just as the pale white-haired telepath descended the stairs.

“What’s this about spring break?” asked the rumbling voice of her even larger boyfriend.

“Anika is wondering what we’re doing.” Becca re-stated, causing Mason to scratch his head in thought.

It was clear the strongman didn’t have a clue either.

Kyoshi gave her boyfriend a pat on the arm before heading for the bacon. Her foot caught on something, she tripped, and would have upended the entire kitchen table if not for her boyfriend’s strong, steadying hand.

“Sorry,” she blushed, rosy red filling her cheeks, as she gingerly grabbed a slice of bacon. “But spring break is already planned.”

“Planned?”

“Really?”

“Since when?” All three of the teenage Supers had different questions.

“Apparently, the freshman class does a joint spring break trip. It’s an HCP tradition. I overheard some of the administrative people thinking about it. So don’t let anyone else know I told you.” Kyoshi grinned. “They should be announcing it soon so that no one makes any plans.”

“Plans?” A considerably less enthusiastic voice asked from the stairs.

<Oh geez.> Becca looked over Seth and tried to keep the frown off her face.

Seth looked like he was heading off to class in sweatpants, a white undershirt, and a light jacket. Becca swore she could see a stain on a visible part of the shirt, which was bad enough. What was worse was that she’d only ever seen Seth in sweatpants before when he was really sick. This was the look of a Seth that had given up.

<She’s only been gone three days.> Becca thought as she got to her feet and slowly approached Seth, like a person would a wounded animal.

“How ya doin’, Seth?” She asked.

“I’m ok.” He replied, even though he didn’t look it.

“You feeling ok?” Becca put her hand to his forehead, but wasn’t able to tell if he was sick because he batted it away.

“I’m fine,” Seth whined. “I’m just worried.”

“Ok. Well call me if ya need anything.” Becca made a phone with her thumb and pinky finger.

Seth just nodded and left without eating anything.

Becca returned to the table of people who’d all watched Seth go.

“I don’t like him like this.” Anika sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. “I’ve never liked her. She’s got him totally whipped and depressed when she just runs off like this. Ever heard of a phone call or quick text message. We live in the twenty-first century. How hard is it to let him know you’re bailing?”

“She didn’t bail.” Becca came to Liz’s defense; although she didn’t like the situation Seth was in. “Her dad did call and tell him that there was a family emergency and she’d be gone for a few days.”

“I still think it’s rude to just disappear and have your daddy call your boyfriend. Not to mention weird. Didn’t her dad show up here?”

“Yes he did.” Kyoshi answered. “He actually stopped by looking for Liz and they had dinner. Their thoughts were guarded and I tried not to listen, but I got the feeling they were having a serious talk.”

“It’s still weird to have her dad just stopping in like that.” Anika mumbled.

Kyoshi nodded and then suddenly shifted her attention to Mason. She looked at him expectantly with raised eyebrows. “Explain.” Was all she said.

“Well. . .um,” the big guy was clearly uncomfortable. “Seth and I might have had a talk after hitting the gym end of last week. He was talking a lot about getting more serious relationship-wise with Liz. He asked my opinion, so I gave it, and then I’m pretty sure he rushed out to set up a romantic dinner. Then she didn’t show. I guess her dad did instead. Which is weird.” Mason added. “Especially if they had a family emergency and he didn’t mention it. That would be the first thing Mr. Schultz would say if he came looking for Kyoshi.”

“I agree that it ain’t perfect, but Liz is. . .well she’s Liz.” Becca couldn’t quite find words to describe their friend’s eccentric attitudes. “She comes and she goes when she wants. She’s like a tornado, but a nice one.”

“A tornado of T&A maybe,” Anika scoffed, and then withered under Becca’s disapproving glare. “Ok, sorry. But you got to admit they spend about as much time in the sack as they do anywhere else.”

“Everyone’s relationships are different. We shouldn’t judge.” The sage advice of Mason seemed to break the little bit of tension that had built up. That and the fact that they were almost late for class.

Dishes were piled in the sink to be done later, or tomorrow, and a quick run around the house by Becca made sure everything was off. There was no need to get billed extra. They were already paying more than anyone else they knew with Liz and Anika effectively living there too.

Not that anyone was complaining, or at least not about Anika and only a little about Liz.

Becca gave her girlfriend a goodbye kiss and headed in the opposite direction. Just like last semester, Becca had ended up in a morning class with Kyoshi. Although this time it was a freshman English lecture with hundreds of other students.

However, just like last semester they couldn’t walk in together or sit together. Becca’s blue and Kyoshi’s white hair were distinctly Super traits. Becca cold play it off, but Kyoshi couldn’t. If the other woman wasn’t so clumsy her height, eyes, and hair would have gotten her busted on an SI infraction long ago.

True to form, Kyoshi nearly face planted tripping over her own feet. Since it was the second time today, Becca had to wonder how much of it was acting. She vaguely remembered from her high school history class that an old president had played up his clumsiness for political advantage.

<This morning was real, but just now was acting. And I think I’m getting pretty good at it.>

Becca could feel her friend’s telepathic smile.

Just because they couldn’t sit together didn’t mean that they couldn’t talk.

<But seriously,> Kyoshi’s mental smile vanished. <Don’t you think it’s suspicious that Liz just disappeared like that?>

<Well. . .> Becca really had to think about it.

And she got momentarily distracted by the pop quiz the professor was handing out. A quiz she was definitely not prepared for, and Kyoshi’s question wasn’t helping.

<Yes and no.> The blue-haired speedster finally answered twenty minutes later. <Yeah it’s weird that she just disappears and doesn’t tell anyone where she’s going; or much of anything when she gets back. I assume she tells Seth because he’s still with her. It ain’t really my business so I don’t stick my nose in it. Doing that usually gets ya stung, and I like Seth and Liz. I don’t want them shuttin’ me out.>

<I get it, but that doesn’t stop it from being weird.> Kyoshi replied.

<Yeah, but our life ain’t exactly normal. And this city ain’t exactly been normal this year either.>

The outage during their final last semester flashed though their mind. It had complicated things for both of them.

<Maybe she’s just scared?> Becca suggested.

Becca heard Kyoshi’ snort from across the room, and half the class turned to look at her. Her face went bright red and she buried it in her book.

<Are we talking about the same Liz?> Kyoshi replied once the lecture got back on track.

<Yeah you’re right. She is one tough lady. I can’t imagine much that would scare her.>

<Would commitment?> Kyoshi’s thoughts brought on a few minutes of silence as both Supers thought about that.

<Mason did say that he had that serious talk, and then her father shows up unannounced. Did Seth call him?>

<I don’t know, and I’m not going to dig around in his mind to find out.> Despite the statement Kyoshi sounded like she really wanted to dig for answers.

<Then we do what any good friends should do.> Becca concluded.

<What?> Kyoshi actually rotated in her seat so they could meet each other’s eyes.

<We ask.>

 

***

 

Daisy arched her back as she brought the fresh, steaming cup of coffee to her lips. <Mmmm, it was a great idea to take the morning off.>

As she savored the sweet caffeinated nectar she grabbed the paper and opened it to an article she found interesting. Maybe she was old-fashioned, but Daisy liked printed media better than all the websites. She liked the feel and rustle of paper beneath her fingertips, and she liked the ability to peek over the top of the paper at her environment without drawing any attention to herself. There was a reason that technique was used a lot in older spy movies. It actually worked.

The scenery around her this morning was different than usual. Instead of the cheap table that sat in a little open space before the kitchen became the living room, she was sitting at a granite island in the middle of an expertly cleaned kitchen. She knew just how clean it was because she’d spent last night cleaning it.

<I love the man but he’d be just as at home living out of a pig’s trough.>

Daisy smiled to herself and turned her attention back to the article. It detailed a terrorist attack in Morocco that had thankfully only injured and not killed anyone. The international spotlight seemed to be focused on that small country and its efforts to catch who’d done this. Daisy flipped the page back to the cover where the local paper’s main story was printed in bold.

STILL NOTHING. DVA KEEPS ITS MOUTH SHUT ON PARKING GARAGE DESTRUCTION

<A few days later and the press are still clinging to this story.> Daisy sighed.

The sound of footsteps down the hallway drew her attention.

“Good morning.” Topher stepped into the kitchen and headed straight toward her for a morning kiss.

“Right back at you.” Daisy smiled, giving him what he wanted.

Daisy had finally kicked their relationship to the next level. . . She’d started sleeping over at his house. It hadn’t advanced to an adult themed sleepover yet, but it was definitely headed in that direction. It was just a matter of time.

“Do you want some eggs?” Topher asked, as he grabbed a spatula and twirled it with surprising precision.

“No thanks, coffee is just fine.” She held up her glass and smiled.

Topher smiled back and got to work on his breakfast. Daisy continued to read the paper, and everything felt right.

<It’s like a fucking Norman Rockwell painting.> Daisy thought after a moment, and it brought another smile to her face. She hadn’t had something like this for a long time.

Then it got ruined.

“I’m entering the room now. I want a hand check, and their better not be an ass stain on that stainless steel fridge.” Debora walked into the kitchen already suited up with her gun and badge attached to her hip.

“God, Deb,” Topher growled. “Shut up.”

Daisy imagined a younger version on her boyfriend saying the same thing to his older sister fifteen or twenty years ago. The way it rolled off his tongue had a certain familiarity to it.

“Hey, I’m just lookin’ out for you, baby bro. I’ve seen the way she looks at you.”

Daisy didn’t even raise her head above the paper, she just flashed her middle finger in the direction of the irritating DVA agent. But she couldn’t stop from grinning. She did look at Topher that way sometimes.

“See, she knows what I’m talking about.” Debora claimed victory, and then swiped a bagel that had just popped out of the toaster. A bagel that was supposed to be the foundation of Topher’s breakfast sandwich.

“Jesus Christ, Deb. Go get a hotel or something.” He growled again, snatching at the pilfered bagel, but Debora danced away with a laugh and a munch.

“And tell mom and dad that you threw me out on the street to have special alone time with your Super girlfriend. Yeah, that’ll go over well.”

Daisy just shrugged. She knew Topher’s parents weren’t that fond of her. Their prejudices ran deep where Supers were considered. As a matter of fact, the biggest ally on that front was none other than the annoying but protective older sister.

“She’s got a point.” Daisy sipped her coffee while throwing in her two cents.

“Thank you.” Debora plopped down on the other stool and started to devour the bagel.

“But if you’re staying around you might as well be of some use. What can you tell me about the investigation’s progress?” Daisy put down the paper and fixed Debora with a level stare.

“Sorry, I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation. . .” Debora stopped and shook her head. “I’ve used that line so much that it’s an automatic reflex.”

Daisy just nodded, she knew the drill.

Debora looked at her for a moment and then shrugged. “Fuck it, you were there for most of it.” She slipped the last bit of bagel into her mouth with a satisfied look. “We finished excavating the garage and aside from some very flat and identifiable members of the Fist, we’ve got nothing. Seraphim insists that she got Wraith, but we haven’t seen any evidence of that. It would be nice if we could test some blood, but everything aside from the massive spills is unrecognizable as it’s mixed with debris at this time.

“Have you . . “

“Yeah I’ve put in a call to D.C. Maybe they have some blood-tracker or manipulator stashed away somewhere that I can borrow. But until then we’re cataloguing everything we did find.”

“Anything else?” Daisy knew that couldn’t be everything.

“The subtlety guys came in under cover of night and took a look. If they found anything they aren’t sharing it with me yet. But no one has heard from them since and we don’t know how to find them.”

“Paranoia is a staple of subtlety Heroes. I’ll put out a feeler and see if they’re willing to share anything, even if it’s just theories.” Daisy offered.

“Seriously, that would be awesome.” Debora grinned. “Right now we’re sitting around with jack shit. Any longer and they’re going to recall the team to Washington for reassignment.”

“Would that be so terrible?” Topher grumbled from across the kitchen.

“You’d miss me.” Debora countered.

Topher replied with something unintelligible.

“Anyway, speaking of people who are missing me.” Debora got to her feet and went to grab her coat. “My team is waiting. Thanks for breakfast.” She gave them a goodbye wave and then was gone.

“I’m so sorry.” Topher took the vacated seat. “I meant for you to have a relaxing morning and then she comes and ruins it.”

“Don’t worry,” Daisy picked the paper back up. “She’s refreshing.”

“About as refreshing as taking a whiff of a septic tank,” Topher grumbled again. He clearly didn’t like his big sister invading his time with Daisy.

“I’ll tell you what.” Daisy put the paper back down and draped her arms over Topher’s shoulders. “We’ll do something tonight, just the two of us. A good meal, a delectable desert, and then we’ll see where things go.”

Daisy smiled as she succeeded in getting Topher’s mind completely off his sister.

“Good. It’s a date then.”

 

***

 

Lilly felt like hammered shit as she groaned, rolled over in bed, and puked up what little she’d been able to keep down.

As it turned out Seraphim’s poison was more resilient than anyone realized. The healer her family kept on retainer came by and healed all of her injuries, but it had no effect on the poison.

“It won’t kill her.” The Healer kept his calm as her father lost his temper on the man. “But she’ll feel terrible for a while.”

No truer words had ever been spoken. And it had left her bedridden for the past few days. She’d only just started to keep food down, and it wasn’t staying down long enough to give her all the nutrients she needed. When she got up to go to the bathroom she saw just how thin her face had gotten. She was totally underfed and dehydrated and it showed.

“I’ve got more soup for you.” Her father walked into her room without knocking.

Apparently, finding your daughter half-dead in her own room vaporized any semblance of personal privacy that had once existed.

The foul smelling concoction also made her stomach turn, and brought on a fresh round of vomiting.

“How much longer?” She was really getting tired of spewing from both ends.

“Another couple of days.” Her father replied.

She didn’t believe him. If he had his way she’d never leave this room again.

“I need to make a call.” She insisted.

“To who?” Altair raised an eyebrow. “Surely not to him.”

“I’ve been missing for days without telling him anything. Its suspicious.” She countered.

“I spoke with Seth and told him you had a family emergency.”

“Did my uncle die again, because I might have already used that one.” Lilly spat out a mouthful of lingering bile.

“I didn’t elaborate.”

“Great. Fan-fucking-tastic.” Lilly felt her whole cover identity slipping away. “Can you please just leave. I need to get some sleep.”

Altair gave her a concerned look before nodding and leaving. He wasn’t too concerned about her running. Her powers worked, and she wasn’t paralyzed anymore, but a teleport would make her puke out what was left of her guts.

Lilly waited until she heard her father’s padded footsteps echoing down the hallway before concentrating. The action brought on a fresh wave of nausea, but in a small flash of darkness a cell phone appeared in her lap.

<I need to call. . .he needs to know. . .or all this has just been a yearlong clusterfuck.> She opened up an app and dialed his number from memory, ignoring the security procedures her father had put in place before her birth.

The screen went black except for a bobbing phone icon and the soft chime of the ringtone. A few seconds later and Seth’s face blinked to life on her screen.

“Hey, babe.” His face was bright until he got a good look at her. “What happened?”

“Hey there good lookin’.” She put some sass into her reply, but knew it fell short. “You know how it is: go to a funeral, shake hands with everyone, some sick old people are around who didn’t wash their hands, and they give you the flu.” She shrugged her shoulders which triggered a round of ragged coughs.

“Yeah, you don’t look so hot.”

“Thanks.” She gave him a pissed off look, but it softened after a few seconds. “Sorry I bailed on you like that. I just heard the news and freaked out a bit. I didn’t even tell my dad I was heading home until I’d been on the road for an hour.”

“Yeah, he stopped by here looking for you. . .we talked.” An emotion she couldn’t quite put her finger on flashed across Seth’s face.

“Sorry about that.” She failed to blush because of her illness, but she looked properly ashamed. “He shouldn’t have just stopped by like that.”

“No it’s fine.” Seth waved away her apology. “It was. . .enlightening would be a good description.”

She felt fear grip her momentarily, but thought better of it. Her father was a lot of things, but he wasn’t someone who would blow her cover and the operation. More people than his daughter would be after his head in that case.

The silence her thinking brought was quickly followed by more coughing.

“I promise I’ll be back once I kick this thing. A few more days tops.” She bit her lower lip and looked at him longingly. “I miss you.”

It wasn’t an act or a manipulation. She really did miss him.

“You get better.” Seth smiled brightly. “I’ll be here eagerly awaiting your return.”

She blew him a kiss and hung up the call. Then she removed the battery, sim card, and teleported all three of the items to various location across the planet Earth; either underground of underwater. The sim card even went over an active volcano for good measure.

Less than thirty seconds after she finished her call she heard her father’s loafers slapping against the tiled floor. She leaned back against her numerous pillows and closed her eyes.

“Lilly.” He said as he entered her room.

She opened her eyes and saw how serious his face was. He was holding his own phone.

“That was our client. He’s in route to Orlando. He’s been delayed in Morocco, but his advanced team will be here in a week, and he’ll follow within a few after that. Your assignment is to continue surveillance, and coordinate with the advanced team to develop action plans.” His smile was savage. “Within the next month, two at the most, we’ll be ready to go.”

Lilly’s smile matched her fathers. “We’ll be ready.”

Those three words filled her with anticipation and fear. <One, two months tops.> It wasn’t a lot of time to get all her affairs in order, and it wasn’t enough time to figure out what to do with Seth.

One thing was for sure though. She needed to get better fast and get back to work.

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A Change of Pace – Chapter 83

Altair Thermopolis sprinkled the last finger full of spice into the pan and then twisted the stove’s nob to disconnect the gas. The flame underneath the pan flickered and died, leaving the notorious supervillain, turned gourmet cook, with an exquisitely prepared flank steak.

<Mmmmm.> He inhaled deeply, savoring the aroma wafting around the kitchen.

He had a pile of freshly washed greens sitting in a strainer in the sink, so he gave them one last shake before pouring them onto his plate. Next came the steak, which he arranged into an orderly pile, and last but not least was the sauce. The reduction sauce was made from his favorite wine. He poured it lightly onto the steak in a wavy pattern and then stood back to admire his handy work.

<5 stars.> He gave himself a rating. <Let’s just hope it tastes like that.>

Altair was a “clean as he went” cook. While things simmered, baked, or grilled he took the time to wash countertops and start the dishes. So when he finally got to eating there wasn’t much mess to clean up afterwards. Today was no exception.

He filled himself a glass of wine because the reduction sauce just wasn’t going to cut it. He settled down into a large reclining chair, put his feet up, and switched on the TV. The massive set illuminated the whole room, and plunged it into darkness for a heartbeat every time he changed the channel.

<The world is falling apart.> He didn’t need to watch the news to know that. <And we’re in the off season.>

Altair was a big fan of football, both the American and rest of the world’s version. His preferred team was the Atlanta Bruisers. A hard hitting team in the Super league half composed of strongmen. Altair always loved to see someone pulverized.

<The draft is coming up.> He reconsidered and switched over to the sports station.

After twenty minutes of watching he concluded there was nothing interesting going on despite the upcoming draft. Instead, he scanned the local channels he pirated. With Lilly off in Orlando he liked to keep a close eye on things.

The previous night’s raid on her hired help had to have his daughter in a foul mood.

He switched the channel and a pretty Latina was speaking quickly outside of what looked like a destroyed building. <This could be enjoyable.> He turned up the volume.

“Details are still coming in at this point, but we are able to confirm that the Hero Seraphim engaged in a battle with an unknown quantity of Fist members at this location.” The camera zoomed in over the woman’s shoulder to take in the damage. “Conditions of the injured and a count of the dead are unknown, but knowing Seraphim’s reputation it is hard to believe that there is anyone alive under there.” The corner of the woman’s lips twitched as she held back a smile.

<More trouble for my Lilly.> He wondered if he should intervene, and then shook his head.

Lilly wanted to do this on her own. If he stepped in she’d never forgive hm. She was out to prove herself which made his heart swell with pride while his mind cringed in fear. Altair dearly loved his daughter even if he hardly ever showed it. Like any father he wanted her to be successful in whatever she was passionate about. For most girls that might be a particular field of academic study, athletics, or higher dreams like acting, dance, or the written word. Lilly just happened to be good at the family business. If she wanted to cheat, lie, and steal for her own personal gain who was he to deny her.

<She is becoming quite the household name.> He had mixed emotions about that.

A meteoric rise often led to a legendary fall. The names Hellgate and Armsman were mentioned in whispers not only because they had done incredible things but because they had never been caught. Longevity and staying power were the hallmarks of a good villain, and Altair wasn’t sure his daughter had learned that critical lesson yet. She’d made a bang entering the scene and he didn’t want her to do the same on the way out.

<Then there is that boy.> Altair practically spit the wine out at the venom of the thought. <If it wouldn’t hurt her so much I’d roast the boy alive under an open flame and peel the flesh from his bones one piece at a time.> He ranted before taking a few deep breaths to get his temper under control.

He’d lost one woman he loved to another villain. The sight of Lilly’s mother’s gut ripped open and his Lilly barely alive and practically drowning in her mother’s blood was something that still woke him up at night.

He was not going to lose the only thing he still loved in this world to an institution that developed the self-righteous scum that he’d fought his entire adult life. Lilly would have a better future than that, even if he had to kill the boy himself.

Imagining the creative ways Seth Abney would die put the older supervillain at ease, and brought his attention back to the giant flatscreen. The reporter was talking about the building, a mostly abandoned parking garage. Suddenly, she put her finger to her ear and her face lit up.

“Ladies and gentlemen we’ve got some breaking news. We have unconfirmed reports, I must stress that they are unconfirmed at this time, that the battle that brought down the parking garage was primarily between Seraphim and the infamous supervillain Wraith. Wraith as you all know is the prime suspect in the motel bombing earlier this month and the murder of Hunter. Hunter has long been suspected of romantic involvement with Seraphim which would make this whole ordeal personal for the Hero some call the Winged Terror. We will keep you up to date on any developments as they occur, I’m Maria…”

Altair was already on the move, his half-eaten dinner forgotten on the end table. He raced through several hallways up two staircases and into the master bedroom. The room was similar in design to Lilly’s room, just bigger, with black and red as the primary colors. He ignored them all as he threw open his desk drawer and started throwing things aside.

<Where are you?> He growled as he pulled the whole drawer out and upended it on the floor.

He spread the mess of supplies around, thinning them into a single layer of crap. That’s when he found it. The old cell phone was a simple flip phone about eight years out of date. He grabbed it, threw it in his pocket, and then grabbed an unopened sim card. He put the little piece of silicone in his other pocket and jogged into his closet. He grabbed the thickest coat he could find.

He double checked the phone and sim card were still in his pocket and then disappeared from his underground mansion. He reappeared in a circle of flames well away from any other human life deep in the Northern Territory of Canada. Despite the thick coat and flames roaring around him, he immediately began to shiver.

<Need to move fast.> He reached into his pockets with trembling hands and extracted the phone and sim card.

With a little difficulty thanks to the extreme cold Altair finally got the card inserted and the phone powered up. He dialed a number from memory and waited for an answer.

“You’ve reached me.” The bubbly, animated voice of his daughter’s automated voicemail answered. “If you know who I am then you know what to do. If you don’t know me then you’ve got the wrong number and you’ll be sorry.”

The soft beep was barely audible as Hellgate’s fire made it to a nearby tree and started to consume it for fuel. The fire stayed away from Altair. It always had, but beyond that it was difficult to control.

Like his daughter, Altair had been training to control his teleportation’s secondary effects. He could limit them, and sometimes teleport himself without the ring of fire; but it came at a cost. Every time he held the flame back it built up like he’d tied a knot in a hose inside of him. Sooner or later everything he’d been holding back was going to come out, and he didn’t want to be around anyone he remotely liked when that happened. But he was more than happy to burn down a few acres of Canadian forest in the dead of winter. No one cared about that.

“Call me.” His message to his daughter was simple and to the point, but the fact that she hadn’t answered was worrisome.

Altair hung up and dialed another number from memory. This time it rang far longer than was normal and was filled with audible clicks. “Hello.” The answering voice’s advanced age was palpable.

“I need a reading.” Altair always had to keep it short and sweet just in case the DVA or NSA was listening in.

“Payment.”

“Same as always within twenty-four hours. You know I’m good for it.”

“Yes.” There was a momentary pause. “Her?”

“Yes.” Altair never asked the person on the other end of the line how he knew what Altair was going to ask before he asked it.

All he cared about was the answer.

“She’s injured but alive.”

“Pain?”

“Emotional more than physical.” The voice sounded bored, which made Altair want to choke something.

“Location?”

“Where she usually is.”

The answer was cryptic, but he knew he wasn’t going to get any more detail from the person on the other end. But it gave him places to start.

“Thank you.” He hung up the phone, turned it off, removed the sim card, and threw it into the growing flames. The crackling of his fire consuming the trees was growing as the fire spread.

Altair teleported away, releasing a fresh blast of fire into the smoldering wilderness. He reappeared in Orlando without releasing a single iota of flame. He felt the backup almost immediately, but it was controllable. The release when leaving Canada helped a little. He pushed the feeling of his whole body being constipated to the back of his mind and headed toward West Private University.

It was risky, but he needed to make sure Lilly was safe and secure. He’d been told she was in pain. She could deal with pain, but it was better to have someone watching your back when you dealt with that.

His teleportation spot wasn’t too far from the main campus, but far enough not to trigger anything the HCP might have in place. He kept his mind shielded from his true thoughts while manufacturing fake thoughts of a father coming in to surprise his freshman daughter.

<Pride, a dash of fear, and a cup-full of overprotectiveness.> Altair was pretty sure he had the formula down.

The door to Lilly’s dorm was keycard access only, but that wasn’t a problem. He’d cloned the card when she started school and always kept it on him in case of an emergency. He pulled it from his dress shirt’s pocket and slid it through the reader. The light blinked green and he opened the door. He stepped back politely and held the door as two young women passed by. Both looked him over. One liked what she saw, and the other looked confused why an older man was entering the dorm late at night.

Neither said or did anything to raise Altair’s suspicions so he let them go. He didn’t want to leave a trail of bodies around campus if he didn’t have to. They were still getting paid to provide a service here, and completing the mission would be extremely difficult if eyes started looking in Lilly’s direction.

Altair boarded the elevator with a young man carrying a full hamper of folded laundry. He could feel the boy’s eyes on him the whole time, but the young man was slightly overweight and breathing more heavily than one should from doing a load of laundry. Altair ruled out the chance that this might be an HCP student, and if the boy was then he would make a hell of a subtlety Hero.

Altair disembarked on his daughter’s floor and walked to her door. The door was locked and there was a sock on it. He’d never been to college, but he’s seen popular movies; and the sock on the door could only mean one thing.

It took every ounce of self-control he possessed to not kick down the door, rip that Abney boy off his daughter, tear his arms off, and beat him to death with them. Instead he took a deep breath, counted to ten, and knocked.

<Maybe he’ll die of embarrassment.>

Altair heard muttered cursing from the other side of the thin walls and then angry stomping.

“What the fuck! Can’t you read the sign?” The door burst open and a tall, bulky man stood in the doorway.

A quick look behind him showed a girl’s head poking out from above a comforter. It was not Lilly.

“Pardon me.” Altair answered politely with a smile. “I’m looking for my daughter. This is her dorm room.”

“This is my girl’s dorm.” The man-boy answered defiantly. “She doesn’t have a roommate.”

“I do, Tom. She’s just never here.” An angry voice called from the bed.

“Whatever.” Tom brushed off the comment. “Whoever you’re looking for ain’t here grandpa.”

“Father.” Altair immediately corrected him. “Not grandfather.”

“I don’t give a shit.” The stench of alcohol was heavy on the young man’s breath.

Altair stopped the surge of frustration short of action. He wouldn’t make the first move against this inebriated teenager, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a lesson to be taught here.

“Are you using protection?” Altair adopted his most patronizing tone. “I would want a lovely young man like yourself getting something terrible. Having your penis rot off can’t be fun.”

“What the fuck!” The boy’s cheeks darkened from embarrassment and shame. “You listen here grandpa.” The boy reached out and grabbed a fistful of Altair’s expensive shirt.

The moment the boy touched him Altair reacted. It was a reaction born of decades fighting against well-trained Heroes. A drunk college kid caught mid-coitus was nothing. Altair moved both hands up, one grabbed the crook of the boy’s elbow while the other grabbed his fist. Altair got a good grip on the fist and then simultaneously twisted the boy’s hand one hundred and eighty degrees, breaking the grip on his shirt, while pulling the elbow out with his other hand. Altair put a little pressure on the boy’s locked wrist by pushing it up a quarter of an inch and the move brought the boy to his knees with a holler of pain.

One small upward tug and Altair would snap the boy’s wrist like a twig.

“You need to learn some respect young man.” Altair tried to keep his voice polite but a slight growl entered his tone.

The woman in the bed was practically crying now, so he gave her a polite smile.

“My apologies,” He released the boy, who fell back onto his butt massaging his wrist. “But please let me know if you see my daughter. There has been a family emergency that she should be aware of.” He scribbled a number on a post-it note from the desk next to the door and tossed it into the boy’s lap.

“Pardon my interruption, please continue.” He shut the door behind them and headed for the elevator.

Once inside he teleported away; containing the fire at his disappearance and reappearance.

The pressure of the contained power made him stagger when he arrived. He wouldn’t be able to hold it back during his next teleport, and it would be a big one.

<Thankfully, this should be my last stop.> He knew that Lilly didn’t spend her time in many places.

His first guess had been the dorm that she paid for as part of her tuition, room, and board. Apparently, that assumption was incorrect; which meant she was sleeping somewhere else. <With someone else.> He bit his tongue and started down the street toward the townhouse.

It was late now, but the weekend college parties were in full swing, and there appeared to be one every couple of houses. But townhouse 117 didn’t have one, in fact it was mostly dark and quiet.

He ascended the few stairs to the concrete porch and softly knocked on the door. He heard the hustling of feet toward the door. The door was practically thrown open and he came face to face with his daughter’s hopeful-eyed boyfriend.

“Mr. Aretino?” The joy vanished from Seth Abney’s eyes and was replaced with confusion.

“Surprised to see me?” Altair smiled, but the smile never reached his eyes.

“Yes, Sir. I was actually hoping you’d be Liz.”

“Same here, Seth.” Altair faked a tired sigh. “I’m just in town for the night and wanted to stop by and say hello to Liz. Have you seen her?”

“No, Sir.” He was obviously just as disappointed as Altair. “We were supposed to have dinner, but she never returned from the study session she went to.”

“That’s not like her.” Altair scratched his head.

“No, Sir.” Seth opened his mouth again but hesitated for a moment. “Do you want to come in?” Seth inquired after that moment. “I’ve got a lot of food and without Liz it’ll go to waste.”

“I don’t want to impose.” Altair put his hands up defensively.

It was all a ploy. He really wanted to get inside and search the house.

“Please, I insist.” Seth redoubled his effort.

“Ok.” Altair relented and stepped into the home full of wannabe Heroes.

<Maybe it’s time I have another talk with him.> Altair considered other courses of action for the visit. <Figure out what his future intentions with my daughter are.> He continued to smile as he sat down at the table and Seth got the food.

Either way he was going to get a good look at this townhouse. This was the only other place where she “usually was”, and Altair’s source had never been wrong before.

So he settled in for an uncomfortable meal with a boy who was sticking it to his daughter. Altair didn’t mind Seth as a person, but no one was ever going to be good enough for Lilly. That was an undeniable fact that was not going to change no matter how charming the boy attempted to be.

<At least the food’s good.>

There were worse places Altair could be, but he could only think of a few off the top of his head.

 

***

 

Lilly dreamed of fire and catastrophe.

 

The whole world was engulfed in flame. Everything she knew and loved was burning before her eyes. Orlando was a bonfire shining in the blackness of the night.

Two armies stood at the center of the blaze. She couldn’t make out any features of the individuals, they were indistinguishable despite the light washing over them. Leaders strode before the front-ranks like Centurions marshaling their men. But all she heard was silence.

From the flames on either side of the battle-lines rose two figures. Both were dressed in rippling shadows that seemed to beat back the hungry flames. Beyond the shadow Lilly could only tell that one was a man and the other a woman.

They towered over their armies like stern generals, but only regarded each other. The little men running around their feet were no more important than ants to these two.

Suddenly Lilly found herself standing directly in-between the two forces. She turned her head to the right and saw the giant woman. She turned her head to the left and saw the hulking man. She looked forward and she saw…

<Seth!>

Unlike everyone else who’s features seemed to be washed away in the sea of fire, Seth stood like a beacon of normalcy. His easy-going smile, his gorgeous emerald eyes, and his black hair waving in the slight breeze were perfect. His expression was pensive, but like the two hulking generals he only had eyes for her.

She tried to walk towards him. She wanted to feel his embrace. She just knew if she could get to him that everything would be ok.

She couldn’t even pick her feet off the ground. It was like fighting quicksand. The harder she tried the more difficult it became.

Then the heat of the flames started to grow.

The heat was an overwhelming, choking thing. It sucked all of the oxygen out of the air around her. She tried to fight it. She tried to break free of whatever grip was holding her in place, but she couldn’t. The invisible hand holding her down was too strong and the fire was too hot.

Slowly she sank to her knees, then was forced flat on her belly. She reached out to Seth, who still stood motionless on the other side of the battlefield, and tried to cry out his name. The moment she opened her mouth shadow poured out of her like sludge. She choked and heaved but there was a never-ending stream of black flowing from inside her.

Her vision wavered as what was left of her oxygen was depleted. She gave one last longing look at Seth, and saw him crushed as the two armies smashed into each other.

She looked up with her last ounce of energy and saw the two giant generals rear back to deliver their first blows.

Then her head fell to the ground and fire consumed her as shadow drowned her.

 

Lilly opened her eyes and saw nothing but black, and she freaked the fuck out. The dream was still so fresh in her mind she literally thought she was drowning.

If it weren’t for Seraphim’s poison she would have thrashed and kicked, revealed her hiding spot, and that would have been the end of her life. But she couldn’t, all she could do was lift her head slightly.

But that was enough to snap her back to the present.

<I’m moving.> The excitement that coursed through her overrode the momentary fear she’d experienced. <I’m ok. I’m hiding under the bed in our room. No one has found me, but I’m safe for now.> The “for now” being the important part of the last statement.

Lilly attempted to wiggle her fingers and toes, but only succeeded to get them to twitch a little. But that was still better than nothing. All she had to do was wait a little longer.

It was difficult to tell time while she cowered in the darkness under the bed. The only way she could determine its passage was by counting in her head. But after she’d counted to sixty ten times in a row she vowed to let the Heroes take her before doing that again.

So she was left alone with her thoughts. Thoughts that unfolded in a predictable pattern. First she thought about her situation, then the dream, then Seth, then where their relationship was going, and lastly she got to the divergent point. The point where she had to make a critical decision and have Seth learn who she really was. In one version he accepted her and they lived happily ever after like a storybook prince and princess.

She gave this about a one percent change of being turned into a reality.

The much more likely reaction was pain, distrust, and betrayal. In one scenario, that only took a few minutes to concoct, Seth actually handed her over to Angela who slowly and painfully killed her for revenge.

Maybe it was wishful thinking but Lilly hoped that the actuality of the still undecided future event would fall somewhere between those two extremes. She expected there to be hurt and pain, but she truly hoped Seth didn’t betray her and throw her to the wolves. Her intellectual mind told her that was too much to ask for, but her heart held out hope anyway.

<Ok let’s try again.> Lilly concentrated on her hand and making a fist.

Slowly and with a surprising amount of pain her fingers curled inward and into a fist. She allowed her hand to open back up, concentrated, and then did it again. Pins and needles seemed to be poking every inch of her muscles, but Lilly knew that was the poison breaking down.

That didn’t stop the next half an hour from hurting like a bitch.

She started at her extremities. She moved her feet then worked her way up. Excruciating pain nearly caused her to black out as she tried to engage her injured thigh where the barb had cut her. But she pushed through it. Slowly but surely, she regained the movement of her body. And just as light was beginning to beam through a break in the curtains she felt her mind regain complete control.

She smiled and without hesitation activated her power and teleported away.

She reappeared in her flat across the Atlantic, immediately fell to her knees, and vomited everything that was in her stomach. Her throat burned as the acid was forced up her esophagus. Her vision blurred and she had to brace her arms out on either side of her.

<Fuck me.> She grumbled, struggling to bring her arm up to wipe the bile off her chin.

It wasn’t lingering paralysis that made movement difficult, it was the weakness.

She shook her head, refocused her vision, and opened her eyes.

The small puddle of vomit in front of her was almost entirely black.

<Healer.> Her mind fought back the panic of her dream-self drowning in black sludge.

She tore off most of her Wraith outfit and tossed it into the closet. She didn’t even bother putting it in its hidden compartment. She just shoved it across the floor into the back corner. It would have to be good enough.

<So hot.> She thought as she saw the sweat forming on her arms.

She rubbed her hand against her forehead and it came away damp. Her brief contact with her own skin told her she was burning up.

<Infection? A secondary effect of the poison?> Her mind started to go through the possibilities, but she cut herself short.

Whatever it was she needed a healer and she needed one now.

With the last of her rapidly evaporating energy she focused on her home and teleported away. She reappeared in the middle of the family room. Right in front of the large flat screen TV. It was on, playing the morning news, but her father wasn’t there.

“D…Da…Dad.” She croaked, her voice cracking from the dehydration. “Dad!”

She called out and promptly collapsed.

If by planning, luck, or the grace of some cosmic deity, Lilly felt the soft thud of feet approaching as her vision started to waver again. Strong hands grabbed her and a familiar voice started to say something before the darkness enveloped her.

<I’ll be safe.> Was her final thought. She knew, if nothing else, that she could trust her father to take care of her.

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A Change of Pace – Chapter 82

“What the fuck, Seraphim!” Debora screamed into the air as the shifter floated back down to the ground.

The DVA agent gave a loud cough to clear her lungs. All around her, and the rest of the police presence in the area, was a steadily growing cloud of dust. The red and blue lights of the police cruisers holding a nearby perimeter hit the expanding cloud and were thrown in every direction. They were basically a great blinking beacon to the media that someone had colossally fucked up.

The winged Hero landed in front of Debora and waved her hand in front of her face. Seraphim’s uniform had seen better days, there was cement in her hair, and her face was screwed up in anger. Debora was pretty sure it wasn’t directed at her, but that didn’t make the situation any better for Debora, the DVA, or Orlando.

For one terrible second Debora felt that the PR weenie that stopped by earlier might have had a point.

<No time to Monday morning quarterback this clusterfuck.> Debora focused all of her attention back on the Hero.

“Any explanation for what the hell went on inside there?” Debora gestured at the former three story parking garage that was a pile of mortal, brick, and cement now.

“You had your cameras, you saw the fight.” Seraphim snapped back.

The Hero’s wings shot out to either side of her and gave a small flap. The thin coating of dust that was settling on them was discarded, but only succeeded in blowing right into Debora’s face.

If Debora wouldn’t have broken her fist on the larger woman’s jaw she might have taken a swing at her. The thought itself was satisfying until the squeal of tires from the rapid approach of four news vans ruined what little good mood she had left.

“Keep them back.” She waved the patrol officers in the direction of the approaching media. “And get me the city engineer. We need to start picking this up.”

“Wraith is in there,” Seraphim stated confidently. “I hit her.”

“Hit her with what?” Debora glared at the Hero. “Your frown and a general sense of disapproval.”

The demeaning statement literally ruffled the winged Hero’s feathers.

“No, I hit her with paralytic barbs from my tail.” The appendage in question twitched with irritation.

“How fast acting is it because if it wasn’t like ‘that’ then Wraith isn’t in there.” Debora snapped her fingers.

“It is very fast acting,” Seraphim answered, but not as confidently as before.

“Very fast and instantaneous are two very different things.”

“If I hit her with my barb it did more than just paralyze. If it was a good hit then we’ll probably find her corpse crushed under the rubble with my barb sticking out of her gut.”

Debora took a good look at the barbs and saw they were half a foot long. <Ouch.>

“I can’t just assume she’s dead, Seraphim.” Debora got her temper under control. “I need to excavate this site and call in my subtlety assets to assess the situation. Why don’t you ask around and determine if you really got her.”

“I got her.” Seraphim seemed to be talking more to herself than Debora.

<Whatever helps you sleep at night.>

“We’ll see.” Debora turned her attention away from the Hero.

The gust of air told the DVA agent that Seraphim had sprung into the air and was off to do whatever it was that the Hero needed to do. That didn’t concern her though. Deborah knew her mission. Her mission was to find out what happened.

And she knew the perfect person to call.

Debora pulled out her cell phone and hit one of her speed dials.

“Officer Phillips,” answered a brusque voice.

“Baby Bro, it’s Big Sis.” She grinned as he sighed.

“What do you want Debora? I’m a little busy right now.”

“No shit. I’m not sitting around drinking a warm glass of milk before bed,” she snapped. Her nerves were still a little frayed from the amount of shit she was going to have to endure.

“Was there a reason you called?”

“Yeah. Can you get me Daisy’s number?”

There was a several moments of silence on the other end of the line. “Why?”

“I need her expertise.”

“Ok.” He finally relented. “But I don’t like you two talking so much. It’s weird.”

“You have no idea,” she replied, copying down the digits.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t have time, call you later.” She hung up the phone ignoring his last question, and quickly dialed the other number.

There were a few clicks and beeps as the call got routed and screened by some DVA communication’s unit somewhere.

“Hello?” The legendary Hero’s voice was warry as she answered the call.

“Daisy, it’s Debora.”

“Debora.” Daisy’s voice audible brightened over the line. “What can I do for you?”

“You can get your ass to my location ASAP.” Debora read off the address.

“What should I wear?” Daisy replied nonchalantly. “I’ve got this sexy red number that your brother absolutely loves, but it’s at the dry cleaners.”

“You can show up buck-ass naked for all I care, but I need you down here now before I have to tell the whole media whether or not Seraphim bringing down a building in the middle of Orlando killed Wraith.”

The seriousness of the conversation finally got through to the former Hero. “I’ll be right there.”

By right there, Daisy meant right there. Less than ten minutes later the tall blonde woman was standing at the back of the group of gathered reporters. Her attention was focused on the rubble while all the other reporters were screaming questions at the police, DVA, or anyone that walked close to them.

“Agent Phillips, Agent Phillips!” A couple of reporters recognized her from the scene of the night club raid. “Can you tell us what happened here? Eyewitness reports say that Seraphim was involved. Can you confirm or deny if this is another assault by the police on the Fist?”

Debora walked over toward them because that was the only way she could get close enough to reliably communicate with Daisy. Based on the DVA’s file on Reaper, Debora knew that Daisy was more than close enough to get a read on what was going on underneath the rubble that was being cleared.

The bulldozers clearing away the chunks of concrete were loud and made it hard to have a conversation with the reporters, but that was partially a good thing.

“I cannot answer all of your questions at this time, but I can give you the basics.” She took a deep breath and put on her best briefing face. “The success of the joint Hero, DVA, and Orlando PD raid on Club Spark yielded numerous leads. All local and federal agencies have diligently been following those leads over the past twenty-four hours. One critical piece of information led us to the parking garage where a deal was being made. We observed the culprits exchanging money and ordered the Hero Seraphim to move in for the take down.”

Debora shot a quick glance at Daisy, but the woman’s eyes were still on the pile of rubble.

“Due to the nature of the suspects in the parking garage it was necessary to have a Hero of Seraphim’s aptitude conducting the takedown. During the assault the suspects fought back, critical structural aspects of the parking garage were impacted, and the structure collapsed on them. Seraphim escaped unharmed and continues to patrol the city. As for the suspects. . .”

Debora looked back at Daisy. <It’s now or never.>

The former Hero tore her eyes away from the rubble and gave a quick back and forth shake of her head.

“. . .we have no information about their status, but will update you once we clear the scene. Thank you for your time.”

“Agent Phillips, who are the suspects? What are their crimes? Was this excessive use of force by the Heroes?”

Questions came at Debora from all directions, but she ignored them. She smiled politely into the camera then turned and walked away. Only once she had a firetruck between her and the reporter did she let her scowl return.

“Commander Jenkins!” she yelled, summoning the large SWAT commander from about a hundred feet away. “We need to get all of our subtlety people in here now. They need to go over this place with a fine-tooth comb and gather every spec of evidence. Seraphim took a steaming dump on this operation and we’re left holding the business end of the shovel.”

“How do you know?” The SWAT commander eyed her suspiciously.

“I’ve got friends in high places so I called in a favor to get a read on the situation now rather than in a few hours when we start pulling out bodies. All you need to know is we didn’t get the target and now there is going to be hell to pay. We need something to show for all this.”

The dust cloud had started to waft toward the city. Hopefully by morning it would be gone.

“I’m on it.” Jenkins nodded and jogged away to make some calls.

Debora poked her head out from behind the truck and searched for the tall blonde, but she was already gone.

<Fuck!> Debora clenched and unclenched her fists. <We were so close.>

And now they were back to square one.

 

***

 

Seth pressed against the barbell that threatened to crush his windpipe if he let it. Inch by inch he pushed the weighted bar away from his chest, until with one final surge of herculean effort he locked out his arms.

“Good set.” Mason grabbed the bar with ease and moved it back onto the rack. “That’s two-seventy-five for six. Not too bad.”

If it had been anyone else who could bench press a hundred time that amount easily Seth would have thought the remark condescending, but this was Mason.

“You gonna puke again?”

Seth took a few deep breaths, and grinned. That one was a little condescending, but only because Mason had to break out the mop and bucket once already.

Seth knew that even a night of heavy drinking couldn’t hinder his training regimen. Even the ache in his empty balls couldn’t slow him down. If anything it was days like today that allowed him to become better, faster, and stronger. You didn’t make gains when you were feeling great. You made them when you felt like absolute shit and pushed through the pain. Today was one of those days.

“Nah I’m good.” Seth wiped the sweat from his brow and got back under the bench. “I’ve got to do a good warm down.” Mason removed the necessary weight with the ease of throwing a Frisbee and Seth knocked out a final set.

Then it was the strongman’s turn. They headed over to the heavy weight section, and all Seth could do was watch. He’d break every bone in his body and be reduced to mush if he tried to spot his huge roommate. And that was just the warm up set.

“I couldn’t help but overhear last night.” Seth turned the conversation in the direction he wanted to take it when he first invited Mason to do a workout with him. “But I was pretty drunk. Was Kyoshi talking about babies?”

In typical Mason fashion the big man sputtered and almost lost control of the multi-ton weight. “You remember that?”

“Kinda hard to forget.” Seth grinned as Mason raised the weight and sat up on the bench. “And from what I remember you handled it pretty well.”

“It didn’t feel that way.” Mason frowned. “I felt like I messed it up.”

“So you don’t want to have Mason juniors?” Seth replied.

“Of course I do…someday. But that day isn’t going to be anytime soon. I mean I’m only eighteen. She’s only eighteen. We’re both training to be Heroes. That isn’t exactly a great environment to raise a kid in at the moment.”

“We’re drifting a little off topic,” Seth said, waving away Mason’s statement. “Working out with you is great, but you might have noticed you’re a bit out of my league. Why I really asked you here was to ask about. . .um. . .relationships.” Seth struggled to get the last bit out.

“Ok,” Mason looked confused. “Are you and Liz having problems?”

“No!” Seth shook his head vigorously. “We’re great, beyond great. Things are fan-fucking-tastic, with emphasis on the fucking.” He winked, and got a small chuckle from Mason.

“It’s not that type of stuff that I need advice on. I just. . .” Seth took a seat on the bench next to Mason and sighed. “I mean I see you and Kyoshi and I’m like ‘I want that’. So I want to know how you do it. How are you two so perfect together? How do you get her to talk about having babies with you when you’re only eighteen?”

Mason’s brow creased in a frown and he seemed to look through Seth for several seconds before scratching his head. “You dropped the L-Bomb with her, right?”

“Yeah, months ago.” Seth nodded.

“Did you mean it?”

“Yes.” There was no hesitation in Seth’s response, a fact that seemed to surprise him as much as Mason.

“Well that’s a good start.” Mason’s smile was warm, and it reminded Seth that despite the strongman’s incredible strength he was a big teddy bear at heart.

“Ok, what else?” Seth asked impatiently.

“What do you mean what else?” Mason asked confused.

“Don’t give me the ‘All you need is Love’ line.” Seth shook his head. “There’s definitely more to it that than.”

“Not in my opinion,” Mason shrugged. “I love Kyoshi. I’d do anything for her. I’d go to clubs I don’t want to go to. I’d get between her and anything that was going to harm her. I’d probably even kill for her, although I hope that never happens.” Mason’s face darkened with the last revelation.

“Love is the foundation you need to build your relationship on. I can’t tell you what is going to work because everyone is a little different. Kyoshi and I have completely open and honest communication. Partly because of her power, and partly because I don’t want to keep anything from her. But that’s what works for us.” He smiled at Seth.

“Open and honest communication. Ok, I can do that.” Seth psyched himself up.

“Whoa, hold on there.” Mason held up his hands in a stopping motion. “Let’s be honest with ourselves. You and I are a little different.”

“Yeah, so?” Seth was still on the honesty train.

“Let me put it this way.” Mason approached the subject for a different angle. “Are you really going to tell Liz, the same Liz that stalked you to your fake-date with Emilia last night, that you’ve had hundreds of sexual partners over the past few years?”

“I wouldn’t say hundreds.” Seth’s tried to play it down, but couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “Ok, I get your point. She’d probably try and castrate me on the spot.”

“Yeah.” Mason shivered a little at the thought. “But on the other hand don’t think that I’m knocking honesty. I do think that you and Liz need to be honest with each other if you ever want to be really serious. Not everything can be drinking and sex.”

“But we like drinking and sex,” Seth replied defensively.

“Both of your bodies are going to age with time. You’re gonna gain weight, she’s gonna sag, and you’re both gonna wrinkle. That’s life, bro. What’s important is that the person beneath that surface is beautiful. Once you make that clear to each other I think you’ll be ok.” Mason’s big smile split his face in two. “But that’s just me. I could be totally wrong.”

“No.” Seth waved his finger back and forth, but his attention was somewhere else. “No, you’re right. In fact you might be a fucking genius.” Seth jumped up from the bench. “I’ve got to go. I’ve got to talk to her.”

“Ok, buddy.” Mason smiled. “Just don’t overshare all at once.”

“Yeah, sure.” Seth wasn’t listening, he was already running toward the weight room’s exit.

“Focus on the future and not the past!’ Mason yelled his last piece of advice at the broad spectrum elemental manipulator’s retreating back.

<I’m going to get her favorite food, a bottle of wine, some flowers, set up a nice dinner, and just talk.> Seth felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He knew this could work.

He could feel his heart beating with excitement, and that didn’t stop as he ran all his errands. He practically burst into the house, threw Anika and Kyoshi out of the kitchen and started to get everything ready. Once the flowers were in a vase on the rickety table, he stuck the food in the oven to stay warm, and rushed to take a shower.

His room smelled a little stale so he took the spray from his closet and sprayed down the surfaces giving everything a ‘smells like spring’ scent. Then he stripped, threw his clothes in the hamper, which he also sprayed, and then rushed through a shower.

<No sex tonight.> He convinced himself as the water poured over him. Even thinking about not having sex got him aroused, but he clamped down on the sensation. <Tonight is about communication and honesty.>

He toweled off and dressed in a casual pair of slacks and a button down. He rushed back downstairs and made sure everything was ready. All he had to do was pull the meal out of the oven and serve.

<Perfect. Now all I have to do is wait.>

Four hours and four phone calls that went straight to voicemail and Seth finally started to deflate. <Where are you Liz?> Honesty and open communication could wait a day, but for some reason Seth had a bad feeling in his gut.

He didn’t like it when he had a bad feeling and the woman he loved was missing.

 

***

 

There were a lot of things in life Lilly Thermopolis had become accustomed too. She had grown up with wealth, and everything she’d ever desired had been given to her. That could lead to two different types of people. The first was a spoiled, self-entitled asshat who though the world was their personal play-thing. Lilly wasn’t this, although she always liked to have a little bit of fun. The second was a person who took everything they were given and put it to good use. They went to the best schools so they became some of the brightest people. They had available to them the best equipment in their field so they used it to become elite in whatever they were endeavoring to accomplish.

Lilly considered herself a member of this second group, and the field she’d endeavored to strive in was that of a supervillain. Normally, being a criminal and general menace to society wasn’t something people ascribed too, but she had nature and nurture pushing her in that direction since she drew her first breath.

Lilly was also used to attention. Whether it was because of her rockin’ body or her keen whit, she always had women wanting to be her and guys wanting to be on her. She thrived with all the attention, but rarely did she return it. It took a special type of person to grab her attention. One was her father, one of the most notorious villains of all time. Another was her Uncle Curtis, more commonly known as Armsman, whose notoriety surpassed even her father’s. The list of people Lilly respected and admired was pretty short up until about six months ago. Now that list had a new name, Seth Abney. The man fascinated her, kept her guessing, and she never got tired of him. Hell, he even put up with all her bullshit, and that was all on top of being absolute dynamite in the sack.

Lilly was accustomed to all those things. She was also accustomed to things like pain, more physical than emotional. She had more mental barriers thrown up keeping her emotions sheltered from the world than a person her age ever should. Physically, she’d been beaten, shot, and tortured with everything in the book short of anything sexual. Her father had wanted to prepare her for the worst, but there were some things you couldn’t prepare for.

Fear was something Lilly was not accustomed to. The total feeling of helplessness as she lay underneath her and Seth’s bed, drooling into the carpet, with nothing other than her own thoughts to keep her company was utterly terrifying.  It occurred to her, roughly two minutes after she became fully paralyzed, that the one speck of light she could find in this horrible dark situation was that the Seraphim’s paralytic, whatever it was, didn’t affect her mind.

That was a good thing because if it had, Kyoshi would have picked something up, come to investigate, and found the infamous supervillain Wraith hiding under the bed like a child. Wraith being Liz Aretino was only the cherry on top of the cake.

Lilly really did like Kyoshi, but the tall woman’s ability to eavesdrop was a constant pain in the ass.

Another positive about the paralysis was that Lilly wasn’t able to feel the pain her body was undoubtedly in. Coming out of it would be a real bitch.

Another concern was the shallow gash that Seraphim’s barb had cut through her leg. Her high-tech armor hadn’t been able to stop the flying projectile, but it was doing a great job at collecting and clotting her blood. There was still a slow drip going, and she’d need to bleach the floor at some point, but as long as she regained the use of her limbs within the next day she’d wouldn’t die of blood loss.

<Always a good thing.> She mentally smirked as her internal clock tried to make sense of how much time had passed.

Then the door to the room flew open and feet pounded into the room.

If she’d had control of her functions she probably would have pissed herself. Lilly expected to hear the sounds of more boots on the floor, then the sound of the bed being thrown aside, rough hands grabbing her and hauling her to her feet, and then Seraphim appearing, putting her taloned hands around her throat and squeezing until the lights went out.

<Not the way I’d want to go.> Lilly had always envisioned a long-range sniper shot to the head. One moment she was there and the next she’d be gone.

It was the most likely way someone would kill her.

Seconds passed and nothing happened. No furniture was thrown or teenage supervillains strangled by pissed off angel-demons. She could still feel the vibrations of the footsteps moving around the room, and hear some rummaging through something. Then she heard a soft hiss, something she’d heard many times before.

Seth was a bit of a neat freak, and that included smell. He had this stupid little air freshener bottle he’d bust out all the time if he smelled something off. Considering that Lilly had been fighting a renowned Hero, nearly been crushed by a cement building, and had a slow drip of blood exiting her leg there was bound to be a little rankness to the room now.

Seth smelled something was off and was trying to fix it.

A fear so overwhelming it was almost debilitating passed over Lilly. The last thing in the world she wanted was for Seth to find her like this; weak and helpless. She didn’t want him to find out who she really was. She didn’t want to see the hate and loathing in his handsome green eyes. She didn’t want to have to watch his face distort in disgust as he put two and two together. She didn’t want to see the part of him that loved her wither and die. She’d do anything to keep that from happening. ANYTHING.

The footsteps continued to move around the room for a minute and then left. For the time being Lilly’s prayers had been answered. But that didn’t relieve the knot that had permanently formed in her gut. In her moment of utter helplessness, with everything on the line, a lightbulb had gone off in her head.

<I can’t keep living a lie like this with him. He doesn’t deserve that. Hell, I don’t deserve that. I can’t tell him the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but select truths might do it.> Her scheming was interrupted by the return of footsteps.

This time he was talking to himself. “Truth and honesty.” He breathed out heavily and she could imagine him looking into the mirror. “Connect with her on a deeper level. This isn’t about sex, booze, or rock n’ roll. This is about us getting to really know each other, sharing who we are and what we want. It’s not about the past it’s about the future. She won’t care about all the other women.”

Lilly’s heart felt like it was going to pound right out of her chest. She was sure Seth could hear it from his spot less than ten feet from the bed. <Truth and honesty.> She mentally tasted the words and found she agreed with them. <Not complete truth and honesty. I don’t want to scare him away.>

But judging by the motivational pep-talk even that might be difficult. Seth wanted something more, he was building himself up to confess that to her. If Lilly could smile she’d have a shit-eating grin plastered across her face.

<It’s about the future not the past.> Lilly felt those words would be their mantra as they went forward with their relationship.

Seth had other women in his past, Lilly had met one, and teleported her ass to the Serengeti. Lilly wouldn’t like it, but she couldn’t stop her man from being a stud. Obviously other women had wanted a piece of that, just like other men had wanted Lilly. Lilly’s transgressions were a bit more notable: grand theft, assaulting representatives of the US Government, attempted murder, murder, assassination, even a charge of public nudity that she wasn’t too proud of. That little wrongdoing was buried in some file on one of her fake identities in New Zealand.

<This can work.> Lilly didn’t know if it was wishful thinking and the paralysis talking, but she knew she could make it work. <Slow and steady wins the race of revealing you’re one of the DVA’s Most Wanted to the man of your dreams?> She wanted to laugh but her throat and mouth wouldn’t respond. <That would make a hell of a game show.>

During her self-reflection Seth had finished whatever he was doing and left the room. Then the waiting game started. She couldn’t really tell time, but when her phone started to vibrate in one of her vest pockets she could tell that it was probably an hour or more past the time they agreed to eat for dinner.

The smell of the spiced chicken was wafting through the townhouse, making Lilly’s situation even that more unbearable. It wasn’t as much the paralysis that was bothering her now, but the idea of him waiting alone downstairs for her. The disappointed looked she’d see on his face when she finally regained control of herself was going to break her heart.

<Hopefully this stuff actually wears off.> The thought that this might be a permanent situation was something she hadn’t considered before.

It reignited the primal fear in her gut, and took her two more calls to calm down. After four the calls stopped coming.

At some undetermined time the slow, trudging footstep of her boyfriend reentered the room. All the excitement and spring in his step she’d heard earlier was gone.

“Stupid,” he grumbled.

Lilly felt the bed sag above her as he sat down on it.

“Stupid, stupid.”

<No!> Lilly fought with everything she had just to move her little pinky. Anything, anything at all to show that she’d soon be able to get out from under this bed and talk to him. She needed to reassure him that everything was all right, and that she wanted to be honest with him, and she wanted him to be honest with her.

But her stupid finger wouldn’t budge, and she had to listen to Seth doubt himself until he fell asleep.

Without question this was the worst night of her life.

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A Change of Pace – Chapter 73

Angela struggled to wake. She’d been out like a light. A drug-induced sleep could do that to a person.

For just a moment as she regained consciousness, Angela felt completely at peace. The weight of the world hadn’t quite settled on her shoulders yet, and her brain wasn’t processing everything that had happened. For one blissful moment she was content just to be.

And then all the shit rolled back into place, and her heart broke all over again.

<My father is dead.> She felt like she’d been hit by a bus; again and again, every morning since the explosion.

Angela’s relationship with her parents was complicated. She knew that. She’d seen Becca’s parents when they visited and those were the sweet, loving parents you saw in Hollywood rom-coms. Angela’s parents were colder and more distant, but despite the warmth that Becca had received the blue-haired speedster was going into this life at a disadvantage.

Angela could never deny that her mother and father had prepared her for the rigors of the HCP, the difficulties of being a Hero, and the realities of life. She’d purposefully been brought to funerals when Heroes her parents knew were killed in the line of duty. She remembered sitting at a half-dozen of them with her hair done, in her somber black dress, and contemplating what exactly she was doing there.

Only one of those funerals had been open casket, and it had been a surreal experience to step up to it and see the Hero inside. The woman had been young, not even thirty, and she looked peaceful in death. Peace was something Angela hadn’t known since she first got her powers.

“She was good.” Angela’s mother, Sophia, walked up to stand next to the coffin. “She saved many lives in her time as a Hero.”

The gathering was private, and everyone was in the Hero community, so there was no reason to hide who they all were.

“How did she die?” Angela knew now that asking that kind of question at a funeral was a faux pas, but she’d been young and inquisitive.

Sophia didn’t say anything at first. She just looked back and forth between Angela and the dead Hero’s calm expression. It was one of the only times Angela remembered her mother smiling. Not the fake smiling she did for the cameras, a real genuine smile. Even if it was a little sad.

“Sometimes we die when we least expect it.”

That resonated with Angela now. She didn’t expect when she went to dinner with her father, which was ultimately a ploy to discuss Alec, that he would be dead two hours later.

<When we least expect it.> Angela fought back tears and did not succeed.

Angela sat like that for a long time; struggling not to cry, failing, and then running her tear ducts dry. Then it would start all over again twenty minutes later. She was in a seemingly endless cycle of pain and, even more so, regret.

<I should have done something. I should have stopped him. Begged him to listen to Mr. Morningstar. Even knocked him over the head to keep him from teleporting out of there.>

It didn’t matter that none of those things would have worked even if she tried. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, but that didn’t stop her.

The one constant in all of this, the one burning certainty that seemed to be fueling her existence at the moment, was that she would find whoever did this to her father. When she found them she’d make them sorry they were ever born.

<I’m coming for you, Wraith. Whoever you are you’d better run, you’d better run far away from here. Let me hunt you to the ends of the Earth like my father taught me. And then, when you’re cold, tried, and helpless, then I’ll give you a slow death. Then we’ll be even.>

At first Angela’s own thoughts frightened her, but the more she thought about it the more she knew it was what needed to be done.

A soft knock on the door interrupted the vivid imagery of Wraith’s death that was playing on a loop in Angela’s mind. It was the only thing that gave her solace as she sat alone in this hospital room.

“Come in.” She didn’t know why anyone was knocking. They had to get cleared by the two DVA agents guarding the door to get this close. Why not just come in.

“Hello, Angela.” Coach Meyers stepped into the room, her red eyes casually sweeping the room for danger.

“Coach Meyers.” Angela kept her tone neutral.

With the alternative instructor was a second man. Angela didn’t recognize this man, but he didn’t look like a threat. He looked like another doctor.

“Angela, this is Dr. Johnson.” Coach Meyers introduced the man whose profession Angela correctly guessed. “He works for the program.”

“Hello, Angela.” The man moved forward and took a seat next to her bed. “How are you doing?”

Angela felt her eyes narrow and her mouth tighten in anger.

“I know it’s a stupid question to ask,” the Dr. Johnson surprised her with a shake of his head. “You’ve just been through a significant trauma. A trauma that seasoned Heroes have to deal with, and sometimes can’t cope with. Asking you how you are doing is pointless. It’s obvious you are in pain from the experience, so please forgive me.”

Angela looked at the doctor in a new light and huffed out a brief chuckle, which got her a raised, questioning eyebrow. “As far as questions go that was the least intrusive one I’ve heard since I got here.”

“Did a DVA agent try to shove a thermometer up your ass?” Coach Meyers asked.

Despite her horrible mood, Angela couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“You think it’s funny now, but you just wait.” Coach Meyer’s tone was serious, but she was smiling. “Just give us a call if they try to insert things into sensitive orifices.”

“I can promise you that.”

Angela’s good mood was fleeting, but it felt good to smile and laugh if even for a moment.

That moment came to a flaming halt when the door to the hospital room burst open.

“Excuse me.” The woman standing in the doorway didn’t sound apologetic at all. “Who are you, and what are you doing in my daughter’s room?”

“Mom?” She was possibly that last thing Angela expected to see today.

“Good to meet you again, Mrs. Martin.” Coach Meyers turned to face to Hero Seraphim. “Professor Meyers, we met during parent’s week.”

“Of course. Good to see you again.”

Angela had never seen her mother look so distracted, but the delay in putting the pieces together was noticeable.

<Could she actually be feeling something.> The concept seemed about as likely as an impromptu alien invasion of Earth. Angela had never seen her mother feel anything but a never-ending aversion of people who couldn’t live up to her high standards. Namely, Angela.

“Our condolences.” Dr. Johnson stood from his chair and went to shake Sophia’s hand. “I’m Dr. Johnson, West Private’s resident psychologist. Please let us know if you need anything.”

“Yes, thank you.” Sophia’s response was stiff as a board.

<She is feeling something.> Angela put two and two together and was able to see that her mother was actually sad. That her mother actually loved her father and it wasn’t just a suitable partnership of two Heroes.

“Mom?” Angela’s voice quivered, as the tears fought their way back to the surface.

“Yes, Angela.”

Coach Meyers and Dr. Johnson moved out of the way as Sophia quickly crossed the room to Angela’s bedside.

“Mom, Dad’s gone.” Angela couldn’t hold it in any longer. The tears started flowing freely along with a choking sob.

“I know, I know.” Sophia bent over and did something Angela hadn’t felt since she was a child.

Angela received a hug from her mother.

Not a halfway, ass out, awkward hug. It was a real hug. Sophia gripped Angela tightly and brought her in close, and began to stroke her hair.

“It’s going to be ok, it’s going to be ok.” Angela heard her mother’s voice quivering now.

Both women were on the verge of tears.

Coach Meyers and Dr. Johnson quietly left the room to give to two Martin women some privacy and a moment to grieve.

 

***

 

“Well look who it is?”

Daisy had barely stepped back from Angela’s closed door when a familiar voice called down the hall to her. Debora Phillip, her boyfriend’s sister, looked in her element as she walked the hospital halls with a stack of folders in one hand and a coffee in another.

“What are you doing here?”

“If you have to ask then you don’t have the clearance to know.” Daisy answered bluntly.

“Oh I have the clearance Professor Meyers. Since they assigned me to this case they gave me a full rundown of all DVA and HCP assets in the area of operations. That included the infamous Reaper.”

The hallway was basically empty. The only person close enough to hear them was Dr. Johnson, and knowing Daisy was Reaper was probably the tamest thing the good doctor knew about her past. Still, it wasn’t something she liked broadcasted in a public place.

The look she gave the DVA agent clearly conveyed her annoyance, and Debora acknowledged that with a blush.

“Can I help you with something?” Daisy asked, when Debora didn’t leave. “I can assure you I haven’t corrupted your brother too much.”

“I don’t care what my baby bro does behind the bedroom door.” Debora scoffed.

Daisy immediately made her regret that. “You meant even if there are copious amounts of leather, whips, and chains.”

The color drained from Debora’s face as Daisy continued.

“There is a particular thing he likes me to do where I stick my hand up…”

“Ok!” Topher’s sister couldn’t take anymore.

<If you can’t take the heat stay out of my fucking kitchen.> Daisy smiled smugly at Debora’s discomfort.

Daisy also couldn’t wait for the phone call her boyfriend would inevitably receive. Being accused of being a masochist and being dominated by a woman who he hadn’t even had sex with was going to confuse the shit out of him.

This conversation had successfully made Daisy’s day.

“So back to my original question.” Daisy kept a straight face through the whole talk. “Is there something I can help you with.”

“Yeah, actually there is.” The DVA agent waived Daisy over to an empty room across the hall from the nurses’ station. Once inside she opened up a file and pulled out a bunch of paperwork. “What can you tell me about the Sprout incident? You were there weren’t you?”

The memory flashed through Daisy’s head. It felt like much more than a few months had passed since she and John had rescued students and innocent civilians from the team of mercenaries and the ensuing fire. So much had happened, it felt like multiple lifetimes had passed. Since Daisy’s mind had been healed, and her past was slowly coming back to her, that was kind of true.

“I was there. What do you want to know?”

“I talked with a Mason Jackson, Kyoshi Schultz, Anika Kemps, Rebecca Whitfield, Seth Abney and Elizabeth Aretino earlier tonight. They came by to see how Angela was doing. Do you know much about them?” The DVA agent had out a fresh sheet of paper and a pencil to take notes.

“Five of the six are students of mine, so I know them extremely well. I do not know this Liz Aretino, so I can’t give you any information on her.” Daisy informed.

“What about the Sprout incident. How were they involved?”

“Well,” Daisy paused to organize her thoughts. “My report on the Sprout incident is pretty straightforward. I believe it was an attempt by Hellgate to snatch an HCP student, specifically Ms. Kemps. Ms. Kemps and Ms. Whitfield are a couple, and they were both present at the coffee shop. I was there with your brother, and Mr. Abney was as well.”

“Ms. Aretino claims she was present as well.”

Daisy searched her memory. “Blonde, about this tall.” She held her hand up to her chin. “Looks like a teenage boy’s wet dream?”

“Yes.” Debora frowned at the not by the book description.

“She was there with Mr. Abney on what I presume was a date.” Daisy paused and thought back. “If I remember correctly, Hellgate and his men tried to take her as a hostage too, but I’m still convinced their primary mission was Ms. Kemps.” Daisy stated, while Debora scribbled down everything she said.

“Any other information you can think of?”

“Not really,” the aftermath of the rescue mission involved a lot of pain for Daisy. “You’ll have to read the reports from the officers on the scene. I was taken away pretty quickly by HCP staff.”

“You were injured in the attack?”

“Severely burned,” Daisy wasn’t ashamed. Getting injured to protect people was part of a Hero’s job.

“Huh, I thought a legend like you would be a little tougher than that.” Debora grinned.

The dis might have been a little more effective if the DVA agent wasn’t grinning. Daisy could tell there would be a lot of good natured banter between her and Debora as long as she was with her brother. If she and Topher ever broke up that would most definitely change.

“Any other questions?” Daisy didn’t mind shooting the shit with someone, but less than forty-eight hours after a major attack wasn’t a great time for it.

“Not at the moment.” Debora put her notes in the file and her pencil in her pocket. “I know how to reach you if I have any more questions.”

With their impromptu interview over, Daisy left the room and headed back to meet Dr. Johnson. They had a lot of work to do before the class on Monday.

“Oh, Ms. Meyers,” Debora called after Daisy. “Be gentle with my baby bro. He can be a crier.”

Debora pushed through a far door after having the final word.

<What a bitch.> Daisy smiled as she rejoined a confused looking Dr. Johnson.

“Don’t worry,” she didn’t want to peak the psychologist’s interest.

Talking about her sex life was something they hadn’t quite progressed to in therapy, and she wanted to keep it that way for a while longer.

 

***

 

Lilly sat in the family room of her underground mansion utterly alone. She didn’t cry, crying was for babies, but she did brood.

The TV sounded like an angry mob behind her. The announcer was loudly listing Hunter’s accomplishments over his twenty-plus years of service.

<He literally pulled a cat out of a tree.> Lilly watched as a picture of a young Hunter, probably just out of the HCP, flashed onto the screen.

He might have started small but Hunter really stepped up his game. He’s taken down drug dealers, captured thieves, stopped large international arms deals, busted up an entire cartel along the U.S. border, and of course found and captured terrorist and serial killers alike. He was part of the two-man Hero team involving Seraphim, the winged menace. Rumors circulated that she was his wife, but they were never clarified. In fact, the whole memorial reel for Hunter was only a few minutes long, and almost all of those pictures featured him with Seraphim.

Lilly knew Hunter was a subtlety hero specializing in subterfuge and intelligence gathering. Being one of the most feared trackers on the planet was just a cherry on top of the sundae that was his power.

<And I killed him.> Despite her father’s anger, and the country’s mourning, Lilly had never felt more alive.

The only thing that was bothering her was Angela. Why was she at the motel? Why was she in the hospital? How much did she know? Lilly knew Angela’s parents were Heroes. She hadn’t been present when they showed up for the school’s parents weekend, but Seth had let enough slip. Lilly had to seriously consider the possibility that she’d just killed Angela’s father.

Of all the residents of townhouse #117 Lilly liked Angela the least. It wasn’t anything in particular, they were just polar opposites. Lilly liked to kick back, drink a beer, and fuck her man loud and hard whenever she wanted. Angela was the opposite; uptight, overstressed, and in serious need of a good boning. Angela just wasn’t Lilly’s style. The wannabe Hero had never been rude to Lilly before. In fact, they’d never really spoken too much at all.

<Oh well. Having to overcome tragedy builds character.> She’d just need to make sure she kept an eye on Angela from now on.

An explosive ring of fire announced the return of Hellgate. “Daughter.”

Lilly could tell he was still pissed, but he didn’t look like he wanted to go a round of fisticuffs. “Dad.”

“I apologize for my actions.” He stated plainly. “I should not have struck you. While you certainly deserved it, I should have shown better judgement.”

Not quite the full apology she was looking for but it was good enough. “No problem, Dad. Sometimes we get angry and do stupid things.” She was poking the bear, but she really didn’t care.

Lilly saw fire flash through her father’s eyes briefly before he got himself back under control. “Yes, well,” he coughed before continuing. “I have come to a solution to reconcile the situation.”

“Oh really.” Lilly instantly got defensive because there was no way this was going to be good.

“Yes. You will leave West Private University immediately. We will move up our time table and capture Anika Kemps for our client, and then you will lay low for the next year. After that time, we can reevaluate the situation and progress from there.”

<Nailed it.>

“Well that’s a stupid fucking idea.” She didn’t hold back, despite the bristling of her father.

“Explain?” He asked through gritted teeth.

“Well first of all we so aren’t ready to try a snatch and grab on Anika. Have you even finished going through the DVA plans for her protection?” Her father didn’t answer, so she took that for a no. “I know enough that we’re going to need a major assault on the city to pull it off; which was half the reason we blew up the power plant and got the info in the first place,” she scoffed. “Manipulating the Fist into that situation gave us a lot of good intel on how the city reacts to a large-scale attack.”

“And now they will be prepared.” He stated matter-of-factly.

“Or they think they will be.” Lilly’s sly smile would have given anyone else goosebumps.

“They’re bringing in more people to counter the Fist, so we just need to give them one hell of a show to pull their attention away from the real goal. Our client might be able to give us a hand there.”

“It is not stipulated in our contract that he be involved.”

“Of course it isn’t, but your screw-up at the coffee shop already pointed the spotlight in his direction. It’s too late to take that back. Plus,” her smile turned downright wicked. “The guy is always claiming he’s invincible. It’s time to nut up or shut up.”

“Our client will rip your head off if you speak to him like that.”

“Only if he can catch me.” Lilly’s grin had returned to normal, but it was still overconfident.

“Beware of Icarus, Daughter.”

“Yeah…yeah.” Lilly waved away the thought. “Flying too close to the sun and all that. But I don’t fly, I move through shadow.”

Hellgate sighed and rubbed his eyes which had aged an entire year in the last twenty minutes. “I can propose a course of action, but I find it unlikely he will agree.”

“Of course he will.” Lilly was much more confident than her father. “Sometimes you sit on the sidelines for so long that you’re itching to get back in the game.”

“This is not American football, daughter.” Hellgate shot back. “But I do see your point, and will pass along the request.”

“Good. If we have a massive attack everyone’s attention will be diverted.” Lilly’s wicked smile was back.

“And what of the panic device.”

<So you have read that far.> Lilly didn’t know her father knew about ForceOp’s panic button.

“That’s simple. We just need to get her into a position where she feels threatened. That shouldn’t be too hard to arrange. After all, she’s just a first year Hero wannabe.” Lilly had just the person in mind. “We can get her in the situation, she’ll press the button. The ForceOps’ soldier will show, and I’ll be there to take him out. Then all we have to do is take her to a location of our choosing and mission completed.”

Lilly only felt marginally bad that she’d be kidnapping Anika. After Angela, Anika was the person Lilly liked least in townhouse #117. She wasn’t as uptight as Angela, but the Super with the silver tattoos had always been standoffish toward her.

Lilly knew all about her background, and all the shit she’d been through, so she understood. But that still didn’t stop the sideways looks and frowns the other woman gave her when she was with Seth.

“And if my plan doesn’t work there is always Anika’s weak spot.”

Lilly was too well-trained to put all of her eggs in one basket. There always had to be contingencies, preferably more than one. She was still working on the others, but an obvious course of action was Becca. Of all the people in the townhouse, Lilly wanted to hurt Becca the least after Seth.

<There’s just something about her.> Lilly kept her emotions in check. <Being an eternal optimist has to be exhausting. Gotta respect her for that.>

“You’ve given this some thought.” Hellgate scratched his chin and sat back down. The momentary violence between them forgotten.

<I just hope I don’t have a mark or Seth is going to shit a chicken.> She made a mental note to grab some concealer on her way out. <If all else fails then a good old-fashioned ‘I ran into a door’ will work in a pinch.>

“I feel more comfortable bringing this plan to the attention of our customer with this additional information.”

“Dad, don’t take this the wrong way, but you seriously need to get out more. If this is getting you excited, then you need a woman in your life; preferably an expensive escort type. I’m not in the market for a new mommy.”

Hellgate’s answering laugh was amused but sad. “Soon you will know how I feel.” He sighed again and closed his eyes. “So I take it you will not be leaving the campus.”

“No can do.” Lilly plopped into a nearby recliner and kicked her feet up. “Suddenly up and leaving will draw too much attention. Then there’s the fact that I need to be there to dispatch the ForceOps teleporter, and I’m afraid I’ve got to be in the line of fire for a little longer.”

“Very well.” Hellgate knew he’d lost that argument. “But I would prepare yourself for action sooner rather than later.” He looked over at an old-fashioned calendar on the wall. “It’s later January now, and our client’s culture generally takes this time off to recuperate and prepare for the next fighting season. I would guess that he will want to act early spring, late spring at the latest. I would be prepared, by this May, to leave the campus and start over somewhere else.”

Lilly hesitated, she knew she hesitated, and she knew her father saw her hesitate. Her mind flashed to Seth; their vacation over the winter break, meeting his family, and the hundreds upon hundreds of times they’d had some sweet sweet lovin’. The last thing in the world she wanted to do was have to leave him behind.

“I understand,” she replied after the hesitation.

“Do you?”

“Yeah,” she snapped back, jumping to her feet and walking out. “I’ll call you later.” She called over her shoulder as she headed back to her room.

She looked her face over in the mirror and silently cursed. <That’s gonna leave a mark.> She grabbed some concealer, applied a generous amount, and then pocketed the rest.

With her face presentable, Lilly teleported into the shadow realm. She was there for a fraction of a second before reappearing in her usual alleyway.

By the time she exited the small space, she knew what she had to do. She knew she would need to execute the plan that her father was going to present to the client. She knew she would have to lure Anika or Becca away, and dispatch a soldier in the process. All of that was a given. What she could not accept was that she was going to have to leave everything behind. She couldn’t accept that things with Seth would be completely and utterly over in a few months.

<NO!> She ground her teeth and stubbornly dug in. <Fuck that noise. I’m going to figure it out.>

She’d keep Seth around, she promised herself that. She didn’t know how she’d do it yet, but she’d make it work.

Previous                                                                                                                                                 Next

 

 

 

A Change of Pace – Chapter 72

<This is such a turn on.> Liz sat in the hospital room with Seth, Mason, Kyoshi, Becca, Anika, and across from Agent Debora Phillips. <She’s definitely DVA.> Liz made sure to shield all of her thoughts from Kyoshi and any other telepaths in the area.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” the agent smiled thinly.

Liz was laughing inside, but she betrayed none of her emotions. <You’re sitting three feet from the person who killed your precious Hero. Hahaha!> Liz could barely control the euphoria. It was a drug that she would never stop chasing.

She gripped Seth’s hand tight. She’d need to use him as a crutch if she was going to get through this, and then she needed to finish what she’d started when they were rudely interrupted by Becca.

“Can you please tell me how you learned of Angela condition and whereabouts?” The agent had out a notepad and black pen.

“We were at home. We live in a campus townhouse, and we got a call from De…Mr. Ditmar, one of our teachers. He said Angela had been in an accident and was at this hospital.” Becca rattled off the explanation.

The agent looked like she got all of it. She scribbled on the paper in shorthand, but her eyes never left the group. They scanned back and forth, looking for any tells they were lying or holding back.

<Shit.>

These were the kinds of people Liz was supposed to avoid while on assignment. Sitting three feet from one of them was hazardous to her health.

“There is no need for subtlety, Ms. Whitfield,” the agent referenced the slip about the dean. “Ms. Aretino, do you know that the individuals sitting here with you are HCP students?”

All eyes turned toward Liz, and she gulped nervously.

“Well, I knew Seth was, and I had my suspicions about the rest of them.” Liz turned to the rest of the group and gave a meek smile. “But I never pried. It’s not my business.”

“Do you intend to divulge their identity to the school or anyone else of your own free will?”

If the group hadn’t been staring at her hard before they sure as hell were now.

“No, ma’am. Us Supers have to stick together.”

Liz probably could have avoided telling the Agent Phillips that she was a Super, but it was best to get it out in the open. If she didn’t tell her now, then the agent would go digging, find out, and wonder why Liz hadn’t fessed up when they first met. That was enough to dig deeper into Liz Aretino, and that wasn’t something Liz wanted.

That was the trick with professionals who looked for lies for a living. You had to give them kernels of the truth; enough that their appetite was satiated, but not too much that they dug deeper and found out the truth. It was a balancing act, and a dangerous one for Liz under the circumstances. After all, she had just killed her boyfriend’s roommate’s father.

“You’re a Super, Ms. Aretino.” More notes were scribbled.

“Pretty weak teleporter,” Liz reached for the agent’s pen. “If I may?”

The agent gave her a hard look before handing over the writing utensil.

<Here we go.> Liz took a deep breath and concentrated.

The key to a good lie was the physical reactions. Any silver-tongued used car salesman could spout out convincing words, but it that the physical reactions that sold it. Thankfully, Liz didn’t have to act like a weak teleporter. If she’d been forced to, the agent would have busted her on the spot.

Liz concentrated hard on the pen. She took deep breaths; in through her nose and out through her mouth. She filled her lungs with oxygen to the point that she was getting a little dizzy. Then she held her breath and strained her mind.

She could feel the darkness fighting to break free as she engaged her power. Sweat glistened her forehead, her eyes bulged, and her hands trembled as she forced back the darkness and let her power leak through.

The tiny pen disappeared from her right hand and reappeared in her left.

Liz exhaled and sagged into her seat. She felt like she’d just done a hundred burpees and then swam a mile. “It’s nothing fancy.” Liz handed the pen back while wiping her forearm against her forehead. “But it lets me appreciate what my friends are trying to do with their lives. Not all of us are as lucky and selfless as they are.” She had to add the selfless part to make the statement believable, not only to the agent, but to her too.

“A demonstration was not required, Ms. Aretino.” The agent looked at her pen carefully and then pocketed it. She pulled out another pen to take notes.

<Jokes on you.> Liz thought as the pen went into the older woman’s pocket. Liz had been very careful not to actually touch the pen with her fingertips. She’d gripped it in the palm of her hand the whole time.

Liz doubted that the DVA had fingerprints on Lilly Thermopolis. She’d been very careful and always worn gloves when conducting illegal activity.  On top of that, there was no record of Lilly Thermopolis ever being born. Her father had made sure of that.

What the agent’s little move told Liz was much more important than anything the agent would learn about her. It said, very loudly, that the agent didn’t trust the Supers in this room. That thought gave Liz a headache.

<I need a drink.> Liz let her defenses weaken and a garbled version of the thought slip out.

It was important, especially around Kyoshi, that Liz slip up in her mental defense every once in a while. To have impenetrable mental walls was a red flag, even to an amateur like Kyoshi.

The large, curvy Super sat up a little straighter when she heard the random thought, and had to stifle a laugh. That earned a round of questioning from the agent, and shifted the attention away from Liz.

It was tough to judge time in an interior room like the one they were all sitting in, but Liz had to guess about an hour passed before the agent had asked all of her questions. Most of them were simple questions. How well do you know Angela? Do you know her family? Does Angela have any enemies? Why would someone do this to her? Basically the questions that got asked during any cop drama show.

Liz and the rest of the group answered those questions truthfully. They knew Angela to varying degrees. They’d only met her family once during Parent’s Weekend. They weren’t sure about enemies, and they had no idea why someone would do this. Liz just shrugged at the last question. She thought it was better to remain silent.

They were just about free when Becca had to open her pretty little mouth.

“Is this the same people from the Sprout attack?”

Liz had to refrain from smacking herself in the head with the palm of her hand.

Agent Phillips, who had been about to pack up her stuff and let them go, practically froze. “What do you know about the attack at Sprout?”

“Well most of us were there,” Becca replied innocently. “Anika, me, Seth, and Liz.”

“Mr. Abney, Ms. Aretino, you were both present at the Sprout attack?” She asked. Liz did not like the look on her face.

“Yeah, it was actually our first date.” Liz placed her hand on Seth’s shoulder and leaned against him. “We were having coffee and waiting for our food when guys in black were suddenly everywhere. One tried to hit me with his gun, but Seth stopped him.” Liz turned her face to give Seth a genuine smile. “Whoever said chivalry was dead wasn’t in that coffee shop. Then this woman flashed the main bad guy, a metal man busted through a wall, there was a fire, and the next thing I remember I’m on the street giving my statement to the cops. It all happen so fast.” Liz didn’t realize she was giving a rapid fire playback of the night.

<Becca would be so proud.> Liz stopped and took a deep breath.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “But it makes me a little nervous if these were the same people. They tried to take us hostage.”

“It’s alright,” the agent scribbled a few more notes. “I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation, but I’m sure your dean will keep you apprised of the situation.” The agent gave them all one last look over. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

They all got up and left the room.

“We’re going to see if we can find Angela,” Becca stated, dragging Anika toward the nurse’s station at the end of the hall.

“We’ll come with you.” Kyoshi dragged Mason in the same direction.

“Um, I think we’re going to head back to the townhouse.” Seth replied, causing the two couples to stop. “No offense to you girls, but you can be a handful. I’m sure Angela’s just been through hell and you two are going to be as much as she can handle. I’ll come by tomorrow and see her.”

It was a good excuse, but it was only half of the reason Seth was passing on the visit. The other half was that Liz had a handful of his ass and was squeezing tightly. She was turned on, he knew she was turned on, and they needed to get home and do the no pants dance.

“Ok, fine.” Becca pouted. “But make sure to bring flowers and balloons. Everyone like flowers and balloons when they’re sick.”

“Of course,” Seth agreed.

They parted ways there. Seth broke about every traffic law there was getting back to the townhouse, and the Liz broke about every moral law when she fucked his brains out.

“That was crazy?” Seth was breathing heavily and lying on fluid stained sheets.

“The thing I did with my mouth?” Liz arched an eyebrow. “I know I’m good, but that wasn’t the first time.”

“No, not that, but kudos.” He interrupted his train of thought to give her a kiss. “No I’m talking about Angela and the DVA. It’s just crazy, and we still don’t know what really happened.”

Everyone was playing things close to the vest; the media, the HCP, the DVA, and the Hero community. News of Hunter’s death hadn’t broken yet, so Liz had to keep her mouth shut.

Now that the agent was gone, she was allowed to be a little more vulnerable. “It just makes me nervous that it could be the same people from Sprout.” Liz laid on her side and nuzzled against Seth’s sweaty chest. Despite their fervent physical activity, he didn’t stink.

“Don’t worry. I protected you then and I’ll protect you again. I don’t mean to brag, but I’m stronger now than I was then. If anyone tries to hurt you they won’t stand a chance.”

Liz didn’t need a man to protect her, but it made her feel warm and fuzzy that one was willing to do it anyway.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Liz nuzzled more, and the smile on her face was pure joy.

Then her phone rang. She ignored it. It rang again, and she continued to ignore it.

“Liz?” Seth tilted her chin with his hand so she was looking at him. “Do you want to get that?”

“No,” she grumbled as the phone started to ring for the fifth time. “But I guess I should.”

“You get that and I’ll chug a Gatorade. Then you can do that thing with your mouth again.” Seth had to dodge a good-natured slap as he retreat toward the mini-fridge.

“No, this time we get to see what you can do with your mouth.” Liz shot back while watching her boyfriend’s magnificently sculpted, naked ass.

“Challenge accepted.” The grinned at each other.

Liz reached her phone just before it ended the fifth ring cycle. “Yes.” She couldn’t keep the growl out of her voice.

“Hey it’s me.” Mika’s voice was hesitant, and Liz thought for a second he might have been watching all of her and Seth’s depraved activities through whatever surveillance methods he used.

“This isn’t a good time.” Liz didn’t use names on purpose. Not with Seth only fifteen feet away.

“Ok, but I thought you’d want to know they’re going to be breaking the news about you know who at the top of the hour.”

Liz looked at the clock. It was late, coming up on eleven o’clock; but that was a prime news slot.

“Thanks for the heads up. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Ok, goodni…” Mika didn’t get to finish saying goodbye before Liz cut him off.

“Sorry, babe.” Liz jumped out of bed, pulled on her panties, and searched for her bra. “I’ve got to run out for a quick errand.”

Her remark took the wind out of Seth’s sail, anatomically speaking. “But…” He argued feebly.

“Don’t worry, you can eat me out a little later, I’ll just be gone an hour, two tops.”

“But…” Seth looked like a sad puppy dog. “What about…” He pointed down at his rebounding junk.

Liz gave it a playful slap as she walked by. “We’ll have fun later.” She pulled on shorts, a t-shirt, and then stopped to give him a long, deep kiss. “I’ll be back soon.”

She left Seth with a hard on, standing naked in his room, with a half bottle of Gatorade, looking like he’d just had someone else blow out his candles on his birthday cake. She couldn’t help but chuckle and as she ran out of the house, down the street, and into the alley. In a blast of darkness, she disappeared and reappeared in her lavished underground mansion bedroom.

“Dad!” She yelled, hoping he was home.

“Lilly?” His confused, but alert response came back.

“Turn on the TV, dad. You’re going to want to see this!”

Altair Thermopolis could have heard about the demise of his arch-nemesis over the television, but Liz didn’t want that. She wanted to break the news about the Hero’s death standing next to her father.

<I did it. I killed him. It was me dad!> She was already practicing her speech as she ran into their vast living room, and powered up the seventy inch 4K HDTV.

This was going to be a night neither of them would ever forget.

 

***

 

“This is a shit show.” Daisy didn’t bother to keep her thoughts to herself. “Someone just came into our house, left an upperdecker, and you’re telling me we don’t have much to go on.”

Daisy sat in the confines of the HCP conference room surrounded by the other teachers. They’d all been woken up and alerted right after the explosions, but they were just now getting together to prep for what was to come.

“Yes.” The single word coming out of John’s mouth was tinged with abject failure. “All we have is a name.”

“Well that’s a solid starting point.” Daisy’s fist hit the table hard enough to rattle the sturdy piece of furniture.  “Then start kicking down doors and gathering information. Grace you’re still part-time, you must have some contacts you can leverage.”

“Daisy, no.” Again the HCP Dean’s words were tinged with sadness. “This investigation is going to be handled by the DVA and the certified Heroes in this area.”

Daisy bit back her response because she knew John was right. As much as she wanted to kick ass, that would just push her farther away from recertifying.

“So what the hell are we doing here then?” Daisy’s words were still harsh.

“We’re here to remember.” John pulled out a large, old bottle of amber liquid. “I’m sorry Daisy, but this is tradition.”

Shot glasses were divvied out to the entire HCP staff. Even Dr. Johnson accepted a glass full of the sharply scented liquor. Daisy accepted the first glass, and raised it with the rest of the staff.

“To Hunter, Henry Martin, may your deeds never be forgotten.” John raised the glass high and then turned it on its side, letting the liquid flow out and onto the floor.

“Never forgotten.” The rest of the staff chanted, and poured out their own glasses.

The bottle was passed around and the glasses were refilled. Daisy passed this time. What came next was an ancient tradition, that would leave most of the people in the room needing to see Dr. Sanderson in the next few hours.

<At least one of us should be sober in case something happens.>

Daisy’s sobriety was hard, but it was really put to the test during occasions when you just wanted to get fucked up.

Craig raised his glass this time. “To his loved ones, may they find peace.”

“May they find peace.” This time, instead of pouring out the drink, the Heroes and former Heroes drank.

Daisy had to cough as a lump formed in her throat. It was clear by Craig’s comment that they were thinking about Angela. As her student, Daisy felt a sense of responsibility toward the young shifter. Sure, Angela was rough around the edges, too focused to the point of burning out, and lacking in certain social skills; but she was still Daisy and Craig’s student. The emotions stung even more because Angela had been on the scene when it happened, lived through one of the two explosions, and was still in DVA custody. Not even John had been able to ascertain her status.

The glasses were refilled, and Miles Willis cleared his throat. “To the Heroes that will avenge him, may their aim be true.”

The toast was a little theatrical for Daisy’s taste, but that was Miles.

When the bottle came around to refill, Daisy grabbed it as it passed. John gave her a hard look, but she gave him a quick shake of her head. <No falling off the wagon.> She raised her glass, and the rest of the staff followed.

“To the fuckers that killed him, may they rot in hell.”

“May they rot in hell.” There were several cruel smiles around the table as staff downed another shot.

<Have another one on me, Hunter.> Daisy tipped her glass over and let the liquid pour out. <A warrior deserves more than one drink at their funeral.>

The ceremony for a fallen comrade continued until every staff member had said something. By then, a good chunk of the staff was hovering on the edge of alcohol poisoning, so Dr. Sanderson fixed them all up. Even with the healing, they’d be feeling it the next morning.

“We will miss, Hunter, but now we must consider what his death means.” John said.

The tiny dean had been unable to stand a few minutes ago, and that was a memory Daisy would cherish forever.

“As you all know, the main culprit in Hunter’s murder is Wraith.” An image appeared above the center of the conference table, the same blurry image taken from the battle in the Nevada desert. “We still don’t know much about her, but Hunter’s investigation does put her in the area.”

“From what I’ve reviewed of Hunter’s investigation, Wraith has teamed up with the Super gang, the Fist, and is working toward goals unknown.” Miles, the subtlety Hero, took over the conversation. “Hunter had his theories, foremost being an unsubstantiated link between Wraith and Hellgate.”

“The Sprout incident,” Daisy nodded. “Have we looked over the crime scene notes?”

“The DVA and Protectorate are on it now. I’ve put in a request, but I’m at the bottom of the list.” Miles looked a little peeved by that.

“I’ll talk to Galavant and see if he can’t keep us apprised of any additional information,” Daisy offered.

“Will Galavant come through for us?” Miles sounded skeptical, but the look on Daisy’s face shut him up.

“Ronnie and I have a deep bond, forged in the heat of combat,” Daisy’s smiled was downright frightening. “Once you make a person shit their pants they never forget it.”

“Very well,” Miles grinned. “If Galavant can keep us up to date on what the Protectorate and DVA discover that will keep us in the loop. Hunter was doing some research on our servers, so I’ll read through those logs and figure out what he was looking into. We’ve also got some of his notes, so I’ll look into those too.”

“Do I need to remind everyone that we are in a supporting role with this investigation until told otherwise.” John gave them all a hard look. “We’re all on the same side, so don’t interfere to the point it disrupts the common goal of finding Hunter’s murderer.”

Heads nodded around the table.

“Boss,” Craig asked tentatively. “Is the DVA going to bring her in?”

Everyone knew who Craig was talking about, but no one had been willing to bring up the topic yet.

“Someone just killed her husband, Craig. She’s already here.”

Daisy felt bad for the criminals of Orlando, especially the Fist. The death of Hunter was literally going to bring angelic wrath down upon the city’s underworld. Daisy knew the female Hero’s reputation. The shifter was going to leave a trail of arrests and bodies in her wake. It was not going to be pretty, and she was not going to stop until Wraith was locked up, or dead in a gutter somewhere.

The room had broken down into a few side conversations, so Daisy caught John’s attention. “Any idea where Seraphim is now?” Daisy asked.

“She’s being briefed at Protectorate HQ, and then will probably do a quick recon of the bombing site, before doing a patrol.” John replied.

Daisy nodded her head. Seraphim wanted people to know she was here, she wanted criminals pissing their pants and thinking she would kick down their door or fly through their ceiling at any moment. It was a basic but very effective intimidation tactic. The problem was that Daisy thought the woman was forgetting one very important thing.

“Is anyone scheduled to pick up Angela when she’s released?”

“Not at the moment.” The look in John’s eye told Daisy he’d been thinking along the same lines.

“I can do it. It’s not a problem. I need to swing by and see Topher anyway.” Daisy stated.

“Sure,” John gave a tired sigh. “She’s been sedated for now. The DVA’s interview with her did not go well.”

“Traumatic stress?”

“Yes. She saw her father die and could do nothing to stop it.” A hint of sadness crept into John’s voice.

“Maybe Dr. Johnson should come with me. God knows he’s had enough practice with this kind of thing.” Daisy’s self-deprecating joke brought a tiny smile to John’s lips.

“Have I told you how much progress you’ve made.” That tiny smile turned big and genuine. “I’m very proud of you, Daisy.”

“Aww shucks, Pa,” Daisy’s goofy face and accent coaxed a laugh out of the Dean.

“You better get going.” John’s face looked like its normal self again. “They’re going to make the announcement soon, and we want to make sure Angela has no exposure to it or the media. We still have the SI clause to consider.”

“I’m on it boss.” Daisy gave a firm nod and headed toward the door. “Johnson, you’re with me.” The psychologist didn’t argue, but he looked confused as he followed Daisy out the door.

“We’re going to make sure Angela is ok,” she explained. “I’m sorry, but I think your workload just dramatically increased this semester.”

“Don’t worry about my workload.” Dr. Johnson’s expression was surprisingly determined. “I’ll do what needs to be done.”

<As will we all, Doc.> The two Supers were on the same wavelength, but Daisy doubted the good doctor’s involved as much blood as what she had in mind.

 

***

 

“We have a special report out of Orlando, Florida.” The national news anchor with fake tits and an even faker face announced.

“Dad it’s on!” Lilly couldn’t stop her eagerness from showing.

The anticipation of this moment had everything down to her bones vibrating in excitement. <Finally, you’ll see what I’m capable of Dad. I’m a real Supervillain now. One of the best there will ever be. I’ve killed a Hero at eighteen, that has to be some kind of fucking record!>

“Did you take something?” Hellgate sank down onto the couch in front of the massive television. “You’re awfully…”

“Nope,” Lilly cut him off. “This is all natural, Dad. I’m just fucking pumped. You’ll see why…look!” She gestured frantically at the TV.

“Ladies and gentlemen.” A local anchor was reporting live from the scene of the bombing. Lilly recognized the buildings. “It is with a heavy heart that I must report a tragedy for Orlando, Florida, and the entire United States of America.”

<Damn, she’s good.> Lilly saw tears glistening in the field reporter’s eyes.

“Earlier this evening the sounds of bombs disrupted the night of this great American city. Two detonations, both behind me,” the camera panned to the ravaged motels, “claimed the lives of twenty-two innocent civilians and the life of the man trying to save them. I regret to inform you that the beloved Hero Hunter was confirmed dead after sustaining injuries from the explosions.”

Lilly didn’t bother to listen to the rest of broadcast. She turned her attention to her father.

The older man’s mouth was hanging open slightly, and the drink in his hand was forgotten.

“So…” she couldn’t wait any longer. “What do you think?”

“What…?” Hellgate shook his head and turned toward Lilly. “What do you mean what do I think?”

“Hunter’s dead, Dad. I killed him for you.” She smiled her best smile. A smile that could launch a thousand ships.

“You…you killed Hunter.” He repeated her statement very carefully, as if he didn’t believe her.

“Yeah, Dad. I intercepted an unsecure call from the Protectorate HQ to one of his safe houses. I staked it out for weeks, spent over a hundred grand figuring out a way to infiltrate then sent in a bomb. I rigged several follow-up positions in case he followed, just like you taught me.”

Hellgate still looked shocked.

“It was hard work, and I won’t say there wasn’t a little bit of luck involved, but I killed him Dad. I killed a Hero! I’m only eighteen, if this doesn’t propel me to the top of the charts I don’t know what…”

Lilly never saw the slap coming.

It hit her hard in the face, knocked her off the couch and onto the floor. Her training took over before the shock wore off. She rolled out of the fall and came up in a fighting stance.

“You stupid bitch,” Hellgate’s word were soaked in venom. “You ignorant little shit. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

There was rage in her father’s voice, but even that couldn’t hide the sadness in his eyes.

“I…I killed your nemesis, Dad. I did what you failed to do.” She couldn’t stop the defiance the creeped into her last sentence.

“No,” Hellgate shook his head. “You killed yourself.”

“What? I’m pretty sure I’m still here.” She patted herself dramatically.

“Maybe not today, or tomorrow, but you’re already dead.” He kept shaking his head. “I didn’t want this for you. After your mother…I didn’t want you to end up like her.”

“I’m not going to end up like her.” Lilly’s defiance mixed with anger. “I’m going to be a legend. I’m going to be as big as you, as big as Armsman!”

“Do you know why we never see your godfather? Why we live underground away from everyone and everything?” He took a threatening step forward but stopped himself.

“Because we’re bad guys, duh. We do bad things. People want to arrest us and throw us in jail.” Lilly couldn’t stop from rolling her eyes.

She wasn’t five, she knew the dangers of her chosen profession.

“We have standing kill orders on us. Any Hero, anywhere, who spots us is automatically authorized to use lethal force. There’s even a reward for us, dead or alive.” His words burrowed into her.

There was a spark of fear at having a kill order on her head for the rest of her life, but it was quickly replaced by determination.

“They can try,” she growled.

“Spoken like an ignorant child,” Hellgate scoffed at her resistance. “Tell me that when she finds you.”

He pointed back to the TV. Circling above the ruined motels, scanning the area calmly, was a large winged woman with a spiked tail.

“Seraphim will rip out your heart, Lilly.” Hellgate’s voice was much softer now. “Then you’ll be nothing more than a footnote in history, another notch on her belt.”

In a blast of fire, that made Lilly scramble back to avoid getting singed, Hellgate disappeared.

She was left alone to figure out what she was going to do next.

Previous                                                                                                                                Next       

 

 

 

 

 

A Change of Pace – Chapter 57

Mason ignored the sounds a rapid humping coming from Seth’s room and focused on the task in front of him. The chorus of passionate love making used to make the big man uncomfortable, but after half a semester of hearing those two go at it like bunnies in heat it was normal. Mason hardly paid attention to it, just like the police sirens or occasional gunshots back in Brooklyn.

The only thing he did do was peek across the room to take a look at his girlfriend. He needed to make sure she wasn’t giving out any signals that she wants to do some of the same. This morning, Kyoshi was too busy to think about sex. Mason turned his attention back to what was sitting directly in front of him. He had some important decisions to make, but he was stuck. He needed help.

“What do you think?” he asked his girlfriend.

Kyoshi turned to examine his dilemma. In one hand Mason had a pair of nice khaki shorts and a short sleeved dress shirt. In the other, he was holding dark slacks and a white button down.

“Where exactly do you think we’re going?” she looked irritated for a moment, but then a smile cracked through the façade.

“California,” Mason shrugged.

“San Francisco,” Kyoshi clarified.

“They’re the same thing,” Mason extended the outfit choices closer to her.

“Not the way you’re thinking,” Kyoshi rolled her eyes. “We’re not going to L.A., Mason. It’s not going to be sunny and eighty degrees at my house. It’ll be high forties, low fifties, with the possibility of rain and gloom.”

“Oh.” Slowly, Mason set down the short t-shirt combo. Kyoshi nodded, smiled, and then gave him a kiss.

“And you don’t have to try and be all fancy,” she added. “We’re not the devout church going crowd that Grandma is.”

“I guess I’ll just have to represent the Brooklyn Baptists all by myself. You haven’t heard me sing yet,” Mason grinned.

“Oh, please God no,” Kyoshi giggled as Mason struck an operatic pose.

“Swing low, sweet chariot,” Mason’s deep voice rumbled pleasantly.

“That’s actually not that bad,” Kyoshi smiled sincerely at the man she loved.

“Thanks. Grandma made me join the choir why I was younger,” Mason shrugged, but he was clearly grinning at surprising her.

“And I bet you did all right with all those good Christian girls,” Kyoshi laughed when Mason’s dark face blushed. “That’s what I thought.” She walked over to him and into arms that immediately encircled her. “You’re a keeper, Mason Jackson,” she titled her head up and kissed him harder than she had before.

For a second, Mason thought that Seth and Liz’s carnal activities had gotten to her, but after a few seconds she pulled away. “You’d better head down if you want to be on time.”

Mason looked over to the clock beside his bed and cursed. He’d lost track of time in assembling his wardrobe for his Christmas with Kyoshi’s parents. They’d already met before, but he was still nervous and wanted to make a good second impression. Sitting down for lunch with Kyoshi’s massive father was one thing, but sleeping in his house and eating his food was something entirely different.

“Make sure you hurry back,” the tone of her voice and the twinkle in her eye let Mason know she’d heard some of his earlier thoughts. “Because there is no way in hell we’re fooling around at my house.”

<Absolutely not,> Mason fervently agreed. He liked his legs attached to his body; especially that important third one.

“When’s your review?”

“Twenty minutes after yours, but I want to finish packing before I head over,” judging by the mountain of clothes on the bed, Mason doubted that was going to happen.

It was already late afternoon and their flight left from the airport in a few hours. They had a two hour layover in Atlanta and then they’d fly straight through to San Francisco. They’d be getting there late, but with California being three hours behind Florida; it would just be dinner time.

“Ok,” I’ll make sure to hurry back and finish packing.” Mason could fit most of the stuff he owned in the suitcase he was bringing, so in typical guy fashion he’d be done in five minutes.

Kyoshi waved him off as she considered two different blouses, so he left without another word. He exited the townhouse and headed for a different one of the HCP’s secret lifts. He didn’t want to go to the student center, and he needed to walk for a little bit to make sure no one was following him. After a few minutes, and several random turns he was confident he wasn’t being tailed. There weren’t many students still on campus, so it was easier than usual to perform his counter-surveillance techniques. He entered the HCP through one of the dorms, and quickly made his way to Coach McMillian’s office.

The close combat coach was waiting with a big grin splashed across his face, and a foot tapping faster than a drum roll. “I’ve been waiting all morning to watch this,” he gestured for Mason to sit as he brought up the strongman’s finals footage.

“You passed the first test well enough,” the coach paused the footage at the spot where Mason was squeezing his considerable size into the small hatch opening; the older speedster’s grin taking on an impish quality. “That was our fault. We’ll make sure to give you room to breathe next time we set up Battleball.”

“That would be nice,” Mason saw the humor in the moment now that he was able to look back on it.

“What I really want to go over is this,” the footage played forward to Mason confrontation at the top floor of the office building.

“They caught me off-guard,” Mason admitted. “But…”

“No…you did fine here,” Coach McMillian cut him off. “You were outnumbered by Long, Garrison, and Mosely. They tried to smoke you out with Garrison, but you used your power and environment to your advantage. Venting the gas was the right idea. What I’m more concerned with is this,” the speedster fast forwarded to the part where Flynn was coming to copy his power.

Mason saw the decision solidify on his face, and couldn’t help but gulp as he leapt from the window he’d smashed earlier. He didn’t realize that Flynn had nearly caught him. Coach McMillian hit the pause button, perfectly capturing an “oh shit” face on the bigger strongman.

“This is what I’m concerned with.” The former Hero pointed at the frozen image.

“I’m not crazy or suicidal or anything, Sir,” Mason got the feeling he was in trouble. “I just didn’t see another way out of that situation.”

“No, you misunderstand,” the coach chook his head. “You made the right decision. You had to jump.”

“Um…ok,” Mason wasn’t sure where this conversation was going.

“I’m concerned about the fear on your face,” Coach McMillian jabbed his finger at the screen. “You’re a strongman, Jackson; I don’t want to see you afraid of a short jump.”

“Uh…I’m sorry, Sir. I’ve just never jumped out of a building before,” this was not going anything like Mason thought it would.

“That’s pretty obvious, but it’s not the jump that’s the problem,” the footage resumed playing. “You measured it right, so you didn’t overshoot; which is usually the first mistake a rookie strongman makes. Your problem is the landing,” with expert precision the speedster paused the footage just as Mason crashed through the roof of the building he’d jumped onto. “You don’t know how to land for shit.”

“In my defense it was my first try,” Mason replied sheepishly.

“I know and we’ll work on that. I’ve got a homework assignment for you over the break,” Mason didn’t quite groan, but the coach caught the sag in his shoulders. “Don’t worry it’ll be fun. I want you to go on YouTube and watch videos of Titan jumping out of buildings. There has to be a thousand clips out there. I want you to study them and learn his techniques, because when you get back you and I are going back into that arena and jumping off some roofs. Understood?”

“Yes, Sir,” Mason didn’t know how he felt about that teaching style, but he could worry about that after break.

“And Jackson,” the speedster stopped to consider his words. “You’re a strongman, so this is the stuff you do. Don’t let your girlfriend’s opinions stop you from doing your job.”

Mason didn’t know how the coach knew about their telepathic conversation, but he did. “Yes, Sir,” Mason repeated, not sure Kyoshi was going to like that bit of constructive criticism.

“Good, moving on,” just like that the coach switched gears and reviewed the rest of the footage. There wasn’t a lot going on until Mason and Kyoshi came up against Kimberly and Teresa.

Mason grimaced as the initial blast from Kimberly separated him from Kyoshi, and he spent the entire rest of the battle trying to get back to her. Mason remembered the pain when that didn’t work out. He saw the multitude of hits he took trying to cross the distance to Kyoshi, but he also saw how he used some of those hits to his advantage. He used their momentum and his own strength to take down Teresa, but by then it was too late; and then Kimberly chocked him out like he was an amateur.

“Do you see the issue?” Coach McMillian rewound the fight and played it again.

“It’s the classic dilemma of close versus ranged combat,” Mason explained to the best of his ability. I couldn’t get Kimberly while she could get me.

“Yes and no,” the Hero responded. “Look closer.”

Mason did, but he didn’t see whatever the speedster wanted him to. “Kyoshi and I should have tried to stay together.”

“No,” the coach sighed. “It’s actually the exact opposite.” Mason didn’t see that coming. “Open your eyes, Jackson,” the coach pointed passionately at the screen. “You spent this entire fight trying to get to Schultz instead of facing the real threat.”

Mason watched the fight a third time and it finally clicked. “There it is,” the speedster saw the light go off in Mason’s brain. “There are a bunch of ways you could have taken out Goodman if you committed to the fight instead of trying to rescue your damsel in distress. Hell, you could have smashed through the building and collapsed it if you wanted to.” Mason got the distinct feeling the close combat coach would be expecting that in some future Battleball game.

“I just couldn’t leave her to deal with Teresa alone.” Mason admitted.

“Schultz is a big girl, Mason,” the speedster reached across the desk to put a hand on his shoulder, but the older man couldn’t reach; so he gave his forearm a pat. “You’re both in this program for a reason, and it’s not to try and rescue each other. You need to focus on the missions and improving your skills; because something tells me that Schultz isn’t someone who wants to be thought of as a weak woman.”

“No,” Mason shook his head adamantly. “No she doesn’t.”

“Overall it was a decent performance,” the close combat coach felt he’d made his point and moved on. “You performed well enough that you’ve moved up to number five.” Mason smiled at his improvement. “You bumped Shaw down to six, so you’ll be safe in the top five for a while. Having your bones crushed by a wildly jumping strongman isn’t something she wants to experience again anytime soon.”

Mason didn’t want to experience getting choked out by Kimberly anytime again, so he doubted he’d challenge the newly minted number four ranked freshman anytime soon. He didn’t hold Teresa’s trepidation against her.

“You’ve had a good semester, Jackson, and I look forward to another good one with you in my close combat class. Your abilities are progressing, but there are some things up here we need to work on,” the coach pointed to his temple. “I suggest you and Schultz have a good long talk about what’s to come, because it could be really hard for both of you.” The last part didn’t sound like a teacher talking to a student, but a man who’d experienced firsthand a Hero’s lifestyle and all the chaos it wrecked on personal relationships.

The single statement took Mason back to the time alone with Kyoshi’s father in the restaurant, and the words that had haunted him. <There will come a day when you need to make a choice, and no matter how much you do not want it, that choice will be between being a Hero and my daughter. When that time comes I will not hold it against you when you break her heart, but mark my words, you will do just that.>

Despite everything the German Hero had said months ago, and what Craig was telling him now, Mason knew he and Kyoshi would make this work. <I have to.> The determination Mason felt in that commitment was the fiercest thing he’d felt in his entire life.

 

 

***

 

Lilly didn’t have a lot of time. She’d told Seth she was just running out to grab a few last minute things. She left the townhouse with her bag swinging from her forearm, and a smile on her face. This smile wasn’t forced, faked, or part of her deception. This smile was real, and she felt genuine happiness flowing through her veins.

She walked a few blocks before disappearing into an alley and vanishing in a small blast of darkness. She appeared, nearly instantaneously, in her room back at home. A room that was beginning to feel much more foreign than the space she shared with Seth.

<Pull it together,> she took a deep breath and focused.

“Daddy!” she yelled.

There was silence for a few moments and then the echo of padded shoes could be heard approaching. Lilly darted into her closet and grabbed a few lacey garments while she was still alone. That was a conversation she preferred not to have with her father.

“Daughter,” Altair rounded the corner in a pressed red dress shirt and a pair of black slacks.

“Here,” she didn’t dawdle before tossing a small electronic component to her father.

“This took a while to find its way to me,” his face was expressionless, but Lilly knew enough about her father to know that something was always going on underneath the surface.

<He’s testing me.> There last conversation about Seth ran through her mind, and things hadn’t gotten any less complicated since then.

“I had to make sure the Heroes didn’t realize they were compromised. If they did, then that’s no more than a chunk of plastic and circuitry. Plus, Nano needed time to copy and decrypt all the data,” she waved off his pseudo-accusation with well-practiced nonchalance. “Now you’ve got a few weeks to look over it all. Have fun!” She smiled her sweet smile and prepared to teleport back to campus.

“I thought we were going to review the data together,” his voice was hard as he caught the pieces of clothing sticking out of her bag. “That was the plan.”

“Plans change,” Lilly shrugged, but her shoulders remained tense. “I’m going on vacation.”

“Vaca…what?” for a second her father disappeared and the supervillain Hellgate snarled back at her.

“Yes vacation,” she met her father’s snarl with one of her own. It came easily. “I’m the one busting my ass to get all this intel. I’m the one who snuck into a fuckin’ Heroes base and stole that shit. I’m the one who noticed the military grade panic button Anika has on her, and I’m the one gaining everyone’s trust. So yeah I’m going to take a breather for ten days. Plus, it’s part of my cover,” the last part was weak and they both knew it.

“This is about that boy isn’t it,” the snarl that hadn’t reached his emotionless eyes suddenly set them aflame. “You’re letting your feelings get in the way of the job.”

“And you’re letting your need to not feel emotions cloud your judgement about how I should handle this.” Her own eyes were cold and calculating against the heat of her father’s glare. “Stop back seat driving. I’m the one in the field, and you’re the one sitting at home. Get off my back.” They continued to glare at each other until she dropped the bomb. “He loves me. I can use that.”

Instead of putting her father at ease it did the opposite. He only looked more pissed, but that didn’t compare to what she felt. It felt like she’d shoved a dagger into her own gut. The words cut through her leaving sheered flesh and emotions in their wake.

Lilly tried not to let the emotion show on her face, but she knew she failed. She quickly teleported out of there. She staggered and took a deep breath when she reappeared in the alley. All she wanted to do was get drunk and ignore that time bomb she’d planted in her own heart.

 

***

 

“Excuse me?” Kyoshi was caught by surprise.

“Don’t act like you didn’t understand me, Schultz,” Coach Meyers gave the taller, younger woman a hard glare.

“I…just…” this was not what Kyoshi expected.

The advanced mind had been in a good mood before coming down for her final review. She’d finished packing a number of cute outfits for her trip home. She was looking forward to a little quality time with Mason; Seth and Liz had finally stopped their humping right before she left, and she felt confident she’d done well in her non-HCP classes. Everything was shaping up to be a great winter break; and then she sat down across from Coach Meyers.

“You just what?” the alternative instructor was pressing Kyoshi uncomfortably. “You like to be the damsel in distress that gets saved by the big heroic man?”

“What…no! How could you think that?” Kyoshi felt her face heat with anger.

“I can think it because that’s what all this footage shows me,” Coach Meyers hit play and the footage started to stream between them.

Kyoshi had no idea where the coach was coming from. She thought she’d done well in the final. <Sure I could have done better, but I was able to improvise under tough circumstances and get away with a few wins.>

                That was more than could be said for some of her classmates. Talk spread after the final was over, and there were plenty of freshmen who hadn’t survived one fight. Kyoshi was happy to hear that Derrick Masters was one of them.

But as she watched the footage, Kyoshi became less and less sure of herself. She’d made it safely to the diner to meet Mason, but Becca and Anika had gotten the drop on her. If they weren’t friends, and she hadn’t been able to stall until Mason got there, she would have been done.

<Ok I guess that doesn’t look good, but I thought being able to talk people down was a desirable skill.> But things didn’t stop there.

Kyoshi saw her and Mason walk straight into Kimberly and Teresa. The blow that separated them made her wince, and then it really dawned on her. <I’m just trying to stay alive long enough for Mason to come and free me. Coach Meyers is right.> Her good mood vanished like a puff of smoke.

Coach Meyers saw the change too, and her expression softened. “You’re a powerful Super, Kyoshi, and you’ve got a hell of a gift. You just got caught with your panties around your ankles.”

A self-deprecating laugh escaped Kyoshi’s throat. “Did I at least make it to the second semester?” Kyoshi felt a ball of iron form in her gut. Despite how counterproductive it had been in the final, she couldn’t imagine getting ripped away from Mason.

Coach Meyers sighed and nodded her head. “Everyone who wanted to stay, and met the GPA requirements is going to be allowed to stay. Your class only lost six people, which I guess is pretty low for this point in the program.”

<Six people!> Low or not, Kyoshi had a hard time believing people would give up after all the hard work they’d put in over the last few months.

“Three of them were academic dropouts. Mr. Flynn is being pulled under Dr. Sanderson’s recommendation. Mr. Masters quit because he is still a child who was sick of people stomping on his overinflated ego. Last but not least, Ms. Jacobsen decided that a Hero life wasn’t the life for her. I’m sorry to see her and Mr. Flynn leave us so early, but the others weren’t going to cut it as Heroes; or even sophomores in this program,” the coach explained with only tiny signs of emotion when it came to Nathan and Stephanie. “But that’s enough about everyone else. We’re here to talk about you.”

Kyoshi gulped. “I’m guessing I didn’t do so great,” it was pretty obvious from Coach Meyers’ reaction that Kyoshi hadn’t lived up to the Heroes expectations.

“Actually, you did just fine,” Coach Meyers shrugged with a rogue grin when Kyoshi’s jaw dropped. “You moved up from number nineteen to seventeen. You handled the situation between you, Kemps, and Whitfield like an experienced negotiator; and you were able to take out Goodman. Since she did really well, you got more points for taking her down.”

“But…I thought,” Kyoshi was struggling to put her thoughts into words; which was ironic for an advanced mind.

“What?” Coach Meyers smirked. “You thought because I was disappointed that you failed your final.

<Kind of,> Kyoshi’s shrug said what she was thinking.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” the stern expression was back on the coach’s face. “You performed well in the situation you were in. My problem is that you shouldn’t have been in those situations in the first place. You relied on the abilities of others too much when you should be relying on yourself.”

“But…” Kyoshi couldn’t even get another word out.

“What? You think because you don’t have big muscles or can’t lift heavy things that you need Jackson to protect you?”

<That’s not what I was thinking,> but even as the thought crossed Kyoshi’s mind she knew she was lying to herself.

“Kyoshi,” the advanced mind noticed the name change along with the coach’s tone. “You can possess other people with your telepathy. Not many people in the world can do that. Your telekinesis is weak, but you’ve shaped it to your advantage. You’re using it as a shield and a pair of superpowered brass knuckles. You can hit harder, and take more hits than many of your classmates. But what gets me the most is that you don’t devalue your abilities unless you’re in the presence of someone physically stronger. All of your challenge matches have been a real insight into your mindset, and you’re good.” The coach took a deep breath before she said the last bit. “You just need to figure out how to act around one man.”

Kyoshi couldn’t stop the surge of anger, even if she knew there was validity to Coach Meyers’ words. So she decided to say nothing at all. The alternative instructor nodded at the silence, knowing that she’d gotten her point across.

“We just have one more thing to dicuss before you can go enjoy your winter break,” Coach Meyers continued professionally. “I want you to describe to me what you did to Goodman?”

That was easier said than done. Kyoshi had lost a lot of blood and had her ass thoroughly kicked by Teresa. She’d just watched Mason get taken out right in front of her, so her emotions were a mess too. She’d just lashed out.

“I don’t know how to explain it exactly,” Kyoshi thought how to put what she remembered into words. “I knew Kimberly was coming. I saw her heading down the fire escape. I was angry. Angry I was going to get taken out, angry Mason had been defeated, and I just wanted to do something. I guess you could say I collected the energy in my head. It was kind of like trying to hold water in your cupped hands; not impossible, but it kept leaking back into my mind. When I thought I had enough, or maybe it was right before I knew I was going to pass out; either way I targeted her mind and just…stabbed.” Kyoshi didn’t know if it was the right word, but it sounded better than “blindly lashed out”.

“We need to keep an eye on this new development,” Kyoshi saw something flash across Coach Meyers’ red iris’.

All the advanced mind picked up when she tried to glimpse into the other Super’s mind was the constant, <Want to hear the most annoying sound…> she already knew how that song and dance ended. But there was something there, something that told Kyoshi that this new aspect of her power hit a personal nerve with the alternative instructor.

“Please do not use this ability again until you can sit down with Professor Livingston and get a firmer grasp on it. She already looked over Ms. Goodman, but there’s always a chance that if you did this while at full strength you could mentally damage your opponent.” Kyoshi understood the severity of that, and quickly nodded.

“Do you have any other questions?” Coach Meyers opened up the floor.

<I did fine on the final, but you’re disappointed in me because my personal relationship influenced how I acted. I displayed another ability that has the possibility to be dangerous, and you all but ordered me to have a heart to heart with the man I love about how we’re going to make our experiences in the HCP work. No, I’m just peachy.>

                “No. Thank you for the insight, Coach.”

“That’s my job,” the alternative instructor graced the advanced mind with a small smile. “Now go enjoy your break. You’re only young once.” Kyoshi knew when she was being told to go have fun.

Kyoshi left the HCP and headed straight back to the townhouse. There wasn’t a lot of time before she needed to get herself and Mason to the airport. She’d be home by dinner, and she’d asked her mom to make some culturally appropriate food. The poor imitators that catered to the college population were nothing compared to her mother’s home cooking.

Her mind was still on the incredible sushi her mom was able to roll when she opened the door and came face to face with Becca. “Oh…” she stepped back in surprise. “Hey, Becca.”

The blue-haired speedster looked conflicted, and it didn’t take telepathy to know why. They hadn’t had a chance to sit down and talk since the final. Kyoshi knew what Becca was going to say before she said it. So instead of letting the petite woman stew, Kyoshi stepped forward and wrapped her in a hug. When a six foot six woman hugged a woman who was over a foot shorter it looked awkward, but Becca still melted into Kyoshi’s chest regardless.

They stayed that way for a long time, and when Becca finally pulled away there were wet tear stains on Kyoshi’s shirt. “Ah fiddlesticks, I’m sorry,” Becca wiped her eyes with her forearm and then looked around for something to dry the damp fabric.

“Becca…Becca,” Kyoshi repeated the name louder, grabbing the speedster by the shoulders to turn her back to face her. The smaller woman didn’t want to meet Kyoshi’s eyes. “There’s nothing to be afraid or ashamed of.” The words only made more tears leak out of the other woman’s eyes.

“I treated you like poop. You’re my friend and I treated you awfully in there,” Becca folded her arms defensively across her chest. “It was wrong and I shouldn’t have done it.”

“In there it is training,” Kyoshi replied, pointing down. “In there we’re going to have to face each other, and sometimes kick the crap out of one another so we can get better.” Becca’s body language said she didn’t like the sound of that. “But the important thing is,” Kyoshi made sure Becca met her eyes for this part. “When it comes to anything up here, I know you’ve got my back. You’re my best girlfriend and you know I love you.”

Becca was still crying, but her thousand watt smile, that could bring men to their knees if she was into them, was back. “You’re the best girlfriend I have,” Becca smiled at Kyoshi’s remark, wiping more tears from her cheek.

“Don’t take it personally, but I’ve got to give Mason the number one friend spot. He’s a lot more fragile than you’d think,” the made the little speedster laugh. Thinking of Mason as fragile was like thinking a mountain was small.

“Someone said my name,” as if on command the strongman descended the stairs, carrying all of their luggage in a single trip. Kyoshi chose to ignore the part where he only had one bag to her three, and he’d gladly carry all of them all day long.

“We’re just talking about how you’re a big softie,” Becca replied, blurring over to Mason to give him a hug.

The image was comical but it warmed both of the larger Supers’ hearts. “Yeah that’s me,” Mason was smiling, but he cocked an eyebrow in Kyoshi’s direction. She just shrugged and smiled.

“Okey dokey, well Ani and I are out of here. We’ve got a long drive home. I love my girlfriend but she drives like my Grammy on a tractor.” Mason’s laughter seemed to shake the house.

“Have a good break, Becca,” Kyoshi pulled her into another hug before she left. “We’ll see you in a few weeks.”

“Bye guys, Merry Christmas.”

The door closed behind the speedster and they were alone. “Anyone still here?” Kyoshi expanded her senses.

“Seth left to do some shopping, and Liz had an errand to run. Angela already left for break, and Becca and Anika,” the statement was punctuated by the sound of a car peeling out in front of the house.

“So…we’re alone,” Kyoshi grinned when she saw Mason’s mind react to the expression on her face.

“Yeah, yeah we are,” he dropped the bags and pulled her close.

With so many people living in the house, and so much going on with the HCP and school, Kyoshi and Mason never really got a chance to cut loose. They were fine with that, but a few weeks of them having to be on their best behavior made them want to have one more afternoon where they could be bad. Kyoshi just hoped she’d be able to walk straight by the time they got to San Francisco.

Previous                                                                                                                                               Next

 

 

A Change of Pace – Chapter 53

“You want us to do what?” Squid’s face was frozen in surprise.

The leader of the Orlando Super gang couldn’t see it but Lilly rolled her eyes dramatically. They were back in the parking garage for the impromptu meeting she had called. Like last time, they were as far away from the entrances as possible, and members of the Fist were guarding the lowest floor. The lights were back on so Squid and his posse could see, but Lilly preferred to lurk in the shadows; although, lounging was probably better way to describe it.

“Am I stuttering?” Lilly posed the question to the half dozen Supers present with Squid. “I’m being absolutely serious,” she made sure her voice matched the tone of her question. “People keep asking me questions like that and I honestly want to know if there is something off with my delivery.”

The gang members just stared into the shadows around her with confused expressions. Lilly almost smacked her palm to her head in exasperation, but she restrained herself. She needed these second string villains for the next phase in her plan. She couldn’t ostracize them right off the bat. Plus, she’d already paid their retainer for the month.

“Let’s try this again,” Lilly cleared her throat, and then spoke loud and slow. “I want you to attack the Orlando power plant tomorrow at three in the afternoon.” She swept her gaze over the assembled gang. “Does anyone not understand what I’m telling you?”

“I understand what you’re sayin’,” Squid replied. “I just don’t know what your angle is.”

“Why would I tell you my angle?” Lilly couldn’t stop a brief laugh from escaping her throat. “I pay you all to not ask questions like that.”

“I hear ya. I just don’t trust ya,” Squid’s eyes settled on the darkest point of the shadow where Lilly was lounging.

“I’m not asking you to trust me; in fact, I’d be offended if you did,” no one saw the Cheshire grin on her face. “I’m just asking you to do your job.”

“When we made our deal you said you’d negotiate a cut of anything you were taking,” Squid changed tactics. “Now we’re negotiatin’.”

“True,” Lilly teleported to the other side of the circle of light. “But there’s nothing to negotiate.”

Her minor intimidation trick set a few of the lesser gang members on edge, but not Squid. “You renegin’ on our deal then,” Squid smiled, and started to change.

A ripple effect started at the gang leader’s feet and rolled over his body. As the ripple past over him he changed. As far as shifters go, it wasn’t a particularly quick shift. Fifteen seconds was more than enough time for a seasoned Hero or villain to get the drop on him, but Lilly let him change. She wanted to see what he was working with. Squid’s tan skin became the color of freshly paved asphalt. It was shiny and gooey at the same time as his new skin became accustomed to the environment.

As the ripple passed over his arms they grew and split. Each arm divided and lengthened into four tentacles, which began to sprout suckers like flowers blooming in spring. Soon the appendages were covered in the things. Lastly, the ripple reached Squid’s head. It bulged like an overfilled water balloon, growing larger and larger. His normally simple brown eyes became two large black orbs as large as Lilly’s head. Squid was a medium-sized guy at an even six feet, but now he stood nearly double that, with a mass of writhing, angry tentacles.

<He looks like he can take a hit,> Lilly desperately wanted to try a few things on the shifter, but decided against it. She needed her task completed.

“Nice,” she replied instead, keeping her voice calm and nonchalant. “But you misunderstand me.”

“Explain,” Squid’s voice in his squid-form sounded like a drunken man talking underwater. It was difficult to understand.

“I agreed to negotiate a cut of whatever I take, but I’m not taking anything. I’m just going into a place to take a look around. I’m not stealing anything, so I can’t negotiate with you for a cut,” she explained. “But you don’t need to worry about that,” Lilly played her ace.

She teleported to a different part of the circle, causing the other members of the gang to spin in confusion. Squid moved before they did though, betraying his advantage. <He has enhanced senses now, or maybe some type of sonar or enhanced sensory organ,> she watched the tentacles whip round like agitated vipers. Or more accurately, multiple snake tongues. <Interesting,> she set aside the thought for future evaluation.

“Just think of the possibilities,” she made a grand gesture with her arms that no one was able to see. “You’re going to take down the power grid. Think of how many alarm system, safes, and regular security systems are tied to that. I’m sure some of them have backup power sources,” she added to make sure Squid’s head didn’t get too many ideas. “But think of the score. Spend the next day doing a little digging and positioning your men. When you cut the power at exactly three then your guys can take a whole bunch of shit.

The adrenaline was pumping in Lilly’s veins as she explained the grand heist. The villain in her wanted to hop on the bandwagon, but she had much more important things to be doing. Still, the thrill of stealing something that didn’t belong to you was better than sex; not sex with Seth, but boring old missionary for sure.

“You pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down, Squiddy?” Lilly crossed her arms and waited for the slower gang leader to get the big picture. When he finally did his tentacles went crazy.

He didn’t say anything; he just shifted back to his human form. But his mediocre face was grinning like a five year old’s on Christmas morning.

“Three o’clock tomorrow,” he repeated the time.

“Three o’clock on the dot,” Lilly confirmed, her voice firm. He needed to get the time right or it would screw everything up. “Or I’ll come back here and make myself some calamari.”

Squid bristled at the threat, but it couldn’t overcome the dollar signs flashing in his eyes. “Fine,” he answered tersely. “We’ll blow up your power plant.”

“Excellent,” Lilly went from firm to cheery in a heartbeat. “Pleasure doing business with the Fist. I’ll see you around.” She didn’t wait for a response before popping out of the parking garage and back to her home, after making a few pit-stops of course.

“Daughter,” Altair called a few seconds after she arrived in her room.

<It’s like he can sense when I’m here,> it was mildly annoying to have your father know when you came and went from your underground mansion.

“I’m here. Just stopping to grab a few things before I go,” she replied quickly as she gathered some clothes and a few more lethal objects.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?” Lilly didn’t miss the loneliness in her father’s tone.

It wasn’t real emotion. The infamous supervillain, Hellgate, didn’t feel emotion like normal people. The one thing he did care about was his daughter, but he also liked to test her. This felt like a test.

Lilly was already teleporting when he came around the corner with a gun. He didn’t even get a shot off. She appeared behind him, her combat knife out, and pointed into the small of his back. One quick thrust and he wouldn’t be walking ever again without a healer’s help.

“Excellent,” he laughed, stepping away from the knife. “It’s good to see that the soft school life hasn’t dulled your senses.”

Lilly rolled her eyes as she slipped the big knife back into the sheath on her thigh. “I appreciate you looking out for me, daddy; but I’m fine.”

She knew the real reason he was doing the sudden ambushes. He was concerned. He was concerned about his daughter and her boyfriend; what they were, what they might become, and what it could do to everything. If Lilly was being honest with herself, then she was a little concerned too; but that just made it more exciting.

“Everything going as planned for tomorrow?” Altair turned the subject to business.

“The goon squad is going to take down the grid at exactly three. I’ve still got to pick up the stuff from Nano, but I’m off to do that as soon as I pack.”

“Very good,” Hellgate nodded. “My asset has already disrupted the secondary power relay, so there will be no cameras to record.”

“And the personnel there are supposed to be out of the room for a few minutes; which buys me a small window to get this done,” Lilly made a hurry up motion with her hand. “We’ve gone over all of this already. It will go as planned, and if it doesn’t, then I’ll improvise.”

Altair just smiled, Lilly would leave him to imagine what improvisation she’d cook up to get out of the mess she’d be in. “Anywho, I’ve got to get going. Love you, daddy.”

“I love you too, daughter,” he left, and two blasts of darkness quickly followed.

The first took all the stuff she’d gathered back to her room with Seth. It would appear under the bed. No one was home currently so there was no danger of anyone spotting anything. The second blast took Lilly to the Windy City.

She was a little surprised to be greeted by an empty office. Mika was always present whenever she came knocking, and he knew she needed what he had.

“Hey, Wriath,” Lilly jumped in the air with undignified surprise. She’d swept the room and found nothing. “Pretty cool, huh.”

Sitting behind the desk cluttered with half assembled technology was Mika in his Nano outfit, but it wasn’t him. She had to get closer to realize it was a hologram.

“Don’t worry about any security concerns that are running through your head,” that was exactly what she’d been thinking of, and him saying not to worry about it wasn’t helping. “This hologram was only programmed to activate once it registered your teleportation darkness and read your biometrics.” The message continued. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there but I’ve got a business deal that conflicted with this. What you are looking for is on the table,” a second beam of light shot out of the hologram and illuminated a small device on the table. “Let me know how it performs, and I’ll tell you about my deal. See ya.”

The hologram went dark, but the secondary light remained until Lilly grabbed the device off the table. <I’ll have to have a talk with him,> she kept her annoyance to a minimum. Managing Mika was becoming more of a balancing act. He was starting to get out there on his own, and she couldn’t get in the way of that without driving him away. But she still needed to manage him. He knew too much about her. He could be a threat. <And what if I had questions,> Lilly mentally grumbled as she stored the small device in a pouch on her waist. Mika was a problem for a different time.

Lilly teleported to a location near the townhouse she shared with Seth, and walked the rest of the way. She quickly slipped out of her persona as Wraith, and became Liz. It didn’t take much. All she had to do was lose the weapons and armor for school books and some meager wardrobe choices. But the persona change also meant she had to do her finals; which were severely cramping her style.

The rest of the afternoon was plain in comparison to her morning. She finished a paper, went and took a final, and then returned to her man. Seth wasn’t telling her much, but she knew he had a big test coming up tomorrow; and that factored into her plan. She made sure that he had the proper stress relief that night. It was a benefit for her as well. They both needed to be at the top of their game tomorrow, but for very different reasons.

 

***

 

Lilly sat tucked into a shadow in the depths of an alley, away from the sunlight and any prying eyes. This was the same alley that she had teleported into for her first date with Seth. The coffee shop was definitely something neither of them were going to forget, but probably for different reasons.

Lilly would have been much more comfortable teleporting from the privacy of her room back at the townhouse, but that wasn’t acceptable. Although her home away from home wasn’t the underground mansion she’d grown up in, she instituted a lot of the same security procedures. She was only going to teleport directly there in an emergency.

<I wonder what Seth is doing?> her beau and the rest of the house had left hours ago for what they said was a variety of different finals.

Lilly knew better. Whatever they were doing was their HCP final, and she couldn’t help but be curious. As a studious villain the HCP fascinated her. She dreamed of what they did down there, the secrets of their training, and the goodies she could steal if she ever got down there. It was a question of when not if she would ever find herself inside an HCP. There was a high likelihood she would need to do it to complete her mission.

<That’s something to worry about later,> Lilly pushed the thoughts aside. She glanced down at her watch. <2:58, two minutes.>

                Lilly took a deep breath and stood up. She’d been crouching in the shadows long enough that her muscles had tightened up. She shook them out, and rotated her neck to get the kinks out. Not all of those were from crouching in an alleyway. She spent the next two minutes imagining all the ways she was going to hurt Squid if his gang didn’t pull off this stunt on time.

At three o’clock and one second she heard a boom in the distance. The lights flickered and died in the building across from the alleyway. Lilly smiled and vanished in a darkness that was spreading across the city. When she arrived there was silence and darkness, exactly as she wanted.

Normally, the headquarters of the Orlando Protectorate would have had a backup generator kick in the moment the power went down. Her father’s unnamed sources had made sure that never happened. Which also meant the police station below the headquarters was also without power. If she strained her hearing she could just make out the frantic police officers yelling and scurrying around trying to find out what the hell was going on. All the phones were dead so no 911 calls were coming in. Nothing was more nerve-racking than knowing something was going on and not have information to do anything about it.

Lilly wanted the chaos and mayhem because when they took over things got lost in the shuffle. No one was going to notice what little old her was doing here. In fact, no one was going to know she was here at all.

It was easy enough to get into the Protectorate’s HQ. While it might be cost effective for the DVA to put the local Hero team above the police station it was a security nightmare. The layers of security put in place at most other hero team establishments, especially the precautions to keep out teleporters, was sorely lacking.

A few days after the attempted robbery in the Halloween store parking lot, Lilly had paid a visit to the station as Liz Aretino. She filed a short report with the desk sergeant and the asked to go to the bathroom. Instead of going to the one on the first floor she walked up to the top, and walked past the door to the Hero’s section of the building. A DVA employee had been walking out, so she’d gotten a good view of the middle of the open space. She went to the bathroom, returned to the desk sergeant, and left without anyone being the wiser.

<How could they be so sloppy?> Lilly shrugged, toggled the options in her mask. On top of looking kick-ass her mask’s lenses had multiple viewing options; one of which was night vision.

The dark, windowless room came back into focus as a greenish wonderland when she selected the correct setting. As Lilly had hoped, she was alone. A little help from Mika had decided when she needed to infiltrate the HQ, which was why she’d been so explicit with Squid about doing it exactly at three.

Lilly didn’t want her technopathic sidekick trying to hack into DVA systems, but a stroke of genius did them one better. The vending machines located in the HQ’s lounge were connected wirelessly to the candy company’s headquarters so they could accumulate real time data about what their customers liked. The connection was allowed by the DVA because all it did was transmit data codes for the product selected. You couldn’t infiltrate the HQ with that, or so they thought.

Research since October told Lilly and Mika that at exactly three o’clock everyday someone selected a certain candy bar from the vending machine. A little more digging showed the Hero that was endorsed by that candy company, and who stated in every interview that he had one of the candy bars every day. It could have been a lie, but after seeing all the data Lilly was ready to take that risk.

That set the time for the infiltration because when the power went down the HQ’s safeguards went into effect. All the doors sealed themselves and wouldn’t reopen until the power was back on and the proper codes were entered. So thankfully, everything had gone according to plan and the Hero on duty had been locked in the breakroom.

But that was only one obstacle Lilly had to overcome. She also had to think about possible DVA agents that would be present. Although they wouldn’t be as much of an issue, the whole goal of this was to get in and out without anyone being suspicious. She wouldn’t be able to gather the intelligence she needed if they knew she’d been here snooping around.

Mika had helped her figure out that problem too, and all he had to do was write a short algorithm to search posts on social media. Lilly had found that people had a tendency to overshare on the internet, so it was no surprise when multiple members of the DVA’s Protectorate staff complained about an offsite training seminar they had to go to today. While it didn’t guarantee everyone was going to be gone, it offered the best opportunity for her to do what she needed to.

If a few humans were still lingering about she’d be able to cause some minor distractions to get them away. People had accidents in the dark all the time, and their own egos wouldn’t betray them if they thought they accidently tripped over something or walked into a filing cabinet. Worst case scenario there were a lot of people present and Lilly stuck the device in the first thing she saw before teleporting back out.

None of those scenarios were an issue now.

“Come on you’ve got to be kidding me,” the disgruntled Hero caught behind the reinforced door grumbled.

Lilly stopped a giggle in her throat and quietly made her way through the headquarters. The main space had an open floor plan full of desks and computers for the regular employees. Lilly went straight for the offices, hoping that they weren’t on the same circuitry as the other doors.

<Damn,> Lilly cursed when they were just as sealed as the breakroom door.

It would have been better if she could get the device into a supervisor, or Hero’s, computer; but she’d take what she could get. She’d been able to learn a little about the employees through their Facebook rants, so she went looking for the man who would be the most likely to have what she wanted.

<Here we go,> she found the disorderly desk, removed the device from her pocket, and stuck it into the USB slot.

She draped her cloak over the soft light the device emitted and waited. It was a pretty simple self-powered device that Mika had created. While Lilly sat there patiently, it was copying the hard drive on the computer. Normally this would be setting off all kinds of alarm bells in the system, but Mika was avoiding those all together with the device’s primary purpose. He used some tech terms she didn’t understand, but it boiled down to the device making the computer think it was still off while it copied the files. If the computer didn’t think it was on then none of the built in protections would activate. It was genius in its simplicity.

Lilly started to get antsy as the time it took to copy the files dragged on and on. Soon the technicians would be able to get the auxiliary power back up. She wouldn’t be able to stay then. Once the power returned so did the cameras and the Hero in the breakroom. She could avoid being seen by neither of them.

Her foot began involuntarily tapping, and she quickly reigned herself in. She didn’t know a lot beyond the basics of the Hero in the breakroom, and they always made sure that their full powers weren’t publically known. They might have some sort of super-sense.

It took a total of eight, long minutes for the glow of the self-powered device to dim. With a thankful breath, Lilly pulled out the device and carefully stowed it back on one of her pouches. She took one last look around the room and refrained from doing anything else. It would have been priceless to rearrange all of the computers, or drop an upper-decker in the bathroom. Any little prank against the Heroes was usually worth it, but not today.

With a silent sigh Lilly teleported away from the HQ. She made a few stops in some exotic places before reappearing in Mika’s Chicago office. This time the teenage supervillain was present.

“Hey, Wraith,” his face brightened at the sight of her.

“I need you to take a look at this, and copy me on everything,” Lilly placed the device on the corner of his desk.

Her cold attitude took the technopath offguard. The smile slid from his face and he just looked confused. “Um…ok,” he gulped, not sure what he’d done wrong.

Lilly let him stew for a minute before giving a well-rehersed, dramatic sigh. “I’m sorry, Nano,” the use of the boy’s codename always perked him up. “I guess I’m just kind of upset.”

“What happened?” he jumped on the opportunity to help.

“You weren’t here when I came by yesterday,” she convincingly moped. “I had some questions about the device, and I wanted to see how you were doing?” She would have batted her eyelashes if they weren’t hidden by her mask.

“Oh…” Lilly saw Mika reflecting on what she was talking about. “I’m sorry, Wriath. I didn’t mean it.” He looked upset at himself; exactly what Lilly wanted. “We can catch up now.”

“I don’t have time now,” she continued to pout, sighing again. “That’s why I wanted to talk yesterday.”

“Oh…” Mika repeated the single syllable. “Um…what can I do?”

Lilly smiled behind her mask. The key was to make the mark feel mad at themselves, not you. A skilled manipulator maneuvered her target into develop neurological pathways that reinforced this behavior. Lilly had been working on Mika for a long time, and this was the result of her work. The technopath automatically wanted to figure out what he could do to make her happy. In turn, she could pocket the favor and ask for him to do something for her in the future.

“There’s nothing right now,” Lilly kept her voice appropriately sorrowful. “Maybe later?”

“Sure, no problem,” Mika brightened at the opportunity to make things right.

“Cool,” Lilly made sure to not thank him. He needed to know he’d messed up but could eventually make it up to her. “I’ll see you later Nano.”

With another blast of darkness, and a few more stops around the world, Lilly reappeared in a shed not too far from the townhouse. She could hear sirens in the distance. The police were finally getting their act together and responding to the mayhem the Fist was causing all over town. Everyone would be too busy looking at them that they won’t notice what happened right under their noses.

Lilly smiled as she stripped out of her costume and teleported it to an underground vault she used to place stuff she didn’t want at home or the townhouse. The typical end of an adrenaline rush never happened. She’d been calm and collected through the whole operation. Only now were the endorphins starting to hit her.

<Seth better get out of class soon,> she giggled at what she was going to do to him.

All Lilly wanted to do was fight or fuck, and if she got Seth in the right mood she might be able to do both. Rough foreplay was something he knew that she liked. The device and its contents slid to the back of her mind as she walked back to the townhouse. Analyzing the Heroes’ defensive plans for Orlando, and if she was lucky the HCP, was something that could wait until the winter break.

 

***

The blackout could not have come at a worse time. Mason was mid-dodge when the entire arena flicked and died. The only source of light came from the golden energy barriers on the other side of the small city, and they didn’t provide any more light than a weak moon on a cloudy night.

<What the…> Kyoshi’s voice echoed in his head.

A surge of fear went through Mason that far outweighed the painful throbbing of his twisted ankle. Losing your senses in a fight was bad enough when you could take a hit, but when you were frail and vulnerable it could be deadly. If Kyoshi took a hit from either of their opponents then she was done for.

Roughly five minutes before the lights went out Mason and Kyoshi ran into number five ranked Teresa Shaw and number nine ranked Kimberly Goodman. The multispecies shifter and blaster weren’t interested in hearing Kyoshi out like Anika and Becca had. They’d simply attacked. Kimberly’s initial blast had separated them, and Teresa moved in for the easy kill. Mason had been trying to get back to his girlfriend, but Kimberly’s persistent bombardment kept pushing him back.

Mason tried to power through several blasts, but they’d picked him off his feet and thrown him through several buildings. His uniform was full of scorched holes, tears, and he was starting to feel the ache from taking dozens of powerful shots.

<Get out of there, this is your chance!> Mason stumbled and fell as he tripped over a chunk of rubble. He felt an explosive blast pass over his head and explode against a nearby building, showering him with brick and mortar.

<Not that simple,> Kyoshi’s terse reply relayed her mental exhaustion. The only thing that was keeping her in the fight was her mastery of martial arts.

There was a flicker and the lights came back on, bathing their fight in light. The power wasn’t out for more than a couple of seconds, but the sudden light to dark and back to light played hell with everyone’s senses; everyone except Teresa. Her body shifted to adapt to the changes, and she was able to take full advantage of their momentary confusion.

Mason had to watch helplessly as a grizzly bear paw the size of a frying pan raked across Kyoshi’s chest. The wound cut deep, spraying blood on Teresa, and the force of the hit threw Kyoshi back into a wall. She slowly slumped down to the ground, her hand vainly trying to staunch the flow of blood. Her mental and physical scream rang in Mason’s ears, propelling him into motion.

Teresa was about a hundred yards from Mason and turning to face him. He was still on the ground from his fall, so he pulled himself up into a track starter position and kicked; ignoring the flare of pain in his injured ankle. The ground exploded underneath the force of Mason’s jump, and it launched him halfway to his target. But it wasn’t that simple. He’d been trying a variety of tactics for the last five minutes, and like each of his earlier attempts Kimberly was ready for him.

Golden orbs rained down on him like miniature suns. Many missed, carving deep holes into the road, but a few smacked into Mason. He was blasted from his trajectory and smacked into the ground hard enough to knock Teresa off her feet. Unlike previous attempts, Mason had greater motivation to get to his girlfriend. Seeing her bleeding out sent a dagger into his soul.

Mason rolled, kicked again, and brought down a building’s exterior wall; but it got him moving again. He hurdled exploding orbs, slid under a few more, but didn’t make it all the way there unscathed. He was ten yards from Teresa, who was still getting back to her feet, when and orb hit him in the shoulder. Mason turned at the last moment so it was a glancing blow, and let the impact’s moment turn him like a top. He wasn’t quite sure how many times he spun, but his equilibrium was off and he was seeing double.

That didn’t matter. Mason steadied his feet, spread his arms, and made one last jump toward the center of the two Teresa’s he was seeing. She tried to run, but didn’t make it.

Teresa’s current shifted form had the body of a grizzly, the head of a cobra, and the tail of a scorpion. It was one of her deadlier combinations; strong, fast, and poisonous. It was capable of defeating Supers like Kyoshi, but not Mason.

Mason caught Teresa in the chest with his outstretched arm. Despite the grizzly’s muscled chest and strong bones, things cracked and broke on contact. Her cobra head hissed in pain, spitting venom as it flailed. Not wanting to give up the advantage, Mason gripped her side with his hand and squeezed. The hiss turned into a gurgle and more things within the shifter broke.

Teresa didn’t give up, no one who got into the top five of the class would give up just because they were hurt. Her scorpion tail reared back and struck again and again against Mason’s back. He felt the focused blows, but the stinger was blunted by his durable skin. Poison leaked down his back, but never made it into his bloodstream.

Mason and Teresa crashed to the ground in a heap, and rolled for several yards before stopping not too far from Kyoshi. Teresa hissed up at him, trying in vain to get her arms moving again. Mason gently punched her right in her cobra faced snout. Her head ricocheted off the ground and her forked tongue limply hung from the side of her mouth. A few seconds later her body began to warp and shrink until the beast beneath him was gone, and replaced by the brown-haired pretty teenager.

<Thanks for the save,> Kyoshi’s mental voice felt weak.

One look at his girlfriend told Mason things weren’t good. Kyoshi’s skin was a pale white and her uniform was more red than black. A small pool had formed around her.

“Crap,” Mason struggled off of Teresa, making sure to not injure her human form. He remembered to snatch her ball out of the air as he hurried over to Kyoshi.

Mason expected things to look worse up close. What he didn’t expect was one of Kimberly’s orbs to slam down on top of his head and stay there. “What the…” he exclaimed, but stopped suddenly.

He’d exhaled with the statement, but when he tried to inhale he got nothing. Mason’s hands instinctually went to his face to try and claw the sphere off his head. His hands passed through the sphere, but it remained intact.

<No…no…no,> he panicked. He couldn’t save Kyoshi if he couldn’t breathe.

Mason could survive longer than a normal human without air; but the recent fight, him panicking, and already having exhausted his air supply made him just as vulnerable.

<Mason,> Kyoshi sounded tired and on the edge of collapse.

Despite his incredible strength there was nothing Mason could do. Soon his body started to scream in pain as it fought for oxygen it didn’t have. He felt himself start to shut down as his brain prioritized what was necessary. He got really light-headed in the final moments, and was unable to concentrate. He collapsed at Kyoshi’s side, unable to raise his arms in further protest.

<Mason!> a bolt of electricity went through his mind, but it didn’t help. He was just so tired, he just wanted to sleep.

The second Mason lost consciousness Kimberly dissolved the bubble of airlessness around his head. She’d been working on that type of sphere for months in anticipation of challenging the number six ranked strongman. She surveyed the battlefield below her and quickly spotted the balls.

<I don’t know if I’ll get anything from Teresa’s ball, but Mason and Kyoshi’s should get me some decent points.> she smiled as she hopped from the roof onto the fire escape, and quickly descended.

She was almost to the ground when Kyoshi attacked. It was all the energy the advanced mind had left. She fashioned it into a telepathic railroad spike and smashed it into Kimberly Goodman’s mind. The blaster didn’t even scream as the attack smashed through her defenseless mind. She just toppled backward off the ladder and smashed into the ground ten feet below her.

Kyoshi was unconscious by the time Kimberly hit the ground.

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