by Lexie Dunne
Both of them froze. Puzzled, I listened to their heartbeats speed up, almost in sync. And wondered why I could hear heartbeats now.
Kiki jolted to her feet, and said, too quickly, “We’re—we’re not dating! Where would you get that idea?”
I blinked back at both of them. It had seemed perfectly obvious to me. “You’re not?”
“No, not at all,” Cooper said so fast that I figured the gentleman did protest a bit much.
Because they looked a bit like deer caught in the headlights, I raised my hands in a nonthreatening way. “Sorry. Guess I was wrong, then. My bad.”
“Girl,” and Kiki now sounded both a bit curious and strangled, “why did you think we were dating?”
“Um, vibes? I don’t know.” I couldn’t quite explain it. There’d been something subtle in the air that I couldn’t have possibly explained. My gut had said they were dating, or at least were sexually involved, and I hadn’t seen any reason to question it.
Cooper and Kiki shared a look that was significant to everybody in the room but me. “Pheromones?” he said.
“Sounds like. Oh, the geeks are going to have fun with her,” Kiki said.
“Standing right here,” I said.
“Right.” Cooper shot me a sunny grin. “You still need to hit me.”
“Sign a waiver first. I’m not kidding.”
“Gail. Just hit me.”
I sighed. At least, if I managed to do some serious damage, we weren’t far from qualified medical professionals. I hoped. So I wound up with my right arm and swung it as hard as I could, right at his midsection. Midpunch, I felt my body adjust, driving power up from my legs and into my shoulder and arm. My wrist straightened out. And my fist drove right into black apron.
Thankfully, I did not punch through his stomach. Unfortunately, Cooper still went flying back. He landed with a resounding thud on the floor a few feet away.
I rushed over. “Are you okay? Damn it, you said I wouldn’t hurt you!”
“Gail.” Kiki stepped up. “He’s fine.”
And true to her word, Cooper sat up and dusted himself off. “That was fun,” was all he said, and popped up to his feet easily.
It didn’t take a genius to put it together. “You’re super-powered!” I said, pointing an accusing finger at him.
“Guilty as charged.” Cooper looked amused. “Does that change anything?”
“No, I just wish I’d known that before I hit you!”
“Why? What would it change?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You could’ve spared me the trouble of worrying if I was going to punch my hand through you!”
Both he and Kiki roared with laughter. Eventually I joined in, as truth be told, it was a little funny. Cooper had looked genuinely surprised as he’d flown back. We were still laughing when the door beeped. My sense of smell, already sharpened, made my mouth water. And rendered Kiki’s announcement of “That’ll be the food, then,” absolutely pointless.
“We’ll let you fuel up,” Cooper said, “before we run a couple of more tests, then let Psych take a crack at you. They should have fun breaking you down into little bitty pieces and building you back up.”
“Your pep talks kind of suck, just so you know,” I said, and dug into the steak like the starving woman I was.
MUCH TO MY surprise, Vicki Burroughs was waiting for me outside Psych once I’d been cleared though I had no idea exactly what that meant. They’d bundled me into a white polo shirt not unlike those the medical workers wore, and similar blue pants, and said my mentor would be waiting for me outside. To do what, I had no idea.
So I found Vicki, slouching comfortably against the wall opposite the door. She’d changed from the black catsuit to jeans and a baby-doll tee. Her feet, surprisingly, were bare, her toenails painted a stunning gold color.
“Wow, they really put you through your paces,” she said, straightening. “You were in there forever.”
“Who’s they?” I asked. “What are you doing here? And what is this place?”
“Wow, lots of questions. C’mon, we’ll walk and talk. Since you rank at least Class C clearance, you netted yourself a suite.” Mercifully, Vicki slowed down her ground-devouring strides so that my shorter legs could keep pace.
I still had to walk pretty fast, but I didn’t mind. They’d fed me pretty continually, and even better, they’d finally explained the class system everybody had been buzzing about since I’d arrived at Davenport. No powers were Class D—like I had been—and from then on, each individual power (of which they’d catalogued over fifty) was rated on a scale from A to C. Powers were apparently averaged to give somebody an overall class. Most of the heavy hitters were Class A or B, and that included Blaze.
I hadn’t dared ask about him. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know, but Kiki had mentioned it in an offhand way.
“Congratulations,” Vicki said as we walked down the hall. “You’ve now become part of the superhero elite, as it goes. That’s Davenport Industries. They’re kind of an umbrella organization that protects us, give us a haven, whatever. A lot of us live here full-time. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to see what would happen if some of us tried to live in society. Not pretty.” She gave a dramatic shudder.
“I thought Davenport was into real estate and, like, everything,” I said.
“They are. That’s the front, though.” We made a left turn. “Do you know Raptor?”
Everybody knew Raptor. He was one of the very first superheroes to show up on the scene though it was never actually proven he had powers. He was, simply put, legend. “What about him?”
“Now, you’ll have to keep this quiet when you’re not in DI, but Raptor? Kurt Davenport.”
I stopped to gape at her. I’d had the weirdest day possible. Nothing should be able to floor me now. But this did. “Kurt Davenport is Raptor?”
“Crazy, I know.” Vicki grinned.
“Kurt Davenport’s dead,” I said. The playboy and founder of Davenport Industries had passed away nearly three years ago. “But Raptor’s still around. I saw him on the news just—well, before I was kidnapped, however long ago that was.”
“It’s complicated. Like most of us with our origin stories. You’ll pick them up as time goes on. Maybe I’ll even tell you mine someday. It’ll be fun. I’ve never had a mentee before.”
“Mentee?” I said, still marveling at the fact that Kurt Davenport, whom everybody in my parents’ generation adored, was the skulking superhero who kept New York City free of criminal dirt. Or had been, before he’d died. But the Raptor was still around, wasn’t he?
“Yup. I’m your mentor. I’m supposed to show you the ropes.” Vicki flicked her fingers. “I’m not supposed to get a mentee for a couple of more years, but since I brought you in, they did me a favor. Exciting, right? You get the one and only Plain Jane as your mentor!”
This time I didn’t stop to stare. I was learning to take things in stride, apparently. “You’re Plain Jane?” I asked.
“Yup.” She trailed a hand through her dark locks.
“Um, hate to be the one to break it to you, but you’re not plain.”
“I know. I think it’s called irony.” She grinned, her face lighting up with a side that very few cameras got to see.
And on that statement, we burst from the maze of moss green corridors and into an area as white and minimalist as Medical had been. The hallway widened, brightening as the light changed. Doors on either side of us were now a royal blue color and they, unlike the doors we’d been passing, had regular doorknobs. The screens displayed different names. I eyed a few surreptitiously.
“And this, my new mentee, is the main compound of the Davenport Industries Superpowers Complex,” Vicki said, as we sauntered along. “Medical and Support are all located in the secondary compound, which is where we just were
. In a while, I’ll get you acquainted with a map. They tell me you’ve got some sensory talent, so I can just show it to you, and you can memorize it. Saves time, I’ve gotta tell you.”
I blinked at that. I’d never had an eidetic memory before. Sensory talent? Just because I’d sensed pheromones between Cooper and Kiki? And . . . heartbeats, I realized. And changes in the air, like the strange-yet-familiar smell in my apartment.
Okay, so I had sensory talent.
“I’m jealous,” Vicki said, leading me into some sort of indoor courtyard that teemed with greenery. A man-made pond gurgled close to the opposite wall. Overhead, giant lamps simulated sunlight, but I got the feeling we were still underground. My companion didn’t seem to notice the indoor forest; we strolled through it, Vicki occasionally nodding to those we passed on the path. Like Vicki, they were dressed casually. “I can’t remember directions to save my life. Which is why I’m glad I ran into Raymond when we did. We’d probably still be looking for Medical.”
“Uh-huh.” This was Plain Jane, ranked something like seventh in the world as far as super powers went. Jealous of me. What?
“Now,” and Vicki launched into lecture mode once more as we skirted the pond on a little brick path, “we have the Indoor Arboretum. I think it’s pretty much a getaway for those of us who don’t want to go topside. Especially those still getting used to powers. It’s not far from your new room, which is right down the hall from mine, actually. We’re going to be neighbors. Isn’t that exciting?” She shoulder-bumped me.
“Um, yay.” I was going to be staying here? For how long? I mean, it was a relief, what with no longer being able to afford my apartment until I could find a new job, but I was a little creeped out by just how quickly everything was happening.
“Yay is right,” Vicki said. “It’s this way.”
We made a left out of the Inner Arboretum into yet another hallway. White walls, gray carpets, though this hallway was wider and a great deal more populated. A few people gave me curious looks, but they didn’t say anything.
“So, back to the story. You remember the Feared Five, right?” Vicki asked.
“Raptor, Phantom Fuel, Invisible Victor, The Cheetah, and Gail Garson? My mom named me after GG. I think a lot of drugs went into that, though, because I’m nobody’s hero.”
“You held this Chelsea person off, and she was strong. One of the strongest I’ve faced, certainly,” Vicki said.
“Really?” I asked.
We headed up a set of carpeted stairs. “I wouldn’t have gotten to your friend Nicole—”
“Naomi.”
“—in time if you hadn’t held Chelsea off the way you did. So chalk that one up on the saves list.”
“Okay.” Warmth spread through my midsection. Pride, I realized. I was proud of something I’d done.
That was a first in a long, long time.
“But anyway,” I said, clearing my throat, “what about them? The Feared Five?”
“They started this place. And Detmer, too, while I’m thinking about it.”
“No, that can’t be right.” I hadn’t actually paid attention in history, but I did remember some things. “Everybody knows the Alliance of Ten set Detmer up.”
“Nope. History tells it wrong, but I don’t think Davenport really wants people knowing that, so they let it slide. Because, you see, Kurt Davenport was married to Fearless, whose alter-ego was Rita Detmer.”
I gaped. “Davenport named the prison after his wife?”
“And his mortal enemy, though history books gloss over that part. See, Rita—Fearless—had VS.”
“VS?”
“Villain Syndrome.” When I gave her a blank look, Vicki squinted back at me. “Have you been living under a rock? It’s a pretty common form of the sociopath. Villains who can’t help themselves. They want to save the world, but it means burning it down first? You know?”
“Oh, that type of psychopath. Yeah, I’ve met one or two of those before.”
“Where on earth would you—never mind, we’ll get to life stories later. Anyway, Davenport set up a really nice wing at Detmer for VS rehabilitation.”
Our rooms were apparently quite a distance from Medical. A month before, I would never have remembered the route, but now it was like I could memorize it by a series of distances—how many steps from one doorway to the next, how many feet between the wall and me, how high the ceilings reached. As we walked, Vicki divulged more than the history books had ever recounted about the Feared Five. Kurt Davenport, in addition to being a shrewd business mogul and a masked crusader for justice, had possessed quite a bleeding heart. He’d sympathized with his less conventional superhero friends’ struggle to adjust to everyday life.
“So he started this facility,” Vicki said in conclusion, “as a sanctuary. Water-breathers get their own wing underwater, the deeply messed-up-in-the-head have the underground bunkers, and for those of us who choose to keep up appearances with our alter egos, this is just a crashing pad every once in a while. I live here when I’m not on location. It’s easier. I like to avoid the stalkarazzi.”
“Not all the time, apparently,” I said under my breath, thinking of all the shots I’d seen of Jeremy grinning, his arm around Vicki’s waist.
Vicki gave me a strange look for that one.
“So what happens now?” I asked to change the subject, as I was really too tired to get into it.
“Well, they haven’t given you a schedule for your adjustment period yet, but I imagine tomorrow you’ll be put with a trainer. If you want to stay, I mean. You could go back to your life and sort out your adjustment period on the outside.” Vicki looked doubtful. “But a lot of people, even Class Cs, have trouble with it.”
As would I, I realized. With my luck and my changing abilities, I’d likely run into every supervillain in Chicago by accident.
“After your adjustment, you can stay here as long as you contribute something,” Vicki said. “You know, being on call for other heroes if you don’t want to be one of the headliners. Some of them are looking for partners right now. So that’s something to look into. Since you’re a Class C.”
“By partners, you mean sidekicks, right?”
“We call them partners.” Vicki grinned. “C’mon, our rooms are up this way.”
We headed down yet another hallway. How big was this place? I pushed that thought aside to ponder over later and aimed a sideways look at Vicki. “You’re not looking for a sidekick, are you?”
“Darling, I work alone. But I appreciate the thought.”
“That’s probably a good thing. I think you got the short end of the stick if you were waiting to get a mentee.” I stuck my hands into the pockets of the pants they’d given me. “I’ll probably be dead in a couple of months if they don’t find Dr. Mobius.”
“Huh. Fatalistic much?” Vicki said, surprised.
“He turned me into an addict for a solution only he can make apparently. I’ve got an expiration date.”
“Nonsense, Medical will figure out what it is. If they can’t make the exact stuff, they’ll give you enough of a substitute to get by.”
“Really?”
“Outside, you might be considered special now, but here at Davenport, you’ve got nothing they haven’t seen twice over,” Vicki said. “You’re not dying on Davenport’s watch.”
It seemed absurd to feel hope, but the entire day had been so weird. I felt my spirits pick up. They’d drawn a sample of my blood. Maybe they could reverse engineer something.
“Right.” Though doubt still ruled, hope edged its way in.
“Oh, here we are,” Vicki said. For the first time since we started walking, we reached an actual door, and Vicki pressed her hand against the panel beside it. The hallway on the other side, for once, looked like one you might find in an actual apartment b
uilding. “We’ll take the elevator instead of the stairs. It’s just around the corner, and it practically leads right up to your room. How’s that for awesome?”
“Awesome,” I agreed, inwardly marveling. This woman was Plain Jane, protector of Miami. She regularly flew around buildings, and when she was in a hurry, through them (though I heard the building owners always received checks for the damages). She fought bad guys in one of the best superhero uniforms out there, with a creepy white mask. And she was excited about the fact that the elevator was right outside my new room. It takes all kinds.
We rounded the corner, and, as predicted, the elevator lay ahead. Its doors were already open, and two people were climbing on. Two tall, well-built people. One of whom wore a skintight green shirt and black pants with black, scuffed boots. There was a small cartoon of a flame on his shirt.
“Hold the elevator?” Vicki called.
The two men turned, and I saw, quite clearly, my ex-boyfriend Jeremy.
And standing next to him, wearing Blaze’s uniform, was none other than my old coworker, Guy Bookman.
They both looked as stunned as I felt. The elevator doors slid closed.
“Well, that was rude,” Vicki said.
I couldn’t think of anything to say to that besides the obvious: “What the hell?”
Chapter Ten
IT TOOK VICKI a few seconds to catch on. She looked back and forth between the closed elevator doors and me quickly a few times. “Wait a minute,” she said. “You’re that Gail? You’re Jeremy and Guy’s Girl?”
“How many Girls do you know?” I asked, and cursed when I realized how it sounded.
But Vicki didn’t seem to notice. “Wow,” she breathed, really looking at me now. “Wow. It’s such—it’s such an honor to meet you. Wow.”
I blinked at her. “Why’s it an honor to meet me?”
“You’re a legend.”
I opened my mouth to demand what was so legendary about a workaholic with a tendency to stumble into bank holdups, but a ding stopped me. Looking up, I saw that the elevator had stopped one floor up. “What’s so—?”
