Where There's Fire: Panopolis #2 (Panopolis Series), page 9
“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.
“Yeah.”
“Excuse me?” Vibro demanded. “You killed him with Chap stick?”
“No, I killed him with a highly flammable compound that Raul made for me in case I needed to burn through something,” I replied. “And it happens to be stored in a Chap stick container. It’s less likely to attract attention that way.”
“Of course.” Vibro surveyed all the bodies, then sighed and shook her head. “Well. I guess we’d better get this place cleaned up, get you two a doctor, and then figure out the best place for you to move into.”
“I beg your pardon?” What the hell was she talking about? “We’re not staying here.”
“The hell you’re not.” Vibro was adamant. “The two of you put together might be enough to keep this place from devolving back into complete anarchy, especially with so many of the strongest Villains out of the way. Maggot was a visionary, even if some of his visions came with a high price. He wanted to fight against the system that keeps us beaten down, and you could do the same. You could be the ones to do something for your people.”
I . . . No. No, I wasn’t built for that sort of thing. “I don’t have a people, I have one person, and that’s Raul.”
“But you could do so much for us! And without having to resort to the lengths that Maggot went to.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because,” she said, leaning over and hovering her fingers above my hand. “You can make people feel the rightness of our cause. Show them that we hurt and we love just like they do.”
I shook my head, and— Ow. “The effects don’t last.” Stars had started to appear at the edges of my vision, and nausea was building in my stomach. “And they don’t come cheap,” I added through gritted teeth. “Raul, we have to get away from here.” But it was already too late.
“Edward.” He placed his hand on my shoulder, but I jerked back, then overbalanced and fell on my side. The stars were swirling now, a dark center in their midst, and I cried out. The darkness covered the skyscape beneath my eyelids, and I lost consciousness.
When I woke up next, I was in bed. Not our bed—I could tell from the stiffness of the mattress and the memory of our home, you know, burning—but a fairly comfortable bed nonetheless. I opened my eyes and stared around the room for a moment, then took in the sordid smells and the lack of any furnishings but a nightstand and a glass of water, and swore quietly. I was still in the red zone.
More importantly, though, my headache was gone. Most importantly, Raul wasn’t here. I wasn’t alone, though.
Prasun glanced up from where he was playing with his phone and blinked at me in surprise as our eyes met.
“Daya!” he called, pushing out of the chair he’d been sitting in with all four hands. “Raul! He’s awake!” He fled before I could say anything. I tried to get up myself and groaned instead. Every muscle in my body ached, familiar overexertion symptoms that I used to get when I was still overwhelming myself with my power on a regular basis.
“Edward.” Raul entered the room, and I let myself relax back against the pillow and gaze at him for a moment. He seemed okay, moving smoothly despite the swollen nose and bruises still visible on his face. Then there was the matter of the eye patch.
“You look like the Dread Pirate Roberts,” I croaked, then coughed. Raul sat on the bed next to me and brought the glass of water to my lips, tilting it carefully so I wouldn’t choke.
“We’ve got to stop doing this,” he told me, the humor in his voice almost convincing over the absolute honesty.
“I agree,” I said once I was done drinking. “No more getting arrested or kidnapped. Bad things happen when one of us gets hauled away from the other.”
“Mostly to other people, in this case,” Raul all but purred. “Oh, what a marvel you’ve wrought, Edward.”
“I burned someone to death.” I held my hand up for an assist. Raul levered me to a sitting position, petting the back of my neck with one gloved hand. Gloves, smart. I hadn’t even attempted to reconstruct the wall between Inside Me and Outside Me yet. “That’s not exactly marvelous. Maybe horrific.” More memories swamped my mind, ones that I didn’t want to think about but couldn’t prevent from surfacing. Definitely horrific. “Oh my God, I killed people,” I whispered as it all came back to me. “Raul, I killed so many people.”
“You didn’t.”
“Yes, I did!” If my throat weren’t still so hoarse, I would have been shouting. “I killed—what did she say—oh my god, thirty people? Nearly thirty people? Holy shit.” It was a good thing I didn’t have anything but water in my stomach, because I started retching and couldn’t stop until my stomach was empty again. Fortunately the trash can had been close.
“Maggot killed them,” Raul said, cupping my neck more firmly as he gave me a little more water. “His setup is what orchestrated their deaths. You were merely the conductor.”
I squeezed my eyes shut against the tears that threatened to fall. “That . . . doesn’t make me feel any better.” My hands trembled in my lap. “I didn’t want to kill anyone, not really. And just because Maggot ended up dead too doesn’t make that right either. His life sucked even worse than mine; it’s no wonder the guy went crazy! I’m not sorry he’s gone, but I . . .” I clutched the front of Raul’s shirt, not able to stop the tears anymore. “He broke Kami’s hand. He broke her because I led him right to them, her and Lettie.”
“Kami’s recovering well,” Raul soothed. “I went and saw them yesterday. I won’t lie and say that Leticia is happy, but I think she’s willing to let bygones be bygones as long as we send someone else to deal with her for your pills.”
Oh, well . . . My throat tightened up for a moment, but I forced myself to speak anyway. “Why would she be willing to deal with us at all?”
Raul sighed. “Because she’s seen me. It’s an eye for an eye, almost literally, as far as she’s concerned.”
Suffering . . . That was enough to redirect my attention. “Oh my god, your eye. Oh no. How bad is it?” I reached for his face and stopped barely a centimeter away from his swollen skin. “Does it feel awful?”
“Well, it doesn’t feel good,” Raul allowed, “but it isn’t awful either.”
“That means you’re practically on death’s door, Mr. Tough Guy. Be honest with me.”
“The concussion was minor. The nose will heal. The eye . . .” He grimaced and shook his head, tracing the edge of his bandage with his fingertips. “I’ll have to get used to it. I can still see, and soon it will become my new normal.” He winced. “Probably when the pain goes away.”
I could tell a tough front when I saw one. “Fuck, I’m so sorry.”
Raul smiled gently. “You’re ridiculous. You have nothing to apologize to me for. Now.” He straightened his back. “You’ve been asleep for nearly two days, sweetheart. A lot has happened since then. You should catch up on it all.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“I downloaded the best of the programs talking about it to a tablet. Let me go and get it.”
“I’ll come with you.” I didn’t feel like being parted from Raul again so soon, and if the way he kissed my hair was any indication, he felt the same. And if I was with him, maybe I wouldn’t think the dark, sharp-edged thoughts that threatened to overwhelm my tenuous self-control.
“Slowly, though,” he told me as he helped me to my feet. “And if you feel faint, you’re going right back to bed.”
“I’m not going to faint,” I informed him, right before I tripped over my own feet and pitched forward toward the door. Raul caught me and hauled me in close, concern furrowing his brow.
“That wasn’t fainting; it was me being clumsy,” I said. “We’re going, c’mon.”
“I could carry you.”
“You lost an eye two days ago, I’m betting you’re not supposed to be lifting heavy things. I’m fine, let’s go.”
He led us out the door and down a hallway to a surprisingly well-lit living room. Vibro was sitting on a couch, staring at a television, but she looked up and grinned when we entered the room.
“Awake after all!” She got up and motioned us toward the couch. “It’s big enough for both of you, go ahead. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you have a headache?” Those ten feet had been enough to leave me a little lightheaded, but I wasn’t about to tell Raul that.
