The Fire In My Eyes

by Christopher Nelson

  Her lips quirked into a smile. “I thought you might say something like that. That's good. It's not what I wanted to hear, but I'll take it.”

  “What did you want to hear?” I asked.

  Her smile turned impish. “Why, Kevin, of course I wanted to hear that you'd join me at once, and run away with me, just so that I could do all those wonderfully vulgar things to you that I've been thinking about for the last three months. I'm so very disappointed in you.”

  I slapped my forehead. “Ask a stupid question.” She laughed again, all the tension from a minute ago ebbing away. “You have a one-track mind,” I told her.

  “But you love it,” she said. “Admit it. You love the attention.”

  “It's nice, but I do have a girlfriend, remember?”

  “Admit that you wish you got this sort of attention from your girlfriend,” she said. Her eyes sparkled and she stepped right up, pressing her chest against me, then slipped her arms around my neck. “Admit that you'd really like her to be as playful and direct as I am. Admit that you'd really like her to be a whole lot more like me, because from everything I've heard you say this evening concerning her, she's an insecure little girl who plays you so, so cruelly.”

  I tried to take a step back, but she was glued to me. “Star, I think you're really wonderful-”

  “And cute,” she said.

  “Very cute,” I said. “I mean, you're really something-”

  “Pretty?” she asked, tilting her head sideways.

  “Gorgeous.”

  She hummed out a sigh and drew herself up closer to me. “You say such very nice things, Kevin. I think I could fall in love with you.” She leaned in and kissed the corner of my mouth, letting her lips linger close to mine, then slowly drew away from me. “Unfortunately, we're out of time,” she said.

  “Out of time?” I lifted my hand to where she had kissed me.

  “They're just about here. Silly me for manifesting my power.” She smiled and winked. “Looks like you'll have to give me a hand in shutting them down, unless you want to be accused of consorting with the enemy.”

  Chapter Twenty Six

  “You set me up,” I said.

  She grinned and stretched her arms up over her head before responding. “I set myself up. They might catch me, you know. Aren't you worried?”

  “Like hell. You dodged a helicopter before.”

  “Details, details. Kevin, it's up to you,” she said. “You can run, or you can fight them, or you can fight me. What's it going to be?”

  “You know I couldn't fight you!” I said.

  She shrugged and took a step back. “Congratulations, you just eliminated a third of your options. Way to cut down the odds, tiger.”

  “Damn you, Star!” I clenched my fists and tapped my power. She did the same, blue light blazing in her eyes. Her gaze never left mine. “Why are you forcing me to make a choice like this? I thought you trusted me!”

  “This isn't about trust,” she said.

  “What is it about, then?”

  “I need to know what you'll do when your back's up against the wall.”

  There was a whisper of movement, a single pulse of psionic energy. She shielded, an electric blue globe crackling with energy as two men with glowing green eyes attacked from opposite sides. Another pair of agents were floating in the air, ready to add to the assault. Her shield was holding, but she wouldn't be able to take on four to one odds. Even so, she didn't move, didn't counter, didn't speak, simply stood and stared at me. And smiled. Not fair at all.

  I twisted my power down to a trickle and walked toward one of the agents. Kinetic energy flashed from his fingers, a continuous spray of weak bursts, just like what Nikki and Absynthe tended to use. He was just forcing her to keep her shield up until heavier guns could come into play. His shield was tuned to defend against energy attacks, not physical. I decked him.

  “Why, Kevin,” Star said as he slumped to the ground. “You're making a habit of punching men who attack me. How chivalrous. I like that.”

  I rubbed my burning knuckles. “At least I didn't break anything this time.”

  “What are you doing?” One of the agents floating in the air dropped down next to me. He grabbed my shoulder and swung me around to face him. “Parker? Someone call Shade. Hurry!”

  He hadn't even waited for me to explain. I tapped my power and flung him away. With that, the night lit up with green and blue fireworks. Blue lightning blazed from Star's hands, slamming into the agent attacking her and the one I had just thrown. Both dove for cover, their shields overwhelmed with a single attack. She had just been talking about obscene amounts of power a few minutes ago. She might have been talking from experience. Maybe the four to one odds weren't fair in the opposite direction.

  The last agent floating overhead was already calling for help. A telepathic message to Shade would bring him here, and he would kill me. There was no way he would listen to me. I shouted and threw a rock, but it was too late. I saw a thread humming with green energy, fading off into the distance. The message was out.

  His shield caught my rock and deflected it, but Star's attack was far more vicious. He fell out of the air and I heard the distinct snap of a bone breaking. I caught my breath. All I could hear was that snap echoing in my head. My power sputtered and my shield collapsed as my concentration failed.

  “Kevin! Look out!”

  I dropped face down. Heat skimmed along my back, a strange feeling of warmth in the cold autumn evening. I flipped onto my back and saw a boot heading straight for my nose. I crossed my arms in front of my face and barely managed to force a shield, keeping that booted foot away from my nose. My attacker bounced off and stumbled away. I jumped to my feet and we faced off. “You traitor, Shade's going to tear you apart,” he said.

  “She didn't do anything! You had no reason to attack. You didn't give me a chance to explain the situation,” I said.

  He wiped the corner of his mouth. “You don't know shit, Parker. You don't know shit.” His eyes flickered with energy and he jumped at me, leading with a furious punch. I ducked it and slammed a fist up toward his ribs, nearly shattering my hand on his shield. He thrust me away with a surge of power and I shielded just as a telekinetic blade threatened to take my head off my shoulders. It still rattled my teeth as it grated against my shield.

  I thrust power into the ground and shook it where he was standing, and then as he started to jump away, I threw myself forward and grabbed his legs. He lost his balance and I heaved upwards, flipping him head over ass. His head bounced off the ground. The glow in his eyes abruptly winked out.

  Star was dealing handily with the other agent that she had previously blasted. She didn't need my help, but I pushed his shield from behind just to speed things up, the typical Establishment kinetic spray. It took him by surprise and her next attack bored through his shield. He made a gasping sound, then fell to his knees, fingers digging into his throat. She held him there for a moment, and then let him drop. “Thanks,” she said.

  “You didn't kill him, did you?” I asked.

  She shook her head as she walked over to him. “No, but he'll wish he was dead when he wakes up.”

  I watched as she pressed her fingers to the agent's scalp. “Twisting?”

  “You bet. It'll keep you safe. Think of it as my thanks for helping me out.” She walked over to the next agent, then looked up at me. “Unless you want a different sort of reward?”

  “One track mind,” I reminded her.

  “Guilty as charged.” She walked to the agent that she had knocked from the sky.

  As she crouched down, he sat up. His power surged and grabbed at her. Green tendrils were reaching around the curve of her shield, stretching faster than she could expand it. I couldn't shield her effectively, and I suspected that the attack was drawing energy directly from her shield. Shielding her would only put me in the same position. I couldn't protect her like that, but I could attack him.

  I flung a rock at hi
m, as hard as I could. Only after it left my psionic grip did I remember what had happened to the tree I had thrown the rock at. He shielded, but he was in no way prepared for a small stone moving several times faster than a bullet. His shield bent inwards as it caught the rock, then tore and sprayed green energy around the rupture. The rock itself caught him in the center of the chest, and even as far away as I had been, I could hear his breastbone crack. He flipped over backwards and lay still.

  Star's shield shimmered and vanished. She knelt by the motionless body and looked back at me. “Damn, Kevin. You don't mess around, do you?”

  “Is he all right?” I felt sick. I didn't want to hurt him so badly, but I hadn't had much choice. It was him or her. It had been an accident, just like before. Shade was right.

  “He's going to need help,” she said, touching his forehead. “I think you cracked his ribcage with that. At least he won't remember it. He'll survive until the cleanup crew arrives.”

  I let out a sigh. “Good. I guess.”

  She walked to the last agent and twisted his mind as well. “That's all of them, but they did get that message off, didn't they? Who's this Shade guy they were talking about? Some sort of elite agent?”

  “You could say that,” I said. “He's the guy who used to train me.”

  “The one who beat the shit out of you?” Star's eyes blazed with blue light once again. Her smile showed teeth. “Good. I'll take care of him when he gets here.”

  “He's here.” Shade stepped into view from the direction of the park, dark trench coat flapping in the cold breeze. His eyes hid behind dark sunglasses and he lifted a gloved hand to beckon Star forward. “Go on. Take care of me.”

  I stepped between him and Star before she could reply. “Get out of here.”

  “I said I'll take care of him.”

  “Get out of here!” I shouted at her. Shade's attention fixed on me. She had given me the chance to escape in Washington. I owed her this much. Even if he killed me, I'd make sure that she could escape. “You need to get out of here. He'll kill you, without a second thought.”

  She didn't say anything, then I felt a telepathic message flicker into my head. It was a string of numbers, ten digits. A phone number? That was all she left in my mind, that and a memory of kissing my cheek, and then I heard her run. Shade moved and I tapped my power and spread a shield between us. “Is this what you want, Parker?” he asked.

  “She didn't do anything wrong,” I said. “She was attacked without warning. I can explain the situation.”

  “She is an enemy.” Shade enunciated each word carefully, speaking slowly.

  “I owe her a favor,” I said. “She saved me. I saved her. I was paying a debt, Shade.”

  “A debt?” Shade chuckled. “Paying that debt just cost you everything.”

  Ice ran down my sides. “What?”

  He slowly removed his sunglasses. His eyes were dark, but even as I watched, they slowly came to life with green light. “You've betrayed the Establishment. You've consorted with the enemy. You've defied me, you've been directly insubordinate, you've hidden information. You've lied to us. You're compromised. I'm going to deal with you myself.”

  “Going to try and kill me, Shade?”

  He took a step forward. “No, I'm not going to kill you. That would be too easy. I'm going to make you a puppet. Your family will die, by your own hands. Your friends. That redheaded bitch. You'll kill them all, under my control, and I'll leave just enough of you awake so you can watch.”

  “What sort of monster are you?” I hissed. My power was growing dangerously unstable as he spoke. I couldn't let him get to me. I fed my anger and fear into the psionic energy building within my mind, forcing it under my control.

  He took another measured step forward. “I'm no monster, Parker. I'm just doing what needs to be done. If you're going to defy the Establishment's control, I will remove you. That's part of my job. That's part of what Alistair asked me to do.”

  I forced more power into my shield, forming layers that would hold against any attack he could possibly throw at me. “I'm done playing your game. Come get me.”

  He considered my shield. “Always so defensive. The same mistake you always make. You act on instinct, and your instincts are passive. You won't do what needs to be done.”

  He flicked his fingers and my shield rang like a bell. Wind whipped and howled around me. Cars on the street behind me rattled, two alarms going off and fighting for dominance. Glass shattered, several windows down the street breaking under the sudden impact. I felt myself skid backwards and stumbled, barely keeping my balance. My shield was intact, but he had revealed every layer of my defenses with that single attack. I reinforced the shield and waited for his next move, just as he'd expect me to.

  He watched me and smiled. I pretended to continue reinforcing the shield, holding power in reserve. I'd only have a couple of shots at him, and he knew it. I'd never matched my full strength against his, but if he made a mistake, I knew I could take advantage of it.

  His next attack drilled a hole directly through my shield. I dove for cover just in time, my power surging out of control as the layers collapsed. The building behind me shook as his blast struck it. “Self control, Parker!” he shouted over the car alarms. “I'm aiming for you!”

  I risked a look over my shoulder. The building that he had clobbered instead of me was strangely undamaged. Had he pulled it just in time? I scrambled to my feet and drew my shield back together. Shade slapped another blast into it, flinging me and the shield backwards. I used that momentum to bounce off the building, then accelerated myself in a huge leap forward, jumping toward the park where Star had found me. As I passed over Shade's head, I saw him looking up at me, two glowing green eyes in the darkness.

  “Control this, asshole!” I shouted down at him. I dropped my shield and dropped a crushing spread of telekinetic energy down on him. For good measure, I yanked one of the damaged cars toward him, hoping to silence him and one of the alarms at the same time. It was cutting down the angles for him to escape. His eyes flared and the car moved over his head. Metal and glass shattered as my telekinesis crushed the car instead of him. Before I could understand what he was planning, he flung the ruined car right toward the place where I was about to land.

  I threw a shield into place to stop the car, landing a little further away than I had planned. As my feet touched the ground, he ignited the gas tank with a focused thread of pyrokinesis. The explosion drove me backwards. Even though my shield protected me from the concussion and shrapnel, I felt heat swirl around me. He had used my own attack to his advantage. My hope of matching him faded. He was far beyond my ability.

  Shade flew through the smoke and fire, bouncing off the ruined hood of the car, and drove his fist for my face. I barely managed to block it in time and he turned the punch into a grab, seizing hold of my blocking arm. I panicked. If he got a hold of me, it was all over. I surged power toward him and pushed myself backwards at the same time. It worked well enough to break his hold, but it knocked me off balance.

  He came in again and this time I had no chance to block. He swept low and my right knee cracked and twisted as he kicked me. I twisted the opposite way to keep my balance, but he was already there, ready to strike. I faked a shield, then spiked it. His punch didn't deflect off the shield as he had anticipated and slammed right into a telekinetic spike. He grunted and jumped back, blood raining from his pierced right fist. The thin spike hadn't taken any fingers, but he wasn't going to be grabbing with that hand for a while.

  I stood up and tried to put weight on my right leg. My knee twisted and I gasped for breath against the pain. I didn't look down. I didn't want to see what he had done to it. “Looks like we're even so far,” I said.

  He looked at his right hand and shook it. Blood splattered on dead leaves. “Your mobility for my hand. No, I'd say it's in my favor.”

  “You'd think so,” I said, and then threw a storm of small attacks at him, followed up
with a focused attack. I wasn't too adept with projecting pinpoint energy and he knew it. However, he didn't know that I wasn't aiming for center mass, like he had taught me. He deflected the scattered shots, but my focused attack drilled through the stressed shield and bored a neat little hole through his left palm. He swore and pressed the hand against his chest. “That doesn't look too comfortable. Do you need to see a doctor?”

  The ground shook under me. Reflexively, I tried to keep my balance, which put pressure on my right leg. The knee gave and I tumbled to the ground. Before I could move again, I felt tremendous pressure on my right wrist. Shade was standing on my wrist, grinding down with his boot. “Didn't I tell you not to mock me, Parker?” he asked, then stomped down with psionically accelerated power.

  My wrist shattered. I screamed and he kicked me in the side, sending me rolling across the park, only stopping when my back slammed into a tree. I couldn't see, speak, or think. My broken wrist and knee had hit the ground over and over as I rolled, each impact driving more pain through my body. My power vanished. I couldn't concentrate while I was in that much pain, and if I couldn't call my power up to numb the pain, I didn't have a chance. I rolled to my left side and tried to force my power under my control. I heard footsteps approaching. My desperate attempts drove control even further away.

  “How about this,” Shade said. He stood directly over me, his hands dripping blood on the ground next to my face. “You surrender and serve the Establishment for life. One step out of line and your friends and family die. But if you're a good boy, they'll live. How's that sound?”

  “What's the catch?” I asked.

  He shook his hands toward me. His blood splattered my face. “No catch. This is out of the goodness of my heart.”

  “What heart?”

  He kicked me in the stomach. Any progress I had made toward taking control of my power vanished as I wheezed for breath. “I'm running out of patience,” he said.

  I rolled onto my back and forced myself to breathe. I could surrender and be a slave, but it would save everyone I cared about. If I continued to fight, he'd kill everyone. I knew he wasn't bluffing. But, even if I did surrender, he'd hold this like a knife to my throat. He could force me to do anything by threatening to kill my friends and my family. That was the sort of control that Star had been so worried about.