Ultrahuman 01 - Ugly (3 page)

‘Pen…’ June nodded at the couch.

‘What?’

‘Since when could you lift the sofa?’

‘Oh. I just… I didn’t think about it. I just wanted your present out of there.’

June pulled her present clear of the sofa and Penny lowered the furniture back into place. ‘So,’ June said as she started to tear open the paper, ‘you’re strong too.’

Penny sat back down, frowning. ‘Apparently I’m stronger, and that was easy, but we don’t know
how
strong.’

‘Yeah, but that should be easy to find out. We can just go to a gym and we can see how much you can lift.’ She pulled a bottle of perfume from the cardboard tube and smiled. ‘This stuff is expensive. You shouldn’t have.’

‘One extravagant present is allowed,’ Penny replied. ‘It’s in the housemate rulebook.’

‘There’s a rulebook?’

‘You don’t have a copy? I’ll get you one for next Christmas.’

~~~

Penny was half-stretched out on the sofa, her eyes on the screen in front of her where
True Powers
was playing. June had bought her the boxed set of the entire first three seasons and they had put it on for want of something better to watch live. They were already into season two and ex-porn star Madeleine Joy was busy hamming it up in a nearly transparent white gown as the White Priestess. The producers had decided that T&A got good ratings. It was late and almost all the channels were running sappy Christmas films. Given Penny’s current condition, this seemed like an appropriate choice anyway.

June was lying with her head on Penny’s hip, hence Penny’s semi-reclined position. On a periodic basis the brunette would move to take a drink of wine, but otherwise she seemed happy to lie there and watch a programme she had seen at least twice before. They were both at least half-cut. This was their third bottle of wine and Penny was pretty sure it would have to be the last given that her vision was starting to swim.

That might have been why the, rather nice, stroking sensation on her stomach took a while to impinge upon her senses. Her eyes drifted closed for a second or two, maybe longer. It felt nice. What was it? A hand, yes? Fingers absently trailing over…

She stiffened. ‘June…?’

‘Mm-uh-huh?’

‘Uh… still not into girls.’

‘I know you’re oh shit!’ June jerked upright, her hand slipping out from under Penny’s sweater. A second later, the tall brunette was sitting at the far end of the sofa looking horrified. ‘I’m sorry! I wasn’t thinking. I must be drunker than I thought. I’d never…’

Penny swung her legs around and sat up. ‘Hey, it’s okay. Nothing happened. It was kind of nice, just…’

‘You’re not into girls. I’m sorry. I was comfortable and you’re gorgeous, and… it’s been a while…’

Penny giggled; she could not really help herself. ‘Sorry. It’s been longer for me. I wish I could help.’

‘God, so do I!’ June burst into a fit of giggles. When they subsided she added, ‘Maybe I should go to bed.’

‘Aww, don’t let that spoil it. We’re almost at the end of season two.’ Penny shuffled down the sofa and looped an arm around June’s waist. ‘Just friends hugging, okay?’

June nodded quickly and put her arm around Penny’s shoulders. ‘I can manage that.’

‘Have some more wine. It’s Christmas, we should have a hangover tomorrow.’

‘Oh… I think that’s already a given.’

26
^th
December.

‘You don’t even have a headache,’ June moaned.

‘I do,’ Penny replied as she busied herself with making breakfast, ‘I just don’t seem to be too bothered by it.’

‘I guess we can add a high pain threshold to the list then. I think my brain has collapsed into a black hole.’

‘That seems exceptionally unlikely, given you aren’t sucking the rest of the world into a singularity.’

‘You’re using long words,’ June moaned, ‘like “you” for example.’

Penny giggled. ‘I’ll try to keep it to monosyllables. Maybe we should go out for a walk after breakfast. Y’know? Get some fresh air.’

‘You think you should? Go out, I mean. If someone sees you with me…’

Penny handed over a mug of coffee. ‘Yeah… I had thought of that. We should go somewhere where they don’t know us. North Beach. We can walk along the sand.’

‘How are we going to get there, exactly?’

Penny grinned at her. June did not entirely like that grin.

~~~

The landing was not exactly perfect, but Penny managed to get down without dumping June, or herself, in the sand. June was giggling like an idiot the whole time. The giggling had been a little maniacal at various points in the flight, but Penny had had no trouble carrying her friend.

‘I need to work on the landings a little,’ Penny said as she set June down. ‘I’m not sure those heels are really suitable for sand.’

‘I like heels,’ June replied. ‘Where are we anyway?’

‘Uh, well, North Beach. Meadow Lane is over the rise. I figured it should be quiet here. How’s your head?’

June giggled again. ‘Cold.’

‘Come on, we can walk it off.’

They set off down the beach together, and it took about a hundred yards before June stopped and pulled her shoes off.

‘Don’t say anything,’ June said.

‘You’ll get cold feet,’ Penny replied.

‘It’ll be even warmer when we get home then.’ June started off again, Penny keeping pace easily, which was a novel experience. ‘This was a good idea,’ June added. ‘I do feel better, and we hardly ever do stuff together. Outside the apartment anyway.’

‘I suppose we don’t. I’ve always thought that was why we work, as housemates. I mean, we’re different. We don’t step on each other’s toes. We have different interests. The biggest thing we share is the office.’

‘And that’s mostly bitching about the people there.’

There was a giggle. ‘I don’t bitch.’

‘No. No you don’t. You should, but you don’t. If you
are
stuck like that, I bet you get promoted inside of a week.’

‘That’s before you get me on a catwalk?’

‘I was thinking more like glamour. We’ll get you in swimsuits, on
Sports Illustrated
.’

Penny felt her cheeks heating. ‘I am
not
going to have my pictures taken half-naked.’

‘Why not? You’re a goddess. I’m not talking
Playboy
here.’

‘I’m not used to… to showing my body off. I’ve never had much of one
to
show off and just because I have doesn’t mean I’m going to suddenly have the desire to. You’ve been planning your career since… High School?’

‘Senior year,’ June agreed. ‘I wasn’t always a show-off, y’know? I was a straight-A student. I didn’t have a boyfriend until after my SATs. Didn’t sleep with anyone until I moved here.’

‘Really?’

‘Uh-huh. I wasn’t, like, saving myself or anything. I was busy. What about you?’

Penny’s cheeks felt suddenly a lot hotter, despite the chill air. ‘I, uh… Well, I was seventeen and Daniel McClusky said he wanted to… I couldn’t believe it…’

‘Didn’t go well?’ June’s tone was sympathetic.

‘Total disaster. He was after another girl the next day. Sean was the first guy I’ve dated since, and look how well that’s gone.’

‘You could have any man you want now.’

‘I don’t think this has happened to me so that I can finally have satisfying sex, June.’

‘Huh. You could enjoy the fringe benefits though.’ They both giggled, and then June added, ‘You’re talking like this wasn’t just some sort of weird accident.’

‘I don’t think it was. I feel like… like I’m supposed to do something. It doesn’t just feel like I
want
to do something, it feels like I
need
to.’

‘Y-you think it’s affected your mind?’

Penny thought about it. She could hear the concern in June’s voice, and wanted to reassure her, but she also did not want to lie. ‘It has. I said I felt different. I feel like… like I should be doing something. Anything! I want to know things. I guess I’ve always wanted to know stuff, that’s why I watch documentaries. This is like that, but more, except I don’t want to sit still. I want to be out there, finding stuff out, and fixing it.’

‘Oh. Well that doesn’t sound too bad.’

‘I’m not going to go super-villain on you.’

‘Didn’t think you would. Okay, then we should do something.’

‘Like what?’

‘First step: shopping.’

‘Shopping?’ Penny asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘Yeah, if we’re going to go to a club for New Year, you’ll need something sexy to wear.’

Penny gave a short laugh. ‘Me? In a club?’ There was a tiny pause and then she added, ‘Okay.’

31
^st
December.

The weird thing, as far as Penny was concerned, was that she did not feel uncomfortable in the dress they had eventually bought for her. It was tight and short, and sparkling red except for the mesh sides, and the halter top which crossed over her chest was giving her rather more cleavage than she was used to. It exposed far too much flesh for her normal comfort zone, but she was more uncomfortable about not being uncomfortable than she was about the outfit.

June had said it was down to not being herself. Literally. Penny was not herself so she could be outrageous and there would be no comeback. It had sounded like a reasonable sort of assertion. It was like going on holiday where no one knew you, and going crazy because no one knew what you were usually like. Penny was having a holiday from being Penny.

The club June had decided upon was called Huntress’ Den, because it belonged to a retired Ultra, the Red Huntress. Rumour had it that the
True Powers
people
had
asked her before creating a character called ‘Red Hunter’ for the show. She still ran the place, and appeared there most nights. Other Ultras went there on occasion since they knew the owner would not get worried about them being there. That meant that if someone twigged that Penny was one, no one would kick them out. She was also pretty certain they were not going to run into anyone they knew.

There were two bouncers on the door, both in pristine suits, one with the exaggerated muscle of at least a low-level Ultra, and they were turning people away in a manner that suggested getting in was not going to be easy. The big one took one look at Penny and June, and opened the rope in front of him without a word.

‘That was you,’ June commented as they passed through the foyer.

‘Huh?’

‘The bouncer. He let us in because of you. I could see it in his eyes. I probably could have got us in, but not with just a look.’

‘Uh…’ Further conversation became unviable as they entered the main floor and the throbbing beat of the music hit them. The light was dim, with a lot of red in it, but Penny’s new eyes took it all in their stride and she could see as well as in daylight, even if the colours looked odd. Everything had a grayscale overlay which brightened the light, but tended to wash the colour out.

June mimed drinking at Penny and then headed through the crowd to the bar. Penny followed, squeezing past men and women in expensive, often revealing, clothing. What she was not quite ready for was her reaction to these people. They were attractive, often very attractive, and now so was she, and she wanted to flirt. She had never had a desire to flirt with
anyone
before, as far as she could remember. She wanted to be noticed, talked to, appreciated… Flustered, she hurried after June and waited while her friend bought drinks for them.

‘You’re new. I haven’t seen you around before.’ The voice was not loud and when Penny turned her head she found herself face to face with an attractive, blonde-haired woman who was aging exceptionally gracefully. She looked to be in her late thirties, except for a few lines around the eyes which suggested greater age. Penny recognised her from documentaries; the Red Huntress had decided to pay the new girl a visit.

‘I… You wouldn’t have,’ Penny replied.

The blonde’s eyes flicked toward June, who was still facing the bar. ‘Does your friend know?’

‘She’s the only person who does. Until now.’

‘Bring her then. We need to talk. Just a chat. I like to know who’s in my club.’

June chose that moment to turn around, her hands full of wine glasses. She blinked a couple of times and then her jaw dropped open. The Huntress gave her a smile and waved for them to follow her.

‘What does she want?’ June hissed in Penny’s ear.

‘To talk,’ Penny replied.

‘This should be interesting.’

The Red Huntress had an office at the back of the club, through a door marked ‘Employees Only’ and down a short corridor which served to dull the noise. The room was less office and more home-away-from-home, as far as Penny could tell. There was a sofa as well as a large desk. An intricately carved longbow hung on the wall behind the desk, the owner’s signature weapon from her active days. She waved at the seats in front of her desk as she walked around to sit down behind it.

‘I’m sure you’re wondering how I knew,’ the blonde Ultra said. ‘I can smell Ultrahumans from a hundred yards, but you’ve got a scent… It’s hard to describe, but it’s not like anything I’ve ever met before.’

‘Oh,’ Penny replied, taking a gulp of wine from her glass. ‘I only… Uh, I’m not sure how to describe it, but this is all new to me. It happened just before Christmas.’

‘Ah. So you’ve probably not registered, or really found out what you can do?’ Penny shook her head in reply. ‘You don’t really seem the type to start robbing banks.’

‘She isn’t,’ June stated flatly.

The Huntress nodded. ‘Don’t suppose you’ve come up with a name yet either. You’re going to need one if you’re planning to use all that power.’

‘I… do,’ Penny replied, ‘but I don’t really know how much…’

‘You’re powerful,’ the Huntress interrupted. ‘I can tell that much. Maybe in potential rather than actual power at the moment, but you smell of a lot of power. That’s why I got you in here. Had to be sure you weren’t going to be trouble.’

‘We just came to have some fun at New Year,’ June said.

The Huntress grinned. ‘Far be it from me to deny you that. No conspicuous use of powers. That’s the only rule.’ Her gaze shifted to sweep over June, taking in the short, leather skirt and the black, cropped T-shirt with V-shaped mesh insert which showed off a lot of cleavage. ‘Maybe I’ll see you later.’