Sapphire Angel - Superheroine

Chapter 8 - Back to the Facility

Beth gritted her teeth as her Volvo crept through the streets of Harrisburg's Midtown. The area had an old, almost Victorian feel, with quaint Queen Anne-style homes and storefronts, and tall trees hanging over the streets. Visitors packed the uneven brick sidewalks, hurrying under large eaves and past shops selling anything from clothing to handmade bars of soap. Their frozen breath formed clouds above their heads, giving the air the look of a hazy industrial park. Cars clogged the narrow road in front of Beth as drivers slowed to search for open spaces closer to their destinations.

A fall festival was in full force at a park just two blocks away. Hundreds of people had braved the unseasonably cold temperatures, bundling up for the walk to the park. Local businesses were open, taking advantage of the influx of people. Television vans were out, their crews sending puff pieces over the airwaves.

Beth chastised herself for not researching the day's events before leaving the hotel. The Fizzure Technology building sat at the very edge of the midtown area. She had planned to park her car in the same place John had parked a night earlier, and stay out of sight. The current crowds made that unlikely.

With a mutter of annoyance, the young woman pulled over by a fire hydrant and opened the maps app on her phone. After a few moments she found a spot far enough from the festival, but still offering a direct and discreet approach to the Fizzure building.

The young woman edged the Volvo back onto the street, navigated to the next stop sign, and turned right. After another right she found a parking spot. From it she spotted an alley that ran parallel to the street she and John had traversed the previous night. The street was quiet.

Beth didn't exit the car, instead squeezing the steering wheel and staring straight ahead. This was surreal. On a normal Saturday she would be in her college town several hours away, sleeping in. Now she sat in her car with a shimmering costume hidden under her coat, getting ready to break into a building to help save her boyfriend's life.

The costume. Beth looked down at herself, her blue eyes focusing on the coat instead of the gleaming blue material peaking through the front it. The coat couldn't get in the way again, and she couldn't afford to lose another one. She would leave it in the car and sprint to the building so she didn't freeze.

As she removed her jacket, her cell phone rang. Beth picked it up and looked at the screen. Ethan Moore. John's best friend, who had also become a close friend of hers. Beth gave her forehead a light smack. She should have called him, too, from the hospital. He and John were like brothers.

Ethan deserved to hear about John, but not now. With pangs of guilt tugging at her, Beth silenced the phone and reached to slide the device into her pocket. She stopped, realizing her tight costume had no pockets. She had nowhere else to carry the phone, either. The USB drive Stanley had given her barely fit into the back of her boot. Her phone would never fit, and her keys wouldn't either.

Beth locked her phone in her glove box and gripped her keys in her gloved hands. After taking a deep breath, she made sure the way was clear and jumped out of the car. The scantily clad girl winced, waiting for the cold air to blast her through the thin material of her costume. It didn't. She felt fine. As fine as sitting in her warm car.

It had to be the necklace. The temperature hadn't suddenly shot up forty degrees. The necklace had given her strength, quickness, and invulnerability to bullets. Why not protection from the elements?

Beth cast aside thoughts of the weather and sprinted up the sidewalk toward the alley. She reached it within seconds. It stretched toward the next intersecting street, with another alley intersecting it half way there. Several fire escapes were bolted to the buildings on either side, and a handful of dumpsters rested against the structures.