Superhero by Night Omnibus

by Jeffery H. Haskell

  At the last second, I threw my self backward, letting my feet slide on the wet pavement. I hit the concrete hard but managed to keep my head from bouncing off the floor.

  I whipped out the plastic pistol and fired up at her chest as I slid under the shield, taking out her leg and sending her flailing toward me. I slammed one foot in her gut and fired the gun into her chest at point blank range. The pistol had no recoil, but it made a sound like a battery discharging with sandpaper rubbing together at the same time. I heaved her over, sending her flying with her own momentum. Thankfully, it didn’t kill her. She face-planted on the concrete. With the crack I heard from her nose, I wasn’t sure how beautiful she was going to be anymore. However, the pistol did the trick. I rolled over and got to my feet, taking a second to smile at her body as she twitched.

  Bull came in at me, keeping me from enjoying my victory. He swung one meaty fist. For a minotaur that was seven feet tall he was stupid fast. I ducked, shot him twice with the cool gun, and rolled backward.

  I was dismayed to find the gun had no effect on him. The blue energy danced around his skin before dissipating.

  “They don’t work against invulnerable types,” he said with a chortle. I’d call it a laugh, but I don’t think his voice was capable of that kind of noise.

  “Spice, I could really use some power right now,” I said under my breath as I backed out of reach of another punch from him.

  “Then you’ll have to kill one of them. We’ve spent all the power we accumulated earlier,” she said from behind Bull. “Good job taking out the witch. Maybe kill her? The world could do without her kind.”

  “I’m not going to kill any of them, Spice.”

  She shrugged. “It’s up to you.”

  I made a mental note to research some of this later. Seraph thought I was some kind of demon, and Spice really didn’t like her. Bull jabbed at me again, I batted his fist aside and kicked out. It was like hitting a brick wall.

  “My name’s Bull, not Spice. Are you crazy or something?”

  I ignored him, spun, and tried for his knee. I might as well have tried to chop down a tree with my foot. He laughed and swung again at me. I wracked my brain for information about the Beast-kin. Their powers manifested differently than the other supers, sure, but they were essentially the same.

  Nothing could hurt them… but I knew that wasn’t true. Invulnerable was just a name we applied to really tough people. Stop a bullet with your chest and you were invulnerable. That didn’t mean a train wouldn’t kill the same person.

  I stopped and stood up straight. “I give up,” I said raising my hands slowly.

  He opened his mouth, too stunned to speak. I snapped the gun forward and shot him in his big fat mouth. Instead of dissipating against his skin, the blue energy funneled down his throat. Blue light flashed out of his nostrils and he choked, stumbling backward and holding his throat as his insides spasmed uncontrollably.

  The only one left was Mach. I spun to face him, and he was on me in a second, his thick strong hand wrapped around my throat and his other on my wrist as he flew us against the far wall. He slammed me hard enough to knock the wind out of me.

  Unfortunately, I was all out of tricks. I decided I’d try the truth one more time.

  “Mach, listen to me. I didn’t set the bomb, ISO-1 did. They bought stolen C4 from Ukrainians and planted it here to make a statement.”

  He leaned close to me. He was older than the last time I saw him. Maybe he’d aged or maybe he was tired.

  “That’s a stupid plan. A bomb wouldn’t kill me. It might have hurt Bull, but Regenerator and Burn would be fine. The only person it would have a chance to kill…” His eyes went wide, and he looked over at Seraph’s unconscious form.

  “It would do two things,” I said to him. “It would show the world they weren’t afraid of you, and it would kill the one person who keeps your team free from outside influence.”

  I guessed from the way he looked, that maybe he got it.

  He stepped back and let me go. “I thought you were telling the truth. When you didn’t kill anyone, I figured I was right. I truly am sorry about your brother,” he said his head bowing as he spoke. “Not a day goes by I don’t think about it.”

  I slid down the wall, regaining my feet. I looked at him for a long moment. Mach was tall, built like a weightlifter, and had served the city for over a decade. Charles died fifteen years before. Why would he be concerned about it still?

  “Mach, it really was an accident. I’m being honest when I say I don’t blame you. It doesn’t matter anyway… he would have died with the rest of my family.” I hadn’t realized that until I said it out loud, and when I did, a wave of grief hit me like a fist. I shook it off, not wanting to feel it just then. Not while there was still work to do.

  “We can talk about this later. That bomb needs to be disarmed. Can you see to your teammates while I go try to save the day?”

  He looked at the truck and then me. “How did you learn all these things?”

  I shrugged. “YouTube.”

  Chapter 31

  Bill reached the bottom of the stairwell that led to the sub garage—where he believed the Wraith to be. After all, that was where security said the Saints team was. He had two security people in tow, along with Krisan who he’d run in to on his way in.

  “Hurry,” she said from the rear.

  As strong as the Wraith was, there was no way she could fight her way past the Saints. They were a solid team with some incredibly powerful members.

  Bill braced himself for what was beyond the ubiquitous green door with the silver push bar.

  Please Lord, let me be in time.

  He pushed through the door, yelling while he did. “Federal agent, stand down!”

  Then he froze. Krisan broke out in nervous laughter behind him. The two security people froze, jaws open at the sight. Bill should have known. He’d seen what the woman was capable of, but still…

  Damn.

  Bull, Burn, and Seraph were all down. Unconscious from what he could tell. Mach stood next to the trailer with the bomb in it, while Wraith inspected the door. Bill checked his watch; they had a little over an hour. Which sounded like a lot of time, but not when dealing with a bomb.

  “Madi!” Krisan squealed as she ran by, heedless of any danger or the inch of water from the discharged sprinklers.

  So that’s her name.

  Bill filed it away for future reference. He seriously doubted he could talk her into joining his team, but maybe she wouldn’t mind helping them out now and again.

  Chapter 32

  I had just determined that the door was rigged to blow if opened and was working on my options when Krisan rushed in—screaming my real name—before wrapping me in a bear hug and burying her face in my shoulder.

  “Nice to see you too,” I told her as I returned the hug.

  “When I heard they thought you were the bomber I… I…”

  I smiled and squeezed her tight. “It’s okay. I’m okay. Mach and I go back a ways, so we’re cool.”

  She gave me another hug and backed up. “So how come you haven’t disarmed it yet?” she asked with a smile.

  “Oh, I see how it is. ‘Madi, take care of all the crime in Detroit. Madi, stop ISO from destroying New Orleans, Made, disarm all the bombs,’” I said and stuck my tongue out at her.

  “Uh, ladies… Bomb?” Bill asked as he put his M4 down next to the truck. I glanced past him and saw the two security team members he brought with him run to the downed Saints to try and revive them.

  “We got time. Uh, Mach? This is going to sound weird, but I don’t think you can convince Seraph that I’m one of the good guys, so please, don’t let her touch me.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “I don’t understand.”

  “That makes two of us. Just please, trust me for now?” He thought about it for a moment then nodded. He walked over to the man trying to revive her and had a private word with him.

  “What
’s the plan,” Bill asked.

  “The doors are rigged to blow the bomb if we open them. We’re going to need to cut through the roof and try and disarm it once we're inside,” I told him.

  Krisan gave me a look. “Why don’t you just pop in there the way you do?” she asked.

  “I can’t right now my… my abilities have limitations I’d rather not get into while surrounded by law enforcement, Krisan.” I put enough ice in my voice I hope she took my meaning. For such a smart woman she was sometimes oblivious.

  “I can help with that,” Mach said walking up behind me. He lifted off the ground, wind blowing around him, sending the ends of my scarf snapping around. I reached up and pulled the silky material off my face and let it hang around my neck. I supposed there was no point in protecting my identity.

  He landed on the roof of the tractor and knelt down.

  “Not a big hole, just something I can look through,” I said. Anyone can make a bomb, it isn’t that hard. A highly skilled individual, though, can make a bomb that can’t be defused. I was worried that was what we were dealing with. From all the books Joseph had me read, Explosive Ordnance Disposal usually just blew up bombs with shaped charges or transported them somewhere they could be detonated without hurting anyone. But since the doors were rigged, I had to assume that whoever set this up knew what they were doing.

  I grabbed the lever on the back of the door and hauled myself up, using the door mechanism as handholds until I scrambled over the top. Mach held out a hand and I grabbed it, pulling myself the rest of the way. “Thanks,” I said.

  Once I was up there, he reached down with two fingers and jammed them through the metal. For him it was like pushing through butter. The Wraith made me strong, but not like his ridiculous level of strength. I shook off my awe and knelt down on all fours to press my face to the hole. The shadows inside the trailer faded until I could see almost normally.

  “Well,” I said while looking through the hole, “it’s a bomb.”

  “Can you disarm it?” Bill asked from below.

  I closed my eyes for a second, trying to remember everything I had read about EOD. I looked again. The C4 had hundreds, if not thousands, of wires running through it. Any attempt to cut away the C4 would likely result in contact with one of the wires—which would mean boom.

  All the detonators were pushed deep into the bricks themselves, which meant trying to pull them out would also result in boom. I directed Mach to punch another hole in the roof, closer to the middle. He did. I looked through that one and found the control systems. It was a simple circuit board attached to an MP3 player of some kind and what looked like a mic and an accelerometer. Clever.

  I stood up and went through a dozen scenarios; all of them ended with boom.

  “What’s wrong?” Mach asked.

  “Whoever made this is pretty skilled. If we try to open the doors, sound the evacuation alarm, cut away the C4, or try to move it, the whole thing goes off. I can see the circuit board, but there are also wires I don’t recognize. He could also have it attached to a motion detector, which would mean even going in there to disarm it would result in boom.” Think, Madi. Think!

  “We need to try something,” Mach said.

  “We can’t rely on luck; luck isn’t a plan. We need to know it will work,” I told him. I looked around the room for something…something to inspire me. Something… something… outside the box! “Mach, I have a plan. I need Burn up here, but not Seraph, okay?”

  He turned and lifted off, wind blowing out from him like a helicopter taking off. A few seconds later he returned with Burn, who looked like this was the last place he wanted to be. Fire swirled in the shape of a man—even his clothes were molded out of flame. It was eerie as hell looking at living flame.

  “Sorry about earlier,” I told him.

  He shook his head, running his hands through the flame that was his hair. “It was a good lesson in overconfidence, to be honest. I’m glad you were telling the truth.”

  I wanted to shake his hand if I could have done it without melting my skin. “This is going to sound crazy, but it will work.”

  “What will work?” Mach asked.

  I walked over to the section of the trailer that was above the detonator. “Burn, I assume you can raise your external temperature slowly, right?”

  “I have pretty good control. I can boil water or melt steel. I mean, I can’t go up a degree at a time, but leaps in ten or fifteen degrees is doable,” Burn said.

  “Good. Okay, I need you to slowly raise the temperature inside the trailer until it’s two-thousand degrees,” I said pointing at the hole. I looked up to get confirmation from him that he could do it, but the two men were just staring at me like I was insane.

  “There’s a bomb in there,” Mach said as if I didn’t know.

  “Yes,” I replied. “A bomb I can’t disarm.”

  “Your plan is to blow it up then?” Burn asked. “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?”

  I shook my head. How to explain to them all the books I read on ordinance disposal, all the hours and hours of videos Joseph made me watch, not to mention the hands on?

  “C4 is very stable; it requires a detonator. Something that explodes at greater than 1.5 megajoules—or 1400 meters per second. Fire or heat alone won’t do it; you could shoot it and it wouldn’t go off. But if one of us so much as sticks a pinkie inside that trailer, this place will look like a crater on the moon.” I checked the time on my phone. An hour to go. This wasn’t going to leave us an option for a plan B.

  Air swirled around me and Seraph landed next to Mach. Her sandaled feet clanged on the roof as she stalked forward. Blood covered her; from her nose in a trail down her chin, neck, and the front of her white robe.

  “You are the spawn of the devil. You’re here to destroy us.” She snapped out her hand and a whip made of light materialized. I was torn about what to do. If I shot her again it would hurt my chances of them listening to me—and a lot of innocent people would die. At the same time, Spice was terrified of her.

  “I don’t know what your beef with me is, princess, but I don’t know you from Adam. Heat destabilizes electronics. Copper melts at two thousand degrees. Once that happens the detonator will be useless. So, all you have to do is—”

  She whipped her hand out and the line of light wrapped around me burning my skin where it touched. I screamed as a pain unlike anything I’d ever felt burned me. Then she pulled. My vision blurred and I could feel her rending my soul in two.

  “Seraph, stop!” Mach ordered her.

  “B—Burn, only… you… can disarm… bomb,” I said through clenched teeth. I was crying, and I don’t cry easy. My knees hit the metal roof and she pulled again. I didn’t move, but something inside me did. Sara was next to me, screaming as she was pulled from me, the whip of light encircled us both.

  It was too much, seeing her in pain, seeing her dying again. I couldn’t do it. I’d see everyone in this building blown to hell before I went through that again. I slammed my foot down and I stood, trying to focus through the pain and burning the whip caused. Mach yelled at Seraph to let me go. Burn moved to the hole, putting his palm over it as he heated up. Good man.

  Through an effort of extreme will I forced my hand to grasp the hi-tech pistol tucked into my waistband. My fingers were numb; I barely felt the thing as I pulled it out.

  She raised her other hand and a sword of light materialized.

  “Madi, please,” Spice called from beside me. We were almost completely separate now. She writhed on the ground, only barely connected to me. Seraph ran forward with the sword high above her head.

  Oh no, not again. No!

  I threw myself over Spice, firing the IPP as I fell. The blade struck me dead center in the chest and my world exploded. I hit the metal trailer, rolled and fell off the side only to slam into the concrete. I rolled over with a groan of pain. Blackness encroached on me but this time, this time, I saved her.

  I saved you Spi
ce.

  Chapter 33

  Midnight came. Vaas was sitting in his leather chair, safely hidden in the hotel they owned. The huge picture windows overlooking the city gave him one of the best possible views.

  The assault on the Dome had utterly failed. Most of the men he sent were captured and killed. His one hope was that the building would still explode. He’d paid good money for a detonator that couldn’t be defused. Once set, it would explode… no matter what.

  The clock on his phone ticked over.

  12:01

  No explosion. No mushroom clouds. No screaming. No fire trucks. And no dead heroes.

  How?

  How on Earth did one woman dismantle the most powerful criminal organization in the history of New Orleans in a matter of three days? She’d killed nearly all of his subordinates, seemingly with ease. She knew where everything was. It didn’t matter how secret he thought a place was, she knew. She showed up at the lieutenants meeting, the mansion on the outskirts of the city, the swamp where they exchanged dirty money for clean. Hell, she’d blown it all up.

  And now, at the moment when he should be celebrating, he held a heavy revolver in his hand and contemplated eating it. The Council in Belize would not accept this kind of failure. The only reason they hadn’t killed him already was that the whole thing came down so fast that no one had time to issue the order.

  More time passed; with each minute his hope faded further. Hope that the timer had just delayed, or that maybe his clock was off, or… No, she’d won. Again. Somehow. He hefted the gun in his hand, feeling the weight. Regardless of whether it was by the hand of an assassin or his own, he’d join Peter soon. Somehow, he knew they wouldn’t like their destination.

  The door to the suite swung silently open and soft footsteps made their way to the desk. “Miguel, I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed.” Something heavy and wet slammed down on his desk. He jumped up and spun around, his mouth open. Miguel’s dead eyes stared back at him from his severed head. The remains of the blood leaked out over the desk, soaking the papers in the viscous liquid.