Overpowered (Powered Trilogy #2) (9 page)

Black T-shirt guy just stands next to his heathen brethren, mouth slightly agape and eyes focused on Crimson’s cleavage. I swallow, thankful that no one’s checking me out. Crimson isn’t affected by it. If anything, she likes the attention. “Hold out your hands,” she tells the guy. He actually does it, holding up his bloody arms without taking his eyes off her. She snaps a pair of handcuffs over his wrists. “Katia,” she calls out toward the two Heroes who just arrived. “A little help? Maci, you check on Nyx.” She tosses a few pairs of handcuffs and Katia catches them, although I notice her belt is already equipped with several pairs of Retriever hooks. They all came prepared for the Mayday call. I didn’t.

Swallowing my shame, I head toward Nyx. I move slowly because I’d like to think of something better to do than help someone who will be fully healed in just a few seconds. A few of the human men grumble and groan at the idea of being handcuffed, but their leader lets out a snort of laughter and tells them to hold tight.

“I know who you are,” the handcuffed guy says, watching Crimson move from guy to guy with her cuffs. “Hero Crimson. Saving the world with those skimpy costumes.”

Katia slaps a pair of cuffs on a short but stocky man. “They’re not costumes,” she snaps.

He ignores her, licking his lips as Crimson brushes past him after having used up all of her handcuffs. She meets his disturbingly admiring sneer with a cocky look of her own. “Unless you want to tell me what happened here, you can shut up now.”

He spits a mouthful of blood onto the dirt near his feet. “I got pictures of you on my computer. They’re damn sexy.”

“Really?” she coos. “You can use a
computer
. Let me tell you how impressed I am by telling you once more to shut up.”

He cracks his neck and stands to his full height. “Bitch.”

Uh oh. This will be good.

Just as I get excited about the idea of seeing one of Crimson’s famous verbal smack downs, the man lifts his hands and snaps them apart, breaking the steel handcuffs as if they were paper
mache. He shoves his hands into his pockets. Crimson lands a boot right in his chest in a blow that should knock him to the ground. He falls backwards only to pull his hands out of his pockets just in time to catch the ground and bounce right back up.

The fight ensues between the Heroes and a couple of the humans who are also strong enough to break their restraints. I know better than to engage at the moment since my Hero status is probationary.

Nyx’s back rises and falls as he crouches on the ground. I kneel next to him, only finally peeling my eyes away from Crimson’s exchange with the human to look at him when my hand touches his back. His power levels are normal. He’s completely fine. The reason he’s crouched on the ground is not because of his own injuries.

His borrowed K-9 lies sprawled out on the grass beneath Nyx’s body. Nyx’s fingers clutch around the dog’s neck, holding the crimson stained fur tightly, trying to stop the outpour blood. I know he knows the truth but he’s refusing to accept it.

The dog is dead.

Rage pulses through my body.

I spin around and attack the first human I see. There’s a kick. My mouth fills with the coppery taste of blood. Here’s the funny thing: it actually hurts. This man can’t possibly be a human; humans are not strong. Even with dedicated strength training, humans are weak. If I hadn’t seen firsthand what happens when a Super and human breed, I would have suspected that he was some kind of half-Super himself, but with the knowledge that humans don’t survive Super genes, I don’t have an explanation for what is in front of me.

Crimson and I take turns railing on him, a punch to the eye,
a kick in the groin. It may be a low blow, but he deserves it. He doesn’t even flinch, so I do it again, ramming my knee into his abdomen while digging my thumbs in between his ribs.

He groans, twists and kicks Crimson in the jaw, sending bits of her broken teeth flying through the air.

I don’t know if it’s the protectiveness I feel over my best friend, or a vain desire to preserve my own dental records, but I completely lose my shit.

The T-shirt wearing prick rears back his fist, aiming straight for me. The only s
ound I hear is the click of my retriever hooks as they slip out of their place on my sleeve. Seconds before his right hook slams into my face, I stab a hook into his meaty bicep.

His body tenses, fist frozen in mid-air. I smile when his eyes roll back into his head and he col
lapses on the ground, my black retriever hook sticking out of his arm like a meat thermometer.

“Maci!” Crimson grabs my depowered arm, squeezing so tightly it hurts. “You can’t hook a human! Oh god, what if he dies?” Her eyes flicker nervously to the other Heroes who are still locked in battle with the unnaturally strong humans.

“He’s not a human,” I spit the words out of my mouth, making eye contact with the frozen man on the ground. “He’s a monster.”

Crimson curses under her breath and yanks on my arm. I follow
her to Nyx where she orders him to scoop up the dead dog. She calls for more backup on her BEEPR and palms the entrance to the KAPOW. “I’ll take care of this,” she whispers. Her eyes glare at me in this way that I think is caring but also seems a little angry. “You take care of Nyx.”

She spins around, the doors slam shut and I am alone in the tunnels with a heartbroken Hero, a dead dog and one more black mark on my Hero record.

“What the hell happened back there?” Nyx glances up at my question, his silver hair covering his eyes more than usual. His shoulders answer me in a slight shrug, the tiny movement portraying his apathy. The dead furry officer in his arms wouldn’t weigh enough to restrict his movement.

“I know you’re upset, but you should talk to me.” Although our K-9 companion is no longer breathing, the KAPOW still moves at a snail-like pace to accompany his fragile body. We have nothing but time for now. He might as well talk.

“I was just visiting all the entrances, having Trigger check for Li’s scent.” He strokes the dog’s fur with his thumb. “I’d had some humans approach me at all the other entrances, usually more excited about Trigger than me. So I didn’t really pay attention when these guys came up at first. I mean who the hell expects to be attacked by a human?”

“They attacked you?” I ask incredulously. “Unprovoked?”

Nyx stares at me like I’ve just lost my mind. “Why the hell would I provoke a human?”

I shake my head. “This isn’t right. They were unnaturally strong.”

“You’re freaking telling me,” he mutters, flexing his wrist, bending it around the joint. “Assholes pulverized my wrist. They held me down, kicked my face in, and kept the fat one on my wrist so the bones couldn’t heal back. I did everything I could but I was overpowered.” He takes a deep breath and looks me dead in the eyes. “You
know
I can defeat a dozen humans without a problem. These weren’t humans.”

“Something is happening that we don’t know about. I don’t even think Central-” Nyx cuts me off with muted mumblings. “He wasn’t trained for this. He didn’t understand when I told him to stay away. Trigger just dove at them, biting their legs. He tried to protect me. And they killed him.”

“We’ll take him back to New York. Give him a proper police dog burial.”

“No.” Nyx’s eyes flicker. His
irises are completely black. “Not until I have a more compelling answer for why I let Officer Garcia’s German Shepherd die on duty. Not until we have justice. I can’t bring him back now.”

I touch his arm, feel
ing his power pulsating through his body like a freight train. “Okay. We’ll go to my house.”

I never thought about it until now, but I don’t know anything about Hero Nyx’s home life. His family members aren’t in the Hero Brigade or surely I would have known them. Does he live with his parents? Alone? I shouldn’t even care but making him go home without knowing if he’d have a good support system doesn’t sit right with me. I’ll have to find out his living situation without making it seem like I’m worried about him. Maybe Max knows something.

When we exit the communal KAPOW pod in the tunnels near my house, I open our family pod and retrieve a fleece blanket from the storage compartment. Nyx takes great care to wrap the fallen dog in the blanket, placing him in the utility closet just outside of our house. He stops me just in front of the entrance to my house.

“Maci,” he says. “I want to apologize for how I’ve treated you lately.”

I smile, letting him know it’s no big deal and raise my palm to the door. He grabs my wrist before it touches the metal. “No. I’m serious. I was a jerk and you didn’t deserve it and I’m sorry.” He lowers my hand and holds out his, palm straight. I take his hand, happy to be on handshaking terms with a fellow Hero. “Thank you.”

Dad and Nova are watching human football in the living room. Well, Dad is. Nova stares blankly at the television screen, looking like she’d rather be doing anything but watching men in spandex fight over a ball. She straightens when we walk into the room.

“You’re Nyx Nightly,” she says. “I thought it was you earlier.”

He nods, a little taken aback. “That’s me.”

Dad questions me about the Mayday call and I have difficulty answering his questions over eavesdropping on Nova’s conversation with Nyx. She gets all starry-eyed, showing more vulnerability than that night I first found her in the rundown apartment. “You saved those teenagers who had been kidnapped by the bank robbers,” she says, leaning forward on the armchair to where just the edge of her butt is on the seat. “I used to think you were the greatest Hero of all time.”

Dad lifts an eyebrow and soon we’re both watching the curious exchange.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Nyx says, rubbing his neck. “I just rescued some kids, that’s not like the greatest Hero achievement or anything.”

“No, it was amazing,” she goes on, her eyes far away even though they are pointed at Nyx’s chest. “They had a dozen men with rifles pointed directly at the hostages and you still managed to sneak in there and rescue them. I read about it for days. I watched all the news coverage.” She blinks and stares at her hands. “I used to think that maybe you’d come rescue me,” she says, her voice trailing off.

“Wow.”

The word came out of my mouth and everyone in the room seems just as surprised as I a
m that I said it. Nova swallows. A look of horror and embarrassment stitches across her face. I can feel the mortification rise up from her chest. She did not mean to say that last part out loud. I glance at Nyx. He doesn’t seem to mind.

“I’m glad you all made it back safely,” Dad says a few hours later, after I’ve rested and got him all caught up on what happened. Nyx went back home shortly after taking his dog back to the police station. They’re going to organize a memorial service for the German
Shepherd--a full police hero style funeral. I learned more about Nyx, as well. He lives with his mom and dad, two aging Supers who adopted him after they were more than a century and a half old. Not much is known about Nyx’s biological parents, unless he just didn’t want to tell me. Nova was fascinated by all of it, despite Nyx not really giving us too much information.

Nova sits next to Dad on the couch and I’m on the floor, back resting against the coffee table. It feels good to have some down time between missions. Nova keeps watching Dad with this look that would be a little creepy if I couldn’t feel her real motivations from her power. She’s thinking that Dad is handsome and heroic and kind. She wants him to like her. She wants to believe that this is her family, not the one Aurora gave her. She wants to fit in so badly it hurts. I can feel it in my gut.

“So I know this won’t be fun to talk about,” Dad says, placing a hand on Nova’s shoulder. “But we need to figure out what we’re doing with our harbored fugitive.” He smiles at Nova like she’s just the greatest daughter in the world. Like he’s so proud he can’t help but smile at her. Or, maybe that’s just my imagination putting emotions into Dad’s expression that aren’t really there. Either way, it pisses me off.

“We need to convince the elders that Nova isn’t a villain,” I say. Even as the words come out of my mouth I’m questioning if I still believe them. God. Of course I do.
What am I thinking?

“I have a meeting with the elders and Hugo in a few hours.” Dad checks the BEEPR on his wrist, furrowing his brows as he clears away a few of the notifications. “They wanted to wait longer but I convinced them that I am fully healed and capable of active duty again. Well, not as a Hero, but you know what I mean. I haven’t told them how I’m healed, and I suspect that will be the number one question they’ll have when I show up without any scarring.”

“You could tell them Evan discovered our power healing abilities in Research?” I suggest. He shakes his head. “That’s involving too many people in the lie. I’m going to say you cut yourself on a pair of scissors while changing my bandages. The power dripped from your arm and hit my skin. We figured out the rest on our own.”

I nod. Sounds like a simple enough lie. One I can keep for the rest of my life, if needed. Dad continues with what sounds like something he’s spent hours rehearsing in his mind. “I do not know if there will be a beneficial opportunity to bring up Nova’s whereabouts during my first meeting with the elders. If there is, I assure you I will act on it. But I need to feel them out before I make any assumptions. It’s safe to assume that Nova might be stuck hiding here for a while. Maybe even months.”

Nova pipes up. “That’s okay. As long as I’m not a burden.”

“Never,” Dad says so sweetly I want to punch him for being a pansy.

This time I don’t even jump when my Hero alarm goes off. I read aloud the message on my screen: HUMANS FIGHTING IN PARKING LOT. HUMAN POLICE FORCE UNABLE TO RESTRAIN.

“Must be more of these weirdly strong humans
beating each other up for no reason,” I mutter. My Hero suit slides on like a glove and Dad makes a face at my missing sleeve but he doesn’t say anything. “I need to use another tactic for dealing with these guys. The last ones thought it would be fun to beat up Heroes just because they can.”

“That isn’t possible,” Dad says with a shake of his head. “Is it some kind of mind game to make you think you aren’t stronger than they are? They’re
humans
, Maci. There’s just no way they’re capable of beating you.”

I groan and shake my head. “I’m not an idiot, Dad. I know it sounds insane but they’re strong. It comes in spurts though. It only lasts for a short while before they’re weak again.”

“Maybe it’s a drug,” Nova says. Dad and I look over at her. “Seriously. Maybe they’re taking an upper like speed or something right before they fight each other. Or something that inhibits their brain from recognizing pain. That way they can ignore their normal human limits and fight harder.”

Dad beams. “That is an excellent idea, Nova. Maci, keep an eye on them. See if they’re using needles or pills...maybe a flask that they keep sipping from.”

They don’t see me roll my eyes as I step into my boots. That’s probably for the best. It’s not that I think Nova’s idea is stupid. It’s the total opposite. Her idea is probably right. The crazy way those men were acting-the lifeless look behind their glazed eyes-it’s all signs of someone on drugs.

So yeah, I don’t roll my eyes because her idea is stupid. I roll my eyes because I should have thought of it first.