STRANGE DAYS

Chapter 14

See first chapter for disclaimers.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I haven't tried a story using any of these characters before. Bear that in mind when you review. And please do review.

Medium & Supernatural

And now…

Static Shock and ?

MISUNDERSTANDINGS

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The thief ejected the last disk and slipped it into his bag. He then inserted a disk he had brought with him. It didn't matter if it stayed in the drive, as it had been wiped clean of prints and would erase itself when the virus had done its work. Time to go.

Moving quickly and silently, he retraced his steps out of the office building. The security system was not as high-tech as it should have been considering the importance of the information being kept there, but the people who ran the facility relied on secrecy, and that meant not installing elaborate security systems that would make others curious.

Once one did know where to look, getting in and out was relatively simple. Emerging from the second story window onto the wide ledge, he looked across the manicured, park like area around the building. The 'facility' was just another small office building on the border between one of the city's commercial districts and a residential area. It was surrounded by a wide lawn dotted with trees that thickened after 20 or 30 yards into a thin belt off woodland separating the building from a suburb. He couldn't see his comrades where they had concealed themselves in the trees, but he knew they were there, waiting for him to return with the data they needed. As he left, he reset the security system. With luck, the loss of the data would be blamed on a computer error.

"AHEM." What? He looked up to see a bizarrely dressed figure floating down toward him… on a Frisbee? "Now there may be some perfectly good reason for you sneakin' around like that. Maybe one that doesn't mean you stole whatever you got in that sack, but somehow I really don't think so." Oh great.

"Beat it kid. I don't have time for you."

Virgil's jaw dropped as the figure in black moved. Woah! Fast! In the seconds it took to recover from his surprise the thief had covered almost a dozen yards. Glancing back at the building he sent an electric pulse that would set off every alarm in the building and started after the man. Fast as the thief was, the static saucer, as Richie had dubbed it, was faster, at least when propelled by a properly directed magnetic field. The man dropped and rolled a half-second before Virgil could impact with the man's back, knocking him down and out. Stopping as quickly as he could, he turned to face the thief.

"Big mistake, bub. You don't want to pick a fight with me."

"You're right. I don't. So why don't we go back and wait quietly for the nice men in uniform? That way, hey! No fight."

"Cute," the man snarled, "but what fun would that be?" He raised his fists and assumed a fighting stance. This Virgil had expected, regardless of how useless it was. What he had not expected was the gleaming claws that emerged from the back of the man's hands.

"Whoah! Somebody needs a manicure." At his mental command, a magnetic field sent him hurtling straight up away from the claws that had suddenly gotten much closer. He heard the scrape of metal on metal though as his attacker nicked the bottom of his ride. The claws were metal. "Well how about that? Tell me does that metal actually run under your skin?" Virgil swung back and dropped down so he was on a level with the man with the metal claws. "That's gotta hurt!" Again the man made no reply, but charged at him with a snarl. Virgil was ready this time though. Instead of dodging away, he sent an electrical charge along the claws back to their owner. The effect was more dramatic than he had imagined.

The thief's whole body started to spasm and he collapsed with a strangled scream. By this time there were signs of activity at the building. He glanced over and saw several people running towards them. Two men were wearing the uniforms of security guards, and the third was a woman in a business suit. Dropping to the ground he retrieved the sack from the unconscious man and looked inside curiously. Computer disks? Another sound drew his attention and he turned toward the trees to see a group of people in costumes running toward him. Oh great, metahumans, just what I don't need. He called the saucer to him and prepared for a fight.

"Be careful," he heard their leader call to the rest. "We know nothing about him. Get to Logan and protect him. We'll handle flyboy." The girl in the lead ran ahead of the rest, passing straight through Virgil, which threw him for a loop, literally.

"Whoah! What the?!" He remembered the others just in time and ducked aside just in time to miss an energy beam that stirred the air as it passed, proof enough that it was something he didn't want to be hit with. Pouring on the speed he zigzagged around the strangers, running rings around them.

"Got you!" Something heavy landed on his back. Reflexively he sent a pulse of electricity through the stranger who gasped and dropped off, unconscious.

"No!" Virgil turned to see a red headed woman who'd been pointing at him, or trying to, running towards his attacker. The distraction gave him an idea and he zipped between her and the remaining man. A tall brown-haired man wearing goggles of some sort. He accelerated, and was on the man in a second before directing a pulse of energy downward and bouncing over him. He grabbed the goggles as he went. There was a brief explosion of red light and a scream from the redhead as the light from the wide angle, unfocused beam washed over her.

"Cool shades man. Mind if I try 'em on?" The man made no reply. He was doubled over with his hands over his eyes, eyes that he was keeping tightly closed. That was all of them, he noted, accept for the girl who'd run through him. He turned to look for her. Security guards from the building had almost reached her. The guy with the claws was on his feet and preparing to face them. He looked shaky, though. The pair started toward their fallen friends. Static moved to intercept.

A strong wind came up behind him. "Huh?" Turning quickly he was amazed to see a woman flying towards him over the trees, apparently buoyed by the wind alone calling to her friends. He heard the names and almost laughed as he got in her way. "Cool monikers! So who does that make you? Let me guess, Blow Hard?" The woman's eyes narrowed in anger and the strength of the winds buffeting him suddenly swelled to hurricane force. He found himself driven into the oncoming security guards while the thief and his companions were lifted and carried away.

"Me and my big mouth," Static groaned as he extricated himself from the pile. "Sorry folks. Maybe this'll make up for it." He tossed the bag to the woman in the now somewhat rumpled suit. "This is what he was stealin'." She looked in at the disks inside and received a small shock from the bag. "Sorry about that. Electricity and computer disks don't mix in quite this way. They're probably blank by now."

"Quite all right. It was the information on the disks that they wanted. Thank you." She smiled in what she probably believed was a friendly manner, but Static found it cold, almost predatory. A chill went down his spine. "Who are you?"

"Name's Static." Whoa, alarm bells here. "Happy to help. Now I gotta go." He raised the saucer into the air and sped away. The woman had looked at him in much the same way Alva did. Seriously weird. Not that it mattered to him. He wouldn't have to deal with her again.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Blast!" She seethed as her latest attempt to bring up the data failed. "It's no use. The virus wiped the system clean and erased itself. There's no way to retrieve the data." The suit was gone, as was her 'public' face. Considerably more skin was showing now that she was back in costume. That the skin was naturally dark blue was a fact that only a few of her students and none of her employees knew.

"What about where we got the list in the first place?" one of the security guards asked. She looked over at her student contemptuously. Then softened, realizing that she couldn't afford to push any of them away.

"Not possible. We were lucky to get the codes that got us in. The man who sold them to us has since been fired. That government site is one of the most heavily protected on the web. We can't get in again."

"We may not have that list, but we do have some great opportunities here in Dakota," the 'guard' pointed out. "I've been watching the local news."

"Possibilities?" She thought a moment, then smiled. "Like the young man who assisted us earlier? Tell me more."

THE END