The Long Winter #18
International Incidents part one
“You need to come home. Now.”
Penny frowned at the face on the screen of her mobile dev—her phone. Kari, her flowing blonde hair reminiscent of Penny’s hard-partying roommate, had a stern expression on her face and an unfamiliar steel hardness to her voice. The call had come early Monday morning, waking Penny up before her morning exercise after a miserable Sunday spent in so much pain she could not enjoy the helicopter ride back to the institute. Even there at the dawn of a new schoolweek her head throbbed and her body ached and she wondered if she had the willpower to resist Kari’s ire. Before she could respond Kari was talking again. Scolding her.
“There was no reason for you to be in Detroit this weekend. Especially since you promised you’d stay out of the big cities. Don’t give me any garbage about how Detroit’s not that big. It’s still the biggest city in that state you’re in! And you ran into Huston Chandler, and I read his file. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you. He hates The Best Defense. Whenever we’ve had to work with him, he always ends up fighting us. What did he do to you?”
“Nothing. He did nothing.” It still hurt to talk. Penny stopped herself from rubbing her throbbing skull and kept her eyes on the image of her best friend. “We went down there to dance, and I danced with my roommate and with my friend’s new girlfriend, then we came back yesterday.”
“I heard about an altercation of some sort. You can’t be doing these things! An altercation involving you involves me, and Fearless tells me that’s a bad thing.”
“I won’t be in any more altercations—”
“We don’t have contol over that.”
Penny felt her eyes pull into focus and her mind sharpened past the pain.
“We don’t have control over hardly anything. Any one of us could fall down the stairs or get hit by a car crossing the street or anything like that on any day. I can’t live in a bubble because I’m afraid of something happening, and especially because someone else is afraid for me. I understand that you’re worried about me, but I’m okay. I handled myself just fine, and my friends were with me and that was helpful, especially Bart.” At least she thought “especially Bart.” Her memories were hazy as the dance club itself. “And besides, do you think I don’t worry about you? You have the most dangerous job in the world. When you finish your training you’re going to be fighting lunatics like Gragus, and maybe this Huston jerk, too.”
Kari’s expression darkened.
“Those are all good points and I sort of, like, hate you right now for that.”
“I’m doing just fine. I’ll do my best not to be in any more altercations.”
“I hope not. We had to send Cosmette there yesterday to speak on your behalf to some important people. But like you said, we can’t control that and I guess I shouldn’t live in fear over what might happen to you.”
“There’s going to be bad things, but I don’t think they’re going to be anything like the bad things you’re going to experience. Our jobs, I mean, our roles in life or whatever, they’re too different to compare. I’ll be okay. I don’t think I’m going to go back to Detroit to go clubbing. I’m not a clubbing girl. I don’t like how I feel after it. I still feel, like, less than myself.”
“You do look a little tired. I know I woke you up, but you look more than just tired after being woken up too early. What happened? I mean, what really happened? I won’t tell anyone. Not even Taro.”
Penny stared at the image of Kari for a long moment. Then she took a deep breath and spoke.
“Well, Huston Chandler, he was like, super suspicious of me. He thought I was a spy, but Bart, he’s one of my friends up here, he helped explain that I’m not. I don’t know exactly what his background is, but this Bart seems to have something about him that Huston was, like, afraid of or something. Whatever it is, it’s very helpful. He says he has family there, too.”
“He’s basically like one of us. I’ll do some checking. I’ll let you know if I find anything not classified.”
“Okay.”
“Well, I’ll let your dad know we talked. I’ll bet he and your mom will be expecting a call pretty soon.”
“I’ll call them.”
“And be careful. I know, I know, my job is way more dangerous. But you’re important to me, and I can’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“If you really loved me, you’d have married me instead of Taro!”
Kari laughed. “Too bad for you I’m a straight girl!”
“Yes, too bad. I still love you. Tell Taro I love him, too. I’ll talk to you again soon!”
“Have a good day!”
They closed the call laughing and she set her dev—her phone aside. She needed to get dressed and run to the gym. She was glad it was always open. The front desk was automated and previous robotics teams had built several helpful spotting robots (which she did not need to use since she was not a power lifter, but impressed her nonetheless). She pulled her undies and shorts and socks on and topped it off with a tank top and sweatshirt and stepped quietly out of her room. Of course, Maddie was still asleep. She crept up to the door and slipped into her shoes, sparing one last look for her roommate’s door before stepping out the door and heading for the exit.
The sun had not yet risen as she took her first steps outside, although the horizon glowed orange over the lake. She shivered in the chilly autumn air and set out for the gym at a jog, casting an uneasy glance over her shoulder. Someone was out there with her. Watching the door. She jogged down the path. Movement behind her prompted more speed through her legs. She looked over her shoulder to see two suited figures rushing towards her and then there were voices.
“She’s running!”
“Unit three move in.”
Penny swung her way off the path onto the grass for Hampton Labs. If she was quick enough with her keycard she could get inside, hopefully they would not be able to follow her—but she was not fast enough, not nearly. Her world turned over as a body slammed into her and she grunted as she hit the ground. A man pinned her to the ground with his knee between her shoulder blades and shoved her face into the dewy grass as other suits converged on her.
“We got her, let base know we’re bringing her in,” he said.
“Will do.”
“What is this?” Penny said, struggling against their grip. “What did I do?”
“Shut up,” the man on top of her said, shoving her face back into the grass.
“This isn’t right—“
“I said shut up! Stop struggling.”
The man wrenched her arm up behind her and she heard the jingling of handcuffs. She went stiff, straining backwards to keep her arm from breaking. Tears welled up and spilled out but she bit back her sobs, she feared a spasm would anger the man behind her even more.
“No cuffs, just shove her in the back of the car.” A woman’s voice!
“You shouldn’t have run, girl,” the man said hauling her to her feet. “You shouldn’t have run.”
“What did I do?”
“Shut up.”
The man gave her a vicious shove and she nearly tumbled back to the grass. Another suited man caught her and kept his grip on her upper arm. She stumbled along beside him, finally sniffling, no longer struggling, hoping that, at the very least, no one had seen her being hauled away by a group of people wearing suits before the break of dawn. Marv counseled her to cooperate, to batten down her panic and bide her time until she could contact her embassy, and she let his voice soothe her racing heart. At least a little.
The man was eventually joined by a woman on her other side and they escorted Penny to a big, black sedan with government license plates. They ushered her into the back seat, the woman climbing in beside her, and two men sat in the front. She heard another car fire to life behind her and then the man started theirs and the two cars bounced off the curb and into the road where they drove far too swiftly through the town. She glanced at the woman beside her, a surprisingly kindly-faced woman with her brown hair pulled into a severe bun. She wore a dark suit same as the men and refused to make eye contact with Penny. Penny sighed and directed her gaze outside and watched the tree-covered hills pass by her window. The cars were going highway speeds and she wished a police officer would pull them over where she could then scream for help.
Relax. You have rights, you know. Even in America. They can’t arrest you and hold you for no reason.
That seems to be what they’re doing right now. Is this because of the Huston Chandler thing?
If it was, wouldn’t they have picked you up yesterday?
They arrested me!
That seems to be the case. You need to get in touch with the embassy. They’ll send someone to help. And here you were, promising Kari you’d avoid any more altercations.
Penny shuddered. She glanced back at the woman.
“Am I under arrest?” she asked.
“Shut up.” the woman did not look at her.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I shouldn’t be under arrest.”
“Shut up.”
Penny sealed her lips and stared at the woman in horror.
Who are these people?
Who knows? Some sort of secret police?
What do they want with me?
“I didn’t do anything to Huston Chandler.”
“Another word and I’ll tase you.”
She pulled in on herself, rubbing her shoulder where she had hit the grass when that first suit tackled her, then rubbing her arm where the other man had gripped her. She registered several other aches and cursed herself for not being in good enough shape to outrun whoever these people were.
Maybe they’re not really after me, but after Kari.
It would be exciting if it wasn’t so scary…
And painful…
She wiped her nose on her sleeve and bit back another wave of sobbing. The cars drove on, getting farther and farther from the town. They were going to the airport, for she recognized the route. She shuddered and cried in silence. The woman beside her jabbed her shoulder.
“Here.”
She glanced down, barely seeing the tissues in the woman’s hands through her tears.
“You’re not under arrest,” one of the men in the front said, his voice soft. “Don’t cry.”
“You shouldn’t have threatened to tase her,” the driver said.
“I’m not authorized to answer her questions,” the woman said. “It seemed like the best way to get her to stop asking.”
“Well, you succeeded. Congrats.”
Penny wiped the tears from her eyes and blew her nose. She remained silent. The cars slowed and turned into an industrial park. There beyond it was the little airport. Airport hangars, little warehouses, a small office building. They veered towards the small office building, its white walls tinted orange with the early morning light, a dark shadow falling across the other official-looking cars next to which hers parked. The two men in front got out and then the woman beside her. A suited man opened her door from the outside and then escorted her inside the building without touching her. There was nowhere for her to run and there were eight suits in all surrounding her.
The building was plain inside. Laminated papers with OSHA guidelines hung near the front door. A bulletin board with no bulletins hung in the hallway beyond. Otherwise nothing adorned the walls. She was led to a little room with a single overhead light and a one-way mirror on one wall. Again, she wondered what she
had done as she realized these were, in fact, some sort of secret police. They sat her down in a simple plastic chair and one of the suited men positioned himself at the door while the others continued down the hall. After a short wait, another man in a somber suit entered, his blond hair beginning to gray around his square face and his mouth set in a perpetual grimace. He sat down across the little table from her and placed a file between them.
“You’re a PMer,” he said.
She stayed silent.
“You’ve been in contact with The Best Defense.”
She remained still.
“You can’t communicate internationally without us knowing about it. As soon as we knew we had a PMer staying in this remote region we were suspicious, doubly so given the school you’re apparently attending. We know you’ve spoken to a member of The Best Defense. Why?”
Penny kept her mouth shut and leaned away from him. How was a conversation with her best friend a potential international incident? In fact, they had talked about not causing international incidents.
“We were unable to get a transcript of your conversation, so that’s why you’re here today. Who were you speaking with and why?”
She shook her head and kept her mouth closed. She knew if she did try to speak she would not be able to find her voice in the first place. Wait, did he say they were trying to get a transcript of her call with Kari?
“We can get the answers from you in all manner of ways. It’s up to you how hard you want us to work for them. I suggest you do this the easy way. We already caught you trying to run from us. With that in mind, I have no problem escalating things to get what we need.”
“I wasn’t running from you.” She was amazed her voice did not crack.
“We had to chase you down and force you into a car.”
“I jog to the gym every morning, and then people were chasing me in the dark for no reason. I was scared.”
“Scared.” The man leaned back in his chair and snorted at her. “Like I’m supposed to believe that. Are you with The Best Defense or the Power Unit?”
“Neither,” Penny clung to her confusion, if she did not her fear would erase her voice once again. “I just graduated high school.”
“Enough with the cover story, and enough with the lies. My patience will run out quickly.”
“I want to call my embassy.”
“Request denied.”
“The people bringing me here said I’m not under arrest.”
“Technically that is correct.”
Penny crossed her arms and did her best to meet the man’s gaze.
“Then I want to call my embassy. They will give me a lawyer and we can speak to each other that way.”
The man stood up, kicking his chair back so hard it banged off the wall behind him and he leaned forward over the table with his lips pulled back from his perfect, white teeth.
“You little bitch, I will torture you until you give me what I want. Before you leave here you will be begging me to work with us. You will come crawling across the floor to kiss my shoes, begging to tell me every last little secret you have. Tell me what I want to know now or you’ll be sorry, sorrier than you could ever have dreamed you’d ever be.”
Penny blinked back at him, trying to push her heart back down from her throat. There was no way he could make good on his threats. It was very illegal. She had rights. She had demanded a lawyer and he was denying her one. This would make for a very interesting story to tell Professor Fairchild, and Professor Fairchild was sure to know journalism professors and maybe even actual journalists who would love to hear this story. If she was ever able to get out from there.
“I—“ her voice broke and she had to swallow again before she could squeak out any further words. “I want to talk… to someone from my… my embassy.”
As she watched the man wrestle his rage back down beneath the surface of his skin she wondered if this was the person Kari told her she was destined to meet. Certainly he had the power to change her life forever.
“How old are you?”
She blinked at the question. He asked again, his voice louder, his words slower.
“How old are you?”
“18.”
He flipped open his file and cursed.
“How old are you, really?”
“I’m 18 and seven months.”
He closed the file and slammed his hand down on the table, making Penny jump from her chair and fall to the floor. When she looked back up the man was pointing at the mirror.
“Ramirez! My office!”
And he stormed from the room. She glanced at the suited man still standing next to the door. He made no move to help her up. He did not even acknowledge her presence. She stood up and rubbed her hands on her hips before sitting back down. The file was still on the table. Was that her file? This secret police force was keeping a secret file on her? She felt at once special and persecuted. As much as she wanted to know what was in that file, she knew they were watching her through that mirror. Did they have a camera set up, too? Surely they were recording her. They would doubtlessly try to analyze everything she had done and said. She folded her hands in her lap and stared down at them, then closed her eyes and did something she normally did not: she prayed. She wanted to get out of there unharmed, She wanted to see Delaney again. And her friends and Professor Fairchild. And her family, and Kari.
If only Kari was like me. Then we could get married and I could live with her in Defenders’ HQ.
It’s a real shame.
She wished Marv was there with her so she could frown at him, so sarcastic was his response.
The door opened several minutes later. The woman and one of the men from the car entered. She picked up the interrogator’s chair and pulled it around to sit beside her while the man leaned back against the table in front of her.
“We’re sorry for how we picked you up,” the man said. “We should have identified ourselves and asked you to come with us.”
“We panicked when you ran,” the woman said.
“Who are you?” Penny asked.
They glanced at the mirror.
“I’m Agent Ramirez,” said the man, “and this is Agent Willard. We’re FBI.”
“FBI? Why did you, ano, pick me up?”
“Like Agent Marcotte told you earlier, we began keeping track of you as soon as you enrolled at the Institute,” Agent Willard said. “Your call with The Best Defense this morning triggered the necessity of this interrogation.”
Because Kari called her this morning? That was why she was picked up? What about the Huston Chandler thing? They did not even seem to know about that.
“You really are only 18, aren’t you?” Agent Ramirez said, snapping Penny’s attention back to the agents.
“Yes, only 18.”
“Why are you in contact with The Best Defense?” Agent Willard asked.
Penny’s mouth snapped closed. She wondered if the Power Unit kept tabs on Americans living in Port Matthew this way. How many foreigners were arrested and interrogated on her home island? Was she truly from a fascist country? America seemed rather fascist to her at that moment.
“It’s in your best interest to answer us,” Agent Willard said.
“I want to—I want to speak to someone—someone in my—my embassy.”
The two agents exchanged glances. Agent Willard sighed. She put her hand on the back of Penny’s chair and leaned closer to her.
“You technically are not under arrest, but Agent Marcotte really wants to detain you until you tell us what we need to know. We don’t know exactly what he has in store for you, but I would advise cooperation. If you cooperate with us, we’ll cooperate with you.”
Penny glanced at the mirror. Agent Marcotte, that was the man’s name? Agent Marcotte was very angry. These two were much nicer, but she still did not trust them. They did tackle her and shove her into the back of that car and threaten to tase her. Government agents! After her! It would be exciting if it was not so terrifying. She shifted in her seat away from Agent Willard.
“I want to talk to someone from my embassy.”
“That’s enough,” came Agent Marcotte’s voice through a speaker. “She’s made her choice. Haul her to the chamber.”
Penny glanced at the two agents, and then Agent Willard stood with a sigh and kicked her chair over. Penny cried out as she sprawled back to the floor and Agent Willard pulled her up to her feet and shoved her against the wall bracing her arm across Penny’s back, with her other hand in Penny’s hair pressing her cheek to the painted cinder block wall. She felt it was a very familiar situation and a part of her wished she had been able to drink a little champagne first.
“Little girls should know better than to resist arrest and obstruct justice,” Agent Willard growled at Penny. “And foreign spies should know they need to cover their tracks better.”
“They make spies younger and prettier every day, don’t they?” Agent Marcotte came into the room. He stepped into Penny’s field of view and smiled at her. “Now, we’re going to have to do this the hard way. If all you can do is whine about how you want to talk to your embassy you’re going to have a very hard rest of your life. Get her out of my sight—“
Commotion from the hallway stole everyone’s attention, giving Penny enough room to look behind her. Shouts from the hallway beyond the closed door were silenced by explosive flashes of some sort, Penny wincing each time they fired, then the door was torn free of its frame and shiny, slight Cosmette floated into the room. Her face held the promise of becoming a beautiful woman, but the metallic “skin” covering her had kept her in her 14-year-old body long enough for it to appear this would be her permanent state. With the splendor of the universe reflecting off her metallic skin and the radiance of a sunny summer day in her eyes, she had long since come to enjoy her new state of being.
“Agent Marcotte, what a nice surprise,” she said, floating further upwards to look down on him. “I really hope this isn’t what it really looks like.”
“You are not supposed to be here,” Agent Marcotte grumbled. He motioned for Agents Willard and Ramirez to stand down from Penny. “This is an internal matter concerning national security.”
“It always is.”
She smiled sweetly at the agent as she floated over to Penny. She watched the half-Asian girl straighten her sweatshirt and then floated down to her eye level.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
“They didn’t hurt you?”
“Well, they tackled me—“
“She ran!” Agent Willard shouted, then quailed when Cosmette’s attention fell upon her. “She resisted…”
“A teenage girl with no powers and no official ties to The Best Defense who’s only here to study,” Cosmette said with a sigh. “Honestly, aren’t you supposed to be intelligence? Well, you are the FBI, so maybe not. At least you’re not the CIA, those guys are morons.”
“Get her out of here, Cosmette,” Agent Marcotte said. “We’re going to be keeping an eye on her.”
“If you want to contact her, there is a right way to do it,” Cosmette said, setting her feet on the floor and putting her arm around Penny.
“Like through the embassy?” Penny asked with a bright smile.
“Yes, exactly, like through the embassy.” Cosmette smiled back at her, equaling her girlish enthusiasm.
Penny could not help herself and smirked at the agents as Cosmette led her past them. Before they reached the door, Cosmette turned back to them.
“Oh, before we go, we should probably discuss how this will go over with the press.”
“It won’t,” Agent Marcotte said. “We’ll put a gag order on them.”
“You can’t do that with international or independent agencies. But it’s fine if you don’t want this to get out. There are things we can talk over in Detroit to heal the harm you may have done to the person of Miss Penny Stark.”
“That’s fine. If you’re looking to set her up with immunity that’s fine, we won’t argue against it. That will help us keep better tabs on her.”
“Of course. It’s only rational to keep tabs on any foreign nationals staying in your country.”
“Just keep this out of the press.”
“Okay. Tell Stevens I said “Hi!””
Penny glanced back at the agents in the room as Cosmette led her out. They did not look particularly pleased but no one glared at her, no one shouted, they simply began straightening up as she rounded the corner and walked down the hallway and out of the building.
“Do you have a way to get back to the Institute?” Cosmette asked as they stepped out into the open air. The sun had risen and the sky was a clear, brilliant blue. Penny took a deep breath. The air smelled like freedom and she stretched her arms up over her head.
“No, I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking about that at all.”
“It makes sense that you weren’t,” Cosmette said with a smile. “Even if you somehow got them to release you or let you talk to Patty at the embassy they would definitely have stranded you here. I can get you back quickly, you know, if you want me to.”
Penny’s eyes sparkled as she smiled at Cosmette.
“You mean…”
Cosmette looked up and pointed at the sky.
“That way? Of course!”
Penny nodded and Cosmette stepped behind her and wrapped her arms around the half-Asian girl.
“Hold on.”
They soared upwards and Penny squealed with delight at the air rushing past her face. Cosmette rose and dove and rolled through the air, taking Penny further and further into infinity.
Follow The Long Winter into #19 International Incidents part two here.