“Lulu!” Hermit screamed. He ran back inside the auditorium.
The sight of Lulu getting electrocuted also snapped the others out of their Siren-induced reverie. Mr. Sage and Angel stormed back into the room. I raced forward. Siren and Intelligal swiveled back and forth between us. They didn’t like being in the middle of a superhero sandwich.
“Get the machine and let’s get out of here!” Siren screamed.
“I don’t think so, bitch,” I muttered.
I put on an extra burst of speed and reached the VAMP machine at the same time Intelligal did. A mechanical arm shot out of her chair and grabbed the device, ready to lift it into the trunk on the back of the chair. I grabbed the other side of the machine, latching on to the frame. The VAMP machine seesawed back and forth between us. In the background, I heard Siren battling the others. Energy balls zipped through the air. People screamed and shouted and cursed. Ash fluttered around like confetti.
“Oh, to hell with this,” I said.
With a mighty roar, I yanked the VAMP machine toward me and drove my free hand through the metal casing at the same time. Glass tubes and bits of metal snapped deep inside the device, which let out something that sounded like the screech of a wounded animal.
“No, no, no!” Intelligal screamed. “Not my beautiful machine!”
“Hell yeah, your beautiful machine.” I grabbed some of the wires inside and yanked them out, along with my hand.
Then, I reared back and punched another hole in the side of it. Intelligal’s eyes bulged so far out of her head I thought they’d bust through her thick goggles.
“No!” she wailed, sounding just like the broken machine.
I let go of the device. Intelligal’s chair floated down, and she hovered over the ruined machine. I knew from experience that she’d be out of commission for a few minutes. All the geeky science types hated it when you destroyed their pet projects.
I turned to the others. Bobby and Bella were pushing the unconscious Lulu out the door, while Hermit and Mr. Sage guarded their backs.
But Johnny wasn’t retreating with the others. Instead, he stalked toward Siren, who shot energy ball after energy ball at him. Angel flexed and laughed as the bolts bounced harmlessly off his chest.
“Don’t you know, you can’t electrocute a rock?” he snarled.
“Johnny!” I shouted. “Don’t do it!”
He didn’t even looked at me. “Stay out of this!”
I raced toward him, desperate to get to him before he got to Siren. My foot slipped on something, and I almost fell.
Johnny shot ahead of me, reaching for Siren. I looked down. One of Jasper’s bombs rolled past my feet. It kept going and going across the floor. The bonbon stopped—in front of the still-smoldering camera.
Flames licked at it, and the plastic shell began to melt before my horrified eyes.
“Get out! Get out now! The whole place is going to blow!” I screamed.
With a burst of speed, I grabbed Johnny’s leather jacket and yanked him away from Siren. He struggled against me, but I was stronger. Thank heavens for superstrength. I picked him up, panting from the effort, spun around, and tossed him toward the door.
Mr. Sage did the rest. His eyes glowed, and he used his telekinesis to float a still-struggling Johnny outside. I looked over my shoulder. Siren and Intelligal hovered over the machine, trying to salvage it, oblivious to everything else. Including the bonbon bombs rolling around on the floor.
“Get out now!” I yelled. “There are bombs everywhere!”
“Go to hell, bitch!” For once Siren and Intelligal were in agreement. They screamed the epithet at me.
Well, I’d tried. It was all I could do. My conscience was clear. I started running for the back door.
But I wasn’t quite quick enough this time. A loud roar sounded behind me, followed by a rush of heat and fire. The shockwave from the bombs threw me forward. I slammed into the back wall of the auditorium and out into the gardens below. Darkness overcame me just before I hit the ground.
30
My eyes fluttered open, and my dazed mind wondered what had happened. Where I was. Why the sun was searing my eyeballs. Then, I remembered. Ubervillains. Battle. Explosion.
The usual.
I was lying on the garden overlook on the back of the destroyed auditorium. The stone platform felt rough beneath my cheek. The rest of the fog faded from my mind. I wiggled my toes. Then, my fingers. Everything seemed to be in working order. Good to know. I focused on my arms and legs, moving them just a bit. Pain rippled through my body, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle, being a superstrong superhero and all.
I pushed myself up on my hands and knees. Debris fell off my back, and glass tinkled out of my hair and crunched under my fingers. I winced at the stinging sensation in my palms. Somehow, I made myself stand up and dug the plugs out of my ears. I groaned and staggered back as more pain ripped through my body. I’d be sore for a week because of this escapade. But that was the price of saving the city and the world yet again.
I turned to look at the auditorium. Or what was left of it.
The whole back of the building had been blown out, and nothing remained except the stone platform I was standing on and some smoldering bits of debris and rubble. Soot blackened the air, making it hard to breathe. Jasper had been right. His new bombs made Intelligal’s explodium missiles look like toy sparklers. I’d have to come up with some extra-special designs for the bomb guru.
My eyes flicked around the empty ruined shell of a room.
Not a trace of the VAMP machine remained. There was a large, charred lump I thought might be Intelligal’s almost indestructible chair. I didn’t see any blood or body parts, though. I crept inside, careful of the rubble. Something glinted, and I walked over to it. A silver zipper, halfway undone, lay in one of the smoldering piles. I kicked it with my boot, and it disintegrated.
“Fiona! Fiera! Fiona!”
I winced at the loud voices. They didn’t mesh so well with the harsh buzzing in my ears. I stepped outside to find the Bullucis scrambling up the broken stone steps.
“Fiona! Are you all right?” Bella asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.
“Fine, I’m fine. Just a little shaken up.”
I looked down the steps, expecting to see Hermit, Mr.
Sage, and Lulu at the bottom. But they weren’t there, and they didn’t appear.
“Lulu?” I asked, feeling more concerned than I’d thought possible. The computer hacker wasn’t so bad if she’d only stop peppering me with her cheesy, heat-related puns.
Bobby shook his head. “She’s in pretty bad shape. Mr. Sage sent us to come get you so he and Hermit could work on her. She needs to be taken back to the manor as soon as possible.”
“I’m just glad you’re all right, Fiona,” Johnny said, pulling me into a rough, tight hug.
I closed my eyes, savoring the feel of his warm body against mine. I pulled back and just looked at him. Johnny.
He was alive, and the ubervillains were gone. Everything was going to be all right. I grabbed Johnny’s face and pulled it down to mine. Then, I gave him the hottest kiss I could manage. I lost myself in the feel of him, the smell, the taste.
“Ahem.”
I ignored Bella.
“Ahem!”
If she did that any louder, she was going to bring the rest of the observatory down around us. Reluctantly, I broke off the kiss. Johnny brushed my hair back from my face. I touched his lips with my fingers. His green eyes softened.
Suddenly, he grinned.
“Now that’s how I like to be greeted,” Johnny said, reaching for me again.
I stiff-armed him and stepped back. “Hold it, buster. It’s going to take a lot more than one kiss to get back in my good graces.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder. Dust flapped off the limp dirty locks.
Johnny stuck out his lip in a mock pout. Bella and Bobby just laughed.
———
My happin
ess at saving Johnny and the day was muted by the seriousness of Lulu’s condition. Siren’s energy ball had done quite a number on her. In addition to the burns on her body, the electricity had also interrupted her heartbeat and brain activities. The chief had to shock her twice with the defibrillator in the back of the van when she flat-lined. We raced back to Sublime in silence, and Henry and the chief put her in one of the sick bays moments after we parked in the underground garage.
The Bullucis and I stood vigil outside the room, watching the chief work on Lulu. An hour later, he came out. The chief looked exhausted, and worry lines tightened his long face.
“She’s stabilized, but it’s still touch and go. If she makes it through the night, then I think she’ll be all right. Henry’s in there with her. I suggest you all go home and get some rest. There’s nothing you can do at the moment.”
One by one, we drifted away. Johnny took his sister and grandfather home to change clothes and freshen up. The Bullucis promised to return as soon as they could. I made my way to my suite, stripped off my tattered, ruined costume, and took a long shower to wash away the grime of the fight and explosion. I changed into jeans, stilettos, and a fitted white shirt.
I lay down on my bed, but I couldn’t sleep. Even though I’d been up more than twenty-four hours, I was still too wired from everything that had happened. So, I got up and went to the kitchen, where I made a dozen roast-beef-and-cheddar-cheese sandwiches. I put four aside for Henry and the chief and downed the rest of them, along with a gallon of milk and a deep-dish apple pie topped with vanilla bean ice cream. My father found me inside just as I was scraping the last bite of melted ice cream out of the bowl.
“Sorry,” I said, pushing him the plate full of sandwiches.
“If you wanted pie, you should have gotten here three minutes ago.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, taking one of the sandwiches.
“I’m used to it.”
After the chief finished his first sandwich, he spoke again.
“You’ve been incredibly strong these last few hours. Escaping the freezer, figuring out the ubervillains’ scheme. You saved us, Fiona. You saved all of us today. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of you,” the chief said, his eyes bright.
I nodded. “I only wish Lulu hadn’t gotten hurt in the process. Is there any change?”
The chief shook his head. “We’ll just have to wait and see. It’s out of my hands now.”
Hot tears gathered in my eyes. My father opened his arms, and we hugged for a long time.
———
The chief left to go to his own suite and shower before he checked on Lulu again. I went down to the sick bay to give Henry a break. The doors swooshed open, and I stepped inside.
The harsh chemical smell of disinfectant and ointment filled the room. I walked over to the bed where Lulu lay.
The computer hacker’s face was paler than usual, and her hair stood out like black and blue ink against the white of her pillow. Thick gauze bandages covered her chest, and she seemed about an inch away from death. Henry sat by her side, still in costume, holding her hand and whispering words of encouragement.
I tapped him on the shoulder. Henry yelped and almost jumped out of his chair.
“Oh, it’s you, Fiona. You scared me.”
I pulled up a chair and sat next to him. “How is she?”
Henry sighed. His eyes were dark and sad, and his skin was almost as pale as Lulu’s, despite its ebony color. “The same. No worse, no better.”
“Why don’t you go get some rest? I’ll sit with her until you get back,” I said in a gentle tone.
“No, I’m not going anywhere. Not until she wakes up.”
“You’re dirty and exhausted. You’re not any good to Lulu right now.”
Henry looked down at his ripped, torn costume. He shifted in his chair, and bits of ash flaked off the spandex.
“So what?”
“So, you look almost as bad as she does. You certainly smell worse. Now go.” I grabbed the back of his suit and pushed him toward the door. “I’ll watch her while you get cleaned up. I promise.”
“Come get me if anything, anything at all, changes,” Henry said, clutching the door frame.
I pulled his fingers off, but he grabbed on to the other side. “I will. Now go.”
After a few more false starts and forceful shoves, I convinced Henry to leave Lulu to me for a little while. I plopped down in the chair beside her bed. After about a minute, I drummed my fingers on my knee. Shifted back and forth in my seat. Fiddled with my hair. If I’d had some gum, I would have blown big bubbles. I’d never been good at sitting still, and I absolutely hated waiting.
But I’d promised Henry. Plus, it was my fault that Lulu was hurt. I was the one who’d let her come along. I should have locked her and the Bullucis in the van where they would have been safe. Instead, Lulu had gone all noble on me and kept Siren from zapping Johnny. I should have been able to take out Siren before she got that shot off. I should have been quicker, smarter, stronger. Now, the computer hacker was paying the price for my mistakes—and her own bravery.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Unfortunately, after-the-fact clarity was another thing that went along with being a superhero.
“You know, you need to snap out of this coma thing you’ve got going on,” I said in a conversational tone. “It’s not doing you any good, and you’ve got everybody else worried sick about you. Especially Henry. If you go and die on him, well, I’ll have to kill you all over again.”
I rolled my eyes. I sounded dumb even to myself. Perhaps dying wasn’t the best thing to talk to Lulu about. A good bedside manner was not my specialty. That was Chief Newman’s department.
So, I sat there and talked to Lulu about all sorts of things.
The battle, how Siren and Intelligal had been toasted by the bombs, how brave but stupid I thought she’d been saving Johnny, how I hoped that Johnny and I could get past today.
“I really, really like him,” I said. “And not just because the sex is incredible and he’s one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever had the privilege to sleep with. I like his sense of humor, his quick wit, his silly grins.” I leaned forward and dropped my voice to a whisper. “The truth is that I love him. But let’s just keep that between you and me for right now.”
After going on for a good while about my feelings for Johnny, I lapsed into silence. I didn’t have any more words left in me. So, I clutched Lulu’s hand and tried to feel soothing and calm.
I sat beside her, my head bowed, for almost an hour. A small rustle sounded. My head snapped up. Lulu’s eyes fluttered open. My breath caught in my throat. This was a good sign, right? I mean, she wasn’t going to die on us if she was awake, was she?
“Henry?” Lulu croaked, her voice weak and raspy.
“Hey,” I said, leaning over so she could see me. “Henry’s not here right now. It’s me, Fiona. You’re back at the manor in one of the sick bays.”
“Henry?”
“Henry’s fine, and so is everybody else. The ubervillains are dead.”
After a moment of thinking and staring at me, Lulu’s eyes cleared. “Fiona. Of course. That’s why it’s so hot in here.”
I rolled my eyes. “You must be getting better if you can crack bad jokes like that.”
Lulu chuckled. At least she tried to. She gave up, gasping for air.
“Easy, easy. Don’t overdo it.”
Lulu nodded. “I’ll try. What happened? The last thing I remember is this big blue ball of energy slamming into me.”
I filled her in again on the battle at the observatory.
“I’m glad those bitches are dead,” Lulu said. “My chest feels like it’s on fire.”
“Do you want me to get the chief? I’m sure he can give you some more painkillers.”
Lulu shook her head. “No, I’m fine. Really sleepy, actually. Where’s Henry?”
“Get some sleep. He’ll be back in a few minutes.”
/>
Lulu relaxed. “You were right about one thing, Fiona.”
“Really? What was that?”
“Me being in a wheelchair and having kids or not having kids isn’t that important. All that matters is Henry and me and how we feel about each other.”
“So, does this mean there’ll be another wedding around here in the near future?” I asked. “Because I know this designer who does really fabulous gowns.”
“You can count on it,” Lulu said, drifting off. “Tell Henry I said yes… yes… yes… ”
I smiled. “I’ll be sure to relay the message.”
Lulu’s eyes slid shut before I finished speaking.
———
Later that afternoon, the chief announced that Lulu had stabilized and that she should make a slow, but full, recovery.
The computer hacker drifted in and out of consciousness the rest of the day. She came awake long enough to tell Henry that she wanted to marry him, then promptly fell asleep when he leaned over to kiss her. Ah, love among nerds. It was a beautiful thing.
The Bullucis returned that night bearing pasta, wine, and more. After a brief, somewhat subdued celebration in Lulu’s room, which the guest of honor slept through, we moved the party to the library. Henry went to check on Lulu every few minutes, while my father entertained the Bullucis with superhero stories.
But I had a different sort of party in mind. One that involved only two people—Johnny and me. I walked over and drew him away from the others.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said in a low voice. “We need to talk.”
Johnny nodded. He put down his champagne, and we slipped out of the library.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“You’ll see.”
I dragged Johnny down the halls until we reached my suite. I threw open the door, pulled him inside, and shut it behind us. Then, I wrapped my arms around his neck and lifted my lips to his.
I loved him. I really, really loved him. I’d admitted it to myself and Lulu, and now I was going to tell Johnny. Somehow, some way in the last few days, I’d fallen in love with him. Travis would always be a part of me, always have a piece of my heart. But I was ready to get on with my life.