Superheroes In Denim

by Lee French

  Privek had rescued her personally from the men who abducted her in Honolulu. Since she woke up to his face, she hadn’t come across any reason to doubt him. The video of what happened at Hill Air Force Base had cemented her trust.

  Of course, demented freaks could like flowers. No rule forbade that. Maisie shook off her confusion. Distractions could get someone killed here. Halfway around the side, the barn guys peeled off to handle that and Maisie saw the first window. “Alpha Leader,” she whispered, “window.” Her attention on the pane of glass, she laid flat on the ground to get a look inside.

  Shining her flashlight into the darkness, Maisie saw nothing special: shelves, baskets, and a washing machine. One washer for this many people almost seemed criminal. Satisfied it had plenty of space, though, she flicked the fingers of her right hand out, causing a swirling blue oval to spring into existence on the nearest wall she could see. She stood up, brushed herself off, and flicked her left hand out, an orange oval appearing on the wall in front of them. Instead of swirling orange and black in the middle, it offered a view into the dark basement, through the blue oval.

  Wordlessly, Alpha Leader hopped through The rest of the Alphas followed him, then the rest of them. They didn’t have designations. She didn’t want one. It would, however, make referring to them collectively less weird. So far, in her head, she called them all “freaks”. Some of them seemed like the type to take offense at that, so she never said it out loud.

  “We’re in,” Alpha Leader muttered.

  Maisie pulled the blue portal back into her right hand, leaving the orange one in case she needed a quick exit. It made a soft metallic whum noise that cycled endlessly like a sine wave, only noticeable within a foot or so. In fact, she suspected the noise might actually only be in her head. At some point, they’d all be able to discuss their powers together and figure out those sorts of details. To this point, Privek and Alpha Leader had kept them training too hard for that.

  Alpha Leader lead the team up the stairs. “Fourteen of us, at least twenty-six of them. Split up and take different doors. Dose and move on. Say something if you need help or one gets away.”

  Maisie gulped and hoped she didn’t get into trouble here. If it came to a fight, she’d lose. Paul tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see him tap his forehead, then reach over and tap hers. She blinked blankly at him, having no idea what he meant by that. For good measure, since he didn’t seem to be getting her confusion, she shrugged.

  “I can speak directly into your mind. Is that okay?”

  Maisie squeaked with surprise, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

  “What happened?” Alpha Leader asked.

  “Nothing,” Maisie hissed, embarrassed. “Stubbed my toe.” She saw him turn and glare at her, then heard him sigh and move on.

  “Sorry. I have no idea how to do that more gently.”

  Staring at Paul, Maisie gulped again and nodded. “Do I have to do something special? ”

  “No, just think what you want to say to me. I don’t think I can do this with more than one person at a time, though. You just seemed really nervous, so I thought maybe it would help if you had someone to talk to.”

  “Uh, thanks. Yeah, this is really a thing, and I’m really scared I’m going to screw it up.”

  “Me, too, actually. I really wish we didn’t have to have these gun things.”

  She agreed, and didn’t need to coherently say so for him to get it. But they had more important things to worry about. Alpha Leader turned up a hallway and gestured for the group to split up. Maisie found herself at the end of the line, so she went the other way. Alpha Nine assigned her to a door by pointing. He gave Paul the next door up and sent her some wordless encouragement, which she needed.

  Her hand on the knob, she turned it as slowly as she could to avoid making a noise, then inched it open. She found a tiny little bedroom, the floor space only enough to swing the door open. The bed took up most of the room, along with a dresser and small table. A second door inside suggested a closet. The most important thing in the room, though, was the man asleep on the bed. She knew him immediately, recognizing him from the video. Out of all these people, she had to be the one to get Mitchell. One of the dangerous ones, he’d killed people. Lots of people. Privek had said he might be indestructible.

  “I’m scared I’ll mess this up.”

  “Do it fast. Don’t hesitate, just do it. It’ll be okay.”

  Maisie lifted the awkward gun and crept into the room. A light breeze tumbled in through the open window and stirred the half-drawn curtains. The screen looked battered; maybe it was old, or maybe he beat on it like a wild animal. She could do this. So long as he didn’t wake up before the drug took effect, he couldn’t do anything to her. Pointing her gun at his chest, she took a deep breath to try to calm her stomach. It didn’t work. Fine. She just needed to do it, like Paul said.

  She stared into his confused, frightened icy blue eyes and saw her own. She’d just shot her brother. Her hands shook. Bile threatened to crawl up her throat. His mouth opened and he made a confused, gurgling noise instead of words. He thrashed around, maybe trying to sit up.

  Stumbling away from him, her fingers fumbled to reload the gun, snatching the next dart and shoving it into the chamber. Her leg bumped into the table and she dropped the gun. It went off and shattered against the floor, splashing clear, viscous liquid onto her shoe.

  Covering her face in embarrassment and horror, she tried to block out the sounds coming from the bed. Because it sounded like pain, like despair, like death. “Mitchell is down,” she croaked.

  Someone male swore violently into her ear. Then she heard the loudest noise imaginable, a scream that filled her whole being with terror and agony, and threatened to deafen her ear. Pawing at her ear, she yanked the device out and dropped it so she could clap her hands over her ears.

  Chapter 16

  The impact woke him. By the time he understood what was happening, the drug had already been delivered into his body. All of Bobby’s will focused on getting as many dragons away as he could. They resisted, wanting to sleep and stay put. He kept pushing, throwing everything he had at them. At least one had to be able to get away.

  One little dragon crawled sluggishly off his foot, taking the small toe as the drug surged through his system. The edges of his vision blurred, pulling him down into unconsciousness. With one last, desperate effort, he tossed his mind into that one dragon.

  It looked around, trying to understand what had happened. A girl in SWAT gear stood over him with a weird-looking gun, then she backed up, her face screwed up in panic. She reloaded her gun with a dart and it went off, hitting the floor.

  Owen’s super-voice rang out. The girl pulled something out of her ear and dropped it. Her eyes screwed shut and her hands covered her ears. Somehow filtered or muted by the dragon, Bobby found the noise a nuisance. Elsewhere in the house, he heard shouting voices.

  The dragon dove to the floor and grabbed the thing she dropped, then flew out of the room. All kinds of people in the same tactical gear filled the house. Lily’s door hung open and he wanted to go check on her and Sebastian.

  Everyone’s doors hung open, he noticed. A man stepped out of Alice’s, his next door neighbor, holding his ears. Bobby caught sight of the guy’s eyes and saw his own staring back at him. The sight took him one beat, then another, to register, and he suddenly felt stupid and betrayed. All this time, he’d been trying to save that guy, only to have him come here and assault them.

  Owen’s voice stopped, maybe because of a dart to the chest. He heard a familiar squeal in the sudden silence. “Will! I knew you’d be here!”

  Now he had no idea what to think. Jasmine came to assault the farm? He needed to find Stephen. His only recourse here would be killing people, and he had no desire to harm any of them. Not yet. Not until he understood all of this.

  It would take him about an hour to get to Denver, then…he’d have to find one girl named Kris, or so
me variation of it. Stephen hadn’t even told him which part of Denver she lived in. For all he knew, her place could be in one of the suburbs, and he had no last name to search for.

  No, that was stupid. Stephen would come back before dawn to catch some sleep here. He could wait outside and intercept him before he reached the house, or be here if these people all left by then. That option sucked. It also happened to be the best one available with his body down for the count.

  The dragon flitted through the house, darting from hiding spot to hiding spot in a desperate dash to avoid being seen. So long as no one knew he’d gotten one dragon free, he could accomplish something. He could follow them back to their base and free everyone and wreak all kinds of havoc there.

  Jayce had managed to get up and change his flesh to steel. The big man roared with defiance and threw a person across the room while darts smashed into him. They’d have a heckuva time putting him down, if they figured out some way to do it.

  Bobby would’ve given a lot to be able to tell Jayce that he had a dragon free, and no matter what, he’d come for them. But he couldn’t do anything of the kind without giving himself away. Now he heard Sebastian screaming for his momma, then saw a guy in tac gear carrying him as the boy reached back for Lily. The sight crushed a piece of him. How could a man do that to a little boy? He wanted to do horrible things to that man and only didn’t because he knew these men were just following orders.

  Privek. He did this. Bobby and Stephen would find him and eat him for breakfast. This time, they’d take that sonofabitch to some hellhole, throw him in, and beat the shit out of him until he told them everything. Or maybe they’d tie him up and do obscene things to him until he begged to die. Or something. No matter what, he’d suffer.

  The dragon found a perch in a tall tree and watched, even though it hurt to not be able to do anything about it. Sebastian wailed as the guy carried him away from the house. Jayce burst out of the house and tripped on something as he charged after that guy. Something Bobby couldn’t make out in the darkness smashed him to the ground and kept him from getting up again.

  Through the earpiece in the dragon’s claws, he finally heard voices again.

  “This is Alpha Leader. Is anyone back on the channel yet?”

  “Nine here, with Polape. She lost her earpiece, but she’s fine. This section is cleared.”

  “Seven here, no issues. Mezilis and the civvie are here with me and Moore.”

  “Two reporting in. Eight needs a medic, so does Androvitch. We’re in the second wing. Need backup.”

  “Ten on my way.”

  “Four on my way.”

  “Party on Two’s Six.”

  “Three here, I’ve got the kid. He’s not calming down. Don’t suppose one you is good with toddlers? ”

  “Suck it up, Three.” He recognized Alpha Leader’s voice again.

  “Everything topside is good.” This voice didn’t identify itself, but was notable for being female.

  “I have my Will!” Bobby recognized Jasmine’s voice without issue.

  This one spoke through gritted teeth, under serious strain. “Westbrook is contained out here, but he’s still putting up a hell of a fight. Paul, get your mindfuck on already.”

  “I’m trying! He’s resisting me.”

  The strained voice spoke again. “Maybe we should just call him fucking Superman.”

  “Jesus,” Alpha Leader grunted, “anybody got a sledgehammer?”

  “I can help if you let him go, Brian.” Another female voice spoke. Bobby saw something dropping out of the sky to land gently next to Jayce. So, they had people who could fly. How many of the others did they have on this raid? All eleven? What did Privek tell them?

  “Okay, on three, I’m letting him go. One, two, three.” For three seconds, he heard nothing over the earpiece. He watched while Jayce, lit up by several flashlights, struggled to push himself up, his face twisted in a rage unlike anything Bobby ever saw him wearing before. He growled and it grew into a roar. Finally, his expression went slack and he slumped to the ground. His skin shimmered to normal flesh tone.

  “Holy fucking Christ. Westbrook is down.” Someone walked up and shot him with a dart. “And now contained.”

  “That’s that, then,”Alpha Leader said. “If anyone else is resisting, they’re doing it by hiding and not fighting. Police these bodies outside by Seven for pickup. Seven, keep a count, we need to know if we missed anyone. Nine, get Polape to set us up with a shorter walk.”

  Bobby flew farther away and wanted to ditch the earpiece. Watching and listening to this hurt enough that he questioned his decision not to kill anyone. The dragon hefted the earbud to toss it for distance so he could stop hearing the awful words.

  He stopped it. If they mentioned anything that could help him, he needed to hear it. Not only that, but Stephen might be able to use it against them. Settling on a branch out of sight, he resigned himself to monitoring the cleanup.

  They chattered about hoofing bodies, some of which happened to be naked. At least a few demanded they be covered with blankets, and the Alpha Leader agreed. They rooted through Greg’s stuff, taking anything that seemed worth the effort. No one realized what his generator did, though, and they left it running.

  Eventually, they counted their victims. They had twenty-two “targets”, three civilians, and Sebastian. No one knew how to categorize the little boy. That meant someone else besides Stephen was still loose. Only a few got identified by name, so going by what he’d heard and seen, it couldn’t be Jayce, Alice, Ai, Greg, Owen, Lily, or Lizzie. Given the quiet, he figured it wouldn’t be Dan, either. Someone had been able to hide, like Lisa and Sam could.

  “Helicopters are inbound,” he heard Alpha leader announce. “That means we’re done with the tac channel. Alpha Two, police up the earbuds.”

  “What about those two missing targets?”

  “One of them is Cant, he’s probably off hunting. Unless he doesn’t live here, he’ll be back at some point. The file said he’s averse to sunlight, so it’ll probably be by dawn. So long as you tag him before he gets close, there shouldn’t be any problems. No armored skin or anything like that in the file. The other one, we can’t confirm the identity of without pictures to compare to our bundles.”

  “Orders, Boss?”

  “Nine, Ten, stay behind and grab Cant when he returns. We’ll have a bird standing by, waiting for your call. Just in case it goes sideways, Arralt, stay with them. See if you can find our mystery number twenty-four, but don’t sweat it. Probably not here, might even be off on their own.”

  “Understood.”

  Bobby watched them all hand in their earbuds. Helicopters took his family away. He wished he couldn’t see how stupid it would be to fly into the engines and blow one up. He wished he could find Privek right this minute and rip him apart. Most of all, he wished Stephen had been around to hear all of that so he wouldn’t have to find a way to explain it through a dragon, without words.

  This shouldn’t have happened. They relied on secrecy for security, when they should have done something active to make the place safe. Was it the trip to Alamogordo, or Stephen’s forays into Denver, or Kaitlin using her money? Who knew, and who cared. They should’ve been paranoid. They should’ve expected this to happen eventually and planned for it. Their priorities had been all wrong. Knowing changed nothing right now.

  Dropping the earbud as useless now, he flew a circuit of the property, checking for anyone who might have hunkered down on the edges or chosen to sleep outside tonight. He saw goats and chickens, but no people. Tony could’ve turned himself into a plant and be hiding in plain sight. Sam could be in the house wiring, Lisa could be in her pocket, Violet could have flown somewhere, John could have encased himself in a tree. He held onto hope that he’d be able to find another ally after Stephen took care of Nine, Ten, and Arralt.

  When he returned to the farmhouse, he saw the three men left behind. Two of them gave off a military vibe as they crouched
on the ground, futzing with something. That made the other one Arralt, a brother willing to work for Privek for some reason. He scribbled license plate numbers on a notepad.

  That girl who shot Bobby seemed so scared and unwilling. He wondered what story Privek spewed to get them all to believe they needed to come here, wreck the house, and tie up their brothers and sisters like dogs. Did he have some leverage over them, like blackmail? Did he learn from the mistakes with him and Jayce and Ai and Alice to manipulate those others better?

  Avoiding the three men, Bobby slipped back inside the house and flew from room to room. The dragon let out a soft trill wherever he thought the men outside might not overhear, hoping to find someone tucked away. It wound up in Lily’s room, and he had to turn away to get Sebastian’s screams to stop echoing in his head.

  The place had been wrecked. They’d smashed furniture, ripped down doors, and punched giant holes in the walls. Bobby saw broken picture frames in bedrooms. Plants lay in piles of dirt, surrounded by shards of pottery. Tiana’s cat had been shot with a dart that had ripped fatally through its small body, staining the ground with its blood.

  Finally, a closet door opened in response to his trill. Kaitlin stuck her tinfoil-wrapped head out, clutching her laptop to her chest “Is it safe?” she whispered, peering around.

  He swooped in and wished he could hug her. The dragon sat on her knee and held up three claws. Asking about the tinfoil seemed too hard, so he ignored it.

  “There are three of us, or three of them?”

  Both questions technically had the same answer. He nodded. In an attempt to explain to her about Stephen, the dragon put two claws up by its mouth like fangs, doing its best Dracula impersonation.

  “Stephen wasn’t here, he’s off with his girlfriend?” The dragon nodded. “Is that you in there, Bobby?” Nod. “Because they got you?” Nod. “And there are three of them outside waiting for Stephen to come back?” Nod. “Well, shit.” She rubbed her forehead. “We’re kind of fucked.” Nod. “Thanks for agreeing,” she said sarcastically. “I feel so much better now.”