Chapter 18
Drew: Avoid the office. I’ll explain tomorrow.
Booker: Who is this?
Drew: Drew. New phone.
Booker: Good. I miss seeing your texts.
Booker: What’s going on?
Drew: Got called away on business. Explain when I can.
Booker: Be careful out there.
Vanguard City had erupted into chaos.
The HeroApp? couldn’t chime fast enough for the number of crimes being committed.
It was as if somebody had rolled out the red carpet for villains.
The press team for the Centurions promised that as soon as they were ready, they’d make the streets safer.
In the meantime, citizens hid in their homes, terrified of going to the corner market.
I had barely pulled the mask over my head when an alarm sounded. Whether mundane crooks or supers looking to score a quick buck, I’d be sure to leave them tagged and ready for police pickup. As I reached the end of the alley, they laughed. Three voices, each caught in hysterics.
“Kid, you think you’re going to stop us?”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Darting out of the alley, I assessed the situation.
One man had a gun, or had a gun before the vigilante kicked it out of his hand.
She spun about, ducking low. She wielded her momentum, knocking his legs out from under him.
By the time he hit the sidewalk, she was already standing, giving him a swift kick with the toe of her belt.
“Behind you,” I shouted.
A second man had a gun drawn. She couldn’t have been over fifteen.
The way she rolled into a backward somersault and drove her heels into his gut bordered on perfection.
She spun, one kick, then two. She grabbed his wrist, pushing his arm up as he unloaded the magazine.
With a crack of her forehead against his nose and a knee to the groin, he fell.
She held the gun as the crook crumpled on the sidewalk, clutching his manhood.
When she turned, I could finally see her homemade costume.
The red bodysuit was almost dark enough to be called black.
The mask was nothing more than a rubber cat mask spray-painted red.
It was easy to spot a fledgling hero, but with moves like hers, was it her first time on the streets?
With a few quick clicks, she pulled the barrel off the gun and tossed it to the side. “You nearly got me killed.”
That sounded nothing like a thank you. “Kid. Go home. You’re going to get yourself killed.”
She gestured to the fallen men. “I’m sure they’d disagree.”
“You got lucky.”
“And I’ll get lucky again tonight.”
I thought about giving her an ass-whooping to prove my point. I hadn’t been much older when I stopped my first gas station robbery. She had the raw talent, but that wasn’t enough to survive the heathens of Southland. I had a body covered in scars to prove it.
“They didn’t say there were two of you.”
We paused, searching for the owner of the growling voice.
I spotted the shadows by a street lamp creeping along the pavement.
Elongating, it moved to the wall of an apartment building.
What stepped out was anything but human.
If the smoke for robes wasn’t enough, the exposed ribs filled with hellfire were a dead giveaway.
“Your souls will be my bounty.”
First assassins, and now demons from hell? “You work for Trident?”
“Trident?” The girl was green.
“Reports of a hero clad in crimson.” He stepped out of the shadows, the gateway to hell vanishing behind him. “They’ll pay a handsome fee.”
“Assassins that want me dead,” I mumbled to my new friend. I had been so preoccupied with sending her home that I hadn’t caught the fact that we wore the same color costume. “Are you trying to steal my trademark?”
“Don’t kid yourself.” She held out her hand, and a staff telescoped from her palm.
I never thought cleaning up the streets might inspire a resident to take up arms against the villain epidemic. There was no point in berating her. At that age, I’d have already gotten my ass handed to me several times. Protecting doesn’t always mean saving.
“Who put the bounty on my head?”
The demon laughed. I should have guessed. Without a sorcerer or angel to compel him, at best he’d lie. Never thought I’d miss Nails. At least she didn’t smell like sulfur.
“Follow my lead,” I said.
“Not going to—”
“Follow. My. Lead.” There was no room for debate.
I pulled the batons free. For hellspawn, I didn’t have to hold back. He had found his bounty. I had found my outlet for brutality. Sorry, demon, only one Hellion would survive. I glanced at my new partner. Okay, one and a half.
The demon sped across the street, each stomp of his foot like thunder.
Talons to the side, he tried for a killing swipe.
I ducked, smashing a baton against his inverted knee.
He kicked, and I caught him by the ankle.
He sent me flying through the window of an electronics store.
I braced my head as I crashed into a rack of computer monitors.
My partner jumped onto the trunk of a car and cracked her staff over his head.
I skipped checking for broken bones, shaking my head and staggering to my feet.
Sheared metal screamed as the demon’s nails dug into the trunk.
Thankfully, the girl flipped out of the way.
Speed kept her alive, but it’d only take one mistake, and she’d be eviscerated.
“Hey!” I shouted.
The demon continued swiping at her, missing by fractions of an inch. I ran across the store, somersaulting over the window. I rolled to my feet and chucked a baton. It smacked against the back of the demon’s head. I used the momentum to jump onto the trunk of a car.
She flipped into the back of a truck, and her luck ran out as she slipped. I leapt onto the car, crushing the roof before launching into the air. I slammed into the back of the demon, sending both of us rolling along the sidewalk. Not graceful, but it kept her alive.
“You are a thorn,” he growled.
Scurrying to my feet, the demon took his time, as if neither of us were any threat.
The denizens of hell were awfully cocky when it came to the mortal realm.
With a flick of the wrist, I reached for the fallen baton.
The magnets kicked in, and I snatched it out of the air.
He all but leaned against a building, unamused.
“I’ll follow your lead,” she said.
I glanced at my newest ally. She had taken down three men and didn’t flinch when a demon stepped out of the shadows.
Green or not, she had stepped up to the plate and protected Vanguard.
When we needed heroes the most, she had proven that heroes emerge in the unlikeliest of places.
I could have beaten the hellspawn on my own.
Battered and bruised, I’d walk away victorious.
Maybe it didn’t need to be that way.
“Kick his ass,” I said.
The demon laughed, as if I had cracked a joke. I charged. He swiped. I ducked and rolled. Her staff smacked against skin. I braced a foot against the building, pushing myself into the air. She flipped out of his reach. He turned just in time for me to crush his skull with the base of my baton.
“You—” She landed and lunged, cracking her staff against his jaw.
I grabbed onto an exposed collarbone. Wrapping an arm around his throat, I squeezed.
Thrashing, he tried to shake me, but I refused to relent.
I grabbed my wrist, tightening my grip. When he couldn’t bat me away, he shoved backward, slamming me against the wall.
He tried again, hands trying to claw at my face.
“Just. Die.”
The third thrust knocked the wind from my lungs. My grip loosened, and I plotted my retreat.
He froze. His muscles went slack as I spotted something silver protruding from the top of his skull.
The spike vanished, and my demon friend fell to his knees.
I let go of his neck to see the girl covered in blood and wielding a staff with a spike at the end.
Without a word, she retracted the weapon and shoved it in a pouch on her waist.
“Did I—”
“Kill it?” I returned the batons to their holsters and walked around the demon. It only took a second before the body turned to ash and crumbled. “Yeah. I think you did.”
We stood and watched as the corpse vanished in the wind. I stared at the black outline left by the demon. With that one gone, we still had to wrangle the three crooks, get them cuffed, and phone the police.
She continued staring at the empty spot.
“You did good kid.” She needed encouragement, something to keep her from spiraling into that dark place. “Have a name yet?”
Shaking her head, she pulled the mask off her face. Reflexes kicked in, and I surrounded us in an oversized black box. Her eyes went wide. “Hellion can’t do that.”
She knew me? I had been joking about the signature red. Did I have myself a copycat? Storming through the streets, causing havoc for justice, I never thought somebody would go out of their way to be like me.
“First rule of heroing.” I took the mask from her hand. “Never reveal your identity. It puts your friends and family in jeopardy.”
While dancing around the bad guys like a trained acrobat, she hadn’t flinched. With the adrenaline running on empty, I recognized the retreat. It was fun and games while the blood pumped, but when the silence settled in, we only had our inner demons to deal with.
“You did good.” My words weren’t breaking through.
I removed my mask.
“Nice to meet you.”
“First rule of heroing…” Her eyes widened as she saw my face, probably covered in blood and ash. “You’re normal.”
“Let’s never use that word again.” I held out my hand.
Her back straightened as she clasped it tightly.
I never thought I’d so easily reveal my identity.
I couldn’t live with myself knowing the next time she might get pummeled by a crook.
“If you’re going to be on the streets, mind if I show you a few tricks of the trade? ”
“But you’re old.”
“Ouch. That hurt.”
“I think I’m good on my own.”
I turned the mask over in my hands—firm rubber coated in red paint. The whiskers had been cut off, leaving just the eyes and nose of a cat.
“Hellcat.”
She snatched the mask out of my hands. The moniker fit, and she didn’t try batting it away. I’d call that progress. I slid my mask on while she lingered, eyeing the cat's nose. When she slid it back into place, I let the black fade away.
“Want to call me when you’re ready?”
“Call?” She couldn’t hide the look of disgust. “What are you? A psycho?”
The sound of sirens filled the street, and she bolted. I wish I had given her my number, even if she called me old. Right now, Vanguard needed its heroes, even the high schoolers. I should tell her parents and ensure she never saw the light of day, but I couldn’t ignore the pride in my chest.
“We’re heroes,” I whispered.
I’d never tell her, but tonight she did the rescuing.