Dane Curse (26 page)

“Nice shot,” Knuckles said.

Rush slapped my arm. “That’s what I’m talking about, she’s got more kick than a three legged showgirl.”

“Everyone ok?” I asked.

Smiley shook some cobwebs free, and nodded.

I looked around. “What about Temper?”

“I was standing on him,” Knuckles said.

“Ok over here.” Temper slid through the hole, and joined us. “That was some sweet shooting, Dane.”

My hands throbbed from the deep burns. I tried to swallow, but couldn’t find the spit. The smell of burnt cotton and skin, much of it my own, was everywhere. I slipped Lois, who now had a dim, reddish glow, back into the holster. She wouldn’t be ready to fire again for six minutes and forty-seven seconds. “Alright then,” I said. “Let’s move.”

We still had a long way to go.

Chapter 50

We continued taking the steps, though now that we were in the building proper the path was no longer a massive spiral, but instead your standard back and forth stairwell, which meant we’d make better time. Still, I sent Rush ahead to scope out the opposition.

When he returned he didn’t look happy. “All clear until the eighty-seventh, then we got a problem.”

“Tell me.”

“Hoarfrost. And about half a dozen hooligans, each sporting rifles like I’ve never seen.”

“Are they red? Long and thin?” I asked.

“They are.”

I shook my head. Kaos. Those could pose a problem.

We arrived at the top of the staircase, on the building’s second highest story. A plain white door led into the large office. On it was a small window. I looked through it. There were three hastily built machine gun nests made of office chairs, desks, and sofas, and each one was manned by a pair of guards with Kaos rifles. The first group was close to us, off to the side, while the second sat in the middle of the room, halfway back. The third was on the far wall, directly in front of the elevator that led to the penthouse. That’s where Hoarfrost stood.

“Damn it,” I said, “they’ve all got Kaos.”

“What are those?” Temper asked.

I explained the guns and the bullets, and what they could do. “You won’t be able to handle them, Smiley.”

Smiley made a face. “Says who?”

“Hey, listen to him,” Knuckles said, “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Those things’ll get you just as bad as me. You’re not going in there alone.”

“I won’t be alone,” Knuckles said. “You stay here, and be ready to back us up.”

“No way, I’m not going to hide. Why don’t you give them another dose of the Kapowitzer?” Smiley said.

“This close to the top floor I’d probably hit Lynchpin too,” I said. “I could use the narrow setting, but it’ll only get one of them.”

Knuckles nodded. “How about-”

Red tracer fire erupted through the wall. I grabbed Temper and pulled him to the ground. Rush was already there. Smiley screamed, horrible and loud. I looked up. Crimson bullets ripped through his chest and burst out his back. They painted the white wall behind him red. He dropped to his knees. There was pain and fear in his eyes. But not for long. A second later a MAGMA hit his face adding brains to the wet mural. And Smiley fell to the floor.

“Smiley!” Knuckles cried out. “You rats, I’ll kill you!” He punched the door off its hinges, and charged the nearest gun nest. He jumped over it, grabbed the closest man, and slugged him so hard his head turned into a fine, red mist. Before the body hit the ground he jabbed the second one, and popped his torso like a ketchup packet.

Both gunmen in the center pulled back. I blasted at them with Rico as they ran. But they made it to the far cover with Hoarfrost and her guards, and all five of them ducked down while Knuckles returned to us. He scooped up what was left of his friend’s head. “Smiley, are you ok? Talk to me buddy, say something.”

“He’s gone,” Rush said.

“Shut up!” Knuckles applied pressure to the wounds, trying to stem bleeding that had already stopped.

“Come on Knuck.” I fired three more times. “There’s work needs doing,”

He grit his teeth. “Yeah there is…”

With a downward blast from his hands Knuckles launched into the room, with me, Rush, and Temper right behind. He landed in the center nest, but didn’t stop. He kept moving forward as the four shooters in the rear opened fire. MAGMAs filled the air. I dove down, scrambling for cover behind the nearest furniture pile. Temper and Rush joined me.

Then, as suddenly as the barrage started, it came to a stop.

I poked my head out, then pulled it back like a scared rabbit. Knuckles was right in front of the elevator. Two guys held his arms while Hoarfrost stood behind him, digging her blue nails into his throat. She said, “We got your boy, now come on out. All of you.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Knuckles said, “she’ll… aaarrrgggh!”

I took another peek from behind my cover.

Knuckles was stumbling towards us. The veins in his neck were swollen and bright blue. Hoarfrost laughed and extended her hands. A controlled blizzard blew from the tips of her fingers and swallowed him up. When it passed Knuckles stood like an ice sculpture, completely frozen. Slowly he tipped forward.

“No.” I reached out, but I was too far away.

Knuckles hit the ground and shattered. The white and red chunks slid in all directions.

“You’re next hero,” Hoarfrost said.

“Not likely.” I pulled out Lois. She was glowing green and ready to blaze. The bands wrapped down my arm so there was no chance I’d lose her again. I clicked on narrow shot. It would only get one of them, but that seemed like enough. Jumping up I took aim at Hoarfrost.

And she blasted my left hand with one of her ice storms. I spun to the side. But it was too late. My fist was encased in a block of ice like some frozen caveman. I pointed the pistol at her anyway, and squeezed the trigger as hard as I could. Nothing happened. There was too much ice wedged in the mechanism.

Rifle fire filled the room. Two MAGMAs caught me in the side splitting already burnt skin. I spun off center, and fell to the ground. Blood poured onto the carpet. Ignoring it as best I could I got to my knees, and aimed Rico. But Hoarfrost was ready. She froze my right hand, too.

Now, with both my paws in frozen cages, she charged at me.

Temper jumped in her path. He extended his hands outward and sent a mental wave her way. Hoarfrost didn’t slow down. She threw a high kick that caught him in the forehead. He dropped like a sack of wet walnuts.

“I’ll take the shooters,” Rush said, and vanished.

“No problem.” I ran towards Hoarfrost.

She spun around. Her foot sailed towards my chin. I ducked under it and slid by. With her back to me I snuck a jab in. The hard ice on my hand struck her spine. She cried out, but didn’t fall. Instead Hoarfrost whipped around, and lashed out with her fist. It was covered in sharp ice. The blow caught me in the forehead. Its edges cut deep. I ignored the blood and pain, and gave her a hard left.

She ducked it easy and shuffled back.

“Dane, I got them.” It was Rush. He was smiling in front of the machine gun nest. Three of the guards were laid out flat, and the remaining Kaos rifles all sported bent muzzles. There was movement to his right.

“Watch out!” I yelled.

Rush turned. The last guy swung his bent rifle like a baseball bat. He was fast, and hit the kid in the side of the head. Rush stumbled backwards, and fell.

“That’s good advice.” It was Hoarfrost. She slid behind me and drove a kick up, between my legs. I doubled over and fell to the floor. “Guess that invulnerability isn’t one hundred percent yet, hmm?”

I looked up just in in time to see Rush get swatted again. This blow sent him across the room. He landed behind some rubble. I moved towards him, but Hoarfrost kicked my ribs. It knocked me to my back. Then she threw a leg over and straddled me. Her hands wrapped around my throat. Icy cold seeped in. “Feel that?” she asked. “It’s the blood to your brain freezing.”

I pressed up against her stomach with my ice-encrusted hands. She grabbed them, and poured her power down on me with another frozen blast. Now my entire upper body, stomach, arms, and chest, were all completely trapped in an unbreakable block of ice.

“Nice try, warm body. But not quite.” Hoarfrost put a hand over my eye. I shut it tight. But frigid cold still stabbed through the lid. It felt like she jammed a knitting needle in there.

I screamed and white wisps rose from my mouth.

“Don’t go yet. There’s plenty more.” She laughed and touched my other eye. I writhed in agony. When she removed her finger the world around me was shrouded in white. I was snow blind. “You’re just like Sledge,” she said, “stupid and slow.”

I pushed back against the ice as hard as I could. Nothing happened. Then I rocked back and forth, putting all my weight into it, trying to thrash free. But the glacier didn’t budge.

“You’re still trying to fight?” Hoarfrost leaned in close. “I take it back, you’re more like Pinnacle, blind to the truth until it’s too late.”

I took a sharp breath, and focused. The last time I maxed I could press seven tons, and I put every bit of it into lifting my arms. I heard a soft crack. So I pushed harder. And the block that had me exploded sending Hoarfrost flying.

I got to my feet and looked around. The world was still made of haze and smoke. I couldn’t make her out. Then pain bit the side of my face. I staggered back. All I could see was a lumpy outline, nothing more.

“That’s it, fight back blunt skull.” Something crashed down on my head. “Show some guts.” That same thing struck my ribs.

My hands were still encased in ice, but I threw a quick combo at where I thought she was. I missed.

“Keep at it, big boy.” She struck my mouth. It filled with blood. “I like watching you flail.” Then she jumped on me, and wrapped her legs around my waist. The muscles there began to freeze, and I fell to one knee. She grabbed the sides of my head. More cold rushed in.

I screamed. It felt like ice picks drilling through my skull from every angle.

But now I could put my hands on her.

I jammed my two ice stumps into her flanks. A few ribs cracked. She yelled out, and let go of my head, but her legs were still wrapped around me. So I jumped as high as I could, and came down flat, catching Hoarfrost between me and the floor. We hit hard. The impact forced the breath from her lungs.

But her legs were still locked, their cold biting deep. Pulling my knees underneath me I sat up, and with the icy block on my left hand I pinned her to the floor. Then I brought the right one down as hard as I could, directly where her face should be.

She twisted away at the last second, and all I hit was the floor.

But the ice on my hand cracked.

I swung at her head again.

And again, she dodged. But this time the ice shattered. Now my right hand was free. And that meant so was Rico. I aimed him down at her chest.

“No!” Hoarfrost disengaged her legs. Jamming her left heel into the crook of my right arm she pressed up hard, keeping my gun hand pointed away from her. “No!” she yelled again.

“Oh yeah.” I lifted my left hand high. And brought it down with all my might. The edges of the ice were hard. Sharp. And they hit something soft. Hoarfrost’s legs went limp. I pulled back, and gave her another shot to the head. This time I put everything I had behind it. This time it didn’t just hit soft. It was also wet. And it wasn’t just her legs that went limp. This time it was her whole body

But just to be safe, I gave her a third. This blow crushed her skull, and shattered the ice that held my left hand. I dropped Lois, and felt around for Hoarfrost’s face. It was messy pool of soft and jagged chunks. “Now who’s got the blunt skull?” I said.

“You ok?” Rush stood over me. I could barely make out his shape. “Don’t move. I’m rubbing my hands together to get them warm. Let’s see if I can’t thaw you out.” He put his hands on my eyes. The heat stabbed as harsh as the cold, but slowly the pain abated. And when he pulled back I could see.

Hoarfrost was lying in front of me, sans head. The guys with the guns weren’t moving either.

“What took you so long?” I asked, rubbing my hands together.

“That guy,” Rush said, motioning to one of the four men lying lifeless a few feet away, “had hyper reflexes. He was quick. Real quick. Good stamina, too, but I got him.”

I nodded. “Where’s Temper.”

“There.”

I looked to where Rush pointed. Temper sat up. He had a gash on his head. Blood was running down his cheek.

“You ok?” I asked.

Temper touched the wound. “I’ll be fine. It’ll probably scar.”

“Can you go on?”

“Sure. Can you?”

I had been burned, cut, and damn near frozen solid. Blood trickled out from a dozen holes, and I could barely see. And although I was far from a hundred percent I got to my feet, and shook the cold from my bones. “Yeah,” I said. I still had a promise to keep.

Chapter 51

I ripped Hoarfrost’s key card free from her belt, and led my last two allies into the elevator. We took it up one floor to the penthouse. The doors opened, and they followed me out.

“This it?” Temper asked.

I nodded.

Rush glanced around the room, his head snapping back and forth. “There’s nobody here.”

I pointed at the door to the office. “There.”

Temper walked over, and put both hands on it. “There are four people inside.”

I joined him. “Yeah. Lynchpin, Lynx, Skip, and Church Mouse.”

“Church Mouse,” Temper said. “He must be the one on the other side of the door.”

“You know what that means,” I said.

“Yep.”

“What’s that mean?” Rush said.

“He absorbs vibrations, so we can’t kick it in,” I said. “We need to use the Kapowitzer to blast it off its hinges.”

“But you can’t, you might hit Lynchpin,” Rush said.

“You got a better idea?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Rush said, “if Temper gives you the lay of the land maybe you can shoot in such a way that we take out the two baddies and leave our boys untouched.”

Temper said, “That’s good thinking. Now give me a second, let me see if I can’t get more specific.” He closed his eyes and concentrated. “Beyond Church Mouse there are two people in the middle of the room, and one standing on the far side. That’s probably Lynx, but I don’t know if you can hit her, and still miss the others. They’re lined up pretty good.”

“May as well try,” I said. “And if I do miss, we’ll charge in and mop up. But this piece won’t be ready to shoot again for a while so we’ll have to be quick.”

“Good thing I am quick,” Rush said. “Temper, you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Temper said.

I stood at his side, far enough away to give Rush some room between us.

Lois was primed. I pushed her barrel to the door.

“More to the left,” Temper said. “No, don’t move it, turn it. Good. Now aim it higher. A little higher. Ok, now just wait a second.”

I was stiller than the men who got an eyeful of Medusa. Rush was behind me, bouncing on the balls of his feet. And Temper was waiting.

Just waiting.

If he was right, and I pulled the trigger without getting Lynx, we’d have to do the job with our bare hands. If that was the case then there would only be a tiny window to stop her, and if the kid wasn’t fast enough it would be our doom, not victory, we were rushing towards.

“How we doing?” I said.

Temper stared at the door with all the focus one man could muster. “Now.”

I fired.

The blast knocked us all back a few steps. Rush and Temper were dazed. No time to care. I charged in first, shaking the stars from my eyes as I went.

Church Mouse was nowhere to be seen. Skip lay face down in the middle of the room. Right behind him was Lynchpin. He was on his knees, but unconscious. A few feet behind them, on the far side of the office where the desk used to be, stood Lynx. She was whole and unhurt, though she looked shocked. The ceiling and what remained of the walls to her right had been vaporized. My blast had missed her by a foot.

And she still had the nullifier in her hands, but it was glowing red. Just like Lois.

I charged towards her.

Rush zipped past me in a blur.

Lynx snapped back, and froze him with her TK. He stopped midstride, caught like an ant in honey.

I was one step behind the kid when I stopped, too. Invisible power pushed back into me. But this time was different. It took a lot of effort, but I could move. Just a bit. “Temper,” I said, “hit her with-”

“Confusion? Fear?” He was off to the right, one pace behind me. “I’m way ahead of you.”

Lynx grunted. Her eyes were full of terror and her soft, red lips twisted into a grimace.

I pressed forward with everything I had. And managed a step. My heart was beating in my ears. I was going to reach her. I bore down, took another step, and passed Rush.

“What’s going on?” Lynx was practically foaming at the mouth. “What are you doing?”

“You know exactly what,” I said. “I’m here for you.”

“No…” She rubbed her temple. “How are you doing this to me?” Lynx looked at Temper. “You. No God damn repeller is going to cheat me.” The nullifier in her hands turned blue, and she pointed it at him.

Without Temper’s distraction Lynx would toss us off of the building easy. And this time there’d be no Smiley to save me. “No!” I yelled.

The now familiar ‘zap’ filled my ears as the black energy beam cut the air to my right. I braced for the attack that would end my life.

But it never came.

“Rush!” Temper said.

I turned and saw the kid. He was on the ground near Temper’s feet holding his stomach. And I realized he wasn’t stuck in the TK. He just couldn’t move forward. So instead Rush advanced towards the rear, throwing himself in front of his partner. It was a noble thing to do, but now he was powerless. Powerless and exposed.

But he bought us one minute.

“Your turn.” I took another step towards Lynx. The pressure against me increased. “Temper, a little more please.”

He grit his teeth. Beads of sweat were on his brow. “That’s all I got.”

I looked at Lynx. She was mad with rage, but I could see how much the effort was costing her. “God damn you Dane,” she spat the words out like acid, “why don’t you quit?”

“Not… in… my nature.” I pushed with everything I had, but we were locked in a stalemate. This was as close as I was going to get.

“No,” she said, “I’ve come too far.” She kept the nullifier pointed at Temper.

I lifted up Lois, and aimed at Lynx. It was still a little over five minutes to full power.

She took a deep breath and smiled. “Sorry lover. It’s glowing red.”

Rush was out of commission. There was no one left to take the shot for him.

Temper grunted. “You can’t hold us forever.”

“I won’t have to. In less than a minute I’m going to give you a gut full of humble pie.” She shook her head the way you do to clear a bad thought. “Then I’ll throw you all so far off this building you’ll land in different time zones.”

I clicked Lois from scatter shot to narrow. My finger touched the trigger, but the force of Lynx’s push was so strong that when the bracers tried to snake down my arm they blew past my elbow, flapping like a kite tail in the wind.

Lynx laughed, a crazy shriek. “I win Dane, the city’s mine.”

I saw the triumph in her face. A blind man could.

Temper folded to his knees. He couldn’t keep his concentration and remain standing.

The nullifier would be ready in thirty seconds.

Maybe less.

I’m sorry Pinnacle, I tried. I went up against the town’s titans and came up wanting. I found your killer, but that doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is I failed. I let you down. And now our city’s going to burn.

“No more miracles, Dane?” Lynx asked. “How’s it feel, to reach into your bag and finally come out with a handful of nothing?”

She was right, I was out of time. I looked down. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of seeing the hope die in my eyes. But something stirred at my feet. It took me a second to realize, but it was a slim chance. “So you think it’s over?” I said.

“Oh Dane, you have a talented mouth, but it won’t get you out of this. By my count you’ve got less than twenty seconds left.”

I looked up at Lynx. Lois was still bright red. She’d need a lot more time to recharge, but I said, “You mean you’ve got less than twenty seconds. I want you to use them to think about what you’ve done. Use them to repent. Because you might not get another chance.”

She laughed, just like I thought she would. “You’re a madman, you know that?”

“Don’t ever forget this moment.”

“Lover,” she said, “I never will.”

Lynx couldn’t see because her father was blocking, but there was a hand reaching up from the ground.

We had ten seconds left before she killed us all.

The hand inched closer to Lois.

Then Lynx saw it. She looked confused.

It was bloody and shaking. Like my hand it was scratched and marred, frostbit and burnt, but there was one big difference: it was missing half a pinky.

It touched my Kapowitzer. And Lois turned green. “Thanks, Skip,” I said. “Perfect timing.”

I pulled the trigger and let my lady roar.

The pressure on me let up, and I wiped the spots from my eyes. Lynx was still on her feet. She looked shocked and confused. In her hand she held the nullifier, but it was seared in half, and behind it was a perfectly round, cauterized hole that ran straight through her gut, just big enough for me to put my fist through.

Then those beautiful eyes closed, and she fell to the ground.