Authors: Jennifer Harlow
"No!" I cry
Jordan moves toward his brother to check him. "Jem?" Jordan asks. He nudges his brother's body. "Jem?"
Like lightning, Jem flings his arm from under his chest and jabs a knife into his brother's foot. Jordan shrieks in pain as the blood pours under his heels, and Jem uses his momentary shock to rise. Not quick enough. The moment he's up, Jordan backhands his brother with all his super might, sending the stunned hero flying backwards into a nearby wall, head first. Jem crumples to the floor like a string-less puppet. Jordan yanks the knife from his foot, stares at it with fury, and tosses it to the floor. Jem slowly sits up. "I don't want to fucking hurt you!" Jordan bellows at the top of his lungs. "And you don't want to hurt me!"
Though still dazed and hobbling, Jem rises to his feet for the next bloody round. He charges his brother with a roar, but the head wound must be grave because he's slow. Too slow. As they make contact, Jordan knees him in the stomach. With a groan, Jem folds at the waist, giving Jordan the opening to elbow the hero in the back of the neck. He lands jaw first on the metal floor, a sickening crack echoing through the arena. I cringe. "Why are you doing this? Stop it!" Though in the fetal position and panting in pain, we both see him reaching into his belt for another weapon. "Stop it!" Jordan says as he kicks him in the forehead. Jem collapses onto his back.
"N-No," Jem whimpers. "Y-You have to die."
"What?"
"You have to die. I see that now."
Jordan stares at his brother, dumbfounded. "You-You came here to kill me?"
"You're a monster," he gasps through the agony. "You're insane. I can't save you. I never could."
"No!" Jordan explodes. "You-You love me!"
"No. No," Jem says sadly. "Any love I ever felt for you, you destroyed years ago. I detest you. I hate you to my very core."
Jordan vibrates with anger as those words sink in. "No. Take it back."
"Never."
"Take it back!" he shrieks. In a blink, Jordan has picked up the rod and hovers over his brother. "You're lying!"
"I'm not."
He plunges the rod into Jem's chest. "Stop lying!" Out it rises from my love's damaged body, spatters of blood raining all over, until the monster plunges it in again. "Why are you lying to me?" In again, this time right near the heart. He's going to kill him. "Why are you making me hurt you like this? I love you! Why are you making me do this?"
"Because of me!" I blurt out. "It's me! It's all my fault."
Jordan turns, and his mouth drops open almost surprised I'm still here. "Shut up, bitch! This has nothing to do with you."
"No matter how much you don't want that to be true, deep down you know it is. Because no matter how much you think you love your brother, it doesn't hold a fucking candle to how much he and I love each other. Think about it. We planned this whole thing together, including me unmasking him. That wasn't my idea, Jordan. Unlike you I'd rather die than hurt your brother, but he convinced me to. He was willing to sacrifice his entire life, his career, just to keep me safe from you."
"Stop it, Joanna," Jem says.
"Shut up!" Jordan yells with a punch to Jem's already tender face. "You're lying."
"I'm not. And you know I'm not. Because you stopped me yesterday. And you may have told yourself it was because you loved him, that you wanted to save him. But really? You knew what it meant. That he would do anything to save
me
. Just like I knew what coming here would mean. That even if I die here today it's worth it because I die knowing I gave him a chance to be free of
you
. Because that's what love is. Love is crawling down into the pits of hell, fighting tooth and bone and nail to drag his ass out no matter the cost.
This
," I say, gesturing to the bomb and Jem on the floor. "Us…" I meet the love of my life's tear filled eyes so full of love, and the world fades. "Is true, pure, once in a lifetime love. It's
everything
. And you can't fucking touch it."
It's so quiet for a few seconds we can hear the blood dripping. I'm vaguely aware that Jordan glances from Jem, to me, then back at Jem, but I don't take my eyes from my hero nor him me. And for a moment all is right in the world because it's just us. As it should be. Until Jordan punches him in the face again. "
Her
?!?" He bashes again. "Her?"
Jem's head lolls to the side as Jordan stalks toward me, picking up the knife Jem lost on the way. "She's nothing!" The knife wielding maniac leaps onto the platform. "This bitch?!" he bellows as he slices my cheek with the blade. White hot pain brings tears. Jordan spins around so we're both facing the terrified Jem. He attempts to pull out the rod but after all the damage, his strength has left him. There's so much pooled blood that still pours from his chest a normal man would be dead already.
"Leave her alone," Jem says.
"Leave her alone?" He grabs my right ring finger, snapping it back with a crack. I can't stop the howl of pain. "
Leave
her alone
?" He snaps the pinky, and I almost vomit in agony. "She can never love you as much as I do!" He punches me in my slashed cheek. For a moment everything goes from black to fuzzy. "Me!" he says, sounding far away. "I'm the one who protected you! Who loved you when no one else would?" He socks me in the chest, the sound of cracking ribs hurting almost as much as the physical sensation. "I am the only one who understands you!" He hits my face again, cracking my nose. Blood spews down. "We have the same soul! We're the same person. We are all we have in the world. I love you. Tell me you love me." Jem doesn't say a word. I'm still seeing spots, but I know Jordan leans beside me, wraps his arm around me, and presses a knife to my throat. "
TELL ME YOU LOVE ME
!"
Jem glances at me for confirmation. We both know no matter what he says, I'm dead. I slowly blink. No more games. If I die, I die from the truth. He owes me that. Jem glances behind me, his mouth twitching before meeting his brother's eyes. "I don't love you. How could I? You took advantage of me. You destroyed everything and everyone I ever loved. Including the brother I looked up to. Who kept me sane. Who was my best friend. You obliterated him, even from my memory. He ceased to exist in the one place he ever really lived: my imagination. You are dead to me. I will never love you. I
loathe
you. And it has nothing to do with her, or Uma, or Tempest, or anyone else. It's you. You're
wrong
. A mistake. An abomination. I wish you'd never been born. And death is preferable to spending another moment on this earth with you."
The knife trembles against my throat. I glance up at Jordan. Tears stream down his mask as his lip twitches. If he had a heart, I'd swear it was breaking. "Well. Then. I live to serve you, brother." He reaches into his belt and pulls out the detonator. "Nothing left to do then, is there? We came into this world together, we'll leave the same way." The monster's gaze moves down to me. "You first, though cunt."
"Now!" Jem shouts.
We both glance up at the ceiling as the machinery whirrs to open the panels. What…? The whoosh of air behind us draws our attention again. I turn and see a yellow flash zooming mid-air toward us. There isn't time to react. Liberty, force field glowing around her, grabs the arm holding the detonator, twisting it to almost a hundred eighty degrees as tendons and bone crack like kindling. The detonator drops. Before it completes its descent, she kicks Jordan in the crotch, grabs his shoulders to bend him down, and knees him in the jaw. He collapses on his back right beside me. Fuck.
Before he even opens his eyes, she seizes the villain by the wrists and takes off like a rocket into the air. Twirling as fast as she can, she spins and spins Jordan by the wrists to gain momentum before releasing him. He hits a nearby wall head first, even leaving a dent in the metal. Momentarily unconscious, he plummets down to earth. Good--
She's behind me, breaking the cuffs at the middle, when he lands. I don't even have time to process that before she yanks me to my feet. Holding me around the waist we lift off, my neck snapping backwards and my stomach following a few seconds behind. The spots return. I'm vaguely aware of passing through open space and everything being blue. The sky. Then down we drop toward the dark churning water. About a second later, her arms vanish. Wind whips around me as I plummet to earth. The last thing I see before the water overtakes me is Liberty gliding toward the ship. Crash.
The water's freezing, shockingly so. In my dazed state, it takes me a moment to realize why I'm so cold and why my lungs don't like what I'm breathing in. I'm in water. Fuck. Oh shit. Which way is up? When I try to expel the water already in my lungs, more enters. I open my eyes and notice the light. Up. That way. A few kicks and I surface, coughing all the water out along with the crackers I ate earlier. What the…? I stare at the open water. There's movement. Something white. Oh, a boat. It's coming. Not my boat. Where's my boat? I need… The spots become full darkness for a few seconds. What's--
BOOM
!
I spin around just as an orange and black fireball shoots up and sideways from the carrier a hundred feet away. The noise reaches me first. Then the massive, oppressive heat and rocketing fire coming right for me. Even in my wretched state, instinct knows the score. I plunge underwater as the flames turn the light above red. The water ripples like an earthquake, churning me every which way, but I keep my eyes on the light to find my way back. When the red's vanished, I surface again. The sound of cracking, twisting metal is almost deafening. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The ship folds in the middle as smoke and flames rise to the sky. Wow. Planks of metal and other debris rain down all around me. I just watch it burn and sink until a minute later the darkness can't be kept at bay a moment longer. I let it transport me from this hell. I've earned that.
*
What the…?
I force my eye open, but the florescent lights sting as if I were inches from the sun. The other won't open. I close it again.
Shouting brings me back this time. I unglue my eye and turn toward the commotion. There's a flashing light through a window, and Cam shoving someone out the door. I close my eye again.
Pain. Ungodly, intense agony. My chest. My hand. My face. Once again only one eye opens. The pain won't allow me to pass out this time. I glance around. A hospital. Tubes in my arm and other unnatural places. My fingers are splinted. The cut in my arm from the tracker is bandaged. There's something wrapped tight around my chest, an ACE bandage I think. I touch my face with my good hand. I think the cut is bandaged too, but my cheek, nose, and eye are swollen to fuck. Even lightly touching them sends pain through my head. I reach for the call button. All considerations about sobriety are swallowed by the agony. About ten seconds later, a nurse walks in.
"Oh, good, you're awake. We were starting to worry."
"Pain," I croak.
She prepares a syringe. "Right on time too." She injects my IV. "Quite the ordeal you went through."
"How long have I been here?"
"Only a day. You've been in and out of consciousness. You're very lucky to be alive, Miss Fallon. Your guardian angel sure earned her wings yesterday." The nurse picks up my chart from the end of the bed and starts scribbling. I close my eye as the drugs kick in. Oh, that's wonderful. "The press have been camped outside all day. You're national news. The sole survivor of Emperor Cain's reign of terror."
I survived. I can't believe it. It's really over. I won. I…My eye flies open. "What?"
"That's what they're calling it anyway. I have to ask. Were you really working with--"
"Wait…so-sole survivor?" I attempt to sit up but don't have the strength. It's taking all my willpower just to stay awake. "N-No. Lex-Liberty and Nightingale were there. They-They made it off."
Her chubby face plummets. "I-I," she stammers, "I just know what they're saying and what I saw on the news. The police boat that pulled you out of the water, the officers watched Lady Liberty fly out, drop you in the water, then fly back in. No-No one came out again before the explosion. I'm sorry."
I stare at this pitying woman for a few seconds as the rage billows up, choking the air from my lungs. No. No. Not… "Get out."
"I'm sor--"
"Get the fuck out!" I shriek.
"I-I'll just go find your doctor," the frightened woman says before running away.
No.
No
. He can't…not again. No, no, no, no, no. You can't be that cruel. No, oh, fuck. I can't breathe. I can't fucking breathe. Every choked attempt and no air enters. This can't be happening. No. If it was anyone this time, it was supposed to be me.
Me
. I can't. I can't…
The door opens again, and it is official. I've gone insane. Lexie stands in the doorway holding a cup of coffee, staring at me with concern as I choke on my grief and pain. "Jesus Christ." She sets down the cup to rush to my side. "Joanna? Shit, breathe. Just breathe." She touches my arm, and I actually feel it. Oh, fuck. I've really gone mad. "Shit." She hustles back to the door, throwing it open. "Dr. Ambrose!"
She's almost back at my bedside when Jem dashes in. At the sight of him what little chance I had at breathing vanishes. I'm starting to see spots. "Joanna?" Jem asks.
"What's the matter with her?" Lexie asks.
"I think she's having a panic attack." Jem sits on the bed and takes my good hand, placing it over his heart. It's beating. It's actually beating. His sapphire eyes lock with mine. "Joanna Fallon, listen to my voice. Listen to my words. You are safe. You're with us. You're safe. But you need to breathe. Please breathe, my love. Like me." He takes a deep breath, chest rising and falling. With a wince, he exhales. Then again. "I am right here with you. I am not going anywhere. I promise, just please breathe. Joanna,
breathe
!" I gasp and expel the stale air in my lungs. Thank God. Thank you, God. I breathe in and out in time with him. He chuckles as tears fall from his eyes. He wipes them away and kisses my forehead as I pant. "Excellent, my love. Excellent."