Seductive Powers

  A small army of men dressed in orange HAZMAT suits materialized in front of them. Oh god, the transporter. Somehow, they'd discovered where Draco and Ace lived.

  Ace jumped from his seat. Bolting into the air, he kicked the man closest to him before three others zapped him at the same time. He screamed at the top of his lungs, a loud, agonizing sound as he fell to the floor, unconscious...maybe dead.

  A sob threatened to explode from Wendy's throat as she rushed to his side. "Ace!" She screamed as four of the orange-suited nightmares grabbed her and forced her to the ground. One of them tugged her hands behind her back and cuffed them together at her wrists. She struggled, but all of her attention was on Ace. God, he couldn't be dead.

  She'd been cooking dinner. How could this happen?

  "We got her." One of her captors, another faceless orange HAZMAT man, said, his voice muffled by his facemask.

  "Let me go." She was screaming as one of the men yanked her to her feet. Ace's lifeless body was the last thing she saw as she was transported from the room.

  ****

  Surrounded by metal bars, she was caged, like some wild animal. As if she was fierce or strong enough to worry about in the first place. Chewing on her fingernail, she tried to focus on the ridiculousness of the situation, but all she could think about was Ace. He was dead. Had Draco found him by now? She'd probably never know.

  The orange-suited men had untied her, dumped her in this cage, and not come back. She assumed they meant to kill her, as they had Carl. Poor man, she'd hardly known him, and yet, she would share his fate.

  Burying her face in her hands, she rocked herself slowly. Self-pity was a bitch she'd always hated. Who was she kidding? She'd been living on borrowed time since she was born. She should've frozen to death in the basket outside of the orphanage that night.

  Instead of feeling grateful for what life she had lived, she felt cheated. What would Draco have said if they'd finished their conversation? Would he have fulfilled her childish notions of love or broken her heart? Obviously, she would prefer the first option. She resented, however, that she'd never get the chance to risk having the latter happen.

  This was her life. Who the hell were these people to steal it from her?

  As if on cue, the door to the room opened. She looked up, understanding suddenly what a dog must feel like as it glances up to the person about to euthanize it.

  Sucking in her breath, she heard a small cry escape her throat as she recognized the person approaching her cage. "Kyle..." What was he doing here?

  She gripped the bars. The metal felt cold in her palms but good, compared to the sweat breaking out over her body. Along with the nausea from realizing Kyle was involved, she was sure she'd pass out at any moment.

  He stood in front of her now and still, he said nothing. Did he expect her to speak first?

  "Why?" she asked.

  "No pleasantries? No assuming I'm here to rescue you?"

  She shook her head. She'd asked her question. She wasn't saying another word until he answered her.

  Finally, he spoke. "All right, I'll give you credit. You've always been bright, except in your ridiculous devotion to Draco Powers."

  Draco. It always came down to him. "Why don't you like him?"

  Kyle smacked the bars and they vibrated with his furious pound. Wendy stepped swiftly

  backward. This wasn't the Kyle she knew. This man, nothing like the best friend he'd pretended to be, had a crazed look in his eyes and an obvious short fuse.

  "I don't like him because it's people like him that are making it impossible for the dream of Space Adventures to come true."

  She shook her head. "What?"

  "The dream of Space Adventures, Wendy. You of all people should know what that is. The idea that there will be a time when we will be together as one people, as one unit, doing things for the greater good, improving ourselves for the sake of knowledge, love, and destiny...not for money and personal greed." Kyle laughed, a harsh bitter sound. "How can that happen when Guardians —people with superhuman strength— are charging money for their services?"

  Swallowing, she struggled for something coherent to say. "I think you're misunderstanding the intricacies of this situation."

  "He has created an underclass of people who can't afford help."

  "No." She was foolish to argue and yet she had to speak up. "The police are still around, still responsible for most problems. Draco works with governments most of the time." Her throat felt dry. "Yes, the very rich can hire him. The other Guardians are less expensive and you would not believe the amount of unreported pro-bono work he does. It's not any different from lawyers, doctors, or engineers. The very rich always get the best service. Draco would never deliberately leave anyone's needs unanswered."

  "Oh, Wendy, you're so naive. You, of all people, who claim to love the show.

  Can't you see what he is? How could you work for him for as long as you have?”

  “How could you have beheaded Carl?"

  To her horror, Kyle shrugged. "You have to break a few eggs to make a cake.”

  “Kyle!" She couldn't hide the disgust in her voice. "That's horrendous. That's the most despicable thing I've ever heard.”

  “You understand nothing."

  Wendy moved forward. She wasn't afraid anymore. She was pissed. "Clearly, you don't understand the show, not even a little. The show is about peace. It's about resorting to violence only in moments of desperation. The characters on the show would never—not ever—commit murder or go about doing this the way you have."

  He turned his back on her. "You're wrong."

  "Captain Istam would never have done what you did. If he had a problem with Draco, a real problem, if he honestly believed Draco was harming society, he'd confront him head-on. He'd force him with reason, logic, and compassion to see his point-of- view. Killing Carl, destroying the livelihood of all who worked for Draco, kidnapping me, just wouldn't happen."

  "You're so small minded. Nothing comes without pain. If we were already in the world of Space Adventures, we wouldn't need to kill Carl, to kill you..."

  At the mention of her upcoming death, Wendy's head began to pound. "We're so close. Can't you see it? In a way, I envy you, the role you'll play in bringing it all about."

  "Hell, Kyle. You're sick in the head. You need help. This isn't the show. You've moved so far away from the show you can't even see it anymore."

  "Oh, Wendy." Kyle turned back to look at her. His eyes had changed, they looked softer now, but that was worse. She shivered at his sexual glare, and, for the first time, she was grateful for the cage if it kept his damned hands off her. "Why didn't you marry me? Why couldn't you love me? I wanted to make you part of my family."

  Her insides went cold. Whatever divine intervention had helped her decide to put Kyle off for so long, she thanked them at that second.

  "Why did you send the monster after me on the night we were supposed to go out?"

  She didn't really care, but it seemed important to keep Kyle talking, at least for the moment.

  "I wanted you to see how dangerous Draco's job is. If he hadn't rescued you, the cat machine would have brought you to me. You weren't in any danger then. But you are now. It's really a shame."

  She was sick of his sanctimonious bullshit. The man was a lunatic. It was bad enough he'd targeted Draco and planned to kill her. Under no circumstances was she listening to anymore of his crap.

  "I would rather spend the rest of my life with no family; I would rather remain an orphan than be a member of your family, ever." The tears rolling down her cheeks were not tears of sadness. No, she was so angry she couldn't express her fury any other way.

  "Then I guess it's a good thing you'll be dead within the hour."

  Chapter Twelve

  Draco walked through his front door with a mixture of annoyance and happiness. First, he hadn't found a damned thing in the warehouse he'd scoured and second, Wendy was here. He shouldn't be this thrilled about seei
ng her, but he was.

  Every feeling, good or bad, stopped the second he stepped into the entryway. His house was mess. He didn't know what to think. Tables upturned, chairs toppled, and the cushions from his couch thrown everywhere. But Ace's unmoving figure made Draco's heart stop.

  "Ace!" He ran to him. Turning him over, Draco heard his brother groan. He'd never heard a more wonderful noise. His little brother, who he had treated terribly that morning, was not dead.

  Draco's breath came out in sharp exhales. For the first time in his life, he was hyperventilating.

  His brother's eyes opened and he swore before he said, "They transported in." ‘They,’ being the Organization, no doubt. "Wendy?"

  "They took her, I think. I was barely conscious when they did."

  It took all Draco's self-control not to put his fist through the wall. "Can you sit up? What did they do to you?"

  Ace nodded and Draco held his arm as his brother shifted into a seated position.

  Once he was convinced Ace was steady, he let go.

  "They shot me with some kind laser. It completely disabled me, hurt like a son- of-a-bitch.

  My hands are still shaking." Ace raised his hands to show him.

  "Take it easy. Just give yourself a moment." Draco wanted to scream, but not at Ace. His mind whirled. He had to find Wendy and he had to find her now. "How did they find us?"

  Ace rubbed his nose. He seemed to be considering that question. "Oh damn it. The cell phone."

  "What?"

  "She got a text message and she answered it. They must have traced the text. I bet you they sent that text so they could find out where she was."

  Draco shot up, looking around the mess in the room. "Did they take the cell phone with them?"

  "I have no frickin' idea. I was unconscious by then."

  Draco pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Wendy's number.

  Seconds later, a ringing sounded in the room. With everything thrown everywhere, it looked like a cyclone had passed through his house. It took a moment to locate the ringing. Thank god, they'd left the thing behind. He pulled one of the sofa cushions off the floor and picked up her phone. Hanging up his own, he held Wendy's in his hand and tried to figure out how to call up the text messages.

  Ace spoke from his spot on the floor. "Give it to me."

  Sighing in frustration, Draco crossed to Ace and handed him the phone. Without pushing any buttons, Ace used his superpower to speak to the machine and commanded it to call up the text messages.

  "What's it like to do that? How do you make the machine listen?"

  His brother raised an eyebrow but didn't look up. "How do you make someone tell you the truth? What is that power like?"

  Point taken. He could no more explain to Ace what that was like than his brother could explain how he spoke to computers. Damn it, he wished he would hurry up.

  Every second he was away from Wendy she was one second closer to losing her head. "Son-of-a-bitch." Ace’s head snapped up.

  "What?"

  "Kyle."

  "The asshole who threw her out of her group because she wouldn't date him?”

  “That's the one. He's the one who sent the message. Wanted her to forgive him."

  Draco paced. "We need to get information on him. All the intel we can find. I have to figure out where he would stash her."

  "I can do better than that." Ace grinned. "How?"

  "I can trace his call and find out the location from where it was sent." Draco shook his head.

  "How can you do that?"

  "I'm going to ask her phone to tell me."

  ****

  Draco stood, the wind blowing his hair and the spray off the Hudson River hitting him in the face. He did nothing to wipe away the moisture. Wendy was in the building below. Oddly, he could make out her floral aroma from where he perched on the warehouse's roof—odd, because his sense of smell was his weakest trait. His ability to smell was only moderately better than most humans.

  He couldn't explain why he was so sure he smelled Wendy except he was certain he did.

  Closing his eyes, he located the heartbeats of every person in the building. There were ten, including Wendy's, which was separate from the group in the center.

  Ace landed softly on the roof next to him. "Are you crazy? I told you to stay home."

  "These assholes stole Wendy and hit me with a laser. I'm not staying home.”

  “An hour ago you couldn't stand."

  Ace shrugged. "Now I can."

  "What did you do to recover so fast?"

  "Call it pent up adrenaline. I need to let it out." He glared. "Did you shoot up? A steroid?"

  "Stop worrying about me and focus on Wendy."

  "I can do both, thank you very much. I'm capable of that, you know? I can also walk and chew gum."

  "Look, it'll be me who crashes later if I overdid it, not you. I haven’t done this in a decade. I need to get my adrenaline back up."

  "It'll be me hauling your ass back home when you can't fly too."

  "So, let's make this quick and when I crash, I'll already be in my bed."

  His brother had a certain logic—a distorted one, but logic, nonetheless. "Fine, let's do this.

  I'm grateful for the help. We need to take out the ten people in the main hall. Can you hear their heartbeats?”

  “As well as you can."

  Draco nodded. "We'll start with them. Then we'll move in to get Wendy."

  "No." Ace shook his head. "Someone is moving into Wendy's room. There might not be time."

  His brother was right. "So you go in and get Wendy and I'll take out the nine in the main room."

  "Again, not going to happen that way. Those lunatics zapped me with a ray and stole your

  girl when I was supposed to be watching her. I have a score to settle."

  "But you're injured."

  Ace laughed. "At the moment, I've never felt better.”

  “Ace—"

  "Go get the girl, big brother."

  "I don't know that there is a happy ending in this for us, even after I rescue her.”

  “We'll see."

  Ace left with that cryptic remark and busted through the ceiling into the main hall where the nine goons waited for him. Draco rolled his eyes. So much for stealth. Nothing like a ceiling raining down on people to alert them someone was coming.

  Following in Ace's destructive wake, Draco jumped down.

  ****

  Wendy was in a cage. It made him furious, but what made him even angrier was the little weasel of a man who taunted her from the outside. If this was her "friend," Kyle, Draco was going to have to teach her how to make better friends.

  "It's going to be epic. You'll be on television. Everyone will see that Draco Powers couldn't save you and he'll be considered inept. By the time the media is done with him, he won't have one supporter left in the world."

  Stepping out of the shadows of the room, Draco didn't even try to keep the sneer out of his voice. "Forgetting for a second that you're not going to lay a hand on her, what do you think the media is going to do to you for killing her?"

  Wendy's voice was unsteady when she spoke. "Draco, he's going to kill you.”

  “No, Wendy, he's not." Draco jumped in time to miss the laser beam Kyle shot—most likely, the same thing they'd used on Ace earlier.

  Kyle gasped and ran for the door, firing his laser at Draco like a child might do with a pretend gun. Over and over again, he fired, hitting nothing and wasting his time.

  Draco flew and landed directly in front of Kyle. "Not so easy when I know what you're going to do, is it?"

  Kyle blanched and tried to back up. Draco grabbed him. Like a fly caught in a spider's web,

  the little man struggled against his fate. Apparently realizing he was not getting out of Draco's grip, he sputtered. "I have nine men who'll be here any second to destroy you."

  "Nope." If Draco's hearing was correct, and it always was, his brother had subdued them
all.

  Most likely, they were tied up or knocked out. Those two options tended to be Ace's modus-operandi. "It's just going to be you and me, little man."

  Kyle shook his head frantically. "It won't matter. Someone else will pick up where I started.

  My dream will be realized."

  Looking around the warehouse at the technology, some of which he couldn't even identify, Draco felt less angry and more tired. Reaching up, he snagged a steel rod that lay on a shelf of building materials and twisted it around Kyle's arms. He did the same with Kyle's legs before dropping the surprisingly easy to defeat head of the Organization on the ground. "With all of your genius, if you had used it to do something worthwhile it would have been so much better."

  "I am a genius. My mental capacity rivals your physical ones." Draco nodded. "Maybe so."

  Ignoring Kyle's rants, he walked forward and popped open the metal bars that kept Wendy prisoner. She climbed out and flung herself into his arms.

  "I thought he was going to cut off my head."

  Draco rubbed her back. "Never a chance of that."

  Taking her hand, Draco moved her into the next room, a distance away from the cretin who had tried to destroy her life.

  "Ace is okay?"

  "For the moment." His brother was going to crash and burn, but they didn't have to discuss that in front of Kyle. With his super sight, he looked back at the subdued would-be villain and felt a tremendous amount of sadness wash over him. This person had ended Carl's life and wanted to kill Wendy.

  He squeezed Wendy's shoulders. "There's always going to be a Kyle, isn't there?" Wendy shook her head. "What?"

  "Someone who wants to take down what I've built, someone who wants to destroy those who I care about." He knew he wasn't talking directly to Wendy as much as he spoke aloud, but he thought she needed to hear it. "I knew this when I started Powers. It's why I changed my name, changed Ace's, hid our identity, and didn't tell anyone about how Ace and I were connected."

  "Fake names?"

  "You didn't think our mother actually named us Draco and Ace, did you?" Wendy laughed. "I did, actually."