Absolute Power (Book 1): Origins (11 page)

“Ah, ‘speak’ is a stretch,” Jess laughed.  “My good pal Fugen is responsible for that.”  She looked around at the crowd.  “I'd show you, but it'd freak the locals out.  But it’s the basic story of man saves ancient sorcerer's life, sorcerer bestows boon, new born baby learns to summon demon, demon becomes best friend and the two of them join a superhero army.”

“You really do talk a lot,” Alison said.  Jess's smile quickly turned to a frown.  Then Alison started laughing.  “Sorry, it doesn’t bother me...  I mean… I was just commenting.  It’s nice compared to being treated like a kid at my last post.”

“Well, when you see Fugen you shall tremble at his might,” Jess shook her fist at Alison.  “Anyway, there’ve been rumors on the street about a child being the reincarnation of one of the gods.  The information is like five times removed from any eyewitness sources but worth a look.  Usually, in superstitious or religious areas, Super-Humans show up as ghost, demons, spirits or aliens.  Once in while SHT finds some huckster trying to scam money. Other times it’s just paranoia.  The rest of the time it’s someone who didn't know they had any ability.  They only happened to grow up in a place that was prone to leaping to irrational conclusions.  Especially irrational considering how common Super-Humans are today.

“Western culture sees these people as disfigured,” Jess continued, “But here, it’s taken as a physical representation of one of their gods.  A lot of the time the locals worship them.  Which is a giant leap from what they do back home.”

“You’re telling me,” Alison retorted.

The two of them were walking along a narrow path.  It cut between stacks of houses that were squished together.  The path was so narrow that when someone needed to pass, people had to press up against the wall.  The two had walked for a while, and Alison trusted that Jess knew where she was going.  Then suddenly they came out into an open area with a fountain in the center.  A crowd of women were washing their clothes in the water.  Jess grabbed Alison by the hand and pulled her back into the alleyway.  Holding her finger over her lips, the two watched the group.

Jess pointed to a woman who was standing hip deep in the fountain and talking to the other woman.  “I think we found our town gossip,” Jess told Alison.  She went down the steps to the edge of the water.  “Hi,” she said in Hindi.  “My friend and I heard a story about a local child that might be a reincarnation.”

The women waved their hands making it look like they were swatting at flies.  “No, no, no,” the women said, Alison didn’t need a translation.

“Oh, I'm sorry to bother you,” Jess said, “It’s just that I heard about a baby who had been born here.  The boy had horns like a goat and could speak from the womb.  I wanted to see it with my own eyes.  And you know this boy, he walked on all fours and said strange things.”

“No, no, you have it wrong,” the woman corrected Jess.  “He had a tail like a monkey and spoke in an old tongue.”

Another woman added, “But he did walk on all fours.”  Altogether the group of women agreed.

“You know, I think it was a girl,” the first woman said.  “And she looked normal.”

“No marks or horns?”  Jess prodded.

“No, no, no,” the woman was drawn in by the gossip.  “But said things she shouldn’t know.”

“Yes, yes,” another woman cut in again.  “I heard that she knew Puja's husband had been murdered.”

“And then she told everyone that Raj was stealing from them,” the first woman added.

“Where does this girl live?”  Jess asked.

“She was born to beggars,” the woman answered.  “If you want to find them, check near the river and ask for the Pandeys.”

“Thank you,” Jess Namasted and climbed back out of the fountain.  “Easy as pie,” she said to Alison.

“Is that part of your abilities?”  Alison asked.  “Manipulating peoples’ minds?”

Jess laughed.  “Ha, that's part of being Jessica Lang.”

It was the late afternoon, and the sun was getting ready to go down.  The women decided to call it a day.  They found a small restaurant on the way back to The One HQ.  In the morning, they would have to requisition a car to get to the river.

Leaving early in the morning, Jess drove them east for what seemed like forever.  After shrieking her throat hoarse, Alison closed her eyes most of the way.  Families would charge across the four lane roads as cars sped by at sixty miles per hour.  Her ability to see the near future wasn't helping her stay calm.  But as far as Jess was concerned, there was no reason to worry.  She drove along singing to the music that blasted out of the radio.

The river wasn't exactly what Alison expected.  In her mind, she imagined something like the Mississippi; a grey-blue stretch of water cutting its way through the land.  The river here was muddy brown.  The water moved slow enough to wade across and was narrow enough to do it easily.  All along the riverbed were what resembled homes.  The lean-tos were built out of discarded trash and often were only a roof and poles.  Here, like at the fountain, women were washing their clothes in the water.  Further upstream children were playing, and adults were bathing.  There were so many people here that Alison doubted they'd find the Pandey family or at least the right Pandey family.

Jess turned the car around and searched for a secluded spot to park.  When she found it, she stopped and said to Alison, “Get ready.”  Then to herself she began mumbling in a language that Alison had never heard.

The car shook a little then a light surrounded them, and a noise filled the air.  Suddenly it was gone, and Jess sat there with a mischievous smile on her face.  She rolled down the window, and a bird landed on the edge of the glass.  Alison thought of it as a bird because it had wings, talons and a beak, but that was where the similarities ended.  Its feathers were short and stubby.  They were green and shimmered like pearls or maybe like scales.  Its eyes were set more in front than to the side.  In fact, as Alison looked at it she changed her opinion and thought it was closer to a dragon.

“Meet Fugen,” Jess said.

The little dragon-like creature shifted to look at Alison.  It spread its wings and made a croaking sound.

“I imagined he'd be bigger,” Alison said.

“He's whatever he needs to be,” Jess told her, “depending on the job.  Problem is that I can't seem to convince him to look like an ordinary animal.  I'm not sure if it's pride or because he just can't.”

Fugen took a jab with his beak, almost hitting Jess on the side of the head.

“Don't be a baby,” Jess said to the creature and opened the car door.  Fugen was startled from his perch.  “Come on we'll use Fugen as a scout.”

The women headed to the river and began walking along the waterway.  It was obvious they didn't belong.  Quickly, the two became the focus of the river town.  Children were gathering in groups as well as adults.  A cluster of kids were running around them talking and laughing.

“Anything we should worry about?”  Alison asked.

“They think we're journalists,” Jess replied.  “Folks out here don't know anything about The One, but they know journalists.  They’re used to Westerners coming by, taking photos and giving them treats.”

“We don't have any treats,” Alison said worried.

“You haven't worked with kids much have you?” Jess questioned.  “Treat doesn't always mean candy.”  She waved her hand in the air.  Fugen was circling high overhead, and he swooped down when he saw Jess.  He came down brushing the children's heads then back up in an arc to land gently on Jess's arm.  The kids who weren't startled were fascinated.  An American kid would have known that a creature like Fugen was abnormal.  These kids had no preconception and so, no fear.  Fugen seemed to be soaking up the attention as he strutted back and forth along Jess's arm.  He let his wings stretch out as far as they could go and flapped to the excitement of the children.

One of the kids asked something, and Jess answered, “Fugen.”

He tried to pronounce the name then asked another question.  Before Jess could answer, Fugen had hopped into the air and landed on the boy's head.  The children started laughing hysterically.

Jess let the laughter die down and ask the crowd a question.  The boy pointed up the river and said something else.  At that, Fugen took off again, and Jess thanked them.

“I'm guessing we got what we were looking for?” Alison asked.

“Yup,” Jess answered.  “The boy knows the family.  He said they were up the river earlier this morning.  They'll be the only ones without children.”

“That doesn't sound good,” Alison said.

“Yeah,” Jess said softly.  “I hate thinking about these countries as barbaric; it's so ethnocentric, but sometimes the things they do out here…  Sometimes The Lost Ones get drown as babies.  It gets more and more common as western ideals push out Hindu beliefs.”

Jess was somber on the way up the river.  Finding the Pandeys was straightforward.  Fugen was circling over an oddly empty section of the area.  The other families were keeping their distance.  The Pandeys were sitting under a leaf thatched shelter staring at the passing water.  Casually, Jess walked into their line of sight and looked out at the river.

Jess turned to them and said in Hindi, “I've come in search of special children to take home with me.”

“Why?  Why do you do this?”  The husband asked.

“It is my mission to find them and take them to my home,” Jess said, “where we keep them safe from the people who might hurt them.”

“Home?”  The wife asked.

“A big place,” Jess replied, “far from here.  There are many of us.  We take care of each other.”

“What kind of special children are you looking for?”  The husband asked.

Jess's voice turned serious. “Today I come for your daughter, but I don't see her anywhere.”

The wife let out a soft sob, and the husband turned his head to the ground.  “She was sick,” he said after a moment.  “She would not eat or sleep.  We could not help her, so we took her to the hospital.  They said they would take care of her there.”

Jess nodded to Alison to get moving.  She said nothing to the Pandeys as they left.  They were almost to the car when she finally spoke.

“It's hard not to hate them,” Jess said.

“I had a Sergeant back in America,” Alison told her.  “He hated the Norms for how they treated us.  He also hated The Lost Ones for... Well, I'm not sure for what, but he hated a lot of things.”

“It's just ignorance I tell myself,” Jess said, “They didn't mean anything by it.”

“They drown the girl didn't they?” Alison asked hesitantly.

“No,” Jess said sighing.  “She's in what's basically a sanitarium.  The place they send everyone they don't know what to do with.  I suppose it's better than prison, like they did in England way back when.”

“Sanitarium?  You mean like a nut house?”  Alison was getting agitated.

“With a little less therapy and a little more restraints,” Jess replied.

“That's...  That's the same thing as a prison,” Alison was almost yelling.  “The only difference is you never know when you're getting out.  We have to get her.”

“It's all the way in the city.  We won't get there till night,” Jess said, but Alison didn't look like she cared.  “Yeah, you're right.  No point leaving her there any longer than necessary.”

This time, as Jess sped along the road, Alison wished she would go faster.  She was beginning to understand how her old Sergeant and Jess felt.  People went around doing whatever they wanted, living their lives and making choices, but they never bothered to educate themselves.  They never asked why or found out what they should do.  Instead, they kicked people like her to the gutter, laughed, beat them and feared them.  People made life a misery for others because they were ignorant.  The Norms do it to themselves too, ignoring their injustice and pain because finding a solution to the big problem is too complicated.  The One is supposed to be here to help Norms and Super-Humans alike, but so far all Alison had done is clean up their messes.

The car came up to what looked like an adobe wall.  There was a gated entrance and from outside Alison could see the extensive grounds of the sanitarium.  It had a grass lawn with benches and flowers.  Set at the back was a two story building.  It might have been an actual hospital at one point.  A guard was sitting out front on a wood stool.  He looked up from his magazine as the women approached.

“We need to speak to someone in charge,” Jess said to him.

“Visiting hours are over, young lady,” the man said from his seat.

“Do you recognize this uniform?” Jess said with venom in her voice.  “I'm with The One.  I'm a Super-Human.  We have full authority to access this facility and if you don't let us in we are going to get very mad.  The last thing you want is a mad Super-Human.  Now, please open the gate.”

The guard had been staring at The One logo on her uniform.  He looked at Alison then back at Jess.  For added effect, Fugen perched on her shoulder menacingly.

“I have to escort you in,” he said apologetically.

Jess didn’t respond.  The man got up and unlocked the gate for them.  He locked up behind him then showed them the way.  Immediately after walking into the sanitarium, a nurse at the front desk began yelling at him.  He tried to explain, and Jess let him take the verbal assault.