“Hahahaha!” came an evil laugh from atop the Empire State Building. It could be heard all the way down at the ground. “You all die today!” the voice said. This footage looked like another cell phone recording.
A high pitched shriek was heard and parts of the buildings next to the Empire State building broke off and fell to the ground, smashing people and vehicles alike. The video went to static as a huge piece of glass was shown coming straight for it.
“Chris Gallow killed eighty seven people that day before we got the call to take him down. He is currently serving twelve consecutive life sentences in one of our specially designed cells to negate his power of sound manipulation.” she said as she turned towards the panel. “This video is filled with sixteen more examples of traditional law enforcement not being able to handle these monsters. I will be happy to run through them all, if you’d like.” she told them as she hit play again and screams came from the video.
She paused it when one of the members held up a hand. “We need a few moments to confer.”
She sat down as the entire panel put their hands over their microphones and quietly spoke to each other. It was after about ten minutes that the Senator took his hand off his and spoke again.
“We believe, in the interest of the United States of America, that we can continue utilizing your services.” the senator said.
Trisha smiled and nodded.
“However,” He told her as he looked directly into her eyes. “We request periodic visits to ensure the capture and imprisonment of humans with extraordinary powers are being done in the most humanely way possible.” he paused to wait for a response.
“Provided the President signs off on every member inspecting, I see no problem with your terms.” she told him.
“Very well. We will also require periodic inspections of TSO’s financial records, to be sure our money is being spent in the best way possible.”
She looked at him with an annoyance. “We will provide financial records at your request, provided the President signs off on it.” she told him. She hated mentioning the President, but it seemed necessary. She was sure she would be getting a call from him later tonight.
“Very well. I believe we can conclude today’s hearing?” the Senator asked as he looked around the room. Hearing no complaints or otherwise, he closed his leather folio and stood up. The rest of the panel stood after him, and they all walked out together, leaving Trisha alone in the giant room.
She shook her head, pulled out her cell phone, and dialed her secretary. “Miranda, make a note to raise our rates at the earliest time that our contracts allow.”
Chapter 2
April 1st, 2015 2:47 PM
Douser pushed a button on her watch and touched the monster they had just captured again – taking his powers away for another twenty minutes. She handed Chancer the glass he had thrown at her.
“You dropped this.” she told him.
“You keep it, that glass saved your life!” Chancer said as he watched T.S.O. medics load the monster onto a gurney.
“A lucky glass, is that it?” she laughed.
“Sure, why not?” he said as he kept watching the monster. “Think the boss’ll be mad?” he pointed to the bloody mess they were putting on the gurney.
“I’m pretty sure she can still bill for him. He’s alive, after all.” she said as she looked at the grotesque mess.
“Alive-ish, anyways.” he said quietly.
“He killed two people, he deserves it.” he said without feeling.
After a short time of silence and watching the medics deal with the monster, Chancer asked her if she wanted him to ride with her.
“No thanks. I got this one. It’s not like he’s going to be lifting anything any time soon.” she smiled and looked past him. “Besides, you have reports to fill out.” she said with a laugh and a pat on the shoulder.
“Agent Chancer, how nice to see you again.” a voice came from behind him.
Chancer sighed and turned around. “Captain Ron! Captain Ron!” he shouted with a smile as he turned around.
“Do you never tire of saying that?” Captain Ronald Priggs of the New York City Police Department said.
“Not really, no.” he said quickly. “Besides, it makes your men laugh.”
The captain turned quickly and his officers tried to hide their smiles and laughs. He gave them a dirty look before turning back around. “He dead?” he asked as he looked at the bloody sheets covering the monster.
“Nope, alive and kicking.” he said as he looked over to the ambulance the gurney was being loaded onto. “Well, alive anyways.”
“Was he really throwing cars?” the captain asked as he watched the paramedics who were helping the people out of the first car the monster threw.
“Two of them, when we showed up.” Chancer said as a paramedic came over and asked if he was ready to transport their prisoner. “Gotta’ go Captain, I’ll send you the report by the end of the day.” He climbed in the back of the ambulance with Douser and the monster, and waved with a grin to the Captain as the paramedics closed the doors behind him and drove off.
Captain Priggs looked over to where the second car had been thrown and rolled into a building and shook his head. “Damned Supers.” he grumbled as he took charge of the area.
April 1st, 2015 3:38 PM
Douser pushed the alarm on her watch and touched the monster right before they pulled into the secure section of the Oslett Building, which was near Central Park. The ambulance stopped in a section of the main parking garage designed for prisoner transport, where Chancer and Douser jumped out, and the paramedics transported the prisoner to a trailer being pulled by a modified golf cart.
“Love this thing!” Chancer said as he jumped into the driver’s seat.
“Try not to scratch it this time.” Douser said as she rode on the back seat facing the prisoner.
“That wasn’t my fault! The ninja woke up!”
“He wasn’t a ninja, he could only electrify metal by touching it. And if you recall, we encased him in rubber for transport.” Douser told him.
“He had a ninja sword!” Chancer said as he slammed the accelerator down and they took off with a lurch forward. “Vrooooooom!” he said with a fake maniacal laugh.
“You are so childish.” she said with a shake of her head as he drove as fast as the cart would take them.
He laughed again as he drove through the spiral tunnel that took them to the sub-basements. He waved with a big toothy grin at every camera they passed, until finally slamming on the brakes at the end of the tunnel. The cart slid a little, and the front bumper hit the metal door.
“Whooops.” Chancer said as he put it in reverse and helped the cart make the reverse beeping noises as he backed up a foot. He waved to the cameras mounted in the corners above the door and waited.
After waiting a few minutes, the doors slid open and two men in black uniforms came out with rifles drawn on them.
“Identification.” one said crisply.
“Always with the ‘Identification.’, you could try saying please.” Chancer said as he fished his badge out of his pocket and handed it over. The other man collected Douser’s and they both fell back and put the cards in a reader of some type on the other side of the door. Then they came over with a box and Chancer and Douser put their thumbs on it.
“Identification confirmed. Matthew Tweed Hendrix.” one guard said.
“Identification confirmed. Jennifer Ana Wellington.” the other said.
The guards handed back their badges and the first asked, “Prisoner?”
“Naw, he’s a good friend, we’re just taking our time getting him some help.” Chancer said with a roll of his eyes.
“Yes, he’s a prisoner.” Douser said quickly behind him, resetting her alarm and touching the monster again.
The first guard nodded and waved over another set of guards. “Proceed to cell block two. These men will escort you.” he said as he backed away.
> “We’ve done this before you know.” Chancer said as he leaned out of the cart to yell to the first guard. “We don’t need an escort for a nearly dead prisoner.”
“Just shut up and drive.” Douser said, obviously aggravated.
“Fine, but no one said I had to let them keep up.” he said as he slammed down the accelerator. They took off instantly.
The guards took off at a quick jog to keep up with the speeding cart, which followed the entryway straight through two man-traps that had literal blast doors that could come down in a split second. Past that, they went down another ramp, and through two more man-traps, and down another ramp, until Chancer wheeled to the left, almost bringing the cart up on two wheels. “Whoooo!” he shouted as he slammed on the brakes in cell block two. The cart came to a screeching halt before stopping.
“You guys need to work out more.” Chancer said after jumping out of the driver’s seat and watching the two guards come in running through the entryway.
“Or you need to slow down, Sir.” one of the guards said, a little out of breath.
“If they wanted me to slow down, they would make it so the cart can’t go that fast!” he said with a smile as he started undoing the straps on their prisoner. Douser undid the other side, not saying a word.
“Jesus, what happened to this one?” a man in a doctor’s coat said as he waved his team over to the prisoner.
“Car fell on him. Tragic irony, if you ask me.” Chancer said as he backed away and let the doctor’s team take over.
“How is it ironic?” the doctor asked as he started pushing buttons on the tablet he was carrying.
“He was throwing cars at us, so it’s only ironic that he gets crushed by one, right?” Chancer said with a smile.
“I suppose.” the doctor said quietly, still pushing buttons on his tablet. “What powers does he have?”
“He can throw cars, obviously.” Chancer said quickly. He was a little sad when Douser cut him off.
“Increased strength, bone mass, and endurance.” she said quietly.
“Do you know the upper limit of his strength?” the doctor asked her as he moved near her to collect his answers.
“I believe two to three tons.” she told him. She had her eyes closed, as though she was focusing on something.
The doctor only nodded, then went over and lifted the sheet off the monster as soon as his team had the gurney lifted up and on its wheels. “Well, I doubt he’ll be lifting much anytime soon, but still, Robb should be here any minute.” he mumbled with a disgusted look under the sheet. “Can you wait?” he asked Douser.
“Of course.” she said.
“I can wait too.” Chancer said quickly.
“There’s no need for you to be here, Agent Chancer. You may leave.” the doctor said with a small wave towards him. He started walking off towards a medical bay and his team pulled the gurney forward. Douser and the guards walked with them, leaving Chancer alone with the cart.
“Aww. I want to hang out with Robb too…” he said as he looked down to the cart. He smiled and jumped in, squealing the tires as he wheeled towards the door.
April 1st, 2015 5:14 PM
Douser reset her watch and touched the monster again as Robb rolled in.
Robb was short for “Reliable Overexcited Binary Being”, a name everyone hates, but since Chancer happened to be standing in the room and mentioned it during his creation, his powers of luck made the robot like it as well. Robb was a robot, designed by a monster, but only activated for the first time after T.S.O. agents raided the super-genius monster’s house and took everything. When they had turned it on, it didn’t know who its master was, so Doctor Miles Perry had said he was – and the two have been inseparable since. Robb rolled on two tracks, and was mostly comprised of spare parts cobbled together. Only a few new parts have been added, as Robb has recently learned to upgrade himself.
“Hello again Doctor Perry! It’s great, great, great to see you!” Robb said, overexcitedly.
“Robb, we need a way to restrain someone who can lift a maximum of four tons.” the doctor said as he was inspecting the damage to the monster.
“I would be delighted to help, Doctor Perry!” Robb said. He moved one of his claws down to a small box in the front of his rectangular box looking body and pulled out a hard drive. He plugged it into his head. “Processing. I’ll have an answer for you in three minutes and forty two seconds, Doctor Perry.” he said as a small speaker on the side of him started playing the Jeopardy! theme song.
The doctor shook his head and looked towards Douser. “Sorry, I had it on last night for background noise.”
“It’s fine, doctor.” Douser told him. She stood only close enough to touch the monster if she had to, but still out of the way of him and his team.
After three minutes and some odd seconds, Robb made a buzzer noise.
“I have a solution Doctor Perry! Would you like me to show you?” Robb said in an excited voice.
“Sure.” he said as his team was passing medical information about the monster back and forth.
A small monitor, only a few inches wide and tall popped out of Robb’s back and was lifted with a whirring noise. It displayed blueprints of a set of chains, and a chemical formula.
“Is that some kind of metal?” the doctor asked as he had to come over to the small monitor to inspect it. He squinted.
“Yes Doctor Perry, I made it myself just moments ago! I’ve taken current technology on carbon fiber and spliced it with - -“
“I don’t need the details, Robb, will it work?”
“It will work, Doctor Perry!” Robb said, without a hint of anger from being cut off.
“Take it to the engineering team. Tell them this takes priority.” the doctor said.
“Absolutely, Doctor Perry! You all have a great, great, great day!” Robb said as he wheeled out.
“Sometimes he gets on my nerves.” the doctor told Douser. “But overall he’s quite a friendly companion.”
“I know the feeling well, Doctor.” she told him as she thought of Chancer, and the trouble he’s probably in right now.
Chapter 3
April 2nd, 2015 06:00 AM
Trisha Oslett walked into her office early the next day, after having conceded to an inspection of her facilities. She knew it was coming eventually, and hoped she was ready.
“Miranda, online.” She said as she dropped her briefcase by the side of her desk.
Immediately a hologram of a woman dressed in a suit appeared in front of her desk.
“I am online, Miss Oslett.” Miranda said.
“Give me a report since I’ve been gone.” Trisha said as she settled into the chair behind her large desk.
Immediately, windows of data opened around Miranda, and she started pointing them out. “In the last two days, profit has been stable, no new income generated. However, there is a new prisoner contract ready for your signature in your inbox.”
Trisha picket up her tablet and started skimming the contract. “Tell me about this new prisoner.”
“Prisoner number #58, Ralph Foretta, also known as “Strongman”. Powers include increased strength, increased bone mass, and increased endurance. Known to be able to lift up to two tons with a suspected maximum of four tons. Condition is currently stable. Prisoner is currently in acceptable permanent restraints.”
“Show me his medical data.” Trisha said in between Miranda’s update. Immediately, the prisoner’s current medical data streamed to her tablet. “What happened to him?”
“Per Agent Chancer’s report, Agent Douser suppressed his powers while he was lifting a car, and the car crashed down on him. A note is attached to this from Doctor Perry, stating that the prisoner would have been killed had he not had increased bone mass.” Miranda told her.
Trisha nodded as she read over his medical data and tapped her tablet a few times to see more. “Have him moved to cell block six.” She dismissed the medical data.
“The order
has been directed.” Miranda told her.
“Also, inform security that an inspection team will be coming, which may or may not include a Senator. Give them full access to the entire building, except the black zones.”
“The order has been directed.”
“Has the power problems been fixed with the holograms in cell block five?”
“Cell block five has been upgraded with quadruple power redundancy, as directed.” Miranda said.
“Excellent. Have Agents Chancer, Douser and Eagle-Eye report to my office at nine this morning.”
“The order has been directed.”
April 2nd, 2015 08:30 AM
“Can you believe this shit?” Chancer said as he brought his jeep to a stop in front of a group of protestors. Luckily, he had the hard top on his jeep as they banged on his window.
“The Sellouts suck!” One of the protestors shouted as he banged on Chancer’s window.
“It is very believable, since I am right here.” Douser told him. They both lived in the same building, which was also owned and protected by TSO, so they carpooled often. This morning they had both received a text alert to be in the CEO’s office at nine.
“How could you turn on your own people?” A woman shouted as she banged on Douser’s window.
“We’re never going to make it now.” Chancer said as he tried to inch the jeep forward. He blared the horn as much as possible. It was slow going due to the amount of protestors crowding the street in front of the Oslett building.
“We will make it. You will think of something.” Douser said as she continued reading her tablet, uncaring about the protestors. Protestors were a common occurrence for them.
“Fuck it.” He said as he drew his pistol out from its holster and popped open the sunroof. He waved it at them while shouting obscenities until they moved out of his way – which they did promptly when he fired a round into the sky. He plopped down into his seat quickly and gunned it to the gate, which opened and closed rapidly for them as the guards held the protestors that chased their jeep back.
The Sellouts Page 2