Chapter 03
“What did you tell her?” An angry nurse asked the man with sunglasses as he closed the door to Tanya's room.
“I... we cut her loose.” The man whispered.
The nurse shook her head. “You're an even bigger fool than she warned us you were.”
“What?” The man asked, surprised.
“She told us you were going to reprimand her, probably suspend her assets for several months to a year, and then expect her to live in a detention facility to keep her under control.” The nurse said and the man's eyes widened almost comically. “Instead, you got rid of her over one incident. One.”
The man didn't respond as he thought about Tanya's mental faculties if she automatically thought they would do those things to her.
The nurse saw his thinking face and poked him hard in the chest with her finger as she raised her voice. “Her parents were just killed, you idiot! She needed you to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be fine! That there were some little things to deal with and that you would handle it and she could rely on you!”
The man stepped back from the woman's anger because he didn't want to provoke her.
“Letting her go told her exactly what you thought about her! You would never help her if she ever got into trouble!” The nurse shouted and everyone in the hallway and in several rooms came out to see what was going on. “That little girl is in that bed recovering from being SHOT WITH A SHOTGUN! BY THE POLICE!”
The man held his hands up in surrender. “She was attacking them...”
“A distraught little girl was attacking the murderer of HER MOTHER!” The nurse yelled. “She didn't do anything to the police! Only criminals that hurt her and her family!”
“You tell him!” Another nurse from down the hall encouraged.
“That girl needed you to reassure her and you told her that she has no one else left in this world at the exact time she needed someone.” The nurse said as her anger turned from passionate to cold. “Get out. You are no longer welcome here.”
“You can't ban me from...”
“I just did.” The nurse said and a few people clapped. “This hospital will be reviewing your policies and if we determine that you are using us as a recruiting tool and also as a disposal option for those that you think aren't worth your time, you will be hearing from our lawyers.”
The man sighed and adjusted his sunglasses. He looked at her face and then around at the witnesses. They all had similarly angry faces and he turned away to not stare at the glares he fully deserved. He knew that he didn't fight to keep Tanya in the program, mainly because of the media and the negative attention her actions were receiving. It didn't once occur to him that he could have spun it to his benefit.
He left the hospital and made his way back to the governmental office building that housed his department. He wasn't looking forward to what was going to happen when he reported in and informed them of Tanya's termination interview. He only realized what her last few words meant as he sat down in front of the other department members. His face drained of color and he bent over in his seat to put his head in his hands as the others sat down around the conference table.
“Anunni? What is it?” The man beside him asked.
“We monumentally screwed up.” The man with sunglasses said without lifting his head. “We just screwed ourselves. Completely and totally.”
The other agents muttered and whispered as they wondered what the man was talking about.
“All right.” A muscular man in a suit said when he entered the room and sat down at the head of the table. “Where are we on this hero massacre debacle?”
“Sir, we're handling the identification of the bodies, both hero and civilian. We suspect it's going to take weeks to sort through everything.”
“We're also trying to control the media and censored some of the things they are showing.” Another agent said. “Unfortunately, there were a lot of surviving people that we can't really control, either footage or testimonies.”
“There's never a lot that we can do about things like that.” The director said and pointed to several other agents to get their reports. He saved the clearly distraught man for last. “Anunni, how did things go with releasing our previous asset?”
The man with sunglasses let out a sad laugh. “It went even better than I expected. She didn't rant, cry, or even punch me.”
“Good. I'm glad she took it so well.”
“I never said she took it well.” The man with sunglasses said, still without lifting his head.
“Explain.” The director ordered.
Instead of speaking, the man took out a device he had in his pocket that they all carried. He entered his personal code and then slid the device across the conference table. It stopped near the director and started playing back the entire meeting with Tanya Degraff. When the recording ended, everyone sat in silence for several minutes.
“Do you understand what she said yet?” The man with sunglasses asked. “It took me the entire trip from the hospital to this conference room before I got it.”
“She threatened to kill us all.” One of the agents said.
The man with sunglasses barked a laugh. “No, you completely missed the point she intentionally made.” He said and finally looked up as he took off his sunglasses. His completely black eyes with no pupils unnerved people and that was why he always wore sunglasses. He stood and reclaimed the device to replay the last thing Tanya said.
“...they should have utilized the supreme resource that they could have had at their disposal.” Tanya's slightly laughing voice said from the device.
“She calmly threatened me personally and anyone I try to get help from to revoke her exemption, which I severely recommend we do not do. That wasn't the point, however.” The man with glasses said. “The point she made was that she can easily do what she said. She can get to me and kill me, from quite literally any distance, because she is an expert flyer and her quirk lets her travel at supersonic speeds.”
Everyone's faces paled at that, even the director's.
“So, you finally get it. The resource she was talking about wasn't her proposed delivery service that we wanted her for in the military. No, the resource was her. She has no moral qualms about killing someone and would have killed anyone that we wanted her to.” The man with sunglasses said as he put those sunglasses back on. “And we cut her loose.”
It was the director's turn to duck his head and hold it with his hands. After a few minutes, he spoke. “How can we recover this situation?”
“You can't.” The man with sunglasses said.
“Surely, if you go back and offer to reinstate...” The agent next to him started to say.
“She would laugh in my face before blasting me out of her room with a sonic boom.” The man with sunglasses said and saw their surprised faces. “She told me she's been holding back on her powers because of her mother. I sincerely doubt lying to her about getting her recommendation and scholarship back would endear me to her.”
“It's not a lie. We can easily get her into...”
“No, we can't.” The director said and lifted his head to look at everyone. “There are only two reserved spots in each of the two hero classes, for four in total. We already gave away her reserved spot to someone else and the other three spots have their own recommendations. The scholarship is easily replaced, except it would be meaningless to her without the reservation.”
“She won't need the scholarship, even if we gave it to her as a peace offering.” The man with sunglasses said. “She's going to start her messenger and delivery service as soon as she recovers from her injuries.”
“We can stop that.” One of the agents said and a few others nodded. “We can control her by...”
“No, we can't.” The man with sunglasses said. “If we do anything, she will remove us from this earth. That wasn't an idle threat.”
“There's no proof that...” One of them tried to say.
“She used a police issued pistol to penetrate six inch armor plating with a normal bullet. She's also never held a gun before or had any training with marksmanship.” The man with sunglasses said. “What do you think she will do to us when she does get that training?”
“We will reinstate the law stating that civilians can't carry lethal firearms without permits or formal training. It also bans underage civilians from owning or using one.” The director said. “It also covers everything from single-shot handguns to the large fifty calibre rifles.”
One of the agents chuckled. “I can't imagine a little girl carrying one of those monsters.”
The man with sunglasses looked around at everyone's faces and realized he was surrounded by idiots. He was one himself, so he thought that was appropriate. He stood up and went over to the door.
“Anunni? Where are you going?” The director asked.
“I'm requesting a transfer. I won't sit here and watch you all kill yourselves with your stupidity.”
“That is uncalled for!” The director said and stood.
“I just told you that if you interfere with her, she will kill you, and you are all choosing to interfere.” The man with sunglasses said. “If that's not stupidity, then what is?”
“I think you need some time off to reconsider your loyalties.”
“Time off?” The man with sunglasses laughed. “I would retire right this second if I thought you wouldn't strip me of my pension.”
“She really rattled you, didn't she?” One of the other agents asked.
“Yes, and she's going to keep doing it.” The man with sunglasses said and opened the door. “Oh, before you forget your faculties completely, I need to remind you of something.”
“What's that?” Another agent asked.
“She's not going to stay a little girl for long. She can easily carry a fifty calibre when she's older.” The man with sunglasses said and left a completely silent room behind him.
*
Tanya left the hospital a week later and went home. She was slightly saddened that she had two rows of slight indents on either side of her stomach. There were four on each side that reminded her of something, then she chuckled. They almost lined up perfectly to the buttons on her old casual uniform's blazer.
That got her to thinking and she realized she could easily adapt it into a working uniform. No one knew anything about her old world and she could recreate the style of the clothing she had become used to. She would need to build up her business as well. With the savings her parents had put aside for her and their insurance policies that they had from their hero agencies, she had more than enough capital to get the ball rolling.
Tanya knew that being only ten would be a detriment for her plans, especially if anyone knew that she actually owned the business. So, a few weeks after doing some test deliveries, she placed an ad in several papers looking for someone to suit her needs and potentially run the business for her. In less than a day, she had three people apply for the job.
The three interviews were less than stellar. Once the men saw her, a little ten year old girl, they immediately tried to strong-arm her into handing everything over to them. They saw nothing wrong with doing that and 'taking care of her for her own good'. She dealt with them appropriately.
A quick application of her quirk to fly at the idiots to drop-kick them, and a small sonic boom for added force, had the last interviewee flying out of her house and across the street to land in a heap on a neighbour's lawn.
“Threaten me like that again and you will have more than a few broken bones.” Tanya said as she scowled at the third man to piss her off. “Will you idiots never learn? I am asking for help running a business, not asking for an owner!”
The man cradled his broken arm. “S-someone! Call the p-police! This crazy girl used her quirk on me!”
“I'd like for you to meet my neighbours.” Tanya said and waved at the people on the street as she walked over to the crumpled man. “They also know I'm allowed to use my quirk to defend myself.”
“You should... be arrested... for assault.” The man said and tried to move, only his foot protested as it dangled at the end of his leg.
“No, you should be arrested for coercion of a minor and grand larceny.” Tanya said. “You're not the first being to try and blackmail me into doing what they wanted.”
The man was surprised at the venom in the little girl's voice and as he looked around at the neighbours, he saw that their faces were angry and were glaring at him.
Tanya took out her phone and hit the emergency button. “Hi, again. It's Tanya.” “Yes, another one.” “Only a broken arm and dislocated ankle.” “All right, thank you.”
The man stared at the little girl and didn't know what to say.
“It seems your greed has garnered you a half hour wait for an ambulance.” Tanya said and smiled at him, which sent shivers down the man's spine. “Potential criminals are really low on a paramedic's emergency list. The police will be coming with them.”
The man's face fell and he laid back down to wait. He didn't want to admit that she was right. He was blinded by the thought of getting her money and also becoming the guardian of a future hero.
“I hope more people like you come here looking to scare a little girl and steal her inheritance. Cleaning up the hidden trash is kind of satisfying.” Tanya said and a few of her neighbours nodded, then noticed the redheaded woman in the gathering crowd. “Hello, Miss Jusina. Do you have that package ready for your daughter?”
“I do! I'll go get it.” Miss Jusina said and ran back to her house.
Tanya gave the man on the ground a disdainful look. “You're lucky I held back.”
She held back? The man thought, shocked.
“Here it is.” Miss Jusina said and held out a large cardboard box. “Are you sure you can handle it? It's pretty heavy and my daughter lives at the other end of Japan.”
Tanya chuckled and took out a set of straps from her pocket, shook them out, and wrapped them around the package and hung it over her shoulders before strapping it to her belly. She touched the straps and they glowed slightly.
“She'll have this in ten minutes or my next delivery is free!” Tanya said and a few of the neighbours laughed.
Miss Jusina laughed as well and gave the girl a side hug with one arm. “You're not charging me now.”
“Shh! No one knows I do this for you guys for free.” Tanya pretended to whisper and they all laughed.
“Go on and show off for us again.” Miss Jusina said as she stepped back enough to be out of the blast area. “It's always a sight to see.”
Tanya gave her a proper salute and the air swirled around her briefly, then she shot up into the air in the blink of an eye. The loud boom of her breaking the sound barrier and the shock wave of displaced air made the neighbours make appreciative sounds.
“She is going to be so strong when she finally becomes a hero.” Miss Jusina said and then she turned her face down to glare at the injured man on the ground. “You have made a grave mistake by making her angry.”
The man didn't respond and everyone around him talked as if he wasn't there.
Twenty minutes later, Tanya came down from the sky and landed with a small gust of wind. She had a different package on her belly and walked over to Miss Jusina.
“I would have been back before now if your daughter hadn't made tea biscuits.” Tanya said as she unstrapped the package.
Miss Jusina laughed and accepted the smaller box. “Did she use the oolong or green tea to get you to stay?”
“Oolong. She said it went better with the biscuits.” Tanya said with a smile.
“My girl is a smart one.” Miss Jusina said and heard the sirens coming. “Pop over tonight for supper, will you? I'm having rice and curry just how you like it.”
Tanya nodded agreement and they all stood there as the ambulance and police car came to a stop. Not surprisingly, Tanya had to produce her credentials for her limited quirk usage. It was just a formality, though. They had to ask for it every time, even with the heroes. They didn't want fakes or vigilantes running around and wrecking things for everyone.
“Have you thought about changing the wording on your ad?” The police officer asked.
“I did. What I used was the final draft and explained just enough to get interest without giving too much away.” Tanya said. “If I said right off the bat about what I wanted them for, I would be swarmed with the worst kinds of people.”
The officer chuckled and looked at the man being shoved into the back of the ambulance. “How did that last organ delivery go?”
“I got it to the right hospital in only eight minutes.” Tanya said, a bit proudly. She had really pushed herself and managed three sonic booms before she had to slow down.
The officer let out a low whistle. “I guess that's why they gave you a direct number for things like this.”
Tanya nodded. “It's mutually beneficial. They get someone that can make emergency deliveries and I get to abuse their kindness and make them laugh occasionally.”
The officer laughed. “I hope you don't have any more interviews today.”
“That was the last one. I'm going to wait and see who else applies before scheduling any more.”
The officer nodded and lightly touched her shoulder, gave her a smile, and went back to his car. He left with the ambulance and they didn't use sirens or lights.