H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall (6 page)

She asked, "Do you mind if I join you?  At least we'd have something in common."

I shrugged.  I couldn't help staring at her - she was so different than anything I'd seen in my life.  It was like some kind of strange demon lady from a painting had crawled out and now sat down next to me.

She had black tattoos or eyeliner drawn heavy under each eye, along with a nose piercing on her face.  Her left forearm had a tattoo, along with another clearly visible above her tank top, and two others peeked out from under the tank top - she had to have a spider web or something on each breast. 
Well, we have tattoos in common, I guess.
  My tattoos were large designs down each side of my abdomen, as well as one going around my left upper arm and a small flower on my right ankle.

I said, "I ... I'm not sure how much we have in common...."

"We're both supers.  I'm a mutant - my name is Sandra.  Oh, and sorry if my smile is a bit scary.  I got these fangs, claws and wicked eyes when I changed.  They scare a lot of people."

"Wha ... no, not at all.  They are unusual - but at least I can see your expression.  I think people are having problems with my face because they can't see my expression any more.  And I'm Selina."

"Hmm, they have bad eyesight then; I can see your muscle framework just fine."

"Can you see in the dark with those?"

"Yeah I can.  I take it you're a brick, or are you a mutant too?"

"They called me a brick.  I've never met a mutant before."

"We stay away from the public for the most part.  Get stared at enough and you decide you don't want to hang around normal people."

"Yeah ... yeah!  I'm having the same problem!"

"I'm sorry to hear that.  You're welcome to hang out with me if you'd like.  Not that I hang out here often, but whenever.  I could use some more friends - some of mine recently got into a scrape with the law and were taken in for no good reason."

"They kept me in the hospital for days after I changed too."

"Oh, no - I'm talking about the Metrocity Jail.  See, they think mutants are too dangerous because of our claws and looks.  Can't have the public thinking there might be monsters that look so different running around, can they?"

"They were locked up because they were different?"

"Oh, of course not - not according to
them
.  But that is the truth."

"Well, I
have
damaged a lot of things and gotten into a fight with a hero just today.  I can't say they are wrong in thinking some of us are a danger."

"It's not our fault that we changed, is it?  Shouldn't they have given us better resources to cope with this stuff?"

"I ... I suppose.  But they didn't arrest me when the heroes arrived, at least those that had a clue."

"Yet - they didn't arrest you yet.  I wouldn't put it past them to bring in a hit team of supers to bring you down, just like they did to me and my friends.  I had to flee, but it pisses me off that my friends are having who knows what done to them by a telepath or otherwise in there."

"Wait, a telepath was there this morning when I woke up."

"Oh no, one already got to you?  And they released you?"

"Yeah.  She actually flew me home."

"She?  It wasn't Psycom?"

"No, it was a golden haired girl in a white costume.  Cute, but young."

"Wait a second - she was in the group that attacked my friends!"

"Seriously?"

"I'm not bullshitting you.  That's her.  I'll remember her face forever.  She tried some kind of mind trick on me."

"I wonder what she did to me."

"Don't trust them.  You're more like me than like her.  She's all pretty and popular.  People look at you and I, they feel afraid."

"Yeah they do.  It's nice to talk to someone who understands." 
This lady, strange as she looks - she understands what it's like.

"Me too.  I really miss my friends."

"I ... I'm not sure I have any friends any more.  I thought Sally was my friend, but she just wanted me gone this morning."

"My so-called 'friends' did the same thing when I first changed.  Guess what we look like is more important than most people will admit to, huh?  I mean, really, who wants me at a tupperware party?"

I stared at her eyes for a moment; they did give her an almost evil appearance.  That was strengthened every time she spoke.  Unlike movies of vampires and werewolves, all of her front teeth were sharp fangs.

I nodded, "Yeah.  I got called a robot this morning by this idiot, but at least she wasn't calling me a demon or some such."

Sandra snorted, "I've gotten called that more than a few times.  Mind if I touch your skin?  It's pretty cool looking."

"Sure, I guess."  I held out my left arm.

She ran her hand across my forearm slowly.  I noticed that she didn't use the long fingertip claws.  I realized then that she didn't even have fingernails - the entire fingertip was a huge claw.

I asked, "Are those sharp?"

She looked up from my arm, "Extremely.  I've destroyed more clothes, furniture and other items just by accidentally grabbing them - they never go away.  I always have to watch when I touch someone else or I stab right into them."

"Wow, me too!  Well, I seem to crush everything, not stab it."

Sandra nodded.  "You're skin is really interesting.  Metal that moves, I wonder how that works.  One of my friends is a mutant that had heavy chitin armor, but it doesn't move like your skin does."

"Like a bug?"

"Pretty much.  He even has four arms."

"Wow, that's got to scare a lot of people too."

"It does, they locked him up for it."

"Because he looks like a bug?"

"He scared a bunch of people, which is really easy to do - and a bunch of heroes attacked him with my other friends."  She sighed.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"Considering that I've found some other mutants and tried to approach them - but it seems all the new mutants are being watched by the police - I'm debating breaking my friends out."

"Oh my god!  You're going to break them out of jail?"

"Yeah.  What else do you do when the government starts putting people away in prison camps to keep them away from the 'general populace?'  I can't just leave them to rot in there."

"That's pretty bold.  You might hurt guards doing that."

"The way I look at it is that they chose to be there.  They are part of what is becoming so wrong with our society now.  Even if they didn't specifically choose to put them away, they are willing to keep them there."

"Aren't you afraid of getting hurt?"

"I'm not armored like you are, but I heal really fast.  My thought would be to charge in and get them out as quickly as possible.  I don't really want to hurt the guards unless they put up too much resistance."

"That sounds pretty scary."

"Do you realize how much damage you can probably take now?  Have you gotten shot yet?"

"No, why would I want to do that?"

"Every brick I've seen ignores most gunfire.  I've never seen one with metal skin, though."

"Well, that Diva woman did smash me through a few walls - and that barely hurt at all."

"I've never heard of her.  Holy crap - what are the odds?"

She was staring at a table near the wall somewhat closer to the stage.  A single man sat at the table; the salt shaker was floating in the air in front of him.

I said, "Wow, another super?"

"Yeah.  That's pretty rare to just happen to meet two of us in a day."

"Should we invite him over?"

"Sure, I'll buy him a drink and see if he'll bite.  If not maybe I'll bite him."  She winked and smiled at me.

Chapter 6 - Flight

Diva's Viewpoint

After shopping for a while I called Black Tiger.

He answered, "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Daphne."

"Hey Daphne, you decide to sign up with H.E.R.O.?"

"Oh, I did that early this morning.  I even stopped my first crime!  This robot lady was destroying her home; I went there and got into a fight with her."

"A robot?  Wow, I didn't realize that robots were advanced enough to be able to fight."

"Well, she kept griping that she wasn't a robot, but she was made of metal, and had these creepy eyes."

"Metal?  Like metal skin?  Did she have straight dark hair, about shoulder length?"

"Yeah, although it wasn't as jet black as yours - and green eyes.  Well, the colored part was green, not the entire eye."

"That sounds like Chrome."

"Hey!  That's the name Psycom used!"

"Psycom was there?"

"Yeah, he showed up; err ... after the fight was over."

"Very cool, I haven't met him, what's he like?"

"I didn't have time to really talk with him.  I think he was mad at both me and Chrome."

"Why would he be mad at you?"

"Because we busted up her house and probably didn't need to.  She shouldn't have made the big hole in her wall, though.  I mean, how was I supposed to know a fight wasn't happening?"

"Ah ... okay."

"So what are you up to today?"

"Me?  I'm hanging out with Spartan.  Had some job troubles this morning - apparently my old job didn't like me being gone so often."

"That reminds me, I should talk to my agent."

"What about?"

"My new look.  She can't use my old portfolio to promote me now.  I suppose I'll have to have a new portfolio made."

"Well, if you need pictures taken, I'm willing to do it."

"Really?  You have a photo studio?"

"Well, no.  But I could buy a good digital camera and we could take pics outside somewhere."

"I guess I'd be willing to try that.  Do you charge?"

"Nah, I wouldn't charge you, not for digital pictures, so long as you paid to have any prints made from them."

"Yeah, that would be okay."

"Cool.  I'll get a camera and find us a nice scenic place and give you a call, sound good?"

"Yeah!"

"Great!  I'll talk to you soon then."

"Wait!"

"Did I miss something?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could talk to that flyer friend of yours and have her give me a call?  I would really like to learn how to fly."

"Not a problem, I'll call her now and let her know.  Sound good?"

"Yeah.  Thanks much!  Let me know when you've found a spot for the photo shoot and what I should wear - although I don't have as many clothes now.  I did go shopping, and I suppose we could use my new costume too."

"You already have a costume?"

"I do!  It's a blue mini-dress and thigh-high boots."

"Awesome, I look forward to it.  I'll give you a call hopefully in a few hours then."

"Later gator."

"Bye Daphne."

I continued my shopping for a while longer and took a break for a bite to eat by perhaps 12:45 p.m.

My phone rang - the number wasn't recognized.  I answered, "Hello?"

A woman's voice said, "Hi, is this Diva?"

"Yes it is!  Who is this?"

"This is Psystar.  Black Tiger asked that I call you?"

"Yeah, he said that you know how to fly, and might be willing to teach me as well."

"You can fly already?  I don't know how to make you do it if you don't have the super power."

"Oh, yeah, I was able to yesterday until I breathed in some kind of chemical.  Black Tiger saw me flying."  I grinned at the thought of floating in the air yesterday.

"Sure then.  I finish class at 2:30 p.m., so I can meet you just after that.  Where would you like to meet?"

"Do we need anything special for it?"

"Not that I know of, well, definitely not."

"How about at my house?"  I gave her the address.

"Sure, I'll be there a few minutes after 2:30 then."

"Great!  Thanks!"

I drove back to the house and tried on clothes for the next two hours to have a selection of items that fit for the photo shoot.  Just before 2:30 p.m. I changed back into my costume and waited for this friend of Black Tiger to arrive.

I was surprised to see the same golden haired girl in her white costume fly down and land in my front yard that I'd seen early that morning at our superhero headquarters.

She gently landed in the front yard and walked up to the front door.  I opened it before she reached the house.

I said, "Hi, I'm Diva."

"I'm Psystar."  She held her hand out, but I still remembered all the warnings from my hospital stay, and just held up my hands, palms toward her.

"Sorry, I don't want to squish your hand."

"Oh yeah - you're a brick.  You certainly don't look like one."

"That's what they called me.  Gave me all these big muscles."

"Yeah, that's not all they made big.  You aren't bulky like most bricks, though."

"I guess I was fortunate to keep a good figure."

"Better than good.  I like the dress, by the way."

"Thanks, hopefully the press will like it."

"Err, well, if not the press, then at least paparazzi will love you.  Especially if you keep that short of a dress while flying down or up."

"Yes they will."  I grinned.  She had more of a clue fashion-wise than I thought she had.  She raised her eyebrow at me for a moment but didn't say anything.

"You might want to replace those white boots with something that has heels, though.  Those look, well, like hiking boots."

"I needed something I could run and fight in.  Do you plan on fighting in those heels?"

"Sure I do.  Spend enough time on heels and you get used to them."

"Even for fighting?  Hmph.  Not sure I could do that.  Anyway, how would you like to do this training - you want the crash course?"

"No, that's why I want to learn how to fly, so I don't crash."

"Um, by crash course I mean to learn it fast."

"Of course, that's why I asked to have you teach me."

"Are you afraid of falling and hitting the ground?"

"I'm not particularly afraid of heights, is that what you mean?"

"No - you're a brick; you know that a fall won't hurt you, right?"