Pulse of the City

PULSE OF THE CITY

By Harper Kingsley

Copyright 2011 Harper Kingsley

Smashwords Edition

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Her life had become a thing of rules and routines. A comforting kind of sameness of school and home as she fit herself into the life of a normal girl.

Her first memory was of the loneliness of the hospital and the uncertainty of knowing that she was no one and nothing. She was a blank slate with nothing to fill her and it had been terrifying.

Nurse French had named her, which had been a nice gesture, but the woman was the most unimaginative person in the world. Which was how the girl had found herself with the name of Susie Smith.

She had spent weeks in the hospital before it had been decided that there was nothing more they could do for her and she had been moved into foster care. She was officially part of the system.

Her foster family--the Petersens--were nice enough and she was glad that they had risked taking a strange girl into their lives. Especially since no one knew if she was a good person to have around or if she was going to be yet another problem kid. She didn't know how she had known about problem kids, but there they were in her memory and she really didn't want to be labeled one.

Which is how Susie Smith became the perfect girl.

She went to school and earned good grades. She made acceptable friends. And she happily helped out around the house and in the day-to-day lives of the Petersens.

She had no idea what kind of girl she had been before... but this was what she was now. A normal girl through and through.

Except that something in her drove her to do some fairly strange things. Like when she found herself sneaking out through her bedroom window so she could wander the streets at night, looking for something she didn't know how to find and wouldn't recognize if she did. Or the way she had taken to the ropes in gym class like they were her second home, frightening everyone by shimmying right up to the ceiling... and flipping off in a perfect landing.

There was some speculation that she might have been a gymnast. Laura--Mrs. Petersen--had suggested that they maybe look into some extracurricular gymnastic lessons for her, but she wasn't sure.

She knew it was stupid, but something in her said that there was something different about her.

And more than anything, Susie Smith didn't want to be different.

Mr. Danvers is such a jerk, Christy moaned, throwing herself in her chair.

Susie looked at her and raised an eyebrow. What'd you do this time?

It's not what I did, Christy said, grabbing her slice of pizza, "it's what I didn't do."

Which was?

That torturous English paper he assigned. I mean, geez, it's like he thinks none of us have other stuff to do or something. It's ridiculous.

Susie glanced at Becky and they shared a laugh. Christy was well-known for her dramatic tendencies.

It was kind of nice to have friends and they were actually pretty understanding about the things she didn't know... they didn't treat her like the freak they totally could have. It made her glad 'cause they helped her fit into this strange life where everything was new and she didn't know even half the things that she was supposed to.

Reaching out her hand, she snagged a French fry from Becky's tray. You're kind of crazed if you really think your parents are going to let you get away with flunking English. They're gonna have your ass going to summer school faster than Lightspeed taking a jog around Mars.

God, why do you have to be so frickin' right? Christy groaned, covering her face with her hand. Little Susie Homemaker always making with the know-it-all-ness. It's positively grotesque.

Looking around the mall food court, Susie ignored the pseudo-insult. She knew Christy didn't really mean it.

It was funny, but she knew they were catching quite a few looks from people around them. Three girls in private school uniforms--black and red plaid skirts, short-sleeved white blouses, and black and red striped ties. It was any lecherous man's high school girl fantasy and it made her want to laugh uncontrollably.

There was just some part of her that couldn't believe where she had ended up, though she couldn't explain why it seemed so ludicrous.

Sometimes, she looked around her life and had to wonder why it all felt ridiculous. There was this feeling of cynical disbelief inside, and she didn't know where it came from. It was just such a part of her, even though she couldn't even recognize the voice in her own head anymore.

Hey, what's the matter?

She turned her head to face Becky and forced a smile. Nothing, I was just kind of daydreaming. I don't know.

Becky gave her a sympathetic look, but was nice enough not to say anything.

They both went back to eating and listening to Christy complain about Mr. Danvers and his evilness. She was so serious about it too.

Sitting there in the food court of the Peoria Mall, Susie Smith couldn't help thinking back to when her short life had begun...

It had been terrifying, waking up strapped to a gurney, a scream still bubbling past her lips. Blood from where her head had been split wide open had soaked into the neck of her shirt. She would find out later that her brain had actually been exposed, that doctors' had to pick shards of cement and glass out of her brain before closing her skull back up.

Her eyes had twitched frantically around and she would always remember the kind of flashing horror of the ER around her. A room full of screaming people, their bodies broken apart and ground into so much meat. Everything had been so surreal, yet there was no escaping what was happening.

She remembered hands touching her, cutting her clothes off of her, sticking needles into her flesh. She remembered the face of an emergency room nurse looking down at her with an outwardly blank expression, but pitying eyes. She remembered thinking that she was going to die.

It was only later, waking up in the still quiet of her hospital bed, that she realized that she didn't even know her own name or where she was.

She had been found in the midst of a super battle gone awry.

Malice, a supervillain, had attacked Megalopolous with her henchmen, the Malcontents. They had blown up ten city blocks during the Arbor Day parade. Hundreds of people were killed either at that instant, or in slow agony while rescue personnel fought to extract them from the wreckage.

The Teen Demis had shown up and eventually stopped Malice, though she managed to escape. She had been cackling the entire time, taking vicious glee in the damage she had wrought.

Susie was glad just to be alive, even if she didn't remember her own name or where she came from. Though she wondered sometimes if maybe she had had a family at the parade. If maybe they were dead and she was never going to know to even mourn them.

Eventually she went to live with the Petersens. She spent months in either the hospital or in a group home, then she was finally taken in by her foster family.

And no one ever came forward to say that they knew who she was. She was just another unclaimed victim of Malice the Malevolent.

Susie bit a fry in half. She tried so hard to fit in, but not even knowing her real name made that nearly impossible.

She had had to start over with her life. Trying different things to find out what exactly she liked or disliked, from food to clothes to TV shows.

It had been kind of weird to be assigned to read Brave New World in English class, then to start reading it... and find out halfway through that the reason the story felt so familiar was the fact that she had already read it. At some point in her past life she had read the book and now remembered it.

It gave her the vague hope that if she only came across parts of her past life, some latent memory in her would be sparked and she would be able to find herself again.

But until then she was a brand new girl. She was Susie Smith, and she had to be the best Susie that she could be.

Whoever Susie was.

Did you hear the news? Christy suddenly asked. Lunar Magazine has pictures of Lady Arcana and Bonecrusher making out. Can you believe it? She's so pretty, and he's just such a meat head.

Becky snorted. Please. Lunar Magazine is just some dirty old rag. I wouldn't trust that those pictures weren't Shopped for the money.

Still... wouldn't it be totally crazy? He's like this gigantic blob of muscle. And his face... ugh. She's like a model, and he's some gross mass of meat. Crazy.

Susie rolled her eyes. Come on. Who cares. Really.

Christy shook her head at her. "I care. That's like the craziest thing I've heard all week. And those pictures... they looked pretty real to me. They were all hugging and kissing and in some he had her like pressed up against a wall and even though they didn't show his piece, they were like totally doing it. Gross!"

Ugh, that does sound pretty nasty, Becky agreed. She looked at Susie. Admit it. Bonecrusher is like the ugliest member of the League. Yuck.

Lady Arcana is so beautiful. You would think she would be able to find someone better than that, Christy said.

Well, maybe he has a great personality, Susie offered. I mean, you can't tell how someone is by pictures or anything. So maybe he's a smart guy. You don't know.

"Come on, admit it. Would you let him touch you?" Christy asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Susie sighed. She had to be honest. No, but...

Christy wagged a finger. Ah, ah, ah. You already admitted that you thought he was gross. She grinned. Looks like you're a little more shallow than you thought you were, huh?

Oh please. Susie took a drink of her Bolt Cola. I don't know the guy, and neither do you. For all we know, he's this totally awesome dude and underneath all the ugly he's the greatest guy ever born.

"Way under the ugly, Christy said. Because ugly like that goes down much farther than skin deep."

God, you can be such a bitch sometimes, Susie groaned.

Christy gave a delighted grin. I know. Isn't it awesome?

Susie tried to be mad, but it was impossible. After a few seconds of trying to look all serious and severe... she finally had to break down and laugh. Yeah.

They sat there in the crowded mall talking about the latest gossip and laughing while they ate. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon and she was honestly happy, something she had never thought she was going to be after waking up in the hospital.

Susie finished eating and rose to throw her garbage away. I'll be right back, she said.

She was standing in front of the trashcan, her empty tray still in her hand, when there was a loud CRASH! then the blare of alarms.

She turned to see what was going on, and the tray slipped from her hand when she saw what was happening.

She couldn't have moved if she wanted to. It felt as if her whole body had been turned to stone.

A man on a flying disc was hurling balls of light at different stores from his position high against the ceiling. He was dressed in a black and green jester costume and had a maniacal grin on his face as he watched the explosions.

Though she was sure she had never seen him before, there was a flash of recognition in her. His name was the Jester. He was a supervillain that had already killed a double handful of people during his short career. He was certifiably insane, had in fact escaped from an asylum so that he could start his career in senseless violence.

He was raising another ball of destruction in his hand when there was a rush of displaced air next to the Foot Locker. Suddenly, six figures in a lot of formfitting spandex and body armor were standing poised there.

Stop, Jester! the leader of the Demis, Powergirl, called. She stood with her hands on her hips, looking like a teen superhero poster come to life. Her boots were even spit shined.

He gave a cackle. And what will you do if I just say NO?! He flung the ball, not at her, but at a large storage crate nobody had seen in a shadowed corner.

There was a crack of shattering wood, then a rush of skittering feet and hungry growls.

Whatever the creatures were, they had a lot of fur and teeth and sharp cutting claws. And they were fast, almost too fast to see, as they flung themselves toward the Teen Demis.

Oh crap! Queen Midnight yelped, throwing out one hand. A wave of shadow whipped out to smack two of the creatures away. Which didn't do a whole lot of good when there were about a hundred of the cat-sized monsters.

Susie whimpered and ducked down next to the trashcan. She could hear people screaming and running, but something kept her in her place. She just had to watch.

The creatures moved in a blur, their clawed feet clicking across the floor like a skitter of bugs. Powergirl gave a yell as they swarmed over her, their teeth nipping and biting, unable to break through her nearly impenetrable flesh. Though they seemed to be gaining strength with every second they were out of their prison box as she was unable to just throw them off even with her metahuman strength.

Queen Midnight rose up in the air, a few of the creatures leaping up with gnashing jaws to tatter the ends of her cape. She had a horrified look on her face and her hands were pressed against her mouth. Get away!

Shadows whipped around her, trying to shove the creatures back but they were swarming at her too fast and too strong. It was only a matter of time until she was completely overwhelmed.

Susie's mouth was open in horror, but there really wasn't anything she could do. They were superheroes, and she was just a girl, so what could she ever do to help them?

That's when she saw Teen Steel flung across the mall to slam headfirst into a supporting pillar. The cement cracked and chunks of ceiling fell on top of him.

He didn't