Fen and Mara - Open Novella Contest 2019 Short List

Chapter 17

Henry Holt is at the police station, reading a case file, when multiple things happen at once. Or maybe they happen in rapid succession, yet when he will look back at this all, it will feel like everything happened at the same time.

His phone buzzes in his pocket, multiple messages coming in, one after the other.

From: Vic
> HELP
> Calexico @ schol
> Weapns
> 20men
> gym

The phone on his desk rings, 'dispatch' showing on the display. The voice on the other end of the line tells him very quickly and with the right codes that there is a hostage situation in the main gym of Howemont High, called in by officer Larry Henderson.

To: Vic
Are you safe?

> 4 now. Fen here 2. Gym closed off by intruders.

To: Vic

Stay calm. Stay down. Don't be a hero.
What weapons?

> IDK. No regular guns. Stun?
> Officer down! Larry!
> Forcefield IDK?

To: Vic
Stay put. We're coming. You have Fen with you?

> No
> But can see him

To: Vic
Put your phone away before they catch you. Stay safe. I'm coming.

Senior Detective Holt barks his directions, the officers at the station all on high alert and up and running in no time.
"Lucinda! Suit up! I'm gonna need you," he calls over to the dark-haired woman a few desks over. She puts up her thumb and hastily finishes her call, following him to the dressing room.

***

He's ready to enter the school with Megacath when his earpiece suddenly crackles with the urgent message to come back to the command post set up on the street in front of the school.
"This better be important," he answers curtly, giving Lucinda the signal to wait for him.

"I think you wanna hear this, detective," is the answer over his earpiece.

The man that is waiting for him by the police van that houses their mobile command center is the last person he would have expected here. Or maybe it isn't, he thinks when he sees the distraught look on his face.
"Prince," Henry Holt says with a short nod of his head. His voice sounds a little deeper because of the mask he's wearing.

"She has Mara," Xander Prince says, panic clear in his voice.

"She?" If he wants to know what Prince knows, he'll have to keep the upper hand, which means he has to let him do the talking.

"Don't play games with me, Holt," the inventor sneers. "We don't have time for that. That bitch has my daughter!"

All right. Cards on the table. "And my sons. Tell me what you know. Now!"

"She has 24 men with her, armed with advanced stun sticks and air guns."

"Yours?"

"Doesn't matter, she's the one who has them now. Your colleague is paralyzed, unconscious. Your son..."

"My son?!" Henry roars, grabbing the professor by his coat and lifting him from the ground.

"Fen," Prince grunts, trying to pry Lion Hearts gloved hands away from his chest. "They stunned him. Painful, not deadly."

"How do you know all this?!" It's hard to stay calm and collected when his own children are in peril. When he last heard of Vic, his youngest son was still okay. If he's hurt, the dire situation is rapidly progressing into something worse.

"Put me down and I'll show you."
Once he is lowered to the ground Prince takes out a tablet and shows Lion Heart a camera feed of inside the gym. The camera is on Calexico, somewhere around the height of her waist. In her utility belt, Prince tells him. There's no sound, but the images are clear enough.

Henry Holt feels his stomach clench when he sees how Fen is jumped by two large men, although he also feels a hint of pride for the fight his kid is putting up. The teenager is no match for the damned stick that's used on him, making his body convulse and hit the floor.

And then there's Mara, the girl Fen was trying to save. Holt has gotten to know her as a nice girl, with enough spice to match that hotheaded son of his. He admires her strong backbone, even though she is making the investigation into his son's kidnapping harder than necessary. However, the events of this afternoon have turned everything upside down.

The video feed cuts out after they see how Mara is thrown backwards by an unseen force, the same force holding her up in the air a few feet above the ground. The source of that power is in her ring, according to Prince.

"You have to stop Calexico!" the professor pleads urgently.

"Why don't you stop her yourself?"

Prince is silent for a moment, his inner debate visible on his face. "She no longer listens to me," he says eventually. "She cut all communication the moment she attacked Mara."

"What was your goal? I'm assuming you two have a shared goal?" Holt crosses his arms in front of his chest. He a couple of inches taller than the professor and a good deal wider in his shoulders.

"You..."

"Well, I'm here. Anything else?"

"Just you. The brave Lion Heart, writhing at her feet, exposed for the whole world to see."

Henry Holt scoffs. "Give me one good reason why I should trust you to tell me the truth."

"I just showed you all this, didn't I?" Xander Prince holds up the tablet he used to show the video. "You know what's happening in there. Now, go get my daughter out!"

"For all I know you and Calexico could still be working together and this is all some ruse. You could be setting me up."

Prince swears loudly and for a moment he looks like he could attack Lion Heart. Then he takes a deep breath and points to the school. "That bitch has my daughter. Your sons are in there too. Our kids!"

Holt waits silently, staring at the professor through the black and yellow mask.

"For fucks sake! What do you need me to do? Nobody was meant to get hurt! That fucking bitch is out of control! She hurt Mara!" The professor's voice breaks and his eyes glisten with tears. "I'll do anything to help you."

"I want Mastermind."
Holt knows he shouldn't be negotiating about this. He needs to go inside and smash that crazy woman's skull in. No, scratch that, he needs to arrest her. And beat her up, just a little. Yet this is Mastermind in front of him, the criminal genius that he has been after for years now. And he has never been this close.

Xander Prince looks from the school, to Lion Heart and back. He hangs his head in defeat. His words are barely louder than a whisper, yet Senior Detective Holt hears them clear as day.

"You'll have him."