Accelerant

by Katelyn Beckett

  Creed frowned then grabbed his phone. In a second, he'd connected it to the auxiliary port on the front of the ridiculously overpriced stereo car lots seem to be forcing into vehicles these days. He scrolled through his phone for a second, then smacked a play button and turned up the volume.

  A shrieking siren peeled out of the speakers, something like an ambulance more than a cop's car, but it was enough to get people to turn their wheels off to the side. They split like the red sea, offering us a completely clear path. It's reasons like that as to why I love Yarborough. Sure, some of them might be self-centered idiots.

  The majority aren't. I'd seen it time and again while on a call with the ambulance. When the life-saving rescue van was heading their way, most people knew enough to move and try to let us pass.

  We flew through intersection after intersection, simply headed toward the direction the cars were fleeing. The alarm hadn't given us a heading, exactly, but after a while you become used to certain aspects of hero work. When people ran away from something, you ran toward it. Whether that made you insane or heroic, I hadn't yet decided.

  Toward the deepest slum, we found our perpetrator.

  The massive, chitinous creature stood somewhere around five hundred miles taller than either Creed or I. I stared up at the enormo-Kipa and looked at Creed a second later. "We might need back up."

  "You got me, I got you," he said. "Promise you got my back."

  I'm no coward, but something that tough and at least fifty feet high was enough to make me pause. He reached out toward me, put his hand on my knee, and looked into my eyes. Something tugged at my heartstrings. I turned my head away to watch the Kipa scream into the sky, smash down another building; probably full of innocent tenants, and sighed.

  "Yeah, I've got you."

  "Great," Creed said, beaming at me and sliding out of the car. I guess parking laws didn't apply when a monster was wrecking up the place. "Let's go."

  I tore my shirt off over my head and left it in the car. Pants and shoes followed and I stretched out into the shape of a large, predatory cat. It was one of my favorites and a body I felt incredibly comfortable in. Plus, I had a feeling I was going to need its reach and its agility to avoid getting smashed.

  My paws carried me along after Creed, my ears flattened up at the Kipa. It was examining the power lines, clearly confused by them. I thought back to the conflict with Melody and looked around the area for a substation, hoping the electric company had been so kind as to leave us such a proper tool. After all, had they, we could simply topple the bastard and leave it at that. The collateral damage fund would cover the rebuilding of the station and that would be that.

  No such luck; or if there was one, it was hidden somewhere. I sat, tilting my head at Creed and waiting for him to devise some brilliant scheme. We weren't going to take the thing head-on and punch it to death.

  "We could tangle it up in the wires?" he suggested. "Wrap it up all nice and pretty for the military to drag off. They wanted these jerks the last time they showed up."

  I considered that. It was enough of a plan for me, though I didn't suspect that wires would be enough to keep this thing down. Even my bear form would be little more than an ant annoying it. Then I had another thought. I was too used to thinking on my feet.

  I needed to think higher. If Creed couldn't get up in the air, I needed to. Rearranging bones and muscles took only a breath. That didn't mean the shifting was pleasant, but it was over almost as soon as it had started. I became lighter, smaller, awkward on the ground. I extended the talons of a bird of prey and tilted my large-eyed head up at him. He looked down at me, nodded, then started off toward our new favorite problem.

  With two flaps, I was airborne. The thermals in the area weren't ideal; I couldn't drift or glide very easily and flapping took a great deal more strength than most terrestrial lifeforms realized. It didn't matter. I came up behind the Kipa, dove forward, then tore into one of its eyes with both claws and beak, popping it like an absurd balloon.

  Agony didn't begin to describe what I'd given the creature. Panic-driven, it screeched and flung itself away from me. I followed it, trying to get the other eye. If it were blind, it would have little defense against us. And that was the best I could hope for. It was the biggest advantage I could give Creed. And he'd need every last bit of it.

  The second dive missed completely, ending with me almost cracking my skull on a high window. That, from all my medical expertise, would have likely caused instant massive hemorrhage and impending death. Not exactly my idea of a good day.

  Still, that didn't mean that I could stop. I hurtled upward and watched as Creed evacuated a half dozen people from a nearby apartment building, sending them running through an alleyway. I assumed he gave them instructions to run and keep running because they didn't stop a street or two over. One child held her cat to her chest. If birds sighed in relief, I would have, but their respiratory system doesn't really allow that at the higher altitudes.

  Over and over again, Creed worked to evacuate while I teased the Kipa. I shied, it pounced. I wove just out of its reach, dipping now and then to keep its attention. No more buildings were smashed, no people torn out of their windows and flung to the ground. We didn't know why the Kipas were so destructive; but it wasn't as if we understood the aliens to begin with. Most people couldn't understand me, and I was just a weird human.

  Lexi hadn't.

  Anger poured into me at the thought, but I tried to choke it down. Distracted, the Kipa caught me broadside and knocked me into a wall. My chest caught most of the blow, for which I was grateful. A bird could handle a chest strike, but hitting across the back or the side might have killed me. I used my wings to slow my descent toward the ground, stars twinkling in my eyes, and crashed in a way that meant I would walk away from the battle.

  "You're supposed to make them miss, you know," Creed said, looking down at me. "You all right?"

  I chirped at him, a mockery of a sparrow, and shifted forms. The bear-lion mixture I chose gave me long, strong legs but a lean body to back it all up with. It wasn't something that I would usually work myself into, but it felt right. And I'd long ago given into what felt right in a circumstance like a fight rather than what made logical sense.

  "Okay, you go bite him. I'll get him in those wires... somehow," he frowned, watching the Kipa paw at its face.

  Go bite him. I rolled my eyes and padded off, my weird little ears flat. Bite him. As if that was all I was good at. The intricacies of animal warfare often escaped human logic. A bite would work in some forms of combat, but I preferred something a little less likely to get my teeth ripped out. Instead, I snuck up behind the wounded animal and unsheathed claws longer than most human fingers.

  Kipas weren't built exactly like we were. Sure, they were bipedal and some of the same things came up. They had legs, arms. Most of their bodies were covered in plated armor, making it a nightmare to take a chunk out of them... if you weren't willing to risk getting stomped on. The backs of their ankles were completely bare. A true Achilles heel, all three of the ropey ligaments that kept their legs functioning attached to the back of their foot in that exact spot.

  It was a poor idea by whatever evolved them, and it would serve as this one's downfall.

  I ran the last dozen steps, pounced, and sank my claws into that sensitive spot.

  The first ligament snapped immediately, retracting beneath its skin like a rubber band. The Kipa shrieked again and flailed, drawing its leg into the air and reaching for me. Fine, bite it had to be. I snapped my heavy jaws into the back of the thing's leg and felt the remaining two cords burst at the seam. It roared, tears pouring out of its whole eye. I felt some fragment of sympathy for it before I dug in harder.

  It hopped, twice, on its good leg. Then I felt the gravity around us increase a hundredfold. I choked, the air driven from my lungs, and fell with the Kipa as it landed on the ground with a crunch.

  A crunch? I smacked the pavement a second later a
nd rolled away from it. Creed let out a wail as I slid into his former side view mirror.

  We couldn't have gotten a more solid hit on his car if we'd tried, but at least the Kipa was contained by the electrical cords. Still live on one side, the Kipa served as the ground the system needed. Creed ripped the wires apart with a swipe of his hand, then used those odd powers of his to wrap the creature up like a Christmas present.

  I headed toward him, sore but alive. He made the same gesture and I was pleased to see him not bleeding from any orifices this time around. Perhaps using his powers for a few moments wouldn't hurt him. Good. The last thing we needed was him and Cassie off the roster at the same time.

  Though Creed, or Adam, whichever you prefer; was no Blitzer, he could still pack a pretty powerful punch. We had a few others, but most of them were busy with trying to keep crime down in other parts of the city. Everyone had been on-call 24/7 since Melody's betrayal, though I dared not mention that to Creed. He seemed sensitive enough about his sister's villain flip and I wasn't going to set him off after an adrenaline-cranking fight like the one we'd just had.

  "I hadn't even made a single payment on it yet," Creed sighed. "Not a single payment and it's already dead. What the hell."

  At a loss for words, I rubbed the length of my furry body against his. Some people took comfort when I did that, much as they did when a therapy dog turned up at their job on a stressful day. He sighed again and ran his hand over my back. "At least there's insurance. I guess."

  Then he turned to me and said, "Dunno what the hell you're going to do for clothes."

  I caught my breath at last and stared back at the ruins of the car while Creed put in the call to the military for a pickup. Or Cassie did. Someone did, and that's what mattered. Still, the military had been trying to get their hands on me for years to figure out how I shapeshifted. It was a poor idea to stay longer than I absolutely needed to.

  He must have figured it out because the next words out of his mouth were rather intelligent. "Find a cache. I'll meet you at the Hideout. We'll grab a few things there and head in, cool?"

  I nodded the affirmative and shifted fully to the cat form. Sore, aching, my back complaining about the impact I'd taken on my bird's breastbone, I began the long trot to the nearest cache I was aware of; a solid mile and a half away. Still, I'd be able to blend into the crowd and disappear once I got there.

  And it was nice to have someone like Creed worrying about my welfare.

  Chapter 8

  I typed the last few letters into the screen, eyeing the keyboard. Sure, we'd had typing classes when I'd been a kid but I wasn't any good then and years away from typing hadn't improved my skills.

  You aren't supposed to look at a keyboard when you type, so I'd been told. I didn't care.

  "And thank you, for your cooperation. Sincerely-" I paused and frowned up at the screen. "Thanks? ...Nah, sincerely's more formal. Sincerely, Strikeout, the PTB Alliance."

  I smacked the enter key with a sense of finality. It was all I could do, but it seemed like the boys had appreciated it. Sitting there, I had to wonder if playing the support guy really gave Edwin a sense of fulfillment; or if he was just stuck there because he didn't have the ability to... do what we did.

  What they did.

  My nose wrinkled in disgust. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate Edwin and what he did for me in the field. It was a necessary job. But I was made to be out in that field. I was made to go kick ass and take names, or chew bubble gum, or whichever movie series fit your particular preferences. I wasn't made to sit behind a computer screen.

  The online phone service beeped and booped as I put in a call to him.

  "Edwin's hospital room. What's up?" he answered.

  I turned on the video mode and smiled when I saw him. He looked better, if not yet all the way with it. "Creed and Savage just went out on a field call."

  "And you stayed behind, manned the support system?"

  "Had to. Seems like our techie's down for the count."

  He smiled and shook his head. "I'm proud of you."

  That caught me off guard. I blinked. "For what? All I did was poke a couple of buttons."

  "Yeah? That's all I ever do, too, technically. Still keeps that heap working. And you listened to Scribe. You aren't out there killing yourself trying to prove something. You did good, Cassie."

  The warmth in his voice flooded my veins, seating itself at my core. I smiled and shook my head. "You're a sweet talker."

  "You've accused me of far worse. Wasn't I a tease at some point?"

  "And a tease," I laughed.

  Beep boop beep beep. Beep beep boop boop beepbeepbeep. I raised a brow at the unknown caller ID. The area code was local. "Let me get this. I'll call you right back."

  He blew me a kiss and disappeared from the screen. I ran my finger over it to answer. "Strikeout."

  "Cassie?"

  If I'd been standing, I would have fallen to the ground. Her voice took me by surprise. My heart jounced in its rhythm and it took me a solid ten seconds to answer her. "Nishelle?"

  "Listen, I don't have a lot of time. Melody's out. She found me and kidnapped me. I'm in a lockup down at 10th and Main."

  "Basement? 1st floor?" I asked. I could feel adrenaline kicking in but nothing followed it. It didn't matter. She'd come for me when everything was lost. I wasn't going to let her die without me.

  She drew a shuddering breath. "Basement of a townhouse. 1022. Hurry. There's ice water pouring in and I can't get out. The keys are on a hook just before you enter."

  "You watch them put it up there?" I asked, pulling on a hoodie as quickly as I could manage. I yanked the hood closed around my face, only my eyes showing. Melody didn't need to recognize me.

  "Hurry," she gasped, and was gone.

  The first thing I did was try to call Creed to let him know where I was headed. Perhaps they could even meet me there. There was no answer. Ring, ring, ring, dial tone. I rubbed the bridge of my nose and tried Savage instead.

  Someone picked up, but all the phone did was crackle. Edwin didn't need to worry about me. I hung up and shook my head at how stupid this all was. If I could have just gotten my powers back, already, I wouldn't be worried. Instead, I grabbed a baton from the surplus locker room and tucked it into my belt. I might not be able to knock someone through a wall, but I'd still be able to smack them across the head, damn it.

  I stole a kid's bicycle tipped against a light fixture outside. Since it was right outside the Alliance, I hoped the kid would be smart enough to file a claim with us. If he did, I'd verify it. More likely than not, the bike wasn't coming back. It wasn't like I was going to have time to carefully tie it up somewhere.

  The ride was a quick one. Main was only about six blocks away and 10th was just another short trip. I made it within a blinding amount of time, my mind focused on the idea of Nishelle drowning alone and forgotten in some shitty hole in the ground. 1022 happened to be a tiny place wedged in between 1020 and 1024. It didn't look like much and the door was already open. Lazy villains, anyway.

  She was right. The keys were on a hook just in front of a door. I grabbed them, tore open the door, and ran down the stairs. The water was almost waist-deep. Looking around, I tried to find the cells that surely existed. If they'd locked her in a dog kennel or something, I was already too late. She'd have been submerged for-

  I shook my head at the horror and caught a glance of something metal off in the far left corner. There, in the distance, was a set of iron bars cocked out from the wall. I splashed my way across to them and saw... and saw...

  Nishelle stood in the center of the prison. She wore a blue blouse that was plastered to her body, her hair soaked through and limp even in its braids. I nearly dropped the damned keys, saving them at the last second from a watery fate. My hand rested on one of the bars as I used key after key to try to open it. On the fifth, it popped the lock and I wrenched the door open.

  "Hey."

  "Hey," I answered, fr
ozen in the door.

  She moved toward me, carefully put her hands on my hips, and gently moved me back two steps. Then she stepped out of the cell and jerked her head at the stairs. "We should probably get out of here."

  I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding, nodded, and followed her. I left the keys in the lock, figuring it pointless to bring them with us. "You sure Melody's gone?"

  "I don't think she intended for me to last long enough to call you."

  "How did you call me, anyhow?" I asked.

  "What?"

  My stomach dropped. "Nishelle, how did you call me from inside a cell?"

  She turned on me in an instant. Her hands grabbed my head, shoving it underwater. I screamed in a mass of bubbles as my mind tried to catch up. This couldn't be Nishelle. A... a clone? A shifter, maybe, someone we hadn't gotten to know. Someone who could mimic faces and voices and-