Extradition: Party of 50
WANTED MAN 'RED' CAUGHT ON EARTH-52C*
By: Dillon Maynard
The Delta Class man, known only as Red, has terrorized
Desai and several worlds beyond with his sociopathy for over two decades. Capture was looking grim, until he made the
mistake of crossing into Earth-52C*.
What makes this dimension of Earth so unique is that its
Travel Agency Hub is placed in the middle of a Delta-Epsilon class hotspot.
Considered superheroes in that dimension, Red finally met members of his own
class that were motivated enough to end his long killing spree. Finally apprehended in Artania, Colorado in
the United States of America, all of it can be credited to Naty Inanna.
Not much is known about the Delta Naty Inanna, aside that
she comes from a planet called Afiramen.
She definitely doesn't look human, but witnesses and fans credit to her
a haunting type of beauty that throws unsuspecting parties when she reveals the
power behind it.
The final battle ended with five city blocks laying in
ruin, but with no casualties and with Red finally subdued. MDEA has equipped fifteen Center-City police
officers with the proper technology to escort Red home. Artania Police Department will be sending
officers and detectives of their own, along with the Artania District Attorney,
who will be allowed to represent the prosecution's case as Red's biggest atrocities
were committed on Earth-52C*.
Naty Inanna was unavailable for comment.
---------------------
It probably seemed like she was under achieving when she
got the job of legal assistant to Artania’s District Attorney, and perhaps she
was. She had the training for a much
more sophisticated position by the standards of her native home, but it taught
her humility and patience… and it taught her how to deal with circumstances
outside of her control. They were all
things she needed to know.
“Nalia, are you ready?” the DA of Artania, Thomas Frenz,
asked as he walked past with his suitcase dragging behind him on noisy wheels.
“Yeah.” She stood
after pulling back her black hair, wisped with deep red, into a ponytail and
went to heft her own bag after him. “I’m not entirely sure why it is that we’re
accompanying the police on this trip.”
“Because it gives us the excuse to see Desai,” he said
with a wink of an eye framed with crow’s feet.
“Don’t tell me you’re not curious.”
Sure, he was being allowed to lead the case against Red, but he always
had much younger reasons, so to speak, for the things he did when he was
speaking to Nalia. She'd become
something of a daughterfigure to a man who never gave himself the chance to have
a family, forsaking that for his career.
Nalia Inez smiled sheepishly as she marched along behind
him. It wasn’t that she wasn’t
interested… it was just that he didn’t know her whole story. He didn’t know that she had seen things most
humans couldn’t even think of. She knew
of things that most people dismissed as the realm of fanatical conspiracy
theorists. It didn't make her bitter,
but Desai just didn't interest her. He
simply didn't know. Beyond that, she
wasn't exactly thrilled about dealing with Desai's customs process, which she heard
included registering any above-human abilities one might have.
She looked like anyone from Central America
physically. Her eyes were a soft brown,
and she was a solidly built young woman in perceivably her mid to late
twenties. She was tall, though. Standing at nearly six feet, she had to deal
with many amazon jokes that weren't really funny because of how fit she was and
how tall she happened to be.
Fortunately, Frenz spared her.
Working nearly every day with him wouldn't have been possible because
the jokes annoyed her.
The situation at hand was simple enough, so that part
hardly put her off. Artania police, with
Desai police on loan, caught a fugitive from Desai named simply Red. He was a stoic, almost handsome man although
a bit awkward at the same time. He
carried himself with a lot of confidence and swagger. It was impressive, to think the calm and
collected man was a wanted serial killer and mass murderer. He was a world hopper too, and it was by pure
luck that he was apprehended by the superhuman named Inanna and the Artania
police. Inanna wouldn't have been
involved at all had she not been asked.
Nalia knew it because she was Inanna.
When she accepted the plea for assistance as Inanna, she
was hardly impressed with their reasons.
A friend of hers used to lecture about that type of killer. They were inadequate, Anthony used to
say. They couldn’t handle anyone their
own size so they would target the weaker to make them feel superior. That explained why the super powered Red
liked to target humans. And it made
sense of the ugly and corrupt men and women across the system, really. The memories of those lectures made her
unenthusiastic to help them. Why did
they need to call her in at all?
In fact, she doubted them almost entirely despite
agreeing to the job for a cop friend, right until she found herself getting
punched by a lot more strength than a human had. He was a human, and allegedly a desda as
well. Those were the rumors,
anyway. She hurt just like a human, but
her damage level was at a superior level.
Pain didn’t normally equal damage for her. The nanites in her blood rapidly healed most
damage before it started to mean anything.
That damage sure as hell meant something when Red
clobbered her with a fist, however. They
rumored he was super strong but as frail as any human. Inanna realized how untrue that really was
when she took him on. He was a living
tank. Strong and durable, it was like a
normal human going after an elephant with their bare hands. Fortunately, she was able to finally overcome
that and he actually willingly submitted to her. He acted almost honorable in the face of
defeat.
She was honestly worried that he'd break out of custody,
even if she kept an eye on him. He
didn't, and soon enough a troupe of officers from his home in Desai arrived to
support his detainment with technology made to contain his type of
individual. They called him a Delta
Class citizen of Desai.
By mid-2012, because of Desai’s connection and Artania
history of spawning ‘heroes’, Artania grew to have a population of nearly eight
million. Taking out a few city blocks
did more damage than it would have even three years prior.
He wasn’t even aware that the young woman accompanying
the DA and the police to taking him back to Desai was the same one who
eventually took him out, breaking his jaw and several of his ribs in the
process. She intended to keep it that
way, but despite her outward disinterest in Desai, she was glad to be going just
in case he posed a problem for the group escorting him. She was the only one who really stood a
chance.
***
The Artania Travel Agency hub wasn’t anything
special. It reminded her of any run of
the mill airport around the United States.
Well-worn carpets and rows of abused chairs gave it that typical,
unpleasant feeling that could be found pretty much anywhere in bus stations,
train stations and airports all over.
Even the boarding decks were boring.
Concrete slabs with grooved strips to prevent shoe slides covered the
platforms. A monorail sidled up to them
and in some of those rail pits, large monotrains waited for boarding.
Although, Nalia found herself getting more and more
interested as she observed the trains themselves. Technology needed to respected, especially
when it was used to traverse things no one in their world had yet to figure
out: dimensional fabric. While those
accompanying the Red extradition were either so familiar with the technology that
they didn’t care, or didn’t care because they didn’t know, Nalia smoothed her
hand over its hull and observed every small detail when they boarded and went
for their seats.
The technology was something she would have seen back
home, honestly. So, it was brighter,
glossier, but what made it tick was so advanced and well-made that she began to
understand that the Agency hub was a poor example of what was to come.
Red was standing at an open quarter, since the trains
were divided up by personal cabins as one would see on European and Asian passenger
trains, waiting most patiently for his handlers to prepare the center chair on
the right side for his massive bindings.
He had to be weighted down by large, chained gauntlets and foot weights
that increased the pull of gravity for him ten-fold. Really, Red had been a model prisoner and any
desire one might have had to be aggressive with him easily waned as he showed
how placid but intelligent he truly was.
Anthony would have loved to interview him.
Nalia didn't much care, personally. She was passing Red by, not bothering to
honor him with a look. She'd just gotten
past him when she felt his gauntleted hands suddenly latch onto her
shoulders. He yanked her close with that
brutal strength and, for a moment, she believed she’d have to ruin her cover to
keep him from killing her. But instead,
he pulled her close and, through the wiring that held his broken jaw shut,
hissed, “Don’t go. You're just the type
they want to see.”
The situation blinded her to the cops and Frenz trying to
get her free from Red. He was just too
strong, and they couldn’t electrocute him while he was holding her. Fortunately, he just released her after
saying what he had to say and took the punishment that came after doing
that. It turned into such a bizarre encounter;
Nalia could only just stare as she was pulled away.
Frenz was pulling on her, to get her away, and Nalia
allowed herself to be pulled--although she didn’t look away. Red watched her as he was dragged into the
cabin, and Nalia just couldn't look away because of her guard being raised and
expecting the worst.
She felt cold, and frankly a bit disturbed. How did he know her real name? Naty Inanna was her birth name. No one knew her name unless they were from
home or one of her few truly trusted friends. It wasn't from deciphering her
appearance. Her true appearance was
often described as 'demonic and in complete contradiction to her deeds' by the
press. She physically changed between
her true form and her human form significantly.
How did he connect the dots?
Her boss pulled her into their private room where she
could sit down and calm down. Frenz
plopped down across from her and leaned in as she stared right through
him. “Nalia? Nalia, are you alright? Did he say something to you?” he pried.
“No,” she said, still a bit shell-shocked. She needed time to think over what Red could
mean. He had already proved himself not
to be a liar as most were in his line of business. He acknowledged his crimes readily, but when
he fought Inanna, it was simply because he didn't want to be apprehended. "He was just breathing heavily into my
ear," she said after a moment to process things still. Frenz wanted more details though, so she gave
him what she thought would appease him at least a bit. She looked out the window to the people
boarding another monorail about thirty feet away. "It was disturbing."
The encounter was incredibly disturbing. That part was the truth.
***
It seemed like a pretty simple layout, but the tracts
needed in order to run the monorails through the controlled spacial rifts were
huge. Ten miles of tract, and then the
rifts on Artania's side spanned an additional four. Fourteen miles of space, with twenty different
tracts that took up an additional five miles due to varying sizes and purposes. That was why Artania was chosen. In the southern plains of Colorado, it was
idea--even though Travel Agency personnel still had to smooth the terrain
beyond what it was already.
Despite not having a massive interest in it beforehand,
Nalia found herself quite disappointed when, at mile nine, all the windows were
sealed with metal sheeting to prevent looking out. She wondered what for. Surely a people with the technology to
control dimensional travel would know how to build windows to withstand it?
Ten minutes passed of what felt like a gentle roller
coaster ride, everyone remaining seated and buckled in as the cars rocked back
and forth, up and down, and then permission was given to walk about the
train. There were attendants that rolled
purchase carts around with everything from hygiene products to tobacco
products, and there were beverage and food carts as well.
Nalia got up about twenty minutes after roaming
permission was given to locate a restroom at the end of her cart. Since there were restrooms on each side,
Nalia made a pointed turn away from Red and head in the opposite
direction. He was watching her, and she
wasn't going to give him the thrill of acknowledging her.
As she walked, she passed a cabin containing six
uniformed individuals. They weren't part
of the massive entourage helping escort Red, that was for sure. They wore brown or black, each laced with
gold and silver respectively. Lines and
dashes marked what were presumably their ranks on each shoulder. They looked incredibly fashionable, with
model-level styled hair and their uniforms were cut in various ways. One woman sat with high cut shorts and long,
armored black boots that matched her form fitting uniform. It was kind of surprising, considering
soldiers on most planets were rough and meant to look hardened and
masculine. While most had uniforms based
on stripping identity and personality, those uniforms did exactly the opposite.
Nalia really noticed them when the woman, with
shoulder-length blonde hair and red under layers, leaned forward and focused on
her. "You're escorting Red, aren't
you?" she said with a smooth voice that was level and strong.
Humming, Nalia stepped up to the doorway. "Somewhat," she said,
honestly. "I'm really only here
because my boss, the District Attorney of Artania, Colorado is accompanying the
real escorts."
"How was he caught?" the soldier asked.
"One of our protectors took him on," Nalia
said. "It was a bit of a fight, if
the news coverage was right."
"Yeah, we saw that," the woman said. She stood up and walked over to Nalia,
holding out a hand. "Ahmea
Greer."
Nalia noticed she was the only one in black and silver
upon better observation of the group.
The other five wore the brown and gold.
She had to be the leader, the superior.
Nalia took her hand for a firm shake, smiling. "Nalia Inez. What were you guys doing in our world?"
"Field practices in the United Kingdom," Ahmea
said. "You've got a pretty
world. And a good set of
protectors."
"We're proud of them," Nalia agreed. Which was entirely true.
After a pause, Nalia suddenly grew quite curious. "Hey, could I come back in a minute to
talk to you guys? I've never been to
Desai before, but I assume you frequent there?"
"Born and raised, actually," Ahmea
replied. "We're from MDEA. If you want to ask questions, that's
fine. We still have half an hour on this
ride, after all."
Nalia thanked her, thanked the others, and continued with
what she was up to. It was curious that
they just happened to be on the same ride as the group escorting Red. Knowing political functions better than most
would assume, Nalia wondered if they didn't trust the Artania police and even
their own police officers, so they sent military personnel to hide out and make
sure Red was delivered safely. It was
entirely possible.
Finishing her business in the spotless restroom that was
equipped with self-cleaning technology, Nalia walked out and back to that
little cart cabin. She was surprised to
see it cleared of all but Ahmea herself, who offered the seat directly across
from her to Nalia. Nalia took it
gratefully, folding her hands in her lap.
"So, you're from MDEA? I
didn't know you wear uniforms."
She'd seen them a couple of times in news footage from the
interdimensional city, and they never wore uniforms.
"We have dress codes to adhere to," Ahmea
replied. "My group has uniforms
when we're off-world for training."
"And you're the superior here?"
A very faint smile broke at the corner of Ahmea's
lips. "Yes. Our ranks are a bit different than Earth
ranks, so 'superior' suffices."
Despite being a very firm woman, Ahmea was polite and
even toned. She had no problem answering
the questions that Nalia had. How many
people were there? How hard was it to get
through customs? She answered all of it
professionally but patiently. Her
subordinates passed by a few times, but didn't enter until Nalia was waving and
leaving the cabin.
She returned to the compartment she and Frenz shared just
as the notice to buckle back in alerted.
"You were gone a while," he commented, watching
her. He seemed a bit worried. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah."
Nalia fastened into her seat.
"I just had a sit down with a member of MDEA. Ahmea Greer."
Frenz hummed and nodded in acknowledgement. If he was going to respond, it was cut off
when the train began to weave about as it had before when they first started
their journey. After ten or so minutes
of that, those panels covering the windows retracted from the windows. Nalia and Frenz inched to the window, looking
out at what was revealed. It was
beautiful.
For miles and miles, glistening waters colored after
rainbows spanned endlessly. The skies
were clear except for birds of various sorts flying about. Looking in the direction they were going, a
massive structure was waiting, accepting and expelling monotrains for what
seemed an incomprehensible distance.
Where they came from, the sky was filled with clouds of brilliant
purples and fire reds, spinning about each other in a soft dance. When the trains shot through, they spread out
rapidly, like a vehicle speeding through smoke.
"I was told that Desai is like no place on
Earth," Frenz remarked as he watched the structure approach.
His employee hummed and nodded, although her knowledge of
places that were 'like no place on Earth' was vast by comparison to anyone else
he knew. "Is that the Travel
Agency?" Nalia had a feeling that
was a stupid question. She should have
researched the place more, but that was what she had Anthony for so many
years. That's what a good friend did
(she thought in good humor).
"Yeah," her boss replied, ever patient. "I
can't wait to see what it really looks like."
The reveal was hardly disappointing, they learned as the
monorail passed through a long tunnel as it slowed, and finally came to rest in
the terminals. In direct contrast to the
hub in Artania, the floors were white marble, with gold wisps and black
lining. The pillars, walls, ceilings
were metal and marble. The entire place
was beautiful, well-kept, and hosted an array of technology that she was
familiar with only because of back home.
Not Earth, but her home planet, Afiramen. Jupiter.
But the beauty of the place was just like in the stories about Torutas
before it was destroyed by The Above for its evil and pride.
Customs was an interesting experience. They were liberal about weapons, only
requiring that the items be registered.
If one had a talent that was considered ‘superior’ to standard humans or
desda--the majority in Desai in both instances and referred to as Alpha
Class--they needed to register their abilities or, at the very least, their
race. The concept of the desda was
confusing for a lot off-worlders. They
looked like humans, they acted like humans, they didn’t seem to be able to do
anything special either, but they insisted on the distinction between them and
humans. Since Desai was the master of
the interworld travel business, no one openly questioned them. It was a matter of diplomacy because of their
insistence on the difference.
Nalia wanted to be honest. One of the customs supervisors, a man named
Sharpe according to his keycard badge, said that there were plenty of ways to
find liars throughout the city. She
didn’t need that heat. “Why do people
with natural abilities have to register?” she asked, albeit a bit
passively. She didn't want to raise
suspicion.
Sharpe didn’t skip a beat. Despite being classically 'tall, dark and
handsome', he was rough and blunt.
“Because people with above the standard can be considered living weapons. We used to have it that people didn’t have to
register that way, but we had to change that because of dipshits who abused
it. If someone doesn’t want to claim a
race we recognize, they can claim another and just tell us what they can do. There are thousands of variables, but we got
the systems to keep up with them.”
“So, if I wasn’t human--” Completely hypothetically
speaking, of course. “--you’d let me register as human so long as I registered
my abilities? Or I could register as…
whatever race I am, and you’d accept that?”
“Unless we don’t have that race on file, yeah. Otherwise you’ll get the grand gift of
introducing yourself to us.”
“How often does that happen?”
“Basically never.”
He quirked an eyebrow at her.
Desai was impeccably good at its job. Nalia suspected they had less forward ways of
discovering liars. Their technology was
so advanced, she suspected genetic scanners.
Quietly, she requested a place to register away from her
group of fellow travelers. Sharpe took
her to a room apparently designed for exactly that. It was one of ten, and he went to sit across
from her.
“Species?” he asked as he padded at the tabletop. It was a computer interface that lit up in a
language she couldn’t read.
“Afirite,” she replied.
She crossed her legs, looking a bit nervous.
“Calm down.”
Sharpe said it without looking at her.
He scrolled through a few options and selected one. “Superior sight, strength, endurance and
speed. Correct?”
Nalia blinked and tilted her head. “How did you know that?” She didn't know that anyone from her world
may have contacted Desai (though, on second evaluation, maybe they had
connected to another dimension of it?).
“I told you. We
rarely don’t know.” He continued
typing. “Nalia Inez. That’s human.
Do you want to register your Afirite name?”
“No. No one knows
that I’m not human. They think I’m just
asking about legal things from you.”
Nalia shrugged sheepishly. It was
believable enough: that was why Frenz had hired her. She liked to ask questions and know the
subtle nuances of laws.
Sharpe looked up with his stunning blue eyes and smirked
at that. “Gotta give you credit on your
forethought.” A beam of light shot from
the surface of that table between them, twisting into the image of a camera
facing Nalia. “Smile for the camera.”
Nalia quirked an eyebrow at him that time, and in some
sadistic twist of humor, he took the picture right then. The hologram camera then recoiled. Nalia started to laugh softly, shaking her
head and looking away. “Thanks.”
“It’ll be out at the receiving receptacle we passed to
get here.” He waved her off. “Go on, then.”
Nalia thanked him again, walking on out and for the
receptacle. It made her nervous because,
after selecting her name from the waiting guests list, she noticed that cards
were coded based on different standards.
Using the old Greek alphabet, they classified people based on some
abstract dimensions that didn’t make a ton of sense to her. It ultimately made her worry; however, when
she saw that her card would need to be green.
It was the indicator of the Delta Class.
Super biological classifications that would be under heavy supervision
if she so much as breathed wrong.
So, imagine her surprise when a white card with silver
lining shimmering over its glossy surface popped out, labeling her Beta
Class. Her species was listed as
human. She looked to the side, where
Sharpe was ordering his people around.
Was it a mistake? Was it a
favor? Whatever it was, Dennick Sharpe
had just helped her out immensely.
It'd still require some explaining to Frenz as to why she
wasn't an Alpha Class, but she'd just lie and say she did parkour. Clearly, it was a sport Desai citizens
wouldn't understand.
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