New Markets - 02 (21 page)

Stephanie stepped closer to us, watching Firebane as she did.  I smelled her pleasant fragrance as she approached, and noticed a very slight backglow to her amethyst eyes.

Firebane said, “I … I’m not sure why I was so worried about it.  Yeah, I’ll try it.”

Stephanie looked up at me and winked, “I’ll meet you guys later on.  I need to go see the F.B.I. later in the afternoon before our thing tonight.”

I grinned, “I’ll offer to leap Black Tiger back to base.  It should be fun seeing his reaction.  Hmm, or he might do it and just dig his claws into me.  I’d sure like to know how his claws can slice into me, but a knife can’t.  Ah well.  See you guys later then.  By the way, feel free to call or text, Firebane.  The H.E.R.O. phones have a system to contact each other without having to know personal numbers.”

Stephanie said, “They do?”

“Yeah, found it today on the drive back from the kidnapping thing.  It was a long drive.”

“Cool.  I’ll have to check that out.”

“We should try to figure what that vapor aura is that’s surrounding you at some point.  You feel okay?”

“Yeah, I feel great, more energized than ever.  I’m not even hungry.”

“That and your eyes are glowing like flashlights.  I like the effect with the goggles, but we should find out.  Call your mom and see if she’s had it happen.  I’ll ask Captain McCain to see if he knows, assuming he’s there.”

“Sounds great.  See you later, amiga.”

She put her hand on my chest and said, “Later sweetie.”

Chapter 9 – New H.E.R.O.

Stephanie’s Viewpoint

Firebane turned up at a good time.  Who knows how much damage or injuries the firemen would have had dealing with the fire going crazy like it was.  She’s obviously afraid of flying to some degree as well.  Good thing I can calm people down.  Times like this I love my abilities.

I stepped forward and slid my arm around Firebane’s waist.  I suppose most onlookers thought we would kiss at that point.  I grinned at the thought.  I pulled her against me, stepped up and flew up at a few dozen miles per hour.  There wasn’t a strong need to rush, I wanted to keep her calm, and every time I caught the thoughts of people as I flew up it got them excited about seeing a superhero in flight.  So I pandered to the idea.  It would probably look good on camera, too. 
Or not, considering the angle, hmm.

Firebane wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tight against me.  I could tell she was stronger than I was, though not nearly as strong as Rael. 
Interesting, I wonder if there is any commonality to the type of super and strength.  Obviously those that are big and massively strong we call bricks.  Perhaps all blasters and psychics are weaker, and mutants in-between?

Firebane said, “I feel like I should be terrified, yet I’m calm?  What is it about Psystar that is so calming?  She smells so nice, too.”

I replied, “I can project an aura of calm around me.  My flight has been very safe so far, barring my trial period.”

She pulled her head back from my shoulder and said, “Huh?  I didn’t say anything.”

“Sure you … oh.  I’m sorry, maybe it’s because we are so close, I thought you said that out loud.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m a telepath, I hear what people think.”

“You’re listening to my mind?”

“No, I just hear what you think.  It’s not something I do or don’t do, I just hear it.”

“Oh, um, can you not do that?”

“Not that I know of.  I wake up, it’s on.  Actually, it’s on even when I sleep, I’ve had tricks played on me when I sleep due to it.”

“Wow … that kind of, well, sucks.”

“Sometimes it does.  Other times it’s the coolest thing ever.  Can you turn off your fire absorption power?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t exactly been blasted with fire when I wasn’t looking.”

“What about electricity?”

“What about it?”

“I got knocked out this morning because of a massive shock.  I wonder if you would just absorb that.”

“Wow, that’s a cool idea, how can I test it?”

“Uhh, ask to get tasered?  Touch an open light socket that is turned on?”

“I guess, I think I’d be afraid to try that.”

“The taser thing would be safe enough.  If you try a light socket have someone else there just in case.  Ooh, what about radiation?  If you could absorb radiation you might be able to clean up spills.  That might be a valuable service.”

“Hey, you’re a good thinker!  Well, if it worked.  I think I’d rather test other things than jump into a radiation spill.”

“Hmm, I wonder if it is all types of energy.  If you could really control this, you might even be able to take the kinetic energy out of a punch or bullet.  You would be invincible.”

“You think that would work?”

“It would in a comic book.  It’d be easy to test.  Just do it with punches, not bullets at first.  Yeah, not bullets … those hurt.”

“You’ve been shot?”

“I was shot up pretty bad this morning.  A guy had a fully automatic gun.  They said he hit me about ten times or so.  It certainly felt like it afterward as the bullets all came out.”

“Came out?  Of your clothes?”

“Of me.  My healing pushed the bullets out of my body.  It takes a few minutes for a couple of bullets, but for that many, yeesh.  I determined then that I’d like to avoid getting shot in the future.”

“You’re lucky you heal so fast.”

“You probably heal fast too.  From the sounds of it all supers heal far faster than normal.  Speaking of fast things, did your hair fall out and then regrow?”

“Yeah, did yours?  Gold is an odd color.  Pretty, but odd.”

“Yep, it did.  I like yours auburn.  Was it always that length and style?”

“It was about this length, but for some reason the style changed.  It just kind of goes into this now.”

“Hmm … interesting.  Mine did the same, it’s wavy now, but wasn’t so much before.  Were you in good shape before the change?”

Firebane had the image of herself in the bathroom mirror prior to the change.  She hadn’t been in good shape.  I found it interesting to compare the mental before image and Firebane’s current looks.

“Um, pretty good.  I’m like a gym star now though.”

I chuckled, “Most women in gyms aren’t in this kind of shape.  That takes a lot of training and eating right.”

“Yeah, I suppose.  Do I have to start going to the gym now?”

“From what I’ve heard … no.  I was also told that our bodies burn more energy than before, and to eat more.  I wouldn’t go nuts and pig out though.”

“Well … yeah, good point.”

“Look, there’s the H.E.R.O. headquarters.”

“They’ve got a very modern looking building.”

“Yeah.  Hah, maybe they’re trying to make it look like heroes are the rock stars of law enforcement.”

“Maybe movie stars.  More full of themselves.”

I laughed, “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

I landed us at the entry area.

Firebane said, “I can’t believe I didn’t freak out that entire flight.  Thanks.”

“My pleasure.  Shall we?”  I gestured to the entrance.

She nodded and we walked in.

The large statues in the entry area were impressive.  Firebane, or shall I say Tammi Pasquel per her own thoughts, was very impressed by them.

We reached the front desk and I asked, “Is Captain McCain available?”

She dialed her phone and mentioned that Psystar plus one were here to see him.  She hung up and looked back up at us.

“Yes, he’s available, he’ll be right up.”

“Thank you.”

We stood around in the lobby waiting for the Captain.  Firebane fretted that she was gone for work for so long, and hoped her boss would believe that she was actually ill.  Goldie, the receptionist, didn't recognize Firebane as an existing H.E.R.O.

I was nosy, and rather than do the more intense mind scan on Firebane, I asked her, “Firebane, so where do you work?”

“I, uh, well, would rather not say….”  She thought of MetroChem, a mid-size company making a variety of chemicals for use in industry.  She was an analyst of some sort.

“No problem.  Any kids?  Husband?”  She thought of her husband, Jim, and her cat, but no children.

“Married, no kids.”

I suddenly had an interesting thought.  I looked at Goldie and asked, “Hey, Goldie, does Captain McCain really like donuts, bagels, espresso, or anything like that?”

Immediately Goldie thought of berry muffins and flavored coffee.  “Well, I really shouldn’t say.”

“Not a problem.  Thanks.”  I grinned.

At that point I heard Captain McCain’s thoughts as he approached, and turned to greet him.  He smiled when he saw me, and raised an eyebrow when he looked at Firebane.  He was dressed in a suit, and looked very professional for a man with such a large body build at 6'2" or so.

He said, “Well, hello Psystar.  Good to see you again so soon.”

“You too, Captain.”

“You two must have headed here directly from the scene of the fire?”

“Yep.  This is Firebane.  Firebane, this is Captain McCain.  He heads up H.E.R.O. in the Metrocity region, and thus indirectly all of us heroes affiliated with it.”

He was mentally pleased at the introduction, though he kept cool on the outside.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Firebane.  Did you want to join H.E.R.O.?”

“Yeah, I guess.  I don’t want to stop burglaries and stuff, but I’d like to help on fires and other places where I might be able to suck energy out of the place.”

“Ah, they hadn’t really described what you did very well on the news.  You absorb energy?”

“Fire for sure, although I could feel the energy coming off Spartan, and saw it flow to me.  I didn’t try anything with it though.”

“Have you determined your limits yet as far as the types of energy, or the amount you can absorb?”

“The fire in that office building was about the most I could hold in at once, and then I really needed to, uh, get rid of it.”

“Which explains the fire in the sky afterward then.”

“Yeah.”

“Great.  Well, follow me.  If you plan on being a full-time H.E.R.O. agent, or hero as it were, you would need to complete a few classes to ensure you are aware of some laws, first aid, etc.  If you just want to handle special cases, it’s not as important.  Either way you would get a reward for your actions spent saving lives, property, etc.”  He began walking back toward his office.

“A reward?  That … that sounds great!”

I followed along.  At the least I had to wait for Firebane, and wasn’t sure if she wanted me with her while filling out the information or not.