Free One More Day by Colleen Vanderlinden Page B

are we going to have to drag you kicking and screaming to get them looked at?”Amy asked.
    “Ugh. You too?”
    “I’m just watching my own ass here. If you’re too messed up, I might actually have to fight something. Who needs it?” she asked with a grin.
    “Fine. I’m going.”
    One trip to the med wing showed that I had a couple of hairline fractures and to stay in bed at least over night. After the observations they’d made when I was hospitalized after my fight with Maddoc, they’d realized that I had some accelerated healing. Not like what Connor had, where cuts would heal as I watched, as if he’d never been injured at all. But I healed faster than a non-powered person; most of us seemed to, actually. Once I was finished with that, I stumbled up to my suite, showered and fell into bed. After calling to check in on Mama, I drifted off into a fitful sleep full of nightmares about super villains and my mother and Connor and blood on my hands.

Chapter Five
     
    I was patrolling, my second shift of the day. I’d finished my early morning run with Caine, and then Dani had begged me to fill in for her during her shift with Portia, and, like a complete pushover, I agreed. Really, it wasn’t so bad, especially times like this, when I was flying over Midtown, looking down at the Wayne State campus and the main branch of the library. Portia was in the minijet, covering her part of our patrol zone while keeping in pretty steady contact with me. StrikeForce had this part of our job, at least, pretty much down to a science. We’d meet first thing in the morning, and Portia would split up the city, giving us each an area to patrol. I flew over mine, but the rest of the team managed with the small, agile helicopters and hoverjets that Alpha had purchased when he’d first started the team. David, Jenson, and Caine, as well as Portia, all knew how to fly them, so they’d fly them when we needed it. I was grateful every shift for my flying ability; I hated being in the jet with Caine, and I usually only rode with him when we had a prisoner we needed to transport.
    Of course, I usually ended up going out on calls even when it wasn’t my shift, like today. Me, or Caine, since we both had the highest strength on the team. David was out a lot, too. Even though he wasn’t quite as strong as us, he was close, and he made up for any lack of strength with his smarts and tech.
    I flew over the Detroit Medical Center, where Mama worked, and remembered that I needed to call her later, then I maneuvered back toward Wayne State. I circled over it a few times, barely noting the phones held up to film me, the calls of “Daystar! Down here!” People loved taking selfies with Portia and the others, and I guess Alpha had been big on having his photo taken, but that’s just not something I do. I would feel like an asshole.
    I was about to circle back and start checking around the art museum and library when I saw dark smoke rising from one of the few remaining houses near the university. Just off of the freeway, there was a block of rickety-looking old houses, usually split up into quads. One of them, a large house with chipping white paint on its clapboard sidings, was spouting smoke from its second-story windows. There was a fire truck on the scene, an ambulance, and two Detroit Police squad cars. I came in for a landing. House fires and other emergencies weren’t technically our problem, but pretty much all of us stopped to see if we could help or not. I guess it’s not like that in other cities. Most have pretty strict rules about what super teams can get involved in, and usually it has nothing at all to do with “normal” people. Super people, for the most part, only deal with other super people. But not here. I wonder if that will change eventually, but I kind of hope not.
    I mean, what’s the point of having a team of people who can handle all kinds of crazy shit if they aren’t there to help with the less-crazy stuff as