Hero Stalker

Part Seventy-One

Hitting the water felt like hitting concrete. I made sure my mask was firmly sealed to my skin before I surfaced.

"One of those jets could save police lives," Dan muttered, treading water while he held down the middle button on my gun. I did the same.

"That's what we use 'em for," Slasher said. "Saving lives. Think you can swim back to the docks, Detective?"

"I think I can handle that much."

"Good. Get the NSWAT boat you used against Cracken. It should be ready to launch, since they use it to control the fireworks display. Take a SWAT team to the base of the Tower. Secure the fireworks and come in up the stairs. God knows what you'll find. Shadowcat and I will go in through the roof. Peregrine may still be alive. Shadowcat, you'll take her to."

"While you face down Harpy alone?" I holstered my grappling gun. "No way!"

He grinned. "Ain't your choice, princess."

Slasher burst up onto the surface and darted away. An explosion of white water flew out from under his feet and knocked me down. Water flooded my sinuses.

"Real charming boss you've got there!" Dan shouted at me as I spat out a mouthful of harbor.

"You should see my other one!"

He tossed me my other grappling gun. "Aren't you going with him?"

I stuck the gun in its holster. "And leave you floating?"

Dan rolled his eyes. "Look, lady, I know how to swim. Just rip Harpy a new asshole for me, okay?"

At least I'd gotten him to say one almost positive thing to Shadowcat. "Will do," I said, and launched myself forward. Millions of shimmering pinpricks of light danced across the waves. If I survived, I'd get sunglasses built into my mask.

By the time my blades sunk into the sun-heated walls of the Tower, Slasher had climbed more than halfway up. Water dripped from my costume as I began to ascend. I bumped my shoulder into the right side of my mask to activate my headset.

"You better tell me everything that goes on up there," I hissed.

He laughed. "Might distract you from the mission, sweetheart."

"I don't give a damn. Harpy is dangerous."

"I'm dangerous. I'm not gonna to talk to him. I'm gonna come right up behind him and cut off his head. Only idiots chat with madmen."

I clenched my teeth and focused all my efforts on the climb. Metal screeched as my blades tore into it, but the sound soon faded to nothing. My legs burned. Keep moving. Rescue Peregrine. Kill Harpy. "Slasher, what should I do if your plan fails?"

He didn't respond. I cursed. "Cypher! Have you disabled the weapon?"

"Do you hear the crowds of cheering people? No? Then the weapon is still operational. I need more time!"

"Is the bomb squad in place?"

"Shadowcat, it might take an hour for them to get here."

"Peregrine?" Slasher said, astonished. My heart jumped. "You escaped? Hey, quit hugging me, girl!"

"We're good," I told Cypher, and switched off my headset. Thank God. She'd escaped Harpy, maybe even defeated him in the process. At the very least, we had one more Centurion with us than before. Harpy didn't stand a chance.

Crack! A yelp of pain rang out from the roof. Slasher screamed as he fell, arms flailing uselessly, legs moving in a blur against the empty air.

I reacted automatically. My grappling gun flew into my hand. I squeezed the trigger. The line dropped towards him, straight on track. The hook hit his right hand.

Then his broken wrist flapped backwards and the line shot out of reach.

Smack! He hit the water and vanished.

I watched, confused, as the ripples spread out from where he'd landed. Seconds passed. Then minutes. My hope tricked away. He still didn't resurface.

He'd warned me about this at the start. Physics still applies to you. But I could still barely believe physics had applied to him.

It took me almost a minute to wind back up my grappling gun.

The rest of the climb passed in a blur. Next thing I knew, my boots hit the roof. I saw Slasher's discarded grappling gun. Harpy made sure to disarm him. The crack I'd heard had probably been Slasher's wrist. No sign of Peregrine remained.

My fingers shook with rage as I walked over to the stairwell door. Unfair. Unjust. I felt like I was six years old again, watching Patricia rip the head off my stuffed unicorn. This problem couldn't be solved with a needle and thread. But I could damn well solve it with my blades. No one remained to tell me not to.

Superheroes don't just protect people. They uphold the laws. They promote justice. Cypher believed that. But David Randolph had never faced down bullies. He'd never worked for a shitty boss. Never been sexually harassed by rich boys who knew they'd get away with it. The world wasn't just. Why should I have to be?

I sliced through the hinges of the stairwell door and threw it aside. Half a second later, I stood on the top floor.

Harpy stood before the Wall of Fame. His new suit bulged around the biceps and thighs. The horns on his faceless helmet stretched twice as long. Underneath it, I knew the bastard was smiling at me.

"Where's Peregrine?" I demanded, keeping my distance.

"Gone. Like your friend."

Flames sputtered out from his jetpack. He floated sideways along the edge of the room. I paced away. We circled each other slowly, like boxers in the ring. "How did you survive the hospital attack?" I demanded. A suspicion crept into my mind.

"Maybe there are hundreds like me. Hundreds of people who see this city is drowning in its own excrement. No one cares when I drag people off the streets in GreenwoodHeights. But take someone in Orignal, and the Centurions break into your lair. Maybe I have a thousand suits and a thousand men to wear them. Maybe another Harpy rises for each one that falls."

"No. You're psi-positive. You said as much when you abducted me. That's how you survived. You've just hidden your power from our psi-meters somehow." I grinned. "Men might follow you, out of greed or fear or anger. But you're the only one in this city who thinks killing people makes anything better. Surrender or die."

"I thought you said I'm the only one here who thinks killing people makes things better. Looks like there's two of us."

That felt like a punch in the gut. "I'm giving you a chance. That's more than you've given your victims. Besides, you deserve death for everything you've done. I'm better than you, you son of a bitch." Without taking my eyes off Harpy, I slipped my fingers into my belt.

"Better? You come from filth. You live in filth. You—"

My fingers closed around a smoke grenade. I flung it at Harpy's feet and leapt as thick grey smoke filled the room. My blades sunk into the roof. Harpy fired his gun blindly. Bullets bounced off my cape as I positioned myself.

"I'll kill you for this!" he shouted.

I dropped onto his shoulders. "Try," I hissed. The tips of my blades severed the joints connecting his helmet to the rest of his suit.

Pressurized air shot the helmet into my chest. I lost my balance and hit the floor. My back screamed. Pain made my vision flash red. Red. Like the cloud of hair floating around Harpy's head.

I scrambled to my feet. Amanda's metal boots clunked as she stepped towards me. "You dumb bitch," she said, and flung a netting ball in my face.