Super: Underground: Book 2 in the Super: Series (7 page)

As they stepped outside moments later, Lex noted that the grounds looked peaceful; the only thing that seemed out of place was the sight of two people in hospital gowns running for the break in the fence.

“You were right, Lex. It seems they aren’t willing to risk the exposure of shooting outside. Let’s go,” Casey said as she picked up her pace, running for the van they’d arrived in.

Lex had the straps released once they made it back to the van, and she slid down Casey’s back as the taller woman stopped to open the driver’s door. Walking over to Lou, Lex tugged on his arm.

“Let’s get you in the back,” she said, taking him around to the rear doors, something Casey had suggested earlier due to the need for weight distribution when transporting the two of them.

Lex and Lou got in and he shut the doors behind them as Casey made the engine roar to life. Lex pushed a stack of clothes over to Lou with a smile, then went to the front of the van. She looked over at Riss as she passed by. Her friend’s eyes were shut and she had a serious expression on her face, lit by the screens of the few laptops she’d purchased during the time Lex had been out of commission. Sliding into the front seat, Lex fastened her seat belt as Casey quickly backed out of the loading dock and pointed the van towards the rear exit of the facility.

She and Lex exchanged a glance as they both noticed that the gate arm on the road leading out of the facility was down. As Casey started to say something, most likely to warn everyone to brace themselves, the gate arm rose and they drove safely out of the facility, turning left into the surrounding residential streets and leaving the cursed building behind them. Lex threw Riss a glance, suspecting she’d made something happen, but the other woman’s position and expression didn’t change.

Sometime later they pulled into a big rental car lot across the city. Riss had opened her eyes and shut down most of the computers she’d been using, except for the laptop Lex had given her. She nodded and pointed as they drove down the rows of vehicles to a sky blue van with tinted windows.

“That should be it,” she said.

They left the white van they’d been driving in the drop-off area, and exchanged their old keys for new ones at the check-in counter. As Casey and Lex had changed their clothes in the back of the old van, Lex had patched up the cuts on Casey’s shin that she’d received during her fight with the dark-furred creature that had driven her to one knee, and a circular dent bleeding on her forearm.

“I’ve never seen you hurt before,” Lex had said, then bit her lip.

Casey had just shrugged. “I could tell when I was grappling with that thing with the fur that it was dense like me. I don’t think it was as dense as I am, though, because it really didn’t scratch me that deep. As for the other one, I guess there were some sharp edges on that bullet or something.”

Lex had sighed and finished the job, putting everything they’d worn, including Lou’s hospital gown, into a plastic bag.

The four of them moved to the new van then, got it going, and drove away with no trouble. They made a stop at a convenience store a mile or two from the car rental lot, and as they went in, threw the bag with the clothes in the trash bin in front. As they drove further onto the busy streets of the city, Lex found herself laughing.

“Good job, ladies,” she said, looking over at Casey and back over her shoulder at Riss.

Casey laughed in return, slapping the steering wheel as she drove. “I can’t believe it worked so well. You’re a certified computer genius, Riss.”

Lex looked out of the corner of her eye as Riss smiled and turned to look out the window.

“It was a bit of a job to make sure that none of the cameras started recording or the locks re-engaged while you were inside. I kept the cameras feeding what they saw to me, but it won’t be available to anyone else.”

“Were a lot of people able to get out?” Lex asked curiously.

Riss tilted her head in consideration. “A number of people were successfully trapped by the guards, but a good number managed to escape. It seemed like people lucky enough to be housed near the loading dock got away in greater numbers.”

“Oh, by the way,” Riss said as she leaned back over the seat to hand something to Lou, “here’s your new driver’s license and a credit card, Robert Louis Stevens. Wait at least a few hours to try it, and let me know if it gives you any trouble. Don’t forget to sign the back.”

After a pause, Riss added, “In case you hadn’t heard, I’m now Priscilla Claire Smith, Martha Acacia Robbins is driving, and Jane Alexis Mansfield is sitting shotgun.”

Lou gave Riss a smile as she finished, then looked at the new cards before he opened his wallet to take the old ones out, snapping them into bits and putting the pieces in his front pocket.

“Thanks,” he said, nodding at Riss. “They look perfect. You did a great job.”

Riss just looked away then, but Lex spotted a little smile on her face. Lex smiled herself as she settled back to facing front in the passenger’s seat, but noticed Casey looking at her out of the corner of her eye.

“So, do you want to talk about it?” she asked Lex, one eyebrow quirked upwards.

“Talk about what?” Lex mumbled, shrinking in her seat.

“You know what I’m asking about,” Casey said in a slightly amused tone.

“Not really,” Lex replied, trying to answer even more quietly.

“What are you two going on about up there?” Riss asked after their exchange.

“Lex manifested a new symptom today, as Lily would say,” Casey answered her, looking at the other woman in the rearview mirror.

“What happened?” Riss asked, her face concerned.

Lex shrank in her seat even more as she listened to Casey’s explanation of what had happened in the facility.

As Lex turned in her chair, she saw Riss staring at her with interest now, both of her eyebrows raised. “Really?”

Lex sighed, her shoulders dropping. “It was sort of like that, just less dramatic.”

“You should have seen her. It was amazing.”

Sighing again, Lex continued. “I don’t really know what I did. Maybe it just happened because I was scared. It might be something I can’t ever do again.”

Riss shrugged. “Sounds to me like it’s a new change that’s part of the event you went through. Lily warned us to be on the lookout for things like this. She said that if anything did happen, that it was important to test it out as much as you can, so you know what your limits are for future situations. She passed along a file for me to give to you in case you noticed anything new, so I’ll show it to you once we get settled.”

“Thanks,” Lex replied distractedly, looking out the front window at the traffic on the city streets. She began wondering if this was some permanent change, but shrugged the thought off, knowing that she had more pressing things to focus on.

“We agreed we’re going to head west, right?” Lex craned her neck to find out if she could see into the back of the van, but it was too dark to make out details. “Riss, can you find out if Lou can hear back there?”

Leaning over her seat, Riss shook her head. “No, I think he’s asleep. We can go over the rest of the plan later, maybe when we stop for the night.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Lex replied, suddenly having to put her hand in front of her mouth to stifle a yawn.

She remembered blinking slowly at the road in front of them, glad for her sunglasses even though the day had dawned cloudy and grey. The next thing she knew, the van had stopped. She looked to the driver’s seat, which now sat empty. Confused, Lex looked out the window. The day had cleared, but the sunlight seemed thin and far away. Not recognizing their location, Lex turned to the back of the van to see Riss sitting behind her. She looked up and nodded when Lex looked in her direction. Upon registering a sudden movement next to her, Lex rubbed her eyes and glanced out the window to see Casey waving.

“Hey,” Casey said after Lex had fumbled the door open. “Do you want to stretch your legs or anything? We’re south of Winchester now; I thought we probably shouldn’t stop until we got out of the DC area altogether.”

Lex nodded heavily, still feeling about half-asleep. “Bathroom?” she asked, struggling out of her seat belt and the van to go in the direction Casey pointed.

Later, after Lex had dashed some cold water on her face, she looked into the mirror. She felt glad it was still cold outside, because she wore a stocking cap to cover up her new red hair, but she took the hat off and smoothed her hair out, watching in the mirror. She looked up as the door to the outside opened and Riss came in, smiled, and then looked back at her reflection, still with a smile on her face, something her new hair color never failed to induce. Sticking the hat back on, Lex finished up and turned to leave when she caught her arm on something and wobbled.

A moment later, Riss was at her side, steadying her. “Don’t lose your balance and hit your head now that we’re on the road.”

Lex laughed. “No, now would not be a good time. Thanks, Riss.”

When they resumed their trip, Casey insisted on continuing to drive, but Riss and Lex switched places so that Lex could lie down. She had tried to argue, saying that since she’d had a nap she wasn’t tired anymore, but after letting out a big yawn in the middle of her speech, she’d had to abandon that line. Lex fell back asleep to the sound of clicking keys from the front of the van.

Waking up a couple of hours before they decided to stop for the night, Lex moved to the passenger seat so she could keep Lou company, since he’d now switched to be the driver. Casey sat in the back of the van now, and Lex could hear the murmur of the two other women discussing something.

“So,” Lex asked, looking over at Lou, “how are you feeling? I’m sorry we couldn’t get there any quicker. It looked like they were treating you pretty badly.”

He gave her a quick look and smiled before he looked back out the front window. “I’m fine. They just had me strapped down like that because I kept trying to escape. I overheard someone saying they don’t like to use tranquilizers on people like me because they have to use so much to have an effect. They had other people like Casey and I on staff and they overpowered me by numbers. Mostly, they were running a lot of tests on me, not giving me any weird drugs like the other people there. From what they said, I got the impression they took me in hoping that if Casey was still out there that she’d come for me. I don’t think they had any idea that something like this would happen.”

“Good.” Lex said with a nod, then sighed. “I hope a lot of those people got away. We were lucky: most of them were housed nearer to the guards. What a terrible place.”

He nodded, then fixed Lex with an intense glance. “So how are
you
? I know Casey was really worried about you.”

Lex looked up to meet his eye and sighed a second time. “Well, I’m glad to be free and not a lab rat anymore, but I just feel so weak. I sleep a lot, and I can’t do most of the things I’m used to. It’s really frustrating.”

Lou listened, then let a moment of silence stretch out between them as he considered. “Well,” he began, “from what Casey said, you nearly died, right?”

“Twice, unfortunately.” As she said it, she couldn’t help but glance into the back of the van, but she couldn’t see Casey or Riss.

“And your whole body reformed itself, I guess, according to some talk I heard at the facility.”

Lex nodded in response, listening.

“Maybe you should think about it like being born, or like having to relearn how to do stuff after a stroke. Figure your body’s new to you now and you don’t know what to expect. Try to be patient like you’re teaching a child, because being impatient with kids won’t help them learn any faster. It’ll take some time to build your strength back up, too. You’re not born a strong adult, after all.”

Smiling, Lex looked over at him. “Casey never mentioned how smart you are. Do you always give advice this good?”

Lou smiled in return, still looking at the road. “Hard to say. A lot of people don’t like advice.”

The two of them alternately talked and enjoyed the scenery as it rolled by. They decided to stop for the night around the time the light disappeared from the sky, and they found a tiny motel on the outskirts of a small town. Casey insisted that they find something with a kitchenette so that she could cook, to make sure Lex had something to eat. She made dinner for everyone though, and Lex began going through the next step of their plans as Casey cooked.

“All right,” Lex said, “before I begin, Riss, did you manage to pick up any information about what happened today on the news or anywhere else?”

Riss raised an eyebrow. “Nothing on the news, and I didn’t expect it. As I think you noticed before, they don’t like to talk about us on the news. I think it’s sort of an official policy of denial, I guess; if we don’t exist, they don’t need to worry about doing whatever they like to us. Anyway, from what I’ve been able to tell from police and internal MSI reports, they don’t seem to be too sure about what actually happened. They circulated our descriptions again, though, along with Lou’s, but mostly to law enforcement along the East Coast.”

With an expressive shrug, Riss continued. “They don’t seem to be doing any searching on their own anymore, although the first couple of weeks they had all their troops out searching likely spots all over the DC metro area. They’re not making a big deal about it now, though. It seems they still want to keep things quiet, even from the police, which makes me pretty sure they’re not in on the secret. At any rate, it seems we’ve made our escape, so we’re probably safe for the moment. I’ll continue to monitor police communications and the news. If you’re still worried, though, one of the nice things about all of the crap they try to sell to women is that it makes it pretty easy to change your appearance, as Lex demonstrated.” She finished talking with a raised eyebrow, playing with the fork in front of her on the table.

“Thanks, Riss. That’s great to hear,” Lex said with a smile, then continued. “I’m figuring our main focus now should be to stay free, and to figure out where we should go to recoup and plan our next move. I did as much research as I could in the couple of weeks before we came to get you, Lou, and here’s what I’d like to propose.”