I nodded as I stared down at the sleek bike. Great, just great. I wasn’t even sure how to ride the damned thing. Now I had to make sure I didn’t make it explode? Was he crazy? Did he even know who I was?
“I don’t have a driver’s license,” I said before I could stop myself. “I failed the driving portion of the test all three times so I need to redo the written part. I was just going to wait until I was eighteen…” Roberto began laughing at me, and I felt my face heat up. “Hey, it isn’t my fault. There’s this intersection by a school zone, and I kept getting failed for going to slow when all these kids were running around.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure you’d pass now,” he replied, pressing his thumb against the white sphere in the center of the handlebars. The bike roared to life, smoke and actual flames shooting out the chrome exhaust pipes. “Besides, I wouldn’t worry about the TRM. You’ve had the ability to ride this bike downloaded into your head already. Now let’s go.”
I hopped onto the motorcycle, and feeling more than a little silly, put on my neon blue helmet. It cinched itself around my skull without me even having to adjust it. Even if I did know how to ride this thing, I was a little worried about not having proper motorcycle gear. Shouldn’t I have pads and maybe a leather jacket? Riding around in a tank top and camo-pants didn’t seem safe. Nor very warm… what if there was wind, or worse, rain?
Then again, nothing I did was safe anymore. Riding an experimental motorcycle seemed like it was fairly risk free in comparison to our goal… which I wasn’t even sure what it was. Well that wasn’t quite true. I knew what my goal was, to stop Lisa from going insane and killing everyone. But that didn’t mean I understood what Roberto wanted. I stopped and looked at him even though I couldn’t see his face through his black Plexiglas visor.
“So, what’s your plan?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. “Where exactly are you taking me?”
“To stop Tom and Lisa before they kill everyone and take over the world,” Roberto replied, kicking his bike off the kickstand and bringing it around so he was facing the exit. He tapped out a command on the white sphere in the center of the handlebars. The door began to open, shuddering sideways into the mountain like its gears were in desperate need of oil.
“Um… why would you want to do that? You’re a bad guy.” The second part slipped out without my meaning it to, but he shrugged it off. Actually, he did more than that. He laughed. Huge guffaws exploded from his throat. He went to wipe his eyes but wound up just hitting his mask with one large finger. I smirked.
“Just because I’m not a hero doesn’t mean I’m a villain. The last thing I want is for Tom to be in control of the agency’s resources. Make no bones about it. If he’s going in there with Lisa, he thinks she’ll win. You think Gabriella has access to crazy tech, well you haven’t even scratched the surface of what the Agency has.” Roberto turned his head toward me and made a ‘come on’ gesture with his hand. “Tom is way more dangerous than Gabriella. Even she had lines. You might think she was evil, and that’s fine, but everything she did was purposeful and measured because she knew how the Agency worked. Tom doesn’t have any kind of line at all. He’d blow up an orphanage filled with puppies on Christmas morning if he thought it would satisfy his objectives.” He took off out of the room in a screech of rubber. “Besides, wouldn’t you rather have their tech for yourself? I know I would.”
Of course he would. He was a supervillain, and I trusted him, why? Because he was my father? How naïve was I? Sure, he hadn’t done anything bad by me, but neither had Lisa nor Stephen until they had. I sighed. I was the world’s most trusting sap.
“Awesome,” I snapped as I kicked my bike into gear and raced after him. It was a little scary at first, but once I’d managed to weave myself past the giant glassy crater outside the doors, it was pretty much smooth sailing. Thank God. “So what you’re trying to say is that if someone is going to plunder the Agency’s corpse, you’d rather it be you? You know because you’re so trust worthy?” I said, and for some reason, I wasn’t surprised.
“Pretty much,” Roberto responded, his voice booming from speakers inside my helmet. Well that was certainly convenient.
“So why should I help you, and why did you recruit Tom if he’s so evil?” I asked, even though I knew I was going in there to stop Lisa no matter what. She may have been bad, but I was reasonably sure it wasn’t entirely her fault. She’d told me the flit had influence over her, and the flit was soulless. It had to be what had made Lisa go haywire. I had to hold onto that thought, that belief that if I unhooked her from the flit, she’d go back to being my best friend. I may not have been able to save Stephen from the Agency, but this time… this time it would be different.
“You ever hear that saying, ‘better the devil you know?’” Roberto said as he zipped around a silver Volkswagen beetle. “It answers both of your questions.”
“At least he’s being honest,” Donovan said, his voice echoing in my head. “You can always trust a scorpion to sting after all.” He exhaled thoughtfully. “Just pay attention to what he’s doing, and he can be useful to you.”
“Yeah…” I murmured, twisting hard on the throttle and shooting forward after him. Even if he was lying, I’d cross the Roberto bridge later, or maybe never if I didn’t stop Lisa. Either way, there was no use worrying about it now. Especially not when I could really use his help. I’d like to say that I was confident in my abilities, but after the fight with Lisa, well, let’s just say I wasn’t quite as confident as I was before. Something told me, if I went after her alone, I’d lose. Roberto, on the other hand, had something I didn’t. Experience.
“Let’s go with that,” he replied, and for some reason I knew he was grinning. “If not, just remember I gave you an experimental motorcycle.”
“Do I look like someone who could be bought off with a motorcycle?” I asked, a smile I couldn’t stop spreading across my lips. “Get me a pony, and we’ll talk.”
He laughed again. It was the last sound I heard him make before his motorcycle exploded in a fireball. He tumbled off the twisted vehicle, his body encased in a weird orange glow. He bounced on the asphalt, spinning haphazardly into the oncoming lane, but thankfully no cars were coming.
I twisted my head to see one of those huge army helicopters silently hurtling toward us through the air. The barrel of the chain gun on the side was starting to spin as the muscle-bound behemoth from before turned it toward me. How had he survived?
I shot one last glance at Roberto’s glowing body and kicked my TRM into action, darting underneath the helicopter as bullets ripped apart the asphalt, spraying chunks of rock everywhere. Hopefully that orange glow had kept Roberto from getting killed. If he died… I didn’t know what I’d do. Which yes, I know, was a weird thought since I’d just met him, and he was a supervillain. Still, he was my supervillain.
The helicopter spun in an arc so the gunner could get better aim at me. I threw the motorcycle into a skid that kicked up a wall of dust as the bullets chewed up the pavement around me. I leapt from the bike and pulled it up on its front wheel as my hands went to the white sphere. I wasn’t sure what I was trying to do exactly, but the next thing I knew, the motorcycle was glowing like an overheated nuclear reactor. Horrible lime green light spilled out of the machine as I revved the throttle and let the bike go. It zoomed haphazardly toward the helicopter before exploding in a geyser of ghostly green flame.
The shooter leapt from the helicopter as emerald fire slammed into it. The metal shell of the chopper crumpled inward on itself before bursting apart in a fireball so bright I had to look away even though my visor darkened instantly.
The blast threw the army man across the sky. He spread his arms and weird, webbed parachute wings filled the space between his arms and his legs. It caught the air, allowing him to glide to the ground. Evidently it wasn’t a soft landing because he hit with a grunt and fell to his knees. That must have been how he escaped last time…
I was
n’t sure how long he was on his knees, but it couldn’t have been for more than a second because, by the time I reached him, he was standing. Blood covered his face and chest, soaking through his thin forest green tank top. Burns pockmarked his arms and neck as he took a step toward me, lips twisted into a snarl.
“Hey, girly,” he said, pulling off his ruined shirt and tossing it to the ground at his feet. “Come along nicely, and I’ll only punch some of your teeth out.”
“Um… how am I supposed to eat a steak then?” I said, ducking under his massive fist and driving my elbow into his side. Yeow, it was like hitting steel. His elbow came down, smashing into the top of my head and sending me sprawling face first to the dirt. His boot came forward, catching me in the face, and the visor on my helmet splintered into a million spiderwebbing cracks. I staggered backward, my world swimming as I tried to regain my balance.
“We can get ice cream if you like,” he said, grabbing me by my helmet and jerking it off my head, his huge hand palming it like a basketball. He tossed it to the ground with an empty sounding thunk and leaned down so his face was inches from mine. His breath stunk like sweaty gym socks and cigars as he grinned. “I’ll even buy it, assuming you survive what the Agency has in store for you.”
His fist came up, smacking into my chin, and for the second time in as many hours, darkness encroached on my vision. Shadows swam across my eyes, but I lashed out anyway, driving my heel into the front of his knee. He yowled and backhanded me. I hit the dirt hard enough to drive the breath from my lungs. I ignored it, pushing everything away as I scurried backward on my hands.
The big man wobbled as a grin spread across his face. “So you have some fight in you after all.” He moved toward me, arms casually at his sides. “Let’s see how much.”
I scrambled to my feet and dropped into a fighting stance. “Okay, let’s do this, big man.”
I threw a punch at his throat, but he grabbed my fist. He squeezed, his muscles straining. Pain exploded through my hand as my bones shrieked. I leapt, driving my heels into his stomach. He grunted and released me, which had the unfortunate side effect of making me fall to the ground. I hit hard on my back as I rolled to my feet in time to catch his meaty shoulder with my stomach.
We crashed to the pavement, and I used our momentum to roll on top of him, pinning him to the ground beneath my tiny body. He reached up, seizing me by the hair and jerking me hard to the side. Pain shot through my scalp as I hit the dirt beside the road, swallowing a mouthful of dust in the process. The next thing I knew, something unreasonably heavy was pressing my face into the sandy earth.
“Nice try, but I like it better on top,” he said, and I could almost hear the smirk in his voice. “Now how about you play nice, and I don’t break your legs.”
The sound of the gun cocking was so loud it drowned out every other noise. “How about you let my daughter go before I put another hole in your head, Chuck?” Roberto’s voice was like music to my ears. He was alive, thank god he was alive. And even better, he had saved me from super soldier Chuck.
“Rob, I can’t do that.” Chuck’s foot pressed harder on my back, making it so I could barely breathe. “I don’t really have a choice. They have Max.”
“No, they don’t,” Roberto replied. “The Agency evacuated Folsom last night. They were using the town as a decoy to flush Abby out.”
“I fail to see how that means they don’t have my dog,” he said, but the pressure of his boot lessened just a touch. Go Roberto. Way to not shoot the guy killing your daughter. Oh who was I kidding? I was willing to make an exception to my ‘don’t kill without good reason’ rule for Chuck if it meant getting him off my back.
“One of my teams hit their transport a few hours ago. We’ve recovered your dog. I guarantee it. Even if you don’t believe me, you’re letting her up, or I’m going to blow your goddamn head off. Are we clear?” Roberto’s voice changed mid-sentence from one of amusement to one of steadfast brutality. It happened so fast, it made my head spin.
The next thing I knew, Chuck had removed his boot from my back and was standing next to us, hands at his sides. Roberto’s huge pistol was still pointed at his chest, but it didn’t seem to bother Chuck even slightly.
“You have Max?” he asked voice full of emotion. “I never thought I’d see him again…”
“Yeah, and I’ll let you have him as soon as I finish up a couple things,” Roberto replied, lowering his gun and helping me to my feet.
“What things?” Chuck asked, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. What, had he gotten dust in them or something?
“Tom and his daughter have taken control of the flit and are going to use its knowledge to systematically destroy the Agency. I got a report a few minutes ago that they’ve already taken over the base in Charleston.” Roberto held up a hand as Chuck started to say something. The super soldier fell silent. “And before you ask why that’s a bad thing, think about this. Do you really want Tom in control of the Agency’s resources?”
Chuck said nothing for so long, I was about to ask him if he’d actually heard Roberto speak, but before I could, he nodded once. “Okay… I’ll help you stop Tom. I was supposed to stop Tom, anyway. After that, I’m taking Abby in, director’s orders.” He shrugged as if to say that was the way it was.
Roberto stiffened and his face went slack. That wasn’t good. What had scared my father so suddenly? Who was the director, and what power did he have over Chuck? I was about to ask when Chuck shot a sidelong glance at me. “Don’t worry, I won’t betray you unless you’ve done something to my dog.”
“You mean you were helping the Agency because they took your dog?” I stared at him, disbelieving.
“Well that, and they pay really, really well. Besides, you don’t know what love is until you have a dog.” Chuck glanced at me and smirked. “Take whoever it is you think loves you, be it your spouse or child, or whatever, and lock him in your trunk. Do the same with your dog. Guess which one will be happy to see you when you open said trunk.” His grin grew wider. “I’ll give you a hint. It’s not the human.”
20
That was how we got General Charles Uile to join our party. Which was pretty cool since he was bad ass enough to kick my butt all over the road after leaping from an exploding helicopter. It was a little disconcerting though since I’d waded through an entire battalion of men, and he’d dropped me like a bad habit without even breaking a sweat. That was the second time I’d been taken down in the last couple hours… Maybe I’d been relying on what had been downloaded into my brain a little too much…
“So, um, don’t take this the wrong way, but how come you’re… um…” I said, biting my lip as I stared at Chuck. Geez, would it kill him to put a shirt on? He was a little too buff for me to look at without wanting to reach out and touch his muscles, just to make sure they were real, you know.
He was sitting with me in the back of a Chevy pickup that was made before I was born. Roberto was in the front seat gabbing away with the driver. Originally, the guy hadn’t wanted to take us anywhere, especially since we made a pretty motley crew, but when Roberto shoved a fistful of hundreds into the man’s palm, his reluctance had vanished like magic.
Charlie moved so his huge pectorals were boring holes in my brain. It wasn’t like I wanted to stare at them, but they were just there in front of me. Then again, I was half-sure he was doing it just to bother me. Still, this would be a lot easier if he just put a shirt on, and besides, it would make me feel a lot less guilty… even if Stephen was dead and gone, staring at Chuck made shame rise up inside my belly and sit there like a lead weight.
I tore my eyes away and looked past him into the Chevy’s dirty back window. Roberto was laughing his head off and slapping the dashboard. “I was wondering why you were able to beat me so easily. I don’t mean to brag, but usually I am the one doing the beating…”
“Look, Angel, you’re a tiny girl.” He touched his chest with the butt of his cigar. Where had he gotte
n it from? “I’m a big, huge man. How could you possibly win?”
I ground my teeth together. “Are you being serious right now?”
“Sort of.” He took a long drag on his cigar, inhaling even though I was pretty sure you weren’t supposed to do that. Besides… cancer.
“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t smoke around me,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. “You may not care about cancer, but I do.”
He laughed and took another drag on his cigar. The end glowed red hot. He blew the smoke out of the corner of his mouth before putting the cigar down on the bed of the truck and sighing. “I’m not really worried about things like cancer,” he replied with a shrug. “I can do pretty much whatever I want, and I won’t die.” He leaned toward me, grinning. “It’s why I love buffets full of fried food and loose women.”
“Why can’t you die?” I asked, leaning closer to him as he pointed to a spot on his arm that had been burned by the explosion. Only it didn’t look as bad as I remembered it. Was he healing faster than normal? That was impossible, right?
“You’ve heard of Captain America, right?” he asked, leaning back on his hands and thrusting his chest toward me. “He’s based on me.”
I shook my head at him. “Are you going to tell me you’re some kind of super soldier?”
“Bingo,” he replied. “They injected me with ‘evil’ super serum and turned me from a scrawny twerp into this fine specimen of a man.” He grinned at me and sort of shuffled his enormous body toward me. “After I punched Hitler in the face, I ran out of good guy stuff to do.”
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