He paused. Had this fool not thought about what wouldhappen to his position if he summoned a demon to destroy the Earth? Wow, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. I wasn’t sorry in the least.
“I will be rewarded. First Earth, then every planet…”
“Okay, okay, you’ve shared enough of your stupid plan.”
“Xander,” Aiden shouted. “Get him.”
Gladly.
The fireballs were for a distraction. Three spheres of flames flew at Smoke. I didn’t see if he batted them away or dodged them. I summoned the fire and shoved off from the ground with all my strength.
“You think?—”
I might not fly fast enough to create a sonic boom like other heroes, but I was no slouch. He didn’t finish the sentence as my fist slammed into his chest. It might not hurt him, but all I needed was to push him away from Aiden. First, I had to get him to safety, then I’d ensure Smoke didn’t destroy the world.
“Still playing at being a hero,” he hissed.
“Says the B-rate villain.”
His body slithered around my fists until he was at my side. With a jerk, he redirected my body. We had almost cleared the hole in the middle of the bridge. It wasn’t far forpeople who could fly, but it meant he wasn’t within arm's reach of Aiden.
Thanks to Smoke, I slammed into a jersey barrier, crushing the first one before the second stopped me dead in my tracks. It hurt more than a gunshot to the chest. I could work through the pain… or I could harness it.
My body flared, a burst of fiery light going off like a bomb. The concrete cracked, and the bridge shook. It knocked Smoke away, freeing me from his grip. This wasn’t like our first encounter. I wasn’t a novice, unsure of the powers coursing through my body.
I was a hero.
Shooting upright in the air, I shook off the impact. The smug jerk gathered the smoke until he grew to the size of Dozer. He thought puffing out his chest could intimidate me. I nearly laughed at the pageantry. If he thought size made the man, I was prepared to slap them on a table and measure.
“Okay, suit,” I whispered, “let’s do this.”
I fell the twenty feet. The moment I hit the ground, a burst of light flashed from the suit. Harmless, unless you wanted to see what you were hitting. Smoke swung, the arm going overhead in a failed attempt.
I kicked, aiming for the beast’s groin. The cheap shot would allow me to feel his squishy bits under my heel. I don’t know if I managed a ball-crushing blow, but it sent him back a couple of feet.
He raised both fists overhead, as if he was about to drive them downward. I stepped to the side to see a smaller, more human-sized version of smoke step out of the shadowy shell.
Smoke’s hand shot out, trying to grab me by the wrist. Long before I was a superhero, I was a barroom brawler. A man like this only got his hands dirty if he knew he could win. As I pushed the arm out to the side, I reached through the smoke, grabbing his shirt. With a smash of my forehead against his face, Smoke staggered.
The villain growled.
His strength wouldn’t win. But unlike me, he’d had time to explore his abilities. Tendrils of smoke grabbed me about the waist, dragging me forward, straight into his fist. I tried to land a blow, but each time, a shadowy arm blocked my approach. Eventually they tossed me upright only to meet his fists swinging downward. He clubbed me hard enough it knocked the wind out of my lungs.
“Oomph.” I hit the street hard enough that it created a crater.
“It’s like you got your powers yesterday. Which begs the question, how do youhavepowers?”
“Dumb luck,” I groaned. For a smaller man, he certainly hit as hard as Dozer. If I kept him talking, it’d buy more time. Right now, I needed to distract him as long as possible.
“Prometheus,” I confessed, “gave me his powers.”
“The alien?” Of course, a supervillain knew all about the people he was trying to kill. “Ah, the suit.” He said it as if it explained everything.
“What about it?” Buy. More. Time.
“Magic, of course. His species conjured the sentient suits that give them powers. You’re a thoughtless brute. Did you not research your progenitor?”
Prometheus knew what was about to occur. He hadn’t been speaking about his own death. The dying hero knew this chaos was about to unfold. Did something about the transference avoid the depowering? I had so many questions, but right now, none of them were important.
