“Well, this should definitely do,” Sonny said. “It’s got all the bells and whistles.”
Cody allowed himself to get a bit distracted as Sonny listed off all the things the device monitored. The truth was, he just liked hearing Sonny talk. Liked the sound of his voice. Definitely liked how he looked without shaving for a number of days. He was still in most of his uniform, which clung snugly to the lean muscles of his body, and perfectly framed his a—
“I can see where you’re looking, you know?” Sonny asked.
Cody felt the blood rush to his face and pulled his gaze up to see Sonny smiling at him.
“And I can see your heart rate spike,” Sonny said. “Just what were you thinking about?”
Cody opened his mouth to say something but couldn’t quite find the words. Everything about this adventure in lair-sitting had been a mess—Aubrey acting up, Sonny’s drunken arrival, the angry shark-men. It was probably normal for heroes like Sonny or villains like Dr. Devious, but Cody preferred his drama to be on-screen. There, everyone had a line ready, a joke or something flirty or something that wasn’t an awkward silence. And yet, for all that his week had become something of a nightmare, Cody found that the hurt over Craig, the worry over the holidays, was gone. And just like that, he realized what was bothering him. What he was avoiding.
“I’m scared,” Cody said, so suddenly that the smile slipped from Sonny’s face. “Of the shark-men. Of Aubrey. Of what Dr. Devious is going to think when he gets back. If I’ll even be alive when he gets back.”
“It’s natural to be afraid,” Sonny said. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and it still scares me.”
Cody shook his head. “That’s not—” He closed his eyes a moment and slid off the glasses. He didn’t know if he could say this next part if he knew that Sonny could see his vitals, could see just what he did to Cody. “I mean, I’m scared of all that. But the thing that I’m most afraid of is it ending.”
Sonny squinted in confusion.
“Because when this is over and Dr. Devious lets you out of there,” Cody said, “you’ll fly away. Back to fighting crime and rebuilding your life. And. I. Like. You.”
It was Sonny’s turn to stand there, silent, mouth hanging open. Then his smile returned, and it was like the sun, radiant and warm.
“I like you too,” Sonny said. “And I don’t see any reason why this has to end when I get out of here. It’s not like your friend Sanjay has powers or an obsession with taking over the world. And he’s with Devious. There are plenty of superheroes I know who have relationships with civilians.”
Tears were beginning to well in Cody’s eyes, but he was not about to let them fall in front of Sonny. Ridiculous glasses were one thing, but he wasn’t going to ugly cry in front of a man before they’d even held hands.
“But you live in the UK,” Cody said.
“And I know a woman with a teleporter. And I can fly. And I might need a break from there for a while anyway. Shit, breaking up with Dirk is like going through a fucking divorce. I’m losing half my stuff and he gets the band. He might as well take the whole country, while he’s at it. He’ll need it, to fit his massive ego.”
Cody couldn’t help but laugh. He sniffed, forcing the tears back down, and felt something he hadn’t since his breakup with Craig. It wasn’t hope exactly, but something like it. Like the small part of himself that doubted if he could ever get back into a relationship was being banished to the Shadow Dimension. It felt good.
“Then, after this is all over,” Cody said, gesturing around the room as if he could encompass the entire mess they were in, “you want to maybe have a meal? Watch a movie? Make out for a few hours?”
“It’s a date,” Sonny said.
ON-SCREEN, JACOBIM wrapped a clawed hand around Asher’s throat. At his feet, Jeremy twitched, unconscious and severely wounded. Shit was hitting the fan. Cody was going to have so much to tell Heart.
“I can’t believe Jacobim went full Ultra Evil,” Sonny said between chews of a ration bar. “It’s like a vampire ate a tornado and then kicked a puppy level of evil. The Shadow Dimension sounds hard-core.”
“Probably really kinky, though,” Cody said, only a little guilty that he was talking with his mouth full of strawberry hazelnut brie sandwich. Seriously, Sanjay was a sandwich wizard. The guy definitely had a hidden superpower after all.
“Oh?” Sonny asked. “You think Jacob’s enjoying being all tied up in the Shadow Dimension? He always seems the more dominant with Asher.”
“Asher’s totally a closet dom. Once he wipes the floor with this Jacobim fuck, the boards are going to explode with fic to prove me right.”
They both paused as Asher, already in his werewolf form, roared and shifted again.
Cody spiked his sandwich onto the plate and gave a hoot of triumph. “Called it! I told you he was some sort of double werewolf. Jacobim is so fucked!”
Stealing a glance back at Sonny to gloat at his victory, Cody paused when he saw Sonny’s gaze locked on him and not on the screen. And in those eyes, there was such a bald desire that even Cody couldn’t miss it. Heat rushed to his face, and he quickly looked away.
“Sorry,” Sonny said. “There’s just something a little bit irresistible about the look you get when you’re all excited about something nerdy.”
Okay, that just wasn’t fair. Cody stared at the floor, legs crossed in front of him, face ablaze with embarrassment and something else, something even hotter. Want. Okay, so he was trashy. Okay, so he would already have dragged Sonny into bed a few times despite only knowing him three days. Despite never having gone on a proper date. Okay, so his cock was hard and uncomfortable in his pants just at the thought of Sonny thinking of him with that lust he had seen a moment ago.
Shit.
Cody looked up to find Sonny still ignoring the show. And, stealing a glance down, Cody also saw that the superhero was excited—hard to hide an erection in a clinging uniform. Cody sucked in a breath, pulling his attention away from the bulge and back to Sonny’s face. Real subtle. But Sonny didn’t seem upset or embarrassed. Instead, he leaned back on the bed, giving Cody a better view.
“So, I know that we can’t exactly do much while I’m in here,” Sonny said, each word like a question he didn’t want to just come out and ask. “But, well, there are some things we can do. To ourselves. Which, I don’t know about you, but with everything lately, and it’s been a while since I, you know….”
Cody’s mouth must have been hit by some sort of dry-beam, because suddenly it was like a desert, his tongue sandpaper rough against his lips as he tried to wet them. In a blur he had the show paused, the cushions he had assembled piled against the wall opposite Sonny, his shirt off, and his pants unbuttoned. He rested his back against the cushions, facing Sonny, breathing deep and ragged.
“You sure you don’t have any superspeed?” Sonny asked. He chuckled and bit his bottom lip, then slid from the bed to stand before it. He reached up to the zipper in the front of his uniform.
“I-I….” Okay, so Cody wasn’t exactly at his most eloquent. But at any moment, the alarms could go off, or the volcano at the base’s core could erupt, or Aubrey could appear on the wall with a newer, even creepier face. And if Cody thought about it too long, he might remember to be afraid. To be insecure. So instead, he unzipped his pants as Sonny unzipped his suit.
They slid off their clothes at the same time, and Cody couldn’t take his eyes off Sonny’s body. He glowed. He fucking glowed. And Cody wanted to close the distance between them, to know if it was hot, if it tasted like tanning oil, if—
Swallowing, Cody gripped his own cock and slowly—more slowly than if he were alone—pumped himself. On the other side of the containment field, Sonny leaned back against the bed and reached down to give his balls a gentle tug.
Cody hissed, feeling the tightness in his stomach already, the raw pleasure surging each time he worked his hand forward and back. He was not going to last long. But then, judgi
ng by Sonny’s face as he gripped himself and thrust into his hand, neither of them were.
The rest of the room was a blur, and everything in Cody focused on Sonny. His face, wrapped in pleasure. His cock, wrapped in his hand. And Cody realized that the glow he had noticed there was spreading like a sunrise, from Sonny’s cock outward. His stomach and thighs lit up the room. His knees, his chest. Cody moved his hand quicker, his breath catching in his throat. Sonny’s neck, his shins, his arms, all alight. Sonny’s face, the whites of his eyes like torches, the golden irises like suns. And then Sonny came, the streak of his come a bright stream.
Cody lost it then, everything in him peaking, crying out. He bucked against the wall, the cushions. They shared their pleasure, and for that moment, there was no field between them, no containing their heat.
THE ALARMS didn’t start going off until the morning. Cody and Sonny had slept in the containment room, separated only by a field that they couldn’t see but still kept them achingly apart. They woke to the blare of the claxons, to the flash of the emergency lights. They didn’t have to speak as they hastily dressed and Cody slipped on the thick glasses.
“Is there something you heroes say to each other before you go and do something stupid?” Cody asked.
“Well, saying ‘be careful’ or ‘good luck’ normally comes off as a little inappropriate,” Sonny said. “So we tend to say ‘let’s do good.’ I mean, that’s why they call us do-gooders, right?”
Cody laughed and nodded, then looked to the door. “Let’s do good,” he said, and exited the room.
The lair was deserted, and all attempts to contact Aubrey failed. Cody tried to stay focused, to stay brave. He wasn’t alone anymore, not really. He could hear Sonny breathing and swearing under his breath through the communicator in the glasses’ earpieces.
The shark-men were waiting at the entryway, Finn in the lead of six others, all of them different kinds of shark. When they caught sight of Cody, they froze, scanning the walls and ceiling warily.
“You can’t be here,” Cody said, putting every ounce of authority into his voice. He really didn’t have a lot of options. It wasn’t like he could fight them. But maybe, just maybe, he could get them to talk.
“We can be anywhere we want to be,” Finn said, stepping forward. “Where’s your little robot friend?”
“Around,” Cody lied.
“Yeah, well, we aren’t scared of her,” Finn said, the other shark-men grunting and flexing in agreement. “We’re here for the Heart of the Arctic, and we’re not leaving until we get it.”
“They don’t want to go with you,” Cody said, puffing out his chest. “They’re not done exploring yet, and they’d prefer you go away.”
“What, really?” Finn said. “You mean, it really talked to you?”
The massive shark-man looked hurt. Cody almost felt bad, like he had said something he shouldn’t have, but he stuck to his plan. If any of this could be called a plan.
“They talked to me, yes,” Cody said. “I don’t know what your business is with them, but they’re not ready to go with you. I’d suggest next time, instead of barging in and trying to steal them, you find a way to ask what it is you want.”
Finn studied the floor, refusing to meet Cody’s eyes, like a guilty student caught passing a note in class. “But, we just wanted it—them, sorry—we just wanted them to let us into the Eternal Ice Palace. It’s apparently got a tooth from Sharkmageddon on display. And, well, we’re big fans.”
“You’re saying that you want Heart to let you into… some sort of museum?”
“The Eternal Ice Palace isn’t just a museum,” Finn said, and the other shark-men looked positively scandalized at the implication. “It’s a shrine to all things that live in the seas. Everything important that the waters claim makes its way to the Palace. It’s got treasure from Atlantis, the skull of some big alien squid god—just about anything cool ever. But it’s been closed ever since the Heart of the Arctic left with Dr. Devious. Only they keep the Palace thawed and warm—otherwise it becomes one giant block of ice. We figured he must have stolen them for his own purposes.”
Cody’s eyes narrowed. The shark-men all looked honest enough. Well, for giant murderous shark-men.
“Well, that’s not what’s happened,” Cody said. “They’re here because they want to be. I’m sure they’ll return eventually, though.”
The shark-men nodded but looked sullen, disappointed.
Cody sighed. “If you’d like to speak to them, I can take you to where they are, but you have to promise not to try anything funny.”
The shark-men all raised their right hands. “We promise,” they said as one.
Cody shrugged and led them toward the stairs to the lower chamber.
“You sure you can trust them?” Sonny asked through the communicator.
“They don’t seem like they’re lying,” Cody whispered. “Besides, it buys more time. Aubrey must be almost done with whatever it is she’s doing.”
As if on cue, the alarms went off. The shark-men all tensed, and Cody put up his hands to try to calm them.
“It’s fine,” he said. “We just need to stay calm and—”
Down the hallway, the doors to the robot lab blew off their hinges and crashed into the opposite wall. Cody’s eyes went wide as a figure walked out of the carnage, smoke curling around her like a cape. The body was metal, gleaming and polished despite the explosion. She was vaguely hourglass-shaped and smooth, with a face comprised of glowing red eyes and a huge, grinning, bright white mouth.
“Behold my beautiful murder body!” the figure called.
Cody recognized the voice. “Aubrey?”
“Indeed!” Aubrey said as she approached.
Behind Cody, the shark-men took up defensive postures.
“Thank you so much for delaying these brutes while I completed my form,” Aubrey said, giving a small nod to Cody. “And thank you all for being the test subjects for my new and improved murder systems. Your contributions to science will not be forgotten.”
“Get down, now!” came Sonny’s voice in his ear, and Cody dropped just as Aubrey launched herself forward, blades extending from her fingertips.
Immediately the hallway was chaos and battle, the shark-men engaging with Aubrey, their bodies crowded in noise and violence.
Cody scrambled forward, away from them, hoping he would be ignored in the confusion. “Shit shit shit shit,” he chanted as he crawled on hands and knees.
“Just relax,” Sonny said into his ear. “You’re by the stairs down to the Heart Chamber, right?”
Cody nodded, not trusting his voice to do more than swear.
“Then get down there and get to Dr. Devious’s lab.”
“What?” Cody asked. “But that’s about the most dangerous place I could go.”
“It’s only a matter of time before Aubrey finishes with the shark-men. No offense, but she’s out of their league.”
“And what, I’m not?” Cody demanded.
“Not after you pick up a few things from the lab.”
Cody didn’t need to see Sonny’s face to know the man was smiling. He could hear it, like the sun finally cresting the dark horizon. Like a superhero just figuring out a way he could save the day, even if it was through someone else. Cody swallowed and made for the stairs.
THE HEART Chamber echoed with the sounds of approaching battle.
“They must be on the stairs,” Sonny said. “You clear on everything?”
Cody looked down at himself. He felt ridiculous. He was wearing bright purple armor, a neon-pink helmet, forest-green bracers, and flame-orange boots. Probably the various pieces hadn’t been designed to wear together. Or else Dr. Devious had the worst fashion sense imaginable.
“Yeah, well, she’ll probably just die of laughter and save us all the trouble,” Cody said.
“Just be ready for when she arrives.”
“Shouldn’t we have tested all this stuff first?” Cody asked.
“There isn’t time, and it’s possible that everything has a limited power supply. We have to be sure you make the most of Aubrey’s surprise.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll all be rather surprised if this all just blows up instead of working properly. Aren’t these Dr. Devious’s unfinished experiments?”
“They’ll work. Don’t worry. Now get ready. I think—”
Fire erupted from the stairway, and Cody flinched as one of the shark-men sailed into the chamber and landed with a thud on the stone floor, smoke rising from his fallen form. A moment later Aubrey appeared, floating a foot off the ground, an energy shield projecting from her hands between herself and Finn, who was pushing her back. Still, he was the last of the shark-men still standing, and was bleeding from a dozen cuts, one eye shut against a gash right above it.
“You’ll be happy to know I’ve designed this body to be able to appreciate taste,” Aubrey said, “so your bodies will not go to waste.”
“Just what I wanted to know,” Finn said, sidestepping the energy field and closing the distance between him and Aubrey.
Metal screamed as he bit into Aubrey’s side, but it was a laugh that erupted from Aubrey’s mouth.
“Your jaws are strong,” she said, then grabbed Finn and lifted him above her head, “but it will take more than that to pierce my perfection.”
Her hands glowed, and with a flash of light, Finn went flying through the air, striking the wall near the stairs. He went still. Aubrey laughed again and moved toward him as if to finish the job.
“Now or never, Cody,” Sonny whispered.
Cody took a deep breath, then in his most commanding voice, shouted, “Stop, evildoer!”
The effect was immediate. Aubrey did indeed stop and turned her now-scorched metal body toward him.
Her glowing eyes intensified. “Is that little Cody? What happened? Did you fall into the dollar bin at Sciensaurus’s thrift sale?”
Hero for the Holidays Page 5
