House of Dolls 4

by Harmon Cooper

  As the man blinked his eyes awake, Jess-as-the-wine-bottle started hopping around, startling him.

  “What the…?”

  The man stumbled sideways, falling to the pavement and catching himself at the very last moment. Jess-as-the-wine-bottle hopped toward him, the man crawling before getting up to his feet and taking off.

  “Sorry,” Jess said once she was back to her normal form. “I hate drunks.”

  Miranda exhaled audibly, one of her blue curls flying off her forehead. “I could have just made him think the wine bottle was jumping around in front of him.”

  “But where’s the fun in that?”

  Roman glanced between both of them. “Let’s just get inside and get this over with,” he said, not quite comfortable with being the one in charge.

  The stairwell smelled like garbage, and Roman found the culprit almost immediately.

  Someone had taken the trash out, then failed to clean up the leak they’d left behind on the steps. Roman carefully stepped around the inconsiderate mess, and the three came to a door on the third floor. Roman looked down at the welcome mat, noticing what appeared to be a bloodstain on it.

  “Any thoughts of how you would like to do this?” Miranda asked.

  “I’ll make it easy,” Roman said as he raised his hand toward the door handle.

  The handle melted inward, the door quietly swinging open.

  “After you,” Roman said as he stepped aside.

  “No way; you’re going in first,” Jess whispered.

  They heard grunting as they came into the apartment. The grunts were followed by a high-pitched squeal that could either have come from a woman or an animal; Roman wasn’t quite sure.

  The three passed an empty living room and turned down the hallway to the bedroom, the entire apartment smelling just about as bad as the hallway outside.

  The bedroom door was halfway cracked, and as they neared it, Roman could see bodies moving on the bed.

  He couldn’t quite make out what was happening, but he could definitely tell it had something to do with sex.

  He glanced at Miranda over her shoulder, which she shrugged, and from there he looked at Jess, who had her fingers pinched over her nose with a cringe on her face.

  Roman thought about pressing a face into the wall, but in the end he decided on the surprise entrance.

  He kicked open the door, and his eyes came to a trio on the bed. He saw Devil, who currently had a girthy cock in his mouth, as well as a rail-thin woman riding their informant reverse-cowgirl style.

  Devil spat the cock out of his mouth. “What the fuck!?”

  The woman fell to the side, and Devil cried out as she snapped his erection in the process. The man who had been getting sucked off fell on top of both of them and rolled over. Devil pushed him aside.

  “Well, well, well,” Jess said, offering Devil a disgusted look. “I think you know why we’re here.”

  “If you need to talk to me, send me a fucking mental message!” Devil cried, his lips covered in spittle. “What in the actual fuck!? What did you do to them!? Fuck!”

  “That’s an interesting side effect,” Miranda said as she looked at the other man on the bed, whose penis was still erect.

  Roman cleared his throat. “The information you gave us was incorrect. So we figured we would pay you a house visit to see if you had heard of anything else.”

  “Anything else?” Devil glared at Roman. “You could have mental messaged me to ask that question! And who the fuck are you anyway!? Where’s the chick with the mask?”

  “Language, language,” Jess said. “And please, keep your voice down. It doesn’t matter who he is. We’re here for information, not to make introductions. We feel like you’ve been holding out on us, Devil, like maybe you have some information you haven’t told us about yet.”

  “What…? No, I’ve told you everything I fucking know, honest! It’s not my fault if…”

  “I’ll make this quick,” Miranda said, coming forward and lightly grazing against Roman’s hand. It startled him, and as he looked over, he briefly watched Miranda give him a sidelong glance before returning her attention to Devil. “Are you ready?”

  The man slammed his head against the backboard. He instantly brought his hands to his temples, wincing as he screamed.

  “Arrrrghhhhhh!”

  “Careful,” Roman told her, “we don’t need him…”

  “That has never happened before,” Miranda snapped back, her shoulders lowering some as Devil finally got some relief.

  “Honest, honest, I really don’t know anything!” Devil cried, hoarse now. He looked around, his eyes stopping on the man he’d just been blowing moments ago. “He knows—Destin fucking knows something. He just told me about a guy. Ask him! Wake him up and ask him!”

  “Okay,” Miranda said.

  Devil’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell sideways, the man named Destin starting to wake up.

  “What’s happening?” he asked, instinctively reaching for a blanket so he could cover himself.

  “Your buddy Devil here has just sold you out,” Jess said.

  “Sold me out? How? I didn’t do anything!” the man started to say, panic rising in his voice.

  “He said you may have some information, that you just told him ‘about a guy.’”

  “Told him about a guy?” Destin shook his head at Jess. “Is he talking about the attack on the security company?”

  “I don’t know; tell us about that,” Jess said.

  “Better yet, let me take a look.” Miranda came forward. Destin started to cringe, instinctively placing his hands on either side of his head.

  “Stop! Please, I’m begging you!”

  “He wasn’t there,” Miranda said, not letting up. “But he knows a guy who was, a guy he had a drink with at a bar last night. Chap is his name, right?”

  “Please stop! Fuck! Please!” Destin cried, a vein pulsing on the side of his head.

  “According to Chap, the security company was attacked by a fat man with two cat girls. They rehired all the employees at double their salaries, which was why Chap was buying rounds at a bar last night.”

  “Let him tell it,” Jess said, “I’m tired of hearing him scream.”

  “Please…” the man said as Miranda let up. “Thank you, thank you.”

  “Tell us about Chap,” Roman said to Destin.

  “Chap? Yeah, Chap. Just an acquaintance, honest. I’ve seen him in there a couple times, a bar some of us go to, some of us that…” The man looked at the bed. “Yeah, people who are open to both sexes. We have a bar. Chap was there celebrating. Anyway…” Destin rubbed his temples as he glared at Miranda. “Did you have to go so far?”

  “Finish telling your story, or I will go further than you can possibly imagine.”

  “Chap said he was at his job when this big guy came, big as in fat. He had two cat girls with him. They killed everyone. They took over the company, and…” The man paused, trying to remember what else Chap had told him. “That’s right, he said they’re having a ceremony or something tomorrow night. Not tonight. He said it was two days, so it must be tomorrow night, you know, some kind of party to celebrate the new business venture.”

  “Do you know where we can find Chap?” Roman asked.

  “No, unless he goes to the bar again tonight. Maybe you could find him there. The place is called Cheer-Up Charlie’s. Maybe you could check the security company’s headquarters too. I used to live by that area, over in Meriday Heights.”

  “Got it,” Miranda said, stripping the information from his mind.

  “That’s it?” Destin asked. “You’re just going to leave us like this?”

  “Everyone will wake up eventually,” Miranda said as she turned to the door. She nodded at Jess and Roman. “Let’s go.”

  “You can’t just leave us like this!” Destin called.

  Roman looked over his shoulder, slamming the door shut behind them and locking it.

>   “Should we tell Ava before we check the security company?” Jess asked.

  “No need,” said Miranda. “It’ll just be a quick check. And think how happy our fiery boss will be if we come back with an actual lead.”

  “Let’s hope this guy is a day drinker,” Jess said as the three stepped out of the security office. The place had been ravaged, Miranda unable to use her psychometry power to pick up much. The filing cabinets had been emptied as well, which might have been helpful in locating the man named Chap.

  Unfortunately, there was only one option left…

  A teleporter appeared in front of them, followed by a large splash of color that cut wavy arcs through the air.

  It was only a matter of seconds before Roman, Miranda, and Jess were standing outside of the bar known as Cheer-Up Charlie’s. The restaurant was in need of a good remodeling, with dead plants outside and a brown roof made of corrugated metal.

  Sure enough, it was open, and since it was close to lunchtime, Roman suggested they see what kind of food the place served.

  “This should be interesting,” Miranda said as they made their way inside what resembled a diner. Cheer-Up Charlie’s was clearly a fight-your-way-in-and-fight-your-way-out kind of place that reeked of booze and fried meat. There were two men seated at the bar, both watching as Roman and his counterparts entered.

  “Please don’t tell me we’re going to have to be here all day,” Jess said under her breath as the waitress led them to a booth in the back.

  The black-and-white checkered floor was sticky; it was clear there was space at the front of the establishment for a dance floor, with some of the tables and chairs still cleared out.

  Jess sat with her back to the door, Roman and Miranda taking the seats in front of her so they could see who entered.

  Again, Miranda bumped into Roman as she shuffled into her seat, her ass grazing against the front of his pants.

  He was starting to get the sense that she was subtly flirting with him. But, knowing that she was a telepath, Roman did everything in his power to not actually think about this, only sense it and move on.

  “All we have is meatloaf today,” the waitress said, smacking her lips. She was an older woman with droopy eyes who looked like she worked several jobs.

  “Then I guess we’ll have the meatloaf,” Miranda told her.

  “And to drink?”

  “Three glasses of wine,” Miranda said. “Whatever is on tap.”

  Jess looked at her after the waitress stepped away.

  “What? We’re trying to blend in here,” Miranda whispered.

  “She’s not wrong,” Roman started to say.

  “How long are we actually planning on being here?” Jess asked, a disgusted look on her face. “Because if we’re talking more than a few hours, I might just set up outside as a plant or something, mostly for the fresh air.”

  “It would have to be a dead plant,” Miranda quipped.

  “That’s easy.”

  “We’ll be here however long it takes,” Roman told Jess.

  He saw a flash outside signaling a teleporter had arrived with someone.

  A woman stepped inside the place, fixed her skirt, and made her way to a stool at the front. The two men seated at the bar looked at the brunette and nodded, and the woman nodded back.

  “I’m so glad you two can’t see what they’re thinking,” Miranda told Roman and Jess.

  “I’m glad too,” said Jess as the three glasses of wine came.

  Once the waitress had stepped away again, Miranda raised her glass. “To getting out of the Western Province, Ravja in particular.”

  “I feel like we’ve barely explored it,” Roman said as he raised his glass as well.

  The three clinked their glasses together, Miranda swirling her wine before taking a sip of it. “Are you really interested in hitting all the touristy spots?”

  “No, I’ve just never been to the Western Province before.”

  “But you have been to the East,” she reminded him. “And for some reason, you have conveniently forgotten about it.”

  “I do remember there being a lot of trees there, beautiful trees.”

  Jess smirked. “You know, we never talked about it, but that was pretty crazy what happened when your power came back to you. I’ve…” She took a sip of her wine and swallowed hard. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. I’ve heard of people with your power, but to see the walls just melt away… Weird.”

  “And to think there’s a more powerful version of you out there somewhere,” Miranda said, chiding him. “That’s what we should be worried about.”

  “Margo?” Roman shook his head. “According to what I’ve been told, she’s in the body of a sex doll. There’s no telling if she is as powerful as she once was.”

  “You fought her, right?” Jess asked. “I mean, of course you did—I read that part of your file—but what was it like? That’s what I meant to ask.”

  “Not as fast as it should have been.” Roman sighed as he nearly finished his glass of wine. “I feel like Margo could have killed me quicker had she wanted to. It was almost as if she wanted to toy with me. She’s had much more training than I have, and she’s been using her power since she was a child. But I’m glad I attempted it, even if it really put me on the government’s shitlist. Even if Margo had killed me or I’d been forced to go to jail. I’m glad I did it. She animated my wife’s corpse. Just imagine that for a moment.”

  Jess shuddered. “I remember reading that part. It sounds gruesome.”

  “It’s a story for another day,” Roman finally said.

  “I’m assuming that’s what our next mission will be,” Miranda said. “It feels to me like they’re really trying to clean up that mess.”

  “Mess?”

  She nodded. “I mean all the stuff that involves you, from Kevin to Margo. It seems like they’re trying to clean all that up, one piece at a time. First, we take on Kevin, and then we put everyone we can on figuring out what happened to Margo. She may be in another country by now, but after her attack on the Lottery Council, I don’t believe they’ll let her live for long.”

  “It actually makes no sense to me,” Roman admitted. “No offense to you all, but I don’t see why they’ve sent us to go after Kevin. He’s a low-level offender in my book.”

  “He broke into Centralia South and is responsible for the death of our country’s only healer,” Jess reminded Roman. “As well as countless other deaths, including his own wife’s.”

  “Yes, but he’s Kevin. I worked with this guy. He’s a fat slob. There’s nothing special about him. He’s smart, but he’s also an idiot. Have you ever met someone like that? That’s how I would describe him. So that’s what I mean by low-level offender. It seems like a waste of time for us to try to go after him when Margo is clearly out there.”

  “There are other branches of the agency,” Miranda said. “Just because they have, for some reason, easily let you join our particular group doesn’t mean there aren’t things happening you don’t know about.”

  “I figured that much,” Roman said as the meatloaf came.

  The meatloaf looked like someone had scooped a square out with a spatula and slapped it onto the white plate, dollops of orange grease around its edges. There were also a couple half-charred potatoes and some withered asparagus.

  “Yummy,” Miranda said, barely hiding the sarcasm in her voice.

  “Maybe it tastes better than it looks.” Roman cut off a piece of the meatloaf with his fork and tasted it.

  He nodded, impressed.

  “Really?” Jess asked, curious now.

  “It’s not bad.” Roman went for another bite. “Really,” he said, still chewing.

  “Are you sure you aren’t just fucking with us?”

  Roman shook his head at Jess. “If you don’t want yours, I’ll eat it.”

  Jess took a bite, chewing slowly at first. “Damn,” she finally said.

  “Now you both are just fuc
king with me.”

  As Miranda reluctantly tried her meatloaf, a man with platinum-blond hair stepped into the bar.

  “Hey,” Roman said, elbowing Miranda, who was slowly nodding at the surprisingly good flavor of the meatloaf. “That him?”

  “Let me check,” Miranda said. As soon as she started to focus on the man, he turned to them, electricity crackling around his eyes.

  The bolt struck the wall next to Miranda, a warning.

  By this point Roman had already taken control of the floor, the checkered tile forming two hands that yanked Chap to the ground.

  A ball of lightning fired into the air as the bartender and waitress screamed and the patrons all ducked for cover.

  “Get down,” Roman told Miranda and Jess before he dove out of the booth.

  “I’ve got this,” Miranda said, and as the words left her lips, Chap started to scream, bolts of electricity zipping across the inside of the restaurant and leaving black marks on the ceiling and walls.

  “Shit, shit,” Jess said, her hands on her head now. “Someone get this guy under control!”

  “Last chance,” Miranda said aloud, and as she did Chap stopped firing off lightning bolts. He was on the ground now, on his back, his hands trembling.

  “Everyone move behind the bar,” Miranda instructed. The waitress, the bartender, the chef who had come out of the kitchen, and the three patrons followed suit. Miranda was focusing so hard now that her face was starting to turn red, a Y-shaped vein appearing on her forehead.

  The man named Chap let out a final yelp and closed his eyes, his body going limp.

  “What did you do?” Roman asked, ignoring the seven people now all huddled together behind the bar.

  Miranda nodded. “I got the information about tomorrow’s ceremony. Then I wiped his mind. Now I’m going to do the same for the people behind the bar. Remove the tile from his body and leave him lying on the ground. I’m going to have them believe he got drunk and passed out. He’ll wake up in five minutes, after we are long gone, not remembering any of this.”

  “What about all the black marks around the room?” Jess asked. “From his electricity.”

  “Right, thanks for reminding me. I’ll have him think he did that in a drunken stupor. Easy.”