Power

by Robert J. Crane

  “Did you know a slow-bled pig produces the most succulent meat?” His voice gave him away as full-on crazycakes, just in case the words themselves hadn’t gotten it across.

  “That’s good to know,” I said. “But there’s not going to be anything slow about how I bleed you, pig.” I kicked him in the chest, once, our grips with each other anchoring him to me. He took it with a grunt of fury, and I kicked him again. His sternum and ribs broke and he screamed in pain and rage. “You’ve been talking all along like I’m some kind of object that’s yours for the taking.” I kicked him again, faster than he could heal, and he really did squeal like a pig. “Like I’m a puppet that you can control. Like I’m something that’s yours.” I reeled him in close as he continued to make that pitiful noise. “This should go without saying, but you’re crazy as hell, so let me make this clear—I’m a person.” I punched him in the jaw. “I make my own decisions.” I smashed him in the side of the head. “I do what I want.” I twisted his arm behind his back and broke it as I faced him away from me, pushing hard to dislodge it through his skin. “And I am not beholden to you or anyone else.”

  With that, I kicked him in the back and heard it break. He plummeted toward the earth, screaming as he fell. I sighed and watched him drop, breathing heavily as he went.

  Of course he stopped himself a few hundred feet down and healed, and I wondered exactly how much damage I was going to have to do to him to kill him.

  He came back at me again, because apparently that wasn’t enough. I just watched him get closer.

  He will keep coming, Wolfe said.

  He will not stop, Bjorn said.

  He is unmerciful, Gavrikov said.

  He is unstoppable, Bastian said.

  “So am I,” I said.

  “You can’t beat me,” Sovereign crowed as he came back up. He looked like hell, true, but he was alive. “You’ve tried. You’ve tried again. It ain’t happening.” He sounded like he was off the edge a little. Maybe he’d gotten a grip on his sanity, if such a thing existed.

  “You’re an idiot,” I said.

  He laughed, further driving home that certainty that he was cuckoo crazypants. “You can’t beat me, I told you. I am unbeatable.”

  “Are you sure? Because I’ve beaten you quite a bit.”

  “Aren’t you tired of it?” He shook his head. “Tired of fighting? We’re made for each other.”

  “You abso–frigging–moronic knucklehead,” I said. “I’m made for my own damned self, not for you.”

  “Just give in,” he said, opening his arms. He was still laughing, crazily, but laughing. “You can’t win.”

  “Gavrikov just called you unmerciful,” I said.

  “He knows me,” Sovereign said with a smile, voice as smooth as poured honey. “You can’t. You won’t.”

  I just rolled my eyes. “All my life I’ve been told I can’t. Had walls put up. Doors closed. Funny thing about that is that after you’ve gone through a few head on, you start ignoring them.”

  “You can’t ignore me,” he said.

  “I can’t stop you either, sadly,” I said, and shook my head.

  “Glad you finally realized it.” He was smirking now, basking in his impending victory, probably.

  Then I pulled the rug out from under him. “You don’t understand. See … a hero would just stop you. I’m going to have to kill you.”

  He rolled his eyes right back. “You can’t do that, either.”

  “I told you I would, no matter what,” I said. “That willingness is the gift my mother gave me. You haven’t seen the ‘no matter what’ part yet. But you’re about to.”

  Now he had that faint crackle of amusement. “This should be good. Bluster is always worth a laugh. Though I’d thought you were finally caving to reason.”

  “You left reason behind a long time ago,” I said.

  “You. Are. Outmatched,” he said. “Just give up and surrender to reality. It’s going to happen. You can’t beat me. You can’t kill me. You can’t—”

  “There go those words again,” I said, and I knew my expression was darkening. It was a little colder up here in the air. I felt a revulsion fill my stomach at the realization of what I was going to have to do. “All my choices, light and dark, have led me to this moment.”

  He stared back at me. “Now who’s monologuing?”

  “I’m sick of you,” I said, and the righteous anger was really getting rolling now. “Sick of your smug face, sick of your psychological games, sick of your bullshit inevitability gimmick, trying to beat me down and make me think I’m defeated without ever finishing the job.” I could feel the air humming around me as it seemed to crackle with electricity. I didn’t care. “This is a fight, and you haven’t won yet. This is a fight, and I’m not your girl. This is a fight, and you are my damned enemy, and I will KILL. YOU.”

  “We’re the same!” He called out to me. “This is pointless! Don’t make me kill you for no reason—”

  I pulled out the last stops and summoned Bastion, Wolfe, Gavrikov and Bjorn front and center.

  I hit him with the War Mind again and he blanched like I’d smacked him with a metal girder, hanging there like a big sack of meat dangling in midair.

  Use me as well, came Eve Kappler’s soft voice.

  I summoned her forth and blasted him with a net of light that wrapped him up like the pig he was. He looked shocked as it curled around him, pinning his arms to his sides. I could feel the invulnerability of Wolfe and his speed coupled with Gavrikov’s flight as I slammed into Sovereign. I hit him again and again, crying out with inarticulate rage as I broke every bone I could find.

  “WE ARE … NOTHING … ALIKE!” I screamed into the wind.

  “We … are …” he said through bloodied lips. “And you’ll realize that … given time …”

  “Your time just ran out.” I could feel the change in my body as I drew forth the power of Roberto Bastian. I could feel his embarrassment at the ability he so rarely used, but I had no similar reticence holding me back. My clothes ripped and tore as I drew forth the power of the Quetzlcoatl-type, my arms turning into wings and my legs flattening and smoothing out. I could see scales on the parts of my body that grew beneath me, and I elongated like a snake until I was the size of a four-story building.

  Sovereign hung there, staring at me, still bound in the net of light, his mouth agape.

  And then I burst into flames.

  “Wait,” he said as I hovered over him, a dragon on fire with rage and power. “You can’t—I’m the last—if not with me then you’ll never —” He took a breath and sounded calm. “You’ll never be able to touch him.”

  “This is as close as I’d ever let you get to touching me,” I said, in a voice I didn’t even recognize. “You picked the wrong fucking girl, jackass.”

  I went at him full out and he didn’t even have a chance to move. My jaws were around him in an instant, ripping and shredding him faster than he could heal himself. Pieces dropped out of my mouth, and it felt horrifyingly natural, this deep, predatory need to destroy. I could hear him screaming, but whether it was from the grinding of his bones or the fire burning around my jaw, I did not know.

  I spat him out a little piece at a time, in small enough segments that I knew Humpty Dumpty wouldn’t ever get put back together again. I moved as I did so, and the last bit came out as I drew closer to the ground.

  I blinked as I caught sight of a house below that looked different from the others. There was a mammoth, gaping hole in its roof, and I knew it immediately.

  Home.

  I felt the power flee my limbs and my body shifted back to its normal shape. I was still wreathed in flames, and the power of flight stayed with me as Eve, Bastian and Bjorn withdrew to the back of my mind.

  My body was filled with fatigue, my limbs aching, my mind taxed. I dipped as I came down, intent on the house with the hole in the roof. My vision grew cloudy, and I knew I was seconds from passing out.

  W
ell done, Sienna, Wolfe said. You did very well.

  Marvelous, Gavrikov said.

  Not bad, Eve conceded.

  Tactically impressive, Bastian said.

  You did the impossible, Bjorn added.

  I hit the grass and rolled, the flames snuffed upon impact. My naked body fell back, staring up into the blue sky, and the sun shone down upon me.

  You’re safe now, Zack said. I’m proud of you.

  “I’m proud of me, too,” I murmured and caught a glimpse of the house somewhere off to the side. I realized I could just barely see the window I used to peer out of to look at this very spot. “Thanks, Mom,” I muttered.

  And then I passed out.

  Chapter 59

  When I woke up, I was outside my house, in the backyard, and the sun was shining down on me. And after a moment, I realized I was naked.

  I rolled to my feet and hurried to the back door, breaking the lock and slipping inside before anyone could see me through the cracks in the fence. There was a giant, gaping hole in the middle of the living room floor and it had that whole deconstructed scent that I’d become so familiar with at the Agency. I frowned as I looked up through the hole in the roof at the same sky I had seen from the backyard. Then I sighed and went into my room, put on some clothes, and sat on my bed for about thirty seconds before I heard tires squealing outside.

  I scrambled for a weapon, but I’d lost my last spare when Gavrikov had saved my life by burning it out of my hands. My eyes searched my bedroom and fell on a pair of eskrima sticks by the door. I grabbed them. Not that I necessarily needed them to beat the living shit out of someone, as I’d just proven, but it never hurt to have a weapon at your disposal.

  Unless you were fighting an Ares, I guess.

  The front door opened with a thump, and I heard heavy footfalls just inside the threshold. I paused next to the doorframe and held my breath, listening for what came next.

  “Sienna!” Reed shouted, and I let out a breath.

  “Are you here?” Scott called.

  “Holy hell, it looks like she was here,” Reed said. “Look at that hole in the … well, ceiling and floor. That’s gonna cost a few bucks to remodel.”

  I took a breath and let it out then slid out into the open door. I stared across the sunlit living room at the two of them, and saw the relief flood their faces.

  “Sienna,” Scott said. “You’re safe.”

  Reed elbowed him. “Start with, ‘you’re alive’ and work down next time.”

  “Is she here?” Kat’s voice came from behind them, and I saw her blond head peek out from behind Scott. “Oh, good,” she said with a sigh of relief.

  “Kat?” I stared at her. “I would have expected these two, but you?”

  “We’re all here,” she said, like it was the most natural thing in the world. “We saw you on the news and came running.”

  “The … news?” I felt a little chill.

  Reed broke into a smile first, folding his arms. “The president went on and made a speech. It was … pretty effective,” he said, like he was conceding something painful.

  “He talked about you being the head of the response team battling against this threat to national security,” Scott said, with a slight smile of his own. “Named you as head of the agency. Midway through, he gets interrupted with footage from local stations showing your battle over Minneapolis—”

  “And they tagged you right away,” Reed broke in, grinning. “‘Sienna Nealon fights Sovereign,’ like it was a friggin’ newsreel out of a comic, complete with supervillain.”

  I felt the eskrima sticks I’d forgotten I was holding fall right out of my hands. “You … you saw that?”

  “Pretty much all of it, Dragon Lady,” Reed said with that same grin. I saw Scott wince a little. “Though we only heard about that part from Ariadne. We were kind of busy rushing to try and get to wherever you were to offer our limited brand of support.” His face darkened. “Then we heard you fell out of the sky …”

  “That was a pretty dramatic moment, even on the radio,” Scott said. His face looked a little closer to sick. “Glad you’re all right.”

  I shook my head. “I’m fine. Sovereign isn’t. We’re all good here.”

  “Better than good, actually.” Reed was smiling from ear to ear. “You’re like … famous. Your fight with Sovereign got broadcast on every channel, and just after the president of the United States told everyone that you were the official U.S. Government response. You’re golden, sister of mine. Absolutely golden.”

  I felt my eyes shift left and right as I weighed what he just said. “Because if he just built me up in front of the world—”

  “He can’t tear you down and make you the villain now,” Scott said with a nod. “And—”

  There was a sound of screeching tires outside and a horn honking before car doors started slamming. I could hear chatter, then Reed’s phone went off and he answered it. “Yeah? Got it. We’ll move.” He clicked it off and looked straight at me. “That was Ariadne. We gotta get back.”

  “Back?” I felt dazed, like I’d woken from some perverse dream where the world had flipped upside down.

  “Back to the Agency,” Reed said, still smiling. “The press are here, and we’re supposed to control your exposure. Or at least that’s the official order from both the Executive Branch and Senator Foreman. There’s going to be a press briefing at some point soon, and they don’t want you talking before they have a chance to control the spin.” He kind of rolled his eyes. “Or something like that. Politics, you know.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “I really don’t.”

  “Come on, Sienna,” Kat said, urging me across the room. “The press is here. They’re congregating. If we don’t leave now, we’re going to have a hell of a time getting away.”

  “Okay,” I said, and like I was still living in that dream of an upside-down world, I threaded my way around the giant hole in my living room floor to make my way toward the door.

  “You look good,” Scott said, smiling at me as I reached him.

  “Thanks,” I said, and smiled back. “I feel good.”

  Reed thumped him on the shoulder. “Lead with that next time, actually.” He touched me on the shoulder, too. “Let’s go.”

  I followed them out, the three of them acting as my bodyguards. There were cameras already on the lawn, reporters with microphones, and I heard the shutters snap as I walked out the door. Blinding flashes went off even though it was midday, and a flurry of questions hit me as I made my way down the path.

  “Miss Nealon—”

  “Sienna—!”

  “Could you—”

  “How does it feel—”

  “What were you thinking when—”

  It all blurred together in one loud jumble of noise, and my three protectors gently pushed through for me. I followed them numbly, probably looking around into the spotlights flashing at me, stunned. We reached the curb and I realized that among the news vans and reporters’ cars, there were two black town cars waiting.

  Kurt Hannegan was waiting at one of them for me, door held open. A reporter got too close and he made a menacing move that drove them back a step. “Right this way, Miss Nealon,” he said.

  “Thank you, Kurt,” I said, blinking at him in surprise. I glanced back at the house, remembering when he’d last been here and remembered the feelings associated with it. I looked up at the blue sky, so different from the grey days of the past, and slid into the back seat.

  “Miss Nealon!” came the voice of one of the reporters over all the others. “How does it feel to be a hero?”

  Kurt slammed the door of the car before I could even answer. Reed walked around and got in the front, and Scott slid in next to me. Hannegan slipped into the driver’s seat, and I turned my head to see Janus in the car behind me, sitting next to Zollers. I nodded silent thanks to Dr. Zollers. He nodded back with a graceful smile, and I could hear his words in my head.

  You’re
welcome.

  “So,” Scott said, and he smiled at me from where he sat in the seat next to me. “Miss Nealon, how does it feel to be a hero?”

  I looked up at Reed and saw a great big grin on his face as he stared straight ahead. The reporters were clearing the way, a little at a time, and Kurt was easing the car forward. I couldn’t be sure, but I caught sight of the big man’s eyes in the mirror and even he looked a little happy.

  I looked at Scott and I smiled, and it felt … right. For the first time in a while. Not a faux smile, not a mean one, just a real, genuine smile born of some happiness I had springing up deep inside like the sun beams poking out from behind dark clouds.

  “It feels … good,” I said and meant it, every word. I looked down, and I could still feel them all there. I spared one last look for the house where I’d been raised, the house that had sheltered me for all the years of my childhood, a place of such acute pain and loneliness that had prepared me for everything I’d just faced. “It feels good.”

  And I could hear my own voice in my head as we drove away:

  It feels like I’m not alone.

  Epilogue

  Omaha, Nebraska

  They were sitting around the TV, just watching it all unfold. It was a helluva thing to see, just crazy as all get out. Flaming dragons, girls falling from the sky, and the president—the damned president!—talking about metahumans and extinctions and all manner of such that one couldn’t have imagined seeing on the TV news just a day earlier.

  There was a smell of the last of dinner still simmering on the stove. It was probably long past burnt now because they were anchored to the couch, all three of them, and Momma wasn’t doing anything to get them moving. She was feeling a little too riveted to what was going on herself to make ’em move toward supper.