The White Knight & Black Valentine Series (Book 3): Almost Invincible

by Brand, Kristen

  He grunted, staggered, and dropped to one knee. Agent Lagarde had sat up, and her eyes burned orange as she stared Bloodbath down.

  The ground rumbled, but Julio waved a hand at Mother Earth, and the bottom of her dress caught fire. She screamed, and the earthquake died as she tried to pat out the flames.

  “Power down,” Agent Lagarde growled, breathing heavily.

  Bloodbath grunted, and his glowing form flickered but stayed active.

  “Power down,” Agent Lagarde said again.

  Instead of obeying, Bloodbath grunted again, obviously straining himself. His shoulders hunched and his head bowed under the pressure of Agent Lagarde’s gaze. I remembered the sheer force of her telepathic presence and marveled that he hadn’t collapsed yet. Then he braced his hands on the pavement and—impossibly—began to stand.

  His chest and head lifted, and groaning, he rose from one knee. He took a shaky step forward, then another, his massive form advancing on Agent Lagarde. I stopped gaping like an idiot and moved to stop him, but then I paused. Lagarde’s powers weren’t something she could turn off. If I stepped between her and Bloodbath, she’d overwhelm me. The most I’d accomplish was buying a few seconds of time while Bloodbath stepped on me.

  I needed a weapon with some range. There was nothing within reach that I could throw, but—there. Wrought-iron lampposts stood spaced out along the edges of the courtyard, signs reading “White Knight: Invincible” hanging from chains below the lamps. Ornate and twisting, they were beautiful works of art. I grabbed the closest one, ripped it from the ground, and swung it like a bat.

  The post smacked Bloodbath in the head. Agent Lagarde’s powers must have weakened him, because it knocked him off his feet. The impact broke the lamppost, and I threw the stump at Bloodbath like a javelin for good measure. It hit him in the side and shattered, but Bloodbath’s new, improved body didn’t get so much as a scratch. Agent Lagarde scrambled up—and nearly fell again when the earth shook.

  A crack opened in the pavement, and Mother Earth sank smoothly down into it, her dress still smoking. Julio dashed after her, but the crack closed back up before he reached it. Had she retreated? No, we couldn’t be that lucky. The courtyard rattled, and more cracks splintered out from where Mother Earth had disappeared. Then spikes of solid rock burst up through the pavement.

  One slammed into my stomach, but the sharp tip broke apart instead of piercing my skin. Not everyone else got off so easily. Julio dodged nimbly, but Agent Lagarde screamed as a spike shot through her leg. Her head and back hit the pavement as the rising spike lifted her off her feet. The jagged tip pierced her calf at an angle, and blood gushed down her bright socks.

  I rushed to help, but upside-down, her eyes bulged with agony. That orange glow hit me, and I fell before it. From the ground, I could see Julio dashing to her from another angle, safely away from her gaze.

  But Bloodbath got to her first.

  His massive glowing hand grabbed her and ripped her from the spike. Her raw scream filled the air as her leg tore, and he tossed her aside like she was nothing. The moment when her limp body sailed through the air seemed to stretch out grotesquely. Then she hit the pavement with a bone-splitting crack, and I could only stare in horror. She didn’t move again. I didn’t expect her to. I thought of Blue Sparrow anxiously waiting outside the wall for news of her mother and felt as if the breath had been crushed from my lungs.

  “Nicole!”

  Julio turned to Bloodbath, and I could feel the sudden flare of heat on my face. But it didn’t affect Bloodbath. As trash on the ground caught fire and waves of heat rose from the pavement and distorted the air, Bloodbath strode calmly through the courtyard, coming for Julio.

  No. Not him, too. I raced forward. The heat singed my skin, and I swore the soles of my shoes started melting. Before I could jump Bloodbath from behind, he turned to backhand me. I ducked, feeling the wind from his strike, and drove an uppercut into his side.

  It didn’t faze him. It felt like it broke my knuckles, though. Bloodbath’s colossal fist slammed into me, and my feet flew over my head as I hit the ground. Before I could get my bearings or figure out if any of my ribs were cracked, he grabbed me by my shirt and lifted me into the air.

  He slammed me back down so hard the pavement broke into pieces under my back. It knocked the wind out of me, but I couldn’t gasp for breath, because he picked me up again and repeated the process. Each time he dashed me against the pavement, the boom echoed across the courtyard. Or maybe the echoing was just inside my skull when it smacked into concrete.

  “This is it.” He held me up triumphantly like a trophy. “When they find your corpse, my message will spread to the whole world.”

  “What message?” I choked out. “All you do is kill people. All you stand for is stupid, pointless violence.”

  He growled, and I twisted his wrist to make him let me go. He didn’t move an inch. His new form was so bright and hot that it burned my fingers. It really wasn’t fair. He’d been strong enough without the upgrades. I coughed and tasted blood, wondering vaguely where it had come from.

  “Dad!”

  No, no, no. What was she doing? As Bloodbath held me aloft by my collar, my blurring eyes caught sight of Elisa dashing out from hiding. Julio tried to intercept her, but she pushed him aside. Bloodbath dropped me. He didn’t slam me into the ground again, just let me go because he’d found something more interesting.

  “‘Dad’?” he repeated. Before Elisa could reach me, he grabbed her arm. “This your kid, White Knight?”

  I tried to tell him to let her go, but the words came out as a low moan.

  He laughed and lifted her up, his oversized fist looking almost comical wrapped around her small arm. Her eyes widened in fear, and I pulled strength from I didn’t know where to lunge up and attack.

  Bloodbath kicked me back down without even trying. I rolled onto my stomach and groaned.

  “Stop it!” Elisa shouted.

  From within his bright construct, Bloodbath smirked. The face on his other form mirrored the expression. “Don’t like that?” He drove his foot into my ribs.

  Elisa snarled and kicked at him, but it was panicked and wild, and Bloodbath caught her leg easily. He let go of her arm, and Elisa shrieked as she was flipped upside down. He was toying with her.

  Elisa yanked something from her pocket and pointed it at him. A weapon? Where did she get—the pepper spray from Val. She jabbed her thumb onto the button and sprayed Bloodbath in the face.

  Bloodbath went still. His blazing eyes flickered as if blinking, and then he threw back his head and laughed.

  “What the hell was that?” he asked with a cackle.

  Elisa’s face fell in dismay. If she’d been fighting any other opponent, the pepper spray would have worked, but Bloodbath’s body wasn’t flesh and blood and didn’t have the same vulnerabilities.

  Bloodbath smacked the pepper spray canister from her hand, making her whimper and pull her hand to her stomach. I pushed myself up with a growl, but before I could even get to my knees, Bloodbath kicked me in the head, laughing. Lights flashed before my eyes, and I didn’t register when my body hit the pavement. Elisa screamed, the sound swimming around my head as my vision darkened.

  The pounding in my skull sounded like a funeral march. He was going to kill me here in front of my daughter. Or maybe he’d kill her in front of me. I didn’t know how to stop it. I had no more plans. I reached pathetically toward his ankle, thinking about trying to pull him off his feet, but he stomped on my hand. I grunted as he dug his heel in deeper.

  “Leave him alone!” Elisa screamed.

  Bloodbath lifted her up by the leg until their faces were level. She dangled, her hair swaying as she struggled against him. “If you insist.”

  He slammed her brutally to the ground. A cry escaped my mouth, and I dragged myself closer, but Bloodbath kicked me away. I couldn’t help her. I couldn’t save her. He crouched over Elisa, legs straddling her, and brushed her
hair back from her face.

  “You know, you’re not bad-looking. You must take after your mom.”

  He leered at her, and I crawled desperately closer, fists clenching chunks of broken pavement. But Elisa… something about her shifted. I could almost pinpoint the exact second when her fear turned to rage, and it went from zero to a hundred faster than the speedometer on a racecar. The super-strength she’d inherited from me was the only reason her skeleton hadn’t shattered when she’d collided with the ground, but Bloodbath was right in a way. Elisa took more after her mom, and her telepathy was so much deadlier.

  The only way I could describe it was a psychic scream. It blasted out from Elisa, raw fury and outrage incarnate. When it hit me, it had every bit as much incredible force as Agent Lagarde’s gaze and came with an added bucketful of agony. In my peripheral vision, I saw Julio fall, but Bloodbath got hit the worst. He staggered back like a wrecking ball had struck him, and his glowing form flickered and started to lose shape. Maybe he could’ve pulled it back together with more time, but Elisa jumped to her feet and kicked him between the legs.

  That hadn’t worked so well when I’d tried it, but Bloodbath hadn’t been weakened then, and he hadn’t been physically inside his construct. This time, Bloodbath dropped to his knees, and his projection grew dimmer and further unraveled. But Elisa wasn’t done. She punched him so hard that his glowing construct shattered into luminous smoke, and Bloodbath’s real body flew backward and hit the ground.

  For several quiet seconds, Elisa stood there, fists clenched and chest heaving. The rest of the courtyard was utterly silent.

  “Creep!” she shouted. “What the hell is wrong with you, you pedo?! Go back to jail and think about your life choices!”

  Bloodbath didn’t answer; he just lay there. I tried to push myself up off the ground, but my arms buckled under my weight, and the jackhammer in my head went into overdrive. Julio could move, though, and strode to Bloodbath to check if he was alive. But before he could get close, the ground quavered.

  Give us a damn break already, I thought.

  A hole opened in the ground beneath Bloodbath, swallowing him. But it didn’t stop there. Pavement crumbled and fell as the sinkhole expanded, debris and lampposts falling into its gaping maw. Julio backed up a few steps, then turned around and ran. Elisa did the same as the sinkhole kept growing. I tried to stand again, but dizzy and hurting, I only managed to make it onto my hands and knees. Julio and Elisa rushed for me, the expanding sinkhole chasing them with a rumbling roar.

  “Just go!” I said as Julio grabbed one of my arms. “Leave me!”

  “Shut up,” he replied, heaving. Elisa grabbed my other arm, and together, they lifted me to my feet. My injuries screamed, and stars flashed before my eyes, but I managed to limp with their support. Behind us, the sinkhole stank of mud and sewage, and I was afraid to turn around and see how close its edge was.

  Elisa shouted something, but I couldn’t make out the words. I tried to move my legs faster, but that didn’t work very well since I couldn’t feel them. My vision darkened, and I blinked, noticing all of a sudden that my eyes felt swollen. I couldn’t tell if Elisa and Julio were still carrying me, since all I felt was pain. My thoughts drifted, and finally, my brain just gave up and blacked out.

  Chapter 17

  Nearly a decade ago, my supervisor had slapped a file folder down on my desk. It had been a slow day, and I’d been finishing up a report about a raid on a supervillain’s lair from two days earlier.

  “What’s that?” I had asked.

  “Read it,” Walter grunted. He was a beefy, red-faced man who’d been my boss practically since I’d first become White Knight.

  I opened the folder and found a résumé on the first page. After that were photographs, transcripts, an incredibly detailed background check, and more files. It didn’t explain why Walter had given it to me.

  “Julio Fuentes,” Walter drawled, seeing the frown on my face. “Nineteen years old. Puerto Rican. Transferred from Florida State to the Academy just last year. His powers are temperature manipulation and pretty impressive. I’ve got a video of him melting steel, though he nearly passes out afterward.”

  I closed the folder, waiting for him to explain what this had to do with me.

  “He’s your new trainee,” Walter answered with a grin.

  I stood, my wheeled office chair rolling about five inches backward. “A sidekick? Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “Wasn’t my idea. I’m just passing it along from the higher-ups.” He crossed his arms and seemed to enjoy watching me squirm.

  “I don’t know, Walter. I’d be a lousy teacher.”

  “You’ll learn.”

  “You don’t think it’s too dangerous?”

  He snorted. “Of course it is. That comes with the job description.”

  “I mean more than usual. White Knight’s a high-profile superhero. My enemies will take one look at the kid and draw a target on his face.”

  “He’ll be wearing that target no matter what. Better for him to fight these scumbags with you there showing him the ropes.”

  I rubbed the back of my neck and looked down at the folder.

  “When you joined the DSA, you got the best training and support we had to offer,” Walter said. “Time to pay it forward.”

  Well, when he put it like that, I’d be a jerk to argue further. Sinking back into my chair, I reopened the folder for a closer read.

  •••

  “—and those offices down there are PR,” I said, giving a tour of the building. “They’re basically our lords and masters. The old government guys with the security clearances will try to convince you they’re in charge, but if they want something PR says will hurt our approval ratings, it’s over.”

  Beside me, Julio gazed around in awe. I’d like to emphasize that the DSA building in Washington was nothing special. The walls and carpet were drab gray, a few of the ceiling tiles were drooping, and I swore one of these days I was going to smash the second-floor copy machine, and everyone in the office would hail me as a hero. Still, Julio drank it all in like he was on a moon base.

  He looked painfully young in his navy business suit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the first time he’d ever worn it. Every so often, he’d tug at his collar before catching himself and lowering his hand. His eyes were wide as he stared around, but I’d yet to have a good look at them, since he had a habit of avoiding eye contact.

  “That’s basically it,” I said as we strolled down the hallway. “Pretty boring unless you’re out there on the streets. And there’s a lot more paperwork than you’d think.”

  “It’s really cool,” Julio said, eyes down.

  For someone brand new, I guessed it was. Unfortunately, there was an hour left until quitting time, and I was at a loss as to what to do next. Nothing else was on his schedule, and Walter had made it clear he was my responsibility for the day. I supposed I could take him to the shooting range or the training gym, but I thought back to what my mentor had done on my first day.

  “Wanna grab an early dinner?”

  I took him to White Lightning, a hole-in-the-wall bar run by a former superhero where most of the regulars were DSA. The place had a relaxed atmosphere, made some great wings, and had a surprisingly good selection of Latin American and Caribbean beers. I’d tossed my suit jacket over the back of my chair and managed to convince Julio to get rid of both his jacket and tie. (I rarely wore a tie anymore. My tolerance for uncomfortable clothes was used up by my White Knight uniform.) The change in scenery seemed to help him loosen up a little.

  “No, it’s just me and my grandmother,” he was saying. “She’s a pretty badass old lady. Works at a garage. Still worries about me taking this job, though.”

  “That’s normal,” I said. “My mom still worries, and she used to be a superhero herself.”

  “Really?” Julio paused with his burger halfway to his mouth. “Who was she?”

  “Sha
dow Woman, but you’ve probably never—”

  “The one who can walk through walls? Cool.”

  After staring at him for a moment, I broke into a smile. “I’m surprised. Normally, the only people who know who she is are at least twenty years older than you and Cuban.”

  He shrugged. “I lived in Miami. And I may have gone through a huge superhero obsession when I was a kid.”

  “She’ll be flattered. She’s who inspired me to be White Knight, honestly.”

  “Yeah, my mom’s the reason I wanted this job, too.” He jerked and looked surprised that the words had come out of his mouth. “I mean, she wasn’t like that— She didn’t… She died when I was in grade school. Drive-by shooting.” He took a long drink of his soda to cover the silence.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “That’s rough. I lost my dad when I was younger, so I know how it feels.”

  Julio’s ears had turned bright red. “Yeah, well, I can’t imagine what she’d think seeing me in a costume fighting crime.”

  I surveyed him for a second, an earnest young man who wanted to make the world a safer place.

  “I think she’d be very proud.”

  If possible, Julio’s ears grew even more red.

  •••

  “No, we’re in no shape to risk it.” Julio’s voice sounded much more confident and experienced than in my memories. Back in the present, I tried to remember where I was and what I’d been doing.

  “But you can’t just assume Bloodbath’s dead,” Elisa argued. “He and Mother Earth are still out there—”

  “Exactly. They’re still out there and just as dangerous as the last two times we fought them. And look at us now. How long do you think we’d last if we ran into them again?”

  “Hey, you and Dad are messed up, but I’m fine.”

  “You were lucky,” Julio snapped. “Dave and I were lucky. Other people didn’t make it out of there alive. You really think you can take down two supervillains by yourself?”

  I had the vague feeling that I should break up the argument, but my thoughts were too slow and my head too hazy.