61 Days in River City
CHAPTER 4
DAY 9
Vicky and Sonia decide on Supers
“We’ve got an answer back.”
“What?”
“About the vampire. Remember? You asked.”
“Oh. What do they say?”
“They don’t know so they contracted it out to Wyrd. Faeryfaye answered.”
“What? Why’d they do that?”
“They must have thought it important.”
“Okay then. What did Faeryfaye say?”
“She’s asking questions. Lots of them. I can’t answer most of them. I never knew vampires existed never mind how many types there are.”
“What questions?”
“Description? Height? Weight. Human appearance? Retractable fangs or not? Size of fangs? Intelligence? Gender? How often does she need blood? Can she control minds? Origin? Does she need human blood exclusively? If human, any particular race? Does the blood need to be fresh? Original or acquired vampirism? Speed of reaction? Speed of action? Pointy ears? There’s lots more. She goes on for pages and there’s illustrations for each type. We sent all the information we have. Why’s she asking for more?”
“We don’t know what information she received, but she’s taking it seriously. We’ll send her the data we have directly and we can make some safe assumptions from that for her as well.”
“Yes. If the stories are valid she’s a she and looks human and lives as part of the population. We can assume she’s reasonably intelligent and hasn’t gone on a blood spree. That would be known if only from records and statistics..”
“Let’s brainstorm this and send it off then see what she says.”
Once that was out of the way their focus shifted to more immediate items on their agenda.
“How’re we going to get SureShot if he bolts?” asked Vicky. “He’s good enough to possibly see through what we’re doing and do a runner.”
They were discussing possible scenarios during their takedown of SureShot.
“And what do we do with him when we catch him? Call for the police?”
“It’s probably best if the police aren’t involved. After all, they’re in thick with the supers and we don’t want any of them interfering. I don’t think they’ll like us assassinating anyone.”
“Okay, we’ll prepare the basement of Center Building as a secure holding cell. Mistress Jenna will be fine with that. After all, she’ll get the place when we go and I’m sure she can use it and the other stuff we leave. But what if SureShot manages to bolt? There’s no way we want someone like him loose.”
“If he bolts we’ll just have to go after him.”
“And how’re we going to do that while disguised? We’d attract attention. After all, two old woman chasing after a young man is bound to attract attention. Especially when we catch him.”
Sonia was changing. At one time she would never have automatically smiled at that image. Their words stilled as each of them thought. Sonia was the one who came up with the idea.
“What if we have secret identities?”
“What? Like the heroes?”
“Yes. And we dress like them as well. That way people won’t think it so unusual and the smartest of them will run the other way.”
Vicky grinned at the thought.
“We can’t make up our own. If we do there’ll be public interest and enquiry. But not if we dress as existing ones. That’ll just be business as usual.”
“Won’t the originals come after us?”
“Not if we limit ourselves to Shadowland. Nobody’s interested in that. And that’s where SureShot’s certain to run to if he has to.”
“We’ll have to know Shadowland well if we’re going to do that.”
They went out on their first patrol the next night. The costumes were easy to obtain as the heroes had a rabid following. Vicky was noticeably less enthusiastic about her costume than Sonia.
“I never knew Divine wore heels. Why the fuck does she do that? It’s stupid. And these tits are weighing me down. How’m’I supposed to fight with this weight stuck on my chest?”
Sonia/Pinnacle looked at her. They were on the roof of one of the small businesses in Shadowland trying to work out some sort of coherent and logical patrol.
“You look fine and you’ve read the reports. Divine doesn’t fight much and when she does she doesn’t appear to be enhanced. She relies on magic sex appeal. Don’t forget I’ve seen you practise in heels and I know how much those pig carcasses you practise on cost. I know you can run and fight in them.”
Vicky wasn’t assuaged.
“Yeah, but I don’t prance about like a fairy in them like she does. They hurt after a while.”
“You’ll get used to them. You’re good at that and you can turn the pain off. Now what does this chevron mean?”
She was referring to the chevron on her chest.
Vicky still wasn’t pleased and Sonia’s dismissal of her valid arguments pissed her off more.
“A chevron is a triangle without the base. We can infer they mean the same thing.”
“And what’s that?”
“You don’t know? The triangle, pointy end down is one of our most ancient symbols. You really don’t know this?”
Sonia shook her head.
“OK, if you think about it pointy end down, obviously represents a female’s pubic hair from way back when most females had pubic hair. Consequently pointy end up represents a cock. Basic fertility magick 101. You’re wearing a picture of a cock on your chest. Go back to the triangles and picture two of them together. One pointy end up and the other down. Now merge them and what do you get?”
Sonia thought a while before she got it.
“Israel?” she exclaimed. “I see. Thanks Vicky. It looks like your education was more extensive than mine.”
Vicky shrugged while realising that was a special interest of hers and nothing to do with her public education. But, there’s no need to complicate matters by explaining now, was there?
Sonia went on, “Does that mean Pinnacle’s into cocks?”
Vicky shrugged. “Probably. Her outfit is pink and tight she wears a cock on her chest. She must be a girly submissive in real life. Perhaps she needs to get out every now and then for therapy? Must be something like that.”
Sonia summarised. “OK, you’re all sexy and sultry and I’m girly and giggly. We’d better behave like that if anyone sees us. I’ve seen enough for tonight. Home time?”
“Oh yes,” answered a sultry and evocative Vicky, pushing out her artificially enhanced boobs. Sonia mixed up cultures by putting her hand in front of her giggling mouth.
They made nightly patrols after that, getting the lay of the land, becoming familiar with all the little ins and outs of the area. This was information they never wanted to have to use, but, being the professionals they were, they had to learn it. They had already worked out how to fight as a team but they emphasised it in their training for this event. After all, this wasn’t their territory so they needed every advantage they could get. They made sure their finger language was up to scratch and, for this place, they added banter to give any opponents a false impression. Every little helps.
Law and Order is Interested
Sergeant Sparks held four of his officers back. “You’ve got a special today.”
“What?” said Anakin. “I’m busy. In fact, we all are. What’s up now?”
The other three agreed noisily.
“We’ve had complaints.” Sergeant Stetson Sparks said over their complaints. “Some concerned citizens are so worried about the recent influx of prostitutes in Shadowland they’ve complained to the commissioner. So, you all go in. Anakin, you and Maddix look over the situation and try to see if you can get close to the operation. Shyla and Casie do the same but separately. Don’t get too close. Just ask around and see what you can find. That’s all for now. Keep in touch with each other. You’re all experienced, you know the drill. Get me some quick answers and report back. Then we can get some real work done.”
They left grumbling.
The Competition is Interested
Blayze Burton called Javin in.
“You heard of this new gang moved in to Shadowland?”
“Yeah. What about ’em? They’re nothing.”
“I want ’em checked out. They’re growin’ fast and I wanna know who’s in charge and what they want. Get some soldiers together and a couple of whores and get some jobs there. Get me information I can use.”
“Sure boss.”
Javin Delgado collected Alex Halloway before going to the club where they collected Sundee Sosa and Kellie Flores and wandered over to Shadowland.
DAY 13
Shield Maiden Assists an Oldie
The old man was being harassed by a gang of youths. He recognised the irony even as it happened as he used to be a youth leader in this very area. But that was years ago and now budgets had been cut drastically and the progress he and his team had made had dissolved like it was never there. He was amazed how fast things had deteriorated. More importantly though, he was scared. Scared for his life. This gang wouldn’t harass and then stop embarrassing him. He knew they would go all the way and he was about to become a statistic. Any witnesses around had also dissolved away as if they’d never been there. They certainly would never admit to being there at this time.
He jumped when one of his tormentors grunted and pitched forward onto his face. The knife sticking out of his back was a clue as to why he’d done this. The others ignored him and attacked the woman who dared to try and spoil their fun. That was the last thing most of them did. One woke in hospital under police guard, not knowing what happened to him, except it was very painful.
The police got the broad strokes of the incident from the old man. The rest they obtained from the only arrest they could get. The gang member in hospital eventually detailed how this was the remnants of the old Soth Street Braves. They were trying to form a new gang away from Soth Street after their leader and his inner circle had left and joined that new whore gang. They were pissed off at that and would get their revenge once they got themselves together.
The police weren’t really interested in this now it had been closed. Their time was being mostly spent on protecting people involved in the Armageddon Associates’ trial. It was eating up their budget.
But this new line of inquiry was interesting, even if they couldn’t do anything about it for now, so they pressed for details and details they got. But not very actionable details.
It seemed that this gang originally held the Soth Street territory until one day out of the blue they were attacked a a group of men. These men had guns but they didn’t try to kill anyone. Instead the guns were used to herd and terrorise them after the fight. It was quickly over despite their leaders putting up a spirited resistance.
He saw them afterwards and was glad he didn’t put up much of a fight. They were now working for Mistress Jenna and she must have put the fear of God into them. They were her soldiers now and were patrolling her area with their faces still raw and bloody from the battle. And they were totally loyal to her. He had approached one of them as soon as he saw him and the difference in him was amazing. No smoking, no drinking and no drugs was his new life. He had actually threatened him and used a punch to his gut for emphasis. He’d better things to do now and he wasn’t to be there no more or he wouldn’t be nowhere no more.
DAY 20
A New Weapon
“She’s actually come up with a defence,” said Sonia after opening a parcel that arrived unexpectedly.
“What?”
“Faeryfaye’s sent us a defence against vampires.” She showed Vicky what looked like a mace spray marked VMace.
“What does she say?”
Sonia went back to the instructions and scanned them.
“This is a generic defence against the probable type of vampire that’s here, if the legend’s true. We’re to spray it around us whenever we feel threatened. If we do meet a vampire we’re to run away as fast as possible if we can, but if we can’t, we try and use this. Just spray it in the vampire’s general direction. If she goes down, we’re to give her a good dose in the face before running. It should give us enough time to get away. We mustn’t try and kill it. Getting away is the safest policy. And it’ll degrade into worthlessness in a couple of months or so, but that’s fine. It’s within our timescale.”
Vicky inspected the spray.
“What if we get a face full?”
“It’s harmless to humans. It only affects vampires.”
“Okay. We’ll both carry it, just in case. She’s sent enough for our purposes at least.”
She squirted a test spray and sniffed.
“I thought it would smell of garlic,” she commented.
Sonia sniffed.
“It’s definitely not perfume but still, it’s not too bad.”