out the window, and she looked up at
him, giving him a thumbs up. She dashed over to the Jeep and grabbed
her bag out of the back, running back over. Slinging the bag over her
neck, she gathered her legs underneath her and jumped as hard as she
could. Reaching up with her fingers, she grabbed the ledge of the
window to the third floor, where Grady had his apartment, and pulled
herself onto the ledge. It was barely wide enough for her to get a
solid grip, but she pulled as hard as she could, vaulting her body up
the last floor to grab the open window sill and haul herself in.
"Okay, I just vertically jumped thirty something feet," she
said as she came in. "Just how much of your high school jumping
was bullshit?"
"Most of it," Grady replied. He had his entire uniform on,
except for the half hood that covered the back of his head and his
eyes, while letting his hair flow freely. "But let's face it, I
couldn't exactly do my best now, could I? So what do you have?"
"This," she said, pulling open her bag. The outfit was a
bit of old mixed with some new, and she had been planning to debut it
that night. Originally a knee length shiny leather skirt, it fell
barely to her mid thigh when she pulled it on. "Hmmm, going to
need some bloomers for this one. At least I'm wearing red boyshorts
today."
"Cute," Grady commented as he pulled on his hood. Fixing
his eyeholes with spirit gum, he watched as Renee pulled on the rest
of her outfit. The tight black corset was shot through with blood red
streaks, and leather gauntlets that came most of the way up her arm.
"Check that. Damn that's sexy."
He reached into the cabinet and tossed her the punch enhancing
device he'd shown her the first day he'd revealed his identity to
her. "Right hand. Switch at the base of your wrist turns it on.
I'd advise not punching any walls until we know if your bones can
take it, but if you need it, you'll have it."
"Thanks," she said, slipping it on over her glove. She
reached for her goggles before looking at them, undecided. "If I
wear these, too many people will know who I am. They're a trademark
of Litezout."
Grady thought for a second, then reached into his cabinet, pulling
out a set of ruby reflective lens Gargoyle sunglasses. "Here. I
used them on an early prototype of my costume, but settled on my hood
instead. Secure them to your face with spirit gum, and they'll stick
pretty well. Also, try to change your hair color like I do. It's a
conscious decision." He helped her with the adhesive, then
stepped back. Renee concentrated, and her long black hair slowly went
flame red, and became a bit wavy at the same time. Grady studied the
change and nodded. "Okay, nobody will know who you are. Now,
keep low, protect the kids, and don't hold back if you get the chance
on these guys. This isn't the comic books or the movies. We can get
killed, you more than me."
"I know," Renee said. "I love you."
"I love you too. Now, hold on." Grady turned and offered
his back, and Renee climbed on. As she did, she noticed Grady's hair
change color again, and he floated off the floor and towards the
staircase. Gathering speed as he approached the roof, he sped off
into the sky, Renee riding piggyback behind him. "You okay back
there?"
"Yeah!" she yelled into his ear over the rushing wind. "By
the way, how fast can you go, anyway?"
"Short bursts I've topped the sound barrier, but it drains my
energy a lot to get up that high. I can sustain flights in the three
hundred mile an hour range for about two hours though." They
whizzed over the spread out landscape of San Diego, Grady following
the general guidance of the I-5 freeway below them. "I should
get a GPS for this thing!"
"Add it to the list of things you can invent, a superhero
friendly GPS navigation system," Renee said, before her eyes
tightened. They were approaching the City Heights, and they could see
the flashing blue lights surrounding the preschool.
"Hold on," Grady said. "We're going in."
Chapter 8
They came
Kate Brian
Annie Graves
Kristy Centeno
Sharon Cummin
Rita Hestand
Jane Lark
Conner McCall
Imran Siddiq
Bertrand R. Brinley, Charles Geer
P. S. Power