Support Team, page 13
part #6 of Damsel Series
He’d been challenged, with the implication being that he wasn’t good enough. Then, for some reason, he’d just told her that, actually, he was easily in her league. A thing she might not see, but that he was confident about. Meaning that he might know something she didn’t.
Verthala snorted. Then, looked at him and spoke, her voice... Playful.
“A bit short notice, but... Sure? You live in New York City?”
The boy shook his head, but not in a gloomy fashion. Honestly, he seemed bemused, as if he couldn’t care about the situation at all. It came across as lightly arrogant. Which was perfect.
“I can get there. Teleportation. I have friends who can do that.”
Interestingly, Molly nodded.
“True, you do. I can move you around? I’ll need to know where. Um, Al?”
That had things arranged quickly enough. Hannah was pleased. Not just in that Kevin might have a date, if he could stick the landing, but that it was with Verthala. She wasn’t the best person to be in a relationship with, maybe, being far too entitled and high maintenance, but if they slept together and she dropped out of the morning exercise to dodge him after that, it wasn’t going to hurt the program at all.
She moved away, as Tyler moved to get the needed information. Hannah figured she was up to get him into place for the actual computer builds, since a few of them didn't live close enough for public transportation. Really, if they had a team like it seemed was shaping up, they needed to get a dedicated bus and a driver.
Someone willing to work with Molly, really. Her portals could take a large vehicle like that, after all. It was a thing to work on, but later, she decided. In the moment, she was up again. That meant taking everyone home, as soon as they were ready, then rushing, to get into the first game.
That didn’t take place until about nine-thirty, then, as soon as she got logged in to her favorite game, not being banned any longer, the first thing Hannah heard was Kevin, who was looking at the group, seeming like a soldier in full kit. His voice was familiar at least.
“So, can I borrow some money?”
Hannah was about to say he could, when Carl spoke. He hadn’t been at the work out, but had already been waiting for all of them when they got into the game.
“You need cash? What for?” The tone was a bit dry, but not rough, or even mean. Carl could manage that, on occasion. He was a little better with people he liked. That Kevin was one of those people was probably a new thing, but not a horrible one.
The countdown started then, giving her a bit of time to scramble and purchase a weapon. Some body armor as well. As everyone did that, Kevin spoke.
“A date? Tonight. I probably bit off too much for me to chew, but...”
Again, Hannah was going to speak, to tell her teammate that she had his back, but instead, Carl spoke again, just before the match started.
Meathead and Marxist both kept silent. Then, they knew what was going on, having been there for the exercise that morning.
“Got it. I can float you a bit, then. Call it... A thousand?”
Kevin sputtered, but managed to say yes, as they were all suddenly taken from the lobby area, into the game itself. One in which they had to actually struggle a bit. They had Douchtastic, who was one of the very top players, and the rest of them were good enough, but the other team rode them hard, the whole time, anyway. It wasn’t until the end, after they won, that she got what had taken place.
They just beaten one of the professional teams. Barely, but it had happened.
A clue that came from the other team, when one of them spoke up, sounding almost happy.
“That was intense! Great game. We’re Team Sub Alpha... Who are you?”
Hannah spoke first, since, clearly, she was the loud one in her current fried group.
“The Trainees. We’re new.” That was the truth, after all, even if it wasn’t everyone. They all had orders to go and play something for practice, but this, Liam, Kevin, Don, her and Carl, were the main shooting team. Which didn’t mean that they shouldn’t break up and get with the others as well, if they could find anyone.
The other guy spoke again.
“Hey, you want to run a private match? We have a full team here and need the practice, to be honest. That thing a few weeks ago, where those fuckheads got everyone banned, it messed with our training schedule.”
She heard that one.
“Oh, hey, any clue who that was? I will pay real money to anyone who gives me an IRL name for one of them.” She was a bit prickly on the subject, even if she doubted there was much they could do about it. Short of illegal things, that was.
Then she recalled that she had powers now. A thing that would make annoying those pricks back a whole lot more interesting. It could at least.
They were setting up an invitation only match, but the same voice spoke to her again.
“Not a clue. I’ll tell you if I find anything. That kind of thing... Look, I like a good joke as much as anyone, but we have people trying to make a living here. That troll action actually messed with about two hundred peoples’ jobs, in the real world.”
They had to stop talking, but she added the entire team to her friends list. After all, one of the ways to not accidently play with creeps was to know who you were going up against. A thing that she really hadn’t been good about, so far.
The other team won the next match, but The Trainees took the third, since they had Carl. It was kind of clear that they needed to get better, given their team had nearly lost each time, and even when they’d come out ahead. After all, they had two people who had powers that could impact the game, and they were using them. Carl couldn’t help it and she was using precognition constantly. The other team, as far as she knew, was legit, having only normal people. Even at that, it was a real battle the whole time, trying to keep up with them.
At the end they were invited to go again, any time. Except that practice was over for her team. They had real work to get to, that day. She explained that part, with everyone able to hear her.
“We need to get to building some bomb cages, after knife practice. So, we need to hurry out. Over to the Wilderness Hannah Knife Fight Trainer?”
No one said anything, but when she got there, three of the guys from the other team were there as well, so she included them in the match selection. While good enough for the game, none of them were actually able to keep up with her guys. Even Liam managed to win each of his fights that way. The other guys didn’t bother acting butt hurt over that, either, one of them, a different one called Sub-set, just whistling.
His voice was deep. Fake sounding, but adult.
“You’re good. Also called Wilderness Hannah in this game, too. How did you get that one? You’d think the devs would have blocked it off...”
“I got in first, of course. Now, I need to... Get to the job site. I can pick you all up? Um, not you Sub- Alpha guys. I don’t know where you are, so that won’t work. Not yet. We need to get the others up to speed, so we can all meet up for this at the same time. Are you coming, Douchetastic?” He wasn’t needed, strictly speaking, but grunted.
“I’m at home. Get me from there? I need to change, so... Call it ten minutes?”
Everyone else said the same, except the other people who each said bye. She called out.
“Same time tomorrow?”
No one said anything, but she didn't know if they heard her or not.
None of the new people had won, but they hadn’t been bad, either.
Still, she had to hurry, since she needed a shower, and ten minutes wasn’t really going to be enough time. Her hair wasn’t that long, so she washed it, but that meant arriving, with everyone, at about eleven, in The Society building lobby. Where, handily, all of the gear and materials they needed were resting. Also, she noticed, ten Society team members as well, standing by, dressed in old clothing, ready to work.
Meaning, even being a bit unfamiliar, they managed to put together a wooden frame, mix and pour concrete, with layers of rebar in it, and have a fully constructed door made of thick metal built off to the side, waiting for the box to harden, which would take a few days, inside an hour of initial work time. The cage that took the longest was the one on the roof, which The Society team members had to do on their own. They didn't mess it up, but they weren’t as coordinated as a team for that kind of project as The Trainees were.
Wisely they grabbed Kevin, to build their door for them. Pyric had been willing to try, but the kid was called Weld, and in that realm was just better than anyone else there.
The bomb cages that weren’t portable, basically being heavy concrete, with air holes, and long, baffled seams to let the pressure out in a controlled fashion, along with heavy metal doors. Still, they moved fast and everyone there had a power of some sort. That saved them a lot of time. Money, too, of course.
Unlike in VR, this time they had everyone there for the event. Not all of the people in The Society, but as they were finishing, up on the roof, Liberty, in her full purple and black outfit, along with cute little cape, came out to meet with them.
“Great work, everyone! We just need to finish these and decorate them?”
Hannah nodded.
“It will take a half day for each of those things. Finishing the assembly, then decorating. We need to let these cure for now. In, call it the day after tomorrow, for the next part of this. That’s just finishing, putting the doors on and any remaining cleaning. Then we do the pretty portion as soon as we have some good plans. Call it a week, for all of it?”
That got a firm nod, from Liberty.
“Excellent. Now, I have missions, for some of you? You got most of this last night, but new things have come up. Null, you’re being requested to do a criminal pickup. For a local police force, in New Mexico. Serving a warrant, but the man in question has some low-level powers. Diaspora will be lead on that. In about an hour?”
Don just nodded.
“Do we have transport for that?”
June nodded, and smiled under her little black mask.
“Possibly. Leading to the next mission, Hannah? We need to transport two people to a specific location?”
She just smiled. It was good to be useful, even if she was basically an Uber.
“On it!”
Then she looked around and settled on Kara.
“Cake Girl? You’re needed in California. There was a flash flood, of all things, caused by the explosions along the coast last night. It hit several major areas though and people will need food, asap. FEMA is bringing in MREs as well, but we can do better than just that. I’ll be going with you, which means we need to either go get on the plane now, or get some...” She looked over at Hannah again. Shyly, as if that wasn’t her job of the moment.
This time she chuckled.
“I get it, I get it... So, I’m on for all the transportation for the first part? Portal is working a project tonight, but we can dump some of this on her, before then. Weld... Has a date. It’s also his eighteenth birthday today, so, you know, we’re having a party for him tomorrow soon. We should have done that already, but things came up. Like me not knowing it was your birthday? We need to put someone in charge of keeping track of that for us.” She looked around, and then pointed. “Gregory! You can do that?”
The trick there was that she wasn’t certain he could. It was a long-term project and the kid was so fast that having him do it would be like asking a regular person to watch glue dry, every day. Instead of acting like it was too much, or a big deal, he just snorted.
“I can go and help pass out food, too? It’s summer vacation and I’m not exactly busy right now, you know? Making this stuff was kind of the highlight of my week, so far.”
Liberty paused, then nodded.
“Good call, Fast Kid. David, you know your way around that kind of thing, right? Passing out food and arranging things for that?”
The kid, who was thinner than he had been even a week before, by at least twenty pounds, nodded.
“I can do that. I should probably call my mom first, so she doesn’t think I escaped or something.” That was spoken as if it were a shameful thing.
Only, most of the other young people there seemed to think it was a good idea. Even Cynthia nodded at it.
“Um, I could, if Alistair can find the location for us? I could set up a merge and we can get there that way? It isn’t elegant, but if we have to take gear across or anything? Extra food, for FEMA?”
Liberty spun and smiled.
“You can leave things on the other side now?”
“Pretty much anything. I can even travel that way myself, except that it takes a trick to make work. It’s easier with other people.” She looked at Alistair, who waved at Hannah.
“Hannah can find the location. Faster than I could, without knowing the desired location. We can also get maps? I can find a person on the ground then, and take the location information from that connection and pass it to you?”
That, it seemed was a good enough plan. Hannah looked around, in case anyone seemed to be feeling left out. Liam was holding back, she noticed. Not having anything to do. Which was probably silly.
He was a healer. They probably needed to have him working on that each day. Not just for practice, either. It was needed somewhere, they just weren’t used to recalling that they had people who could do that now.
She just didn't know how to bring it up, without making it seem like she was trying to make the guy feel good about himself. Thankfully, Liberty had more on her list.
“We also have a large fire, in Detroit. No one is in the building and fire crews are on the scene, but it’s big enough that we’re planning to send Pyric in, to control the flames, before the tower comes down, if possible.”
That sounded to Hannah like the kind of thing to mention first, but she just nodded.
“Pyric, stand by. We need to find the location. Liam, you stand by as well. You’re on support, in case anyone needs healing. Al, can you run backup on everything for us, from here?”
The guy nodded, a bit somberly.
“I can. You’ll run the location needed for the food, first?”
She nodded, with Liberty tapping on her electronic pad and then passing it over to her, showing a marked circle, on a map. Given that, it took her a minute to find the actual location, using her mind, and Alistair all of five seconds to take that from her and pass it to Cynthia, who was asked to hold off, by Liberty, since they needed to get with FEMA, as well. Having a way to get their stuff transported as well.
Then she had to stand by, herself, since the serving of a warrant in New Mexico meant almost nothing to her. That one was easier though, since all she had to do for that was find Diaspora. Vidya hadn’t come to help them build the bomb cages, but when Hannah tried to find her, reading her thoughts, she was covering the needed information in her office. They had a few hours for that. The fire in Detroit was easier again, since there was only the one high rise building burning in that city, at the moment.
“I’m set up for Detroit. Liam, I can call your mom for you?”
The boy grinned.
“Thanks. Just make sure to remind her that I’m standing back, doing support stuff and that there are no super villains there?”
She nodded, getting the idea. His step dad was a dick on a level that was messing with Liam’s head and might for a long time. His mother would, of course, report to the man directly, and if Liam was doing anything fun or cool, he’d probably pull him from the whole program, for safety reasons. Which wouldn’t be real, but would sound good if anyone asked.
A lot better than just trying to strip anything good from a boy’s life, which was the real answer.
Liam, dressed in jeans, a green t-shirt and running shoes, had to go in first. Then, even if it hurt, she brought in Pyric, who was, of course, on fire. He could control fire too, not just burn things, which made sense, when she thought about it. He could fly, after all. That wasn’t happening just because he shot flame out his behind like a rocket. Which he didn’t do at all. He just glowed in a see-through cloud and managed to float and fly that way, somehow.
~Hannah? Bring in Airborne, as well?~ The thoughts sounded like Aliza, not Al.
She thought back, finding the woman directly, and just thinking, knowing she was being read already.
~Got it. Who is that?~
She nearly felt bad, not knowing, but the name wasn’t familiar. A picture, a vision really, flashed into her mind, showing a lady in a rather cute, somewhat revealing, silver and blue costume. In the conference room, not up on the roof, where everyone else had been staged, given the work of the day.
Instead of ripping her across the world, Hannah did it very slowly, taking almost two minutes for the movement. With an almost gentle breeze at the end, the woman was suddenly there. Tripping backward.
“Fuck!”
Liam, not even knowing she was coming, managed to grab her, before she went over backward. It was enough, even if the woman was bigger than the kid was. Not by a lot. He was thirteen and she was average that way, as far as how tall she was. Thin, though. About like Hannah, which probably meant she had a wicked fast metabolism or an eating disorder.
That thought reminded her to eat something, when she had a chance.
“Sorry. I should have come to get you myself, but I need the practice, moving people at a distance like this. I’m Hannah. You’re Airborne?” If not, she’d just kidnapped the wrong woman, instead of legally transporting the right one. The very idea caused her to tense, if not visibly.
The words got a grin. The woman was in a mask, but the little kind that barely covered the eyes, like June wore.
“That’s me. Now, I... See the issue here. We need to starve the fire, as soon as Pyric tames it. That way it won’t restart if he missed anything. I can do that from here, but I need to get him out of the area first. Do we have him wired?”
Hannah didn’t know, really.
She shook her head.
“I can reach him, telepathically? Let me set that up. I’m not fast that way or anything.”
