by S. J. Delos
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll get him started for you.”
She shot up into the sky again in a large loop that carried her almost out of sight. I scooped up another piece of debris and waited for Colossal to extract himself from the burning wreckage. When he did, his one good eye zeroed in on me and animalistic madness filled his gaze.
He screamed something primal, and I flinched. Then he charged like an eight-foot tall bull, determined to run me down into the ground. The pavement beneath his feet cracked with each thundering step and one of the walls he passed collapsed from the tremors.
I held my pose until he was practically on top of me, then I jumped to the side, tossing the hunk of building up in his path. The block smacked him in the face and pulverized, creating a cloud of mortar dust that obscured his vision. His feet dug into the asphalt to slow his momentum, and that’s when Darla rocketed along and clotheslined him.
Her arm looped around his neck, and I charged forward to strike the back of Colossal’s knees. The force of the flying blonde pulling coupled with the momentum of my tackle and pushed the giant’s feet out from under him. He fell backwards, rolling over my shoulders, and I stood up as quickly as I could, lifting him up higher. I let Darla take over. She heaved the villain around with her own super-strength and flung him directly at Manpower.
The second-in-command was holding a snapped-off lamppost, waiting across the battlefield for the perfect pitch.
Colossal tumbled through the air, screaming a flurry of obscenities. Greg brought the steel pole around with every ounce of power he possessed and struck Colossal across the shoulders. The streetlight bent at a horrible angle, ringing loud enough to rattle my teeth, and the bad guy sailed back towards me in a high-drifting arc.
I stepped to the side as he came down face-first and planted both hands on his back to slam him into the rubble. Lunging across him, I ripped a thick piece of rebar from a nearby rubble pile, lifted it over my head, and stabbed him in the back. I put my weight and strength behind me and shoved the metal rod through Colossal’s spine, and into the street beneath him. It cut off his ability to move anything below the shoulders without causing his lungs and heart to stop beating.
“Kayo!” Manpower yelled as he ran toward me. “Stop!” He still had the post in one hand.
Darla dropped out of the air to land beside me, and reached for the end of the metal stake. I blocked her with an arm. “I don’t think so,” I said, pushing her back. I held up a hand at Greg. “He’s fine. Son of bitch has a kick-ass healing factor.” I flicked the rebar with one finger, and Colossal groaned in response. “He’ll live. He just isn’t going anywhere right now.”
Darla sighed and I looked over to where I’d last seen Alexis. Only a few spots of drying blood remained.
Greg notified the EAPF that Colossal was down, secured, and ready for transport to the Shack. Then his hand came down on my shoulder. “Robert just informed me that Alexis is in the EMU ward at Queens Memorial.” The pause that followed made a wave of vertigo roll through me. “The doctors are examining her now.”
Darla glanced over at him. “Did he say how she was doing?”
The frown that appeared chilled me through to the bone. Greg’s voice was flat. Emotionless. “He said that it didn’t … didn’t look good.”
A squad of EAPF officers in tactical gear came rushing over. Two of them carried a hover-stretcher and another one had a portable status unit. Behind them came the Enhanced Search & Rescue Units to look for survivors.
“I suggest keeping the rebar in until you get to the Shack,” I told the officers. Then I kicked Colossal in the side, making him groan again. “Feel free to be as rough as you want.” I turned and walked away.
“Kayo,” Manpower called. “Where are you going?”
“To check on my friend.” I didn’t look back as I ran as fast as I could towards the hospital.
CHAPTER 19: WHISPERS, CLAIMS, AND THINGS LEFT UNSPOKEN
The hospital loomed ahead as I rushed past the idling cars jammed on both sides of the boulevard. The fight with Colossal had destroyed several streets, forcing drivers to find secondary arteries in which to travel. In addition, traffic units from the CPD had cordoned off routes for EMS personnel to use, constricting the roads even more. While this wasn’t a new situation to most Charlottians, the frustration borne on the winds of honking horns and yelling voices amplified my own.
When I marched up the steps to the front doors of Queens Memorial, a skinny security guard who couldn’t have been too long out of high school, jumped in my path. The silver badge pinned to his chest gleamed in the sunlight. “Sorry,” he said, holding up a hand. “You can’t go in. There’s an emergency medical situation inside and the hospital is on lock-down.”
I gave him a look that would wither iron. “Get the hell out of my way, kid. Or there’s going to be an emergency medical situation out here.”
He glanced at my bloody face and torn clothing, and quickly moved aside. “Yes, ma’am.” The shaking in his voice matched the trembling in his body. “I mean, uh, Miss Kayo.” He grabbed a key card from his belt and swiped it through the reader nearby. The doors slid open and the whoosh of air that escaped made him jump.
“Relax,” I said striding past him. “I’ve done all the fighting I’m planning on doing for one day.”
Inside, nurses and doctors rushed back and forth, dealing with the aftermath of Colossal’s rampage. Almost everyone paused and stared as I crossed the room and went right for the elevators. Even though the EMU was only on the second floor, I was too tired to bother with the stairs.
When I stepped out of the elevator, I saw Richard leaning against the far wall, staring up at the ceiling. For a second, I thought he was mesmerized by the pattern on the ceiling. Or else thinking about mostly-naked girls. Then I noticed his lips were moving slightly and realized he was praying.
Daniel was standing a few feet away, staring at a chart. His head popped up and he came rushing over to me. “Holy crap,” he said as he grabbed a towel from a nearby medical supply. “You’re bleeding.” He placed the cloth on my forehead and pressed lightly. Despite the depth of the gash, I barely felt anything. He pulled the towel away, a large circle of wet redness staining it, and grabbed a bandage. As he placed it carefully on my forehead, he frowned. “That should stop it. Still, we should get you looked at.”
“I’ll be fine,” I told him. “Where’s Alexis?”
He nodded to a closed door next with a glowing red light above it. “They’ve got her in an ER, but they can’t work on her.” He glanced at the curious expression on my face and shrugged. “They took a scan right after she arrived. She’s got some broken ribs, a fractured fibula, and a skull injury.”
“But?” I felt like he was leaving something out.
He looked at the doorway again. “It’s the skull injury that’s the problem. There’s a piece of bone jammed in her brain. In the part that controls her powers, actually. Right after the scan, she phased.”
“What?”
“The force field up around the table kept her in place. But they can’t operate if she’s intangible and they don’t know how to get her solid again.” He swallowed and glanced at that closed door again. “They said if she doesn’t return to tangibility soon, she may never be solid again.”
I grabbed the front of his uniform, nearly tearing it from his body. “Can’t you make her solid?”
He looked down at the blood-soaked towel in his hands. “No. I’m sorry.”
I released him and backed away, putting my hands over my mouth. I fought against the tears that threatened to come. If I started, I probably would never stop. I needed to be strong. For Lexi-chan. I needed to be composed so I could think of something to help, not wallow in despair.
The elevator behind me opened and Darla and Greg stepped out. They walked over to talk to Richard for a few moments, then Greg came over to us. “Daniel, go back to the tower and pore over every scrap of data you have,” he ordered. �
��There has to be something there that the doctors can use to help Alexis.”
The genius nodded and left. Greg looked at me. The expression on his face was the same as when I’d told him about my mother. Compassion and concern. How he could be like that after throwing my file at me less than an hour ago boggled the mind. “Has anyone looked at your wounds?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Daniel mopped up my head a little. But I’m okay. It’s Alexis that we should be focusing on.”
“And we are,” he said. “You took more than your fair share of beating and I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
A door at the end of the hallway opened and Rocket appeared. He started towards us and then stopped, pointing at me. “I told you. I told all of you it was a mistake to let her join. Now look what’s happened!” His screaming voice carried down the hallway and pushed my already boiling blood into the danger zone. My jaw clenched and I stalked towards him, hands curled into tightly-bound fists.
Richard and Darla moved to block my path while Greg put his hand on my arm. “Karen, calm down. We’re all upset right now.”
“We should have sent her back to prison, Greg.” Rocket called. He pointed at the closed door separating us from Alexis’ unconscious form. “She’s basically killed Alexis!”
That destroyed any calm I might have been able to summon. I pulled my arm free from Greg’s grip and bolted toward him, ducking my shoulder to bowl both the Captain and Omega-Girl aside as I plowed through to Rocket. The flyer realized I was coming for him just a little too late. By the time he’d turned to open the window behind him, my hand wrapped around the back of his neck. I yanked him off the floor as easily as I would a piece of paper and flung him into the nearest wall. Since I hadn’t reached murderous state, yet, I applied enough strength to crack the plaster and knock the breath out of him.
I leaned down, grabbed the front of his uniform, jerked him up, and pinned him to the wall. The air around his legs became hotter, and the panicked look on his face told me that he was about three seconds away from blasting off inside the hospital corridor. Space and bystanders be damned.
“Don’t even think about it, Rocket,” I said, pushing against his chest and increasing the dent in the drywall. “I’ll rip your legs off before you can generate enough thrust to break free.”
His jaw tightened and the amount of hate emanating from his glare was nearly immeasurable. “You destroy everything you touch,” he wheezed.
“You are responsible for this, not me. Because you either hate me so much or are a fucking coward deep down, Alexis is dying in there.” I let go and the terrified “hero” dropped to a heap on the tile floor.
Darla rushed over and knelt down beside him, checking him over. The look she gave me said she would defend him from any further attacks. I heard Richard and Greg walk up and stand behind me.
I turned and brushed past them, heading towards the stairwell.
“Where are you going?” Captain Awesome asked.
“I’m going to call in a miracle.” I stopped and turned, giving Rocket my full attention. “If she dies, Robert, you’ll never fly again. That’s a promise.” Then I stepped through the heavy door and went to make a deal with the Devil.
Downstairs, I pushed open the outer doors and stepped out into a mob of spectators and reporters, all being barely held back by hospital security. Including one panicky-looking teenager. A moment after the first set of eyes noticed me, the throng of media people began shouting questions and shoving microphones closer, all hoping to get that ten second sound bite for the evening news. I stopped just behind the line of guards and swept my gaze over the crowd.
“Kayo! Kayo! Are you going to make a statement for the Good Guys?”
“Kayo! What happened in the fight with Colossal?”
“Is it true that Phantasm is in critical condition?”
I pushed that particular thought to the front of my mind when I spotted the subject of my search and moved over to her side of the barricade. Emily Jenson, darling of Eyewitness Eleven News. I’d watched quite a few of her stories, both during my time in the Max and since joining the Good Guys. Plus, I knew for a fact that she was an Enhanced. An empath, to be exact. Which probably explained her ability to get people to open up to her.
I stopped in front of her, and the string of questions that had been on the tip of her tongue stopped. Her face softened instantly. I’m sure it was bad enough that she could feel my pain and worry, but the way I was pushing it out had to have made it much worse for her to assimilate. I leaned closer and looked her in the eyes.
“I need to borrow your phone.”
She blinked. “My phone?” she asked, already reaching into her pocket for the device. She pulled it out and handed it to me. Right before my fingers could touch it, she pulled it back. “When this is over, I get the exclusive.”
“You will,” I promised. She handed it over and I dialed from memory. Holding it up to my ear, I listened to it ring multiple times. Dammit. I looked at Emily. “What’s your phone number?”
“My phone number?” Confusion danced across her pretty face. “Uh, five-five-five-three-four-seven-seven.”
“Thanks,” I said and turned to look into the nearest news camera. I hoped the fact that the red light on top of it was lit meant the feed was being broadcast live. I hung up and dialed again, continuing to stare into the lens. “Five-five-five-three-four-seven-seven.” I repeated it twice more as I listened to more unanswered ringing. Just when I was about to give up, the sound of the line being connected clicked in my ear.
“I need your help,” I said to the person on the other end. “I’m desperate.”
For a moment, there was silence. Then a soft laugh followed. “Yes,” Martin said. “If you’re calling me, you must be.”
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
Approximately twenty minutes after I handed the cellphone back to Emily, a black sedan pulled to a stop at the curb near the rear entrance to the hospital. The driver’s door opened and an athletic redhead in a charcoal grey skirt suit stepped out. She looked at me over the tops of her dark sunglasses, eyes glowing a soft orange. “Crushette,” she said with a little purr in her voice. Her gaze moved up to the bandage on my head. “You look like crap.”
“That’s the second time I’ve been told that. And I go by Kayo now,” I said to the woman. “Still playing Martin’s chauffeur, Thermal?”
She smiled, the air in the alley growing warmer. “Martin mentioned that you were giving the hero thing a try. I caught that fight with Colossal.” She winked at me. “If you’d given me a call, we could have beat him together. Just like the old days.”
Thermal—Sarah Mercer—and I had been Doctor Maniac’s right hand girls. Any job performed at his directive was helmed by her, me, or both. We’d made quite the team; the girl who couldn’t be burned and the girl who burned everything. “Not sure my new group would have appreciated your help.” I arched a brow. “How’s your heat these days?” Just as my invulnerability came with the fine print of additional weight, Thermal’s ability to generate and manipulate fire had complications of its own.
Her body temperature was far warmer than that of a normal person. When she’d first come to Martin for help, she had averaged somewhere around two hundred degrees. Not quite enough to boil water or set things on fire, but enough that she couldn’t be touched by anyone not wearing protective gear. Anyone but me.
We’d started off as allies and become close friends, finding solace in our Enhanced defects by realizing that we had each other to lean on. Then my relationship with Martin turned physical and Sarah found herself alone more often than not during down times. I didn’t know how much my being gone affected her until one evening, after a huge heist, she cornered me in the bathroom and kissed me. I’ll admit that I knew she’d been carrying a torch for me, pun intended, for some time. If I hadn’t been so drunk, I would have stopped it immediately. As it was, I went along with the seduction until
she slipped her hand under my shirt. Then I mumbled an apology and ran back to the party, leaving my friend hurt and alone in the bathroom.
The next day, I found out the news that caused me to quit the organization and seek refuge with the EAPF.
Her glossy red lips curled into a sly smile. “Why don’t you come by some evening and I’ll let you take my temperature.”
Martin’s voice drifted from inside the car. “That’s quite enough, Sarah. I have business to attend to inside, if you please.”
Thermal sighed and winked at me again before walking around the back of the sedan to open the rear door. Martin stepped out, blonde hair fluttering in the alley breeze. He was wearing a crisp white linen suit with a blood red tie and exuded pleased confidence. Part of me wanted to punch his nose and ruin that expensive suit with his blood. He nodded to Sarah and then walked towards me with a smile.
“Karen, it is so wonderful to see you in person again.” He tilted his head slightly to the side, smiling at me. “And I have your word that my safe passage into and out of this facility will be guaranteed?”
I clenched my jaw tightly and nodded. “I promise if you help you’ll be allowed to leave unmolested.”
“Excellent,” he said, clapping his hands together. “Shall we see how I may be of assistance in your hour of need?” He looked back over his shoulder. “Sarah, please wait with the car. I should be back in less than thirty minutes. If not …”
Thermal nodded. “I understand, Doctor.” That smoky gaze fell on me again. “See you soon, Kayo.”
We entered through the service entrance since the last thing I think Martin would appreciate would be having his face on the evening news. As we climbed the stairs, I gave him a quick run-down of what Alexis’ doctors had concluded. He responded exactly the way I’d expected.
“Those morons wouldn’t know the first thing about how to make her solid again,” he said with a snort. “Most of them probably slept through Enhanced Biology 101.”