The White Knight & Black Valentine Series (Book 5): Superhuman Disaster (

by Brand, Kristen

  Julio grunted, and I turned to see a mercenary had gotten behind him. The man’s beefy arms clenched around Julio’s neck, putting him in sleeper hold that would knock him out if it didn’t suffocate and kill him. I moved to help, but he didn’t need it. A blast of cold shot out from him, icing over the mercenary’s faceplate and armor. The man stumbled back, and Julio spun, sweeping his leg and taking him to the ground.

  One last mercenary swung at me. I caught his fist and slammed it back into his own face. He hit the grass, and I surveyed the scene. Julio didn’t look hurt. He was sweaty, but that was probably more from the Florida heat than any real exertion on his part. I was barely winded myself.

  “Come on,” he said. “We should—”

  Hissing, one of the mercenaries picked up a gun from the ground, teeth clenched as he held it despite the pain. He took aim and fired…

  …at me. The bullet hit my chest, and I winced as it bounced off. At this range, it was going to leave a welt.

  The mercenary gaped at me, and I gave him my best unimpressed stare.

  Julio kicked the gun out of his hand and then kicked him in the face for good measure. “We should get to the house before Dr. Sweet gets away,” he said as if he hadn’t been interrupted.

  I nodded, and we hurried to the mansion. As we approached the wide, sliding glass door facing the pool, I saw a cleaning woman drop her duster and run away in terror. That, I supposed, was the one thing I missed about being White Knight: I’d only scared the bad guys. Sometimes, the only difference between a superhero and a violent lunatic was a bright costume and catchy codename.

  Julio tried the door to find it unlocked, and we slipped inside, finding ourselves in a white sitting room. White floors, white walls, and white couches with a few pale blue throw pillows—it must take a small army of cleaners to keep this room from getting stained. I glanced around for a clue to which way to go.

  You boys really need to work on your stealth skills, Val’s voice said teasingly in my head.

  Julio jerked, indicating he’d heard her, too. Then she sent directions straight into our minds.

  Hurry. I can’t stall them much longer.

  We raced through the hall and upstairs, glimpsing a ballroom, a library, and more rooms than I could keep straight. The farther we went, the more behind Julio I fell. I cursed my bad knee, hating every second I was away from Val—almost as much I hated the idea of Dr. Sweet escaping because I wasn’t fast enough.

  We didn’t pass anyone else, no mercenaries and no terrified cleaning staff. That was ideal: fewer people to get hurt when the fight broke out, which I had no doubt it would. But it was a little eerie, all these grand rooms with nobody in them. Was it one of Mr. Lucifer’s houses, or did it belong to another of Dr. Sweet’s mysterious allies?

  When Julio reached the top of the stairs, finding the door that Val had shown us telepathically, he paused to listen and wait for me to catch up. The second I did, he flung open the door.

  Judging by the arch of the ceiling, it was the attic. The floor was patterned marble, dusty as if someone had begun redecorating but hadn’t finished. It was bare of furniture except a single side table, and it was a miracle I noticed even that much detail, because lying prone in the center of the room was my wife.

  “Val!”

  I rushed to her, dropping painfully to my knees beside her and rolling her over. Her eyes remained closed, and I held my hand an inch above her nose and mouth, nearly moaning in relief when I felt her breath. Julio came up behind me, scanning the room for danger, but it was empty except for us.

  “Val?” I called softly.

  There were no bruises or cuts on her skin, no trace of blood on her clothes. She wore an old-fashioned dress of black lace, her hair falling free of its elegant updo. What had happened? It had taken Julio and I less than a minute to get here.

  Her eyes fluttered open, and she quickly focused on me.

  “Are you alright?”

  Her lips twisted into a smirk.

  Just fine, said Mr. Lucifer’s voice.

  It was the last thing I heard.

  Chapter 14

  My arms hurt. It felt like I’d pulled muscles in both of them, and the ache grew steadily worse until it pulled me out of unconsciousness. I instantly regretting waking, because my head was pounding. Grimacing, I reached to rub my forehead.

  Manacles cut into my wrists, stopping me. My eyes flew open, and I realized why my arms hurt: they were chained over my head. I tried to stand and take the weight off them, but the chains hanging from the ceiling suspended me so that my toes just barely brushed the marble floor. My heartbeat raced, speeding up the throbbing in my head and making it even more painful. Wincing, I looked around and spotted Julio chained up next to me, limp and still unconscious. We were in the attic where we’d found Val—

  Val. Mr. Lucifer had taken over her again. Was it terrible timing, or had this whole thing been a trap?

  I’d find out soon enough. Clenching my jaw against the pain in my head, I pulled down on the chains. The manacles dug deeper into my wrists, but incredibly, the chains didn’t snap. Dread settled like a weight in my stomach. Dr. Sweet had shackled me before with a titanium alloy not even my super-strength could break. Was this the same stuff?

  I pulled harder, muscles straining. My head felt like it was getting hit by each consecutive car of a passing train, and if my skin wasn’t unbreakable, the edges of the manacles would’ve cut me. I grunted, heaving with all my strength.

  The chains didn’t budge.

  I sagged, catching my breath as I faced the facts: I was trapped. I looked around the room for anything that could help, and my gaze landed on Julio again.

  “Freezefire,” I hissed. “Freezefire, wake up.”

  If he could freeze or melt the chains enough to damage their structural integrity, I could do the rest.

  “Julio.”

  He groaned and stirred. Then his eyes opened dazedly.

  The door burst open, and Val strode in—or make that Mr. Lucifer. He took one look at Julio and knocked him right back out.

  “Sorry, David,” he said. “I’d like for your friend to join us, but someone hasn’t found a way to counter his powers yet.”

  “A work in progress,” said Dr. Sweet, entering after him.

  I lunged, tugging sharply on my chains, wanting more than anything to break free so I could strangle the man in front of me.

  He looked soft and pudgy, an oily sheen covering his skin. His gray hair was long and greasy, and he wore a white lab coat over a Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants. It was the same clothes he’d worn every time I’d seen him, every time I’d watched him die. But no matter how thoroughly I killed him, he kept coming back.

  “Of course, I’ll probably end up cutting him open within the next day or so.” Dr. Sweet stopped in front of Julio and examined him thoughtfully. “So I’m not sure it’s worth the bother.”

  “I don’t think it’s worth the bother of keeping them alive at all,” said a new voice.

  The speaker’s footsteps thudded against tile as he entered. For a second, I thought I was looking at another mercenary in body armor. Interlocking plates covered his body, light brown like bone. They were smooth on the surface but sharp around the edges, spikes jutting out of his head, shoulders, and back. The shell-like substance covered his face like a mask, seeming to grow straight from his skin.

  Dr. Sweet walked in behind him.

  Head pounding, I wondered if Mr. Lucifer had broken something in my brain when he’d knocked me out. Two Dr. Sweets stood before me, identical down to the last strand of greasy hair. The only difference was the pattern of their Hawaiian shirts: one had more blue in it; the other more green.

  “For science, of course,” said the second doctor. “Their abilities make them promising specimens.”

  “It also makes them dangerous,” said the armored man. “Kill them now before they have a chance to ruin your plans like they’ve done so many times before.”
>
  “There’s no chance of that happening.” Mr. Lucifer folded his arms. “They’re not getting out of those chains, and even if they did, I can knock them out with a thought.”

  Not likely, I thought, raising my mental shields. Mr. Lucifer may have vastly improved his skill with Val’s powers in a short period of time, but he wouldn’t take me by surprise again.

  “Sorry, Fortunato.” The first Dr. Sweet grinned happily. “It’s three against one.”

  “Two against two,” said a soft, airy voice to my right.

  It’s a ghost, was my first thought as the intangible woman floated by. I’d seen some strange superpowers in my day, but never someone who looked like their body was composed of mist. She wore an elaborate, layered kimono, the fabric drifting outward as if she was underwater. Her black hair would have reached past her feet if she was standing, and her face was incredibly pale. Her eyebrows looked painted on, and her lips were dark. If I’d come across her at night in a place like that abandoned motel, I probably would have shrieked like a little girl.

  “No matter how many of you there are at the moment, you still only get one vote.” Her words floated through the air, though her lips didn’t move.

  “Agreed,” said the armored man—Fortunato, they’d called him. “One of you is annoying enough. Send your latest copy out.”

  The two Dr. Sweets looked at one another. Then Blue Shirt shrugged and left the room.

  “Two against two, then,” Dr. Sweet said, walking in a circle around Julio and examining him as if the conversation didn’t matter. “Really, though, Yayoi, aren’t you being overcautious?”

  “At this stage in the plan, I don’t think we can be cautious enough,” the intangible woman replied. “Remember why we’re doing this, Ignatius. We’re on track to control the entire world. We can finally ensure the idiots in charge don’t destroy the planet, so that we can live our immortal lives in peace and comfort.”

  “That’s your goal,” Dr. Sweet said. “I’m just doing this for kicks, and Claudia’s here because she’s a power-hungry sadist.”

  “Debating is pointless,” Mr. Lucifer snapped. “Where’s Tonauac?”

  “Here.”

  Another man walked into the room. Short and brown-skinned, he wore a tailored suit of charcoal with red accents. His head was on fire—or it looked like it, anyway. A corona of red-orange energy flared around his skull, pouring from his eyes and open mouth. The energy seemed to course through him, the veins in his face, neck, and hands glowing with it.

  He held Jocelyn, either unconscious or dead, in his arms.

  “Your friends had backup.” He shuffled Jocelyn and pulled a lever on the wall, causing another chain to descend from the ceiling. Some of the acidic fear in my stomach eased. He wouldn’t bother restraining her if she was dead.

  Dr. Sweet clapped his head together, looking on eagerly as the fiery man chained her up. “This day keeps getting better and better.”

  I swallowed, feeling queasy. Jocelyn had been our best chance of a rescue. Eddy and Elisa must still be out there, but I didn’t hope for them to save us. Mr. Lucifer’s allies were even more dangerous than I’d imagined. Eddy and Elisa would be lucky to escape.

  Stay away, I prayed. Get her out of here, Eddy. Go somewhere safe and don’t look back.

  “You’re just in time, Tonauac,” said Mr. Lucifer. “We need a vote to break the tie. The good doctor and I want our prisoners alive for now. Fortunato and Yayoi disagree. What say you?”

  His fiery eyes looked at Jocelyn in a way that made me snarl.

  “Alive,” he said.

  “Wonderful!” said Dr. Sweet. “We’re going to have such fun.”

  Fortunato made a disgusted sound and stomped out. The intangible woman, Yayoi, merely nodded.

  “As you wish,” she said, and faded.

  “Did you see anyone else lurking outside,” Mr. Lucifer asked Tonauac. “Eddy Capello and my dear granddaughter may have come with them.”

  “Oh, yes,” said Dr. Sweet. “We have to add her to our collection.”

  “You won’t touch her.” Mr. Lucifer rounded on him, looking almost like Val in protective mother mode. “She’s my next host after this body ages—telepathic, super-strong, and invulnerable. I won’t let you ruin that.”

  “Fine, fine.” Dr. Sweet waved a hand. “Have the girl, Claudia. No need to bite my head off.”

  I felt sick. So that’s what Mr. Lucifer wanted: to possess Elisa the same way he had Val. I prayed more than ever that she and Eddy had gotten out of here.

  But who the hell was Claudia?

  “Don’t you two have a fundraiser gala to attend?” Tonauac asked pointedly.

  “We have a few minutes,” Dr. Sweet said. “I was planning on gloating first.”

  “I’ll leave you to it, then,” Tonauac said, and walked out.

  Dr. Sweet smiled at Mr. Lucifer. “Ladies first?”

  Mr. Lucifer smirked. “I don’t have much to say.” He strode up to me, brushing a hand against my face in mockery of Val’s caress. “You know you’ve lost. Valentina got the best of me once, but she was arrogant to think she could keep it up. I’ve known what was going on ever since her pathetic heroics at the water plant. It’s been amusing watching you all plot and plan, thinking you had a chance.”

  “For someone who doesn’t have much to say, you sure like to hear yourself talk,” I growled.

  He chuckled. “I just want you to realize how completely you’ve failed. Valentina is mine, and Elisa will be mine soon enough. I’ll be running the whole world soon, and you’ll be begging Dr. Sweet for death.” He kissed my cheek. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, darling, I have a gala to attend. Now that I’m a woman again, I have to put more effort into my appearance. Who knows? Maybe I’ll find Valentina a new husband. She’s about to become a widow, after all.”

  He strode out, still chuckling, and I was absolutely helpless to stop him. I felt dizzy with rage and frustration, or maybe the side effects of the coma were to blame. There had to be something I could do, some way to end this nightmare, but I couldn’t see it.

  “Well.” Dr. Sweet looked after Mr. Lucifer with a frown. “I had a whole evil monologue prepared, but that’s a tough act to follow.”

  “You won’t get away with it,” I snapped. “Even if I can’t stop you, the DSA has more than enough superheroes to take out your little club.”

  “You know, that’s a perfect way of wording it.” He put a finger to his round chin thoughtfully. “We are a club of sorts, a club of immortals meeting throughout the centuries. And as for your fellow superheroes, most of them are already under my control, whether they know it or not. The rest will follow, or they’ll die.”

  “The derivative of psyc you’re making.”

  His face lit up. “Yes, you discovered that, didn’t you? One of my crowning achievements, if I do say so myself. It lets even a weak telepath control everyone for miles.”

  “You’ve been dosing people at the DSA.”

  “That I have. You know, you shouldn’t listen to Claudia. You really did come close to stopping us—or delaying us, at the very least.”

  “Claudia?”

  “Heh. But then again, there’s so much you’re still clueless about. I’ll explain later—we’ll be spending a lot of time together in the future. But I should go change. The gala is a black-tie affair.”

  He headed for the door. I had to stall him, keep him talking until I figured a way out of this.

  “You’re talking about Raymond Decker’s fundraiser gala,” I said. “You’re planning on drugging him, aren’t you? Putting the future president of the United States under your control?”

  “And all the congressmen and business moguls in attendance.” He stopped and turned. “That’s the way to take over the world. Idiots like Bloodbath always try brute force, and you superheroes stop them again and again. This way, no one will even realize what we’ve done.”

  “Government officials are tested for telepathic infl
uence—”

  “By the DSA, yes. And the DSA is mine now.”

  He walked out, and I tugged uselessly against my chains. I looked around the room, Julio and Jocelyn chained and unconscious. There was no way out, no way to warn the DSA or anyone else. Within a few hours, Dr. Sweet would start his takeover of the government.

  And there was nothing I could do to stop him.

  Chapter 15

  I could imagine all too clearly what would happen. Dr. Sweet and Mr. Lucifer would drug the politicians and industry leaders at the gala tonight, which would make it easier to get more of the drug into city water supplies, bottled water, or any kind of drink. I’d never see it, though. I’d be taken to Dr. Sweet’s lab.

  He’d keep me alive for as long as possible. Maybe he’d find a saw made from a material strong enough to actually cut me open, or maybe he’d settle for pumping me full of different drugs. Whatever he chose would be agonizing. My only hope was that at some point, he’d drop his guard, and I could break free and kill him. Hopefully, before he did anything irreversible to Julio and Jocelyn.

  I leaned back my head, clenching shut my eyes. There wasn’t much hope, not for the three of us, and not for the rest of the world. What would the immortals do with everyone once they had the population under their control? Would they let people go about their lives until they needed them for something, or would they subtly influence every little behavior? Mind-control was terrifying for a good reason; the only consolation was that most telepaths could only perform it on a limited number of people at a very close proximity. Dr. Sweet’s drug changed all that.

  He would find Elisa. It might take months or even years, but as more people fell under his control, it would become impossible to avoid his spies. And that’s assuming she managed to avoid ingesting the drug herself. Maybe if Eddy took her completely off the grid, if they moved to the middle of the wilderness and drank only well water. Even then, I wasn’t sure she could stay safe. And Val and I wouldn’t be able to help her…