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Heroes Beneath Us

"Riots have erupted across the Midwest as news of an unregistered super was torn away from his parents. The thirteen year old who had the ability to sense people's intentions was seen kicking and screaming as a group of heavily armed men, who appeared to be soldiers flashing the now easily recognizable DAC badge. Several people tried to interfere, but were quickly pushed back. The child's current location is currently unknown, though the department has issued a statement that he is being treated well...." Floyd Givens, The National Report, October 20, 2020

Chapter 6 Somewhere over Washington October 20, 2020

The plane rumbled slightly as a gust of wind blew over it. A sudden wind storm had hit the coast a few hours ago and was causing for a bumpy ride. Most of the one-hundred and nineteen passengers ignored it, it was just turbulence on another boring flight from Spokane to Seattle.

While the flight was boring, the day had been very stressful for Roman who sat up in first class. He had a cup of gin in one hand and his orders in the other which he had to quickly print off back at his hotel in Detroit. The orders had come in almost immediately after he had sent Headshot on his way back to Washington for assignment.

Roman hadn't been happy about that. He wanted to take down Supers, not recruit them and wave money in their face. He especially didn't want to go suck up to one of the few Supers that really did deserve to die. The government had tried to get the deer in the past, but ended up losing lives. They appeased to him, promising amnesty for the discontinuation of his murdering.

"We don't negotiate with terrorists." Roman spoke into his cup that was mostly empty. He sucked down the last bit of his alcoholic beverage and set down the cup hard enough for a single piece of ice to bounce out and land on the tray. He scooped it up and deposited it back into the cup.

"You all right boss?" Roman's colleague, a bright eyed Husky by the name Collin Miller asked him. The dog, more like a puppy by the way he was always at Roman's heel, had been concerned at his superior's increasingly foul mood.

"I'm ffffine." Roman said slowly. He didn't want to snap at the boy, he had nothing to do with the fact that the department was having him run around the country like some messenger boy, picking up Supers and offering them jobs. They didn't need job, they needed a cool cell.

Collin looked away and shifted his own cup, filled with orange juice, between his hands nervously. He had joined the Department of Affected Citizens task force, not out malice like many of the other agents who filled the rest of first class, but because he wanted to help. He didn't want to see them all arrested and corralled into pens, that was not the country he lived in. He had hoped that by being in the task force, he could make subtle changes. That was the reason why he had been allowed to join. Normally he would have been assigned a desk job, but Mr. Carver had personally put him there.

Roman looked back at Collin who kept his eyes outside the window where he watched the clouds roll by. He didn't mean to sound so off putting, he wasn't like that. Work was just stressful at the moment. "Where are you from?" He asked to try and get a friendly conversation going, he liked the idea of not only being a colleague, but a friend with those on his team. How could a team work together efficiently if no one like each other?

"Montana." Collin quickly replied with a kick in his voice. "Whitefish."

Roman nodded. "I think I've heard of that place." He hadn't really. "What's it like there."

"Well, it is Montana so that should give you an idea."

"Rural?"

"Rural, small, close to the Canadian border, but nice." Collin set his chair up straight. He had it leaned back a bit. He had originally intended to catch a few winks on the flight, but the turbulence had ruined that idea. "Lived there my entire childhood and then got a scholarship to the state university where I studied law."

"Why law?" Roman asked and put up his tray as the seatbelt light came on. They were on their final descent, Roman remembered the pilot making the announcement a few minutes earlier. "It hardly seems like the thing for someone from a rural town in Montana to go for."

"I blame my mom." Collin snickered. "She used to watch all kinds of crime dramas and I would..." He went quiet, his eyes going distant.

"What?"

"It's nothing... Well." He rested his head back. "It's something, but it's personal." He gave a weak smile. "Sorry, but... I don't feel like talking anymore."

"It's fine." Roman looked down at his watch. He would be arriving at his brother's house a little later than usual and he wondered if he should get something to eat before then. He didn't want to keep him up by making something in his kitchen, though the appeal of eating a home cooked meal was enticing. Moving around so much had forced Roman to eat nothing but fast food for the past week and he just didn't feel healthy. He was sure his brother wouldn't mind if he made a sandwich or something.

The plane landed not one hour later and Roman collected his team outside of the airport.

"It's going to be a week before the op. We don't have the target yet, but I'll get that soon, but until then, we wait." He held onto his copy of his orders. Each person had one, but he still debriefed them. "That's a week of downtime we have. Department has their own people doing recon, so we're just on standby."

The team listened closely. It was eight individuals in total. Roman had worked with them all before, minus Collin and he knew that they were trusted individuals.

"I want everyone to shoot me a text or a call each morning and evening to check in, but other than that, you're free to explore the city until I get a go ahead from above." He clapped his hands together to dismiss them. The group broke away into smaller groups as everyone split into their own little gangs. They each had a government card that was to be used for food and a hotel room, they weren't restricted to what kind of room though and Roman had a good idea that there were going to be some large bills when this was over.

Roman got his own taxi after he said his quick goodbyes. Normally he would go with the rest of his team, but this was too good of an opportunity for him to get back with his brother and catch up. It had been way too long and he needed this. He was still mad about his last mission and this was the perfect way to cool down.

Roman hailed a taxi and gave the address. The driver, a talkative raccoon that smelled of old cigarettes talked the entire and didn't seem to notice that Roman wasn't listening. He was reading over his orders. He hadn't gotten a good look at them before so he was using the time to catch up. It was printed out like a word document, just a boring piece of paper to anyone else so there was no chance of the driver having any interest in trying to read it.

They were simple orders telling him to relocate his team to relocated to Seattle and await for further instructions. It highlighted that there was going to be an extraction mission in a populated area that was highly visible to the public. There was nothing else. There were several possible reasons for this. One, the DAC didn't know exactly who they were going after and just wanted a team on standby. Another possibility is that the target is a high priority and information is a need to know. The target may also be aware that he is being watched and may bolt if he suspected anything. There were really a lot of possibilities now that Roman gave it thought, but it made him uneasy to not know anything. He would just have to wait for the rest of the orders to come in.

Roman stowed away his orders in his backpack. He had a good amount of luggage that he always brought with him wherever he went. His job involved a lot of travel so he liked to carry home with him. He had a personal laptop in addition to his work one and some clothes, lots of clothes. He had uniforms, body armor since he was issued his own that he was required to have ready. There was a sidearm in a lock box and some extra ammunition. It was a pain to get through security since the DAC was still relatively new and his government ID wasn't in all of the systems. The head of airport security had a long talk over the phone with someone back in Washington before he begrudgingly let him and his team through.

Roman arrived at the address he had pulled from a computer earlier. He immediately noticed the color scheme of the buildings and was a little off put. It was too jolly for the man who was often quite tense. He was sued to the grays, blues and whites that the government was filled with.

The husky looked away to pay the driver. He unloaded his two suitcases, one filled with personal effects and the other with work material. He shouldered his bag and walked into the building.

It was quiet. The sun was going down and everyone was either settling down for the night or going out to enjoy it, leaving Roman to pull his nearly eighty pounds of luggage up the stairs. He really wished that there was an elevator and he was sweating and panting by the time he reached the correct floor. He took a moment to catch his breath before he rapped on the door twice.

There was no noise for a moment and Roman wondered if he had arrived when his brother had going out for something. No, his brother was almost obsessive compulsive about being on time for things. He would wait all day for a mail package to make sure he was there if it came.

To confirm Roman's thoughts, the was a quick clank of the lock and the door opened.

He looked different. The young red panda that had tears in his eyes had hadn't bothered to bring an umbrella to the funeral was older. The cub fat that had once rounded his face was gone, giving him a more toned and chiseled look. He was still young, he could tell that, but he was still different. Roman almost didn't recognize him.

"Hello." Roman raised his hand in a wave. It was awkward, it had been so long. He didn't know if he should hug him or give him a handshake. Deal with family had always been awkward for him. "It's uhh... good to see you Dave." He gave a genuine smile.

"Yeah." Dave replied and stepped back to let his brother in. He noted the luggage and helped by taking the larger of the two suitcases. "Welcome to my home." He said after they walked the ten feet to get to the center of his studio apartment. "It's not much, but it's home."

Roman set his luggage, including his back back onto the ground next to the wall so it wouldn't block the walkway. "At least you have a place to call home. My apartment back in DC is pretty much just storage for my shit now." He had a small apartment, larger than this one where he had lived before he got his job with DAC. He didn't really like it, it was cheap and always seemed to have something wrong with it, but the longer he was away, the more he realized just how much he missed having a place to call home.

"You hungry?" Dave asked and quickly left the awkward silence behind to go to the kitchen. "I don't have much, but I can cook up something." He ducked his head into the fridge. "I have some..." He shuffled through the drawers and Roman walked around to get a better view of what was in there. There really wasn't much. Roman imagined that with school, Dave didn't have a lot of time to cook much.

"I could use something to eat." Roman watched as his brother sorted through various half eaten take out boxes and Styrofoam containers to get to the actual fresh produce. He saw some deli meats. "You have bread?"

"I think I do." He looked up long enough to point a a pantry. "Try that one there."

Roman checked the pantry and there was a few slices of rye left. He grabbed it and Dave pulled out the deli meats. Sandwiches were made quickly and the two found themselves on the couch happily talking over their food. Roman never imagined that the gap of years of separation would be mended over sandwiches.