Damsel[ed]: Some Rescue Required (#2 of the Damsel[ed] series)

Chapter Forty-Six: Boys

Heaven.

As Owl smiles down at me, her steady hand gripping Natalie's neck like she's a school bully dangling a toy over my head, I know I screwed up. I dragged an innocent kid into my very bloody and very personal fight. My chest is tight like it's held together with pins. I should've never left her alone. I should've never given her that blade. "You got me." I hold up my hands. My voice is smooth to make my trembling hands less apparent. At least, I hope it does. "But this doesn't concern the kid. Put her down, Owl, and fight me like a woman."

The girl's face has gone from pale to blue, her eyes bulging. I crouching low to spring at Owl. The villain shrugs, drops the girl, and Natalie hits the ground with a yelp. I dive to my knees and look her over. Color returns to her face in splashes of white and pink, her yellow hair oil slick with sweat. It forms a nest around her neck where the scrunchie fell out. 

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Natalie says. Her voice is rough, gravelly, and fragile all the same like she's speaking from deep in her throat to hide how young she is. How scared. She breathes out through her mouth and sighs, once, twice.

"Are you sure? Are you breathing all right?"

"Uh-huh." She flashes me a smile. "Just let me sit here. Catch my breath."

"I didn't mean to cause her any harm." Owl shrugs. "But heroes are fragile things, aren't they, Ms. Brooks?"

I don't like that she uses my name. It leaves me with a taste like a mouthful of rot, like I stopped down at the highway for a roadkill breakfast. I pivot my right leg to the back, my knees at a bend and my left foot pointed squarely at the villain. A fighting stance. My hands come up to my face in fists, the gesture so natural I don't think about it until the guard is up.

Instead, I'm thinking of Gatsby, slinking through my peripherals. He's by a lone shelf, tinkering with one of the plants, the cat ears drooped. He rolls a painted pot through his hands, spilling dirt on his sleeves and on his shoes, the two brown branches flopping lazily over his wrists. He won't even look in my direction. I want to squeeze him so bad, to feel him up and down to make sure he's really here, really safe with me. I want to make sure Owl or Fallout or anyone else never hurt him again. But he's still looking at that stupid plant and the same part of me that wants to hug him also wants to clock him. "Ms. Brooks?"

I snap my head in the supervillain's direction. "What are you driving at? What do you want?"

"All business, aren't we?" Her smile is disarming. She really does look like Angelos. Same black eyes and hooked nose and other elegant features. "Good." She catches me staring and brushes her fingers across her eyepatch, almost as if to remind me it's there. Just another cryptic move, but I'm tired of trying to understand these people. 'Villainy' isn't just another name for those with superpowers committing criminal activity, it's a way of life. Cooler than running around in the middle of the night punching people, anyway. And I don't think it's my place to decipher it. "Gatsby knows I just want you for a little chat, isn't that right, Gatsby?"

He whips his head around, eyes wide like he forgot her presence entirely. He backs away a single step. 

"Gats?" I drop my guard for a moment, just to pick Natalie off the ground so she isn't as much of a target. Her hand clasps mine, her nails digging into my skin as if struggling for a hold. She's still heaving, and when she looks up at me, her eyes shine like two silver dollars flashed in the light. I pat her on the shoulder with my free hand while I'm still a measure taller than her, and she grins at my touch like I'm some celebrity who's attention she craves. I'm not worthy of that type of appreciation, but I can't dwell on it. My thighs are achy and my chest throbs as I watch Gats look at his hands. I'm trembling all over, my feet digging into the floor. I don't want to run up to him because he doesn't want to touch him, but I just want to give the guy a hug! I missed him!