Ultimate Warriors (32 page)

     
Clark
stumbled forward. "Thanks."

     
"There’s
only eight minutes left," Blossom said nervously. "Is it
enough?"

     
"It’ll
have to be," Clark said. Bracing his hands on Lex’s control panel, he
closed his eyes and sank his mind into the neutron bomb’s computer trigger.

     
<
password
?>

     
"Crap,"
Clark said. "Lex’s account isn’t logged on. The system’s asking for a
password." He dove for his laptop.

     
"Can
you hack it?" Blossom asked, watching him power up his code-cracking
program.

     
He
linked it to Lex’s computer, using his mind as a network bridge. "Of
course," Clark said.
"Given enough time.
But
can I do it in--" he looked at the clock, "--six and a half minutes?
I don’t know."

     
He urged
the program to run faster. "Lex’s password is ten alphanumeric
digits," he said.

     
"That’s
8.4 x 1017 possible combinations," Blossom said. "That could take
hours."

     
She was
right, but there wasn’t much Clark could do about it.
Except
pray.
He watched the list of possible passwords flash through the login
screen.
So far, nothing.

     
"Three
minutes," Blossom said. "Maybe you should try a few manual
combinations."

     
"Like
what?" Clark asked, exasperated.

     
She bit
her lip. "I don’t know. He’s your nemesis, isn’t he? You should have an
idea what he might pick."

     
"Birthday?
Hometown?
Mother’s maiden name?"
Clark tried them all. No luck.

     
"1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-0?"
Blossom suggested.

     
Nope.

     
Clark
glanced at the clock. Seventeen seconds. Come on. What would Lex have picked?

     
An idea
hit him. Mentally, he typed it in.

     
Hot
damn!

     
"We’re
in," he shouted.

     
"What
did you put in?" Blossom asked.

     
"C-l-a-r-k-s-u-c-k-s."

     
His mind
raced through Lex’s system, picking up information. The bomb itself was hidden
in one of the lair’s upper passageways.
Ironically, not far
from Blossom and Clark’s first teleport location.
It was controlled by
wireless pulse.

     
"Eight
seconds," Blossom breathed.

     
Clark’s
brain rocketed through the directories on Lex’s hard drive, searching for the
bomb execution program.

     
"Six,"
Blossom said.

     
He found
the document.

     
:.
exe>

     
Originality
had never been Lex’s strong point, Clark mused.
Luckily for
humanity.

     
"Five
seconds," Blossom squeaked. "Four, three..."

     
Clark
dove into the system manager and executed a delete command. "Got it,"
he said, slumping into Lex’s leather upholstered command chair.

     
Blossom
squinted at the readout on the control panel screen. "Are you sure?"

     
Clark
looked up at the plasma image of Megalopolis at midnight. A couple strolled by,
hand in hand, laughing, blissfully unaware of their narrow escape.

     
"Yep,"
Clark told her.

     
Blossom
blinked. "Then we really did it? We saved the day?"

     
Clark
exhaled a shaky laugh.
"With two-point-four seconds to
spare."

     
"Wow,"
Blossom said. "Who would have thought it?"

     
Friday, 10:35 p.m.

     
You’d
think she’d be ecstatic.

     
Blossom
leaned against the bar in the HI lounge, worrying the swizzle stick in her Long
Island iced tea as she watched the free flow of testosterone all around her.
The room belched muscle. Corded pecs, bulging biceps, buns of steel--you name
it, it was here.

     
And a
good portion of it was trying to impress her.

     
"So
then I swung through the window," Peter Parkington was saying.
"And knocked the kidnapper on his butt."

     
Pete was
kind of cute, Blossom thought, but he seemed a bit immature.

     
"That’s
nothing," Dr. Banning said with a scowl. "Just last week I knocked a
hole in a concrete wall with my bare fist and discovered a secret weapons
cache."

     
A
handsome man, Blossom reflected, but the green tinge to his skin was a bit
disconcerting.

     
"Hey, babe.
How’s it going?"

     
She
looked up, startled to find Bruce Wynn gazing down at her. Diana Price clung to
his perfect tricep.

     
"I
didn’t know you two were still..." She drew a breath. "I mean after
the Burger Shack..." She tried again. "I thought after Bruce ended up
on the floor..."

     
Ah,
hell. She took a gulp of her drink.

     
Diana
laughed. "We’re fine," she said. She leaned in close and lowered her
voice. "Bruce likes things rough once in a while. You should try it with
Clark."

     
"Clark?"
Blossom squeaked. She couldn’t imagine it.

     
Bruce’s
moody gaze scanned the room.
"Yeah.
Where is Geek
Man, anyway?"

     
"Not
here," Blossom said in a small voice. And she didn’t know where he was,
either. It had been six days since she’d last seen him, during the mission
debriefing with Captain Marvelous. She had a sneaky feeling he was avoiding
her.

     
Diana
confirmed it. "It’s not like Clark to miss his own victory party. Or a
free buffet," she added thoughtfully.

     
"He’s
a geek," Bruce said. "He probably got wrapped up in a Star Trek
marathon or something."

     
They
laughed and moved off.

     
Blossom
set her drink on the bar, feeling suddenly sick. It was true, then. She’d been
just an assignment to Clark, and now that the world was safe, he didn’t want
anything to do with her. Probably, he was out on the town, one tall, anorexic
supermodel draped over each arm. Probably, he’d spend the night with them.
Probably, he wouldn’t give Blossom a thought while he was doing it.
Probably...

     
Probably
he couldn’t care less that she was in love with him.

     
The bar
phone rang. The bartender snagged it. "Yo...
Yeah, sure
thing, Clark.
It’ll be down in fifteen."

     
Blossom’s
eyes widened. "Excuse me," she said. "But was that Clark Kendall
on the line?"

     
"Yep,"
the muscle-bound bartender said. "He’s in the computer lab. He wants me to
send him a sandwich."

* * * *

     
Saturday, 10:59 p.m.

     
Clark
clicked aimlessly on the Internet browser window, not even caring what popped
up. It hardly mattered. He couldn’t think of anything but Blossom, anyway.

     
He’d
known it couldn’t last, of course. But somehow, rather than being a comfort,
the knowledge only made his heart ache. Blossom was everything he ever wanted
in a woman--she was cute, smart, and brave. She didn’t give up when things got
tough. And she was sexy as hell. He closed his eyes, reliving the moment she’d
reached her first orgasm.
In his arms.
Her inner
muscles had tightened so hard on him that he’d seen stars. That’s when he’d
realized he loved her. And when she’d saved him from taking Lex’s bullet, the
emotion intensified exponentially.

     
Then
they’d returned to HI headquarters, where Blossom had been swamped by every
superhero on the payroll. They all wanted to meet her. He’d stayed close, and
heard five invitations to dinner in the space of seven minutes. Laughing, she’d
accepted them all.

     
In that
moment, Clark knew he wouldn’t be able to compete. Blossom couldn’t help her
visual orientation--it was part of her superpower. And Clark just didn’t look like
a superhero. He never would. He wasn’t even going to try.

     
He
pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and clicked over to digital TV
streaming. There was an all-night Star Trek marathon starting at eleven. At
least it would get his mind off his troubles.

     
A knock
sounded at the door.
His sandwich from the bar, most likely.
"Come on in," he called. "Door’s unlocked."

     
Footsteps, then a soft hand on his shoulder.

     
He
swallowed hard and swiveled his chair around.
"Blossom.
What are you doing down here?"

     
"I
brought you this." She placed a Styrofoam take-out container and a large
soda on his desk.
"So.
This is where you’ve been
hiding all week."

     
"I
spend most of my time here," he told her. "I’m a geek,
remember?"

     
She gave
a soft laugh at that.
"Yeah.
I remember."
Then, more softly, "How could I forget?"

     
Clark
popped the lid of his sandwich container. "You should go back to the
party. Everyone will miss you."

     
"It’s
your party, too," Blossom said. "Come with me."

     
"No,"
said Clark abruptly. "I’ve got work to do."

     
Blossom
sidled in closer.
"Work?
That looks like Star
Trek."

     
He hit
the minimize button.
"So what?"

     
"So
turn it off. Come to the party."

     
He
couldn’t stand being the object of her pity. "I know what you’re
doing," he said. "And I appreciate it, but you really don’t have to.
The assignment’s over. Let’s just try to forget it." He took a bite of his
turkey club.

     
She
inhaled a sharp intake of breath. "So that’s all I am to you, then.
A completed assignment.
Someone you fucked--"

     
Clark
nearly choked.

     
"--in the name of duty."

     
"Is
that what you think?" He grabbed his soda and took a gulp.

     
"It’s
true, isn’t it?"

     
He
coughed.
"God, no."

     
"Then
why are you avoiding me?"

     
He
looked up at her, slightly dizzy from lack of air. "I’m not avoiding
you." Well, okay, maybe he was, but he didn’t like admitting it. "I’m
giving you a chance to get what you want.
A real superhero.
Like the ones hanging all over your apartment walls."

     
"But
I don’t want a man like that anymore," she said softly.

     
"You
don’t?"

     
"No.
I don’t. You’re my hero now."

     
Clark
gaped at her.

     
She
looked away, her cheeks turning pink. "I didn’t mean to say that,"
she said. "Look. Just forget I mentioned it." She inched toward the
door. "I’m going back to the party now."

     
He
leaped out of his seat and grabbed her arm. "I can’t forget it," he
told her. "I need to know. Is it true?"

     
She
hesitated.

     
"Blossom..."

     
"Yes,"
she said irritably. "Okay? Are you satisfied? Yes. I love you. Now let me
go."