Fine Lines: Burn Outs #2

by Dani Hermit

Colton had fallen asleep leaning against Matt not long after Boris had turned the key in the ignition. He appeared to be dozing peacefully so Matt followed not long after. Matt would not have relaxed if he’d known the truth. Mythos was trying to work out how to separate Colton’s psyche from his body. He had created the perfect picture of someone without a care in the world. Soft breath, stillness, little murmurs, a slight smile.

  He also had complete control of Colton’s imagination and was in the middle of trying to break him with haunting nightmares. He’d set the scene so Colton wasn’t sure if he were awake or not. He created the feel of riding in the back of the car as he cast his spell.

  Colton woke up with a wicked headache. He was sitting up. There was a lot more blood on the walls of Thomas’s SUV than he remembered. Going to reach for Thomas’s shoulder he realized his hands were tied behind his back. Fearing the worst, he asked timidly, “Did something happen?”

  In the nightmare, Mythos popped up in his head to taunt him. Don’t you remember?

  Thomas turned around. He looked beat up pretty bad and might have been crying. “You just shut up. Not another word.”

  “Where’s Matt?” Colton was beginning to panic.

  “You damn near killed him,” Boris growled from the front seat. “And then I had to knock him out so we could deal with you. Can you believe the asshole still thinks Colton is in there somewhere?”

  “I don’t understand.” Colton was absolutely terrified now.

  “Stop the car,” Thomas said flatly. “This place is good enough.” He crawled in back with Colton and slammed his forearm against his throat, crushing him into the side of the SUV. “Not another word!”

  Want to see? Mythos taunted. You’re trying to block the memory but I can give you the awareness you seek.

  No one else was going to tell him, and he was horrified by the crazed look in Thomas’s eyes, so Colton accepted Mythos’s offer.

  I can only show you images and impressions. You are very intent on suppressing it though it happened only a few hours ago.

  Colton accepted. Mythos showed him the beginning, a fight that had broken out between he and Matt in the bathroom of an out of the way all-night diner. Mythos had taken over and was tearing into Matt about how much better the doms at the clubs were than him and offering to show him the right way. He powered up and easily bested Matt. There was nothing loving or careful about what he did to Matt’s body. Colton tried to shut his eyes but it was all in his head and there was no escape from the fleeting images.

  Thomas slapped his face. “Don’t you dare look away from me! I asked you a question!”

  Colton didn’t know how to answer a question he didn’t hear. Thomas backhanded him again impatiently. His large hands hurt, bruises forming almost instantly on Colton’s skin. Thomas held his face in an angry grip.

  “Matty was right, you do mark up pretty. I wonder why bruises are so sexy on you?” He licked where he’d hit Colton along his cheek bone. “Hey, Boris. Before we take care of things, you want to help me take care of my hard-on? Thought we could see what all the fuss is about.”

  Boris was already on the other side of the door. He slid it open and Colton, having nothing to lean on, fell out onto the side of the road. He landed on his bound arms and felt what he was sure was the pain of broken bones. Thomas pounced out of the car as Boris answered him.

  “No rush. Matt’s not gonna wake up for hours and if you drive the SUV over into that lookout area while I take the pretty little pony down into the woods, we have the cover of night. Not like anyone is gonna hear him scream.”

  “That’s if we let him. I could crush his windpipe right now.” Thomas lay his boot against Colton’s throat, barely touching him before pulling it back. Then he ran hungry hands along Colton’s shirt and cupped his cock against his pants. “Shit, I think the little freak is getting excited. Should we cut him up so he remembers what he did to Matt?”

  “Just move the car.” Boris patted the inside of his jacket. “Bitch will get more than that. I’m an artist with these.”

  “Please, Thomas, whatever I did,” Colton begged. “I’m sorry. It was Mythos not me! I’d never-”

  Boris’s gloved hand covered his mouth as his other hand pulled Colton up by his injured arms. “Walk or I drag you. This is only ending one way.”

  Colton stumbled as Boris pushed him onward. He heard Thomas catch up in no time. He was thrown to the ground and stripped naked. What the men couldn’t take off easily they cut away. Boris spread his legs violently while Thomas pinched his nose closed so Colton couldn’t breathe without opening his mouth to take his pulsing cock.

  “This is the easy part,” Boris growled as he slammed into Colton’s ass. “We’re just getting off so we aren’t distracted from all the things we want to do to you.”

  Colton attempted to get Mythos to take over, offering to let him take them to his God Leo if he would get him out of this.

  Swirling mists of violet and red, the colors of Leo’s eyes, filled everything that wasn’t occupied by bodies. A shadowy figure, cloaked in black robes with gold trim, like those given to a Villain visiting the Disk, stepped up and appraised the scene.

  “Oh, but this isn’t what I expected.” Leo’s voice echoed in the void space. “I am disappointed, Mythos.”

  Mythos spoke from Colton’s psyche trying to figure out how to materialize anywhere outside of the dream Colton. “Why is that, my Only? I have called on you. I have prayed to you. Made offerings. I feared you deserted me.”

  “It is that lack of faith that disappoints me,” Leo said, turning his back on the scene and taking a few steps into the darkness. “I do not wish to be part of this monstrosity, even as an observer.”

  “I thought it might please you.” The nightmare faded as Mythos gave up on it. “I would do anything to please you.” Mythos managed to give himself a form, appearing next to Leo looking like a very sullen Colton.

  “I do hope so,” Leo said with a smile. He reached out and stroked the side of Mythos’s face. “I want you with me, Mythos. It is time you are by my side.”

  “I live for you. To serve you.” Mythos sighed. “The host is proving difficult. Can you send me some form of aide? A lightning bolt aimed at Matt Evans would do nicely.”

  “No, I have a use for him still,” Leo said. He drew Mythos close, leaning in until he was almost kissing him. “I will send you a messenger. Someone who has a tool to silence your host long enough for you to come to me.”

  Mythos risked the consequence of answering his own desperation and grasped for Leo to get that kiss and hopefully so much more. Enough to be able to keep believing.

  Leo grabbed his wrists and twisted them away. But he allowed the kiss. Pulling away with a nip at Mythos’s lower lip, Leo smiled. “That is all until I see you in person. We mustn’t ruin our reunion.”

  “I will dream of it nightly and strive for it daily, Necromancer.” Mythos whispered the word hoping to honor his God by saying his name.

  Leo’s form faded, his burning violet eyes the last thing to disappear from Mythos's vision.

  Mythos fell to his knees pounding the ground. He would wait. He could do it. But there had best be a true reward for his devotion. Mythos hated Matt but he might be able to shape him into his new god, especially if his present one failed him.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Pulling his hand back from where he had been rubbing Thomas’s thigh, Boris turned halfway in his seat to talk to Matt. “We’re not far from the address Syd gave us. Didn’t want to wake you guys up too soon, but she’s your, uh, friend.”

  Matt shifted, pulling himself a little more upright in the back seat. It wasn’t easy with Colton sleeping heavily on him. “I appreciate it,” he replied. He opened his mouth to say something else, but right then, Colton jolted awake, his eyes wide.

  “He’s coming.”

  Colton’s announcement was simple but articulate for someone just waking up. It was the fear in it that set the other thr
ee men’s hair on end. He managed to point towards the windshield. It was the only warning they got before something unseen hit the SUV and sent it flipping end over end.

  Boris was the first to recover. “Fuck, what the hell was that?” He was extracting himself from the seat belt and trying to determine if there was a viable way to get out of the SUV. It was upright, by some miracle, but the windows were all cracked and impossible to see out of. Boris’s passenger side door was jammed shut, so they were going to have to either kick out one of the windows or hope another door was able to open. “Is everyone OK?”

  “Did a train hit us?” Thomas was glad he had not been crawling into the back as he had been about to do. “Colton,” he tried to joke to make what happened less scary. “Got to reign that power in. You can’t be summoning dinosaurs. I know my baby has a similar color palette to a certain vehicle in a certain action movie but still.”

  “Not me,” Colton was trying to get himself upright. “Not dinosaurs.”

  Matt tried to open his door, but it was stuck fast. He tried the other side, reaching around Colton. It moved but didn’t open. He put his feet on the seat, moving Colton down to the floorboards. Kicking hard, Matt got the door unstuck. “Stay put,” he ordered everyone in the car, sliding to the door and looking to see if he could tell what attacked them before he committed to getting out.

  A figure was walking, no more like sauntering, forward. Purple knee-high boots that made Thomas’s beloved moon boots look like cheap sneakers. A sparkly tank top or perhaps a short evening dress. It was hard to tell. And a turquoise feathered jacket. To Matt, the person looked like one of the newer heroes from this distance. But not one that the older man recognized. The fashion disaster stopped walking and leaned to the side, trying to see in the car and waving.

  “Hi in there! I won’t go so far as saying take your time but I will give you a moment to collect yourselves. I want to give you as fair a fight as I’m able. Gotta show the boss-man I can handle this.” He crouched down, tilting his head as if trying to get a better view of the inside of the SUV. “You are coming out, aren’t you?”

  “Shit,” Matt flexed his hand, wondering how much sound he had absorbed in the impact. He didn’t feel much. He was good for one big shot or several smaller ones until he was able to reload.

  “Let’s go, Loser.” He jerked his head at Thomas. “Pony, you stay in here with Boris. He’ll get you out if you need to run. Right?”

  Boris nodded at Matt’s glare, which was all the bigger man needed before he pushed his way out of the SUV and turned to face their attacker.

  “Well, hello there. I don’t think we’ve met.” Curtis jumped back a few feet. “You see I’d remember. I’m starting to remember. Speaking of which.” He pulled a pair of thick gloves from his pocket. “I almost forgot.” He laughed at himself as he put them on. “There’s something I’m not allowed to touch. It’s a secret. And it’s a penis. I have a secret penis in my pocket that I’m not allowed to touch. Funny thing, I’ve always wanted to say that.” Curtis laughed again as he rolled his shoulders. “Well come on, then. Show me what you got, Blondie.”

  Matt pulled every bit of energy out of his body, focusing it into his fists. He should wait for Thomas to extract himself from the SUV. But his partner was probably either struggling to get out, or playing kissy-face with Boris. Matt didn’t have the patience for either. He could take care of this skinny bitch and then they could figure out their next move.

  “Oh, there we go. You look angry.”

  Curtis hadn’t been in a hero fight in a minute and never with stakes like this. But he did know what worked with a fighter like Matt. He could see it in his eyes, that dangerous level of passion. He needed to time the hit just right. It would probably be a higher impact attack after a feint, meant to take him out in one blow.

  “I could let you have the first strike if you like.” The best trick with hotheads like this was to get them as mad as possible and turn their strategy into stupidity.

  Thomas had pulled his large body from the front seat to get out through the door Matt had kicked opened. “What do we got out here, buddy?”

  “Some cunt half our age who thinks he can take me,” Matt replied. He was trying to sort out how to best attack, and the more trash-talking he could get going, the more sound there was for him to absorb.

  “Are we resorting to name calling?” Curtis took a few more steps back as he raised his voice. “Oh, are you one of those it takes time to power up types? Maybe turn into something embarrassing? I had a friend like that once. Are you a chinchilla?” Curtis laughed, then passed one hand over his face in a pinching motion to return to serious mode. “Look, if you aren’t going to attack, I will.”

  “He looks familiar. I can’t put on finger on it, but he’s like famous.” Even Thomas realized how dumb that sounded. Most of the Chosen were famous to some degree. “Have you figured out what he does yet? The way the car flipped, maybe he changes the weight of things or has like a giant invisible hand.”

  “That is stupid, so maybe,” Matt said, shaking his head. “Hey, you don’t have a giant invisible hand, do you?” He yelled at Curtis.

  “No, of course not.” Curtis looked at both his gloved hands as if to make sure. “Oh c'mon. Could you really not tell? That was my version of Tremor’s energy. He makes the ground shake so I made the stuff above ground shake. Really hard, right at your jeep.”

  “It’s not a fucking jeep, dick wad, and I just got her detailed!” Thomas already had enough juice to amplify his own strike so he ran at Curtis in retaliation for his car. “This is going to hurt a lot more than any air tremor you can throw.”

  Matt followed Thomas, knowing that if he could land a hit right after his partner’s then they would more than likely be done with this guy. He focused a ring of fire around his fists and set his sights on where he assumed the guy would land after Thomas wailed on him.

  From inside the SUV, Boris was swearing. He had tried to yell a warning, but Thomas had only waved to him as he joined Matt. Neither of them were paying any attention when he screamed out that they were fighting Dark Mirror and they shouldn’t attack him directly. Something was keeping his words from reaching them.

  When Curtis explained how he had flipped the SUV, Boris realized that he hadn’t done just that. He had created a barrier between the SUV and the man who’d left it using the vibrations in the air to stop any sound waves emitted from the SUV before Matt was able to absorb them. It was exactly what Boris would have done, especially since Matt used to be a well known Villain. A three second internet search would reveal his powers and weaknesses. Even high, Dark Mirror could manage that much.

  “Fuck,” Boris turned to look at the hunched-over form of Colton. He should stay and protect him, but those other two were going to get themselves killed if they went up against Dark Mirror unprepared. This wasn’t the planned and monitored match ups from when they were active in the Chosen battles. This was for real.

  “Colton.” Boris bent over the small man, talking even as he transformed into Cat Fight. “Please stay here. I’ll be back soon, but Matt needs my help.”

  “Yes, unless I’m needed.” Colton nodded his head. “Be careful.”

  Curtis hid that he was bracing himself and made it look like he’d taken Thomas’s blow to his side full on but he used his take on Tremor’s energy to deflect some of the brunt of it. It still fucking hurt but it gave him just enough time as he fell into Matt’s path to twist and take the fire damage to his arm instead of where Matt intended. He rolled around looking like an idiot as his body absorbed and calculated the signature of Thomas and Matt’s energy waves.

  Matt landed on the other side of his jump attack and turned around as quickly as he could. Curtis looked like he was hurt bad, but he wasn’t screaming. He wasn’t even swearing loudly. He was giving Matt nothing to absorb beyond the sounds of him rolling on the ground to put out the fire that had caught his jacket. That was barely enough for Matt to light a c
igarette, even with Thomas’s boost. Something wasn’t right.

  “Pull back,” Matt ordered, taking a few steps away from Curtis. He needed to figure out what this guy’s deal was.

  “But we got him.” Thomas shook his head pointing to Curtis rolling on the ground. “I’m taking him out.” He hit his fists against each other, pulled them back, and made to pummel Curtis where he lay.

  Curtis, arm still on fire, grabbed one of Thomas’s fists mid-punch. His eyes turned into reflective pools. “Amplification can be turned onto itself a number of ways.”

  From afar, he seemed to be holding Thomas’s much bigger body back by sheer force of will.

  “Dammit,” Matt snarled, drawing up every bit of fire from his body. “I said pull back.” He leapt forward, pulling back his fist and igniting a fireball around it.

  “Did you want this?” Whatever Curtis had done to Thomas, he threw his body as if it were nothing at Matt. He hoped to time it so Thomas got hit with the attack instead. “You really should take better care of-” He cut himself off as he saw something come from around the SUV. “Bori?”

  The transformed Boris stood still for a moment, drawing Curtis’s attention. Then he was off like a shot, circling wide with the intent of either giving Thomas and Matt an opening to do what they do, or stopping Dark Mirror himself.

  Matt managed to cancel his flame attack just before his fist hit Thomas’s face. He crashed into Thomas, and they tumbled together for a good ten feet. “Son of a bitch,” Matt snarled, pushing up from the ground once his head stopped spinning. “How did he do that?”

  Thomas pointed to his own throat. “Air?” He said weakly. His limbs felt heavy and he could hardly breathe. “Said he could turn power into itself or something.” It was a fight to sit up.

  “That’s some bullshit.” Matt put a hand on Thomas’s arm. He didn’t feel the familiar resonance of his boost power. “You’re tapped for now. Catch your breath and I’ll back up your boyfriend.”

  “Not my boyfriend,” Thomas fell back, knowing Matt didn't hear him. “Not for lack of trying.”