New Markets - 02 (37 page)

The tentacles snapped up, shattered through the glass and hooked onto the top and bottom of the nearest window.  They yanked me up toward and through the window.  The heavy spray of machine gun fire kept up until I was outside the building.

I landed on blacktop in a puddle.  Rain was coming down fairly heavily, and I was drenched in seconds.  Blood colored the pools of water red.

More gunfire erupted from my left.  I heard the large bullets ricochet off the walls nearby. 
Damn it, how many guards are there?

I jabbed my claws into the wall and ripped out a brick.  I threw it and was rewarded by seeing a guard fly off his feet.

I didn't wait around outside the building.  The area had a bunch of large, old factory type buildings.  I sprinted as fast as I could away from the current building, using vehicles and parts of buildings to block sight of me from any doors in that building.

The many wounds hurt for a while, and they weren't closing as fast as a pistol round did.  I forced myself to keep running until I saw a semi pulling into a street.  I ran after it, leapt up onto the trailer and lay in the center while it drove away.  It took nearly five minutes per heavy wound to heal.

I lay on the trailer resting and tried to ignore the pain. 
Why didn't the needles work this time?  I need to get Lance and Steph and take this place out.  We need to do it quickly if we can before they can move their captives.

Reflecting on the attack, I now remembered that I'd heard a small voice say something about needlers not working, to switch to heavy firepower at some point.  It had to have come from their headsets, voices sounded different coming through them to me.

Fortunately the semi driver hadn't seen me leap onto the trailer, for he kept driving through the city.  I hopped off the vehicle in an area without any traffic.  I couldn't tell what time of day it was due to the downpour, although it definitely wasn't nighttime.  I was extremely hungry though.

How many days have I been out?  Why didn't Lance and Steph come after me?  And how the hell am I going to get home when I'm all bloody?  I can't call a cab without raising suspicion, and if I jog I'm likely to get the police called on me.  Shit, I don't even know where I'm at.

I took refuge alongside a building under an overhang.  I realized my claws, fins, and tentacles had all disappeared back into my body while lying on top of the semi, not that I needed them out at the moment.

I figured nightfall would be the best time to figure out where I was at - hopefully in Metrocity somewhere, and run home to change.

Chapter 20 - Arissa

Third Party Perspective

The large office was lavish, in a mixed business and personal way.  A huge mahogany desk sat on one side, with only a few items on top of it - a telephone, laptop, cigar case, a bone-handled knife, and a gold pen.  Three chairs sat in front of the desk.

The walls of the room were made of wood, barring the large window behind the desk.  On the left wall hung a variety of animal heads - apparent trophies from hunts in exotic locations.  On the right wall hung expensive paintings.  In each corner of the room stood a marble Grecian statue.

In the area before the desk were three luxurious chairs and a couch, along with beautiful hand-crafted dark wood end tables.  More small marble statues sat on each table, along with a lamp.

Behind the desk sat a trim, middle-aged man in an impeccable suit.  His face had sharp angles and was clean shaven; his hair was dark brown and recently trimmed.  He wore an expensive gold and diamond watch, along with a few rings of obviously high value.  His tie was red, with a gold chain holding it in place.

To his right stood a beautiful woman.  She was extremely fit, exemplified by a tight-fitting black half-top that stopped at the upper abdomen.  She had a matching knee-length skirt with a slit all the way up the left leg, to where a gold ring held the skirt together.  She also wore black heels and expensive gold jewelry.  Her hair was brunette and styled in a simple, yet elegant slightly curly hairstyle with a pony tail in the back.

A knock came from the door.  The man pushed a button to release the locking mechanism.  An audible buzz came from the door, and two men entered.

Both men were dressed in suits.  One man looked like the suit wasn't normal for him, as though combat fatigues might be more appropriate.  A pistol could barely be seen inside his jacket.  The other man wore glasses, and had the look more of a scientist than a businessman.

They walked up to the desk and stopped just before it.

The man with the gun said, "Sir, you called us?"

The man behind the desk had one hand on his chin, the other hand tapped fingers slowly on the desk.  He stared at the two men, and then finally said, "What the hell happened down there, Forrest?"

"The escapee woke up this morning around 9 a.m., one of the guards brought him down with a needler at that point.  This time the needlers didn't have any affect on him.  He killed a scientist and two guards during the escape."

"I already know the situation.  I want to know what went wrong."

The scientist said, "Well, sir, I believe he was a mutant.  The hospital didn't have much data on them; apparently all of them were taken out by another mutant a few days ago.  He didn't react to the drugs like the others."

"Really?  He didn't react the same as the others.  How brilliant of an observation that is.  Wasn't he under constant sedation?"

"Yes sir, he was.  My best guess is that he somehow became resistant to the drugs.  From the videos of the garage, his house, and the two escape attempts this morning I believe he reacted less to them each time."

"What information did we have on him from the hospital?"

"We didn't.  He wasn't admitted to the hospital.  He just happened to be at one of the brick's homes when we went after him."

"Ah, this was the add-on."

"Yes, sir."

"How did he become resistant to the drugs?  You said they stop changing within a day or so after the initial change."

"Yes, sir, we thought they did.  It's possible that mutants continue to change for a longer period.  We don't have any data to fill in the gaps."

"We didn't lose any of the others?"

The man with the gun put his hands on his hips inside his jacket and said, "No, sir.  He fled after taking down the first reaction team."

The woman's eyes glowed from within at his movement and her eyes narrowed slightly.  Forrest glanced at her nervously and shifted to have his hands at his sides again.

"From the video I see he was hit by numerous large gauge rifle rounds?"

"Yes sir, at least six, possibly up to ten."

"He's not a brick, how could he take that much damage?"

"I believe mutants must be somewhere between a blaster and a brick in toughness."

The man behind the desk nodded.  "Have the others been moved?"

"It's in process, sir.  It takes a bit longer to ensure none of the drug paraphernalia is knocked out of position."

"Make sure it goes smoothly, I don't want to lose another sale."  He looked at the woman to his right, "Has this one been removed from the auction?"

She nodded.

"Good.  That's unfortunate; we had some good bidding going on with him.  The advertising about the claws making fast digging tools had him in high demand from some bidders."

The scientist coughed, "Sir, something else of interest.  On the video as the escapee looked at the other unconscious supers, I notice that he stopped and spent more time looking at the chrome covered woman."

The man behind the desk nodded and looked at the woman.  "Arissa, bring the brick over.  Let's call her Chrome.  Do the same with Sunspot - the one our friend gave us the information on."

Forrest coughed nervously and said, "Sir, they stopped releasing new supers from Iron Cross.  We've got news that the F.B.I. is there investigating."

"What's the status of our agent?"

"He's safe at the moment, not that it'll do us any good with them getting more cautious."

"Good point.  I'll have a few lawyers contacted to raise hell about people being kept against their will there.  It'll put pressure on the F.B.I. to release more."

"Won't that link them back to you?"

The businessman smiled slyly, "None of my people will directly be giving them anything.  There won't be a link.  You're both dismissed."  He waved his hand in the air.

The two men turned and left the office.

The businessman looked at Arissa.  Will you have time to do both before you leave?

The woman shook her head.  "No, I can do Chrome once we are en route, and Sunspot after we arrive."

"I want you in the other semi from Chrome, have her look sedated."

"Once I begin I can work on her from a distance."

"Excellent.  Get it done."

Chapter 21 - Good News

Stephanie's Viewpoint

I was distracted heading to Professor Gently's DNA class.  I had a bad foreboding about waiting so long before I went to save my friends.  I still couldn't believe they were captured by someone.  It didn't help being all wet.  Apparently you don't dry off very fast without a way to dry clothes.

I stopped in a bathroom and took off my t-shirt, squeezed it as dry as I could, then did the same with my skirt.  Fortunately the boots seemed to seal against my skin, so water hadn't gotten in them.  I felt like a zombie going through the motions though.  I had such a sick feeling about the boys.

I walked in the classroom, slumped down in a chair at the front and put my face in my hands.  Mindviews began collecting and someone poked my side.

I jumped a bit and looked to see Megan sitting next to me.  She grinned at me.

Megan said, "Heya Steph.  I thought you weren't sitting in classrooms."

I replied, "Oh ... right.  My mind's on something else.  I better head out and just wait outside the classroom."

"You want a chair to sit on or something?"

"No, my butt doesn't really get sore from sitting on the floor any more."

"Can you fly in a crossleg position?  Or a lotus position?"

"Hmm, I can try it.  My leg movements kind of control my speed and up or down movement, though.  Probably another thing I should try outside school."

"It'd be cool looking."

"Yeah, like a movie or something."

"I'll stay in the front again.  You want me here, close-ish to the door?"

"Sure, that's plenty close enough to stay in contact with you."  I picked up my backpack and walked out of the classroom, heading to the right a short distance as I'd done on Monday.

Kell, Trevin and Odes said "hi" as they wandered past and headed into the classroom.  I smiled at them, though my mind was more on Rael and Lance.