Kingdom Gone

THE BLIND AVENGER

Time seemed to slow down.

The throwing knife was clutched in my fist, moments from slicing into the neck of the worst serial killer El Refugio De Piedra had seen in years, when I saw the bullet whizz past my face. I looked at it, analyzed it. 9 millimeter, hollowpoint. Based on the trajectory, the gun was fired somewhere beyond the canal.

But it's from a handgun.

9 millimeter pistols do have a range of over a mile, but past a couple yards and the hopes of hitting your target reaches zero. Could've just been a desperate shot. Unless the shooter knew I'd be able to sense them if they were anywhere near me.

So, if it was planned, there's only two people alive who could've made that shot.

And I was one of them.

Time sped up.

The bullet clanged against my three inch blade, knocking it out of my hand, but my fist kept its momentum. My knuckles slammed into the throat of the guy I'd been beating on for the last ten minutes, momentarily cutting off his breathing. The nurse clutched his throat and fell onto his back, passing out.

I looked down at the poor sap. "You're so lucky I don't kill people who aren't awake to see my blade coming'."

Bet the shooter knew that. He wants this guy alive.

Yup, it's him.

I sighed, bending down to zip tie the asshole's feet and hands together, and await in inevitable arrival of Mr. Leather Jacket.

* * *

I parked the jeep on the other side of the factory, to prevent Nijah from, well, blowing it up.

A short walk later and we stand face to face, an unconscious serial killer between us.

"Long time no see, Best Friend Killer." Nijah says snarkily, decked out in her full vigilante get up, bow slung around her shoulder and everything.

I force a smile. "Nice to see you too, Daredevil wannabe." I gesture at her black face paint around her eyes. "I see you never watched any of the make up tutorials I had Sam send you."

She laughs humorlessly, pointing at me with a knife. "I heard you turned 18 a few months ago, means what you do to girls now is finally legal." She points at Circe. "This your new bitch?"

Circe glares at Nijah, tiny sparks flashing around her clenched fists. I gesture for her to cool it, but Nijah of course already caught on.

"Oh, shit. Is she radioactive?" Nijah says sarcastically.

"She is the reason why I'm in your city, Nijah. I need you-"

"Oh wait, wait, wait! Hold on, let me record this, one second." She takes out her phone. "Because I think you're about to say the words I always wished you would say. Ok, proceed."

I sigh, rubbing my face. "I need your help, Nijah."

Nijah smiles, tapping her phone screen, then pockets the device. "No."

"Please?"

"Why should I? I still haven't forgave you for what you did back in that orphanage."

"Derek's death is not on me. I didn't pull the trigger."

"We wouldn't have even been there that night if it weren't for you and your fuckin' stupid plan."

"We all would've died if we stayed. Didn't you hear? The orphanage burned down less than a month after we left. Or were you too focused on becoming a cape toting asshat to know?"

Nijah sighed, wiping her blade on her pant leg for no reason. "Whatever. Just tell me what you want so you can get out of my city."

I look at Circe. "I'm smuggling this girl, her name is Circe. As you saw, she's. . . special, and I need to get her to the Northern Lift by the end of the month. If anyone knows how to get past the Great Wall, it's you. You're connects up here are more solid, and I was hoping we could put our gripes aside for a moment, and help each other."

"How could you help me?" Nijah scoffed.

"I already did. I brought in two of the Seventh Kingdom's top ten most wanted, shut down the lab producing GX-3, and took down a major weapon cartel. Helped ya out a little, hey maybe you can even take the night off. Hang up the quiver for once."

"Being a hero is a full time job. Not that you'd know anything about that." Nijah says slyly, looking me up and down. "How much she paying you?"

Circe and I exchange looks. "Enough."

Nijah laughs. "You don't even know, do you?"

I say nothing.

"Well, I can find that out for you right now." She saunters over to Circe, standing two feet away, eyes locked on her face. "How much you paying him, Sparky? Hundreds?"

She says nothing.

"Thousands?"

Silence.

"Millions?"

Circe still says nothing, but Nijah nods. "So it's millions. How many millions, Dollface? Tens?"

Not a word.

"Don't tell me it's hundreds?"

Circe furrows her brow, staying tight lipped but Nijah's eyes open wide, and she whistles. "Quite the deal you scored, Jason. Hell, you're probably getting a little ass on the side too."

Circe's face burns red, glaring at Nijah, but then an eyebrow shoots up. "Are you blind?"

Nijah nods, not hesitating to brag about herself. "Since birth. That's probably why my parents left me in that orphanage. But growing up I've always been able to see with my other senses. And when I came to this city, a man seeked me out and offered me a pill that was made to help people focus, but it ended up heightening my senses 100 fold. Now he just mails them to me." She pokes Circe's stomach. "What's your deal? Fell in a tank of electric eels?"

I interject before Circe can speak. "It involves the nuke that destroyed the Tenth Kingdom. Help us out, and I'll tell you everything."

Nijah looks at me, pondering it over. "Give me half of the reward money, and I'll help."

"I'm not giving you half just for intel, you must be outta your damn mind."

"It's not just intel. The only way past the Great Wall is through old subway tunnels long buried beneath the sands of Fallout Desert, in the northern Eighth Kingdom. I'm the only one who can locate them, so if you want to get into the Tenth Kingdom, you need me."

Shit. She's right. We don't have time to wander around thousands of acres of desert. Ugh.

I look Nijah in the eye. "Get us into the Tenth Kingdom, and I'll give you half." I hold out my hand.

She looks at it. "I can do a truce for now. But know that I will never forgive you for what happened."

We shake hands.