by S. J. Delos
“No,” I said, shaking my head. It wasn’t hard to imagine how Martin crazy would have acted if I somewhere other than tucked away in the Max during my pregnancy. It would have been worse than being in prison.
“Afterward, it was I who found a home for her. Your daughter, I mean. Handpicked personally, you might say.” He shrugged. “At first, I considered just telling him that you had lost the baby. Probably due to complications during labor. But then I realized that not only was that a dangerous game to play with someone like Martin, it would also rob me of any future leverage I could use.” He turned his head to smile at me. The only description I could think of for the expression was ‘evil’. “She makes the most adorable tool.”
The reddish haze from earlier drifted down over my vision, only this time it was a mother’s hot fury. The man standing before me with a smug look on this face had not only directed the murder of some of my fellow heroes, and attempted to paint me as an out of control public danger. He had decided that my daughter was a pawn for him to use against her father.
My jaw tightened, teeth grinding together. “Let me show you my tools.” I moved toward him, raising my clenched fists.
“Stop.”
I nearly stumbled as my legs locked tight the second that disturbingly familiar voice rang in my head. My arms wheeled around for a moment, keeping me from falling onto my face. As soon as I regained my balance, I turned around to look behind me.
Coerce smiled and blew me a kiss. “Hey, pretty lady,” she said pointing at me. “Remember me?” The bondage gear from the other day had been replaced by an ordinary pair of jeans and black sweater. The asshole teleporter was standing behind her, his arms crossed across his chest. Both of them were wearing what looked like little white squares with flashing lights on their chests.
“Bonsoir,” he said, giving me a wink. “How was Paris?”
I stared at the devices they sported, then glanced back at Gordon. Somehow, I wasn’t all that stunned to see the armored bitch from the bank heist standing next to him.“So you’re the brains behind the Harbingers.” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder at the pair behind me. “And those things on their chest? That blocks the Delta Inducer’s signal.”
Nightfall nodded, smiling again. “Now there’s the Crushette I remember. Brains, beauty, and power. All in one easily manipulated package.”
I still couldn’t move my legs to walk toward him. I had already tried to float up, but apparently, the command to stop was still being directed into my brain. “Okay, so now what? You’re going to kill all the heroes downstairs now? What about me?”
The Mechanika’s faceplate slid open. “Not exactly,” she said with a laugh. “Well, you got the first part right. But we’re not going to kill anyone. You are.”
Nightfall glanced at his underling and nodded. “Mechanika is correct. It’s perfect, actually. You’ve already shown the world you have a terrible temper when you beat up Carbonado. How was anyone to know that when you were in a room with all those heroes who used to be your enemies you would go berserk and tear them apart? Guess you never really reformed after all.”
I sneered. “Go fuck yourself. You’re living in a dream.”
“Am I?” He nodded at one of the two behind me. I could guess which one.
“Kneel.”
I dropped to my knees so fast it cracked the surface of the concrete.
“See, Karen, right now I have complete control over you. Sure, it might be only temporary, but it will be long enough for you to do enough damage to the status quo. With so many prominent heroes murdered at the hands of one of their own, it will be so easy to get new legislation passed that increases the scope of the EAPF’s powers and jurisdiction.”
Are you fucking serious?
“Wait,” I said as I looked up at Nightfall. “You’re telling me that your whole scheme, the big bad plan that has us all out here on a chilly Chicago evening, is increasing the power of the EAPF? That’s your deal?” Martin would have laughed himself silly at the notion.
Gordon tisked me a couple of times, shaking his head. “It’s not just the power of being the head of the EAPF, silly girl. It’s culling this recent explosion of superheroes that, frankly, has gotten out of hand as of late.” He turned his back on me, looking out over the city. “In the beginning, it was much simpler. There were only a few dozen heroes parading around in bright colors, calling themselves stupid names. But the Enhanced using their new abilities in an illegal manner? Well, there were hundreds.”
I strained against the invisible force keeping me on my knees. I knew with complete certainty, that if I could have launched myself at him, I would have snapped his neck in a microsecond.
“Thus,” he continued, “the EAPF was formed. It was believed that the only way these strange new people could be kept in check was to have a watchdog. A militarized police force that operated at the Federal level and was staffed solely by normal humans.”
I narrowed my eyes at his back. “That’s coming to an end?”
He nodded. “There’s too many of you. You’re doing too good of a job.” He turned back around. “You know, not that long ago, when I wanted to ask for additional resources, I would arrange for Colossal to ‘escape’ and go on a rampage. Worked like a charm. Now the doctors aren’t even sure he’ll walk again, thanks to you.”
I remembered putting an end to the fight with the gargantuan six months ago. While trying to apprehend him, he had hurt Alexis. I, in return, had hurt him back. The piece of rebar I shoved through his spine must have done more damage than originally thought.
“Sorry,” I said with a shrug. “Just doing my job.”
“Yes, well your employment as a beacon of hope is going to be over soon. With so many heroes dead, I think a good portion of those fortunate enough to be absent this evening will probably hang up their capes. After all, if Major Freedom can die, anyone can.”
He nodded at Coerce, and I heard her sinister voice in my head.
“Get up.”
I popped to my feet. “Even if you go through with this, you won’t get away with it. I’ll tell the truth. I’ll tell them that your bitch flunky made me do it.”
“Watch your mouth,” Coerce said. But she didn’t force the command into me.
“What if I hadn’t come to the banquet?” I asked, trying to stall while scrambling to find a solution to my dilemma. “What if I’d stayed home like I originally planned?”
He smiled. “Oh, you were going to be here. True, Martin did try to throw a wrench in my plans by telling you to stay away. But even if you’d decided to stay home, you would have come. I would have had Coerce make you.” Then he stepped forward until our faces were only inches apart.
“Or I would have ordered your precious Detective Braddock sent up here for a special assignment. I somehow doubt you would have let him come alone knowing there was a potential threat.”
“You won’t get away with this,” I said, trying to sound as convinced as I wasn’t. “I’ll stop you.”
“Face it, Karen. If you were truly this hero you wish you were, you would have apprehended Martin months ago. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to increase the power on the Delta Inducer. And you, my dear, have a roomful of people to kill.”
He turned around, walking away. He headed toward a flight of steps that led up to the actual rooftop. Mechanika, followed him, leaving me alone with Coerce and Transport.
“Turn around and smile.”
I did as she said, fighting against her control. It was just like when Daniel used Richard’s stolen power to make me obey him. But this time, it seemed the mental training Martin had drilled into me wasn’t going to come through.
Transport laughed. “Look at her struggle. She actually thinks she can break free.” He fixed his eyes on mine. “I think we should—”
I don’t guess I’ll ever find out what he thought they should do. Before he could finish the statement, I heard a loud zapping sound. At the same moment, the teleporter sti
ffened before going into a jerking seizure motion that ended with him collapsing on the concrete.
I glanced up from the fallen villain to see Kurt standing next to the stairway door, an EAPF standard-issue taser in his hand. I couldn’t help but notice he was wearing a tuxedo.
Coerce looked down at her unconscious paramour, then spun around to glare at Kurt.
“You fucker,” she spat. “Jump off the roof.”
Kurt’s head whipped around to face the short railing. He dropped the weapon and ran the short distance to the edge of the platform. Planting one hand on the top of the railing, he leapt over it without hesitation.
I screamed. The combined adrenaline rush of seeing my lover going over the edge and Coerce’s distraction freed me enough to act. I grabbed her arm before she could realize she no longer controlled me and threw her into the metal door of the stairway. Before she finished sliding down to the concrete, I was chasing Kurt.
I soared over the railing and went into a steep power dive, focusing on the small figure beneath me rushing toward his death. I poured every bit of speed into my pursuit, gaining on him in increments that seemed horribly slow.
Kurt’s arms were spread wide, but it did little to slow his descent. Our eyes locked for a moment, then I ignored everything else in my quest to catch him. I couldn’t tell how close we were to the ground. Or even if there were pedestrians who were likely to get killed when I impacted the street. Even the sonic boom that formed when I went supersonic was disregarded.
All I gave a damn about was Kurt.
I grabbed his outstretched hand, pulling him tightly against me. Then I rolled over hugging him tight as I attempted to pull us out of the death dive. I felt my hair brush along the asphalt as we skimmed just above the surface of the street, my heart hammering in my chest as fear became relief.
I glanced at the man lying on top of me, then back up to the top of the hotel. We banked upward, rocketing back along the glass and steel façade as I took us back up to the observation deck. Slowing as we came level with the railing, I carried us over the worthless barrier, setting down right on the spot from which Kurt had jumped.
“Karen,” Kurt said softly. “Please let go. You’re crushing me.”
I gasped, unwrapping my arms from around him. “Sorry,” I mumbled. I couldn’t stop shaking, as if Princess Snow was standing behind me, pouring her power down my spine.
“It’s okay,” he said, stepping forward to hug me. “It’s okay.”
I buried my face into his shoulder. “I thought I’d lost you.” Part of me wanted to squeeze him again.
“Yeah, me too.” He chuckled one of those nervous titters reserved for when you’re trying to not sound like you nearly shit your pants. “That bitch is dangerous.”
“She is,” I said. Reluctantly, I peeled myself away from the handsome detective, walking over to where Coerce lay unconscious. I reached down, snatched the flashing device from her chest, and crushed it into a sparking pile of junk. Then I walked over to Transport, doing the same with his protection.
“What were those,” Kurt asked as he walked over to me.
“The things keeping them awake.” I gave him the abridged version of the Delta Inducer. As well as the microchip in my skull.
“That’s what’s going on.” He pointed at the city below. “It’s crazy down there. On my way here, I saw multiple accidents. There are people just lying on the ground unresponsive.”
“Apparently, this thing only affects Enhanced. Unless you’re protected, it’s sleepy time.” I turned toward the stairs leading up to the roof. “The broadcast must be intense if it can knock out a whole city.”
“I can’t believe Senator Gordon is behind this.” Kurt shook his head. “I mean, he seemed like an honest person.”
“Yeah. Proving he’s actually Nightfall is going to be tough. It’ll be my word against his.”
Kurt gave me a little grin, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. “Actually, I got most of his rant on video.”
I threw my arms around him again, this time giving him a big kiss on the lips. “You’re the best boyfriend a girl could ever want.” I slowly peeled myself off him. “But for now, go downstairs and see what you can do to help with all the pandemonium. I’ve got some bad guy ass to kick.” I turned around.”
Before I could take off, Kurt grabbed my arm. When I looked back at him, I saw him give me a lingering look up and down.
“By the way, that’s a nice dress. Looks good on you.”
I smiled, winking at him. “When we’re all done here, maybe I’ll let you take me to some hotel room and get me out of it.” Then I drifted up off the concrete, shooting into the air.
I spotted the Delta Inducer on the far side of the roof. It looked like a really big photocopier, with nearly a hundred flashing lights and a large, revolving dish antenna.
Nightfall and his armored flunky stood next to the machine, their backs to me. I guess they didn’t expect me to be able to break free of Coerce’ s dominating machinations.
A lot of heroes would take the moment of surprise to say something witty. Mainly just to see the look of astonishment on their opponent’s face when they realize that a force for good has arrived to put a stop to their nefarious schemes. I’ve even been guilty of doing it once or twice myself.
But Nightfall wasn’t the type of opponent I wanted to fool around with. Especially not when he was in the company of someone with a suit of advanced power armor and a penchant for launching nuclear missiles at civilians.
Before either of them realized I was hovering overhead, I dropped between them. I put just enough downward thrust into my landing to cause them to flinch without actually punching a hole clean through the roof. Mechanika recovered first. She turned in the process of bringing an arm up at me when I lashed out with one foot, kicking her square in the chest.
For the past two months, Greg had been teaching me how to incorporate the art of taekwondo into my normal haymaker/uppercut attack routine. Yeah, I know, the half-Japanese girl needed karate lessons from a middle-aged black man. Who’d have thought?
My foot slammed into her chest plate with the force of a hydraulic hammer. I even added a little hip twist at the end of the blow to increase the power. The metal rang like an echoing bell as she went flying backward.
I didn’t bother to watch her go, however. A half a second after contact, my foot was back down on the ground, spinning me around. Amazingly, Nightfall was still standing where he was, though he attention was busy tracking his employee’s impromptu flight. I whipped my hand out, gathered the front of his tuxedo in my fist, and jerked him into the air.
“Where’s your fancy speeches now? Huh? No smug comments about superiority?” I shook him a little. Which, for a Norm, probably rattled his teeth in their sockets. “You want to see what I think of your grand plan? Watch!”
My other hand curled into a fist, then punched a hole in the side of the Delta Inducer. The machine whined as little miniature lightning bolts zapped out from the opening.
Suddenly, it was as if someone injected about a gallon of fresh lava directly into my head with a horse needle.
I released Nightfall, collapsing to my knees, both hands pressing against the sides of my head to make sure it wasn’t about to go the way of Krypton. I was convinced it would soon explode to shower the area with squishy debris. Kayonite.
After a few seconds, the pain vanished, but I still couldn’t move without feeling a hundred times worse than when I’d awakened outside the ballroom earlier.
Nightfall had recovered from his fall to the rooftop and was standing over me, brushing himself off. “Well, that is interesting. Turn up the juice enough, and even the mighty Kayo succumbs. I bet if I was to really increase the power, it would even get through whatever defenses Martin might have.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that if he felt bold enough to try going against Doctor Maniac, more power to him. However, what came out was a gurgling croak. If my poun
ding skull and churning stomach would stop goofing off, I could finish taking down the bad guy.
Nightfall walked over to the machine, flipping a couple of switches. More sparks ignited, but the brain-rattling whine didn’t return.
He frowned and shook his head. “Well, this thing’s shot. However, it has served its purpose for this evening.” He squatted down to look at me. “I’ll just build it bigger next time. Until then, I must be off.” He stood up, walking away. “But don’t worry, Karen. I wouldn’t dream of leaving you up here all alone.”
I reached out to grab the side of the Delta Inducer so I could get up. The moment my fingers brushed against it, a powerful vice grabbed my wrist, yanking me to my feet. I twisted around to come face to face with the wannabe Iron-Woman.
“Hey, Kayo,” Mechanika’s electronic voice said. “Ready to play again?”
CHAPTER 33:
ROOFTOP RUMBLE
The dent my foot left in the front of Mechanika’s armor seemed a lot less impressive up close. The surface was barely buckled, the damage looking merely cosmetic. I didn’t have the slightest clue what the suit was made of, but it seemed to be stronger than ordinary durasteel. The faceplate slid open for a moment, and she narrowed her eyes at me.
“You’re looking kind of green there, Kayo. What’s the matter? You having tummy issues?” She drew back her free arm, then slammed a gauntleted fist into my gut.
She’d also apparently made a few upgrades since we last fought, since the blow actually knocked the air from my lungs before launching me back a dozen feet. When I hit the roof, I went tumbling end over end for another yard or two before sliding to a stop. It took me a few seconds of lying on my back to get my lungs working properly again. My brain, however, still throbbed from the feedback of the Delta Inducer’s death-throes.
I slowly climbed back to my feet, glancing down at my dress. Though I might be getting stomped hard at the moment, I noticed the Rumpet still looked pristine. Other than a smudge of dirt in places. Those were some serious power mimicry skills the dress had going on.