New Markets - 02 (25 page)

“Oh my god.  I’ve got $17,000 in rewards at this point.”

Kell said, “What the?  What have you done?”

“Well, we captured this ring of mutants and saved a bunch of people yesterday.  I captured a kidnapper this morning, more of them later in the morning, rescued the girl that was kidnapped, the fire, and … they have a reward for helping the fireman in here too.  How’d that happen?”

Megan said, “Someone must have seen you do it and reported it.  It’s not like they didn’t know who you were on the scene.”

My hands shook.  “I can’t believe this.  I’m rich, even after paying off the costume.”

Trevin asked, “Costume?  How much did that cost?”

“Five thousand.”

“That sounds like a ripoff.”

“Kell, hand me your knife again.”  He complied quickly.  I pulled up my loose outer shirt, and pulled the costume top away from my body, then cut it.  The fabric resisted cutting more than I thought it would.  I handed his knife back, and we all watched the tear slowly close as we watched.

I continued, “That’s why it’s worth so much.  Our clothes started getting trashed when we first did some heroing.  That would have added up extremely fast, not to mention left me half clothed at some point.”

It was the wrong thing to mention to a bunch of young men, their mental chatter showed that they would have been fine with half clothed superheroines.

“Also, the tailor handcrafted each suit right in front of us.  I could have had whatever color combination or suit design I wanted.  I just like white; it goes well with my gold hair.”

Kell said, “I think it looks cool, what little I’ve seen of it.  Hey, ah, Trevin.  Mind doing that thing you did earlier for us?”

I gave Trevin my best pleading face and shook my head ‘no.’

Trevin smiled at me, “Aw, man.  Who can resist a face like that?  Sorry Kell."

I said, "Well guys, while I love chatting, I need to check in with the F.B.I. down in Rikesville."

I stood up, and they did so as well.  I hugged each of them briefly before saying to Megan, “Thanks again for holding my stuff.”

“Sure thing, be careful out there.”

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow in class.  Err, well, I’ll be outside of class, it’s too hard to sit
in
the classroom, but still….”

I walked down and out of the library until I found an area by two of the buildings that people couldn’t see.  I quickly stripped off the skirt and shirt, and exchanged them for my other costume pieces in the backpack.  Then I quickly took flight for home.

I dropped off my backpack, brought in the mail, and took off the face mask.  Obviously it didn’t do anything to hide who I was with such obvious hair and eye colors.

I debated leaving the gloves as well, but thought I’d stick with them for a while to see if gloves were useful.

After stepping outside I pushed off my air step and floated into the air.  Then I boosted my speed and flew toward Rikesville.

Chapter 11 – Cash & Carry

Lance's Viewpoint

Stephanie flew off with Firebane; I watched them disappear in the distance.  Apparently many others enjoyed the view as well.  Many heads and more than a few cameras were aimed up in the air after them.

I looked around for Rael, he was chatting it up with some newspaper reporters. 
Hmm, maybe he's learned that working with them will be more beneficial than growling at them....

I walked toward the fire chief, one of the firemen put up his fist to fist-bump me on the way.  I grinned and returned the bump … gently.  The size difference in our hands still amazed me.  My hands had grown an inch or two in handspan each when I spread out the fingers, and each finger was thicker than before. 
Guess I’ll have to give up knitting.
  I grinned at my own thought.

I arrived by the fire chief and said, "Hey Chief, anything else I can help with before I head off?"

He looked over at me and grinned.  "Everything ought to run smooth here on out.  We don't have any big equipment to bring up or get down, or I'd ask for help with it.  Appreciate the help with the fire."

"Glad to help.  I'd hate to see anyone get injured when I'm around to, well ... take the heat for them."

"Spartan, what's all that ... stuff coming off you?"

"Energy vapors of some type.  It seems to happen when I've got an adrenaline rush."

"Ah.  It just looks odd."  I noticed quite a few of the emergency personnel here continued to stare at me.  I’d thought it was just the superhero thing, but I supposed these vapors added another reason to study me.

I shrugged.  "I agree, though I can't do much about it.  It'll fade on its own soon.  At least I’m not dying of hunger this time."  I studied the yellow vapors coming through my costume for a minute.  They appeared to waft out from my costume, creating a type of nimbus around me.  I knew the whites of my eyes glowed yellow from within based on the reddish tint the light caused through my goggles.  It didn’t affect my eyesight at all, but presented an interesting image in the reflection of the nearby car the fire chief rode in.  I still felt amped up, a rush of energy just waited to be released.  I wished I had workout equipment to use; it would make for a great workout.

Rael's voice came from behind me, "What, are you planning on bench pressing a fire engine for fun?"

I looked at the fire engine, then at Rael.  "I bet I could lift it, I don't think it'd be too different than the train cars with freight on them."

"I agree.  I doubt the firemen would appreciate you playing with their truck though."

I laughed, "Yeah, I don't think they would.  You ready to head out?"

"Yup.  Did I see Psystar fly off with the new chick?"

"Firebane.  She took her to H.E.R.O. HQ."

"Good idea, if she's new.  So we won't see her for a while?"

"Pfft.  They're girls, who knows what they'll get into on the way ... or on the way back."

"You need to eat?  You've got to be burning a ton of energy to produce those fumes."

"Burning ... yeah, the fire must have somehow added energy to me.  That's what made me hyped up.  I'm not burning food; I'm releasing energy I must have absorbed."

"Wouldn't your armor block that?"

I shrugged, "Beats me.  You know, on the chance that this is burning a lot of energy, let's get some food.  Then we can camp out on a rooftop and see if anything occurs downtown.  Maybe we can find a gargoyle on a building corner and pose."

Rael laughed, "Works for me.  So ML’s?"

I nodded, “Okay.  Need to change first then.”

“Pfah, you need to do that anyway, you’re covered in smoke.  Wait, never mind that – let’s go someplace nearby, and then look for a motorcycle place.  I have no desire to be carried around by you.”

“Aw, come on.  I was beginning to think you’d be like my pet raccoon.”

“I’m not furry, so no.  Okay, fine, Metro Supersport is on the far west side.  You jump us near it, we eat in costume, and I find a cycle.”

I nodded, picked him up, and leapt toward the west.  We cleared the buildings in seconds, and kept going up and west.  One set of Rael’s wicked sharp claws sliced through my trapezius muscles above my right shoulder.  I grimaced, but tried to ignore the pain as much as possible.  The view was too good.  We were nearly flying, and it was awesome watching the city from above.

Our arc stopped about half a mile in the air, though we continued to make good distance horizontally.  I figured we must be going three or four miles, even without a running start.  I grinned and loudly said to Rael, “Man, check out the distance we’re getting here.”

He turned and yelled, “Yeah, you bonehead, you’re going to land us in the river!”

“Crap!”  I could see we were heading down right in the middle of it.

As we closed in on the water I threw Rael toward the far shore.  Then I took a deep breath.

The water felt rather solid on impact, I actually skipped a number of times before splashing down into it.  It took me a moment to orient myself, although nothing felt injured … apart from the shoulder.  That I knew to be from Rael, not the water.

Once I figured out which way was up I stopped.  I realized that I wasn’t hard pressed to breathe.  In fact, it was much like the burning building, holding my breath was quite easy.  Moving around was pretty easy with my big hands as well.  It was almost like I had flippers.  Okay, maybe not quite as easy….

Either way, I used my strength to propel me quickly to the surface, and my body completely left the water for a moment.  I looked around until I spotted Rael walking down toward the water’s edge, and then swam toward him.

As I climbed out of the river, Rael barked at me, “What the hell did you do that for?”

“I figured I’d keep you out of the water.”

“Yeah, you threw me into that pile of pallets though!”  He gestured off to the side with a clawed hand.  A set of pallets were strewn about, while the rest of the stacks nearby were neatly stacked up.

“Hmm, sorry about that.”

“You’re lucky I heal fast, that hurt.”

“Sorry, sorry.”  I held my palms up toward him.

“Tell you what, you jump the rest of the way there, I’ll run and see how well I can keep up on foot.  Let’s meet just outside Metro Supersport, we take a quick look at the cycles, then eat and discuss it over food.”

I nodded.
  Wiser not to provoke him any further at this
point
.  I noticed he clawed his own palm while we spoke.  He still wasn’t used to the claws.

He looked around a moment, and then began jogging to the west.  He was fast on his feet, that’s for certain.  I gauged buildings in the area, and took a gentle leap toward one.  The effects of the adrenaline rush had partially cooled off, and it threw off the jumping distances that I’d learned.

Rael stayed amazingly close to me.  Either I was a pokey leaper, or he really put up great speed on the ground.  We arrived at the motorcycle lot at nearly the same time.

I stared at him for a few seconds before we entered the lot.  He wasn't even breathing hard.  I asked, “Was that a strain for you?”

“Not really.  I can’t say as I’d want to do it regularly though.  Dodging busier parts of sidewalk traffic and a few cars wasn’t cool.”  He looked thoughtful for a few seconds.

“What’chya thinking about?  You run into some people?

“No, that’s just it.  Some people came out of a building right in front of me, and I somehow went through them or something.  I’ve been doing that here and there when I’m trying to dodge things lately.”

“You become intangible?”

“Not sure.  Like when the guy shot at me with a bola earlier.  There's like a shock or jolt through me, and then boom, I'm on the other side of it.”

“Teleportation perhaps?”

“That could be.  Not very controllable though.”

“I bet a lot of supers with new powers don’t, or can’t control them very well.”

“Yeah.  Came in handy, but it’s a little unnerving when you’re here, and then bam, you’re over there, without any lead time or prep.  At least I know that if I feel the jolt that I tend to be behind the person or item.”