A New Day (StrikeForce #1)

by Colleen Vanderlinden

  “Frances.” She nodded. “You saved that screamer girl.”

  “Yeah. Do you need help?”

  “I need to learn how to stop it. I don’t want to keep doing this,” she said, gesturing at the railing, the wall. “I don’t know how to make it stop.”

  “Okay. All right. Listen to me,” I said, leaning toward her. She backed away.

  “I don’t want you to turn to rock. I don’t know if it’ll happen.”

  “Okay. Listen. There are members of my team downstairs who have been instructed to bring you in. If you come with us, you’ll be in confinement. Your powers will be dampened, but you’ll also be imprisoned. Not a great deal.”

  “I haven’t done anything,” she said, sounding panicky and weepy.

  “I know. I know you haven’t,” I said. “So I’m telling you something here. If you want to stay free, you need to find a way to get out of here, now, and lay low for a while. If that means going somewhere where no one else will see you if you happen to slip up, that’s what it’ll take. Can you do that?”

  “I have a place up north. But how do I even get there? It’s not like I can drive like this!”

  I held up my hand.

  “Portia,” I called down the stairs. “Who’s wearing the body cam today?”

  “Nightbane,” she said as she climbed the stairs.

  Portia approached us, and I introduced the two of them. “I need you to get her to her place up north,” I said.

  Portia stared at me. “Daystar, those aren’t my orders.”

  “I know. I’m asking you to do the right thing here. Take us to her place up north, then once I see she’s settled there, bring me back here.”

  “I—“

  “Does she deserve to be imprisoned? This is hysteria. It’s wrong. Does she deserve it?”

  She looked between us for a few moments. “Where is your place?” she asked in a resigned tone.

  “Near Mackinac,” Frances said. She gave an address, a location. Portia nodded. “Okay. Are you ready now?”

  “I’m ready,” Frances said.

  Portia blew out a breath. Seconds later, we were standing in a cozy little cottage, and Frances was thanking us.

  “I’ll check in on you when I can. And Portia’s lips are sealed about this place’s exact location.”

  “They are,” she said. “But your tracker will give it away.”

  “I don’t plan on staying,” Frances said. “Don’t worry,” she told me. “You’ve done more than I ever could have hoped.”

  I nodded. Then I exchanged a glance with Portia, and we appeared back where we’d been. We walked down the stairs wordlessly.

  “Nobody there,” I told the rest of the team, shrugging. “Just lots of stone.”

  “I heard her. And you are in so much trouble, Faraday,” Nightbane said, rubbing the side of his head.

  “You fell down. Clumsy,” I muttered. I put my comm back in my ear. “Who’s next, Jenson?”

  I heard a sigh. “We have a shapeshifter over on Jefferson,” she said, sounding defeated.

  I smiled. “Lovely.”

  “Faraday,” I heard Alpha start talking. I took the comm out of my ear and dropped it back into my pocket. “Portia, if you would?” I asked. Toxxin smiled, and Caine seemed to be keeping a close eye on Nightbane as he stood.

  “Don’t pull that shit again, Faraday,” Nightbane warned.

  “Ooh. Scared. Totally. Really,” I said. “I’d say I wet my pants, but I’ve been doing that for about a week now in my special chair, so I’m not even all that bothered by it anymore,” I said, and I was pretty sure Portia either laughed or sobbed, and then we were being pulled to the next location.

  It all went pretty smoothly, through two more confrontations. I got the shapeshifter to shift and fly away before there was even a chance for confrontation, and then we went to a house where there was a woman who kept making everyone around her feel sick. Portia and I suffered for it, but we got her to her mother’s house downstate.

  Our next target was a new powered person who seemed to shoot lightning, or something like it. She’d accidentally, or maybe on purpose, killed her loser boyfriend with it.

  “Bring this one in, Faraday. She’s a killer,” Alpha warned in my comm before I took it off again.

  “Faraday,” Portia said. “We can’t ignore this one.”

  “We won’t,” I said. An idea was starting to form. I wanted some time to think about it. “Let me go first.”

  “My pleasure,” Nightbane said, and Caine flexed his fist like he wanted to hit him.

  I knocked on the door, and a young woman answered. She had short hair, dyed a stunning shade of purple. She was dressed in jeans and a flowing white top. Not menacing looking, at all.

  “Hey. I’m Daystar,” I said.

  “I know. And I know who you work for. And there’s not a chance in hell I’m letting you all take me away,” she said, her voice calm. Measured.

  And the next thing I knew, it felt like my entire body was burning, my teeth on edge, my body buzzing. I heard someone scream, a shout. After what felt like an eternity, the pain stopped, and I writhed a bit, trying to get my body under control. I rolled over and saw the rest of the squad doing the same. An engine started, and our shocker was speeding away.

  I pulled at my dampener, seeing if the electric jolt had damaged it. Unfortunately, it still held tight and when I tried to fly up into the air, I stayed flat on the ground.

  “Call it in,” Nightbane said.

  “This never would have happened if I didn’t have this stupid dampener on,” I muttered.

  “Daystar, what do you want to do?” Caine asked.

  “She’s not in charge here!” Nightbane shouted. “I am so sick of this shit. Who do you think she is? She’s a criminal, a thief. Worthless white trash nothing. I’m in charge.”

  We all sat, calmly listening to his outburst.

  “So, Daystar?” Caine asked, as if we hadn’t been interrupted. I stood up. “If I could fly, I could totally bring her in. Shame I’m dampened.”

  “Alpha says not a chance in hell, Daystar,” Nightbane sneered.

  I shrugged. “Oh, well. She’ll fry a bunch of people then, and everyone will blame Alpha. Too bad about the innocent lives we’ll lose, but I’m sure Alpha will handle it.”

  There were a few moments of quiet, during which Nightbane talked away to someone on his comm. Portia also walked away, talking in a low voice on hers. After a few moments, they came back, and Nightbane was actually pouting.

  “He says you’re officially undampened right now. Get her, and don’t mess around,” he snarled.

  I glanced at Portia. “Thank you,” I said, and she gave a small nod.

  “Go. Or was that all talk?”

  I smirked behind my mask and quickly put my comm back in so I could stay in touch with Portia or Jenson. With my other hand, I gave Nightbane a sarcastic salute, except that I had my middle finger extended as I raised my hand to my forehead. “Well, let’s see.” I kicked off, rose into the air, and it felt closer to heaven than I could ever hope to be.

  I could take off, right then. I wouldn’t get far, of course. I knew they were tracking me, and the second I went off-course, the dampener would get turned back on and I’d plummet, and then they’d probably knock me out and lock me up again.

  No, I’d need to plan better. I’d need to pretend, for a little while at least, to be a good little superhero. Because it wasn’t just me I planned on getting free now. I knew the ladies over in the prison tower wouldn’t begrudge me the chance to get out, just as I wouldn’t with them. But they deserved better than the bullshit they’d ended up with. And I kind of wanted to make Alpha and Nightbane cry. I was pretty sure if I caused enough chaos, I could do it.

  I flew, fast, and the cold air whipping past me made me remember what it felt like to be free and alive. It didn’t take long to spot the little red Taurus, zipping in and out of traffic. I didn’t want to scare her. If she
jolted up now, she’d end up frying out her car, and then there would be an accident, and then I’d have another mess to deal with. Plus, I wanted to make Nightbane eat his words.

  White trash, criminal, thief. Whatever. Not even gonna argue it.

  But I’ve never been worthless.

  I kept my speed up, vaguely noted people on the sidewalks pointing up at me as I passed. Phones held high, following me.

  She noticed it, too, I think. She made a hard right, through an alley, and I followed.

  She drove faster, her engine rumbling as if it was in pain, and I sped up, flying past buildings so quickly they became nothing more than a blur, my heart pounding at the sensation of finally being able to use my body again for what it was meant to be used for.

  Faster. I had to get her before she got out of the alley and back into traffic again.

  I got ahead of her and landed hard on her hood. The metal crunched beneath me into the engine, the windshield broke, and the car careened into some dumpsters. I reached into the broken windshield and grabbed her by the front of the shirt, pulling her up, out of the car, and I flew her up into the sky.

  “You try to fry me now, and you’ll die. Unless you think you can survive a fall from this height?”

  She stared at me with wide, terrified eyes.

  “You are fucking crazy!” she screamed. “Help! Somebody get this crazy bitch off me!”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, that wasn’t very nice.” I kept my grip on her shirt, using it almost like a sling as I carried her back to where I’d left StrikeForce. She screamed the entire time, but to her credit, she stayed still.

  “You could have killed me!” she screeched up at me.

  “But I didn’t. I mean, really. Where’s the gratitude?” I asked, and she screamed again.

  Also, I may have been flying a little faster than I needed to be. And I might have pretended to lose my grip on her.

  “Stop that!” she shouted.

  “I’m sorry. I must still be woozy from the way you shocked me back there. Oops!” I said, and she fell a little way, screaming.

  I dove down and grabbed her again, and she cussed me out again.

  “Daystar, stop playing with the poor electric lady, please,” Jenson said in my comm.

  “She so had it coming,” I said.

  “I know. Still. I think you made your point.”

  I didn’t answer, but a few seconds later, I landed in front of my StrikeForce teammates.

  “I left a little bit of a mess in one of the alleys that way,” I said.

  “Yeah, we know,” Nightbane said. “Dampen her again, Jenson.”

  “Cram it, Nightbane,” Portia said. “She’s not getting dampened until we have this one in confinement. Any arguments, Alpha, sir?” she asked, a frosty tone to her voice.

  “No arguments,” he said shortly. “Just bring both of them back in.”

  I exchanged a glance with Portia, then she nodded toward my surly captive. Toxxin quickly touched her on the side of the neck, and she slumped, unconscious.

  “You know we have to lock her up, right?” Portia asked me in a low voice. “She killed someone.”

  “I know.” It might have been an accident. But it might not have, and she clearly had some issues. She deserved better than being locked away and forgotten, but she couldn’t just be left alone, hurting people.

  Portia studied me, then she motioned for the rest of the team to join up, and moments later we were standing in the detention facility.

  “Take Faraday back to her cell,” Alpha said in our comms.

  “Don’t you think that’s unnecessary? She was a huge help—“ Portia began.

  “She made it clear. She wants to be down there with the garbage. Lock her up. She’s already been dampened again.”

  Portia looked like she wanted to say something else, and I shook my head. “No biggie. It’s fine.”

  “But you did what he asked you to do. Well, sort of.”

  I shrugged. I headed toward my cell, and the guard who let me in gave me a small nod when I walked past. She and Toxxin stood by as I changed out of my uniform and back into my prison greens. The guard shackled me back into the chair and left, and Toxxin stood there for a minute. She looked like she wanted to say something.

  “What?”

  “Um. It was cool of you not to turn the stone lady over. Or the shapeshifter or the other one. They didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “They are likely listening right now, you know.”

  “I know. I don’t care. I think you did the right thing. I’ll come back and visit when I can, okay?”

  I nodded, and she turned and left.

  “Back with us, eh Faraday?” I heard Monica call.

  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, laid my head back against the headrest. “Yeah. I’m back.”

  But in my mind, I was flying. And I had every intention of getting back to it soon, on my own terms.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The changes were subtle, at first.

  That evening at dinner, the guard came in, glanced around, and undid my manacles. I glanced at her in surprise, and another guard came in with a tray of actual food.

  “It tastes like crap, but it has to be better than the liquid diet,” the first guard said. She handed me a spork.

  I glanced at the food. Spaghetti. A slice of bread and a pat of margarine.

  “Thanks. This was really solid of you,” I said.

  “We were watching the news,” she said with a shrug. “Eat fast so I can take it back out of here, okay?”

  I nodded, started shoveling the spaghetti into my mouth. It wasn’t anywhere near as good as my Mama’s spaghetti, but it was the first solid food I’d eaten in over a week, and I wasn’t about to let it go to waste. “What’s your name?” I asked the guard.

  “Maria,” she said.

  “Normal or powered?” I asked.

  “Powered,” she said after a moment. “I ended up with some low-level powers during the first Confluence, and they brought me on after Command opened.”

  I nodded. “What can you do?”

  She glanced away, out the door, then back at my tray. There was a paper packet of salt there, and it kind of wiggled, then grew to about ten times its size. After a moment, it changed back.

  “Wow,” I said.

  “Yeah. But it’s useless for anything, really. Not like you can use that in battle or arresting people, you know?”

  I studied the salt packet for a moment.

  “Still. Pretty cool though,” I said, and she smiled. I finished my dinner, then let her reattach the manacles around my wrists. “Thanks again. Really appreciated it,” I said.

  “Sure.” She took the tray and carried it out of my cell, and when the door closed behind her, I smiled.

  My girls in the cells had kept up their singing/rapping thing, but the guards stopped bothering to tell them to stop. Every once in a while, I’d hear one of them start singing along as they patrolled past my cell.

  “Is it true that Daystar’s locked up in here, too?” I heard a high voice call out.

  “Yeah. She’s over by me,” Amy called out.

  “I’m the electro you brought in, you crazy bitch,” she called.

  “Hey. How’s it going?”

  “I hate you. I just wanted you to know that. I swear, I will find a way to kill you. Painfully.”

  “Aw. Thanks,” I said, and I heard her swear in response.

  “Faraday, making friends,” Dani said in a low voice from her cell, and I laughed.

  “I just can’t help myself,” I said back.

  Later that day, sometime after the guard brought me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, the door to my cell opened and Toxxin walked in. She had a box in her hand. Portia followed her in, and she told the guard to undo my manacles. She did, and then left.

  “This came for you,” Toxxin said. “Portia swiped it off of Alpha’s desk.”

  “I didn’t swipe. I ass
umed he just forgot to have it brought down to you. I was helping,” she clarified.

  I smiled at her, then took the small box. It was roughly a cube shape. “You’re sure it’s not some dastardly weapon that’s going the help me get free, huh?”

  “Nah. Jenson scanned it,” Portia said.

  “What a shame,” I murmured. I tore open the brown paper on the outside. Addressed, typed, to Daystar, StrikeForce Command, Detroit, MI. No return address. Once I had the paper off, I pulled the box open.

  They were wrapped in a bit of pale gray tissue paper. I pulled them out, ran my fingers along them. I just knew I had a stupid smile on my face. There was no note with it, but I knew who they were from.

  “Socks?” Toxxin asked, and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. They were hideous. Bright blue, with neon yellow polka dots. Knee-highs, nice and thick.

  “Socks,” I said softly, still running my fingers over them. I tried not to look too happy. I wondered what had prompted him to send them.

  “Thanks for bringing these to me. Do you want to set them over there? I can see them from here,” I said, and Toxxin put them on the counter that ran along the front of my cell. “Thanks.”

  She nodded. “I don’t suppose we’re getting the story behind those?” she asked.

  “A little joke between friends. And I needed a bit of a laugh. Thanks again,” I said.

  Portia sat down, taking a deep breath. “You shouldn’t be down here,” she said quietly.

  “Sure I should. None of what Alpha or Nightbane says is a lie. I am a thief. I’m not sorry about it, and that isn’t likely to change.”

  “But why not?”

  “Why not what?”

  “Why don’t you feel bad about it?” she asked, and I could tell from the way her eyes searched mine that she genuinely wanted to understand.

  “This is the way the game is played,” I said quietly. “They were dealt a better hand than me. I’m supposed to roll over, stay in the trailer park, watch my mother get crushed by the debts she accumulated through no fault of her own. Screw that. I leveled the playing field a little, and I don’t regret it.”