I sent a text with the rough location as Firebane stripped down and changed into her spandex outfit.
When dressed again she asked, “What should I do with my purse and clothes?”
I shrugged, “I’d hide them up here. We’ll swing back and get them after we’re done.”
“That will work.” She looked around and hid the stuff under a pipe on the rooftop. She came back to me and asked, “Do I look okay?” I saw from her mindview that she was still self conscious from what she looked like before she changed.
I smiled, “You look great. Seriously. I’m just hoping you don’t distract the guys.”
“They don’t even notice….”
“You didn’t see the mindviews of people at the fire. People did more than notice – and were impressed.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Most people don’t comment often because they think you were always that way. Or they don’t want to be rude. But they do look … a lot.”
She grinned. Then she frowned and said, “Ugh, we need to fly again now, I suppose.”
“What, am I so bad to fly with?” I closed my eyes and concentrated on spreading calm again. The tingling went over my skin and I felt the shift in emotion from her.
I smiled, pulled her close again and flew us into the air.
Firebane asked, “Does a person ever get used to your perfume and not feel like doing this?” The last part she merely mumbled, although it came across her mindview clearly.
I flew down and landed at a fast food joint. Firebane’s thoughts immediately turned to her own hunger as I landed, so I ordered us both a meal package. I faced away from her a moment and whispered, “If you saw that everyone is looking at us
both
, you’d feel pretty good right now….”
She looked at me with momentary surprise and glanced around. Several people quickly looked away as she looked in their direction. I leaned in and whispered again, “I see where they all look when they
don’t
see you looking at them.”
Unfortunately, that made her self-conscious, as she wasn’t used to being out in public in spandex. I rolled my eyes and smiled at her.
We speedily ate the food in a booth and continued on our way to the north.
Chapter 34 – Warehouse
Third Party Perspective
Psystar and Firebane stopped twice on the flight north to hone the location of the supers Firebane was detecting. Psystar texted the GPS coordinates to the others once they found the final place.
The building was a large warehouse. Unlike the warehouse Shrinker had gathered her mutants in, this one appeared to be actively in use. A row of semis were backed into a set of doors in the center. As they watched from a building top a few hundred yards away, a new semi backed into a door. A driver climbed out of the cab and walked toward a personnel entrance near the center of this side of the large building.
Firebane said, “He doesn’t look like a mercenary.”
“I agree. He looks like a normal guy to me.”
“Did you see that forklift drive by before he backed into the door?”
“No, I missed that.”
“Yeah, they are moving something around in there.”
“Are you sure this is the place?”
“For the second time,
yes
. It has eight supers in it right now. Where else would have that many? Apart from the hospital and jail?”
“I don’t know, a military base that’s been recruiting us?”
“You’ve been approached by the military?”
“No! I mean recruited supers.”
“But that’s no military base. I’m sure of that. There’s not even security around the building, apart from that fence they can close at night.”
“I’ve got no idea then. Why do bad guys hang out in warehouses?”
“They do?”
“Yeah, Shrinker and her mutants hung out in one.”
Firebane looked thoughtful, “Hmm. Where else would they hang out at? An office building? A shopping center?”
“I suppose, those would be too busy with people.”
“I wish we could see through the walls.”
“There’s a guy in the hospital that can do that.”
“He works there?”
“No. He’s one of the new supers, like us. When I was listening for the leak in the hospital I caught the mindview of a guy who was practicing looking through walls and stuff. He could make his hand ghostly too.”
“Wow, that’s funky. Keep a close eye on that end of the warehouse, with the pair of trailers. All of them are in that section, not the one with all those semi tractors and trailers.”
“I should have looked at the side of the trailers last night. I can’t tell if they are the same ones Black Tiger and I attacked.”
“How could you not notice that?”
Psystar shrugged, “I flew down from above. Nothing special was painted on the top.”
Firebane put her hand on Psystar’s head and pushed down. Psystar saw through Firebane’s mindview that she was watching the driver, who had stopped and was staring in their direction. After a moment she saw him continue on his way to his semi. She thought he saw Psystar’s hair glint in the sunlight.
The sound of vehicles coming up behind their building made the pair crawl back down and look. The heroes had arrived.
Psystar hooked Firebane around the waist and floated them down to the men while the men got out of their vehicles and gathered together.
Gatecrasher said, “What’s the situation?”
Firebane said, “They are in the warehouse behind this one, a few hundred yards over. All eight of the supers are in the rightmost section of the building.
“You’re sure there are eight?”
“Fine, I’ll check one
more
time.” She closed her eyes and focused on sensing supers again. Psystar noticed her irritation that of the group there she was only able to detect Psystar. She counted the people over in the warehouse. “Yes, eight. What the hell is up with this? Why can I only detect Psystar of this group here?”
Black Tiger said, “I thought I was the one with stealth.”
“Me too.”
Gatecrasher said, “So there might be more.”
Firebane replied, “I guess so.” She sounded bitter.
He continued, “So what do we know for certain that they have guarding the supers?”
Black Tiger said, “In one day their guards from the one semi won’t be healed. Maybe assume that the driver and four guards from the second semi made it. Plus the metal brick chick.”
Psystar said, “I think I dropped the psionic woman I fought from pretty high up, although if she’s like the rest of us she’ll probably have healed it by now – assuming she didn’t die.”
“No other supers?”
Black Tiger said, “No. I didn’t see any super guards in the factory.”
Hellshock said, “It’s possible that a metal brick will be affected by my electricity.”
Gatecrasher said, “I’m not sure, I’ve haven’t gotten to speak with one of them to see if they’ve tried it. It’s possible though. Let’s do this for the plan of attack. I charge and go through the door. As soon as I spot the metal woman I attack her. Hellshock and Psystar take out the psychic. Black Tiger goes after the normal guards, now that you are resistant to two of their attacks it should work. Firebane, you immediately find the victims and destroy any apparatus that are keeping them unconscious. Sound good?”
Firebane said, “Whoa! Hold on a second! I can’t go in there!”
“Why not?”
“I’m not a fighter, I’m supposed to, I don’t know, suck in fire and stuff!”
“Suck in fire?”
“I absorb fire.”
Psystar added, “And then you blew up afterward.”
Firebane continued, “I think that’s because I had too much in me. I had absorbed a lot of it.”
Gatecrasher asked, “Is that why you called yourself Firebane?”
“Yeah.”
“All right, back to the topic. We need you in there. Don’t get into any fights, just free the hostages. If even one of them woke up it would really allow us to overwhelm them. What if what you do is what turns the tide of the battle for us?”
Firebane sighed, “Fine. I’ll try. I’ll follow you guys in.”
“As to the order of entry, I believe that Black Tiger should follow me in, and then Hellshock, then Psystar, then Firebane. Any objections to that?”
The rest of us agreed with him.
Psystar said, “Wait, I need to notify Captain McCain.” She took out her H.E.R.O. phone and sent a message to him and Anne Coyle. “Anyone else need to know?”
Black Tiger said, “I suppose Agent Willman should be told.” He did the same with his phone.
Gatecrasher scowled, “Anyone else need to send a message or perhaps surf the web while we delay?”
Everyone shook their head.
He asked, “Is anyone
not
ready?”
Everyone shook their head again.
“I’ll be hitting around sixty miles per hour on my charge. Can everyone keep up with that?”
Psystar said, “I’ll fly low with Firebane.”
Hellshock said, “I’ll ride up and stop by the entrance. By the time I get off my cycle you two guys ought to be hitting the door.”
Gatecrasher said, “Good, let’s do this.” He cracked his knuckles and slid down his visor. Psystar grabbed Firebane around the waist and stepped into the air, while Hellshock started his cycle and sped around the parking lot to enter the next one.
Gatecrasher began jogging around the building; Black Tiger stayed at his side. Once he cleared the building and saw the warehouse the kidnappers were holding the victims in his speed quickly ramped up. Black Tiger had to sprint to keep up with him once Gatecrasher was halfway across the large parking lot. The heavy footsteps made it sound to Black Tiger as though a bull were charging along next to him.
Hellshock sped by them on his motorcycle, spun and came to a fast stop near the entrance. He glanced back at Gatecrasher and Black Tiger running fast toward the entrance and quickly climbed off his cycle.
Psystar flew up and over the building that she and Firebane had kept watch on, sped up to pass the runners, and slowed back down to come to a smooth landing. The runners passed by the two women just as they touched the ground.
Gatecrasher pushed off the ground just before the stairs leading up to the personnel door and smashed it off the hinges into the building. The dented door narrowly flew past a surprised guard and was embedded into the wall.
The experienced hero saw the two guards on his way in, although he didn’t stop. Seeing a wall ahead of him, the hero shifted into a shoulder block pose. An energy shield formed ahead of him, and a large section of wall crashed down as he barged through it.
Behind Gatecrasher, Black Tiger entered the building and snap kicked the guard on the right. Before he hit the wall Black Tiger turned and punched the left guard in the chest. Both flew back, crashed into their respective walls and slumped to the floor. Black Tiger sprinted to try to catch up to Gatecrasher. The other three followed closely behind Black Tiger.