Dark Hunter (16 page)

“After what you did to me and my family—”

“What? I saved them from you! They are leading a much happier life now that you're not around, Hunter.”

Jake's anger snapped and his bullying instincts took over. Chameleon was weak and injured—a perfect target.

Jake unleashed electrical bolts from his fingers. Jagged lightning racked Chameleon's body and he howled in pain.

“Stop!” he pleaded.

Jake had heard it all before, a hundred times in the school yard. He blasted Chameleon again. The helicopters were still flying around, fixing them with searchlights and camera lenses. Then one of the searchlights suddenly peeled away—focusing on
something
heading toward them. Jake saw it and was frozen to the spot in astonishment.

It was the coast guard vessel. Thrown at them by some Herculean force.

The twenty-foot cutter missed its mark, and the aluminum-hulled boat smashed through the back of Liberty's head, tearing it in half and ripping the face off in a mass of bent metal as the vessel arced down toward the bay—narrowly missing a helicopter. It splashed in the water and immediately sank.

Both Jake and Chameleon looked back to see the enormous winged form of Chromosome bearing down on them. Without hesitation they both fired at the villain. One enormous fireball and stream of radioactive energy hit her full in the chest and she dropped from the sky.

Chameleon leaped to his feet and sneakily unleashed a fireball at Jake, who was standing next to him, watching Chromosome's descent. Jake plowed into the statue's fragmented neck and bounced off.

Jake caught himself in flight and yo-yoed back up in
time to see Chromosome land on the back of the statue, claws gouging metal as she lumbered up like a mutant King Kong.

Chameleon leaned over the edge of the shoulder and fired down, his blast missing Chromosome's face. Jake circled around and almost ran into the whirling blades of a news chopper. He fired from the opposite side of the statue—his fireball tore one of Chromosome's wings in two and she howled in rage, flapping the jagged stump.

Chameleon turned and fired at Jake, but this time he was ready and bobbed out of the way of the shot.

“You idiot!” screamed Jake.

Then he fired a small blob of radioactive energy at Chameleon, who sidestepped it.

Chromosome made use of the distraction and a pair of intense blue laser bolts shot from her eyes. One caught Chameleon and sent him flying off the statue, while the other punctured a massive hole in Liberty's right arm.

The arm, carrying the weight of the gilded torch, swayed, and then it snapped away and fell across the remains of Lady Liberty's head.

Chromosome pressed herself against the back of the statue as the arm passed close by and smashed the rear viewing balcony on the plinth.

Chameleon and Jake zoomed around the statue, almost flying into each other. This time they turned their combined energies on Chromosome and fired.

From the choppers it was impossible to see what happened. The blaze of light was so intense that everybody had to look away.

Jake was stunned by the strength of the blast from his own hands, and he had to shake his fingers to get rid of the pins and needles that ran through them. Both his and Chameleon's shot bored into Chromosome. She shrieked, her good wing on fire.

The Statue of Liberty pitched forward. It moved slowly, like a drunkard falling. The one-hundred-fifty-foot tall Lady Liberty toppled from her plinth—and two hundred and fifty tons smashed into the foundations below, splitting in half.

“Oh my God!” cried Chameleon.

Jake swooped low but couldn't see Chromosome. “Where'd she go?”

He landed on the grass in between the two huge sections of the statue. Jake spun around to see Chameleon standing behind him with a twisted grin.

“Good-bye, Hunter.”

Chameleon had his hands raised, but Jake was looking
beyond
the hero—at the giant figure of Chromosome standing over him wielding a broken piece of the statue. She brought it down with crushing force on Chameleon.

Jake reacted without thinking and fired a fine crystalline beam at the hero. Chameleon was instantly
encased as Chromosome hit him. It was like driving a nail into the ground—the solidified Chameleon was pushed into the grass by the impact.

“If anyone's going to kill him, it's going to be me,” shouted Jake.

Chromosome locked eyes with Jake and raised her makeshift club again. “You should have joined me!”

Jake used one hand to telekinetically bat the statue fragment out of Chromosome's grasp, while simultaneously blasting a fireball from his other hand. He had never launched
two
attack powers before, nor had he seen anybody else do it. He felt himself weaken from the effort.

Chromosome was not expecting the blast and was propelled against the statue's torso with a dull clang. The helicopter searchlights illuminated the area and Jake leaped forward, hands raised to shoot again.

Chromosome was lying on the ground, groaning. The giant insect legs unfolded from her back with a loud crack as she tried to get up. Her own arms and legs flailed uselessly. There was no way she could stand. Despite the danger, Jake couldn't help but laugh out loud. He was reminded of a flipped beetle trying to right itself.

Chromosome hissed at Jake and pathetically scuttled off toward the trees. Jake hesitated. From his angle it looked as though a giant beetle was carrying her.
Chromosome suddenly teleported away and Jake sagged with relief.

He used his telekinetic force to raise the frozen Chameleon from the ground. His nemesis seemed unharmed, despite Chromosome's blow. Ironically Jake's actions had saved the life of the hero who wanted to kill him, and the hero he wanted dead.

Jake laid his hands on Chameleon and teleported away from the destruction of Liberty Island as the helicopters surrounded them.

The stone bounced from Chameleon's head with a soft ping and clattered with the others in a small pile by his feet.

Jake stared at his nemesis, housed beneath the thin amber-colored sheen. He could see that Chameleon's face was contorted in a snarl and his entire body was angled to unleash a fireball. When Jake had teleported back to the castle he had positioned Chameleon like an ornament, in the corner of the spacious lounge. He had been sitting on the sofa, idly throwing small stones at Chameleon for half an hour as he tried to relax. He soon drifted asleep.

He woke up an hour later to discover that Igor must have been in and left him a steaming cup of tea, and thoughtfully, a fresh pile of stones to pelt at Chameleon. Every muscle in Jake's body ached, and he was thankful for the sugary liquid that helped him focus his senses. The battle with Chromosome had been brutal, and still he hadn't defeated her. Just like he hadn't defeated Scuffer. The thought of facing
either monster again made him shudder. But at least his conscience felt lighter now that he had freed the president and his staff. People were not in his line of fire. Just superhumans.

Jake wondered if his approach of doing this alone was the right one. Mr. Grimm had proved that allies were useful. Jake's experience with his so-called friends betraying him in Russia had taught him that trust was hard to come by. But what if he teamed up with some of the bigger sharks? The Hero Foundation wouldn't trust him at all … but the Council of Evil might. They were out to capture him, but if he pretended to help them, in return using their forces to wipe out the heroes he despised … then he could ultimately turn on the Council from the inside. …

It was an attractive idea, but Jake brushed it aside. He worked better on his own.

At least the experience had delivered Chameleon to him. Jake had daydreamed about exacting revenge on the hero for the punishment he'd put him through on Diablo Island, and for making Psych erase his family's memory. While he was in prison, Jake had fantasized about killing the scaly creep in a variety of original ways, but now that Chameleon was in his hands he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Perhaps keeping him as a permanent statue would be punishment enough? He wondered if Chameleon was still awake beneath the
crystal, conscious of every passing second. That would be a living hell. Especially if he had an itch to scratch.

All he needed now was Basilisk and he could start a collection.

He mulled that idea over. It wasn't too bad …

The room suddenly began to swim around him, and the tea mug fell from his hand and shattered on the floor. Jake steadied himself by gripping the sofa, and closed his eyes. The dizziness passed, but left him feeling weak. He experimentally raised his hand and saw that it was shaking. He needed to power up.

When he had returned from Liberty Island, Jake had made a conscious decision not to jump immediately on to Villain.net and load up with powers to quench his need. He knew he was too dependent on them, like a junkie needing a fix, and he was determined to wean himself off. But it wasn't working. The longer he delayed recharging, the worse he felt. After he had won back his parents he resolved to find some cure for this addiction. Then he would find Basilisk. His to-do list was growing ever longer.

Jake found it very difficult to walk up the spiral staircase to his command tower. Midway up he stopped to catch his breath and realized he was wheezing like an old man.

He finally made it, slumped into a swivel chair, and closed his eyes. He must have nodded off for another
half an hour because he awoke with a nervous jolt and a wave of nausea. Reluctantly he stared at the computer screen displaying Villain.net and selected the first two powers he saw. He didn't care what they were, although he was beginning to recognize some of the icons and knew one power was teleportation—always handy. He decided to choose half the number he usually downloaded in an effort to try to reduce his habit. When they flowed into him he felt immediately refreshed.

Now alert, he checked the Villain.net news banner. It mentioned nothing of his clash with Chromosome, but it did mention the good news that Chameleon was missing.

Jake racked his brain. There had to be a way of tracking down Psych. Poking around Villain.net eventually yielded some information when he uncovered entire files on superheroes, including their powers, stomping grounds, and weaknesses. Very useful, except the entry on Psych was simply labeled: MEMBER OF THE JUSTICE FEDERATION. When Jake searched for files on that team he was taken to a page that declared the superhero group had disbanded.

“Great.” Jake moaned aloud. It was obvious that Chromosome had no idea where Psych was either, but it occurred to him that if she wanted to get Jake, then all she had to do was find Psych first. She had probably
returned to the Council of Evil after their clash to nurse her wounds, and he was certain she had more resources available to track down Psych than he had. How could he prevent her from interfering again? Further confrontation was something Jake didn't relish.

Then he had an idea. It was childish and simple, the kind of thing that made the troublemaker inside him laugh. He'd frame her. A quick search across Villain.net revealed a contact e-mail to report any intelligence. Like the Web site itself, it wasn't a straightforward e-mail address, but it would do.

Jake couldn't stop smiling as he typed the message, paying attention to the spelling in order to make it as professional as possible before he hit “send.” He took a deep breath, feeling very pleased with his devious scheme. He just hoped that e-mail was delivered to the right person.

His cell phone suddenly rang and he snatched it up, expecting to hear Grimm's voice.

“Yeah?”

“Jake?”

Jake sat bolt upright in his seat. It was Lorna. He unconsciously ran a hand through his hair to smooth it out.

“Lorna, hi. How're you?” He couldn't think of anything else to say.

“Good. I saw I missed a call from you and, I … um …”

“It's okay. Wasn't anything important.” He immediately regretted saying that. “Where are you? Your voice sounds echoey.”

“I'm in … the hospital.”

“You okay?” Jake realized he was truly concerned.

Lorna laughed. “I'm fine! I'm just visiting a friend.”

“I'd come and catch up with you but I'm … uh, stuck doing something.”

“Oh.” There was a long pause. “Not to worry.”

Jake wasn't convinced she meant that. “Give me a couple of days to finish things up, and maybe we can go out again?”

“I'd like that. I was thinking about popping by your house—”

“No!” He sounded a little too harsh. “Not yet.”

“Your parents still mad?”

“You know what adults are like.”

He looked around the room in search of something to say that didn't involve superpowers or kidnapping the president. He caught a report on the news right at the end after the stories about global conflict and war, a silly one designed to “lift your spirits.”

“I just saw on the Internet that yaks have prevented those space tourists from lifting off in Kazakhstan. Says herds of them had to be cleared from the launch pad. Must be great flying into space. Maybe we should go to Kazakhstan and give it a try?”

“Yeah, my brother and I were talking about that,” Lorna said, laughing at the absurdity of it. “But yaks? Jake, you're starting to sound funny.”

Jake blushed. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“Listen, I have to go. Looking forward to catching up with you in a few days, though. Take care.”

“You too.”

He heard the line go dead and stared at the phone. What was he talking about yaks for? He flicked the TV off, feeling stupid and completely uncool. He could have talked about
anything
, but chose the most irrelevant, stupid subject he could.

What use was that snippet of news to anybody?

Chromosome sat on her mobile throne, which glided through her cavernous chamber. She had crafted her lair by rearranging and fusing the atoms of the rocky island around her to produce a living, breathing room. It was like sitting in the mouth of some enormous predator, with glistening columns that stretched from floor to ceiling and were never in the same place on repeat visits. A warm breeze flowed through as though the room were gasping for breath. There was a constant sound of dripping slime, and the shadowless illumination came from the walls themselves.