“He insisted on going back to his studio. We couldn’t keep him here.” Jerry said apologetically.
“I tried, Chloe,” Roland added. “He claimed he had work to do.”
“Uh-oh. I’d better explain fast, then get going,” I said. I ran through a quick recital of my recent adventures, severely editing my near-death experiences with the giant arm and the cauldron of boiling chemicals.
“Thanks for the warning about destroying the machines,” I nodded at Roland. “By doing that, we’ve slowed him down.”
“Did the other Bodacious Barb tell you she gave me a tour of the Fantastic Comics’ offices?” he asked, his eyes sparkling. “That was really cool.”
“Admit it, fanboy,” I said. “You hopped dimensions just to get that tour.”
“Sort of. I could have helped you more, but I had to come back and keep Dave awake. Which I failed to do.” He looked as frustrated as he sounded. “I let you down.”
I waved that away. “It saved my skin. The Purple Menace’s power bolts were much stronger than mine after what I’d been through.” I told them how he’d winked out of the other dimension at the perfect moment.
I continued, “I’m sick of crazy junk science like that DNA-transfer contraption, but I’ve put together an even crazier plan to stop him.”
“That’s good news,” Jerry said.
“What is it? What’s next?” Roland asked.
“First, Dave has to stay awake for a while,” I said.
“I’ll call him right now,” Roland said.
On speakerphone, Dave sounded alert, which gave us some time before the Purple Menace could cross over again. But Dave was not thinking positively. “Chloe, why haven’t you defeated the Purple Menace yet?” he asked. His voice was stern, disapproving even.
“I’ve got a plan. That’s more than you ever came up with,” I snapped back.
Roland put a hand on my shoulder. Dave’s criticism stung. I’d been trying my best.
“The world is in danger. You must defeat him,” Dave said, calmly ignoring my jab.
“Stay awake, would you?” I said, exasperated. “Could you at least stay awake?”
The man who had given me life but had never been a father to me was silent.
Jerry said, “Dave, Chloe has done a bang-up job so far. We’ll be in touch soon with the next part of her plan. Take care.”
After he ended the call, Jerry turned to me, sympathy in his expression. “Your father sets a high standard for himself, too, you know.”
“I met him for the first time yesterday. I don’t know him at all,” I replied, feeling as mulish as I sounded.
Roland made a soothing noise. I shoved away his sympathy, not bothering to keep the edge out of my voice. “Why should I give Dave any slack?”
“You’re wasting your anger,” Jerry replied. “He won’t fight with you. He goes his own way, always.”
I grimaced. “Point taken.” From all I had heard and seen, Diabolical Dave McCay did life according to his principles, never bowing to the opinions of others. Never caring about other people. Certainly not his daughter.
Enough feeling sorry for poor little fatherless me. I had sunk into a soft chair. Now I rose and started pacing. The words poured out of me. “With luck, Dave will stay awake for several hours. Here’s the new plan. Because following the trail of the Purple Menace in the other dimension has not worked, I want to capture him here, while he’s wreaking havoc.”
“How can we? He’s got superpowers here,” Roland pointed out. “And you don’t.”
“Duh. I have a plan. You’re included, too, Jerry, if you’re willing?” I asked. He was up in years. I didn’t want to put him at any physical risk, but his connections were essential to pull off my plan.
“I am,” Jerry said.
Roland swallowed the rest of his breakfast in one gulp. “What’s first?”
“Jerry makes a public announcement about what happened—was it only yesterday?” I shook my head. “Wow. I’ve been busy. We want to get into the entertainment blogs and online newspapers. Jerry, you need to convince the television people to release their footage of the Purple Menace attacking you.”
Jerry’s face showed his doubt.
“It must exist,” I said. “We’ll put it up on a video channel and get people talking.”
“Why?” As always, Jerry was cautious.
“So people who see the Purple Menace will recognize and report him. We’ll get the public to tell us exactly where he is.”
“Nobody did anything before,” Roland pointed out. “Why should they now?”
“Because we’re going to give them Jerry’s phone number to call, to report sightings. And a Twitter hashtag. And an e-mail address.”
I stopped pacing. “Jerry is a public figure. Anything involving him is news. We use his fame to create a free early warning system separate from the police or other authorities. They can’t help us anyway, what with Dave’s influence on the other dimension being the root cause of all this.”
“Some people will think it’s a publicity stunt,” Jerry said. He didn’t sound too unhappy about that.
I replied, “That will make them more eager to report in, not less.”
Roland slowly nodded his head. “Yeah. It’ll work.”
I turned to Jerry. “It depends on you, Jerry, on the amount of pull you have with the television people.”
Jerry’s chest puffed up a bit as he said, “I know the man to call. He’ll cooperate.”
Roland gazed at Jerry with admiration. Or hero worship. Same thing to a fanboy.
I handed out assignments. “I want it all ready before the Purple Menace attacks again.” In addition to getting the camera footage, we needed a new Twitter account and an e-mail address. I put Roland in charge of syncing the communications.
“We must warn people not to approach the Purple Menace if they see him. Tell them to contact us. Not to open tweet us, either. Too public. If they give us his location publicly, thrill seekers might rush to see him and put themselves in danger. A flash mob won’t help us defeat him.”
I turned to Jerry. “You don’t text, do you?”
“Most of the executives I deal with don’t. I have no one to text to,” he said, shrugging.
“You are exactly why we need an array of communication links. We want anybody who spots the Purple Menace to contact us. A phone number, an Internet site for e-mail, texting, Twitter. What else?”
“A human being to answer the phone,” Jerry said. “Many people get offended if they get a machine.”
“I’ve got that covered,” I said. I gave Roland a couple of chores, including meeting Barb, my Barb, at my hotel. And I asked Roland for the Amulet of Life.
“I’ve got stuff to do but then I’m heading back to the other dimension. I’ll leave the amulet at Dave’s studio.” I masked my fear. With luck, my elaborate plan would not falter because of some step I hadn’t thought of. Or because the Purple Menace was ahead of me again. Or worse, because Eric was a traitor. If he was colluding with the Purple Menace, I didn’t give much for my chances.
“When are you coming back?” Roland asked the question soberly, as if he suspected some of my plan involved risking my life.
“As soon as I can. If I’m not back in two hours, start without me.”
“Can you handle your end alone?”
“I’m the only one with superpowers. I need you in this world.” I was through leaning on Roland for moral support. From now on, I had to be my own best friend and depend on myself, not anyone else. Too bad Eric…okay, I didn’t want to go there.
I had spoken as if I expected everything about this final confrontation to go my way. Far from it. But I had lined up all my potential allies so I could go in guns blazing.
My next step was to rush over to Diabolical Dave’s studio. Sure enough, he was there, looking the same as yesterday. Even a little rested from all the ill-timed naps he’d taken.
“Uh…hello.” I moved ins
ide the cramped room, noticing the years of accumulated drawings piled in corners. He straightened up from his drawing board.
“Have you succeeded, girl? Speak up.”
“Not yet.” I fought an impulse to say “sir.”
He made a displeased noise, but I ignored it.
“Get ready,” I said. “You’re about to play a role in the final rout of the Purple Menace.”
“You’ve figured it out?”
“Oh, more than how to finish the Purple Menace,” I smiled. It was not a nice smile. I spent ten precious minutes explaining exactly what was to happen later today.
I began the chant. Time to set my plan into action and to face the music about Eric. Step one was to return to the other dimension and confront him. I’d seen him in that flash of mental connection, going up a high tower. It must be the Sky Tower. Now I would head there to find out if Eric was part of the problem after all.
Chapter 24
The Amulet of Life did not like heights. Or maybe there was something about the portal between worlds that made the transfer ground-to-ground only. I landed on the sidewalk outside the other world’s Empire State Building. Here they called it the Sky Tower. It was located on 34th Street as usual, but architecturally, it was a bit different. The Sky Tower was an amalgam of the Empire State Building and the Toronto, Seattle, and Tokyo towers, plus Chicago’s Sears Tower. At the top was a visitors’ gallery, a viewing spot built for tourists. At ground level there were shops and a hotel. In between were offices. This was the worst possible place for a nasty battle involving superpowers or death-dealing machines. Yet I had to start one. Win it, too.
First I had to get to the top of the Sky Tower. I had cash and could easily buy a ticket, but what about getting up there as fast as possible? A long line of tourists waited for the elevators. I surely did not want to discuss my business with the elevator guards. The building authorities would get in my way, too.
I didn’t want to fly to the top of the tower and waste my fledgling power. Plus I wanted to be inside, not outside.
I addressed the people at the beginning of the line. “Would anybody be willing to trade their ticket time with me, in exchange for a photo?”
It worked. I parlayed a photo op of tourists posing with me in my superheroine costume for a timed ticket at the head of the line. It’s amazing what people will do if you ask.
I took the next elevator to the top and exited with the tourists. I wandered around the circular floor with its magnificent views of New York’s canyons, going with the flow of the crowd and acting nonchalant, until I found an unmarked door in the central core that didn’t look like a janitor’s closet. It was locked. I sent a tiny charge of my power bolts at it, being as discreet as possible. The lock yielded.
My early morning mind meld had shown me a private suite hidden behind the public viewing area. Kind of crazy to hide in plain sight in a building routinely visited by thousands of tourists every day, but it worked for the Purple Menace. Or at least it had worked, until my powers in this world accelerated to the point that I could initiate a mental link with him. The Purple Menace had had that advantage from the start. Now the playing field was more level.
The penthouse suite was outfitted for the would-be king of the world, far more lavishly than Eric’s over-the-top co-op back in my New York. I wasn’t even sure of the function of some of the objects, only that they’d been crafted with supreme care out of expensive materials. Furniture? Sculpture? Toys? The mixture of sleek lines, stone, metal, wood, and crystal was overwhelming.
“What took you so long?” Eric lounged in what must be a couch. It was suspended in midair. He glanced at me with amusement. I hesitated at the archway leading into the room. Which Eric was this? He was treating me like a friend. Not ranting about taking over the world. Maybe it was my Eric.
“Eric? Or the Purple Menace? Which are you?” I asked.
“He’s not here yet. We have time,” he smiled. The Purple Menace had never shown this kind of appreciation or heat in his eyes. It was Eric.
“I want to explain,” he said. He patted the couch next to him. I sat down, feeling excited being near him. Still, he was acting too nice. Eric had been charming in my world, but he’d never spoken softly like this. He’d never even pretended to shed his corporate shark personality. His masterful self-confidence infused his bed behavior, as well.
He leaned in close to me, and I caught the scent of his body. It was Eric’s scent. His eyes registered me as an attractive female, as Eric’s always had.
“I’m not the villain you think I am,” he said, reasonably.
“Really? Then tell me where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing.”
“Not important,” he said.
“Relationships require trust,” I snapped at him. “Or is all we have between us just sex?”
“Chloe, every time I’m near you, I want to sex you up. That’s normal.” He smirked.
“I’m talking about a relationship, Eric,” I said, my teeth clenched. He ignored my words and put a confident hand on my shoulder, turning me to him. Mere seconds later, he had me lying under him on his crazy couch, and he was kissing me and touching me.
It was too intimate. Too compelling. I should have stopped him. I was pissed at him. I didn’t want to stop him.
Sometimes, when sex is trying to carry me away, my brain shifts into a different gear instead. I become coldly analytical. Eric knew we had some issues and he was trying to sugarcoat them with sex. The last time I let my attraction to him dull my sense that he’d been holding out on me, he took off behind my back. Now he was all sexual charm once more. I did not want to play.
In that rebellious state, I suddenly realized we had a major mind link going. I was not lying on a couch with my Eric.
Barb had warned me. I had shied away from trying a link. Because he was busy trying to make me, his mind simply opened up to mine.
I was about to have sex with the Purple Menace.
Oh, heck.
Not only that, but I could see his plan for the future of my world. He believed an all-out warlike attack would substantially panic people and finally make the big impression he’d wanted all along.
The Purple Menace expected the government, including the president, to flee the capital. He intended to boldly occupy the White House and fend off military efforts against him from a landmark our armed forces would be reluctant to destroy to get at him.
The Purple Menace would be the visible man in charge. From his psychological stronghold, he would make the world obey him. His power would radiate out from the White House. That was his crazy, destructive plan.
All this information poured into my brain in a flash as Not-My-Eric was kissing and caressing my body. As we writhed on the couch, he forced one leg between mine. If I didn’t act soon, it would be more than his leg.
I threw him off me.
“You’re not my Eric.” I cried, panting, as I scrambled from the couch to get away from his potent physical spell. Of course. He’d seen into my Eric’s memories, and had duplicated Eric’s seductive ways. No wonder I was confused.
Not-My-Eric was still in charm mode. “Chloe. Come back here.” He held out an inviting hand.
I stayed a safe distance from him. I even put my hands behind my back so they wouldn’t reach for his. He kept trying to lure me. “You can trust me. Meeting the other Eric has allowed me to re-absorb my original law-abiding personality. Along with some very pleasant memories.”
He smiled at me, and I knew he had every detail of me having sex with the Eric of my world. I didn’t know whether to feel violated or titillated. Like the Eric of my world, this Eric was promising me sexual pleasure. I was not anti-pleasure. And he was so reasonable. His silky words wooed me. Even though he was the same man who had tried to kill me twice yesterday—who planned to rule my world—did he think I would shrug all that aside?
“I’m not a bad guy, Chloe. I wasn’t a villain before Dave started messing with my world. Ta
ke a chance and find out. You could help me battle Dave’s evil influence over me. Your love could help me reclaim the man I was.”
The Eric Wood of this world, aka the Purple Menace, spoke the truth. From what Barb had said, he’d simply been an ambitious artist until the ultimate control freak started messing with their world. Diabolical Dave was the man responsible for the creation of the Purple Menace.
It was like that old science fiction movie, Forbidden Planet. The monster in the movie turned out to be the accidental creation of the scientist’s narcissism. Or in this case, the Purple Menace’s personality was the Dave-twisted version of Eric.
I swayed, then fell back into his arms. As he grasped me passionately, I had a fleeting regret. It shouldn’t be this way. My hands moved over his torso as his caressed my body.
“Yes, Chloe. Yes. Give yourself to me,” he urged me. Shudders coursed through my frame at his touch. I pressed my right hand against his chest and zapped him with my bolts as hard as I could. The Purple Menace convulsed and fell unconscious. I disentangled myself and stood up again. I hoped I hadn’t killed him. No, he was breathing.
Bizarrely, his costume suddenly began to skim coat his body, while a purple glow surrounded him. As the mask covered his forehead, he began to physically change, as well. His muscles shrank. His back hunched a little. His face took on a different aspect. It was as if he had been projecting the body of the Eric of my world.
“Some heroine I am. I can’t tell a supervillain from an ordinary evil executive.” I wiped a shaky hand across my face. It was enough to make me re-think my attitude toward sex. My hormones had almost let the Purple Menace win. Drat it. If he’d succeeded, imagine explaining, “It just happened,” to a world in chains.
My mission was to stop the Purple Menace, not get all sympathetic about how he had been a law-abiding citizen until he lost his moral compass.
No point in trying to tie him up. I shied away from the mere idea of touching him again. Anyway, when he woke, he’d easily snap any bonds. I checked my cheap watch. I’d come here with different intentions, but the Purple Menace’s presence was an added lucky break. Now I knew his immediate plan. Of course, I still had no clue where my Eric was.
Temporary Superheroine Page 19
