by Ekeke, C. C.
As her opponent lay gasping on the floor, Connie placed a rock-solid foot on Bam-Bam’s throat and pressed down. “Are you finished?”
Bam-Bam kicked and thrashed, turning a worrying maroon. Then she finally relaxed.
Connie waited a few seconds before removing her foot. “Good.” She crouched beside Bam-Bam and smiled. “Let’s talk.”
The criminal rubbed at her throat and blinked rapidly. “You’re…not with The Conglomerate.”
Connie snorted. “Hell no. But I do represent people capable of solving your dilemma.”
Bam-Bam’s brow furrowed. “You know nothing about me.”
Connie swallowed a laugh. “Contract killer falls for someone who escaped the criminal life. You want out, but your employers won’t let you go without their pound of flesh.” She cocked her head sideways smugly. “Am I close?”
By Bam-Bam’s wide-eyed shock, the portrayal had struck true. “I’m listening.”
Chapter 27
“You did what for the government?” Max exclaimed with wide eyes.
Hugo nodded, reclining in his chair. They sat in the shielded safety of the Clubhouse lair. But still Hugo instinctively glanced around like they weren’t alone, having just detailed a hush-hush mission he’d been recruited to several weeks ago. He still got goosebumps wondering what could’ve happened if he and his fellow recruits had failed. Would the world as they knew it would’ve ended? “I’ve only told like two people about that,” Hugo murmured tersely. “So tell no one.”
Max nodded, her twin French braids jostling. They’d been up most of the morning catching up. Correction, they’d been mainly discussing Hugo’s crazy life these last few months after breakfast at his house.
Hugo donned a San Miguel Titans NFL Jersey and baggy jeans, Max in a crop top tee and leather jacket with sweatpants. “Enough about me,” the Samoan groused.
A smile split Max’s face. “Bogie, you’ve been everywhere since Black Wednesday. I especially loved you curbstomping Tomorrow Man.” She laughed.
Hugo rolled his eyes. Not just from the media overexaggerating his feud with Tomorrow Man, but Blur still trashing him to the press. Ignoring the speedster was growing difficult.
Hugo focused on Max pointedly. “I’m interested why you’ve been here nearly a month and never called?”
She looked down ruefully. “Sorry about that.”
“Speak, muchacha.” Hugo gestured for her to continue.
After a laborious sigh, Max finally met his gaze again. “There’s been lots of pack drama in New Mexico. My dad’s brother pulled a hostile takeover.” Her hand motions were as languid as her tone. “He and my dad fought, but my uncle got help from one of Father’s betas and won. Then he captured my mom to keep my father away.”
Hugo’s stomach knotted up. “Oh my god. Is your dad—?”
Max waved off his worry nonchalantly. “Papa’s in hiding, regaining his strength and gathering allies.” The ghost of a smile appeared when discussing her father. “Since my siblings and I are a threat to his rule, Papa sent us away.” Her eyes burned. “But I snuck in our former territory and rescued Mom.”
Hugo clenched his fists, ready to kick some werewolf ass. “I could’ve helped.”
“I know.” Max rested a hand on his knee. “But you’ve seen how wolves don’t like outsiders involved.”
Hugo snorted. Visiting Max on New Year’s months ago had been a crash course in wolfpack intrigue. “If you change your mind, tell me.” He rested his hand on hers and squeezed. “So how’d you meet Becky?” Hugo had to hear this story.
Max rose from her chair. “I came to San Miguel via train and wanted to call you. But Becky literally walked up and introduced herself.” Her brow furrowed in bewilderment. “Almost like she’d been waiting. I was cautious, but she bought me dinner, and we talked.” The werewolf grinned. “Then Becky got me a job at Danger Room and is letting me crash at her condo.”
The serendipity bothered Hugo. “That’s unusually generous.” How Becky Knox had found Max at the train station seemed like she’d tracked down a bounty.
“I wanted to settle in more before calling such a big damn superhero.” Max looked unsure while studying his reaction. “Should I not trust Becky?”
Hugo brushed away her doubt and rose. “Becky claims to only care about money.” He recalled again how she’d helped his mission. “But she’s alright. Has a soft spot for lost girls.”
Max slapped his arm, her superstrength making him yelp. “I’m not lost, jackass.” She shook her hand in discomfort. Max’s rolled up jacket sleeves revealed the vegvísir mark on her right inner forearm, which still weirded Hugo out. The blurry runic tattoo resembled a compass in constant motion, giving Max total control over her werewolf shifts.
“How do you know Becky?” she asked.
Hugo opened his mouth to reply but caught someone entering the Clubhouse. Max’s ears perked up, meaning she’d heard too.
“Hold up.” Hugo turned and reached the entrance into main operations before the door even opened.
J-Tom breezed in, a loose white tee and tight black jeans her choice of attire, hair up in a bun and black headband.
Her unbridled joy was contagious. “I’m certified as your trainee, Bogie.” She shimmied her shoulders like a dork.
Hugo was beaming. “Your psych eval came back. You aren’t in danger of melting down during a bomb evacuation.” In short, Hugo had a sane, trustworthy ally.
“Yay!” J-Tom leaped into his arms. “We did it!”
Hugo returned her hug, her feet briefly dangling. “You did it, babe,” he murmured, placing her back down.
“Not without you, Bogie.” She did that flirty eyebrow raise. “Wanna see how much I appreciate you?” She stood on her tiptoes, their lips almost touching.
“Jen...” Hugo reluctantly pried her off. “We got company.” He awkwardly pointed behind him.
J-Tom followed his gesture and jerked back. “Oooh.”
Max stood near the command hub looking from J-Tom to Hugo. She shook her head and chuckled. A flush crept up Hugo's neck.
J-Tom adjusted her shirt and scowled. “Didn’t know we were giving Clubhouse tours…hold on.” She squinted. “I know your face.”
“Max.” The teen werewolf approached and extended a hand. “We met last Halloween.”
“Oh, hi!” J-Tom’s eyes brimmed with recognition as she accepted the handshake. “You’re the werewolf who saved Hugo from certain…supernatural threats?”
“I saved her more times that night,” Hugo snapped.
Max gulped hard and glared at Hugo. “You told your girlfriend about the supernatural community?”
J-Tom’s freckles vanished under a deep blush.
Hugo’s heart lurched. “J-Tom’s not my girlfriend.” Viewing J-Tom like that screwed with his head for some reason. “And I trust her.”
J-Tom’s smile returned. “I’m a hero-in-training.” She pointed at herself adorably.
Max calmed. “You have powers?”
J-Tom shook her head. “Only power armor.”
“You’re like Lady Dynamo.”
J-Tom wrinkled her nose. “Yeah…sorta.”
A loud alert interrupted thankfully. Hugo had the Clubhouse’s monitoring systems send alerts in case of nearby large-scale accidents or disasters.
Max’s head swiveled. “What was that?”
Hugo and J-Tom exchanged a serious look before striding for the monitoring hub.
He leaned forward to scan three flatscreens displaying the news. Sections of a massive freighter train had derailed in a city's downtown, several regular cars flipped over or burning.
Hugo hissed. J-Tom made concerned noises.
“Freight train accident between Fresno and Stockton Counties,” he summarized. The reports said no sabotage or supervillainy were involved. Death toll was unclear.
That gave Hugo an idea. “Ready for your debut?” he asked J-Tom.
She gawked momentarily. “Hell yes
!”
Hugo turned to a baffled Max. “We’ll be back in a few hours. The fridge is stocked, and we got all the streaming services.”
“Good luck!” the werewolf encouraged.
Hugo faced his trainee, who was bouncing on her heels. “Gear up.” He’d always wanted to say that.
Several minutes later, Hugo was suited and soaring over golden pastures north of Bakersfield.
J-Tom easily kept pace in her latest silver-and-blue armor, calling it the Solomon Build.
“By the way, Wolfgirl’s hot,” she remarked.
“Focus, rookie,” Hugo scolded, not knowing how he felt about that pairing.
Dark smoke tendrils in the horizon beyond Kern County grew closer.
He was nervous, heart thudding. But not for himself. In her official debut, J-Tom had to deliver.
When they reached the crash site, Hugo heard J-Tom gasp inside her helmet. And he totally understood. Below looked like a bomb had exploded. The freight train had collided with several cars, its many derailed segments striking nearby buildings in this city. Injured survivors cried out around the wreckage site, hard even for Hugo to stomach. Emergency services converged and set up triage zones.
By the white-and-gold flash of motion zipping around the crash site, Hugo knew Blur from the Extreme Teens had arrived. Half a dozen other fliers from LA’s Battalion team and Bakersfield’s Rockabilly team swooped around to rescue trapped victims.
The rest of the train remained on the tracks. Automobile traffic sat at a standstill for over a mile. Local police were redirecting traffic below.
“Oh my God,” J-Tom exclaimed, her digitally altered voice not sounding female. “The destruction…”
“Jenny,” Hugo said quietly, drawing her helmet’s glowing blue eyes to him. “Remember your emergency services training. We take cues from rescue workers. So follow my lead, yeah?”
“Okay.”
“Got an alias?”
J-Tom nodded.
Hugo prayed that she’d chosen well. “Tell me.”
She told him.
He was impressed. “That’s good.” Hugo began descending to the circle of white tents making up the makeshift command center. “Let’s go.”
When Hugo and J-Tom touched down, he took scope of the cops, firefighters, and other emergency workers. While several appeared elated at his arrival, they watched J-Tom with curiosity or distrust.
“Ladies and gents,” Hugo announced in his Aegis voice. “Where can we help?”
One officer, an older black woman with greying hair, approached. By her uniform, she appeared to be a firefighter. “Lieutenant Sykes.” She nodded at J-Tom. “Can your friend match your strength?”
“She can hold her own,” Hugo replied.
Sykes looked relived. “Good. Folks like Hyperion and Lady Liberty are helping with the fires. We need to move the derailed cars first.
“Just tell us where you want them moved.”
Sykes and her team gave instructions. Hugo and J-Tom moved quickly to move derailed train cars away from downtown, holding opposite ends of cars weighing several tons with ease. The duo positioned nine severed train cars outside of downtown, connecting them to waiting railroad tow trucks. The whole time, Hugo observed his friend, assessing her performance. Beneath her armor, he detected that she was scared shitless. But no one with normal senses would know by how smoothly she reacted and worked with Hugo.
As J-Tom helped him free those trapped in cars with a veteran’s poise, Hugo’s heart burst with pride.
Before he knew it, three hours had passed. The yellow sun was the unhurried midday descent. But downtown didn’t completely resemble a disaster film. Even better was news of no casualties.
With the train cars cleared, the news media swarmed.
Hugo stood beside a ruined Suburban and looked to J-Tom, who stood eye to eye with him in her armor. “We can ignore them.”
“No,” she said. “I’m ready.”
Hugo nodded and faced the media.
“Aegis!” A female reporter with a teased perm motioned at J-Tom. “Is your new partner Dynamo 2.0?”
“There’s only one Dynamo,” Hugo answered. “This is someone else. Something else.” He nodded at J-Tom to speak.
But she froze. And the media waited. The silence lasted so long that Hugo almost stepped in.
“Call me…Arclight,” J-Tom declared. The gathered reporters jabbered in approval. More questions were barked along with flashing cameras.
“Thank you, Arclight,” the original reporter stated.
Now Hugo intervened. “The rescue work is just beginning. Excuse us.” Looking up, he lifted off.
J-Tom rose with him until they were a few miles above the destruction.
“Great job,” Hugo marveled. J-Tom did better than he could’ve imagined. But by her quick breaths, she sounded close to hyperventilating. “You alright?”
“Yeah.” J-Tom placed her gauntlet over his gloved hand and squeezed. “Everything’s a lot. Just soaking in the moment.”
Hugo smiled, knowing that overwhelmed feeling. “No, I get it…” He glanced at the train cars still on the railroad, spotting a singular figure far to the right.
Thanks to his telescopic vision, Hugo saw him clearly.
The man was stocky in build, average height. By his features, he was of Asian descent for sure.
What caught Hugo’s attention was his explosion of white hair and travel-worn military gear, like a cyberpunk soldier of fortune.
Hugo had only seen grainy photos of him on the news. Saracen, in the flesh.
He stared at Hugo and smirked.
The Samoan’s heart stuttered. Did Saracen cause the train derailment? Hugo rocketed forward, closing the distance between them in seconds. Saracen just stood there unconcerned, still smirking.
Inches away and counting, Hugo slowed enough to not smash Saracen apart and reached out—grabbing at air.
“What the hell?” Hugo braked hard in mid-air. Saracen was gone. No fanfare or energy emission.
Baffled, Hugo scanned the surrounding fields and train cars. Not even a trace of his scent or body warmth lingered in the air.
“Aegis!” J-Tom flew to his side. “What’s wrong?”
Hugo knew he hadn’t imagined seeing that. And his senses never lied.
“Saracen…” Hugo paused, still in disbelief. “I just saw Saracen.”
Chapter 28
“You saw Saracen?” Clint sprang from his chair. “In real life?”
Hugo ran shaky fingers through his tousled black hair. “Staring right at me. When I got close, he was gone.”
The encounter still rattled Hugo. He’d flown directly to Geist’s lair after leaving Fresno County. J-Tom had gone to the Clubhouse and escorted Max to Hugo’s house. “Saracen’s gotta be a teleporter.”
“Sweet Jeezus.” Clint brightened as if he’d seen a complex encryption to crack. “He’s my hero.”
“Not helping,” Hugo growled.
Clint chuckled. “Sorry.”
Hugo cut to the chase, wringing his gloved hands. “I want to see if he’s been around San Miguel recently. Then I’ll hand over what I know to the authorities.”
Clint nodded in acceptance. “I’ll take a look.”
Hugo owed Clint for all these favors. “Thanks—”
A detonation shuddered through the walls, followed by a gut-wrenching wail from one of the dojos.
Hugo whirled in alarm. “Who?”
Clint flattened against his seat. “Ruh-roh.” He pointed to where the sound came from.
Hugo raced forward. In a heartbeat, he stood at the entrance of the sparring dojo. “Guys—” Hugo stopped and stared.
Blackjack and Domino lay sprawled on opposite sides of the dojo. Weapons, boxing bags, and other equipment were strewn everywhere.
In the center was a slender slip of an Asian girl, longish pink hair and blunt bangs, screeching her lungs out. Her body was a living sun, growing increasingly brighter. L
ike a bomb about to blow.
Blackjack struggled onto an elbow. “Stay back,” he wheezed.
Hugo couldn’t believe Blackjack’s logic. “You stay back, meathead.” He bellowed out a short sonic scream, knocking this girl on her back.
Immediately, her glow and temperature dimmed.
Hugo advanced aggressively, only for her to scramble on all fours toward Domino. The vigilante gathered the frightened child into her arms.
Hugo stopped, utterly lost. “What—who is that?”
Blackjack pushed to his feet, wincing. “Cherry Blossom.”
Hugo guffawed. “For serious?”
Domino nodded, Cherry Blossom sobbing in her arms. “Wish he was kidding.”
Bad fruit jokes flooded Hugo’s brain. But he stayed serious. “Your forearm injury. That was her?”
Blackjack let his head drop. “We’re helping Cherry control her powers, which are…explosive.” He looked exhausted. “It’s been a long couple of weeks.”
Hugo was brimming with questions. “Where’s she come from?”
Domino helped Cherry Blossom up. “She’s one of the Rockland Supermax escapees.”
“Really?” Hugo watched this frightened girl with bubblegum pink hair burying her face in Domino’s shoulder. “I remember the escapees list,” Hugo stated, recalling when he and Lady Liberty helped recapture Rockland’s convicts. “This girl wasn’t on it.”
Blackjack advanced. “She wasn’t listed. The prison was experimenting on Cherry to make her a weapon.”
The admission gripped Hugo’s throat. “Paxton-Brandt?”
Domino shook her head. “Rockland Supermax has been doing this for years. Cherry was dropped onto our doorstep with instructions in her jacket.”
“Like a LEGO set?” Hugo quipped despite himself.
“Pretty much,” Domino replied. “We can’t patrol as much because one of us needs to watch her. But Ballistic’s been helping.”
Ballistic again. Hugo had enjoyed working with him, despite the mess that Tomorrow Man made.
Cherry Blossom murmured in what sounded like Japanese. Domino kissed the girl’s brow.
Clint leaned on the doorway with smirking insolence. “Should’ve told him earlier.”
Blackjack ignored him. “We tried finding her real family.” He stood beside his wife. “But can’t even find records of her real name. So we’re keeping her.”
