“Hello, my confidants. What ails you on this turning of the axis?” I ask while Ellison gets a good push in there.
“Do you ever wonder if he actually knows what he’s saying?” Landon asks.
“What ails me is that I’m about to watch one of my friends get murdered,” Lex says. “I should probably do something.”
“My suffering shan’t be long. Ellison is quite thorough. It’s what I find sexy about him.”
Oddly enough, this seems to compel Ellison to try harder to lock me in the trunk. He pushes me in and slams the lid shut. I turn invisible, drop the back seat, and slide out the front doorbefore he has even pulled his new suit jacket completely on. Then I hurry over to August, duck my head between his legs, and lift him off the ground to float him toward the building.
“Honey, you’re so tall and sexy,” Landon says.
“Thank you,” August replies.
“Now I’m jealous. I want someone to carry me. Lex, carry me.”
“No.”
“Ellison, carry me.” Landon flops his body against Ellison, who is stalking after me. I feel a bit concerned for my well-being as he does so. “Deus… Deus, there’s a real-life demon stalking you. Although, that might turn you on instead of worrying you. Are you turned on?”
“Deus is with the demons. I am… Bob,” I clarify.
“You know… I think you’d be ten times creepier if your name really was Bob,” Landon decides. “Like as Asmodeus the Destroyer NoToucho, you’re kind of mysterious in a sexy way, but if you were just a Bob… serial killer for sure. Hey, NoTouchy, I think Ellison is going for your Achilles’ heel.”
I turn around to see Ellison stalking closer, so I pick up the pace. “Now hear me out, Ellison. I actually did you a solid.”
“Asmodeus,” he growls.
“Oh, my sweet demons,” I hiss before I spin around, nearly giving August whiplash as he grabs my head to keep himself stable. Quickly, I deposit him in Landon’s arms, which nearly crushes Landon’s weak body. I drop my invisibility and rush up to Ellison. “I’m so sorry I didn’t see it before. When the car crashed and your face brushed against the airbag, you forgot everything in your life but me… that’s why you keep calling for me and saying nothing else. It’s not a threat… it’s a love letter.” I reach for him, but strangely enough his hands go for my throat instead of my body. “I’ve never been hugged before. Is this what it’s like?” I ask as he throttles me a little.
“Usually, it’s a bit more like…” Lex demonstrates with an air hug.
“Honey… I’m so sorry,” Landon says, looking down at August who is splayed out from where Landon dropped him on the ground.
“It’s okay,” August assures him while he brushes rocks off himself.
I wave at them. “Ellison, look, LandonchuckedAugust to the ground and August still loves him. All I did was hold up Pocket Lint so she could give you a kiss.”
“Let’s go inside,” Ellison says, obviously satisfied after some mild strangulation. “And if you ever put that vermin near my head again, I will personally find it a new home.”
“Pocket Lint says she’s sorry.”
“How can you be mad at Lint Roller?” Landon asks as we head inside where security meets us at the door. “She’s just so cute.” Zacia, who seems to have come to understand that Pocket Lint isn’t edible, trots after us.
“Sir, I think this one here needs a cavity search,” Ellison says.
Landon snickers. “He’s got the jokes today.”
“Be thorough,” Ellison demands before he struts up and hands off his ID, and then goes through their detector. I debate how exactly I could turn invisible to get through this so I don’t have to hand over my weapons, but they’ve made it so there’s no way through this area without passing through their security protocol, since there’s a protective barrier above it. I narrow my eyes at it.
“You can’t take guns in here,” a man says. Though it’s mostly a research facility, it does hold quite a few villains who need more specialized control than a prison could offer them, while not being as extreme as Trident, the supervillain prison where the worst offenders are sent. Most of them have also agreed to medication that will dull their abilities.
“They’re August’s, I was merely holding them. He can do anything. August, confuse them with your smile and a superhero phrase.”
August smiles, poses, and goes, “Together… we can stand strong.”
“That made my peepee stand strong,” Landon says, which should have traumatized the others enough to let us through, but they are clearly professionals.
“Leave the weapons here; you can get them on the way out,” a woman orders.
