Supplying Supers - Ch. 6 - Sourcing Civilians - Beta (Patreon)

Friday June 9th, 2025 Miami, Florida, Amerika

Gunner Webb

OSDB Hero Rank: N/A - Civilian

OSDB Threat Rating: N/A - Civilian

Gunner took a handkerchief out of his tan suit pocket and wiped the sweat from his brow. The summer heat was in full effect. He felt overdressed walking among the dozens of students headed toward their next class wearing little more than covered bathing suits and shorts. However, with each burst coastal breeze, his cotton suit and thin white undershirt passed plenty of wind through it, revitalizing him.

Gunner paused briefly to get his bearings. The campus was an alluring mix of modern architecture with weaves of natural beauty. Tall multistory buildings composed of large glass windows and white facades stood above white brick walkways lined with lush palm trees.

Waterways wove in underneath small suspended streets, presenting a mixture of fresh and saltwater fish. Students gathered around outdoor seating, discussing the latest assignments. While others sunbathed in pockets of cleared grass. When Gunner found the Rosenstiel building, he climbed up the stairs and walked inside.

His eyes spotted a wall-mounted room list and map. When he found the room he was looking for, he walked to the closest auditorium. As he approached an entrance, the double doors swung open. Dozens of students poured from their last class of the day.

Once the crowd dispersed, Gunner walked inside. The lecture hall supported up to a hundred students with rows of floor mounted white chairs staggered up to the second floor. They all faced a podium and island used for small experiments. A single whiteboard expanded from wall to wall.

The room was empty except for a small group of students and the lecturer. Gunner recognized Professor Leah Callahan immediately from her faculty photo. She was small in stature. Her fit body helped mask her years of experience, and she’d cut her fading red hair short.

She explained details of the upcoming exam while several students gathered around her while. Gunner approached them from behind and waited patiently. When she locked onto Gunner’s eyes, she froze mid-sentence before finishing her thought. Once she’d answered all the student’s questions, she turned around and cleared the whiteboard with an eraser.

“Can I help you?” she asked, refusing to look at him.

“Professor Callahan?” Gunner asked as a test.

“I am she.”

“My name is Gunner Webb. I’ve traveled from Mazuma City hoping I could take up a few minutes of your time.”

She glanced over her shoulder and furrowed her brows. “You traveled all that way just to speak with me?”

“Yes.”

“A phone call would have been faster.”

Gunner let out a short laugh. “It certainly would have. However, the information that I’d like to discuss with you is regarding a private matter, one that I believe is best done face to face.”

Professor Callahan’s arm froze mid swipe. She slowly lowered the eraser, turned around, and crossed her arms. “Are you a cop?”

“No, I’m not a cop. Do I look like one?”

She looked him up and down before speaking. “Maybe federal.”

“I can assure you I’m not. The name I gave you is real. Feel free to look me up if you’d like.”

Professor Callahan side-eyed him as she walked to the podium. She picked up her cell phone and unlocked it. “What did you say your name was?”

“Gunner Webb.”

After a few minutes of scrolling and glancing back and forth between her phone, Professor Callahan slipped it into her back pocket and crossed her arms. “Why are you here?”

“I’d like to discuss business,” Gunner said, smiling. “Do you have somewhere we could talk privately?”

“I’m not interested,” Professor Callahan said bluntly.

Gunner rubbed his chin and slowly nodded. He took a few steps toward the professor, an act where she assumed the worst.

Professor Callahan lunged for her purse on the podium and backpedaled. Her lips trembled as she fumbled inside her bag. Gunner waited until she pulled a small revolver out and pointed at him, yelling, “Get back!”

Gunner took a step back, smiled, and raised his hands while muttering, “Professor Callahan, I’m not here to hurt you. I was approaching you so that you would hear me.”

“Don’t you take another step towards me! Turn around and leave before I call campus security.”

Gunner’s smile faded, and he lowered his hands. “No.”

“No? What do you mean, no?” She pulled the hammer back, her arms shaking. “If you don’t, I’ll shoot you right where you stand.”

“Professor Callahan, I did not come all this way to leave empty-handed. Now, I would ask that you lower your gun so we can speak with some civility.”

“If you have something to say, then say it!”

“Fine. Lagos.”

Professor Callahan took in a quickened breath, and her eyes widened briefly before swallowing. “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Gunner smiled. “Of course you do, Leah. I know all about you and your previous organizations. How you used cultural mission trips to mask the real reason for your destinations. How you use your non-profit donations to fund your… extracurricular activities. It wasn’t hard to discover. The only reason why you haven’t been caught is because it’s old news and the right people haven’t been looking.”

“So, you are a cop.”

“No, I said I wasn’t and I don’t lie. I’m here to have a conversation, one that I think you would be interested in.”

“Uh professor?” a lone voice called out.

Gunner and Professor Callahan turned to see a student with a short, curly afro standing in the entranceway.

“Ricky?” Professor Callahan asked.

“Is everything okay?” the young man asked, nodding toward her hand.

Professor Callahan looked down at the gun, uncocked the hammer, and slid it into her purse. “Oh, um, yes. Everything is okay.”

“Are you sure?”

Professor Callahan put on her best smile. “Yes. Please go Ricky, I’m fine. This was just a misunderstanding.”

“Okay…” The student walked to the front row of the seats and picked up his bookbag. “I’ll see you next week, then.”

“Have a good weekend, Ricky.”

Once the student exited the room, Professor Callahan sighed and leaned back on the whiteboard. Gunner waited patiently, giving her time to process him and his intent. He was confident she didn’t have it in her to shoot him, no matter the situation.

When she’d decided, she pushed herself up, shouldered her bag, and waved Gunner toward her. “Come on, follow me.”

He accompanied the academic out of the lecture hall and down the hall. They turned into a hall full of small offices no bigger than cubicles. Professor Callahan stopped in front of the one with her name on the plaque. She pulled a set of keys and unlocked the door long enough for her to grab a separate set in her desk drawer.

When she exited the room, Gunner pointed inside. “We’re not meeting here?”

“No,” she whispered back to him, as she locked the door. “The walls are thin as paper and there’s barely enough room to breathe. And for this conversation, I’m sure I’m going to need some air.”

“Lead the way then.”

Gunner followed Professor Callahan out of the building along a walkway. They continued toward the coast until they reached a dock where several twenty-five-foot center cabin boats floated.

“We’re taking a boat?” Gunner asked.

“You said you wanted privacy, didn’t you?” Professor Callahan asked.

“I did.”

“You’re not afraid of the water, are you?”

“Not at all. I actually love it. My office sits at the Mazuma City Docks. Believe it or not, I spent most of my youth and young adult life as a sailor and fisherman.”

“Really? Where at?”

“Off the coast of Massachusetts. I worked on my father’s fishing boats until I took them over when he retired.”

“Is that how you started your enterprise?”

“Yes, and no. More like the first business I owned. I sold it shortly after I was involved in… an unfortunate circumstance. I took some time off, did some interesting jobs. Met some interesting people. Then I built my network up from that point.”

Professor Callahan jumped onto the boat and started the engine. “That’s one thing we always tell the kids. College is the best place to meet people. You never know who you’re going to meet and you’ll call on when you need them.”

“I believe it,” Gunner said, hopping onboard. “My business is those relationships. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

After allowing the engine to warm up, the professor reached into a cargo box and tossed him a bright orange life jacket. “Safety first.”

“Good thinking,” Gunner said. He took off his coat, folded it on the rear seat, and slipped the jacket on.

After a few minutes passed, Professor Callahan pointed to the side of the boat. “Okay, we should be good. Cast off those lines and we can be on our way.”

Once Gunner untied them from the dock, he took his seat in the rear while Professor Callahan straightened the boat and led them into the open water. They idled through the no wake zone before the professor accelerated into the sea.

The ride out there was serene. The summer sun sat over the edge of the horizon, filling the sky with beautiful oranges, pinks, and blues. They traveled half an hour until there was no one around.

When Professor Callahan reached their destination, she stopped the boat and spun in her chair. To Gunner’s surprise, she’d retrieved the revolver from her purse and pointed it straight at him. He let out a short laugh as he raised his hands.

“Are you planning on shooting me and dumping me out here?” Gunner asked.

“I’m thinking about it,” Professor Callahan lied.

“I don’t think you’ll do it. You’re not a killer, Leah.”

“You don’t know shit about me.”

“Oh… but I do. Seven years ago, you ran the third largest ocean conservation non-profit, United Oceanic Conservation. You used those funds to perform scientific studies and conservation actions around the world. However, what most people don’t know is that those trips were actually just a guise for the actual work you were doing as part of Sphyraena, your eco-terrorist group.

“We weren’t terrorists,” Professor Callahan said with a clenched jaw.

“Then what would you call what occurred in Lagos Port Complex?”

Professor Callahan stared off into the sea as a single tear fell from her cheek. “That was an accident.”

“Blowing up a docked full oil tanker? Killing dozens and injuring hundreds? Not to mention spilling the thousands of gallons of oil into the ocean—”

“It was supposed to be empty!” Professor Callahan shouted. “The bomb was only supposed to incapacitate the ship.”

“I believe you, Leah,” Gunner said calmly. “It’s clear you had regrets which is why you shut everything down six months ago and parted away with Brian Mitchell, who, based on his previous EOD experience, I derive knew what he was doing.”

“I never should have let him in.”

“No… you shouldn’t have. However, that has presented me with the opportunity here.”

Professor Callahan forcibly wiped the wetness from her cheeks. “So that’s what this is—blackmail?”

“That’s exactly what this is.”

“Then what do you want? I don’t have money, if that’s what you’re after.”

“No, I have plenty of money. I want to offer you a job.”

“A job?”

“Yes.”

“You’re serious?”

“Without question.”

Professor Callahan’s frustration built into laughter. “Well, that’s one hell of a recruiting pitch.”

“Is it working?”

The two shared a short laugh before Professor Callahan glanced down at her shaking hand. She shook it out before putting her gun away.

“What’s the job?” she asked. “If you’re looking for more of what happened in Laos—”

“Oh heavens no,” Gunner said, waving his hand at her. “Like I said, I don’t think you’re capable of such a tragedy. No… I want you for your expertise.”

“Expertise? Now I’m really confused.”

“Are you familiar with the orca, Millie?”

“Of course I am. Ocean World was a horrible place full of negligence, crock scientists, and greed. I’m glad it got shut down. But what Bismuth is doing, holding her hostage, is pure cruelty.”

“I’m glad to hear you feel that way. I represent a certain… client. He’s interested in seeing Millie freed.”

“What?” Professor Callahan asked, sitting up in her chair. “You want to kidnap a full-sized orca?”

“I prefer the term rescue, but yes.”

“How soon?”

“As soon as possible.”

Professor Callahan snorted. “You’d need a full support team, special transportation crate, semi’s, planes…”

“I’ve already taken care of everything from a logistics standpoint. At this point, I need the expertise. I need a person who is an expert in marine biology with a crew who can handle the transportation of the animal from Ocean World to a rescue facility off the coast of Alaska.”

“So your plan is just to stroll up and steal her from under their nose?”

“An elementary explanation, but in short, yes.”

“How are you going to get her out without Bismuth’s security‌ knowing?”

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll have our own team taking care of any security issues. All you’d be doing is caring for Millie and overseeing her health from arrival to destination.”

“I’d need an entire team.”

“I have confidence in your ability to put one together. Just call on your former Sphyraena associates.”

“I-I don’t speak to them after what happened.”

“There’s no need to lie, Leah,” Gunner said with a sly smile. “I know you’ve spoken with Sara, Nigel, and Chris all within the last week.”

Professor Callahan leaned back. “How—you know what, never mind. Even if I could get those three back, I’d still need at least two more.”

“Then recruit a few students. The youth loves sticking it to the man. What about Ricky? He seemed like a good kid.”

“What!” Professor Callahan shouted, wide eyed. “No. Absolutely not. Not only is that super unethical—”

“Professor Callahan, now is not the time to discuss what is and what isn’t ethical. Based on how you’ve built up your nonprofits and Sphyraena, I’ve surmised you’re a good leader. And good leaders are always scouting talent. It’s always in the back of our mind when we meet someone. I know if I put a gun to your head, you could rattle off a few names who you know would be excellent for this.”

Professor Callahan spun and placed her hand on the console. Gunner knew what he was asking for a lot. But he knew he was right. They had a brief window to get the job done, and that meant turning the knife as far as it needed to be to make the operation successful.

“And if I don’t?”

“Pardon?” Gunner asked.

Professor Callahan turned back around. “What happens if I say no?”

Gunner smiled and shook his head. He leaned forward and extended both hands with his palms up. “Here are your options, Professor Callahan. Option one. You take the mission. You do some good and rescue a suffering animal from a cruel owner. And not only will I pay you and your team a hundred grand, I will delete all the data I have on your involvement with the Lagos Port Complex incident. The other option is I release the information to the local authorities. You’ll be arrested before the end of the weekend and you and everyone you were involved with will spend your lives in federal prison. Now, I think you have much more to offer to the world than what could be a blight from one mistake.”

Professor Callahan sighed and hung her head. “It doesn’t seem like I have a choice.”

“You always have a choice, Leah. However, we both know which one is the right one.”

The professor crossed her arms and tapped her foot as she looked out at the sea. After a moment of contemplation, she looked at Gunner with determination in her eyes. “So, where do we begin?”