Damsel: No More, page 28
part #1 of Damsel Series
“That’s done now. Put him on a plane to the states inside ten hours. Then get with Zero Three and explain that you had a nifty little trick going, and that you decided, of your own free will, to end it, since it had run its course. She knows who you are now. She also has a lot of information about you.”
There was a silence that lingered, for a long moment.
“Oh? Such as?”
She frowned then, but nodded.
“Look at the list of passwords, to your left.” She gestured, a bit frantically, which had Tyler working out what she wanted. The list they’d gotten, earlier.
When it was on the screen in the man’s hands, he turned it around for her to look at.
“Nine-delta-ampersand-seven-seven-one-six-alpha.” She kept going, down the list, one line at a time. The man growled at her.
“Not bad. I’ll kill you and your brother for this.”
She giggled then, which had to sound insane.
“Noooo. That isn’t what you’ll do at all. Instead, you put him on a plane, as we discussed, inside ten hours, safe and sound. Then you’ll make certain that the Red Trio gets the word that you really, truly, don’t want me dead. I don’t just have that information about you, Johan... I, the people I’m working with, we have everything. If you make up anything new, we’ll have that, too. All of it. The trick in this is that, for the time being, we don’t care about that. I don’t agree with your organizational tactics, but notice, I’m not hunting my mother down over it, am I? True, you aren’t invited for Christmas this year, but if you walk away from this now, you lose nothing but a bit of time, resetting passwords and the cost of a first-class plane ticket to O’Hare International. You made a mistake. You thought I was a pawn. I’m actually the queen. Now, do you trust my word on that, or do we have to get messy and upsetting over this?”
Nothing came for a long time, then there was a soft noise. A thing she didn’t get at first.
Laughter.
“Well played, little girl. Very much so. You do know that I could simply order your death, don’t you? True, it might cost my own life... but do you think I value that, more than I do revenge?”
She laughed back.
“Do you honestly feel so threatened by little girls that you need revenge on them? That sounds like a waste of your time, if you want to know the truth.”
That didn’t get an answer. Not directly.
“Fine. I’ll meet your demands. If we meet again...”
“If that happens, we call first, and have a nice meal? There’s no reason to turn this into something dark. Not yet.”
The phone hung up then. Rather forcefully.
Chapter nineteen
She explained everything she knew, to those with her, since that hadn’t been all too clear, listening only to her side of the conversation. Veronica, helpfully, recapped it for her.
“Your brother, who has powers, was being held prisoner, using you as a threat to control him? So the kidnappings and the thing with the Red Trio...”
“Exactly. I don’t know if we can trust this guy, but he claimed that he already told them to back off. Since, you know, if I’m dead, that line of control will go away. Anyway, Nate is going to be coming in at O’Hare, if that part happens at all. I don’t know that it will.”
They went over things, made calls and she was cuddled over the bad news, more than she really needed to be. Sure, it was stressful for her, but for the time being, parts of the situation seemed nearly fixed. Oh, there would be fall out, from Zero Six, eventually. Especially if the man didn’t let it go. If he felt that she was making his dick smaller, it could be something big, in time.
If, on the other hand, he found it cute, or just didn’t want to bother with her, it might be fine. Not that she could count on that. The man had sent killers at her already, so he was certainly going to be willing to do it again.
That didn’t mean she needed to be petted and stroked like a cat. Not constantly, at least. She was about to snap at both Veronica and Kate over that very thing, when her phone rang, less than three hours later.
“Hannah de Peyser here, what may I help you with today?”
“Hannah? It’s Nate. I’m coming. There’s a team of killers coming for you. I was... Being held prisoner, kind of. That... I’ll explain, later. The man who had me let me go, saying that I needed to get to you before they did.”
She tilted her head then.
“The Red Trio still, or did he send another team?”
“Huh? The Red Trio. You know about that?”
“Okay, good. I mean, clearly not great or anything, but I knew about that one. I wanted to make sure Carter didn’t get his panties in a bunch and try to lash out at me. It sounds like he’s actually doing his part. I take it that the Trio is after me for personal reasons?”
There were sounds in the background. Loud ones. A plane in the air, most likely.
“That... Is what it sounded like. No one knew why that would be.”
“Ah. Really, it’s probably that Red Fortune is mad because a girl kicked his ass. Metaphorically, that is. One with no powers, too. He did seem to be having an issue that way, when we last met. Names were called, people were shot. So, I’ll handle them. Thanks for the call. It’s good to hear from you. Are you safe?” She didn’t know why she was asking that, but it felt like what she should say.
The kind of thing that a strong person would care about.
“Yes. I’m on a commercial flight, coming out of Greece. I should be in Chicago in... Fifteen hours. There’s a layover in Florida.”
“Get off the plane there and head to Dad’s. We need for all of us to have solid alibis, in case things go... well, the Red Trio... I told them that if they came back to the states, their heads would explode. True, I had kind of hinted that that would be about a bomb going off, but I’d hate to break my word like that. Leaving them with intact heads and all.” Not that she wanted to be a killer.
It was just that she could see that leaving them alive wasn’t a real option.
“Understood. Do you... I can come take care of that, for you.”
Protecting her, from the realities of life. It was the danger of that kind of thing, of course. Also, tempting, at the moment. He could shoot beams of light that made the sea boil. She had a forty-four and a folding knife. One of those things sounded a lot better in a fight than the others.
“Keep that on the back burner, for now? I’m going to deal with this myself, if possible. That might not work. In that case...” She didn’t know what to say then.
Her little brother did.
“In that case they’ll wish it had gone very differently, sis. I... Do you know about Mom?”
“I’ve heard some things. Some of that from her. It doesn’t sound good.”
“Okay. I’ll hang up now. We can catch up later. I should have flown over, but a ten-hour flight is a long one, for me. Plus, Carter said that you insisted I be put on a plane. He didn’t seem that eager to thwart you on it, for some reason. In fact, he mentioned you, by name, several times. That it was very important for me not to fail you?”
She could see that one, after a fashion. Part of it was probably just down to the fact that, if the Red Trio took her down, her brother would have burned the man alive. At least if he ever found out about it. This way, they could just blame the idiots who weren’t following directions very well.
“Good to know, in case we have to deal with him in the future? I’ll be holding my part of the bargain as well, as long as he does. Talk to you soon. Be careful.”
“Me, be careful? I don’t have superpowered bullies coming after me.”
“I’m pretty much always careful, these days. Even when I’m not.”
She got off the cell then, her ear hurting from the constant contact. Not that she wasn’t happy that Nate was all right. At least for the time being. He had powers though and from the sound of it, could fly. That was impressive. She still needed a plane for that, herself. Which wasn’t going to be a real point, unless she managed to survive what was coming for her. Three angry assholes, who probably should have known when to take the win and walk away.
Which was, most likely, the real problem.
They hadn’t considered simply surviving and not being turned into bombs for real as them winning. It had clearly been a trick, and no one liked to be fooled, but even at the time Hannah had figured it wouldn’t work, long term. She’d just hoped it would last long enough for them to come to their senses. Now, it seemed, they were taking the whole thing personally, as if she were the one to blame for them trying to murder her, in the first place.
Rather than discuss plans to kill them, the next day, she smiled at Kate and then looked around at the others there. They were good people. Heroes, in part, but also the kind that were willing to be there on her say so. She knew that any of them would probably fight the Red Trio for her. Including Howard and Ty. Maybe not Claudia, but she had to think that Doug, the sound guy, might try it, if the chips were really down.
Try to protect her, at the cost of their own lives.
A thing that she wasn’t willing to let them spend that way, any longer. Not that she was beyond asking, or even begging, for help, if the situation was needed. She started to worry, racking her brain for a way to win a fight against three super humans who wanted her dead.
Nothing came to her. Sure, she might take out Red Fortune, but the other two were simply beyond what she might reasonably pull off. Veronica had suggested hitting people with a car, but the truth was that, if she saw a car speeding toward her, even Hannah would jump out of the way. Sneaking up on them wasn’t going to work again either.
At least it wouldn’t have on her. Red Fortune would just pull back if his power started to be jammed, even for a moment or two... And she didn’t have any other tricks to level the playing field that way.
Except, that she kind of did. Hannah smiled when she thought about what she had planned, which had Veronica and Kate both moving in next to her. It was her fake, or possibly not so unreal, girlfriend who spoke, her words smooth seeming. Almost gentle.
“You have something?”
“Maybe? I was thinking, if I can call up the Red Trio, and talk to them, that might change things a lot. I mean, if I wanted to come for someone and got a call like that, I’d think twice about it. If it was framed correctly, anyway.”
Kate frowned and shook her head.
“How will that help. They’re coming to kill you. That sounds pretty committed, doesn’t it?”
That got widening of her own eyes, in response and then a grin.
“Sure... But is it really? We don’t even really know why they’re coming. I mean, finishing the job makes sense, except that it doesn’t. Fighting me... Well, I can see trying for an ambush. They have to know that I can’t take them, one on one, and without my friends I’d go down pretty easily. Except, I do have friends and after the annoyance of their free trip to China, they should be feeling relieved that the bio-bomb inside of them isn’t real, shouldn’t they? I need to address this head on, instead of assuming that they’re thinking like I would. That clearly isn’t the case.”
Katie tightened her face, but finally nodded, about half a minute later.
“You can do that thing? The trance thing, and find them? It seemed harder for you to get real data, earlier. Still, that might work, to at least get a call off or a text. If they picked up new phones, or had their old ones with them, at least.” There was an obvious slip in the words, covered hurriedly, at the end. She knew, that the Red Trio hadn’t traveled to China, with their phones. A thing that Hannah hadn’t been certain of at all, until it had been hinted at by Kate.
Hannah ignored it. Her friend kept a secret from her for a reason. She wasn’t bothering to do that, the other way around, but there might be reasons for it that she didn’t know. Like not wanting to risk a certain socialite and well-known party girl messing up and outing her, by mistake. A thing that Hannah wasn’t going to do, but she understood not being trusted that way.
It could even just be habit, on Katherine Sinclair’s part. She’d lived with the secret for over a decade, after all. Keeping it hidden might just be second nature to her. Then again, Hannah might not have noticed anything at all, if she hadn’t already known what the hidden factor was. So she nodded.
“That’s my first plan. I’ll see if I can figure out a way to get in touch with them, and just ask what’s up. We can always fight later, if we have to. I don’t really want to kill them. I suppose I could see if Molly wants to practice stranding people in alternate realities? They’d... well, that sounds cruel to me.” At least the one she’d have to pick, free of other people who could be harmed by three angry people with powers, at any rate.
There was a rather bemused look, on Veronica’s rather attractive face.
“I suppose that might work! You could write it off as practice for her, I bet. What do we need to do, before that?”
That, she knew, would be relaxing enough to find the Red Trio again. It took a while, with her sitting in the moving bus, the camera being pointed at her occasionally, as if she might not notice it taking place, just because her eyes were closed. That she did... Well, it was a bit odd, but not that useful, in the moment. She just felt watched, and had to try to get her brain to go into the void of emptiness, before hitting the spot where pictures came to her.
It took well over an hour and a half to just start. Then it was nearly impossible to get the information she wanted from the people driving down the freeway, toward their destination. In the end, it was Tyler that came up with the idea they needed. That and an accidently overheard remark, from Red Bitch.
“Stop at the next store. Bathroom break...”
It was a scramble for her to find where that would be in time, then took Tyler working on a computer to find the correct store that they’d likely be going to. Still, she managed to dial the number, or rather Kate did it for her, with her still watching the Trio go in for that break, and then out into the store, for drinks.
Her friend spoke for her, to the clerk.
“We have a call from Hannah de Peyser, for the Red Trio. Those are the two large, intimidating people and their more normal seeming friend. Super-villains, so announce that for me, but be polite about it?” Her voice was worried seeming, but the clerk, sighing, rolled his eyes.
Hannah watched it happening, the images in her head clear enough for that.
“A call for the Red Trio? Hannah Darouter?”
She smiled as the phone was placed to her ear, but nodded. The man had made a mistake, but that didn’t really matter. She broke out of her concentrated and relaxed effort just in time for a strange voice to speak, after the sounds of taking a phone.
“Who is this?” He sounded gruff, but baffled, instead of pissed off.
“Hello! Hannah de Peyser. I couldn’t help but notice that you and your friends were headed toward where I’ll be in about ten to fifteen hours? I can get the idea of me lying about that bomb compound might annoy you, but come on, that was a pretty good trick, don’t you think? It didn’t work, but...”
There was a snort then. The man didn’t sound that bright, but he got who she was, at least. That seemed right to her.
“Nah. We’d all worked that out as fake at the time. The thing with sending us to Beijing without any papers was a pain in the ass, but even that... Better than being beaten to death. We got word that the Khan Collective is going to kill us if we can’t take you out. That Zero Three and Zero Six are fighting, and that Five and One are backing different sides. We got orders that say five different things, and don’t know what to do about it. So, we figured that taking you out was our best bet. We can’t take on Solaire or the guys that Six will send after us. The rest... We mainly deal with lower level people, you get me? Middle management, tops.”
That really did sound confusing.
“So this isn’t about Red Fortune being afraid he has a little dick? That’s... good to know, actually. Not that I was planning to date him, but it has to make life easier, not carrying that kind of concern around with you, constantly.”
There was a pause, then a laugh.
“Not that I know of. He’s a bit upset about being set up by a tiny girl, but he’ll live. No, it’s the other shit. So, how are we handling this?” He went slightly cold then. Probably waiting for threats.
Hannah, feeling calm from the hour of focused mental work, smiled, not meaning it.
“Can I get a contact number for you? I had to use psychic skills to find this phone and the clerk really wants to get you out of the store, for his own safety. I don’t blame him, either. Then I’ll see if I can get the Khan Collective to decided what they want you to do? Hopefully with me being alive in the end, but if not, at least the three of you can have clear orders, instead of those being all over the place, right? In that case, well, you have to have figured out that you can’t easily sneak up on me.”
“No fucking shit. If you can get a call through like this, then we’re walking into a trap.”
“Pretty much. So, that number? Then, well, you can get a hotel room for a day or two, and I’ll see what’s going on. If that doesn’t work...” She didn’t know what to tell the man, so just spoke, her voice sounding too calm, still. “Then we fight, I guess. I can’t take you head on... How are you with large explosions? Or, can you take a large caliber bullet, to the head, do you think? Not that I have that kind of thing sitting around. I just know that a fist fight is right out, if I want to live.”
That got a sound that seemed, strange. Strangled, nearly.
“Like I’m sharing that with you? Here...You can get with me on this phone. We’ll hold off for a while, so you can get that in order. Why not? It wasn’t personal on our parts. Fortune even wants me to tell you that he’s sorry for being a prick the other day. Right?”
There was grumbling, a distinctive bit about her being a sweaty cunt, and then a rather humble sounding single word.
“Sorry.” That was loud enough for her to hear, even if the rest of it had been a bit soft.
