The Prospects

by Daniel Halayko

  On his way across the ground floor to the front desk Alex heard a familiar nasal lisp. “Good morning, Agent O’Farrell.”

  “Hello, Pinwheel. I didn’t expect to see the Young Sentinels are here.”

  Knockout Rose had her back to Alex. She turned, waved a boxing glove, and smiled. He couldn’t help noticing her suit showed every curve on her body without a wrinkle.

  “Mr. Griffin requested the pleasure of our company,” said Pinwheel. “Apparently we’re needed for a mission. Sergeant Hammer is going to lead us.”

  “Hey, Pinny,” shouted Rock Jock in a gravelly voice. “Is that your new boyfriend?”

  “You’re right,” said Alex. “He does say stupid things.”

  “Alex.” He recognized Lady Amazing’s voice and took that opportunity to walk away from the now-angry Rock Jock.

  Lady Amazing thrust a pharmacy shopping bag into Alex’s hands. “Give this to Trista. Don’t look inside. She has … female trouble.”

  “So? There’s a whole cabinet full of things I’d rather not think about in the common area.”

  “Not everything.”

  “What’s that?” Sergeant Hammer’s words were like thunder. Alex didn’t even see him until he pushed past the Young Sentinels.

  “None of your business, Sarge,” Lady Amazing said.

  Alex saluted. “Sergeant.”

  Sergeant Hammer didn’t return the salute. “Agent, am I to understand you are going to deliver a package to a known criminal without first inspecting it?”

  “You’re not in charge of the Prospects anymore, Sarge,” Lady Amazing said through grit teeth.

  “Agent, I heard you have brought an outside individual into this facility to communicate with a criminal currently on lockdown. You have also ignored the no-phone order by allowing this criminal to communicate with Lady Amazing. I have also learned that you had her in a public restaurant without a psychic nullifier while her previous associates remain at large. Are you really stupid enough deliver contraband too?”

  “Sarge, back off,” said Lady Amazing. “He can make up his …”

  “He’s right,” said Alex. “I keep forgetting Trista’s a villain. I have to check this.”

  “Alex, please don’t,” said Lady Amazing.

  Alex reached in the bag and pulled out a pregnancy test, still in the box. “Huh. Early response. As soon as ten days after conception.”

  Lady Amazing covered her eyes. “Couldn’t leave her with a shred of dignity, could you, Sarge?”

  Sergeant Hammer snickered. “That kind of thing wasn’t needed when I ran the team. I brought the hammer down on all the hanky-panky.”

  Alex remembered what the Iron Pirate did to Trista. “It’s not what you think.” He put the pregnancy test back in the bag.

  “Alex is doing a great job,” said Lady Amazing. “He’s keeping them in line.”

  “Agent O’Farrell!” A short Japanese man strode across the lobby.

  “Hiro,” said Alex. “What is it?”

  “Zany is without discipline.”

  “Sorry. I’ll have a word with her.”

  “I’m leaving.”

  “But it’s not even noon. I paid you for the whole day.”

  “I don’t care. I won’t spend another minute with her.” Hiro left the building.

  Sergeant Hammer sneered, “In check?”

  “You couldn’t handle Candilyn,” said Lady Amazing, “and I had to work hard to stay on her good side.”

  “Agent O’Farrell,” the security guard at the front desk said, “your delivery is here.”

  Alex signed for the coffin-sized package and directed the delivery men to take it to the basement gym.

  Sergeant Hammer said, “Jim has me leading those Young Sentinel punks on a milk run tonight, but I have time now. Give me five minutes alone with Candilyn and she’ll never talk back again.”

  “She’s my problem,” said Alex. “I’ll handle her.”

  Zany was sulking in the gym when Alex got there.

  Alex sat on the coffin-shaped box. “Can we talk like adults?”

  Zany stuck out her tongue.

  “So, no.”

  Zany turned her back on Alex.

  “You could’ve learned a lot from Hiro.”

  Zany stretched her arms and raised both middle fingers.

  Sergeant Hammer’s voice boomed. “If her ass is to you, kick it. Don’t be dumber than shit.”

  It took Alex a second to realize the voice wasn’t in his head. Sergeant Hammer stood in the doorway of the gym.

  Zany spun around before the fear finished spreading across her face.

  Alex said, “Sarge, what are you doing here?”

  “Watching you tolerate disrespect from total trash,” said Sergeant Hammer. “If you don’t tear that stringy tart apart, I will.”

  “I said I’ll handle her.”

  “Step aside, agent. It’s time to bring the hammer down.”

  Alex stood in front of Sergeant Hammer. “Leave.”

  “You can’t give me orders. I tore Nazis bigger than you apart limb from limb while your grandpa pissed himself in the back lines. You’re not Agent Exo anymore. You’re nothing but a man with no armor.”

  Sarge raised his giant fist.

  Alex didn’t move.

  Zany ran to Alex’s side.

  Sergeant Hammer lowered his fist. He said to Zany, “See what he was willing to do for you? Remember that before you disrespect him again.” He saluted Alex. “Agent."

  Sergeant Hammer walked away. His fading footsteps were followed by Gale Force’s voice. “What are you doing here? Did he just wink at us?”

  Alex ran to the hallway. “You’re both back early.”

  “Stormhead got called away,” said Gale Force. “I went to the floor you took Trista to on Sunday to try to find you.”

  “Mecha-Menta’s computer crashed,” said Trista. “Doctor Von Dyme let me leave.”

  “Go get lunch. Trista, I’ll talk to you in a minute.”

  Alex went back into the gymnasium.

  “Wait.” Gale Force followed him. “Candilyn, yesterday you said you learned more from Alex in two days than you did under Lady Amazing and Sergeant Hammer. I don’t know what happened last night, especially since Alex didn’t kill any more goats, but he’s working hard for us. When you give him trouble, you hurt the whole team.”

  “Thanks, Jenny,” said Alex. “I’ll take it from here.”

  Gale Force walked away. Zany was as still as a statue. Alex stared at her and said nothing.

  “No one ever stood up for me before,” she said.

  “I’d do it for anyone on my team.”

  Trista wrung her hands. “About last nigh, I was trying to help you.”

  “How?”

  “You were hurting.”

  “I still am. Being with you wouldn’t have fixed that. ”

  “But I mean, I thought you’d feel good, and … maybe you’d like me. I mean, no one does, and …”

  “You’re someone I train. That’s the end of our relationship.”

  “Now you think I’m a …”

  “… a nice girl who helps people. We can keep embarrassing each other, or we can leave it at that.”

  Zany nodded.

  “Be nice to the boxer tomorrow,” said Alex. “He’s a Golden Gloves winner.”

  “No more trouble.”

  “And if you’re willing to wait until after I sign the papers and buy you dinner, we can see what happens.”

  “By then you’ll be thirty.” Zany grinned. “I don’t date geezers.”

  Alex found Trista sitting at a table in the kitchen and handed her the bag. “Lady Amazing told me to give you this and said I couldn’t look inside. How was the rest of your session?”

  “Exhausting. I feel like I just studied for finals.”

  “The white light technique worked for you?”

  “Doctor Von Dyme crashed his computer trying to break through it.”

>   “I learned that technique a psychic Buddhist monk. He made me make a sand mandala. I put thousands of grains of sand in the right position by hand for four days, sixteen hours a day. When I finished, the monk swept it away and told me what I told you about how we can't really define anything.”

  “I understand. But did you have to destroy my grandmother’s rosary?”

  “It was only a string of beads.”

  Trista’s eyes watered. “That’s all it was to you, but it meant a lot to me.”

  “Not that string of beads.” Alex pulled the rosary from his sweatshirt’s pocket. “I switched it with a bauble when I blocked your view.”

  Trista’s jaw dropped as he handed it to her. “It’s … it’s Nonni’s rosary.” She kissed the silver cross.

  “Trust me, Trista,” said Alex. “I won’t hurt you.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Alex opened the coffin-shaped box. “Give me a hand with this.”

  Goldstreak helped him pull out a limp man-sized shape. “I’m glad it isn’t another farm animal.”

  “You proved you can handle a living creature, so we’re done with livestock. This is a ballistics gel body, complete with fluid-filled sacks for organs. You’re going to use this to reenact the time I saved Stormhead’s life.” Alex pulled a silver fright wig from the box and put it on the body. “See, it’s Stormhead.”

  Goldstreak cocked his head. “You enjoy these sessions, don’t you?”

  “You’re less drama than the girls and I understand first aid while Quidnunc’s geek-speak is incomprehensible, so yeah.”

  “What am I doing?”

  “About three years ago, we fought Big Bad Roy for the first time.” Alex lifted Big Bad Roy’s power chainsaw from behind the box. “He sawed right through Stormhead’s clavicle

  Alex pulled the ripcord. The chainsaw roared to life. Smoke belched from the oversized engine.

  Alex dipped the blade into the body’s left shoulder and pulled back. He stopped the blade and shouted over the loud engine, “Get started.”

  In a blink Goldstreak was next to the wound with his medic kit unrolled. Alex started the chainsaw up again and jabbed at Goldstreak.

  As quick as he crouched, Goldstreak jumped back. “What the hell?”

  “Big Bad Roy was still berserk after Stormhead got hurt,” shouted Alex. “I had to save my teammate while he was still swinging this thing.”

  “But you had an exoskeleton.”

  “This cut through it.”

  Goldstreak leapt in again and packed gauze into the wound before Alex swung the saw at him again. Goldstreak dodged it and put a few uneven Steri-Strips on the wound before Alex jabbed again.

  “Sloppy work,” said Alex.

  Goldstreak raised his hands. “Stop.”

  “Big Bad Roy wouldn’t stop.”

  “No, behind you.”

  Alex turned. Jenny was at the gym’s door, gesturing wildly.

  Alex turned off the chainsaw and put it down.

  “Come here, quick,” she said.

  Alex followed Jenny to her room. Trista sat on the bed, crying.

  “What’s going on?”

  Trista looked up. “I need to talk to Lady Amazing right now.”

  Alex pulled out his smartphone and pressed her name. “She’s not picking up.”

  Trista trembled. “What about Chaplain Monagahan? Can I talk to him? ”

  “You’ll see him the day after tomorrow.”

  “Call him.”

  “I don’t know his direct number. I got him through the precinct.”

  “Call them.”

  Alex looked around the room. He saw the opened pregnancy test box on the other side of the bed.

  “Is that box empty?”

  Tears and snot ran down Trista face.

  “Can I see it?”

  Trista handed him the test stick. It had a clear plus.

  “That damn Iron Pirate,” Alex said, “I should’ve …”

  Alex looked at the words “Results As Soon As Ten Days” on the box.

  The battle with the Iron Pirates was only five days ago.

  Trista leaned forward and cried louder. Her shirt slipped down her shoulder, revealing the bruise with the jagged curved lines from a set of teeth.

  Alex took a second look at the lines. Despite being more healed than the first time he saw them, they were still unbroken.

  He remembered punching out the Iron Pirate’s front teeth.

  Whoever bit her had front teeth.

  Alex looked at Jenny. “Is there anything you can tell me?”

  “No. She came out of the bathroom with the test stick.”

  “Could you wait outside?”

  Alex closed the door behind her. He crouched in front of Trista and lifted her chin so they made eye contact.

  “The Iron Pirate didn’t touch you, did he?”

  Trista shook her head.

  “Who did this to you? Deon? Vijay?”

  “I can’t say.”

  “Why not?

  “Forget it. Please go.”

  “Trista, I’m not leaving until you tell me.”

  “No, don’t. I … cant. ”

  “I have to know.”

  Trista’s eyes went back and forth. She clutched her arms.

  Alex said, “Don’t you trust me?”

  “I … can’t say anything.”

  “Then don’t.” Alex inserted the key into Trista’s psychic nullifier and gently lifted it off her head. “Show me.”

  Trista wiped her eyes and stared into Alex’s.

  Alex felt the cool tingling sensation under his skull again. He instantly tried to conjure the image of the sand mandala being brushed away when he realized he was allowing a villainess who violated his mind to take control of him again.

  But, no, that was Mind Dame. This was Trista. This was the girl who came back to save him from a crowd of rioters when she could have escaped.

  He relaxed and let her in.

  His eyes closed. When he opened them, he was in the gym. But it looked different. There was less duct tape on the punching bag. The mirrors weren’t cracked. And Sergeant Hammer, who stood directly in front, seemed taller and broader.

  Sergeant Hammer flicked through the same tablet Alex now owned. “Mind Dame. Why aren’t you wearing your costume?”

  Alex felt his throat vibrate but heard Trista’s voice say, “Lady Amazing said I didn’t have to.” Other sensations followed. The faded red sweatshirt and leggings were soft against his skin.

  “Lady Amazing is not in charge anymore. Do you know who I am?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Who am I?”

  “You’re Sergeant Hammer.”

  “I know who you are too. You’re an Ultra-Genius.”

  “I’m not anymore.”

  “Bullshit!”

  Alex’s muscles contracted as Trista flinched.

  “Once a villain, always a villain. I’ve been crushing vermin like you for seventy years. You know how many scumbags I had to crush twice? Three times? I’ve heard the sob stories about how they’re victims of society or misunderstood or insane. You know how many have actually gone good? None for long. Why the hell shouldn’t I crush you right now?”

  Alex’s lips trembled as Trista’s did. “Because … a real hero never stops believing in second redemption.”

  Sarge chuckled. “Where did you hear that crap?”

  “Sergeant Hammer comics.”

  “Why would a girl read comic books?”

  “My older brother loved them. You inspired him to join the Army.”

  “Comic books are written by idiots for idiots.” Sergeant Hammer flipped through the tablet. “Speaking of idiots, listen to this. ‘Trista has shown significant progress. The next step is for her to be more assertive to express her feelings.’ Lady Amazing thinks she turn bad into good with this psychology garbage?”

  Alex felt fear creep through him. “She said I’m on target for my probation go
als.”

  “I’ve been fighting evil since before her mommy was born. Evil doesn’t go away. It always pops up, and men like me beat it down.”

  Alex fell as his view shook. He had to blink several times before he realized Sarge slapped him – or rather Trista – over the head. The psychic nullifier spread the force evenly.

  “Ow! Why did you do that?”

  “Because I can.”

  The view of the gym shifted as Trista turned away.

  Alex felt his arm caught in a crushing grip. The view shifted again.

  Sergeant Hammer was in his face. “You walk away, it’s an escape attempt. You go directly to jail. Got it?”

  The whole gym swirled. Sergeant Hammer threw Trista back into the room.

  Sergeant Hammer ran towards her in an army green blur. Before Trista could move Sergeant Hammer had her in a leg lock so painful it made Alex wince.

  “Pathetic,” Sergeant Hammer said. “I can do anything I want, and you can’t stop me.”

  Alex felt nauseous and terrified at the sensation of Sergeant Hammer’s gloved hand moving up his – no, Trista’s – curved thigh.

  Sergeant Hammer released the lock.

  The view shifted and rocked. “I barely weigh a hundred pounds. All you proved is you can beat up a girl.”

  “You almost killed Agent Exo,” Sergeant Hammer said. “I pulled him out of the Empire State Building that night. He was a suicidal mess. I’ll never tell him this, but he’s one of the finest men I’ve ever met. And you broke him. He hasn’t been the same since.”

  “I’ll apologize if I ever meet him. I shouldn’t have done it.”

  “If you’re not going to fight, you’re going to endure pain. Get on the treadmill.”

  Trista got on one of the treadmills that Alex remembered as being broken.

  Sergeant Hammer turned up the speed. “How far can you run until you puke?”

  Trista tried to step off. Sergeant Hammer grabbed her wrist and squeezed it.

  “No answer?” Sergeant Hammer said. “Let’s find out.”

  Trista’s voice entered Alex’s head. He tortured me in every session during the first week. He’d make me hold weights or kneel on pebbles or twist my joints the wrong way. He called it “physical conditioning.

  “Why didn’t you tell someone?” Alex said.

  I didn’t know what to say or to whom. Everyone else said their training was hard. I was scared that if I said anything, Sarge would make it worse. Part of me felt like I deserved it.