Blaze of Glory (28 page)

“We’ll take care of her.” Slammer looked at the two paramedics. “Is it okay for us to ride in the back? I don’t want her to be alone.”

“Sure.” The first medic nodded. “It’s cool.”

His partner glanced at Limox. “Might be a bit bumpy.”

Limox sniffled, a wan smile on his face. “I think we can deal with it.” He nodded at me as the paramedics closed the doors and climbed in the front of the ambulance.

As they pulled away I nodded to the woman still tightening the bandage. “Thanks.”

“You should really get an x-ray,” the brunette murmured. She gave a sideways glance at Hunter, noting my lack of enthusiasm. “Seriously. I recommend it.”

“How bad are the others?” I gestured with my good hand. Here and there small groups had formed, gathering at a hastily constructed first-aid station at the back of an ambulance.

“The majority of them are looking good—no more than cuts and bruises, the odd concussion and maybe a few requiring stitches. I’m hearing about a few fatalities, but for the most part it’s positive.” She looked at me directly. “We’re going to St. Mike’s, if you’d like a lift. We took your friends there.”

“She would.” Hunter dragged me to my feet and helped/pushed me into the ambulance. “Look, you’re not going to be any good to anyone if you’re laid up for months.” After snapping a fast kiss on my lips, he climbed down to the ground. “I’ll get things organized here.”

Before I could even start to protest he slammed the doors shut and pounded on them. The ambulance raced out of the crowded chaos.

St. Mike’s was one of the original Toronto hospitals, constantly trying to keep up with the expansions and rebuilds that downtown buildings needed to stay current and alive. Climbing down from the back of the ambulance, leaning none too lightly on the large orderly’s arm, I made my way into the emergency room and towards one of the few empty beds.

The waiting area held a handful of civilians, mostly dealing with cuts and bruises, the inevitable result of having mass amounts of people trying to move out of the city. A few supers mingled among them, smiling as they were recognized and, in some cases, hugged and thanked. Some seemed honestly surprised at the attention, usually the villains.

I couldn’t lie down on the stretcher, the pain wouldn’t let me. Besides, I knew that it wasn’t over. Nothing ever ends.

A young doctor scurried over to me, grabbing the tag off my arm. “You’ll need x-rays.”

“No thanks.” I tilted my head towards the overflowing waiting room. “I’ll come back if it gets worse, but save it for the really hurt people.”

“Your call. Here’s some pills for the pain.” The harried doctor who was at least a decade younger than me scribbled frantically on the clipboard. “Any idea who we get to bill for all this?”

“Send it to me.” Outrager stood in the doorway of the examining room, his arms crossed. “We’ll be glad to take care of all the costs.”

“Good. Leave your details at the front desk.” The doctor nodded to me. “Thank you and go home and rest. Come back if you feel worse and we’ll do those x-rays.” He scurried out of the room before I had a chance to say anything.

Outrager moved in, letting the door slide shut behind him. “So…I guess you’re proud of that little stunt you pulled out there.” The grey-haired man crossed his arms over his chest.

“That
stunt
resulted in the death of a fine lady.” I hopped off the table. Sucking in my breath to dull the pain, I stood up as straight as I could. “A better person than I, you or anyone in this fucking city.”

“Whoa.” He held up a hand. “Don’t vent at me ’cause you lost a member of your team.” His expression softened, the hard edges disappearing in front of me. “Mike was right—you are a tough old broad. You came through when you had to and we appreciate that.”

“You’re not cutting her up.” The words sawed through my chest as I wheezed them out. “You’re not doing any autopsy on May.”

“Why would we?” He tilted his head to one side. “You don’t think we did enough tests on her when we were in charge?” Straightening his tie, he shifted back into business mode. “Which brings us to our next question—what do you want to do?”

I blinked wildly for a second in silence.

His wrinkled face split apart in a grin. “You didn’t think you were just going to walk away from all this, did you?” One hand pointed towards the television sets easily visible through the windows of the examination room. The huge plasma screens were filled with images, both stills and captured cell-phone videos, of our battle. “You’re a hero, Jo. Now you get to go to Disneyland or something, but then you wake up.”

My mouth opened, but nothing came out.

“Go do the speeches, give your little mantra and enjoy the cheering while you can.” The man brushed imaginary lint from his arms. “Then give us a call and we’ll see what we can arrange regarding the future.”

“The future?” I croaked.

“Jo, you’ve just put Earth on the intergalactic frikking map.” Outrager smiled. “You think there’s no one else out there who’ll want to visit us? Good and bad? We got lucky this time. Thanks to Mayday. But you’ve got to start thinking about the next time.” He tugged at his ponytail. “Streets are going to be a mess with everyone coming back and all. Might be useful to get an escort back to your home base, as it were. Unless you want to try and fly…”

The pain in my side had subsided to a dull ache, not unlike the one behind my eyes. “I’m not really in the mood to screw around. You want to work a deal, give it to me here.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Get fed and watered and take those drugs. You want to be awake when we discuss this.” Opening the door with one hand, he gestured out into the hallway.

The supers milled about in the front lobby of the hospital, giving Outrager and his two subordinates a series of glances ranging from wary to outright hostile. I saw more than one beginning to power up, talked down quickly by their companions. Others began to filter out the doors, returning to their anonymity now that the job was done.

Outrager cleared his throat, not that he needed to draw attention to himself.

“I’m here to tell you…” He paused, his face flushed. “You all did a damned fine job out there. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can pretty well promise that right now you’re all heroes around the world.” He looked at me directly. “May I offer you and the rest of your team a drive back to your base?”

“Slammer, Meltdown…” I took a pained breath, calling through the link, “Where are you?”

“They’re just putting her into the…” Stephen’s voice caught in his throat, “…the freezer. They done her okay, Jo.”

“Go home, back to the bookstore.” I gave Outrager a nod. “She’s going to be fine. We’re going to be fine.”

“I can’t believe we won.” Peter shook his head, grabbing a slice of hot pizza from the table. David had once again produced a great spread, hot tea at the ready along with a few bottles of beer and quality liquors.

“I can.” The freshly baked cookies were warm and chewy, dripping with more chocolate chips than cookie. They had been donated by the local bakery that, I was sure, had a sign in the front window pronouncing their connection with us. “We need more of these.” I swallowed another mouthful of heaven. “And spares.”

“Good idea.” Outrager appeared at the top of the stairs. “Those are definitely evil.”

Limox blew out a bubble between his lips now tinged with tomato sauce from the double slices he was tucking away. “Great. You come to bust our balls again?”

The Agency man ignored him. “We need to talk, Jo. You, me and the rest of the team here.”

Hunter got up from the sofa and advanced on the Agency rep so quickly that for a second I thought he had another skill I’d missed. “Don’t even think about signing them back up.” His low growl was interesting and a bit exciting.

“That’s not even remotely possible.” The man grabbed a long grey hair from his face and tucked it back into the frazzled ponytail. “You’ve killed the plugs. Jenny’s dead. There’s no way that we can do anything.” He stared at me, locking eyes. “Other than start working for you.”

“What?” I whispered.

“What?” Hunter shouted.

“What the fuck?” Limox moaned, dropping his head into his hands. “I knew I had a concussion.”

“Let me explain. I’ll go slowly for the lunkhead.” Perching himself on the edge of the sofa, Outrager smiled. “The Agency has, or had, I’m not sure about the tense, a lot of resources that are now vacant. The other Agencies are in the same sort of spot as we are, all set up without any heroes or villains to control. So why not put all those resources to some good?”

“Work for me?” I squeaked.

“Work for your team.” The words held a note of authority. “You aren’t the only supers left on the planet.” His gaze darted towards Limox, who was still moaning to himself. “There are a lot of villains who didn’t come to the final battle and who did kill their Guardians. A lot of people have changed sides.”

“So the playing field is all new.” Hunter’s voice held a note of wonder and fear. “And now you need a job.”

A flush came over the older man’s face. “Well, yes. That and a whole lot of people around the world.” His attention returned to me. “So, Jo—are you serious about doing this full-time? Are they? And are you going to take our help or try to do it yourself?”

I took a sip of tea. “I’ll decide that later. Right now we’ve got unfinished business to take care of.” I nodded towards the stairs. “We’ll be in touch.”

Outrager opened his mouth as if to say something, then retreated down the stairs.

Hunter smiled. “Well, I think he knows who’s in charge.”

“Yep. But we’ll deal with that later.” I put the mug down. “David, we need to find a nice place for May…”

The bookstore owner nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. “I think I know a spot she’d like.”

The funeral took place in a small cemetery just outside of Toronto, the ceremony short and private despite the paparazzi clamoring for some shots. After frying a few car engines and forcing the helicopters out of the area we settled down for the burial.

“I’m outta here.” Limox shook his head as the workmen moved in to cover the coffin with soil. “I don’t need this crap and you said that all bets were off when it was done.”

Ignoring Hunter’s warning stare, I nodded. “Agreed. But if you decide to start causing trouble, I won’t have a problem kicking your ass.”

The middle-aged balding man grinned, slapping Stephen on the back. “It’s been a wild ride, but I’m heading out to the West. Find someplace nice and quiet and see what I can cook up.” He shrugged, a sudden weariness on his face. “Just don’t want to play the game anymore.”

“Can’t blame you at all.” Stretching out my hand, I winced at Limox’s tight grip. “Just remember—stay on the right side of the law. Please. For May’s sake.”

A shadow crossed Limox’s face at the mention of her name. “Yeah.” He nodded at Hunter. “Catch ya on the flip side.”

“Yeah.” Hunter nodded towards Peter. “You going with him?”

“No. No, I’m not.” He shook Limox’s hand as well. “Sorry to see you go.”

“I’ll be fine.” Limox nodded towards David, who was still standing by the nondescript headstone. “But I’m sure gonna miss David’s…collection.”

“Yeah, well…” I swallowed hard. “Thanks for all your help. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Well, sure.” Limox grinned.

Stephen chuckled as he put one hand on Limox’s arm for a second before pulling him into a tight hug. “Be seeing you.”

Meltdown walked away, heading for the far end of the cemetery. I had no doubt they’d find a hole burnt in the gates far away from the mob gathered at the front waiting for us. Peter blinked away tears before looking at me. “Now what?”

Now what indeed.

A few hours later I stood in front of a podium in New York City, a handful of blocks away from where Mike had died. David stood to my left with Jessie, both of them sweating under the bright lights. Stephen and Peter were on my other side, the Pittsburgher beaming at the attention. Hunter stood just behind me. His left hand rested on the small of my back, the comforting pressure giving me strength.

Taking a deep breath, I reached out and tapped the first microphone, hearing the rumbling echo through the large room. The mob of reporters quieted down and took their seats, the cameras sparking to life with a burst of red lights.

“My name is Jo Tanis. Some of you know me as Surf.” My fingers were numb from gripping the wooden edges of the stand. “I was one member of the team that neutralized the alien attack on our planet.” The words caught in my throat as a mental image of May popped up. May, Jenny, Mike…

I closed my eyes for a second, hearing the murmurs start through the audience, Hunter whispering through the link. A thick meaty hand landed on my shoulder, squeezing lightly. I blinked, seeing the flashes from the cameras reflect off Stephen’s skin. Hiding my discomfort with a cough, I continued.

“I am pleased to announce that the alien threat has been dealt with. We managed to make contact with one of their warriors who engineered an internal coup and took control of the fleet with an eye to return to their home world. I don’t know if they’re going to send an ambassador or not, but they know that Earth is not their private playground.”

The cheering brought tears to my eyes, more so because it was a partial lie. But we’d agreed that telling them the entire truth, about how we had been manipulated through the Agency and Jenny’s precog…well, it’d be too much for the public to handle. At least, right now. And now the bastards at the Agency were working for us. It wasn’t a great situation, but it was better than the alternative.

“However, we have sustained many losses. Both supers and civilians. Many good people have been lost in a war that didn’t need to happen.” I coughed again. “And there is work to be done, to rebuild, on all fronts. We are not able to guarantee that there won’t be another alien contact, maybe by friendlier aliens, maybe by another aggressive race.”

My throat burned as I continued. “Therefore, I am pleased to announce the formation of a new team of supers, who have pledged to fight not only the villains of our own world but to work together to protect the planet as a whole from any and all alien incursions.” I saw Outrager nod from his spot on the sidelines. The bastard had promoted himself to be our personal contact.