Orphan of Mythcorp (31 page)

I clenched my fists. Why couldn’t people
understand?

“
It’s megabomb bad because the first
thing Ash will do with his newfound power is hunt down the
Iconocops and politicians responsible for recycling our parents
during the War. I guess I get that. But when he acts, congress will
react. And then the Zoners will get into it and before you know it
we’ll have another Mythcorp War on our hands and then every last
one of us will be hunted down. Anyone with Madenine in their
genetic code: Morai and Mythicons and whatever the hell I am. We’ll
be hunted to extinction this time. Get it?”

My little tantrum had drawn a crowd, and for
some reason this set my face a burning.

“
Boys got a point, Tiny,” Faustus said,
all cheery as usual, darn him. “But the boy shouldn’t snap at the
girl; girl’s got a point too, and a girl can’t help it, as the
great Tyrese used to say. So we going or what?”

Our four sets of peepers locked together.
Were we really going to do this?

“
Are we really going to do this?” Izzy
wondered. “Run through Philicity during a brimstorm? Cause it
sounds a little stupid.”

Faustus unleashed a giant smile. “Yeah. It’ll
be just like old times.”

“
Well then,” Kana jumped up. “Let’s not
waste time chatting about it.” She whisked down the aisle to the
driver. “Open the door.”

“
Um, no. Are you insane?”

“
Legally and otherwise,” the tiny woman
boasted. “Open the door I won’t ask again.” She stepped up to the
folding doors and waited with fists on her lovely-yet-not-very-full
hips.

By then we’d joined her near the door. Every
single passenger was gawking at us as if we were the reincarnations
of the Three Stooges—plus Minnie Me. The driver tried once more to
explain the direness of the situation brewing outside. His words
fell on deaf ears.

Kana reared back and gut-checked the door
with her right foot. She struck it so hard that the metal halves
collapsed and her foot went right through the center. She was
stuck. Instead of helping her, Faustus burst out laughing. I had to
stifle a smidge fit of my own. Anyone who’s never been in a
situation where their life or the future of their race hangs in the
balance can’t know that laughter is sometime the only response.

After helping Kana free her foot from the
door, we ran out into the gathering darkness, the drivers’ threats
ringing behind us, burning threads of brimstone beginning to fall
around us.

“
We’ll cut through Victoria’s Secret,
save some time,” Faustus directed with a smile.

We all followed him into the store. I was
falling behind, trying to limp as fast I could, while Izzy was
downright sluggish. I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t leave Izzy
behind, no matter what. But then a thread was falling, heading
straight for her head.

“
Izzy, run!”

“
I am running,” she snapped at me. “In
case you couldn’t tell, I have to move with crutches and your legs
are twice as long as mine. So stuff it.”

The burning chunk of rock—or whatever
brimstone is—was still on course for Izzy. I leapt aside to avoid
another and ran towards the girl. “There’s no need to get snippy, I
was just making a suggestion that might save your life.” From
twenty feet away it became clear that I was going to have to step
it up a notch. At nineteen feet away I knew I wouldn’t make it.

I stopped, raised my cane, and fired at the
lump of brimstone heading for Izzy. Purple lightning scythed out of
the crow’s peepers and obliterated the most immediate threat.

“
Thank you,” Izzy managed.

“
I still think you should hurry it
up.”

Kana appeared beside us. “Would you two quit
goofing around? It’s getting worse.”

We blew inside Victoria’s after that. Running
through a store is never a good a idea, but bustling past its metal
detectors (which you’ve just set off) and tearing up the posh
merchandise and knocking over a few ritzy patrons is about as
intelligent as yelling ‘BOMB’ on a plane while holding a toy bomb
and wearing a ski-mask.

But we were moving at such a whiz-bang clip
and had gotten such a head start that the store security guys, a
couple of out-of-shape rent-a-cops, couldn’t catch even Izzy.

Still, it took us a few minutes to blaze a
trail through the congested warehouse in the back of Victoria’s
Secret. By the time we reached the exit I was wheezing, and every
one of my wounds and bruises pulsated. Little Izzy was in worse
shape. We paused outside under the loading bay roof.

“
We can’t make it like this,” I gasped.
“I can’t even see the tower yet. And Izzy is totally
winded.”

“
Oh no, don’t give me all the credit,”
she said. “You look like you’ve been jousting with a
windmill.”

“
They’re right,” Kana agreed. “We need
something . . . a car or something.”

Faustus looked around at the parking lot
where brimstone was dropping in chaotic clusters. A fatty-patty
would get clobbered in it. Kana and Faustus could probably make it,
but Izzy and I were SOL. Somehow, a smile was growing on the
gingersnaps face.

“
Kana, can you break into a locked
car?”

“
Course,” Kana boasted. She scratched
the back of her head and drew one of her dirks. “I could break into
a tank if I had to.”

“
Good,” Faustus said. “Break into that
Lincoln Breeze and I’ll hotwire it. I’ve seen it done a hundred
times in the movies. Shouldn’t be a problem. Can you two keep up?”
He looked at me first, and I nodded. When he looked down at Izzy,
the dwarf girl reluctantly shook her head.

The gingersnap took me over to the side while
Kana twisted the double door handles together so the guards
couldn’t come out and bonk us. “Maybe we should leave the Hobbit
here. I mean—”

“
No,” I said. “Izzy is coming. Those
scumbags on the surrounding roofs might shoot at us, but from way
up there they’ll think Izzy is a child. They’ll hesitate. She’s our
golden ticket, giving us time to break in. She’s
coming.”

Faustus held up his hands. “All right.” He
walked over to Izzy, ignoring the guards pounding on the glass
doors behind her. “Would you mind if I carried you to the car?”

She sighed and for a tick I thought she might
say no. But then she nodded.

I wanted to be the one to carry her, to
protect her, but with my buggered knee and network of aches and
pains, that was out of the question. So we waited for Kana to break
into the Lincoln Breeze. She leaped off of the raised sidewalk and
out into the brimstorm. With preternatural skill Kana weaved among
the burning death balls, dodging and twisting with the grace of a
dancer. When she reached the car she didn’t even hesitate; she
whipped out her dirk and smashed through the passenger side
window.

Once all the doors were unlocked, Kana ran
back for us.

Faustus looked at Izzy. “Do I have permission
to touch your body? It’s not sexual.”

Rolling her eyes, Izzy shouted over the din
of the storm, “Just do it already!”

The red-head hoisted her and paused to
tell us “That was from
Hancock
, by the way,” before grinning and rushing
out into the brimstorm. His every step was calculated and flawless.
They made it to the car and, after checking to make sure he wasn’t
in the line of fire, Faustus deposited Izzy in the back seat. He
then jumped into the front seat. Lying down, Faustus hotwired the
Lincoln. It only took about ten or twelve ticks. Maybe movies were
useful after all.

He waved us over.

“
Alrighty,” Kana said, all jazzed up.
“Let’s go. I’ll ride your tail, keep you out of
trouble.”

One look back at the shocked guards and I ran
out into the storm.

I twisted my left ankle veering out of the
way of a falling death-stone, but otherwise we arrived at the car
in good shape. And then we were driving. The dynamite thing about
driving in a brimstorm is that no one else is driving. Traffic
slams to a halt during the phenomenon. We made great time, despite
being slowed by a melted front tire.

The paint jobs and the tires of every vehicle
in Philicity are thicker than everywhere else, but even so, flats
and burns do occasionally happen.

We wobbled down Golden Avenue, the main
street bisecting the metropolis. The storm was reaching its apex as
we rock-and-rolled into the parking garage in Virgil’s Nave. I got
out first so I could play the gentleman and help Izzy, offering my
hand while the stench of burnt rubber filled my nose. An empty
police car was parked haphazardly. Didn’t want to think what that
meant for us.

“
That didn’t go too badly,
considering,” Faustus cheered. “Darn fine idea of mine. Good thing
I agreed to come along after all.”

A quick crack rang out. It sounded different
from the small explosions the brimstones make when they impact
pavement and grass. “Was that a gunshot?” I asked.

We all traded glances. No one said what we
all were thinking.

We marched over to the exit and looked out on
the Nave. The buildings in this business district were all coated
in heat-resistant materials and paint, so the brimstone had little
effect on them. But the kid parks and the gardens nestled between
the buildings were taking a pummeling. Smidge fires were scattered
among them, which reminded me that the fire patrols would be out as
soon as the storm ended.

“
We can’t wait for it to let up,” I
announced. They nodded.

Our peepers fell on Mythcorp Tower, standing
proud and gleaming even in the gloom. From the manuscripts I’d
learned that it had been constructed of some mysterious polymer and
bullet-proof glass—which explained why it had weathered fifteen
years of brimstorms so well, but failed to reveal why no one had
ever purchased it.

“
That’s a lot further than the Lincoln
was,” Kana said. “What do you think, Red, a hundred
yards?”

“
At least, and these two are dead on
their feet. We should go on ahead without them. They’ll just slow
us down.”

“
What?” I squeaked.

“
Relax,” Faustus laughed. “I’m just
pulling your leg. I’ll carry Miss Izzy again, if she’ll permit me,
and this time Kana will have to tote
you
around.” He clapped his hands and skipped
over to Izzy. Meanwhile I looked down at Kana, the five foot
not-enough-to-mention Mythcion.

She gave this real kooky look I couldn’t
interpret. “I don’t think so,” I said.

“
You see that door there on the side?”
she pointed at a set of glass doors located approximately on the
other side of the moon. I nodded. “Okay,” Kana continued. “The back
doors are even further than those, all the way around the corner
there. Think you can make that run?”

I shrugged. “You really think you can carry
me that far?”

“
Ha,” Faustus snickered. “I’ve seen
this chick lug Malthus around. I’m pretty sure she can handle your
stick body.”

Kana and I argued about it some more, until
Faustus interrupted with: “Hurry it up, you two. My clothes are
going out of style.”

I sighed and positioned myself to be picked
up. Kana approached. She hoisted me in her arms and slung me over
her back, fireman-style. Izzy couldn’t stop laughing.

“
Shut up, Izzy.”

Every time one of those murderous
buggers came close or whenever it looked like Kana was guiding us
into the path of one, I thought,
this is
it, we’re dead.
But each time she led us past it and
each time I had to swallow my pumper again.

“
Is it getting worse?” I asked halfway
there. “I think it’s getting worse.”

Twenty-five ticks later even Faustus had to
admit it was getting worse. Ten ticks after that, while racing
through the sand park next to Mythcorp, jumping over smoldering
stones, Izzy screamed.

“
Izzy! What happened? Kana, turn me the
other way, I can’t see them.”

“
They’re fine,” Kana said, bouncing me
over the sand. We had to yell to be heard over the rumbling
storm.

“
Bull crap!” I shrieked.

“
A small thread burned a bit off of
Izzy’s shoe is all,” she said. “She’s fine.”

Kana heaved us up over a patch of half-burned
tulips, landing with such agility and poise and gentleness that I
barely felt jolted. She led us past those doors she’d told me
about, and then I knew we were close.

We passed into shadows even darker than those
cast by the sky. Almost there. But the brimstorm was at its peak
and you could hardly go two steps without running into fire.

“
Holy Seth it’s getting thick out
here,” Kana yelled. “Take one of my dirks and deflect those sething
fiery balls.”

I obeyed, drawing one of her short swords
from its back strap. With this weapon, and while holding on to my
cane with my right hand, I swatted away a few of the flaming blobs.
If it weren’t for being carried by a tiny woman, I’d be feeling
real Conan-like.

Kana announced a miracle: “We’ve made it.”
Before I knew it she was depositing me down on a concrete loading
dock, a steel canopy overhead. I ran over to Izzy and embraced her,
hoisting her up without even asking. I realized my faux-pas and set
her down.

“
Sorry.”

“
Don’t be,” she said, and favored me
with a lovely sexy smile. It was a promise-smile, one of those
special deals girls give when they can’t ‘reward’ you right then,
but fully intend to later.