Chapter 22
The leather stretched around my knuckles. I had set Drew aside. The situation required something more aggressive, somebody willing to play dirty. My hands brushed against the batons on my hip. We arrived at City Hall Plaza, where Keyes had been spotted causing havoc.
“What now?”
Booker got out of the car, stretching his shoulders.
My Tint uniform didn’t quite fit; it was tight around his belly.
If this were any other situation, I’d gawk at the way it hugged his body.
He laughed when I suggested he put it on.
It was less about transforming into a hero and more about the carbon nanotubes and aramid polymers capable of stopping a bullet.
A boom filled the plaza. High above the city, I spotted Mr. Supreme duking it out with a caped villain.
Off in the distance, an explosion vibrated through the cement.
Police chased a man with a television high above his head.
The entire city had descended into chaos, the ripple effect of one villain who needed putting down.
“Keyes is at the plaza fountain,” Connor said.
I tapped my earpiece. “On it.”
“Should I even ask if you have a plan?”
“We stop the bad guy.”
Booker rolled his eyes. “Heroes are worse than government supervisors.”
I pulled a baton free. “I’m not a hero. Connor, who do you have nearby?”
No reply.
“Connor?”
“One moment, please,” he said. “It seems my ex found a new body.”
I could hear Connor shouting obscenities before the comms went silent. I knew that Connor would dismantle Apex one line of code at a time. It’d be the closure he always needed.
“We’re on our own,” I said.
I started forward in a light trot, surveying the carnage unfolding around the plaza.
I couldn’t tell friend from foe as I dodged a screaming man.
If her powers were anything like Booker’s, she couldn’t create emotion, only intensify it.
I shouldn’t be surprised that underneath the civilized people of Vanguard there was a deep-rooted chaos.
I sidestepped a woman with a golf club, hooking her foot, forcing her to the pavement with a thud.
Keyes. Our Human Resources Director had upgraded from business attire to a true supervillain costume.
With her back turned, I could see the tattered imperial-purple cape and matching thigh-high boots.
For a woman who perfected the art of playing the reserved victim, she had come into her own.
I only needed one solid blow to the base of her skull, and we’d be back to business as normal.
I reached for my baton.
The yellow aura around Keyes had expanded, a glow bright enough that she had become her own light source.
She fired more blasts of energy, the fountain crumbling, leaving pipes spraying water across the plaza.
I’d ask why, but at this point I don’t think she had any real motives.
Some villains wanted the city, while others wanted to watch it burn.
I think she wanted to bask in the in-between.
I closed the distance between us, readying the throw.
With one strike, I could end her reign of terror, and we could go back to our usual bank robbers and evil geniuses.
Her body tensed, a slight stiffening in the shoulders.
I couldn’t wait. With two steps, I hurled the baton, watching the crimson bar spin across the plaza.
This would be the easiest victory. I gasped with only feet left before—
She spun on her heel, snatching it out of the air.
“Dammit,” I growled.
I almost didn’t notice her bend the baton with her thumb. Keyes had gone from conservative business-casual to little more than a bra and loincloth. If I were straight and she weren’t trying to destroy my city, I’d be concerned about a tightness in my suit. She tossed aside my favorite weapon.
“Did you think it’d be that easy?”
“Do we flank her?” Booker asked over my shoulder.
“Monologue first.”
“What?” Booker really needed to read the manual. If he ever joined the hero ranks, it’d be a steep learning curve.
“What’s your angle?” I shouted. “Why are you doing this?”
“Oh, you mean an actual monologue.”
Keyes held her arms out to her sides, and we could see the clouds of energy forming. With a deep breath, she drank it in. Her stiletto boots hovered off the ground as she basked in the chaos.
“Do you feel it?” Her back arched as if she were in the throes of an orgasm.
“It’s pure chaos.” Her eyes opened, and the energy leaked from the edges.
I didn’t know how powerful she had become…
how powerful she could become. If we didn’t stop her here, I feared she wouldn’t stop until the entire world descended into madness.
Gunshots fired. I could see a trio of officers trying to drop her. She threw up her hands, blocking their bullets with her palms. Energy fired, sending pavement flying. The officers flew backward. I knew what I was dealing with… sort of.
“Help them,” I barked.
Before the concrete dust settled, I charged. Her eyes widened as I emerged through the cloud. Keeping her on her toes might be my only advantage. Drawing back the baton, I spotted the shift in her hips, a slight brace of her left boot.
I ducked the first blast. The second, I pivoted on my heel. With a backward flip, she missed a third time. A vigilante used to hand-to-hand combat versus a villain with energy beams wasn’t a fair fight. I needed to close the distance.
Black consumed the plaza.
I hoped it would give the officers a chance to retreat and keep Booker out of her sight. Unable to see, I tapped the side of my helmet. The audio grew louder. Before my next outing, I’d ask Orion to install thermal trackers. With my secret out, I could only imagine the gadgets he’d arm me with.
“I can still see you.”
Instinct had me rolling out of the way. More concrete exploded behind me.
There was no more separating Tint and Hellion.
For too long, I had held back, handicapping myself in a fight.
Imagining the two merging into one brought a moment of calm.
No, not calm, peace. I never thought my powers useful, and on their own, they might not be, but as Hellion, they were a powerful weapon.
Her toes scraped against the pavement. I drew back my hand, fingers tightening on the baton. With all my might, I swung.
Crack.
Success.
I let the darkness evaporate, forcing my powers to turn her eyes the color of onyx. I leveled the playing field. Keyes’ laughter turned into a damning scream. Palms raised, she fired energy in all directions. A car exploded, and bystanders, both good and bad, ran for shelter.
I had seconds. I smashed the baton against her jaw, ducking under her swinging fist. Weaving to the side, I drove knuckles into her kidney.
She kicked, but without her weight behind it, I shoved it aside.
If she didn’t yield, I’d end it. For the safety of all, I’d cross that line.
I’d wear the guilt for the rest of my life, but Vanguard would be safe… Booker would be safe.
The power enveloped her arm as she swung. I braced, but she knocked the baton from my hand. One last chance, one opening. I clutched her hair, pulling it tight before I forced her to double over. Her face crashed against my raised knee, crimson drops spraying across the concrete.
She hit the ground. I cupped my hands together, raising them above my head. Muscles tensed as I prepared to crack her skull against the pavement. One final blow and the fight would end. I hesitated as I danced on the line between vigilante and villain.
Keyes laughed.
She rolled over, the black in her eyes cracking, yellow light bleeding through. She looked up, and the bruises I had given her faded. Not healing. Absorbing.
"More," she whispered. “I want your rage.”
She rose as if pulled by strings. The energy pulsed brighter than before.
I swung anyway. She caught my fist as if my powers meant nothing.
The bruises had faded, but blood still decorated her face.
She wasn’t immortal, but she was more impervious than I was.
With her free hand, she grabbed my throat. My feet left the ground.
I kicked, driving my toe into her stomach. She didn't flinch. I tried turning her eyes black again. Color rolled over her eyes. She blinked it away like swatting a fly.
“Adorable. You believed you stood a chance.”
She hurled me across the plaza. I hit what remained of the fountain, stone crumbling under the impact. Weaponless, I was reduced to nothing more than an inconvenience dressed in leather.
I got to one knee, too stubborn to stay down. She fired. The blast caught me in the chest, and I slid across wet pavement until my back struck a streetlamp. I tried to growl but couldn’t catch my breath. I tried to stand, and my legs wouldn't answer.
Hellion always got back up.
I couldn't.
She drifted toward me, and with the toe of her boot, she spun me onto my back.
Nothing of Catherine Keyes remained. The reserved woman I first met looked like wild incarnate.
I recognized the victory smirk on her crimson lips.
I tried raising my arm, but she stepped on my wrist, pinning me.
Not even the adrenaline pumping through my veins could save me now.
It hadn’t been enough. I wasn’t enough. Hellion… had not been enough.
I had failed Vanguard.
“And now you’re going to die.” Her palms flared a brilliant canary yellow.
I closed my eyes. There was no flash of my life, no highlight reel of my greatest moments.
All I could focus on was a nervous man in a waiting room, leg bouncing up and down.
There were so many books we had yet to discuss.
I prayed Booker fled, got far, far away from this place.
He’d have to continue reading the greats… alone.
Keyes’ death-cackle marked my end.