Encrypted

by Weaver, Nicole

  Parked in front of the house was the green van from the park. A lanky guy with a goofy grin stared into the peephole as a smaller and thinner guy came from around the side of the house. He aimed a gap-toothed smile up at the first guy. Both were covered in acne.

  I am betting goofy grin is Super Snitch, and the little guy is Smokey, from the green van.

  "Samantha, open up. We're here to take you to your appointment with Doctor Darkle." Super Snitch's voice dropped to a whisper. "You sure there are no big windows along the side of the house? We can't break the big one without drawing too much attention."

  Shouldn't he be in prison by now?

  Smokey whispered back, "No way boss, the big ones are all right here next to us where we can watch 'em." He leaned in, "You think she's buying it? I can run to the back and tell the guys to hurry if you want."

  "Damn it, Smokey, shut the fuck up. The guys know what they are doing, and if you spook this girl after all the shit we've been through to get her, I am going to knife you before the big bitch gets a chance."

  "Fine, fine," Smokey whined. "I'll be quiet."

  Raising his voice again, Super Snitch said, "We know you are in there Samantha; I need you to open the door and come with us."

  Samantha stopped in her tracks at the kitchen door, still listening to the guys out front. The shadows of two more people moved into position as she watched, stopping on either side of the locked back door. If she hadn't been paying attention, they'd have had her when she stepped outside. As it was, the only thing keeping them from seeing her through the window was a thin yellow curtain.

  Shifting Star, surrounded by unknown foes, had only one bit of wisdom left. A strategic retreat in a new direction. Clutching her prizes close, she slipped down the stairs as quietly as she could.

  The oak desk still made an excellent step to the window, and she didn't have long to wait before her pursuers lost their patience.

  A heavy impact echoed down the hall from the front door, followed by the back door splintering open...all of which nicely covered the sounds of the basement window being forced wide and a thin teenager squeezing out.

  Heavy footsteps charged down the hall, one set veering into the dining room and then on to the front door. Another set stopped in the kitchen.

  A male voice muttered to himself, "This place is a disaster. What the fuck happened here?"

  Samantha squeezed herself out and into the small lake of water surrounding the house. There was nowhere entirely dry in reach, so she held the knapsack and box above her head as she wormed the rest of way out of the window. The mighty Villain would not be contained by mere mortals, some day she—"

  A hand fumbled at her foot and wrapped tightly around her ankle.

  "No!" Samantha kicked back with the other foot, connected, and yanked free. Her muscles sang with power as she raced along the side of the house and shot into the yard, knapsack over her shoulder. She clutched the box like a football.

  "She's outside!" the thug yelled. "Back door, back door!" Then faintly, "She's fast man, really fast."

  Super Snitch blasted out the back door, directly on her heels. "Damn it, stop. We aren't going to hurt you. It's all right girl, just calm down."

  She skipped over the water-filled holes in the garden based on memory.

  He splashed through them, cussing as he found the deeper spots. Every heaving step he took put her a little further ahead.

  "We know you are a Prime, let us help you," he called after her between gasping breaths.

  "Leave me alone!"

  At the fence, she leapt for the big branch, catching it with one hand, and vaulting into the tree.

  His heavy hand caught her trailing leg.

  "Let me go! I'll scream rape!" Kicking with her other foot, she wrapped one arm around the big branch and held her box of letters with the other. Half hanging over the fence, she didn't have the leverage to break free this time.

  "That's enough," he panted. "I told you. We just want to talk, but you are coming with us."

  It isn't a phase, my hatred of Heroes. They always have orders to give, and I always have an answer for them.

  "I. Said. Let. Me. Go."

  She released the branch and threw herself backwards, dropping directly into his arms. The momentum of her fall added to swing of the heavy wooden box.

  She didn't miss.

  He dropped like a stone as the box shattered against his temple and dumped Eddie's letters all around them. No, no. I just found you, I can't lose you already.

  Horrified, Samantha fell with him, all that was left of her family falling to the ground around them.

  "Hey, stay right there little girl," one of the thugs yelled from further back. They were trying to find a dry route through the garden and had slowed down even further when she'd struck their boss. They were about halfway across the yard.

  The back door slammed open and Smokey charged out of the house, too late to be a threat.

  Super Snitch groaned and put a shaking hand against his head. It came away wet with blood.

  She snatched up the nearest letters and hissed in his face, her eyes already crimson. "I will not forget. I will not forgive."

  This time, nothing slowed her enhanced leap over the fence.

  The thugs stopped at their boss, suddenly too busy helping their fallen leader to give chase after the angry Prime.

  "Dude, she knocked you the fuck out. What are we going to do?" Smokey laughed as he lightly kicked his boss.

  Super Snitch hauled himself to his feet, unsteady despite the helping hands. "It's fine. Grab everything she dropped and dry it. She was holding the box like it's important to her." He raised his voice. "You can have everything back if you come with me, Samantha."

  Watching from the end of the neighbor's driveway, Samantha matched glares with Super Snitch over the fence. Slowly, she lifted one hand and flipped him the bird. Then she ran.

  Chapter 24

  Tuesday May 25th, 2010

  An angry rosebush caught her shirt as she went over the fence, stabbing just deep to pull the rest of the bush out to scratch down her arm. I can see it now on the local news, Villain beaten up by plants and chased by someone's dog. I'll have to change my code name to Nobody so the other Villains won't know who to tease.

  Dodging through yards and leaping fences, she her sense out to watch for ambush. No reason to keep her powers or identity secret—the wrong people already knew, and they'd tried to catch her off guard again, barreling down the road from an alley to box her in. Luckily, by then she'd had time to make herself even faster, and she'd quickly lost them again. Supersnitch had twice tried to catch her using his invisibility, but he was breathing too loudly to hide from her.

  The last fence finally put her out of the subdivision and up against the canal. Almost twenty feet wide, the waterway posed a new problem. A detour in either direction would take her to a main road which would put her in easy reach of their van or any other vehicles they had. Swimming across would leave her soaked and make her stand out in any crowd she tried to hide in.

  Samantha measured the running distance to the water, pulling deeper on her power to sink ever thicker waves of cool energy into her muscles. Between the thin gravel road and the fenced back yard of the nearest house, she had a bit over fifteen feet of running space. Too bad I don't have Envy's Homunculus powers. I could just grow twenty or thirty feet tall and step over it.

  Taking a deep breath, she braced herself in front of the chain link fence and tightened the strap of her knapsack. I know can do this. It's only twenty feet. Nulls jump that all the time without powers, right? She squinted at the far side. It looked further than twenty feet. Maybe I can just go around, they can't be that close after all the fences I went over to get here.

  "There she is. Hurry up, she's trapped," Super Snitch smugly called out from the yard behind her.

  The waist high fence barely slowed her pursuers, but she was already in the air. I'm doing it, I'm doing it.

&nb
sp; The dirt bank on the other side collapsed as she hit it, but she threw herself into a roll and came back to her feet without bothering to look back.

  Ten minutes later, she walked into the strip mall at the bottom of the hill, her hair back to its original light brown, and most of the dirt brushed from her clothes and hair.

  She slipped into the first restaurant she saw; a pizza parlor.

  Surprisingly empty of customers before the lunch rush, its salad bar and pizza buffet were exactly what she needed. Soon it would be lunch time and filled to bursting with hungry patrons. One starving girl, quietly eating her food in the corner, would be almost impossible to single out.

  Samantha sat in a booth, devouring her pizza and clutching her big knapsack while considering the layout of the place. She'd spent a third of the money from Mildred on the buffet and salad bar, partly in hopes of sneaking out extra food in the salad box. It already sat beside her, full of equal parts salad and pizza.

  Settled in the corner furthest from the entrance, she'd planned to watch the door in case the bastard who stole her letters came looking for her again. Instead, she found herself hunched down and hiding from Trevor's Hero friends, all in costume, after they took the booth on the opposite wall.

  They'd casually walked in, just after Samantha had finished eating and ordered enough food for a long stay. Thankfully, they had taken the nearest table along the wall without spending any time looking in her direction.

  Even without his silly football outfit, Trevor's voice and walk were as distinctive as a fingerprint. Now, he wore a loose brown shirt and pants, along with a black helmet that seemed to have night vision bits poking out around the eyes. A piece of protective material obscured his nose and the corners of his jaw, leaving his mouth free.

  The rest of them were unknown to her, and focused on their meal, but a guy in a golden comedy mask and black clothes seemed familiar somehow. He made Samantha especially nervous every few minutes when he would casually glance around in between jokes.

  I would ask Trevor for help on any other day, but not while he's hanging out with Heroes.

  She pushed out her hearing.

  An accented female voice was speaking, probably Nephilim. "I am legitimately tired of pizza. All we ever eat is junk food, mostly because you idiots keep falling for Sucker's tricks."

  "He's not all that sneaky. I think maybe Scaleface just likes the food too," Trevor said.

  "I don't like junk food and he's not terribly tricky, he's just relentless," Scaleface said. "Every time I blink, he has three new plots in motion for dinner. I'm losing by attrition."

  "Hey, I'm right here," Suckerpunch said.

  "I like pizza." Cherrybomb, the woman with the huge Mohawk, said. She immediately inhaled while chewing and broke into a coughing fit.

  Suckerpunch helpfully thumped her on the back until she coughed out the offending piece of pineapple. "Hey, I know what I want, and I'm good at getting it. Is that a crime?"

  "Yes!" Four voices yelled in unison and erupted in laughter.

  Samantha pondered the voice of Suckerpunch. No way.

  A new voice, deep and male, drew her attention to the front door where a guy was saying something about watching the door.

  The Heroes didn't seem to notice they had company.

  I suppose I wouldn't worry either, if my boss turned into a fricken dragon.

  Glancing idly over towards the voice, Samantha hoped to see the start of the lunch horde. Instead, what she saw had her ducking under the table and scooting back against the wall. The voice, the shoulders, even the damn red shirt. It's Scorch.

  "I have a good feeling about this. It's exactly the kind of place a dumb kid might think it safe to hole up in," Scorch said.

  A woman's voice responded, her accent adding a lyrical uplift to every word, making it tough to understand. "Maybe, but if Screamdream thinks we are stopping for lunch while on a job she's going to tan my hide, not yours."

  Samantha peeked around the corner from her vantage point, still on the floor beneath the table.

  Scorch, almost albino pale without his mask, was wearing regular blue jeans and a flannel shirt. He casually approached the counter and leaned on his metal club like a cane, gesturing with the other hand at the dark-skinned lady who followed closely behind.

  The woman wore regular street clothes, jeans paired with a thin green sweater, and was constantly shifting her weight from side to side.

  Scorch gestured to the cashier, hiding his club with his body and smiled through his pale, bloodless lips. "Any chance my niece is hanging out around here? A little girl about this tall." He held his hand out near his nose, Samantha's height. "Black t-shirt, flaming red hair. Sports an attitude that could cut glass, if you know what I mean. She's pissed about a boy and refusing to come home."

  The smaller man shuffled nervously. "I don't know about the red hair, but there's a girl like that over in the corner." He gestured vaguely towards Samantha's hiding place. "She's been quiet and paid cash. I hope there won't be any trouble. My insurance is going to drop me if anyone else gets hurt on the premises." He glared at the Heroes. "Damn Prime fights make it tough to do business these days."

  Bastard sold me out.

  Scorch glanced over to Samantha's corner with a grin.

  She was pretty sure he couldn't see her peeking out from the darkness under the table, and his grin disappeared when he noticed the Heroes on the other side of the room.

  "No trouble man, no trouble at all. I'm just gonna mosey over to take a leak, then we'll collect her and be going." He turned back to the manager. "You wouldn't be thinking of tipping her off, would you? I would hate that. Butterfingers would hate that too, right Butter?"

  The woman spoke up. "Sure would boss. I would hate it a lot."

  "No sir. No trouble here." The cashier took a step back, looking everywhere but at the man standing in front of him.

  "Good. Then keep your mouth shut," Scorch smiled and stalked towards the restrooms.

  "I'll keep an eye on the door," the woman whispered from near the door, scanning the room watchfully.

  Suckerpunch approached the drink machines as Scorch passed, and both men stopped to stare at each other.

  The Pyrokinetic eyed the costumed Hero up and down, smirked, then turned out of sight down the hall. He started whistling a jaunty tune.

  Hey Suckerpunch, did you know a Prime Fight is about to break out, and you were just invited? I hope you brought your favorite fire-proof underwear.

  Samantha grabbed her box of precious leftovers and rushed to the soda fountain. She won't dare come after me in front of a Hero, at least not alone. She took a deep breath. "Connor, hey, don't freak out. I need your help."

  Chapter 25

  Tuesday May 25th, 2010

  Suckerpunch sighed to himself. She’s here. Of all the places for her hang out, she had to pick this one.

  Hi Samantha, good to see you again! He shook his head. Too coy.

  What a surprise to find you here, I thought you ran away? He drank the last few drop of his root beer. Nope, too stalkerish.

  He snagged two more slices of pizza from the platter. You don't write, you never call, what's a guy to think?

  Damn it, what good is a silver tongue if I’m in costume and can't use it to woo the cute girl I actually like.

  A rare moment of quiet across the city had given the team the perfect opportunity to have lunch, and enjoy being friends, not just teammates. They were having a great time, exactly like Suckerpunch had hoped when he suggested sitting down for their food instead of getting it to go.

  He’d spotted Samantha as soon as they walked in; hiding in a booth that she seemed to think hid her better than it did. The sparkling pink sneakers were a dead giveaway, a silly thing, but another endearing trait of a fascinating woman. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as he made fun of his friends.

  She stared at his team the entire time, right up until he headed to the buffet for a refill. It looks like
the poor girl really has it bad for Heroes if she's willing to hide under a table to get a better look at us. It’s probably the outfits. Now I just have to get her number somehow; without letting on who I am.

  Another customer stopped and deliberately blocked his way, a white guy about the same height as himself, but built more like a street fighter than an athlete.

  The guy's steel toed boots, far too heavy for a walk around town, just screamed tough guy. Or, at least someone who fancies themselves as tough enough to solve their problems with their fists and feet. The ridiculously warm plaid button up shirt didn't help the image; heavy, and far too warm for the daytime weather right now. Something to make a big sweaty dude into an even sweatier dude who thinks he's scary because he sweats on everything.

  They finished their assessment at the same moment, exchanged the expected sneers of contempt, and the other guy went on his way. Weirdly aggressive for a Null. He'd probably slash my tires if he could. Guy needs to be taken down a peg or two. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to steal the toilet paper before he sits down.

  Footsteps pounded across the floor, coming from the only other occupied booth in the place. Damn, okay Sucker, play it cool.

  "Connor, hey, don't freak out. I need your help." Samantha said.

  Crap, Scaleface is going to be pissed I let my secret identity slip, again.

  He hid his surprise with a wink and held a finger over his lips. "Shh. It's a secret. I'm Suckerpunch out in the wild."

  She shifted her weight from side to side, staring after the wannabe lumberjack. "Fine, Suckerpunch, I need your help."

  Stay cool man, she's a beautiful woman and she just used the four magic words. You totally got this.

  "Oh, you mean you need my help again? You ditched me, and now you come running up out of nowhere to ask another favor? I didn't think the date was so bad you had to run off afterwards." He grinned to take the sting out of his words. "I even put my neck on the line to get Scaleface interested in meeting you...and you ghosted me." He waved a friendly finger in her face. "Not cool."