Uno and Fog: Sympathy From (Possibly) the Devil

The Fog landed the helicopter in a waterfront park named after some 18th century Frenchman that came to the aid of New Amsterdam during one of the many  conflicts between the New World and the Old.

While nothing is truly remote around the city, it was off the beaten path enough that the probability of running into anyone this early in the morning was small.  It was close enough that we were able to set down quickly before police helicopters, or other supers came after us.

Even that was unlikely considering the amount of chaos we had unleashed on the city, but being careful was always an important consideration.

Once we’d left the chopper, The Fog turned to me, “can you ignite the fuel?”

“What do you mean?”

He looks at me like I was dense, “Send a current into the fuel and cause an explosion and destroy it, so that any trace of evidence of us in it will be destroyed.”

“Umm… I’ve never thought about doing that.”

“Uno, one of the things I like about you is that your mind doesn’t naturally turn to the more violent, nasty or dangerous potentials your ability gives you.”

“Thank you, I guess.”

“So, can you do it?”

I look over at the helicopter and felt the electrical system, traced it, felt more by its absence, the space where the fuel was.  Then sent power course around it, it took a moment to figure out how to actually make the current get into the fuel, it isn’t exactly designed so that it would get accidentally ignited by some electrical discharge.

After a few seconds, the tank explods sending fragments of the vehicle in all different directions.

The Fog nods, “I thought so.”

“How did you do that?”  I forgot that April was with us, she has a look of curiosity on her face, an almost childlike wonder.  It occurs to me to wonder how long she’d been trapped and drugged beneath the surface.  If she was as young as she looks, and that was a big if, she might have been down there for most of her life.  Perhaps most of her childhood. She might be emotionally and intellectually stunted.  Her mental age set at the point she was abducted and sedated.

Abducted instead of captured.  I was assuming a lot of things that could be very wrong.

And would a child be this resilient though?

“It was his idea.”  I point at The Fog, “and speaking of, what made you think of it?”

“I’ve been studying the things your mother did.”

“Your mother?” I am really not enjoying the level of scrutiny the pale lady is giving me now.

“Not the time, April.” I try not to snap, “My mother was good at killing people and there’s nothing indicating that she had the same abilities as me, they don’t always manifest the same.”

“You’re right, but what if she did?”  The Fog starts to walk away and the two of us follow him back toward the city.  I set off a quick pulse killing the electricity to everything nearby to stop any surveillance.  I even scan the sky for the small pulse of a drone.   “There are reports that she assassinated several people by use of car bombs or explosive devices.”

“Explosive devices is the operative word there.”  I point out.

“I looked at some of the sealed investigative reports on those.”

I didn’t ask how he had gotten ahold of those. “And?”  Even though I already knew where he was going with this.

“There wasn’t any trace of either an ignition device, or explosives in several of them, the vehicle’s fuel just ignited.  She did it to a plane once.”

“Thanks for reminding me what a monster she was.”  I feel a hand give a squeeze to my shoulder.  I follow the hand to its owner, April, who has a concerned look on her face.

“I’m fine.”  I feel the hand drop.

Great.

A possible vampire, and certainly a trauma victim, is feeling compassion for me.  How messed up is your life, if you’re getting sympathy from a creature of the night?

We head into the subway system, I shut down all the security cameras, we’re going to have to zig all over the city before we get home, and take a couple cabs, just to make sure we lose anyone that might be seeking us.  There was an unspoken agreement between us that we were taking April with us and keeping her safe, although the entire prospect concerns me.

It gives me plenty of time to think about my mother.  She was never filmed using her powers, except to fly and that had been caught by a camera found in the wreckage of the plane she had crashed.  Other than that, there were only rumors about what she could do as The Black Death.  People would commit suicide, jump off buildings, dams or bridges at her request, even shoot themselves.

There were other rumors that she could make people fall in love with her to such an extent that they became her virtual slaves, betray their spouses, family, country at her behest.  It didn’t matter if it was a man or a woman.

It had always been believed that she had some kind of mind control abilities.  She was feared all over the world and for good reason, she was lethal, and quiet and efficient about it.

What if I could do what she did?

 

 

 

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