“So she’ll be homeless again?”
In the gym, Arbalest watched Magna and Stormhead lead Noah towards the helipad through his crossbow’s scope. “Resist arrest, freak. I want to sink a bolt between all four of your eyes from here. A broad-headed bolt, right in the middle.”
Knockout Rose punched the heavy bag so hard the chains rattled.
“You mind, sweetcheeks?” said Arbalest. “I’m trying to focus.”
She punched the bag harder.
“You should show more respect,” Arbalest said. “If not to your elders, then to your betters.”
She hit the bag with a combination of punches.
In the medical building, Jenny put her Kindle down. “Who’s in the lower level?”
“Nobody,” said Deon.
“I heard a door open down there.”
“It’s just the waves.”
The sounds of squishing steps echoed from the doorway leading to the lower level.
Ruby said, “I heard that.”
Pete stepped further into the surf to get a better look at theapproaching shiny white things among the crests of breaking waves. “Are those dolphins?”
By the time he saw they were more squid than dolphin – and more human than squid – they were already running up the beach in a wave of gnashing beaks surrounded by tendrils. They stood on thick rubbery stalks and spread boneless arms that ended in swirling tendrils.
Before Pete unfroze, Gary and Pinwheel were surrounded by charging creatures with squid-like faces, cephalopod fins on their hips, and humanoid bodies covered with pale rubbery skin. Pinwheel repelled them with a series of blinding flashes.
“Is this your escape plan?” asked Stormhead.
“I don’t know what those are,” said Noah.
Magna looked up. “Large birds are approaching. Their shapes do not match anything in my biology database.”
Billy Two bolted across the island.
“Why are they stopping?” Arbalest barely heard his own question over the beating Knockout Rose gave the heavy bag. “Do you have to do that now?”
Knockout Rose gave the bag a last punch and opened the door. She froze when she saw the oncoming rush of squid-men coming in with the tide.
In the medical center, the stench of rotting fish got overwhelming when the lower level door swung open.
The room got ice-cold when Jenny threw a burst of wind to shut the door again.
They caught a glimpse of flailing tentacles as the door slammed shut.
Deon picked up Ruby. “Marcia, Jenny, hold down the fort.” He ran to the door faster than an Olympic sprinter.
He stopped as soon as he got outside.
The squid-men were all around and the shadows of monstrous human-headed birds darkened the skies.
“Aw hell,” said Ruby, “this ain’t good.”
At the helipad, the MAB helicopter pilot and agents were trained to deal with supervillains, not hordes of aquatic monsters.
“Everyone back on board,” said the pilot. “We are out of here.”
“Wait,” said Harry. “Our helicopter didn’t come back. You have to take us.”
“Handle this yourselves, superheroes,” said an agent.
Deon appeared in front of the elevator’s door and pushed Ruby into the helicopter.
“What are you doing?” asked an agent.
With a streak of kicked-up sand Deon was gone again.
Ruby snapped her claw. “I don’t weight much, and I taste great with butter.”
Magna took to the skies. Its vibration blast spread in a cone and destroyed the birds’ bones on contact.
Stormhead flew over the beach and rained lightning bolts on the squid-men around Pinwheel.
Pinwheel lowered his arms. Gary ran past him, flapped his wings furiously, and flew towards the helicopter.
Pete grabbed every squid-man who came near him and threw it back into the surf. Several shattered their razor-sharp beaks against his stone skin as he ran after Pinwheel.
In the gym, Knockout Rose slammed the door and threw free weights against it.
Arbalest turned around. “Now you’re being immature. It takes concentration to get a good shot, and I can’t do that if you’re louder than a …
The squid-men threw themselves against the door. Only the weights kept it from opening all the way.
Knockout Rose grabbed a dumbbell and threw it against a squid-man’s head. It
Arabalest fired bolt after bolt at the monsters.
It was so cold in the medical building that Jenny’s breath showed as her wind blast kept the door closed.
Marcia shoved an unused bed against the door.
In a flash Deon came back into the room. “Joey, we’re getting out of here.”
Joey moaned as Deon cradled him.
“What’s going on?” asked Marcia.
“Monsters everywhere.”
“Monsters?” asked Jenny.
“The chopper’s taking off.” In a flash he was gone again.
Deon dodged a gauntlet of squid-men in under a minute to get back to the helicopter as it started to rise.
The agentd tried to shove Gary out as Deon pushed Joey in, but Pinwheel pushed Gary back in from behind.
Noah dug his fingers under the psychic nullifier’s chin strap. He scraped the flesh off of his chin but couldn’t force it off.
Harry disappeared in a puff of granular smoke.
Pinwheel heard a buzz in his ear as he stepped back.
Deon ran back to the medical room.
The helicopter rose quickly.
Pinwheel looked around as Pete caught up with him. “Kayleigh.”
In the gym, Arbalest slapped another magazine of bolts into his crossbow. “They won’t stop coming!”
Knockout Rose grabbed the last dumbbell. Instead of throwing it at the squid-man climbing over a pile of his fallen comrades, she threw it through the window.
She kicked broken glass out of the pane. “This side’s clear.”
Arbalest lifted the window near him and followed her out.
Deon got back to the medical building before the front door closed.
Jenny shivered in the cold air despite the beads of sweat on her forehead.
Marcia shoved Joey’s old bed against the door.
Pale green slimy tentacles poked through the cracks.
Deon put his arms under Jenny’s shoulders and knees and strained to lift her.
The air got colder as Jenny created a strong wind at Deon’s back. “What about Marcia?”
Marcia braced her legs against the floor. “I won’t make it.”
“I’ll tell them to …”
“Go!”
Deon ran as fast as he could with Jenny in his arms, which was considerably slower than usual.
Overhead, Stormhead threw lightning bolts and Magna emitted vibration waves at the bird creatures circling the helicopter.
As they drew closer several birds flew to Magna. Their claws barely scratched its metallic skin, but they kept it from helping Stormhead when another flock attacked him.
Stormhead surrounded himself with an aura of electricity that repelled all but one bird creature, which flew so fast it collided with his back despite the shock. He rolled when he hit the ground.
He ended up on his back. He saw several birds headed straight down with their talons ready to slash
Stormhead drew in the static energy around him to throw a large ball of lightning at the birds. Strands of electricity scattered among them.
He rolled and narrowly dodged the birds’ falling bodies.
He looked up. All four of Noah’s eyes fixed on him.
Pinwheel sprinted behind them and past Jenny and Deon on his way to the gym.
A high-pitched voice said, “Go to the north shore.”
There was no one else around, so Pinwheel ignored it.
The voice said again, “I told you, go to the north shore.”
Pinwheel mumbled to himself, “Steve,
this isn’t the time to go nutty.”
“You’re not nutty,” the voice said, “but everyone says I am.”
Outside of the gym, Knockout Rose slapped her wrist together to activate the stun gloves.
Arbalest slapped another magazine of bolts into his crossbow and looked across the island. “The helicopter’s taking off.”
“Don’t we have another helicopter?”
“Alex didn’t come back with it.”
Knockout Rose raised her fists at the squid-men coming around the corner of the gym. “Are we stuck here?”
Arbalest nodded towards a flashing light. “I think your boyfriend is trying to catch our attention.”
Stormhead launched himself into the sky with electricity coursing over him and flew to the rising MAB helicopter.
Inside the helicopter, Gary held Joey and Ruby held Gary with one claw and the other clenched on the helicopter’s wall tight enough to bend the metal.
A burst of wind caused by the vortex of wind under Jenny and Deon tilted the helicopter. Deon wrapped one arm around the skid and the other around Jenny’s waist.
Jenny reached for the skid but missed. She swung back.
Deon’s arm wrapped around the skid.
The MAB agent pointed his carbine at Deon.
Gary grabbed the agent’s shoulder. “He’s a doctor!”
Arbalest and Knockout Rose ran to Pinwheel and Pete.
“The north shore,” Pinwheel said.
“Why?” asked Knockout Rose.
“Doctor Von Dyme made himself real small and jumped into my ear. He says there’s a way to escape through there.”
“Let’s trust Harry,” said Arbalest. “He’s crazy enough to handle crazy situations.”
“That’s the smartest thing he’s ever said,” said Harry.
Above the island, Stormhead electrocuted every bird-creature between him and the helicopter.
Magna flew in the opposite direction. The robot used a low sonic frequency that carried through the wind to say, “Harry needs me at the north shore.”
The MAB agents didn’t resist when they saw Stormhead fly straight into the helicopter’s open door. He landed and yelled, “Out of here, now.”
Gary pointed back to the island. “What about Noah?”
Stormhead saw Noah surrounded by squid-men. He swung a tree branch and backed away, but they had him surrounded in all directions. With the nullifier on, he couldn’t use his powers.
“Our orders were to bring him back alive,” said a MAB agent.
“Please,” said Ruby, “you have to rescue him.”
“Pilot, fly out,” yelled Stormhead.
“No,” said Gary, “he saved us. Don’t leave him behind.”
“He’s a killer,” said Storhmead. “He deserves to die.”
“Say what?” said Deon. “When did you get the right to make that call?”
Jenny looked away from Stormhead.
Joey wailed.
Another agent said to Stormhead, “I thought you were a good guy.”
Stormhead grit his teeth. He hated Noah. He would never forget watching that family die in the exploding car. But being the target of so much shame and disappointment was somehow worse than reliving that memory.
“Pilot, circle to the north coast.” Stormhead said before he flew from the helicopter and threw lightning bolts at every monster in sight.
He landed next to Noah. “You are coming with me.”
Near the north shore, Harry yelled from inside Pinwheel’s ear, “Go to the shed. The combination for the lock is CLT-One.”
Pinwheel pointed to the shed. Arbalest slapped a new magazine into his crossbow and fired steel-tipped bolts at every squid-man in his path. He aimed so intently he didn’t notice another squid-man about to attack him on the right.
Knockout punched that squid-man twice before it fell.
Pete struggled to catch up. His stone-skinned legs kept him from moving fast.
Pinwheel heard a buzz in his ear as he worked on the combination. Harry, in his full Professor Photon costume, jumped out and assumed his regular human size in a matter of seconds.
Magna strafed the water in front of the shed with her vibration blasts, cutting a swath through the lines of squid-men who hadn’t reached the shore.
Above the north shore, a MAB agent slapped a new magazine into his carbine and fired to keep the bird-creatures from flying into the space Magna cleared.
Jenny made another burst of wind below herself and flew up to the helicopter’s open door. She reached back and pulled Deon in.
A MAB agent tapped Jenny’s back. “Cover him.”
Jenny followed his pointed finger to Stormhead, who carried Noah on his shoulders. She threw bursts of wind above and below him to hold the bird creatures back.
At the shed on the north shore, Pinwheel pulled the lock down and opened the door. “A motorboat?”
Professor Photon ran inside and climbed into the boat. “Would you rather swim?”
Pinwheel and Knockout Rose leapt into the passenger seats as Arbalest severed the mooring cables with a razor-tipped quarrel. Professor Photon turned the engine on.
Arbalest dove onto the back of the boat and rolled around his crossbow.
“Where’s Pete?” said Pinwheel.
Pete burst through the shed’s door. “I’m coming!”
Billy Two followed closely behind him.
The boat lurched forward.
“Stop,” said Knockout Rose. “Pete’s not on yet.”
“Our path won’t be clear for long,” said Professor Photon.
“Pete, run,” yelled Pinwheel.
Pete ran so hard stone chips flew from his knees. He splashed in the water and closed most of the distance between himself and the boat as it lurched out of the dock.
Billy Two swam frantically after them. Arbalest grabbed his horns and yanked him inside.
Pinwheel reached for Pete. Pete’s fingers closed around Pinwheel’s just before the island’s artificial ended with a sharp drop into the ocean.
Pinwheel clung to Pete even though his six-hundred pound body made the boat tip upwards.
“Let him go,” said Professor Photon. “He’ll sink us.”
Knockout Rose turned off her stun gloves and grabbed Pinwheel’s shoulders to keep him from falling out of the boat.
Something grabbed Pete’s feet and yanked. His hands ripped off Pinwheel’s gloves and most of the skin on his fingers. For an instant Pele thrashed in the clear water above the opaque
Steve screamed as the boat righted itself and cut through the turbulent waves.
Chapter Eight: New Fish
Candilyn grinned as Sheriff Johnson pulled her by the handcuffs to the black van. “I’m going to write the nastiest review of this place if I ever learn how to write.”
“Have fun in Bedford Hills Correctional’s metahuman unit.” Sheriff Johnson put the sealed bag with her costume in the back of the van. “No one posted bail, so we’ll see you again at your trial.”
All she saw on the van were the outlines of several heads. Two protruding horns, a head covered by metallic dreadlocks, a mohawk made of bone spikes, a shock of bright orange hair, a small bald head poking out of a turtle-like shell, and a fluffy mane of teased hair reminded her these were not normal people. Only a small but immaculate head of straight shiny hair in the last seat looked normal.
A normal woman would’ve been terrified of being in a van full of arrested superpowered women, but Candilyn wasn’t normal. She grew up going to a new school every year, sometimes more than once a year, as her mother moved from place to another to stay one step ahead of eviction notices. The ingrained mentality of assuming she’d be hated and rejected, no matter what she did, left no room for fear.
She waved her cuffed hands and said, “Hey, future cellmate, I get the top bunk.”
The woman with a bone-spike mohawk scowled. Candilyn gave her a toothy grin.
The orange-haired midget shook a fi
st. Candilyn sang, “Oompa, loompa, doopity-doo.”
The turtle-shelled woman snapped her beak-like lips. Candilyn stuck out her tongue.
The dreadlocked woman whistled. Candilyn winked back.
A muscular woman with bovine horns moved to the edge of her seat to deny Candilyn a place to sit.
“No cupcake for you on my birthday,” said Candilyn.
The van lurched forward. The horned woman glared at Candilyn.
The woman with hair teased to resemble a mane put her blue-slippered feet on the open half of her seat. “Taken.”
“I’ll bet your boyfriend doesn’t say that.” Candilyn made her way to the back of the van and sat next to a petite woman with sharp cheekbones.
The woman spoke with a hint of an Australian accent. “New fish?”
“You recognize my perfume?”
“First time in jail?”
“Kind of. I ended up on the wrong side of the bars at a zoo once. Long story. But it’s a good story ‘cause it has monkeys in it.”
The woman smiled a little. “What are you in for?”
“I wish it was murder, but that dirtbag survived.”
“You’re not real bright, are you?”
Candilyn frowned. “I hear that so often I’m starting to believe it.”
“When someone asked what you did, say you’re innocent. What’s your ‘p’?”
“Uh, usually yellow?”
“Your ‘p,’ your power. You’re headed to a metahuman prison, you must have one.”
“I heal fast, but not real fast. The docs say the more I get hurt, the faster I’ll heal.”
“What’s your name?”
“Candilyn Tiffany Wyznowski of the Wingrove Mobile Home Community Wyznowskis.”
The Prospects (Book 2): Nothing Poorer Than Gods Page 8
