Hero Stalker

Part Seventy-Four

But how could I destroy her costume without killing her? My old one had torn open when I'd hit the tree, but the flames from Harpy's jetpack had already weakened it. I needed—

"Fireworks!" I grabbed Dan's wrists. "Do you still have the detonator on board?"

He stared at me like I'd gone crazy. I slapped him across the face. "Nod or shake your head. Does this boat still have the detonator?"

Dan looked at me with almost as much anger as he reserved for Harpy. But, thank God, he nodded. I tapped my mask above my left ear, switching the headset to the PCD frequency. "On my cue, light every last one. You hear me?"

Amanda swooped down once more. Her mouth opened. Vibrations hummed across the water. The boat rattled and tilted to the side. Officers collapsed, clutching their ears. Amanda raised her gun.

No. Not this time. I sprinted into the sound wave. The compressed air pushed me back, tugging at my cape. My muscles ached. I gritted my teeth and forced myself forward. My right leg extended like a piston and threw me in the air.

Her first two bullets bounced off my chest. I seized the end of her cape. Unbalanced, she nearly fell on top of the boat before righting herself and shooting out across the harbor. At least she'd stopped screaming.

I climbed up her cape. She twisted around, searching for an angle where she could shoot me in the head. My legs flipped upward. The blades on my toes cut her gun in half. Her lips moved, but I didn't catch much beyond 'bitch' and 'injustice'. If you wanted to monologue, you shouldn't have ruptured my eardrums.

My hand closed around her coppery hair. I let my whole weight dangle from it. Amanda's scream sent waves across the harbor, but she couldn't hit me from that angle. I swung to my left, dragging her toward Centurion Tower. Her elbow knocked me in the jaw. Stars winked across my vision. My fingers released her hair. Momentum sucked me backwards. I grabbed her leg and wrenched myself up.

We tumbled blindly across the sky. Our capes tangled together. My hand barely blocked hers as she reached for my eyes. I hiked my body around hers and sliced off her cape. The Tower flickered at the edge of my sight. I shifted my weight and steered Amanda towards it.

Bam! We crashed into the platform at the base of the Tower. Amanda lay dazed beneath me. Her nose bled. I couldn't remember when I'd broken it. Dozens of canisters the width of my legs sat beneath her.

I pulled my cape up over my face, leant down on top of her, and shouted "NOW!"

And Dan listened to me.

The world dissolved into a thousand hot white lines. Amanda thrashed violently under my hands. A wave of force knocked me off her. I flew through the air, deaf and blind. Gravity stopped making sense.

Pain lanced up my left side. Water filled my nostrils. My head rang. My ears ached.

Some tiny part of my brain informed me I was drowning.

In the distance, Mom yelled at me to get up and catch the school bus. Get up. You have to get up. But I didn't have to listen to her anymore. I was an adult; I could drown if I wanted. Maybe Slasher would meet me at the bottom of the harbor. He'd kill you if you gave up. I remembered how he'd screamed as he fell. Murdered and betrayed by a fellow Centurion. I couldn't let that go.

So once more, I kicked my way to the surface and gasped down air. The clouds dissolved from my vision as I stared up into the sky.

Fireworks exploded in the cloudless blue expanse. Daylight dulled the color, but not the light. Ring after ring burst open over my head. Sparks floated down from above. A haze of smoke rose from the launch platform. A burnt smell wafted out over the water.

Fifty feet away from me, Amanda floated lifelessly on her back. Her bright red hair had been seared away. What was left of her costume had turned dark and brittle. I couldn't see the burns I'd inflicted on her back, but the water was turning red around her.

But her chest still moved. Good enough.

"It's over!" I shouted as I swam over. The tiny holes in my suit began sealing themselves up. "Hold up your hands. You're under arrest." She'd need emergency medical attention. I hoped the NSWAT boat had an EMT who'd be willing to treat her. I'll make them treat her.

I treaded water by her side. My fingers fumbled underwater for my handcuffs. My eyes left Amanda for a split second.

Strong hands closed around my neck and lifted me out of the water. A scream of pain built up in my lungs, but I couldn't force the air through my throat. My body weighed me down. Fire flooded my neck. A terrible tightness filled my chest.

"Still better than me?" Amanda mouthed as we hovered over the waters. Burns and blisters covered the right side of her face. Blood and water dripped from the cracks in her skin. "Do it, Shadowcat. You're a Centurion. Everyone will call it self-defense. You had no other choice."

But I did have another choice. A horrible, repugnant choice.

Blades shot out of my toes. I grabbed her shoulders, levered myself up, and slashed into her legs.

My left foot missed. My right slid through her melted costume and connected with an awful squish. Bone parted under my blades.

Amanda's face twisted into a gross mask of pain. Her fingers tightened and slipped away. I gasped down air and let the water close over my head. Amanda's leg sunk next to me. Blood poured into the dark water.

She'll surrender now, I told myself. Without medical attention, she'll bleed out in minutes.

I stayed down as long as I could. If anything could trigger a superscream, it was that kind of wound. But my battered lungs still ached and my whole chest felt empty, so up I swam.

Amanda had vanished. The trail of blood leading back towards Washington Harbor spread out along the waves. It's her fault now if she dies. Wherever she'd gone, she wouldn't get far. Lord, don't let her be dead.

My throat felt like I'd drunk sandpaper. The burning pain in my chest returned as my rush of adrenaline dulled. It's over. I'd done the best I could. The memory of Slasher falling off the Tower played out over and over in my head. I wanted to curl up and cry. Instead, I leant back into the water and let the waves lift me up and down.

After what felt like an hour, a wake passed under my back. I rolled over to see an unfamiliar man on an NSWAT jet ski. He held out a hand. The afternoon sun glared over his shoulder. Spots danced across my eyes.

"Badge," I coughed.

He pulled one out of his jacket. Harbor Control. Good.

I took his hand and pulled myself up. The officer said something I couldn't hear and punctuated it with a smile and a thumbs up. What the hell did that mean?

The jet ski turned back towards the Tower. My stomach churned. I pressed my hands over my aching ears and tried not to look at moving objects. Something buzzed at my waist. I flinched. Just my phone. Someone had texted me. Dan. Mom. Annabelle. Valerie.

I fished it out of the waterproof pouch. The text was from Amanda. She'd attached a photo of her standing in my hallway, her arm around Vicky's shoulders. 'Remember who you are,' it read.

I'd told her my secret identity.

The constant shifts in momentum got the better of me. The world spun. My numb fingers slid the phone back into my belt, and then I slipped into darkness.