41.5 Passage

It was just a few blocks away, just long enough for Kelly to read through the shorthand report that Analyst Potts had just sent her.  She could’ve gotten there sooner, obviously.  Kelly wasn’t even extending her legs to increase her running stride, much less using her running or flying form.  From what she’d read of his file, Jordan should’ve been able to leave her in the dust.

Kelly noticed him stumble once or twice before they arrived and had to suppress the urge to give an approving smile.  He was trying to read the report while running.  It’d taken her almost three weeks to get the hang of that and she’d been able to improve her balance and peripheral vision on the fly.  The new guy was showing just as much potential as she and Isaac had expected.

She raised her hand to stop Jordan when they arrived and expanded her outer ears, bracing herself as she multiplied the fine hairs in her middle ear.  It was just a quick and dirty version of one of her favorite tricks but it was enough to let her get a rough idea of what was going on inside the first floor apartment.  This had been reported as a domestic disturbance, something she knew they’d have to handle with care.  The slightest mistake and-

Muffled thumps, the impact of flesh on flesh and an angry cry that was cut off abruptly.

Kelly kicked the door, her leg stretching to let her foot hit just to the left of the knob.  She saw a big man, his hand wrapped around the throat of a muscular woman, pinning her against the wall at his own eye level.  Her legs kicked helplessly, feet unable to touch the floor.  Kelly extended her arms, gripped the door frame, and used the extra leverage to speed her leap forward.

She hit the man shoulder first and wrapped her right arm around his waist.  In the same breath, she shifted it to a barbed tentacle and injected him with her standard paralytic.  He was a big guy so she upped the dosage by ten percent just to be careful.  Jordan came in right behind her.

“Secure him.  I’ll deal with her.” she snapped out.

Jordan moved in and started doing something complicated with the fallen man’s body.  Kelly was too occupied with the woman to pay much attention.

“Get off him!  Don’t hurt him!”  It was the woman.  “Curran!”  She wasn’t lying on the floor or curled up in a ball crying, the kind of behavior Kelly was used to when she pulled an attacker off a woman.  “Curran!”  In fact she was coming right at Kelly, he right arm raised.  This was why Kelly, and every other person with half a brain, hated D and D’s.

The fist was a distraction.  Kelly spotted the small knife the other woman had in her left hand just before it slid along her abdomen.  The point didn’t get through her skin but it was a great strike and would’ve gutted a normal person.  Kelly didn’t have time to talk her down and the woman was already darting to the side, trying to get past her and over to Jordan and the fallen Curran.

Kelly flung her hand out as if she was throwing something at the woman and, just as the motion finished, changed the physical make up of her hand.  It left the shapeshifter with a stump but the gas that replaced it was enough to leave the woman unconscious on the ground.  That was when she got a good look at what was going on with the man and her partner.

Jordan had rolled the guy over onto his side and cuffed his hands behind his back.  Then he’d gotten a grip on his hair and pulled his head back.  She’d have to ask him about that later.  It was either careless brutality or a quick-thinking attempt to align the man’s airway in case her paralytic interfered with his breathing.  Unfortunately, both actions had become irrelevant.

The man, Curran, had already thrown off the effect of Kelly’s poison.  Given that he should’ve been helpless for the next hour at least, that was a pretty good indicator that he was Empowered.  Of course, the thick coat of shaggy grey fur with subtle black stripes and the lion-like mane he’d grown was another one.  Funny, Potts had said that the woman, Daniella Kate, was a registered Empowered.  That was the whole reason this call had gone to them instead of the regular cops.  The man was supposed to be baseline.

Curran had snapped the cuffs Jordan put on him like they were nothing and had her partnered pinned.  Jordan was hammering his fists into his opponent’s sides with short, rapid blows.  He didn’t have the room or the leverage for real power but as strong as he was supposed to be, the fact that the lion-man was ignoring them meant he must’ve been really tough.  There were scorch marks where Jordan’s hits were landing, as well as a lingering yellow glow.

Kelly darted forward with her right arm extended.  The stump where her hand had been shifted and flowed as she moved.  The bone spike that slide forward was sharper than a needle and slid into the spot between Curran’s spine and the base of his skull without resistance.  The man slumped over Jordan, boneless and limp.

“Well shit.” she said, looking from the corpse to the unconscious woman behind her.  That was a rite of passage she’d wanted Jordan to be able to put off for a while.

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