Chapter 5: Learning to Fly
~~~The Good Cop~~~
Maggie awoke as though from a restless sleep. Her sheets were curled and twisted around her naked form. They felt damp and she realised she was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Her body didn't feel sore, exactly. Just heavy and drained of energy. She didn't want to move. She just wanted to lie there all day long but her eye caught her alarm clock which was blinking 10:07 AM. She'd slept half the day away.
Groaning from the fatigue of it, Maggie mustered the strength to pull herself out of bed and onto her feet. Coffee. She needed coffee. With shoulders slouched and hair dangling in her face, she slowly stomped her way to her bedroom door and then caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She gasped at what she saw. When she went to bed, her body had been covered in a hundred cuts and bruises. Now they just appeared to be tiny scratches and the occasional red mark. She blinked in disbelief as she turned around, looking at herself at every possible angle.
She was already almost completely healed from the previous day's debacle. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she realised that she wouldn't have to come up with some outrageous explanation for her injuries. She wondered if this was the reason she woke up feeling so unenergetic. Either way, it was a small price to pay, as there was barely any of the soreness from yesterday. Her joints felt a bit stiff, but that was it. A little yoga would tend to that nicely.
Her eye was captured by the tattered lump of blue and yellow cloth, discarded on the ground, which used to be the uniform she'd worked so hard on only days ago. She picked up, staring at it in dismay, wondering how in the hell she was going to fix it. She couldn't begin to think straight at the moment. She just tossed it in the wash, and decided to worry about it later.
Once the machine was running, she brewed herself some coffee, and went to the fridge for her milk. Upon looking at the fridge, something caught her eyes. The business card she'd received from the woman she rescued the other night. "Jan Flynn: Fashion Designer". Maggie practically squeaked with excitement as she pulled the card off the fridge, and dashed to her phone.
"Flynn Designs. Jan speaking. How can I help?" Answered the voice, seeming a bit overly cheery and excited.
"Miss Flynn, hi this is Maaa...er...Hellcat. The Hellcat, from the other night."
"Oh...oh yes, Hellcat! Of course! It's great to hear from you. How can I help?"
"Well... I was wondering if your offer of making a costume was still on the table."
"It absolutely is! I actually hoped you'd be calling. It appeared that your home-made costume didn't fare too well in your tussle with that Hammer fellow." This deflated Maggie more than a little.
"I suppose you saw Super Scoops."
"Yes I did, I'm afraid. Not the finest photo-op, granted, but you did look rather dashing and...er...in shape." This took Maggie by surprise. Was Jan flirting with her? After the week she'd been having, why not? She heard nervousness and embarrassment in her voice after she said it. Perhaps she was a bit embarrassed at herself. Perhaps it was just a slip of the tongue.
"Oh. Well...thank you. So yeah...I need a replacement. Think you can help?"
"Yes, I'd love to! At least I'd love to try. I think the style you had the other night was wonderful. Sexy, yet not over the top. For a superheroine, at least. Do you want to stick with that look?"
"Yeah, if you think that's ok. I just think the colour and designs kind of pop, y'know?" This got a chuckle out of Jan.
"That they do. Very poppy. So tell you what, I'm free all day. Just bring what's left of the old costume, so I can get the designs and cut right, I'll take your sizes, and I'll see if I can't have something ready for you tomorrow."
"T...Tomorrow?" Replied Maggie, blinking in surprise. "You can have it done that soon?"
"Oh, absolutely. I have the latest state of the art equipment and fabrics. Should be a fairly easy process. Also, I didn't have much planned for the day anyway." Jan added with a hint of disappointment in her voice. "As I told you, I'm not really well established yet."
"Ok, great. Um... Silly question, but the costume that got ruined was my only one. I have some more things like that, so should I wear those? Or just regular clothes?"
"Oh, good question. Yes, just wear whatever you have that's close."
"Ok, great. I can be there in two hours. Will that work?"
"That will be perfect, see you then."
Maggie, sipping her coffee happily, walked to her closet, and began going through her old leotards to find something that fit closely to her costume. She was just in the process of tugging a leotard over her body, when her buzzer rang. Rolling her eyes in exasperation, Maggie tottered to the door and pressed the two-way.
"Who is it?"
"Detective Jason Rowe, ECPD. I'm looking for Miss Maggie Malone."
Maggie's eyes shot wide open, and a slight "meep" escaped her mouth. The sexy detective who'd spoken to her in Hooker Park after she'd pummelled the sorcerers who'd kidnapped her.
"Oh yes, yes. I remember. This is Maggie, how can I help?"
"Miss Malone, there have been some developments in the case I'd like to discuss with you. Mind if I come up? I don't think the street intercom is the best place to talk."
"What? Oh yeah, sorry. Sure, come on up." She buzzed him in. She shivered as she remembered the thought of his deep blue sexy eyes; the short-cropped light brown hair, his firm jaw line, the roguish look in his eyes. She'd been taken with him instantly when she first saw him in Hooker Park. Now, he was on his way up to her apartment. ...And she was stark naked. What was she thinking? She madly sprinted to her bedroom, flinging her underwear drawer open, and pulling out the first pair of knickers she got her hands on...a thong...of course fate would give her a thong.
She tugged it on franticly, as she bounced to her closet on one foot, then the other. She yanked a pair of jeans off the rod so fiercely, that the plastic hanger flew off the rack and bouncing off her head, causing her to swear loudly. Rubbing her head, she threw herself on her bed, brought the jeans down beneath her feet, and kicked her legs cleanly through the trouser legs. She bounced off the bed, tugging the jeans up in mid-flight, and landed on her feet, scurrying back the drawer whilst buttoning her fly.
Rushing back to the dresser, she heard a knock at the door.
"Damn, that man is fast!"
"Just a minute." She called out, as she quickly grabbed as CSU Fighting Ferrets...yes, Ferrets...t-shirt. Realising she didn't have time for the bra, she just through the t-shirt on and ran to the door. Taking a few breaths, she checked herself in the mirror, making spot checks to her hair. She checked her breath, then quickly pulled a mint out of her purse and chewed it to dust. Right as she was about to open the door, she realised that her nipples were poking through her shirt.
Groaning at her luck, she tried desperately to rub them down to normal, which didn't do any good, but then again, it never did. Fine, she'd just feign ignorance and deal with it. Taking a brief pause to gain her composure, she unlatched and opened the door.
"Detective Rowe. Good to see you again. Please come in." She said with as much nonchalantness as she could muster, which was hardly any at all.
"Thanks, Miss Malone," he said as she lead him into the apartment. He took a quick look around, and then took her in. She noticed his eyes flicker to the imprint of her nipples through her shirt, for a fraction of a second. Long enough for him to get a view, but not long enough to call him out on. Maggie felt them harden a bit more. "You look like you're doing quite well."
"I am, thank you. I just put on a pot of coffee. Care for some?"
"Oh, no thank you. I just finished my hourly allotment before I buzzed you."
"More caffeine for me, then. What can I do ya for, Detective?" Said Maggie, as she pulled out a chair for the handsome detective and motioned him to sit, as she sat in her own. "You said there've been some developments? Normally that means that something bad has happened."
"Ah, thank you Miss..."
"Maggie. Miss makes me sound like a librarian."
"I don't know about that, I've known some lovely librarians," he said with a rakish smile that made Maggie swoon. "Normally you're right, but in this case, the news is good. Surprisingly good, in fact."
"Well that's nice to hear, how so?"
"Every last one of the cult members waved their rights for representation and signed a full confession of their own volition. Confessed to the kidnapping, the murders, everything. They didn't want to speak to lawyers, didn't try to cut deals or anything. Each and every one of them told us everything they did, the ring leader lead us to the bodies of the other victims, and when that was done, they all signed full confessions."
"God...those poor girls."
"Yeah. I'm really glad you weren't one of them." He said, placing one of his hands over hers. She startled a bit, but didn't pull her hand back. Maggie lowered her head a bit coyly, looking down at her lap and smiling. Detective Rowe left his hand there for a few silent moments before patting her gently and withdrawing it. "There was only one catch, though. They refused to talk about you or the hero that saved you. Not a word out of any of them."
Maggie took a deep breath of relief as she realised that she'd dodged a bullet that she hadn't even seen coming. They knew. The sorcerers knew exactly what happened in that cave. They knew it was her. They may not know that she was the Hellcat, but they knew and they weren't talking. She wondered why, but for now, they were keeping quiet, and she'd just have to be happy with that.
"Well, that's odd, all right. No clue why that'd be."
"We have. We think they have plans for that hero. Can you tell me anything at all? Anything about her?"
"No, I'm sorry, I can't. I was a bit out of sorts when everything happened. I honestly don't remember much at all about that night, I'm afraid." Detective Rowe just slowly nodded and stood up.
"Yeah, I can understand that, Maggie. That was a hell of a thing that happened to you. It's really impressive to see that you're dealing with it as well as you are. You're sure you're ok, right?"
"Very sure." Maggie replied, as she rose up to join Detective Rowe. "I'm just glad those psychos are going away."
"Oh, that they most assuredly are. They're leaving for The Zig this afternoon. They're being prepped for transport as we speak." Maggie easily recognised Detective Rowe's reference to the Ziggurat; Empire City's Ultra-Max offshore prison facility, specialising in super powered criminals and the criminally insane. It was the most advanced prison facility in the world, housing the world's most dangerous individuals, but that didn't stop a constant cycle of escapes and break outs. Most of the prison guards were former special operations soldiers from various militaries from around the world, paid top dollar to work in one of the most dangerous place on Earth. The Ziggurat was a bad place for bad people.
"Well I hope they're issued extra slippery bars of soap." This got a chuckle out of Detective Rowe as he walked towards the door. "I'll see what I can do about that. Oh, and do me a favour, will ya?"
"Sure. What's that?"
"Try to think some more about that hero that came to save you. I understand you were out of it, and you probably don't want to dwell on it, but it'd be really good if you could think of something. We can talk about it over dinner tomorrow night."
"Huh...what was that?" Maggie stuttered from behind a blink.
"Dinner, tomorrow night."
"Dinner?"
"Yes, Maggie. Dinner. You, me, food. Dinner."
"You mean, like a date?"
