Blaze of Glory (24 page)

As he arched back, drawing the cloth over his chest, I spotted something at the base of his neck. A set of all-too familiar ridges, a scar that only meant one thing.

He had a plug.

I dropped to my knees, feeling dizzy. Hunter had lied. Hunter was a super.

But he was a Guardian. I’d seen the wristband. Hunter was a Guardian.

Could a Guardian be a super as well?

The cold water rushed over me, raising goose bumps on my skin. What else had he lied about? He’d led us to the base, to Jenny, to being able to shut down the plugs.

My stomach lurched. Maybe they weren’t really shut down. Maybe it was all a farce, put together by the Agency to gain my trust, my team’s trust. Maybe the plugs were still active and Outrager’s anger was just part of the show.

Maybe we were all rushing to our death, led by an idiot woman who let her heart lead her instead of her mind.

“Eep!” I gasped as the temperature dropped.

“Sorry…” Hunter spun the knobs off, raising my water pressure and temperature back to what it had been a few seconds ago. “Thanks. See you outside.” He snatched up the turtleneck in both hands. “Feels a lot better.”

“Yep.” I waited until the door had clicked shut behind him before racing to finish my business. The rumbling in my stomach turned to straight nausea, the dry heaves threatening to overwhelm my racing mind and have me curled up around the white porcelain bowl.

The steam whirled about me as I stepped out and snatched what I hoped was a clean towel, snapping my hair instantly dry with a tweak of electricity. Sure it was dangerous to a degree, but I wasn’t going to start looking for a hair dryer. I refused to be one of those women who spent hours in front of the mirror doing makeup and all that.

Unless I had to, which meant a photo shoot and a media appearance by Surf and Metal Mike, your favorite superhero team.

“I hate this.” The flashes in front of us had become a sea of pain, threatening to blind me permanently. The new leather outfit hadn’t even been broken in yet, the skin-tight clothing the newest creation from the promotional department. Shoulder armor wasn’t really my thing, but it skewed well with the male demographics.

“Just keep smiling.” Mike put his arm around me, letting his hand rest on my waist. A whole new set of cameras whirred into action.

“Do you really need to do that?” I mouthed the words, sending them through the link.

“Good for publicity.” He grinned wider, if that were possible. “Besides, you’ve got your own bedroom. If you want it.”

“Sure as hell do. I may be a slave to the Agency, but I’m not yours.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw him wince at the verbal slap.

“Roll with it, girl. Just roll with it.” The tall African American waved at the assembled reporters. “Besides, you’re a star now.”

Not a hero. A star.

What was I now?

I walked into the bedroom and wondered if I could set my old clothing afire and if anyone would notice. Deciding that a good laundry might be able to save some of it, I tucked it into a plastic bag and tossed it into the corner.

David, God bless him, had somehow managed to find a decent light blue blouse that didn’t make me look like a Parkdale hooker and that I could tuck into the top of my jeans without worrying about the bottom of the blouse falling out. At my age the bare midriff just didn’t do it for me.

As I got dressed I ran options through my mind. I could knock Hunter out, it’d be easy. A fast rap to the back of his skull and he’d be out.

Limox wouldn’t mind killing him if I asked. Stephen would kvetch a bit, but he had no love for Guardians.

Peter might object, but he’d understand.

May wouldn’t. I’d have to do it quickly and quietly before she could react.

Rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands, I let out a sigh. I could kill him. Walk up right behind him and electrocute him. I’d never done it, never even contemplated it. Mike sure as hell wouldn’t have let me experiment with it.

An image of Mike appeared in my mind’s eye. He was a Guardian. He had been my friend, my lover, my comrade in arms. He hadn’t been evil.

But Hunter wasn’t Mike.

I started gathering the waves with my bare hands, sucking them in. If anyone was going to kill him, it’d have to be me.

My team, my responsibility.

A fast brush through my hair with my fingers, snapping it back with a black elastic, and I was out of the room in time to see May sitting on the couch, working at applying makeup with an ancient compact that wouldn’t have been out of place in a Sherlock Holmes movie. The rest of the boys were still at the windows, with the exception of Jessie who was still at the computer.

“Hunter?” I tried to sound light and cheery. “Can I see you back here for a minute? Just some details I need to go over with you.”

“Sure.” He turned away from the window. “Nice area here. Might go out and do some shopping later.”

I didn’t answer him. Instead I turned around and went into the bedroom. I was at full capacity, the extra power rolling off me.

Hunter walked in a second later, hands raised in front of him. “Okay, okay. I know I didn’t peek at you, so don’t you dare say I did. Not that I wasn’t tempted, but…”

Grabbing him by his shoulders, I slammed him down on the bed. Straddling his hips, I pushed my hands down on his chest. I knew he felt the hum of energy, knew what was about to happen.

He gazed at me with terror in his eyes and something else.

“I’m sorry,” Hunter whispered.

I leaned forward, almost touching noses. “I know you’ve got a plug. I know you’re a super. I know you’re a liar.” My hands tightened on his shirt. “I wanted you to know that before I kill you.”

“I’m still sorry,” he replied, wide blue eyes locked with mine. “I want you to know I never betrayed you. Or them.”

“How can I trust you?” My nails dug into the fabric. “You’re a super. You’re one of us. How could you be a Guardian?”

He gave a weary smile. “Because I’m a deal-breaker. A game ender. A ringer. They had no use for me, but they couldn’t just let me go. So they made me a Guardian and gave me May.”

Sparks jumped along my fingertips, sizzling along the thin cloth. I felt like I was about to explode. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I didn’t have time for this. If I was going to kill him and not have May blow my head off, I had to hurry.

“Probability field manipulation,” he said softly. “I burn the bookies. I screw up the odds. I twist the playing field around to always let the house win.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

“Let me show you.” Hunter shifted under my weight. “Let me show you what I can do, what I’ve done for you and the others.”

“And you call May and she takes me out.”

“No.” He raised one hand, putting two fingers to his forehead in a mock salute. “Scout’s honor.”

I didn’t smile.

“I swear on Mike’s grave I won’t call her. Or anyone.” He drew in a shaky breath. “If you don’t like what you hear, then I’ll kneel down right here and let you kill me. No fighting, nothing. You can tell May I had a heart attack. You’ll need her.”

My own heart ached. I missed Mike, missed him more than I cared to admit. Hunter had slipped into that space, edged in next to Mike’s memory both as a friend and as a Guardian and, maybe, as a lover in the future. But I couldn’t risk the team and our mission for that.

But Hunter was part of the team. My team. A super. And supers didn’t kill supers.

I lifted my hands a fraction of an inch off his chest, releasing the energy in slow, measured bursts back into the world. The sparks continued to leap around my bare hands, burning minute holes in his shirt.

“For Mike,” I whispered. “You’ve got two minutes.”

“Then please get off me.” Hunter didn’t move. “Not that I’m not enjoying this, but…” he wheezed, “…it’s sort of hard to do this lying down.”

I climbed off the bed, keeping my hands in front of me and aimed at the supine figure.

“Okay.” He sat up. “I’m going to reach in my pocket right now and find a coin. Don’t shoot me, please.” There was no humor in his words.

I nodded. The voices of the other supers drifted in from over the bookcase. They had no idea what was going on only a few feet from them.

Hunter withdrew a quarter. “Probability control means that I control the odds. Statistically speaking, every time I flip this coin there’s a fifty percent chance that it’ll come up heads. Every time.”

“Right.” I frowned. “Every time?”

“Sure.” He tossed the coin into the air. Grabbing it in mid-fall, he slapped it on the back of his hand. Heads.

“In a nutshell, the odds reset every time around. Ever play roulette?”

Mike and I had loved Las Vegas. “A few times.”

“There’s a lit sign at each table showing what numbers were winners over the past few spins of the wheel, right?” He didn’t wait for my response. “The kicker is that it doesn’t matter what number won last time, there’s the same odds that it’ll show up this time. It’s a farce to get you to play numbers on an idea that if a number shows up once, it won’t come up again.”

He flipped the quarter skyward, snatching it again out of the air. Heads.

“I tweak the odds over to the positive outcome for me. And for those around me, by default.”

“Stop.” I dug in my pockets, coming up with a handful of change. Pennies, nickels, a few loonies. “So you’re telling me that you make good luck happen?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that with a lot of math, but, yes.” He stared at the coins as I dumped them in his hand.

“Toss them all into the air. Don’t touch them. Let them hit the ground.” I raised my right palm. “If they’re all heads, then we’re still talking. If one of them turns up tails, you’re done.” I choked on the last word.

The silver and copper coins spun in the air, falling to the ground at my feet.

Heads.

All heads.

“What did you do?” I whispered. “What did you do to us?”

Hunter smiled. “I went with you to the base. I went with you to Pittsburgh. I helped you win.” He extended one hand, touching my cheek. “And I want to help you win this last battle.”

“You did it all?” I dropped my hands to my sides, discharging the last of my energy.

“No.” He stood up, stepping forward to cradle my face in his hands. “You did it. You and May and Peter and Stephen and even Harris. I just helped the odds turn in our favor.”

“Damn.” I exhaled. “I’d have loved to go to Vegas with you.”

“I’m already banned.” Hunter laughed.

“Not if we win.” I took his hands in mine. “Bet on it.”

He nodded towards the bookcase and the rest of the team. “So, think we’ve been in here long enough for them to start talking about us?”

“More than long enough.” I closed my eyes, still processing the events of the past few minutes. “And now I know how we’re going to help Kol’tak win.”

When I opened them Hunter was staring at me, frowning. “I don’t understand. I can only tweak our odds. I don’t know how it’ll work with aliens. And I can’t guarantee a win. Eventually the odds will go the other way. It’s like expecting to win the lottery without buying a ticket, you have to at least engage in the process.” He drew a sharp breath. “So how are you going to make this work?”

Leaning over, I scooped up the handful of coins. “That’s why I’m in charge.” I poked at his chest, expanding a small burn hole. “Watch and learn, Guardian.”

I walked around the bookcase. “Jessie, give me a sitrep on how things are looking in the media.”

“All looking good. A few media leaks here and there with some blurry images of you kicking ass in Pittsburgh, but nothing leading back here. Yet.” Jessie chewed on his bottom lip for a second before continuing. “Although I think it’s just a matter of time, really. Someone’s going to figure this out. There’s always some smart reporter who’s not panicking and looking for the angle, even at the end of the world.”

“Or the Agency’ll leak it to the press to put pressure on us to give him up to the
authorities
.” I looked over at Kol’tak. “Which isn’t going to happen.”

I walked over to the couch and sat down. “You need to contact your leader and challenge him for command of the fleet.”

His eyes went wide at the request/demand. “I will lose.” He shook his head. “I will not win in a challenge.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because if I could best him in battle I would already be leading the fleet.”

“Yes. But I plan to give you a ringer.”

His eyebrows shot up, his forehead furrowing with curiosity and confusion. “A what?”

I lowered my voice to a whisper. “You gain your powers by watching what we do and then duplicating it, correct?”

Kol’tak nodded. “It’s the only way to be totally fair. We can’t fight with what we don’t have. And it gives you just as much of a chance to win as we do.”

“And all your warriors have the same powers. It’s just a case of who uses them best, yes?”

The confused look stayed on his face. “Yes.”

“Here’s your ringer.” I pulled Hunter close. “He’s a super. His power is some sort of probability control. He’ll push the odds over to a win for you.”

“Ah.” The alien frowned. “I don’t understand.”

The rest of the team gathered around us silently as I opened my hand, showing the coins.

“Ten coins here. I want them to be half heads, half tails.”

Before I could do anything, Stephen snorted. “Gonna have to get you into a poker game, girl. You don’t know anything about odds.”

“Don’t I?” I locked eyes with Hunter as I tossed the coins into the air.

The spare change bounced along the floor, some dangerously close to the steps. Eight pairs of eyes watched them settle down, one mischievous quarter taking forever to settle.

Five heads. Five tails.

Kol’tak’s eyes widened. “Ah!” He looked down at the coins lying on the hardwood floor, then back up at the two of us. “Ah.” The third time it seemed to sink in without me trying to explain the math. “This is good.”

“What do you need me to do? To let you copy my power?” Hunter swallowed once.

“Nothing now.” The alien picked up one of the coins, turning it over and over in his hand. “I have been recording the apparent odds of this encounter, and it is obvious that you are somehow changing the randomness of this event.” He smiled. “This is a most fortunate thing to have in battle.”