Chapter Five
Chapter Five
“Man, I forgot what it feels like to walk down the street and not have anyone stare,” said Fred, tossing his bag on the bed.
“Welcome to the city,” said Todd, “Where everyone saw six things stranger than you before breakfast.”
“Hell of a place you picked to stay,” said Pietro, zipping about the motel room. “Does this place come with an all you can eat roach buffet or something?”
“Well, you’re not gonna find it listed on the amenities,” chuckled Todd. “But hey, they take cash, they don’t ask a lot of questions, and it’s right between this clinic and the neighborhood where these guys used to run their scam.”
Lance settled onto the couch, setting a greasy brown paper bag next to him. He pulled out a Chinese food container. “Man, Bayville Chinese is not going to cut it after this,” he remarked as he passed out the food. “All right, Todd, this is your show. How do you want to play it?”
Todd nodded, bouncing absently from foot to foot as he spoke. “Yo, listen up boys and girl. I grew up around guys like this. The way they operate- they’re careful. They look at all the angles, and if anyone gets close they burn the whole thing to the ground. They won’t have the kids at the clinic- they’ll stash them somewhere else. And if we go in and trash the clinic, we’ll never find them. So, we’re gonna do it Toad-style, right?”
***
“I… I need to make an appointment.” Tabby shuffled back and forth on her feet, avoiding eye contact with the receptionist. She was dressed in a ratty hoody and torn jeans.
The receptionist smiled at her. “Of course, honey,” she said. “What seems to be the problem.”
“I… I can’t, oh no, it’s happening!” She flung her hands about wildly, tossing a few small time bombs around the room. It was more than enough to send the receptionist diving for cover.
She poked her head back up. “I see. Yes, right this was Miss…”
“Smith. But… people call me Meltdown.”
“I can see why. Right this way.”
***
“Tabby wasn’t around when we were all playing hero- or when the X-geeks made their star turn. Plus, she cuts a less distinguished figure than Freddy and me.” Todd dusted off his non-existent lapels. “Odds are, unless someone’s expecting her, they’re not going to recognize her right off the bat. She’ll go in, get whatever quack they have in there’s attention, and then Pietro and I can sneak in and snoop around.”
***
Todd picked the locks on the filing cabinets while Pietro spun the dial of the safe faster than the human eye could track. “Not much here,” Todd said. “Staff schedules, invoices for band-aids and aspirin…”
“Got it!” Pietro quietly exulted, pulling the safe open and pocketing several banded stacks of cash without thinking about it. “Two books in here- looks like accounts. Probably the official and the unofficial. Whoever’s running this likes to know how their money’s being spent, even if the IRS doesn’t get a look in.”
***
“My name is Doctor Ellen Sharpe. You can call me Doc, Ellen, Doctor Sharpe, whatever’s comfortable for you.”
“Th-thanks,” said Tabby, wide-eyed. “Do you think you can help me with my problem?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” said the Doctor, gently. “The first thing to realize is that your abilities- your gifts- are not a problem. It’s just a matter of learning to control them. Yours in particular… they could be a greater advantage than you realize. But for the moment…” she picked up a syringe and drew a small amount of clear fluid from a bottle. “I’m going to give you a little something to help you relax.”
***
Lance had been nearly dozing in his jeep across the street from the clinic when three distant booms made him sit upright. “That’s Tabby’s SOS,” he said, “I guess that’s it for the ‘doing things quietly,’ plan.”
He and Freddy stepped out of jeep and Lance patted Freddy’s arm. “Let’s go wreck shit.”
Fred grinned and cracked his knuckles. “Damn skippy,” he said.
Lance glanced at him. “Damn skippy?”
Fred shrugged. “Just trying something new,” he said.
Lance shook his head and grinned despite himself. “We’ll work on it,” he promised, breaking into a run across the street, the ground around him already starting to rumble.
***
“Drop the book, hands on your heads, and don’t even blink or I will end you,” the receptionist said, leveling a revolver each at Pietro and Todd’s backs. A faint trace of an accent, absent when she was behind the desk, was now clear in her voice.
Todd slowly straightened up, glancing at Pietro. “Yo, so much for doing it Toad style,” he sighed.
“What we get for working with amateurs,” Pietro said equitably. “What do you think- green target?”
“No,” Todd said. “If she’s carrying, she’s at least semi-pro. Go red..”
“Not one more word,” said the receptionist. There was a crash a section of the wall on the other side of the clinic crashed down, and her fingers tightened on the triggers. By the time she pulled them though, both guns were pointing at the ceiling.
Pietro grinned at her and yanked her forward by her wrists, headbutting her. By the time she had processed that, he had spun her around, zip tied her hands behind her back and kicked her legs out from under her.
Spinning the guns around his fingers before unloading them he did at nearly-normal speed. After all, what was the point without an audience.
“Okay,” Todd conceded. “That was pretty cool.”
“Damn straight,” Pietro said, letting the bullets fall to the floor.
***
“Left or right?” Fred asked, brushing the cement dust off his shirt.
Lance glanced left, at the three men rounding the corner carrying submachine guns. “Rule of thumb- the more guns are headed your way, the less they want you to go that direction.”
Fred grinned, stepping in front of Lance and cracking his knuckles. “Left. Got it.”
“Try to leave one of them conscious, we’re going to need to ask some questions,” Lance called out.
***
Todd kicked open the door, only to find Tabby sitting at ease on a stool, her feet propped up on Doctor Sharpe, who had been roughly hog tied with IV line. “Can you believe she tried to drug me? Like, does that ever work doc? Does anyone see the syringe and not panic?”
The doctor muttered something through the wad of latex gloves shoved in her mouth.
“Probably she usually sticks them before they have a chance to freak out,” said Pietro. “That’s what I would do. You know- if I was a kidnapping scumbag.”
The wall opposite the door crumpled, and Lance and Freddy stepped through. Lance took in the tableau. “You needed to start blowing shit up for that?” He asked.
“She tried to drug me!” Protested Tabby.
Lance sighed. “Todd, what’s our next move?”
“We’re on a clock now,” Todd said. “Someone’s going to have called the boss, and if we don’t wrap this up, everyone involved is going to disappear. We need to figure out where they’re taking the kids they grab.”
Lance nodded, and gestured at the man Fred had slung over his shoulder. “So we ask some questions. Where are they taking the kids, asshole?”
The man spat out a string of Russian. It didn’t sound polite.
Lance sighed. “Anyone speak Russian? No? Okay. You want to try the doctor, Tabby?”
“What, I’m a girl so I’ve got to beat up on the lady doctor? That’s sexist, Lance.”
“Let Pietro do it,” said Todd. “He headbutted the receptionist. I think he broke her nose.”
“She had guns!” Pietro protested. “And you said red target.”
Todd shook his head. “Doesn’t matter anyway. Nothing we can do to her that’s going to scare her more than the mob. Not fast enough anyways.”
“I don’t know,” said Lance, kneeling next to her, “I can be pretty scary.”
“Lance,” said Todd, urgently, “We’re talking hours before everything’s gone. Tops.”
Lance sighed and stood up. “Okay. What else do we have. Did you two find anything?”
“Yeah,” said Pietro urgently. “I was looking through the books, because I figured there had to be some sort of truck or a medical transport van or something they used to move the kids. I mean, you can’t just throw an unconscious mutant in the trunk of a cab or something. And there wasn’t anything. Like- nothing. Like everyone commutes on bikes nothing. So… they have to have some way to get them out of here without anyone noticing. I’m thinking tunnel.”
“Hell, yeah,” said Todd. “Whole city is full of old steam tunnels, abandoned subways- like, more than Bayville, even. I use to duck down in them when I needed to dodge a cop or a loan shark or something. They gotta have a hatch in here somewhere.”
“Okay. That I can work with,” Lance said. He closed his eyes and drew on his power. “Oh… wow. That’s getting easy.” His eyes opened. “Under the exam table. Freddy?”
Freddy spun the heavy table out of the way with one hand, revealing a metal hatch. He ripped it off with the other hand, revealing a narrow stairway. “Um…” he said dubiously, looking down it. “I don’t think I’m going to fit…”
Lance nodded, tapping his foot urgently against the ground. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah. Take the jeep, get it out of here before the cops get off their asses and show up. God knows what’ll happen if they run the plates.”
“You… want me to drive?” Freddy asked. “Your jeep?”
“Raise more eyebrows if you carry it,” said Lance, throwing him the keys. “Not a scratch, okay?”
Beaming from ear to ear, Freddy took the keys and left via the hole in the wall before Lance could change his mind.
Lance took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said. “We’re all out of bulletproof human walls, so game faces on everyone. This is where shit gets real.”