Disruptor (25 page)

The monster inside roared. Pushed against the
walls of her humanity, every bit of decency and compassion and
morality in her. She wanted to kill this man. More than just that,
she wanted to hurt him in the process. Make him cry, piss himself
in fear, beg for mercy that didn’t exist. She wanted him to feel
everything that men like him had ever made her feel. And then she
wanted to treat him like something disposable and less than human,
the way he had Polina and Masha.

The way she had his criminal brothers, when
she tore through that house across the street like vengeance
personified.

Dani released him. He slumped to the floor.
She stared down at him, at what she’d done to him with just her
fists. She didn’t need to carry weapons – she was a weapon. The lab
had made her that way. Dr. Wolff and his initial enhancements,
followed by Colonel Snyder and his training program. Helped along
by every man who’d ever beat her to feel better about themselves,
taken her body against her will because it made them feel powerful.
She was a knife honed to a razor edge by her own fury.

She could kill Bessonov and walk away. It was
living with herself after the fact that would be impossible. She
found herself silently begging for mercy – not from him, but from
herself, for him.

Her breathing slowed to normal. The storm of
emotions in her stilled. None of the men who’d hurt her had ever
shown her mercy. She wanted to be more than just a killer, a thug
with nothing inside but violence and pain. If she was going to do
that, she would have to find mercy within herself.

Bessonov wiped away blood with the back of
his hand. “They want you dead, you know. And it won’t be quick.” He
leaned forward, his smile a horrorshow. “They’ll make you hurt so
bad, killer.”

“Don’t call me that,” she said. “It’s not who
I am.”

“Ah, you gonna let me walk out of here alive,
then? So I get to be there when they hurt you. Get to play along
too. That’s nice of you, killer. You’re a good bitch.”

Dani hauled him up, jerked him around, and
put him in a sleeper hold, her arm around his neck and putting
pressure on his carotid artery. He put up a struggle but weakened
gradually, unconscious by the time she lowered him to the ground.
She searched him for weapons, taking two more knives from him. More
useful were the zip ties. She bound his wrists and ankles with
those then hefted him in a fireman’s carry. On the way out she
texted Housecat then Kevin.

She had a plan, and she needed their help to
make it work.

Ilya Bessonov was dropped off in front of a
police station in the wee hours of the morning, beat up, bound by
zip ties, and with a flash drive taped to his forehead. On the
drive was a brief video wherein he confessed to murder and human
trafficking. An anonymous phone call to the
Point Sable
Tribune
ensured questions from the media about the arrest
almost immediately.

Kevin folded the morning’s
Tribune
to
the story and tucked it into the side pocket of the breakfast tray.
He hummed as he made his way upstairs. Downloading video had taken
a lot out of Dani. For one thing, it caused another nosebleed, and
that made him nervous no matter how much she insisted it was
nothing to worry about. She’d gone to sleep right after, trusting
him to edit the footage and get it delivered to Dirty South. He’d
woken her once to let her know Housecat had made his own delivery.
That was hours ago. Now it was midafternoon.

She sat on the edge of the bed, dressed in
jeans and a tank top, barefoot, drying her hair with a towel. Her
face lit up with a smile at the sight of him. “Oh my God, bring
that food over here.” Okay, maybe it was the sight of the food, but
he didn’t care. Her smile made him happy.

He did as asked, placing the tray carefully
on the bed. “It made the paper.” He showed her the headline.

She glanced at it before forking in a
mouthful of scrambled eggs. “Do you think it’s enough evidence to
keep him?”

“Trafficking is taken seriously once it’s
brought out into the light like this. Hopefully this will open a
huge can of worms for the people responsible.”

For several minutes Dani ate quietly. Kevin
sat in a chair and wondered what came next.

Plate clean, Dani spoke. “He said they’ll
come after me.”

“They don’t know who you are.”

She moved the tray away and sat cross-legged
on the bed. “Bessonov is just one guy. Not even a very high up guy,
at that.”

“True, but bringing him in will get the ball
rolling.” He moved from the chair to a spot on the bed nearly two
feet away from her. “I get what you did. I know you might not want
to talk about it, and that’s fine. I just wanted you to know that I
get it, and that I have tremendous respect for the decision you
made, and how hard it must have been for you.”

She looked away. “Part of me wanted to kill
him.”

“I know.” He wanted to reach for her, offer
her comfort, but he wasn’t sure that was an appropriate thing to do
with her.

“Part of me may always feel that way, about
people like him.”

“I know.”

She met his gaze, her brown eyes nearly
devoid of shadows for the first time since he’d met her. “I want to
be more than just some thug killing machine. I want to help
people.”

He couldn’t help himself then, he took her
hand in his. “I know, Dani. And I believe that you can.”

She laced her fingers with his. “I did a lot
of thinking in the shower. About the way things are. You know I was
on the streets before the lab. Five years later, and nothing’s
changed. A different city, with the same bad stuff going on. It’s
like there’s this status quo, and nobody can break it.”

“Disrupting the status quo isn’t easy.
Powerful people get invested in keeping things the way they are,
and it’s hard to fight that much corruption. That
much…inertia.”

“Disrupting the status quo,” she repeated
thoughtfully. “Do you think someone like me could make a
difference?”

“I think you already have, to the people
you’ve helped. The lives you’ve saved.”

Dani stood and walked to the window. She
looked out at the city bathed in late afternoon sunlight. “I figure
I can run or I can take a stand.” She glanced back at him. “Point
Sable seems like a good place to take a stand.”

The look and her words felt like an
invitation. He accepted, joining her at the window. “Loyal sidekick
reporting for duty.”

She laughed, and the sound washed through him
like a cool summer rain. “Good, because I need you to help me with
something.”

Kevin grinned. “As it happens, I’ve been
doing research into exactly what it is that sidekicks do for their
superheroes.” He wagged his eyebrows. “Apparently there’s a lot of
boning involved.”

She trailed one finger down his jaw, her
smoldering gaze leaving his mouth dry and his cock hard. If she
ever wanted him to wear tights, it might get embarrassing. “We’ll
get to that.” She tapped his chest. “But first, I need you to help
me with a new name.”

The
we’ll get to that
soothed his
brief disappointment. “You want another ID packet?”

“No,” she said. “I hate being called a
ghost.”

“Superhero names.” He clapped his hands
together. “Let’s see. How about Riot Girl?”

“No.”

“Danger Girl?”

“Dude.”

“You’re right, that’s cheesy.” He thought for
a moment. “Danger Diva?”

“Don’t make me hurt you in the not fun
way.”

Kevin froze. “Does that mean you could be
convinced to hurt me in the fun way?”

“If what I’m going to be doing is disrupting
the status quo, then maybe I should use the name Disruptor.”

“Disruptor. Hmm. It’s not gendered. Or
cheesy. It definitely makes a statement. I like it.”

“We need to get the name out there. People
have been using that Cabrini Ghost hashtag. We need a way for
people to know the name, and still use social media to ask for help
or send me tips. Do you think we can make that work?”

“We can damn sure try. I can set up a Twitter
account with settings that can make it hard for the average person
to track. Nothing is perfect online but I can make it as anonymous
as possible.”

“Housecat can help spread the word.”

“In the South Side, he’s better verification
than a blue check mark.”

Dani turned her gaze to the window again.
“This is crazy, what we’re talking about doing. And probably not
strictly legal.”

She was right. They both had a lot to lose,
her especially. If the lab found her, they’d take her back. Setting
up an escape plan had to be a top priority, just in case. “I’m with
you. You want to help people. I want to help you do that.”

She retrieved the two cups of coffee
forgotten on the breakfast tray and handed him one. Raising hers in
a toast she said, “Here’s to atoning for our sins.”

He clinked his cup to hers. “Here’s to
fighting the good fight.”

They drank. Dani made a face. “It’s
cold.”

“Let’s go downstairs. I’ll make fresh coffee
and we’ll talk about cape colors.”

“Absolutely no cape.”

“At least let me get the mask bedazzled.”

“Is harassing me about my wardrobe in the
sidekick’s handbook?”

“As a matter of fact, it is.”

They argued all the way down the stairs.

***

@PSDisruptor –
I’m not a ghost. I’m very
real.

But I will haunt the streets of Point Sable
and make life hell for those who hurt the innocent.

I will target muggers and rapists and
murderers.

I will target corruption, inertia, and
injustice.

I will help the innocent, the victims,
people who can’t stand up for themselves.

I will fight for the powerless. I will
defend the weak.

I will disrupt the status quo.

***

She stood on a rooftop looking out over the
Cabrini neighborhood, buildings glowing faintly green thanks to her
night vision. The sound of car engines and rattling sheet metal, a
mix of music genres and a few different languages, and the
incessant barking of a stray dog all reached her via her enhanced
hearing. She stretched her fingers in the new gloves, knuckles
still sore. Brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes, making
brief contact with the mask that she hadn’t quite grown used to
yet. Doubt filled her, but then a face from the past floated in her
mind and filled her with resolve.

She was through running away.

A voice screamed for help in the night.
Disruptor ran toward it.

Dr. Natalie Hurd removed her glasses for the
retinal scanner. A tiny light at the bottom of the wall plate
flashed green and the door slid open. She replaced her glasses and
stepped across the threshold.

Her assistant, Kenner, stood waiting in the
foyer. “How was Washington?” He gave her a slim plain folder with a
report of the lab’s activities in the days she’d been away and took
the handle of her suitcase.

“Overflowing with bullshit.” She glanced
through the pages of the report as they walked briskly to her
office. “Good to see the smart contact trial is going well.”

“Yes, so well in fact, the team is convinced
it will work as a replacement for the more invasive retinal
implant. In circumstances where it would be more appropriate, of
course.”

Hurd flipped to another page, scanned its
contents, and sighed. “Angel’s in confinement again, I see.”

“She had an altercation with a new
recruit.”

“And I see he’s in the infirmary.” Angel had
the potential to become a problem without the influence of
Danielle. Well, a bigger problem. “Don’t keep her isolated long.
Have her training with Nicole as much as possible.”

Once they reached the security of her office,
Kenner asked the question she knew he’d been dying to ask. “What
was their decision?”

Hurd tossed the folder onto her desk. “I got
her six months. Then they’ll evaluate again, but I don’t hold out
much hope of them allowing her to stay in Point Sable. And if she
kills again, we have to bring her in immediately.”

“Even self-defense?”

She nodded. “Any circumstances. They don’t
care. No killing, and no revealing her secrets. We get proof she’s
done either of those things, we have to go get her.”

Kenner cleared his throat and tilted his
head. “We don’t have proof she’s told Moynihan anything, but it’s
possible.”

“If he’s helping her, he knows.” They both
knew she meant helping with Danielle’s new-found calling.

“But we don’t have proof.” Kenner
straightened, hands clasped behind his back.

“No,” she said thoughtfully. “We don’t.”

“What about a replacement for Col.
Snyder?”

Disgust boiled in her gut like lava. “They’re
still tripping all over themselves about him. The people who
championed him when he was first brought in are too busy rewriting
history and pretending they never trusted him.”

“Just like with Wolff,” Kenner said, naming
her notorious predecessor.

Hurd gave him a sharp look. “Do you have the
latest on her activities?”

Kenner moved to the wall safe and unlocked it
with his own retinal scan then removed another folder. This one was
black and stamped with the letters ASTRA in white on the front.
“Ready for your review. Let me know what to redact and I’ll forward
it to Washington.”

Hurd took the folder with a halfhearted
glare. She would have him edit the report before sending it on.
Until a replacement for Snyder was named and she knew if she could
trust that person, she’d be keeping things very close to the vest.
“I’d like some fresh coffee.”

Kenner nodded once. “Of course.” He left her
office, closing the door behind him.

Hurd settled in to read. She went through the
report carefully, first reading for herself, then with a red pen to
notate what needed to be left out of the final version. A series of
photographs followed the report. In one, Dani stood on a street
corner, waiting for traffic to pause so she could cross. The next
showed her outside the homeless shelter in Cabrini, in conversation
with Kevin Moynihan. Both wore tentative smiles.