by Lore Graham
Once home, Elena and Lacy both got ready for bed quietly. Elena brushed her teeth quickly and poured a glass of water for herself before stripping to her underwear and climbing into bed. Lacy joined her a minute later, cuddling up against Elena.
"We'll be ready next time," Lacy said quietly. She pressed a kiss to Elena's forehead. "Now we know what Consequence can do, and what he looks like. We surprised him, even if he got the better of us this time. We can surprise him again, and win."
"That's true," Elena replied, turning to peck Lacy on the cheek.
"Also, you kept your cool. You could have attacked him, and ended up on the ground, like me. At least next time, you'll have the element of surprise. We know his power now. He doesn't know yours."
Elena hadn't quite thought of it that way. That could be an advantage that'd help in their next confrontation. Still, her freezing up hadn't been a strategy; it had been a mistake. She didn't want to disappoint Lacy, so she didn't argue about it though. She'd just have to be proactive next time.
"I guess so," Elena said simply. "Good night."
"G'night."
*~*~*
Elena's commute the next morning felt like an eternity, even though she left a bit earlier than usual and the traffic was no worse than any other Wednesday. Only two things helped calm her nerves. First, she knew that if she hadn't joined the Hollywood Heroes, she'd know less about the Consequence situation, but she'd probably feel even more guilty not doing anything to help. The second was much more pleasant: the very vivid, recent memory of Lacy's morning kiss goodbye. Elena's lips still tingled pleasantly as she thought about it and she could practically feel Lacy's arms around her.
Once in the office, Elena didn't breathe any easier, but at least she could keep herself busy with research and filing. The text from Archive kept coming back to mind. Was something going to happen today?
Elena got up around 10:45 to walk around the office, stretching her legs and getting a cup of tea. It helped clear her head a bit, and she'd just started to truly focus on reading when her phone buzzed with a text from Archive.
Archive: Can you head to Civic Center asap?
"Elena!" She looked up as a coworker popped into her cubicle. "Greg just turned on the TV in the conference room—there's some sort of fire going on in the Civic Center!"
"Oh, no! OK, I'll be there in a minute," Elena said. She couldn't hide her look of worry, but her coworker ran back towards the conference room, presumably too caught up in the news coverage to think about her reaction much.
Elena followed her to find three of her coworkers already looking at the TV. She hoped against the odds that it was a freakish coincidence, but when it flashed to footage of the scene, fire trucks outside the Hall of Administration, she was certain it was no coincidence. A headline underneath the scene, "Consequence arsonist strikes again?", only cemented the thought in her mind. Consequence was attacking the Civic Center again, and Elena needed to be there, now.
Her heart pounded as she ran back to her desk and grabbed her gym bag, pausing only to text Archive that she was on her way. If she rushed, she could be there in ten minutes. She wished fiercely and vainly that she had Lacy's incredible speed. At least she kept herself in shape. But would that be enough if she came face-to-face with Consequence?
She switched from pumps to sneakers in the elevator, and texted her boss as she ran the first block, saying she needed to take a few hours of personal time for an emergency. She texted Lacy and almost immediately she received a reply: On my way too—remember your mask.
Elena took off down the street with her bag slung over her shoulder, weaving between her fellow businesspeople. As she approached the Civic Center area, she first reached City Hall. For the moment at least, it looked intact. A fire truck sped by, sirens blaring, headed to the opposite end of Grand Park. Elena paused and looked back towards City Hall. She was always one step behind Consequence, and she didn't want to make the same mistake now by following the sirens and missing his next move.
Elena surveyed the buildings closest to City Hall for a moment, looking not at ground level, but at their roofs and the sky. She caught a shape in the corner of her vision along the skyline, and she spun to see someone flying high up and over her. Even from a distance, Elena had no doubt it was Consequence. He was wearing bulky, shiny chrome boots and a black, superhero-like suit trimmed with blood red. In his arms, he was carrying a large, box-like object.
Elena froze, uncertain if she should pursue him. He was too high up, and moving with too much purpose, for him to have seen her. Also, she realized, he had seen her in a mask last time and she wasn't wearing one now, so there was no reason for him to suspect her. As he continued towards City Hall, heading to the highest part of the building, Elena concluded that she needed to take a different approach.
Instead, she looked over in the direction that Consequence had come from. There were a few buildings clustered together, but the one that caught her eyes was a set of bank offices, several stories high with a verdantly embellished porch on the uppermost level. He easily could have taken off from there by simply flying off the porch, high enough to avoid attracting attention from most passersby.
Walking as fast as she could without appearing blatantly suspicious, Elena headed to the bank building. She pushed open the glass doors and glanced around. To her right was another door leading to a bank branch, while to the left sat a lobby with potted plants, uncomfortable-looking sofas, and a bored security guard at a desk.
A pair of businesswomen entered right behind Elena, so she hung back slightly to follow them to the elevators. The man at the security desk didn't even notice her.
Elena took the elevator to the top floor of the building. The doors opened to a small entry with white paint on the walls, painters' tarps on the floors, and caution tape blocking off the hallway ahead. Further down the hall, a man in a splattered painter's suit looked up from where he was leaning against the wall, one leg bent to press his boot flat against it.
"Excuse me, miss, but you can't be up here. Renovations."
Elena looked around, hoisting her gym back over her shoulder and then tightening the strap so it'd stay secured. She saw a few cans of paint, but none were open, and the paint trays all looked dry and were lacking brushes. One man leaned against a wall in what looked unlike any remodeling site Elena had seen, which usually had a couple of people actively working. Even if he were taking a break, why would they lean against a wall that should be freshly painted? Elena's suspicions were cemented: something more was going on here, even though Consequence had left.
"Oh, yes, I'm so sorry about that." The careful thing to do was to call the police. They were nearby, and Consequence had to be stopped. However, Elena was already here, and she didn't feel like she could leave now. "I'm just here to check on the conference room, down the hall—"
"I'm sorry, but we're working here. You can't go any further." He kept his tone polite, but his jaw clenched.
"I'll just be a moment," Elena said, and began down the hallway casually.
"This is your last warning," he said, straightening up and placing himself in the middle of the hallway. His tone only increased Elena's suspicions; he wasn't talking like someone planning to call his supervisor. She felt her nerves prickling, but refused to change course.
When Elena kept walking towards the man, he reached for the back of the waistband of his pants. Her mind raced, but all she knew was she couldn't freeze up again. Before he could reveal whatever weapon he was reaching for, Elena threw one hand out and let out a quick blast of flame. The fire burst out from her palm in a smarting pain, and enveloped the man's entire front for a fraction of a second. He yelled, in what sounded more like surprise than pain, staggering backwards, and still trying to reach for his weapon.
Elena closed her fingers into a fist and punched him in the face. He groaned, trying to swing back at her, but she dodged easily before his dominant hand finally pulled his gun free. Elena threw a strong, concent
rated gout of flames at the gun-holding hand before he could position it up, and his hand convulsed with pain, dropping the gun before he could undo the safety.
Elena snatched the gun and shoved it in her bag, running past him down the hall. She felt sweat beading on her forehead and under her arms, with the realization that she'd attacked someone with her powers—and hurt him—stark in her mind. The urgency of the situation overrode the tangle of feelings that knowledge caused, and she hurried on, making a mental note to dispose of his gun as soon as possible.
Near the end of the hall was a door to the right—the patio. Elena pushed it open to see a figure dressed in nondescript gray, leaning over a box-sized object with some suspicious-looking wires poking out, similar to what Consequence had been carrying.
Elena's heart skipped a beat in sudden terror: she wasn't sure if it was a bomb, but it certainly could be. What if Consequence had more of these?
Elena didn't have any more time to think, as the woman spun around, reaching for the gun on her belt. Elena blasted her with flames, lighting her clothes on fire. Unfortunately, the other woman had enough composure to aim her gun first, even as she grimaced with singed eyebrows. Elena dodged the first few bullets, sprinting and jumping over a stray chair to hide behind a large potted plant.
She hesitated, her mind racing as she tried to think of how to effectively incapacitate the woman without severely burning her. But that device, whatever it was, was certainly trouble, and Elena had to fix this situation and move on to Consequence, fast.
Sweat beaded on the back of Elena's neck as she heard footsteps and the noisy cocking of a gun. Trying her best to remain behind the plant, Elena threw out her hands and lashed out with a desperate wave of flames. It was met with a high-pitched scream, cacophonizing with new sounds of sirens blaring from the street.
Elena started to straighten up from behind the plant, only to narrowly avoid another gun shot fired wildly. Elena ducked and looked to the woman, who had a hand over her eyes and was trying to shoot blindly. Her skin was shiny with burns, and Elena had to force down a wave of intertwined nausea and guilt as she stepped over and grabbed the gun, feeling the slippery, fresh-burned skin of the woman's hand. The woman tried to fight back but was moaning with effort, her eyebrows and eyelashes burnt away, eyes leaking tears and mouth leaking blood.
Tasting bile in the back of her throat, Elena shoved the woman hard enough that she fell to the ground, then ran. She glanced out from over the balcony and, skimming the horizon, saw Consequence settling down on top of City Hall. She turned around immediately, heading back through the door and leaving the swearing, injured woman unarmed. She ran down, not the way she came, as she shoved the gun in her purse, but took the perpendicular hallway to the back stairwell instead.
As Elena ran down the stairs, the image of the burned woman was seared into her head. Even though Elena didn't doubt the woman wouldn't have hesitated to kill her, and was probably setting up explosives that could have killed dozens of others, she was still shaken. Her phone buzzed as she descended, but holding the rifle and her bag, she couldn't easily check it just yet, even as she realized she needed to tell someone about the potential bomb now.
Elena paused on the second-to-last flight down, yanking out her phone. She had a missed call from Lacy, and a text from two minutes ago that just said "I see him—headed to City Hall." Elena almost dialed 911, but hesitated and instead texted Archive: American Bank Building—I think they have a bomb. Same as Consequence was holding?. Her fingers shook, and the awful image of the burned woman—the person Elena burned—flashed before her eyes again.
Throwing the phone back in her pocket, Elena ran down the rest of the stairs. Once she pushed open the door on the ground floor and exited into the back lot, immediately she looked for a place to dump the weapons while she frantically rubbed them with a corner of her outfit, doing her best to wipe off her fingerprints in case the police found them later. Luckily, there was an industrial trash bin close by; she flung open one of the black slats and threw in both guns.
Elena ran around the building, the bag's strap rubbing into her shoulder uncomfortably. People were stopping on the sidewalk and pointing at City Hall, their faces etched with confusion and growing fear. A police car was pulled in front of the bank, and Elena managed to dodge the two officers as they attempted to calm pedestrians. She couldn't see Consequence yet, which only made her more nervous.
"He went around to the other side of the dome," Lacy said as soon as they spotted each other, Elena running across the lawn over to her. Lacy was wearing a light jacket over her superhero outfit, making it slightly less conspicuous. "I've never been so pissed that I can't fly before."
A pair of police officers rushed by them, heading into City Hall. No one else was going in, most keeping their distance. People started to trickle out of the building, alone and in small groups, with a rushed and concerned manner that suggested they weren't simply out for a lunchtime stroll.
"You ladies should get out of here," another cop said, approaching them. He frowned and took a second look at Lacy. "Your outfit—"
"There he is!" Elena called as Consequence reemerged from behind the dome.
The cop turned, pulling out his gun.
"Put the explosives down and come down here immediately!" he shouted.
For a second, Consequence didn't indicate he had even heard the cop. When the cop fired a warning shot, Consequence put down the explosives, but fiddled with them for a moment, sending a shock of fear through Elena. Consequence hopped off the building and swooped down towards the officer. In unison, Elena and Lacy ran, just in time to feel what felt like a searingly strong gust at their backs as Consequence blasted the officer with psychic energy.
"Fleeing from me isn't going to help you," Consequence shouted. Elena chanced a glance at him and saw he was only about twelve feet in the air. She immediately threw both hands out at him, a wave of flames engulfing him, but he simply flew up, out of the way. Frustration burned in Elena's veins, but she used his momentary retreat to actually put her mask on properly. As she pulled the elastic over the back of her head and aligned the eyeholes, she saw Lacy take off far faster than any human, heading to the far edge of the lawn.
Elena wasn't quite fast enough. She was shoved to the ground so hard that she wondered for a second if she'd fractured any bones, pain vibrating through her body and pounding against her brain.
"So-called superheroes will make no difference in your city's fate." Consequence's voice rang in Elena's ears as he hit her with another blast. The impact on her body was less severe, since she was already mostly down against the grass, but she felt like she had a migraine that would split her skull in two from the inside out.
Elena heard cries over the confused chatter as she struggled to pull herself up. Consequence left her alone to swoop over to the bank balcony. More police cars pulled up and one fired at Consequence, but even though the bullet made impact, it only shook Consequence in the air slightly. People began exiting City Hall en masse, not quite running, but not making a perfectly orderly exit either.
"He rigged explosives to the roof!" she overheard a man yell to a crowd of just-exited city employees who were looking at their building in confusion.
"L—Lightspeed!" Elena called, almost using the wrong name as Lacy ran back over. Lacy's unusual speed left a wake of startled citizens, and Elena would've felt bad if it didn't help encourage them to hurry away from City Hall.
"I still wish I could fly," Lacy said passionately.
"If he swoops low enough, do you think you could jump up and drag him down?" Elena asked.
"I probably could, if he wasn't too high, but I'd need a minute to angle the jump right and get my running start."
"I'll lure him down as best I can," Elena said. "But you might want to put on gloves."
"Right," Lacy said, comprehension dawning on her after a split-second of confusion. Grabbing boots partially made of metal right after they just soaked up a lot
of heat would be unpleasant for Elena, but would certainly leave Lacy with burns without protection.
Consequence flew back over the police cars from the patio, the handful of shots fired either missing him or having a negligible effect. Instead of heading straight towards Elena and Lacy, he veered right up towards the steps of City Hall. As Elena and Lacy ran that way, Lacy, pulling on gloves, Elena saw a police officer and group of aides escorting the mayor down the steps.
"What're they thinking," Lacy began, "leaving through—"
A devastating boom rang through the air as gouts of black smoke enveloped the top of City Hall. The tense, worried atmosphere broke down into chaos, with screams and a burst of gunshots as Consequence flew towards the mayor.
In the blink of an eye, Lacy accelerated and sprinted with supernatural speed towards the floating Consequence. Just as he sent an awful wave at the mayor and his entourage, leaving no one left on both two feet, Lacy jumped and grabbed one of Consequence's boots. Elena ran towards them as he sunk, not fully falling to the ground, but dropping near enough that Lacy's boots brushed the ground. Once she was a few yards away, Elena shot flames at him, but his bulletproof outfit also seemed to be flame-resistant.
Consequence tried to shake Lacy off ineffectively, but after a moment of struggle, she fell backwards onto the ground, Consequence landing with one foot on top of her.
"You can't stop the inevitable!" Consequence yelled as he sent another psychic blast and began to stalk towards the prone mayor. Lacy groaned and tried to sit up, but clutched her abdomen, moving slowly and with obvious pain.
One of the mayor's assistants began to crawl away, but with awful speed, Consequence glared at her, and a wave of force cut through the air. She collapsed soundlessly upon impact.