She climbed back up onto the roof and into the rain again. A distant crack of thunder rumbled across the sky. Leaping up over toward the fire escape on the next building over, Sarah really hoped that she wasn't going to get caught in the middle of a thunderstorm and struck by lightning. That would be just her luck, after all. Or maybe it wasn't actually a thunderstorm at all, but some super with lightning-based powers having a tussle in the distance.
Jumping from building to building, she made her way across the neighborhood, and landed on the pavement in front of her target. The building looked like nothing more remarkable than a typical apartment complex. A couple lights were on in the upper floors, perhaps people working late into the night or having merely forgotten to turn their lights off. However, somewhere in this building, a gang of demon-worshippers was holding a young girl captive.
Sarah headed inside to look around, wishing that she had something more specific than the building to go from. She was in luck, as a trio of obvious Hellions were standing watch in the lobby, trying to look badass in their black leather and demonic symbols.
"Crap, it's a cape," said one with a backwards baseball cap.
"Shut up," one with a leather vest muttered to him.
"You picked the wrong place to screw with," said the third, in hideous orange pants, raising hands suddenly engulfed in flames.
Sarah tumbled out of the way as a firebolt came toward her, and the two Hellions who didn't have fire powers pulled out guns. She danced around them, grabbing one by the wrist and sending him sprawling into the floor, then dropped the second with a swift kick to the groin. Fire washed over her left side, and she hissed through clenched teeth at the heat.
"You supers are always poking your noses in where they don't belong," said the thug. "Well, eat this!"
Before he could get off another burst of flames, Sarah slammed a hand into his face, then danced aside to avoid his next attack. She swept low, knocking his legs out from under him, and then put her foot against his throat.
"Don't try anything," she warned in a deadly tone. "I can kill you before your demon magic can do much to me."
"Gah! This wasn't how it was supposed to go!" the Hellion said, panicking. "Don't hurt me!"
"Where's Penelope Yin?" Sarah demanded.
"You're here for her? Of course you're here for her. Right. Right. Um..."
"Where is she?" Sarah growled. "Before I run out of patience."
"Sub-basement B!" the thug said quickly. "There! I told you! She's in sub-basement B! Now let me go!"
Sarah reluctantly let him up. "Don't let me see those pants again."
Shaking her head, she made her way to the elevator. However, when it arrived, she saw that it didn't have any sub-basement B marked on it. Sarah scowled. Had the Hellion lied to her, or did the elevator simply not go down that far? She headed out to check for stairs, and after wandering around a bit, came upon a staircase leading down into poorly lit basements.
Sarah expected to run across more Hellions that she would have to fight, but instead she almost stumbled over the body of one sprawled at the bottom of the stairs. Frowning and wondering if he'd just passed out drunk, she poked him with a toe and rolled him over to found that he was dead without a mark on him, no indication of injury other than a nosebleed. There were even more dead Hellions further down the corridor, in a condition much like the first.
In a side room that looked to have been converted into a makeshift cell or ritual chamber, she came across a young dark-haired Asian girl firmly affixed to a stone table with iron shackles around her wrists and feet. Sarah hurried over to her with concern, afraid that the girl was dead. Had they killed her already?
Penelope's Yin's eyes blinked open slowly, and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't appear to have been hurt, just asleep. There weren't any visible signs of injury upon her.
"Hey," Sarah said gently, giving the girl a small, reassuring smile. "I'm here, Penny. I came for you like I said. Are you alright? Let's get you out of those manacles."
"I'm okay," Penny said. "You never told me your name, though."
"Sarah," she replied. "Guess it's only fair, since I know yours."
"Sarah?" Penny repeated. She rubbed her wrists as Sarah got them free. "What's your super name?"
"I don't have one," Sarah said with a shrug, working on the ankles.
"You've got to have a super name. You're a super, aren't you?"
"Yup," Sarah said. "There you go, all free. Let's get out of here, shall we?"
Penny jumped down off the table, and followed her out of the cell. The girl's eyes widened when she saw the bodies. "Wow, did you kill all of them yourself?"
Sarah bit her lower lip. She wanted to mention that they were dead when she'd gotten here, but she wasn't sure how the girl would react. Instead, she simply didn't reply, and went to look around the room for any evidence on where they might have taken Mr. Yin.
"You're deadly! Your super name should totally be Black Widow."
Sarah resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I refuse to use an alias quite that cliche. Besides, I'm sure it's already taken, anyway."
"Have you got super strength and speed, or something?" Penny asked.
"No," Sarah said. "I've got super reflexes, willpower, and jumping."
"Jumping?" Penny said dubiously. "What kind of a super power is that?"
"A very useful one."
"Maybe your super name should be Jumping Bean, then! Or Jumping Jill."
"No," Sarah said firmly, smirking.
"Maybe you could change your costume a bit, put on rabbit ears, and call yourself Bouncing Bunny?"
"No. Heh. On a serious note, Penny, do you have any idea where they might be keeping your father? Did you overhear them mention anything, maybe?"
Penny sobered and thought for a few moments, then shook her head. "I have no idea."
Sarah sighed. "Alright. We'd best get out of here, then. I'm not finding anything that might point to his location. He doesn't have any implants or anything that he might be able to contact us from?"
Penny shook her head again. "And if you've got his phone, I guess he forgot it at home."
They made it outside, and Sarah held out her arm and said, "Alright, come here and hold on tight."
Sarah was glad that the girl was on the small side for her age. She wrapped her arms around Penny, and once secure, Sarah leapt away for home.
Penny slumped down onto the sofa in Sarah's apartment. She was still feeling pretty shaken, but she thought she was doing a good job of hiding it under a veneer of jokes and forced cheerfulness. She'd be more comfortable if she were back at home with Dad, but being there alone would be even worse than being here with the hero who had come to her aid.
Sarah had peeled off her mask and gloves. It was a little strange seeing her actual face, but Penny supposed it must be more comfortable.
"You hungry, Penny?" Sarah asked, looking in the old fridge. "When was the last time you ate?"
"Oh..." Penny said, realizing suddenly how empty her stomach felt. "Lunch at school. They didn't feed me anything."
"Two days ago, then. Let's get you something to drink and a bite to eat, shall we?" She put a glass of water in front of Penny and started some water boiling on the stove. "You're not lactose intolerant or anything, are you?" She peered at a box. "Hmm, I don't know that this stuff actually contains real cheese, anyway."
"No, I'm not. Not allergic to anything, either." Penny sipped at her water. "So you don't have a super name. And your name's Sarah. What's the rest of your name?"
"Katsopolis," Sarah replied with a smirk.
"Oh," Penny said, wincing. "I'm sorry."
Sarah snickered softly. "Oh, it's not that bad. It's just very... Greek."
As Penny worked on settling her nerves, she thought about just how they were going to find Dad. What did these Hellions even want with him? She couldn't imagine it was anything good. But had they just grabbed someone random off of the streets, or targeted him specifically? Considering that they hadn't even ended up in the same place, she had to guess that they must want him in particular.
Sarah scooped out two bowls of macaroni and cheese and set one down in front of Penny. "There you go. It's not much, but better than a poke in the eye."
"Thanks," Penny said gratefully, taking a bite and eating thoughtfully. After a minute, she said, "I have an idea on how we might be able to find Dad."
"Let's hear it," Sarah said. "But let me be clear that I am going to rescue your father. You are going to stay here where it's safe. Got that, girl?"
Penny snorted softly. "You're not likely to get her to help without me along, anyway, and I'm not too sure even then."
"Who?" Sarah wondered.
"My mom," Penny said. It was a long shot, even then, but she figured it was their best chance of it. She certainly wasn't about to get left behind if she could help it. She could be a hero, too!
"Your mother?" Sarah repeated, looking thoughtful. "Vanessa Yin? That was the name on your birth certificate, at least..."
"That was her married name," Penny said. "Her and Dad aren't married anymore, and she went back to her maiden name after their divorce. Vanessa DeVore."
Sarah's face was blank, showing no recognition of the name. Penny was a little surprised at that. She'd thought that Mom was somewhat famous among supers. Dad tried to downplay their relationship and talked about her as little as possible.
"Mom's a powerful psychic. If anyone can find Dad, I'm sure she can."
Sarah nodded in understanding, swallowing another bite of mac and cheese. "Do you know where we can get in touch with her?"
"We'd need to find the group she's hanging out with now," Penny said. "They're called the Carnival of Chaos."
Sarah scowled a little as she scoured the city map on her computer for Carnival activity. This would require heading into territory that would be dangerous for her, much less dragging a thirteen year old girl into. She wasn't sure she liked this idea at all.
And then there was Penny. The revelation of her mother's identity explained some things. If Penny had inherited her mother's psychic abilities, that would definitely point to her as the one who killed those Hellions, although it was clear that she didn't realize it and may not have even done so intentionally. It was entirely likely that the only reason she was even still alive long enough to be rescued was because she'd killed them. That train of thought didn't bode well for Wu Yin, unless they wanted him for something other than his death.
"So, where're we going?" Penny asked eagerly.
Sarah sighed. "Looks like the Carnival of Chaos is set up in Overbrook at the moment. We'll need to be careful."
"Why, what's in Overbrook?" Penny wondered.
"Dangerous gangs," Sarah replied. "The Hellions are bad enough. Right now, I'd rather not mess with the Freakshow." At Penny's confused look, she explained, "Cybernetically-enhanced drug-addled lunatics. I barely survived the one time I wandered into their territory by mistake."
"Oh," Penny said, making a face. "Sounds nasty."
"Yeah," Sarah agreed. "I don't suppose there's any easier way to get in touch with her? Cell phone, psychic powers, smoke signals, something?"
Penny shook her head. "She doesn't like technology. And even if I were really much of a psychic, there's no way I'd be able to find her myself. I haven't even seen her in years, since we lost touch after the divorce."
So, Sarah thought, Penny realized that she had psychic powers, but vastly underestimated her potential, it seemed. And the girl was completely untrained, unless she missed her guess.
"Alright," Sarah said with a sigh. "No help for it, I suppose. You tired? We can wait until morning if you need sleep."
"I'm good to go," Penny said. "The table was hardly very comfy, but at least I got some rest."
Sarah nodded and pulled her gloves and mask back on. "Let's go, then."
The two of them headed back up to the rooftop. Thankfully, the rain had tapered off while they were eating.
"Alright, better hold tight, and I hope you didn't mind the last ride," Sarah said. "Overbrook's a fair few hops from here."
"Why don't we just take the tram?" Penny wondered.
"Because the tram costs money," Sarah said.
"Oh!" Penny said in realization. "Can we stop back at my apartment to get my tram card, then?"
"Will that work for both of us?"
"I'm not sure," Penny said thoughtfully.
Sarah shrugged, and grabbed a tight hold on Penny. "To your apartment, then."
She leapt off and made her way to the Yins' apartment. She decided to avoid playing around with windows when she had a passenger along, and just landed on the roof. Since Penny lived here, it was probably safe enough to use the elevator.
"Be sure to tell the robot to calm down," Sarah said as they stepped into the elevator.
"Oh, right, that," Penny said. "Dad got a little over-enthusiastic with that, I think."
"You don't say," Sarah said dryly.
The elevator arrived on the proper floor, and Sarah let Penny go first in order to make sure the robot wasn't going to spontaneously decide to start shooting rockets again.
"Warning: Property removed from premises," the robot said as Penny stepped into the apartment. "Intruder. Stolen property."
"Stand down, Blinky!" Penny snapped.
"Welcome home, Penny," the robot - Blinky? - said, quickly switching to a different pre-recorded set of messages. "Did you bring a friend home from school?"
"Yes," Penny said. "This is my friend, Sarah. Don't attack her. And don't worry about the phone, either."
"Please make yourself at home," Blinky said. "Standing down." It trundled back toward the workroom.
"The robot is named Blinky?" Sarah said, raising an eyebrow.
"I apparently named him when I was four," Penny said, smirking as she went in to look around. "He's had a few upgrades since then, though. Aha, here it is." She fished out the card from under the newspaper and pocketed it.
They returned to the roof, and with Penny in hand, Sarah hopped the short way over to the tram station situated on the north side of the park. There weren't many people around at this time of night, and one elderly man reading a newspaper glanced up only for a moment at the sight of someone in skin-tight black leather, a mask, and a cape dropping in out of the sky. Just another day in Panacea City.
After several minutes' wait, a tram heading for Overbrook arrived. The old man paid and stepped inside. Penny swiped her card and passed through the security field after him. Sarah, however, was stopped cold by the shimmering blue forcefield.
"Guess that's not going to work," Penny said. "Sorry."
"It's okay," Sarah said. "Wait for me in Overbrook. I'll get there as soon as I can. Just don't leave the tram station, okay?"
Penny nodded. "Got it."
This worked out just as well, Sarah figured as she stepped out of the tram station. It would be easier for her to jump across the suburbs of Panacea City without a passenger, and if someone shot at her or something, there wouldn't be the risk of Penny getting hurt in the process, too.
Sarah hopped up on top of the building and watched as the tram started to move away from the station. Hmm, maybe therewas a quicker way to get there. Before it got too far or picked up too much speed, Sarah leapt off the building and directly onto the roof of the tram.
Hah, this was riding in style! Okay, so it made her feel like a hobo, too, but never mind that. She held on for dear life as the tram reached top speed and the city streaked by in a blur. Ugh, if she slipped or got thrown off at these speeds, it would sting.
By the time the tram screeched to a halt at their destination, Sarah wished that she'd just decided to jump her way over. "I am never doing this again," she muttered as she slid down into the tram station.
"Oh! You're already here!" Penny said as she stepped out of the tram. "That was quick!"
"Don't expect a repeat of that," Sarah said with a smirk. "Let's go pay a visit to your mom."
