There is a New Villainess in Town
© 2011 by: Mr. David R. Dorrycott
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It was New Years night, a cold clear windless night. Dark, bitter cold was the better description Night thought as she made her patrol after the fireworks had ended. Her mind power, her strongest ability to instill terror into criminals was gone, her ability to rip nightmares from a persons own mind then shatter them with their own fear was no more. What was worse and what she kept very much to herself was that she still retained her ability to bring peoples memories, their dreams to life but it was the good memories, the good dreams.
Captain Fluffball had done this too her, she didn’t know how and neither did Detector or the Professor. That damn cat had taken her ability to punish criminals from her and she was going to kill her for doing that. She had even discovered Nights plan to capture her and that was just plain adding insult to injury.
There was one advantage to the way her powers worked now Night had to admit. Occasionally she would find a dying street person or a drug overdose. These times she could make their last minutes Heaven, not the Hell that they had lived. It didn’t really make her feel that much better, she hated seeing people die even those who deserved to. Probably that was it, it hurt her to see people die, punishment was one thing. Even killing the feline would probably turn Nights life into a living Hell but she refused to admit it.
A form staggered in the street below her, staggered then fell on the snow covered sidewalk. As much as Night hated it she knew what she had to do so dropping down to land beside the form she knelt, easing the smelly rag covered form over onto its back. Carefully letting her mind drift into the others she recoiled in horror from what she found. This was no old man, no drug burned out adult needing only a few moments to die. This was a child, a boy no older than eight and what had been done to him!
Cursing her fate Night let her mind re-enter the boys, pushing aside memories of horror until she found the last good memory he had. Drawing it up she gave it strength, life, making it as real as she could. Before her the boys eyes sparkled, “Mama” he said once before he shivered and died.
Standing Night looked around her, there were no other figures, no one that she could take her rage out on but if she didn’t she would explode. Reaching into the boys fading memories, memories she wished that she could wash away she searched, finally discovering what she needed to know. Carefully she lifted the cooling body into her arms and with tears falling like rain flew him to the nearest hospital. There she left him in a Doctors arms, staying only long enough to give him the boys name. Then she was off, behind her the Doctor held the boy close to him. That rage he had seen in Nights face frightened him more than what he held in his arms.
Captain Fluffball had located the drug manufacturer by dent of both paying for the information and pure detective work. Her normal position regarding such places was to simply leave a note for the police but this time she couldn’t. Word was that these men bought children off the street, children to test their drugs on and for other, more personal pleasures. As a woman who had truly wanted children of her own this had sickened the feline, sickened her and forced her out of the warmth of her lair to deal with the problem in person.
She had just located the building her targets were in when Night landed almost beside her. Shaken Fluffball reached for her weapons only to realize that Night, for all her abilities hadn’t seen her. She could see from the woman’s body language that she was about to tear something up, that something Fluffball didn’t want to be her but if she was after the same people... She prepared her weapons, only then speaking.
“If your after the kid killers get in line Night.”
Night spun around, staring at the darkness where that hated voice had come from. “Cat” she hissed. “Are you part of this?”
“No Night” Fluffball answered, stepping out of the darkness that had hidden her from a preoccupied heroine. “I’m here to kill them.”
“You can’t kill” Night almost laughed. “Tell me another lie.”
“I’m making an exception Night, so you either get out of my way or I go through you and if I go through you we both know I’ll tear you apart.” She lifted the weapon that normally fired her sticky shells and such. “Incendiary ammunition Night, please don’t make me kill you too. I happen to admire you as much as you hate me, I might even be falling in love with you.”
“You burned out my power” Night hissed. “But that’s unimportant, what do you know about them?”
“It was burn out your power Night or burn up your body, I made a hard choice. Killing you would have been easy, twisting your power was a several day job that almost killed me. Your still alive so you know which choice I took, I take it you ran across one of their victims?”
“A little boy, Carlos Juan Gonzales, he was all of seven years old and he died in my arms. Now either you help me or not.”
“Peace then Night, this night only. You and I, we burn this nest to the ground but not before we get any kids still in there out first.”
“Deal cat, now talk.”
Fluffball talked, while she talked she impressed the rage filled super heroine with her thoroughness though Night never would admit that.