So Not a Hero (20 page)

I gave him a smile and a wink then stepped out from behind the planter. I faced Vaporizer again, this time clad only in bra and panties.

The irony that I’d predicted this moment a week ago wasn’t lost on me at all.

CHAPTER 13: TEAMING UP AND OTHER ACTIVITIES FOR TWO

“I really hope you know what you’re doing, Karen,” Kurt said as he peeked around the corner of the planter at Vaporizer. The villain grinned and held up a hand that crackled and glowed with a halo of plasma.

I curled my hands into fists and planted one foot firmly on the walkway, knee flexed and ready to push. “Yeah,” I murmured, “me too.” Then I turned my attention from my date to the bad guy who was doing his best to ruin my evening.

It hasn’t even been two weeks, I thought as I stared across the clearing at Vaporizer. Less than two weeks and I’m standing here in my underwear getting ready to face off with someone who got the better of me last time.

I should have been embarrassed about being caught unprepared. I probably should have also been a little more worried about the In-Bees who hadn’t had the good sense to flee at the villain’s appearance. However, I was more pissed that my night off had gone poof and I was going to waste valuable date time knocking some sense into Vaporizer. I would have much rather been knocking boots with Kurt.

Vaporizer rubbed his hands together, insane smile stretched across his face. “You’re a very pretty girl,” he said with a small laugh. “I’m going to almost regret melting your face off.”

“You’re going to regret interrupting my dessert, pal.” I cut my eyes back over to Kurt for a glimmer of a second and then returned them to Vaporizer just in time for his attack.

He aimed both hands in my direction and fired a stream of high-temperature ions in my direction. I swear I could actually hear the crackling pop of air molecules as energy shot towards me.

I half-leapt/half-dove to one side before the attack could hit, rolling behind the safety of another concrete planter. The beam that just missed me struck the front of a stone obelisk and sent an explosive cloud of dust into the air. I bounced back onto my feet and ran out of the art display area and onto the grass along the outer perimeter.

Another beam struck me on the left shoulder before I could dodge out of its way. Hot, concussive force shoved me around, and my feet twisted over each other to send me tumbling head over heels across the ground. “Ow,” I groaned as I climbed back to my feet just in time to get hit again, this time right in the center of my chest.

The impact lifted me off my feet and sent me backwards about thirty feet—right into a pretzel cart. The metal box crumpled and the smell of fresh-baked dough erupted in the air around me. Luckily, the cart’s owner had wisely fled the scene and wasn’t present to see their product get squished. I climbed off the destroyed wagon and glanced down at myself.

The skin of my abdomen and chest was a medium pink shade, reminiscent of a mild sunburn, and the edges of the formerly-white bra were singed. I brushed my fingers across the flesh and flinched, gritting my teeth a little at the sting. It seemed that Vaporizer wasn’t messing around this time. If I’d been less than a Class Five, his attack would have likely burned a hole through to my heart and lungs.

“Are you okay?” a quiet voice asked from nearby.

I whirled around to see a woman and a teenage girl huddling together behind a three-foot high stone slab. They both had the same dark complexion and thick, wavy hair. The girl’s was a lighter shade, but there was no doubt the two were related. Probably mother and daughter. I stepped towards them, keeping an eye out for the villain.

“Why the hell are you two still here?” I asked and then nodded in the direction I believed Vaporizer to be. “There’s a supervillain around.”

The older female looked admonished and I followed her gaze to the teen’s leg. A metal brace was strapped around the younger girl’s upper thigh and ran down to just above the ankle. “I had knee surgery last week,” the teen explained. “I can’t run.”

“And I’m not leaving her,” the older said, wrapping her arms around the girl. “You’re one of the Good Guys. Can’t you stop him?”

The last thing I wanted was normal civilians in the middle of a super-battle. “I’m trying.” I turned my attention from the duo to what they were hiding behind.

    The black and silver structure looked to be a dedication sculpture of some type. It had a bronze plate attached to the front, announcing that this section of the park had been built with donations from the Paulus Foundation. Leave it to Richard to want to showcase his generosity by erecting an eyesore made of dura-steel reinforced granite. It was the kind of garish display that automatically drew notice and, in such beautiful surroundings, had almost no useful qualities.

You know, other than being impervious to ionic energy.

If I survived this fight, I might overlook the next time Richard tried to leer down my shirt.

“There you are, hot stuff. Time to feel the burn.” Vaporizer stepped around the corner and brought his hands up at the three of us.

“Get down and behind me,” I shouted at the women as I grabbed the edges of the stone slab. I yanked it free from its moorings and turned towards the villain, slamming the block on the ground between. I dropped to my knees on the grass and held the makeshift shield in place. A second later, waves of scalding energy slammed into the front of the barrier, washing around and over us.

I planted my feet into the grass and held the stone slab in place, ignoring the fact that my arms trembled from the pressure and the tips of my fingers, exposed to the onslaught, began to burn. I wasn’t sure if my flesh would actually take any permanent damage, but it was a forgone conclusion that my two hundred-dollar manicure was totally kaput.

The constant screaming coming from behind me drilled into my last nerve. I didn’t need to turn around to guess that both mother and daughter had eyes about to bug out of their heads and mouths wide open. I had expected at least a little faith that they wouldn’t end up as briquettes with a Good Guy around.

Stupid civilians.

Blam! Blam! Blam! The sound of gunfire echoed over the roar of the ionic blast. Instantly, the pressure on the slab vanished and I nearly fell over forwards from its absence. I peered over the top to see Vaporizer turning around to face the attacker who’d drawn his attention: Kurt.

    The detective stood on the other side of the villain in a classic two-handed shooter’s pose, looking down the barrel of his service pistol. Since I doubted that my date had missed with his shots, I could only surmise that the reason Vaporizer wasn’t lying on the ground spurting arterial red all over the place was because the bullets had melted before impact. In fact, the warble of the air around him said that my guess was probably spot on.

“There you are, Lover Boy,” he said. “I wondered if you were going to come out of hiding and save your girlfriend.” He raised a hand and pointed it at Kurt. “Any last words, Detective?”

I jerked my head around to look at the pair behind me as I dropped the stone shield. “Go, goddamn it. Get out of here. Now!” I yelled, hoping that they would at least listen this time. I didn’t wait around to see if they were going to take the advice. Instead, I jumped up and ran towards the two men, praying that my speed would get me there in time to prevent this evening from ending in the hospital. Or the morgue.

Kurt glanced over Vaporizer’s shoulder and a slight grin formed on Kurt’s face as he saw my approach. I pushed myself into gaining as much velocity as I could in a short area, thankful for the soft grass beneath my pounding feet. If I’d been on concrete, the bad guy would have heard me coming much sooner.

“Karl James, aka Vaporizer,” the detective bellowed, “you are under arrest for violations of sections 211 and 218C of the Enhanced Abilities Act.  Get down on the ground now!”

The air around Vaporizer’s hand waved and shimmered. “Play with fire, you’ll get burned.” Then he released a stream of thermo-ionic energy right at Kurt’s head.

“No!” I screamed as I closed the distance between me and the villain. Part of me was terrified that Kurt had been reduced to a pile of ash while the other part was consumed with rampaging bloodlust for Vaporizer’s ass.

The bad guy turned at my wail, arrogant grin still on his face. It only took a half-second for his brain to realize that I was much closer than he’d expected me to be and there wasn’t enough time to unleash another blast. A dropped jaw replaced the smug expression as I grabbed the front of his jacket—moving at about seventy miles per hour—and jerked him off his feet and over my head.

His limbs flailed around and the temperature of his aura tripled as I carried him a hundred feet to the edge of the park’s lake. When I stopped, I gouged twin rows in the immaculate landscaping and snapped my arm forward. Vaporizer sailed through the air—screaming a string of profanities—and landed on his back about five feet from the shoreline.

Surprisingly enough, a bad guy flung at a lake with enough strength will skip along the surface several times like a stone. And if he’s generating an aura of superheated air around him, little puffs of steam will form at each bounce. Vaporizer performed three such bounces before slowing enough to break through the surface and vanish under the water.

I turned around and ran back to where I’d last seen Kurt, wondering if I was going to find a charred corpse or just a badly burned police officer. Instead, I found him tucked behind a stone bench, examining the scorch marks on the sleeve of his shirt. The skin around the blackened area was a dull red and looked far less serious than a sunburn. Those blue eyes swung up in my direction and the brow over one of them arched.

“Hey,” he said as he glanced around. “Where’s our friend?”

“At the bottom of the lake,” I answered as I knelt down hand held out one hand. “You okay?”

He nodded, using my hand to pull himself to his feet. “Just stings a little. Like I got slapped. Sort of.”

“Good. Thanks for the distraction. It was pretty brave and more than a little stupid.” I scooped out a chunk of grass and dirt before standing. “I’m the invulnerable one, remember?” I cupped my hands around the moist earth and pressed and squeezed.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time.” He grinned. “Seriously, though, Karen. Where is he?”

“You sorry bitch,” a voice behind me growled. “I’m going to turn you and your boyfriend to ash and bones.”

Kurt’s eyes widened and I held up one finger to him. “Hold that thought.” Then I turned and hurled the softball-sized clod of dirt at the dripping villain. As expected, he’d begun to warm the air around him in preparation for continuing our fight. As the clump of mud passed through the aura, it reacted like a piece of pottery in a kiln … it got hard.

Vaporizer was in the process of raising his hands when the lump struck him in the chest and pushed all the air out of his lungs. A hiccough-like sound came out of his mouth before his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell to the ground, landing on his hands and knees and wheezing like a fish out of water.

I walked over to him as the drone of the late-arriving EAFP transport appeared overhead. I put my foot on his back and pressed him down on his belly. “If you even think about getting hot, I’ll crush your ribs like a fortune cookie. You got me?”

He responded by shutting off his power and mumbling his agreement into the grass. A few seconds later, a pair of officers in thermo-protective gear walked up and I removed my foot so they could slap a pair of ceramic cuffs and a shock collar on him. It was only after they’d secured the bad guy that I noticed they were both giving me odd looks for some reason.

“Karen,” Kurt said as he walked up beside me. “Now that the threat is over, you might want to consider putting your clothes back on. I’m not complaining about the view, mind you. Just thought you’d feel less exposed.” He held the dress in his hands.

Crap on a cracker. I’d completely forgotten that I was running around in my bra and panties. No wonder the EAPF guys were giving me the weird eyes. They were probably trying to figure out a way to mention my near nakedness without pissing me off. I pulled the dress over my head as fast as I dared without ripping it and tried to get the zipper up.

“Allow me,” Kurt offered and fastened the back of the dress. “There.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“Anytime. Though, to be honest, it was more fun unzipping it.”

When I turned back around, that smile was back in place and he crossed his arms over his chest. “So, I think things are all under control here.”

I arched a brow and smirked. “Looks that way.” Vaporizer was being loaded into the transport and another officer was talking to one of the In-Bee witnesses. “What now?”

Kurt laughed. “Well, we could go back to Amalfi’s and talk some more. Of course, if you just wanted to call it a night, I’d completely understand.” The disappointment in his voice barely showed on his face. It was apparent he didn’t want to the evening to end just yet. And, to be honest, neither did I.

“I’d like to spend more time with you, Kurt.” I glanced across the park at the gaggle of watchers crowding the restaurant balcony. “But not there.” I turned and gave him my flirtiest smile. “How about we go back to your place?”

He tilted his head to the side for a moment, studying me. Then he nodded and reached out, slipping his hand into mine. “That sounds like a good idea. Let’s.”

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #