The Misfits

Cassidy

Jaden’s new van got good gas milage and they stopped only twice for gas and to get a charge, and to pick up drinks and snacks.

They arrived around three in the afternoon and Jaden parked several blocks away so they wouldn’t be as conspicuous. This way, they walked to and from the address and were less likely to be noticed in the neighborhood they were in.

Since Gemma was staying with the van, Jaden wasn’t worried about it.

The three of them that were going in didn’t look quite homeless, but definitely looked like they were at home in the streets.

Cass led the way, having memorized the address. As they approached the building, Cass saw two guys, probably dealers or muscle, standing outside what looked like an old apartment building. It was only three stories and looked like it was or should have been condemned years earlier.

Cass made to go between the two guys to the door there, but one of the guys held out and arm and said, “And where do you think you’re going, girl?”

She pointed to the door and said, “In there.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, from the looks of it, you’re not paid to think. I’d be surprised if you actually had an original thought.”

The man frowned as his partner snickered. “Whatever. You’re still not going in.”

“Look, I have business with Jose. So, ask him, or I’ll simply go through you, and then explain why his boy needs to go to the hospital. You pick.”

“Why you little…” he said, then swung an open hand to slap her.

She expected something like this, and she could have moved, but didn’t.

Cass did two things very quickly. First, she thickened the air between the two of them, causing his hand to naturally slow. Then she held up her arm and made the air in front of it almost solid.

This caused his hand to stop just before it touched her, but it looked like she blocked him with no effort at all. Her arm didn’t even move when he hit her.

Then she stepped back with her right leg and kicked up between his legs. She didn’t care if she telegraphed it, or if he blocked it, it wouldn’t matter.

He managed to turn slightly, catching it on his thigh, but that did nothing to stop Cass’s telekinetic kick. The man bent over, retching, unable to stand upright.

Cass looked at the man’s younger partner, who held his hands up in surrender. “I’ll let Jose know that he probably needs to go to the hospital,” she said, walking by the two men at the door.’

She went through the door and the smell hit her. It was an acrid smell of chemicals, mixed with the smell of human waste and unwashed bodies. Not a pleasant thing.

Cass wanted to hold her nose but didn’t think it would help.

Wanda followed Cass, and Jaden brought up the rear. Now that they were inside, they had no idea where to go.

Cass figured that Jose would be on the bottom floor since he could escape if the police came.

They walked through the main hall and several doors were open. Some places looked abandoned; others had people passed out on bare mattresses. Several had drug paraphernalia lying about.

A couple were having sex in one, oblivious to anything else. By the look, Cass thought they were high on something. Very high.

They reached the end, not finding Jose, or anyone to ask really, so now they were left with knocking on doors.

A large man in a grimy wife beater answered the first door. He was over six feet tall and obviously worked out a lot. Probably with the help of a lot of steroids. “What?” he asked.

“I’m looking for Jose,” she said.

“Are you now. And what do you want with him?”

“A friend told me he could provide me with something… special.”

The man laughed and looked her up and down. “You’re a bit young to be a cop. He might give you something special, but I imagine it might break a little girl like you,” he said, grabbing his crotch, laughing again.

“Yeah, not that. I need a certain thing that will let me get back at a guy who did this to us,” she said, indicating her face, and that of Wanda and Jaden.

The man looked at each. “Got roughed up a bit. Pimp do that to you?”

“Something like that. Are you Jose and are you going to sell me what I need?”

“Naw, I’m no Jose, and I can’t say if he’ll sell you anything. But come in and ask him yourself,” he said, stepping out of the way.

The three went inside and the man closed the door.

“Jose, you got customers,” he called out.

A man came out who was in his mid-thirties, dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. He was around Jaden’s height and wiry, had a shaved head and was covered in tattoos. “Well, well, and what can I do for you girls?” he asked with a thick accent.

“I’m looking for some drugs,” Cass said.

“Um, I’m not a street dealer chicken. If you want drugs, walk down the street in any direction and you’ll find all you need.”

Cass shook her head. “I was told you can supply me with a special kind of drug. One that will allow me to do bad things to the guy who did this to us.”

Once again Cass indicated their faces, then pulled up her shirt enough to show her still bruised side.

Jose looked at her, obviously not looking at the bruises. “Well, we might be able to work something out. You’re too young to be cops, and asking me for illegal drugs would be entrapment, so… you’re not cops.”

Cass shook her head. “Not cops.”

“Can I get you something to drink?”

“Sure,” Cass said, knowing that whatever he brought would most likely be laced with what she was after. She had told the others to accept, but not drink anything. Just pretend to, then act like it knocked you out unless tried anything right away.

Cass wanted to act like victims to get information.

Jose came back with three beers in dark bottles thankfully. It would be easy to fake that.

“Cheers,” he said, holding his up while handing one to his partner.

Cass tipped hers up, pretending to drink. The others followed suit.

“So, what is it exactly that you are looking for?”

“Something to knock someone out. Put them to sleep so we can take them somewhere and do, well, whatever we want. A little revenge,” Cass said, swaying a bit. “Wow, this beer is strong. So, do you have some?”

Jose chuckled. “I do indeed. It’s quality stuff. Fast acting. I’d give you a little sample, but,” he laughed, “I already did.”

Cass stumbled a bit, dropping the beer on the already filthy floor. They would think she thought she was drunk and wouldn’t check the beer.

Jaden and Wanda did the same.

“Relax girls. We’ll have a good time, which you probably won’t remember, and them maybe I’ll give you some and let you go.”

The man behind them laughed. “Or we can make’m junkies and sell’m for sex. I wanna test’m before we decide. The redhead is first. I always want to know if they are true redheads if you get my meaning.”

“Yes Andre, I get your meaning. I’ll take the blond. We’ll save the dark haired one for last and do her together, shall we?”

“Okay boss.”

Cass went to one knee, putting a hand to the floor. She wondered if her tetanus shot was up to date.

Jose came over and put a hand under her arm to help her up. She made it look like she was trying to struggle but didn’t really. He took her into another room, sat her on the bed and put a handcuff on her wrist that was attached to a chain attached to the wall.

Andre held Jaden and Wanda under an arm and Jose took Jaden to another bed and chained her while Andre did the same to Wanda.

“Feel free to start. I’m gonna get some X and I’ll be back,” Jose told Andre.

Cass knew these were bad men who had done bad things. It sounded like besides drugs, they were into sex trafficking as well.

As soon as Jose left, Andre started to undo his pants, and Cass focused on an invisible fist and punched Andre in the throat, then put an invisible hand over his mouth. He grabbed his throat and made gurgling noises while turning purple, then blue before falling over, unmoving.

Jose came back in the room, already in his boxers and looked at Andre. Cass levitated Wanda off the bed, figuring Jose would freak out. Instead, she was taken by surprise.

“Well, we have a special one here. I’ll get a bonus for you. Sex will be nothing compared to the place you’ll be going.”

Cass dropped Wanda in surprise.

Jose moved to Cass and pulled out a gun from the nightstand next to her. He put the gun to Cass’s forehead and said, “Try something and your friend dies.”

“Take her? Take her where?” Cass asked.

“Oh, you want to know? There are people in this world who have powers. Freaks. And there’s a place who collects freaks like her. They pay very well. Much more than I’ll get for selling you into sex. Although you might fetch a good price,” he said, reaching for her breast.

While he was talking, Cass had turned the locks in all of their cuffs, freeing them, and now, she stopped his hand from touching her. “I told you not to try anything,” he said squeezing the trigger.

The hammer on the gun fell but stopped before it hit the firing pin.

Jose looked at the gun and checked the safety, which was off. He pulled the trigger again and the hammer went back, then fell again without striking the firing pin.

Cass twisted the gun around with her mind, hearing what sounded like Jose’s finger breaking in the process. She sat up and pulled her hand free of the cuff, enjoying the surprised look on this face.

He had to let the gun go and was holding his hand with the broken finger, so Cass floated the gun down between his eyes.

“It works just fine for me, so unless you want the bullet between the eyes, you better start talking.”

“About what?” he whined.

“These girls with special powers you sell. Who do you sell them to? How do you contact them?” Cass asked.

He didn’t answer so Cass shoved the gun into his head harder. Jose still didn’t answer so she moved the gun to the side of his arm and pulled the trigger. It was a simple graze, but Cassidy knew how bad it hurt.

Jose cried out and tried to turn and run but Cass stopped him. He was whimpering but still didn’t talk.

Cass whacked him in the forehead with the gun, then moved it to his crotch. “I’m not sure this will kill you, but I’m pretty sure it’ll hurt a shit ton. Your call. Talk or lose a testicle or two.”

“Wait! No. No. I call a number and tell them what I have and deliver the person to them.”

“Where?” Jaden asked.

“A town in South Carolina. It’s a small town and just a drop point. That’s it.”

Cassidy’s phone rang. She took it and tossed it to Jaden, who answered it. After a brief conversation, Jaden hung up and asked, “When you make arrangements, when do you deliver?”

“When it’s convenient for me. As long as they get them, they don’t care,” Jose answered.

“Why?” Cass asked Jaden.

“Where’s your phone?” Jaden asked him without answering Cass.

“Table in the other room,” he said.

Jaden went to get the phone and came back. “What number?” she asked.

He told her and she said, “I’m going to call it. Tell them you have a person. Make up whatever you want. You’ll deliver her in thirteen days. No more, no less. Got it? You screw this up and they won’t be able to get to you before my friend here shoots your balls off, and I’ll make sure they find you stuffed into your fridge in little pieces.”

“F-fine,” he said.

“You’ll end up killed or captured by them anyways. It’ll be your funeral.” Jaden called the number and held the phone up to his ear. Someone answered and he said, “It’s me, Jose. I’ve got another one for you.” A pause. “Yeah. She makes things float somehow.” Another pause. “Yeah, I found out before she was sampled. She’s intact. I’ll keep her drugged until delivery.” A pause. “Okay. Two weeks. No, wait. Thirteen days. I have another delivery around there and it’ll be easier if I do both at once.”

He glanced at Jaden. “Yeah, same price as always. Oh, I’d say about fifteen or sixteen, I guess. I didn’t ask.” He nodded. “Okay, I’ll be at the meeting place at normal time. See ya then.”

Jose nodded and Jaden hung up the phone.

“So, give me a rundown or how a meeting works,” Cass said.

Jose told them how they met, where they met, and what time they met.

“Anything else I should know?”

He shook his head.

“You’re sure?” Cass asked, pushing the gun into his groin.

“Yes! Yes. That’s it.”

“Okay, good,” Cass said, moving the gun and hitting him in the temple with it. His eyes rolled back in his head.

Cass let go and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. She picked him up and put him on the bed, then took the handcuff and put it around his wrist. If someone came in, it would have been too easy to get the man out, so she bent the end of the cuff that stuck out the back end so using a key wouldn’t do anything. The cuff would tighten, but not loosen. It would have to be cut off to get him out.

Wanda ripped a sheet and tied it around his head, gagging him.

“Let’s go,” Cass said.

They went into the other room where Cass spotted the beer bottles. “Grab those,” she said. “We don’t want to leave prints.”

They went into the kitchen, wiped down the bottles and threw them away. Using the towel, Cass looked around, finding money and drugs. All the drugs went into the sink, washed down with chemicals from under the sink.

Cass wasn’t sure about the money.

Jaden said, “It’s blood money. Take it, even if you give it to charity, this scum shouldn’t have it. Drugs, human trafficking, and whatever else he’s into.”

Cass put it into a trash bag and handed it to Wanda. Not finding anything else, Cass said, “Okay, let’s go.”

They left the apartment, shutting the door behind them. Cass used her power to lock all the doors so no one could just walk in. Nearing the door, Cass passed the stairs and stopped.

“What?” Wanda asked.

“I’ve got a bad feeling. A hunch.” She started up the stairs and the other two followed. A man was walking the hall on the second floor.

Cass guessed gunshots were normal here since this guy didn’t look concerned at all. He spotted Cassidy but didn’t raise the gun he was holding. She guessed the three of them didn’t look like much of a threat.

“Jose said we were to come up here to join t he other party girls,” she said.

The guy examined all three of them and said, “You wanna party with me first?”

“Sure,” Cass said, doing her impression of Darth Vader, choking him, while yanking the gun from his hands. He passed out and Cass dropped him.

“Party till you drop, eh?” Jaden said, laughing.

They started opening doors. Behind each door was a room containing three or four girls, ranging from around twelve to twenty. Most seemed to have been abused in one form or another. Several seemed to be drugged or on drugs, provided of course by Jose or his men.

Those they had to leave. The others who could walk, Wanda escorted downstairs.

She stopped at the door, looking out. The two guys were still there, but the one that Cass hurt was sitting.

Wanda caused vines to grow from the patches of grass to each side of the stairs, grabbing the men and wrapping around them, pulling them aside.

Wanda opened the door and let out the girls, telling them to go home, go to the hospital, or go to the police. Or all of the above.

Cass and Jaden went to the third floor where Cass choked out another man in the hall before going room to room. Each room was occupied by two or three people. A female victim and a male or two, usually doing unspeakable things to the poor girls.

Cass was fed up with this, and although didn’t approve of vigilantism, she started hurting people so that they would still be here when the police arrived.

The poor girls who could leave, Jaden took downstairs, while Cass went back through, breaking legs and ankles so they couldn’t leave, plus fingers, just because.

A few truly horrible acts got ruptured testicles, or members that were bent in unnatural ways, only to be fixed by surgery. Even then they might not work again.

By the time she was done, it was a cacophony of moans, groans, and screams.

Cassidy held back. What she really wanted to do, and could have easily, was kill them all, but as evil as all these men were, she wasn’t sure if she could live with all the deaths on her hands.

She was pretty sure she had killed Andre, but he was threatening Wanda.

Cass went down to the second floor and broke the leg of the guy passed out. He woke up screaming and then passed out again.

Wanda and Jaden were waiting for her when she came down. All the girls scattered, and it was just the two waiting.

The three walked out and Cass broke two more legs before they left. Walking back to the van, Gemma didn’t look worried and said, “So?”

“Even better than we hoped. We got the drug dealer, who lost his drugs and money, we freed, what, thirty girls being held, waiting to become victims, and another ten or so who were being victimized. Oh, and as an added bonus, I think we have a lead on the new Facility.”

Gemma was surprised at it all, but her jaw dropped at the last piece of information.

“Which relates to the call I took,” Jaden explained. “Myra called to tell you there was another email sent and the boy said things have changed so he changed the date of his attempted escape to two weeks. It was sent yesterday, so that’s why I told you thirteen days.”

“So, everything has to be figured out and ready to go in thirteen days,” Cass said, sighing.

“That doesn’t leave us much time, especially when we still don’t know if this other group is really part of the Facility, or where it is,” Gemma said.

“Let’s find a pay phone and then get on the road,” Cass said. “I need to make a call and don’t want to do it from my phone.”

Jaden looked at her like she was crazy. “Are there even any payphones still around?”

“I hope so. I’m not going far until I make this call,” Cass told her.

Jaden found a payphone and Cass made an anonymous call to the police to report the site of human trafficking ring, with several injuries and a lot of girls who need help. Cass hung up when they asked for her information and wiped off the phone to remove her fingerprints.

She had Jaden move to a location where they would know that the police responded, but far enough they wouldn’t be involved. Once the police cars started arriving, Jaden left, and they started their drive back home.

Cass called Myra to let her know that they were okay and, on their way, back. Myra told her now that several emails had come in, she was better able to pin down a location of where they were coming from: A small town called Brighton, where there were several areas with crops, or once crap land.

Several were prior plantations back in the 1800s.

She couldn’t be more specific than that.

Cass asked her to look up a town called Marshall and see where it was in relation to Brighton. She heard some typing and Myra responded with, “It’s close. Maybe a half hour drive. Thirty, forty miles from center to center.”

“That’s where the meet to drop us off is. So it seems that the place is where we’re looking for. Now all we have to do is find the actual Facility.”

“I’m going with,” Myra said.

Cass wanted to tell the girl no, but she could tell that Myra wasn’t going to be left out. “We’ll talk about it later,” Cass told her.

“Cass, I’m going. This isn’t up for debate –”

Cass interrupted her. “I get it. I do. We’ll talk when I get back. I’m not saying no.”

“Fine. Have a safe trip.”

“Love you sweet pea,” Cass told her.

“Love you too,” Myra said sullenly.

They were a little later returning than originally expected, but that was because they waited for the police, and Jaden took her time driving back.

Myra, with Alex in tow, and Harley, met them when they returned.

Harley ran between the four of them, nosing them in greetings. Alex hugged his sister and Jaden, while Myra hugged Cass, and then after hesitating, Gemma.

“I need a shower,” Cass told Myra. “If you want to talk after, come find me.”

Cass thanked Wanda and Jaden for helping, and Gemma for being there in case anything went wrong, then went up to her room to shower.

It was harder with a cast on her arm, and it took her longer to do simple things like wash her body and hair.

Drying off wasn’t any easier, but thankfully clothes weren’t too bad.

When she came out of the bathroom, still trying to dry her hair, Myra was on her bed, waiting for her.

Cass noticed she had started dressing a little more feminine. Tonight she was wearing a nighty and pajama shorts.

Myra saw Cass struggling and said, “Sit and let me help you.”

She dried Cass’s hair, then brushed it out. Myra began to braid parts of Cass’s hair while Cass told her everything that had happened, not leaving anything out. When she got to the part about Andre, Myra simply said, “If he died, he deserved it.”

Cass felt Myra deserved to know everything, telling her about the captives and the girls who were being abused, without going into great detail. She told her friend how she wanted to kill them all. “They deserved it, didn’t they?”

Myra put her arms around her friend. “They do, and you would have been justified in doing it, but it would have taken too much from you. You’re kind.”

Cass leaned into Myra. “It was hard, but it would have made me no better than them. But now you see why I don’t want you involved.”

“Cass, I love you for wanting to protect me, but you can’t protect me from the world. Even staying home has its threats. Anyone can come here and do bad things. So I wouldn’t be able to leave, but I couldn’t stay safe. At some point I want to be able to be on my own. Have a relationship, go to college, get a job, whatever. You’ve got to liver life too, so you won’t be around to protect me forever.”

“I know,” Cass replied morosely. “But I want to.”

“I know. And I know you’d do your best, too. But how many of those girls had parents or someone who felt the same way? Yet they still ended up almost being sold or traded for God knows what. Bad things happen, it’s just part of life.”

“How’d you get to be so smart?” Cass asked.

“Dunno,” Myra said going back to braiding Cass’s hair. Myra finished and then they went to sleep.