by Liana Brooks
Had Tabitha left him for this? He’d been searching for the complicated answer, but what if the simple one had been right all along? What if all she wanted was to be with her own kind? Evan watched her as he leaned back against the door, casually preventing any more heroes from joining the party.
Tabitha had bags under her eyes, and her gestures were agitated. At a glance, she looked like a woman under extreme stress. He’d never seen her miserable before—one point in his favor despite everything—and now that he knew what it might look like, he knew he’d never be able to bear the real thing. Starlit grabbed a cookie and noticed him, his buttoned down shirt and slacks didn’t help him blend into the crowd. Starlit straightened, preening and smiling in an inviting way that would have worked if he were still sixteen, single, and had never seen Zephyr Girl. Really, the other superheroes should have kicked Tabitha out years ago for being too beautiful for their collective good.
Starlit said something, and the other women turned. Tabitha’s eyes widened. She excused herself from the others, and made a beeline for his position by the door.
“Professor,” she hissed, grabbing his arm. “What are you doing here?”
“I was taking a walk when I saw you come inside. Is this another department shindig?”
Gore Smasher walked past and Evan stopped to stare at the layer of flab jiggling in purple spandex. “Was I supposed to wear a costume? Halloween isn’t until tomorrow, but I’m game.” Bemused and befuddled professor was as good a cover as any.
“No. This is a private party.” Tabitha was pushing him to the door. “Professor, please, you need to leave.”
He caught her hand, warm and soft. Evan couldn’t look her in the eyes. If he did, he’d be lost. He’d fall right there, kiss her, steal her away. “You don’t look like you’re dressed for this party either. Why not come with me? We can grab a late snack.”
“I...I can’t.” She tugged at her hair nervously. “I’m sort of...” She rolled her eyes. “I’m playing hostess. My friends really feel strongly about this, and we’re trying to get more people involved.”
“Oh, so this is a political thing?” Evan kept the anger in check.
Tabitha snuck a look over her shoulder at the Rainbow Dane. “Sort of. It’s almost political.”
Starlit did a wiggly finger wave and motioned for him to join them.
Evan hit the small Agree-With-Me Ray on his arm. “Look the other way,” he said, just loud enough for it to carry.
As everyone else turned away, Tabitha turned back to him. “You really don’t belong here.”
“The question is, do you belong here?” He squeezed her hand. “You don’t look happy. To me, that’s a good indicator that you don’t want to be here. So why not leave?”
“I can’t!” Finally she looked at him, blue eyes blazing. “I can’t leave. We have a deadline. This is important. Our group is trying to stop villains. Super villains.”
“And?” Evan asked with deceptive casualness.
“Some of us want to aim for the younger villains.” The color drained from her face. “They want to stop them before they can hurt anyone.”
A cold chill ran up his spine. “There’s a lot of wiggle room in that statement. How young are your friends thinking of aiming?”
Tears glistened in Tabitha’s eyes. “As soon as we can find them. A child of a super hero becomes a super hero. A child of super villain...” She choked.
Evan pulled her into his arms as she started to cry. “You don’t want to do this, do you?” he whispered in her ear. Against his shirt, she shook her head. Hot tears melted through the fabric. “Shhh, it’s okay. You don’t have to do this.”
Tabitha pulled away. “I have to make the world safe. I have to stop villains before they hurt anyone. It’s who I am. I...I don’t have a choice. We start tomorrow. The Rainbow Dane says we can’t wait any longer.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but a person can’t be a villain until they do something wrong. Innocent until proven guilty and all that.”
Tabitha shook her head. “That’s not what—”
“Who in the blue blazes are you?” The Rainbow Dane roared grabbing Tabitha’s arm and pulling her away. “Zephyr, get over here. Who is this schmuck?”
“He’s...he’s my ethics professor.” Tabitha wiped away a tear.
“Shock!” the Dane shouted. “Get Zee a drink, she’s not feeling like herself.”
“I’m fine!” Tabitha protested. She tried to step away, but The Rolling Shock grabbed her, stunning her still and forcing a drink to her lips.
Evan knocked it out of his hands. “The lady said she wasn’t thirsty.”
The collected superheroes stared at him as if he was a fuzzy bunny that had suddenly turned into a carnivore.
“I don’t know what sort of games you’re playing,” Evan said. “I see the costumes, and I don’t know the rules, but I do know that when a lady says no, she means no. Now, let Miss Perl go.”
The Rainbow Dane chuckled. His laugh rolled like thunder, and soon the whole room joined in. “Oh, Pops, we ain’t at the university anymore. This is real life, and around here, we don’t play games. Shock, show the nutty professor here the door.”
The Rolling Shock grinned maliciously as he strutted toward Evan.
Evan pressed the Agree-With-Me Ray just in time. “I’m not here. Nothing happened.”
The Rolling Shock froze mid-step. The entire party turned, acting as if nothing had happened.
Evan rushed back to Tabitha. “Sweetheart, can you hear me?” The sickly sweet smell that had clung to her since the fight assaulted him. He picked up the cup she’d dropped. Not perfume, but this. The same smell as the homeopathic lotus wash the Thane had wiped her cut with.
Cut. Blood. Drug. Blood stream.
Gingerly holding the edges of the cup, Evan wrapped it in a napkin and tucked it in his pocket. “Hold on, Tabby-cat. I’ll be back for you.”
Chapter Sixteen
What is the difference between a villain and a hero? I never thought to ask. As I walked away from Tabitha that night, I knew one thing: even if she never loved me, I was going to save her. Tabitha was trapped. My children were threatened. This meant war.
***
Evan tugged at the cuffs of his tuxedo. “Hert? How do I look?”
“Charming as ever, Doctor.” The minion ran a rag over the toe of his shoe. “There, sir. Quite ready to take over the world.”
“That plan is on hold,” Evan said as he glided into the garage.
An owl cried mournfully in the distance as the minions stilled to look at him. “On hold, sir?”
He hit the assembly with the megawatt smile he hadn’t used in years. “I’ve declared war on the super heroes.”
A purple minion with a yellow Mohawk fell backward in a faint.
Hert clicked his tongue. “War, sir? Alone? Against how many super heroes?”
“All of them. Except Tabitha, of course.”
“Of course.” Hert set down his clipboard with delicate care. “Sir, are you quite sure you’re feeling well?”
He tossed the cup to Hert. “That’s what they’re using to poison Tabitha. I think it’s a derivative of the lotus flower, but double check anyway. I want an antidote by morning. The Rainbow Dane stole my wife and he wants to kill my daughters because they are the children of a super villain.” Evan’s eye twitched just a little. “He will not have that opportunity.”
“Understood, sir.” Hert clutched his clipboard again like a long lost teddy bear. “I think I can find other super villains, if we have a few days time.”
“We don’t have days. I’m going in alone—”
“Daddy?” a sleepy voice asked from the doorway.
“Angela? Why aren’t you in bed, sweetie?”
She rubbed sleepy eyes. “You were being loud. Is Mommy home yet?”
“Um.” He bit his lip as he scrambled for a plausible lie.
Angela looked at his Dior suit. “Where are yo
u going, Daddy?”
“To deal with a very bad man, Angel.”
“Are you going to hurt him?”
“That’s a possibility.”
She yawned. “Can I come?”
Evan’s eye twitched again. “No, sweetie. You are going to stay here where it’s nice and safe.”
In his mind, a vivid image of the Rainbow Dane attacking the girls while he rushed to rescue Tabitha bloomed in Technicolor. The minions would do their best to keep the girls safe, but he hadn’t engineered them for violence. One by one, his projects would fall, and then his daughters would die.
“On second thought, maybe you can. Go back to bed. I’ll have a surprise for you in the morning.”
Chapter Seventeen
What kind of father takes his girls to war? This one. Call child services if you like, but first tell me where my daughters would be safer when a super hero was hunting them. I wasn’t letting my children become the nightly news.
***
“Hert! I need another crystal focus.” Pre-dawn light refracted off the necklace in Evan’s hand. Sweat stained his previously flawless suit.
“Sir, we don’t have any other crystals. Not even small ones.”
“Then break the one in the Election Machine!”
There was a little gasp.
Evan turned to his minion. “What?”
“We’ll never find another piece of holmium that size by next week, sir, let alone calibrate it in time.”
He stilled as his mind raced. Everything he had ever wanted dangled in front of him, but now the road forked. He could have the world, or he could have Tabitha. Evan looked at the purple bulb of serum on his worktable sitting next to the four necklaces with magnetic shields meant to protect the girls. There were five people in the world who truly mattered. Losing even one of them would kill him. “Break the Election Machine down. We don’t need it anymore.”
Hert’s bulbous eyes squelched as they blinked. “Yes, Master,” he said in a doubting tone.
The door to the basement squeaked open. “Daddy?” Blessing walked down the creaking wood stairs. “Daddy, what is that?”
“This is a little machine that’s going to keep you safe.” Evan pushed back from his worktable with a smile.
“Safe from what?”
“Crazy people, flying trees, dropping houses, speeding bullets. Anything with mass. I meant to give one to Mommy, but since she’s working, I decided to make one for each of you girls first.”
Four miniature pieces of defensive technology lay in a row on the worktable. If he did decide to give up a life of crime, he could probably sell the prototypes to the US military for a reasonably sized fortune.
“They aren’t very pretty, are they?” his daughter asked.
“No, not really. I haven’t gotten that far.”
Blessing poked at one. It scooted away from her finger before she could touch it.
“Magnets,” Evan explained. “Once you have it on, it should repel everything away from you. Right now, they’re repelling everything away from the table. I need to find a better power source.” Kinetic energy was his first choice, with a backup battery of some form.
The other three girls wandered into the basement, joining Blessing in giving his work skeptical looks.
“Why do we need this?” Angela asked.
Evan sighed. He put his tools down and tried to find an answer. There wasn’t a good one. “Mommy is undercover.”
“We know that,” Maria said.
“And she’s run into a little trouble.”
Angela smirked at her sisters. “I told you so.”
“Daddy is going to help Mommy out. While I’m doing that, I need to keep you girls safe. I’m making you some shields. You will wear these while the minions watch you and Daddy helps Mommy.”
“I want to help Mommy,” Maria said.
Evan smiled. “That’s very sweet of you, but this is grown-up stuff.”
Maria’s eyes narrowed. Little sparks of solar heat coalesced around her. “I want to help Mommy!”
“We can be super heroes too,” Blessing said. “I can fly, just like Mommy.”
“Uh huh.” Evan nodded. “Except the people Mommy is having trouble with are, technically, super heroes.” The girls stared in shock. “They’ve gone rogue,” he explained.
Delila wrinkled her nose. “Then we can be super villains.”
“Not a good idea!” Evan sprang to his feet in alarm. “It’s not safe. Very, exceptionally, really not safe. I can’t begin to describe how not safe that is.” He took a deep breath and looked down at his little girls. They were children. Little children. “Shouldn’t you be playing with dolls?”
Maria rolled her eyes. “We won’t get hurt, Daddy. You’ll protect us. You never got hurt as a super villain, did you?”
“Um...”
“See? We’ll be safe.”
Delila raised her hand.
“Yes?”
“Can we have costumes?”
He was blindsided with nowhere to run. “Sure. I’ll have a minion get right on that. You do realize that if I let you near a fight, your mother will kill me. She will skin me alive. Literally. This is a very bad idea.”
“Mommy doesn’t like you leaving us alone either,” Maria said.
“Minions don’t count,” Angela added.
Hert gave him a sympathetic look. “I’m afraid the genetic programming on these specimens is flawed, Master.”
Evan collapsed back into his chair with a sigh. “Control models, Hert, they never do what you want them to.”
Chapter Eighteen
In the end, the minion programmed for color and spatial coordination was given an hour to watch What Not To Wear, a credit card, and free run of the local sewing shop. The girls talked dresses, designed costumes, and I changed the defensive shields to match Locke, Rage, Strike, and Curse, the newest super villains in the world’s pantheon.
Delila was my perfect walking Lock-pick, all jazzed up in a Victorian suit of copper and black. We added ruffles to the sleeves, and a little top hat. I turned her shield into a watch and she was ready to unlock every secret in existence.
Angela, who could manipulate emotion, chose Rage as her name. She could make people happy, but as a villain, she was going the other way. I dressed her like a young Harry Dresden in a black leather duster, a black fedora, and armed her with a small walking stick. Instead of the pentagram Harry wore, I gave her a heart inscribed in a star for her defensive charm.
Maria became Strike, a dark princess with velvet gown, puffy sleeves, and a choker that held a black gem covering the shield. Very much what I pictured Galadriel wearing if she took the One Ring.
Last of all was Blessing, who changed her name to Curse. We went for a mystic-in-the-desert look with a red robe and hood, except we split the skirt and gave her tennis shoes so she could run.
I never believed in impractical body armor, despite how much I love it on Tabitha.
***
The girls ran around the small backyard, throwing fire at the minions and practicing shielding against water balloons.
Evan held up his last trinket against the setting October sun: a dark gray handgun. The Neanderthals who called themselves superheroes would never realize the true threat the weapon represented—at least he hoped so. Feeling a twinge of fatalistic ennui, he loaded everyone into the minivan. Hert strapped himself into the passenger seat.
“Are we clear on the plan?” Evan asked.
“Yes, Daddy,” the girls chorused.
At least it was Halloween. They didn’t look too out of place. Yet. He glanced at Hert.
“Yes, Master. The minions are in place. The area has been fully explored and we’ve set up the ‘distraction’ for local law enforcement.”
Running a hand over the lump in his pocket, Evan took a deep breath. “Very well then. Ladies, let’s make this a night to remember.”
The twenty minute drive to the warehouse district where the minions
had tracked Tabitha to lasted just long enough for Evan to regret everything he planned to do, but not long enough to think of an excuse to back out. He parked across the street and adjusted the cuffs of his Dior suit. “Hert, send in team one.”
With a curt nod, Hert sent the outer perimeter team of minions scrambling into place.
“Ladies?” Evan twisted in his seat so he could see the girls, their costumes squashed by their booster seat straps. “You stay with Hert. Move to the upper deck, and locate Mommy. Blessing—”
“Curse,” she corrected from under her red hood.
“Of course, excuse me. Curse, you take this, and drop it on the floor in front of Mommy.” He handed her a round sphere of purple glass with the antidote to the lotus poison. “The fog from that should clear Mommy’s head. Then I want Strike to lay a line of fire between everyone in the building and Mommy. It’s okay if I’m on the other side. Rage?” He looked over at Angela. “Keep them confused. And, Locke, you keep the doors open. Once Mommy is with you, get back to the car. Don’t stop for anything.
“I’ll go in and keep them distracted.” And it would probably hurt. But how else could a man prove his love?
He stepped out of the car, snagged his sunglasses, and gave himself one last look in the side mirror. Devastating. Doctor Charm, dressed to break hearts. “Give me five minutes to get their attention, then start the fireworks. Hert, keep them safe.”
“Yes, Master.”
Striding across the empty road, Evan tried to remember the logic behind this insanity, if there’d been any in the first place. Save Tabitha, keep the girls safe. At least the goal remained beyond reproach. Alas, noble didn’t mean actionable. So he was winging it. Taking it on the fly. And really hoping he’d get a chance to punch the Rainbow Dane in the balls.
The door swung open with ease. All the superheroes had assembled, dressed in full costume this time. To an outsider it probably looked like a regular Halloween party—if you ignored the fact that the punch smelled of lotus flowers, everyone looked tense, and the conversation was less than convivial. Phrases like, “Kill them all, it’s doing the world a favor,” floated past and made his blood boil.