The Sellouts (8 page)

Chapter 10

April 4th, 2015 05:30 AM

“Doc, you ready?” Chancer said as he walked over to Doctor Perry’s new lab area.

“I stayed up all night. Two doses are ready.” He said with a yawn. He lifted the gun to Chancer’s arm and pulled the trigger.

Chancer felt it immediately, now that he knew what he was looking for. He smiled as he felt more in control of his luck. “Eagle-Eye, you’re up.” He said, looking over to where Eagle-Eye was standing and holding his arm.

“I’m good, thanks.” He said.

“It’s a power-up! We’ll need all the fucking edge we can get!” Chancer told him.

“What’s it going to do, make me see farther? I can see from the top of the building to the street right now, I don’t think I need more.” He said as he walked away.

“Fine!” Chancer said. He picked up the second vial. “What happens if I get two shots?” He asked the doc.

“You die.” He said. “Horribly.”

Chancer put the vial back down.

“Oh, I need to show you this.” The doc said as he pulled the tablet out and put it in front of Chancer. “I think I found out why they need all the power in Cell Block five. It also explains why I couldn’t sense the prisoners.” He added.

“Holy shit!” Chancer said as he looked at the schematics for a hologram generator. “I totally fucking want one of these!” He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and tapped it in his hands. “Change of plans everybody! Gather round!”

“What is that?” The doctor asked.

“It’s the itinerary for the inspection team.” Chancer said with a smile. “And I think I know how we can use them to help us.”

The doctor looked at both Melody and Eagle-Eye with a curious look as Chancer told them his new plan.

April 4th, 2015 05:45 AM

Melody was standing in Chancers little armory, which was hidden behind a wall panel near the video game area, trying to decide what gun she wanted to carry.

“What are you doing?” Chancer asked her as he strapped a double holster on that would hold two pistols, one under each arm.

“Getting ready to go with you.” She said as she picked up a pistol.

“You’re not going.” He told her.

“I have every right to go with you! I’m a part of this too!” She told him as she pointed her finger at him. “I became a part of this when
you
got me involved.”

“It’s too fucking dangerous.” He said back, slapping her hand away. “And you’re not prepared to do this sort of thing.” He took the pistol from her and unloaded the magazine, checked it, and slapped it back in. After putting it in one of his holsters, he picked up a gun that looked identical to the one he had just holstered and did the same thing. He grabbed some spare magazines and put them in his pockets.

Melody watched him and Eagle-Eye take the black SUV that they had all arrived in last night and leave, and then walked over to the doctor.

              “You took a vial and injected it into yourself, didn’t you?” The doctor asked as she came near him.

              “Is it that obvious?” She asked.

              “No, but I can sense it in you.” The doctor said as he went back to mixing things. He looked up in the middle of pouring a blue liquid into a beaker filled with a red liquid. “Did it work?” he asked suddenly.

              She put her hand in front of her and pointed her palm upwards. She squinted at the beaker and raised her hand slowly. The beaker shook a little, and then raised off the stand that it was on.

              The doctor smiled. “I read that the powers would always work on people without powers.”

              The beaker dropped suddenly and shattered as it hit the table. The now purple liquid splashed everywhere.

              “Sorry!” She said as she grabbed a nearby towel and started wiping it up.

              “It’s ok. It takes time to master your powers. I didn’t know what mine where when they manifested.” The doctor said. “In time, you’ll get it down.” He said as he grabbed a towel and started to help too.

              She looked back at the four race cars near the big garage door. “Do you think I’d be able to help them?”

              “I don’t know. I think they may find it difficult to protect you and take down Mrs. Oslett at the same time.” The doctor said as he carefully swept the broken glass into a trash can.

              “But I have powers now, I could help them…” She said quietly.

              “I think you should stay here and be safe.”

              She looked back, longingly, to the race cars again.

              The doctor noticed her looking. “I’ll tell you what I tell Agent Chancer every time he comes to be when he’s hurt.” He said as she turned to him. “As your doctor, I don’t recommend you go fight supers.”

              “And what does he say to you when you say that?” She asked.

              “He says, and I’m quoting here, ‘Somebody’s gotta’ fucking do it.’” He looked at her again. “You’re planning on going aren’t you?”

              She looked down, then back to him. “Yes.”

              “Then I’ll go with you.” He said as he stood up.

              “Really?”

              “I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on more of Mrs. Oslett’s notes, and maybe some more of the power vials.” He said.

              “Well, then I guess there’s only one thing left to do.” She said with a big smile.

              He looked at her curiously, and asked, “What’s that?”

              She looked to the four sports cars. “Pick a car!”

Chapter 11

April 4th, 2015 07:30 AM

“Sellouts!”

“Sellouts!”

“Sellouts!”

The chanting from the protestors was loud in front of the Oslett building. Today, they had moved back around the front of the building and were handing out flyers to anyone walking in.

“Release our friends!” Chancer yelled at some woman he thought he was in accounting. He handed her a flyer – which she immediately threw to the ground with a face of disgust. “Bitch.” Chancer mumbled as he floated back into the group.

“How much longer?” Eagle-Eye asked chancer as quietly as possible.

“The itinerary said they meet in the lobby at eight.” Chancer replied. “Did you make the call?”

“I made several calls.” Eagle-Eye replied.

“Sellouts! Sellouts!” Chancer said as he took the nearest sign that was resting near a bicycle rack.

April 4th, 2015 07:45 AM

Melody wanted to take the convertible, but decided on the least suspicious looking of the four of Chancer’s cars. She still felt like all eyes were on her as she drove the BMW 2016 650i Coupe to the employee parking area. She relaxed in the super comfortable heated leather seats as she handed the security guard her and Doctor Perry’s TSO badges. She was worried about the car as she slid on her sunglasses, which weren’t even close to the same level of quality of the car she was driving.

Dogs walked around the car once, and then a guard with a mirror on a pole inspected the underside of the car.

“Everything all right Sir?” The doctor asked the guard as he neared his window.

“We’re just performing random inspections.” The man said as he moved past the window. He inspected the rest of the car and walked back into the small guard’s building.

“All clear Ma’am.” The guard that was holding their badges said as he handed them back.

“Thank you.” Melody said. She drove off slowly, not daring to raise any more suspicion. “You really think we’re just going to be able to walk in there?” She asked as she parked the nice car in the row with the cheaper ones.

“Well, it seems to be working so far.” The doctor said. He carried the two satchels he and Chancer took last night, except he had emptied them before they left the hideout.

Melody pressed the wrong button on the car key, and the alarm blared. She quickly turned it off and the car beeped a couple times.

“Sorry…” She said.

The doctor looked around cautiously, to see if they had drawn any more attention. “It would seem that no one cares that we’re here.” He said after seeing absolutely no one.

“You said you can get us down to Cell Block Six?” Melody asked as they reached the elevator, still apparently unseen.

“We’ll go the same way that Chancer and I went. Hopefully we won’t run into any issues.” He said.

They both got into the elevator and went pushed the down button. The doctor had to insert his badge before the elevator would move.

“Hopefully we don’t run into any issues.” Melody said quietly.

“Hopefully.” The doctor said.

April 4th, 2015 08:15 AM

Robin Wilson and her inspection team walked past the protestors and into the lobby of the Oslett building. When they reached the security desk, she asked for her escort, Agent Chancer.

“I’m sorry ma’am, you’ve been assigned a new escort today. She’ll be down shortly.” The woman at the desk said.

“What happened to Agent Chancer?” Robin asked.

“He’s recovering from a last minute mission.” The guard-woman said, reading from her monitor behind the desk.

“No I’m not.” Chancer said, sounding winded. “Woooo, sorry, I was almost late, and I know how much you hate lateness.” He said to Robin, taking her hand. “This is my partner, Agent Eagle-Eye.” He said, nodding to Eagle-Eye, who was standing behind Chancer, sweating profusely.

In moments, Jeremy Owens, head of security for TSO walked out of the little room from behind the security desk. Chancer looked at him, and then followed his quick look over to the lobby entrance, where three guards had shown up, each having their rifles at the ready. Chancer looked around and saw three more to the left, three to the right, and more were coming off of the elevator.

“And these people,” Chancer said with a smile. He could feel his luck changing as he talked. “Are the news crews that are here for the press conference this morning.” He said loudly.

News crews were not allowed inside the TSO building, so many of them had cameras recording everything, as this was the first time the public would get to see what’s going on.

“Sir,” The guard woman behind the desk said to Jeremy, “There is no press conference scheduled for this morning. Nor do I have anything about news crews being here.”

Jeremy looked to the news crews, then back to Chancer.  “Have them escorted to conference room bravo.” He told her. He walked up to Chancer and grabbed him by the arm. “I think we need to talk.”

“Mrs. Oslett!”

“A word, if you will!”

“Mrs. Oslett!”

The news crews responded instantly as Mrs. Oslett stepped off the elevator. Agent Douser held them back as best she could, until Jeremy waved over a few of his guards to form a small perimeter around her. He walked up to her and whispered in her ear. She whispered something back, and he signaled something to his guards that weren’t protecting Mrs. Oslett. They left without a word or incident.

Mrs. Oslett walked over to Robin and shook her hand. “I will be escorting you through the Cell Blocks.” She said curtly, giving Agent Chancer an evil look, but trying to maintain her composure in front of the cameras.

Douser stood next to Chancer and whispered “Why did you come back?”

Chancer leaned in close and asked, “Did you miss me, Miss Oslett?”

Douser looked shocked at first, and then smiled. “You finally know.” She said back to him quietly.

“We don’t have to do this. Let us do what we came here for and we’ll leave. No one will get hurt.” Chancer said quietly. The press was pushing microphones in front of the older Mrs. Oslett, trying to get her to answer questions.

“If that’s the case, why are you carrying four guns?” She said as she leaned back to him.

He smiled at her and took a few steps towards the inspection team. “Are we ready to inspect the cells, inspectors?” He said loudly while smiling at everyone.

He couldn’t hear the response Robin told him through the loud questions from the news crews asking why the cells were getting inspected. Some even asked to go with them. He saw Robin nod, and moved her team closer to him. He took her gently by the arm and moved as best he could through the throng of news crews towards the elevator.

At the elevator, he was joined by Mrs. Oslett, Douser, Jeremy, and the rest of the inspection team as they took it down to Cell Block one.

The rest of the news crews were shuffled off to the conference room, and the security guard at the desk called their public relations officer - who was not happy.