Heels and Heroes (10 page)

Brenda watched as he fell, and then tossed her weapon to the side, taking care not to hit anyone. Justice was paler than usual, and blood marred one side of his head. His ear bled, but his chest moved up and down in a normal rhythm.

Shooting Howler a quick glance to reassure herself he was still not moving, Brenda touched her mind and turned off her power. Sounds came rushing back. People yelled. They were close, but their sounds were muffled behind a wall or two from where she knelt. Police sirens wailed.

“Justice?” Her voice cracked. “Justice, can you hear me?”

Her legs didn’t want to work, but she forced herself up and out the front door. She waved at the police officers on the line before collapsing onto the hard asphalt.

Chapter Eight

The next hour was a blur. Paramedics hauled her onto a stretcher, ignoring her protests and demands that they wheel her back into the hospital so she could check on Justice. StrongArm trudged out of the hospital. The first superhero to appear from inside, he stopped to talk to her. He ignored the paramedics who hung around him, fluttering.

“Silencer, can you tell me what happened?” He accepted an ice pack from an emergency worker with a nod of thanks.

She took a deep breath. “I was struggling with Howler when you guys got there. He’d already knocked out Justice.”

“I remember that much.”

“Violet hit you over the head with a metal box, some sort of medical equipment.” She paused, her chest suddenly heavy with the weight of her words. “God, Violet. She was with him. She betrayed us.”

StrongArm’s expression didn’t change, but he touched her lightly on the shoulder.

“We struggled after he knocked out Char. He had me on the ground when Justice got him off me.” She blinked back tears and tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “Is he okay? The paramedics won’t help me back in.” Her voice grew frantic. “I don’t think I can walk that far yet on my own. Did you see him? Is he—”

StrongArm grasped both of her shoulders, and she bit back a moan, wincing. “Sorry,” he muttered and let her go. “They’re only bringing in patients that absolutely need to see a doctor now; that’s why you’re out here. Had to clear out Howler and Violet before they’d open the place back up again. Justice is in with the doctor. They’re having a hard time waking him. Since he got hit twice at such close proximity, they’re worried.”

She struggled to her feet and StrongArm caught her just as her knees threatened to give out. “I have to see him. Can you help me get in there?”

“He’s tough. You need to worry about yourself right now.”

“I’ll be fine. Can you get me to him or not?” She met his gaze and refused to look away.

He grimaced. “All right. Wait here and I’ll find a wheelchair.”

“Just help me!” She glared at him. What kind of self-respecting superhero let herself be pushed around in a wheelchair when she was able to walk, albeit barely?

StrongArm raised an eyebrow at her order but offered her his arm. She limped up to the hospital, through the front doors, keeping her face as expressionless as she could manage. And she hoped that no one noticed how hard she clung to the man’s muscled arm.

The trip to the emergency room area where the hospital housed Justice seemed to take forever. Each step reminded Brenda of how rough the fight had actually been, and the slowness of her progress did nothing to stymie her anxiousness.

They found him lying on a gurney behind a curtain. A nurse stood over him, clipboard in hand, and she offered them a professional smile when they approached.

“How is he?” StrongArm asked as Brenda jogged—the fastest gait she could manage—to Justice’s side.

She took his hand in her own, careful not to move or disturb any of the cords running from him to the machines that lined the wall behind his bed. He was so pale, but she didn’t see any injuries save a small bruise forming under his right eye. They’d cleaned the blood up that had drizzled from his ear down his neck. StrongArm and the nurse’s voices faded into the background as she watched Justice’s face, wishing she possessed the ability to make him well through the strength of her will alone.

“Are you all right?” StrongArm touched her shoulder and she jumped.

She didn’t look away from Justice. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He’s tough.” StrongArm didn’t remove his hand from her shoulder, and moved to stand closer to her instead. “He has a blown eardrum in his left ear, and he’s stunned from the repeated sonic screams. He has a goose egg on the back of his head, too, from one of the times he hit the ground, I guess.” StrongArm squeezed her shoulder. “He’s sedated right now, but he came to a while ago. He’ll be fine.”

Brenda nodded, not trusting herself to speak. But when she brought a hand up and covered her mouth, she realized her cheeks were wet. She was crying, and she hadn’t even noticed. What was wrong with her?

As she stared down at Justice, the man who’d saved her more than once, and who, more than that, had made this week the most fulfilling of her life in every way possible, she knew.

She loved him.

***

The room wasn’t entirely dark, and it took him a moment before the memories of the day came back to him. Brenda fighting Howler. Howler standing over her, kicking her repeatedly. Pain and rage and fear. Howler’s neck under his hands. Then…nothing.

He tensed when something moved at his side, but relaxed when he saw StrongArm. “Hey,” he said, voice barely above a whisper.

StrongArm handed him a plastic pink cup with a straw peeking out from the top. Justice sipped the water and cleared his throat. “Where’s Brenda?” he asked, voice stronger.

“She’s fine. She was here until they forced her into her own room.”

“How is she?”

“She’ll be fine. Some cracked ribs, heavy bruising.” StrongArm crossed his arms. “Her hand is badly bruised from breaking Howler’s nose.” He took a deep breath. “I won’t lie to you. She got pretty beat-up, but she’ll recover.”

Pain lanced through his head as he pushed himself up from the bed, holding a hand out in warning when the other man moved to stop him. “I have to see her, Ben. I have to.”

StrongArm’s face broke out into a deep frown at the use of his real name, but he helped him up from the bed. “Your headache should go away in the next day or two. The doctor said there’s no permanent damage.”

Justice stood on his own when they reached the door. But he stopped in the doorway, a sudden thought snapping into place in his mind. “What happened to Howler?” he asked, turning to face his friend.

His expression turned smug. “She took him down. Knocked him out so the League could take him into custody. We have Violet, too.”

“Violet?” he muttered, but he’d already turned from his friend and headed down the hall.

“She was in league with Howler,” StrongArm explained. “TruthSeer questioned her earlier. Guess she decided she could make some easy money after she figured out Silencer’s identity. She saw her working in the pharmacy. Violet didn’t count on Howler actually wanting her to help him. She couldn’t figure a way out of it once she was roped in, so she went with it.”

Justice grunted and shook his head.

They reached Brenda’s room and though shadowed like every room in the hospital, it wasn’t really dark. Her bruised face and neck stood out in stark contrast to her pale skin. One of her eyes was swollen and her lip was split.

Air escaped his chest in a haggard breath. It took every bit of his self-control to keep from groaning at the sight of her. This wasn’t supposed to happen. And it wouldn’t have, if only he’d protected her like he should have.

He clenched his fists at his side to keep from hitting the hospital room wall. She wouldn’t be hurt if he hadn’t talked her into facing Howler in the first place. If he hadn’t convinced her of her power.

It was all his fault.

***

The sound of her mother’s voice roused Brenda from her drug-induced sleep, and for a moment she considered pretending to still be asleep. But her mom’s angry tone couldn’t be ignored, so she suppressed a sigh and opened her eyes.

Sunlight streamed in through the hospital room window, illuminating her mother and a doctor in a white coat. Mabel Booth’s finger was pointed squarely at the poor older gentleman’s chest. Her lips were drawn into a firm line.

“Mom,” Brenda said, her voice hoarse, “leave the doctor alone before you get yourself kicked out of the hospital.”

“Brenda! Thank goodness you’re awake.” Her mom hurried the two feet to Brenda’s bedside. Her swollen eyes lit up, and a stab of guilt ran through Brenda for making her worry enough to cry.

“Water?” Brenda asked, and was rewarded with a sip from a hospital cup. Though lukewarm, it slid down her throat, delicious and wet.

“How are you feeling?” the doctor asked.

“Okay, I guess.” Brenda moved a bit in the bed, testing her muscles. “A little sore.”

“Oh, honey,” her mother began, and Brenda braced herself for the lecture that would follow, for the warning that she needed to be more careful. “We’re so proud of you,” she said instead.

“You’re what?” Brenda asked, flabbergasted.

“You took down a terrible villain. I’m so sorry we haven’t been more supportive. We should have known you had it in you, it’s just…we worry.” She smiled, practically glowing with pride.

Brenda stared at her, unable to form words. They were proud of her? Knew she had it in her? Since when?

But she couldn’t ask that, not when her mother looked so content. So instead she muttered, “Thanks.”

“Oh you woke up just in time. Your friend is giving a press conference about the whole thing.” Her mom reached over and grabbed a remote from the stand next to the bed. Pointing it at a small television mounted on the wall, she pressed a button and the TV flared to life.

A pretty brunette newswoman appeared on the screen with a perfect professional smile affixed to her face. She summarized the events of the day before, with a few key details left out. Details like Violet’s involvement and specifics about Howler’s apprehension. She also made no mention of why Howler had chosen Pranier Medical to hold hostage, other than to suppose it must have been because of the general high-class status of its patients. After a few minutes of discussion back and forth between her and the news anchor, the camera panned to a podium surrounded by reporters.

Justice’s serious face took up much of the screen when he stepped up to talk about what the reporters had dubbed the “Pranier Medical Attack.” Brenda grinned at the title and decided that creativity was perhaps not the first requirement of a reporter, for that particular network anyway. Face nearly untouched by the events of the previous day, save a small bruise that was mostly covered by his mask, he appeared every bit the heroic superhero Brenda knew him to be. But then Howler hadn’t needed to hit him, and he’d obviously avoided landing on his face.

After a few seconds the reporters quieted down and waited eagerly for Justice’s statement.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming. As you know, Pranier Medical was subject to an attack yesterday. While his reason for targeting Pranier is unknown, we can make the assumption that he was likely targeting its patients in general. We do not believe he had a specific mark in mind, unlike when he took the mayor hostage earlier in the week.” Justice’s face was expressionless, the area around his eyes covered with his mask, and his voice was steady.

Brenda frowned at the screen. She hadn’t really expected him to tell the press Howler targeted Pranier Medical to lure her in—he was no doubt trying to protect her secret identity—but she also hadn’t thought he’d outright lie.

Justice’s voice pulled her from her thoughts as he answered a question she missed from a reporter. “A team of superheroes led by myself and StrongArm took down Howler late yesterday afternoon. A superhero named Silencer was key in the takedown, due to her unusual power to turn off her hearing and block sonic waves from affecting her person.”

The rest of the interview faded into a game of reporters posing questions, which Justice promptly danced around without actually answering. The press never mentioned Brenda’s alter ego, and her stomach dropped. She shouldn’t be disappointed. She wasn’t a publicity-seeking lunkhead after all. But it hurt to not receive even a passing interest from the reporters after her first takedown.

“Can you turn it off, please?” Brenda said to her mom, who frowned at the screen.

Her mother clicked off the set and smiled at her daughter, though it didn’t touch her eyes. “Let’s see if we can’t get you checked out of here, shall we?”

After an hour of getting forms finalized and instructions from the doctor to stay off her feet for a few days, Brenda and her mother hit the road.

“Paul and your dad are waiting for us at the house.”

“Mom, I don’t want or need to stay with you. I’m fine,” she protested. Her mom glanced at her and she glimpsed an extra brightness in her eyes.

“Okay, fine,” Brenda said, unable to face the idea of her mother crying over her twice in one day. “But only until tomorrow.”

Her mom relaxed and nodded.

The look of worry on her father’s face didn’t surprise Brenda, but Paul’s red-rimmed eyes did. Her brother pulled her into a tight, but careful, hug as soon as she cleared the doorway and held her until she hugged him back.

He loosened his grip and stepped away so he could see her face. “Brenda, I’m sorry I didn’t take this seriously before. I should have been out there with you, not sitting on my butt enjoying my vacation.”

“Don’t worry about it, Paul. We got the villain, that’s all that matters.”

He shook his head. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Let’s not forget I also kicked some ass.” She grinned.

“I won’t be forgetting that anytime soon.” He laughed and stepped aside so her father could give her a quick hug, too.

The newspaper sat on the kitchen table, so Brenda grabbed it to read while her mom warmed up some leftovers. Her stomach rumbled at the scent of roast and potatoes, and she smiled to herself. She would wait until tomorrow to talk to Justice. For now, being in her family’s care felt pretty darn good.