Instead of answering, Cody tapped his heels together. The thrusters in the boots’ soles ignited, and Cody floated up into the open space of the chamber, his body wobbling only slightly as he rose. He raised his arms, pointing his fists toward Aubrey, his bracers glowing with green energy.
“Well,” Aubrey said, “this should be entertaining, at least.”
She rushed him, her own feet pulsing with energy as she ran on the air itself toward him. Cody felt his heart sink in fear but managed to concentrate on what he needed to do. The bracers released a blast of energy, knocking Aubrey off course and crashing her into the ground. Maybe that would be enough. Maybe she wouldn’t get up. Maybe—
Her eyes flashed, and a laser shot out of them, impacting Cody’s shoulder. He recoiled back, the hit absorbed by his armor but still hot and painful. Then she was on him, in front of him, her hands on his shoulder and her robotic face pulled back into a surreal smile.
“I thought you’d last longer,” she said, eyes glowing as if charging up.
Cody imagined the laser that would come, that would hit him full in the face. He imagined his whole life reduced to this one moment when he might have prevented a murderous AI from escaping to wreak havoc on the world but failed. And Sonny, dying in his cell when his food ran out, the two of them never able to go on even one date, or even touch while they were both conscious.
“The helmet, now,” Sonny hissed in his ear.
Cody grabbed Aubrey’s arms, his bracers glowing again, but this time drawing the energy out of Aubrey’s body. Her eyes dimmed, the laser blast dying before she could use it. Immediately Cody let go, pulled off his helmet, and slammed it down backward onto Aubrey’s head. Blinded, she lashed out with her fists, striking Cody in the chest and side, but not before he flicked the switch on the back of the helmet to turn it on.
They fell, landing on the cavern floor in a heap.
“What is the meaning of this?” Aubrey screamed. Her body moved in halting jerks, unable to remove the helmet.
“Just a nullification device that Dr. Devious designed,” Cody said, rolling away from Aubrey’s flailing form. “It should keep your systems from activating long enough.”
“Long enough for what?” Aubrey demanded. “The moment this wears off, I’m going to peel you out of that armor and make you eat this helmet.”
But even as she spoke, the ground around her turned red-hot. Lava erupted, swirling, as Heart completed their part of the plan.
“I’ll stick to sandwiches, thanks,” Cody said as Aubrey screamed, the lava completely covering her.
When it cooled, it would be a stone prison there was no way she could escape. And with the helmet still in place, she couldn’t leave her body and reintegrate with the lair.
Cody slumped on the floor, breathing hard. In his ear, he could hear Sonny shouting in victory.
“You did amazing, Cody,” Sonny said.
“Just don’t expect me to pick a superhero name any time soon,” Cody said.
AROUND THE containment room, Finn and the other shark-men had helped Cody hang decorations. Colored lights, wreaths, and garlands of poinsettias made the room much more festive. There was even a little palm tree that the bartending bot had delivered with the high praise of, “Initiating Congratulatory Statement #39: Thank you for not messing up and getting us all killed.”
The tree was wrapped in lights and topped with fake snow and really made the room feel Christmassy.
Cody had a pile of sandwiches—turkey and stuffing topped with cranberry sauce—and was just settling in to watch the special season finale of All My Werewolves. On the other side of the field, Sonny was perched on the bed with two ration bars. It was a special occasion, after all.
“I’m glad you got the projector set up down in the Heart Chamber,” Sonny said. “It was getting really cramped in here with a dozen shark-men. Not quite so… intimate.”
Cody smiled. “And now Finn can describe the show as it happens to Heart, so they don’t have to wait until after to get the details. Of course, I’m not sure how I’m going to explain to Dr. Devious that I let a gang of shark-men move into his lair while he was gone.”
“They did help you defeat Aubrey,” Sonny said. “I think that will probably count for something. I can’t imagine they’d have liked to return from their trip to find that Audrey’s copy had gotten corrupted, built herself a robotic body, and tried to take over the world.”
“Probably not.” Cody wiped a bit of errant stuffing from his plate and licked it off his finger, savoring the rich taste. “More difficult might be explaining how we’ve managed to go through almost their entire store of food in just two weeks.”
Sonny laughed and looked ruefully at his ration bars. “That’s Sanjay’s fault, if reports of his sandwich recipes are to be believed. You’ll be in more trouble if I get let out of here only to find that there’s nothing left for me.”
“I’ve already made sure the robot bartender has held some in reserve for you.”
“Aww, you really do want that date,” Sonny said.
Cody flushed a deep red. They hadn’t talked a lot about what they would do after this. What with the battle and then getting the shark-men situated and then making everything a bit more festive, it just hadn’t come up.
Or maybe, Cody thought, being honest with himself, maybe we’ve just been avoiding it.
“I do,” Cody said. “I do really want to go on a date with you. More than one, if the first works out.”
Some of the teasing mischief slipped from Sonny’s face. He swallowed and nodded. “Good, because I was thinking, if you didn’t mind, that I could maybe fly you back to London first, after this. Show you around town a bit. Before you have to go home and get back to work.”
The words did nothing to relieve the heat in Cody’s face. The truth was, he didn’t care if the only part of London he got to see was Sonny’s bedroom. But he didn’t want this to only be about touch, only about the hot need he felt to have Sonny’s hands on him, for their lips to finally meet.
“And then, when you drop me off in Metro City,” Cody said, “maybe I can show you around a bit. You know, if you really were thinking about moving.”
Sonny smiled, and Cody could see the hint of a glow around his face, as if he, too, were just as excited about the idea. They nodded to each other, a silent promise.
“For now, though, any guesses on what’s happening in the season finale?” Sonny asked. “Is Asher going to free Jacob from the Shadow Dimension? Is the alliance between Jacobim and Jeremy going to last, or will they betray each other at the first opportunity?”
Cody settled back against the cushions as the show started on the screen, the recap catching everyone up on the last episode’s dramatic cliffhanger. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Whatever happens, it’s sure to be one heck of an adventure.”
CHARLES PAYSEUR currently resides in the frozen reaches of Wisconsin, where his partner, a gaggle of pets, and more craft beer than is strictly healthy help him through the long winters. He works an incredibly boring day job so that his nights can be filled with spaceships, magic, and attractive men kissing (and maybe a bit more than kissing…). His work can also be found at Less Than Three Press, Lethe Press, Circlet Press, and in Lightspeed Magazine’s Queers Destroy Science Fiction!
When not writing fiction and poetry, he contributes to a number of blogs and review sites, and runs a home for his thoughts on short speculative fiction at Quick Sip Reviews (www.quicksipreviews.blogspot.com). On Twitter as @ClowderofTwo, he annoys the internet with far too many cat pictures and cocktail recipes.
He can also be reached at:
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/8178833.Charles_Payseur
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorcharlespayseur
Twitter: @ClowderofTwo
By Charles Payseur
Fieldwork
Simmer Anthology
SPANDEX AND SUPERPOWERS
Starstruck Anthology
How the Supervillain Stole Christmas
Comic Book Romance
The Werewolf Before Christmas
Hero for the Holidays
Published by DREAMSPINNER PRESS
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Hero for the Holidays
© 2018 Charles Payseur.
Cover Art
© 2018 Garrett Leigh.
http://blackjazzpress.com/
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-64405-065-1
Digital eBook published December 2018
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America
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