Blaze of Glory (8 page)

The coffee was strong, some sort of Columbian brand that the shop was featuring in their daily push to caffeine addicts. The super took a deep swallow from his own mug, grimacing at the taste.

“Crap. Should have gotten the espresso.” He put the mug down. “So you’re Surf.”

I winced at the name. “Just call me Jo. I don’t think we really need to use those now.”

“Sure.” A beam of morning sunlight bounced off his nearly bald head. “Name’s Harris Limox. Codename Meltdown.”

I must have given myself away with the gasp. He chuckled, grabbing a few packets of sugar and dumping them in his cup.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. A bad guy. Never came up against you in rotation, but I’d heard of you and Mike. One helluva team.”

“Thanks.” The half and half had taken the edge off but the coffee still could use some sweetness. “How did you make it here so fast?” I frowned. “And how’d you find me? I said I’d go back to the tower in twenty-four hours.”

Limox nodded towards the busy street outside. “I was down in Detroit when the crap hit the wall. Hiked across the border in Windsor and grabbed a bus, first to Ottawa, but hopped off here when I got your message.” One meaty finger touched his jaw. “Scared the hell out of me when I heard you. I was half asleep on the bus and thought I was totally losing it. We got into Toronto about dawn and I headed for the tower.” He stabbed a finger into the sky. “Not hard to see that from anywhere downtown. I spotted you flying away and followed you, keeping quiet.”

“Why?”

He played with his cup a minute before responding. “I thought it might be a trap. Wouldn’t put it past the Agency. When I saw there wasn’t anyone hanging around, I decided to follow you for a bit, just to be sure.” He laughed. “Watched you take that guy out. Nice work.”

I lowered my head, trying to hide my embarrassed blush. “Why were you heading for Ottawa?”

“Asking for refugee status. Asylum.” He grinned, showing off a set of rotted teeth that both startled and depressed me. “Figured I’d take advantage of my freedom to get the hell out of the States.”

“Except that I’m Canadian and we signed off on the North American Super Act.” My knuckles rapped the top of the table. “You’d have gotten nowhere with that. There’s no country in the world that offers asylum to supers.”

The shocked look on his face said it all. “Damn. Must have slept through that part of the briefing.”

I couldn’t help smiling as I took another sip of coffee. “Was part of the orientation.”

“So you’re putting together a team to fight the bad guys.” He said it so loudly that I winced. “What, you think they care?” Limox jerked a thumb at the milling people grabbing their morning coffee and rushing off to parts unknown. “You think they give a shit about us?” He leaned in. “So why should we give a shit about them?”

I moved in close, trying not to inhale the smell of sweat and a few days without a shower. “Because we’re supers and it’s what we do.” My eyes narrowed. “So if you’re not interested in helping them, then why are you here?”

“I want to stay alive.” The angry whisper matched the deadness in his eyes. “Tell me you figured out how to get this out.” His fat index finger tapped the back of his neck. “’Cause I’m willing to bet you wouldn’t be trying to be the hero if you were afraid they’d pop you like a zit.”

I leaned back in the chair. “Really. So you’re only going to help if I keep you alive.”

“It works for me.” Limox took another sip of coffee. “I’m a bad guy, remember? I chose that for a reason.”

A gaggle of schoolgirls paused at the corner, waiting for the light to change, and his concentration snapped from the coffee to the barely-covering-vital-parts skirts they were wearing. I sighed. Now I remembered the briefing on Meltdown. It was part of a general know-your-enemy ramble just in case we had to fill in for an A-lister.

“Where’s your Guardian?” I glanced around in a fit of paranoia. No one seemed to be paying attention to us, grabbing their daily or hourly cup of caffeine and heading out the door. We were just another pair of strange people sitting in a coffee shop rambling on about nothing.

Limox looked down at the small rickety wooden table between us, picking up one of the flimsy brown napkins and folding it over and over in some sort of odd pattern. “He died. Like yours, I figure.”

A rush of sympathy came over me for a second before I tamped it down again, remembering who this was. “I see.”

The thin paper bent back and forth, finally emerging as a weak-winged origami crane. “Joseph was a good guy. Didn’t want to fight, a sort of a pacifist.” He laughed softly. “Funny, hmm?” The paper creation moved to sit between us. “He was a wimp. Always trying to convince me to swing back to the other side.” Two thick fingers tried to bend one of the faux wings back, failed. “He never even got out of the gate. What do they call it, collateral damage?” He looked up, meeting my eyes. “Building we were in fell down around us. Whole support team dead. I melted my way out.”

I nodded. “I’ll give you a chance to avenge them.”

“Not them.” The harsh tone startled me, his index finger shooting into the air. “Just Joseph. I don’t give a shit about the rest of them. He was a good guy.”

“Noted.” I finished off the last of the cooling coffee. “Let’s go. I’ve got a base of operations already.” The words sounded rather grandiose coming out of my mouth.

“As long as you understand.” The recycled paper cup crumpled in his hand. “I’m not doing this for you or for the government. Nothing here but revenge.”

“I can live with that.”

“And for you making sure the Agency doesn’t kill me for not racing off to get whacked like a fly on the wall.” A weary smile appeared on the overweight man’s face. “Just like you.”

“Just like me.” I returned the grin, getting to my feet. “Just try not to show off.”

He pouted, his lower lip jutting out so far I could have set my empty cup on it. “Spoilsport.”

It was a short walk back to the bookstore. As I opened the front door David jumped up from behind the counter.

“Thank goodness you’re back. We were getting worried about you…” His voice trailed off as he stared at Limox. “Hello.”

“This is Harris Limox.” I gave David what I hoped was a positive nod. “He’s going to be joining me for the time being.”

“Good. Good.” Stepping forward, the elderly man took Limox’s hand, pumping it up and down. “Good to meet you.”

“Glad to meet you too.” Limox’s confused expression had me chuckling inside. It was unlikely he’d ever had such a reaction from a civilian, not lately. He glanced around the store—the books stacked from floor to ceiling and sprawled across the floor in haphazard piles that threatened to overwhelm anyone not athletic enough to dance out of the way. “You’re setting up shop here?”

“Upstairs.” I jerked a thumb at the ceiling. “The stairs are at the back. Grab anything you want to read along the way.”

As the super picked and poked his way towards the back of the store I leaned in to talk to David. “He’s been one of the villains up until now.”

David’s eyes went wide. “And you want him to help?”

“He’s the first I’ve had turn up.” I put the backpack of equipment up on the counter. “And I’m not going to turn him down because he’s been playing the bad guy up until now.”

“Why do they become villains?” David looked towards the stairs as if he expected Limox, who was still making his way up the steps, to sprout horns and wings.

I shrugged. “It’s a whole psychological thing. They run us through tests and suggest what’s most appropriate for us.” The overweight man disappeared from sight. “His deal was, or is, that he’s basically a dirty old man. Loves his porn. Especially the young girls.”

David gave off a noise, something between a grunt and a sigh. “Ah. The failings of man.” He nodded towards the ceiling. “Jessie’s up there installing a set of monitors and servers to help you coordinate things.”

My eyes must have been the size of saucers, encouraging a reply from David before I could speak.

“Don’t freak, he borrowed a lot of it from friends.” The dingy dark brown cardigan shifted on his shoulders. “Sort of. I actually didn’t pursue it much further than that.”

“Well, we’re going to have to figure out how to keep Limox from surfing porn sites and getting us into trouble. Last thing I need is the Mounties smashing down the door because he’s been talking with new
friends
from Thailand.” I sighed.

David’s wan smile startled me. “I’ll take care of that. You just focus on what you need to do.”

“Yeah.” I slumped onto a stool that was strangely empty of books. “That I’m still not sure about. I’ll know in a few hours if anyone else is showing up or if I’m just blowing smoke.”

He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. “You do what you have to do, Jo. No one is going to blame you for this.”

“No, I blame us for this.” I rubbed my temples. “If the Agency hadn’t set up all those fights, if we hadn’t played the game, then these aliens wouldn’t have thought they were real. Maybe they wouldn’t have even attacked, or at least we would have been more prepared if we had been real heroes instead of fakes.”

“You are no fake.” The stern tone took me aback. “And now you have to believe it or you will fail.” David headed towards the back of the bookstore. “Don’t forget to lock the door and flip the sign. I was just waiting for you to return.”

I shifted my weight back and forth on the stool as he disappeared, probably to make sure Limox didn’t start breaking into porn sites before Jessie had a chance to set up a firewall. According to my watch I had another nine, ten hours before heading back to the tower and seeing if anyone was going to answer my call.

And if no one showed up?

I shook my head. I couldn’t afford to start thinking that way. Mike wouldn’t have let me.

I walked to the front door and turned the deadbolt, listening to make sure it slid home cleanly. It must have been oiled sometime in the past two years—the bugger was impossible to turn when I worked there.

As I walked up the stairs I heard Limox’s raised voice, which sent a shiver of fear down my spine. If he decided to attack Jessie and David…

A man’s groan startled me, enough that I grabbed a handful of waves and began to concentrate them into my gloved hands, balling the energy up. It wouldn’t be lethal or really even much more than a mild shock, but it’d have to do.

Jumping up the last few steps, I took a deep breath and charged into the loft, prepared for anything.

Except what I saw.

Chapter Seven

David looked up from the table, his cheeks turning scarlet as he handed another album of pictures to Limox, who was leaning over the collection of photographs with a wide grin. Jessie was down on his hands and knees under a bookcase at the far end of the large room, entangled in wires.

“Oh, Jo…” David swallowed loudly. “I thought that, er, well…” He glanced at the super beside him. “I thought Mr. Limox would like to see some of my…special collection.”

Letting the charges slowly dissipate from my gloves, I couldn’t help smiling as I advanced on the two men. David’s blush darkened even as Limox’s grin expanded, a look of rapture on his face.

“I, ah…” David stood up. “I thought I’d display my collection of antique lithographs and postcards.”

I glanced at the images. “Nice…lithographs.” The heat rose in my cheeks despite my smile. “I didn’t know you were into collecting such…rarities.” Mild by current standards, the sketches showed women in various states of undress provocatively eyeing the artist. Of course, this was back when a bare ankle was considered to be risqué.

“This is great.” Limox jabbed a finger at one postcard carefully preserved under a protective film. “This is from the Second World War and in mint condition.”

Leaving the super to gawk at the naughty pictures, David waved me over to the small kitchenette. “I thought that I’d give him something that’d keep him off the computer. Give Jessie less of a heart attack.” His flushed face matched his sheepish look.

“Hey.” I raised both gloved hands. “You don’t have to explain anything to me, David. And if it keeps him happy, then you can give him buckets of the stuff for all I care.”

“That’s good. I mean it’s fine.” He pulled out a cream-colored handkerchief and began wiping his face. “I mean…”

“It’s fine.” I grinned. “Mike had a collection of photos along those lines. Except it included a few supers.”

His eyebrows rose towards the ceiling, his lips moving without any sound coming out.

“Let’s just say that Dominatrix…well, was.” Leaving the flustered man, I walked over to Jessie, who was still under the table, plugging something into something into something else. “What’s all this?”

“Your command center,” he mumbled through a mouthful of white plastic zip ties. “If you’re going to have a command center, you need to do it right.”

I sat on the office chair, pulling it as close to the mess as I dared. “You’ve wanted to do this ever since you were a little kid, right?”

Now it was his turn to blush.

“Just don’t give us anything we can’t handle.” I glanced towards Limox, who was still chortling over the faded and yellowed pictures. “And plenty of firewalls. Last thing we need is Meltdown causing all this to melt down by downloading some nasty virus.”

“Roger that.” He studiously kept his eyes on a series of jacks he was attempting to plug in. “Well, at least you got one response so far.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Didn’t expect him, to be honest.”

Jessie looked up at me through a tree of wires. “Can you work with them? Villains, I mean?”

“Going to have to.” The smile was forced. “I’ll let you get back to wiring up the Hall of Justice, or whatever we’re going to call it.”

I couldn’t blame Jessie for being confused about how the good guys could work with the bad. The conversation I’d had with Mike at the start of our training pretty well covered it.

“So evil isn’t really evil.” I stared down at the clipboard in front of me, scanning the names of our upcoming opponents. “But why would you want to be a supervillain?”

“Because it’s more fun, in a way.” Mike pointed at the images coming up on the screen, scrolling through mug shots. I looked back and forth, matching faces to the names on the pages. “Who doesn’t like to twirl a long moustache and cackle as you tie a screaming woman to the train tracks?”