Chapter 10

Lea’s smiling face made it on to the first page of the Super’s section of the Times. By long standing agreement, newspapers worldwide decided that they preferred to have working printing presses over having my image appear anywhere on their pages.

Both the Inquirer and the Sun attempted legal action after repeatedly losing expensive presses. When they discovered that no credible lawyer would represent them in a litigation case against me, they eventually learned.

I was not pleased that Lea’s face appeared in print, yet knew it was inevitable. The web had her image affixed to numerous sites even before we exited the restaurant. I could only imagine George’s reaction this morning. Lea shrugged as if she expected no less.

“Lieutenant Perkins. Last night, did you or did you not release my location and target while I was on a mission?” I quietly demanded while the three of us ate breakfast. A moderate one for the two and a large one for me.

“No excuses, Sir.”

“Just don’t do it again. And you, ask next time. Okay?”

Taking a small bite of her blueberry crepe, Lea smiled a promise to ignore that particular request.

Giving up on that tract, “The car will be here at 9:30.” I passed over my black card to Lea. “6:00 dinner at Morton’s, I’ll meet you there.” Glancing at the inexpensive clothes that Julie was currently wearing, “See if you can find something better for her to wear.”

“Bach. You know I cannot accept that.”

Remembering Julie’s reaction at our first real meeting, I ordered, “Lea, make sure my moll is properly dressed.” Patting my lips with the napkin, I stood, bowed, and left the pair to their shopping. “I would hate to look like we adopted a penniless orphan.”

One mirthfully laughing and the other irate, their voices echoed as I left the hotel’s formal breakfast area.

At 5:50, the limo that Rebecca had hired for the ladies’ day of shopping arrived outside of the double doors of Morton’s. Their driver opened the rear passenger door and helped Lea exit, she wore a black dressy skirt and near-transparent, white silken blouse combo. Seeing me exit the building, she gave me a slightly strained smile. Quickly giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek, Lea whispered a warning in my ear.

“Trust me.”

My girlfriend deliberately ran her hand down my arm, to draw my eyes to her golden bracelet.

Julie exited the limo after a pause to obviously give Lea time to set up whatever she had planned. My eyes widened at seeing the white shoes and hose of my aide. Her white skirt was identical to my girlfriend’s in every way, outside of color. The same went with my aide’s blouse. One black on white the other white on black. Thinking of Lea’s gold bracelet, Julie wore a platinum one of the exact same design. Same went with their watches, necklaces and rings.

My worried frown caused Julie to hesitate. Feeling Lea push my arm forward, I followed her cue and strode forward to give the very nervous and stiff woman a hug. Julie kissed me on the other cheek while avoiding my eyes.

I knew I was in for a very interesting conversation later, but now was neither the time nor place.

“You look beautiful. Both of you.” I received thanks from my girlfriend and a murmur from the one who was confusing me. Maybe I had that incorrect; this was all Lea. She was the one who was confusing me. Why Julie was agreeing to this farce was beyond me.

We were seated right away in a booth that Rebecca had reserved for us. Thankfully, it was a four-person table. I originally expected Julie to beg off, giving me room to spend the evening alone with Lea.

My two ‘dates’ sat across from me in a mid-section booth in the outside edge of Morton’s. After ordering drinks and an appetizer, “I take it, more than shopping happened today.”

Neither looked all that eager to speak.

Okay...

“Were you able to find gowns that you liked?”

At least they were willing to talk about their shopping expedition with little reservation. The calamari arrived midway through Julie’s description of the indignities that Lea had put her through. I requested the soup of the day and salads for the three of us, the two ladies added their choice of dressings, while I accepted the house’s suggestion.

Seconds later, a girl Lea’s age stormed over. She was dressed for flash; her type usually came with little substance. But not always.

The flash girl’s goal was not difficult to figure out. She wanted to make a scene and get her name in the tabloids. It had happened all too often for me not to recognize her actions for what they were. As long as she was through spouting her gibberish before the soup arrived, I had no issues with that sort of behavior.

“Look! A Murderer dares to sit with good people and nobody even cares.”

She sounded over-rehearsed; her speech pattern was too smooth to be natural. It also could have been a by-product of her Super Powers.

Lea looked angered and Julie concerned. Probably for me though.

“Who are you?” Lea snapped.

“I’m Celestial!” the intruding girl proudly declared to us and the room.

Lea turned to Julie, “Do you know who she is?”

“Never heard of her.”

Turning to me, “Should we know her?”

“Wendy Brown. Age: 20 alias: Celestial, D-Rank Sound Manipulation. Nothing remarkable in her background or abilities.”

All the while, the vocalist’s irritation rose at our supposed ignorance of her greatness.

“Shouldn’t Murderers like you be in jail or at least hiding from decent people?”

“Is he a really a murderer” Lea asked Julie.

“Alleged. Although, I believe that Franco and Myramar both have tried him in absentee and declared him guilty. But those sort of kangaroo trials never hold up in the world court.”

“Who did he kill?” Lea asked the little noisemaker. Seemingly getting excited at the prospect of associating with a murderer. Much to Celestial’s chagrin, the minor celeb before us received no fanfare from our table. Instead, she found sympathetic girls who favored me.

“He kills Heroes.”

“Really! Which ones?” Lea perked up even more.

As long as they were enjoying themselves, I’d play along.

“HE MURDERED LORD ORION!” using her Super Powers, the singer amplified her voice, easily carrying her words throughout the restaurant.

“Did you kill Lord Onion?” Lea intentionally mispronounced Orion’s name.

I was surprised that the table behind us didn’t hear Julie roll her eyes at Lea’s over acting.

“It’s Orion, not Onion!”

“Did you really kill Lord Onion?” my wonderful girlfriend asked me again.

“Orion!” the girl corrected with a stomp of her strappy heels, cementing her place in slapstick lore.

“Which one was he?” I asked for Lea’s sake. Those lovely green eyes were sparkling. I shook off the Maître d’s save attempt.

“He was New York’s greatest Hero. And you killed him.”

“Oh, him.” I commented between bites of butter fried squid, “Wasn’t he the one that, in the course of three months, raped nineteen boys, all under the age of twelve? Yes, I did kill him.”

“Orion never did such a thing! You lie!”

“I have pictures from the investigators. Trust me, you don’t want to see those.” I stated flatly, causing my accuser to step back out of fear.

Gathering her courage, the idiot rambled on, “You are just trying to intimidate me.”

“I can release the full files to the Association and let the public review them. I’m sure his family will want to know just how much of a ‘Great Hero’ they raised and released upon the world.”

“As if anyone would believe you,” she replied, not a hundred percent sure of herself anymore.

As if on cue, Lea gushed, “OOH! You killed a pedophile rapist. You’re my Hero.”

“Stop saying that, Chris was not a, whatever you said he was. He didn’t do it.”

Trying to keep her co-conspirator in the conversation, “Jules, besides Pedo-rapists, who else do you think he kills?”

“Murderers. I hear Bach kills those.” My aide replied as blandly as she could under the circumstances.

“I do,” I confirmed.

“Who else?” Lea asked another leading question of my inverse-mirror dressed aide.

“Narcotic suppliers. I hear that he even goes after the hidden backers and transporters.”

“If he kills rapists, murders, and drug dealers, why don’t people give him a medal?”

“Jealousy.”

“Well, Leo is pretty hot. I can see that.”

“And he’s built like a god.” Julie added, getting into the swing of the farce, late.

“What are you saying? He’s a Murderer! He should be in jail!”

Leaning around her table mate, “So you think that Bach should have let the rapists and murders go free and not kill them?” Julie pointedly asked.

“Who made him god? They should be taken to jail, not Murdered!”

“Do you have a neighbor you hate?” Lea asked out of the blue.

“Huh?”

“Do you have a neighbor you hate?” she repeated.

“Not really.”

Not the brightest of bulbs. I wondered if her appearance here was staged by someone else and what their agenda was.

“But one you ‘really’ don’t like, right?”

“What’s this have to do with him being a murderer?”

Sigh. This girl truly was not very bright, they could have chosen someone better.

“If your house was on fire and you were inside, and that neighbor rescues you, your roommate, and your cat; would you still hate him?”

“Why are you asking this?”

“Would you still hate him after rescuing you?”

“He’s a loudmouthed jerk. So yes.”

“At least she is consistent.” Julie threw in her two cents.

I had to restrain a laugh.

“Le,” catching herself this time after the last slip, “Bach saved all of those other kids from getting raped. Did anyone say thank you? What about that Heroine in Nevada, who hired herself out for spouse removal,” Sandstone, “it made the papers nationwide. Did anyone thank him? Did you even thank Bach for protecting all of your younger relatives and brothers of your friends and saving them from being raped? No, I bet you didn’t. No one ever does.”

“Not true. He receives thank you cards all the time.” Julie added. “Seven to ten a week, I’ve heard.”

Nancy was supposed to stop collecting those...

“Oh, you’re still here. Did you need anything else besides getting your fifteen minutes in?”

“You’re just a cheap whore, what do you know?”

“Are we cheap?”

Julie elbowed Lea, it looked like it was pretty hard too. My aide did not like that question. Something felt more and more off with those two tonight.

“No, we are definitely not cheap.” Lea responded, ignoring Julie’s anger.

The table next to us guffawed. All three of the well-dressed men enjoyed the show.

“Lea!”

Yup, something was up. Julie was close to exploding.

“As for whore - I am a virgin. Can you say the same?”

I think one of the three men in the booth behind me suddenly drank his beer at the wrong time.

“I thought not. Why don’t you go play with the other inflatable singers? Everyone knows that they are all hired after rigorous face and dance testing. Singing is hardly considered a plus, that’s what dubbing is for.”

“That’s not true. I can sing.”

“That’s nice, sweety. Why don’t you go play in the street and let the adults eat in peace?”

More laughing from the nearby tables, the man behind me was choking and pounding the table softly, trying to get his breath back in sync from his beer clogged windpipe.

I nodded to the two large waiters who were standing by. They escorted the sputtering girl out.

I actually expected much better from the singer’s performance. She wasn’t even here for five full minutes and didn’t earn one positive point for her side.

The table beside me gave Lea a smattering of applause, accompanied by a few other tables.

“Did you enjoy yourself?”

Covering her face with her napkin, Lea laughed embarrassingly.

“I’ve never done anything like that before.”

Julie’s reaction was equally as priceless. She tried to hide, while giving Lea a quiet what-for.

“Thank you for defending me, but it was really unnecessary. I’ve had so many of those encounters, I don’t even notice them anymore.”

“Well you should. You are not evil; they are just afraid of you.”

The rest of dinner was upbeat and enjoyable, even with the specter of why they were acting this way looming over their side of the table.

I paid for the check and gave a healthy tip, when Lea frowned and snatched the billfold away from me.

“Why are you charged double? Your steak is twice as much as ours? ... and the calamari is twice as much too.” Lea went to summon the waiter and demand answers, but I stopped her.

“It’s the price I pay for disturbing the rest of the guests. I don’t mind.”

“‘I’ mind,” Lea protested.

“Lea, Bach probably get accosted everywhere he goes. Who would want to go to a nice restaurant and have crazy people making a fuss at you all the time? The restaurants don’t want him here, but don’t bar him, they just charge him extra.”

“It’s not right.”

“What did Leo say earlier, he was used to it, it happens all the time? I bet in places like this, no one else would get that treatment, other than him.” Julie explained.

“There are people that will not dine in the same restaurant as me. I pay extra to cover the lost revenue. I really do not mind. It has been an established practice for decades.” I tried to placate my incensed girlfriend.

“I don’t like it.”

“And if you notice, only I was charged extra. Just consider it me giving the house a larger tip.”