New Markets - 02 (52 page)

Then I called Firebane's H.E.R.O. phone, she answered, and I'd barely begun talking to her when I heard footsteps in the hall of the apartment.

I said to Firebane, "Good morning, Firebane."

"Morning, Black Tiger.  How are you doing today?"

"I'm feeling good, although I'm wondering how we can work out today."

"Are you ready to find them now?"

"No, Gatecrasher hasn't contacted me yet.  When do you leave for work?"

"In about thirty minutes."

"Okay, if we don't get to you before that, when's the next time you could do the finding thing?"

"I could break for lunch at 11:30 a.m. if you'd like."  I sighed.

"Okay, if we have to.  I'll send you a message or call when I find out more."

"On another note, could you try to detect Psystar again?  She's still not answering her phone, I'd like to know that she's still alive way up in the air."

"Sure, give me a few seconds."  I waited while I listened to her breath on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, I'm still detecting a super up in the air around the same spot."

"That's a hopeful start to the morning, then.  Thanks."

"Sounds good.  Talk to you soon, Black Tiger.  Oh, I'll hold off on taking lunch until I hear from you guys in case you get delayed."

"Later, Firebane - and thanks."

Tina came in and set down her purse on the counter while she watched me speak.

After I'd hung up she asked, "Everything going okay?"

"No and yes.  Waiting on one hero, but even if he calls me I'll have to wait on another hero before we can act.  But at least it seems like Steph is still alive."

"Still alive?  What happened?  I've been wondering about what you said with Lance all night, too."

"We're trying to solve a kidnapping, or perhaps slave ring case.  Last night ... well, I mean Tuesday night Lance and I got attacked by some of their guys and they captured us.  I escaped yesterday and met back up with Steph.  We went after them right while they were moving the kidnap victims to another location.  The fight didn't go well - a lady super that I thought was a victim beat the daylights out of me and knocked me out.  I have no idea what happened with Steph during the fight, because all we know right now is that she's still not answering her phones, and apparently is floating in the air miles above the city."

"That's like, unreal.  Seriously?"

"Yeah, quite serious."

"Can you see her flying in the sky?"

"It was still raining quite a bit last night."  I glanced out the living room window, it appeared fairly sunny out now.  I walked over to it and looked up into the sky.  About half of the cloud cover was gone.

Tina said, "So how do you get someone down who's floating in the air?"

I threw my hands in the air.  "Not sure.  If nothing else I'll hire a helicopter and see if we can find her and pull her in."

"So if you are stuck waiting, shall we go work out?"

"Yeah, I'll change into workout gear."

"Me too, be right back."

I changed in the spare bedroom and came back out to the living room.  It took her a minute longer and she met me, duffle bag in hand.

"Want me to drive?"

"Sure."

She grabbed a pair of energy bars and threw one at me, and then we left the apartment.  In another ten minutes we were at Sweat and Steel.  Mia grinned at us as we entered.

Her expression darkened a bit as she glanced back and forth at us as we scanned in, and then back at the outer door.  "Where's Lance?"

"He couldn't come today, not that he wouldn't want to be here, he's been captured by some bad guys."

She laughed, but it trailed off as she saw my expression.  "You're joking, right?"

"No."

"Well, why are you here then instead of getting him back?"

I took a deep breath.  "I would be, but I'm waiting on two other supers to get their schedules in line to help me with it."

"Where's Stephanie?"

I waved my hand, "Please, don't ask.  It's a crappy situation and I'm not happy about it right now."

"Okay, okay.  I got some numbers for Lance about the heavy lifting equipment and what I'd have to do here.  Most people seem fine with the idea, some really like it, a few are okay with it so long as they don't have to use the equipment.  Anyway, depending on what he says I'd like to move forward on it.  I wouldn't mind some feedback from these other supers you are meeting as well, you know."

"I can ask."

"All right, sorry about nagging you.  Go get warmed up."

"Yes, ma'am."  I smiled at her, and Tina and I walked over to the cardio equipment and began our warm up routine.  Today I tried using the stair climber to warm up, since the treadmill didn't do much for me the other day.

The stairs didn't affect me much either, apparently exercise without weight didn't tire my body out now.

Tina tried busting her backside to keep up with me for a minute or two, but had to back way down to a more reasonable level.  When she could speak again she huffed out, "Holy cow ... that's like amazing ... how you can ... do that."

"Sorry, there's not much I can do about it.  It's taking the top levels to even make me feel anything."

"I'm ... so jealous.  I ... want to be ... super too."

I grinned as I sped up the stairs.  The device was moving the stairs down at quite a rapid pace.  I'm sure it appeared to others that I was sprinting up them.

Once she finished warming up we headed over to the free weight area.  I spent most of the time spotting her, but did do some high repetition sets with the olympic long barbell filled with its weight capacity.  I even had Gabe push down hard on the center of the bar for extra weight.  He was a big guy who I saw quite often while we worked out.  Even with the extra weight the fifteen hundred pound bar was light to me.

Tina was a fairly touchy-feely person under normal circumstances, although I noticed she was even more so this day.  She seemed very interested in how my new muscles felt.  She remarked a few times about my lack of sweat. 

Gabe claimed I simply wasn't pushing myself, and made it his mission to get me to work up a sweat.  He was disappointed by the end of the workout.

When Tina went into the locker room to shower, I checked my phones.  Still no calls from Stephanie, but I had a message from Gatecrasher.  He said he was back in town and would gladly help out.

I called him on the H.E.R.O. phone.

Gatecrasher's deep voice answered, "GC here."

"G ... Gatecrasher, this is Black Tiger.  I just wanted to fill you in on where we are at."

"Excellent."

"We've got somewhere around six or ten supers kidnapped by a slave ring.  They are going to be sold off soon, though I don't know the timeline on that.  Hellshock is in for the attack as well, although we need Firebane to detect where the supers are all being held.  She's tied up until noonish."

"Hellshock's a good guy.  Firebane I’ve never met, although I see her and Sunspot added to the roster in the last few days.  Sunpot’s odd though, he wasn’t registered for any calls.  Speaking of, he’s one of the guys who was kidnapped."

"Yeah, Firebane’s off the new batch.  She's not a fighter, but can detect supers."

"Very nice.  I'll remember that, can she detect normal people too?"

"Hmm, I don't believe so, but I can ask her when we meet up with her."

"Good, good.  I take it these kidnappers are supers?"

"Not sure if the leaders are supers, or just the guards.  For sure they have a telepath and a brick."

"Ah, that's why you want me along."

"Right, and their brick is someone that I think has been coerced into doing the work.  She's part of the new batch as well, I saw her in the hospital on Saturday just after she'd changed."

"Good, good, a new brick.  Hopefully one without combat techniques.  Shouldn't be as bad."

"Yeah.  I'm hoping you can take her down without killing her."

"Me too, I don't want to kill anyone.  But they'll heal from a good beating."

"Right.  We know they have a telepath somewhere, possibly the leader.  Their auction website mentioned wiping minds and making the supers happy to work for the buyer."

He sighed on the other end.  "Okay, I see a skinny dude with glowing eyes and I'm chucking a bus at him."

I chuckled, "That'll work.  I've got a telepath on my team as well, although I think she's either hurt or injured up above the city."

"Hmm, what does that mean?"

"She's a flier, not answering her phone, and Firebane can detect her way up in the air over the city."

"Oh.  Well, that's interesting.  Are you waiting for her before we do the attack?"

"I'd like to, she
is
a telepath.  It'd be nice to have one with us when we fight them."

"Yeah, stick them in a room and let them do their thing."

"Or ideally have Hellshock hit her with a lightning bolt and a bus.  Whatever will take her down."

"I'm in agreement.  So is this Firebane out of town?"

"No, she's working."

He sighed on the other end.  "New supers, just don't have their priorities down."

I shrugged, "Yeah, can't do much about it."

"Well, I'm in costume and out in the city.  Call me when you're about ready."

"Will do."

I sent a text to Hellshock to keep him informed that we'd likely be waiting until lunchtime for Firebane.

Tina came out of the locker room wearing a snug t-shirt and mini-skirt, along with tennis shoes.  She grinned when she saw me watching her.

I asked, "You look good.  Ready?"

"Yup.  Let's go."

We waved to Mia on the way out and drove back to Tina's apartment.

I changed back into my costume once back at the apartment.

I said to Tina, "I'm going to head back to Iron Cross to talk with my F.B.I. contact.  I'd rather be involved in something than sit around waiting."

"Okay.  You need to crash here again tonight?"

"If you don't mind, and assuming that we don't resolve this today."

"I'm good with that.  I'll leave the door unlocked."

"Aren't you worried about someone coming in?"

"And taking what?  Not like I have much worth stealing.  Besides, the only people who would know are those on this floor."

"Ah, true.  Okay, I'll text you if I get any further info on Lance or Steph."

"Cool, thanks."  She stepped forward and gave me a hug.

I gave her a squeeze and headed downstairs.  I was happy to be able to ride my cycle around on a rain-free day.