Superheroes In Denim

by Lee French

  Less selective in his targets and methods, Stephen also avoided killing people. Some hid fast enough, the rest got his fist in their face or thrown into a wall. “If I’d known it would be this easy, I would’ve just come by myself.” He smirked as he ignored a doorway to a room full of scared people. Several had phones out, taking pictures or tapping away.

  “That wouldn’t be fair, to keep all this fun to yourself.” Dan tossed his empty gun behind them and caught the one that a surprised guard lobbed to him. That guard turned and punched the guy next to him in the gut. “Do we care if anyone besides the base takes pictures of us?”

  “A little.” Stephen backhanded a guy not quick enough to get out of his way. Bobby took a look back at the groaning bodies and debris littering the hall and realized the vampire had lost most of his control. He breezed through, treating this like a party. The guy needed cake.

  Dan stopped at a doorway and stared into the room beyond it with a feral grin. The sound of several people smashing their cellphones put a bounce in his step as he moved on to the next group. More gunshots rang out and they hit the stairwell.

  Damn, these two men scared the heckbiscuits out of Bobby. This seemed like a good idea up until now. He should have found a way to free himself. There would have been a window, he could have figured something out. But no, he had to go for help. The blame for all of this belonged on his shoulders. When the suits came looking for the group with a nuke, it would be his fault. If anyone got killed, that was on him.

  Chapter 18

  The dragon fluttered against the door to his room, then landed on the knob. Seeing that, Stephen grabbed the nearest nurse and put her in standard hostage headlock position. Dan opened the door and shut it behind Stephen and his guest. He held his latest gun ready to fire at anyone else coming through it.

  There he lay on a gurney, wires and tubes monitoring him and keeping him alive. His body still wore those jeans and boots. Funny how they never bothered to remove either. No sheet covered his torso, leaving all his injuries available to be seen. Bandages covered the stitches, with purple bruising peeking out from underneath. His wrists had less severe bruises, and angry red burns marked where he’d been repeatedly tasered.

  “Damn, you got messed up,” Stephen breathed. Adjusting his grip on the nurse, he pushed her forward. “Unhook him, now.”

  Bobby wanted to stay out here and watch while he woke up. The dragon didn’t care about that. It dove at his body and merged back with the swarm. Everything went black again. The next thing he knew, someone patted the side of his face.

  “Wake up, sleeping beauty.” Dan had picked up a penlight and shone it into Bobby’s eyes. “Welcome back, Bobby.”

  Flinching away from the light, he tried to talk. “Nguh.” His tongue refused to work. A moan of ecstasy attracted his attention, and he turned his head to see Stephen with his mouth locked on the nurse’s neck from behind. Her eyes fluttered and her mouth hung open. Not wanting to watch that, he tried to lift his arms and found them uncooperative.

  “Yeah, Kaitlin said you’d be useless. Anything burning important you want to tell us?” Dan had tucked his gun into the front of his jeans for the moment. He put an arm around Bobby’s shoulders and tried to help him sit up.

  Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to think around the vampire porn happening in the corner. “Suits.” It took a lot of effort to push that word out.

  Failing to make much progress with getting Bobby vertical, Dan gave up. “Three, like Kaitlin said? ”

  The woman slumped in Stephen’s arms and he let go of her neck. He licked the last smear of blood off her flesh, then set her aside and adjusted his jeans. “I needed that. I really, really needed that.”

  Bobby blinked repeatedly, trying to focus. “Yeah.” In the movies, the drug cloud always lifted pretty fast. He could feel the edges perking up, at least. It might not be too long before he could help.

  “He’s a big lump.”

  Stephen stretched, standing up and reaching until his fingertips brushed the ceiling. “Muuuuuuuch better.” He breathed deeply and cracked his neck. “Push him out on the bed and watch for a wheelchair. I’ll plow the road.”

  “Pig.” Bobby had a take a breath between the two halves of the word. “Tails.”

  At the door, Stephen looked back, one eyebrow quirked. “You were in the dragon all along.”

  “Yeah.”

  Stephen looked away and rolled his shoulders in a squirm. “I’m not going to think about that right now. And I’ve been watching for the girl all along. Give me a minute to check the hall.” He opened the door and slipped out, shutting it behind himself.

  “I’m with him on this one, Bobby. Thinking about how your mind got crammed into a little bitty dragon while your brain was here the whole time… Nope, don’t want to go there. Crazy enough I can control other people’s bodies and he drinks blood. You’re just out and out off the scale.”

  Shutting his eyes and hoping the drugs would fade quickly, Bobby mumbled, “Thanks.”

  “No offense.”

  Bobby grunted. They heard crashing outside and a handful of gunshots. Dan pulled his gun again and pointed it at the door. Stephen’s voice roared in rage through the muffled door. Bobby noticed Dan relaxing, the tension draining out of him. Either the vampire’s anger or the prospect of doing more violence calmed him. Nothing like having a deranged psychopath on his team. Like Matthew, though, no one else could hope to control Dan. If this counted as ‘control’.

  “C’mon and try it,” Dan breathed. Suit One threw the door open, gun up and ready to shoot. Dan took one beat to check him over, then he squeezed the trigger and put a bullet between the suit’s eyes. “Too slow.” He grinned as the body crumpled and kept the gun pointed at the open doorway. Someone flew past the door to crash into something loud and clattering.

  Stephen stormed past, putting a hand up for their benefit. “I got this, get moving.”

  Dan smirked and saluted him with the gun. He shoved the corpse out of the doorway, then reached inside and yanked the wheeled bed through. Bobby turned his head to the side and watched Stephen bear down on Walker, aka Suit Three. The man had one arm in a cast, yet still held a gun after being tossed for distance.

  Stephen grabbed the gun and flipped it aside, not bothering to use it. The two men scuffled, though Walker had no chance against Stephen in a ‘fair’ fight. Dan kept going, kicking debris side and dragging the bed to the elevator at the other end of the hall.

  “There’s more.” His mouth felt a little less stupid, so Bobby pushed out a few more words. “Another suit. Four, ‘Nita killed one, hurt one. Boss left.”

  Dan grinned wide enough to seem manic. “Awesome, a boss fight. Time for the big guns.”

  As the elevator doors opened, Stephen caught up with them, swooping in and holding his side with a scowl. “That sonofabitch tased me.”

  “You kill him?” Dan asked, eyes alight with interest.

  “Yes. I gather there’s another suit. Five bucks says one of us will have to shield the pigtail girl from him shooting her.”

  “No bet,” Bobby grunted. He rolled onto his side while the elevator carried them down two floors. It took a lot of effort, and his eyes went wide as he saw something unexpected in the corner. Unable to keep himself there, he slumped onto his back again. “Guys. Pigtails. Right here.”

  Both men turned to look. The little girl with the red dress and shoes, her blonde hair in pigtails, sat curled up in the corner. Maybe eight or nine years old, she clutched a teddy bear and stared up at them in terror with wide, icy blue eyes. Hers were otherwise normal, lacking the odd tilt all of theirs had. At a glance, though, she could be easily mistaken for one of them.

  Stephen rubbed his forehead and mouthed a curse. He breathed deeply and crouched down to her level. “Don’t worry, we’ll protect you. I swear on my father’s grave that I won’t let anyone hurt you. We’re not going to take you away from whoever you’re here with, either.”

&nb
sp; “We ain’t the bad guys, I swear.” Bobby licked his lips and prayed for Dan to keep his mouth shut. “There’s gonna be shooting, though, so stay small.”

  The girl nodded and hid her face, pushing herself closer to the corner.

  Stephen stood and put himself in the middle of the doors. Dan braced himself between the back of the elevator and the bed. The doors opened. Four soldiers pointed guns at Stephen and fired. Stephen grunted as the bullets hit him. He reached over and pushed the button to shut the doors. Bullets clanged as they hit the metal and dimpled it inward.

  He flipped the emergency switch so the doors would stay shut, making an annoying bell ring. “Dammit, I’m going to have to feed again soon.”

  “Maybe it wouldn’t creep you out so much if’n you called it ‘eating’ ‘stead of ‘feeding’.” Here he lay, taking all of this in stride. He could freak out instead, except that wouldn’t help anything. Bobby took a deep breath and lifted a hand, flexing his fingers. “The drugs’re wearing off.”

  “What are you?” The little girl’s voice managed to reach him despite the bell.

  Bobby smiled at her, hoping for the best. “Superheroes. Misunderstood superheroes.”

  “Like Wolverine?”

  “Yes.” Stephen reached over again to the elevator panel, meeting Bobby’s eyes and asking without words if he was ready to try again. “Exactly like that.”

  Bobby offered the girl his hand and inwardly groaned at the words he intended to say to her. “Come with me if you want to live.”

  She blinked, sniffled, and nodded. Surging to her feet, she grabbed his hand and jumped to get onto the gurney with him. Ignoring how much he hurt he curled his body around her protectively. Nestled in his arms, she asked, “Is my Mom okay?”

  “We made an effort not to hurt anyone too much,” Dan reassured her. “Except the as— er, guys that want to lock us up and treat us like lab rats. Them, no mercy.”

  “Are we ready to do this?” At the affirmatives from Bobby and Dan, Stephen flipped the emergency switch off and let the doors open. He spat the bullets out, causing the eight soldiers now waiting for them to stare with varying degrees of disbelief. “Would you like to shoot me again?” He took a step forward and lifted his hoodie and shirt to show them his intact chest. “I can do this all day, really.”

  One man turned his gun on the one next to him and shot him in the leg. Another soldier decked the one with the gun and took a bullet in the shoulder for it. Dan’s handiwork, no doubt. At the other end of the line, another soldier shot a different man in the leg.

  Stephen reached the group of men and backhanded one of them so hard he spun around. “Shame to ruin my clothes, but hey.” Grabbing two by the collars, he smacked their heads together and flung them in opposite directions. “The things we do for friends.” He threw a punch that sent the last man standing to the floor.

  “You’re a goddamned showboater,” Dan snorted. “It’s fun to watch.” He wheeled Bobby and the girl out while Stephen cleared a path for them.

  Glancing back over his shoulder, Stephen grinned. “It’s not like any of these guys can—”

  A gunshot cut him off. Stephen jerked and twisted, a bullet punching out through his neck. He collapsed in front of the gurney. The second shot hit Dan in the shoulder, missing his head because he ducked. With no ability to regenerate or deflect anything, Dan dropped to the floor, wheezing in pain.

  “Animals, every last one of you,” Suit Two snarled. He stood between them and freedom, feet apart and gun held in both hands. “Rabid dogs that need to be put down.” Stepping calmly over debris to reach them, he let go of the gun with his left hand to retrieve a syringe from his jacket.

  Bobby’s heart stopped. That’s what it felt like, anyway. Were they still alive? He didn’t know, couldn’t see either of them. “I got you,” Bobby whispered to the girl, then he looked at the suit. The girl turned to look, then buried her face in Bobby’s chest again. That gun wasn’t going to hurt him, he could feel the swarm building with incoherent rage inside him, but the girl was another story. “I said I was gonna kill you for trying to rape my friend. I meant it.”

  Suit Two’s eyes narrowed, focusing on the girl. She must have looked much younger to his eyes, terrified and huddling for safety. His gun twitched so it pointed more at her than him. “There aren’t any children in the program anymore. Which one of you does she belong to?”

  “What program? Where’s Jasmine? Did you kill Mr. Peterson to set me up?”

  Suit Two’s nostrils flared and he sneered. “Never mind that. I won’t bother trying to injure this time, Mitchell. There’s a level of acceptable risk, and we’re past it now. Hand over the girl and come quietly or die.”

  It seemed to Bobby that the suit figured he must still be harmless, since he still laid on the bed. In fairness, he did feel pretty useless right now. The swarm had so much rage, it took every drop of effort he had to hold it back. His dragons hated this man, so much. No matter what, Suit Two would not leave this building alive. Bobby would let them loose already, except Kaitlin said the girl needed to understand, and to see the whole picture. “I don’t really like those choices. Is there a third option?”

  Suit Two’s mouth curled into a disdainful smirk and everything slowed down for Bobby. The gun fired and he saw the bullet spin out of the barrel. He burst into the swarm and let it have its way, so long as it protected the girl. The dragons noted three different innocent people watching him. Stephen got up on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. Dan, pale and bloody, clutched his shoulder.

  Three dragons dove at the bullet, all willing to sacrifice themselves to keep the girl safe. One let it rip its wing off, the second bounced off it, and the third threw its body in the way. Their efforts knocked it far enough to the side to hit the bed instead of the terrified girl.

  The rest of the swarm went for Suit Two. They pushed Bobby aside while they converged and destroyed him with claws and fangs and fire. Suit Two screamed and shrieked until they tore his throat out. His arms flailed for another half a minute, then he stopped and sagged, held in place by the swarm refusing to let him fall.

  When he felt certain the suit had to be dead, Bobby mustered everything he had and forced the swarm to let the corpse go. They stopped and buzzed about for a few seconds, then swooped to the gurney and picked up the three damaged dragons. The corpse of Suit Two collapsed to the floor.

  Bobby re-formed standing next to the bed in his jeans and boots, bandages gone. His hands and arms hurt all the way to his neck. He took a deep breath and averted his eyes from the gory pile his swarm made. The air carried the awful stench of fresh and burned meat. This little girl needed to get away from that.

  Stephen breathed deeply and stood up. He looked at the girl, who watched his neck heal over with her mouth hanging open. “We’re not full of sunshine and daises, but we aren’t sadistic monsters, either.”

  Bobby saw her gulp and nod. He gritted his teeth and picked her up. He’d hefted appliances heavier than her on his own, though not when he felt this awful. “Don’t you look at that thing on the floor. I’m gonna give you to one of these folks who works here. Soon as you can, you go find your Momma and tell her all about what you saw.”

  She clung to him, wrapping her legs around his waist. “He tried to shoot me,” she breathed.

  He grunted and stepped over debris to reach a side room with awe-struck people hiding inside it. “I think it was more about me, but yeah.”

  “You saved me.” She kissed him on the cheek when he set her down and waved as he backed out. Both things taken together went a long way towards making him feel better about this whole episode.

  “You have a fan,” Dan croaked out from the floor.

  “I thought I was supposed to save the girl. I’m the vampire, I should get the girl.” Stephen smirked as he bent to help Dan.

  Bobby rolled his eyes and returned the girl’s wave. Part of him wanted to ask her name. The rest noticed people peering timidly o
ut through doorways. Choosing one at random, he pointed to a man who stared up at him with his hands up in surrender. “More of these suit-wearing guys are going to show up here on our trail. You tell ‘em something for me,” he said, watching the man nod and gulp. “They mess with one of us, they mess with all of us. We’re coming for the rest of ours, and we ain’t playing around.”

  Stephen pulled Dan to his feet and supported him to he could walk. Bobby turned and strode out through the front door, holding it open for them. This part had no real plan. Everyone needed to get back to the van without getting caught, killed, or followed. Back in his body, with the pleasantly warm midday sun shining down on him and all three of those suits dead, he felt invincible. How hard could it really be to get out of a military base?

  Surveying the chaos, he sighed. Lizzie had gone hog wild. The entire end of the base they came in through burned. She’d set a handful of vehicles on fire, and one hangar had gotten engulfed. Multiple types of trucks circled in that area, with more still heading that way. Lines of soldiers streamed that way, and Bobby thought maybe they ought to have had her set the distraction up on the other side of the base.

  Jets firing up their engines momentarily drowned out the gunfire filling the air. That whoosh and boom sounded more likely to from a rocket launcher than Lizzie. She’d started a small war, one they needed to get out of before somebody got the bright idea to use satellites for spot-targeting them with smart bombs or space lasers, or whatever they had. “Stephen, you need to get Dan outta here. I’ll see if I can get the others going.”

  “I suggest no one tells Lizzie I been shot so long as it can be avoided.” Dan panted, dark circles forming under his eyes. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his one arm dangled, useless.

  Agreeing completely, Bobby nodded. Lizzie did all this just to have fun. He shuddered to imagine what she could do if when she got angry. “Yeah, you just go straight for the van. Get it started up and ready to move.” Because it would be faster and safer, he burst into the swarm and headed for the center of the mayhem. That’s where Lizzie would be, and everyone else should be nearby.