Chapter 18
“You’re serious? You’re kidding, right? No? Please.”
When Hellcat called my personal phone, I expected her to parade me in front of a jury of vigilantes.
Reluctant wasn’t the right word for my arrival.
I came ready to fight, to plead my case and prove to these pompous jerks that I wasn’t a killer.
What I didn’t expect was this badass woman discussing my public image like I was a corporate brand.
“Your fans on the HeroApp? are defending you. But there are just as many that are convinced you’re a villain parading as a hero.”
“I have fans?” I criticized heroes for having groupies, but knowing there were people rooting for me—I didn’t hate the idea.
“You’re the only hero with powers. This city is falling apart and we’re losing. The vigilantes can’t keep up. We need Supers, and right now…” She gave me the once over. “You’re what we’ve got.”
“You really know how to make a guy feel loved.”
We remained perched on the Bastille Vanguard City had been built around.
Standing in the bell tower, the old structure at the epicenter of a modern city created a beautiful juxtaposition.
As the sun set, the steeples of the church cast shadows stretching across the plaza.
I had seen every corner of this city, but now seeing it with a new elevation, it reminded me of just how much I loved Vanguard.
“Xander.” We had never broken from our superhero personas. “The city needs hope. Until we figure out what robbed the heroes of their abilities, we need to rally.”
“I’m your rally point.” It wasn’t enough that my relationship was crumbling around me because of the mask, but now a group of people who barely trusted me were relying on me to right the wrongs of the city. Even with super strength, the burden pushing down on my shoulders was almost crippling.
She nodded.
“I’m not the hero you need.”
“You’re the hero we got.” Hellcat put a hand on my shoulder. “Until you believe that, I’ll have enough faith for us both.”
She did the unthinkable.
With her free hand, she pulled at the mask covering her eyes. She painted her eyes with black makeup, but without the molded piece of fabric, I had a clear picture of the woman behind Hellcat. With a simple action, she transformed from a vigilante into a soccer mom.
“Hellen Catani,” she said while she offered a hand.
I gave it a shake, never breaking eye contact. Maintaining a secret identity had been the first conversation we had. She insisted that we never break our roles. But with a single gesture, our relationship changed.
“Why?”
“Figure partners shouldn’t have secrets.”
Partners? Had they promoted me from mentee to a full-fledged superhero? Just like her fist in battle, she knew how to land a verbal strike.
“Hellcat. Hellen Catani?” I laughed. “I just figured it out.”
“My husband’s pet name,” she admitted. “When he gets his powers back, he’ll be the one who shows you a real training session.”
A vigilante and a superhero, I couldn’t imagine what their home life might be like. Did they fight to the death to decide who picked the kids up from practice?
She put the mask on and leaned over the ledge to survey the city. “The Machinist caught wind there was something going down in the plaza.”
“Is he hiding nearby?”
She shook her head. “The vigilantes have been told to stand down.”
“Why would—”
“Optics. The city needs to see their only superhero fighting on their behalf. Eyes will be watching.”
“This is for show?”
She shook her head. “You don’t get it. We could easily kill every villain we stop. We could ensure they never escaped again. The city would be safer. But then the people would fear us. We’d be the thing they feared.”
The far side of the plaza lit up in a burst of light. Looking over her shoulder, Hellcat gave me a thumbs up. “Be the light the city needs.”
“No pressure.” I shook my arms, forcing the fire to cascade down my limbs.
“Don’t screw up or I’ll kick your ass.”
“Great pep talk, partner.”
I ran past Hellcat, jumping from the bell tower.
Yes, I jumped from the tenth story of a historic church.
Life had taken a weird turn. It only got weirder as the fire wrapped about my body.
The concrete below stopped rushing upward.
Instead, I spun about, watching a tail of fire follow my flight path.
It was now or never. The fate of heroes rested on my shoulders. I needed to clear my name and prove that I was more than an angry man abusing his abilities. I put Xander aside. Right now, the city needed Blaze.
“God, I hate that name.”
“I warned them. If they didn’t release him, I’d destroy the city.”
Every villain had a backstory. Some were better than others. The police had captured Neon’s boyfriend for drug smuggling. Now his supervillain girlfriend was going to level as much of the city as possible until she got her way. Temper tantrums seemed to be a pandemic in the villain community.
“I can’t let you do that.” I had practiced some hero dialogue. Griffin would be proud to know I even read a comic book or two. If I was going to play the part, I might as well do a little research.
“Who’s going to stop me?”
The plaza in front of the church served as the meeting spot for business luncheons.
It was a blend of concrete pavement, small park areas, and outdoor seating.
On a sunny day, it was the perfect place to take a break from the hustle and bustle of work and fool yourself into thinking you were visiting nature.
At night, there was the gazebo, where musicians played and soft street lights luring lovers for a stroll.
Thankfully, it wasn’t busy, but I needed to keep Neon busy long enough for the handful of citizens to get away. Already her skin glowed as if she might explode in another burst of light. I held my own against idiot strongmen, but a living bomb? How the hell was I supposed to handle that?
“How did you meet him?”
The people were nearly far enough away we could have a superhero slugfest, and they’d be okay. I flipped off the switch, the flames vanishing from my body. I landed with a thud, holding my hand up, praying she wouldn’t annihilate me in an instant.
“Jordan. His name is Jordan. I met him in the foster home.” If I had a heart, she’d already be tugging on its strings.
We all had a crappy upbringing. It didn’t give her an excuse to threaten the lives of innocent people.
“He’d protect me from the bullies on the way to school. If he hadn’t killed them…”
A killer from childhood? Any sympathy I might have mustered vanished.
I held up my hands, gesturing the universal symbol for calm down.
Inching forward, I tried to get close enough to tackle her to the ground.
If I could stop her without a superpowered battle, the world would see that Blaze was more than flashy abilities.
“If he—if the judge had listened. If the cops believed it was self-defense.” It quickly went from a cry against injustice to blaming everybody but them for their actions.
Her skin vibrated a bright pink before bolts of blue light crackled between her fingertips.
As she strolled down memory lane, she lost sight of her path.
The young victimized girl vanished, replaced by a sinister broad seeking blood.
“I’ll destroy everything if they don’t set him free.”
No older than twenty-five, she screamed. The nearby streetlights exploded. Every flash of brilliant white light siphoned through the air, striking her body. Nothing about this struck me as a good thing. Her feet lifted off the ground as bolts of blue lightning hammered the pavement.
“Oh shit.”
Her skin ruptured, unable to contain the energy she absorbed. I couldn’t summon the flames fast enough. My arms hadn’t reached my face as the wall of blue slammed into me. It launched me through the air before I could turn on the fire and let it keep me afloat above the plaza.
I inspected my arms and found the suit had been torn away, obliterated along parts of my body.
The suit worked to fill in the gaps, stretching slowly.
It was the first time I realized it wasn’t invulnerable.
It could take a beating, but either the energy she wielded or the light itself forced the black ooze back into my body.
“Okay, not invincible. Noted.”
I was about to fly in with a classic uppercut to the jaw of the bad guy, but she had other plans.
A beam of brilliant blue light slammed against my chest. It took a moment, but staring down, I could see the black recede, exposing more flesh.
Did she know how to peel the suit from my body, or was this dumb luck?
“Give him to me,” she bellowed.
I shoved a hand in the light's way, blocking it for a moment, and with my other hand, moving it in a circular motion, I drew out the fire. Seconds later, I had created a shield made of flames, and thankfully it provided a reprieve from the psycho.
Neon hammered away at the shield until light poked through.
The girl’s abilities were impressive, but coupled with her anger, she was a ticking time bomb.
The city needed to see Blaze win, to see the only powered hero defending its streets.
If she could match my energy output, it was time to get close enough that her abilities wouldn’t matter.
Hurling a series of fireballs, her hands flashed a brilliant blue, knocking them to the side. Digging the balls of my feet into the cement, I rushed toward Neon. Leaning forward, I pushed my shoulder forward. Crashing into the villain, she launched backward, tumbling along the ground.
It was time to end this fight and deliver her to the police station for jailing. I followed her as she came to a stop. She was getting to her knees when I wrapped my arms around her in a bear hug. Kicking and flailing, she tried to wiggle free, but thanks to the suit, there was no way she’d escape.
“Let me go,” she screamed.
The city was about to be down a vill—