Blaze of Glory (19 page)

Limox grinned. “You always said you like a woman who takes charge.”

The giant laughed, slapping the back of the smaller super. “So true. May, is it? May, let’s get you someplace so that you can smack this guy around.” He beamed at the senior with a wide smile that she returned in kind. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, of course.”

Leaving them to their introductions, I rose above the nearest building, hoping to get a good view of the situation. In my ear I could hear the voices of different supers, some shouting curses, some crying, many of them falling silent after a last garbled gasp. No one tried to organize them, no one asked for help—total panic. My mouth opened to say something, anything on the link. What could I say? What could I offer?

Then I spotted him.

The same bastard from New York City. The same man who had murdered Mike.

He hovered a few hundred feet above what could have once been a circular fountain placed at the intersection of the three rivers. He wore the same light blue shirt and black pants, the same bored look as he raised his hand to deflect an energy blast coming from someone on the ground, returning it to the sender with a resounding blast that was at least double what had been launched.

“Stop it,” I screamed, knowing the links would pick it up. “We can’t just lob crap at this guy one at a time. We need a coordinated attack.” Taking a deep breath, I continued. “Stop throwing your lives away and think for a second. Let’s take this bastard on together. Together.” I stored up as much of a charge in my gloves as I could as I spoke. In the back of my mind all I could think about was NYC and that my best shot hadn’t even scratched the bastard’s chin. “This is Surf, I worked with Metal Mike. Sound off.”

A burst of yelling snapped back in my ear, words and names and titles, many of them unknown to me. Either there had been a lot of names left out of my briefings, or many of them had reverted to their personal names in their newfound freedom. Shaking my head at the confusion, I stared at the alien as he easily deflected another plasma blast back to the top of a nearby building, ripping the top off like a piece of torn paper. The attacker disappeared in a bloody smear of asphalt and brick.

“May! May!” I fired off my best blast at the man, hoping to draw his attention away from any other supers nearby. “Are you anywhere near ready?”

“You should be hearing some background noise.” Her sharp, crisp voice startled me. This was who Hunter had been working for and with for the past few years, the professional. “And for the rest of you, if you’re not going to help, then shut the hell up and get out of our way.”

I chuckled at hearing the swear word, or what would have passed for a swear word in her generation, as I began to recharge, moving between the buildings so as not to give this guy a clear shot at me. I spotted a few other supers dodging in and out of alleyways, all of them grounded. There hadn’t been too many who could fly unassisted, and I was pretty sure that most of them had fallen in NYC.

The hairs on the back of my head began to tingle, signaling that May was about to do her mojo. “Peter, what’s happening with you?” I shouted.

“Look below you.” The calm voice was an island in the middle of the insanity around us as yet another energy blast landed not too far from me, taking out a small shop.

I looked down at what could only be described as a menagerie of animals, both domestic and wild, probably from the zoo. Lions, tigers and bears, indeed. Peter sat proudly atop an elephant that raised his trunk and roared into the sky as the animals spread out from each side. Around him an ever-widening circle of birds spiraled out. “May not be able to hurt him, but we’ll make him uncomfortable.”

“Ah…love it. Now let’s see if I can bring this guy to ground for your bigger friends to take care of him.” I rose above the top floor of the building to take another shot.

Except that I had somehow lost sight of the alien. Instead of the bastard, ahead of me all I saw was empty air.

“Jo!” May’s scream sent me spinning around.

To come face-to-face with the invader hovering only a few feet away from me, a strange smile on his face.

Chapter Fifteen

“I’ve seen you before.” The voice was almost seductive in its intensity and emotion. “You were at the other city.”

The rising hum in my brain started to overwhelm me as I held my breath, unable to respond. The words were low and gravelly, with a hint of something that might have been pride.

“Right. And now I’m here.” My heart was hammering so loudly I thought briefly about it exploding and taking us both out in a supernova blast.

“You fight well.” He tilted his head to one side. “Your friends fight well.”

A shadow appeared over us, descending on the strange man in a flurry of feathers and claws. The small birds pecked at his flailing arms, the larger crows and hawks digging deep into the now-bloodied shirt.

“Away!” The roar was matched by a shock wave that sent the birds falling away in a furious retreat. He returned his attention to me, his face strangely untouched by the aerial assault.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted something large and fast flying at us. Lifting my gloves, I pointed them at the man.

One eyebrow rose. “You can’t hurt me with those.”

“No, but it’ll get me out of the way.” A short blast sent me flying in the opposite direction away from the alien as the large piece of concrete slammed into him. Broken cement and rebar fell away and back to the ground.

“Thanks, whoever.” I ducked behind an office tower and pressed my back to the glass windows as I pulled another charge from the electromagnetic waves around me.

“No problem, sweetie.” Slammer’s voice was tinged with a bit of laughter. “Don’t want that pretty little face banged up.”

“Bet you say that to all the girls.” A burst of gunfire from around the corner made me flinch. Civilians. “Don’t guess we got lucky and you took the bastard out?”

“Nah.” The grumpy response made me smile. “Although he does look righteously pissed.”

“I’m heartbroken.” Ducking out from my hiding place, I headed back to where the alien had been. “Anyone got a visual on this joker?”

“How about right here?” The reply came with a resounding punch to the side of my head, sending me spiraling towards the ground without any hope of controlling my descent.

“Mike!” I screamed, the world whirling around me as I braced for impact, a small part of my mind calmly calculating the damage a human body would take smashing into the ground. The other small part noted that calling for my dead partner wasn’t such a good idea since he was unlikely to rise up from the ashes of New York City and save me. The last small part screamed at the other two to shut the fuck up and save myself. Seems I was doing a lot of that lately.

“Will I do?” A strong set of arms grabbed and lowered me to the cool street surface. Stephen’s face hovered over mine. “He seems to like you.”

“Yeah, well the feeling’s not mutual.” Sitting up quickly, I stared up at the alien who hovered over us, a blank stare on his face as he watched. “May, can you slam him yet?” I put my hand to the side of my head. It came back covered in blood. Great. At the least a minor concussion and at the most I was running on empty.

“Right now. Hold on to something.” Hunter’s voice held a warning tone I hadn’t heard before, and I mentally steeled myself for the onslaught.

The burning in the back of my mind began to blaze into a full-fledged fire, the ache like an itch I had no hope of scratching.

Slammer put his hands over his ears, the shiny streaks on his skin reflecting the light like a thousand diamonds. “That’s some nasty shit,” he mouthed, not wanting to say the words out loud. Either he already knew May’s dislike of profanity, or he didn’t want to send it out on an open channel.

“Don’t I know it.” Shaking my head cut a bit of the static out, but it still felt like I had a fogbank the size of Newfoundland between my ears. Powering back up, I rose above the street about a foot, smiling at Slammer. “Got any other hidden talents I need to know about?”

He grinned, lifting one hand towards me. “Did I mention my skin’s as hard as steel?”

“No shit?” This time I didn’t care if May heard me.

“No shit.” Slammer wriggled his fingers. “You any good at baseball, Canuck? I can jump but if you give me some speed, I’ll slap you a home run.”

I looked at the strange man about twenty stories above us, who was just staring down at the ground. Abruptly he clapped both hands to his ears, arching back as he screamed into the sky.

Pay dirt.

“Crank it, May.” I grabbed Stephen’s hand hard, wrapping my fingers as far as I could around his huge palm, his meaty fingers wrapping around mine with room to spare. “Ready to fly?”

Without waiting for his answer I zipped into the air, hauling him behind me. The second we reached the same altitude as the confused alien, I spun around twice then launched Stephen at the invader with as much velocity as I could manage.

“Peter, Limox—get ready to give me backup.” Yanking out all the stops, I launched another mega-charge out of my gloves, sending it barely ahead of the super hurtling towards the motionless man. The blast slammed into the bemused alien the same split-second as Slammer’s fists did, right between the eyes.

The two men fell from the sky like a rock. Slammer spun around and around, roaring with laughter. He landed on his feet, the impact craters sending small shock waves along the street, and then stood up with a wide grin.

The alien, on the other hand, fell silently without any effort at controlling his descent, his eyes closed as he smashed into the middle of the street on his back.

“Lock ’im up!” I dove towards the impact site.

A lion leapt from the shadows and landed directly on the man’s chest with an angry roar. Meltdown appeared at his side, pressing his fingers into the asphalt.

“Alive! We want him alive.” My stomach lurched as the static in my mind increased. “Don’t kill him.”

Limox looked up at me with what could almost be scorn before shaking his head. The street surface around the fallen man began moving, waves of darkness rippling out from the super’s fingers.

The feline let out another bellow as the body started sinking under his weight, collapsing into the fluid mass. Jumping free, the lion fled down a side alley. The alien let out a deep sigh, only his face still visible under the black asphalt now trapping his body.

I looked upwards at the alien ship. There was a fluctuation in the waves around it, a shimmering that I wasn’t sure if anyone else could see. Then the large green craft…well, the best way to describe it was that it folded in upon itself and vanished, sort of like an origami crane.

A ragged cheer came through my link, no more than a handful of different voices. I could make out Peter and May, Limox and Stephen and maybe two or three more. But that was all. Some of the ones I had heard earlier weren’t there anymore. I hoped they had decided to go silent and back underground. I hoped.

Landing a few feet from where Limox still knelt by the captured invader, I forced a grin onto my face. “Good work.”

Limox snorted. “Guess you want to talk to this joker.”

“You guessed right.” I stumbled slightly, grabbing the nearest lamppost to stay upright.

“You okay?” Limox almost sounded like he cared.

“Yeah. Just a little breathless.” I didn’t want to touch the side of my head again and risk fainting at the sight of more of my own blood. Other people’s blood didn’t bother me—mine, very much so. I’m funny that way.

“Rocking moves, Meltdown.” Slammer picked up the smaller man in a bear hug from behind and shaking him like a dog with a rag doll. Limox laughed, waving his fingers in the air.

“Still got the touch, dude. Still got the touch.” He glanced over at me. “I think we should just take him out.” A low growl entered his voice. “Payback and all that.”

“Huh.” Slammer looked down at the unconscious man trapped in the concrete, then over at me. “Man might have information.” He pressed one huge fist into the palm of the other. “Then we take him out.” He grinned, coffee-stained teeth and all.

I activated the link. “Any one else want to come along for the ride, we’re at…” I stared at the street signs, wanting them to stop shaking. “Fifth and Wood Street. You’ll see us, I’m sure. We’re only going to be here a few more minutes, so if you want to join up, get here now. Or call out so I know you’re on the way.” I waited. No answer.

“Are you okay?” May was suddenly there, whispering in my ear as she helped me sit on the curb. Hunter moved in beside her, kneeling down.

“Nice cut on the ear. How’d you get that?” He reached up, pinching the top of my left ear. “Not worth stitches, but I’d like to get that cleaned out.”

Peter’s elephant stood in the middle of the street, trumpeting victory tunes as the super rode him like a rajah of old. He looked like a kid who had just ransacked the candy store.

“Okay.” I got to my feet. “Get that guy out of the street and let’s get out of here.” I drew in a few shaky breaths, feeling my stomach start to settle down. “I’m willing to bet that his friends are going to be back with reinforcements to pick him up, and we need to get him someplace safe and start asking him questions.”

“Right.” May nodded towards the assembled men. “Well, you heard the lady. Dig him out.”

Slammer chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.” He slammed his fists into the ground near the embedded body, ripping up the asphalt in large chunks. “Hey, Limox—give an old man a hand here.”

Within seconds the two had pried the trapped man upright. Torn and jagged edges of concrete surrounded the still unconscious man.

“Any idea how we’re going to get him out of here?” Limox groused to me, stepping back to let Stephen hold the slab upright without much effort. “Are you strong enough to haul all of us out of here?”

I put my hand back over the throbbing part of my head, stopping when I remembered about the blood again. “I’m not sure.”

Hunter moved closer, inspecting my wound. “Not that bad but you should probably get some meds and lie down for a bit.” He surveyed Slammer. “Heard about you. Tough guy.”