by Matt Abraham
“Yeah, good point. No way I’m taking another turn in Impenetron, and I got family up there.”
“Really? Who?”
“Nobody I want to see that badly.”
I took a quick peek. They were halfway down the hall. I cursed under my breath. Then I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought. It was just like when you miss a turn in your car, I could swing two more lefts to circle the block, and be back on track, right where I started. As quick as I could I moved down to the next corner, and took the turn to safety and freedom.
But instead I was staring at a dead end.
And I could hear the guards getting closer, working their way towards me like a pair of bloodhounds.
I was boxed in.
But there was one last door. I reached for it, praying to every saint I could remember, and twisted the knob as silently as I could.
It was locked.
But there was something different about it. This knob had a keyhole instead of the card reader like on the rest.
I grabbed my pick, crouched down, and jammed the thin metal into the slot. It took me all of two seconds to find the tumblers a place to rest. I pulled the door open slowly, but stopped when I saw the familiar Biohazard Level Five sign. It was a tough call, in a very real way the room offered me protection from the guards, but what was inside could be way worse.
The footfalls were getting louder.
Ninety-five percent chance of death inside, one hundred percent chance of guards outside. That made for hard odds, but an easy choice. I opened the door.
It was a supply closet.
I stepped in and locked it behind me.
The pair approached.
They jimmied the knob back and forth.
“It’s locked,” the guy said.
“Good. The cleaning supplies remain safe for another day.”
The footsteps receded.
And I sighed.
Then the door swung open. The blond guy stared at me, and said, “If you want to stay hidden don’t breathe so loud.”
Chapter 27
I lunged forward, and wrapped my hands around his neck. But before I could snap it he turned into a cloud of black smoke. I fell straight through him and hit the ground. Flipping to my back I looked up. A dark column of black air twisted before me. Then it transformed back into the man. “You got to be record breaking stupid, pal.”
I hopped to my feet and flung a quick jab at his chin. He turned to smoke again, and my punch passed harmlessly through the haze.
He reformed and said, “But persistent. I’ll give you that. Hey Slapdash, a little help.”
The broad practically appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by a blast of wind. “What’s up Smolder, there a- whoa. Central was right, this Wagner?”
I looked from one to the other. “Yeah, I’m Wagner.”
“Well we’re on lock down buddy, and you’re way out of bounds,” Smolder said, “come on, we’re taking you in.”
“Sure thing,” I said, and held out my wrists.
Slapdash slung a set of cuffs around me at super speed. “Easy enough.”
“Meh, these reg doctors aren’t the fighting back type.” Smolder put his hand on my back, and led me down the hall.
“What are you talking about?” I said. “I threw two punches.”
“Yeah, but it would’ve been quicker if you mailed them.”
Slapdash laughed.
We got halfway down the hall when I asked, “Where’re we going?”
“Central,” Smolder said, “they’ve got some questions.”
“You’re not going to call first?” I noticed that the security team from before didn’t carry walkie-talkies.
“Don’t worry about it.” Slapdash pushed me.
I kept walking. “Ok.”
“No, not ok,” Smolder said. “They ask those questions kind of hard.”
“Kind of hard?”
Slapdash poked my ribs from behind. “What they do is load you full of nanobots that’ll find their way to your nervous system and play a game of hob until you die of agony.”
“Yeah that’s true, I saw it once. Guy bigger than you, tougher too, died in a pool of his own everything.”
I stopped walking, and turned around. “What if I say no thanks?”
“You don’t got a choice,” Smolder said.
“Seriously,” Slapdash said, “what are you going to do, science us to death?”
“Nope, beat.” I snapped my cuffs and swung as fast as I could. It should have hit both of them, but instead my fist passed through Smolder’s smoky outline, and Slapdash ducked at super speed.
“I think you’ll have better luck with the science,” Slapdash said. She was clearly a speedster, and proved it by punching the side of my head over one hundred times in less than a second. Pain shot through my skull and my vision went blurry. I dropped to one knee.
“Ahh, my hand!” Slapdash spun backwards, cradling it. “The son of a bitch is invulnerable.”
I dove towards Smolder’s knees, and harmlessly passed through his dusty form yet again. Then the thick cloud of smoke surrounded me. I got to my feet, and swung around like it was a mess of bees, but he clung to me like flypaper. I took a breath. A scorched wood smell choked my nostrils as Smolder flowed into my lungs like campfire smoke. I fell against the wall, clawing my neck. His partner kicked my legs out, and I flopped to the ground, expelling the dark cloud like a chimney.
Smolder reformed and bent over, panting. “I hate that.”
Slapdash put the hand that wasn’t broken under her partner. “That was dumb, be careful.” She turned to me. “As for you…”
I looked up at them. My eyes were full of tears, and my head was pounding, but if I went to Central it would get worse. There was only one way out. I exhaled slowly until there was no air left in my lungs, then threw a punch at Smolder’s groin. As I expected he did was he does, but this time when he turned to smoke I inhaled as much of him as I could. It was like swallowing sandpaper. My body tried to reject him, so as I stood up I clamped one hand over my nose and mouth, and kept both shut tight. The rest of Smolder swirled like a tornado. It’s all he could do. With so much of his mass inside my lungs he couldn’t reform without losing half his body.
“What the… Let him go!” Slapdash drove her good hand into my gut. I curled up tight, and leaned into the wall. She knocked me a few more in the same spot, then kicked my legs. I knelt down, rolled to the side, and came back up already running for it.
Slapdash leapt onto my back. Panting heavily, she punched my shoulders, neck, and head from every angle. It hurt something fierce, but I kept moving back the way we came. The angry black cloud followed. My head was spinning, and the fire in my lungs was spreading through my body. I fell to one knee.
Slapdash wrapped an arm around my throat. I grabbed it, and flung her over my shoulder. She landed hard, but in less than a second she was back up with death in her eyes. Instead of coming at me though, she fell against the wall.
And I knew there was a chance, because I was wrong.
Slapdash wasn’t a speedster.
She had hyper reflexes. Those allowed her to move at high speeds, but only for short bursts and it came with a hefty physical toll. That fine distinction might save my life. I dove through the black cloud towards her, hands out, but she jumped back, just out of reach. I got up and lumbered her way, but again she retreated.
After another two steps I lunged at her feet. This time I got my hand around an ankle. Standing up I swung her like a tennis racket right into the wall. She cracked the plaster, and went limp. I dropped her in heap, then fell to the floor. There was no oxygen left in my lungs. Tears flowed from my eyes, and my throat was on fire. Half of Smolder was still spinning around me, but through him I could see my final goal: the closet they found me in.
I reached out with one hand, and pulled myself to it. Exhaling as hard as I could I vomited up every bit of ashy air into the tiny room. The part of Smolder that sur
rounded me detached, and followed it in.
I gulped down as much oxygen as possible while inside the closet Smolder retook his human form. I scrambled to my feet, slammed the door, and pushed against it.
“Let me out.” He hammered the door with his fists. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!” Then he threw a shoulder into it. Once. Twice. On his third try I put my fist through the door right where his head should be. I felt the impact of meat and bone on the other side. Then it went quiet.
I opened the closet. Smolder was sitting in the cleaning supplies, blood smeared down his mouth like clown makeup, and about as conscious as a plate of pasta. With a snatch and a toss Slapdash joined him. I locked them both in, then headed towards the elevator, and took it to the second floor. Once there I found the west side stairwell, and walked down the steps and out the first floor fire exit.
As promised, Lynx was there in her car, waiting with the engine running. I got in, pulled off my glasses, and threw them on the dashboard.
“Any trouble getting out?” Lynx said.
“I had to beat a couple of guards unconscious.”
“Did they see your face?”
“Yeah. It’ll be amazing if they remember it, though. Can we scram?”
She put the car into drive, and we pulled into traffic.
“What’s going to happen with your dad?”
“Nothing terrible. You’re in the clear since we don’t have video and you used Wagner’s ID.”
“What about you?”
“This isn’t the first time I’ve broken the rules. I’ll be fine. Deceiving fathers is the first thing daughters learn to do. And besides, he’s too busy right now to check up on me, but let me ask, was the information worth it?”
I leaned back, and thought about the Bleach. “Yeah. It was.”
“Then all is well. I need a drink, you want one?”
“Of course.” I rubbed my eyes. “That’s my default setting.”
Chapter 28
Lynx drove me to a stately stack of bricks in the east side of town with a fountain and lush hanging gardens out front. She pulled past the security checkpoint and into an underground parking structure. I looked over at her. “You said we were going to a bar.”
“I said drink, not bar, and considering what we just pulled off I figured some privacy might be nice.” She found a spot and backed into it.
“Good point.” I hopped out of the car, opened the trunk, and retrieved my gear. “So where are we?”
Lynx led me into the elevator. “My apartment.”
“I thought you lived in the Mountains.”
“I have a place there, but I keep a few others around town in case.”
“In case of what?”
“Just in case.” When we arrived at the seventh floor the elevator doors opened directly into the living room. I followed Lynx in. She slipped off her lab coat, and tossed it on a chair. “What do you think?”
I had no idea. I was too busy watching her walk to have an opinion, but said, “It’s beautiful.”
“Really?” She stopped and turned to me.
By then I was looking around, and I was right, it was beautiful. But it wasn’t girly. The walls were covered with plants and natural wood, with thick carpet on every inch of floor. A sofa and two chairs sat in the center. They were wrapped in creamy leather giving the room a hunting lodge feel so authentic I could practically smell fox pheromones. “Yeah, it’s great.”
“Thanks. Have a seat, I’ll fix us a drink.” She kicked off her shoes, went to the bar, and retrieved a bottle with a pair of tumblers.
I took off my coat, and parked on her couch.
She joined me, poured two large glasses of the brown stuff, and we sat and sipped.
“So about the case,” I said.
“No. Not yet. I need a second to unwind.” She pulled her legs up, and turned towards me. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself? How’d you get into this business?”
“Ah, it’s sort of personal.”
Lynx grabbed my chin and turned it towards her. “I think I’ve earned it.”
She was right about that. “It was my family.”
“Really, they wore the black cape, too?”
“Mom and Ray? No, that’s funny. They were both regs. Ma was as straight laced as they come, but Ray, I never told ma this, but it was my brother’s fault I donned the cape in the first place. I got special in my early twenties. Back then I was employed in a warehouse doing halfwit work, but my pay helped the family. Raymond wasn’t much for the day labor. He joined a gang and started pulling heists that he thought were the real hot ticket. When I found out I asked him to quit.”
“Did he?”
“Hell yeah. By then my powers were fully manifested, and I didn’t give him an option. But the guy who ran his crew saw an opportunity. Said he’d let Raymond go only if I took his place.”
“The stones. Did you break him in two?” Lynx said.
“In retrospect I should’ve, but I was still green and the threat really scared me. I mean what’s the good of being bulletproof if your family isn’t? So I went to work, and made sure Raymond stayed clean.”
“Why didn’t you quit after a while?”
“Because I liked it.”
“Ahhh.” Lynx nodded. “That I understand.”
“Plus I was skilled. And smart. Compared to them at least. I had a real talent for planning burglaries and our scores got bigger, big enough to get noticed, so after a few months I was approached by Subatomic. He offered me a spot with Dread Division, and with that came bigger scores, more lettuce, and protection for my family.”
“What happened to them, are they still in Gold Coast?”
“No,” I said, “they both died.”
Lynx put her hand on my thigh. “How?”
“Raymond got hit by a truck walking home with his girl one night. She was pregnant. A lot of people, my mom included, blamed me. They thought it was a message. I found out a few years later it was just a horrible accident.”
“Yeesh. And what happened to your mother?”
“Cancer, a few years after.”
“So when did you become a detective?”
“It was right after mom got sick. I was up on Ayers visiting Ray, and… you ever go up there?”
“I’ve never had a reason to.”
“You’re lucky. Most of it’s a regular graveyard, but there’s one section dedicated exclusively to black capes who died on the job. Usually nobody claims those bodies, so the only thing that marks their time on this earth is a stone engraved with a villain’s name and the day they died. I was up there paying respects when I ran into an old friend of my ma’s. Her kid was some small-time cape who got himself killed on the job. The cops don’t waste time investigating that sort of thing, but as you can imagine it had the old bird twisted, so she asked me to look into it. Find out what happened. After I did she was so grateful she gave me some dough.”
“It couldn’t have been more than you were earning.”
“It wasn’t even close, but that didn’t matter, it felt… right. Anyway, soon after I met Carl Cutter. He specialized in black cape snooping, and offered to take me on as a partner, show me the ropes. So long story short I said sayonara to Dread Division and became a shamus.”
“That must’ve made mom proud.”
“She didn’t believe I had gone straight at first.” A smile I couldn’t stop bubbled up. “But yeah, before she passed she was real proud.”
“That’s one hell of a tale.” Lynx leaned forward, grabbed the bottle, and when she saw it was empty got up for a fresh one. When she returned she said, “I’m glad you didn’t say it was because you found God or something worse… you’re just a white cape at heart.”
“No,” I laughed. “What I do is definitely not the white cape thing. But I try to help.”
“Just like Benjy.” She sighed and took a drink. I watched her do it, and noticed her leg was pressed against mine. It gave off heat like volca
nic rent. I shifted a few inches away. She turned to me, leaned over, and put her head on my shoulder. “I miss him, you know. So much.” She reached up, and rubbed above my collar. “Sorry again, about your neck.”
Anybody who tells you that invulnerable skin’s immune to goose bumps doesn’t know what they’re talking about. “Um, that’s fine, so… you want to know anything else?”
“Yes.” She took the glass out of my hand, and put it on the table. Then she threw her leg over my lap, and straddled me. Her breath was warm. Her hair smelled like jasmine.
She leaned in.
“Whoa now.” I grabbed her waist, and held it right where it was. “That’s far enough.”
She put her hands on mine. “You don’t want this?”
“Of course I do, bad, but…” I knew where that sentence was going when I started it, but she felt so good I got lost on the way.
“So then.” Lynx grabbed my collar and started to unbutton my shirt. Then her mouth, full, warm, and still wet from the whiskey pressed against mine, and parted my invulnerable lips with ease. She bit my lower one, and ran her tongue across it. I began to grind my hips into hers.
Then I gained control and lifted her off me. “I have to go.”
“Don’t. It’s too early.”
I stood up.
“Don’t go.” Lynx jumped to her feet, and swept my legs, bringing us both crashing to the couch. I tried to fight, but the lady’s TK wouldn’t let me budge. Still, I pushed back as hard as I could. “You’re going to destroy my sofa.”
“Let me up,” I said, “I’m serious.”
“Ok. Relax.”
She released me, and I got to my feet. “Don’t do that again.”
Lynx pounced on me, and we fell to the floor. “And if I do?” She lowered her mouth to mine. Those soft lips did a much better job of keeping me pinned than the TK had. After a few seconds she came up for air.
It gave me a second to think. “Lynx, you don’t want to do this. You’re-”
“I know what I am.” Her shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry, but I need to be with someone, and I trust you. I like you. Please. I want this. Don’t make me take it.”