Fine Lines: Burn Outs #2

by Dani Hermit

  Jamming the large needle into Curtis’s chest, Boris pressed the plunger and waited for the adrenaline to do its thing.

  Just as he was getting used to the feeling of moving away from his body, Curtis was slammed back in. All the lights seemed to come on at once as Curtis jolted to life. Only, he wasn’t sure if he was still dead or not. For one thing, Death Boris hadn’t gone away.

  “I’m writing a book for you.” He sat straight up trying to get his mouth working again. “It’s about a cat dick….cat dick…cat dick.” He struggled to get out the slang for detective while trying not to laugh at what he was saying.

  “Leave it to you to write bestiality porn,” Boris sighed. “Hold still. I need to get this needle out.” He eased the needle out of Curtis’s chest and applied a bandage, not that he really needed it. With the adrenaline in his system, Curtis was healing hyper quickly. “What did you take? And do I need to stick you with more needles or are you better?”

  “Um, whatever was available in questionable amounts. Is this my exit interview? Cause I’m slightly weirded out if it’s you. You can turn back to the hooded guy or haloed guy or, uh, horny guy you probably are.” Curtis spun around and hung his feet over the strange flat platform. “You have a really weird office.”

  “Not an office. It’s an ambulance,” Boris replied, staring helplessly into the drawer of needles. He had no idea what to give Curtis, but he seemed to be doing better. Hopefully, he was self-healing and that would be the end of that. “Do you want a hit of this?” Boris finally asked, holding up the vial of blue stuff. “Will that straighten you out?”

  “Oh yes,” Curtis nodded reaching out for it greedily. “Hey, wait, didn’t you steal that from me?”

  “I might have. But you turned me into a kitten and put me in your pocket, so I think we’re even.” Boris replied, dropping the vial into Curtis’s palm. “Make it quick. I have somewhere to be and should probably tie you down before we go.”

  Curtis shook his head not sure he heard him right. “You have to do what now?” He opened the vial and dropped a bit on his finger, eyeing it suspiciously. “You’re not trying to rufie me, are you, Bori?”

  “Would I have to?” Boris asked, crossing his arms. “Just take it already.”

  “I probably shouldn’t unless you want me to decimate you. One drop and I have access to the most power I’ve ever had. Right now, I can’t sense any of the energies I need.” Curtis face-palmed himself. “Why the fuck am I telling you that?”

  “Because you’re stupid,” Boris replied, grabbing Curtis’s wrist and using a random cloth to wipe the blue goo off his finger. Then he took the vial away before Curtis could fight him. “So no weird blue stuff for you. Lie down so I don’t have to kick your ass.”

  “I have somewhere to be. I do appreciate the rescue and all.” Curtis was a bit wobbly but he managed to stand up. “But I have a job to get back to. No matter how much I might like to take you up on your offer.” He patted Boris’s shoulder. “And I would very much like to, believe me, but I have someone who takes care of me now. I can’t let Leo down.”

  “That’s unfortunate.”

  Boris grabbed the front of Curtis’s shirt and pushed him down onto the gurney. The adrenaline was helping Curtis’s body with its healing but he wasn’t quite steady on his feet yet. Straddling him, Boris felt for the restraints on the sides of the gurney. He hoped that because of the neighborhoods they worked, this would be one of the ambulances rigged with them. Finding what he wanted, Boris began the fight to get Curtis’s limbs held down and secured.

  “I said no, Bori!” Curtis’s skinny, weakened body wasn’t able to stop Boris. “Dammit, I have a home. Somebody wants me. You’re going to ruin it.” He tried to push at and punch Boris. “You had your chance, but you didn’t want any part of me. Remember?”

  “Still not that interested in your parts,” Boris replied, getting one arm, then the other tied down. “But I’d love to talk about this home you have. And Leo. We’re going to have a long talk about him.”

  Curtis would have stubbornly folded his arms if they weren’t secured to the gurney. He was finally realizing he was a captive. “I’m not going to tell you anything. I don’t care what you do. Leo, who?”

  “It’s OK.” Boris slid down to make sure that Curtis’s legs were secured as well. “It’s a long drive. I can think up lots of ways to make you talk.”

  “Ugh, I can’t believe this is happening. Why you?” Curtis sighed. “Well, if you’re going to keep me alive long enough to make me talk and you’re so keen to play doctor, you’d best get the needles with the three red stripes. Give me one on the hour every hour, starting now. That’s what I’ve seen them do before.”

  “Thank you,” Boris found the needles, counted them. More than enough for the ride and then he could figure out what to do once they were at the bar with everyone else. He gave Curtis the first dose, set an alarm on his phone and climbed into the front seat. “Anytime you feel like starting to tell me about Leo and how you ended up with him, feel free.”

  “But I have so many other things to talk about. Like my book.”

  Curtis proceeded to tell him about the main character, perversely excited to have someone to talk to about his passion for writing. He was also being a little vindictive because it was far from the information his old almost-partner and friend wanted. Curtis felt a little woozy though and quieted down soon enough. The medicine needed most of his remaining energy to work.

  He murmured words every now and then including a very faint. “No one should have found me there. Can’t believe you did, Bori.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “This is the place?” Thomas asked Matt as he pulled into the parking lot of the biker bar.

  He glanced down at his GPS app, but the blinking dot said that this was the address Syd had given him at the college. Thomas had been to Syd’s old bar several times on backlot fight business, but he hadn’t had occasion to visit her since she’d moved to this spot near Chicago. This new bar was nothing like the slick downtown spot she used to run.

  Part of the building looked like it had once been a barn and the rest just looked abandoned. There was a sign on the far end advertising a tattoo parlor, but underneath it hung a handmade sign saying “closed indefinitely.” The pair of motorcycles parked beside the main entrance were the same ones the women had been riding when they accosted the men the day before. The motorcycles were the only sign that there was anyone at the bar.

  “You really know how to pick ‘em.”

  “Shut up, Loser,” Matt grumbled from the backseat, where he was cradling Colton. His lover had been trembling for most of the ride from the motel to the bar. “It’s not like I picked her as my Legacy partner.”

  “Oh, so you got randomly assigned for the team challenge of making a fucking baby?” Thomas was partly teasing and partly horrified at the insight into how the Legacy program actually worked. He had sort of thought of it as more of a speed dating situation. Or at least a pick your own partner thing.

  “Well, yeah, I guess.” Matt wanted to argue with him, but Matt wasn’t actually sure who made the matches or what criteria they used.

  For all he knew, it was completely random. He was lucky that he was matched with Syd. They got along really well and had agreed on how to raise Nate, for the most part, unlike other pairs from their Legacy village, who had nearly all made their Legacy child and left them to the Priests to raise. Both Matt and Syd had been brought up in foster care so neither of them wanted their child to have that kind of upbringing. Knowing that he was more likely than most children to get a First Mark in puberty and they were going to have to send him off to a Pledge camp was hard enough.

  “Let’s just head inside and get settled,” Matt finally said.

  “Sure thing,” Thomas hopped out of the car and headed for the door, glad that he had managed not to start another argument with Matt. It was starting to feel like the old days again. Maybe their friendship wasn’t a
s fucked as he feared.

  Striding into the bar when he found the door unlocked, Thomas was not prepared to walk in on Syd and Nessie in the middle of some pretty hot and heavy sex right there on the bar. It was slightly awkward, but also it stabbed home that everyone was happily hooked up and he might just have watched his last chance for a real relationship go back into a dive bar to save his… Whatever Curtis was to Boris. Thomas shoved the painful emotions down, promising himself that he’d mope about it properly later.

  Even though he knew he should try to be quiet, Thomas’s voice carried as he leaned on one of the tables. “Now, that right there, that is a beautiful thing. You have to be blind not to appreciate…” He made a rolling gesture with his hand towards the lovers. “All that’s going on right there.”

  An empty liquor bottle sailed across the bar, intended for Thomas’s face. “Fuck off, Davos,” Syd called out, still working her fingers in Nessie.

  Nessie having been molded by the Priests to behave shamelessly when it came to sex, not only didn’t feel ashamed but purred an invitation. “Unless you want to join this beautiful thing.”

  Thomas ducked the bottle fairly well but Nessie’s words left him staring blankly.

  Colton-Mythos was looking at the floor, shifting nervously from one foot to the other. “Uh Hi. We’re sorry. Um, maybe we can go back to the, uh, car if you… until you-”

  “Don’t be shy, Mythos. I think you’re adorable.” Nessie playfully beckoned him with one hand that was tied to the decorative rail that ran along the front of the bar. She was too far into her nature to respond any other way. “Guys with glasses are some of the most unpredictable and wild in bed, aren’t they?”

  Colton-Mythos actually hid behind Matt.

  “Do you want to borrow my gag, Syd?” Matt asked, trying not to laugh. He had walked in on worse when he had lived with Syd and in the years since when he had come to visit Nate and showed up unannounced during school hours. “Or you’re going to end up in a really awkward situation with Thomas and a beer cozy.”

  “Hey, I said it was a beautiful thing. I’m not about to bang your baby momma.” Thomas punched Matt in the arm.

  “I wasn’t going to judge. You’ve slept with worse.” Matt ushered Colton away from the door and towards the back of the bar. “We’re going to the back room, Syd. I know there are some benches back there where we can rest while you finish up here. Send Boris back this way if he shows up.”

  “I think he’s already here,” Syd replied. “Or at least, I assume that’s who’s out back in that ambulance.”

  “Thought you took Colton’s money and headed for Mexico,” Matt said when he walked into the back room and Boris was sitting there. The back door was wide open, and Boris had pulled a spare chair over to sit in the breeze it was letting in. As Matt got closer, he saw that from where he was sitting, Boris was also keeping an eye on the ambulance parked at the back of the building.

  “Thanks for your confidence in me,” Boris mumbled, looking past Matt to Thomas. “Hey,” he said with a touch of smile that faded quickly.

  Thomas tilted his head in Boris’s direction, responding with a only slightly more lively “Hey.” Whatever conversation they wanted to have or didn’t want to have would have to wait. He pulled a chair out and plopped down in it. “Well, rescue our damsel Colton 2.0 - or is it 3.0 at this point? Anyway, it was a success. So we’re doing something right.” He spoke with unusual bitterness and played with the beer bottle he came in with, looking anywhere but at Boris.

  Colton was last to arrive carrying a handful of files and books he got from one of the duffel bags. “Which the damsel appreciates but we also have to accept how badly prepared we were for an attack where we are on the defensive. Like we were with Dark Mirror.”

  “Yeah, we got our asses kicked hard,” Boris said, trying to respect the distance Thomas was keeping between them.

  They weren’t in a relationship and he’d been the one to draw that line. He couldn’t expect Thomas to understand how badly he needed to not be stuck in the spiral of what-ifs from the past or how much he needed to feel like he had something in his future. Boris didn’t dare admit how far just a little human contact could go right now.

  “Any suggestions on how to avoid that, fearless leader?” Boris asked, turning his gaze on Colton.

  “I still don’t know if I’m the best choice.” Colton sighed. “But I do have something that might help. Around the time of your generation of Chosen, Boris, there started to be more… They called them Phenoms… Basically, uber-powered Chosen. For instance, I, Mythos, was a rare case in my time and most rare cases got phased out as Priests, but during your generation they started putting them out there as attractions.” He took a sip of his water. He wanted to stay clearheaded and alcohol might mess with his test results. “But I think we might want to start assuming anyone with power now is coming back as a Phenom.”

  Boris shook his head. “That’s not good. Phenoms are a pain in the ass.”

  “You’re telling me,” Matt said, giving Colton an affectionate glance. “I spent most of my career going up against one.”

  “Yes, but,” Colton blushed. “It’s not just our enemies I’m talking about. You did more than you’ve ever done in a fight, right?” He asked the room at large. “Like you Boris. Have you ever turned into a kitten before?”

  “That was Dark Mirror’s power,” Boris said with a sigh. “I think he somehow twisted Thomas’s amplify into that. He said ‘regress’ right before he hit me with it.”

  “Ah, I see.” Colton shuffled through the papers. He handed Boris some very technical research. “Still, there are documented cases of Transformed changing from the, um, more sensual hybrid they usually become to various forms of the animal they are connected to. This puppy Transformed became a wolf under observation and eventually became a Priest-Healer specializing in Transformed care.”

  “Where did you get this?” Boris was suddenly paying attention, going through the papers with interest. “This isn’t public knowledge.”

  Colton adjusted his glasses nervously. “Well, I know a guy-”

  Thomas burst out laughing. “Now where have I heard that before?”

  Matt laughed too, but was too busy flipping through some of Colton’s other papers to make a comment. He seemed to be looking for something.

  “Laugh it up, but when your ass gets into a fix, don’t look to me to get my guy to help you out,” Boris teased Thomas, glad to see him laughing. It fit him better than the brooding.

  Colton, accepting that he’d missed part of the joke, went on to explain, “So it’s just a theory but I really want each of you to think what you’d be capable of as a Phenom.”

  “Pony, look at this.” Matt pulled out two sheets of paper. They were hand written notations that obviously were meant to be an addendum to a larger work. “It’s a list of phases Chosen go through as they age. We’re all - well not Boris just yet. But me, you, and Thomas. We’re all in the Phenom phase, according to this. This looks like there was a theory about Chosen getting more powerful as they got older.”

  “That makes sense,” Boris added in. “Think about how crazy strong Tremor was when he burned out. And even before that. The guys from the 30s still had active powers even after they retired from the fights. They were supposedly asked to step down when their powers started getting too strong.”

  “Wow, you guys could guest lecture my class!” Colton was excited by the participation in the conversation. Well, except for Thomas, who they seemed to have lost to his brooding again. “I also think there’s a chance for a even bigger temporary power up. Think about how Dark Mirror fights. He takes damage and then blam! He shoots crazy opposing power at you. And I also think this might be how Thomas’s power works on others.”

  “You mean he doesn’t shoot it out of his monster dick at the hottest guy in the room?” Syd asked, entering the room. She looked like she had just gotten out of the shower, her damp hair still clinging to her fa
ce. She leaned against a pillar near the table where Colton had spread out his papers.

  “Um, no, not really. But I haven’t done extensive research into the sexual proclivities of Chosen in relation to their power ups. It is an interesting tangent though.” Colton was too full on in his professor mode to be shy. “So I think they may have softened Thomas’s power during training. He might be as strong as Dark Mirror. And since you are here Syd, I would also point out that Vanessa could possibly pass the Phenom level into what I call Elemental. I was just about to say the same to Matt. We should really practice these things.”

  “What things are we practicing?” Matt asked, trying to follow what Colton was saying. In his excitement, the nerdy little man might have left out about half of what he meant to say. Matt made a gesture with two hands like he was firing a bazooka. “How to aim Thomas’s dick?”

  Colton looked at Matt like he was one of his most difficult students. “We really should leave Thomas’s penis alone for now.”

  “Not a phrase often spoken aloud,” Matt muttered, earning a glare from Colton and Thomas alike.

  “Unless we are doing an advanced study of the effect and practical application of aiming at least thirty dicks, we wouldn’t get a clear picture.” Colton continued as if Matt hadn’t spoken. He stood up and started walking around the table. “I mean you need to try to become flame. Vanessa, water. Thomas, some kind of a mimic. And Boris, you might have a second power you need to discover. And we might very well need to figure all this out before our next battle, which could be at any moment.”

  “Christ, that sounds like a lot of work,” Syd commented. “Do you need my help? I used to work in the training camps, right after I burned out. I can set up a training regimen. And,” She pulled down the strap of her tank top and bra, half exposing her breast. Her Villain Mark was softly glowing. “Looks like I’m part of the club now.”