Just Cause Universe 3: Day of the Destroyer (33 page)

Tommy blasted wind through the room, sending small parts flying. “Enough!”

Javier awakened from all of the shouting. “Christ. What the fuck? Where are they going?”

“They’re taking Harlan,” said Tommy.

“Wait, what about the Soldier? He’s still in pieces.”

“Your robot is fine,” Harlan said. “It just needs power.”

The agents hurried Harlan toward the door. Irlene started after them but Tommy held her back. “He’s not going to help us,” he said. “He doesn’t need to now. We’ll find your sister some other way.”

Harlan stuck his head back in the door for just a moment. “The junkyard,” he said quickly. “Make sure nothing happens to her, or else.” Then he disappeared with the agents, and it was like he’d never been there at all.

“What junkyard?” asked Javier.

Irlene’s face brightened. “There’s this place he used to hang out. Probably still does. Maybe it’s where he built that tank thing. I know where it is. Follow me!”

“Come on,” said Tommy to Javier. “We’ll need your light.”

“I’m beat, man. I got nothing left,” said Javier.

Tommy punched him in the face.

Javier flew backward to land in a heap against the wall. “Motherfucker! Twice in one day!” He rubbed his lips and scowled at the blood he saw there.

“For once in your sorry-ass life, act like a hero worthy of this team,” shouted Tommy.

Javier’s eyes widened and Tommy thought he might be about to fire a particle beam from his gauntlet. Then Javier wilted.

“All right, all right. Jesus Christ. Taking orders from a goddamn faggot.”

“Get a move on.” Tommy shoved the Puerto Rican ahead of him.

#

Gretchen’s world had shrunk until it only contained the building before her, the fire, and Shane. When he wasn’t helping the fire crews with hoses or shoving onlookers back, he floated into Gretchen’s tunnel vision to bring her a cup of coffee and a doughnut, or to see if she was all right, or to just squeeze her hand in passing.

For her own part, Gretchen was using her two-day-old power like a master. She blew out small sections of fire near where the hoses sprayed and held the vacuum bubbles for a minute or two until the water within them froze solid. When she released the vacuum, the sections were slower to reignite or even stayed out altogether. She and the firefighters working in tandem had managed to gain ground, and flames no longer threatened to leap to the next building.

Every few minutes, she would open that tunnel once more in the hope that Pony Girl and Lionheart would get out. They’d radioed in more than half an hour ago. Lionheart had sustained injuries from being pinned. He said he could heal given time, but couldn’t leave the building until more of the fire was out. He and an exhausted Faith had holed up in an elevator shaft. They were resting there to conserve their strength should they need to move with urgency. Firefighters had a hose on the spot where they thought the shaft might be in the hopes that they could keep the area from burning and cooking the heroes alive in a steel oven.

So much power usage and stress had left Gretchen feeling like a worn-out, empty shell. Suddenly someone was shaking her. She was lying on the hard ground with her cheek resting on warm, damp pavement.

“Gretchen? Come on, girl, wake up.”

Shane had one of her hands in his and was rubbing her wrist.

She couldn’t quite make her lips work the way they should have. She realized it was because her entire face had gone numb, like when she’d had her wisdom teeth removed. “Wha’ happened?”

“You fainted,” said Shane.

A young firefighter with a bushy mustache checked her pulse. “She’s exhausted,” he said to Shane, and then looked down at Gretchen. “I know you’re a superhero and all, but you’re not going to do anybody any good if you kill yourself. Take a break. You’ve helped out a lot. Let us fight on for awhile.”

Gretchen nodded. The pavement felt at least as comfortable as her bed back in Dyersville. She realized she might never get to return there and a tear squeezed from one eye. Shane flopped down beside her, wiped out as well.

They hadn’t rested for more than a couple minutes when with a rumbling roar, part of the burning building collapsed. Firefighters shouted as they ran to avoid tumbling debris. Gretchen found herself sitting upright, trying to decide how to use her power to help. Flames hissed and crackled amid the pile of debris.

“Pony Girl!” She fumbled for her radio. “Pony Girl? Lionheart? It’s Gret—uh, Extinguisher. Are you okay?”

The radio crackled and then she heard Pony Girl’s voice. “
We’re fine, but a big pile of debris fell beside the shaft. We’re stuck in here at the moment. What happened? It sounded like the building came down on top of us
.”

“That’s, uh, that’s pretty close to what happened. It looks like one whole corner of the building collapsed.”

A firefighter atop one of the ladders yelled down to the one manning the pump at the truck. He turned and called to Gretchen and Shane. “Half the roof’s collapsed. I can see the elevator shaft but there’s no way to get to it now.”

Gretchen relayed that information to Pony Girl.

“
Oh
.” A world of disappointment and fear was conveyed in that single word.

“We’ll keep on fighting the fire,” said Gretchen, knowing how lame it sounded.

“
I know you will. We’ll wait here. It’s not like we can go anywhere else anyway
.”

“Can’t anyone else on Just Cause get you out?”

“
Not really. The only one powerful enough to get to us here and fly us out is in pieces back at headquarters.
”

“Oh,” said Gretchen, crestfallen.

“
Just tell them to keep the water coming. It’s keeping the temperature tolerable in here, and we’re not suffocating from smoke
.”

“I’ll do that. Hey, uh, I wanted to tell you thanks for believing me.”

“
My pleasure, Extinguisher. I’m glad to have met you. No matter what anyone else might say, you’re a good person
.”

“Th-thanks.”

“
Pony Girl, signing off for now. Get this fire out so we can all go home and go to bed.
”

“Okay.”

Shane poked her shoulder. “You’re supposed to say Roger that or over and out or something.”

Gretchen shrugged. “She knows what I meant. I’m not part of this world. Jesus, Shane, I’m just a girl from a small town in Iowa. What am I doing here?”

He squeezed her arm. “I’m glad you are here. Otherwise I never would have met you.”

She smiled through her exhaustion. “Same here.”

She looked up at the burning building. Somewhere deep in its bowels was a woman who’d laid her reputation on the line for her.

She intended to make sure it hadn’t been a wasted effort.

Chapter Nineteen

July 14, 1977, 3:00 AM

“Well, that’s it, I guess,” said Faith. She set her radio onto the roof of the elevator car where it wouldn’t be doused by the water running down the side of the shaft. “We’re stuck.”

Lionheart closed his eyes and leaned back. “Super.” He sounded exhausted.

“How’s your leg?”

He didn’t open his eyes. “It hurts. I think I may have broken something.”

“Dammit, Rick, why didn’t you say something before now?” Faith began to examine his leg, paying close attention to his foot and ankle where the swelling seemed to be the worst.

“Would it have made any difference?” He winced when she moved his foot up.

“I don’t think it’s broken, but you’ve got a bad sprain here. You’re not going to be kicking any training dummies for awhile.”

“I always thought those bastards would get the better of me someday.”

Despite their dire circumstances, she laughed. “I’m sure you’ll be up and at them in no time.”

He opened his eyes. They sparkled like stars in the near darkness of the shaft. “But, doctor, will I ever play the piano again?”

Faith smiled into the darkness. “Of course you will, stupid.”

“You’re a wonderful doctor. I never could play the piano.”

Faith punched him gently in the shoulder. “Wise-ass.”

“Faith, I’m glad you’re here.”

“I’m not, Rick.”

“You know what I mean.” He raised himself up on his elbows.

She slumped down beside him. “Yeah, I do.”

Outside, the sounds of burning intensified as the fire found a new source of fuel. They could hear timbers falling from the roof to crash against the cement floor. Faith could see a faint, flickering orange glow above, where flames tore into the upper level of the building.

“Rick, do you think we’re going to die here?”

“Of course not. We’re superheroes. We die doing heroic things, not baking to death in an elevator shaft.”

She sniffled a little. “I always liked that about you. You can always find a ray of hope even in the darkest moments.”

“I’m an optimist.”

They listened to the sounds of fire and water for a few minutes.

“I’ve had a crush on you for a long time.” She was glad for the near darkness; it made her admission easier when she couldn’t see his face. “I’ve fantasized about, you know, being with you. What it would be like to get you somewhere alone where nobody would ever know. And now here we are and all I can think about is Bobby.”

“I understand, Faith.”

“Do you, Rick? What you don’t know is how guilty I feel. He’s a good man. God, we’ve been together since I was fifteen. I love him so much, but right now I’m thinking of him because if I don’t, I’m going to give in and do something we’ll regret.” She shivered in spite of the heat.

“It’s not any easier for me, having feelings for someone who’s not only married, but married to a good friend as well. It’s hell working alongside you, knowing how much I want to be with you and that I never will.”

Faith realized she could see his face after all. He looked as miserable as she felt. The firelight from above was growing brighter. She could see flames licking at the top of the shaft. Sooner or later, they’d jump to the grease-coated cable, and then the fire could spread downward and throughout the shaft, and they had nowhere to get away from it this time. She leaned her head onto his shoulder. He put his arm around her and they waited for something to happen to them.

“How will we ever get past this? I don’t want to hurt Bobby. I hate that I’m hurting you, Rick. I hate that I’m hurting. It’s not fair.”

“No, it isn’t. I’m sorry. I wish I had an answer for you.” A loud crash made the elevator shake as something big collapsed outside. “But I think the point is probably moot by now.”

“Rick,” she said, but couldn’t find the right words.

His arm tightened around her shoulders. “It’s okay.”

Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. It wasn’t fair. She had so much in her life left undone. She’d wanted children. She’d wanted to see Just Cause grow beyond itself. She’d wanted to retire to Arizona like her mother had.

She wanted to see Bobby again.

“It’s getting hotter in here,” Lionheart said in a soft voice.

She felt so bad for Rick. All these years he’d been in love with her, and here they were going to die together like some couple out of a romantic novel without ever having connected. And even now, when their fate seemed to be sealed, he held back from her—a true gentleman to the end.

But it didn’t have to be that way.

She turned his head with gentle pressure. He could have resisted anyone short of an angry John Stone if he’d chosen to. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Not now.”

She took his leonine head in her hands, twisting her fingers into his soft mane, and breathed in the delightful scent of his musky fur. Her lips found his.

He pulled away. “Faith, are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“My leg,” he whispered. “I don’t know if I can.”

“Hush.”

She covered his mouth with hers, and met him part way.

#

“So where are we going?” Harlan asked the two FBI men as the elevator doors closed, taking him away from Just Cause. He hoped it would be forever. “The Pentagon, maybe?”

“Shut up, kid,” said the agent with the shaved head.

Harlan stood in the dim emergency lighting of the elevator and lost himself in a happy reverie. He’d seen the future in the design of the Steel Soldier. Not only did he understand it, he already saw ways he could improve upon it. With a real, high tech lab and brand new machined parts instead of rebuilt junk, Harlan would become the foremost inventor of his era. His name would be among the likes of Da Vinci and Tesla, Edison and Fulton.

They reached the lobby and the agents shoved him rudely ahead. “All right, all right,” Harlan said.

They took him across the plaza to a parking garage where they located their late model, nondescript sedan by flashlight. The one with the shaved head opened the back door. “Get in,” he ordered. Harlan did and the other agent slipped in after him while the bald one climbed in behind the wheel. He started the car and negotiated it through the confines of the garage. Traffic had finally thinned out as people settled in for a long haul without power.