Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 128
After seeing Boyd exit the building, she made a bee-line for their little group. “Hello everyone,” Kayla said in a careful tone once she was close enough not to have to shout.
Her eyes scanned each of them before settling on Boyd. He didn’t know what she saw that made her briefly frown, but she began with, “Let me start of by saying I’m sorry Mightbreaker hurt those children. I know you all well enough to understand how upsetting it must be.”
Each of his loves and he expressed a short thanks for the sentiment before she continued.
“If you would rather we not talk about what happened until a later date… or we could wait until later this evening? I’m sure we can set something up.”
“No. It would be best to talk about it now,” Boyd replied. “But thank you for the offer. I’m sure the people have a lot of questions, and I don’t mind answering those that I am permitted to.”
The big demon understood that the interview had already started, even if she had approached them casually. It was part of being their go-to reporter. Everyone involved sold the illusion that Kayla was asking her questions more as a friend, which wasn’t incorrect. She didn’t hesitate to lean on that friendship—nor was he about to stop her—because it helped make her interactions with The Devoted, and therefore their statements, more believable.
“Okay, well I’ll try to keep it brief… I know you must be exhausted after that fight—both emotionally and physically. Please let me know, though, if you need to take a moment at any point.”
She said this last with concern that was believable because it was probably sincere. But she still had a job to do, and so did they.
Holding out the microphone in her hand that they both knew was unnecessary, Kayla asked, “Can you tell us anything about Mightbreaker’s victims?”
“Nothing more than that two adolescents were killed in today’s altercation,” Boyd said with a sigh. “It will be up to their parents if any further details are made public.”
“I understand,” Kayla said with a frown and sad eyes. “It really is a shame that two young lives were lost as a result of Mightbreaker’s recklessness.” It seemed she was already laying the foundation to make sure the public didn’t blame Boyd for their deaths. “I understand that civilian fatalities were common in cities where he appeared?” She glanced down at her notes on the tablet in her off hand. “Fifty-seven of them, if my notes are correct.”
“Fifty-nine after today,” Boyd corrected softly.
“Right, of course.” Kayla nodded. “But I understand that Mightbreaker didn’t have an open kill order on him?”
“That is correct,” Boyd confirmed with a nod. “Each of the fatalities he was responsible for were deemed unintentional—so-called collateral damage from his battles or his escape. Because of that, a kill order was never issued for him.”
“Yet, in the footage that I saw, it looked like you killed him on purpose,” Kayla’s tone was quizzical instead of condoning, implying she assumed there was some reasonable explanation for it. “Was it justice for the children of Glorith that he murdered that you sought, or some other reason?”
She’d provided him a decent set up, but a Hero wasn’t tasked with doling out justice. Both the laws and the rules in the Hero’s Guidebook were explicitly clear on this point—even if Boyd sometimes thought maybe they shouldn’t be.
“I would be lying if I said those kids’ deaths, which were a result of Mightbreaker’s recklessness, didn’t make me want to kill him.” Boyd frowned, turned his head to the side and took a moment before facing the camera again.
“But that wasn’t why I chose to end his life,” he continued. “That wasn’t true justice. By all rights, he should have lived to stand trial for their deaths. But I had to consider the other citizens of Glorith, as well.” As had become something of a habit, Boyd told the truth before adding a tidy little bow on top to make it more palatable.
“What do you mean?” Kayla prompted, trying to keep the interview more of a conversation.
“Most of the fatalities that Mightbreaker was responsible for happened when he switched from fighting Heroes, to fleeing from them,” Boyd explained. “I went into that fight thinking I could safely subdue him. I’m afraid I overestimated my capacity to do so safely—to do so while keeping any nearby civilians safe.”
He took a deep breath, then blew it all out in a big sigh. “Seeing those kids die made me realize that I had to choose between…”
“You actually saw them die?” Kayla interrupted.
Boyd closed his eyes. The loud thud of the teen’s arm flopping to the floor and the sight of that pink leotard stained a bright crimson rose unbidden in his mind’s eye. He remembered how the pink motes had dispersed into nothing.
‘You don’t have to answer the question,’ Mindy cautioned. ‘In fact, you shouldn’t answer that question. Kayla will understand.’
A moment later, the blonde reporter winced and quickly added, “I’m sorry, that was insensitive and an inappropriate question to ask. You were saying you had a choice?”
Boyd opened his eyes and nodded. “I had a choice between trying again to subdue him and risking him escaping… and keeping other civilians safe. I chose to do my job—which prioritizes protecting civilians over safely capturing dangerous Powered Criminals.”
“I understand,” Kayla nodded, “that sounds like a terrible but necessary choice. But does a Hero have the right to kill a Powered Criminal without a kill order? I thought that’s why those existed.”
“Heroes don’t have the right to kill anyone; it isn’t like we are licensed for it or anything.” Boyd shook his head. “There will be an inquiry and possibly a tribunal to confirm if my actions were justified. But, at a Hero’s discretion, we are permitted to use lethal force if we believe it is the only way to prevent civilian casualties. That is what I did today, and I am confident that the inquiry will fairly evaluate and eventually agree with my decision.”
“I respect that,” Kayla said, nodding her agreement. “But it might be hard for some people to understand why a Hero would need to kill someone, even if it was in the name of protecting citizens. How do you think the public will react to this?”
Boyd sighed, knowing this was a topic he’d have to address. “Honestly? I expect there will always be people who simply will not understand the complexities of being a Hero. They’ll see what they want to see, and they’ll believe what they want to believe. All I can do…” he paused to indicate the rest of his team, “all we can do, is to continue doing our best to protect Glorith’s citizens—even those people who will call me a murderer for killing an S-Ranked Powered Criminal who had been the cause of fifty-seven deaths before today… and who had just caused the death of two young innocents. And that means we’ll sometimes have to make those difficult decisions that can lead to prioritizing the safety of civilians over the lives of Powered Criminals.”
“And that’s one of the things that makes The Devoted so exceptional,” Kayla said, her eyes filling with admiration. “You’re not just Heroes, you are role models—showing people what’s right and what’s wrong. You do the right thing, even when it’s difficult, and you aren’t afraid to face those choices and make the hard decisions. And you do it all to keep the people of Glorith City safe.”
Boyd nodded, a weak smile playing on his lips. “That’s what we’re here for.”
“Well, on behalf of everyone in Glorith, I want to say thank you,” Kayla said, her voice sincere. “The Devoted have done and are doing an amazing job. I, for one, truly appreciate everything you’re doing. Now, I think that covered the important questions for today.”
She turned to the camera drone. “I’m sure the Authority will release more information about any investigation into the conduct of Dashing Devil or the status of an inquiry when they can. We’ll let Dashing Devil and The Devoted get back to their duties. This is Kayla Baily, signing off.”
After she’d concluded the interview, Kayla turned to Boyd and the others. “Thank you for that. Please let me know if there is anything I can do, alright? For now, I want to get this out before the ‘Dashing Devil is a Crazed Murderer’ click bait starts.” She was definitely a task-oriented career woman.
“Thanks, Kayla,” Boyd called after her as she hustled away without a goodbye.
“Granny is pulling the Osprey around now,” Tinker announced. “Let’s get home and out of this gear.”
Boyd sensed that she was concerned for him and wanted to get him out of the public eye—for his sake more than anything.
“That sounds nice, Tink.” He smiled as best he could.
Remembering their handler’s parting words before the man had led Boyd out to the front of the building, that smile took on a slightly wicked glint. “Besides, we need to get out of Royce’s hair so he can get to his hot date. Since she was crazy enough to ask him out to dinner, I promised him I wouldn’t be the one to make him late for it.”
Raev let out one of her velvet chuckles, which Mindy topped with one of her patented giggles, “Kuh-he!”
Even Tinker snorted softly.
“Royce has a date?!” Silvie half-asked and half-squealed in excitement.
The silver hair haired bombshell blurred over to hover right in front of their suddenly uncomfortable looking handler.
“Dammit, kid!” Royce muttered under his breath.
“What’s she like? Have I met her? Is she pretty? What does she do?” Boyd’s silver haired love fired off a rapid string of questions until the Osprey pulled overhead and hovered, waiting for them.
The whole time, Royce gave the grinning demon a disgruntled glare.
With a laugh, Raev pulled Silvie back so that the flying Hero could hold the kitsune around the waist with one arm and Laura around the waist with the other. Both mounted their grav boards before Silvie flew with them up to the open ramp of the Osprey. Boyd pulled Mindy close on her grav board before leaping into the air with a mighty downward flap of his wings, Hope right on his heels.
Tinker followed in her suit.
Chapter 17
Later that evening, Boyd sat back in a comfortable armchair in one of the smaller, more enclosed little alcoves off the middle tier of the Great Room. This alcove served as his quiet place. He had skipped dinner, not really being hungry after the day he’d had, and retreated to this spot shortly after they’d returned to the base.
Each of his loves knew that while he wanted to be left alone with his thoughts for a bit when he came here, they were welcome to join him. As long as they were quiet. They knew better than to speak, or to expect riveting conversation.
He was doing his best to avoid self-recriminating thoughts—which would undoubtedly draw Mindy’s attention—but was having a hard time. Losing the kids was bad enough, but today had served as a reminder of how easy it was for him to slip into the role of judge, jury, and executioner. It wasn’t meant to be that easy, not for a Hero.
Dashing Devil could hide behind the excuse that he did it to protect the civilians because that was partially true. But Boyd knew deep down that he still would have killed the man, even if the children had been the only ones who died, even if they had been miles into the Wild Lands with no one else around. Once Mightbreaker decided that his fight was more important than the lives of the children, his fate was sealed.
The big demon didn’t regret his decision—not in the least.
At least the parents of those children would know that the person most directly responsible for their deaths no longer breathed. The other slightly less responsible individual for those same deaths was trying to figure out if it would be appropriate to reach out to said parents to offer his condolences, or perhaps some other form of reparations.
The problem was that there was no way to give them back the only thing that could make things right—their children.
The soft pat of bare feet on the stone tiles of the room drew Boyd’s attention to his golden-haired angel. Hope was dressed in a night gown—one that was much more conservative than her normal choices. It covered her from shoulder to calf in billowing, off-white silk. She wore it with a gentle smile, one that contained a hint of the sorrow she still carried.
Without a word to interrupt the quiet space, she walked up to him and crawled up into his lap. Her legs straddled his, knees tucked against his hips, as she wrapped her arms around him. Then she just leaned in, pressing her face into his shoulder, as she pulled him into a tight hug.
Boyd was stunned, but he couldn’t have said why.
It wasn’t like Hope was shy with her affection. Upon rising from the temporary stupor, he wrapped his arms around her back, under her wings, and clung to her. Her white feathered wings came forward, curling around them both as best she could, holding him just like he so often did for Tink or another of his loves.
It was a quiet embrace, full of the unspoken words that needed no voice. Hope’s touch was comforting; it soothed his troubled soul. The weight of her wings on his shoulders and arms mixed with the warmth of her body against him made him feel… present. Which came as a surprise because he hadn’t been aware he’d felt less than present before.
Hope’s grip tightened and the tension he had been carrying began to dissipate and he sensed a wave of relief wash through her over their Bond. He knew how hard it was for her to watch others suffer. His angel was a healer through and through.
Standing by and doing nothing when another was in pain, physical or emotional, just wasn’t in her.
Boyd had been so lost in the moment that he almost forgot the weight of his actions, the lives he had failed to protect, and the pain he had caused. Before he could sink back into his guilt, his angel was there. Her comforting embrace reminded him of the person he still was—of the person he strived to be. She still loved him. He wasn’t a failure, at least not to her.
She gave him one last squeeze, putting her all into it, before leaning back to sit on his knees. She wore the same gentle, yet sad smile. And it was only then that Boyd realized why this display of affection had surprised him so much.
Hope’s halo was still gold, without a trace of pink to be seen.
Boyd didn’t sense even the hint of arousal within her across their Bond. His angel was filled with pure concern for him, along with a little sorrow for the children who’d perished. Hope just wanted to hold him and make sure he was all right. She had no thoughts of using sex to cheer him up—which was a first since she’d come home to him.
His angel might appear to be the purest of his loves, but that purity was only skin deep. While the amount of sex they had each week had tapered down to something reasonable over the preceding months, she’d never stopped being aroused by his presence… Or when the big demon was brought up in conversation… Or seeing a picture of him.
It seemed the very thought of him inflamed her desire.
It was something of an ego booster. One that, somewhat contradictorily, made her pure and untainted concern for him that much more heartwarming. The moment was interrupted by Daisy’s voice.
Her tone may have aimed for grumpy, but the words came out at a volume and pitch that contained concern. “Hey… you know it’s not okay to skip dinner, right? Three squares and all that. So, eat this… whether you are hungry or not, got it?”
As she spoke, she fluttered into the alcove with a TV table and a large platter of food, complete with a domed cover.
Boyd actually knew the history of the strange name for the handy mobile surfaces. Tee-Vee table. Back in Old Earth’s history, before things got bad and humans realized that leaving their planet of origin was their only option, viewscreens had regularly been called ‘televisions.’ That clunky word had been shortened down to ‘TVs’… long before the screens shrank down to the size where people could reasonably carry them in their pockets.
Daisy floated the TV table over to him, ignoring the fact that he currently had an angel in his lap, and set it so that it extended over his legs. The tray then floated over and settled down on top of it.
Boyd opened his mouth to politely deny the kind offer, but his expression must have given him away because Daisy held up a hand to stop him.
“Besides, I put work into cooking this for you.” Her cheeks heated and she quickly added, “Even if it’s nothing special, it would be rude to let it go uneaten.”
Having said her piece, she planted her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at Boyd, as if daring him to contest her irrefutable logic.
Facing away from their fairy cook, Hope’s gentle smile grew into something more honest and fuller before she responded. “I believe Raev offered to eat his portion, sister.” The term of endearment was said with a slightly teasing lilt in her flutelike voice.
“I’m not your sister,” Daisy denied quickly.
His angel wasn’t one to tease often, but for some reason calling the standoffish fairy her sister had become something of a game for Hope. So much so, that denying the familial status had become a reflex for Daisy. Of course, this only further fueled the delight Hope seemed to get from such interactions.
“And even if it wouldn’t have gone uneaten, it’s still important that Boyd eat his dinner,” Daisy added firmly.
“While the sentiment shows just how deeply you care for him, sister,” Hope continued to tease the fairy, “I believe we told you at dinner that Boyd doesn’t require three meals a day to stay healthy and whole.”
“Ugh! Why are you making this difficult?” Daisy complained, adding extra emphasis on the you. “I didn’t think you would be the one to give me trouble… that’s why I came over now! I thought you would help me out, not hinder me. Just because Boyd doesn’t need to eat doesn’t mean he shouldn’t.”
“I agree with you, sister.” Hope’s gentle smile remained in place, but her azure eyes sparkled with amusement. “But you are going about this all wrong if you want to get him to eat the delicious meal you poured your feelings into.”
