Ultrahuman 01 - Ugly (13 page)

‘I just happened to be there,’ Penny said, ‘and Ultranova was just going to cause more problems if he kept shooting at them, and they were a real safety hazard…’

‘Oh, so you’ve met the great heartbreaker?’

‘He didn’t seem that great.’

Bobby’s lips curled upward slightly. ‘Many a young Ultra has fallen into his bed and found him looking for a new conquest in the morning.’

‘Well, not me. He was trying too hard to be charming. Besides, I’ve got someone else who’s handsome, charming, and probably far better in the sack.’

‘Gatinha! You wound me. Who is this pretender? I will fight him to the death!’

Penny prowled across the carpet, grinning. ‘You know damn well who he is. But if he doesn’t get his act together soon I’m going to start to wonder.’

Reaching up, he pulled her into his lap, his hands stroking over the bare skin of her behind. ‘That,’ he said, ‘we cannot have.’

~~~

Professor Herman Kopf worked calmly and collectedly at his chemistry bench while the voice ranted on through the loudspeakers mounted around the laboratory. His benefactor and student was prone to ranting, especially when things went wrong.

‘Two million dollars! Two million! And some beanpole in a swimsuit blows it all out of the water!’

‘Two million was the upper estimate,’ Kopf pointed out. His accent was German, but was not too thick. He had not been in Germany in a long while and rarely spoke his native tongue.

‘Two million!’ The voice was generally not concerned with small things like reality. ‘I want to know who she is.’

‘Of course.’

‘I want to know who she is, where she works, who her friends are, what her bra size is, and how often she takes a dump!’

Kopf siphoned off some of the liquid he was working on into a syringe and injected it into a white rat. ‘The last one may take more time. I will initiate surveillance.’ The rat gave a squeak and died. Shrugging, Kopf dropped the body into a container marked ‘Biological Waste’ and turned to a computer he was using to do molecular modelling. ‘In the police report on the warehouse arrests she mentioned the Twilight girl. They may be working together.’

There was a grunt. ‘Surveillance only then. That one is useful.’

16
^th
September.

June opened the door to find a woman in a wide-brimmed hat and a long, red coat standing there. The hat brim lifted and June’s eyes widened.

‘Well,’ Red said, ‘invite me in.’

‘Of course!’ June stepped back to allow the Huntress into their apartment. She was rather glad she had tidied up a little earlier in the evening. ‘I wasn’t expecting…’

Red took her hat off, dropping it onto the small kitchen counter at the back of the room. ‘I know, but I managed to get something for Penny, about this brewing gang war. I decided that waiting until Friday was too long. Especially since she’s becoming famous.’

June giggled. ‘You saw that then?’

‘How could I miss it? It was quite a trick and she pulled it off nicely. The press call afterwards was handled well too.’

‘She looked stunning, didn’t she?’

‘Yes, and that will go down well, but she played it with humility.’

‘Well, she’s out on patrol,’ June said as she watched Red unbuttoning her coat. ‘She won’t be back for a couple of hours.’

Red’s coat slipped to the floor, revealing Red, and a pair of heels. ‘Yes,’ she said, smiling, ‘I rather thought that might be the case.’

17
^th
September.

The light in the lounge was dim, but it was on, so Penny figured that June was still up. She slipped in through the balcony window, closed it behind her, turned around, and came to a grinding halt. Her housemate and her friend were lying on the sofa, intertwined and naked. She felt her cheeks reddening and considered making a bolt for her room.

‘At least you didn’t actually catch us at it,’ Red commented in a low voice.

‘Uh… no,’ Penny replied.

June said, ‘Whu nu hu mu?’ Then she opened her eyes and let out a squeak. ‘Penny! You’re back early!’

‘No, dear,’ Red told her. ‘You fell asleep.’

‘You should’ve woken me,’ June grumbled. At least she was blushing too.

Red untangled herself and sat up, apparently unabashed at being nude in front of Penny. Penny would have liked more abashment, if that was a word. She would look it up later. ‘You,’ the Huntress said, pointing at Penny, ‘should consider alternative security arrangements.’

Since the woman obviously wanted to talk, Penny moved into the room and curled herself onto the floor, crossing her long legs in front of her. ‘Uh…?’ As one, Red and June dragged their eyes away from Penny’s legs, which just made her cheeks redder.

‘Change somewhere else. Someone could track you here. You’ve got your face on TV. The reaction’s been good, but I’ve already had a reporter or two sniffing around for information on Cygnus. If someone sees you coming in that window, your cover is blown.’

Penny nodded. ‘I can’t put June in danger. I’ll work something out.’ She glanced at June who was sitting there with an arm over her breasts and her legs crossed, which was insane given that they had both seen each other naked before. June had never seemed bothered in the past.

‘All right,’ Red went on. ‘I got some info back on this gang war, and it couldn’t wait so I came over.’

‘Could have sent it through UltraNet.’

Red grinned. ‘I could, but I had ulterior motives.’ June’s blush deepened. ‘It seems someone has decided to step things up on both sides. The Tonaldos have been recruiting soldiers. The other side has contracted someone to off David Tonaldo. As things stand, his brother, Jonny, would likely take control and, frankly, that would probably make things a lot worse.’

‘I heard he was sadistic.’

‘A mild understatement. He’s neither as bright nor as restrained as David. Things will heat up fast, and chances are that half the syndicate would defect. Jonny’s not well liked and he has no ability to lead his men. The other side would win, real fast, and the whole of the city would be under their thumb.’

‘We still have no idea who this “other side” is?’

Red shook her head. ‘No one knows, or no one’s talking.’

‘What about the assassin?’

‘There I had more luck, though it’s not exactly lucky. The guy’s nickname is “Your Name Here.” He leaves a calling card, a bullet inscribed with the victim’s name. He’s a sniper and a
very
good one. No one knows who he really is, but we know he’s meticulous. He’ll be planning his hit already. You’re probably going to need help if you’re going to nail him before he gets Tonaldo.’

Penny nodded. ‘I know someone who might be willing to lend a hand, if I can find her.’

Red gave a little shrug. ‘UltraNet is your friend.’

~~~

Andrea did not entirely trust UltraNet. A secure, virtual network hidden under the multiple internets of the world, it was operated by the Union of Ultrahumans with the cooperation of various government agencies. Doctor Ultimate had designed the protocols and she was quite sure that cracking it from the outside was probably impossible, but there had been a few cases of bad guys posing as legitimate members to work on it from the inside, and if those were detected you could bet there were others which were not. It did, however, provide a useful source of information, so she continued to use it; one check per day, just in case there was anything useful on it.

She
never
got personal messages. It was possible to look people up on the system; there was a mechanism in there for hosting small information pages, even for blogging your activities, though Twilight’s page was the bare minimum and blogging…? Yeah, right. So someone had looked her up and sent her a message. Who the Hell would…?

The answer came just before curiosity got her to the inbox and she considered not bothering with it. On the other hand, she did not think Cygnus would have gone to this much trouble to contact her for no reason and she had seemed oddly well informed. She clicked through and opened the message.

We need to talk. Family business. Pick a place. Cygnus.

Family business? The Tonaldos, of course. The girl had a touch of stealth in her soul at least and she did not seem to entirely trust the network either. It sounded dodgy, but if there was a chance that she had something on the mobsters…

Andrea began typing a reply.

19
^th
September.

There was a chill wind blowing in off the bay as Penny stood on top of the Fairhaven Plaza and waited. Twilight had said nine and it was quarter past already, and the only reason Penny was still there was that she suspected the black-clad girl was the suspicious type. Yeah, get her there early, make sure she was alone. Maybe a test of patience…

‘Look, I want to get something clear before we get down to business.’ Penny turned on her heel to see the slim form of Twilight standing behind her. How did she do that? In heels! ‘I am
not
into girls.’

Penny grinned, nonplussed. ‘Okay… Neither am I, but okay.’

Twilight chewed on her lip for a second. The thought had occurred to her that morning that perhaps Cygnus had personal reasons for wanting to meet. After all, Andrea had seen her with Red and the brunette, and it had seemed like they were all staying the night. Maybe Cygnus wanted a girlfriend.

‘Okay… What’s this “family business” you’ve got to discuss?’

‘Are we okay doing this up here?’

‘Anyone gets close, we can see them.’

‘Parabolic microphones? Long lenses?’

Twilight allowed herself a slight smile. ‘Considering all that TV time you were getting, I never figured you for the paranoid type.’

‘You saw that, huh?’

‘Pretty sure everyone in the city saw it, maybe the country.’

‘They kind of ambushed me. I wasn’t even supposed to be doing anything. I was out getting an idea of what the city looks like from high up and…’

‘Sirens, gunfire, you figured you’d better do something about it.’

‘Uh, yeah.’

‘We’re kind of different. I’ve stopped a few drug store robberies on the fly. Mostly I plan things very carefully.’

‘Like at the warehouse.’

‘Yeah, well, I had help. What’s going on?’

‘Like we figured from the guns, there’s a war heating up between the Tonaldos and this other gang.’

‘Tell me something I don’t know.’

‘Someone’s been hired to assassinate David Tonaldo. A sniper. They call him Your Name Here. I guess all the good names really have gone.’

‘Never heard of him, but if he’s actually a
good
assassin…’ Twilight frowned, though it was a little difficult to tell under the mask. ‘If David goes then John will probably grab control. David wants his son, David Junior, to take the reins, but he’s resisting. Jonny will use that and…’

‘That would be bad. Yeah, Red thought the same.’

‘You and her…’ Twilight stopped herself. Occasionally she confused Andrea and herself. ‘You seem to have an in with the Huntress. That where you’re getting your info?’

‘Yeah. That why you thought I was a lesbian?’

Twilight coughed. ‘She’s got a reputation. Okay, so what do you want to do about this assassin?’

‘Uh… stop him?’

‘Huh… Well, if you can pick up a car, it should be easy. Come on, I want to show you something.’ Twilight walked toward Penny, looking resigned, but expectant.

‘Sorry?’

Twilight unhooked her sword from her back. ‘It’s going to take ages to get there if I have to walk. You fly us there, I’ll navigate.’

Penny frowned, but she stepped forward as Twilight turned her back, wrapped her arms around the woman’s waist, and took off. ‘Where are we going?’

‘Uptown. Warren and twenty-first.’ There was a slight pause and then, ‘You’re really not gay?’

‘No!’ Penny grinned. ‘Though… Hot young girl in my arms, her dressed all in PVC…’

‘That’s not funny.’

~~~

‘What am I looking at?’ Penny asked. She was ducked down behind the low wall which ran around the building they were on. Opposite was an apartment building with fairly large, open windows on the upper floors.

Twilight handed her a pair of binoculars. ‘Second window from the right, top floor. That’s David Tonaldo.’

He looked the part. Thin, slightly haggard face with a Roman nose and a full head of black hair, greying at the temples. He was slim, and did not look very fit, but the pin-stripe suit he was still wearing at almost midnight fitted him well. Expensive tailoring could do that for you.

‘Doesn’t look like he’s heard about the hit,’ Penny said. ‘He seems pretty… nonchalant.’

Twilight sat with her back against the wall, her sword resting in her lap. ‘You’d be nonchalant if you were sitting behind an inch of hardened, armoured glass. Two windows over Jonny’s taking a meeting.’

Penny swung the binoculars over. ‘Shit!’ She almost dropped the binoculars in her haste to get them away from her eyes.

‘Yeah, he’s a real charmer.’

Swallowing, Penny lifted the glasses again. John was ‘taking a meeting’ with a woman, only she did not look especially happy about it. He had her chained to a bed, spread-eagled and naked, a ball gag filling her mouth. There were red lines on the skin of her chest and they had probably been made by the long, curved dagger that John was holding.

She could see the resemblance between the brothers, just about. John was more filled out, heavier, definitely more thickly muscled. There was no grey in his hair and his face was fuller, but the nose was the same. He was
not
wearing a pin-striped suit. He was not wearing much of anything.

‘D-does he do this kind of thing often?’ Penny asked.

‘Maybe once a month. He picks the whore on their payroll making the least cash. If they’re lucky, they walk out with scars.’

‘And no one stops him! I mean, all it’d take is a video camera.’

Twilight grunted. ‘You’d think. They got him on film a couple of years ago. Got the girl to testify. When it came to court, the defence brought up her line of work and stated that she had agreed to the gig, and been well paid for it. Jonny got a hundred hours of community service for procuring a prostitute, and the girl wound up in Chesapeake Bay.’