Page 48 of Witches Be Damned

“Yeah, they do,” he muttered, uncomfortable with it when it rubbed against his inability to lie.

Fuck, that was a relief.

We jogged to catch up with Serena and Loco, crossing a portal back to the Guardians, where I smooth-talked my technician contact and slipped him a bribe to extract everything on the phone. He did what we asked in a matter of an hour, getting us what we needed to present to the warden.

Serena submitted a report to the warden of our findings and sought permission to investigate the locations identified. Surprisingly, he approved it, sending us back out that afternoon, rousing the team’s suspicions when he didn’t normally move that fast. Still, we went in, cautious of a trap, and laid back-up plans in the event of trouble.

The first location was a bust, empty except for takeaway pizza boxes, beer bottles, cigarette butts, and dirty mattresses indicating someone squatted here, but relocated relatively recently by the cold pizza.

Undeterred, we cracked open a portal and moved onto the next location, splitting up, coming at it from two angles, Knoxe and me from the rear and the others from the front. We found someone on guard duty taking a leak by the back door of the abandoned former tile showcase retailer. A blast from my stun gun knocked him out, and Knoxe caught him, lowered him to the dusty ground, and propped him against the wall.

I reported back to Serena in a low voice, “We just took out a guard at the rear. Heading inside now.”

“Roger that,” she whispered.

We slipped in the door and crept through the rear of the building, the voices of the occupants getting louder. In passing the kitchen, Max, one of the prisoners, popped the top of a beer bottle he removed from the fridge. He went to sound an alarm when Knoxe summoned his newfound powers, discharging a bolt of electricity that paralyzed him, and he went down.

“Nice, babe,” I said. “What do you call that move? I want a full superhero breakdown.” I wanted to break out into MGMT’sElectric Feelsong, but it wasn’t the time or place. Later, however, was another matter.

Knoxe stared at his hands, still in the process of figuring out his powers since he didn’t get the opportunity to practice within the prison’s walls and guarded his well-kept secret.

“I think I numbed his nervous system and prevented his brain from telling his muscles to move,” he replied, his voice higher-pitched than normal.

“Guess I’ll do the hard work, then,” I ribbed him, and approached the fugitive, pressing the stun gun to his forehead and releasing that trigger, knocking him out. We couldn’t be too careful. This dick might wake up in a minute or so. Who knew, with Knoxe’s untested powers.

I only had one pair of cuffs on me and that wasn’t enough to secure every prisoner here, let alone a small fry like Max. I was holding onto these babies for any big guns we might encounter and want to question.

Laughter echoed from deeper in the showroom, and we picked up our pace to investigate it. About ten prisoners inside, with two taken care of. Rod, the shot caller who took over after Loco murdered Slash with a chemical spatula, was high on our list since he was a known associate of Eduardo’s gang. No sign of that asshole or his brother.

A flash of silver gave away Loco’s entrance as he swirled his knives. “Hello, boys. You’ve been very naughty running away, haven’t you?”

Man, he had to steal the limelight, didn’t he? I bet he wanted revenge on half the assholes here, especially dear old Rod. Escaped prisoners scattered like roaches exposed to sunlight. Guns snapped out of the back of their jeans, aimed in our directions, and bullets pinged the walls, chipping at plaster either side of our heads.

Knoxe immobilized them with his nifty trick, and guns slipped from fingers, legs stumbled and crashed into the hard, tiled floor.

This time I belted out theElectric Feelsong to congratulate his newfound gift. Knoxe chuckled, Pascal bopped his head, Loco glared at me like I was mad, and Serena looked confused. Eh. I had to find fun somewhere.

“Keep him awake.” Loco aimed his knife at Rod, then swung it at his number-two, Saxton.

Serena slapped cuffs on Rod.

Pascal and I went around stunning the rest to prevent a migration while we had a friendly little chat with our pal, Rod.

“Tor, you’re up,” Serena ordered, not even bothering with questioning the shot caller when he couldn’t talk, thanks to Loco’s divine vengeance with a spatula. Poor Rod was lucky… or maybe unlucky to survive, unlike like his pal Slash, who Loco ended for assaulting his daughter some months back.

“With pleasure, ma’am.” I holstered my stun gun and swaggered up to our dear old captive. “Rod, my man. Looking good. How’s the throat?” I laughed and kicked him in the chest, and he bowled backward. “Just kidding. Loco sliced your vocal cords good. Guess you won’t be calling any shots now?”

“Tor,” Serena warned me.

Boring. Guys like this dick made our life hell. Ordered a hit on my team and me. Framed Pascal for murder. Paid off guards to let them into Supergal’s lab to assault her. I was going to make retribution painful.

“Don’t ever hurt my girl again, or I’ll fucking kill you.” I battered the asshole with searing pain, and he gurgle-screamed and scratched at his body.

Loco held a knife up to Rod’s throat. “I did some good work there, didn’t I, son? We won’t get much out of you except a written confession, hey?” He grinned maniacally at me, then dug his blade in harder, drawing blood.

Aww, a father and son-in-law bonding moment.

“Son? Does that mean I’m part of the family?” I grinned, not able to help myself from riling him up. Psycho Loco was more entertaining, and I loved living on the edge to break up the monotony of prison life.

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