Used to Be: The Kid Rapscallion Story
Page 13
“I’m sorry?”
“Hah! You always did have a sense of humor,” he smiles as his walkie talkie buzzes to life. “Excuse me,” he says, holding up a finger and turning his back on Jason. “This is Monster. Go.”
Jason hears a security guard inform Mr. Monster that there’s an injury in Room 1310 that he needs to see.
“An injury?” Mr. Monster asks. “What does that mean? Do you need me on it or not?”
“Boss,” the guard says nervously, “it’s Ms. Cathall.”
2
“You stay back and keep your mouth shut,” Mr. Monster says to Jason as they ride the elevator to floor 13. “I’m letting you come out of professional courtesy to who you used to be.”
“No, you’re not,” Jason says, leaning back against the cold metal wall. “You’re doing this because you think I might be involved.”
“We’ve had a camera on you since your card was swiped at the front desk,” Mr. Monsters says. “If it was you, I’d already have knocked your nose out of your ass.”
“That’s a pleasant visual.”
“What always gets me in trouble,” Mr. Monster says, keeping his eyes forward, “is that I go and say something like that, and there’s a part of me that just has to know if it’s possible to literally knock someone’s nose down through their asshole.”
“Good to see you’re reformed,” Jason mumbles.
3
There is one security guard at the closed door, who tells them Nancy is in the room with a paramedic.
“Is she alright?” Jason asks.
“Don’t answer him,” Mr. Monster snaps, and leads Jason inside the room, where they find Nancy sitting on a chair by a table in a nondescript room painted in shades of beige. A paramedic is swabbing at her neck.
“Balls and sacs, Nancy,” Mr. Monster grumbles. “I told you this was dangerous.”
“It’s just a scratch,” Nancy insists and points to Jason. “What’s he doing here?”
“He has a right to know, don’t you think?” Mr. Monster asks.
“Know what?” Jason says, moving past the larger man to talk directly to Nancy. “What’s going on?”
“Your sins have come home to roost,” Nancy says, pushing the paramedic away and showing Jason two fang marks on her white skin.
“My sins?” he asks. “Who did this to you?”
“Joey Vamps.”
“Who?”
PART
EIGHT
2002
1
Public Law 107-85x
Uniting and Strengthening America by Vigorous and Intensive Guarding of Illegal and Lawful Activities Negotiated Through Engaged Superhumans (The USA VIGILANTES ACT) of 2002
Enacted February 18, 2002
107TH UNITED STATES CONGRESS
2nd SESSION
An Act
To deter and punish non-sanctioned acts of vigilantism in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools into vigilante behavior,
and for other purposes related to the superhero and villain communities that pose a threat to the United States and her allies.
1 . TITLE I — ENHANCING DOMESTIC SECURITY AGAINST VIGILANTISM
1.1 Sec. 101. Countervigilantism Fund.
1.2 Sec. 102. Sense of Congress Condemning Discrimination Against Arab and Muslim Superhumans.
1.3 Sec. 103. Increased Funding for the Technical Support Center at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
1.4 Sec. 104. Requests for Military Assistance to Enforce Prohibition and Security in Certain Emergencies.
1.5 Sec. 105. Expansion of National Electronic, Genetic, and Telepathic Crime Task Force Initiatives.
1.6 Sec. 106. Presidential Authority.
2
Transcript from Las Vegas Channel 10 Evening News
May 2, 2002
NANCY CATHALL
Thank you, Felicia. I am joined now by United States Army Captain Trisha Foggen, who is leading the Homeland Security Capes Division. Thank you for joining me, Captain.
CAPTAIN TRISHA FOGGEN
Thank you for having me, Miss Cathall.
NANCY CATHALL
The sweeping Vigilantes Act has raised a number of concerns about the role of vigilantes in contemporary America. What do you see as your biggest challenge?
CAPTAIN TRISHA FOGGEN
Cooperation is our greatest challenge, Miss Cathall. We are working with a community of individuals who have spent the better part of the previous fifty years operating outside the confines of the law. What the Vigilante Act seeks to accomplish is a return to the origins of the superhero community, when the capes worked with the government to defeat powerful enemies who would seek to do harm to our country. Shining Light was our first superhero, and he operated in total anonymity and outside the legal system, yet when World War I began, Light volunteered to work with the government and the military to stop the Axis threat. It was after the war, after Shining Light, Eagle ’41, Striped Star, and the rest of the heroes helped to defeat Hitler, that ordinary citizens began to put on costumes and work on their own instead of with the law. In hindsight, of course, the government should have passed the Vigilante Act in 1946, not 2002.
NANCY CATHALL
As you discussed in your confirmation hearing this past week, you used to be a superhero. Why have you taken off your costume to lead the Capes Division?
CAPTAIN TRISHA FOGGEN
That is correct, Miss Cathall. I operated as Ms. Stagger on and off for the past ten years and was a member of the Revolutionaries until the 9/11 attacks. I was in space, fighting the Loshow K warriors and preventing a mass invasion of the planet Earth that, sadly, would have made 9/11 look like a drive-by with water pistols. There is a critical role that superheroes play in the world and the Vigilante Act does not seek to eradicate that role. All it seeks to do is bring superheroes in from the cold. A superhero does not need to give up their secret identity. A superhero will not become a federal officer. All the Vigilante Act seeks to do is provide better coordination between the capes and the government, and, this is the critical part, affords the United States government a greater ability to investigate vigilantes.
NANCY CATHALL
Critics have suggested that you will force a hero like Psychic Navigator to work for you.
CAPTAIN TRISHA FOGGEN
If that were the case, Miss Cathall, I would have never taken off my tights for good and returned to my military uniform. What the Vigilante Act will do is allow Homeland Security to consult with a hero like Psychic Navigator when an appropriate situation arises. I see my role as threat analysts and cape facilitator.
NANCY CATHALL
Can you give us an example, please?
CAPTAIN TRISHA FOGGEN
Absolutely. Look at 9/11. Not the events leading up to 9/11, but the day, itself. We had two towers at the World Trade Center hit by commercial airliners and burning. Thousands died. Where were the heroes? There were a multitude of what we classify as “street heroes” helping at the bottom of the towers, but where were the heavy hitters who could have put out the fire or rescued people from the upper floors? They were in space or Los Angeles or Paris when they needed to be in New York and Washington. That’s what I will do - put the right heroes in contact with the appropriate threat.
NANCY CATHALL
And if a hero refuses to go where you tell them?
CAPTAIN TRISHA FOGGEN
This applies to villains, too. For too long we have allowed the Revolutionaries to control the Stockade. There are villains who were willing and able to help.
NANCY CATHALL
Again, Captain, what if a hero refuses to go where you tell them? If they are not becoming federal officers, do you have any authority to, say, arrest a superhero?
CAPTAIN TRISHA FOGGEN
No one wants to force the federalization issue, Miss Cathall. This is about accountability to the American public.
3
There
were six interviews before Nancy Cathall and ten after, and by the time Captain Trisha Foggen is finished with the press, she is ready for alone time, though she realizes alone time will be something she has little of in the years ahead.
“I want assessment reports done for every superhero and villain that operates out of Nevada, Utah, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming,” she says to the staff of soldiers, assistants, and ex-heroes gathered around her here at Nellis Air Force Base in southern Nevada. “We’ll start with these states to work out the kinks in our procedures. I want preliminary reports on my desk in two weeks, with a goal of sending them upstairs by June 1. Have dinner and then pick up your mission folders afterwards. Wheels up at O-600.”
4
“I don’t like this.”
The legendary hero Striped Star is waiting for Foggen inside her sleeping quarters on board the Hawkeye 6, a special military plane put at her disposal.
“Of course you don’t,” Foggen says, unbuttoning her military uniform. “Hell, I don’t like it, either, but what’s the alternative?”
“Our system has worked for fifty years.”
“It works because the public trusts us,” Foggen seethes, not wanting to have this conversation for what seems like the 800th time this week. “The public doesn’t trust us anymore.”
“Because they’re frightened and stirred up by politicians and government agencies looking to pass the buck!”
“You’re right,” Trisha admits, “but what can you do? Someone has to work with them, inside the system, or else we run the risk of everything every hero has fought for since Shining Light being taken away from us.”
“They can’t take it away from us.”
“Public opinion can do anything it damn well wants, Star,” Trisha says, sighing as her face starts to crumble from the weight of what she’s been asked to do. “Are you staying?” she asks, pulling open her unbuttoned shirt.
Striped Star nods.
Trisha pulls off her shirt and exposes her breasts to her former teammate. “Make me feel whole,” she whispers as Star moves in to kiss her.
5
“I’m telling you,” Kid Rapscallion says to Nancy inside a staircase at Channel 10 News, “it’s all a put on. Stagger and Striped Star have been fucking for years. Foggen only took this gig to try and work the system from the inside. It’s got Eagle ’62’s fingerprints all over it.”
“So, what?” Nancy asks. “You want me to go on TV and tell the world that Kid Rapscallion, who’s been missing in action for the past month because he was back in rehab, thinks the Vigilante Act is a scam because Captain Foggen is a lesbian?”
“You could leave out the part about rehab,” Jason says, mumbling in a low voice as he looks to see if anyone overheard him. “And it wasn’t because of a major relapse or anything. It was just … fine tuning, sort of. Like when you take your car in for a tune-up.”
Nancy looks at him closely and shakes her head. “You look good. Like you went to magic rehab camp or something.” She hates Jason and loves Kid Rapscallion and knows that ever since the Revolutionaries let him out of the Fort last year that he has done some amazing things. Crime is down all over the city, thanks directly to him. Kid Rapscallion is doing double duty, stopping bad guys and helping good guys. He’s donating time and money to all sorts of causes around the city, and he’s never been more popular.
“Just clean living.”
“So, you’re off the cocaine?”
He shrugs. “It turns out the juice I’m on needs the cocaine to keep my body in balance,” he says.
“That sounds like something an addict would say.”
“I know, I know, but the big brains in the cape community are working on a new synthetic chemical that should produce the same effect as the Peak solution Rapscallion gives me without any of the addictive properties.” He smiles. “I can get you an interview with them, maybe, but it will have to be—”
“No, no, that’s fine,” Nancy smiles. She is maybe hating Jason less and less. “How about an interview with your new girlfriend?”
“Ha! No,” he says, putting up his hands in mock surrender. “Melody is a normal girl with a normal job who doesn’t want any part of the spotlight.”
“I’m happy for you,” Nancy says, touching his arm and almost meaning it.
“What about you?” Kid asks. “Seeing anyone?”
“Not me,” she smiles through a lie. “So, listen, I hate to bring this up, but do you remember Kira?”
“No. Wait. The sorta cute heavyset girl from your journalism class back at UNLV? Yeah, I remember her. What about it?”
“She’s in San Francisco now,” Nancy explains. “She’s been digging into the Duplication Girl murder.”
Jason rolls his eyes. “Duplication Girl was never murdered. She’s just blowing smoke.”
“Be that as it may,” Nancy says, knowing he’s lying but without the proof to challenge him, “she’s come across something else. A local clerk in the District Attorney’s office has given her the heads up that they’re close to filing criminal charges.”
“Yeah?”
“Jason,” Nancy says, lowering her voice because she knows he hates it when she calls him by his real name while in costume, “they’re going to file charges against Rapscallion.”
“What? For what? He had nothing to do with Duplication Girl.”
“Not for that,” Nancy says. “For the sexual abuse of a minor.”
Kid stares at her wide-eyed and open-mouthed.
“Is there anything you want to change about your position on that issue?”
Jason feels light-headed and says nothing for a good 30 seconds, all the words he wants to say unable to properly form.
6
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he finally asks, his mind flashing back to all of the secrets of Flack Mansion revealed to him by the Amulet of Anamnesis.
“Jason, I have to ask. Did Rapscallion ever touch—?”
He punches the wall, putting a dent in the concrete just to the side of Nancy’s head. He sees that she’s shaken up by his act and though he has never hit her, she gets a good idea of what would happen if he did.
“That man never put his fucking hands on me in that way, Nancy. Not one goddamn time. What lying sack of shit is accusing him?”
Nancy takes a deep breath. “It’s Colbie.”
7
“Hello, Jason.”
“The life of superheroes,” he says. “Meeting on rooftops in the dead of night. You’d think we’d all get cell phones or something.”
The girl across from him is Colbie Cross, his replacement as Rapscallion’s sidekick. She goes by the name Indigo Impster, as Jason wanted to keep the Kid Rapscallion name for branding and marketability reasons, and Francis didn’t have the heart to fight him in court over it. Colbie is in costume, a purple and white outfight that says “indigo” down one leg but not “impster” anywhere, and she’s hugging herself so tightly that it’s clear she feels she’d fall apart if she let go.
Jason decides to cut right to it.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Cut the shit, Colbie,” he snaps. “The DA is going after Francis for sexual assault of a minor and you’re the star witness!”
“That’s not true!” she says, lunging forward before faltering. “Well, it’s not sexual abuse … just child abuse. Not sexual assault. Well, not Francis! But … but … Jesus, Jason, why didn’t you tell me about Domina before she fucking tied me up and … and …?”
She breaks down in tears and Jason feels the amulet weigh heavily on his soul.
8
The costumes are off and coffee is being ingested. It’s a rare cold and rainy night in Vegas and Jason has the heat on inside his Mazda RX-8. He’s driving Colbie out of the city, and she clings to her cup with such force that Jason is worried it’s going to shatter in her hands and create a mess in his new car.
“Domina Tricks is a villain from th
e 1970s,” Jason explains. She’s sort of Rapscallion’s daughter.”
“What?” Colbie asks. “She’s just as old as he is. How did …?” She sighs. “Time travel.”
“Worse,” Jason smiles. “Interdimensional time travel. This was just a couple of years ago. 1999. I had broken up with Belle a few weeks earlier.”
“Belle? You dated Belle Flower?”
“Yes.”
“But she’s all goody two shoes.”
“Why do you think we broke up,” he explains, then gets her back on topic. “Anyway, you know how it is, we start fighting the Clock Monkeys and next thing you know, it’s 1961 and while we’re getting help from the Clockmakers … I mean, things happen, you know, especially when you’re hanging out in an alternate universe JFK White House, and it turns out contraception wasn’t as good back then. So Francis gets Clockmaker Calculus pregnant —”
“Her name was Clockmaker Calculus?”
Jason nods. “Yeah, they were pretty lame. Hot, though.” He winces, remembering why Colbie is here. “But not really appropriate for this discussion. Anyway, Cal, let’s call her, has a baby but because of the disconnected issues with time and space, the kid disintegrates.”
“But, I saw —”
“I’m getting to that. Francis didn’t learn anything about his child until years later, when Domina ends up in our timeline as an adult in 1975.”