Chapter 9

It took a full two hours before Thomas was able to get his hands on an autopsy report. It was delivered by an older woman in her mid-sixties. Her name was apparently Tanya McAlistair and she was the UHA’s chief medical examiner and Healer. Despite her age, she gave off a youthful vibe. Her hair was a bright blue and styled with a punk like cut with the left side of her head shaved short and the rest of her long hair feathered to the right.
“It’s all there Tom.” She said as she looked down at her watch.
“Okay…” Thomas said as he looked over at Darius.
"Your description seems to matches the report. He died of blood loss from a severed artery in his leg.” He added.
“So you believe me?” Darius asked.
“I have no reason to doubt you right now.” He told him.
Darius nodded and sighed in relief. That meant they were finally free to go. Charity had informed them that they had run out of water thirty minutes prior. The plan to start accepting money was far better received than they had thought it would be. The number of people with money in their wallets that they couldn’t seem to use anywhere was staggering. So they were happy to part with it for much-needed supplies. In an hour and a half, they had made close to twenty thousand dollars.
“Hey! Boy! Let me see your hand!” Tanya said to Darius as she noticed it bandage.
“Huh? Oh! Yeah aha… Almost forgot about my hand. It sort of went numb.” Darius said as he held up his hand to her.
The bandage was stained with blood and wrapped tight. She slowly unwrapped it and looked it over.
“Who dressed this?” She asked.
“Uh, I did!” Mary said walking forward.
“Nice work, tight enough to help stop the bleeding and you also cradled his broken thumb to avoid it from moving. You have medical training?” She asked.
"N-No Aha… I learned some first aid when I was in the girl scouts but that’s it. I tried to wash the wound out with clean water but we didn’t have anything to disinfect it.” She said.
“Don’t worry about it. I can do that here. How did you break it?” She asked.
“I blocked a punch? Well, tried to at least.” He said.
“Must have been some punch!” She said looking at the bone jutting out from his skin.
“Yeah.” Darius said thinking about the confrontation from earlier in the day.
“Well, I can take care of this for you. Sit down please.” She said as she motioned to a chair.
Darius complied and sat down. He watched as she walked over to Elizabeth and snatched her water bottle away from her.
“What the fuck Tanya!?” She shouted as Tanya smelled the contents.
"Oh be quiet! I told you, you need to cut back on this stuff.” She said to her.
She walked back and poured the bottle over the open wound. Darius was about to protest as the water she was drinking was probably not sterile but he briefly thought that maybe since she was... like, immortal... meant that her saliva had some sort of healing properties, like she could pass some of that life energy around or something. That stopped as soon as it felt like his hand was being stabbed by one billion angry hornets.
“Grhaaa Fuck it! Fuck! Fuck you!” Darius shouted, Tanya only chuckled.
“What the hell is going on?” Thomas asked, a bit alarmed.
Tanya handed Thomas the bottle and he smelled it. He pulled his head back at the overpowering scent of alcohol.
“Damn, Eliza…” He said looking at her.
“What, I’m still sober.” She said to him.
“Okay! Still there?” Tanya asked looking at Darius.
“Haaa…W-What?” He asked.
“Okay good, Now this is going to hurt.” She said as she hovered both of her thumbs over the protruding bones.
“W-Wait! Hold on… Give me that!” Darius said pointing at the bottle Thomas was holding.
Thomas sighed and handed him the bottle.
“Hey! That’s Stoli Elit!” Elizabeth protested.
“You imported this from the Union?” Thomas asked.
“Uhhhhh…” Elizabeth quieted down as she then watched Darius guzzle the rest of the bottle’s contents.
“Okay. One… Tw-” She said but then pushed both bones back into his hand.
Darius screamed as he straightened his back and nearly fell out of his chair.
“There! All done!” She said smiling and chuckling to herself.
“Th-The fuck? I th….I thought you were going to count to three!?” Darius said with tears in his eyes.
“I like to surprise people, keeps them on their toes! Plus it helps to not have people pussy out when they think they still have time.” She said with a laugh.
“You’re evil!” Darius said breathing heavily as he could feel the warmth of the vodka spread outwards from his stomach.
“Oh, you have no idea!” She said as she continued laughing as she cupped both her hands over his.
A soft blue light began to emanate between her hands and Darius could feel an incredible pulsating itchiness come from not only the open wound but his thumb as well. Darius gritted his teeth and fought the urge to pull his hand back and start scratching it.
“Almost done!” She said and then the light faded.
“Ding!” She said and let go of his hand.
Darius pulled it back immediately and began scratching his hand like crazy. His hand was completely healed but it took him a minute or two to realize that fact.
“Two months of healing in the span of ten seconds. The itch is a bit of a side effect.” She said.
“Remind me never to invite you to my birthday party…” Darius said, only for Tanya to laugh loudly.
“Thank you though.” He added and began to flex his hand.
“No problem. Here, If you ever need a healing give me a call and I’ll see what I can do.” She said as she reached into her pocket and gave him a card.
“Uh, The phones aren’t working.” Darius said.
“Oh, that’s right! Here.” She said taking the card and wrote another number on the back.
She gave the card back and looked towards Thomas.
“You should give them a radio so they can contact us.” She said.
“Those are for UHA members only.” He said.
“Oh please! We’ve been handing them out like candy to all those new recruits.” She said raising her hand and emphasized quotation marks with that last word.
“That is my radio frequency, give me a ring if you or your friends are hurt. Or for anything else!” She said giving Darius a wink.
Darius looked at her and blinked, a small blush came to his cheeks as he got what she was saying. He had to admit that she looked damn good for her age and her dyed hair was a huge plus for him, but something told him that she would be way too much for him to handle. He looked over at Trevor that was giving him a thumbs up and he sighed. Tanya walked past Elizabeth as she went towards the door.
“You need better taste in men.” Elizabeth said to her.
“It’s the gangly ones that always surprise you in the sack.” She whispered to her.
“Ugh! Gross!” Elizabeth said and shook her head not wanting to picture a person like Darius naked.
Tanya began to laugh and hit her on the shoulder and then waved to the group as she left the room.
“S-So… Ahem. what now? Do we look at buildings or do you already have one in mind?” Darius asked.
“Hold your horses’ cougar hunter. I’ll go see which ones are still standing and then I will pick one.” Elizabeth said.
“Cougar hunter?” Darius asked under his breath.
“So we go back to the park for today?” Trevor asked.
“Yes, we will give you a radio just in case. I’m sure everything will be figured out by the morning.” Thomas said to them.
“Darius your barriers just went down!” Charity said as she joined the conversation.
“Barriers?” Thomas asked.
“Oh! Aha! I forgot to tell you. The assholes that attacked us were Metas. I managed to get a punch in on one of the guys bloody face and my knuckles were cut up so…” Darius said.
“So you stole a Mob members ability?” Elizabeth asked.
“Yeah, I can make force field like walls.” He said.
“And you’re just now telling us this?...” She asked.
“Well, didn’t think it was too important…” He said.
Thomas massaged his temples and looked away from him. Elizabeth sighed and looked as if he could hit him for his stupidity.
“You’re an idiot!” She said to him.
“What now!?” Darius asked thinking he must have fucked up again.
“How long do you think that it will take to realize that he no longer has his ability?” Elizabeth asked.
“Uhh..” Darius said looking over to Trevor and the others.
“And how long do you think he will wait till he comes back for revenge when it does not return to him?” She asked.
“Not long?” Darius asked unsurely.
Elizabeth looked at him then kicked him in the shin. Darius jumped back, reached down and began to rub were her foot made contact.
“Ya think?!” She yelled at him.
“Goddamnit! You have anger problems!” Darius hissed.
“Next time you forget an important thing like… Oh, I don’t know, you taking a mobsters power! I’ll aim for your balls!” She said to him.
“She’s not lying.” Thomas warned him.
“Well, shit!” Darius said.
“We don’t have any problems over here. We already closed down for the day and everyone has gone back to their tents and stuff.” Charity said to them.
“I’m sorry what’s up with her?” Thomas asked.
“Charity has two bodies. One of them is back at the Trading Post keeping us… P-Posted.” Darius said realizing he made an unintentional, yet horrible pun.
“Two bodies?” Thomas asked.
“Not twins and I don’t make doubles.” She said smiling at him.
“Ah! Interesting. You share one consciousness?” Thomas asked.
“Wait! You understand?” Darius asked.
“Sure! It’s not that hard.” Thomas said to him.
“You’re so smart!” Charity said smiling longingly at him.
“Mother of God!” Darius groaned and looked to Thomas who simply shrugged back at him.
“Can we go ahead and get that radio and head back to the park? If that guy comes back I want more people to be there that can fight him off.” Darius said.
“Sure. I’ll get Zane to see if he can go with you for protection.” He said.
“Zane?” Darius asked
“Sorry, Mindrome. He is a fairly strong telekinetic.” Thomas said to him.
“Oh! Yeah, that would be a big help. Thanks.” Darius said and looked over to the others.
“You guys ready?” He asked and everyone nodded.
As they made their way to the entrance of the Association they had to stop and wait for Thomas to bring them a radio and find Zane again.
“… What is a cougar hunter?” Darius asked.
“A man that aims for older women.” Trevor said.
“Oh… Oh! That little!…Mmmm…” Darius said cursing Elizabeth internally.
“Sorry to keep you all waiting.” Thomas said as he rounded a corner with Zane and one more man.
The man was slightly shorter than the other two, had hair as white as snow and was wearing a large winter coat. Darius thought the air conditioning in the building was nice but not that cold, at least that what he thought untill the man got closer and he could visibly see his breath.
“Oi!” Zane said to them as he approached the group.
He was dressed in civilian clothes and had a backpack slung over his shoulder.
“This is Whitley, He is our technology and communications supervisor. He will be setting up your radio.” Thomas said introducing the short man.
“Hi... It’s nice to meet you all.” He said to them.
“Is the radio big?” Darius asked confused on why a radio would need an expert to set up.
“Oh no, This is your radio.” He said as he produced what looked like a smartphone from his pocket.
“Uh…” Darius said.
“I know what it looks like, but this is a multi-frequency walkie-talkie. A $43,000 walkie-talkie, but a walkie-talkie nonetheless. We have towers all over the city to boost signals. You can save frequency and it functions similarly to a phone. But it is a walkie-talkie.” He said to them.
“What needs to be set up?” Trevor asked.
“In order for this to not be stolen and used by unwanted individuals, It uses a variety of identification measures that must be calibrated. So... Who is it going to be?” He asked.
“What? Only one person can use it?” Darius asked.
“Yes, to avoid any complications only one person can be linked to it.” He said.
“I’ll do it.” Mary said.
“What?” Darius asked.
“Well… You and Trevor make the water, Charity is pretty good at the whole running a business thing.” She said.
“Mary you help out a lot.” Charity said to her.
“I-I know, but this will make me feel like I have a real role in the company.” She said.
“Are you sure about this?” Darius asked.
“Yeah!” Mary said smiling.
“This isn’t some sacrificial ritual. You guys are being a bit overdramatic.” Whitley said to them.
“I’ll do it!” Mary said and turned to him.
“Alright.” He said and entered a code and handed it to her.
Mary took it and looked at the phone like device.
“Alright. Hold the back of it tightly to your palm, open one eye wide and look into the small camera on top and say a word that will act as a password.” He instructed her.
“Popcorn…” She did as he said and after a few seconds it let off a small chime.
“Okay! Only you can turn it on and dial a frequency, or answer a call. But after that, you can hand it to someone else to talk.” He told her.
“Okay then. How do I charge it?” She said and placed it into her pocket.
"You don't. This has a triboelectric nanogenerator battery. It will charge itself by capturing the electric current generated through contact of itself and another material. Just keep it in your pocket and it will be fine." He explained.
"Wow... Okay." She said looking at it in wonder.
“Well then, I guess we will see you tomorrow.” Darius said to Thomas.
“Maybe, Elizabeth will probably meet you at the park in the morning. I have other things to do. But if we do run into each other hopefully you won’t have any more bad news.” He said and held out his hand.
Darius took it and they shook. He was a bit taken aback at how insanely firm Thomas' grip was. As they turned to leave Whitley spoke up.
“Please be careful with that! It does cost a lot!” He said.
Mary looked back and nodded. They made their way down the steps and turned in the direction of the park.
“Oh, uh... Zane… I forgot to mention this but last week you actually helped save me.” Darius said.
“Huh? How so?” He asked.
“I was buried in a bomb shelter. You and this really big guy dug us out.” Darius told him.
“Oh! Sorry, don’t remember you. To be fair Me and Bronze Fist dug a lot of people out those first few days.” Zane told him.
“Don’t worry about that. Just wanted to say thanks!” Darius said to him.
“All part of the job.” Zane said back.
As they walked and talked they found out that Zane had brought some food for the group in his backpack. It had only been a week but it would be nice to eat something other than chips and canned meats. He had hot dogs and hamburger meat and bread, as well as the essential condiments. Although they told him they didn’t have a grill to cook the hamburger, he just smiled and assured them it was fine.
They were greeted by the rest of the group as they neared the tents, Charity walked Darius and Trevor over to an emptied water cooler that she had been storing the money. They both took a deep breath and exhaled seeing all that green. It was more money than either of them had ever seen in one place. And the fact they knew that it would soon hold value caused them both to bite their lips.
“We closed down for the day when we ran out of the water. If you guys were here to make more than we might have got double this.” She said.
“We need to make more water tonight.” Trevor said.
“Yeah, we do!” Darius agreed.
As they closed the lid on the cooler and placed among the others placing another on top of it. They walked back out and around the tent and began to put more barriers. He was really enjoying this power. It seemed like he could leave them be and they would last for about 3 hours before disappearing. Zane looked at him impressed.
“Didn’t know you could do that.” He said.
“Oh yeah, a little souvenir from the assholes that attacked us.” Darius said as they turned and watched the other began to build a fire.
“We need some more kindling!” Sir said out to the others and Charity smiled and ran back into the tent.
She came back out carrying a small box and held it out and dumped it into the fire pit. Hundreds of baseball cards fluttered down and started to smoke up. They all walked up and stood around it as the fire took hold. The sun had started to go down and the moon was in its full glory.
“None of those were valuable were they?” Darius asked as Sir put wood on the fire.
“Nah, they were all from the nineties.” Charity said.
They all enjoyed light conversation and particularly enjoyed Zane’s stories about him and Bronze Fist whose real name was Samuel. As the stars became clear as day in the night sky Zane took out his bag and pulled out hotdogs and a sealed package of ground beef.
“So how are we going to cook that?” Trevor asked.
“Watch this!” Zane said as he let go of the package and floated in mid-air.
He began to move his hands and everyone watched the packaging open and the meat lift out of it. It began to split into equal pieces that equaled the number of people around the fire. They watched as the pieces began spinning and flattening into perfect hamburger patties and he motioned them to hover above the flames and the slowly flipped in midair so that they would be perfectly cooked on all sides.
“That is just… Amazing!” Todd said as he clapped.
“Man you must be popular at cookouts!” Darius said laughing.
“Well, I don’t like to brag but…” Zane bragged.
They all continued talking and then continued to talk while eating. Time passed and Darius had to renew the barriers. Most of the group turned in for the night and Darius was left with Zane and Sir.
“You sure you don’t want to get some sleep?” Darius asked as he looked over at Sir.
“Nah, I’m fine. You should though, you have to go building hunting tomorrow right?” He asked.
“Actually I think she is picking one out for us.” He said.
“Oh! Good, maybe it will have a feminine touch then.” Sir said.
Darius chuckled, then began to laugh out loud. Sir looked over at Zane a bit concerned.
“You know Darius I wanted to ask… There seemed to be some kind of tension between you and Elizabeth.” Zane said to him.
“It’s nothing… “ Darius said as he wiped a few tears from his eyes.
“Okay, It just seemed li-” Zane said before Darius opened his mouth.
“She is such a bitch! Why is she with the UHA? It’s so clear she doesn’t want to be there.” He said.
“Well, between you and me. Thomas asked her to come back. A favor or something.” Zane said.
“Then it must be some favor she owes him. I have never seen someone hate their job more than she seems to hate hers. And I worked for public transportation.” Darius said.
“Don’t know, She left the Association before I joined it.” Zane said.
“Oh… Why did she leave?” Darius asked.
“You don’t know?” Sir asked.
“No… I remember her being in the news than never hearing of her again. I was like 9.” Darius said.
“It was a huge deal in the back then.” Sir said.
“What?” Darius asked.
“Big sex scandal. It was back in 95’ or 96’. Someone set up some hidden camera and caught her and some up and coming hero in the act. Was a huge deal. Because the video was leaked all over the internet.” Sir said.
“The internet was a thing in 95’?” Darius asked.
Sir looked at Darius and sighed, shaking his head.
“It was new but plenty of people saw it. She was publicly shamed and quit her position and then it died down and no one really talked about her since.” Sir said.
“Why would that kill her career? Sex tapes usually give people a boost.” Darius asked.
“Most people don’t have the body of a 14-year-old.” Zane said.
Darius sighed and closed his eyes. He couldn’t believe he didn’t think of that. He had no idea. He was so young he didn’t remember hearing anything about that, then again he didn’t watch the news when he was 9. He did recall his mother taking down his poster of Perennial in his room.
“Shit…” He said under his breath.
“Always thought it was a shame the way she was treated back then.” Sir said.
Zane looked at him and then looked down at the burning embers.
“Don’t talk about this alright? To her I mean.” Zane said to him.
“Yeah, sure. I understand. Sounds like a pretty sensitive topic…” Darius said.
Zane nodded and looked up at the stars. The only good thing about the sudden loss of electricity was the fact that the night sky was visible in all its splendor. The only thing ruining it was a few small black specks on the moon.