by C. C. Ekeke
Missy Magnificent was bound beside her, head lolling forward. The superhero was still in costume and still unconscious.
“Missy,” Quinn whispered hoarsely. Her throat burned. No response. What kind of Taser did Montgomery hit her with?
Sounds of industry and conversations enveloped her. Hefty guards in black uniforms patrolled the perimeter, carrying semi-automatic rifles and handguns.
In front of Quinn, some larger contraption sat rooted into the earth reaching to pitch-black heavens. Various construction robots prodded the contraption with their limbs to lock pieces in place. Floodlights set up all over illuminated the vastness of this space.
Quinn’s bleary mind recognized the site. “I’m underground.”
Where Damián Hazard wanted to kill her. Panicking, Quinn struggled against her chains to no avail.
“Missy should’ve known from inception,” Damián Hazard’s urbane voice sounded nearby. “And you should never have agreed to SLOCO Daily’s profile.”
“Please, Mr. Hazard,” Montgomery Major sniveled. “I thought a publication profile would increase our rewards post-earthquake. And Missy’s an idiot. She believes in all that heroic shit. Give me another chance to convince her.”
Quinn grew ill hearing this.
Both men walked into view. Montgomery’s bedraggled appearance was more pronounced beside Damián Hazard. Quinn took a good look at this well-dressed man in his impeccable suit.
Hazard’s merciless stare found her. “Ms. Bauer,” he greeted courteously. “Welcome back to the Junction.”
Quinn immediately avoided Hazard’s eyes. “Where exactly?”
Hazard glanced upward. “Below Five Points Square. The barely beating heart of this filthy district.” Disgust flickered over his face.
Montgomery silently watched his unconscious wife.
Quinn was frightened out of her wits. But after a few near-death experiences, she had improved at keeping a calmer exterior. “Why are we here?”
“Because you deduced my scheme.” Hazard crouched before Quinn, dominating her space. He spoke each word with meticulous care, yet conveyed menace without raising his voice. “Think of it as an overdue fumigation. The Junction’s residents…are barely a step above parasitic leeches.” His marble-like features sported classist abhorrence. “Will anyone care if I cleanse this large blemish on the City of Wonder and build something better?”
“Like a den to launder money and cook drugs?”
Damián Hazard smiled broadly, making Quinn’s flesh crawl. “A lucrative amendment,” he continued. “But thanks to your intrusive curiosity, the Junction’s collapse was fast-tracked to...tonight.”
Disgust twisted Quinn’s face at such casual disregard. “You’re evil!”
Hazard nodded. “You’re welcome.”
Aside from Geist’s team, only Helena knew the full story. But this bastard didn’t need to know that—ever. “You won’t win.” Quinn meant to sound brave. But her voice caught. What if Geist didn’t find her this time?
Hazard grabbed Quinn’s jaw. “And who will stop me? You, soon buried beneath tons of rubble?” He spared a dismissive glance for Missy. “Or a teen burnout so emotionally fragile, she can’t win a battle without it being staged?”
Hazard leaned closer, smile gone. His empty grey stare drilled through Quinn's brain, paralyzing her. “I could kill you a thousand different ways,” he murmured with calm menace. “Rip your heart out. Hack you to pieces and distribute them all over San Miguel. But I chose burial beneath an artificial earthquake. So, you’ll know your life continued and ended according to my will.” Hazard released Quinn’s jaw and stood. She reminded herself to breathe.
“Why’s everything fuzzy?”
The woozy mumbling turned Quinn left. Missy was awake, looking around with puffy eyes. “Quinn? Where are we?” She noticed Hazard and recoiled. “Who are you?”
Hazard nodded at her. “Montgomery. Your last chance begins now.”
Missy strained at the chains, giving Quinn hope that her superstrength would free them. To her dismay, Missy’s sluggish struggle had no power behind it. “Why am I so weak?”
Quinn forced a brave face despite her own terror. “Don't worry, Missy. Help is coming.”
Montgomery crouched by his wife’s side to cradle her face. “Baby…”
Missy jerked away. “What did you do to me?” Anger was replenishing her alertness.
“Just a light sedative.” Montgomery spoke as if managing a child. "So we could talk.”
“Let us go,” Missy demanded.
Montgomery responded with a sad smile. “Not until you listen to reason.”
“Reason?” Quinn had no patience for this loser. “So you’ll get your superhero management agency and finally feel like a big boy?” Damián Hazard chuckled.
Montgomery cracked Quinn across the face. “Quiet, bitch!”
Missy looked horrified. “Don’t touch her!” Quinn shook her head to clear the sting. She held her tongue, not wanting death to arrive sooner.
“Tick-tock,” Hazard reminded behind Montgomery.
Missy stared at her husband like he’d grown fungus on his ratty face. “I thought I knew you.” She sounded pained in ways that no one should.
Montgomery resumed his begging. “You do know me, baby. Be smart. Join us. Become legendary.”
Missy refused to meet her husband’s eyes. “On the bodies of people that I swore to protect?”
Her conscience annoyed Montgomery. “You’ll have millions more to protect.”
Missy spat in his face. “I’d rather die!” Under better circumstances, Quinn might have laughed.
Montgomery paled. “Please, Missy—”
Hazard no longer looked amused. “Clearly, Missy has less tolerance for unremarkable men than myself.”
“She’s stubborn.” Montgomery raised his hands pleadingly. “I need more time.”
Hazard marched forward. “Without Missy, you’ve outlived your already limited worth.”
Montgomery was about to die. Awfulness aside, knowing this left Quinn horrified.
“Nonono!” Montgomery backpedaled, producing a quarter from his pocket. “What about a coin toss? Leave it to chance? You choose the side.” He extended the coin to Hazard. “Heads or tails?”
This delay tactic was utterly pathetic. Quinn actually pitied Montgomery.
Hazard stopped, studying Montgomery as if determining what kind of creature he was. “Fine.”
Montgomery relaxed in appreciation. “Now—”
Damián Hazard swung his arm like a shivering bludgeon, beheading Monty with a gruesome crunch.
The body remained vertical a few moments longer before sinking to a kneeling posture and pitching forward. The head rolled several feet away as Quinn and Missy screamed.
Hazard clenched his bloodstained hand proudly. “Heads it is,” he sneered.
Quinn’s stomach crawled up her throat. “Oh my God.”
Missy was shrieking her lungs out. “Monty!”
Meanwhile, Damián Hazard pulled a handkerchief from his coat pocket. He flapped it out and started cleaning Montgomery’s blood off his hand, like one would a sauce stain. “Remove the body…and head,” he ordered. Two guards moved in, removing the mutilated corpse.
The brutal act left Quinn woozy and Missy a sobbing mess. The teen was useless, combined with whatever sedatives remained in her system.
The spotlights around them flickered. A few overloaded in showers of sparks, plunging portions of the chamber into shadow.
Quinn beamed. Hope was renewed. “The cavalry’s arrived.”
Missy, beset with grief, swiveled her head around. “Huh?”
Several guards brought up their firearms, scanning the darkened perimeters with hawk-like accuracy. “What’s that?” one female guard demanded.
Hazard finished cleaning his hand. “Intruders.” He remained urbane despite the threat.
A beefier guard looked baffled. “Who?”
&
nbsp; Hazard looked perturbed by his obtuseness. “Geist. And his band of self-styled vigilantes.”
By the snickers and bafflement, most clearly believed the Geist-is-an-urban-myth lie. Quinn almost felt sorry for what they were about to face.
A fireball ripped through the chamber, sending several guards flying.
And everything became chaos. Gunfire barked, followed by hard smacks and anguished screams. Quinn saw one silhouette in a trench coat, each flip or strike illuminated by flashes of gunfire. Geist, carving a ferocious path through the security with his ruthless brand of justice. Whistling arrows trailed by anguish of impaled guards made Quinn’s heart sing. Longshadow.
The hooded archer landed in a crouch amid half a dozen guards. She ping-ponged among them with rapid-fire Muay Thai kicks, knees, and bow strikes. One guard ate a double axel kick to the face. Another thug aimed his rifle from several yards away.
Therese fired an arrow into his gut without looking. Show-off.
Missy shrieked at the erupting violence. Soon battered bodies piled up around Therese and Geist.
The Midnight Son stared a hole into Hazard. He cocked his twin pistols. Therese notched an arrow in her bow.
Hazard shrugged off his jacket. “The Midnight Son,” he bellowed. “Care to lose another teammate?”
Therese drew her arrow back farther.
Geist’s blood-red eyes burned with hatred. “Your scheme ends tonight, Damián.”
Hazard approached, arms spread in challenge. “Please try. I’ve used augmentation since our last fight.”
Therese smoldered. “As have we.” Her bowstring twanged while shooting an arrow.
To Quinn’s shock, Hazard caught the arrow out of midair and studied it contemptuously. “Toys. How quaint.” The arrowhead exploded in his face. He lurched away from the bright burn, screaming.
“My thoughts exactly.” Geist squeezed off a hailstorm of bullets, shredding Hazard’s fancy shirt and vest, juddering his body.
Dozens of gunshots later, he remained upright.
Therese fired another explosive arrow at Hazard. A brilliant plume scorched his shirt’s tattered shreds.
Hazard didn’t fall. In fact, he charged at Geist and Therese with a feral grin. In the backdrop, massive equipment whirred and prodded the machine to install finishing touches.
What will it take to stop him? Quinn worried as two silhouettes dropped beside her and Missy.
“Domino. Blackjack,” she gasped in relief. “Thank God.”
The woman codenamed Domino struck a tall, athletic figure in her dark-red tactical suit and goggles. She smiled. “QB.” Crouching beside Quinn, the former IDF soldier pulled a glowing knife from her boots.
“Sorry we’re late,” Blackjack apologized. “Been disabling every seismic machine around the Junction manually.”
One quick swipe from Domino’s hot knife sliced the chain around Quinn like butter. “This quake generator is the final one,” Domino explained, pointing at the massive machine connected to the center pillars. “We’ll deal with that after you’re free and clear.”
Missy stared teary-eyed at the menacing vigilantes, backing away.
Quinn reached for Missy’s arm. “It’s okay. These are friends of Geist.” That mostly calmed the teen.
A terrifying thought seized Quinn. “The residents around the Five Points?”
Blackjack helped her up and winked. “Getting evacuated as we speak.”
Quinn was confused. Geist’s teammates were down here. “By who…Oh.” The epiphany landed and Quinn was smiling stupidly. One super she knew could evacuate a huge mass of people in world-record speed.
Domino smiled back. “Yes. Him.” She was guiding Missy’s deadweight to her feet. “Now we’re getting you and Missy out of here.”
Quinn paused, angling another look at the Hazard vs Geist and Therese battle. “Help them first.”
Domino waved off her concerns. “They can handle Damián Hazard.”
Quinn wasn't convinced. “Can they?” At close quarters, Therese and Geist landed vicious sequences of blows that usually ended fights. The Midnight Son wielded his tonfas batons to dish out vicious punishment, staggering Damián Hazard fleetingly. Both vigilantes dodged his wilder swings. Before long, Hazard started adapting. Then he was chucking Geist and Longshadow around like sacks of potatoes. A palm thrust to Geist’s torso knocked him several feet back. The criminal then caught Therese’s leg mid-kick, whipping her with a brutal smack.
The two vigilantes tumbled across the floor. Neither recovered quickly afterward. And Hazard kept coming.
Quinn panicked. “He’s too strong.”
Blackjack grimaced. “She’s right, Dom. Hazard’s never been this tough to beat.”
Domino almost protested but saw no choice. “Stay hidden until we finish Hazard.”
The pair leaped into battle. Quinn dragged a shell-shocked Missy behind a pillar for safety. And to pray.
Chapter 46
Superspeeding in the Aegis costume–his costume–got more exhilarating each time.
“I was born for this!” Hugo crowed, racing through the halls of the umpteenth building in the Junction’s Five Points Square. Cleaning every building in the square of residents took laser focus.
Hugo felt like he’d passed a new speed benchmark. Around 650 miles per hour. So fast that people, objects, and everything appeared frozen instead of fleeting streaks. He carried a young Latino couple in mid-argument on his shoulders. The husband smelled like feet.
In one half-second, Hugo dropped them with the hundreds of other residents at the edge of the poor San Miguel neighborhood. Raced back.
Grabbed an elderly woman in her wheelchair from the building, zoomed her out, placed her beside the gobsmacked Latino couple. Raced back. Snatched up a single mom and her three children playing twister. Dropped them with the rest. Back and forth, no one seeing more than a fleeting blur.
Hugo knew other Junction buildings were safe. Clint, Domino, and Blackjack had already disabled seven earthquake machines throughout the neighborhood. Imagining the damage those machines could've done had him quaking in his boots. No pun intended.
Now Geist was underground with his team, rescuing Quinn and Missy. At the same time, Blackjack had been hell-bent on disabling the final machine. Hugo ached from head to heel to save Quinn himself. But Geist had ordered him to evacuate first. And the vigilante wasn’t someone he wanted to disappoint.
Speaking of… A distorted and stretched growl filled Hugo's earpiece, almost sounding like words. Normal audio became an issue after Hugo passed certain speeds.
He decelerated in a rundown building, tapping the earpiece within his hood. “Geist?” Hugo answered in his deep Aegis voice.
“Is Five Points Square evacuated?” No greeting, all growl. What sounded like a vicious brawl filled wherever the vigilante was.
“Clearing out one more building,” Hugo confirmed.
“Hurry,” Geist pressed. A loud smack was followed by Longshadow crying out in pain. “You’re needed.” The vigilante killed the channel without another word. Typical Geist.
“You’re welcome,” Hugo seethed, glancing at dark-purple heavens twinkling with stars. A chorus of stunned voices he’d rescued were over a mile east screaming at each other in accusation.
Hugo turned his gaze a half-mile away to the declining mid-rise complex he’d been evacuating. It looked like where Presley and her friends used to live. That caused sudden, deep sorrow to bubble up—
FOCUS! He scanned the building with hypersensitive hearing. Inside was a kaleidoscope of voices, movements, and heartbeats from at least thirty-five residents.
All this rescuing was mentally exhausting. “A hero’s work is never done.” Hugo exhaled loudly and dashed back to the mid-rise, leaving a trail of dust.
Chapter 47
Quinn tended to Missy while watching Domino and Blackjack sail into battle against Damián Hazard.
Domino struck first, tossing domino-shaped
explosives. Hazard staggered away, roaring curses. Blackjack followed, flinging a salvo of razor-sharp poker cards through the air. The married duo came in fast and ferociously with a barrage of strikes.
Hazard stumbled and nearly collapsed. His torso was charred and riddled with throwing cards like a pin cushion. Domino added vicious knees and elbows to Hazard’s vital areas, showcasing her Krav Maga skills. Blackjack, the bruiser of Geist’s team, snapped Hazard’s head side to side with withering kickboxing strikes. Finally, Hazard dropped to a knee.
Geist and Therese rejoined the thrashing.
Quinn exhaled in relief...until Hazard exploded upright, throwing all four vigilantes aside.
Quinn stared wide-eyed at Hazard’s rapidly shrinking burns and cuts. Damián Hazard has a healing factor.
Wearing only tatters, Hazard beckoned his foes with a bloodthirsty smile. “Shall we continue?”
Geist and his teammates obliged, attacking as one. Yet despite their considerable skill, the quartet only landed a few blows before Hazard pounded them into submission.
At one point, Hazard caught Geist’s fist and slowly bent the wrist back until his knees buckled. The vigilante screamed under his mask. Hazard would’ve broken Geist’s wrist, until an arrow from Therese impaled the criminal's forearm.
“He’s toying with them,” Quinn agonized, watching the lopsided battle. By the time Hugo evacuated Junction residents, Geist’s team would be dead. That reality felt far too certain, chilling Quinn to her soul.
Before long, the vigilantes weren’t rising as fast after repeated beatdowns. Their postures looked pained and sluggish, any striking power behind their blows waning.
While Hazard appeared winded and limping, he spread his arms in smug superiority. “I expected better sport from your soldiers, Geist,” he crowed. “All I see are corpses.”
Quinn’s eyes watered. She hated feeling so helpless. Missy Magnificent was a sobbing mess, cradled in Quinn's arms. But the teen was Geist and his team’s only hope. A back elbow from Hazard snapped Therese’s head back. She slumped over and didn’t rise.
Quinn grasped Missy’s tear-soaked face. “Geist and his team need you. They are fighting for the Junction, which you pledged to protect.”