“Give it up,” Swifte said. “You’re not stealing any more powers, and you’re certainly not hurting anyone else.”
Frost gave him an indulgent smile. “Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, Swifte. Then again, you aren’t much of a thinker, are you? You always just rely on your motormouth and superspeed to get by. Well, I’m here to tell you that it won’t be enough. Not this time. If you’re lucky, maybe I’ll let your little civilian girlfriend live.”
Swifte stepped forward, his hands balling into tight fists. “Don’t you dare say another word about Piper. You aren’t hurting her or anyone else.”
Frost rolled his eyes. “Superheroes. Always so dramatic. I’ve already won. You just don’t know it yet.”
Swifte darted forward, zooming toward Frost. In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of the ubervillain. Almost too quick for me to follow, Swifte snapped his hand forward, punching Frost in the jaw.
But instead of connecting, his hand passed right through the villain’s face, like Frost wasn’t even standing there.
Swifte stopped, as confused as I was.
Frost laughed. “While I’ve been gone, I’ve made some improvements to my freezoray gun,” he purred. “Holograms are one of them. Now you see me…”
The image of him vanished, then reappeared a second later some twenty feet away.
“Now you see me again.” He let out another loud, crazy, maniacal laugh.
Rascal kept growling and growling, but he wasn’t looking at the hologram. Instead, the puppy was turned around in the opposite direction. I glanced over my shoulder and realized that there was another Frost standing behind us—and that his finger was curling back on the trigger of his freezoray gun.
“Swifte! Look out!” I screamed.
Swifte whipped around and started speeding toward Frost. Swifte was quick, but so was Frost now, thanks to the speed power he’d stolen from Bustling Blue, and he was just fast enough to pull the trigger on his gun right before Swifte reached him.
An ice-blue ray shot out from the end of the barrel and hit Swifte square in the chest. The blast knocked him back ten feet, and he hit the side of the park bench that Rascal was tied to and bounced off. He crumpled to the cobblestones, and he didn’t move.
“Swifte!” I yelled, running toward him. “Swifte!”
Frost rolled his eyes again at my frantic screams, then waved his hand. An intense burst of light filled the area, so white, hot, and bright that it made me scream even louder. I slapped my hands over my eyes to block out the light, but the damage had already been done. Rascal whined too, his eyes getting burned just like mine were.
After several seconds, the light faded away, although white stars kept exploding over and over again in my field of vision, causing my head to ache, as though I had the worst migraine ever. I blinked and realized that Frost was standing right in front of me, a gloating sneer twisting his face and making him look even more horrific than his red, jagged scars did.
“Light pulses, courtesy of Catwalk,” Frost said. “See? I told you that I was going to put those powers to good use. And with Swifte’s superspeed, no one will be able to stop me from taking all the powers I want. And then Bigtime will be mine, the way it should have been all along.”
My hands bunched into fists again, and I lunged for him, but Frost still had Bustling Blue’s speed. He wasn’t as fast as Swifte, but he still easily sidestepped me. I tripped and fell down onto my hands and knees. By the time I had scrambled up again, Frost already had Swifte slung over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and was striding away with him, heading toward the access road where that ice cream truck was parked. Of course he could carry Swifte away. The villain had Muscular Mila’s strength to help him with that now.
“Kyle!” I screamed. “Kyle!”
Even as I started forward, I knew that I was going to be too slow, too weak, and too late. Frost sighed as if I were a fly, buzzing around his head and totally annoying him. He stopped, turned around, leveled his freezoray gun at me, and pulled the trigger.
That ice-blue light flashed again. I tried to throw myself to one side, but I wasn’t quick enough. A blast of cold swept over me, colder than any chill I’d ever felt before, and the world went black.
PART THREE
FANDEMIC
Chapter Eight
Something warm, wet, and sticky touched my face, jolting me out of the cold blackness I’d been drifting along in.
I sucked in a breath and opened my eyes. Rascal was standing next to me, one tiny paw on my chest as though he’d been trying to shake me awake. He leaned in and licked my cheek again, his puppy chow breath making my nose wrinkle. I dug my fingers into his fur, then reached up and scratched his ears. He let out a soft whine and snuggled even closer to me.
“Good boy,” I croaked. “Good boy.”
I tried to sit up and groaned as an ache exploded in the back of my skull. Whatever was in Frost’s freezoray gun packed a heck of a wallop. I wondered if it was some sort of radioactive chemical. I’d have to do some research on that. Maybe Kyle could tell me. He’d been hit by the gun before—
Kyle! Frost had Kyle!
Everything came rushing back to me, and I sat bolt upright. I even tried to get up onto my feet, but my headache intensified, my legs slid out from under me, and I ended up falling back down onto my ass on the cold, wet pavement. I groaned again and cradled my head in my hands, trying to push the pain away. I didn’t have time to be hurt or weak right now. I had to find Kyle. I had to save him from Frost. No matter what.
So I forced myself to lift my head again. The world spun around and around for several seconds, but I concentrated, and the dizzying rush slowly faded away. I blinked and realized that I was staring at that access road that wrapped around the fountain area. The old, battered ice cream truck that had been parked there earlier was long gone. I cursed. Of course it was.
“Hey, Piper,” a concerned voice called out. “Are you okay? You look a little pale. And cold. Yeah, pale and cold.”
Something tap-tap-tapped, getting louder and louder the closer it got to me. I must have still been kind of out of it because I blinked, and suddenly, a cane was planted on the cobblestones next to me. I looked up to find a woman standing over me, wearing a very nice Bulluci fleece pullover with a messenger bag slung across her chest. Concern filled her dark eyes, while the weak winter sun made the neon-blue streaks in her black hair shimmer.
“Lulu?” I asked. “What are you doing here?”
“The one and only.” Lulu Lo grinned and waved her hand in an elaborate flourish. “Um, Piper, what are you doing out here all by yourself? Did you get mugged or something?”
I groaned. “You could say that.”
Lulu reached down and helped me up onto my feet. I was still a bit unsteady, and my legs wobbled like they were made out of melting ice, but at least I was upright again. I’d gotten lucky. Frost could have easily set his gun to kill instead of merely stun.
“Piper?” Lulu asked again. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“Frost has Kyle, er, Swifte,” I mumbled through my cold, chapped lips. “Frost is the one who’s been going around town stealing powers and murdering people. We have to find him. We have to save Swifte!”
I took a step forward and would have fallen face-first onto the cobblestones if Lulu hadn’t reached out and steadied me.
“Whoa, there, tiger,” she said, holding on to me until I was stable enough to stand on my own again. “Take it easy.”
“I can’t take it easy. Not until I know that Swifte is okay.” I grabbed her. “You! Lulu! You have to help me save him!”
My hands fisted in the soft fabric of her fleece pullover. Lulu pried my fingers loose and slowly backed away from me.
“Whoa, there,” she repeated. “I think you’ve been hit in the head a little too hard. You’re talking crazy. Besides, we don’t have to do anything. All I have to do is call the Fearless Five, and they’ll take care of the rest. You’l
l see.”
Lulu whipped out her smartphone and hit a number in the speed dial. I paced back and forth in front of her, waiting for someone to answer. Rascal whined at my feet, picking up on my stress and tension. But even when Lulu connected with the superheroes, it would still take the Fearless Five precious time to reach Kyle, time that just might cost him his speedy superpower—and his life.
Lulu frowned and pulled her phone away from her ear. “That’s weird.”
My heart sank. “What’s weird?”
“They’re not answering. Let me try something else.”
She hit several more buttons on her phone, probably texting Henry “Hermit” Harris, her fiancé. I whipped out my own phone and hit Fiona’s number. It rang and rang before going to her voice mail.
“Hi, you’ve reached Fiona Fine. Life is too short for boring fashion, so be as fabulous as possible. Leave me a message, darling, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can…”
“Fiona,” I growled after the beep. “Pick up your damn phone. This is an emergency. I just saw Frost in Paradise Park. He kidnapped Swifte and is probably going to take his speed power before he kills him. Call me back as soon as you get this.”
I hung up to find Lulu staring at me, her dark eyes narrowed.
“What?” I growled again.
“You called Fiona Fine to help you with a superhero problem,” she asked. “Why would you do that, Piper?”
Normally, I would have done my whole blank smile and song-and-dance routine and made up some lame excuse, but there was no time. Not when Kyle was in danger.
I threw my hands up in exasperation. “Because she’s really Fiera, that’s why! You know, if people in this city want to have secret identities, then they shouldn’t make them so easy to figure out and so bloody obvious who they really are. Now should they?”
I slapped my hands on my hips and glared at Lulu. She held her own hands up in mock surrender and backed away from me.
“Take it easy there, tiger,” she repeated. “I was just asking. Although…how do you know about Fiona?”
I rolled my eyes. “Please. How else could she eat so much and not weigh a ton if she didn’t have a high metabolism and some sort of superpower?”
Lulu nodded. “Good point.”
“Now where are they?” I asked. “What is so important that the Fearless Five aren’t answering their phones and help hotline?”
Lulu waved her phone at me. “Big pileup on the interstate. More than a hundred cars involved, trucks overturned, fires spreading from vehicle to vehicle, gas and chemicals and radioactive goo leaking everywhere. The Fearless Five are helping to clean up the mess.” She hesitated. “It’ll probably be hours before they even think to check the hotline or any of their phones. I’m sorry, Piper.”
I rubbed my temples, which were still throbbing. “Well, Kyle, er, Swifte doesn’t have hours. He’ll be dead by the time the Fearless Five get around to helping him.”
And I couldn’t call Wesley “Talon” Weston to help either, since he and Abby were on vacation and out of town. Frustration surged through me, and I started pacing back and forth again. The Fearless Five were busy, and Talon was gone. So who else was out there? Who else could I get to help me save Kyle?
A thought occurred to me, and I stopped in my tracks. “What other heroes are helping the Fearless Five with the interstate crash?”
Lulu scrolled through some screens on her phone. “According to the SNN news feed, Halitosis Hal, Pistol Pete, Johnny Angel, and the Invisbile Ingénues are all helping out as best they can. Debonair is there too, teleporting people out of their crashed cars.”
She held the device out to me. Sure enough, Kelly Caleb was already reporting from the scene of the horrible accident, giving update after update as the camera panned over the interstate. Crashed cars, overturned trucks, fires. It looked even worse than Lulu’s description, but I focused on the heroes running around and moving people away from the twisted, crumpled, burning wreckage. Halitosis Hal, Pistol Pete, Johnny Angel, the Invisbile Ingénues… I spotted all the heroes that Lulu had mentioned, along with the Fearless Five, but there was one hero who I didn’t see.
“All right,” I said. “Thanks for your help. I’ll take it from here.”
Lulu stared at me. “What are you going to do, Piper?”
I squared my shoulders. “I’m going to save a superhero—my superhero.”
I untied Rascal’s leash from the bench, grabbed my purse, and marched out of Paradise Park, with the puppy trotting along beside me.
“Hey!” a voice called out. “Wait up!”
I turned to find Lulu leaning on her cane and walking up behind me. “What are you doing?”
She grinned. “I’m coming with you.”
I shook my head. “I can’t ask you to do that. It’s too dangerous. Swifte is my, um, friend. I should be the one to rescue him.”
Lulu gave me a knowing look. “Swifte is really Kyle Quicke, isn’t he? That’s why you’re so hot and bothered that Frost has him.”
I blinked. “How do you know that?”
She shrugged. “I remember you two dating last year. And every time I’ve seen you together in the same room since then, you’ve both spent the whole time shooting mopey looks at each other. Besides, you kept calling him Kyle while we were talking. Total giveaway.”
I opened my mouth to deny that Kyle was really Swifte, but I clamped my lips together. There was no point in denying it. Not now when his life was at stake. If I rescued him from Frost—when I rescued him from Frost—we could worry about swearing Lulu to secrecy. But for now, time was the most important thing.
Besides, Lulu also had a friend who might be able to help me—even if he didn’t know it yet.
“I know that you’re worried sick about Kyle, but you’re going to need some help, Piper,” Lulu said in a soft voice. “Frost isn’t a villain you want to mess around with. Even the people in the Slaves for Superhero Sex club steer clear of him. And you know how crazy those folks are.”
I winced, since I was one of those crazy folks too, but she was right.
“Okay,” I said. “Message received. Thank you.”
Lulu nodded. “Now, what are we going to do?”
“First things first. We’re going shopping.”
* * *
Lulu and I walked to the edge of Paradise Park, along with Rascal, then hopped into a cab. A few minutes later, the cab stopped in front of the entrance to Oodles o’ Stuff, Bigtime’s preeminent department store.
I paid the cabbie, then marched inside the store and grabbed the biggest shopping cart I could find. I checked the map by the entrance that showed the layout of the store, all the various departments and items, and which floor they were located on.
“We’ll start at the top and work our way down,” I told Lulu. “Follow me.”
I picked up Rascal and put him in the front of the cart so I wouldn’t lose track of him. Then I rolled the cart over to the nearest elevator and got in. It was a tight fit with me, my jumbo cart, and Lulu, but we managed it. A minute later, the elevator opened on the top floor, and I headed over to one of the accessories counters and started browsing through the racks of sunglasses.
Lulu slowly came up behind me. “Um, Piper? I hate to be…critical, but do you think now is really the best time to shop for sunglasses? You know, when one of the worst ubervillains in the history of Bigtime has taken your one true love hostage and stuff?”
I dropped three pairs of sunglasses into the cart, along with a set of doggie goggles for Rascal. “I think it’s the perfect time to get sunglasses. We’re going to need some other stuff too. Do you think they have bullhorns here? Surely, they do. This is Oodles. They have everything.”
Lulu gave me a look that clearly said she thought that I had lost my mind, but she followed along behind me. We went from one part of the store and one floor to the next, and I piled my cart high with all sorts of odd things—a bullhorn, khaki fishermen’s vests, flashlight
s, a miniature heater, those chemical packs that warm you up when you rip them open and stick them in your pockets.
While I shopped, Lulu pulled out her phone and started tapping and scrolling away on it, alternating between trying to contact the Fearless Five and trying figure out where Frost might have taken Kyle. I had my own suspicions about that, but I let her keep searching, in case she found out something different. Rascal kept leaning out of the cart and sniffing her phone.
“So far, I’ve got nothing,” she muttered, absently scratching the puppy’s head to keep him from licking her phone screen again. “Apparently, Frost is being a little more careful about hiding his supersecret lab than he was the last time when Carmen found it—”
She stopped and gave me a guilty look.
“When Carmen Cole went to rescue the Fearless Five, got dropped into a vat of radioactive goo, developed superpowers, and became Karma Girl.” I shook my head. “Some girls have all the luck.”
Lulu gave me another you’re-a-little-no-scratch-that-a-whole-lot-crazy look. “If you say so, Piper.”
“I say so,” I replied. “Now, let’s go get the last thing we need.”
Lulu looked over the items in my cart. “And what would that be?”
I grinned. “Why, a superhero, of course.”
Chapter Nine
Lulu, Rascal, and I got back into the elevator and rode down to the ground floor. Lulu stepped out first, with me pushing the cart and Rascal, who was still riding up in the front of it, following along behind her.
“Where to?” Lulu asked.
“The makeup counter.”
She gave me another disbelieving look, but she headed in that direction. We maneuvered around the other shoppers and made it to the middle of the first floor of Oodles o’ Stuff. Glass counters full of every conceivable kind and color of makeup spiraled out in circles in this part of the store, along with counters filled with perfume bottles.
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