Show Me a Hero

Chapter VII

"Nylekae? What—oh, my god. Oh, my god, are you okay?" I run over and kneel by her side. "Who did this to you?"

She smiles wanly at me, grimaces when I apply pressure to the stab wound in her chest. "Nobody I can't handle," she reassures. But I am far from reassured. This isn't the first time she's shown up like this, and I know it won't be the last.

"Ny..."

"Sorry, love." She cups my cheek. "I can't stay long." Then all I can do is watch as her body goes up in flames and slowly disintegrates until all that's left is a pile of ash. And that too doesn't remain long as a passing breeze carries it all away.

I think I hate nights like these even more than the nights when she doesn't show up.

~*~*~*~*~

Jim topples to the ground alongside Nylekae, the gunshot and subsequent tumble sobering him up somewhat. He grabs Ny by the shoulders and flips her over.

"Ny? Ny, you okay?" He does a quick survey of the parking lot, searching for the shooter.

"Oh, god, right in the keister!" Nylekae shouts, rolling onto her side. "You fucking asshole, you couldn't have aimed for the head instead?"

Jim rolls his eyes. "You're fine. C'mon," he says, helping her up and dragging her to take cover behind her car.

"No, no, no," she protests, straining against his grip. "Don't use my car as cover, you ninny!"

"Priorities, Ny!"

"Do you know how much it'll cost to fix bullet holes?!"

Another shot rings out, but it doesn't seem to be directed at them.

"What the fuck are they doing?" Jim asks no one in particular.

"Just—" Nylekae struggles to her feet. "Lemme handle this."

"Ny—"

"Shh! You, shh!" Nylekae hobbles out from behind her car and into direct sight of the shooter. "C'mon, is that all you got?"

Jim curses underneath his breath but stays crouched.

Another shot, this time aimed straight at Ny. She pockets this one with a wave of her hand. Then the next. And the next.

Silence.

More silence.

"Where'd they go?" Jim risks poking his head out.

"Dunno..." Nylekae scans the rooftops of surrounding buildings but finds nothing out of the ordinary. "What the fuck is going on?" She squints. Something is glinting under the moonlight. And...it's headed straight towards her. "Is...Is that a floating knife?"

She dodges the first swipe, but her gunshot injury causes her to misstep and the knife manages to slash her abdomen.

"Jim, there is a floating knife attacking me right now!"

"What?" He stands but immediately ducks back down when the shooter fires off at him. "Fuck! Ny, I can't get to you!"

"That's fine, no worries!" Nylekae jumps back as the weapon attempts to disembowel her. "Everything's fine here!" As she studies the movements of the knife, it seems less like someone telepathically wielding it and more like...like someone that she can't see wielding it.

She manages to kick the knife out of her assailant's apparently invisible hand, which is both good and bad 'cause now she has no idea where they are. She pulls a knife from her pocket with a flick of her wrist then starts slashing the air but doesn't make contact with anything.

Nylekae grunts, head whipping to the side when she's punched by the invisible attacker. Then she has an idea. She swipes a hand up her stomach, pocketing the blood spilling out from her wound, then releases it in a spray while spinning in a circle.

"Aha! There you are," she growls, taking off in a run towards the now blood splattered assailant. "Not so tough when you can't hide, huh," she taunts, managing to duck and weave more effectively now that she can make out their silhouette. When she gets an opening, she stabs them in the chest and they cry out. Judging by the voice, it's a man.

She pulls the knife out and sends him sprawling with a kick aimed at his middle.

"Ny, you good?"

"I'm good!" Nylekae straddles the attacker, placing the blade right where his throat should be. Then she realizes something. "Oh, ew, are you naked?"

"Fuck you," the man seethes, sending spittle flying every which way.

"I'd rather you not, actually," Ny says, shifting so she's no longer straddling his naked crotch. God, why do these things happen to her?

There's a slight shimmer in the air and suddenly, the man is visible. In all his nude glory.

"Neat trick. What do you want from me?"

The man smiles. "Don't you think you're forgetting something?"

Blood and brain matter spurt out from the bullet hole in Nylekae's head. She slumps over, dead. The man wiggles out from beneath her corpse then takes off running, shimmering back into invisibility but for the blood that Nylekae had showered him with.

"Fuck this," Jim hisses, throwing caution to the wind and sprinting over to Nylekae's side, shooter be damned. "Ny. Ny." He roughly shakes her limp body. "Fuck, Ny, c'mon. Come back! Fucking come back!"

~*~*~*~*~

JJ tosses back another shot of whiskey before throwing the glass at the wall. It shatters, sending shards flying in every direction. Then they crumble apart into graphite dust. The alcohol sits hot and heavy in his stomach, warming him up from the inside out. And for a little while, he can fool himself into thinking that his heart is still a soft, warm thing pumping life into him.

That, of course, is short-lived.

That cold, hard thing in his chest makes sure of that.

JJ makes another crude drawing of a shot glass—it's more of a haphazardly drawn rectangle, really, but the intent is there—and shakes the paper. Out falls the glass into his lap and he fills it up with whiskey, tosses it back, throws it at the wall, watches it disintegrate.

Nights like these, his alcohol-addled brain can barely remember what she looked like. Maybe that's for the best.

~*~*~*~*~

"Is it done?"

Nikita pauses abruptly, hand poised to knock on the door to her father's office. She places her ear against the door.

"You did what?...You blasted fools! You worthless, incompetent—Were my instructions unclear or are you two simply incapable of basic comprehension?...Dead? Ha! You think you killed her with that?" Then Father breaks out into a raucous cackle, a sound Nikita has never heard from him before. She shivers, for reasons she can't quite decipher.

"May the gods help you now."

Silence.

Nikita starts backing away from the door, then quickly makes her way to her room. Killed? Killed whom? Father wanted somebody killed? No, it can't be. There must be an explanation for all this. Father would never. As chief director of LIGHT, he would never order somebody be killed. That goes against everything the organization stands for.

That goes against everything Father stands for.

Doesn't it?