Shooting Stars 05: Chapter 1

Now 

    There were actually a few children playing on the various structures in the Clark-Zenn playground.  It was unusual to find a play-area so well-appointed outside of a city park or elementary school, but maybe someone at the Foundation had money.  Sadie sniffed as she looked around.  Most of the kids were a little younger than her, and the older kids looked to be boys playing soldiers or something.

     “Well, Highness,” Gary murmured suggestively, “what would you?  Would you play dollies with these humans?

     Sadie giggled, drawing wary looks from the nearest children.  “You’re bad, Gary!” she whispered fiercely, “Mommy said I wasn’t supposed to do that!”

     “Mommy’s dead,” Gary reminded her bluntly and she sniffled.  Gary appeared shocked and contrite.  “I’m sorry, Princess- I shouldn’t’ve said-”

     “That was mean,” Sadie chided Gary, getting control of herself once more, but Gary was staring at the entrance to the building.

     A low wall separated the playground from the stairs, and a chainlink fence inside of that provided additional security, but people heading up to the entrance- like the flame-haired young woman currently staring at her- could still see in, probably so parents could feel reassured that their children were still safe.

     “Hailey, come on!” a voice called from inside the building, and the young woman shook herself, then hurried the rest of the way up the stairs.

     “I don’t like her,” Gary growled, “She sees us.  We should kill her.”

     Sadie shook her head in negation.  “You could watch her, though,” she added as a sop.

     Gary looked genuinely terrified, so Sadie relented.  Before she could ask why Gary was so frightened of the woman, though, Shae was back.

     “Time to go, kiddo,” she called.  She was trying to sound cheerful, but Sadie thought there was sadness and weariness in the set of Shae’s shoulders.  “I promised you chocolate, right?”

     Sadie smiled encouragingly and followed her guardian out of the playground.

 *****

 Sergeant Eleanora Martinez, AFPD
Now

    I never told anyone at work.  It was my weekend- I had the next two days off- and I called in sick on my next work day.  When I was sure Kramer had left the apartment, my girlfriend and I snuck back into his apartment and I grabbed everything I could.  I was never going back.

     Nobody at work ever guessed exactly what had happened.  It was well-known that I dumped Kramer and that, apparently, hurt his reputation amongst the other detectives, but the exact reasons never came out.  I did hear a couple rumors that it was my fault, but no one was ever willing to say it to my face, so I never had anything to respond to.

     My career stopped dead.

     And now, after four years apart and sixteen months working in separate divisions and, mostly, different precincts, this case was throwing us back together.

     Fuck.

 *****

 Now

     Hailey wiped sweat from her forehead, smearing ash, grease, and grit with the back of her hand.

     “Thanks, Hailey,” Sophia sighed, handing her a glass of iced tea.  The ice was almost entirely gone, melted by the intense heat that had been radiating through the room just moments earlier.  A man was curled in a ball near the center of the room, snoring gently as the air shimmered above him.  A chalk circle and various arcane runes surrounded him.

     “You sure know how to pick ‘em,” Hailey teased.  “What the Hell happened to him?”

     Sophia consulted her notes.  “His name’s Vedder.  Warden Fiske sent him to us-”

     “Fiske?  He works at Tarterus?” Hailey asked, frowning.

     “Yeah- you know how they sometimes hire metas, right?  Well, Vedder’s a meta; his powers, until today, have always been very minor- like the ability to boil a cup of water in his hands.  It usually takes him a little longer than a microwave oven.”

     Hailey snorted.  “I guess that changed- he was putting out some serious heat, there- he would’ve cooked me if you hadn’t warned me and I hadn’t been wearing protection.”

     “Yeah, well…” Sophia sighed, “that’s why the batsignal, right?”

     “Any idea what changed?” Hailey asked.  She had a nagging suspicion; she’d seen something, but the excitement had pushed it out of her forebrain.

     “No clue,” Sophia admitted.  “Just before you got here, I got a major charge from my Bronze Bracers, but I couldn’t pinpoint the source with all that was going on.

     Hailey nodded.  “Could it have been a demon?” she asked suddenly and Sophia looked at her quizzically.

     “I don’t know,” she admitted, “maybe- why do you ask?”

     “Cause I saw one on my way in- and it was a big one!”

*****

Now

     Luke struggled up.  The pavement around where he’d hit the ground was shattered and splintered, and his tongue and jaw felt as if they’d been covered in thick cotton.

     There was no sign of the gangbangers, nor of the pretty girl who’d laid him out.

     He struggled to his feet, staggering as the change in altitude from prone to standing caused a fresh burst of agony to wrack his skull.

     A faint hissing in his ear told him something was wrong, but when he reached up, he realized it was simply that his microbug had been smashed.  He wished he knew where Network got them; they weren’t something he could just pick up at the local Radio Shack.

     The sun on his skin was starting to regenerate him, but it would be a while before he was up to flying again.  He groaned and started limping in the direction of the main thoroughfares, bus transit, and home.

****************************************************************************

The BBC used to have a program named Old Harry's Game, and one of the characters was Satan's right-hand-monster, one of Hell's most venomous demons... Gary.  I love that idea, so Gary the demon is kind of an homage to the beeb's fun creation.  This picture- and all the artwork for Shooting stars- is brought to you by the amazingly talented and lovely !

Shooting Stars is an epic tale (okay, maybe that's pushing it, but I've always wanted to call something I wrote an epic) taking place in  and will feature characters by , , and an appearance of Esau by .

 wrote the story and owns the characters of Sergeant Eleanora Martinez, Vice Detective Kramer, Shae Vance, Sadie Hawkins, and Apollo.

owns Hailey Storm and Sophia Storm.

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