How to Save the World

by Lexie Dunne

  He scowled. Did I find him unpleasant because of what he’d done to Brook, or was he hideous to me because I hated hostage takers? I was too hungry, tired, and battered to pick apart the gossamer strings of my opinion, so I kept my grip on his parka and hurried on with the crowd until a tingling sensation crept from the top of my shoulders to just under my ears. We were being watched. I could only hope it was a friend, but with my luck, I highly doubted it.

  My instincts were spot-­on. Linda of the stretchy gross superpowers nearly made me yelp when she stepped into our path. “Hostage Girl,” she said.

  Instinctively, I stepped between her and Elwin, switching my grip to the front of his parka. It probably looked ridiculous to onlookers thanks to the fact that they were both gangly and I was compact, but I hoped my ferocious glare made up for some of it. “Can we not?”

  She jerked her head at a pub called O’Hara’s across the street. “You’re late.”

  “Yeah, hard pass. I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  Her lips stretched far too wide for her face, which was well and truly creepy. When she tilted her head, it went a few degrees too far. “I’d look, if I were you.”

  “Your powers are really creepy, just FYI,” I said, and like an idiot, I looked over.

  A flash of red through the front window made my insides shrivel.

  “After you,” Linda said, smirking.

  I took a deep breath that did nothing to stop the blood rushing to my temples or the thrumming of my own heartbeat in my ears.

  “What’s going on?” Elwin asked, sounding mystified. He squinted at Linda. “Who are you? I’m not going in there—­”

  “We don’t have a choice,” I said, though I knew there was a choice. I could fight Linda easily enough and get away, get Elwin to safety, but I had a feeling that the alternative wasn’t acceptable. I swallowed past the terror clogging my throat and strengthened my grip on the front of his parka. And with Linda smiling at me with her teeth gruesomely stretched out into fangs, I crossed the street and stepped into the front door of O’Hara’s, to face off against Tamara Diesel in a bar for the second time that day.

  CHAPTER 15

  Guy’s eyes widened when I stepped through the door. I could see myself in the mirrored wall over his head, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Between the plaster dust on my hair and clothes and the fact that I looked like I’d been hit with a car, I was a little bit of a mess. But that had nothing on Guy, whose face was stained by a trickle of blood leaking from a cut above his temple. A gag had been stuffed in his mouth and his arms were bound behind his back.

  It was precisely the opposite of every situation we’d shared for four years. Guy was the damsel in distress, and I was the only thing that could save him.

  “Nice of you to join us,” Tamara Diesel said, her feet propped up on a table.

  I turned my head her direction, never taking my eyes off of Guy. Rage and terror made a dangerous cocktail in my veins. I could feel my hands shaking, but I didn’t know if it was fatigue, fear, or fury. “Let him go.”

  “Oh, I will. But I think you understand how this works a little better than most, no?”

  I was done with the games. “Let him go,” I said again.

  Elwin blinked at the dark interior of O’Hara’s. “Who is that?” he asked in a loud whisper.

  “Dr. Lucas,” Tamara Diesel said, and I felt Elwin jerk because I still had a death grip on him. “How are you doing? Ingenious trap, setting off the Demobilizer at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have worked.”

  Elwin Lucas made a distressed noise. “I appreciate the compliments, whoever you are, but the fact that it failed so spectacularly does prove that it wasn’t as ingenious as you claim.”

  “My apologies, I’m being rude. Tamara Diesel.” She swung her feet off of the table and offered her hand to Elwin.

  Before she stepped forward, I moved between them. Behind me, Linda snickered. “Let him go,” I said.

  “Ah, no.” Tamara folded her arms over her chest. She was smug and she had every right to be: I’d walked in there willingly, but now that I was standing in the bar, I could see that it had been a stupid idea. I could have—­done what? Called for backup when I didn’t even have a phone and my earwig had vanished? Overpowered Linda to use as leverage? Tamara Diesel didn’t seem to have much of a conscience, and given her reaction to Toadicus getting his ass handed to him by Raze, she considered her henchmen expendable in the long run. I hoped they at least had dental.

  And if her henchmen barely rated a second look, she would kill Guy without blinking. She’d seen my reaction to him being in danger in the bar earlier, so it wasn’t hard to connect the dots. When had they nabbed him? Right after I’d left?

  I looked at him now. He must have seen that I had no idea how to get us out of this. The resignation on his face, etched deep with pain, meant that he’d already drawn the same conclusions I had. There were only two ways this could go. One was unacceptable to me and went against everything I stood for, and the other led to all of our deaths.

  Tamara Diesel’s smile told me she’d read my mind. Hopefully not literally. “So you understand,” she said.

  “Understand?” Elwin asked. “I’m afraid I don’t. Could somebody explain?”

  “This is a one-­for-­one trade, isn’t it?” I said.

  Tamara raised her eyebrows at me. “Look at that, you can be smart.”

  “It won’t work out for you,” I said.

  She narrowed her eyes. The mark on her cheek that Raze had blasted there still looked red and swollen. “Why? Because the good guys always win?” she asked, her tone mocking.

  “Statistically, yes,” I said, though the odds hadn’t favored me all day. So far every encounter I’d had had ended in disaster.

  But trading Elwin for Guy, even if he was the monster that Brook had claimed, went against every fiber of my being. Guy would never stand for it. Granted, he didn’t have much of a say at the moment since he was gagged and cuffed, but if he could talk, he’d be telling me not to make the deal. It wouldn’t matter to him that he was sweating and blood flowed down onto the collar of his shirt. An alarming amount of blood, actually.

  Nausea roiled through my midsection.

  “Here’s the deal,” Tamara said. “You give me the scientist, I let you and the boyfriend go.”

  “Why?” I asked. “You’re clearly at an advantage here, and you know it. So why be nice at all? Don’t tell me it’s out of the goodness of your heart.”

  Guy’s eyes widened. I could read the message easily: stop helping the villain, Gail! He had a point. A single drop of blood dripped off of his jaw, and my free hand tensed into a fist.

  Tamara tilted her head, squinting a little at me as though she agreed with Guy. “I’m only after the scientist, as you’ve proven singularly useless and annoying otherwise.”

  “Stop quoting my Twitter bio,” I said. “I’m going to think you secretly like me or something.”

  Oh, right, I remembered a second later, Tamara Diesel lacked a sense of humor, and she was holding my boyfriend hostage. Maybe not the best time to sass her.

  Her eyes narrowed and her lips twisted up to one side. “My patience is running thin. If it runs out entirely, you’ll find that this deal will have evaporated.”

  “I really feel I must object,” Elwin said, shuffling forward a little bit.

  I shoved him back to his previous spot without looking at him. “I’m not handing this man over to you.”

  “Very well. Sounds like an easy fix.” Tamara flicked out a simple pocket knife. The light from overhead glinted along the wickedly sharp edge of the blade, and I felt distinctly light-­headed. Even twenty-­four hours ago, the knife would have been a joke to Guy. It would have bounced right off of his skin.

  Now Tamara strode up to him, grabbed his hair, and savagel
y twisted his head back, exposing his neck.

  “Stop!” I let go of Elwin and took a step forward. “Don’t.”

  Guy shook his head furiously, trying to speak through the gag.

  “You can’t have it both ways,” Tamara said. “It’s either the scientist or your boyfriend. It’s not that difficult.”

  “I know it’s not.” But it was. Sickness rolled through me like a wave. For four years, I had been the one in the chair, the one being threatened, and I had no idea how Guy had ever tolerated it because it was tearing me apart now. I could see the blade perfectly even in the smoky light of the bar. And I knew how easily it would slide into Guy’s skin.

  In one fell swoop, Tamara Diesel had forced me into making what was an impossible choice. Anybody else might have seen it as easy: they needed Elwin; there was reason to keep him alive. Guy was expendable and would be killed. But Guy wouldn’t thank me for saving his life if it meant putting somebody else in danger. And the thought of willingly handing another living soul over to be held captive made me want to throw up.

  But I couldn’t watch her kill Guy.

  “Well?” Tamara asked.

  I dropped my gaze to the floor and gritted my teeth so hard that my neck ached. “How do I know you won’t kill Dr. Lucas?”

  Tamara didn’t even bother to say, You don’t, like most villains would have. She merely shrugged. That was fair.

  I looked at Guy, who was straining against his bonds, sweat dotting his temples and his neck, his gaze desperate. He shook his head at me, imploring me not to do it. My mouth had gone absolutely dry.

  “Don’t do this,” Elwin said, whimpering a little. It ignited some vindictive spark inside me. You like this? I wanted to ask. This is what you did to Brook and Mobius. Like Guy, he’d gone pale, and I could smell a new coat of fear-­sweat on him. With Davenport, he’d have rights—­and probably be exploited, knowing Eddie. With the villains? There would still be exploitation, but it’d probably come with a lot more pain.

  Tamara brought her fist down on top of a table, hard. The resulting crack echoed through the bar, making me jump hard. “Decide!” she said, her voice rising to a roar. “Now! Or I kill all three of you.”

  I didn’t look at Guy. One finger at a time, I uncurled my hand from the front of Elwin’s parka. I heard a gleeful laugh from behind us and one of Linda’s too-­long arms flicked out, wrapping around the scientist.

  Tamara smiled coldly. “I knew you’d see things my way,” she said, and raised the knife.

  “No!” I said, but she only held up her free hand and cut away the ropes tying Guy to the chair. He surged to his feet and promptly reeled, any remaining color draining out of his face. With the last of my energy, I darted across the bar to keep him from falling flat on his face. I shoved my shoulder under his arm, taking as much of his weight as I could, and glared at Tamara. “This isn’t over.”

  She flicked her fingers. “Begone.”

  A telekinetic force struck me in the stomach, knocking the breath clean out of my lungs and sending me flying backward. Guy fell next to me, grunting in pain as we tumbled into bar stools. Guy shoved himself to his feet, murder in his eyes as he prepared to storm ahead and save Elwin. He made it a step before he fell forward with another grunt.

  “Guy!”

  I scrambled to help him. Tamara glanced over her shoulder, looking bored. “I told you to leave,” she said.

  “We’re going, we’re going.” Even though Guy lacked strength, he still struggled as I grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him out of the bar. Luckily, O’Hara’s had a back door.

  We made it to the alley, the stink of the dumpster nearly overwhelming me, before Guy turned his head toward me. “You shouldn’t have done that,” Guy said. “You shouldn’t have—­”

  “I never had a choice.” I hadn’t run the minute I’d spotted Linda in the street, after all. “She was either going to take the scientist or she was going to kill us, and this way we get to live. We have to get out of here. Fast.”

  Guy’s mouth firmed into a white line. I didn’t know if it was pain or the anger at me. Neither option helped the guilt trying to tear me apart from the inside. “Why?” he asked. “She’s obviously done with us.”

  “Elwin knows I’m immune to the Demobilizer and if he blabs: big trouble.”

  Guy swore.

  “It’s never easy, yeah,” I said. “How are—­can you walk?”

  “For a little bit, yeah. My head’s ringing.” He sounded mystified, which wasn’t surprising. It had been years since a simple head wound could knock him sideways. I grabbed his hand so I’d be close in case he collapsed, and we moved out of the back alleyway as quickly as we could. “Are you okay? You look like you fought with a cement truck.”

  “You’re not far off. Your phone . . . ?”

  “They destroyed it. Yours?” he said.

  “Got hit by a car.”

  Guy’s eyes widened in alarm. “You or the phone?”

  “Both.”

  “Gail.”

  “I’m fine. Mostly. We need to keep walking.”

  Of course, fine was debatable, but I’d suffered worse. At least my ankles were okay; I’d once limped a long way on a horrible sprain because Brook had thrown me off of the third floor and I’d woken up blocks away with no memory of it. I was more concerned now because my pain was second nature to me, but every hissed breath Guy pulled between his teeth scared me. He was an awful shade of bone-­white, so wan that the bags under his eyes looked like bruises.

  “You need an ambulance or something,” I said.

  “It looks worse than it feels.” But he said it through gritted teeth.

  “I could try to ’port us,” I said, though it was useless. Phasing was one thing; teleporting took years of study, so it wasn’t like I could blink and make it happen, as nice as that would be right now.

  Guy shook his head, the tendons in his neck standing out. “When’s the last time you ate?”

  I laughed, though things didn’t feel very humorous at the moment. “Point.”

  “Was that man—­the one who—­was he the kidnapper?”

  “Davenport sent me in to spring Elwin’s trap and get Mobius back. Which is pretty much the only thing that hasn’t gone wrong today. Tamara Diesel has the kidnapper, Brook has the Demobilizer, and Davenport has Mobius.”

  I hadn’t thought it wasn’t possible for Guy to go paler, but I was wrong. “Brook has the Demobilizer?”

  “It’s been a really bad day.”

  Guy’s face contorted into a grimace. “And I haven’t helped much.”

  “Hey, it’s okay. I’ve caused more than my fair share of trouble for you. It evens us out somewhat.”

  We made it up the block trying to put as much space as we possibly could between O’Hara’s and ourselves. Guy needed medical attention. My own problems weren’t nearly as pressing. Some food, some rest, and I’d be okay. Guy, though, was still bleeding heavily. Head wounds bleed a lot, but this was ridiculous.

  I could feel my strength diminishing with every step. At the end of the block, I glanced over my shoulder and flinched.

  “What is it?” Guy asked.

  “Stretchy McGee. I don’t think she saw us.”

  But the commotion behind us in the crowd told a different story. I was more than a little familiar with the aggravated squawks of ­people being shoved out of the way in a chase. Elwin sure hadn’t wasted any time blabbing my secret to Tamara and Linda, had he? Did he think it would serve as leverage? Now we were both in trouble.

  “She definitely saw us,” Guy said, as he no doubt heard the same thing I did. We tried hobbling faster, but Guy was beginning to swoon dangerously.

  “Yep.”

  “Can you fight?”

  “I’m out of gas. I can hold her off long enough for you to get away.
”

  “Gail, no—­”

  “You don’t have any powers and you are bleeding,” I said, panic making my voice go higher in pitch. “Guy, you’re not indestructible. If she hurts you . . .” Abruptly, so fast that I nearly knocked him over, I ducked under his arm and turned to face off against Linda. She’d probably stretch and slither her way right past me, but I had to do something. I looked over my shoulder. “Guy. Go.”

  He grabbed my arm. “Don’t give yourself up. I mean that.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  He turned to stagger away as I whipped my head back around, ready to fight off Linda. And she didn’t disappoint. She came at me the way she’d attacked Angélica, her elongated arms reaching to try and snare me before I could hit her. I blocked the first strike as best I could, though my limbs responded sluggishly, like I was trying to fight in the bottom of a pool. She threw her hand forward across the ten feet of space between us, trying to slap me with an open palm. I batted it away and ducked under another grab, dropping to my knee when some of my energy gave out. Her boot caught me right in the solar plexus. It bounced off of the Raptor armor, but it was enough to knock me backward.

  I scrambled back to my feet in time to duck under the clotheslining stretch she made with one arm. I blocked her other arm, but the hand only kept going, the arm elongating until it whipped around my other side, firmly anchoring itself around my middle.

  Gross.

  The force of Linda’s shove made me stumble. But Guy had gotten away, I thought as I panted and tried to break free. He could get back to headquarters, hopefully without bleeding out, and tell them that Tamara Diesel and her ilk had me. Maybe they would send somebody to rescue me.

  I felt a hand nudge at the small of my back as my head dropped forward. With the last bit of my energy, I raised my head—­just in time to see a blast of purple fire spread across the front of Linda’s tank top. She crumpled to the pavement.