It wasn’t enough.
“No.” Lamarr flinched but didn’t go down, gasping for air. He grabbed me by the shoulders and jumped forward, pushing me to the ground.
The coolness against my back felt good, bleeding away some of the sweat under the leather. I could feel the charge slowly building inside me, the electromagnetic waves surging over me, making me stronger with every second despite the leaks. But unless Lamarr took the time to strip naked, I wouldn’t be able to touch him with my powers. Even if he pulled off part of his clothing to rape me, I wasn’t sure if it’d work.
I sure as heck wasn’t going to let him get to that point to try.
His hands curled around my neck as he straddled me, a wide grin on his face. “I think I’ll just kill you after all. Don’t feel much like playing with you, at least not while you’re alive.”
I wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or insulted.
His fingers tightened on my skin, pressing down on my throat. I clawed at his arms, feeling the thick, tight muscles not willing to give an inch.
A haze filled my mind. So this was how it was going to end. Not what I would have scripted, really. Not what Mike would have approved of. In fact, Mike would be royally pissed at seeing me give up so easily after all those hours of training. All those hours honing my skills and here I was, weak as a mouse, flailing around in the dirt with some punk who didn’t deserve to be the warm-up act at one of our battles, much less the top A-lister in our Brave New World.
Then there was Hunter. I wasn’t sure where we were going, but I knew one thing. I wasn’t going to die without at least getting laid once by my lucky charm.
I drew a shallow breath, the last of the air dragging into my lungs past Lamarr’s hold, and concentrated on doing something other than dying.
My hands scrabbled in the dirt, searching for something, anything that I could use as a weapon. After what seemed like a lifetime, my fingers curled around a small rock. I tugged it into my left hand, caressed it with my leather touch.
Lamarr let out a hollow laugh, shoving his hips down. I felt his arousal pressing against me as the pressure on my neck increased, completely cutting off my air.
The faint light retreated from the corners of my vision, the growing tunnel framing Lamarr’s leering, grinning face. My pulse hammered in my ears, a roaring sound rising and threatening to overwhelm the pounding. My toes tingled before going dead. The feeling spread with waves of numbness rushing under my skin and racing towards my face.
I slammed the rock into Lamarr’s skull, putting everything I had into it.
The fingers around my neck loosened and flew away as Lamarr clawed at the right side of his head, screaming. I put my numb hands on his chest and pushed him off, finding no resistance.
My lungs screamed as I sucked in the cool air, the burning cutting off my curses as I staggered to my feet. Pins and needles shot through my legs, the sharp pain bringing tears to my eyes.
Lamarr rolled onto his knees, gasping and spitting into the dirt. Blood gushed down from a nasty gash just below his right temple, blinding him in one eye as it ran over his cheek.
He thrust his hands down onto the floor, his fingers digging deep into the rubble and dirt. I could feel the tremors starting.
“What did you do?” he bellowed. “What did you do?”
“I’m saving my world.” I stomped down on his left hand as hard as I could, wincing inside as the sound of bones snapping reached my ears. It was like a thousand little firecrackers going off in the narrow shaft, popcorn kernels exploding and shattering the silence.
“No.” His good right hand flew out and grabbed my left leg. “No,” he repeated, taking a firm hold of the leather. “Fuck you, Surf.”
Lamarr yanked me towards him, a growl escaping his bloody lips.
I let out a scream as I landed on my back, my newfound strength disappearing fast. The impact shot the hard-earned air from my lungs, forcing me to gasp for more. My throat ached and burned with each breath, my voice now only a low rasp.
“You’re right,” I wheezed. “No more.” I dropped my right heel hard on his good right hand where it held my leg. “And the name’s Jo. Jo Tanis.”
His fingers warped outwards as he screamed and released me with a whimper. He pulled both hands away, out of range.
“No more,” Lamarr repeated, cradling his crushed left hand to his chest. He looked up at me, the blood now streaming down his face from my attack. “Fuck this. Fuck you, fuck Metal Mike and all of you motherfuckers.”
He pressed both mangled hands to the rough floor. His crippled fingers twisted and fumbled in the dirt. A rough cry broke free as blood dripped off his lips from the forehead gash, feeding the earth while he asked for one last favor.
It took a minute for me to get to my feet, watching and staring as Lamarr tried to work his magic. The next minute I spent running away from the crippled man, down the widening corridors, snatching at waves as I stumbled over pebbles and rocks, almost falling more times than I could count. If I was lucky, I’d be able to get airborne before he pulled the ground out from under me.
If I was lucky.
A rumbling came from behind me, a mixture of a scream and the roar of falling rock.
I could see the exit/entrance ahead of me, the tiny lit square pointing the way out. All I had to do was make it these few final feet and I’d be free. I hopped into the air, pushing off from the rough earth. All I needed was a bit more speed, just a bit more to get out into the light.
The ground broke apart under and around me, uneven blocks shooting out from all angles as the world exploded.
The tiny light went dim and faded from sight as something landed on my spine, slamming me to the cold ground. Dust clogged my mouth, choking any words I might have wanted to say into silence. I closed my eyes and took one last gasp, wondering if my parents would be there to greet me. I knew Mike’d be there and pissed at me for breaking the first rule. Be nice to see him again outside of hallucinations and dreams.
Be nice to just relax and be…
Chapter Ten
There was something tapping on my bottom lip, something light like a fairy’s wings brushing my skin. It continued, turning into a bit of an annoying tugging as the offender pulled my lip away from my teeth.
“Ow.” I forced my eyelids open.
Instead of a fairy, delicate and frail, hovering over me with a smile and a dash of flying dust, there was a mouse sitting on a hunk of rock, inches from my face. He was grey, scrawny and with half his left ear chewed off. His beady little eyes searched my own, probably looking for a shred of sanity.
I licked my bottom lip, wondering what sort of exotic diseases I’d just been exposed to.
Heaven sort of sucked.
His small paw reached out and touched my cheek.
“What did you say?” The petite nose twitched.
“I said, heaven sucks. I was hoping for some cabana boys and a poolside massage table.” I blew dirt out between my lips. “Instead I’ve got the talking animal caravan o’ fun.”
A low laugh came from the mouse. “She’s okay. I think.” He washed his tiny face, the wee paws rubbing against the grey skin. “Hold on, Jo. We’re almost there.”
“There where?” I blinked again. The mouse scurried off and vanished through a small hole in the stack of rocks within eyesight.
“Here there,” Hunter said through my reactivated link. “Just don’t try to move.”
“Move? I can barely breathe.” Something sharp poked into my back just below my shoulder blades. “I need a beer.”
“She’s fine.” Steve chuckled. “No, don’t touch that. Let me get it.”
A sliver of bright sunlight danced at the far left of my vision then traveled snail-like in front of my face, tugging away the shadows. It stopped a few inches away from a gloved hand, a palm pressed against the ground.
“Oh. I think that’s mine.” I studied the hand. It seemed to be attached to me despite having somethin
g large and chunky sitting on it. I wriggled my fingers, surprised at the lack of pain. “Oh.”
“Oh, good? Or oh, I’m about to pass out again?” Hunter snapped.
“I’m here.” I blew a path in the dust, studying the way the small particles flew up into the air towards the light. “Where are you?”
“About three feet away. Steve’s hauling rock as fast as we dare. Peter located you with the mouse, and we got Jessie to turn your link back on.”
“Okay.” I exhaled again. “What happened?”
“Don’t you remember?” There was a worried tone in his voice.
“Well, I remember running for the exit and Lamarr…Lamarr…” My throat closed up. “Lamarr’s dead, isn’t he.”
“Most likely,” Hunter replied. “Don’t expect me to weep for the bastard.”
The sliver pulled apart, splintering into segments and then expanding like a miniature supernova. A small puff of air blew, shifting the smaller pebbles and rocks away from me. The cool fresh breeze caressed my face, encouraging me to breathe in. I resisted the urge to cough, trying to swallow past the dry and scratched remains of my throat.
“That’s good,” Steve said. “Just be gentle. Think of it like that game where you pull wooden blocks out. Don’t take anything without seeing what it’s attached to.”
“Affirmative.” I couldn’t place the speaker. A soft, female tone. The slow-moving gears in my mind ground together to supply me with the information, replaying the last few memories in my muddled world.
“Rachael?”
“Hi.” The shy voice on the link was a hair above a whisper. “Let me know if it’s too windy for you. I’m making it easier for Steve to move some stuff, and Hunter thought you’d like some fresh air.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you. Hello.” I tried to sound nonchalant, as if it was an everyday occurrence to have someone digging me out of a mine.
The sunlight burst through to my face, startling me. I clenched my eyes shut against the blinding rays. The goggles were gone, lost somewhere in the rubble around me.
“One more minute,” Steve rumbled. The weight on my spine vanished along with the pressure on the rest of my body. “There.”
“Ms. Tanis? Can you hear me?”
I opened my eyes again, squinting as I tried to figure out who Ms. Tanis was. “Huh?”
“Ms. Tanis, my name is Brent and I’m a paramedic.” A knee appeared in front of me, the blue cloth covered with dirt and sand. “We’re going to get you hooked up to an IV and get you onto a backboard, then to a hospital. Do you understand me?”
“Sure.” I looked around. “Can the mouse come with us?”
At that point I blacked out before making more of an ass of myself.
“She’s going to be just fine.” Hunter’s voice came to me down a long, dark tunnel. It was a bumpy tunnel, filled with aches and pains. I kept looking for an exit to the cabana boys and the pool.
“Are you sure?” a familiar voice snapped. I took a deep breath. Antiseptic and…Montreal smoked meat?
“The doctor said so.”
“Oh, and we believe the doctor now? The same man you walked out on a few days ago?”
I wrestled my eyes open to see David standing at the foot of my hospital bed. He waved a hand towards me, all of his attention focused on Hunter.
Hunter stood there with his arms crossed, glaring at David. He wasn’t in the black leather uniform, but instead wore a white T-shirt and jeans. A nice and tight pair of jeans that fit well in all the right places.
A little voice in the back of my mind commented dryly that some parts of my mind were working just fine, thank you very much.
David motioned towards me again, not looking my way. His brown cardigan flapped over his thin frame. “And you think you know her so well? I knew her when she was filing books in my store. I knew her before she became your superhero.”
Instead of interrupting them I glanced down at the white sheet covering my body, hoping to see all of my limbs and preparing for the trauma if they weren’t there. Sure enough I was four for four, and when I wriggled both sets of toes, the crisp white hospital sheet waggled.
Both men stopped arguing and stared at the fluttering sheet, their eyes following up the length of the bed to my face.
“Hey.” I raised one hand an inch off the thin mattress, wincing as the IV needle taped to my hand shifted. “What’s up?”
David beat Hunter to the top of the bed, pulling me up into a tight hug which threatened to undo any healing. The dampness on his cheeks matched mine as we clung together for a long minute.
Finally David released me and stepped back. He rubbed his nose on his cardigan and gave a loud sniffle.
“We were worried about you,” he mumbled as he extracted a wad of tissue from one sleeve. He tore off one layer and handed it to me. “Really worried.”
“I guessed.” I dabbed at my eyes for a second before holding my arms out for Hunter. “Hug?”
“If that’s all I can give you right now,” he joked as he gathered me into his arms. I pressed my face into the crook of his neck and tried not to think.
Of course, I failed.
“Everyone okay?” I croaked. My throat felt like I’d swallowed a sand dune.
“Steve and Peter are outside digging a hole in the floor with their pacing. Jessie’s at the Lair and pissed he couldn’t be here. And Outrager took Rachael as soon as we got here.” Hunter’s voice rumbled through my chest. “And before you get all ticked off, I made sure they’re treating her well. Had to put her in a special lockup, but they’re not going to do anything until we decide what to do. Jessie hooked her link into ours, transmit-only, and we told her to call if anyone touches her. I made it very clear to Outrager one mumble from her and we’re tearing up the base to get to her. She won’t be abused again.”
“The plugs.” My hand flew to the back of my neck. The scar tissue was still there, puckered and warm to my touch.
Hunter kept talking. “Bad news is that Steve didn’t catch this Controller guy. Bastard flew off before Steve could get there. We found his bunker, a sweet little hiding place set up by the Agency for god-knows-what. He left some electronic toys behind. They’re all being shipped home for Jessie to dissect and see what they could do. Good news is that we have new jammers, just arrived by special delivery.” He reached under his shirt and pulled out a necklace. A small rectangular box hung off the chain, maybe an inch by an inch and a half. “Our personal get-out-of-jail-free cards until we totally neutralize the threat.”
I touched my throat, finding the same. “How good is it?”
“Until we find the Controller, it’s as good as we can get,” Hunter replied. “Jessie’s swearing by his original encryption code along with the secondary scramble he just threw down. If we wear this, even if he manages to get the code he can’t activate the plugs.”
“It’ll do for now.” I paused, afraid to ask the next question but knowing I had to. “Lamarr?”
“Still dead,” Hunter said without any remorse in his voice. “They dug him out after we flew you here.”
“And here is?”
He spread his arms as wide as they could go. “Las Vegas, baby.”
“Here. You must be thirsty,” David growled beside me. I looked over and saw the Styrofoam cup, ice chips floating in the water.
My throat whimpered as I took the cup and drank in small, measured sips. It was like I’d been cheering at the World Series, the Super Bowl and the Stanley Cup finals all at once. And I didn’t even have a beer buzz to celebrate. “Thank you.”
“Don’t go too fast.” David motioned at the half-empty IV bag. “They said you weren’t too dehydrated, but you can never be too sure with the heat out here.” He scowled at Hunter. “I told you not to toss too much stuff at her at once. She’s not one of Jessie’s computers.”
I paused. “Vegas? Again?”
“The city that never sleeps,” Hunter offered.
“I thought that was New
York.” The water tasted so good, better than Glenfiddich. I drained the cup and held it out for a refill. “How long was I unconscious?”
David tapped the large analog watch on his wrist. “It’s just past midnight.”
“What?” I sat all the way up, brushing Hunter off the side of the bed. The world spun around me for a second before settling into a cool haze, wobbling from side to side.
“And that’s why they didn’t want us in here.” David chastised Hunter with an angry finger wag. “They didn’t want us upsetting her.”
“You told her the time,” he protested. His arms went around me again and cradled me. “It took a few hours to dig you out from the mine. Then we flew you here and all’s well.”
I looked down at the IV tube leading to the transparent bag hanging on the stand. “Just saline?”
“Just saline. And they threw in a few antibiotics just to be sure,” David said.
I studied the narrow transparent tube for a second. “Nothing else wrong with me?”
Hunter shook his head. “Nope. More bruised ribs and some cuts and bruises, but nothing major. The X-rays were good. Concussion, but that’s nothing new ’round us.” He grinned. “You got lucky. And I wasn’t even there.”
“Good.” I pulled away the thin strands of tape holding the needle atop my hand. “Get the nurse and get my clothing—I’m checking out.”
I swung my legs out over the bed, enjoying David’s embarrassment. He moved towards the door, shielding his eyes from the possible exhibition of bare skin.
“I’ll get the doctor.” And he was gone, faster than if I’d threatened to raid the cookie jar.
Hunter let out a soft laugh. “Stubborn girl.”
“More than. Now pass me some clothing.” I paused. “I do have some clothing left, right?”
He walked towards the generic white wooden closet in the corner. “Your outfit was pretty trashed. Jessie’s working on repairing it and/or getting a replacement.”
I risked a look under the hospital gown. “Eep. Even my underwear?”
Hunter leered at me as he pulled out a plastic bag. “I missed them taking that off. But I knew you’d want something to wear, so I went shopping. Hope you don’t mind going commando until we get to the hotel. Some things I’m not comfortable guessing at, at least until I take some personal measurements.” He extracted an oversize black T-shirt that read “Ace” with a huge white sparkling diamond on it and matching track pants.
Heroes Without, Monsters Within Page 21