Paragons 2

by Gideon Mills

  “White Angel,” the man said. “It’s been a while.”

  Fleur smiled. “Zeke. It has. I hope business has been good.”

  Zeke shrugged. “Been better. This Reign and Eris business has hurt me.”

  I had read the latest article in the newspaper, and it said just that. Many of the smaller local businesses had been hurting with all the gang violence. With the Paragons not able to patrol the way they used to. One would think that they would be rallying for the Paragons to return to their glory.

  “I’m sorry, Zeke,” Fleur said. “It’s hurt me too.”

  The man nodded. “More than me. I hate that you and the others can’t be out doing what you do best.”

  The White Angel smiled. “Thank you.”

  Zeke leaned forward. “What brings you here?”

  “I’m working a case for the police, what little they let us do anymore.”

  Zeke rubbed his chin. “I heard about that. Little petty stuff.”

  “For the most part, but this time Ares and I got a real case. And we were hoping to ask some of the illegal brokers some questions.”

  Zeke laughed. “You and your refusal to use the word ‘fence’.”

  “I hate the term,” Fleur said. “Makes no damn sense.”

  Zeke shrugged. “I won’t argue with you. A fight I can’t win, but I can give you a list.” Zeke leaned back and looked Felicity and me over. “The mythical Ares. The man that brought the change.”

  “I didn’t bring any change,” I said.

  “You and your sister arrived, and things went to hell,” Zeke said. “You might be trying to fix it, but you made the mess.”

  That was a slap in the face, and one I hadn’t seen coming. Not that I could argue with him one bit. He was right. This was all my fault, and I needed to fix it. “I’m sorry,” I said. That was hard to say and to admit. Not normal for me by any stretch.

  Zeke waved me off. “I am too. That was mean of me. I know you didn’t mean to bring this to my city.”

  “No, I didn’t. Honestly, I was just looking for a break from Mount Olympus and wanted to see New York again. I had no intention of starting a war or creating chaos.”

  “Right on,” Zeke said. “Let me get that list. Help you out. What’s that job you’re doing?”

  Zeke fired up a laptop and typed away. It was Felicity that answered his question. “You hear about the muggings on Broadway?”

  Zeke nodded. “Just rumors.”

  “Sounds about right,” Fleur said. ‘We think Paragons are involved.”

  “Don’t get me started.” Zeke didn’t look up, but it was clear he had an opinion on Paragons committing a crime.

  “Go for it,” Felicity said. “I want to hear what you think.”

  “It’s fools like that one who make it worse for us. Give power to Reign, and the anti-Paragons. If they didn’t use their powers to rob people, we would be better off. I can’t stand jackasses like that. They make a bad name for all Paragons.”

  “You a Paragon?” Felicity asked.

  Zeke nodded. “I’m the lowest of the low.”

  “Can’t be much lower than me,” Felicity said.

  Fleur laughed. “You are a tier three. Zeke could only dream of being that.”

  The squirrelkin eyed Fleur. “How did you know my level?”

  “You think I don’t have Lola look up every person we work with?”

  “I guess that makes sense, but still, I feel violated.”

  “You passed the test long ago, and we love having you work with us.’

  Felicity smiled. “Thank you.”

  “If you really care,” Zeke said. “My power is useless in fighting crime, but I know whenever anyone is lying to me. Though I have to have eye contact.”

  “I see,” Felicity said. “That does limit you.”

  But to me was a handy power to have, and one I wished I had. I couldn’t think of any Gods that had that power. Maybe some of the non-Greek or Roman might have it, but none of my close brethren did.

  “Just a bit,” he said. “But I know Fleur isn’t lying to me about this job and neither are you. And the same goes for Ares there. He really believes he lived on Mount Olympus.”

  He hit the laptop keyboard, and behind him, a printer burst to life. Fleur no longer had any interest in the paper and was looking at me with a newfound gleam in her eyes.

  Zeke got the printout and handed it to her. “I hope this helps.”

  Fleur smiled. “It will. Thank you.”

  Taking the printout, we left the pawnshop. As it turned out, it was the nicest one we would set foot in that day. By the end of the day, I longed for the dirty parking area we started at.

  11

  Pawnshops galore

  Parking the car, I exited the passenger seat. This was the third stop on the list, and I immediately stepped in something wet and semi-solid. “For the love of God,” I said. “If this is human shit I’m going to be pissed.”

  Felicity sniffed the air. “Sorry.”

  I looked up to Mount Olympus. “Hera, this isn’t funny. I’ll make you pay for this.”

  “Can she really make you step in shit?” Felicity asked.

  “No, but she’s why we’re stuck here. So it’s her fault anyway.”

  Felicity pursed her lips. “I guess it is, though seems unfair to blame her for everything.”

  I shrugged. “Right now, I feel like it is. Hera has never been a great mother, and right now she’s the worst.”

  She tricked Eris and me. Was using Reign and who knows who else to get what she wanted. All because she refused to stand up to Dad. If she would just be honest with him, and if he’d be a better husband.

  Not to say I was the best in my youth. But I didn’t marry and expect my wife to be okay with my philandering. Marriage was something I had never thought about before, and even though I loved both Fleur and Lola, I wasn’t sure marriage was in my future. Not to mention the fact that Felicity was fast growing on me.

  “That really does stink,” Fleur said.

  I groaned. This place was my own personal hell. Sure I had been in some nasty locations over the years, but this was supposed to be a civilized time and city. Not one where you’d step out of a car into a pile of shit.

  “It does.” I did my best to scrape the crap off my shoe. We made our way to the pawnshop in this filthy place. A sign hung above the door with the name, Voltaic Trade. “This doesn’t sound like a normal pawn shop.”

  “It’s not. It specializes in electronics,” Fleur said. “According to Zeke’s list, if someone wants to sell a stolen cell phone or laptop, this is the place to go.”

  Phones were one of the things that Elric took the most. That gave me high hopes as we entered the place. Stepping into the store, we were greeted by the customary bell and a stench of old, musty food. The shop was filled to the brim with electronics of all kinds.

  Computers, laptops, cell phones, tablets, TVs and more were on shelves and the floor. It really was a big hot mess. Behind the counter stood a giant of a man. He had to weigh over three hundred pounds, and it was all fat. His white shirt was stained and barely covered his girth.

  His beard probably had food stuck in it, and who knows what else. This man screamed disgusting pig. It made my skin crawl. He eyed us as we walked to the counter. “What can I do for you?” he asked.

  Fleur stopped us short of the counter. “My buddy, Zeke,” she said. She had been trying to be nice, but even she was running thin. “Said you might be able to help us out. Get us some cheap, untraceable tech.”

  The filthy man narrowed his eyebrows. “Zeke you say, how do you know him?”

  “Zeke and I go way back,” Fleur said. “He and I worked the Penn Station job a few years ago.”

  The man’s eyes went wide. “Everyone heard about that job. It went sideways fast.”

  Fleur nodded. “You have no idea.”

  The look on the sleaze ball’s face was priceless. “I’m sure,” he said. “
Name’s Murray.”

  “Nice to meet you, Murray, I’m Fleur, and this is Blake and Felicity.” I wasn’t sure giving out our names was the smartest thing to do.

  Murray examined us as if seeing us for the first time. “Blake,” Murray said. “You look a lot like that guy everyone is talking about.”

  I shrugged. “I have that face. Which guy you talking about this time?”

  “Ares.”

  “Ah, been getting that a lot. Him and some Rock guy.”

  Murray crinkled his nose. “You kind of look like him too.”

  “Like I said, I have that face.”

  Murray let it go and moved on to Felicity. “Don’t have many of your kind visit here.”

  Felicity pursed her lips. “My kind,” she said with a tone of disapproval. “I’m your kind, dude.”

  Murray shrugged. “Not really. Last time I checked, I don’t have a tail or claws.”

  “Those are just a slight change to me,” Felicity said. “I’m still human.”

  “If you say so.”

  Murray though looked at her with lust in his eyes. He might not be a super fan of kin, but he clearly found her attractive. It was hard not to find her appealing in some way. The fiery squirrelkin was appetizing in many ways, and I wanted to eat her up, in the good kind of way.

  “Murray,” Fleur said. “You get any stuff in recently?”

  He produced a list of goods, and Fleur examined the list, tapping it as she read all the items. It was pages long, and that was worrisome. If all that was illegal goods that had been stolen, there were a lot of people acquiring items in the city. That needed to be rectified.

  “Lots here,” I said.

  Murray nodded. “Reign has been good for acquiring goods, bad for selling them.”

  “Crime up, but the good people down,” Fleur said. “Tough for all of us.”

  Murray nodded. “Yeah. Not pleased with this all really. Like getting cheap goods, but doesn’t help if I can’t flip them.”

  It didn’t bother me one bit that he was having trouble selling other people’s property. They deserved to have it back, but that was for another time. After we left here, I was going to see if it was okay to give McGarrett the information we had about the place. Didn’t seem right to let it go. Yet, I didn’t want to out Zeke and burn that bridge for Fleur.

  Being a hero sucked at times, and so did caring for someone. I really didn’t want to hurt her. Letting this man go about his day was going to piss me off.

  “You see anything you want?” Murray asked.

  Fleur looked up at Murray and his grizzled face. “In fact, I do.” She pointed out several items on the list, and Murray went into the back to get them. He was gone for close to ten minutes before he returned.

  Sure enough, I recognized two of the things he carried from the photos that McGarrett provided of the stolen goods. They had to be taken by Elric. I couldn’t help but smile.

  “You like what you see?” Murray asked.

  “I do,” I replied.

  “As do I,” Felicity said.

  This was going to be well worth stepping in shit.

  “Great,” Murray said. “Let’s talk money.”

  Fleur grinned. “How about we talk about your supplier.”

  Murray tilted his head. “You know I can’t talk about stuff like that.”

  Fleur leaned in close. “While Zeke and I go way back, you and I don’t. The man that got these. He threatened me and the people I love.”

  Her tone was dark and threatening. I had never seen her like this before, and it was both scary and hot. Her intensity was more than I had ever seen. Even in bed.

  Murray gulped. “Look, Fleur. I don’t get names or anything. Just the goods.”

  “You will tell me all you know, and I’ll let this operation stay running. If I think you left one thing out, one itty bitty piece of information, I’ll make sure that the police know. That every criminal knows.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Murray said.

  “You know about the Penn Station job,” she said. “Tell me I wouldn’t.”

  The man's face was white as a ghost. He was petrified of Fleur and what she might do to him. Both Felicity and I must have had looks of shock and awe on our faces. I had never expected this.

  I had thought Fleur might slow play this and work up to threats. But she was on a mission and wasn’t going to let Elric or Murray get in the way.

  “Fine,” Murray said. “I’ll tell you everything.

  He started to speak fast and furious. The seller was actually two people. One was clearly Elric, and the way Murray talked of the man, he was almost as afraid of him as of Fleur. But clearly not enough. The other person was a short woman and sounded like Marie Summer, his teleporting partner. That was a good thing since I really didn’t want any more people in the gang.

  They came to him and didn’t leave him with much to go on. Elric and Marie showed up at odd times, and never the same day. They appeared out of thin air, once every week for the last three weeks.

  Murray was so scared that he paid them whatever price they asked. It was twice what he paid any of the other thieves in the city, but the merchandise was top-notch, and in the end, Murray was sure he’d make his money back.

  Fleur worked out a deal to take the goods off his hands for what he paid for them. I would have forced him to give us the stolen merchandise, but she clearly had a bigger heart than me.

  As we left with the goods, which would be returned to their rightful owners, Felicity looked to Fleur. “That was so fucking hot,” the squirrelkin said.

  “Thank you,” Fleur said. “I’m just sick of this and want to get ahead.”

  “We gonna stake him out to see if they come back?” I asked.

  “We sure are.”

  “Yes!” Felicity cheered. “I love stakeouts.”

  To me a stakeout was too much like a siege on a city. A whole lot of waiting around for something to happen. Not what I called fun at all, but it was necessary.

  12

  Back at the Hideout

  When we arrived back at the lair, Athena’s car was there. We hadn’t told them we were leaving. Not that we could have, since unless it was an emergency, since all of us had agreed not to contact them when they were looking into Elric.

  After I scanned my eye, we all entered. It was nice to have my iris be one of the few that can gain access to the building. Though it was mainly done because I was living here now. Lola had giggled the whole time she was doing it.

  Athena was standing there in her ‘I’m going to lay into you’ stance. Felicity and Fleur had no idea what was about to happen. My half-sister had had eons to perfect this and was good at it.

  Lola was sitting at her desk and looked up at us. I could see on her face that she knew. That Athena had been fuming since they arrived back at the hideout. I took a deep breath in to prepare for the outburst that was coming my way.

  Athena strode to us with her face in a fury. When she stopped her hands were on her hips, and her lips curled up. “What in the world were you doing?” she demanded. “No. I don’t care. We get back, and there was no note. Nothing. You three could have been dead. Or worse.”

  I didn’t want to say it, but nothing was worse than death. I kept my mouth shut and let her go on. Gently I touched both Fleur and Felicity in an attempt to make sure they remained silent.

  “We’ve wasted time waiting for you. While you three were off galivanting around.”

  Felicity opened her mouth to speak, but I grabbed her to keep her from making it worse. Best to get it over with and then explain what we were doing.

  “Making us fear for the worst and not even leaving a note. Like little schoolchildren.” Athena went on for a while before she finally stopped. “Do you three have anything to say for yourselves?”

  “We found the man Elric is selling his stolen electronics to,” Fleur said.

  Athena stared at her wide-eyed. “That is amazing, and I’m sorry for yelling
, but you really need to leave a note.’

  “We should have,” Fleur said.

  It amazed me how well that ended, and that Athena had apologized to us. That was a rare occurrence if I ever saw one. She wouldn’t do that unless she really felt bad about it.

  “So who is the buyer?” Lola asked. She caressed my arm and Fleur’s back. She even gave Felicity some love.

  Felicity was the one to answer. “Murray at Voltaic Trade.”

  Fleur took over and mentioned going to see Zeke and then Murray. Both Athena and Lola listened intently.

  “I’ll see what I can learn,” Lola said.

  “Staking him out is a great idea,” Athena added. “You work that angle, and we’ll continue this angle.”

  I was dreading the stakeout, but it was the best course of action. It was a longshot, but nonetheless, it was worth the pain I was going to go through.

  The only good thing was that I was going to be with Fleur and Felicity.

  The rest of the day was spent planning on who would being doing the stakeout starting tomorrow. It would be too much for just the three of us. So Athena and Lola would be joining in on that.

  While I understood the need for it, I wasn’t a fan of the plan. Lola was already spread thin working with my sister as it was. The hacker looked more and more beat as the talk went on. She knew that she was going to be doing little work on the computer, and that was her lifeblood.

  It pained me that she was going through this. I could see in Fleur’s eyes that she too felt terrible for the Guardian. Lola wasn’t suited to this type of work, but she was willing to do whatever she needed to for the team.

  That was another topic that we hadn’t talked about and I was sure that Fleur was thankful for that. She really didn’t seem to want to name the team. Maybe she was right, and a name wasn’t required. It did sound like a fun thing to do, plus naming the team would provide a lighthearted distraction with all the other stuff going on around us.