A Pre-Rescue Confab

Carmen looked around the bar. While the sign on the door said closed, it was populated by old members of her dad’s Leper Squad as well as most of the members of Marauder’s Riders. Their club, the one her father had saved from burning down all those years back, was just two blocks away. They hung out at the Ais in the Hole which apparently was run by another ex-Leper called Lullaby whose real name was Ais something or other. Guess that explains the sign flashing its colorful rainbow in the front window, she thought.

Laurence Kane, aka Stun Grenade, who could explode small pockets of air in controlled localized areas with devastating effects, sat with fellow ex-Leper Conrad Ewing at one table. Kane wore a camo tee shirt with “I’ll Blow You For Free” printed over a picture of a hand grenade.

Conrad Ewing, aka Mind Meld, who could skim surface thoughts and dig out repressed memories, looked kind of lost. His washed-out green eyes seemed overly large behind the antique glasses he insisted on wearing. With his thinning hair and lanky frame, he looked like a timid college professor. A couple of heavyset members of the club sat with the two.

“Hey Lullaby, sing us a song why don’t you? I need a nap.”

Ais, from where he leaned on the working side of the bar, held up one large fist, middle finger extended. “I had your sister singing last night Kane.”

Kane laughed. “Yeah, does Vicky know about that?” Taking a swallow of his drink, Kane turned back to his tablemates.

Several other members of the club were tossing darts at the back of the bar while Bren, Sabrina, and the glider club leader, Prierly, she thought – the old guy that had so clumsily addressed the students at the pep rally – were talking with the hulking dark skinned Hispanic bar owner.

Akari Maeda, aka Phaser, who could phase her molecules enabling her to pass through solid objects, sat in one corner at a small table. She had removed the cybernetic replacement hand she had made after she had once resolidified while her hand was still inside a wall. She was idly fiddling with some circuit in an open panel in the palm. Carmen thought the Asian woman was kind of cute – for someone about forty. Akari was a wiry 5’2” or so with short dark hair over dark eyes. As their eyes met, the woman smiled and nodded her head in invitation to join her. Skirting around the tables, Carmen joined the woman who stood up as she approached.

“Hi. I’m…”

“Akari Maeda. Phaser.” Nodding toward the bar she said “Bren told me about you guys. You worked with my dad, right?”

Whistling, Akari looked at the girl. “Wow, I can’t believe it. Last time I saw you, you were maybe two years old. Toddling around behind your dad. Now look at you. Have a seat.”

Pulling out the chair, Carmen sat and leaned morosely forward. “My dad, the Marauder… I can’t believe he’s been a prisoner for the last three years. I went to his funeral.”

Akari sat the cybernetic hand down on a cloth and reached over to pat the girl on the forearm. “Don’t worry Carmen. We’ll get him back. I promise. Dr. Nefarious won’t know what hit him.”

Akari had such a look of resolute determination that Carmen swallowed a lump in her throat. “Thanks.” Carmen gave a wan smile as she perused the room full of aging ex heroes and old motorglider riders. “So, what’s the deal with this place?”

Akari reattached her cybernetic left hand with a deft twist and stretched her back. She smiled at the frightened but determined looking teen. “You mean the bar? Lullaby there was a member of Squad 3 in Georgia but retired here, joined the local glider club, and opened this place up about four years ago. He always wanted to run a bar and race around on motorgliders. I think his girlfriend is from here originally.”

“Lullaby. Why that name? He’s really big and, to be honest, kind of scary looking.”

Akari chuckled. “His name is actually Ais Asensi Caballero which translates from Paraguayan roughly as ‘Horseman Who is a Merciful Defender of the People.’ He used to tell me how his granddad always said if he ever got a horse he would have to call it Silver.”

Carmen looked puzzled. “Why?”

“It’s from some really old television show about a white guy and a Native American who went around helping people in the Old West. I think the show was called The Lone Ranger.”

“Okay. But, why Silver?”

“Oh, sorry. That was the name of the white guy’s horse. I think the Indian was called Toronto or something like that. Maybe he was a Native American Canadian.” Akari’s eyes twinkled with mirth. “But you asked about ‘Lullaby.’ Well, believe it or not, despite his size and that scar on his neck, he is gentle as a lamb. But the name is because he has a hypnotic voice. He sings people to sleep. He was almost codenamed NarcoLepsy.” Akari chuckled lightly. “The old bureau chief used to call him Doctor Sleep. That’s from an old Stephen King novel.”

Carmen seemed to recall that Stephen King had once been a famous author of horror novels. “Okay. He can put people to sleep by singing. That seems pretty useful. Couldn’t he just broadcast over a sound system in the lab and put them all out cold then?”

“No such luck. It only works direct from mouth to ear. No recorded medium carries whatever it is that makes it work.”

“So how did he end up in the Lepers?”

“Well, when he was little, he kept singing his parents to sleep and wandering out of the house. The cops thought his parents were drug addicts or something, but nothing ever showed up on tests. The whole family almost died when he tried to sing along to the radio once when his dad was driving. He was only four. The accident was pretty serious but, luckily nobody was too badly hurt.”

“Wow. That really fracks butt.”

Akari smiled. Her gold flecked dark eyes lit with humor. “Luckily, someone figured out what was going on and reported it to the local Leper Bureau. They gave his parents a frequency modulator they could attach to his neck or put on a chain that cancelled out whatever frequency it was that his enhancement works on.” Leaning across the table the Asian woman met Carmen’s gaze. “He told me his preschool teacher used to keep noise cancelling headphones in her desk. At nap time she’d put those on, remove the modulator, and have Ais sing the other kids to sleep.”

Picturing a group of active little kids suddenly keeling over and starting to snore, Carmen laughed. “Wouldn’t that be something? Heck, he could make a fortune as a babysitter.” At that moment, a holographic image of Belinda popped up over the holopad she had sat on the table.

“That’s my friend Belinda. I’m going to take this somewhere quieter, okay?”

Akari nodded.

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“Wow Belinda. That’s something all right. I think Bren and the other Lepers need to know this like right now. Can you meet us at the Ais In The Hole? It’s that bar off Maxwell and RuPaul near the edge of downtown. The one where the motorglider club hangs out.” Carmen shut off the imager. Gazing around the slightly musty femroom she thought about what Belinda had just told her. It was unbelievable. Pocketing her holopad she headed back out to the main bar area.

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The above is the 15th chapter of Marauder’s Daughter. The beginning few chapters are on my profile. Feedback is definitely welcome.