by Michael Todd
Katie hurried down the street and around the corner to a parking lot. There was an SUV parked there, its windows tinted jet-black.
Katie swaggered forward, crossing her arms. How obvious is that?
As she approached the SUV, she stopped in her tracks and watched as a blonde woman with a three-year-old girl stepped out of the vehicle onto the sidewalk. Katie looked at them for a moment, thinking that she might have been wrong, and the sound of a horn honking behind her made her jump. She spun to see the general’s bushy eyebrows through the front windshield of a beat-up sedan that had been old a decade ago.
Katie tilted her head, confused, but hurried over to the car and climbed inside. She closed the door and glared at the general, who was quietly laughing at her. It was obvious she had made the assumption that stealth or not, he would arrive in a blacked-out SUV.
The general got hold of himself, tamping down the amusement as best he could. “I told you I wanted to be nondescript. A government SUV on the corner of a New York City street isn’t necessarily what I would call being in disguise.”
Katie shook her head. “I know, but I just figured… Fuck it.”
The general took off down the street, still chuckling. He drove for a few blocks and turned into an alley in a quiet part of the town. He gestured for Katie to follow, and the two got out of the car and walked two more blocks. He led her into a large parking garage.
As they rounded the corner on the fourth floor, Katie sniggered. The only car on this level was a giant blacked-out SUV. “Hey, I got it half right.”
The general opened the door for Katie, and they both climbed into the back. The general waved at the driver, and they left the parking garage and drove around town. Brushwood let out a deep sigh and took off his hat, putting it on his lap and looking at Katie. “You look well. I had concerns after that fight in England.”
Katie pursed her lips and did her best to answer nonchalantly. “It wasn’t as clean as I’d have liked it to be, but the job got done.”
“That it did. Because of our efforts there, they are now in talks with your weaponry company.” The general made quotation marks with his fingers before continuing, “They will be a force to be reckoned with when they are all trained. We’re sending some of our guys over there as consultants to whip them into shape.”
“Good. I want them to be just as prepared as we are,” Katie urged passionately. “This isn’t a fight for the United States. This is a worldwide battle. Every single life on the planet is at stake.”
The general didn’t say a word, just stared out the window as they pulled into an old airfield on the outskirts of town. “You’re right, and I like that you think that way.”
The SUV came to a stop, and Katie peeked out the window and smiled when she saw a fat tan military helicopter with its rotors spinning. They got out of the vehicle and Katie followed the general, bending low and walking across the helo pad with her hair whipping crazily in the wind. The general helped her in, then nodded at the pilot and put his headphones on, ready to start the conversation.
Chapter Five
Angie hurried through the precinct and across the main room to the conference area. The chief and several others were waiting for her there. She had to check in on their efforts. Timothy wouldn’t be there in person, but he was on the line, conferenced in to hear all about it. When she entered, they were all sitting around the table eating donuts and laughing. They quieted down and straightened up when they saw her.
Angie stood at the head of the table. “I know you guys are busy, so I will keep this as short as possible. I wanted an update, then I’ll let you get back to it.”
The chief stood up and looked around. “We all have to agree, it’s going ten times better than we thought it would. It pains my precinct budget to say so, but if things continue in this manner, it will be worth every penny. Not to mention the countless lives it will save, and already has saved.”
Timothy’s voice emerged from the speaker of Angie’s phone. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about.”
Angie cleared her throat. “You’re on speaker, Timothy.”
“Oh, uh, I mean, I’m glad you are pleased,” he corrected in the most professional voice he could muster.
Angie took the phone off speaker and held it up to her ear. “Do you have any questions?”
Timothy cleared his throat, embarrassed. “No, I just wanted to hear that it was all going well. If they have any questions, just call me back. I’ve never been good on conference calls.”
Angie chuckled. “You could have fooled me.”
Angie pressed End and shook her head, then collected herself and peered at the officers, who had begun talking amongst themselves. “Do you guys have any questions?”
An officer with a thin mustache cleared his throat and stuck up his hand. “Yes, but it’s not really about the system.”
Angie sighed. What now? “Okay, shoot.”
He looked at the man next to him, who nodded and prodded him with an elbow. “How’s Katie?”
Angie grinned and picked up her purse. “She’s good. Apparently, Pandora is starting to want to play Batman.”
Two of the cops looked quickly at each other, concerned. “Oh, shit.”
They quickly huddled together and Angie narrowed her eyes, watching them as they whispered to one another. The cop with the mustache shook his head and left the room, and she turned from the closing door to face the remaining officers. Angie didn’t know what was going on. Whatever it was, it had worried both of them—and she knew it had something to do with Katie and Pandora.
Angie raised her eyebrow and tilted her head. “Was it something I said?”
The chief shook his head, taking a sip of his coffee. “No, not at all. It’s okay, just dealing with a potential oops before it becomes real.”
“I thought you were going to bring lunch?” The general grinned at her.
Katie nodded and smirked. “I should’ve picked it up on the way here. Unfortunately, I’ve had to deal with Wonder Woman in my psyche.”
“I’m not exactly sure what you’re referring to, but I never imagined Pandora as Wonder Woman.”
For God sakes, woman, you’re talking in riddles. Let me handle this. Pandora took over Katie’s speech. “What’s up, Papa Brushwood? Yeah, it’s Pandora. I took over.”
The general coughed and sat up straighter. “Hello, Pandora.”
Pandora clicked her tongue and pulled Katie’s hands over her face, giving her a mask of fingers. She lowered her voice to a growl. “So here’s the thing… Katie and Angie showed me Batman, and I’m pretty pissed that’s been kept from me this whole time.”
The general narrowed his eyes. “Batman?”
Pandora continued in her normal voice, “Not Batman exactly, but the fact that there are actual superheroes. Vigilantes who are out there, saving people’s lives and even working with the government like we do. She made it seem like what we do is wild and crazy. The truth is, they’ve actually made movies about it. Superheroes are pretty much the shit! It seems I’m the only one who sees this similarity.”
The general tilted his head to the side. “So, am I to understand you find superhero movies interesting? I enjoy superhero movies just like the rest of them, I’ll admit. I wouldn’t think the vigilante aspect would spark your interest, though. My guess is you’re more interested in the villains.”
Pandora gasped. “I’m not the villain, am I? Besides, it’s a bunch of hot men in tight suits bending over and showing off their assets. They beat people up and destroy shit. Couldn’t ask for better television.”
The general laughed loudly and shook his head. “I guess you’re right. I do enjoy it when they blow up shit in movies. I used to think that didn’t actually happen in real life—until I met the two of you, that is. It seems like wherever you two are, something’s falling down.”
Pandora bared her teeth. “Yeah, but it’s falling into a pile of demon dust. That’s why we’re here in the first pla
ce. We don’t really blow shit up, though. Not very often, at least. It’s usually more of a crumbling building than a car bursting into flames. I mean, we can change that if you want. I’d have to get with Timothy about some new ordnance.”
Pandora put her hands over her eyes and made her voice a growl again. “You could be my commissioner.” She had the next Batman all planned out in her head.
The general shook his head. “No, I think I’m good with my current job. And it’s hard enough for me to explain the amount of destruction you cause as it is. I’m just lucky that it’s usually because of some horrifying demon who ends up dead, and that it leads directly to hundreds, if not thousands, of lives being saved. If it weren’t for that, I’m not sure how I could keep you guys on the books.”
“You could make a movie about us. You wouldn’t even have to re-shoot. You could just have a cameraman follow us around everywhere.”
The general humored her with a smile. “I could, but I think I would probably need a whole fleet of cameramen to follow you around. The fatality rate of those who work beside you isn’t exactly low.”
Pandora pointed her finger at the general. “Good thought. We would definitely need at least a dozen.”
The general looked up as the pilot moved the helicopter higher. When they reached five thousand feet, the pilot gave the general a nod. Brushwood nodded back and sat up straight, turning toward Katie. “Okay, we’re here. What did you want to talk about or show me?”
Pandora was still in control, and she shrugged. “Beats the fuck out of me. I’m just the passenger.”
The general was genuinely surprised and slightly suspicious. “What? I thought you knew everything that Katie knew, and the other way around. At least, it seems that way most of the time.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not like she asks my permission or anything. She just pokes and prods around. She gets a few special appendages, and then WHAM—big head syndrome commences.” Pandora lifted her hands and mimed her words, puffing Katie’s cheeks out and rolling her eyes.
The general covered his mouth and laughed, trying to hide his amusement at Pandora’s sarcasm. “I guess we all need to keep secrets now and then, even those of us with someone else in our head. Not that I would know how that feels. I’ve managed to stay demon-free.”
“What is it that you humans say? Oh, ‘knock on wood’ on that one. Don’t want to go jinxing yourself or anything.”
The general ran his eyes over the interior of the helicopter and knocked on the window. “That will have to do. As much as I appreciate you and Katie and our relationship, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be that lucky.”
Pandora locked her hands behind Katie’s head. “Not very many people can be this lucky. Not only am I a savage hellfire-raised warrior queen of a demon, but I’m here to help you humans keep your heads on your shoulders. The rest of them end up with idiot demons who don’t even know what they’re doing.”
“So I’ve seen.”
Suddenly, Katie’s arms flew down to her sides, and her eyes shut tightly. Her shoulders went limp and then her eyes slowly opened again, a red sparkle in her pupils. She rubbed her face, groaning with irritation. “Wow, she has a big mouth.”
The general raised his eyebrows but didn’t say a word. Katie stretched her arms over her head and cracked her neck, then leaned forward and tapped the pilot on the shoulder, lifting one side of his headset off his ear. “What are we, about five thousand feet up?”
The pilot gave Katie a thumbs-up, and she patted him on the shoulder. “Good. Hover here.”
She leaned back in her chair and smiled sweetly at the general, straightening her holsters and stretching her arms. He looked at her, amused but confused. She leaned over. “Got everything you need?”
The general narrowed his eyes. “What?” She was already up and reaching for the door handle, and his eyes popped wide open as she slid the door open and air rushed into the passenger compartment. When he finally realized what she was about to do he tried to back up.
Katie reached over and undid his seatbelt. She waved her hand at the open door and yelled over the roar of the helicopter’s engine, “C’mon!”
He shook his head feverishly, pointing to his back. “No way. No parachute, and we’re way too low anyway!”
Katie shrugged. “I don’t need one!”
“Yeah, but what about me?”
Katie sighed, then grabbed the general by his arms and leaped backward out the door. The general froze in her arms as they plummeted earthward. Katie waited an extra half a second and then her wings sprouted, caught air, and jerked them upward. She twisted the general around and hugged him tightly. Her wings beat heavily and carried them away from the roar of the helicopter.
The general looked around wildly, then gulped in air and tried to calm himself. “I didn’t realize you could carry two so easily.”
Katie giggled. “Neither did I. I just had faith that I wasn’t given secondhand wings.”
The general resisted the urge to panic and flail. He was in the arms of a mercenary who had wings, flying thousands of feet above the middle of nowhere. Instead of panicking, he slowed his breathing. He peered carefully at Katie’s face and decided that he could trust her. They had been through too much together for him not to.
He figured she wouldn’t fly him out to the middle of nowhere just to drop him five thousand feet to the ground, so he took another deep breath and studied his surroundings. Now that he was calm, he could appreciate just how beautiful it was that high up. He had never had a view quite like that, out in the open air without a helicopter around him. He had a feeling he would never have a view like it again.
Hell, even if he did die, it was a good way to go.
Katie pumped her wings as she watched the general relax and begin to take in the view. After all, it was pretty amazing from up there. She rarely took the time to enjoy it. She should learn to sit back and take in the moment, even if it was just for a second.
Deep beneath the ocean’s surface, the dark current flowed quietly and strongly, feeding the ecosystem beneath the waves. Schools of fish swam freely through the water near the surface, shifting and moving as larger fish moved in and out, looking for their next meal.
From a thin crack in the seafloor, a plume of bubbles began to trickle, then the trickle became a stream. Bubbles shot up through the current and scattered the schools of fish.
The seafloor rumbled with seismic activity. Sand and coral dislodged as the ground shook, sending grit up to cloud the water. A small mountain began to shift slowly, and the mud and rocks around it on the seafloor broke loose. Long-trapped air rushed in every direction, and streams of bubbles and sediment sent the schools of fish swimming in a hundred different directions.
The earthquake increased in intensity, and rocks and sediment swirled along the seafloor. The underwater mountain broke loose and drifted upward, creating waves when it surfaced. It bobbed in the waves like some massive, impossible buoy.
Huge chunks of mud and rock began to fall off the mountain, revealing dark, slick scales.
This was no mountain. The echo of a groan rose from deep under the ocean, and then something broke the surface and stretched high into the air. The last of the rocks broke free as it fully extended. It wasn’t some ancient shard of the Earth’s crust, but a giant arm. Enormous and scaled, it dripped seawater and the corpses of a hundred fish.
The sea had been hiding a secret, too far out for any sailors to see, but too close to land for it not to be a complete and total disaster waiting to happen.
The ocean raged. The seafloor shook. And danger slowly made its way out of the depths toward land.
Chapter Six
Katie looked behind her to make sure the helicopter was maintaining a safe distance. The pilot was protecting the general, but he had made sure to wave the craft off as soon as he realized he was safe. He didn’t need him shooting down his only ally, or at least his only ally with a chance of fighting the Damned.
Katie looked around her for any sign of spies but saw only open fields below and clear sky above. “I just wanted to make sure it was safe to talk. I know that you are worried about the conversation being bugged. This was all that I could think of, so hopefully we’re safe here.”
The general glanced from side to side. “Who the hell is going to bug the air around us, even if they could?”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
The general let out a bellowing laugh and nodded. “I suppose you’re right. It was the possibility of being bugged that was worrying me.”
“I don’t know why you’re so concerned with that. The demons don’t use bugs, and the rest of them? I don’t waste time thinking about them.”
The general looked at her intently. “Katie, you have to understand something. Everyone wants you right now. The government wants you to play Captain America for hearts and minds.”
Pandora was almost offended by the thought. Captain America is a pussy. From what I found out last night, he cheated his way into the system to be a superhero.
Katie ignored Pandora and tried to focus on the general. He was serious about what he was saying, but in a way she recognized as caring. “There are those in the government who want to dissect you to figure out if they can use you or duplicate you to make an army. Some of them want you to come to Washington to protect their important asses.”
Pandora scoffed. Oh, that’s rich, since half of them are Damned. They are just trying to trick the system. There’s no way they would want you actually around.
