Decker: Chapter 03

Decker flew just above the rooftops; high enough to avoid most gawkers, but low enough to scan the streets for the guys that had mugged Frank.  She kept a running commentary of ‘if I was a thug, I’d turn here,’ or ‘hooligans might go this way’, but in all honesty, she was depending on sheer luck.

Hero Diary;

This would probably be easier if I was chasing a real super villain?  I mean, three boys I’ve never seen, somewhere in the city?  That’s not easy.  If it was, I don’t know, some guy in bright red tights with a death ray? That would be so easy to find.   You know what I mean, right?

I’m wondering if they have a night course on this sort of thing.  Like, remedial urban tracking or something?  Detectives must learn it somewhere, right?

In the end, Decker’s lack of training didn’t matter, as the boys had evidently never studied stealth 101.  When Decker found them, they were walking proudly on the park side of a major road, blatantly passing Frank’s stolen goods back and forth.  From behind, the three looked more like scrawny skater boys than they did full out criminals.  Heck, only one of them was taller than Decker.

Decker landed down right behind the trio.  They were busy admiring their stolen goods, and didn’t notice her land.  She thrust her hands onto her hips, and cleared her throat to get their attention.  “You stole that,” she accused.  “I think you should go and return it.”  Decker thought on it a second.  “Maybe apologize too?”

The three boys flinched at the sudden voice behind them.  They turned guilty surprised glances at Decker.  When they took her in, their startled features were replaced with smug confidence.  She was just a girl in tight clothes and a skirt.  They didn’t know her, and really, nothing about her said she was dangerous.

Her expression didn’t add any intimidation points.  She blinked at the three, obviously stunned.  “Oh. My. Gosh,” Decker commented when she saw the boys full.  The oldest of them was maybe fourteen.  “I mean, Frank said kids, but I figured he meant younger then him, not younger than me.”  She tried an understanding smile.  She managed to switch her posture from super heroic to annoyed mother.  “You guys should really just give back the stuff you took.”

The boys looked Decker over, and laughed.  One of them stepped forward, sneering.  “You gonna make us?” he asked.  He was maybe twelve, and the smallest of the three.  Obviously no one had told him this, and he swaggered like he was the toughest guy in the world.

“Right,” Decker said.  She pushed off the ground, and hovered.  Her smile flickered, and she pointed an open palm towards the advancing boy.  “I forgot the part where I tell you I’m a super hero.”

Super hero bit notwithstanding, Decker’s sudden show of power certainly made some difference.  When she lifted into the air, two of the boys stepped back.  When the air began to ripple around Decker’s outstretched hand, they broke into a run.  The third boy was so full of false bravado that he either didn’t notice that Decker was flying, or he didn’t care.

Decker shook her head.  “Look,” she stated, floating backwards away from the advancing boy.  “I’m trying to give you a chance here.” 

The boy didn’t see Decker’s actions as a chance.  He saw her backing up, and assumed fear.  He sneer-smiled, and charged at her.  Decker hovered back further, but it was obvious that the boy wasn’t going to stop.

“Sorry,” Decker muttered under her breath.  Her eyes flared as kinetic energy fired from her hand at the boy.  Decker concentrated, trying to keep her powers to a minimum, but even with her holding the reigns, the bolt of power lifted the boy off his feet, and punted him into the park.

Decker followed the boy’s flight.  She winced a bit as he crashed through some low hanging branches, and out right cringed when the smashed through the bushes.  The boy bounced twice on landing.  Decker bit her knuckle, and flinched with each bounce.   Finally, the boy rolled to a stop on his back in the middle of a flowerbed.

Decker flew a circle around the downed boy.  From the corner of her eye, she could see his friends making a good distance from the scene, but she couldn’t just leave the kid.  She might have really hurt him bad.  “Uh, are you alright?”

The kid’s eyes flew open at the sound of Decker’s voice.  He gave a cry, and scuttled out from under her flight path.  “Ok, you win!” he declared.  He fumbled at his wrist, and threw Frank’s watch at her.  “You win!  No more!”  The kid scrambled to his feet, and dashed off into the park.

So there you have it Hero Diary; I can totally take a grade-schooler in a fight, if I have to.  Decker rolled her eyes, and decided she probably wouldn’t add the last bit to her diary.  Maybe a footnote for honesty, but nothing more.

One thing though Diary?  That’s the first time I’ve ever used my powers on a person on purpose.  I mean, I’ve practiced trying to control how much ‘bam’ is in my shots, so I’m pretty pleased with the whole not really hurting the kid.  Practice does make perfect it turns out. 

Decker mentally closed her diary, and flew above the trees.  She scanned the streets for the other two boys.  They had a pretty good head start by the time Decker spotted them.  Thankfully, neither had thought to leave the main road.  Instead they’d just run in a straight line. 

Decker flew after them.  She stayed high in the air, but her scuffle near the park had gained attention.  Thankfully it was a pretty quiet part of town, what being near the park and all.  There weren’t that many people about, but the few that were snapped photos, or pointed excitedly.  None of them did anything to stop the boys.

Not that Decker needed the help.  She actually knew this part of town pretty well.  She worked only a block up the road, and walked about here quite often.  There was a main strip of low rise shops and apartments, a large section of rural houses, the park, and pretty much nothing else.  Decker smiled as the two boys ducked down a side road.  It was possibly the only dead end alley in the area.

Decker swooped in low, scattering a small group of onlookers.  She dove around the corner of the alley with both hands extended forward.  “HA!” she yelled to a completely empty alley.

Decker looked about.  There were no doors on the sides of the buildings.  There was a large wooden fence at the end of the alley, with no real way to climb it.  No windows.  Nothing even remotely like a fire escape.  Nothing but an empty alley with no escape, and somehow no boys.  Decker looked down, and added open manhole to her list.  She hadn’t see it at first, and wished it wasn’t there now that she had seen it. 

“No,” Decker complained.  “No, that’s not fair.”  She hovered over the manhole, and wrung her hands.  Somewhere from deep in the sewer, Decker could hear splashing as the boys made their getaway.

Decker moaned.  “The sewer?  Really?” She stared down the hole again.  “C’mon.  This is my only suit!”