Authors: S.J. Delos
“Understood,” Manpower said. “We’re on our way.” The image on the screen vanished and Greg turned to look at us. “We’ll discuss how we’re going to deal with Doctor Maniac later. Right now, we have people to save.” His eyes turned to me. “All of us.”
Richard clapped his hands together. “Let’s go. Liftoff is in thirty seconds.”
Everyone jumped up and ran out of the room except Alexis and me. The teen looked at the doorway and then back in my direction. “Come on, Karen. We need you on this.”
“You still trust me? Even though I’ve kept my real relationship with Doctor Maniac from everyone?”
She smiled, grabbed my hand, and pulled me towards the hangar. “If I had an ex-boyfriend who was a notorious supervillain, I’d keep it a secret, too.”
I shrugged as I allowed her to lead me to the hovercraft. “I guess.”
“Of course, when we’re done saving the day, you and I are going to get a tub of ice cream, lock ourselves in your room, and you can tell me what it was like dating a super-villain. Okay?”
“You got it, Lexi-chan.”
It was too bad that post-battle ice cream gossip session was never going to happen.
CHAPTER 18: A COLOSSAL PROBLEM
The Commerce District was a war-zone. Several fires raged out of control and I counted at least two explosions on our approach. Richard had to circle and weave around the clouds of ash curling up into the sky. The heavy smoke obscured whatever ruckus was taking place below, making aerial reconnaissance next to impossible. On our second pass, the remains of a Buick, with a ‘CRYMPAYZ’ vanity plate, sailed past us and crashed on top of department store roof.
“We’re going to have to land over on Centennial, near the train station,” Richard said. The craft banked a hard left and turned away from the scene.
“Okay. We’ll come back on foot.” Greg looked over his shoulder at Alexis and me before pressing the button on his comm link. “Rocket? I need you to work with the CPD and first responders. Help them get the injured to safety. Omega-Girl? You’re on In-Bee detail. Keep the reporters and other gawkers at a safe distance. We’ll rendezvous once we land.”
I glanced over at Alexis. “This can’t wait until Richard finds a spot to set down. We have to get into action now, before it gets any worse.” I unclipped my belt and stood up, grabbing the side of the ship for balance. “Can you open the hatch and let me out?”
“What?” He yelled, pulling hard on the yoke to keep from getting caught up in the debris from another explosion. “You want to get out now?”
“Kayo, that’s a two hundred foot drop.” Greg said, staring at me from behind his omni-plex goggles.
“I can take it,” I said. I hoped I injected enough confidence in my voice to sound like I was as sure as I needed them to believe I was. “No problem.”
Alexis unclipped her own belt and stood. “I’m going with her.” Before I could protest, she pointed at the floor. “I can ghost us through the hull and keep us that way until just before landing. Then we go solid and you keep me from being splattered all over the street.” She was grinning like a lunatic at the top of a rollercoaster. “Deal?”
Manpower shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good plan. We should—”
“Deal!” I said and grabbed the teen’s hand. Instantly, we fell through the floor of the ship and towards the ground below. Our descent was a good deal faster than I expected, probably due to the two of us being intangible rather than just Alexis. Granted, it was still a lot slower than if I was hurtling earthward in a solid state.
We dropped into the thick cloud of smoke and I held my breath before realizing that the soot and particles went right through me. On the other side, we could see a three-block section of the neighborhood had been flattened. Not a single structure had escaped damage, and most of the buildings—trade businesses and the like—were half-destroyed piles of rubble. I managed to locate the source of the disaster, but dropped behind one of the buildings still upright before I could identify the culprit.
I pulled Alexis against my chest and wrapped my arms around her. “Now!” I shouted against the rushing wind and turned so that she was on top of me. My weight and mass jumped back into reality right before we slammed into the pavement. Fortunately, remaining phased as long as we had resulted in the impact only making a small crater in the street.
I tapped the teen on the shoulder gently. She brought her head up from my chest and grinned. “That hurt more than I thought it would,” she said, slowly climbing off me.
“You’re okay, though?” I rolled over and stood up as well. I shook my head. “You should have just let go of me and stayed in ghost mode. Then you wouldn’t have had to land like that.”
“I’m okay, Karen. Really.” Then she pointed at the crater. “If I hadn’t gone solid after falling from that height, I would have dropped right through to the sewers.”
I nodded and turned back in the direction of the bad guy. “Okay. Stay behind me and stay ready to ghost.” I gave her a wink and ran towards the sounds of many things being broken and trashed.
Rounding the corner ahead of Alexis, I spotted the source of the disturbance and froze in my tracks. Eight feet of trouble held a CPD power suit over his head with one hand and the limp body of the driver—one of Charlotte’s Finest—in the other. What little bit of afternoon sunlight that managed to get through the clouds of smoke glinted off the wicked-looking metal protrusions growing out of the skin of his brow and joints.
Colossal.
Once upon a time, I’d asked Martin why he didn’t reach out to Colossal to get him to be a part of our organization. Someone of his size and power would have been very effective in getting through to places I couldn’t. He’d responded by saying that the hulking brute was far too mentally unstable to be of any real use to us.
Let’s face it, when someone calling themselves Doctor Maniac thinks you’ve got too many screws loose, you must really be bat-shit crazy.
His laugh rumbled terrible joy as he threw the armored unit through the front of an office building. The omni-plex doors didn’t stand a chance and the shards of shattered glass were still tinkling onto the sidewalk when the first screams emerged from the gaping hole.
I didn’t know why the West Coast’s worst supervillain was in my town and I didn’t care that he was supposed to be dead. The EAPF had supposedly used a suitcase nuke to stop his rampage in downtown Tacoma last year. All that concerned me was stopping him before he killed or maimed anyone else. Even if I had to do it alone.
Maybe I should have been concerned about my mental state.
Alexis ghosted beside me and gasped as she became solid. “What the hell is that?”
“That is no one you want to tangle with, Lexi-chan.” I looked at the teen and pointed at her feet. “You stay right here.” I pressed on my ear. “This is Kayo, the guy bringing down property values is Colossal. Daniel can probably feed you the intel.”
The EAPF on the opposite side of the monstrous villain opened fire with their particle cannons. The impacts created dozens of fireworks that ran all along Colossal’s body, leaving little dark scorched marks. They might as well have been hitting him with cotton balls for all the damage it did. Colossal laughed again and scooped up a section of broken concrete and threw it at the officers, scattering them like bowling pins.
While he was facing the police, I launched from behind the corner of the building and bolted towards him at full speed. I didn’t know if the same technique I’d used to bring down Colonel Tank would work on the even-bigger Colossal, but I figured it was worth a shot. My boots pulverized the debris under my feet as I surged to my maximum speed with the villain’s back as my target.
I clenched my jaw tightly and leapt forward at the last moment, arms rod-straight before me, aiming for ultimate impact. I hoped I would do more than just knock him out. After seeing the damage he’d done today and knowing the suffering he’d caused over the years, I wanted to hurt him badly. I wanted to break his back and cripple him for life. I think it would have happened, too.
If he hadn’t turned around at the last second and backhanded me with a fist that felt like being hit with a Mack truck.
The world exploded in an agony I hadn’t experienced in years. The blow sent me rocketing back towards my starting point across the street. I hit the asphalt, carving a foot-deep furrow into the surface before bouncing up to slam into the building we’d been hiding behind. The impact was more than the already-damaged structure could stand, and all three stories crumbled down.
I shook off the ringing in my ears, shoved the broken concrete pile off my legs, and stood up. When I brushed my hair out of my face, it set off a shower of concrete and tar crumbs that landed around my feet. I was going to need several aspirin and one hella shower when I got back to headquarters. “Damn, that son of bitch can hit,” I said with a wincing grin as I glanced over to Phantasm.
The teen was standing half-in, half-out of a pile of rubble, staring at me and looking not the least bit disheveled. She must have gone ghost the moment she saw me come flying back. Her eyes stared at me so wide I sort of expected them to drop out of the sockets and her mouth hung partially open. When I tilted my head, she raised her arm to point at me with a trembling finger and said something I’d not heard in several years.
“You’re … you’re bleeding.”
I blinked and ran the back of my glove across my mouth, disbelieving the streaks of crimson that marred the yellow material. The metal sticking out of Colossal’s body must have been some derivative of dura-steel. I spit and the red liquid mixed with the gray powder on the ground. I looked back at Alexis. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a busted lip before.”
“It’s not just your lip, Karen. Your forehead is bleeding, too.”
I shrugged as I turned back towards Colossal. “Never much wanted a modeling career anyways. Again, stay here.”
I charged the villain again, this time ready for how swiftly he could move. Instead of trying to tackle him head-on, I used my speed and dropped to my knees, sliding under his arm as it passed harmlessly over my head. As I zipped past, I punched the back of his knee. The big guy’s leg folded and he went down on one knee. My hand felt like I’d just tried to punch a force field.
I popped back to my feet and spun around to throw another punch. Colossal had regained his own footing and by the time I’d drawn my arm, his hand snatched me around the throat and lifted me into the air. I kicked out, slamming my foot into his chest. That part of him was tougher than his joint had been and I was sure I’d broken a toe or two.
Colossal laughed and flipped me over to drive me down into the concrete. The air jumped out of my lungs and before I could replace it, he pulled me back up and wrapped both arms around me. We were face to face and when he squeezed tighter, I head-butted his nose. Fireworks exploded behind my eyes, but I received a small measure of satisfaction from the pained roar my blow elicited.
Colossal snarled and pulled me tightly against him, crushing. My ribs felt as if they were going to shatter.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Kayo. I knew a little mayhem would bring the Good Guys running to the rescue.” His solid black eyes bored into mine. “And imagine my happiness to see the former Miss Crushette leading the charge.”
I shrugged my shoulder rapidly back and forth, doing my best to break free from Colossal’s grip. His breath was warm in my ear and my nose rebelled at the heavy odor of garlic and onions that wafted over my cheek.
“Love the wiggling, sweet-cheeks,” he said as his arms curled tighter around me. “Makes this more fun for me.” He laughed and licked my neck just below my ear.
I recoiled away from his tongue. Well, I tried to, at least. All my struggling had done nothing to loosen his hold around me. And a quippy comeback wasn’t going to happen because I was busy using all the air I could get into my lungs for staying alive. Being invulnerable didn’t mean I couldn’t suffocate.
Colossal squeezed tighter, whispering directly into my ear. “Of course, the real fun will start the moment you pass out.”
“Rocket,” Manpower yelled into my ear. “Get your ass down there and help Kayo!”
“What the hell am I supposed to do against something like that?” There was real fear in the flyer’s voice.
“Distract him, Robert!” Alexis screamed. “Or drop something on him. He’s killing her!”
The world dimmed as my oxygen-starved brain began shutting down. The darkness that formed at the edges of my vision drifted inwards, sending me towards the abyss of unconsciousness.
“I can’t,” Rocket’s voice came from far away. “He’s too … I just … can’t. She’s on her own.”
“Then I’m going in,” Alexis said with a determination well beyond her years.
“Phantasm, stay back!” Seems that Darla had decided to join the party. “I can be there in a minute.”
“She’ll be dead in a minute.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Alexis running towards the two of us. She passed right through the flames and the debris as easily as a normal person would pass through air. I shook my head, fighting for a breath to scream at her to stay back. My mouth was open but only a gurgling croak came out.
Her concern for my safety was so great, she neglected her own. With the horrific clarity of adrenaline-fueled awareness shoving everything into slow-motion, I watched the teen reach out in her ghost state and do the one thing I had been terrified she would do. She phased Colossal instead of me.
Suddenly, my higher-density mass fell from Colossal’s embrace and passed through the now-intangible villain. I hit the ground, sending up a puff of powered concrete and broken glass. I gasped and choked as I opened my mouth to scream for the teen to let go and run, but the words lost their fight against my air-greedy lungs.
Alexis’ face wore a mask of relief and her hand rested flat against Colossal’s leg, keeping them both in a ghosted state. They were untouchable to everything around them. Except each other. The monstrous villain realized that before the teen and took advantage of her distraction. His arm swung down like a pendulum, the back of a dinner plate-sized fist coming right at Alexis.
He was fast. So incredibly fast for his size.
He swiped down in a scooping blow, connecting with Alexis’ ribs before she could remove her hand. The impact lifted her into the air and sent her sailing in a flailing arc across the street. She re-solidified in mid-air, and came down to hit the pavement with a smacking thud and a sharp crunch that caused a lance of fear to stab through my heart. She lay there, unmoving, and I ripped my gaze away from my friend to look up at Colossal.