Mirage simply opened the front door to the ancient log cabin and led the way into a single vaulted room with exposed beams that seemed to take up the entire building. She’d been pissed at him the entire drive here and he didn’t have time to wonder why, because in the center of the room were two shadowy figures. It was too dark to make out details, but he knew one of them was Kim. Her platinum hair caught the little moonlight in the room. His eyes scanning the dense black shadows at every corner of the room, he started toward her.
“Don’t take another step.”
The voice was Eisenmann’s, but it was rough, halting, like each word was a struggle. Julian froze.
A spotlight turned on directly over the figures in the center of the room, leaving the rest of the room in shadows as it illuminated Kim and Eisenmann strapped into what looked like dentist chairs. Kim was slumped over, unconscious but visibly breathing—thank God—with a gag tied tight across her mouth and a pair of handcuffs locking her to the bolted-down chair. Eisenmann, on the other hand, was awake, sitting straight and totally unrestrained. They were both connected to IVs and there was some kind of contraption between them, ready to send a pale, slightly green-tinged liquid into their IV lines at the push of a button. Rat Poison, Julian presumed. Eisenmann’s hand hovered over the button, shaking with the force of his resistance.
“He’s nearby. He has to be to talk through Eisenmann,” Mirage whispered at his side, her eyes not on the pair in the center of the room, but on every dark shadow beyond them. “Dad?” she called, her voice echoing in the open hall. “I’m here and I’m fine. See?”
She spread her arms out wide and took a step away from Julian, which made him nervous as hell. He didn’t want her out of reach. He needed to protect her. She’d said herself that her father was unstable. What if he’d suffered a break and couldn’t remember who was friend and who was foe? Julian wouldn’t take the chance that Demon would hurt her by accident.
“He’s manipulating you, using you,” Eisenmann ground out, visibly resisting his role as Demon’s mouthpiece. “Just like that DynaGirl has done something to Lucien. You think I can’t see the wrongness of it? I had to save you.”
Julian started to growl that the one she’d needed saving from was him, but Mirage held up a hand to stop him.
“Why did you kidnap Kim and Eisenmann, Dad?” she asked, slowly pivoting to address her question toward the far corners of the room. “That isn’t like you.”
“I learned you’d been moved from Area Nine to Trident so this one could experiment on you, but he refused to tell me where you were. He said you were gone. Disappeared with Captain Justice of your own free will. Had to be lies, all of it lies. So I asked him to come with me. Leverage. Bring the hero out of hiding.”
“You asked him?”
“I didn’t even have to ask him very hard. He didn’t figure out how to fight the push for days.”
Days. All those days Eisenmann hadn’t been returning Julian’s calls, he’d been here, held captive by the Demon Doctor, fighting a war for control of his own motor functions.
“And Kim Carruthers?” Mirage casually took a few steps closer to the hostages. Julian shadowed her, trying to be inconspicuous.
“Stop right there, Justice!” Demon-Eisenmann barked. “I’ll kill them both!”
“Dad.” Mirage’s voice was mildly reproving. Like her father had embarrassed her at a social function. It felt like the wrong reaction to a death threat, but what did Julian know about villain parenting? “Kim?”
“She’s his lover,” Demon-Eisenmann spat. “Everyone knows it. I was watching her, waiting for him to go to her so I could take him directly, but then she broke that story. Claiming you were holding him against his will? They were turning public opinion against you, Mirage. You know the steps. You’d already been convicted in the public eye. They could kill you with impunity then. Fabricate some heist or battle to pin on you when they produce a corpse. I had to do something. I had to take something that was precious to him, so he would be motivated to return that which is precious to me. And he has.” Eisenmann’s lips fought the smile so it ended up looking sickly and grotesque, a leering twist.
“No one is going to hurt Mirage,” Julian insisted. He wouldn’t allow it.
“Not now. Not when her death means the death of Kim Carruthers.”
“Not ever. There was never a conspiracy to hurt her.” Julian directed his arguments at Eisenmann, not knowing where else to look and feeling strange about talking to the shadows as Mirage did.
Wroth didn’t seem to hear. “I just want my daughter back safely.”
Mirage stepped forward again. “And here I am, Dad. I’m completely unharmed. Just let Kim and Eisenmann go and I’ll stay with you—”
“No.” The word ripped out of Julian’s throat, instinctive and primitive. “Mirage stays with me.” He wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
“Mirage for Kim and the doctor,” Demon-Eisenmann grated. “That’s the deal. Take it or watch them die.”
Julian’s eyes locked on the green fluid poised above Kim and Eisenmann’s IVs. If he believed Mirage, it wouldn’t kill them, just give them superpowers, but as much as he trusted Mirage, that trust didn’t extend to her father. Julian couldn’t stand not being able to see him, hearing his words only through Eisenmann, so everything felt like a lie, because the words were a lie to Eisenmann, and he couldn’t get a read on the situation. He was used to always knowing the truth. Always knowing what to do. But now all he had was his gut and he had to say situations like this without his superpowers sucked.
He was strong enough to take any amount of damage, but Demon had found his weakness—his need to save everyone—and exploited it. He couldn’t let any harm come to Kim. Not because he was in love with her—since he didn’t feel a thing when he looked at her anymore—but because it would change him on a fundamental level if he walked away from his convictions that way. He couldn’t trade one life for another—even if he wasn’t certain Kim was in mortal danger. But neither could he lose Mirage. The idea of watching her walk away, disappear from his life, never to be seen again, tugged at something raw and visceral in his soul. It went deeper than honor to a place where caveman instinct ruled. She was his. If she ever left him, it would shred him, but it would be her choice. Not at the coercion of her father. And if she would have him, if she felt a fraction for him of what he felt for her, he would make sure she never had a reason to want to vanish like a mirage from his life.
Which meant he couldn’t hurt Demon, because that would hurt Mirage. Dammit. There was no good answer. Except, perhaps, the truth.
“I’m sorry…sir,” he added belatedly, remembering his manners when he realized he might want to suck up a bit to his potential future father-in-law. “I can’t let you take Mirage away from me. Not as long as she wants to stay. You see, I don’t trust you. And I love her too much to watch her walk away.”
A few steps in front of him, Mirage’s back went stiff and her head snapped around. “That’s how you tell me you love me? Seriously?”
“I know my timing isn’t ideal, but it’s the truth.”
“Lies.” Demon-Eisenmann’s roared echoed off the rafters. Mirage and Julian’s attention lasered in on the doctor as his entire body began to shudder. “He’s lying to you! This is what heroes do! They earn your trust, play against your emotions, and betray you when your guard is down.”
Julian took a step toward Mirage, one hand stretched out to her, and Demon-Eisenmann’s eyes went so wide the white was visible all the way around the iris.
“Get away from her!”
“Dad, release Eisenmann!” The panic in Mirage’s voice triggered a rush of adrenaline in Julian. Something was very wrong. “You’re pushing him too hard, Dad. Get out of him now!”
Mirage broke toward Eisenmann, but the room was too damn big and they were too far away. She only made it two running steps before Eisenmann’s eyes rolled back in his head, a massive seizure wracking his bo
dy. With the first convulsion, his hand smacked down on the button and the green liquid slid sinuously into the IVs. Mirage got to him first, but her top priority was making sure the doctor didn’t swallow his tongue, not yanking out the IV lines. By the time Julian reached the chairs, the damage was done. Whatever the “poison” was, it was in their veins now.
He quickly snapped the handcuff links and tore through the restraints tying Kim to the chair, tossing her still-unconscious form over his shoulder as he turned to help Mirage with Eisenmann.
“What’s happening to him?”
“Natural defense mechanism when the mind is pushed too far.” She pinned the doctor’s flailing arms down.
Eisenmann went abruptly still. There was a beat of pure silence in the room, the sound of their breathing unnaturally loud in the eerie stillness.
Then all hell broke loose.
Chapter Seventeen: Out of the Frying Pan
The first explosion knocked him off his feet. Julian flew backward, twisting awkwardly in the air to protect Kim as much as possible when they landed hard, punching a divot into the hardwood floor.
“Mirage!” he shouted over the sudden roaring in his ears. He came to his knees, cradling Kim’s limp body. Then he looked up and realized the roaring wasn’t only in his ears. The room was on fire, hungry flames noisily devouring the dry, aged timbers. The explosion hadn’t been a bomb, but a fireball. Demon Wroth had put them inside a goddamn tinderbox and lit a match. The bastard. His own daughter…
No. That couldn’t be it. He wouldn’t hurt Mirage. It had to be a mistake. Or an illusion. She’d been growing more powerful. She’d said she would need to use the full force of her abilities to overpower her father. Had she somehow rolled even Julian, in spite of his natural immunity? Their plan. It was all part of the plan. If anything went wrong, she would pull an illusion. He just hadn’t expected to be caught in the middle of it.
Heat slammed against him and smoke-thickened air clogged in his lungs. “Mirage!” he roared, then broke into coughing as he sucked in another breath of ashy air. He couldn’t see her, couldn’t get to her to touch her and feel the truth. Shit, what if she has another mental break now? “Mirage, turn it off!”
“It isn’t me!” She appeared at his side, pushing through the smoke and flames.
The real smoke and flames. Holy shit, the fire was real. Soot dusted her cheeks, but she seemed whole and uninjured. For now. The fire wasn’t taking any prisoners. Mirage was in danger and even superstrength didn’t make him burn-proof.
“Goddamn your fucking father!” Julian’s anger spiked and the rush of rage cleared his head. The fire had originated in the center of the room where they’d been standing. The path to the front door was still clear—though at the rate the fire was going, it wouldn’t be for long. They just had to get Eisenmann and get the hell out before the burning ceiling rained down on them. “Where’s Eisenmann?”
Mirage pointed straight into the blinding inferno where the flames burned blue and even purple they were so hot.
Jesus Christ. There was no way he was still alive. Julian locked his jaw. He’d liked the doctor. Hadn’t known him very well, but he’d seemed like a good guy. A brilliant man, valued in his field. Fuck Demon Wroth.
“It’s him!” Mirage shouted, pointing toward the epicenter of the fire.
“Your father?”
“No, Eisenmann! He’s the fire. Can’t you feel him? My father must have found a way to accelerate the poison’s effects. Eisenmann’s pyrokinetic.”
Oh holy motherfucking shit. Pyrokinetics were unstable on the best of days, but when their abilities emerged for the first time, they’d been known to take out entire city blocks. He shot a look up at the rafters where burning pieces of roof were already beginning to crash down. Fire couldn’t hurt a pyrokinetic, but falling debris had killed more than a few.
“How can we shut him down?” he shouted over the growling flames, already knowing the answer. He couldn’t get close enough to Eisenmann to knock him out, and even if he could, there was no guarantee that would stop the blaze. Some pyros could light fires even under sedation.
“We can’t,” Mirage shouted back. “We have to find my father and get out of here.”
He fully supported the second half of that statement. The first half? Out of the fucking question. “We have no idea where he is. And even if we knew, it’s too dangerous. The building is coming down, Mirage.”
“He has to be close. I know it. He might have been knocked out when Eisenmann ejected him from his mind. He could be helpless, Julian. Please. Don’t even villains deserve to be saved?”
“Shit. Fine. But you wait outside with Kim.”
He grabbed Mirage and threw her over his other shoulder, ignoring her kicking and struggling as he sprinted for the door. They burst through just as the flames reached it. He set them both on the ground outside, gratefully sucking in smoke-free air.
“Try to get through to Eisenmann. Put him under an illusion, whatever you have to do.”
The moonlight showed the blood rushing from her face as she paled beneath the ash marking her cheeks. “I can’t, Julian. His mind is already so fragile. Last time, with Kevin, I couldn’t control myself. What if I break him? There’s no telling what a pyro—”
“You won’t break him. You can do this.” He palmed the back of Mirage’s head and pulled her up for a quick, hard kiss. Releasing her, Julian shrugged out of his jacket and shirt, wrapping the shirt around his nose and mouth to keep out the smoke before putting the jacket back on to protect his skin. He touched her face, hoping like hell it wouldn’t be the last time his fingers felt her skin.
Then he turned and ran back into the burning building.
* * * * * * * * * *
Mirage watched Julian’s strong back disappear into the crackling, hissing, deathbox of a lodge. He was a hero, right? He did this kind of thing every day before breakfast, didn’t he? And he was plunging back in there to save her father at her request. But the thought of even a hair on his head getting singed made her chest ache, filling her lungs with suffocating panic, and bringing home one very daunting truth.
Captain Justice was the love of her life.
Not just some guy who’d helped her, who she’d had sex with, and who she happened to like pretty well, but The One. She hadn’t even realized she believed in The One until her very soul was filled with the unalterable truth that he was it.
She couldn’t let him die.
Pure, calm purpose swelled up inside her. She could do this. Julian trusted her, believed in her when no one else had. When others had looked at her like she was a lost cause, he’d seen her through the confusion and never once doubted she would find her way to the other side. He was her rock. Now it was her turn to be his.
The roaring fire faded from view as she looked with her inner sight instead, seeking out the pinpoint of wild light that was Eisenmann’s mind. She found him easily, but even his thoughts were wrapped in layers of flame. The heat was intense. Even knowing it was all in her mind, she felt certain her skin must be melting, her eyelashes themselves catching fire, but still she held on, pushing through, pushing deeper until she found the core of him. It was still hot there, searing, but she could feel the frantic flutter of his thoughts, rationality completely subsumed in instinct and terror. He was conscious enough to be afraid, but that fear was only feeding his body’s newest defense mechanism.
She couldn’t speak to his mind, her abilities had never worked that way, but she could give him something much less frightening to think about. Mirage threaded herself ever so gently into his consciousness, careful not to push, just a teasing tendril of an illusion. She focused on making it the most soothing vacation from reality that she could, taking the visceral sensation of heat and pouring it into sunshine, waves pounding against a beach taking the place of the roar of the fire. She put Eisenmann into a Corona commercial, lazy, comforting, the furthest thing she could think of from fear. She lulled him until the layers
of flame in his mind were extinguished, one by one, but she didn’t dare open her eyes to check if the flames in the building were following suit. Not until she felt the tension ease out of his thoughts as Eisenmann lost consciousness.
When she came back to herself, the timbers were glowing like embers in the night, but there were no more active flames. Smoke poured off the roof and out of every opening and every PSA she’d ever seen about smoke killing more than fire echoed in her mind. Eisenmann, her father, Julian. They weren’t out of danger yet.
Had she been too slow? Had the smoke and massive collapsing beams already killed them?
She shoved herself to her feet and staggered over the uneven ground toward the door. She knew she was too small to be much help, but she couldn’t stand there wringing her hands like some medieval damsel in distress, waiting for her white knight to return. She would lift the scorched beams off Julian with her bare hands if she had to.
She heard a loud creak, the burned-out logs groaning, and the roof collapsed with a whoosh of smoky debris and an ungodly crash. The door flew open, propelled by the blast, and a hulking, ash-coated figure stumbled through.
“Julian.” Her knees gave out on a tide of relief and she hit the ground.
He stood at the mouth of the wreckage, Eisenmann over one shoulder, her father hooked over the other, and damn if she’d ever seen a more beautiful sight. He set Eisenmann and her father down next to Kim and came to kneel in front of her, yanking down the singed and sooty shirt wrapped over the lower half of his face.
He cupped her face, so tender and gentle. “I knew you could do it,” he grated out, his voice rough from smoke-inhalation.
She couldn’t speak. The only sound that escaped her was a broken sob as she threw her arms around him and held on tight. He wrapped her in his strength and she pressed her face against his neck, not caring that he smelled like a campfire and her face was instantly smeared with ash. “Let’s never do that again,” she hiccupped.
Super Bad (a Superlovin' novella) Page 12
