“Uniform, Daystar,” she said. “If there are any issues, call for Jarvis.”
I took the package from her, and she walked away.
“Thanks,” I called after her, and then closed the door.
I carried the package into my room and set it on the bed, unwrapping the brown paper. On top was my mask, a full one that covered my entire head, with small mesh areas for the eyes. It would make my eyes impossible to see, but I could still see out. I noted that the mesh was reinforced, some type of thin metal. I set the mask aside, and the next thing was the uniform itself. All one piece, a weird stretchy body armor. It was so stretchable that it didn't even have or need a zipper; I could pull the neckline open wide, and it sprung back to its original shape. It felt like leather, but with the stretch of nylon, maybe. Dark gray and black, with my requested insignia on the chest. Dark gray gloves. At the bottom of the package was a pair of dark gray boots. They were soft and pliable, and looked like they’d go up to just below my knees. The bottoms were well textured, like good running shoes. No stupid spike heels here, I thought with relief. I’d been imagining the worst from every comic book I’d ever read.
I blew out a breath, then pulled off my top and pants. I put a pair of socks on, along with some simple cotton underclothes they’d included in the package, and pulled on the uniform. It was surprisingly comfortable. I could move freely, and, while it was form fitting, I didn't feel exposed. I slid my feet into the boots, then fitted the cowl over my face and head. Finally, I pulled the gloves on and faced the large mirror in the corner my room.
Well. I definitely didn’t look like the girl who robbed houses. There was nothing left of me, when I looked at the person in the mirror. It was like playing dress up. Playing a part, until I figured out something better. Wouldn’t be the first time.
I shook my head and glanced at the bed. There was a tiny black thing I’d missed at the bottom of the package. I picked it up and noted that it was some kind of ear bud. My comm, I realized. I worked it under my cowl and into my right ear.
“Testing,” I said, not knowing if there was something else to do.
“Jenson to Daystar. If you want to speak, lightly press the comm, and it will pick up your voice.”
I pressed my ear. “Hey. Do you hear me?” I said.
“Loud and clear. Do you require any changes to the uniform?” Jenson asked, her voice crystal clear in my ear.
I pressed the comm again. “No, it’s fine.”
“Lovely. Then you are on patrol in precisely twenty-two minutes. Meet with the rest of your squad in the team meeting room on five.”
“Right,” I said, feeling like I was in one of those nightmares where you’re running, but you don’t know from what, and you keep running slower despite knowing that whatever it is you’re running from is catching up… yeah. It was just like that, and for the first time in a long time, I was reminded of what it was to be at the mercy of anyone other than myself. Not that I didn’t cause a fair bit of damage on my own, but at least it was of my own choosing. This? I shook my head, glanced at myself in the mirror again, and then pulled the mask off.
I picked up my phone from where I’d set it on the dresser, and hit Mama’s number.
She answered after the second ring.
“Jolene Marie Faraday! I called you three times last night and this morning after I didn’t hear from you yesterday,” she said in greeting, and I winced. “Are you sick? Do you need me?”
My stomach twisted. I wasn’t the daughter she thought I was.
“Mama, there is something I need to tell you,” I said.
“Okay. What is it? Are you knocked up? Because if you are, you know I’ll help—“
“No! Definitely not that,” I said, though I wished, hilariously, that it was something so run of the mill. “I just… I took this new job, and it’s long hours, and yesterday was my first day and it really tired me out,” I said. Lying was so much easier than telling her everything, and I hated myself a little more for it, even though I also knew it would make her life easier. Happier.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had a new job?”
“I came in yesterday for an interview, and they hired me on the spot and I ended up working… anyway. You know how it is when you’re the new person,” I added, sitting down on my bed.
“Oh, yeah. For sure. What kind of work are you doing? Something that uses your degree?”
I scrunched up my face. “Yeah, kind of. It’s a community safety-related thing.”
“Oh, wonderful!”
“Yeah. It’s great,” I said, and I don’t know how well I pulled it off. “And I’m sorry I didn’t call you yesterday, but I was beat.”
“No problem. I was just worried, but now I know better. I am so proud of you, Jolene,” she said, and I felt like just about the world’s biggest piece of shit. Proud of me. A career thief, a fool who thought nothing would ever catch up with her. Yeah, I was a real prize.
And, someday, a fugitive. How I’d spin that one when the time came, I didn’t even want to think about. Because I had every intention of getting out, first chance I got. But I also knew it would mean leaving Detroit, my mother, and everything else, at least until the heat died down.
“Thanks, Mama. I gotta go. There’s a meeting I have to be at in a few.”
“Okay. I love you. Call when you can, but don’t worry about it. Right?”
“Right. I love you, too.”
I hung up and looked blankly at my phone for a while.
Could this day possibly get any worse?
Chapter Fourteen
I took a breath, then left my apartment and took the elevator down to five. To the right was a large meeting room with a round table in the center. Caine, Toxxin, and Nightbane were already there.
“Looking good, Daystar,” Toxxin said, and I shrugged.
“It’s like wearing pajamas. Did not expect that,” I said, and she laughed. I glanced at Caine, who was sitting across the table, arms crossed over his chest, watching me. “So is this it?” I asked Toxxin, and she nodded.
“Yeah this is our squad. Two teams of four people, now that you’re on board,” Toxxin explained. “People from the other squad used to fill in to make it four for us, but now we have a regular crew, thanks to you.”
I nodded. “So what’s the drill?”
“On slow nights, we patrol. If there’s a case we’re working on, we track clues. And if there’s an incident, we respond,” Nightbane said. “Pretty straightforward.”
“Tonight’s quiet so far,” Toxxin said.
“You may have spoken too soon, Toxxin,” Jenson said over the comm, and I knew that the others were hearing it, too. “We have a home invasion in Grosse Pointe. Law enforcement has IDed Maddoc on the premises, but no one else,” she finished.
“We should send Daystar out on this one,” Portia said, and I glanced back. I hadn’t even noticed her enter the room.
“Yeah, right. We’re going to send her out on her own. Brilliant,” Nightbane said.
“Are you strong enough to take Maddoc?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “Or will it be your usual, let him go because you know you’re not a match for him?”
Nightbane gave her a dirty look, and then Alpha walked into the room. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“She wants to send Daystar out on this one,” Nightbane spat.
“Seems like a good idea. If she can bag Maddoc, it’ll get the media off my back for a while.”
“Alone? Seriously?” Nightbane asked.
“I don’t like it,” Caine said. “I’ll go with her.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” I said. “And I know I can’t actually go anywhere. You guys are tracking me via this thing, right?”
“We’d have to undampen her to let her fly and fight,” Nightbane pressed. “It’s a bad idea. The second she can, she’s gone.”
Alpha seemed to be thinking, then he looked at me. I didn’t like the look in his eyes.
&
nbsp; “You called your mother earlier,” he said quietly, and my stomach twisted. “Lied to her.”
I just watched him.
“You’ll do this. You’ll go out. You’ll apprehend Maddoc for me. And then you’ll come back. If you fail to do that, well. I might have to leak the identity of the burglar to the news media. Break your poor mother’s heart. Not to mention how angry people will be with her for raising something like you.”
My mouth went dry.
“That’s shitty, man,” Caine growled.
“It’s the way the game is played. I don’t trust you, but this is a chance I can’t pass up. I finally have someone capable of bringing him down. You do it, and you come back. Or you don’t, and we leak your identity and lift the protection your mother is currently receiving.” He shrugged. “Totally up to you.”
Caine was about to say something and I waved him off. The room was silent.
“Fine. I’ll do it. Okay?”
“Lovely,” he said with a smug smile, and I knew then that I’d tipped my hand. He had me by the proverbial nuts, and he knew it. Anytime he wanted me to do something, he could bring up my mother. I hated him already, though it was gratifying to know that he was every bit the buffoon I’d pegged him for based on the times I’d seen him on the news. Plus some.
“Head up to the top floor exit bay.” He took the same remote-control looking thing out of his pocket that Portia had had that first day, swiped it a few times. “You’re officially undampened now. Still being tracked.”
“Do you want to fit her with a body camera?” Portia asked.
Alpha shook his head. “No time. I don’t want to risk missing him. Go. Now.”
I stalked out of the room and took the elevator up to the top floor of the tower. Signs pointed toward the exit/entry bay, and I followed them. A guard stood duty near the doors, and he opened them when he saw me coming.
“Good luck, Daystar,” he said, and I nodded. Once the doors were open, I didn’t waste any time in lifting into the air and flying out into the clear night sky.
It was a bitter kind of sweetness. I’d missed flying, sitting around Command for the past couple of days. But it was a temporary thing, and I knew it. Maybe I could keep doing stuff like this, earn their trust eventually. That would require patience, and I’ve never been good at that.
But, it was play smart or live the rest of my life at Alpha and Nightbane’s whims.
I flew faster, heading toward the location Jenson relayed over my comm. Once I was nearby, it wasn’t hard to figure out where I needed to go. The flashing of lights along a driveway, search lights swaying back and forth behind the large brick house and its neighboring residences. A line of police officers stood in the driveway, weapons out, at the ready.
“StrikeForce, incoming,” I heard one of them call, and I took a breath and landed.
Thankfully, I managed not to fall on my face.
“Daystar?” the officer who had announced my arrival said. I nodded.
“Is he in there?” I asked, gesturing toward the house. “What do you know?”
“Yeah, he’s in there. That guy from Mayhem. Calls himself Maddoc?” he said.
“You’re sure?”
“Not positive, but we’re pretty sure it’s him. Neighbors saw him duck in. We think he’s in there robbing the place. The homeowners are away, but they have one of those security systems with the cameras and all that. Here, have a look.”
He held up a small monitor, and there were stills from the camera captured on it. I flipped through the captures until I came to a fairly clear one of the burglar. I recognized the face of the man I’d first encountered in Damian’s library. He wore an eyemask, but it was kind of hard to not be able to identify him.
“Yeah, that’s him. Stay back.”
The officer nodded, called the command to the rest of the officers there, then spoke into his communicator to tell whoever was on the back side of the house that I was going in.
I started jogging toward the house when I heard the sound of breaking glass and a huge body came hurtling out of the front picture window of the mansion. I vaguely recognized Maddoc as he fell to the ground, and I ran toward him.
In the next second, I saw a flash of something, another person, long blond hair billowing around her, and then both she and Maddoc were gone as if they’d never been there.
“Oh, what the fuck?” I shouted.
“You didn’t catch him?” a gravelly voice from behind me said. A voice I knew. I spun and there he was, jumping through the broken glass Maddoc had just come flying through. Enormous. Shadowy. Killjoy. My heart pounded a little harder when I realized who it was. “I was throwin’ him to you,” he continued.
“What?” I asked, holding my hands out in exasperation. “Why the hell would you throw him like that? He’s gone.”
“Well. You were supposed to catch him,” he said in that raspy voice again.
“I was supposed to catch him?”
“Daystar? Uh. Is the premises clear?” the officer I’d spoken to at the beginning asked behind me. I kept my eyes on Killjoy. He gave a short nod. I guessed he was looking at me. It’s not like I could actually tell or anything.
“It is clear. Suspect has fled,” I said, aware of my clipped tone.
“How?”
“He had help. I’m sorry,” I said, turning finally to the officer. He looked disappointed, and my stomach twisted. I’d failed. Not through any fault of my own. I could have blamed Killjoy for it, but the appearance of the blond woman made it clear that he had an escape plan already. And a good one. I wondered if she had the same powers as Portia. Teleporting.
This would be a lovely scene when I got back to Command.
I turned back to Killjoy. He was already moving away, toward the house, and I realized that the police hadn’t seen him. He’d stuck to the shadows the entire time, spoken so quietly only I could hear him. I took to the air, keeping an eye on him as he moved quickly, like a cat, through yards, over fences, sometimes over privacy fences. He knew I was there, I realized. He wasn’t trying to hide or shake me off.
“Daystar, report.”
“Suspect has fled the scene. I’m searching the immediate area,” I said.
“Copy,” Jenson said.
“You better find his ass, Daystar,” Nighbane said over my comm, and I rolled my eyes, keeping track of Killjoy.
One thing was clear. The guy was strong as hell. Maddoc is far from being a weakling, and Killjoy had just thrown him through a window like a toy. He was fast. Didn’t seem to be tiring, even though he’d been running and jumping for well over ten minutes. I followed him into Detroit. Alter Park, I realized. The area was empty, and he finally stopped running, just stopped near the edge of the water and looked up at the sky as if waiting for me to join him on the ground.
I brought myself in for a landing, touching down a few feet away from him. He stood there, and it bugged the hell out of me that I couldn’t see his face. Here, closer, with the lights from the street shining nearby, I could make out more.
Like the huge, bloody gash across his stomach.
“Hey! You’re cut. Shit. I can get you to the hospital. How are you even freaking standing?” I asked, going toward him. He held his hands up, and I stopped.
“It’s fine,” he said. “Closed up while you were following me.”
I stared.
“Healing factor,” he explained.
“Of course,” I said quietly. He made a little mock bow, then crossed his arms over his chest.
“Nice to see you again, Jolene. I was worried.”
I let that pass, and tried not to think about the way my body warmed. “Was I really supposed to catch him?”
“You were,” he said, “I saw you out there, figured you’d grab him and take him in. That’s what they wanted from you, right?”
“Yeah. He was teleported away, and I wasn’t exactly ready for that,” I added with a raised eyebrow, though I knew he couldn’t see it. For s
ome reason, that made me feel like I was on more even footing.
“Gotta be ready for anything now,” he said. Then he walked toward the railing at the edge of the river. After a moment, I followed.
“You got yourself into a jam, Daystar,” he said finally.
“Don’t call me that,” I muttered.
“I have to admit, they played it perfectly. Baiting you like that.”
“I was so stupid,” I said, watching him out of the corner of my eye as I rested my forearms on the railing a few feet down from where he stood. “I didn’t have a whole lot of a choice.”
“I’m just enough of a jerk to remind you that I told you so. I told you to stay away from Virus and his pals. And you can stop watching me like you’re waiting for some kind of sneak attack. None of that shit happens with me. Besides, you’d wipe the floor with me.”
“Somehow I doubt that,” I muttered. “I just saw you throw Maddoc, with all of his super-strength and gargantuan size, out of a window.”
“Maddoc is a moron. Surely you’ve heard about his reputation?”
I let out a small snort of a laugh. “Yes, I’ve heard that.”
“Okay. Not hard to make him leap at me. Used his own momentum against him, asshole went flying. Barely took any effort at all.”
“Mmhmm.”
“You’re the one with the power punch or whatever the fuck they’re calling it.”
“Ugh.”
He didn’t respond for a while. “This is bullshit,” he finally said. “We’ll figure out a way to get you out. Watch out for Nightbane. Guy has a whole cemetery worth of skeletons in his closet,” he said quietly.
“Do you know who he really is?” I asked, wondering just how much he knew, and how, and why.
He shook his head. “Don’t need to know. He’s done shit since putting that mask on.”
“What about Alpha?”
“Alpha is all about Alpha. He doesn’t care about this city, or the little super hero team, or anything. He plays dirty, as you well know. Think about it. You’re not the only one who isn’t there out of the goodness of her heart or because you felt a need to save the world.”
“I’m going to have to play along. He’s threatening to lift the protection around my mother, leak my identity--“
A New Day (StrikeForce #1) Page 14