by Jenn Gott
“I won’t be.”
Allison sighed. “Jane—”
“No. Listen to me: I know that you don’t trust your real sister, and you have every reason not to. I’m not her. I can do it.”
“Guys!” Granite Girl’s voice came screaming into their earpieces. “Guys, whatever you’re going to do, please do it fast!”
Jane turned back toward the lasers. “I can do it,” she repeated.
If she said it enough, would that make it true?
She shut her eyes. “Lasers are just light,” she whispered.
Allison’s hand rested on Jane’s shoulder. “Good luck . . . Captain Lumen.”
Jane nodded. She opened her eyes, focusing on each tiny beam crossing in front of her. Fuck, there were so many of them.
I believe in you.
Jane stepped into the light.
* * *
UltraViolet could do nothing but stare. The device was still in her hand, the cord that linked it back to the computer hanging as low as her open mouth.
So you think you know everything we can come up with, huh? Jane thought. Power coursed through her, and yet . . . it did not overwhelm her. Jane felt it, the pull of it, the strength of it—it could have been overwhelming.
It wasn’t. Clair’s faith in Jane had lodged itself in her own heart, and Jane did not fear it anymore. The gallery had taken on a soft-glow effect, as time and light and distance seemed to meld into one pliable form. The laser beams passed straight through Jane, a faint tickle against her skin, like raindrops.
A gurgle escaped UltraViolet. Genuine terror seemed to flit about the corners of her eyes.
It was this complete and utter bafflement that let Jane get the first punch in.
She had barely finished crossing the laser grid. Her arm swung up, her fist connecting with the underside of UltraViolet’s jaw. Jane had to be careful—she did not want to knock UltraViolet so far off her feet that she fell into the lasers around them.
UltraViolet staggered back, dropping the device and catching herself against the table. It was all the opening that Jane needed—she lunged to the side, making an effort to stomp on the switch trapping Pixie Beats and Granite Girl, but not quite fast enough. The punch must have stirred UltraViolet back to her senses, because now she clawed at Jane, yanking back on her ponytail.
With such tight quarters to work with, their scuffle was cramped and nasty: nails and knees, stomping and pulling. It was a good thing that Cal wasn’t there, because Jane was quite sure that he’d be able to read perversion into the experience. Jane made for UltraViolet’s eyes with her thumbs, just as UltraViolet grabbed at Jane’s throat.
It wasn’t clear, in the end, which one of them ended up stepping on the switch. One moment they were struggling against each other, locked in a vicious cage fight. The next, Pixie Beats and Granite Girl were full sized beside them, their bodies practically knocking Jane and UltraViolet down.
Granite Girl wasted no time. Jane managed to hold UltraViolet back with a hard punch to her throat, as Granite Girl made a beeline for the laptop. Pixie Beats was still down, crouched on all fours, taking steadying breaths. Jane didn’t have time to worry about her, though, because now UltraViolet had twisted around, hooking Jane’s feet and sweeping them out from underneath her.
Jane hit the ground, hard, just as the network of lasers shut down.
“We’re clear!” Granite Girl called, for the benefit of those without the ability to see lasers.
Jane scrambled to her feet. Allison was already charging toward them, hellbent on UltraViolet. A split-second decision: did UltraViolet turn and try to get the lasers back up, or did she deal with the more immediate threats in front of her?
She grabbed Jane, all but throwing her in Allison’s path.
Jane collided with Allison, who immediately used a block to knock her sideways. Jane’s momentum carried her straight past Allison, and she crashed into the floor.
That’s when the Shadow Raptors appeared.
One, and then two, and then three, leaping over her—then another two, bursting in through a staff entrance tucked into the corner.
Jane’s impulse was to cry out to alert the others, but it wasn’t needed. They were already engaged, almost as soon as the Shadow Raptors appeared. Pixie Beats was leaping and whirling, her limbs a perfect arc of grace and power as they struck each of the Shadow Raptors’ vulnerable parts in turn; she wasn’t shrinking—probably recovering her strength, though you’d never know it just to look at her. Granite Girl was still typing madly on the laptop, pausing only long enough to snap the neck of any Shadow Raptor foolish enough to approach her—she barely even looked up, though a sickening crunch filled the gallery each time one of them tried. None of them seemed to be attacking Allison for now, though Allison had her hands full: she and UltraViolet were entrenched in deep combat, the sisters wailing on each other with a lifetime of repressed resentment. Jane winced as a laser beam cut right past Allison’s head.
Jane was so busy watching that she did not see the Shadow Raptor approach her from behind. It was only the widening of Amy’s eyes, desperately tracking Jane, that alerted her to the danger.
Jane rolled fast to the side, as an obsidian dagger struck the gallery’s marble tile. She reached out, drilling a laser beam straight for the Shadow Raptor’s face—it struck one of its eyes, the Shadow Raptor wailing and jerking its head aside.
Another lunged at Jane from behind. She raced to her feet, twisting away just before it was able to grab her. It blocked her laser beam, bouncing it off of its daggers as the creature protected its face.
A mad scramble of dodges and attacks. Jane was trapped on the defensive, the Shadow Raptors boxing her in so that she had no choice but to shuffle backwards toward the rest of the fighting. Shouts and crunches met her from behind—once, she even had to duck, as a Shadow Raptor went flying over her head, no doubt thrown across the gallery by Granite Girl. That one did at least catch the leg of one of her own Shadow Raptors, allowing Jane to get a solid bore into its opposing hip. She did finally manage to down one—the one that she’d half-blinded, its wild swings not even remotely close to hitting her—but doing that, unfortunately, opened up a huge vulnerability to her left side.
She saw the opening, too late to do anything about it. Saw herself from the outside, frozen as she stood over the body of the half-blinded Shadow Raptor. Her body is twisted as she begins to turn around. She’s shadowed by the approaching attack, the whites of her eyes popping against the darker shading on her face. In the next panel, nothing but the vicious curves of the Shadow Raptor’s talons, the glint of its horrible teeth.
Jane ducked. It wouldn’t help, but her muscles didn’t care. She threw her hands over her head, cowering like a little girl. She did not see, then, the Shadow Raptor as it veered off course, thrown to the side by the collision of Allison’s running leap. Only the sound of their crash made her look up. Allison had a garrote wire out, already wrapped tightly around the Shadow Raptor’s throat. Spurts of blood traced the wire, as the force of it cut lines into its scaled skin.
It was the last Shadow Raptor. Jane leaped up, a swell of triumph making her cocky.
Cold steel found her neck. A voice, rough like cheek stubble, nuzzled against her ear. “Miss me?”
Cal.
Fear turned Jane’s blood to ice. Her heroism abandoned her, bolting for warmer climates.
Cal stood at her back, one hand meat-hooking her arm, the other holding the knife. He raised his voice, as he called over her shoulder, “Everybody stop!”
Everybody turned. Everybody stopped.
Allison released her grip, and the Shadow Raptor’s head landed with a wet splunk against the floor. Granite Girl raised her hands from the keyboard, holding them open and nonthreatening as she took a step back. Pixie Beats landed midtwirl, falling to her knees as she rolled out of her aborted maneuver. She knelt on the floor, her back held straight and proud; height had never been the master of her, and the
lack of it never diminished her importance, or the impact of her stage presence.
The sound of UltraViolet’s clapping cut through the gallery like lightning.
“Oh, very good, very good,” she said, as she scampered up toward Jane and Cal. “Yes, well done.”
Cal’s chest puffed against Jane’s back. “Thanks.”
“Shut up, I wasn’t talking to you,” UltraViolet said with a dismissive wave of her hand. She grinned at Jane, pinching her cheek like a fussy old aunt. “Has anyone ever told you that you make such a good little piece of leverage?”
She laughed, not waiting for a response.
“That’s right everyone, give it up! Wouldn’t want to risk your teammate, now, would you?”
UltraViolet strolled over to the table. Brushing Granite Girl aside, she picked up the wrist cuff and began to strap it on.
Panic rose in Jane’s throat. She tried to catch the eyes of the rest of the Heroes, but somehow nobody was willing. With Cal’s breath heavy at her neck, there was little that any of them could do. Now, look: UltraViolet adjusting settings on the wrist cuff, inching ever closer to her ultimate victory, and nobody was doing anything.
Always—always—UltraViolet kept getting the upper hand, but why? It couldn’t be that evil was inherently stronger than good; Jane would never accept that. And it couldn’t be that UltraViolet was smarter than Jane, because they had the same brain to work with. The same childhood, the same heart. Hell, they even had the same superpowers. The only real difference, when it came to these face-offs anyway, was the costume.
Maybe . . . maybe it was time to take a page out of UltraViolet’s book.
Just a little one.
Jane straightened her spine. “Hey, Cal,” she said, loud enough for UltraViolet to hear, “I finally learned what the big fight with Jane’s mom was about. Turns out, it had nothing to do with you after all.”
“Shut up,” Cal hissed in her ear.
But, as Jane had hoped, it caught UltraViolet’s attention. She looked up from her work, the tiniest wrinkle between her brow.
That’s right, Jane thought. Come on.
“You?” UltraViolet asked. “Why would it have been about you?”
Cal laughed. “It wouldn’t. Of course it wouldn’t. I don’t know why she said that.”
UltraViolet’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not,” Cal said. So plain, so sincere. “Babe. She’s trying to mess with your head. You know how it goes.”
Jane forced a laugh, hoping it sounded more cocky than it felt. “What’s the matter? Didn’t you tell her? Well, no—I suppose that isn’t the kind of thing you’d want to admit out loud.”
“Tell me what?”
“Nothing!” Cal said.
“On the other hand, you told me, and it wasn’t even my mom.”
“Shut up,” Cal said again. His blade shifted, just enough to leave the smallest paper cut against her neck. “No one asked you.”
UltraViolet raised her hand. “I’m asking.”
Jane felt Cal catch his breath. UltraViolet’s cold stare had narrowed itself on Cal, her hand poised and ready to strike. Tiny flashes, like paparazzi cameras, lit her fingertips. The effort of holding herself back was clearly visible in the tension of her jaw.
Perfect, Jane thought.
“Let her go,” UltraViolet said. She kept her voice slow, steady. She raised her chin. “Let her speak.”
For a moment, it wasn’t clear what Cal was going to do. Jane could practically hear the gears of his brain turning, as he struggled to determine how best to weasel out of this one.
“Babe—” he said, but a narrow beam of light caught his knuckle. Just enough.
Cal hissed as he yanked his hand back. In the distraction, Jane darted out from underneath his grasp. An angry red burn marred his hand when he took it out of his mouth, where he’d sucked at the pain.
He shook it at the wrist, as if drying it off. “That wasn’t necessary.”
“I decide what’s necessary,” UltraViolet said. She kept her arm raised in Cal’s direction, but her attention turned to Jane. “Talk.”
“Is now really the time for this?” Cal asked.
“Talk!”
The slightest hesitation, as Jane glanced at Cal. Then, all in a rush: “Cal slept with your mom.”
UltraViolet’s head whipped back to Cal with the explosive force of a bomb. “You what?!”
“Babe, it’s not—!”
“Don’t ‘babe’ me! You slept with my mom, you disgusting piece of shit!”
“I didn’t!”
“Liar!”
A burst of blistering light and uncoordinated radio waves exploded out of UltraViolet, a heat that brushed Jane’s cheek like a sunburn. Everyone else went scrambling, blocking their eyes and diving for cover. Even Amy, still struggling to hold on, squeezed her eyes shut and turned away. The light was omnipresent, stripping away every shadow, purging every hiding spot.
Only Jane could see what happened next.
The brunt of UltraViolet’s rage struck Cal straight in the chest. Shock forced his eyes open, despite the searing light. His body went rigid, each muscle snapping to attention. His lips parted, just slightly, half a breath stolen from the chaos.
He fell. Cal’s body toppled like a toy soldier, bouncing once before landing facedown on the marble floor. Dead? It was impossible to say from here—Jane couldn’t take the time to check on him even if she’d wanted to.
The flare had staggered UltraViolet. Veins in her temples bulged from the effort of holding it in, but the light kept spilling over, a flood that couldn’t be stopped. She knelt on the gallery floor, clutching her head as she fought to regain control of herself.
A silhouette of Jane draped across UltraViolet like a cape, the only shadow in the room.
UltraViolet raised her shaky head. Her sneer turned into a wince as Jane towered over her.
“Go on, then,” UltraViolet said, biting out her words. “Kill me. Take what’s yours.”
Jane crouched down in front of UltraViolet. “That’s what you think I’m doing?”
“Of course it is,” UltraViolet said. She boggled up at Jane, like this was obvious. “You’re Jane Maxwell. This is what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? Power? Revenge?”
Jane’s heart twisted. There, but for the grace of Clair . . . Without thought, Jane ran the back of her fingers across UltraViolet’s cheek.
“You really don’t get it, do you?” Jane said. She tipped UltraViolet’s chin up. “Jane: I already had what I wanted—and you took her away from me. But if you think I’m going to let myself become you, in some futile effort to exact vengeance for something that can never be undone . . . then you really don’t know me at all.”
Jane stood back up. UltraViolet’s eyes, wide and wild, tracked her movement.
“Then . . . what are you going to do?”
“This,” Jane said. She wheeled her arm back and hooked UltraViolet’s chin with a sharp uppercut.
The force of it threw UltraViolet back. Across the room, landing in a slide, slamming against the wall. UltraViolet’s flare flicked off, the world plunging back into shadows and shading.
“That’s for Clair,” Jane said, as she strode over toward UltraViolet’s crumpled form. “And this is for Grand City.”
Jane threw her arms wide, all of her fingers spread. Power surged through her as UltraViolet began to look up. Lasers leaped from the trip-beam explosives, and Jane ripped them toward her. UltraViolet threw herself to her feet, but nothing is faster than light.
And the light belonged to Jane.
It snapped together in front of UltraViolet, knitting itself into a prison cell. Beams bent and hugged a tight net around UltraViolet’s body, spooling from the base and ignoring the laws of physics as they danced to Jane’s will. The intensity glared brightly in Jane’s vision, burning lines between them that only she and UltraViolet could see.
UltraViolet barely managed
to stop in time. Her hands were thrown in front of her, as if they’d literally caught her against the net. She glared at Jane. “This isn’t over, Jane.”
“I think it is,” Jane said, as the rest of the team rushed back to stand tall beside her.
UltraViolet’s eyes flicked to each of the other faces, in turn, as if searching out the weakest link. They settled, finally, on the laptop she’d been using earlier, the one that all of the trip sensors were hooked in to.
“Don’t even think about it,” Granite Girl said. She raised her fist, a solid block of granite, and held it over the laptop. “I’ll smash this thing in a heartbeat, and then who will let you out, hmm?”
UltraViolet sneered. “What makes you think I need someone to?” She jerked her chin at Jane. “I can just walk out of here, the way she did.”
“Yeah . . . I really don’t think you can,” Granite Girl said. She glanced sideways at Jane, something halfway between respect and awe tucked in the corners of her eyes.
Jane watched as UltraViolet regarded the spread of lasers in front of her, weighing her options. How much risk was she willing to take, exactly? What was she willing to lose?
UltraViolet’s fingers curled in, one at a time. She lowered her hand.
A low moan from beside them jolted Jane’s heart.
“Amy!”
“Jane, no!” Granite Girl said, but too late. Jane had raced the small distance between them; her fingers brushed against Amy’s cheek.
Such a minor point of contact. She wasn’t even trying to touch Amy, not specifically, but it happened just the same, a moment frozen in time: Jane, finding the corner of the duct tape that gagged Amy’s mouth. A single spark of contact. That was all it took.
A deafening crack! split the gallery. Jane was thrown back, limp as a discarded cape, a piece of duct tape pinched in her grip. She crashed into a vase on a pedestal, toppling both. The vase shattered into a thousand pieces, and Jane landed hard on top of the shards.
Ringing drove all thought from her mind. Her head spun as she picked it up, and drew herself unsteadily to her elbows. The world wavered. Distantly, there was the sound of people shouting, and through a blur, Jane could see legs running as people scrambled from one point to another.