Verron_Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  Katelyn arrived fifteen minutes early and was dressed for the part. Instead of the expected Commando Gray, she arrived in what appeared to be skin-tight leather pants, boots and long leather jacket. Under closer inspection Kary and Paul realized it was Verron Steel manufactured synthetic leather. They looked at her and asked, “Who, where – I didn’t know we had this.” Katelyn laughed and replied, “Its secret agent, 007-stuff Vlad had made for his female field operatives. They can’t exactly run around in body armor so he had this made. Even Hunter has a pair of pants and an ankle length coat made of it. I borrowed this from Camil. The holsters are hers too.” They held a Glock on each hip. Paul smiled and commented, “Well if Vlad had it made secretly, I guess it’s above my clearance.” As he said it he began to think of all the uses. Just before she stepped through her gateway to Chattanooga, she pulled a matching mask over her head and put on the black gloves. Nothing was visible but a pair of clear blue eyes. Katelyn exited her gateway in the filthy hallway of an abandoned apartment building. Her instinct was to shoot the huge rats that roamed the halls completely unafraid of humans. She could hear a conversation from the floor above, where she knew the safe-house they gang counted their money and distributed their drugs was located. She wasted no time and slowly started up the steps. There was no way to climb the creaking old steps without announcing your arrival.

  She heard from above, “Who that is?” She didn’t reply, hoping to draw the guards at the door away from their post. One of them rounded the corner at the top of the steps pointing a police issued riot gun stolen from a police car days before. He never got off a shot as Katelyn fired one round into his chest. If it had been a normal 9mm he would be dead. She was amazed as he turned to vapor before her eyes. The gun clanging down the steps and his gold caps and jewelry pinged as it hit the floor. She rounded the corner as the second man was raising an AR-14 assault rifle. Her silenced shot hit him in the face and accomplished the same results as before.

  The door at the end of the hall was in much better shape than the rest of the building, heavy steel plate covered the door and the walls around it and it was obviously heavily bolted on the inside. Katelyn didn’t bring any grenades, but didn’t need one. She drew on The Power and hurled a well-formed blast of plasma at the door. She had been practicing and the only thing damaged in the explosion of light was the door and some of the heavy frame, the boys inside had been expecting her, obviously watching through a hidden camera outside the door. There were dozens of shots fired at Katelyn from everything from shotguns to Uzis; so much for not waking the neighbors. Any second thoughts she may have had about killing the men inside vanished with the first shots fired. With a pistol in each hand, she took out the armed gang members systematically, beginning with the ones she recognized as the four who killed her friend. She would have been fine with just killing them, but the others continued to fire at her. One by one, guns, jewelry and pocket change rattled to the floor until there were only two girls left in the room, one wearing black Verron Flexible Armor and one reaching for a shotgun beside her bed. Katelyn told her, “There is no need for you to die. Put the weapon down and get out of here.” She women paused a moment to think about the offer and quickly grabbed the gun. If Katelyn had a normal bullet in her gun she would have simply wounded her, but when the Rapture Round hit her she vanished. Since she was wearing no clothes all that fell to the floor were the gun, six rings, and eight pierced earrings. The girl was Katelyn’s only regret.

  Katelyn looked around the room at the scattered guns and jewelry on the floor and at the pounds of meth, oxy-cotton, crack, marijuana and other drugs she didn’t recognize. Then she noticed the pile of money on the coffee table where they had been counting it before being so rudely interrupted. She wasn’t about to leave it behind and decided the building was probably condemned anyway. She backed up to the door and released a flash of fire that quickly consumed the dried timbers of the old building. She made a jump outside to make sure no one was close to the fire and then headed back to Verron. Kary and Paul were waiting for her when she reentered the office so wired-up she couldn’t stop saying, “I can’t believe I just did that! I can’t believe I just did that! Uncle Paul is this how it felt when you made those raids by yourself? I think I’m gonna be sick.” She raced to Paul’s bathroom and threw-up. Washed her face and returned a while later drinking one of Paul’s Diet Cokes from his small fridge in his room. Katelyn sat down in a chair by the desk and told them, “It’s a lot different than killing them in the Fighter. It’s a lot harder when you look them in the eyes and can sense their fear of dying. But, I know that if I didn’t kill them, they would have been more than happy to kill me.” She turned to Kary and asked, “Besides Jenifer, do you think there were others?” Paul answered for his brother, saying, “Anyone who could do what they did to an unarmed and helpless girl is capable of killing without any of the emotions your feeling right now. When it stops bothering you, then you need to be concerned. But you did what needed to be done. Now you’re a criminal just like the rest of the Verron family.” She gave him a glaring look and sarcastically replied, “Great, I’ll be sure to put that on my resume.”

  Katelyn didn’t go completely unnoticed. There were several crack-addicts who lived in the basement of the building. Three of them had seen the lady in black walk around the building. They were calling the mystery woman Columbiana when the police arrived and drug them in for questioning. There was also an older lady of 86 years who lived in the building across the street. She described a black demon that carried two guns and had no face. When the Gang Task Force realized that Mrs. Newman had just received her Saturday night delivery of Wild Turkey a half hour before her eye-witness report, they decided that there were no reliable witness. Then after the fire was cleared, there was no forensic evidence at all. Whoever had taken out the safe-house had covered their tracks well. The next day the rumor was spread that it was done by a rival Hispanic gang MS-13. Two days later there were four drive-by shootings of MS-13 gang members. The war for control of the Chattanooga drug trade had begun. Katelyn had returned to Area 51 but had Lucy give her updates every evening on the situation. She was becoming more and more convinced that since she started the war that she should be the one to end it. It was never her intention to turn her hometown into a war zone. She began to determine exactly where she would respond next.

  Emily gave her a call a few days after the news was bustling with the fire at the 226 safe-house. Without coming right out and asking or telling Katelyn about the incident, she told her, “Maria Gonzales overheard her cousin talking about a big attack MS-13 is planning on a 226 rally in Warner Park. The rally is next Saturday. It will be a memorial service for those they claim were killed by MS-13. Just thought you’d like to know. Hey, by the way, have you heard the name for the mysterious woman in black?” Katelyn had heard but tried to pretend she was unaware of it. Emily quickly told her, “The name they gave her on the street is Columbiana, not very original, but it has made video rentals at Red Box soar with rentals of Zoe Saldana movies.” Katelyn actually had no idea who Zoe Saldana was. She responded, “I’ll have to figure out who she is.” Emily laughed, saying, “I forgot they don’t watch stuff like that where you’re from” then mumbled, “Must be nice.” Then continued, “Try watching Avatar, same girl as Columbiana, she also played Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy.” Katelyn knew immediately who it was now. She had seen both Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy dozens of times. She commented, “She was green in one movie and blue in the other. Sort of has a thing for body paint, does she?” They kept the subject light and Katelyn invited Emily to come visit her on Verron sometime. When they ended their conversation, Emily gave her goodbye by saying, “See ya later Columbiana.”

  On Friday Katelyn went back to Verron and discussed the next day events with her Uncle and Grandpa. She intended to head-off the attack planned by MS-13. She couldn’t believe she was actually going to protect the 226 gang members from their enemy, but she knew
that if she didn’t a lot of innocent people would be hurt. The memorial service would be attended by friends, family and even church members, pastors and local community leaders. If MS-13 fired into the crowd a lot more than gang members would be killed. It didn’t bother her if they shot each other, but every time a gang member pulled the trigger inside the city, the odds were high that in the congested areas in which they lived, someone innocent would get hurt. After reviewing Lucy’s intelligence reports and her interception of FBI and Gang Task Force communication, they decided for a bit more fire power this time and issued her two Atlantic Firearms Model AA89 9mm Semi-Automatic Pistols with the 30 round clip for each plus two additional clips. There was no need for stealth, so the suppressors were unscrewed and left in the gun cabinet. They had to do a little modifying of her utility belt to strap both guns on; they were a bit larger than the Glock but perfect for what she needed to do. Paul had the automatic model in his gun room, but once again they agreed that one bullet for one target was what had to be done. This time Katelyn took a clue from her little sister and added two 9 inch knives sheathed in her boots to her wardrobe. She was ready to go get some rest and visit her family for a while before she had to head to Chattanooga and suddenly decided 120 rounds just might not be enough. She made room on her belt for one more 30-round clip and went home to see Marcus and Danyel. Lydia was there babysitting both MJs while their parents; Michael, Rachael, Marcus and Danyel, were out to dinner. She helped Lydia and the MJs eat the two Digiorno Pizzas while Lydia told her about Paradise. After dinner and the MJs were in bed she watched head-cam video accumulated from the events on Paradise. All of a sudden a gang of street thugs didn’t seem so scary.

  The 226 Memorial Service was being held, weather permitting, at Warner Park. It was a very mild day that Saturday afternoon and temperatures were in the low sixties. Over a thousand people had gathered at the park with politicians and preachers making speeches and 226 members eulogizing their friends. There were a lot more people there in support of the families of those who lost their lives than there were actual gang members. A few miles away, MS-13 was congregating and preparing for the biggest drive-by shooting in the history of drive-by shootings. Forty vehicles were loading up in various sections of town and head for a rendezvous where Wilcox intersected N. Holtzclaw Avenue. The gang had timed it perfectly as one car after another entered Holtzclaw to work their way south toward Warner Park. Katelyn had no intention of them ever getting near the park. In fact after studying a map of the area, she was not planning on them getting near anyone. Where Holzclaw Avenue ran closet to the Railroad Yard and bordered an empty field between two factories on the other side of the four-lane road, Katelyn decided to make her stand. Standing in the middle of the road, she got her signal from Lucy through her ear-piece that forty vehicles had entered the northern end of the road. Using her telekinetic powers, she grabbed onto an empty railroad boxcar parked along the nearby tracks, and dropped it across the road, blocking the gang from proceeding any further and keeping innocent vehicles safe behind the heavy metal of the boxcar. As soon as the northbound traffic was past the end of the 40 car caravan, she dropped another boxcar behind them. She then leaped to the top of the overturned boxcar and stood waiting for MS-13 to arrive.

  As soon as the lead vehicle saw the roadblock he came to a screeching halt and the four passengers opened fire on the black figure in front of them. Their action was quickly followed by those trailing behind. Katelyn made no attempt to hide behind the boxcar for cover. She had a perfect vantage point for seeing everyone in front of her with a gun. She had no intentions of firing at anyone who did not fire at her first. In moments the four-lanes of Holtzclaw Avenue looked like a western movie with the wagons encircled to defend against Indian attacks. Katelyn couldn’t believe how heavily armed these men were. There were AK-47s, H&Ks, Uzis, Riot-guns, AR-14s and every possible kind of pistol, blasting away on automatic at the person ahead who appeared to be bullet-proof. Man after man began to vanish, beginning with the ones in front first. There were already 60 or more, of the over 160 men, hit with Rapture Rounds. Katelyn had just jumped to the ground to take the fight directly to the rest, when both sides of the street erupted with dozens of men in black. Katelyn realized that the Gang Task Force must have been tipped off about the planned drive-by. They had been waiting closer to Warner Park and hurried to the scene when the gun battle erupted. Realizing they were out-numbered and out-gunned, many of the gang ran for the cover of the woods or the railroad yard, other more foolhardy members began to fire on the heavily armed SWAT Team. Katelyn did not change her tactics. She continued to walk through the surrounding barricade of cars and shot those who shot first. Then she noticed out her peripheral vision some of the fleeing gang members circling behind the Task Force members. She made a quick leap from her position and positioned herself only a few feet from one of the agents and took the full fire of an AK-47 burst that was meant for him. She turned to see if he was alright and noticed the big yellow “FBI” letters on his back. Then she recognized the face. She knew she should have said nothing, but instinctively she said, “Get out of here Bart, I don’t need your help.” As she spoke, another gang member was trying to get close enough to kill the Demonio Negro (Black Demon). She saw Bart look and turned to realize she needed to reload. In a flash the man was impaled to the ground with a 9 inch knife. She quickly reloaded and fetched her knife.

  Bart pointed his gun at her as she recovered her knife and demanded, “FBI, drop your weapon and lay face-down on the ground!” Katelyn looked at him and laughed, saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I just saved your life.” Still pointing his gun, he demanded, “I’ll mention that at your trial. Now drop your weapon and get on the ground.” Instead Katelyn fired off two dozen well placed rounds as she raced to the aid of the SWAT team. She knew they could easily get killed or wounded in a firefight, she would not. Brad didn’t bother to shoot at her when she reentered the fight. He saw exactly what she was doing. In moments the MS-13 gunmen were vanished, escaped or arrested. A few had been wounded by SWAT fire and none of the law enforcement people were injured. When they noticed the woman in black still among them, they didn’t know whether they should fire on her or thank her. The SWAT team commander used a bull-horn and demanded, “You are surrounded and outnumbered. Put your weapons on the ground and lye face-down on the ground.”

  If anyone could have seen her face, they would have seen a rather amused smile. Didn’t they just see her throw two railroad cars into the street and walk through a barrage of hostile fire unscathed? What were these people thinking? She placed her 9mm’s back in their holsters and turned toward the railcar that was being used for cover by the SWAT team. She flipped it end-over to the railroad side of the street, then turned and did the same with the other. She waved and said, “Didn’t want to hold up traffic. It’s been fun – see ya round” then vanished. EMT’s were called in now that the fighting was over to transport those shot by SWAT to nearby Erlanger Hospital. Those shot by Demonio Negro would never be found. Katelyn had eliminated 84 members of MS-13. The SWAT team had killed 20 more, the remainder either made it safely to the woods and railroad yard or were arrested, leaving cars and weapons behind. Bart was the lead Federal Officer on site and brought in a forensic team to sweep the vehicles before they were removed. Holtzclaw traffic was rerouted for the next 22 hours as the investigation of the crime scene was conducted.

  This time when Columbiana, as some called her, or Demonio Negro, as she was called by the Hispanic community, made her appearance there were almost one hundred county, city and Federal law officers who were available as witnesses and 16 MS-13 members that had not been fast enough to run or were wounded. Video footage was recorded from helmet cameras and even a police helicopter. They were reviewed over and over and no one could identify the mystery lady in black. The U.S. District Attorney’s Office and local law enforcement determined that since there were no bodies of those shot by the Black Widow, as they chose to call
her, and no DNA evidence of the victims or the Black Widow it would be very difficult to prosecute anyone for anything even if they knew who she was. In fact, from the helicopter video, it was obvious that several of the SWAT team member’s lives were saved by the fast acting vigilante, including the lead FBI Gang Task Force Agent “Bart” Brown, or BB as the task force called him. It took two cranes and a crew of 25 railroad workers to move the damaged railcars back to the scrap section of the yard where they would be cut into sections and sold as scrap iron. The tough boxcars were never built to withstand being thrown. There was no video of the original movement, but several eye-witnesses blocked in the traffic jam that formed on either side of the barricade described how the railcars had simply floated through the air and crashed down onto the street. The police helicopter filmed the removal and it looked like a toy upended by a toddler as it teetered on its end a moment then crashed partially into the railroad yard.

  No one had recorded audio of the incident, but Bart kept playing over and over in his mind the voice of the woman who saved his life then laughed when he tried to arrest her. He was sure he had heard that voice before, but just couldn’t determine where. He talked with dozens of people every week in his line of work, it could be anyone.