Support Team, page 22
part #6 of Damsel Series
He looked fresh faced and sympathetic enough, she had to allow. His face was a bit practiced seeming, at the moment, but she got the real idea. This kind of thing was so common for him that he considered what was going on a simple, basic, lesson for her. She had to not get involved. Probably meaning she needed to pull back from the girl herself, without even having her clit licked first. Then, her desire for hassle free sex wasn’t any better than what those others were doing, really.
There was a shrug from the kid.
“Logan seems okay, to be honest. A good enough guy that we should look out for him in this one, if we can. Depressed, in a long-term fashion and with almost nothing to live for, but not evil or bad. That takes work when the whole world looks down on you constantly. Kelsey is rationalizing things, but deep down she already knows that she’s in with Peter for the long haul and is trying to work out how to justify being a thief, in order to keep him. She moved from roommate to long-con grifter in less than half an hour, last night. Peter is... He thinks that he’s in charge there, but it isn’t the case. That’s Kelsey and always has been. This could work out, though. I mean, they might drop it all, inside a day. Greed hit them, all at once, but they aren’t Portia’s mom or anything like that. Um... There’s a connection there. I can’t say more about it. This isn’t... I just can’t. It still doesn’t mean that they’re really evil. Not yet.”
Which was good to know. Settling to the cushion below her, the table back in place a moment later, she nodded.
“This is the dark side of crushes, too. At least I wasn’t dreaming of a life with her or something? She’s adorable, though.”
That got a nod from the boy.
“Portia really does seem nice. Not...” He tightened his face and then shook his head. “I...” He looked away, seeming to be thinking of something, then spoke. “Okay, I normally wouldn’t do this kind of thing, but she’s messed up, inside. Kind and gentle, sure, but in a relationship, she’s a hot mess. Daddy issues, big time. If she hadn’t decided she was gay a few years ago, she’d probably have gone down a pretty bad road that way, already. The thing there is, she’s psychologically lesbian, not biologically. So, she went from not liking guys out of anger over her mother, to having two of them inside of her the last ten hours. She liked it, too. Enough that she’s kind of having a minor mental crisis, or will be, in the next few hours.”
Hannah could also see that one happening. Instead of judging the girl over it, the woman, since she was an adult, there was just a bit of meditative calm for a moment.
“So, how do I respond to this?”
That had a soft smile and a shrug directed her way, instantly.
“How would I know? You can’t go in and tell her all of this. Even if she believed you, doing that would screw with her more than what the rest of this is doing. Two of her best friends not only asked her into a relationship, but did it just in case she might actually have money coming. She told them all of it, and they went full on mercenary, inside minutes. That isn’t a good look. That kind of betrayal is pretty normal, but hard for people to take, when it happens.”
Hannah sighed.
“So, I walk on eggshells and try to make sure they don’t get it all, before she learns the rules on her own?”
Instead of seeming clueless, there was an expression that seemed like the guy was thinking. Which, she could feel, if not understand, was him taking bits of information from the minds of other people. Standing there, with his eyes open, doing a hundred times more than she could have managed in a trance state. Without even trying very hard, it seemed.
After a bit he smiled.
“Actually, why not invite them to the work out? They all had sleep and some jobs are being quit today, anyway. If we include them in a new friend’s group suddenly, we’ll be able to do a lot more than if we let them get Portia alone for weeks. Plus, all of this is going to get overwhelming for her, if she doesn’t have someone to help her navigate it. That’s going to be either you or Carl and while he’s willing to try, he’s still half convinced that she doesn’t want anything to do with him.”
It was a lot of drama going on, suddenly. Hannah stuck her tongue out, not in a bratty way, but just in frustration. It wasn’t a good look, but her seventeen-year-old pal didn’t call her on it. She tucked that away herself, after a moment and stood up.
“Got it. I have to actually be an adult and not get all moody that those poachers stole my would-be booty call?”
That, when she spoke the words out loud, didn’t make her sound very good, she realized. Not that sane, either. She slipped back into a trance, and simply tried to hold a teleportation again. The field strength needed for it, without the location put into the whole thing.
Then, she sighed, softly and added everyone who she thought should be at the work-out to her attempt and thought at them, all at once.
~Pickup in ten minutes. Starting in ten. Get ready, if you aren’t! Hannah incoming.~
She’d included Portia’s new significant others, even if they didn't know what was going on. She wasn’t Al, after all. She was more than willing to let them worry and think they were crazy for a minute.
She did everyone else first, which honestly took her closer to fifteen minutes, even moving fast on her part, since half of the team was being slow that day. Of interest, Carl wanted to be picked up as well, so she showed up at his place, near the end. She could feel him pulling at her.
He was dressed in a track suit, ready to run, when she got there. Staring down the barrel of a fifty cal. Desert Eagle. Only one of them, meaning he’d already worked out who had popped into place. Otherwise, there would be two and she’d be fifty-percent of the way to dead, or at least shot.
“Hannah? Is there an emergency?”
She nearly lied, but then reconsidered. After all, they were friends and on a list or not, Portia was a sweet and cute girl to her she’d met the day before, not someone she’d killed people with. One of those things had a lot more power in her mind, for some reason.
“Nothing major. Port’s roommates convinced her that they were all dating last night, complete with group sex, which is... well, normally I’d have gotten myself invited along, even if they aren’t that good looking. Two of them are kind of going for the greedy grab, though, so far. They might change that up, but we need to watch them. The other guy... He’s better that way. The good one so far is Logan, the hard-working fat one, so you know who not to glare at, when you meet them later.”
There was a sneer then, which softened.
“Okay. That happens. It was pretty much all she had as an example, growing up. I’m... What’s the plan here?”
Hannah shrugged.
“Right now? I kind of just spoke in their heads, yelling about getting ready for some exercise, so I’m pretty certain they’re freaking out a bit right now. I’m going to see if we can make plans for the day, right now. Can you spend the day with Port and me? She needs to learn how to access her trust fund and going over cash management is probably a good idea. Really, if she’s going to be in a group relationship, we might want to take her pals around with us as well. At the same time, I need to see an alien about some lessons.”
She nearly explained that one, but the tall man nodded.
“Kant? He’s been going the distance for us. How’s the mission to his system going?”
She shrugged.
“Perfectly, so far. No problems and the people there are, from what I heard, slowly accepting that the Earth Humans that we let visit aren’t going to hurt anyone. They can’t, since they were modified first, of course. I need to do that soon...” She frowned. It was just her thinking, though, not worrying about anything. “You know, I need something to promote the food banks again, soon. I wonder if I could get network or cable channel time for that? I’ll run it past some people, as an idea, if Neary and his pals are good with it?”
Even if that had to sound insane, Carl nodded, a bit slowly.
Then he spoke.
“I was thinking that I’d go to the training today?”
She grinned.
“I know, I caught that. Barely, but it’s why I’m here. Come on.”
She held out her left hand, which was taken, the teleportation ending in the dark, outside, at a high school track. There were nearly thirty people there already. Then, because her work wasn’t over, she sighed and vanished again, this time aiming for a particular hallway, in Wisconsin.
Then, gently, since it was early as fudge still, she tapped on the beaten-up charcoal gray door in front of her. Gently, so the neighbors wouldn’t be woken up. After about ten seconds, it opened, showing the beefy face of Logan, who was dressed in a sweatshirt hoodie and some loose gray sweatpants.
She grinned.
“Hey! Are you all ready, or is the only cool one Logan?” She spoke to the room, noticing that Portia was actually dressed up, in a t-shirt, which showed off the fact that she was in kind of amazing shape already, with abs showing under it, as well as some powder blue leggings and running shoes. The others were in shorts and looked uncomfortable about it, but they were also kind of panicked, seeing Hannah there.
Glasses, Kelsey, stared at her.
“You... I heard you in my head?” She actually was trembling about it.
Hannah grinned.
“It’s a new trick that I’m just learning. Useful for passing messages. I was doing everyone going to the work out today at once.” She glanced at Portia. “Also, Carl? He wanted to go, to see you again. I set up a time for us today, so that you can learn the needed banking stuff? I have to see an alien for part of that. Oh...” She stopped for a second and then nodded. “Logan, would you be willing to let him put some information in your head? He’s working up an advanced learning program for Earthlings. Just school stuff, so far. That and Ceanna. An alien language. His, in fact, so you can talk to him and his people, which is fun. It doesn’t hurt or anything, but there might be tests?”
The big guy, who wasn’t tiny, as far as being tall went, as well as width, seemed fine with that.
“Sure? I wasn’t certain if I was really being included in this. Um, why is that, exactly?”
She didn’t have a good reason for it, to be honest. Not that she could say out loud to that particular room. Instead of going silent, or pretending she secretly wanted the man, who was about her own age, to go down on her, Hannah winked at him.
“Mainly to prove that The Society isn’t bigoted. We have other people without powers, but they’re all women or kids, so far. Having you in will show that I’m not that much of a classist bitch? Possibly, at least. Plus, you’re part of the friends group now. So, we hang. True, I’m boring and not clubbing at all anymore, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get to be included.”
She acted as if that made any sense, which it didn’t, and held out her hand to the man. Then shifted him away, without warning, when he took it. The other two friends, Peter and Kelsey, were next, with Portia going last, making sure she had the key and that the door was locked.
Almost instantly, they broke into groups, and started running. Even Hannah was doing that, not using the fourth gait, since she wanted everyone on the same page that day. Part of her work meant struggling hard, trying to keep up with Portia and Carl, who were kind of fast. They had Linear and Nate with them, in a tight group, with Greg lapping everyone in the outside lane, hundreds of times. His personal goal was to hit a hundred and fifty miles in an hour without stopping. It was, she’d been told, impressive on that small of a track.
Don was behind their group, keeping up with Hannah pretty well and not giving up the whole time. The other groups were doing all right, with Kevin and Logan both being in with the heiress crew. That, interestingly, was still moving at a good clip, more or less, with Terry out in the front, not letting anyone drop out.
The last group was everyone else and was doing better, even if everyone in it seemed kind of miserable. Even Diggy and Kara were keeping up. Weirder, Cynthia was as well. They were at the back, and seemed to be a half second from falling out, but none of them actually did it.
That went on for about half an hour, since pushing them all for longer than that was a good way to have them all burn out, way too fast. Nate led them all through calisthenics after that, lying on the dry grass in the center of the field, just as dawn honestly broke. Then they worked on martial arts for a full hour. By nine they were done, with everyone going back to where they came from. Most of them setting up for some time in VR.
The last people out that day were the four roomies and Carl. That part was interesting to see. Portia and Carl were both bone dry and seemed almost relaxed, with Glasses and Greedmeister a bit disheveled and slightly damp. They’d participated, but clearly hadn’t pushed too hard. Most of the girls there hadn’t either. The heiresses, at least. Her Trainees had all pulled out the stops, of course.
So, it seemed, had Logan. He was soaked all the way through. She nodded at him then.
“We’re moving into VR now, to practice shooting and knife fighting. We’ll get you set up with your own system for that. You, too, Port.” She winked at the others, having left them both out. “That may, or may not be your thing. It’s fun, but the way we do it is still work. I recommend it, but that’s up to you.”
Carl nodded, smiling in a way that seemed nearly happy.
“So we’re adding Logan for the whole thing? In what capacity?”
She tilted her head.
“You know, L., if you’re willing, I’d like you to train with Kara and Cynthia. That will be weapons and unarmed combat. They’re both learning to teach that kind of thing. Kids, but solid, so not too annoying.” She nearly mentioned that having sex with them would be off limits, but she’d actually been in the man’s head enough to get that, even having been desperate for years, he’d never done anything wrong, sexually.
She really doubted he was going to start just then, either.
Carl, oddly, grinned.
“Good call, H. People learn fastest when they have to teach other people. I’ll let you set that all up? Now, I need to get to my house. I have a large enough system for two others...”
Hannah could only do one, but before she could say anything about that, there was a voice in her head. From the reactions, it was in all of their minds, at once.
Aliza, from The Society. Which, given the girl hadn’t realized she had a nearly infinite range until a few days before, was kind of impressive. She’d been working on things with Al and Debbie from The Requiem, so it made sense. That it hit the others there didn’t, of course. Carl, and maybe even Port, but not the three new people so much.
~Emergency. We need transport and support teams ASAP. Society HQ.~
Hannah nodded.
“Looks like we’re up. Portia, you’re on food. You too, today, Logan. Kelsey and Peter...” She kind of didn’t love them at the moment, but nodded anyway. If she was hostile, they’d probably try to keep Portia away from her. “I want you to be ready to work phones and run errands. Light work, probably, so stand by, because you might be filling in gaps suddenly. Carl, you’re in charge of The Trainees, so what are we doing that way?”
“Get them in, if they can come. We can’t know how important this is, or what skills will be needed. Probably not a lot, to be honest. It’s still important for them to show up when the call goes out.” That was for the others there, but he focused on Logan and Port.
Hannah took the slightly sweaty people in first, directly to the conference room on the top floor of The Society HQ. Noticing that there were other people there already. Wisp was bringing them in, as was Agent Seven. They had various superheroes, of course.
She wanted to stop and find out what was happening, but didn’t, getting her people first. All of them. Interestingly, she brought in fifteen people in about the same time that Wisp did the same. She didn't mention it, but she felt a bit proud about that. Kate was so much more powerful than she was that way that it wasn’t funny. Yet, she sort of managed to keep up. Using a lot of tricks, sure, but the results were about the same.
Only when the room was packed, and no one else was coming, did June, dressed in her Liberty purple and black costume, spoke.
“Chicago was just nuked, twenty minutes ago. Paris and Lisbon as well. Thankfully these weren’t full sized, but we need to be ready to move people out of contaminated areas fast, as soon as we get the word to go in. Then we need to see to emergency housing, food and water for everyone. Sanitation, as well. We have some healers available? Can they do anything about radiation?”
Hannah knew that one, having gotten the medics their powers.
“Yes. Liam...” She glanced around then, and noticed that Linear wasn’t there yet. “Call Linear in on this. I’ll do the pick-up.” She winced. “No, wait, I have this...”
She worked hard and fast then, and warned Jaime just before bringing him to them. It hurt, but he was there, in the room, inside forty seconds. June smiled, a bit grimly and repeated herself.
“Trainees, you’re on support only, unless things go sideways on us. Damsel... Hannah, I mean, you’re on locating the next threats. If there are none, find who did this. Bring that to me, before acting on it?”
She nodded, since that made sense to her. That and moving people around.
It was kind of her thing, after all.
“On it now. Behemoth? You’re up for working that with me, first thing? Um...” She stopped then and noticed Kelsey for some reason. “Glasses, pay attention and take notes. If Stan gets called away, I’ll need your help.” She was leaving Peter out, but that was only because she’d touched his mind earlier and understood he wasn’t a great worker, or a good person. From what she could tell he was decent in bed, and had had a large enough package, but other than that, he wasn’t bringing much to the table of life so far. A bit of a waste of space, given that.
Not truly evil, either, so she relented a bit.
