Storm Girl

by Ben Mason

  Sitting in her dim office she stared at the shadowed certificates and degrees, accreditation from the best universities and commendation from men and women in power. She had plenty more of them in top secret files back in Washington. They kind that gave her a higher salary and more power.

  And when her daughter had been taken they hadn’t given her the tiniest bit of leverage. In the moment when she needed that power the most it had left her in a darkened room, alone.

  Grabbing the picture frame off her desk, Mary stared at it. Even in the dark she was able to make out most of it, not that she needed to see it. In the picture she and David were laying down on a picnic blanket with Katie spread out over their legs, smiling up at the camera. It was the kind of photo people put on their social media to show how perfect their lives were.

  Mary didn’t believe in perfection, but that day had come close. The weather had been clear, the ants and flies had taken a hike, the food had been delicious with deli sandwiches and carrot cake followed by two glasses of wine. When Katie took midday nap, she and David had snuck off for some husband and wife time.

  It had been the best day and David had even told her, leaning in as they watched the sunset. All the money in the world can’t buy you this, he had said, nuzzling her neck. She had laughed not understanding what he meant.

  It wasn’t until after David died that Mary realized he was the heart of their family. He had been the one to stare up at the clouds and see things, to make picnics and play silly games which got their daughter to squeal with delight. It was David who pulled her back when her ambition started to cloud her judgement.

  And it was David she needed now.

  “What do I do ?” Mary asked. Nobody answered her. If David was here he would tell her to pray. He had found peace in those things and it gave him strength as the cancer ravaged his body.

  She thought back to his last days in the hospital, squeezing her hand. God, he had been a skeleton by then. Keep an eye on Katie, Mar. She’s going to need you more than she lets on. Both of you have such good poker faces. You need to let down the walls with each other.

  Mary fought down the urge to cry. He had warned her, told her what was going to happen and she had ignored them. Now she had lost Katie, too.

  “No.” The voice was ragged with a hard edge. She was not going to give up. Maybe she didn’t have David’s heart or faith, but she did have her determination. Her daughter was missing and Mary was going to find out where she had gone and who had taken her.

  Stepping over to her closet, she pulled the gym sweats she had from the middle shelf. She swapped out her heels for a pair of sneakers and tied her hair up into a tight bun. Grabbing her duffel bag she slung it over her shoulder. If anyone asked she was going she would say to work out her stress. Once she got to the parking garage she would come up with another lie—if she had to.

  She reached for the doorknob, stopped, and came back to her desk, unlocking the first drawer. Her 9mm Kimber stared back at her. Grabbing the gun she put it in her duffel bag leaving it part way open.

  No one was going to stand in the way of her finding her daughter. And if they tried, they were going to find out just how heartless she could be.

  12

  Kessler had never cared for Christmas morning as a child. Even before Emil passed it had seemed like such a trite set of myths full of saccharine naiveté.

  A fat man who gave presents. Giving things away and not trying desiring anything in return. Children in mangers. When he had become an adult he had stopped bothering with it.

  But as he waited in the dark desert, the injured Black Prism squad standing guard around him, Kessler felt he finally understood what all the nonsense was about.

  Over ten years later and he was going to be reunited with his first success (despite what the fools in Washington called it).

  He was barely able to contain himself. He kept fidgeting, patting the breast pocket of his jacket, checking to make sure the canister was still there.

  It was.

  He fought to keep the grin off of his face. Even he was impressed with his swiftness at replicating the compound that had given the girl her powers. Yes, there had been a few complications. It was less stable than the original, and far more potent, but Kessler needed a trump card in case things went sour and with political types that was a real possibility.

  Bright headlights broke him from his thoughts. Guns swung around to meet the MTVR as Kessler’s team clustered around him in a tight-knit circle.

  The truck turned in a loop until its back was facing the them. The outline of a large box came into view.

  Kessler started to tremble. Like opening a present Christmas morning.

  The truck door swung open and a large, clean-shaven man in a black suit stepped out. Another emerged from the back of the truck. Both of them walked with the ease of professional soldiers.

  “Lower your weapons,” the driver said as he moved toward them.

  “We’re on the same team,” the other one said. Neither of them looked worried about the rifles pointed at them. Of course not. They had Wolfsbane.

  “A precaution, gentlemen,” Kessler said as he stepped forward. “One can never be sure where America’s enemies are going to appear.”

  “Sure,” the driver said.

  “May I see the subject? I need to ascertain if he is still capable.”

  The driver shrugged and pulled out a silver pen like instrument. So did the other one. They pressed them together, shuffling themselves out of the way from the truck. Kessler followed suit.

  The door exploded outward in a rain of jagged metal. One of the men Kessler brought must have been caught because he cried out in pain.

  Kessler didn’t hear him. He didn’t see a thing outside of Wolfsbane. Even after all these years his creation was perfect.

  The creature had to bend down to get out of the truck. He was imposing at over seven feet and his skin was a pale gray. His eyes were sickly yellow and his mouth was rimmed with dried red blood. Weaving through his skin were lines of metal standing out of his arms and legs like jack chains. Another pair weaved in and out of his chest and back ultimately running up to his forehead with two metal disks attached to his head like electrodes.

  Keeping himself in check Kessler gave a nod. “The demonstration if you please?”

  “What demonstration?” One of the men in Black Prism—a thin latino—barked.

  “This one,” Kessler said.

  The two agents nodded and tapped on their silver pens.

  Wolfsbane let out a roar, its skin darkening as a fresh spray of blood came from its ruptured vocal chords, its eyes turning silver. The six men in Black Prism, to their credit, fired immediately.

  It didn’t matter. They were mice facing a lion.

  The bullets buried themselves halfway into the creature’s skin and stuck there or fell to the ground.

  Then Wolfsbane vanished. A second later half of the guns went silent. Another roar and the night grew quiet. Walking over to the fresh corpses, Kessler flicked on a pen light and examined the bodies.

  Turning to the handlers he gave a nod. “This is satisfactory. With Wolfsbane I believe we can bring our rogue assets to heel.”

  Unless we’re lucky, he added silently.

  13

  Leon bit back a few curse words as they bumped across the road toward Novatropolis. Katie gave him a playful pat on his healthy leg.

  “Stop moving. I can’t get the bandages cinched if you keep squirming.”

  “Sure,” he said.

  To be honest, Katie had been impressed. When she had cleaned the wounds, using a skin stapler to close them (Grady didn’t believe in going to hospitals) he hadn’t passed out from the pain. The guys in No Questions might be cute, but Katie doubted they were as tough as Leon.

  Tying off the last of the bandages she gave him one last tap on the kneecap. “See that wasn’t so bad.”

  “It was horrible. I wish you’d let me have a drink.”

/>   “Yeah, we don’t need you downing an anti-coagulant while you’re bleeding out,” Katie said.

  Leon looked down and saw her hand was still on his knee. She jerked back quickly, her face turning red. She had enjoyed getting to touch him and take care of him, maybe a little too much.

  Busted.

  “I’m going to see how close we are to our destination,” Leon said, changing the subject.

  “No need,” Grady hollered from up front. “We’re here.”

  Katie sighed. While she was glad for the save it, did suck having to leave Leon’s side. The one trade-off, she hoped, was that place had a shower.

  Judging from the outside it probably had, like, ten.

  Katie gaped as she stood in front of the mansion. It was nestled on a ridge overlooking all of Novatropolis, the city shining in the distance.

  The house was white and blue with wood paneling and built in an L-shape. The small part of the L was a four car garage. The larger part was a two story house full of room-length windows and large greek pillars at the front entrance.

  “Woah,” Katie said.

  “I know. What a useless piece of crud,” Grady said, shaking his head. “You try to raise them right, convince them it’s a waste of money and time and they still have to go and learn it on their own.”

  “Lee’s your kid,” Leon said.

  “Yeah,” Grady said sighing. “I’m proud of my kid for the most part. It just gets embarrassing when I have to bring friends up here.” His cheeks turned a little pink as he talked.

  Katie decided Grady was still cool, but also weird.

  Moving down the gravel driveway they walked up to the large oak door and rang the doorbell.

  When it opened a young woman hurtled into Grady’s arms. “Dad! What are you doing here? Are these your friends?” She smiled at Leon and Katie felt a twinge of jealousy.

  Lee was cute. She had a button nose and long blond hair along with sparkling hazel eyes. She was even wearing a yellow sundress with a hairband.

  The scent of fresh cookies hit Katie’s nose and she bit back a frown. Scratch that. Lee wasn’t cute. She was freaking adorable.

  “Nice to meet you, Ms. Lee. May I say you have a wonderful home,” Leon said giving her his trademark ladykiller smile. She giggled.

  It wasn’t fair to call a girl that pretty Lee, Katie decided. Total guerrilla warfare. The competition had no time to prepare.

  “Thanks,” Lee said, waving them in. “Dad pushed me to be good with chemistry and engineering. You know, to ‘live off the grid, away from the man’. Problem is the best equipment and projects are in the city and usually sponsored by the government.”

  Grady grumbled a little, pretending to scuff the marble flooring. The inside of the house was white with sparse modern decor. Whoever designed it really liked chrome.

  “Well I’m glad not everyone hates the government,” Leon said as they followed Lee to a door which lead down a flight of stairs.

  “Sure. It all depends on circumstance. So what brings you folks here?”

  “We’re—ahh—on the run from the government.”

  “Interesting,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “What for?”

  “Katie here has superpowers,” Grady said, puffing out his chest like a proud uncle.

  “Really?” Lee asked, flicking on a light switch and revealing a lab so state of the art it rivaled Kessler’s.

  “Well Katie, if you don’t mind, I need a little bit of blood to find out why.”

  “Sure,” Katie said, rolling up a sleeve. She had already been stabbed in the heart by this girl (and in the hand by a scorpion). Getting stabbed in the arm was the cherry on top.

  “But first how about a shower? You can even use some of my clothes. I think we’re about the same size,” Lee said, giving her a sympathetic smile.

  Great. Now Katie couldn’t even hate her.

  “A shower sounds great,” Katie said, smiling despite herself. For the first time since the vault a little scrap of her life was returning to normal.

  Maybe it would stay that way.

  14

  “This is fascinating.”

  Katie was filled with dread. That was the sixth time in two minutes Lee had said that. Add in the extra ten she had been hunched over the scanning probe microscope and it didn’t mean anything good.

  “I was hoping to hear a little bit more than fascinating,” Katie said. Even after a shower and a change into clean jeans and a cute white blouse, she was still a bundle of nerves.

  “Hmm…Oh! Right! Sorry about that,” Lee said, her cheeks brightening as she brushed the ends of her dress. “This Kessler is brilliant. A total monster,” she added quickly, “But brilliant.”

  “What happened to me?” Katie said moving closer.

  Lee typed a few buttons and large monitors hanging from the ceiling came to life. There were Katie’s blood cells on the slide, cracked and glowing purple.

  “I’m dying.”

  “No,” Lee said. “You’re a giant energy cell. You store energy as you sleep, eat, or if you get a shot of plasma.”

  “The stuff on the tip of lightning bolts?” Leon asked.

  “Bingo,” Lee said winking at him. “You have limits, there just aren’t many of them. Dad wasn’t kidding. You are a full-blown superhero.”

  Grady looked pleased, a smile hovering inside his beard.

  “More like a freak,” Katie mumbled.

  “This doesn’t make sense,” Leon said, stepping toward the screens. “There is no way Kessler was greenlit to create a super soldier without any kind of containment mechanism. The government wouldn’t allow it.”

  “You’re not wrong,” Lee said. “The power is dormant right now. I did some testing. Here let me show you.”

  The TV screens shifted, one staying on the first slide, the other shifting to a second one.

  “Watch this,” Lee said. She took out a small hypodermic needle and stabbed it into the cells. They reacted by moving away, the purple glow getting stronger.

  The cells on the other TV screen went nuts. They started jerking wildly, glowing bright hot and moving toward Lee. After a moment she pulled the needle out and waited for everything to go back to normal.

  “What was that?” Katie asked.

  “I think it’s a limiter,” Lee said. “You can’t access your full powers unless you are using them for someone other than yourself. My guess is the government was supposed to be the ‘someone’ in this scenario, but Kessler didn’t expect to get to the human testing stage so it was left open. You added your own condition and voilà.”

  Katie fought the lump in her throat. Her dad had been her condition. He had been there for her like he said he would. He hadn’t lied to her.

  Grady snorted. “A weakness of having to use your powers for others? Told you she was a superhero.”

  “What’s our next move?” Leon asked. “Sooner or later they’re going to track us down.”

  “I say we take the fight to them,” Lee said. “If we expose what the government did to Katie people will be outraged.”

  Grady gave his daughter’s shoulder a squeeze, pride shining on his face. “We can put it on my website and send it to all the major news outlets. And we can have Katie out in front dressed in an outfit.” He gave Katie a distracted smile. “No spandex.”

  The three of them kept talking about her. About what to do with her blood, her power, her future, even how they were going to dress her.

  The room started to spin.

  “I need to go outside,” Katie said. “I need to get some fresh air.”

  They all turned to stare at her, and, for some stupid reason, she burst into tears and ran off.

  15

  The second Katie had started crying and run off, Leon followed her. He had to force himself to go at a slow jog, unless he wanted to risk ripping his staples and bleeding all over the place.

  He figured even if Lee liked him, contaminating her lab with his blood wasn’t going to
do him any favors.

  He could kick himself for the way he had just acted. Or let his four sisters do it for him. They had raised him better than to talk about a young woman as if she wasn’t even in the room.

  Moving up the stairs he kept scanning the doors and archways for sign of forced entry or skid marks. None showed any recent disturbance. His hand moved toward his pistol. He was sure they were all alone, but old habits died hard. Kessler was going to be coming for them and it didn’t hurt to keep vigilant.

  Feeling a slight breeze, Leon glanced up. The trapdoor to the roof had been left slightly ajar.

  Katie really had needed fresh air.

  Leon thought about letting Lee go up and talk to her—girls communicated better with other women—and decided against it. If her glares were any indication, Katie wasn’t the scientist’s biggest fan.

  “Hey,” Leon said after he had gotten topside and found Katie hunched over in one corner staring at the city. Novatropolis lived up to its name, gleaming like a cluster of stars with the concentrated lights in the center resembling an exploding sun. It was beautiful and sad and a little intimidating.

  “Hey,” she said, her voice quiet as a breeze.

  “Mind if I sit down?” Leon asked.

  Katie shrugged her shoulders. “Free country.”

  “Not for us,” he said, grunting as he slid down, the throb in his leg reminding him to be careful. He gave Katie one of his cocksure smiles. Both the smile and the joke fell flat.

  “I’m sorry about back there. We were getting ahead of ourselves. You know how adults can be.”

  The poor girl had a thousand yard stare. She was looking past the city into a future which was darker and harsher than the one she had been heading towards a few days ago.

  His dad’s words came back to him. Leon, sometimes you have to go with the truth even if it’s tough. Anything else crumbles.

  “I think it’s awesome you can’t use your powers recklessly. I’d give a lot to change places.”