The White Knight & Black Valentine Series (Book 3): Almost Invincible

by Brand, Kristen

  The inside of the park was eerily still and silent. Belongings and half-eaten food littered the pavement where people must have dropped them as they fled. Bags of spilled popcorn were the most frequent offender, followed by crumpled maps of the park. A trampled baseball cap lay not far from a broken pair of sunglasses, and a brand new Blue Sparrow doll lay facedown like a corpse.

  I walked cautiously forward, Julio not far behind me. Where were all the people? They would have tried to run and hide once the attack started, but the park had been filled to capacity for the White Knight: Invincible reopening. There shouldn’t have been enough physical space for a section this big to be so empty.

  The turnstiles weren’t working, so I pushed harder, bending the metal rod at a ninety-degree angle so we could get through. The street stretched out in front of us, colorful gift shops to either side designed to wring one last bit of money out of tourists before they left. The centerpiece was a bronze statue of the Crimson Phoenix in the middle of the street, his hands extended in welcome. Normally, flames would rise from his upturned palms like torches, but that must have shut down when the wall had knocked out the power.

  Something cracked and rumbled behind us, and I spun quickly, tensed for an attack. But it was just the gap in the wall closing, sealing Julio and me inside. Mother Earth must know we’re here. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I looked around for any sign of her and Bloodbath watching us. But the street was still; not even a breeze rustled the food wrappers on the ground.

  “We’re in.” Julio touched his earpiece, and after a second passed, he groaned and turned to me. “Static. You?”

  “White Knight to base,” I tried, but no reply came back. So much for all that time we spent getting wired up. “Nothing,” I told Julio. We were on our own.

  “Figures,” he muttered. “Start forward slow—”

  “You take the left. I’ll take the right,” I said.

  Julio shot me a look. I shrugged and glanced at the left side of the street, and we started cautiously forward. I hugged the buildings on the right, looking through the glass storefront windows for anyone inside. It was just as much a disaster in there as out here. Racks of T-shirts had been knocked over, and souvenir magnets, pens, and key chains lay scattered across the floor like spilled candy. No sign of movement, though.

  “Civilian!” Julio called before disappearing through a doorway.

  I crossed the street as fast as I could, slowing to pause outside the doorway. Julio knelt beside the fallen form of an elderly woman in a flowery summer shirt. Her small stature and beaded bracelets reminded me of my mother, and my breath caught so suddenly that it hurt my chest. Julio put two fingers to the woman’s neck, then glanced at me and shook his head. There was no obvious wound on the poor woman. Maybe shock had killed her, or she could have been trampled in the initial panic. I doubted she’d be the only casualty we’d find.

  My thoughts went back to Mercy Hospital. Had the doctors figured out what was wrong with my mother? Was it treatable? Was she still resting comfortably in her room, or had her shortness of breath returned? I should be sitting by her side right now.

  “White Knight?”

  I stood taller, my shoulders tensing. Bloodbath. I recognized his voice instantly and managed to turn slowly to face him instead of jumping and spinning. He’d surrendered his black jacket to the heat, revealing a T-shirt with the sleeves ripped off in a way that had gone out of fashion while he’d been in prison. His muscled arms were tattooed, and he wore combat boots laced up over torn jeans. They hid his prosthetic legs, a result of Julio freezing the pool he’d been wading through when we first fought. A mocking smile graced his lips.

  “Is that you?” He laughed. “Damn, you’ve gotten old.”

  Julio exited the store stiffly and stood beside me, glaring at Bloodbath.

  “And little Freezefire, too.” Bloodbath’s smile grew wider. “Look who’s all grown up.”

  “Look who’s still a jackass,” Julio retorted.

  The ground shook, knocking mugs and actions figures off the shelves inside the store. Something in the distance rumbled, but it faded as quickly as it started.

  “What was that?” I looked hard at Bloodbath. This was his show. If Mother Earth was doing something, it was because he told her to.

  Bloodbath’s smile faded, and his eyes began to glow. “Nothing two dead men need to worry about.”

  Light poured from his eyes, so bright I had to cringe. When I could see again, the body of Randall Nash had collapsed to the ground, and a ten-foot-tall figure made of blinding white light stood before us. I couldn’t look at him without squinting. He hadn’t been that bright seven years ago. Back then, his ghostly white light had almost been hard to see in the sun. I hoped the increase in brightness didn’t equal an increase in strength.

  Bloodbath charged. I lowered my center of gravity, ready to move, and felt a blast of cold air. Julio must be attacking, but his attempts to freeze Bloodbath didn’t even slow him down. If anything, Bloodbath’s momentum increased. The pounding of his feet grew louder—and faster. We held our ground until the last possible second and then dove aside in opposite directions.

  As Bloodbath lunged past us, I twisted and jabbed the tip of my cane into the back of his knee. The cane bounced back with a thunk like I’d hit titanium, but it did its job. Bloodbath crashed to the pavement. Off-balance, I stumbled, but Julio sprang into action. He pulled out the psychic disruptor from his belt. It was a small black thing that looked like a TV remote; hard to imagine it was a revolutionary technological breakthrough in superhuman conflict. Julio pointed it at Bloodbath and—

  Bloodbath slapped him. His massive glowing hand collided with Julio’s, knocking the disruptor away with a loud crack. At first, I thought the disruptor had broken, but when Julio screamed, I realized the slap had broken the bones of his hand.

  I rushed Bloodbath and tackled him shoulder-first. But instead of taking him down, all I managed to do was knock him back a step. Annoyed, he socked me in the face. My head snapped back like the top of a PEZ dispenser, but I stayed on my feet. Apparently, I couldn’t force Bloodbath away from Julio, but if I kept his focus on me, Julio could get away.

  I drove my fist into Bloodbath’s stomach. I’d say it felt like punching a brick wall, but I’ve punched through brick walls, and that wasn’t nearly as hard as this. Bloodbath gazed down at me, pupil-less eyes blazing, and swung. I dodged, but not fast enough, and the giant fist glanced off my shoulder instead of smashing into my head. Pain spread like wildfire down my arm and back up, and I staggered. Bloodbath advanced, and I used my good leg to kick the inside of his knee, and he tripped. Attacking his balance seemed to be the only thing that worked. Using my cane like a club, I bashed him in the face as hard as I could.

  I might as well have been trying to make a mountain feel pain. Bloodbath got slowly to his feet, not showing any sign he’d even noticed my attack. Before he rose to his full height, I hit some pressure points on his chest that I wouldn’t normally be able to reach. When that didn’t work, I kicked him in the crotch.

  I didn’t really expect it to work, since there was nothing down there. In his glowing form, Bloodbath was as well endowed as a mannequin. He wordlessly raised his brows.

  “Yeah, I know,” I huffed. “Cheap shot.”

  Before I could hit him again, he kneed me in the chest. As I gasped for air, he hit me—again and again. I’d lost sight of Julio and hoped he’d gotten enough distance that I wouldn’t step on him as I lost ground. Bloodbath pushed his advantage ruthlessly, but I hadn’t fallen just yet. I knew how to take a beating. If I had a résumé, that’d be the first thing on it.

  I sidestepped his next punch, grabbed his arm, and pulled. I’d meant to pull him straight to the ground, but I’d underestimated his strength again. Instead, he threw me off, and I was the one who hit the ground. My cane slipped from my grasp, bounced against the pavement, and rolled. I reached for it, but Bloodbath stomped on my ext
ended arm.

  It was weird. As he crushed my arm beneath his elephantine weight, all I could think was that his foot had no toes. It was formless, like a shoe. Then Bloodbath kicked me in the stomach with his other foot, and my pain-addled mind couldn’t afford to drift anymore. I curled inward to protect my stomach and grabbed his left ankle with my free arm. I tried to pull his foot out from under him, but he was too strong. I couldn’t—

  A wave of dizziness hit me, and Bloodbath’s ankle disintegrated in my grasp. And it wasn’t just the ankle. As his mouth opened in a voiceless scream, his whole body drifted apart like smoke in the wind. I scanned the street for any sign of him, but instead, I saw Julio. He held the psychic disruptor in his left hand, his right cradled protectively to his stomach.

  “I guess it works,” he said.

  I slumped, catching my breath. “How ’bout that.”

  Julio shambled over, picked up my cane, and handed it to me. Bracing myself, I moved to stand, but my muscles protested—and not peacefully. I sagged and gave up. “You know what. I think I’ll just lie here a while longer. No rush, right?”

  Julio gave me a lopsided smile. “Right.”

  The ground shook, making Julio stagger. Suddenly, the street broke apart as solid earth pushed through the pavement. Moving like a living thing, the earth formed into half a dozen rocky golems as huge as Bloodbath. They looked like bulky monsters, shaped only vaguely like men. As one, they turned their heads and rushed us.

  I should have kept my big mouth shut.

  Chapter 7

  The golems were the same size as Bloodbath, but that’s where the similarities ended. Bloodbath looked like he’d been carved by a master sculptor, with a chiseled jaw and the body of a Greek god (not counting the weird feet and missing genitals). The golems looked like they’d been made by a toddler experimenting with Play-Doh. They were lumpy with mismatched limbs and heads like potatoes. When they ran at us, their steps were heavy enough to rattle the store windows.

  Ignoring the aches up and down my body, I pushed myself up just in time. A golem was almost on top of me, and I made sure to greet it fist-first. My hand punched through rock and dirt, breaking the thing’s arm off at the shoulder. After all my hits having zero effect on Bloodbath, it was a good feeling. I knocked off its head next, then kicked it, crumbling the rest.

  Icy air told me even before I turned around that Julio was using his powers. Three golems moved slower and slower as their bodies froze like soil in a winter tundra. A fourth was sneaking up on Julio from behind. I stepped forward and grabbed its arm to stop it, but the dirt broke apart under my fingers, and the golem kept going. It had nearly reached Julio, and a ton of dirt and rock would do a lot more damage against him than it would me.

  I stomped on the back of the golem’s calf and lightly grabbed its shoulder to guide its fall backward instead of forward on top of Julio. Once it was on the ground, I plunged the tip of my cane into its chest. Dirt and rock crumbled away, and after stabbing it a few more times, its body completely broke apart. By the time I looked up, the three golems Julio had been fighting were frozen solid. But hadn’t there been one more?

  The last golem crouched over Bloodbath’s flesh-and-bone body. Despite that one of its rocky arms was significantly longer and thicker than the other, it cradled Bloodbath and gently lifted him up.

  “Mother Earth!” Julio shouted. “Put him down. It’s over.”

  The golem didn’t respond, but Bloodbath jerked awake. He tore himself from the golem’s grasp with a snarl.

  “Nice trick.” He glared at us, and his eyes began to glow. “But it’s not gonna stop me from killing you.”

  Light poured from his eyes, painfully bright. It swirled around like smoke in the wind, taking the shape of his other form as his normal body fell back against the golem. Julio glanced at the psychic disruptor in his hand.

  “Piece of crap.”

  And according to our briefing, the disruptor only had enough charge for one use.

  Bloodbath ran at us, and I grabbed a nearby bench, ripping it from the sidewalk and preparing to swing.

  “We need to fall back!” Julio scrambled out of the way.

  “No.” I clubbed Bloodbath as he reached me, and the bench smashed apart. Bloodbath stumbled, momentarily stunned.

  “We retreat”—I punched his stomach—“and he’ll tear apart”—I hit him in the side—“anyone he finds.”

  My blows were less effective than the bench, and Bloodbath rallied. He backhanded me, and the next thing I knew, I slammed into the concrete several feet away.

  “We stay here, and he’ll tear through us, and then we won’t be able to help anyone!”

  I could hear Julio despite the ringing in my ears, but I gritted my teeth and heaved myself up. Bloodbath had already reached me, and I threw a sloppy punch. He caught my fist and picked me up by it. Feet dangling over the pavement, I used my free hand to club him upside the head with my cane. Bloodbath didn’t react. He threw me, and I seemed to fly forever.

  I crashed through a storefront window before slamming into a shelf. When I finally hit the floor, it knocked the wind out of me, and I spent several seconds just trying to inhale. My chest hurt. My back hurt. My head—on second thought, it’d be easier to list the things that didn’t hurt. I shifted experimentally, trying to see how much my body would rebel when I moved. It was as agonizing as expected. Something heavy lay on top of me, and it turned out to be a life-size replica of White Knight, hands on its hips and a stupid smile on its face. I shoved it off with a grunt.

  “White Knight!”

  Julio. I pushed past the pain and, cane in hand, limped to the door. Through the shattered window, I could see him and Bloodbath in the street. Julio looked as if he was playing tag, darting and dashing away whenever Bloodbath got close. But if he got caught, he wouldn’t be It; he’d be dead.

  Damn. The kid was right. We needed to retreat and regroup. We’d never win like this.

  I scanned the street and found what I was looking for: a fire hydrant. Seconds ticked past as I hobbled toward it, Julio fighting for his life. When I finally reached the damned thing, I grabbed the top, squeezed until my fingers had bent a handhold into the metal, and ripped it off. A torrent of water shot into the air, soaking me.

  “Freezefire!” I called.

  We’d pulled the same move in Pittsburg once, so he’d know what to do. I backed away from the hydrant, but not fast enough to avoid getting hit by a wave of boiling heat. It turned the water to steam, which rushed down the street like a stampede of bulls. It covered us all, so thick that I could barely see two feet in front of me. Bloodbath was visible only as a blurry light, like distant headlights on a foggy road. We could keep tabs on him, but he’d never find us. I took deep breaths of the heavy, humid air, finally able to get a moment’s rest.

  A dark shape beside me materialized into Julio, and we slipped away through the mist.

  •••

  One of the crumpled maps discarded on the sidewalk showed the location of a clinic not far off. It was hidden in an out-of-the-way corner near a flight simulator ride that used to be based on Aero Ranger but had been redone a few years back to star Blue Sparrow. A sign read “First Aid Center” over a helpful arrow that pointed at automatic, sliding glass doors that were stuck halfway open. I slipped between them, surveying the dark waiting room for threats as Julio came in behind me, cradling his broken hand.

  There were no windows, and with the power out, the only light came through the glass doors. It gave enough illumination to see that nobody was hiding behind the row of chairs, potted plant, or rack of magazines. Even the first-aid clinic adhered to the amusement park’s theme. Framed photographs on the walls showed different superheroes getting their arms wrapped in bandages or walking with crutches. They all wore cheery smiles that showed they’d won whatever fight had injured them. Julio and I should be so lucky.

  Reception was deserted, so I pushed open the door nurses would usually emerge
from to call the next patient. A shriek sounded.

  I stepped back and raised a fist. Someone—no, several someones scrambled across the floor. I recognized them as civilians and relaxed.

  “It’s all right,” I said. “We’re not here to hurt anyone.”

  A middle-aged woman clutched two children, and two college-aged boys were halfway to their feet. One of the boys had a bulky bandage around his forehead, and they all must have been sitting on the floor in the dark hallway before we came in. It took a few seconds after I spoke for them to study me and finally relax back into seated positions. But there was a sense of jumpiness that didn’t leave them, their muscles taut like rubber bands waiting to snap.

  “Were you just outside?” one of them asked, starting a barrage of questions.

  “What’s going on out there?”

  “Is that psychopath still around?”

  “Did you see any way out?”

  I held up a hand for silence. “Bloodbath’s still out there, and there’s no way through the wall—yet. The safest thing you can do now is stay put.”

  The boys murmured to one another, and the children hugged their mother more tightly. I felt positive Bloodbath hadn’t followed us, but the urge to look over my shoulder nearly overtook me. These were the people Julio and I had come in here to protect, and it killed me that I couldn’t help them. Superheroes were supposed to save people, not get clobbered by the supervillain and run away. Our first contact with Bloodbath, and it had been an absolute disaster. Somehow, he’d gotten stronger while he’d been locked away, while I’d only gotten older and more busted up. Julio and I had escaped with our lives, but what now? If we faced Bloodbath again, what could we possibly do differently?

  “Oh,” the mother said, her gaze going behind me to Julio. “You need the doctor.”

  There was still a doctor here? I’d just been planning to raid the place for bandages and painkillers.

  “I’ll take you to him.” The woman started to untangle herself from her children, but Julio held out his good hand.