Muttering to herself, Natalie walked towards the Frontier mansion, oblivious of
everything except the open file in her hands. The sun was climbing higher into
the day as the morning pressed on, and it was turning out to be a hot late
summer day. She passed the black sedan parked out front without so much as a
glance and walked through the door, her eyes never leaving the police reports.
Since the super villain attack on Hopling a month ago, the city has been extra
vigilant. This increased awareness has brought to attention a rash of dead
bodies that have been found over the past few months in alleys. The deceased
people have always been lowlifes or gang members, and so the police have never
looked hard into their deaths. Just another criminal put down by his peers for
crossing some invisible line. But as the body count rose, more officers began
to notice and word spread of a potential serial killer. After multiple
autopsies, no cause of death could be found on any of the victims. Hence the
report was given to the GMA, and the information passed on to Frontier, as now
a metahuman attacker was suspect.
As Natalie walked by the front sitting room,
Francis stopped her. “Oh Natalie, there you are! We were just waiting for you.”
Natalie looked up from the reports for the first time since she got them and
took notice to a well-groomed and, in her opinion, overly dressed man. He was
in what looked like a brand new, multi-thousand dollar suit, and wore a smile
despite trying his best to look concerned. Even though she couldn’t read minds,
she knew he was here to feed her some bullshit.
“I’m sorry Francis, I don’t have time for a publicity meeting at the moment.”
As she began to walk away, the man stood up and picked up his briefcase.
“Perhaps you’ll want to hear me out, Mrs. Bennett,” he said, his voice cold and
professional. “You wouldn’t want the public to know you turned down people in
need, especially since the city is just starting to love Frontier again.”
Natalie stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath before turning around.
Public opinion of the metahuman team had hit an all-time low just before the
attack, but after saving the city and helping to rebuild it, the people looked
positively on the team once again. Natalie had personally worked incredibly
hard in the past few weeks to raise that opinion, and this man’s threat was a
direct shot at her.
Still, she composed herself quickly and turned around with a smile. “I was
unaware you needed help, mister…?”
“Lang.” He stuck out his hand and shook with Natalie. As he did, she ran his
name through her mind, wondering why it rang a bell.
“I know I’ve heard your name before, Mr. Lang. But you’ll have to excuse me for
not being able to recall exactly where.”
Mr. Lang looked slightly hurt, but covered it well. “I am the public relations
manager for the two most renowned metahumans in the world, Mrs. Bennett.
However my two clients have recently gone missing, and they left explicit
instructions to contact your team if a situation like this were to ever arise.”
Natalie kept a calm look on her face, but she did not like the sound of this.
“And who are they, exactly?”
Now Mr. Lang did
not cover his discontent for Natalie’s ignorance of pop culture. “You must stay
more up to date on the celebrities, Mrs. Bennett. My clients are Josh Matters
and Melissa Molecule; perhaps you’ve heard of them?”
Natalie couldn’t
help the sigh that escaped her mouth. Oh
crap, she thought to herself. Not
those two idiots.
Marian stirred as Matt came out
of her bathroom, pulling a shirt over his head. Sleepily she eyed his muscled
body and smiled. Despite just waking up, the three shallow indentations on his
biceps were glowing a soft blue light, showing he was still full of energy
despite staying up most of the night.
Or as he puts it, being kept away from his beauty sleep by a lustful
vixen. Marian was very pleased by the man she was looking at, even more so
since he kept coming back for more. I’ve
never slept with a guy who can keep up with me the whole time, she thought
longingly back to last night.
Matt caught her eye and smiled.
“For someone with unlimited endurance, you sure do like to sleep in after a
long night.”
“Only cuz it’s so easy to sleep
in when I’m so satisfied.” Marian winked and stretched her body out, making
sure the covers only hid just enough to tease.
“Well since you’ve taken the day
off, someone has to go on patrol. And unless you’re sending Fran out there, it
looks like I’m the lucky winner.” Matt finished getting dressed and walked over
towards the open glass doors that led to Marian’s balcony.
Before he could fly
off, Marian slinked out of the bed and made it across the room to him. She gave
him a hug from behind and playfully bit his neck. “I’ll see you tonight,” she
whispered into his ear.
Matt turned around and gave her
a kiss. “You know it,” he said as he floated off the ground. With a push of
energy, Matt flew off towards Hopling, his body glowing bright in the morning
sun.
Marian watched him go, aware of
the huge smile on her face and loving everything about it.
A little while later, Marian was
in the kitchen getting food when Natalie joined her. Natalie poured a cup of
coffee and took a seat at the high-top island in the middle of the kitchen.
“Rough night?” Marian asked over
her bowl of cereal.
“I do not like it when your
father leaves like this. There are some things that I’d rather run by him
before doing.” Natalie rubbed her temples in an effort to de-stress.
“Yeah but you’re a good
substitute team leader.” Marian smiled when Natalie looked up. Their relationship
over the past few months had gotten much better than it was at first. “So
what’s up?”
“Thank you Marian.” Natalie
sighed, staring into her cup of coffee. “We’ve been asked to assist in finding
two metahumans who have gone missing.”
“That’s no problem,” Marian
shrugged, “I’ll call Matt and let him know to keep an eye out.”
“Their manager doesn’t think
they’re in the city.”
“Manager? What metahumans have a
manager?”
Natalie let out another sigh,
this one showing her displeasure with the whole ordeal. “The celebrity kind.”
“I’ve heard of them before,”
Matt said pointing a fork at the papers in front of him. Matt came back after
Natalie’s call and was grabbing a quick bite to eat while being briefed. “They
have that show right? MetaMorning with Josh and Melissa, I think.”
“Yes,” Natalie said, forcing herself
from grounding her teeth in frustration. Natalie despised the mindless pop
culture that was currently sweeping the nation, and the biggest metahuman stars
in that trend were Josh Matters and Melissa Molecule. “Apparently they had it
legally documented that in case they should ever go missing, Frontier was to be
contacted. They are big fans of what we do here in Hopling.”
“Eh, no problem. So we go track
them down and bring them back. What’s the big deal?”
“It’s a waste of time,” Natalie
explained. “We are already shorthanded, and now I have to send you two out
there to find these rich divas when they’re probably just hiding to have some
fun or promote their show.”
“Why not just send me?” Matt
asked. “That way Marian can stay here and protect the city. I should be able to
sense their energy levels and find them relatively fast.”
Another sigh. “Because you’re a
new Frontier member, Matt. It was difficult enough convincing that sleazy
manager of theirs to let you go with Marian. He demanded the whole team go, but
after reminding him of your display last month, he agreed that the two of you
would suffice.”
“And this whole thing dosen’t
sound fishy as hell to you, Nat?” Marian was halfway dressed in her uniform
since they were supposed to leave right away.
“Of course it does, Marian. But
Mr. Lang has the advantage over us. We turn them down, and he plasters it all
over the media. As much as I dislike those celebrity idiots, the country adores
them. No matter the reason, we can’t take the negative publicity again. So we
have to help.”
“At least I’ll have the big gun
with me,” Marian flashed a smile towards Matt. “In case this turns out to be
some crazy trap.”
“Well let’s get this over with,”
Matt said standing up. “Where were they last seen? We might be able to make it
there and back by tonight.”
“That’s not going to happen,”
Natalie said putting away the papers and handing the file to Marian. “They were
last seen in their private beach house down in the Caribbean.” Marian’s eyes
lit up, but Natalie didn’t let her speak. “Get there, find them, and get back.
Don’t forget it’s just me here now. I’d rather not have to fight off some
crazed metahuman by myself.”
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