Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
Sadie watched the three men with big guns guarding her on the skyscraper roof. Several more were gathered around Trick. The Villain was large and imposing, with chiseled features and a ripped physique. Hide and Volt circled around him, growing more and more fidgety.
She twisted her hands behind her back, grimacing through the thick tape across her mouth. The plastic zip-tie had her pinned against the metal pole warmed by the late-day sun.
“Where are they?” Hide said.
“They’ll be here,” Trick said. He glanced at Sadie.
A wave of confusion washed over her. Mind control? Why else had she followed him up here? It was like her brain and body were two separate entities, ’cause her body wanted to get the hell out of there.
What did Trick want with her? In moments of lucidity, she’d heard Joan and Mark , but everything was fuzzy.
A roar sounded through the sky. Sadie blinked, trying to clear her mind, and saw a figure in black shooting two long streams of fire. They landed in a crouch, dark hair falling over both shoulders.
Spark.
Spark stood, searching the area. The armed guards moved closer to Sadie.
“About time you showed up,” Trick said.
“Melvin, you shitbag!” Spark shouted.
Melvin?
She looked at Sadie. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
Sadie shook her head. That voice. So familiar.
It was Joan.
Shock surged through her. Joan.
Joan stalked toward Trick, but Volt and Hide stepped between them. “If you touched one hair on her head…”
“She’s fine,” Trick said. “Glad this got your attention.”
Another figure shooting icy snow flew onto the roof. Ice. He gestured at Sadie and said, “You okay, hon?”
Wait, that was Mark. Sadie nodded, squeaking unintelligible words through the duct tape.
“You’re a real piece of guano, Melvin.”
“It’s Trick,” Volt said.
Joan looked strong and confident and a little intimidating in her Spark outfit. She stared down Trick, who apparently was…Uncle Mel?
A third figure shot onto the roof in solid gray. Breeze.
“Really, dude?” Mark said.
Breeze shrugged. “It was a good nap.”
“Did you get our texts?”
“Yep.”
Trick rubbed his gloved hands together. “Now that we’re all here, we can start taking over the city.”
“How are we going to do that, Melvin?” Breeze said.
“It’s Trick , damn it. And I’m open to your suggestions. To go along with my ideas.”
“Riiiight,” Mark drawled.
“We have tons of ideas,” Joan said. She planted her hands on her hips. “In fact, we brought some friends to help with them.”
Movement came from everywhere. Flight sailed through the air, and Lunk charged ahead, and Catch…ran toward Joan? Everything was a bit muddled.
Blurry action surrounded the guards near Sadie. They crumpled into a pile. Race stopped running and swiftly disarmed the rifles.
Joan shot fire into Catch’s hands. They turned in tandem to thrust fireballs at Volt. Volt retaliated with bolts of electricity.
Lunk knocked out the rest of the guards in quick order. Hide disappeared, but Mark shot snow all around until Hide’s silhouette appeared. Flight swooped down and grabbed him.
Breeze blew strong wind at Volt, sending her electric bolts high in the sky. The fireballs pushed her over.
Trick-Melvin sprinted toward Sadie. She screamed as loud as she could through the tape. Joan turned and flung her hand in their direction. A roaring flame shot up in front of Trick.
“I’ve got this,” Catch said. “Go.”
Joan stomped over, fiery hands at her sides. Her eyes burned red and orange and hot. Her whole body glowed with ire.
“Get up!” Trick yelled at the unarmed men lying on the roof. “Defend me at all costs!”
They stood like creepy zombies. Race zigzagged around them, hog-tying them with heavy neon rope. The guards wiggled and wobbled like crabs.
Trick backed up, sneering at Joan. “Working with the Supers? Really, Joanie? After everything we’ve been through?”
“You fucked up big time,” Joan growled. “That woman means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
“Enough to forget your loyalties? Our code?”
“I don’t owe you a thing.” She veered toward Sadie. “Shitheads like you have kept me in this life far too long.”
“Perry kept you in this life,” Trick scoffed.
“And now it’s time for all of us to get out. Only you’ll be locked up for a very, very long time.”
Joan paused in front of Sadie. Her familiar lips, the worry in her amber eyes. “Hey, sweetheart,” she said.
She shot a fireball at Trick’s feet, causing him to jump.
“I’m really sorry for everything. I should’ve been honest from the start.”
She shot another fireball at his ass. He howled.
“I know I don’t deserve a second chance,” Joan said. “Especially not after you’ve seen all this.”
A sharp flame blazed from her palm. It slammed into Trick’s chest, knocking him over.
“But I really, really like you. And I think we could work through some stuff. If you want to try.”
Sadie’s heart swelled. Joan was rescuing her. She was working with the Supers. She was…
…the reason Sadie was in this mess. Trick had used her as bait. She tried to say, “I got kidnapped because of you,” but that was not what came out.
“What?” Joan said.
Mark hastened over. “I got this.”
He touched a finger to the duct tape. It froze and crumbled off Sadie’s mouth. She drew in a deep breath. The air tasted of smoke and cold and electricity.
Trick started to get up. Joan lasered her eyes at him. A tall inferno encircled him.
“Isn’t he going to get burned?” Sadie asked.
“Nah,” Joan said. “Our suits are resistant to stuff like that.”
Race stood with them for a few moments, then gestured at the fire circle. “Are you done playing with him?”
Joan’s eyes narrowed. “He’s all yours.”
Breeze walked over and blew a big gust of wind to extinguish the flames. Race wasted no time wrapping Trick in full-body ropes.
Sadie shook her head, which felt like her own again. At some point, Trick had changed. He was much shorter, and his face wasn’t remotely chiseled, and he looked more like a Melvin. Were those fake muscles built into his suit?
The whomp-whomp-whomp of an approaching helicopter sounded nearby. Could be the police, could be the press.
Flight scooped him up and flew off, Trick’s wails echoing farther and farther away.
“Good riddance, piece of shit,” Joan said.
“Make sure he’s contained in a way that blocks him from doing mind control,” Breeze said to Race.
“We do know how to properly secure Villains,” Race said. That made Breeze rapidly retreat.
Across the roof, an unconscious Hide and Volt were being tied up by Catch. All the guards had already been bound.
Joan pulled her facemask off, revealing wild, sweaty hair and eyebrows knit in concern. She extended a tentative hand and gently brushed Sadie’s hair back. The tender gesture was pure Joanie, not at all Spark.
“So that was Uncle Mel?” Sadie said.
“Yeah.”
“He kind of sucks.”
“Yeah.”
“This happened because of you,” Sadie said. “Because of my connection to you.”
Joan closed her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“That was why you didn’t want me involved with this part of your life.”
“I put you in danger,” she murmured.
“Well, I’ve never wanted an ordinary life.” Sadie mustered up a smirk. “Meeting you has made it very interesting.”
Lunk lumbered over. “Let’s set you free,” he said to Sadie. He pulled the zip-tie between his hands until the plastic broke. “There you go, little lady.”
She rubbed at the raw skin on her wrists. Her shoulders and arms ached from being pulled taut behind her back.
Lunk stood expectantly, fists on hips, waiting for her to fawn over him. Sadie reached for Joan instead, who drew her into her arms. Joan rested her cheek against Sadie’s forehead. It was warmer than usual, but nothing Sadie couldn’t handle. Being in Joan’s protective embrace was everything .
“Stand back, stud,” Mark said to Lunk.
He waved his hand. A thick ice arch formed to cover Joan and Sadie, affording them some privacy as the helicopter hovered overhead.
Poking his head beneath it, he said, “Hey, it’s me, Mark.”
“I know,” Sadie said. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Mark winked at her.
Under the other side of the arch, Breeze leaned in. “Hi, Sadie. I’m Perry. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Nice to meet you,” Sadie said to the masked man. “I’ve heard a lot about you, too.”
Breeze-Perry shared a look with Mark and Joan. Then his gaze shifted behind them.
Race cocked a hip, amusement dancing on their lips. “We did it,” they said.
“We sure did,” said Mark.
Joan tilted her head to see Race. “Thanks for trusting us. This wouldn’t have happened without you.”
“You’re right,” Race said. Then they nodded. “Thank you for trusting us . Uphold your end of the deal.”
Mark and Joan agreed to whatever that meant. Sadie nestled closer to Joan’s bodysuit.
“You too, Perry.” Race did the I’m watching you two-finger gesture. Perry appeared to be confused by that.
The Superhero headed to where Catch watched over the guards. Lunk looked back and forth, then trudged in the same direction.
“Hate to see you go,” Mark said, “but I love to watch you walk away.”
Lunk turned around. “Huh?”
Mark shook his head. “The lights are on in his beautiful head, but no one’s home.” He squeezed Sadie’s shoulder, then went to join Lunk. “Hey, big guy. Thank your sidekick for us. He’s not half bad.”
Perry stepped beneath the ice arch. “What did Race mean about your end of the deal?” he asked Joan.
“We’ll have to talk,” she said. “Later.”
His mouth set in a grim line. “Get Sadie home safely.”
“I will.” She pressed Sadie tighter.
He strode to the ledge and hopped over. Not something you saw every day. But today was filled with things Sadie didn’t see every day. Like the woman she knew as Joan Malone glowing with waves of fire. It was honestly kind of…hot.
A second helicopter hovered on the opposite side of the roof. Sadie adjusted her position so Joan couldn’t be seen. Several water droplets hit the top of her head. The ice arch was melting from Joan’s body heat and the sun.
Joan pulled back just enough to look at Sadie. Her eyes shined amber and genuine. “I’m so sorry for everything. Can you ever forgive me?”
“I was about to text you,” Sadie said.
“What?”
“Right before I got taken. I was just about to text you. You did try to tell me the truth. I wasn’t listening. Or hearing what I wanted to hear, I guess.”
Joan shook her head. “Don’t take any responsibility for this.”
“I need to own up to my part,” Sadie said. “I assumed you were someone and ignored my intuition when things felt off. But I was right about one thing.”
Joan raised her eyebrows.
“You are a good person. What you did today proves that.”
A small smile tugged at her mouth.
Linking her fingers low on Joan’s back, Sadie said, “We have to work on honesty. And I need to speak up when something doesn’t seem right. But I’ll listen, too. I want you to tell me your whole story.”
“I will,” Joan said.
Someone cleared their throat loudly.
Catch stood with her arms crossed firmly over her chest. Joan stiffened, dropping one hand to form a first.
“Justice was served today,” Catch stated.
“Yeah,” Joan said, wariness in her voice.
“It’s not the full outcome I want, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt. But make no mistake.” Catch pointed her index finger. “We’ll be watching you.”
Joan rolled her eyes and made a halfhearted noise in agreement. Water from the ice arch dripped onto her head.
Catch nodded at Sadie. “Not to worry, citizen of Vector City. Justice has prevailed.”
A laugh bubbled up in her throat. “I’m not worried at all,” Sadie said, swaying in Joan’s arms.
Joan grinned at her.
The Super turned on her navy-blue heel and marched off. The too-straight posture, the way she talked in clipped tones, her lack of humor…
“I can’t believe I thought you were her,” Sadie said.
Joan snorted and dropped her forehead to Sadie’s. “I mean…”
“But I always knew you were good.” She rested a hand on Joan’s chest, over her black-and-red Spark outfit. “You don’t have to be a Superhero to do good.”
“Maybe I’m neither good nor bad, but a little of both.”
Sadie smiled widely. “Aren’t we all?”