Chapter 22
They had yet to start repairs on the bridge. The towers stood at an angle and many of the wires were snapped. They had deemed it safe enough to fix, but that didn’t mean it’d be up and running any time in the next year.
In the middle of the carnage—the gaping hole. That day, I thought I might fall to the river below. Now, with a flex of muscle, I’d summon the fire and skid along the water’s surface in a puff of steam. The world had changed. I had changed.
I sped along the road, dodging abandoned cars. They had removed the deceased, both human and magical creatures, but otherwise, it remained untouched. I slowed, expecting Smoke to ambush me before I reached the worst of the damage.
“What the hell?” I mumbled as I halted my approach.
Smoke stood in the center of a circle with a dozen people surrounding him.
I had watched enough B-rate horrors to know magical crap was about to go down.
Whatever was unfolding couldn’t be good, and now with a coven surrounding him, I had more innocents to worry about.
He knew I was heading to the bridge. Yet he arrogantly stood with his back to me. The man’s arrogance was astounding, but he had reason. Without me even knowing it, he had bested me. Unlike before, he wasn’t working in the shadows.
“Smoke!”
Nobody moved. Apparently, a man covered in fire shouting wasn’t enough to grab their attention. The men and women in the circle spread their hands out, nearly touching fingers as they leaned their heads back. This was the part in the movie where something unsuspecting jumped out of the shadows.
Their bodies dropped to the ground, crumpling like rag dolls. In their place, dark specters maintained the same position. Did he simply kill a dozen people without so much as a snap of his fingers?
“Smoke!”
I landed, dropping the flames. I stormed toward the circle until I could hear the eerie voices of the shadows chanting.
Finally, Smoke turned around. Past the billowing wisps of black, I could see Aiden bound and gagged on his knees.
Him sitting in the middle of the circle didn’t bode well, and if this was a movie plot, he’d be the sacrifice.
“Have you come to watch the finale? It’s going to be a good one.”
“I know you’re behind the depowering.”
Smoke laughed, that irksome sound that said he had a secret that nobody else could know.
The fire erupted from my arms, the anger pushing it from my body.
With a shake of the head, I regained my bearings.
Pulverizing him wouldn’t be the answer. I had to keep my head on straight or I had already lost.
“Aiden, are you okay?”
Smoke stepped to the side, making sure I could see his captive. Aiden looked down, giving a shimmy in the ropes holding his arms at his side.
“You know, I’ve been better.” I’d take the humor as a good sign. He shifted back and forth, but the ropes held him in place. “I might need a hand,” he added.
While he seemed unscathed, the shadowy figures continued their chanting.
Were they casting a spell? For all the heroes I had interacted with, I couldn’t recall any of them talking about magic.
Metal super suits, sure, but if memory served me right, most of the magic users were tightlipped about their practices.
When in doubt of a villain’s plan, ask.
“What’s the game plan, Smoke?”
He grew several feet, hulking over Aiden. Did he just rub his hands together and cackle? Wow, Griffin would have a heyday with how many stereotypes this villain fell into.
“You haven’t figured it out… Blaze?” He treated my name like an insult.
It was a dumb name, but the joke was on him—I already knew it was stupid.
“Like you, my powers were given to me. Yours were granted to you by Prometheus, mine—” The smoke pulled away from his chest, revealing the necklace. “Mine by a demon desperate to be free.”
“Great, I appreciate the history lesson. What did you do to the heroes?”
“Heroes? Oh no, it’s not just heroes. I stole the powers of every person who refused to serve me.” Oh great, that meant every person left with powers was part of Smoke’s gang of heathens.
“Loyalty or depowered? Nice trick.” I couldn’t deny it. He had done more damage to Vanguard than the time sentient jellyfish from another dimension attacked.
“I hold all the cards.”
“And this little group therapy session?” I gestured to the shadows, who continued to ignore me.
“I’m making good on a promise. Power for his release. And once Beleth is free, he will rule the mortal realm.”
“So you’re giving up your position? You don’t strike me as somebody to take a knee.”
He paused. Had this fool not thought about what would happen to his position if he summoned a demon to destroy the Earth? Wow, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. I wasn’t sorry in the least.
“I will be rewarded. First Earth, then every planet…”
“Okay, okay, you’ve shared enough of your stupid plan.”
“Xander,” Aiden shouted. “Get him.”
Gladly.
The fireballs were for a distraction. Three spheres of flames flew at Smoke. I didn’t see if he batted them away or dodged them. I summoned the fire and shoved off from the ground with all my strength.
“You think—”
I might not fly fast enough to create a sonic boom like other heroes, but I was no slouch.
He didn’t finish the sentence as my fist slammed into his chest. It might not hurt him, but all I needed was to push him away from Aiden.
First, I had to get him to safety, then I’d ensure Smoke didn’t destroy the world.
“Still playing at being a hero,” he hissed.
“Says the B-rate villain.”
His body slithered around my fists until he was at my side. With a jerk, he redirected my body. We had almost cleared the hole in the middle of the bridge. It wasn’t far for people who could fly, but it meant he wasn’t within arm's reach of Aiden.
Thanks to Smoke, I slammed into a jersey barrier, crushing the first one before the second stopped me dead in my tracks. It hurt more than a gunshot to the chest. I could work through the pain… or I could harness it.
My body flared, a burst of fiery light going off like a bomb. The concrete cracked, and the bridge shook. It knocked Smoke away, freeing me from his grip. This wasn’t like our first encounter. I wasn’t a novice, unsure of the powers coursing through my body.
I was a hero.
Shooting upright in the air, I shook off the impact. The smug jerk gathered the smoke until he grew to the size of Dozer. He thought puffing out his chest could intimidate me. I nearly laughed at the pageantry. If he thought size made the man, I was prepared to slap them on a table and measure.
“Okay, suit,” I whispered, “let’s do this.”
I fell the twenty feet. The moment I hit the ground, a burst of light flashed from the suit. Harmless, unless you wanted to see what you were hitting. Smoke swung, the arm going overhead in a failed attempt.
I kicked, aiming for the beast’s groin. The cheap shot would allow me to feel his squishy bits under my heel. I don’t know if I managed a ball-crushing blow, but it sent him back a couple of feet.
He raised both fists overhead, as if he was about to drive them downward. I stepped to the side to see a smaller, more human-sized version of smoke step out of the shadowy shell.
Smoke’s hand shot out, trying to grab me by the wrist. Long before I was a superhero, I was a barroom brawler.
A man like this only got his hands dirty if he knew he could win.
As I pushed the arm out to the side, I reached through the smoke, grabbing his shirt.
With a smash of my forehead against his face, Smoke staggered.
The villain growled.
His strength wouldn’t win. But unlike me, he’d had time to explore his abilities.
Tendrils of smoke grabbed me about the waist, dragging me forward, straight into his fist. I tried to land a blow, but each time, a shadowy arm blocked my approach.
Eventually they tossed me upright only to meet his fists swinging downward.
He clubbed me hard enough it knocked the wind out of my lungs.
“Oomph.” I hit the street hard enough that it created a crater.
“It’s like you got your powers yesterday. Which begs the question, how do you have powers?”
“Dumb luck,” I groaned. For a smaller man, he certainly hit as hard as Dozer. If I kept him talking, it’d buy more time. Right now, I needed to distract him as long as possible.
“Prometheus,” I confessed, “gave me his powers.”
“The alien?” Of course, a supervillain knew all about the people he was trying to kill. “Ah, the suit.” He said it as if it explained everything.
“What about it?” Buy. More. Time.
“Magic, of course. His species conjured the sentient suits that give them powers. You’re a thoughtless brute. Did you not research your progenitor?”
Prometheus knew what was about to occur. He hadn’t been speaking about his own death. The dying hero knew this chaos was about to unfold. Did something about the transference avoid the depowering? I had so many questions, but right now, none of them were important.
“Sentient suits?” Play dumb. Let the arrogant prick take the bait.
Smoke continued to rattle on. He stepped forward, driving his heel into my sternum, but I hardly noticed. It was time to have a long-overdue conversation.
Hey, suit, we need to talk.
Would it respond? Was it a living object with its own ability to form words? Could it speak English? This was almost—
The suit rippled. It wasn’t a word, but a sensation warming my body. I had felt a similar sensation when I first shook William’s hand. The suit was alive.
I don’t know what I’m doing here. This guy is about to destroy the world. We’re the last line of defense. I swallowed my pride and finally admitted the scariest thing. I need your help.
Smoke ground in his heel as he let loose maniacal laughter. If the suit didn’t respond, I was prepared to summon the fire, all of it. If I went supernova, perhaps I could break through his shields and kill—
A hand grabbed Smoke’s ankle. I raised my hands, glancing at between them and the additional appendage. Another arm emerged from the suit, pushing off the ground. Like Prometheus, the suit transformed me into a Tetrabrachius. Whoa, how did I even know that word?
The extra arm pushed off the ground, while the other yanked at his leg. It was Smoke’s turn to slam into a jersey barrier. I hope it hurt, a lot.
The fire returned without me summoning. I might not understand the suit, at least not yet, but I officially had a partner. It was amusing that watching Smoke fight, fists in conjunction with his powers was my teachable moment. Now it was time to school the villain.
The fire siphoned from my body, pooling in at my chest before shooting forward. It slammed into Smoke, forcing him to hold up his hands. Try as he might, the shield of darkness was pulverized and he couldn’t summon his abilities quick enough to stop me.
“You’re done, William.”
A tendril of smoke shot forward. The pointy tip would have skewered my skull if the suit’s hands hadn’t caught it. It was my turn to laugh. Yes, laugh and make it as condescending as possible.
“You pitiful fool.” Damn, I see why he enjoyed it. But I didn’t need to stand superior to the villain. I just needed to snatch the necklace off his body and destroy it. A superpowered Smoke would break free from jail in no time. I wanted a weak and helpless William behind bars.
A plume of smoke clouded the area around William. As I let loose another burst of fire, he was already flying over the hole in the bridge, returning to his coven of shadow creatures.
“Dammit,” I followed. He was faster, reaching the circle before me.
“Your boyfriend isn’t essential. He was to serve as icing for Beleth, a blood sacrifice for the hungry.”
He lifted Aiden by the neck, holding him out as a human shield. I could have attempted for a precision shot of fire into Smoke’s skull, but I couldn’t risk Aiden. I’d never forgive myself if I hurt him.
“You have a decision, hero. Save Aiden or stop the end of the world.” He moved until he stood at the end of the gaping hole in the bridge. It was ironic. He stood in almost the same spot where Aiden had first saved me. The hand reaching over the ledge rested on the back of my head.
“Save your man, or stop me. You can’t do both.”
He dangled Aiden over the edge of the hole. He struggled, but the ropes held fast. Letting his face go limp, he stared at me. His eyes went from narrow to wide. Even from here, I could see the sadness filling them.
“Which will it be, hero?”
“If you hurt him—“
“You’ll what? Stop me? That hasn’t worked for you yet.”
Aiden tilted his head back, trying to throw a look at Smoke. He wasn’t giving up. He was granting me permission. Aiden was willing to sacrifice himself so that I could save the world. My heart nearly burst as I realized the man was giving me the okay to let him die.
“Time to choose, Blaze.”
Smoke thrust Aiden downward through the hole.