Between Elias’ screech and the discharge of the gun, my hearing was pretty much shot right now, and I could only dimly hear the screaming of all of the park’s visitors as they ran to get away.
Elias snarled and rose to his feet. He turned and threw his hand out before tripping and falling over his feet. I blinked, there wasn’t any white left in Alice’s eyes. She snarled and stalked towards him before an invisible fist slammed Elias into the concrete. Tiny fractures ran all around from the impact crater.
I heard Alice’s mental communication. She sent one to me, one to Alexander, and one to Elias.
Get her, ready to die, wait, and he’s mine, she said, all layered together. It took me longer than I care to admit to realize which one was for me. I was already staggering forwards to Tanya. I wrapped her up in a big hug.
“You’re safe now. You’re safe.” I squeezed her as tightly as I dared and felt hot tears roll down my face. I couldn’t hear myself as I tried to comfort her, but she knew what I was saying. My little girl was home. I looked around. The uneasy feeling filled my gut again, and I felt as though I was going to puke.
Erik.
I flicked my eyes back at the container a hand smashed through it and stepped out. Erik Cobalt was awake and angry. It didn’t matter that he was a punk. I had no cover, and both of the Cobalt’s were out and ready to play.
“Sir!” Brutus screamed. Erik nodded at something behind me. I turned around and felt something hot sear my side. I blinked. Tanya had stabbed me. Tanya had hairy arms. Her knuckles were calloused. I looked up at her face, and a white toothy grin smiled back at me. Shapeshifter. While we were linked, any pain one of us had was shared by the rest of us, to a lesser degree.
I pulled my gun out of my pants pocket and pulled the trigger until I felt the recoil stop. Hands grabbed my shoulders and shook me. I looked up. Alexander was shouting at me. I couldn’t hear him over the ringing in my ears. He pointed out around the park. Blue uniforms and body armor with FBI in big yellow letters were running in. He picked me up, and he pushed me into a run.
“Markus, run. The car is compromised!”
“Still, we’ll have to steal a different one,” I nodded. I tried to pay attention, but I couldn’t. I just tottered after the 3 of them. Alice dropped back to me and grabbed my arm. She looped it through her own and started running faster. I stumbled, but caught myself and kept up. Elias got away. He got Erik free and clear too. I wanted to scream. My shirt felt wet. I looked down and realized that I was crying. Tears rolled down my face.
I don’t know how long we ran until we found a suitable vehicle. I got in the back, and we all laid down and waited until we were sure no one was still looking for us. I laid there and wept quietly while Alice clasped her hand around mine. I put my head against her shoulder and cried again. Jonathan, Brutus, and Alexander kept to themselves, pretending not to notice.
“We were so close, Alice.”
She squeezed my arm, “I should’ve known. I should’ve seen it coming, Markus.” She ran her fingers through my hair. I melted into her shoulder. Elias tricked me again. The hurt vanished and was replaced with a cold rage. He was about to get what he deserved. We were so far past apologies and excuses. It was time to bring the pain.
“I’m not going to stop.”
“I know, Markus. I won’t either. None of us will.”
I nodded, “I’m going to find Tanya and take everything away from him before I kill him.”
“Shhh, shhh, it’s okay.”
I couldn’t stop repeating myself, “I’m going to break him, Alice, I swear to AI above I am going to make him pay.” There was a warehouse. The local cops knew it was a hub for drug activity in the city. Elias would be involved. I knew where I was going to go next. “Guys,” I said. Everyone looked up at me at once, “We’re going to war.”
16
Chapter 16
What do you see? Jonathan asked. I glanced back towards the gray garbage cans that they were all hidden behind. The street lamps flickered regularly, setting the empty through the street into blackness.
I don’t see anything, over, I said.
Do I need to give you another lesson in mental etiquette? Alice muttered.
Of course not, I replied. I waited a solid ten seconds before adding another, over. I could feel the disturbance in the force. Along with Alice’s quickly darkening mood were snickers of amusement from the rest of the team. I smiled. I could see Alice glaring at them without my eyes. I knew from personal experience how intimidating it could be at times. There are only two guards. I can take them. I am worried that they are just a trap, I said.
Jonathan made a coughing noise that somehow carried over into the mental channel, Markus, two guys armed with the vanilla bad guy weapons don’t exactly scream trap.
Glocks are still dangerous if typical, I replied. One of the goons glanced over. His buddy nodded at him, and he shrugged before yanking his bright yellow sweats back up to a more normal height. Have I mentioned how much I hate the saggy pants phenomenon? I cursed my longevity. Most people didn’t have to see stupid trends go full circle.
We all heard that, Jonathan muttered into the mental channel.
No offense, Jonathan. I had forgotten about his way of wearing his pants.
Nah, it’s cool. My grandma says the same thing.
Brutus joined in, Sir, shouldn’t we stay on mission?
Trust me, I’m ready to kick some punks in the face. I cleared my throat and stopped as quickly as I started. The thug looked over again towards me. I didn’t want to draw his attention to me before redecorated the brick wall with his brains.
You’re clear, Brutus said.
Got it, where’s Alexander?
I am going to float over on top of the building. I’ll open the door if Butt-Scratcher over there doesn’t, Alexander replied.
Holy crap, you can fly? Jonathan seemed amazed.
I rolled my eyes, Fangirl later, kick-butt now, Jonathan.
I felt Jonathan roll his eyes, Yeah, yeah, whatever.
I took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows. I walked down the street and made sure to click my heels against the concrete sidewalk. I didn’t need a jumpy baller to make this negotiation even shorter than I was already planning on. One of the thugs, the one Alexander had lovingly named Butt-Scratcher, turned and reached inside his hoodie’s front pocket. I rolled my eyes. Only an idiot wouldn’t notice the gun he had in there. I mean, if a cop even looked at him at all he’d see the Glock inside there. Freaking amateurs.
“Step off,” the Butt-Scratcher snarled. I looked up and stared him in the eyes. He swallowed. His friend poked the tip of his gun out of his jacket.
“You deaf or something?” The second thug asked. I switched to staring into thug number two’s eyes.
“Or something,” I smirked. Their eyes flicked toward each other. Butt-Scratcher shrugged slightly. They turned back to look at me. I stopped about six feet away from the first one. It was far enough that they’d still feel comfortable, but easy enough for me to knock the first one unconscious before thug two knew what was happening.
“You got some serious balls there, grandpa.”
I cupped my hand over the back of my ear, “Did you hear that?” The two of them looked around and blinked. “Yeah me either, I thought I heard someone asking to be a eunuch.” Thug two sneered at me. I smiled sweetly back at them, “Why don’t you two tootle along and grab whoever is in charge right now?” I shooed them with both hands.
“If you don’t know who’s in charge, then you best get walking, pops.” I grinned. I’m sure Elias, being an early bird, isn’t here right now, and I have no idea what brainless lackey he left in charge
“If you want, I can beat the hell out of you right now and go find out.” I stared at my fingernails and rubbed them against my coat, “Or, you could save us both the trouble and do your job.”
Thug two reached for his gun, a huge mistake. He was flattened to the ground with a crun
ch by Alexander. I kicked Butt-Scratcher in the knee and punched him in the throat. I smacked his head against the wall on his way down. It’s called caution, not overkill.
I could’ve handled it myself, Alexander.
Alexander rolled his eyes and smirked, Okay, grandpa. I started telling a joke. It was one that always bothered Alice. I motioned to Alexander to get ready to smash the door open. I felt the rest of the team take up positions around and behind us. Brutus almost slipped on the sidewalk pizza that had formerly been known as thug number two.
A hand smacked me lightly across the side of my head. I stopped telling the joke and turned around, grinning at Alice. She rolled her eyes and stepped back. She frowned, not at me but in concentration. To keep five people all on the same mental wavelength was hard work. Her usual stuff would be challenging, to say the least. I squeezed her shoulder. If anyone could do it, she could. Anthony’s shoulders rippled.
Jealousy, thy name is Markus.
I rolled my eyes at Alice. She smiled. She looked so cute in tactical gear. Well, she always looked cute. Wait, where had that come from? I felt a headache starting. I didn’t have time for this now, not with everything going on. I waved my hand at Alexander, and all of the tension flow out of him and into the door. He was by no means the first kinetic I had seen or worked with during my career. However, he was the first I’d ever seen that was able to turn a steel door, crush it so it looked like a ball of tinfoil, and hurl it down a warehouse towards the tank inside of it. The screeching noise and resulting explosion would have put the classic Transformer movies to shame.
I jumped into the fray. I pulled out my gun and started shooting as I ran for cover. Three goons standing on top of a ledge started shooting. I risked a glance over my shoulder. Alice’s face contorted, and she still managed to stumble to cover. We had the element of surprise… kind of. The tank suggested that we had been expected, but that they hadn’t expected our entrance to be so violent.
A comet with a fiery tail swooshed through the entrance to the place and smashed into the concrete. Heat cracks spread all around the landing spot. It must have helped disperse the kinetic energy. Yep, definitely expected.
The smoke dissipated, and the fire turned blue and faded. A body crouched in the middle of the network of cracks. Thankfully he wasn’t striking the superhero pose. If he was, I think I would have taken myself out of the fight from rolling my eyes so hard. I swear, no one seems to understand just how perfectly that look is designed to kill you. A white cast clashed with the otherwise standard black armor that was so in right now. Erik, twelve o clock.
I think we all noticed the fireball that crashed in the middle of the warehouse.
“Hey,” I screamed at the top of my lungs, “how’s daddy’s little boy?” I jumped to the right and flew past the guardrails and fell to the floor. I started rolling. An explosion at my back made the floor rush up to me faster. I screamed and ducked my head. All in all, considering just how many times I hit the walls after I fell, having only three ribs broken wasn’t all that bad. I dusted myself off. A hand grabbed me and pulled me the rest of the way up.
Are you okay, sir? Brutus asked.
I nodded and wheezed. Wow, I sounded like an abused dog toy squeaker. Brutus nodded and handed me my gun. I test fired it. Brutus winced and ran back the support beam that he’d been firing from. I frowned. Maybe I should try to be more considerate of those that can and would suffer from tinnitus. Bullets kicked up dust a couple of feet from me. Oh, right.
I shook my head as I ran for cover. Something hot stabbed me in the thigh, and I dropped to the floor. My forward momentum slid me the rest of the way behind a fallen tank. I clicked my knuckles against it. It was empty, thank the angels. I looked down at my leg. My pant leg was wet and turning reddish black. I groaned. It didn’t hurt too bad. I opened my fanny-pack and pulled out some morphine. I popped two tablets and chewed them up before swallowing. A couple of deep breaths later, I was ready to move.
Where is Erik? I asked.
He’s the one tossing fireballs at everyone, Alice replied.
I rolled my eyes, It’s plasma, idiot. Did you take high school science classes?
Alice looked annoyed, How about we argue physics later?
Can you add pretty boy to the group chat? I asked.
I peeked over the barrel. Jonathan danced like a robot in the middle of the room. Most of Erik’s fire was directed towards him, but he saved some of it for the rest of the group. Erik spun around and shoved both hands out. The air quivered, and a beam of fire hit something with a slap. Anthony’s body hurled back and clanged against the wall of the warehouse.
Alice looked right at me, What are you thinking?
Just add him, I said. Alice rolled her eyes, and I felt a pop as another body was added to our little team group chat.
What is this? Erik thought in his head.
Never mind that, where’s big daddy? I asked. Erik’s eyes snapped to me. Yep, I thought things through so well. One day one of my ideas would end up being written on my tombstone. I could feel Alice’s glare. She knew what I was thinking, but that didn’t mean she liked it. Whoever was talking in a mind-meld gave everyone else a sense of where they were. There’s no way Erik would have been able to see me if it wasn’t for my blabbermouth. I smiled. That’s what I was counting on.
I ran and hopped out from behind the tank and towards the closest support beam. It would be big enough to catch the brunt of his attack. . . hopefully. Heat whistled by me and flew into the tank. It hissed as superheated metal expanded. I found more motivation to waddle run towards the pole even faster.
Everyone was grabbing their guns and getting into position to cover Erik from every angle. I jumped with my good leg as Erik howled. A beam of heat struck the support in front of me and left a glowing red area that was steadily expanding. I looked out from behind my shield. He was still pouring his heat towards the pole. I looked up. The idiot was trying to bring the building down on top of all of us. Little Erik sure didn’t take after his dad in the brains department. Shooting broke out all over. With my hearing the way it was, it registered as dull pops. The splotch of reading stopped expanding as quickly, and I took a deep breath and let it all out.
You got him with the tranquilizers, right?
Alice rolled her eyes and walked over, No, we all just decided to aim for his kneecaps.
Smart-aleck.
Always. Alice pulled a pair of handcuffs out and chucked them to Brutus, who caught them and snapped them onto Erik’s wrists. Elias was going to be so furious.
How’s Alexander?
He’s fine, Jonathan confirmed. I spun around and nodded. My hearing was returning very slowly. Everyone else had the foresight to bring the noise dampening earplugs. I had a way of forgetting mine.
I felt Alice roll her eyes and could faintly hear her thinking, men, in her brain. I looked over my shoulder at her. She had her arms folded and looked utterly unabashed. She wanted me to know she said it.
I sighed, Is that your catchphrase now or something?
Alexander hoisted Erik up with his gift and walked out of the building with his arm held out in front of him. We’d made the handcuffs come with gloves attached that were full of sugar water. There was no way he wasn’t going to be out of contact with his inhibitor for a while. Elias was going to pay. I think delivering him back at the prison would send our statement quite nicely.
17
Chapter 17
Erik Cobalt fought against his bonds that cut out his Enhanced abilities as he lay in front of the gates to the prison. A “failed” getaway would add get a few years added to his jail sentence. He’d probably tossed the “I’m Sorry” card we got from Hallmark.
Jonathan snickered, “The card was a nice touch.” Alexander laughed with him, and even Brutus smiled.
Alice shrugged, “I feel like we got our point across.” I stopped smiling and rolled down the window. We were far enough away from the prison that their facial re
cognition programs wouldn’t be attached to the cameras. A federal agent might be able to run facial recognition on the footage of some of the street cameras.
“Roll up the window, Markus.” Alice said.
I looked at her, “We’re fine, only the feds can access the files.”
My window rolled up, and Alice pulled her thumb off of the button, “I think breaking into the state prison might attract the attention of the feds.”
I frowned, we needed fresh air in here, but Alice was right. We might’ve done enough to attract the attention of the feds. Still, we were all sweaty and smelled like a pigsty. I turned the fan on so at least it was bringing some fresh air in. Alice sighed and took a right.
“You know,” I rubbed my chin, “I think you can only turn right on red if you stop first.” Alice looked at me and raised one eyebrow. I whistled and pretended that I hadn’t seen the look. I closed my eyes and leaned my seat back as far as I could. We could all use a little shut-eye. Someone thumped me on the arm. I shot up and took a deep breath. Alice smirked and nodded her head toward the elevator.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re hilarious,” I muttered. She mocked my facial expression all the way to the elevator. “Where’s Prudence?”
Alice exhaled, “I sent her to one of my cousins, uptown.”
I cocked my head at her, “She’s our only healer.”
Alice folded her arms across her chest, “She’s also just a kid, Markus.”
“I’m sorry.”
Alice raised on hand, “It’s fine.” She sagged against the side of the elevator. The rest of our crew must’ve already been in a safe house. Alice didn’t feel like she needed to present her hard edge to everyone. I held her and squeezed. “Do you have any idea what we’re doing?”
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