Jim said, "So ... what do you like to do, Diva?"
"I'm a model as well as a super hero. Oh! Speaking of which - my agent called! I need to get with her this afternoon about a gig!"
I grinned, "Awesome! See, becoming a super didn't ruin your modeling career."
"I'm stoked. I can't wait to see what type of job she has lined up."
"I'm really glad for you."
She said, "Speaking of fashion - why aren't you in your costume?" She also wondered why I didn’t put on proper makeup and jewelry.
"I was at school. I don't wander around in my costume while in class."
"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. So what do you guys do?"
Jim said, "We're computer majors. On the side we dig out information for, err, Psystar."
Mike nodded. Diva immediately thought that they must be really boring to hang around with.
I shook my head. "They've really helped a lot on some cases just in the last week."
Diva said, "Oh, so you guys are kind of like investigators?"
Jim looked up, "Yeah, I guess you could put it like that."
"By the way, Black Tiger mentioned that he needs to get a hold of those blue people. So if you see them or they call you, give him a call, okay?"
"Uhh, okay."
Why didn't he call me to mention that himself? Hmm.
They delivered our food and we all took the time to eat in earnest. While we were eating, Diva's thoughts wandered and she began thinking about her kiss with Black Tiger. I almost choked on my sandwich.
Then both of our H.E.R.O. phones went off with an event. We pulled them out simultaneously - it was a robbery in progress not far away, and the robbers were openly shooting at people. We looked at each other.
I said, "Sorry guys, we need to stop a robbery. If it's really quick I'll swing back here to pick you up, okay? I'll stop by here regardless in case you're still here...."
I quickly stripped off my jeans and shirt, grabbed my gold belt and gloves from my pack and asked them to hold onto my stuff if they would.
Diva and I ran to the exit and took to the air, checking the direction on our phones for the robbery's location.
Chapter 6 - Robbery
Diva's Viewpoint
The robbery turned out to be at a pawnshop. There were two patrol cars already at the scene, and a pair of bad guys were hiding in the doorway. Flashes came from guns from both sides as they shot back and forth at each other.
The robbers had the bigger guns - at least until we landed. I flew to a stop well above the scene and motioned to Psystar.
I said, "Those are normal bad guys, I can just fly down by them. Do you want to fly down by the police, make sure they are okay, and then run in behind me?"
Psystar said, "Yeah. Try not to punch the guys too hard, you won't want to kill them. If you walk past them, or just destroy their guns I can walk up and make them submit to us."
"Ooh, submit to us! I like that."
"I meant give up."
"Oh, well, that's more boring, but it'll work. If anyone is badly hurt by the police cars are you going to help take out the bad guys first?"
"Yeah, we need to stop them."
"All right then. I'm heading in."
I shifted my flight gear to go at a fast pace directly down toward the front entrance. I glanced back once to catch Psystar's golden hair shimmer in the light as she shifted toward the police vehicles.
I came in too fast and the balls of my feet slammed into the ground, cracking the cement. Not as if a fast landing really affected me other than my balance a little bit - I had to ensure I wouldn't land on the heels to avoid breaking them. My ankles and knees took the shock the same as if I were walking.
I turned and waved to the officers, "I've got this!"
One of the officers shot me in the belly. I put my hands on my hips, tilted my head and gave them a stern look. Then the robbers behind me began shooting me with their machine guns.
The bullets felt like fingers poking at my back. One bounced off my head, several poked me in the butt. I turned and looked at the robbers.
I walked quickly toward the front entrance and the men with machine guns. Bullets poked me from my thighs, up my torso, and one thudded into my cheek. At least that didn't hurt like the inside of my mouth - and this time I kept my mouth shut.
I grabbed one of their guns when I reached them and crushed the barrel. An odd explosion came out the back end as the man fired it again. He fell back with a bloody face. His partner fled into the building, so I grabbed the man next to me and threw him at his friend.
The thrown man's feet struck the fleeing man, knocking him over. Unfortunately, the man I threw crashed into a display case extremely hard. I cringed - I hoped he wasn't hurt
too
badly.
Something flew into the room from the back section, and the sound of metal bouncing off the concrete floor rang out in several places near me. Gas poured out from the canisters.
What did Black Tiger say? Take a deep breathe and then hold your breathe for the rest of the fight? That sounds right.
I inhaled deeply, but a harsh smell struck my nose and I began choking and coughing hard. My eyes burned and I had difficulty seeing anything - the smoke made it impossible to see.
Something slammed hard into my throat, causing me to choke. Just after that, I heard a really loud shot go off. I fell to the ground holding my throat. It didn't feel wet with blood, but was extremely hard to breathe. I finally sucked in some breathe, only to get another mouthful of the smoke stuff and began choking and coughing even worse.
Many of the machine gun shots went off from the back section of the store. I put my arm up in front of my face and neck to try and block any more shots at me, but I didn't even hear any bullets hit anything around me, much less hit me.
Some crashing came from the back section along with more machine gun fire. Another loud bang went off, along with an "Unh" from a woman.
Something wrapped around my waist and I felt myself flying through the air. I couldn't see, but in a moment, I struck something soft, and then flew into some kind of shelf based on the sound of items crashing to the ground. A male's grunt when I first landed told me I'd been thrown into someone.
I could barely see, but a shape was in front of me, and then bright flashes erupted as someone shot a machine gun at me from a few feet away.
The shape suddenly jerked forward into me, and I felt a person's body. I grabbed them and swung them around me. I was rewarded with a crashing sound as the person hit the remains of the shelves I'd struck moments before.
I kept blinking and coughing, and noticed the gunfire had almost stopped. The shape of a man was before me, so I swept my leg around and tripped him. He cried out in pain when my shin hit his. A cracking sound came from it.
I heard a woman's voice - I recognized it, but couldn't place it with my ongoing coughs.
She said, "I think that's all of them."
Psystar's voice sounded painful, "Yeah, none got out the back."
The other woman said, "Stay still honey, I'm going to put drops in your eyes."
A hand grabbed my chin and attempted to force me to look up. She wasn't strong enough, and I had to force myself to look up for a moment. Cool wetness hit each of my eyes and my vision began to clear.
It was the most I could do to hold still, and I went back to coughing harshly. Silverlash knelt next to me, along with Psystar about ten feet away. Bright red ran down Psystar's chest from a large wound on her left shoulder. Another bright red spot bled from her right abdomen.
Silverlash squeezed my cheek - or attempted to, and quickly moved around to the various men on the floor. She seemed to pull silvery ribbons from her left hand. These ribbons wrapped themselves around the men's arms, body and ankles. Then she took out a knife and cut away their weapon straps.
Psystar said, "I'll let the police know to come in."
She walked toward the back and left my sight. Silverlash walked back over to me and helped me stand. She brought me over to a water fountain.
"Go on, honey. Try to wash out your nose and throat."
Using the fountain, I was able to clear some of the nasty stuff and begin breathing. The choking from the shot in the neck had already faded. Once I was breathing fairly well I realized she was staring at me.
I said, "What?"
"Why did you breathe in that stuff?"
"I was told that's how you do it - take a deep breath and then hold it for the rest of the fight."
"No, no no. You hold your breathe
before
the gas, and then go through it."
"Oh ... yeah, that makes sense. But ... I was already in the gas."
"Then just don't breathe. You're a brick, even after exhaling you should have a few minutes of air."
"Wow, really?"
"Darling, seriously? You didn't even know that?"
"No."
She squeezed me on the arm, "You'll learn."
Police came in from the back of the building and began checking the men wrapped up in the silvery bonds.
I asked, "What are those silver things?"
She pulled a new one out of nothing, flicked it and it wrapped around my left wrist a few times.
"The lashes are my power. I make them, shape them and move them around."
"That's neat."
"So is armored skin." She poked at a few of the holes in my dress. "I don't see any blood."
I shook my head, "No, the only one that hurt was the hit to my throat."
"One of them had a sniper rifle."
"That's what hit me?"
"Probably. Or maybe your neck is a weak point."
Psystar walked over to us after ensuring the officers weren't in any danger. She'd just finished pulling gas masks off the criminals. I stared at her wounds; they were healing - but still looked bad - and painful. At least hers healed fast.
My golden haired friend said, "Well, that explains why trying to make them submit failed just before I entered...."
I felt sad that I let her get hurt. I wanted to give her a hug, but with the injuries, it would have hurt her more. Her face softened and she smiled at me. She reached out and held my left arm for a moment with her right hand.
Silverlash said, "You should set up a training place that fires paintballs or something at you, Psystar. You can improve your ability to dodge with some practice."
"Yeah, if I could find the time I would. My life is overbooked right now, and what little extra time I have is either for studying or a little much-needed time with friends."
"Understood. It's just a suggestion. I'd be happy to train with either of you if needed."
Psystar asked, "Really?"
"Certainly. We're all heroines."
I asked, "You'd spend time helping us?" I felt all warm and fuzzy. It was almost like the H.E.R.O. ladies were a big group of friends. Psystar reached out and held my arm again for a moment.
An awful lot of the officers made a point of stopping over, saying "Hi" and thanking us. It felt good to get the attention. I didn't know if the male heroes got the same, but at the moment it just felt good to be appreciated.
Agent Carson came in shortly and questioned us about what had occurred. Apparently, Silverlash had used her main ribbon hanging from her belt to pick me up and throw me across the room at the villains. Psystar had come in from the back, attempted to make them give up and then entered only to find the villains with gas masks shooting at her. She’d at least held her breath when she kicked in the door and saw the smoke.
I looked at Silverlash after her testimony and laughed, "I can't believe you chucked me across the room."
She shrugged and replied, "You were in the midst of the smoke, coughing away. I knew I needed to get you out of it to help you get back in the fight. In addition, I'm well aware you're a brick. No throw of mine is going to actually hurt you."
"What if I landed on something sharp? There are a lot of strange tools in here."
She chuckled, "You aren't going to be hurt by those. Diva, I heard you got hurt a few times the last few days - but really, in general you are unbelievably tough."
I said, "You know, we should get together for dinner and a few drinks. Any chance you two are available tonight? I can fill you guys in on the gig my agent landed for me."
Psystar looked up for a moment and said, "Sure, I'd love to hear the results."
Silverlash said, "I'd love to get to know you both better. Where would you like to meet?"
Psystar said, "Go out or someone's home?"
Silverlash said, "Let's do a home, we won't be stared at. All three of us stand out even out of costume."
Psystar said, "All right, how about Diva's place, she's got a beautiful home."
I shook my head, "No, it's your turn. You left your clothes at my place last time, remember? I'll bring them over with me."
She rolled her eyes after seeing Silverlash raise an eyebrow.
"She's giving me clothes that no longer fit her, don't get the wrong idea...."
Silverlash nodded. "All right, then. How about 7 P.M.? I'll bring a dessert."
We both nodded. Psystar took out her phone and tapped away on it.
My friend said, "Here, I'm sending you both the address. Hope you guys don't mind it quaint, my place isn't as large, or as well furnished as Diva's...."
I smiled, "It doesn't matter. Being with you is more important than the type of furniture you have. Besides, I have a really hard butt, remember? Apart from the texture it's not like different surfaces really feel better to me."
Psystar said, "You too? I'm finding I can sit on the hallway floor at the University for hours and not be bothered any more. I used to get a sore butt."
Silverlash smiled, "Ah, new supers. I love hearing about this stuff. Sometimes I forget what it was like before my change; it was a long time ago."
I asked, "How long have you been a super?"