No Master Plan Here (Madness Runs in the Family) (9 page)

             
“Isn't that what people do?”

             
Anansi looked behind him to the owner of the voice. She was tall, leggy, and wore a white tank top and blue jeans, her black bra showing slightly through the top. One of the norms that Anansi had noticed on the way in. Her eyes were green, her hair hung down to her hips and was bright red, and she had freckles that covered her face. She smirked at Anansi, slipping out of her seat and into the one across from him, a cup of some sort of beverage in hand. Anansi watched her with a cold gaze hidden by his helmet.

             
[I forgot to turn off the speaker, didn't I?] Anansi sent, being careful to not voice his thought. Kay sent him a series of emoticons and closed the link, leaving Anansi to the red-haired woman. Anansi muttered to himself before looking at the woman again.

             
“Not me, not usually,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair. The redhead shrugged and leaned forward. It offered Anansi a look at her cleavage, which he noticed had more freckles. She beckoned for Anansi to come closer, and when he didn't, she rolled her eyes and leaned back.

             
“You're not scared of meeting people, are you?” she said. Anansi started to respond when the barista called out “Cocoa for Anansi,” and waved Anansi to the bar. Anansi stood and took his drink with a nod to the woman, then proceeded to a table that wasn't occupied and well away from the redhead, leaving the her to his table. When she started coming over to join him, he sighed audibly, deciding he wasn't going to rid himself of her that easily.

             
She sat down beside him and frowned. “You're not particularly nice, are you? Nothing like I expected,” she chided, sounding disappointed and simultaneously playful. Kay reestablished the link with an emoticon.

             
[She's flirting with you.]

             
[She wants something. Women don't approach someone unless they want something, and she is using every distracting trick in the book. >:(] Anansi responded, coupling the emoticon with a strong sense of irritation at the meddlesome AI.

             
“And what were you expecting?” Anansi replied. He pressed a panel on the side of his helmet. He pulled a small straw from the hole that was revealed, extended it until it could reach his cup of cocoa, and placed it in the beverage. The redhead looked surprised.

             
“Are you going to leave your helmet on the whole time?” she asked, incredulity in her voice.

             
“If I can help it.”

             
“Why?”

             
“Have you ever considered the concept of secret identity?” Anansi took a sip from his drink. The redhead shrugged and leaned forward again.

             
“Don't have to worry about that, myself,” she said, and as she spoke, she changed. Her skin, eyes, and hair all darkened. Her facial features changed, her nose becoming a little wider, lips fuller, and her cheekbones less pronounced. Tattoos appeared on her arms all the way down to the backs of her hands and on her chest. Piles of skulls and bones marked her arms, and Anansi could see the hooded head and scythe of a grim reaper on her chest sticking out of her shirt.

             
[Facial recognition: 100% match for Ghost. You have met the target. Have fun!] Kay sent before closing the neural link again. Anansi made a mental note to make it so Kay couldn't do that anymore.

             
Anansi was about to speak when he noticed the cafe had gone silent. He looked around, finding all eyes on him, and muttered a curse under his breath.

             
“Good to meet you, maybe we should go somewhere less full of people that will rather quickly become squealing fans or screaming victims,” Anansi said. He stood and brushed his coattails behind him, using the action to palm a grenade. He pulled Ghost to her feet and looked at the man who wore Zod's costume, who was frantically taking pictures with his phone.

             
“Give me that,” Anansi said, releasing Ghost to snatch the phone. The villain imposter protested until Anansi pulled a cord from the base of his helmet and plugged it into the phone. He spent a second copying the man's information into his memory and erasing the video before tossing it back. “You follow me, you'll regret it,” he growled, the Zod squirming back away from him.

             
Anansi turned back and grabbed Ghost's wrist again. He led her from the cafe, coat billowing behind him. The bell jingled over his head and “Haunted” called after them, as if by instinct, “Feel free to come by again!”

             
Anansi triggered his teleportation rig, disappearing with Ghost in a flash of light, reappearing atop the cafe roof. He spun around to face her, slipped the grenade back into its place on his rig, and glared. It took a moment for him to remember that the mask of his helmet did not transfer his expression. “What the hell was that?”

             
Ghost shrugged and took a sip from her cup. “I figured you didn't realize it was me, so I showed you in a way you can't deny tells you it is. I said I'd be wearing red.”

             
Anansi narrowed his eyes at the woman. She was talking like she thought she had been talking to him when the meeting was set up, and he still hadn't figured out what sort of meeting it was. He sent several angry thoughts across his neural link to Kay.

             
“Let's operate under the assumption that I have no idea what is going on here and that I haven't seen whatever traffic you think we've exchanged,” Anansi began, pulling his emotions under control. He stuck his hands into his coat pockets, letting the tension seep out of him as he started ordering himself. “Why are we meeting? Weapons? Custom order?”

             
“What? No, I responded to your dating profile,” she said. Anansi blinked. “We were going to catch coffee and a movie.” Anansi blinked again. He couldn't find words and was glad that she couldn't see how flabbergasted he was.

             
[Kay, what the hell did you do?!]

             
[Have fun on your date! I have the drones working on the Tar Baby. I think we're making progress!]

             
[Kay!]

             
[We're sorry, the user you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try again later.]

             
Anansi slapped his hand against the forehead of his helmet. He made a mental note that the facepalm had a bit more effect when he could actually smack his own face as opposed to the face shield. “Sorry about that. Apparently Kay is playing matchmaker and didn't tell me.”

             
“No worries. If it makes you feel better, this still isn't the worst date I've ever been on, by far.” She laughed and shook her head. She pulled a phone from her back pocket and checked it before returning it. “We still have an hour or so until the movie, so how about we find somewhere to have a nice chat beforehand, see how well your Kay did with this.”

             
Anansi opened the video feed of the lab in his display, seeing confirmation of what Kay had told him, which was three spider drones caught in a mess of black tar-like goop and two more messing with the core mechanism. Apparently lab work could do without him today.

             
“I'd like that.”

Chapter 9

             
November 23, 2013

              “Welcome to Supers Network, the supers news net. I'm The News.” The man was middle aged and sported a blue domino mask and business suit that did nothing to hide his identity, especially since it was public knowledge. Jason Richards had been a news reporter before he discovered his own powers of clairvoyance, seeing places he was not. He had always been obsessed with supers from day one, a major comic fan from the time before, and was the most accurate source of news involving supers. Denise liked him.

             
“Top story today involves young Maryland hero known as Blink. For those of you who don't know her, shame on you, but I digress. The little vixen, whose power set includes teleportation and invisibility, came across a gang of men brutally beating a gay man in her home town of Baltimore. Hate crimes such as this one have been more common in recent day with the increased effort from the LGBT community to attain equal marriage rights.” The News flipped to the next page in his stack of papers and cleared his throat, preparing to continue.

             
“A crowd had gathered to watch the assault, which drew our heroine. Despite being out of costume, Blink leaped to action, using martial arts and her ability to teleport to disable six men twice her size in a matter of seconds, though not without being hit several times. After cuffing the men to a light post, she administered first aid to the victim while berating the onlookers for doing nothing to help the man.

             
“The victim's name has not been released by police, but they have released that the man is in stable condition at Sinai and will be released after an observation period.

             
“A representative of the Baltimore PD had this to say:” The News reached over and pressed a button on a smart phone.  The still image of an elderly man wearing the dress uniform of the Baltimore Police Department appeared beside The News, and a voice began playing from the phone.

             
“The Baltimore PD has in custody six men who were videotaped committing aggravated assault on a man. The men were captured by the licensed vigilante, Blink, who has issued a statement corroborated by the aforementioned video evidence. We do not take these crimes lightly, and neither do our licensed vigilante counterparts, and these men and any like them will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

             
The News nodded and tapped his papers on the table. “Blink did respond to an email from the Supers Network asking for comment, saying “I think people like that are dumb, and people should be able to be happy, no matter who they love. I also think the people watching should be charged with criminal neglect or something, but the police aren't gonna do that.””

             
A crash in the next room drew Denise's attention. She stood from her seat on the couch and stretched towards the ceiling, feeling her muscles limber. Anansi was in there, in her apartment's bedroom, and though the wall muffled the words beyond recognition, he was yelling. She turned off the television and opened the door to see him pacing in front of the bed, wearing nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms, a cell phone pressed to his ear.

             
“I don't care if the cops have the gods-be-damned bastards. They hurt you, and they're intolerant ignoramuses! I should gut them and hang them for all the rotten sons of rats to see and fear!” he yelled, gesticulating wildly. He stopped, listening to the person on the other end for a long time. Denise walked into the room and sat on the bed. Anansi stopped pacing and sat beside her on the bed, his free hand clenching into a fist and releasing. The veins stood out on the back of his hand and his temple.

             
Denise rested her head on Anansi's shoulder, placing her hands over his and entwining her fingers into his while Anansi continued to listen to the voice on the other end. He finally sighed and nodded.

             
“You're right, Lil. They're caught, and that's good enough for now. Good job today, leettle seester. I'll see you next week when I come home for a visit.” He paused again, listening. “Love you too, twerp.” He smirked and hung up, flopping back onto the bed and sending the phone flying towards the pillows.

             
“Trouble?” Denise said, scooting further onto the bed as she traced an idle circle across Anansi's stomach, making his abdominal muscles twitch involuntarily. Anansi squirmed.

             
“One of my little sisters. Got a little beat up today. She fought because some guys were beating up some other guy while people stood and watched.” Anansi sighed and shook his head. “Makes me wonder if humanity is even worth saving, there's so many worthless sots out there.”

             
Denise laughed and flopped down atop Anansi, her head on his chest. She reached up and tweaked his nose. “And if you choose to abandon humanity, where will you go?”

             
Anansi raised his hand towards the ceiling of the tiny apartment bedroom, like he was trying to grasp the sky. “I will invade the moon! Enslave the tiny moon pygmies, and then launch endless waves of them at the Earth until it is covered with death and cheese!” He laughed, shook his head, and closed his eyes.

             
“Sorry, I'm being melodramatic.” He placed a hand in her hair and began twirling a finger through it.

             
“It's fine. Did you know your little sister was Blink?”

             
Anansi stiffened, his hand stopped moving. “How did you know?”