Page 80 of All Superheroes Need PR
“In the last few minutes?”
“No ...” My voice fades out. The news comes on. The same news channel that had been broadcasting happy images of smiling superbeings waving and rocketing up into the sky and doing spins like the dolphins at SeaWorld is now covered in bright-red warning symbols.
“ ... COE headquarters in downtown Sundale is under attack. Local Champions Taranis and the Olympian have arrived on the scene and appear to be battlingthreesuspected members of the VNA;however, one of these beings appears to be causing a strange ... collective hallucination to anyone who stares at the scene directly. As you can see, our camera footage only shows murky images ...”
The footage shows smoke billowing out of the COE tower, not far from where the Marduk attacked Mr. Singkham’s office on the thirtieth floor, only this time the smoke is pink and swirling, too thick to see through, and moving in unusual formations.
The reporter standing in the news studio pans back into focus. “Because of the display, we have yet to ID the villains who attacked the COE, but we stand confident that Taranis and the Olympian will be able to vanquish the villains ...
“COE internal systems are down. Cell phone coverage appears disrupted—our camera crews are having difficulty transmitting—and no one within the building has been reached. We are unsure of the suspected reason for the attack, or if there are any injuries, or worse, but what we did witness only minutes before, recorded by a local coffee shop owner, were two bodies being carried across the street from the COE building into three black SUVs. The Sundale Police Department chief is calling in reinforcements from the Central American Champions’ offices, as well as the US military.
“No demands have been made, and so far the VNA has yet to claim credit for the attack, but this is troubling given the clear signs of escalation from villains such as the Marduk, who attacked the COE offices early last month ...”
My vision goes fuzzy as I watch the footage that flashes onto the screen, recorded from around the edge of a building by a shaky phone camera. I watch a woman in a white lab coat hovering off the ground, suspended by nothing. There’s a figure in the haze of smoke standing by the SUV, but the camera only pans to them temporarily before shifting back to the mouth of the alley, where a second floating figure dressed in dark clothing bobs toward the SUV right after her.
I gasp. “That’s him. That’s Roland.”
“His hood is up,” Jeremy says. “You can’t see his face. How can you tell?”
“I ... bought him that sweatshirt.”
Dan shouts, “We can’t get through to anyone from the COE at all. We don’t have contacts for any of the other Champions networks either. Should I call the police?”
“The police are clearly busy,” Charlie shouts at the TV screen. He turns to me, meets my gaze, sucks in a breath, and says, “My SDD contact traced his phone to I-82, heading southbound near exit 38. The phone hasn’t moved in a while, but since there’s nothing near there, my guy suspects the phone was discarded. What do you want to do, Vanny?”
Margerie gasps, truly a candidate for Broadway. “There’s notnothingnear there.” She points at the piece of paper still trapped in my grip. “That’s two exits before the Old Sundale Airport.”
“I have to go.” I shoot up to my feet.
Everyone starts talking simultaneously before Charlie whistlesloudly. “Everybody, calm the fuck down. You”—he points at me—“aren’t going anywhere alone. And if he’s been Liam Neeson’s daughter ‘taken,’ and if it’s by Three or any of these other unknown supers, this could be dangerous. I have a couple military contacts who could be here by tonight ...”
I’m already shaking my head. “The police and the COE aren’t going to be able to help. They’re too busyatthe COE now. And we can’t get through to anyone to tell them where Roland is; I’m not even sure anybody else has identified that hooded figure as Roland yet. Also ...” I love him. “I love him,” I blurt.
Charlie’s face hardens a little bit, but then he surprises me. “I know, hermanita. Which is why I was gonna suggest my military buddies back us up, and in the meantime, we’ll go scope out the situation, and if there are any openings where we can get him out safely without engaging any of these supers directly, we take it. Butonlythen. Hopefully the SDD will have handled the situation at your HQ by then and can help too.”
“We’re coming with you,” Margerie says.
“The fuck you are,” Charlie says. “Y’all are all civilians, and none of you are armed.”
“Speak for yourself,” Jeremy grunts.
“You carry?” Charlie sounds surprised.
“Don’t you?”
“I’m former Marines. Course I carry. What’s your excuse?”
“I’m a gay man from backcountry Georgia.”
Charlie snorts. “All right, well I guess we got two guns. You can come.”
“You guys can’t come,” I say, voice becoming shrill. “It’s too dangerous. I can’t let you.”
“Can’tletus come?”
“You think I’m letting my baby sister ...”
“You’re going, I’m going ...”
