Mom, I'm Bulletproof

Chapter 14: Origin Story, part 1

"I'm sorry," the cop said, "but we don't usually let people go walking around inside an Ultramax prison."

"I don't need the grand tour," Amy said. "I just want to ask him some questions."

"This is one of our special cases. Do you have any idea how dangerous this guy is?"

"He shot a laser beam into my heart," Amy said. "I'm the one that took him down so you could get him in here."

He glared at her.

"Do you not like me?" she asked.

"A bunch of the other guys all want to do you, but I think you're trouble. You're eventually going to accidentally hurt or kill an innocent bystander flying around the way you do."

"I get that," Amy said, pushing the thought of cops talking about "doing" her out of her mind. "The people who gave me my powers warned me against accidentally hurting people. It's, like, a major part of their philosophy."

"I can't guarantee I can get you an audience with the prisoner, but I will pass your request along, all right?"

"That would be awesome," Amy said. "Thank you so much."

The cop held a clipboard with an attached form in front of him, reading out loud as he jotted down notes on it.

"Prisoner is Ygor Davidovitch, also known as the 'Hater,'" the cop said. "Requesting an audience with the prisoner is Amy Dorcas McBloom... your middle name is Dorcas?"

"Yeah, so?"

He shrugged. "And the purpose of your visit is?"

"Information."

He wrote this down. "I'll pass your request along to the warden. You'll get a confirmation either by phone or by email in a few days."

She stopped herself from thanking him again, not wanting to come across as needy. Instead, she only nodded.

* * * *

Amy stepped outside of the brand-new Massachusetts Ultramax Prison, glad to be in the fresh air again. For all the criminals she had turned over to the police, she never really followed up on what happened to them afterward, except for the occasional news report about their incarceration.

Criminals with superhuman attributes ended up at the Ultramax, with heavily armed guards, such as the cop Amy had just talked to, as well as advanced technology that allegedly kept those with enhanced strength and more safely shielded from society, unable to harm anyone. Amy wondered what really behind those walls.

Somewhere inside that building, the Hater was being kept, and the Hater might have an answer for her. When he first mentioned the Temple to Amy, it stirred her curiosity, and she started investigating however she could, eventually leading her to meet Future Girl and Dreamsmith. One thing she hadn't yet done, though, was go back to the Hater, and try to find out what he had meant when he mentioned it.

It sounded like he spoke with someone else's voice when he mentioned the Temple, Amy remembered. He was his only other lead.

A couple of other cops stepped out of the building, eyeing Amy and checking out her uniform. She smiled and waved at them, and then flew upward. She couldn't be sure, but it sounded like one of the cops said "freak" as she departed.

As she flew from central Massachusetts towards Boston, Amy was on alert to watch out for helicopters and other obstacles in the air around her, even though avoiding these things were like instinct to her by now. The cop's comments about her flying brought back a lot of memories.

Memories of falling...

Memories of struggling to survive...

Memories of the desert.

# # # # 

Next: The birthday girl.