CHAPTER

22

 

CHARLENE STAYED FOR ANOTHER HOUR. I think she got most of her homework done. At least one of us did. We chatted a little, and then I walked her out to her Jeep. She hugged me, kissed me on the cheek, and was gone. I watched her drive away and then jogged back into the house. I would go out on patrol and make a difference. For her.

After supper, I excused myself and headed out to the garage. I checked my cell phone. For the past several nights, Downtime had texted me a location to patrol, one “suggested” by Sexton. Sure enough, a new message waited for me, one that informed me that I was responsible for the warehouse district and Club Row.

I parked DK in an alley and found a low-hanging fire escape. I clambered up to the top of the building and looked over the neighborhood. The warehouses stood like large cement boxes with black ribbon weaving between them. Most of them were dark, although a couple had lights burning in high windows. A few cars wound through the area. A warm spring breeze ruffled my hood, and I sniffed the air. Mostly car exhaust and…what was that? Rotten vegetables? I shuddered. Someone needed to take out the trash more often.

Gravel crunched behind me. Someone else was on the roof? I clenched my hands into fists and then whipped around, ready for a fight.

Kynetic smiled at me. “Fancy running into you here, Failstate. Why are you up here?”

“J-j-just looking for some…uh, inspiration, I guess.”

“Same here.” From the way she was devouring me with her eyes, I wondered what kind of inspiration she wanted. “Great minds think alike, don’t they?”

I had no idea what to say to that. Kynetic’s mere presence was scrambling my thoughts. I paced the edge of the roof. If I kept moving physically, that might translate to mental movement as well.

“Shouldn’t you be with Elemental?” I asked.

Kynetic shrugged. “I guess. She wanted me to stay with her in Rosen Heights, but we weren’t finding anything there. So I texted Downtime to find out where you were.” She looked out over the roof’s edge. “This is where you, Vertigo, and Gangrene fought the superpowered zombie, right?”

“Veritas and Gauntlet,” I said.

“What?”

I shook my head. “Never mind. That’s right.”

Kynetic leaned on the half-wall bordering the roof and looked out over the neighborhood. Her forehead scrunched into a frown. “Well, nothing to see here. Why don’t we get out of here, go look somewhere else?”

“‘We’?”

“Absolutely. I think we would make a great team.”

I laughed. “That’s not really something I can judge, seeing as I barely know you.”

“There are ways to correct that, you know.” Her voice was low and husky.

I coughed, my throat suddenly dry. I was keenly aware of her body next to mine, almost as though I could feel her heat bleed through my costume and into me. She wasn’t touching me, but she might as well have been. I turned to her and was arrested by how warm her eyes were, how open and inviting. A pleasant fog descended on my brain and snared my limbs.

“All you have to do is ask.” She took a step closer to me, and the fog in my brain turned to molasses. “So what is it you want to know?”

Words collided in my throat, a dozen potential questions, most of them half-formed and idiotic. A tingle wormed down my spine. At first, I thought it was a nervous reaction to Kynetic’s presence. But then, my power surged and flared.

Instead of destroying my surroundings, I caused a section of the roof to bubble and steam, as if the material were boiling away. I ground my teeth and tamped down on my power. The smoke rising from the roof instantly reverted to its original state, creating a delicate, branching sculpture. It appeared like a burning bush anchored to the roof.

Kynetic gaped at it for a moment. I shifted on my feet, wondering how she would react. The last thing I wanted to do in front of an ally was show off my glitchy powers.

Then Kynetic turned to me with a smile. “For me? And I didn’t get you anything.”

I parsed her tone for sarcasm and, surprisingly, found none. The same warm fog started to nibble at my thoughts. I shook my head to clear it. Best to beat a quick retreat. I quickly crossed to the fire escape and slid down, hoping to put at least a little bit of distance between us.

No good. She followed me down, her eyes bright and expectant. I ducked down an alley between two of the smaller warehouses. It was the fastest route to DK, but hopefully the walk would dissuade Kynetic. Instead, she fell in step with me.

I finally snared a question and forced it out of my mouth. “So what kind of powers do you have?”

Her lips pulled down in a scowl. But then she smiled again, and any hint of disappointment vanished. “I’m what you could call a kinetic sponge.” She walked over to a dumpster and retrieved a long 2x4. She handed me the wood. “Here. Hit me with this.”

I stared at the board in my hands. “No way! I can’t do that.”

“It won’t hurt. Me or you. I promise.” She set herself, widening her stance and shaking out her hands. “C’mon! Clock me right over the head. Or hit me in the stomach or across the legs or whatever. It doesn’t matter.”

She obviously wasn’t going to drop it. But I still didn’t like the idea of whacking her, so I barely swung the club and lightly tapped her in her side.

She rolled her eyes and batted the 2x4 away. “Really? I know you can do better than that!”

I gritted my teeth and swung again, a little harder but still not enough to do any real damage.

“That’s pathetic. Why’d they give you that license again?” Kynetic grabbed the end of the 2x4 and shook it hard enough she almost ripped it out of my hands. “I’m not made of glass, F. Hit me!”

I didn’t like it one bit, but if she insisted… I wound up and swung the 2x4 as hard as I could, closing my eyes the moment before it hit Kynetic in her side. But then the wood came to a sudden halt, almost as if it had frozen in midair. The stop wasn’t jarring. It was as if I had been standing in that posture the whole time. I risked a peek. The wood was touching Kynetic’s side. I had hit her, but I hadn’t felt the impact at all.

She smirked. “See? Do it again, if you want to.”

I frowned. What happened? I swung the 2x4 back and hit her again. The club came to a halt in the same spot, but I couldn’t feel the impact at all. I chuckled. “That’s pretty cool.” I swung again, this time aiming for her head. The 2x4 stopped the moment it would have caved in her skull. I probably could’ve kept doing that all day.

“That’s half of my power,” Kynetic said. “Here’s the other half.”

The fourth time I tried to hit her, she touched the 2x4. With a loud crack, the wood disintegrated. I fell forward, my momentum carrying me off balance.

Kynetic stepped in close and tapped me in the chest.

It was like getting hit by a truck going at highway speeds. I was blasted off my feet and rolled end over end until I came to rest against the dumpster. Ow! I touched my chest, only to find that my shirt had turned rigid and hard, sort of like body armor. But then, a moment later, the fabric turned soft again. So Dr. Olympus had been right after all.

Kynetic ran to me and knelt down, her eyes wide. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize you were hitting me that hard!”

I winced as an ache sliced through my chest. “Well, you told me not to hold b— Wait, what?”

“I told you, I’m a kinetic sponge. Whatever kinetic energy is directed at me, I absorb and then store up. And then I have that much energy available to me the next time I strike. But I can’t hold on to it forever. It has to be released soon.”

Her hands pressed against my chest. Then they roamed a bit, up to my shoulders and down my arms toward my hands. “Are you okay?”

“I think so. Just give me a minute.” I sat up. “That’s a really cool power.”

Her hands snared mine. I looked down at them, then up at her eyes. She was so close, so tantalizingly…

“So is this what passes for adolescent mating rituals nowadays? If so, I am relieved that my age exempts me from such activities. It looks painful.”

I sat up, startled.

Dr. Olympus walked over to me. Instead of wearing her lab coat, though, she was  wearing a set of black tights, one that almost looked like a diving suit. But the tights were covered in armor plates. The few places that were exposed seemed to be made of a finely woven metallic mesh. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun on the back of her head and she what looked like extremely fancy night-vision goggles perched on her head, only these had two extra lenses.

“Dr. Olympus!” I scrambled to my feet and knocked Kynetic’s hand away. “We were just…uh… Kynetic was just showing me what her power can do.”

“When I hit you with the sledgehammer, you weren’t nearly as understanding.”

Kynetic gave me a look, one of her eyebrows quirking upward. Heat sliced through my cheeks.

“Have you encountered any zombies?” I asked.

Dr. Olympus shook her head. “No, and neither have any of our colleagues. Truth be told, Failstate, many of us are beginning to wonder what the fuss is about. I have experiments waiting for me in Fargo, and I’m sure Raze would like to get back to…whatever it is he does. But never fear, we will continue the hunt regardless. Actually, I’m glad I ran into you. I had a thought about your physical deformities.”

My eyes widened. Why didn’t she just get out a megaphone and announce it to the whole city? “We don’t have to talk about that right here, do we?”

“I have a colleague at New Chayton University: Dr. Monica Weathers. She’s doing research into some new plastic surgery techniques. Skin grafts for burn victims, reconstructing faces after traumatic events, that sort of thing. If you want, I could arrange a meeting. She might be able to help.”

I became acutely aware of Kynetic’s gaze on me. I shook my head. “That’s…uh…it’s an interesting offer, Doctor.”

“Think about it. You might be able to dispose of the necklace.”

Would this woman never stop? Why not just say my name—and scream out my Social Security number while she was at it?

Dr. Olympus snapped her fingers. “Speaking of which, I had additional thoughts about that, as well. I’m working on something back at the lab. Not sure how well it will work at this time, but it could be an improvement on your existing solution.”

I forced a smile to my face. Sure, the doctor couldn’t see it, but hopefully it would carry through to my voice. “Thank you. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.”

She waved away my words. “Enough chatter for now. I plan to head to the northern suburbs. Perhaps I will find some zombies there. If not, I’m sure there will be plenty to occupy my time.” She tugged a pair of goggles over her eyes and walked away, scanning the walls.

I didn’t want to look at Kynetic. I knew what was coming next. She would undoubtedly have questions about my necklace, my deformities, all of it. That, or she was trying to think of a way to get out of there quickly. Not that I could blame her.

“So now what, F?” she asked. “Where do we go next?”

I turned to Kynetic, stunned. She smiled sweetly at me, her hands tucked behind her back. That was it? No questions? No hesitation?

“Aren’t you… Don’t you want to know what she’s talking about?” I blurted the words out and immediately regretted them. The last thing I wanted to do was invite her to look under my hood.

She shook her head. “None of my business. Not yet, anyway.” She stepped in close and grabbed the front of my shirt. “Besides, I like mysterious guys.” She released my shirt and smoothed it out, her hands lingering for a few moments on my arms. “Now let’s go out there and make a difference, okay?”

Sounded like a great idea to me. “I’ll drive.”