Chapter 19 #2
I fumbled with the door knob with trembling hands until I got it to turn and then I stumbled out into the hall. My whole body was shaking. Was I going into shock? Was I dying? Oh, the irony, to kill them to save my life and then die two minutes later.
“Looks like you cut your arm,” Roger said casually, standing in the hall, looking at me like he usually did, searching for signs of illness so he could torture me with them.
I shuddered hard and then slid down the wall. Everything seemed so normal in this hall, with the bad guys behind the door, and Roger looking so normal. Except that he wasn’t wearing his lab coat. “That’s right. I’m probably poisoned. Did I hallucinate that?” I asked, feeling almost hopeful.
He smiled and crouched down next to me. “Nope. I got the power on and then checked the cameras. I assume you’re talking about the bloodbath you left in there.”
I shuddered and would have thrown up again if I had food in my stomach. Dry heaving was not fun. “I killed them. I hate violence so much.”
“Only two of them. Probably.”
“How did you survive jumping out the window?”
“I’m a good climber. I actually went sideways onto the roof over the porch.” He sat down all the way beside me, sticking his legs out in the hall and looked exhausted.
I shoved his shoulder. “You abandoned me when I needed help! You’re supposed to be a hero! Now I know all of that is a lie. You’re nothing but a coward!”
He patted my arm, the one that was cut. “You’ll need stitches.
Yeah, I would be a coward if I was afraid of death, pain, or any of the usual things.
I’m not. I abandoned you under orders. Why would I follow orders that weren’t mine?
Because he’s right. Curing you isn’t enough.
You’ll need the super serum working for you, or one of these days, being next to the King of Beasts is going to get you killed. ”
I stared at him while my heart beat too fast, my whole body freaking out. “Curing me? I’m not cured.”
He gave me a smile that was almost nice. “As of three days ago, totally cured. The last few days have just been running tests. And then setting you up to take out some bad guys, saving yourself, and keeping your promise to Nix, all while triggering these beautiful lethal instincts of yours.”
I shuddered hard, curling up in a ball and wrapping my arms around my knees. “Nix is going to kill you when he hears that you set me up to be murdered.”
“But he’ll bring me back to life when he finds out that I saved his precious wife.” He elbowed me. “Also, you don’t have to wait for other people if you want someone killed.”
I shuddered again. Would I ever stop seeing the looks on their faces? Michael. He’d given me a lot of stress, but life was sacred. My life…Was I really cured?
I looked up, staring at him. “Who gave you orders?” I shook my head while I ran through the possibilities, my mind working ridiculously fast as I brought up all the possibilities and discarded them.
Beastie? No. He’d never be able to risk my life like that.
Nix? No. He’s stay with me in case something went wrong.
He wouldn’t just leave me all on my own.
Jezebel? That was an interesting idea. She was hard enough for it, but I’d like to think she would have sent men who washed their hair.
Flowers? It was hard to think of him being cold-blooded enough to put me at risk, but he’d been able to watch me suffer without self-medicating.
He could create beautiful art even in the middle of my worst episodes.
He could partition away his feelings and do what was required.
“Flowers,” I finally said, turning to glare at him. “He’s the one who’s in charge? You follow his orders? Why?”
He shrugged helplessly. “He’s a legend.”
“Why? He has poisoned knives and paints. How does that make a legend?”
He patted my arm again. The one that was bleeding.
Psycho. “He’s a legendary surgeon. I mean, he went through a phase where he went foot to foot against the Crocodile and they were at war for a few years, a decade or something, but what I really respect was his other work.
I’m a doctor, you know, and he can do things that most people would think were impossible if they had the ability to conceive them at all.
Which they don’t. He sees patterns that no one else sees.
That’s his real super power. Come on.” He stood, dragging me to my feet.
“We’ll give you stitches and then you can tell me if you can fly a helicopter.
“Aren’t I going to die from the poison?”
He snorted. “Like you’re susceptible to Flowers’ poison.”
He didn’t try to take me back in the room full of bodies, which was nice.
“I still can’t believe you jumped out the window instead of at least making sure they didn’t kill me.”
He shrugged. “You can handle yourself. I saw what you did to the two most terrifying people I know, Nix and Daniel.” He opened the door to a supply closet, and then got out needles, green thread, and started stitching me up. Without any pain killer. In the closet.
“What happened to the other ones? Weren’t there more than three?” I asked then flinched at the pull on my arm. I was used to pain, but that sharp stab and drag sensation was novel.
“You got three, I got a few others.”
“How many did you kill?”
“Kill?” He looked at me, the picture of shocked outrage on his face while he yanked on the thread, sending burning agony through me.
“I don’t kill people. I do leave them unconscious on fire ant hills, though, which some could say is worse.
” He winked at me and then refocused on the stitches.
He finished up, tied the knot and then beamed at me.
“So, the real question is, do you know how to fly a helicopter?”
I blinked at him. “The real question is, do you have something for me to eat so I can throw up instead of just endless dry heaving?”
He cocked his head at me. “You’re hungry?” He asked like he’d never heard of something that ludicrous, someone wanting to eat after they’d been hooked up to tubes for months. “Sure. There’s a lot of stuff in the kitchen.”
We sat at the island closest to the refrigerator while I ate from all the tidy containers with a big serving spoon.
The place really was abandoned, but someone clearly usually worked here to feed the staff, although the only staff I ever saw were Roger, Flowers, and a quiet female nurse who never said anything.
“You know, your stomach’s not settled, mostly from the medication at this point,” he said, pointing at my noodle casserole. “That is going to be disgusting to throw up.”
“Why do I need to fly a helicopter?” I asked, ignoring him and taking another enormous bite.
“Do you know how to?” he asked, eyes brightening.
“No.”
His face fell. “Then I guess I’ll have to fly it.”
“Do you not know how to fly a helicopter?”
“No, I know how to fly most things. I had lessons starting when I was ten years old.”
“Helicopter flying lessons as a ten-year-old? Why?”
He rolled his pretty aquamarine eyes. “Because I was the second son, and as such was supposed to be useful to the heir, my brother. He’s a hero. The kind who sweats justice and morality.”
“So you had to learn how to sweat vice and cruelty, just to get out from under his shadow. That’s not very mature, you know.”
He grinned at me. “Thank you. I’ve worked my whole life to cultivate levels of immaturity most people only dream of.”
I rolled my eyes and took another bite of noodle salad before switching to the beef stew. Even cold, it was incredible. “You still haven’t told me why we need to fly a helicopter.”
“I mean, we could stay here, wait for the troops to come home, but I have good intel that Nix’s crew is going to be attacked tonight, during the campfire scene.”
I stared at him, spoon halfway to my mouth while my stomach churned. Maybe I’d eaten too much, too fast. I slowly lowered it. “But you can call them and tell them.”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s the King of Beasts, and my intel comes from my alliances with other people.”
“Then why are you telling me?”
He rolled his pretty eyes. “After all we’ve been through together, you ask why?
Look, Nix isn’t going to die no matter what happens.
He’s like, unkillable at this point. The rest of the team is not easy prey, but don’t you want to go flying to his rescue?
It’ll be all heroic, and I know, from how horrible you feel about killing those killers, even in self-defense, that you’re all caped crusader. ”
“Did Flowers tell you to do this? Something about testing my super powers?”
“Nope. He’s with the team. He couldn’t be trusted here with you.
He’d rescue you, and he was very sure that wouldn’t be in your best interest. He’ll actually be really irritated that I took you into the real war zone.
He’s pretty attached to you. It’s kind of cute.
He’s the hard and ruthless kind of hero that doesn’t have any weaknesses in the way of family and friends, but there you are, his long lost daughter, and he can’t help but flutter around you like a big chicken. ”
I blinked at him. Comparing Flowers to a fluttering chicken was so incredibly ridiculous, I couldn’t even begin.
I stood up. “Okay. Let’s go fly to the rescue.”
He nodded, but didn’t get up. “A few things. First, you don’t tell anyone that I flew the helicopter. You’re an excellent liar. Just say you read the instruction manual and totally picked it up. That’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. Second, you’ll need to wear your super suit.”
I glared at him. “I’m not wearing spandex.”
He snorted. “Spandex? How will that stop bullets? Your super suit is very armored. Dirk designed it. It’s basically white with a smiley face on front. No cape or anything, which is a pity. I voted for a cape.”
“Dirk as in Pinkie’s husband?”
“Pinkie? Still can’t get over calling that piranha ‘Pinkie.’ Dirk as in one of my best buddies from college. Also boarding school. Also from society events during which he would hack into…” He waved a hand. “I digress. Guy’s a tech genius. Also not stuck on legalities. Is it a deal?”
I nodded my head and stuck my hand out to shake. “Let’s fly to the rescue, Doctor Vain.”
He blinked at me, taking my hand automatically. “Doctor Vain? You have a plethora of unlimited options to choose from based on my horrible character traits, and that’s what you’d call me?”
“Flowers said that beautiful people are the most vain. Who is more beautiful than you? And you know that Flowers is always right, or you wouldn’t have left me alone with murdering psychos!
” I ended that by pulling him close and holding the tip of a knife at his throat.
It was the same knife Michael tried to kill me with.
He sighed and shrugged. “You make a good point.” He winked at me at the pun. “Doctor Vain it is. Well, hero, do you want to suit up or wear a hospital gown for the rescue?”
I scowled at him and then released him, feeling self-conscious about holding a knife to his throat.
He really didn’t care about pain or death.
Psycho. Also, the pun was kind of funny.
Also, was I seriously healed? Had this psychopath actually seen me through the misery to a brighter day?
He really was a hero. He clearly tried to fight it, but the proof was undeniable.
I beamed at him. “Super suit and then let’s ride.” It was Sunshine-Ray Death-Hammer to the rescue.