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Chapter 14
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Diamond Grace stepped out of the cheap hotel with her costume on. She had invited her new lover to come with her as she explored the city and did some good in it. He declined, leaving her to see the heroic life for herself. There had to be something to it if her sister had been enjoying it all this time, even if Diamond Grace disagreed with having these powers.

She walked eastward after settling on a random direction. She tried to push thoughts of her sister and their powers out of her mind. Today was going to be about doing some good. That was what she told herself.

Then she wondered how so many heroes around this massive city managed to be in the right place at the right time.

Being frisked as a man had been uncomfortable enough. This was Mary’s first time being patted down as a woman, and suddenly she understood the dangers and concerns more than she’d ever thought she would be aware.

The cane and parasol were checked, presumably, for any sign of blades or ammunition. When one of the men checking them out turned again to Mary, she promised silently to herself that if they patted her down one more time then she was beating these men to a bloody pulp.

However, they only handed her back her parasol, and Walter his cane, before the two of them were guided to an outdoor table where a single man in a tailored suit was sitting and relaxing, if looking displeased with the world was by any means relaxing.

Maryann and Walter sat on the side opposite to the man without waiting for him to say anything.

“Please, be seated,” said Vanni Rivanno. “Well? I don’t mind a good lunch, but I have better things to do than find myself at anyone’s beck and call.”

“Beck and call?” Mary said. “I somehow doubt it was that easy.”

“Indeed. Someone put a stranglehold on a few of my assets, with a message attached. It said to meet here at one, sharp, or find my assets in worse stock. I do not take kindly to threats, especially not when a rival family is on the rise. They need to be quashed, along with their new muscle that’s in town. The Banker, he’s called. You might find it beneficial to go after their lot rather than pester me.”

Walter said, “No, I think we have the right person before us now. This family you wish to be dealt with is no mob family, no opposition to be dealt with. They are merely a legitimate business trying to get off the ground.”

“I have heard this tune before. My father heard it before me; he invented this ruse.”

“Let me assure you that it is no ruse. Your only competition is your shadow, and whatever wet spots you leave in the bed at night while you cozy up next to—“

Vanni pounded the table with a fist. “I do not . . . ! Do not insult me. I have had bigger men removed for less.”

“For being bigger than you, certainly.”

Mary held in a sigh as Walter continued to provoke the mob boss whose territory covered from Founder’s Creek to Steel Canyon, despite the law’s best efforts or villainy’s greatest examples of harassment. Vanni was fuming now.

Judy shot out of the computer, hoping to get her trajectory right. She hadn’t done anything like this in too long. For a brief moment, she felt fully alive.

She collided immediately with one of the three thugs, bringing as much juice as she could in that tackle. Then, the world spun, and she was too tired. She heard a gun being aimed nearby, possibly at her, but her senses wavering. She grasped at her chest.

No, the necklace was gone. Where was it?

There was shouting, and then a grunt, before one man fell. Judy focused on the world before her, focused on staying awake with deep breaths, and saw Ohm Wire strike down the third thug.

Ohm Wire ran to Judy and the other woman. “Take my hands, both of you. Let’s go.”

With the help she got from her friend, Judy sprinted awkwardly to the front door while the thugs worked to get up again. She heard a gunshot, but all three women made it out of the building. The civilian they helped ran the rest of the way into the safety of the police and another hero who had arrived. Ohm Wire guided Judy off to the side.

“Here,” Ohm Wire said, handing Judy the necklace and the phone.

Judy slipped the necklace back on. The whole world around her felt lighter. The light was less blinding or nauseating. It was like she could suddenly remember where she was, and that there was a thing called breath.

“Look out!” Ohm Wire cried out, and she grabbed Judy with enough force that they tumbled past the legs of the gorilla balloon.

There were a number of gunshots. Judy was too busy between her vertigo and trying to hang on to her necklace and phone so that they didn’t fall again, so she wasn’t sure exactly how many shots there were.

When the other hero on the scene took down the gunman, Judy looked up to find that the balloon had come loose due to the thug’s poor aim. She jumped up to catch it just to keep it from flying away; there was no telling where it would have landed otherwise.

Her slim body wasn’t enough to weigh it down. How much air did they put in this thing? She felt someone grab onto her legs. Judy looked down to find Ohm Wire. Then she heard a car screeching, or something similar that was larger.

Everyone below was running out of the way, and for good reason. An unloaded rig was swerving around the next corner. It was moving fast, and the balloon was almost on top of it.

When the smoke cleared War Lagoon found that the enormous fang was gone and that the abominations were no longer in his immediate surroundings. He turned to find the dozen of them huddled in the far side of the chamber, without any sign of glowing or movement. The dust that covered them looks more like ash, and their outfits were torn.

Back at where the fang used to be, Mortar Mage stood up coughing and dusting himself off.

“Crap,” Mortar said. “Not good, not good, not good!”

Arcane energy lit his feet again, and Mortar took off flying through an opening in the ceiling that War Lagoon was just now processing inside his head. War tried calling after his friend, but he knew it was useless.

War Lagoon took another good look at the sad state of this chamber.

“That’s just great.”

Mortar Mage flew as fast as he could. He pushed harder and harder still. He had to catch that crystal beacon before it hit someone, or something, and did irreversible damage. He wished he was right about the crystals all being lifeless earlier. He wished that this white object flying into Paragon had gone with the temple’s previous owners.

Wishing wasn’t going to get him anywhere.

He grabbed the beacon and pulled himself forward until his rear end touched down on the object. Mortar saw that the numerous skyscrapers of Talos were dangerously close. It was time to go to work bringing this thing down safely while also studying it if time allowed.

So many thoughts and ideas entered his mind. It was hard not to feel giddy like a schoolboy upon a toy horse, but now was not the time.

Oh, who was he kidding?

Doctor Wyatt Brooke stood by his patient, age eleven, who was refusing to accept the shot that needed to be administered, by order of the kid’s parents and school alike. Wyatt didn’t blame the kid. Who in the right mind liked being penetrated by a needle?
It was a simple flu shot. Wyatt had to give countless numbers of these every year around this time, and some patients were more resistant to the idea than others. This young boy crossed his arms, and refused to even be entertained by his once-favorite, now-traitorous doctor, no matter what tricks Wyatt utilized.

Wyatt had more tricks, but it was starting to look like he might have to use the one. He refused to use his power on children if he could help it.

Right then, as Wyatt was beginning another attempt at winning the boy’s heart over again, he felt Warren’s mental presence. It was moving fast, it was enjoying itself, and it was right outside the window.

A streak of pearly white, and something red and small on top, passed the corner of Wyatt’s eye. Wyatt’s patient, who was staring grumpily out the window suddenly let his mouth and arms drop.

It was now or never.

Perhaps it would be easier to make the kid think he won, and that his arm felt a little funny by sheer coincidence. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Wyatt resisted the urge to smile and shake his head at his friend who had passed by the hospital.

Judy and Ohm Wire managed to fling themselves onto the gorilla balloon’s back before it collided with the side of the passing truck. The inflated beast waved in the air for a moment and steadied. Judy thought they were in the clear to land safely on the other side until the balloon yanked backward and flipped around.
Both girls fell onto the truck while the balloon slipped away and stuck to the rear, with the faux gorilla’s front facing the vehicle and its arms in the air like it had been designed to be furious or amped up at all times.

She grimaced and looked forward. There were a hero and villain back here who had been in the middle of a fist fight when they got temporarily distracted by the balloon and the girls. Both men resumed their fighting, and the truck swerved again. The girls held on to their limited footing as it did.

Ohm Wire said, “Why aren’t we stopping?”

The supposed hero said in a German accent, “The brakes are busted, and there’s a bomb!”

“Get out?”

“Nobody’s stopping me this time,” the villain said.

Something roared in the sky above. It sounded unlike any jet, or even any alien craft, that Judy heard before in her lives. Yet it seemed to be coming closer and closer as if on a collision course with the truck.

“I don’t like the sound of that,” she said. The heroine fell forward out of instinct to get out of the way, and then the phone she carried rang. “Or that.”

Another costumed person boarded the vehicle. The older woman pointed. “Ohm Wire! Prepare to meet your doom!”