“Ann,” I say. I don’t want to say this, but it needs done. “Touch him.”
She looks up at me like she’s about to argue, but something stops her. Her hand gently rests on his chest.
“Well?” I ask.
“I don’t feel anything. With Flaura it was like I felt something change inside me.”
I think for a second, look down at her hand on his shirt—his shirt, not his skin. “Ann, touch his skin.”
Vizzy’s eyes flicker open and closed. When they’re open they shift back and forth between Ann and I. Sweat is beading on his forehead and his convulsions have slowed into the shakes of someone trying to warm themselves after a snowball fight in December.
Ann swallows hard, like she’s pushing down more than air. Her hand rises up and brushes against Vizzy’s cheek. She gasps. Vizzy turns his face into her touch. A single tear rolls down from the edge of his eye and his chest stops heaving. His whole body stops shaking. I put my hand up and pull his eyelids down, taking Ann’s hand away from his face in the process.
“Thank you,” she whispers. A tremor runs through her hand as I let it go.
“Can you…”
Ann drinks in another breath as if the air is thick as syrup. She closes her eyes and vanishes. After a couple seconds of being in the hall alone, she reappears a few steps closer to the stairwell. She exits through the door to the stairs, and I follow. We get three more floors up before Miles transports another obstacle in our way like this is the motherfucking Game of Death or something.
Miles shows up, drops off a familiar-looking Asian man and disappears.
“Sorry,” says Sus, the hero capable of freezing people in time.
I catch a glimpse of Ann disappearing before everything around me freezes.
The entire scene in front of me changes without even the blink of an eye. Ann is ten steps closer to Sus than she was a moment ago. He must have frozen me, but she broke his power. Maybe he couldn’t freeze her if he couldn’t see her? Why is so much of this hero shit hypothetical?
Sus takes a punch at Ann’s head. She blocks it with her arm, but not the follow up shot that catches her in the liver. She groans and wraps her arms around her midsection. Losing her balance, she tumbles down a handful of stairs. With Ann clear, I pull my pistol and fire three shots. All the bullets hit center mass of Sus. He tumbles backward over the railing. I check over the edge. His body is on the cement landing in a pool of blood.
I wrap an arm around Ann and pull her to her feet. She’s got a bloody lip and an arm wrapped around her midsection, but she’ll live. She tries to get around me.
“He’s gone,” I say and drag her up the stairs. “Come on, we have to get to the roof before things go atomic up there.”
Ann nods and starts ahead of me. Every time she rounds a corner for the next flight, I catch a glimpse of her face wincing in pain. I’m betting she’s still back to normal after that liver punch from Sus. Having been hit there before, I know it hurts like a motherfucker for a long time. Ann doesn’t complain, doesn’t say a word. This woman might be made out of the same grit and steel that Tess’ dad came from.
After what seems like an endless amount of stairs we come to a final door. Winded and hopped up on adrenaline and ready for a fight, I push open the door into a hallway. At the end of the hall is a sign that says ‘Roof Access,’ with an arrow pointing to another set of stairs.
I put my hands on my knees and suck in not nearly enough oh-two. Why is my mouth so small and my lungs so greedy? Ann takes a couple steps toward the final stairs and freezes. At the end of the hall, Miles shows up and drops off an extremely pissed-off guy with electricity crackling between his fingertips.
Fuck me.
I mean seriously, I was just kidding about the Game of Death thing.
Ann growls through clenched teeth. Lightshow pulls his hand back with a ball of static forming in his palm like he belongs in a video game. Hopefully he yells out, ‘Santa Monica’ before he chars our asses. Behind Lightshow is a tall, viny plant in a decorative pot. The plant launches from it planter and wraps itself around the hero’s lightning-clad hand before snaking its way to his throat.
Lightshow lets the ball in his hand dissolve as he brings both hands to his neck to fight the possessed vine. I take the distraction as the perfect time to pull my gun and pop off a handful of shots into Lightshow’s chest. The hero falls over backwards, dead.
Ann and I haul ass over to the stairway before any other heroes show up and make this any more difficult. There are only ten steps up to a door that exits to the roof. The door is solid so we have no way of knowing what awaits us on the other side.
I stop with my hand on the lever of the door. “Are you ready?” I pull out a new clip and swap it out with the half-empty one in the gun.
Ann pulls her own gun and nods.
Here we go.
One.
Two.
Three.
Shove door and step out, guns drawn.
Chapter 33
I DON’T KNOW exactly what I was expecting to see, but the scene in front of me is so-fucking-not-that it hurts. Fifteen feet from the opening of the door—out of the reach of Ann’s powers—is Tess. She’s wearing the same hooded sweatshirt she’s had on, but the hood is pulled back. Tears are streaking down her face.
She’s facing someone off to the left. I turn to see The Patriot on his knees. His gaze is distant like he’s awake, but the lights aren’t on. A blonde-haired, blue-eyed River is standing behind The Patriot with a hand on his shoulder. River looks like shit. His button-up shirt is half-tucked in, half-buttoned wrong, and wrinkled worse than a topography map of the Appalachians. A mostly-empty bottle of whiskey hangs loose in the hand that’s not on Petr’s shoulder.
“River,” I say, as calmly as I can muster, “would you mind telling me what’s going on right now?”
My voice must spook Tess. She jumps and turns toward us. Her hand raises and I’m pretty sure I’m about to get forcibly escorted from this roof. At least there won’t be any more stairs.
“Sam, no,” River shouts. “Wait. Vince sent them. I think he wanted them to help you. They will listen to you, listen to all of this.” His Swedish accent comes out slurred, and I wonder if he’s using Petr as a cane more than anything else.
Tess’ hand stays raised. Ann holds her hands out in front of her and gently sets the gun on the ground at her feet. I do the same. Only then does Tess put her hand down. She glares at us with obvious mistrust. What the hell happened to this woman?
“Sam.” River keeps his voice calm and it’s not just the alcohol. I think he is truly trying to diffuse this situation. My promise to Tess’ parents comes back to mind. Bring her back to us. Maybe that will actually happen. “Tell them what happened.”
Tess sighs. She runs a hand through her disheveled hair. Bags hang heavy under her eyes and make her look as well-rested as I feel right now. “This isn’t my fault.” Her voice breaks as she says it. A fresh batch of tears roll down both cheeks.
“What happened?” This time it’s Ann’s voice that is gentle, soothing. I steal a glance over and Ann’s got her arms out like she wants to walk over and give Tess a hug. Tess looks like she needs it.
“It’s their fault.” Tess’ voice drops lower and darker, and she points at Petr. “It’s his fault.” Nothing but pure hatred spilling out of the woman now.
Petr doesn’t move. Whatever River has done to his head, it’s working. He’s turned the world’s most recognizable superhero into a coma patient.
“All I ever wanted to do was help people. Help them.” Tess sweeps her hand out to encompass the city. “And now they’re all scared of me. He made me a monster.”
“Sam, Babe, you’ve got to start from the beginning so they can understand, okay? They can help you.” River lets go of Petr and stumbles toward Tess. Petr stays right where River left him as River wraps a consoling arm around Tess.
“They had this plan,” Tess says, curling her
face into River’s shoulder. “They wanted to destroy the Engine so that they would be the most powerful beings in the world. They thought that heroes were gods and shouldn’t be treated like simple civil workers.”
“Who is ‘they,’” I ask.
Tess’ face turns red, scary red. I’m-about-to-bring-this-building-to-the-ground crimson. “Him!” She points a shaky hand at Petr. “All of them. All of the heroes came up with this plan together. They were all in on it.”
“You too?” I nod at River.
“They approached me, yes, but I told them no.” He nuzzles his chin into the top of Tess’ head. “They told me their plan, and I said no.”
“Why not try to stop it?” The disgust in Ann’s voice is almost lethal.
River turns his head up just enough to glare without letting go of Tess. “I thought, ‘Why bother?’ I’m just a fuckup out to drink and piss his life away. Hell, I’m surprised they even approached me. Sam is the only one to ever show me any warmth. Petr didn’t tell me the whole plan, though.”
Tess shivers in River’s grip. She is a broken person, a doll, or a mannequin. I can’t even tell if she’s listening anymore. Her hand opens and closes against the wrinkled front of River’s button-down shirt.
“What didn’t they tell you,” I ask.
“They didn’t tell him about me,” Tess says. I guess she is listening. “Petr asked me out on a couple dates. I was still sore from a rough patch with Jesper.” She pulls her head back to give Jesper/River a strong smile. “I thought maybe Petr could make me feel good and the first couple times out, he did. Then, on our fourth date, he brought up his plan. This was the day before the Engine blew up. He brought it up last-minute to give me little time to warn anyone if I didn’t agree.”
“And you didn’t agree,” Ann says.
“No, I didn’t. I told him I was going straight to Vince about the whole thing. Petr attacked me, but I escaped. I thought I hid out well enough, but they found me.”
Seattle. Ann was right: The heroes were hunting Tess.
Tess bares her teeth in something that’s half-smile, half-grimace. “You know, the funny part,” she huffs, blowing tears off her lips, “they could have killed me at any time, but chose not to.”
“What? That doesn’t make any sense.” Why would they let her go? I don’t get it.
“I thought the same thing. Controlling gravity is a vicious ability, but not unmatchable. I don’t think they planned on me killing any of them, but they wanted me involved in very destructive, very public battles. My theory is they wanted to show the power of a hero if they decided to turn on Humanity, use it as a threat to get their way.”
“That’s some cold logic,” I say.
“She’s not wrong.” Ann paces between me and River and Tess.
“Petr is a master of cold logic. I came here to kill Petr. He deserved to die. He took everything from me, turned me to a killer. All I ever wanted was to help people, I never wanted this.” Tess looks down at her own hands with an open sense of bewilderment.
“After I put everything together,” River says, “I knew she would come here, so I came to help. Petr is the oldest living and one of the most powerful heroes. I didn’t know what would happen if Sammy faced him alone.” River kisses the top of Tess’ head.
I kick at the handle of my gun at my feet. The move is a tick of nerves more than anything else. Too much adrenaline has my body wired on high. Brain is working 300 miles-an-hour and the body’s trying to keep up. The buzz in my brain at this point is relentless. Concussions and sleep deprivation don’t help matters one bit.
“So,” I say, “what do we do now?”
“We call Vince,” River says. “Petr deserves a trial. Every man deserves to be proven guilty. You can stand next to him to nullify his powers during the proceedings.” River angles his head in my direction.
I point at my chest. “Moi? Oh, yeah, the whole nullifying powers thing, that was her.” I jerk my thumb in Ann’s direction.
Her cheeks catch a tint of red, like she doesn’t like being put in the spotlight, but she doesn’t say anything. She just holds River’s assessing gaze until River says, “Well, then, she can stand next to him to nullify his powers.”
“And me?” Tess says, taking a half-step away from River, but catching his hand in her own. “I’m a wanted killer, a destroyer. What will become of me?”
“You are innocent, you were defending yourself. They can’t judge you for defending yourself,” Ann says.
“A judge might not find me guilty but regardless of what might happen in a trial, the general public will always consider me a monster.” Tess sniffs in a snot-filled breath. “I am a monster.”
Ann paces faster. She puts her finger back to her chin. “There are a lot of dead bodies down there.” Ann points at her feet, at the trail of dead heroes we left behind. “There has been lots of fighting. What if during all that fighting, something collapsed?” Ann points to a large brick chimney jutting out from the roof.
She takes a few steps and runs her hand across the rough concrete of the bricks. “What if Tess was buried, killed in that disaster? What if Samantha could start a new life? A life as a normal person?”
Tess’ laugh is bitter enough to melt Ann’s bricks. “I’ll never be a normal person. I’m not exactly human anymore, I’m a hero.”
Ann steps up in front of Tess and River. “What if I told you I could take that from you? Your powers, I mean. What if I took them and made you human again? You would like that, yeah?”
This brings a caustic look from Tess and River. He pulls away from Tess like he wants to fight Ann. That’s a really bad fucking idea on his part. River shoves a strand of hair away from his forehead. “Why would you toy with her like that? She’s been through the Engine, there’s no going back from that.”
“What if I told you there was,” Ann says. She smiles at the pair of them like Mother Teresa at an orphanage.
River’s hands ball in to fists. He opens his mouth, but Ann beats him to the punch. “You both know Flaura, right?”
Tess blinks a few times, but River’s face burns red. “Of course we do. What does she have to do with anything?”
“We ran in to her on our way up here,” Ann says. She points at a vine on the edge of the building, ivy that’s made its way up. The vine lifts up like a snake and waves.
Tess gasps, and River rounds on Ann, his glare replaced by a gape-mouthed look of awe. “You are doing that? How?”
“I always thought my power was stopping other heroes’ power from working, but I can also take it from them. Flaura is still alive and well. She’s probably still in the lobby, mourning the loss of her powers. She isn’t the only one, either.” Ann disappears, forms back a second later. “Vizzy showed up too.”
River’s gaping mouth has turned into something of cartoon proportions. I’m waiting for an eagle to land on his bottom row of teeth and start nesting.
Ann shrugs. “We ran in to a couple others too, but they died before I could take their powers.”
Tess shudders, reaches out and pulls River back to her. Seeing this woman—who fifteen minutes ago was a monster, tearing apart cities—turned into a helpless mess rocks me.
Ann steps forward, still ten feet away so she doesn’t interrupt River’s hold over Petr, reaching a hand out. “What I’m saying is, I can take your burden from you. You can disappear. Vince will help, he’s always believed in you. If you don’t want this anymore, I understand. You can reach out to me, let go.” Ann’s voice is soft as her hand reaches out in Tess’ direction.
Tess locks eyes with River. He gives a small smile and nod. Whatever drove them apart is obviously pushed to the back of both of their minds. Tess takes a few steps closer to Ann. I wonder if River will disappear with her. Tess takes a breath, reaches her hand out and takes Ann’s grip.
Ann shudders, drops as her knees buckle. She bites back a scream. When she looks back at me, her eyes are glistening and her lip is bleeding betw
een gritted teeth. This power transfer doesn’t seem to be getting any easier on her.
“Di-did it work?” Tess’ hands are knotted together in front of her throat.
Without moving her body, Ann rises, floating in the air in front of us. She holds out an arm and an air-conditioning unit lifts off its concrete base. I guess that answers that question. Tess is now a normal human again and it sounds like something she needed, invited. Hopefully, we can get her out of this alive.
Tess—just Sam now, I guess—watches the floating piece of metal in awe. She reaches toward a different unit and holds her arm out. Nothing happens. Her forehead crinkles in concentration. Still nothing. The tears in her eyes take a completely different meaning as she starts to laugh. It’s the hearty expression of someone just released from death row for a crime they didn’t commit.
I clap my hands together. “So, what now? We already called Vince, he should be here soon with backup.”
“They need to get out of here. It will be much easier to sell the ‘They’re dead’ story if they aren’t hanging out here with us with the cavalry shows up.”
“Thank you,” River says to Ann. He turns to me. “And you too. I’m sorry about what happened at the casino, but I didn’t know you. I couldn’t trust you.”
I give him a Cool Jim grin. “It’s okay, I didn’t trust you much either. What about him?” I point to Petr.
“When Sam and I leave, he will come to. My powers only work at a near distance. But if Ann takes his powers before we go, I don’t see him giving you much of a struggle,” River says.
Ann walks to stand next to Petr. She reaches a hesitant hand out to his cheek, stopping millimeters away from skin contact.
“It’s okay, losing his powers is the least of his worries. The fucker deserves to lose his life.” I give her an encouraging nod. This is the right thing to do.
Ann closes her eyes, reaches out to touch him. She screams, falling to her knees.
Someone else shouts behind me. I turn to see a red-skinned man with flames lapping all over his body holding River by his throat. The flames consume River’s face and his shriek sends flames blowing out from his mouth in a dragon’s dying breath.
Hero Engine Page 20