Shieldbreaker sighed in frustration. He smelled like musky deodorant and old coffee. Not entirely off-putting. Loremaster, on the other hand, used some sort of dollar-store aftershave that was annoyingly sweet. But his warm smile and tone of voice made me like him instantly. Part of me realized this was his superpower and that I should be careful, but in the moment I didn’t care.
I looked down at my red jacket. “Call me Red for now. Tell me what’s happening with Chronos.”
“He’s up there again on top of the bridge,” Shieldbreaker said. “He’s attacked anything that came in his direction either in the air or in the water. Almost caused a helicopter to crash last night. Sank a fireboat that came too close to the bridge trying to communicate with him.”
“What about you and your powers?” I asked Loremaster.
The large man shrugged. “I tried again near dawn. That’s when he threw that BMW at us.”
Shieldbreaker nodded. “He’s got most of Manhattan paralyzed as well as parts of Brooklyn. The cops have snipers on him, but they’re afraid to take the shot because of what he might do if it doesn’t hurt him. But they’re tired of waiting around.”
It wasn’t a question of hurting but hitting, I thought. But I wasn’t about to volunteer the fact that I had been literally gunning for Chronos for years.
“What about other heroes?” I asked. “Is this it?”
“I called Maid of Honor,” Loremaster said. “She’s strong and can fly and I thought maybe with her here, he might settle down. I always thought he might have a thing for her. But her agent told me she went down south to help with the meteor strike in Virginia. That was my approach with Chronos to get him out of his daze. The world needs him. Tens of thousands are dead just in Virginia and many more are missing and hurt. We need Chronos to help.”
“But he’s just sitting up there,” Shieldbreaker said. “Ever since the fight downtown with Gloom and Lightshow. When he became a murderer.”
“I heard about that,” I said. “He killed that EMT. Look, I’m new to this. I don’t have the same experience as you. But at least I can fly. I want to go up there and see if I can calm him down.”
“Out of the question,” one of the cops said. He wasn’t in a regular blue uniform, and the vest he wore barely closed over his bulging gut. The name Zalewska was stitched over his heart. Beneath the vest was a white uniform shirt with a couple of gold bars on the epaulets. “I don’t know who you are, girl, but you talk to me if you want to help. And unless you can take him down, I don’t want you going anywhere near Chronos. You got that?”
I bit back several snappy comebacks. Wouldn’t have been helpful. “I’m just here to help, Chief.”
“It’s Captain,” Zalewska said. “This isn’t a game here. Your just flying in here might have triggered him.”
I looked out towards the bridge. I imagined him up there in the shadows of the closest tower, but I couldn’t make him out.
Captain Zalewska wasn’t finished. “It’s bad enough I have these two in the mix. The last thing we need is you here trying to get your name in the news. You can fly? I’m happy for you. Now get yourself behind the barrier.”
“Captain,” I said, “I have information I can use that might get Chronos to leave the city with me. I’ve talked to his mother. She gave me something that might defuse your situation.”
“His mother?” Shieldbreaker asked. “I thought he was an alien.”
Captain Zalewska looked at Loremaster. The yellow-clad hero nodded and said, “She’s telling the truth.”
I flushed and faced Loremaster. “Hey! I came here to help, not have you read my mind.”
Loremaster put up a placating hand. “I don’t read minds but emotions. Lies are easy for me to spot. I mean no offense.”
I believed him. Felt the soothing calm come over me again. But my suspicion of him only grew.
“Look, Red,” the captain said, “you might have some special skills, but you’re just a civilian and I can’t risk you getting yourself or anyone else hurt. And if you start a fight, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”
“I’m not here to fight him but to talk,” I said. “Right now I’m your best chance. I can see you’ve stalled out on options. You might have some big guns and well-trained marksmen, but against Chronos you might as well be throwing rocks.”
“I don’t need you to be telling me my job,” Zalewska said. But the captain turned to Loremaster again.
“She’s right,” Loremaster said. “But she’s also holding something back. What’s your connection with Chronos?”
“That’s none of your business,” I said.
“Fair enough. But if you do manage to talk to him and he won’t leave, try to bring him down here or at the waterfront park. If he’s close, I might be able to tip the balance in our favor.”
I wasn’t sure if it was his powers working on me, but I liked the sound of his suggestion. I could tell Captain Zalewska was about to object to the plan, but before he could say anything I saw motion from the bridge.
Something was flying our way. It was a big sheet of metal and it was sailing straight at us. My reflexes were on point. I pulled Loremaster and the captain down to the ground as the metal slammed into the asphalt right where we had been standing. The projectile cut out divots of concrete and sent debris flying as it spun off and crashed into a guardrail.
Another piece of metal came our way. This one wasn’t going to hit me, but Shieldbreaker caught it before it struck a nearby cluster of police officers.
Chronos was visible now.
He was hovering close to the bridge roadway and peeling up something else to throw. Steel plates, like the ones used to cover sections of roadway under construction. He flew up with one, spun, and hurled it. It hurtled towards a rooftop where I had seen a team of police snipers. I could only watch as it sliced into the top of the building, sending up a cloud of debris.
“Get your men back!” Shieldbreaker called.
Loremaster broke away from us and started running towards the bridge, leaping from car to car. He moved quickly for a large man and appeared to be in excellent shape. He ran with one hand raised, and the air in front of him wavered like rising bands of heat on a sun-beaten stretch of asphalt.
The Captain crouched behind a concrete planter. On his radio he ordered, “Let Chronos have it. All units, take your shots. Weapons free. Fire at will. Kill that bastard.”
Along the waterfront at least nine rifles boomed in rapid succession. The echoes from the thundering reports reverberated around me. From one open window above me a gout of fire puffed out, followed by a shocking crack louder than the others. A moment later, it repeated.
The NYPD was giving Chronos everything it had.
Chronos was perched on one of the large suspension cables as if nothing was happening to him. The cops were missing and they didn’t even know it.
Whatever cannon that was firing above me kept at it. The sniper loosed a third round and a fourth. The stinging reports were playing hell with my ears. Then Chronos dropped down to the roadway, grabbed the front half of a broken motorcycle, and launched it towards the window. I broke free from my moment of paralysis and swooped up to intercept it but it was flying too fast. It crashed through glass and wall. I chased it through the busted-out window. Dust made it hard to see, but there in the ruins lay two police officers, crushed and killed instantly by the flung motorcycle engine. The ridiculously long black rifle lay in the ruins. I grabbed it but saw the barrel was dinged and slightly bent. Useless junk now. I stepped back and jumped through the window into the air.
All the other snipers had ceased fire. Whether this was by order or because they had just lost some of their own, I wasn’t sure. Then I saw Loremaster was in shouting distance of Chronos. The shimmer effect was a wall before him.
“We’re your friends and allies,” Loremaster was saying. “We’ve fought together. You saved me on more than one occasion. There’s a lot of scared people here we wan
t to see get back home. What do you say, Chronos? Can we let the police do their work and clear up this mess?”
As I drifted closer, I could see people sheltering in several of the nearest cars, looking through their windows trying to see. I heard people crying and praying. Children were bawling. Frantic voices were audible all around me. But I also heard Captain Zalewska speak into his radio, even though he was a couple hundred feet behind me.
“Any and all units. Why did you stop firing? Take your shots. Someone nail him!”
If I could hear him, Chronos could too. He had been listening to everything the police had been saying all along, even while on the highest parts of the bridge a quarter mile away. More gunshots began popping, scattered now and not the coordinated fusillade from before. Loremaster ducked behind a minivan as the impacts from the incoming bullets smacked the cars and bridge near Chronos. Again, Chronos just stood there, but now I was close enough to see the slightest shimmer as he avoided the incoming bullets as easy as if they were slow-pitched softballs. Then he dropped out of sight, using the upper deck of the bridge as cover. The snipers ceased fire.
“Get back!” Shieldbreaker called out to me as he raced by underneath. He was vaulting cars and jumping high and running in an erratic pattern as if under fire.
I flew in front of him. “It’s you who needs to stop. There are hundreds of people in cars all around. If you start fighting with him, more people are going to get killed.”
“If you need to do something, get some of the civilians out,” he said. He then moved around me as if I were another obstacle.
“Shieldbreaker!” I yelled, but the hero ignored me.
He bounded up near Loremaster. “Distract him.”
Shieldbreaker sprinted between the cars. Near the center of the span was a large multi-car wreck. Beyond, the lanes for Brooklyn-bound traffic had cleared. I didn’t see Chronos until it was too late. He came around the back of a cargo van with a large plastic traffic barrier in his hands and used it like a flyswatter, smacking Shieldbreaker into the ground. Before the hero could recover, Chronos was on him. A flurry of punches followed, Chronos’s fists a blur. The street sent up a spray of powder. Shieldbreaker’s head was being knocked through the asphalt as he tried in vain to push Chronos off him. But as strong as Shieldbreaker was, it was a child fighting a juggernaut.
My words failed me as I landed near them. All I could think to do was yell, “Stop!”
Chronos paused to look at me and grin. Shieldbreaker had his hand up and he grabbed Chronos’s arm. Then, in slow motion, Chronos overpowered the hero and placed his palm against Shieldbreaker’s face and pressed down. Shieldbreaker began to make a strangled sound. He fought back with all his might but it was no contest.
I picked up a loose chunk of pavement and threw it. It nailed Chronos in the head. He shrugged it off like I had hit him with a water balloon. He then bore down on Shieldbreaker with both hands.
Suddenly the air rippled around Chronos. He was lifted off Shieldbreaker as if an unseen hand had picked him up. Loremaster came up beside me, his arms outstretched, his face set in concentration. Sweat ran down his nose. Chronos was moved back until he was pressed up against a metal girder.
“Be at peace,” Loremaster said in his piercing yet gentle voice. “No one here is your enemy. You’re among friends. Tell me what’s troubling you.”
Chronos muttered something my ringing ears couldn’t make out.
“I’m listening,” Loremaster said.
“Too much noise,” Chronos said in a petulant whine. “Voices. His voice.”
“Whose? Who are you hearing? I’m here now and I’m speaking with you and telling you it’s going to be okay. I’m going to help you with this. Your friends are. You have a city full of people who love you and want you to get better.”
“But I hear him. It’s my father’s voice and he’s angry with me.”
“Why is your father angry?”
“Because I failed. We abandoned him and now he’s coming.”
Loremaster stepped past me, his arms still up and shaking from the strain of using his power. “Chronos, we have someone here who says she’s talked to your mother. Will you listen to her?”
Chronos made a face as if catching a foul odor. “That’s not possible—my mother’s dead. Father killed her.”
Chronos gripped the beam he was being pressed into and pushed himself off against the ripples of air. He flew towards us in slow motion. Whatever Loremaster was doing to him held him at a distance, but it was no longer strong enough.
“Can’t…hold him,” Loremaster gasped.
Chronos dropped down to the pavement and in a blur grabbed a piece of shattered bumper and threw it. I got Loremaster down just in time as the chunk of plastic whipped past. With a snarl, Chronos launched forward at us. I pulled Loremaster out of the way as Chronos smashed into a car that had been right behind me. With both arms, I picked up Loremaster into an awkward bear hug and flew low between the surrounding vehicles. Chronos was right behind us. His fists flew in wide arcs, smashing everything as he went. He threw a scooter, and then a car wheel. I took Loremaster to the railing and jumped over it just as a small sedan crashed into the steel side of the bridge.
The river stretched out underneath us.
Loremaster yipped and clung tight. I could barely see with his cape flapping in my face. Someone behind us was screaming in terror, a woman. I stopped and spun in midair. Chronos had a small car in his hands with two people inside. He flew up between the girders, poised to throw it.
“Drop me, I’ll be fine,” Loremaster said. “Save them.”
I let Loremaster go. He spread his hands wide and directed his air manipulation downward. Not waiting to see how he’d land, I sped back towards Chronos.
He waited there, car above his head as if it were a bulky piece of empty luggage.
“I remember you,” he said.
“Put the car down,” I said. My voice sounded weak. I felt my throat tighten as the woman inside the car pled with Chronos while the toddler strapped in a rear car seat bawled.
“You hurt me.”
I paused before him. If he threw the vehicle I wouldn’t be able to catch it. I knew I was stronger than ever, but not enough to lift a car. I fumbled in my pocket and found the scarf.
“You said your mother was dead,” I said. “But she gave me this to show you. Told me to bring you back home.”
He stared at the crumpled piece of cloth in my hand. “Mercy.”
“Yes, Mercy. She loves you and wants you to come back.”
“She’s not my mother.” His voice was that of a cranky child correcting an adult.
“What is she then? Stepparent? Guardian? The point is she loves you. You’re to come home.”
“She’s my sister.”
The woman in the car was slapping at the window, her eyes mad with panic.
“Okay. Your sister, then. We spoke at your house in New Hampshire. She sent me.” I offered the scarf but he ignored it.
“I can’t be there anymore,” he said. “This world is mine now. It could be hers too. It could belong to all of us, and it will.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Put the car down and we can talk.”
“Does Mercy know our father is coming?”
Before I could answer, he flung the vehicle.
Chapter Thirty-One
The moments passing between each heartbeat felt like minutes. Chronos watched as I reached for the thrown car and hooked my fingers on one of the door handles. The vehicle’s momentum pulled me along. I planted both feet on the door and worked the handle but it was locked. The woman inside was frantic and screaming and I knew she wouldn’t be able to help. I kicked at the glass. It spidered. With a second kick of my heel I knocked it in.
The wind whipped at my face. The car was beginning to plummet. I clawed my way inside and grabbed the woman, yanking her up to me. Her seat belt was off and she had been tumbling about the interior. But the
kid in the car seat—I had no idea where to begin freeing him. He was staring at me, the tears in his eyes making them shine.
I tried not to think. This wasn’t my deal. I didn’t save people. The reason I was here still hovered above the bridge. If I died saving two strangers he would go on to kill many more.
The cross straps under the boy ended at a bright-red rectangular button. I pressed it and his harness came undone.
We were dropping now. It was hard not to get pulled into the back of the car. I yanked the child free. There would be no way to get back out through the window. With the hand I had around the woman, I reached for the door. With my fingertips I caught the latch and pushed it open, and the lock popped up. I kicked off the opposite door and held on tight to my passengers. The woman screamed as we sailed free from the car and clung so tight to me I couldn’t see anything.
“You’re going to be okay,” I said. We flew upward and what I hoped was away from the water and the bridge.
“Red!” Loremaster shouted from below me.
He was on a police boat that was slowing near the ripples where the woman’s car had vanished in the water. The boat’s wake was catching up and raising waves. A pair of cops were out on the bow and signaling me to come down. I landed and let them take the woman and the boy from my arms. He was handed straight away to his mother. She squeezed the boy tight.
Rifles boomed from the shore. The snipers had opened fire again. From our position underneath the bridge I couldn’t see Chronos.
“Where’s Shieldbreaker?” Loremaster asked. “What happened? Did you talk to Chronos?”
“It didn’t work,” I said. I took off. Loremaster levitated to follow but I was faster.
“We need a plan!” he called out.
But I was done with plans. Chronos wasn’t going to wait for us to form a committee and discuss strategy. And if Mercy wanted to baby-talk her brother back peacefully, she would have to come do it herself.
“Keep up,” I said.
I had no idea how fast I could fly, but I wanted some speed. Hopefully the cops firing at the bridge would see me. I went underneath, up, and around in a long series of turns. The bridge was large, and I still couldn’t see Chronos amid the wreckage. Loremaster had fallen behind but was slowly rising above the center of the bridge’s span, his hands spread almost comically and his face a mask of exertion. But I didn’t have time to worry about a middle-aged superhero having a heart attack.
Blood of the Masked God (Book 1): Red Wrath Page 21