Playing For Keeps Read online

  They sat panting. Barry groaned. “Did we win?”

  “I think so…” Keepsie said.

  Colette stashed her knife. “How were you able to hit him?”

  Keepsie got to her feet, stashing the ball in her pocket. “No idea. Maybe we just overwhelmed him.”

  Tomas looked at the brightening cityscape as the girl flew toward them. “I think we should get out of here as soon as possible. You go inside, I will watch Clever Jack in case he wakes.”

  “Right,” Keepsie said. She approached the hole in the side of the hill, Doodad floating behind her.

  Barry came up behind her. “An honest to God villain lair. I can’t believe this is so close to the Academy.”

  Keepsie nodded, climbing inside the hill. “You’d think they’d want to be as far away as possible.”

  Colette grunted as she followed them. “Not necessarily. The Academy has secrets they want. Like that drug. Which I’d like to take a look at when we get a chance.”

  “Sure,” Keepsie said, brushing the floating Doodad out of her friends’ way.

  Colette stopped at the doorway to a room littered with metallic parts. “Go ahead, Keepsie. I’ll catch up.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Their friends called from within. Keepsie ran down the dirt hall, deeper into the hill, until they found Peter’s cell.

  Peter, Michelle, Alex and the Librarian waved at them from a cell.

  Keepsie hugged Michelle uncomfortably through the bars. “Are you guys OK?”

  “Yeah. Alex healed what he could,” Peter said. “What’s going on up there?”

  “Stan’s hitting the city with earthquakes,” Keepsie said. “The heroes haven’t taken down that glowing girl yet and she’s on her way here, the heroes behind her.”

  The Librarian clapped her hand to her mouth. “Light of Mornings. They haven’t been able to cage Light of Mornings yet, and now it sounds like she’s awake.”

  Peter glared at the woman. “So now will you tell us who she is?”

  The Librarian didn’t look at him. “She emanates nuclear radiation. She has been artificially asleep in a special cell of the Academy since her teenage years when she became too difficult to control.”

  “And let me guess,” Keepsie said, her shoulders slumping. “She and Clever Jack were best friends.”

  20

  Keepsie looked different. Peter couldn’t put his finger on it, but it was beyond the physical injuries she’d gotten in the past twenty-four or so hours. She listened to the Librarian with a clear, concerned look on her face.

  Light of Mornings had been born two years after Clever Jack and Doodad, in the Academy’s third round of successful hero creation. She had glowed from birth, and the scientists who engineered her thought her power was merely one of light. Useful, but no more exciting than Third or First Wave.

  Her mother died soon after childbirth. The autopsy revealed radiation sickness. Light of Mornings, her given name Olivia, was quarantined until she could be taught to control her powers.

  She learned to control the radiation when she was around four, but it still burst forth in times of high emotion. She was trusted to be around her peers when she was 12, interacting with the other children of the Academy for the first time.

  “Whoa, that must have been really tough for her, since she’d been isolated and all,” said Michelle.

  The Librarian nodded and continued with her story.

  Clever Jack, Doodad, Tattoo Devil and Heretic made fast friends with Light of Mornings. She was uncomfortable around the other kids, who were learning their strength, speed or flight powers. Clever Jack and Doodad hadn’t begun to exhibit any signs of delinquency at this point.

  Keepsie exchanged a look with Peter and he flushed. Stop it. You’re thirty-four years old.

  It was Light of Mornings who caused Clever Jack and Doodad to turn “the way of Seismic Stan.” Delighted with her new friends, Light of Mornings would try to focus her power to melt metal, and with Doodad’s help, they sent molten, dripping mechs to follow instructors down the hall. One was burned badly from the hot metal and they got their first detention.

  Tattoo Devil had even experimented with her, having her burn a design on his skin to see if his power would work on the burn as it did on the ink, but it merely scarred his shoulder.

  Each time she was put in detention with a co-conspirator, she was warned that she would be isolated again if she misused her powers. Her friendship with Clever Jack made it more and more difficult for the scientists to catch her, and only the telltale radiation burns indicated that she’d been causing damage again.

  Then the incident happened. The Librarian refused to say what had happened, only that it caused the scientists to research and develop a sleep chamber to contain Light of Mornings. Clever Jack and Doodad had escaped after the incident, and Tattoo Devil and Heretic had been left behind, shocked and submissive to their instructors.

  “The fact that she is now flying means her powers have evolved while she slept, and there’s no telling how strong she is now,” The Librarian said.

  “Does anyone else feel like they just want to stay down here until this all plays out?” asked Barry hopefully.

  Keepsie shook her head. “We have to stop them. First Stan, then the most powerful supervillain released, man, I’m having a productive day.”

  Colette came down the hall, looking preoccupied. “Everyone OK here?”

  “I think the first order of business is getting us out of this cell,” Peter said. He ran his hands up and down the bars. They showed none of the fluidity that they exhibited when Doodad commanded them.

  The Librarian piped up. “Doodad’s power allows him to manipulate machinery. It’s likely only opened by his power alone.”

  Tomas got behind the immobile Doodad and placed his hands around his neck. “Keepsie, you can release him, and if he doesn’t let our friends out, I can crush his throat.”

  Peter held his breath as Keepsie stared at Doodad. “We’re letting you go, then you will let them out. Tomas is serious. He’s from Norway. They don’t fuck around.”

  “What does that have to do—” Michelle whispered to Peter, but he shushed her.

  In a moment Doodad was freed. He snarled at Keepsie, but Tomas tightened his grip. Tomas was one of the few men who could match Doodad’s size and girth, and he looked quite comfortable with the villain’s neck in his hand.

  Doodad didn’t move, but the machinery inside the bars whirred again and they parted wide enough for the captives to get out.

  “I knew we could make friends,” Keepsie said. To the others, she said, “Let’s go.”

  As they walked up the corridor, Tomas behind Doodad, Peter asked Keepsie, “Are you OK?”

  “No. But I’m better,” she said, grinning. “I got you guys out, didn’t I?”

  He stiffened as she wrapped her arm around his waist briefly and gave him a half-hug. “I’m sorry about all the shit earlier. I was kind of overwhelmed.”

  “Right,” he managed to say.

  She peered up at him. “You still mad?”

  “Uh, no, it’s just been a stressful sort of day, that’s all. Thanks for the cavalry.”

  She dropped her eyes. “All of this—all of it—is my fault. I’m trying to fix what I can. But the thing that’s bugging me is, where is Ian? He wasn’t with Clever Jack and Doodad.”

  Peter blinked. “I have no idea. We haven’t seen him.”

  He put his hand on her shoulder. “Keepsie.” They stopped and the others moved on ahead.

  She looked up at him, unhappiness scrawled across her face. With every fiber in his being telling him to kiss her, he squeezed her shoulder briefly and said, “We, ah, need to talk about your power. In the middle of all this excitement, I have discovered some new, well, aspects of my talents that I was previously unaware of. And through those talents I found out some things you need to know.”

  She stared at him blankly and stopped walking. “What are y
ou talking about?”

  “We can’t talk in front of The Librarian, but we need to discuss this soon.”

  She nodded and ran her hand through her hair. “Let’s go, we need to figure out what to do about that nuclear chick.”

  Peter followed her up the corridor toward the glowing light.

  * * * * *

  “So what’s going on?” Keepsie asked as she reached the group clustered around the opening of the hill.

  As her friends shielded their eyes, The Librarian spoke in her monotone, cataloguing every person battling outside.

  “—of Mornings, who has apparently gained the power of flight along with her other nuclear capabilities. White Lightning, with superstrength, flight, and command of lightning. The Crane, with flight and the ability to stretch his limbs.”

  She continued her monologue as the group stared in horror. Light of Mornings still looked groggy, but hovered with a golden force field surrounding her. The air was filled with the cracklings and booms of White Lightning’s attacks, but the heroes looked much the worse for wear, with burns showing up bright on their skin, and Light of Mornings looking groggy but unharmed.

  “Oh lord,” Peter said. “They’re using children.”

  Terrified looking teenagers, heroes that Peter had never seen before, children he now knew were born and raised within the Academy, had joined the fight. Children with powers that seemed more likely to fizzle out than actually do damage to a villain. One teen had encased his entire body in ice and had approached the force field, fashioning a drill from ice sticking off the end of his hand. He tried to drill into her force field, but the ice melted before it could even touch it. Another had turned herself into a massive crane with a wrecking ball and was clanging the ball off the force field.

  “This is too big for us,” Peter said. “I think we should probably get to safety and let them duke it out.”

  “No, I’m responsible and I’m going to—” Keepsie said, but Peter interrupted her.

  “Keepsie. Can you figure out how to fight a bomb? Because that’s what she is. A confused nuclear bomb who is on Clever Jack’s side. We’re probably already getting heavy doses of radiation at this proximity!”

  Keepsie opened her mouth, then closed it and nodded. “Let’s head to my apartment, it’s closest.”

  “I am not sure if close to the battle is the safest place to be,” Peter said.

  “Then what? The bar? We don’t know where Ian and Seismic Stan are. Should we just hit the road and out of town?” Keepsie asked.

  “No, no, don’t do that—oh no,” Barry moaned. He watched White Lightning leap to the street where Colette’s car was parked. He hefted it over his head and threw it toward Light of Mornings.

  “Our ride?” Alex asked, and Barry nodded as the car bounced off the force field and flew back towards White Lightning. He flew up out of the way and it hit the street with a crunch.

  Colette’s eyes bulged. “You could throw it but not catch it, you overpowered cocksucker?”

  The car slid across the street, kicking up sparks, and crashed into the side of Keepsie’s building.

  “Shit. Colette’s car and my apartment,” Keepsie said.

  Gas dribbled from a punctured tank. Peter wondered when it would explode. They always exploded on television.

  Peter ticked off the options on his fingers. “We definitely can’t go to your apartment, now we definitely can’t get out of town, so I guess all that’s left is the bar.”

  “But what about Seismic Stan?” Keepsie asked.

  A rumble, very close by, answered her, and a tidal wave of dirt rose up from the park and flowed toward the heroes.

  Keepsie shoved them out of the hill. “All right, it’s settled, back to the bar.”

  Michelle pointed to The Librarian. “What about her?”

  “She’s worse in a fight than we are,” Peter said. “We should take her with us.”

  Keepsie grimaced. “That’s like inviting the perfect spy into our group.”

  Peter shook his head. “No, Ghostheart was the perfect spy.” Keepsie cocked her head to the side. “Her power was lying. Anyone believes any lie she tells.”

  “Ohhhh...” Keepsie said.

  “Exactly,” Peter said. “But we should tell the others.”

  “All right, people, we’re going to have to run. Is everyone up for it?” Keepsie asked.

  They climbed out of the hill, keeping an eye on the battle.

  Tomas cleared his throat. “What about him?” Doodad glared silently at them all.

  Keepsie grinned in a way that made Peter’s neck hairs rise.

  “Let him go,” she said.

  “Keepsie, is that the best—” Peter began, but Tomas had already released his hostage.

  Keepsie’s grin widened further when Doodad made a lunge for the ball she held out in her hand.

  “You’re not as smart as you’d like us to believe,” Keepsie said to the again-frozen Doodad.

  “How did you know what he would do?” Peter asked breathlessly.

  “I know how people are about their things. He just forgot that it’s mine again.”

  “So, ah, shall we go?” Peter asked.

  They nodded. Everyone but Barry. In the glaring light he looked far older than middle age, and Peter was very aware of a large gut hanging over his detachable legs.

  He chuckled. “Run? To the bar? I’ve run to bars before, but not in the past fifteen years.”

  Another car ricocheted off the force field and hit the hill above them. They cringed back from the wreckage that fell in front of them. Wheels and other debris popped off, littering the park.

  Michelle set her jaw. “Barry. How much do you weigh?”

  “Ah, that’s a personal question,” he said uncomfortably.

  “If you don’t want to run, you’ll have to be carried. I’ve never carried more than three hundred pounds. Are you over three hundred?”

  Barry stared at her.

  “You’re brilliant, Michelle!” Peter said. He scouted around and spied a car door lying not too far from them. “There, will that door work?”

  She nodded and made sure the coast was clear. The door settled easily into her shoulder and she trotted back over to the hill.

  “All right, Barry, hop on.”

  “You’re kidding. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Dammit, Barry, either stay and die of radiation or worse, or run and die of a heart attack, or let her carry you!” Keepsie said.

  “Fine, all right, but you owe me a beer.”

  “If we get to the bar safely, I’ll owe you a keg. Let’s go.”

  Berry reached down and removed his right leg. Michelle crouched down so he could climb onto the car door, and then he removed his other leg.

  “Are you all right, Michelle?” Peter asked.

  She nodded. Barry might as well have been made of Styrofoam for all the effort she was putting into holding him.

  Keepsie turned to The Librarian, who had stopped her constant monologue to stare at Michelle.

  “Are you coming with us?” Keepsie asked.

  The Librarian looked out to the heroes still trying to penetrate Light of Morning’s shield, then nodded. “I am of no use here.”

  “All right. Keep track of the person in front of you. If someone falls behind, help them.” Keepsie said.

  “And the person at the end of the line?” Peter asked.

  “That’ll be us, I’ll watch you if you watch me,” she said.

  “Deal,” he said, and they ran.

  Michelle carried Barry in the lead, her long legs easily outdistancing Alex. The Librarian and Tomas were next, he lumbering along and she tottering on her heels. Colette kept pace with them, running faster than her bulk suggested she could. Keepsie and Peter slowed their pace to keep the three in front of them.

  The heroes continued their battle not one hundred yards away, trying to break Light of Morning’s force field, and seemed not to notice them. Tattoo Devil
screamed as a pterodactyl was birthed from his shoulder blades. It flew over Inert, the kid who could knock people out with a touch, and picked him up by the shoulders. The sidekick winced as the beast’s talons cut into his shoulders. The pterodactyl flew over the massive golden sphere and dropped him. He readied himself to land on the top of the field, but Light of Mornings looked up, her eyes flashing golden, and she focused for the first time since Peter had seen her. As Inert fell towards her, she allowed a small hole in her force field to open.

  It was over too quickly for Peter to register quickly what had happened. The hero fell through her force field, and as he entered it, he reached out to touch her, but there was a blinding flash as if the force field had become something made entirely of light. The small sun flared and everyone hid their eyes. Peter stopped when the flash subsided.

  Inert had fallen straight through the force field and through the bottom. He lay in the grass, a charred husk. The corpse was badly burned, hair, clothing and eyelids missing.

  “Oh God,” Peter said. Keepsie had stopped running and was dashing back to him, Doodad trailing silently behind her.

  The ground rumbled again and Keepsie clutched at Peter to keep from falling. Lightning struck and they clapped their hands over their abused ears. The rumble abruptly died.

  “I think that might be the end of Seismic Stan,” Peter said.

  “Time to go, babe, like you said, we can’t fight her.” Keepsie grabbed his arm and pulled and they ran on, ducking into the trees and leaving the blinding battle behind them.

  “You know,” Peter said, starting to pant a little. “I didn’t see Ian with the villains. Did you?”

  “No, I was hoping you had,” Keepsie said, looking around. As they increased the distance between themselves and the park, the darkness became more of the norm.

  “I figured he’d be there with the fight,” Keepsie said.

  “Actually, I didn’t see Clever Jack when we came out of the hill, either. This is not promising.”

  “Peter, none of this is promising. Come on, let’s try to catch up,” she said and increased her pace.