Where There's Fire (Panopolis Book 2) (12 page)

“Yes.”

Her coldness melted into a relieved smile. “Oh, good! That’s great, Edward.”

“Yeah.” I shook my head tiredly. “Is there any way you can drive us back to #5? I’m so tired of walking today.”

Vibro nodded. “Sure. I brought your scooter.”

I gaped at her. “I thought it got stolen!”

“Yeah, by my little brother. I thought it might be handy. C’mon, let’s get back to Maggot.”

Panopolis is a city of stark colors, folks. Right or wrong, black or white, no shades of gray here. Panopolis is epic battles and soaring rhetoric on both sides, and dirty secrets buried so deep beneath layers of lies that you’d need a map to know where to start digging. Moral ambiguity is for stories, not real life. At least, that’s what we’re told.

But the best stories, I’ve found, are the ones that aren’t so clear-cut. No spoon feeding you Truth, Justice, and the Heroic Way, or telling you that every Villain was born flawed from the start, not made into that. The best stories are the ones that make you think and leave you wondering. I think Panopolis needs a new caliber of storytellers, folks. Maybe it’s time to find those maps and ready those shovels.

Maybe it’s finally time for a change in the narrative.

We made it back to the red zone in about half an hour, me clinging to Vibro as she skirted around traffic at a speed I was surprised my scooter could reach. I’d been worried about pursuit, but Vibro hadn’t been sitting idle while I’d been inside. She’d laid her hands on the back tires of every cop car that had shown up outside of GenCorp, and after being the focus of her vibrations for a little bit, they’d all sprung leaks. It was the kind of power I’d wished I’d had, in the beginning, something really useful. Now, though . . . mine was starting to grow on me. The little helper perched behind my ear shivered; maybe the constant flow of my emotions had exhausted it. I was lucky the thing didn’t fall off during the ride. I didn’t want Raul to suffer for another one of my mistakes.

We pulled up outside #5, and I felt the weight of innumerable eyes on me again as I swung off the scooter. “We seem to be popular,” I muttered as I rubbed at my temple, which thudded painfully to the beat of my heart.

“You made it back. Not a lot of people do. That makes you interesting, maybe worth forming an alliance with. You need to work on making connections, especially if you don’t love to fight for fighting’s sake.” Vibro sounded tired.

“You don’t like fighting either.”

“I like living,” she corrected me. “I can fight if I have to, but I prefer the path of least resistance toward our goal.”

I nodded. “I get that.” And I did, because I felt the same. She wanted to survive. So did I, but just surviving wasn’t enough for me now. I hoped she lived through what was going to happen next. “Lead the way.”

It was darker out now, but the drizzle had stopped. Vibro led me back into the ruin of #5, now lit here and there with garishly yellow lanterns. The color change hadn’t done Maggot any favors—he was more like a bloated corpse than ever, but I had no time for him as I focused in on Raul. He lay on his side, only one of Eldritch’s tentacles left securing his ankle in place. Half of his face was a bloody mess, and his right eye socket gaped empty, a cavernous ruin. My headache got worse just looking at him, desperate sympathy pains that had my fingers twitching to reach out and hold him close. I thought he might be unconscious—god, I hoped he was unconscious—but when Vibro said, “We’re back, boss,” Raul stirred, opening his remaining eye. After a moment of pained searching, he focused on me.

“Edward . . .”

Hearing my name from his lips was enough to set my heart on fire. He was still alive. I could do this.

“I’m here, babe.” I smiled for him even as I ramped up my anxiety, hacking at my threadbare nerves and sending my blood pressure up. Please, please. There was barely a mind there to connect to, but my discomfort still flowed into the parasite, heavy with the urge to escape. After a few more seconds my little helper convulsed, then finally dropped from my temple down to the metal floor. It crawled back over to Maggot, who watched with raised eyebrows as it made its way up his pant leg and beneath his white shirt.

“I knew it wasn’t comfortable,” he said, patting his chest gingerly. “But I had no idea your power made it that unhappy.”

I shrugged. “It feels what I feel. And happy isn’t one of those emotions, let me assure you.”

“It doesn’t matter what caused it to reject you, I suppose. You’re here now. So.” He looked me over. “You succeeded, then.”

“Yeah.” I reached into my much-abused umbrella and pulled out a few of the straws, which Vibro carried over to Maggot. “These are imbued with the same force field that Freight Train is.”

“Excellent.” Maggot nodded as he examined them, then handed them off to Corvid, who greedily tucked them away into a pocket. “A few modifications and we’ll be ready to get a little helper onto him. And the rest of the information?”

“I downloaded as much as I could onto the thumb drive. I had to pull it before Freight Train showed up, though.”

“Ah, of course. You see, Mr. Dinges?” He sounded weary but triumphant. “You see how they tie their fledglings to the nest? Oh, Heroes can fight Villains in their own time, but the first priority is always their home turf. I’m going to bring down GenCorp and everyone associated with it, everyone who’s ever taken advantage of our pain and suffering, everyone who thought they could throw us away and forget about us. This isn’t just a rebellion, Mr. Dinges; I’m leading a revolution against the powers that be in this city, and you’re going to be an integral part of that. Clearly, endangering the Mad Bombardier does wonders for your abilities.”

“You didn’t just endanger him though.” My anger rose like a flood tide. “You tore out his eye.”

“Corvid wanted to start big,” Maggot said carelessly. His henchman cawed. There was still blood on the end of his beak. Raul’s blood. Anger seared my soul, radiating across my dry, cracked palms. I itched to grab someone, but Maggot’s little helper moving back home had clinched my course of action. Maggot was still rambling. “Fingers are graphic, but eyes are positively inspiring. You’re a case in point, Edward. Look at all you’ve accomplished today.” He smiled. “Think of all you’ll accomplish for me tomorrow.”

“I am thinking about it.” It was now or never. I pulled the taser out of the umbrella. “And I don’t think I want anything else to do with you.”

“Mr. Dinges, no, no, no.” Maggot shook his finger. “Vibro can have that off you in a second, and you’ll be forfeiting both your lives. Will you spend your lover so cheaply?”

But Vibro was backing away, caution written in her face, and Raul . . . he was staring up at me sweetly with his remaining eye, a smile gracing his lips. Whatever happened, he knew I had come back to him, for him. “He’s worth everything,” I said. “And he plans ahead. So honestly, you’ve got Raul to thank for this.” I pointed the taser, and before Maggot could bark out an order, I fired a bolt of electricity—

Straight at the ground, at the faint, mucous trail left behind by Maggot’s little helper, and it caught fire immediately, just like I had hoped. The line of flames raced across the floor and up Maggot’s leg, setting his pants on fire. The most satisfying thing, though, was the way the trail of fire suddenly vanished into his chest. Into his dry, pasty skin, where the little helper I’d carried had nestled back inside of him.

Maggot leaped to his feet, yelling, smacking at his burning clothes and trying to put the flames out, but they raged as fierce and hot as they had in the bank. When his yells turned into screams, I had to look away.

His lackeys weren’t taking this lying down. Corvid stabbed with his beak, aiming for Raul’s other eye, but Raul rolled out of the way, then kicked him in the knee, driving him back. I reached into my pocket and ripped open a bag of tiny gemstones and threw them across the floor, dotting the metal with glittering sparks. Corvid watched them scatter, his long fingers twitching as he clearly forgot—for the moment—about Raul, which was good since Eldritch was lurching forward now, thick tentacles groping for me. I scrambled backward, trying to get out of his range. If Vibro had chosen to help him right then, I would have been done for, but Vibro wasn’t fighting; instead she was oscillating so fast I could barely see her.

That didn’t mean I was free and clear, though. I couldn’t run away and leave Raul, but there was little space to dodge, and after a few seconds Eldritch wrapped one of his tentacles around my waist and jerked me toward him. I wheezed as the meaty appendage squeezed me hard enough to hurt. My ribs groaned under the pressure, and even as I reached down to grasp the tentacle, I wondered if I’d be able to force it away in time, and then—

Eldritch dropped me with a choking gasp, crashing to the floor as his tentacles spasmodically coiled themselves into knots. Corvid shrieked, talons clawing at his own matted hair for a moment before he followed suit, and as I struggled to catch my breath I stared beyond them to Maggot.

He’d collapsed back across his elaborate chair, his white suit burned away, fingertips dug so deeply into his own flesh that his scabs had welled with blood. A smoking black crater had consumed the center of his chest where my little helper must have been. He was extremely dead, and from the look of things so was everyone who’d accepted a maggot from him. Which was fucked up, but not the first thing I was focusing on right now.

I stumbled across the metal floor and collapsed at Raul’s side. The urge to touch him was so strong, but he was one pair of briefs away from naked and I didn’t have any gloves. “Raul . . .”

“It’s okay.” He reached for me anyway. “It’s going to be fine, Edward.” And oh, the moment he touched me . . . such relief. It overwhelmed all my other emotions: relief and joy. I started to cry and, since we were connected now, he did too, but I knew he wouldn’t mind, because I couldn’t mind in that moment either. I kissed him carefully, wary of his terrible wound, then gasped and clung harder when he pulled me in close.

“I’m sorry,” I panted as soon as we parted again. “I’m sorry I wasn’t fast enough.”

“Edward, no,” Raul told me, surprisingly firm for someone who sounded as bad as he did right now. “You can’t take responsibility for that. If I’d thought you would have listened to me, I would have asked you to run and not come back, never mind what happened to me.”

“Because you’re a moron.”

“So are you,” he said. “Clearly we’re meant to be together.”

That got a chuckle from me. “Maybe. But damn it . . .” I lifted my hand but didn’t touch the side of his face. He didn’t need me to pass along my growing headache. “Look what they did to you.” My wince started in sympathy but became stronger as the pain in my head spiked. The adrenaline was wearing off now, and I hadn’t gotten any more pills.

This was going to be bad, but hopefully I had enough time to take care of Raul. “We have to get you to a doctor.”

“I can bring one to you,” Vibro said, and for the first time since the fight I remembered she was there. Actually, I was kind of surprised. She must have bitten the bullet and dislodged his little helper before it managed to bite her. Ballsy, but then Maggot had been pretty preoccupied with burning to death. “But I want you to tell me how you managed that,” she gestured weakly at Maggot’s corpse, “in exchange.”

“Or what?” I asked. “You’ll kill me?” Because I was really tired of being threatened.

“No,” she said, which was nice to hear. “I don’t want that. But Edward . . . you just killed the biggest Villain Panopolis has seen in years. The public doesn’t know about Maggot because they never got a chance to, but over thirty of us had his little helpers on us. And now most of those people are probably dead too. There’s going to be a power vacuum in the red zone, and if you can . . . I don’t know, telepathically control flame or something, that would be nice to know.”

“It’s not telepathy,” I said for what felt like the hundredth time. “It’s sharing emotions. And taking out Maggot had nothing to do with that.”

“The Chap stick.” Raul grinned, blood staining his teeth black in the harsh lighting.