New Markets - 02 (23 page)

“Oh, I will!  Thank you for taking time out like that!”

“Glad to help.  If you ever need to chat, talk, go to lunch, etc. just call me on my hero phone as Psystar.  Or text me on it.”

“You’re so great!  I’ll do that!”

“Have fun ‘til next time.”

“You too!”  She climbed in her car and I watched her drive off.

Chapter 10 – Back to the U

Stephanie’s Viewpoint

I stepped up into the air, and shot up at higher speed.  I zipped around a few streets until I caught the sight of heavy smoke still wafting in the air and flew back to the scene of the fire.  People still crowded about on the street, fire engines were spread around the building, and a heavy police presence still cordoned off the area.

I landed near the command vehicle near a group of firemen and an officer.  They stopped talking to watch me land.

I said, “Hi guys, is there anything else I can help with here?”

They all stared at me for a moment before one of them shook out of it and said, “No, no thank you.  We’re doing cleanup, beginning to check for the reason the fire started and so on.  Streets have to be cleaned up before they can be driven or walked on, and so on.”

The officer glanced around quickly and asked in a low voice, “Hey, uh, can I get your autograph?”

“Uh, sure, do you have a pen?”

He pulled out a pad of paper and a pen for me.  I signed it, “Psystar XOXO” and a heart shape.

 A man yelled, “Jacobs!  We need you up on nine!  Tommy’s trapped under a soda machine; we need another guy or two to get it off him!”  He stopped and looked at me, “Hey, can you lift a lot?”

I nodded, “On the ninth floor?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll help him.”  I step-pushed and launched through the air to the ninth floor.  I flew in through one of the open office windows and listened for the mental thoughts.  It was only moments before I heard them and flew in that general direction.  Smoke still wafted in the air inside this floor, making it hard to see in places.  Two men stood over a machine, with another firefighter trapped under it.  They cleared off ceiling pieces from the top and back of the machine as I flew to them.

They spoke via their communication system inside their firefighting helmets, but I clearly heard their thoughts as they derided him for wanting a soda in the midst of a fire scene.  One of them caught sight of me flying to them and pointed at me.  I waved and landed next to them.

I coughed a few times and said, “I think I can lift this myself, want me to do that and you two slide him out?”

One man’s voice was muffled as he said, “Sounds good.”

I grabbed the front top of the unit where it had fallen on Tommy’s legs and lifted.  I had it up about two feet when one of my feet broke through the wood underlayment of the floor.  I fell onto that knee, but kept the unit up above Tommy.  His co-workers slid him out quickly, and I let the unit back down to the floor.  My heavier breathing caused me to cough a few more times.  I felt a slight trickle of liquid down my right shin, it felt like the wood cut my leg as I’d broken through.

One of the firefighters said, “This leg’s broken, Tommy, we’ll have to help you downstairs and get you to a hospital to set it.”

I said, “How about I fly him out, and just bring him directly to a hospital, unless you want to leave your gear down with a truck first?”

Tommy nodded, “I like that idea.”

I extricated my foot from the flooring and stood back up.  I had to pull a sharp piece of flooring out of my leg, but noticed that it sealed over very fast.  After testing extending my foot back and forth a few times I stepped over to Tommy, picked him up and hugged him to me.  “You ready to fly down?  No fear of heights?”

He laughed, “No fears here.”

I looked at the others and said, “Thanks for the work you guys do.  I’ll take care of Tommy.”

“Thanks Miss.”

I grinned and coughed again, “Psystar, and glad to help.  We need to get out of here, this smoke sucks.”

I stepped us up a foot, flew low through the office and back out a window.  Once clear enough from the building I took a few deep breaths and coughed some more.  I stepped down and slowly flew down.

Tommy said, “So how strong are you?”

“I don’t know.  I can lift at least six or eight hundred pounds.  Perhaps more.”

“So are you single?”

“Yeah, are you looking or something?”

“Did I say that out loud?”

“You must have.  Oh, sorry, never mind that.  Damnit, I’m doing that more often lately.”

He looked at me strangely.  We landed then, and he took off most of his gear.  The other guys ribbed him severely for getting caught under something like a soda machine while he worked the gear off.  Even with the broken limb, he joked back at them that being in a hot zone made a guy thirsty.

I coughed a few more times, but the coughs were weaker.  One of the firefighters asked if I needed some oxygen.  I shook my head, “I should heal the damage shortly.”

When Tommy finished, I slid my right arm around him again.  “Ready to fly to the hospital?”

He grinned at me.  He couldn’t wait to fly with me without the heavy gear on.  “Ready.”

“Any preference as to which one?”

“Mercy Hospital if I get to choose.  East side.”

I lifted off and gave him a short flight tour over the city.

He said, “I don’t know if I should enjoy the view of the city, or holding you for a while more.”

I smiled, “That I can’t answer for you.  I tend to enjoy both.”

We descended to the hospital, and fortunately this time no paparazzi awaited us.  It took a little work getting him into the door without flight; he ended up walking while leaning on my small frame.

I helped him get through the counter information and resting in the seating area before I left him.

I grinned at him and said, “Good luck with that leg.  Next time you might want to seek refreshment out of the fire zone.”

He dryly laughed, “Yeah right, I’ll do that.”

“I’m getting stared at by everyone, so I’m heading out.  Be well.”

“Thanks, you too.”

I walked toward the exit, smiling at the people as I walked.  Suddenly I had this strong urge to kneel and hug a little boy.  I found myself doing it before I thought it was overly strange.

As we hugged he said, “I like superheroes.”

I pulled back and said, “Well, thank you.  I like you too.”

I tousled up his hair a little and said, “Be good, kiddo.”  I smiled sheepishly at his mother and shrugged.

She asked, "Can I take a picture of you with him?"

I saw the smoke and soot stains on my skin and costume and said, "But I’m all dirty, ah never mind.  Sure."

She pulled her cell phone out and snapped a few pictures of me hugging him, and one kissing his cheek.  She thanked me, and I made my way to the exit quickly.

Ugh, why do I get hit with that?  Not that I mind hugging a little guy, it’s the big guys I worry about more so.  You’d think I was the one with power here, not everyone that gets within a few feet of me.  I need to find a way for someone to test me so I can try to build up a resistance to it or something … and not take advantage of me at the same time.  I know I can talk to others mentally too, that’s another thing to work on.

I sighed, stepped into the air and flew up from the hospital.  I called Megan while in the air.  Fortunately she picked up; I wasn’t sure how mad she’d really be after finding out I lied to her yesterday.

“Hello?”

“Hey Megan, this is Steph.  You still at school?”

“Yeah, we’re still in the library.”

“You’re still there?”

“You’ve only been gone an hour and a half, blondie.”

“It's gold!  Can you meet me with my clothes by a door somewhere?”

“Sure, how about the north entrance, I don’t think that’s as busy.  Need your backpack too?”

“Nah, I’ll swing back in.  I just want to dress before I go in.”

“No problem.  I’ll be right there.”

“Great!  I’ll fly in fast, hopefully I won’t get noticed.”

I angled for the library and flew in hard, perhaps a few hundred miles an hour.  When I got near the building I flipped and stepped down to slow myself.  It was a good landing.  Then I noticed the group of students standing off to the side watching me. 
Crap.  Stupid, Steph.

My heart pounded from the rapid descent as I quickly walked into the library, stripping off the mask and gloves as I walked.  Megan appeared with my clothes.  I slid on the skirt and shirt quickly, slipped my arm around her waist and walked to the nearest stairwell.  I glanced up to see how much clearance there was between all the stairs.  There was enough room in the center.  I stepped up and flew us up to the fourth floor.

Megan said, “Wow!  Seeing that stuff on T.V. is one thing, but it’s way cool to do it!”

I grinned at her, “Sorry, some people saw me land.  I’m such a dumbass.”

“Well, you are almost blonde now….  But I didn’t hear the guys complaining about your ass at all when you left.”

“Nice.”  I grinned.

I continued, “So, um, did it go okay after I left?  Is anyone pissed at me?”

“Mad at you?  No, why would they be?  The guys are all mega-excited that you’re a super now.  They spent some time discussing your costume; apparently it’s a big hit with them.”

“Carey?”

“She left just after you did.  I don’t think she’s happy, but then she’s in the program to find a way to make everyone normal again, so she doesn’t like any supers.”

“Yeah, kind of like politics and religion, I guess I always avoided talking too much with her about supers.  I kind of overlooked the fact that I love supers, and she dislikes them.  Err, us.  That’s a bummer.”

“Pfft.  Don’t kid yourself.  She’s the only one who wanted that type of thing in our team.  The rest of us would love to become supers.”

"I just, well, I've always wanted to be a super, but I never
really
thought it would occur.  I always thought it a bit mean of my dad to force me to take those extra classes and such.  I certainly didn't think about all the ramifications with friends, college, and so on.  My gosh, this has complicated my life so much in the last few days."

"Steph, you can
fly
.  The rest of us might kill for that ability."

I held my hands up.  "Okay, okay.  Whining ended."

She laughed, and we walked into the area with the boys.

They all grinned happily when we walked into sight, although they were all bummed out that I had the shirt and skirt back on.  I walked over to the seat vacated by Carey, but Trevin practically assaulted my mind with mental shouts to sit next to him.  I tried resisting it, but I felt like my mind was working in sludge.  I found my legs slowly walk over and slid between Kell and him.  I was breathing heavy from the attempt to resist it, and shook my head a little to clear the momentary fugue.