Supervillainess (Part One) (18 page)

“They were only in danger because of me!” He
lifted the form and ripped it into pieces then held it out to her.
“You have made my life a living hell, Keladry. It stops now.
Withdraw the application or I will.”

She accepted it. A flare of defiance was in
her eyes. “No. I won’t withdraw it, and you wouldn’t know who to
talk to in order to do it yourself.”

“Why are you doing this? Why does your
family keep interfering in my life?” he demanded.

“I. Admire. You.” The statement was hostile
and short, as if she despised him for forcing her to say it.

Kimber’s eyebrows went up. “You torture me,
because you admire me?”

“If I were torturing you, you’d be in the
dungeon of my lair,” she pointed out. “This protects you against my
father and brother.” She lifted the application. Keladry looked
away, and it was then Kimber noticed her discomfort, bordering on
uncertainty.

“You have been protecting me in your own
way,” he said slowly, circling a new instinct. “I can never condone
the body count or your methods, but you … uh, try, I guess. You
helped the residents of my apartment building, didn’t you?”

“Help
is a strong word,” she objected.

“And you did it because I suggested it,” he
said, ignoring her. “Were you also the one who texted me to
evacuate the ER?”

Keladry shrugged.

“And now this.” He motioned
to the superhero application. A strange sense was floating through
him, a combination of surprise and disbelief. “You did these things
for
me
, didn’t
you?”

“I don’t know why I did them.”

He waited for more. She supplied no other
explanation.

The two of them scrutinized one another, the
tension between them more charged than before. Kimber didn’t know
what to think or why it surprised him to the extent it did when he
considered there was a part of the supervillainess-in-training that
seemed very good.

“I keep the pills as a reminder of what I
never again want to become,” he said finally in the heavy silence.
“Every day, I’m tempted by them, and every day, I remember how it
felt to tear my life apart and not be able to stop myself from
doing it.” The truth was difficult to admit, and he waited for her
reaction.

Keladry listened, head tilted, as if she
were attempting to use her alleged superpower. “I had a chance to
kill my brother and couldn’t do it,” she said. “But I did blow up
his nuclear arsenal and forty of his special force ninjas.”

A smile tugged up the corner of Kimber’s
lips. Beneath her black outfits and murderous tendencies, Keladry
was a woman as damaged and vulnerable to her world as he was to
his. More importantly, she was trying to relate to him in her own
unique, twisted way.

Rather than react as he had before, whenever
she said something distinctly villainous, he chose his words
carefully. “We’ve both been through a lot. But I don’t think I’m
meant to be a superhero, as much as I appreciate your faith in
me.”

“Your father was one,” she replied. “Maybe
it runs in your family.”

“He told my stepmother to ask me about you
the other day,” Kimber said with a shake of his head.

Keladry’s smile was mischievous. “I gave him
a pass, since I was too weak to murder him. Next time, though, he
won’t be as lucky. Warn him accordingly.”

“I don’t know what happened on that roof. I
mean this with what respect I can muster, but I don’t want you
anywhere near him ever again.”

“Just doing my job as a supervillain.”

Silence fell once more.
Kimber’s newfound insight left his mind racing as he tried to put
together a picture of who Keladry really was. Igor seemed to think
she was a
good
supervillain. Although she had just admitted to murdering
another forty people, Kimber found himself more interested in the
idea she couldn’t hurt her brother. She was capable of love in some
regard.

How could anyone be such an enigma?

Or was he finally drinking the Sand City
Kool-Aid and becoming infatuated with a certain
supervillainess-in-training?

Keladry’s phone buzzed, ending the long
moment where they looked too long at one another. She checked it
quickly.

“I’d avoid the bar district tonight,” she
advised.

When she slid into villain mode, Kimber
became uncomfortable. “Have you considered a different approach?
One that doesn’t involve hurting so many people?”

“Don’t need to. It’s not like there’s a
superhero in town who will stop me.” She winked and tucked the
phone away. “Besides, it’s Tuesday night. Collateral damage will be
minimal.”

Someone needed to stop her
and her family.
That’s not me,
he thought.
I’m no
hero.

Was this the same denial
that went through the heads of the other millions of people in the
metro area? Someone should do something –
but not me
? Was this how the entire
city ended up in the stranglehold of the Savages?

“If there were a superhero in town, wouldn’t
that make you enemies with him or her?” he asked.

“Mortal
enemies, sworn to take each other
down.”

“And you want me to become that person?” he
asked.

“I don’t know.” A flicker of genuine
confusion crossed her features. “See ya around, Doc.” She breezed
by him to the door.

“If Igor is still stalking me, tell him to
stop,” he said firmly.

“Nope.” She strode out.

Kimber remained where he was. For a tiny
moment, he had believed he had a grip on who she was and what their
tepid relationship status was. Not quite friends – but potential to
become something. When he took a larger view of the situation, he
grew perplexed once more. She was acting in contradictory ways,
protecting him now only to try to destroy him if his application
was approved.

Not that it would be. Even if it were, he’d
refuse such a position. He was too flawed, too undeserving, to be
the kind of superheroes he saw in movies.

She had murdered forty eight people that he
knew of and was getting ready to wreak havoc in the bar district.
Why the fuck was he considering their friendship potential, when it
was clear she was every bit the supervillainess she wanted to
be?

He stood, disturbed by the duality of his
own thoughts. No amount of collateral damage was acceptable in his
mind, but … was he really the only person in Sand City willing to
talk some sense into her or stop her from hurting anyone?

No. I’m not that guy.

Except there was no one else willing to step
forward.

Doubt and anger raged a silent war within
his mind, and he allowed himself to dwell on the possibility
Keladry had been correct about his pity party. He pulled on a
sweatshirt and dug his phone from his backpack. Kimber found
himself reaching for the doorknob to his room, walking down the
hall, and – with some awkwardness – asking Gary for a pair of shoes
and to take him to the bar district.

He went through the motions, telling himself
he wasn’t going to be a hero and then countering his own argument
with the fact no one else could save the lives of those Keladry
endangered this night. Either he stopped her now or treated those
she hurt later. He was already involved in the outcome of
tonight.

But he fought his immediate destiny, arguing
with himself all the way across town.

Keladry had helped others because he told
her to. What if he showed her a different path, one that didn’t
involve mass murdering and destroying the city in order to take
over the mafia her father ran? She had listened once. Would she
listen again?

What if she didn’t?

What if she
did
? Was her submission
of the superhero application on his behalf was a quiet cry for
help? Acknowledgement the city needed saved?

It was this idea, that Keladry had more
potential to be good than he initially thought, that finally
conquered his doubt.

“Just drop you off anywhere or …”

Gary’s question pulled Kimber from his
thoughts. He glanced out the window and recognized Tapirs as they
drove by.

“Yeah, anywhere. Then you get as far from
this place as possible,” he said.

“You want me to pick you up later?”

“I’ll call you,” Kimber replied.

Gary’s look was inquisitive. Kimber wasn’t
about to tell him what he was doing. He smiled tersely and got out
of the car.

Gary pulled away.

Kimber tugged the hood of the borrowed
sweatshirt over his head and gazed up and down the street,
uncertain what part of the strip Keladry was targeting. It was a
quiet night. None of the bars and restaurants had lines of
customers or crowded entrances. Even so, he estimated there were
two to three hundred people present along the block.

That Keladry considered this minimal
collateral damage left him questioning himself anew. The bitch was
crazy enough to blow up the street.

“What’re you doing here, Kimber?” he asked
himself. “You’re no hero.”

He was debating what to do, and how to find
her, when a sleek, black car pulled up in front of him and
stopped.

Igor got out. “Doc, you can’t be here
tonight,” he called.

Here I go.
Kimber drew a deep breath. “Where’s Keladry?” he
asked.

“Boss is busy. She wants you gone from
here.”

“Remind her she’s not my boss,” Kimber
replied, irritated. “And I’m not leaving. She’ll have to blow up
the block with me here.”

Igor leaned down to grab a radio from his
car. He spoke quietly into it. Before he could convey what Kimber
suspected was another of Keladry’s orders, a second car – a silver
Aston Martin – pulled up behind Igor’s.

The protective nanny yanked out his weapon
without hesitation.

“Whoa, big guy,” Jermaine said, stepping out
of the driver’s side. “I’m here to talk. Good ole daddy wants the
doc alive for now.”

Kimber’s brow furrowed. He glanced at Igor,
who hadn’t moved or lowered the weapon. “You should’ve thought of
that yesterday when you tried to blow me up in the ER,” he
snapped.

“I figured you’d escape. You have a knack
for surviving,” Jermaine replied with a smile. “I’m here to offer
you a deal, Doc.”

“What could you possibly have to offer me?”
Kimber replied.

“I’ll drop you off at the city limits,
unharmed, if you reveal the reason behind why you moved here to
Sand City.”

Kimber’s brow furrowed. “That’s a pretty
specific question, one your father already asked me,” he said. “It
wasn’t to become a superhero, if that’s what you think.”

“Then what’re you doing here tonight? You
aren’t exactly dressed for a dining experience,” Jermaine said
dryly.

“It’s not your concern, Jermaine.”

“Thunder,” the savage twin corrected
him.

Kimber rolled his eyes. “What do you
want?”

“My deal. Will you take it?” Jermaine
asked.

“Why does it matter why I moved here?”

Jermaine glanced at Igor, who was frowning
fiercely, his gun arm still raised and his other hand clenching the
radio. “What do you know of our games, Doc?”

“More than I’d like to. You and your sister
are competing to become your father’s successor by destroying the
city and hurting innocent people.”

“Yes, but there’s more. Our father sends us
tasks to complete, and whichever sibling completes the task first,
wins that round. The game then advances to the next level.”

“Reader forbids you from speaking of this,”
Igor said flatly to Jermaine.

“I don’t see her around.” Jermaine flung out
his arms. “Tell her if she has something to say to me, to bring her
ass here and not talk through a puppet! We’re both disarmed by the
doctor so long as we stand within fifteen feet of him.”

“She’s on her way.”

“Good.” Jermaine returned his attention to
Kimber. “Look, Doc, it’s in your best interest to leave town and
it’s the only way you’ll outlive our games. It’s not like you have
a place to live or work here anyway.”

The reminder stung, but rather than feel
remotely swayed by Jermaine, Kimber grew angrier, as he had the
first time he confronted Keladry’s twin.

“Five million people in Sand City, and I’m
the only one willing to tell you to go fuck yourself,” he said.

Jermaine scowled. “Publicly, might I add.
I’ve been watching the fucking video one of the patients in the ER
posted on YouTube. I’m not at all happy with you, Doc.”

“I don’t give a shit. If anyone is thrown
out of the city, it should be you and the rest of your family.”

“He’s stalling!” Reader said, striding out
of an alley nearby. Her eyes were fiery, her form tense. “Thanks to
you, Doc, I’m going to miss this opportunity to dispose of my
brother’s backup ammo depo beneath the street!”

“If it saves the lives of everyone on the
block, I’m okay with that,” Kimber replied.

Reader’s glare left him and settled on her
brother. Her jaw clenched. “I already won this round, asshole.”

“Oh?” Jermaine asked with faux innocence. “I
hadn’t heard. Does the doctor know what the task was?”

“I don’t care.” Kimber folded his arms
across his chest.

“Father told us to find out why you left
Chicago, using any means necessary, short of death,” Jermaine
ignored him. “I planned to torture you, but I hear my sister found
a more creative route.”

“What …” The superhero application. Kimber
looked at Keladry, and it dawned on him she’d been toying with him
earlier. Their alleged connection, her warning about avoiding the
bar district tonight, her claim to want to protect him … did she
manipulate him, so she could win some stupid game? “You told your
family why I left Chicago?”