Shortcuts

A paranormal superhero story with a supernatural twist

The shadow agency strikes again!

Comments have been blocked for this story but kudos and private messages are always welcome. Even highly critical private messages are welcome. I don't mind criticism when it's private.

Shortcuts
by Terry Volkirch

Chapter 22

Sarah placed third in sales at work that Black Friday night, following behind Princess Erin who placed second. She blamed her period for her slight drop in performance and moved on. She had bigger fish to fry, fish that swam in small, shadowy pools full of paranoia and self-importance.

After she got home for a little patrolling, her clairvoyance alerted her to a major crime and her intuition pinged her with warning signals. Her favorite source of crime alerts, the television screens in the tiny electronics store on fifth street, displayed yet another hostage situation in northern Chicago, this time in an underground parking garage under a building that was owned by an insurance company that she never heard of.

'How original of them,' she thought with sarcasm.

As she dressed in Golden Girl's purple outfit, she extended her clairvoyance forward to Chicago to scout the scene. She didn't want any surprises.

Only a single hostage was held, a little girl who looked to be around five-years-old, and she almost lost her composure. That was low, even for a bunch of men with questionable morals. The men had chained the girl to the metal floor at the end of a long hallway, with metal walls, no doors and no exit at the far end. It was so obviously a trap, but it was a well-made trap. Being underground, the walls would be virtually impossible to breach. She'd have to go down the hall to rescue the girl.

Sarah, now Crystal, dressed as Golden Girl, listened to the girl with her clairaudience and gasped. Quiet whimpering could be heard from the little girl but the girl didn't seem to be moving. That seemed odd so she had a closer look, and what she saw made her breathe a sigh of relief. The girl wasn't really a girl. It was a very authentic-looking dummy.

Golden Girl almost didn't make an appearance after that, but the general public didn't know about the dummy. The news media only reported a girl hostage. There was no fact checking, no way to verify. The superheroine couldn't disappoint the public, and she didn't want to disappoint the men of the shadow agency, not until after she showed them the error of their ways.

Before she left her house, Crystal informed her parents. Her mother gave her a faint smile but her father didn't look happy at all, and he didn't say anything to her except to half growl, "Just go!" He knew he couldn't stop her, and it ate at his male ego and worried him at the same time. He also mourned the loss of his son. He considered Lester to be dead and that hurt most of all.

Golden Girl hugged them both goodbye, turned invisible and left the house. Another loud sonic boom soon rattled the sliding glass door as she quickly accelerated to full speed on her way to Chicago.

Keeping her clairvoyance active as she flew, she moved it backwards from the other end of the metal hallway, and there, set into the back walls of the parking garage, directly across the open end of the hall, she found the expected brain scrambler weapons. The men hoped to be beyond the range of her telekinesis so they could stun her. She also suspected the dummy to be booby-trapped as a backup in case the brain scramblers didn't work.

If she could've seen the feral smile on her face, she would've cringed. Her paranormal intel gave her a distinct advantage and the men wouldn't know what hit them. She only hoped that the same older lead man was there. She hoped he might give her a little advanced warning about how they'd intend to kill her since they wouldn't be able to capture her.

She flew on to her destination, once again arriving in less than fifteen minutes, and Golden Girl addressed the news media as she floated just above them. "Hello everyone. They're at it again. Men in a shadow agency of our government have set up a fake hostage situation. I really wish they could be prosecuted. This is getting tiresome but I want to see if I can reason with them. I refuse to give up anyone. Maybe they'll eventually understand that I'm not a threat to national security."

She thanked the media and kept her coat and gloves as she shot past the police lines to enter the cold, dark parking garage, a dull gray, concrete monstrosity with huge round pillars for support. She wasted no time, heading straight for the brain scramblers. The wary girl kept out of the line of fire and reached out with her telekinesis, slamming each gunner's head into the wall to knock him out and crushing each weapon. She hit them all, one after another, and she did it so fast, they couldn't retaliate.

After the last man along the back wall dropped to the ground, men suddenly appeared out from behind cars and the concrete pillars. They also wielded brain scramblers, something she didn't see coming, but she didn't hesitate. She went for the weakest link, the men themselves, hitting them all at once. She violently twisted their hands so they couldn't fire the weapons. They couldn't do anything except scream as the bones in their hands shattered.

The upset superheroine didn't like breaking bones and she made a mental note to see if she might have an opportunity to heal them afterward. She slammed the men to the ground to knock them out and moved on to look for the next threat. When no more men showed themselves, she scanned the area with clairvoyance and the feeling of being watched suddenly made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She knew it wasn't over yet.

The sound of heavy steel startled her as huge, thick doors slid down to seal off the garage level. Then the sound of hissing air got her attention. She saw clouds of pale, pink gas flow into the garage and she immediately moved to the steel door that was farthest from any gas. She tried lifting it with the full strength of her telekinesis and could barely budge it. She might eventually lift it with more fine control but not before the gas would get to her.

Panic threatened to unnerve her then, but she had one more thing to try. As she'd tried once before in the park by her home, she combined her enhanced strength, healing ability and telekinesis to achieve her true maximum power level. The door didn't stand a chance. She jammed her hands into the concrete to break it up and give her access to the bottom edge of the door. Then she curled her super fingers under the door and lifted it like it was made of cardboard. The slightly angry girl ducked under the door and let it clang shut behind her as she flew up to the first security camera that she found. Using a combination of clairvoyance and psychometry, she traced the signal back to the security office that monitored the camera and found an open path to it. Once again, she wasted no time.

When she got to the security office, a small, square room with a row of several security monitors, she found four surprised men standing together, including the older gray-haired leader that she'd talked with during the previous phase of Operation Gold Fever. She slammed the other three men to the ground, knocking them out so she could have a private conversation.

"Hello Ace. You failed again. Got any more free advice before I duct tape you to your friends?"

The man flashed her a grim smile and pulled his handgun.

Golden Girl was disappointed in his reaction, but she was also ready. The firing pin, springs and every other small bit of metal in the gun were already bent. The safety was also switched back on. The gun didn't fire and the frustrated man threw it at her. It got halfway across the room before it slowly lowered to the ground.

"Does no one in your group have a sense of humor? What, do they breed it out of you or something?"

"Just get on with it, bitch." the man said with a sneer.

"You seemed a lot more civil last time. What happened? Did you boss scold you or something?"

"Yeah. Something like that. Now how about just knocking me out like the rest of my men? I really don't like being duct taped."

"Ah. I thought the duct tape was a nice touch. I thought it might show you that I don't mean any harm."

"I saw what you did to some of my men. You mangled their hands good."

"They threatened me and I did what I had to. They're still alive, and I'd even heal them if I could. It's not likely now considering they're all sealed in the garage. I hope the gas doesn't hurt them."

"Naw. They'll sleep like babies for a couple of days."

She sighed. "Yeah. Babies. I know you used a dummy instead of a real girl for a hostage but that still wasn't very nice."

The man chuckled. "Tough shit."

Crystal narrowed her eyes. "I really don't like your language but I guess it shows you're not about to give up on me."

"You got that right. But it won't be me coming to get you next time. It'll be some real badasses, and they're not going to try to take you alive. That's the only warning you'll get from me."

"Yes. You mentioned that before. Nothing new for me then? What kind of guns will they use? Or will they just try to blow me up?"

The man shook his head. "You know what? I'd like to see you last at least a little while. Give 'em some trouble like you did my group."

"Yes?"

The man started by describing armor piercing bullets and quickly moved up to the rocket-propelled grenades and beyond. He gave her a thorough list of the more conventional weaponry and only kept the more modern electronic weapons to himself. He couldn't give it all away. He wanted to see her eventually taken down. The man was somewhat of an immoral scumbag at heart. He had to be to get as far as he did in the shadow agency. That didn't mean he was beyond hope though.

"Hey," she told him. "You've been helpful so I'm going to give you a little break in return."

She then proceeded to duct tape the man, though not to the other men. She just taped his hands and arms tightly together and the moved to tape his legs, and as she did so, she started crying. The man couldn't help but notice.

"What the hell?! You clean our clocks and cry about it?!"

"It upsets me to see people do bad things. Okay?" She sniffed a couple times.

The man shook his head. "I don't believe you. You're so naive."

"You sound like my Government teacher. I think you two would get along great."

"Still going to high school then?" the man probed.

"I didn't say what kind of school it was, did I? But I'm obviously young enough to still be going to some school."

"Good girl. Maybe you're not so naive after all."

"I try my best," she gave him a wry grin. Then she tore off a large piece of duct tape and pressed it firmly over his mouth. "I guess we won't be meeting again so please just wish me good luck. Goodbye, Ace."

She tried to make it sound like she'd be waiting around for the next group to come after her, but she had other plans. She'd had enough. It was time to take the offensive. She flew home to debrief and console her parents and ask her father for advice. His military experience would likely prove valuable and she meant to explore all options in her little battle. She meant to win and put a stop to it all.

* * *

Her father wasn't much help in her battle with the shadow agency. The only thing he did was plead with her to give up being a superheroine. He didn't like the attention she started getting from the government. In his mind, it was a hopeless fight, one she'd never win. She didn't have the resources they did. They wouldn't give up until she was either dead or they all were, and he knew she wouldn't kill them.

Sarah hated to see her father in such a state so she grabbed her long, warm coat and left the house, taking her phone with her to aid her in her search for a friendly face and a shoulder to cry on. The sad girl walked to the park near her home and sat in the dark on a swing. She didn't have any way to contact Erin, but she did have a certain handsome someone's number in her contact list. She texted Brian.

"hey. need a friend. you around?"

He texted back almost immediately. "gg?"

Sarah started crying then. She couldn't wait. The tears rolled down her face as she gently swung forward and back from the subconscious use of her telekinesis. She kept swinging and crying for close to ten minutes before Brian came running up to her, apologizing profusely as he gasped for breath.

"You should exercise more often," she told him, secretly pleased at his quick response.

"Yeah," he said, gasping the word out between breaths. It took a couple of minutes before he could continue.

While she waited, Sarah smiled inwardly and tried to encourage him with her eyes.

"Okay," he finally said. "I'm sorry about the text. You just caught me by surprise."

"Sure I did, Brian. What were you doing?"

"Uh. Nothing. It was a boy thing."

Sarah laughed. "I almost wish I could remember being a boy so I knew what you were talking about. I think I can guess though."

"Please don't," he warned.

"Okay. I'll just thank you instead. Thanks for coming. I had a bit of trouble earlier today."

"Yeah. I saw the news. You looked pissed. Is that what this is about?"

"Kind of. Yeah. I'm having trouble with that stupid agency and I tried to get some advice from my dad. He kind of freaked out though. And here I am." She sighed.

"Wow. So what happened? It wasn't clear on the news."

"Oh. Right." She gave him a quick summary and repeated what the old leader told her.

Brian whistled. "You really know how to get into trouble."

"Yeah."

"I don't really know how to help you either but I bet someone on your fan club website does."

"Oh! Really? You really think so?"

"Yeah. You've got like thousands of fans. One of 'em is bound to know something. I'll check in with them tonight and let you know what they come up with tomorrow morning."

"Thanks, Brian. You're a life saver."

Before the two teens split up to go to their respective houses for the night, the boy had one request. He didn't make it a requirement in exchange for the help. He just wanted her to consider chatting again sometime that weekend as Golden Girl.

Sarah agreed right away. She felt it was the least she could do for her fans. A little guilt had been creeping in that she'd only chatted once up to that point. The idiot super fan in Florida made her regret that first session but who's to say it would happen again? She'd most likely get help from her fans - her intuition told her so - and she'd thank them in a chat session.

'A superhero getting help from her fans,' she thought. 'Who would've guessed?'

She went home, kissed her parents on the cheek, told them good night and went to bed. She expected and even looked forward to a visit from Mister Guile in the Akashic records. The more help she could get, the better.

* * *

"Hello Mister Guile."

"Sarah," he replied. He dropped all pretense of being a librarian for the Akashic records and just appeared as himself, his real self, the short, squat dark being who'd made a wager with a higher being over a boy who turned into a girl. Things were complicated enough. They didn't need to add to it.

"I'm sure you know that shadow agency is out to kill me now."

"Just as I'm sure you won't accept telepathy."

She nodded. "Do you understand why yet?"

He sighed. "Do I have to?"

"It might help get you to give up and stop wasting your time."

"What if I like a challenge?"

"What if you're just stubborn for no good reason?"

Mister Guile shook his head. "I give up for now. I can't promise that I won't try again."

"That's fair."

The odd pair went back to discussing the shadow agency and what might possibly be done to fend them off it not stop them outright. The problem seemed insurmountable. At least that's what Mister Guile told her, but she knew he was just trying to indirectly push his own agenda, and she began to wonder if he wasn't truly starting to care about her.

"Okay," he said, getting frustrated. "Perhaps a better understanding of weapons and explosives would help."

Sarah nodded. "I've been disarming them so far, but yeah, I think that's a good idea. I'd like to see what's out there." She pointed in a random direction as she said it.

Seeing her point at the Akashic records suddenly sparked an idea and Mister Guile got a glint in his eye. It unnerved the girl but she held his gaze and quirked an eyebrow. He smiled back, a warm, genuine smile that didn't creep her out at all. Then he spoke. "I'm fading out now, gone but not forgotten. Look for me in the shadows and listen for me on the wind. Sail on through the night."

She shook her head. 'Dark beings are so silly,' she thought. But she didn't hesitate when a strong gust of wind blew into her from behind. She followed the wind on to a most amazing part of the Akashic records, surfing along the surface of the top level and hitting the spray of all the most recent happenings in the world as they happened. Traffic accidents, bank account transactions, house cleaning and more. All of the mundane actions of the current present flowed from the real world to the Akashic records, and Sarah tapped into it.

At first she didn't understand why Mister Guile had nudged her on her current course. It took until she hit a certain region of the astral plane - where the Akashic records were held - that corresponded to Chicago to know what the dark being intended. Her scary, feral smile returned then, getting bigger as she moved north through the Windy City. And after finishing her skimming of some very useful information off the top of the Akashic records, Sarah thanked her benefactor and returned to the real world, ready to do battle. But first, she had one of her golden promises to keep.

* * *

Saturday morning found Sarah bright-eyed and ready to face the day. She didn't even flinch when her phone buzzed.

Brian texted her, asking to meet at the public library at noon. He said there wasn't much help but Sarah didn't mind. How could she not feel great with all of the generosity of her fans around the world? Even if they couldn't help her, they were trying. That warmed her heart. So did Mister Guile for that matter.

The gold mine of information that she uncovered last night more than made up for any potential disappointments. She finally felt some optimism about solving her problem with the shadow agency. First though, she had some chatting to do. She also still wanted to see if someone could help her with the final piece of the puzzle. Her intuition told her she was close, so close.

Her parents didn't exactly share her optimism when she told them. She was confident that they'd come around though.

She met Brian on the steps outside of the library for a little talk before going inside. He told her that no one could crack the shadow agency's security. It was likely their network wasn't connected to the Internet. In that case, it would be virtually impossible to find out anything. But again, she didn't mind. She teased him that she'd have a big reveal towards the end of her chat session and left it at that.

They went inside and Sarah found herself sitting next to Brian, both of them using a separate computer. She logged in as Golden Girl and proceeded to chat with over three dozen of her fans. She only had to prove herself to two of them and everyone believed. That was refreshing. So was the subdued appreciation of her abilities. Everyone behaved. Everyone was civil. It gave her back some of her lost faith in humanity, lost thanks mostly to the shadow agency.

After chatting for twenty minutes or so, she finished by asking for help with her problem.

GoldenGirl: "I have one more thing I'd like to discuss with everyone here. I need some advice."

Stranger67: "i'd be happy to help if i can. how refreshing that a superhero needs help from her fans."

SuperGirl7014: "i'd like to help too!"

GoldenGirl: "Thanks. As most if not all of you probably know, I've been having trouble with a shadowy government agency."

SuperGirl7014: "not cool! bad men! bad! no biscuit!"

GoldenGirl: "Thanks, V. I like your sense of humor. But I need to be serious here. These men mean business. They're likely going to try to kill me the next time we meet."

SuperGirl7014: "nooooo!"

BiggestFan127: "seriously? no way!"

KingFanDude: "way."

GoldenGirl: "Not helping, Kingie. Anyway, for some stupid reason, this agency considers me to be a possible threat to security. I stress the word 'possible'. I'm trying to think of a way to get them to leave me alone to fight crime and help people. That's all I want to do as Golden Girl."

SuperGirl12370: "u r 2 cool!"

GoldenGirl: "Thanks, SuperGirl12370. I have one important more thing to say. I now have information about the leader and all of his underlings in this agency. I know their full names, social security numbers, birthdays, addresses, phone numbers and more. I can trace all financial transactions they've made. In other words, I can shine a bright light on all of their skullduggery. So, should I just do it? Or should I just threaten to do it?"

Copper167: "Wow! Yes. This needs careful consideration. If you give them away to the press, Congress, whatever, they might still find a way to retaliate, especially if they actually believe themselves to be a force for good."

GoldenGirl. "Right, Copper167. I have no doubt that at least some of them believe they're helping keep the country safe. If I take them down, they'll see me as the enemy for sure. It sort of contradicts my message."

Stranger67: "i don't see you as the threatening kind either. it's blackmail. isn't that illegal? you know what they say about two wrongs."

GoldenGirl: "Exactly, Stranger67. So what do I do with the information? How can I use it to keep them from killing me? There must be something I can do."

SuperGirl7014: "why not help them?"

GoldenGirl: "What?!"

SuperGirl7014: "seriously. if they're really doing some good things (LIKE NOT KILLING YOU!) then help them do more good things."

GoldenGirl: "V! I could kiss you! That's perfect! Thanks!!"

SuperGirl7014: "how about another visit?"

GoldenGirl: "You got it, V. After I make some plans to take care of my problem."

KingFanDude: "what about visiting someone else here too? just to be fair."

GoldenGirl: "Kingie speaks wisely this time. But who should I visit? I think Stranger67 is the next logical choice. How about it Stranger67?"

Stranger67: "Thanks, but I don't think so. I'm not the fan guy type."

SuperFan318: "what about me? i was next after Stranger67!"

GoldenGirl: "I remember you, SuperFan318. You were a very naughty boy. I don't think you deserve a visit."

SuperFan318: "please? i apologize for my earlier, juvenile behavior. i'll be good."

GoldenGirl: "Well, if you promise, I'll consider it. I hate to disappoint any of my fans. You've all been very good to me. Thanks and goodbye."

KingFanDude: "and there she goes. until next time, gg! i'm off too. things to do. ttfn"

The two teens stood up and stretched.

Sarah sneaked a peek at her friend and sighed. "That went much better. Thanks for getting me in the chat room. It helped." She impulsively hugged him, surprising both of them. They separated and both of them blushed.

"Any time," the boy muttered, not sure exactly what he was referring to.

* * *

© 2015 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.