Waiting for a Miracle - Chapter 22

I know this may not be much of a news flash for some of you, but hangovers suck. On a day as important as today, I didn’t need one, but I had a doozy of a headache thumping my poor noggin as I looked over my “troops.”

Resisting the urge to rub my head, I said, “Alright, Morgan will be manning the broadcast van parked at the garage. Morgan, you’ve got six cameras to work with, so I’ll be expecting something damned close to a movie of the week. Things probably will go wrong, but here’s basically what I think will happen. We’ll go live with Vicky, who will publicly ask Miracle Man to save her. I will then ask him to come out of retirement for the sake of the city, and since we’re broadcasting on most every major station, it won’t be long before we’re surrounded by criminals of every rank.

“Now Morgan, you need to make sure you send that footage above all else. Miracle Man needs to see the sheer numbers of villains in his city, or this is never going to work. After thirty minutes, I will assume our hero isn’t showing. At that point, I will issue a final warning to the criminals to leave. If they don’t, I’ll kill anyone who won’t retreat.”

“So will I,” Wallace said.

“I will too,” Leona agreed in a low voice.

I kept my tone gentle as I reminded her, “This has to be done to save the city. Miracle Man may not show up, and I’m supposed to wake up tomorrow and retire. To do that, I might have to be a hero for one day, even if I play the role as a rogue hero. If the criminals won’t retreat, then I’ll kill them to the very last one.”

Wallace and Leona nodded their silent agreement, but both looked like they were feeling ill.

Still, I had to press on with my plans. “I’ve given everyone radios, and you all know what to do.”

“I don’t,” Wally said. “No one told me what I was doing.”

“Yes, I did,” I said. “You’re my gopher. You can drive, I assume?”

“Yeah.”

“Even with redundant power supplies and circuits, Wallace could still theoretically burn out his suit during the fight. If that happens, we’ll be calling you to bring a backup collar and then get back here as fast as you can.”

“I can do that,” Wally said.

“Doing it is one thing. Doing it without getting yourself killed is the main priority I want you to focus on.” I offered Wally a strained smile. “If you have to leave the lab, be careful.”

“I will,” Wally promised.

Clapping my hands, I winced as the sound unsettled the bowling ball in my head. “Okay, is everyone else ready to take positions?”

“Oh, can I be on top?” Wallace and Leona said in unison.

“Nut cases!” I groaned, perhaps a bit melodramatically. “This is why my plots keep failing! I swear, this is a support group for utter nut bags!”

Wallace and Leona exchanged an amused smirk before Wallace said, “Well, technically, it—”

Cutting him off, Vicky huffed and asked, “Can we go now, before I lose faith in this plot?”

“Yeah, move out,” I said.

Leona and I took one decoy car while Vicky and Wallace went in the other. Morgan left in yet another, which he would use as his getaway car if his broadcast location was compromised. The plan was supposed to be simple. Wallace and Vicky would meet us in the restaurant at the top of the LeVeaux tower. Morgan would radio us when he was in position and had linked up with all of the motor-mounted cameras, at which point the four of us would go to the roof for the final phase of my plan.

As I said, it was supposed to be simple. But the cruel mistress fate loves the smack of her boot to my balls, so of course it all went horribly wrong.

Everything went smoothly, up until five minutes after our first broadcast. That was when Burgess came storming out of the service door to the roof, making a bee-line for me.

Gritting his teeth, Burgess asked, “Duggan, I asked you what you needed from me, did I not?”

“You did,” I agreed.

“And at what point did you tell me ‘hey, can I use your tower as my fort?’ I don’t seem to remember that happening.”

“I didn’t, but since you mention it, hey, can I borrow your fort?” Burgess growled, and I held up my hands in a calming gesture. “You did build this thing to survive world war three. It’s also the only building besides the airport that’s equipped with a radar tracking system. Honestly, I need your paranoia right now.”

Groaning, Burgess rubbed his forehead. He nodded to himself and then dropped his hand. “You’re lucky that I still respect you, Duggan, or I’d let those dickheads in through the front door.”

Wallace said, “They’d trash your place on the way up here.”

Ignoring him, Burgess said, “Just promise me that this is your last—”

“Yes, the absolute last plot,” I said. I knew I was being too gruff with him, even  if this was becoming a sore topic for me. I forced the growl out of my voice as I added, “I’m quitting tomorrow.”

“Uh, boss? We’ve got movement in the street,” Morgan announced over the radio.

“How many so far?” I asked as I walked to the ledge to look at the ant-sized villains crawling on the streets below.

“It’s hard to tell. I think the civilians have begun a riot of their own, and they’re making it all but impossible to confirm any super villains. I can tell you we’ve got gangs out the ass, though. There’s biker gangs, street gangs, chain gangs.” Morgan snorted. “Hell, I think there’s even a couple of gang bangs going on down there.”

“I’m too high up for a visual,” I said, scowling in frustration. “How bad is it?”

“It looks like Springer reruns,” Morgan quipped.

Heaving a sigh, I said, “Let me know when you’ve confirmed the presence of any big baddies.”

“Will do,” Morgan agreed.

I turned and looked at Burgess. “You wouldn’t happen to have some binoculars I could borrow, would you?”

Burgess’ laughter was soundless, but still conveyed his annoyance well. “It always is the little things that screw up your plans, isn’t it?” he asked.

He turned to leave, laughing the whole way.

Shaking my head, I walked over to Vicky, who stood in front of a camera. “Are you ready for part two?”

“Yeah,” Vicky agreed, patting her hair back into place.

“Go ahead, Morgan,” I said. I grabbed Vicky by her upper arm just before the light over our camera lit up and I returned the angry growl to my voice. “Miracle man, you are trying my patience! Don’t you care that I have your precious Vicky hostage?”

I shook Vicky, who cried with fearful misery. “Miracle Man, please, I’m asking you to come to the LeVeaux Tower and take me home.” Sniffling, she glanced at me before she said, “If you don’t, Light Master will kill me.”

“This isn’t working!” Wallace gasped in exasperation before striding up to Vicky. He reached out to grab her pinky, snapping it like a twig and stepping back as Vicky fell to her knees and screamed.

I screamed too. “Whoa! What the fuck, man! Have you flipped your wig?”

“Look, Miracle Man has to know that we mean business. What’s the big deal? It’s just her pinkie,” Wallace grumbled. “We’re going to kill her if the dumbass doesn’t show, so what does it matter?”

I patted Vicky’s shoulder as she sobbed. “I had hoped to avoid violence, but there’s already a riot on the streets below us, and only you can handle it, Miracle Man. If you won’t do your duty and save this city, then I will kill this girl. I’m begging you, Miracle Man, don’t make me do this.”

“You’re out,” Morgan called as the light over the camera went out.

“Wow, that was good,” I said and helped Vicky up, taking the prosthetic hand from her sleeve and setting it aside for later.

Drying her fake tears, Vicky cast an uncertain glance toward the camera. “I didn’t scream too softly, did I?”

“Oh no, you did great,” I assured her. “In fact, I almost assumed that Wallace grabbed the wrong hand.” Burgess arrived with several pairs of bush glasses. I grabbed a pair, and said, “Hey, Morgan, how’s it looking down there?”

“Not good, boss.” Morgan spoke in what sounded like a distraught tone of voice. “Look off the East wall, middle of the block by the second camera position.”

“Hold on,” I said and walked to the ledge, aiming my binoculars at the camera. Seconds later, I moaned and turned around to sit on the ledge.

Icee and Flare were playing a sick game of catch using Wally’s body. They had gone to my lab, and it looked from the burns like Flare had killed Wally.

I handed the glasses to Leona, who cried in dismay a second later.

“How…” I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. “How many super villains?”

“I’ve counted at least sixty,” Morgan said. His voice was tense, like he was also fighting with a lump in his throat. “I’d estimate most of them are from out of town.”

I said, “Tell me when five minutes have passed.”

“Will do.”

I looked at Leona as she dropped the glasses, and tears were forming at the corners of her eyes.

She turned to stare at me before shaking her head. “We didn’t know,” she whispered.

“Yes, we did. It’s why I wanted to thin this crowd out.” I sighed and waved a hand toward the kids playing with Wally’s body. “I’m just as guilty for letting them walk away. Shit, I’ll bet Weasel and his damn posse are down there somewhere as well.”

“I couldn’t kill them!” Leona yelled, almost screaming at me. “For God’s sake, Duggan! They’re only children!”

“I know. But now they’ve killed a harmless boy who only wanted a job.” Leona flinched like I slapped her. I looked away from her, and back to Icee and Flare. “I didn’t want to kill them either, but now we must. I’ll deal with the brats, and you two will need to begin picking off some of these super villains. Just ignore the lower ranking criminals and the rioters.”

“That will be easier said than done,” Morgan cut in. “I’m showing at least a hundred supers down here, for a ratio of super to looter being somewhere around a hundred to one. What’s more, they’re using the riot to mask their movement and their true numbers.”

“Well, that’s just ducky,” I remarked as I stood up. “Screw the countdown, I’m going in!”

I stepped up on the ledge, dropping off the edge w. I landed hard, cracking the sidewalk. I was just straightening up when the impacts of Leona and Wallace cracked the pavement just a few yards apart from me.

“Listen up!” I shouted. “All of you will have one chance to live!” My voice was broadcast by Morgan over the loudspeakers surrounding LeVeaux Tower, and even over the cacophony of shouting rioters, I could be heard clearly. “Leave the city tonight, or I will kill all of you to the very last one!”

“Oh look, the pussy speaks!” Icee shouted.

When I turned to face her, she sneered at me. The look of contempt on her face seemed fake to me, and it made my chest hurt to think about killing her.

“Naw, Sis, we just killed his pussy!” Flare said. He laughed as he dropped Wally’s body and then flopped his hand in a derogatory gesture. “I heard he was queer, but I never figured his boyfriend would be just a year older than me.”

“How about it Light Master?” Icee teased. “Can my brother be your new lover?”

“You could have lived,” I said before I leaped at Icee.

She had just enough time to realize her mistake before I closed my hand over her face and pulled her with me as I continued to fly across the street.

“He wasn’t my lover, bitch,” I said, and then I swung my arm around to slam the back of her head into the building so hard it made a huge crater.

I left her limp body in the hole I made and drifted back to the ground slowly, where Flare was gasping with rage.

“You killed her!” he shouted as he charged me.

I activated my light blade and punched it forward, piercing the boy’s skull. I twisted my forearm and drew the blade out forcefully, bursting his head over myself and the people around me.

It didn’t get better from there. As Morgan had said, trying to find the super villains among the rioters was tedious. I’d barely killed four of the lowest ranking villains when Morgan got on the radio to deliver more bad news.

“Boss, you’ve got a time limit of nine minutes to finish this fight before your next sets of guests arrive,” he said in a bleak tone of voice. “I’ve got eighteen choppers heading this way in combat formation. I’m only guessing, but I think they’ll try to drop troops on the tower to extract your hostage.”

“There’s liable to be ground forces too,” I said. “Can you hack into the highway camera system?”

“Already did it last night. I figured you might need to know this anyway,” Morgan explained. There was a long pause on the line. “Uh, okay boss, you’re right. I’ll get you a count and an ETA on the motor column here in a minute.”

I looked around, unable to see Wallace or Leona. “Did you guys catch that? We’ve got to move faster.”

“It might help if this one rioter would stop hitting me in the face,” Wallace grumbled. “I can’t see where I’m going, much less what I’m doing.”

“May I make a suggestion?” Morgan asked.

“By all means,” I said.

“Kill some of the rioters. They don’t feel afraid of you, so killing a few could be enough to send the rest packing.”

“I’ll try it first,” Leona said. I heard her over the radio, but when I looked around, I couldn’t find so much as the tips of her ears.

A second later, I saw an explosion of blood and limbs halfway down the block. The crowd fell back in horror, and I saw Leona clearly for a moment, her arms covered in blood.

Her face a red mask of rage, she screeched, “Get away from me!”

Just as Morgan suggested the rioters fled from her as fast as they could.

Leona was still surrounded by criminals of every rank. Leona flickered out of sight, and a tornado of blood begin to rise. The column rose to nearly twenty feet before the top became a geyser, showering the crowd in blood and guts.

I let my light blade grow to four feet and swung it in a wide arc, spinning around to slice through the crowd. The surviving rioters around me froze, and I growled, “I warned you fuckers, didn’t I?”

Screaming in fear, the civilians fell away from me and ran for their lives. This left me surrounded by almost eighty super villains. I looked around to see if any were familiar to me. Quite a few were, and these were real bad guys with real powers. We had less than eight minutes to wipe out all of them, and this was just my pile.

Suddenly, I got an idea. “Fly up a little to see if we can draw out the villains with flight.”

I drifted up, spotting both Wallace and Leona. The tornado Leona created continued to spin for another two seconds, and then it collapsed with a gory splash.

There were nine villains in the air with us just an instant later, and I thanked the fates that there were so few of them. That is until Bella flew up from the crowd to make their numbers ten strong.

Age was not being kind to Bella, and his portly frame barely fit into his old costume, a blue bodysuit with a yellow cape and a matching belt. His gut billowed over the top of the belt, hiding fully half of the utility pockets. Just to pull a weapon, he would have to dig around his body fat.

Bella’s wrinkled face was etched with a deep scowl of disgust as he flew closer to me. “You’ve lost your damn mind, Masters!” he shouted, his voice dripping with contempt.

“No Bella, I’ve just found it. I’m leaving this city tomorrow, but I won’t give it to these sacrifites.” I nodded toward the crowd below us. “None of them deserve it. Just go back to New York, please.”

“No!” Bella said. “You’re leaving this city in my hands now, or I’ll kill you.”

“Please, don’t do this, Bella.” I pleaded, not wanting to kill one of my mentors.

“You’ve forced me to!” he yelled. “This is your last plot? A desperate plan to wipe out crime?” Shaking his head, he heaved a derisive laugh. “It’s nonsense and you know it!”

“No, I’m not wiping it out,” I said. “I’m just thinning the herd for Miracle Man.”

“And what if your precious hero doesn’t show up?” Bella asked.

“Then these scum will win, because I’m leaving for good.” I waved my arm in a downward sweeping gesture. “Look around you. How many super villains would you tolerate in New York before you demanded that some of them leave? Thousands are pouring into this city because they don’t feel any fear over getting caught. Look over there, Bella.” I pointed to Wally’s body. “You see that boy’s body? He was a henchman of mine, but he was killed just because he worked for me.”

Bella opened his mouth, but I spoke over him. “You have a son living in City. Would you like for him to die at the hands of these vermin? He would if even one of these monsters found out his name, because they think it will give them power over you.”

“What if I promised to get them under control?” Bella asked. He continued to scowl at me, but the venom was gone from his voice.

“You can’t control all of them. You don’t even wield that kind of power in New York. I’m still the boss of this city for today, so from one boss to another, I’m asking you to think about this. We need to put some fear in these people. If it’s not a fear for justice, then it must be fear from our wrath. I will turn this city over to you tomorrow, but only on the condition that you either help us or leave now.”

Bella looked down at the crowded streets, and I did too, noting with dismay that there were actually more criminals packed together below us. They were at this point fighting with each other, I assumed for the right to become the overlord of the city.

Bella apparently came to the same conclusion, glowering up at me. “I won’t help you, but I will leave,” he muttered before he began to drift up. He stopped and looked down at me. “The city is mine tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow,” I confirmed.

“You’ve got three minutes left, boss,” Morgan announced. “There’s no pressure, but I’ve got visuals on three battalions of motorized infantry coming up the highway with almost the same ETA as our choppers.

“Oh wait, check that. One chopper has separated from the group and is picking up speed. I’m revising its ETA to one minute, maybe less,” Morgan said, and then coughed. “You like to make these things messy, don’t you?”

“Wallace, kill as many ground forces as you can,” I said. “Leona, you need to deal with these flyers. I’m going to the roof to greet our guests.”

As I started to rise, I caught sight of a white wing tip and looked down. The bare-chested figure coming up at me rapidly was instantly familiar. He called himself Angel, but everyone in the city knew him as the Butcher.

He drew his dual-edged sword from the scabbard strapped to his meaty left thigh, drawing back to swing at my neck.

I blocked with my light blade, sending an explosion of sparks into the air.

The Butcher’s sword was enchanted so that nothing could break it, and my light blade was no exception. But despite its enchanted nature, his weapon could not break my sword either.

Sparks shot around us with every meeting of our blades, each clash producing an eerie sound that made my ears ring even with my suit’s sound dampening circuits engaged.

The Butcher was fast, his swings blurring as they came in one after another without a single pause. He flapped his wings hard, trying to rush at me and add more heft to each of his strikes.

I blocked him repeatedly and let him push me back, as it was forcing me to move up toward the roof where I would need to be in just a few seconds.

Screaming in frustration at being denied an easy kill, the Butcher lunged forward to stab me in the chest.

I let him. Phasing everything but my blade, I let him fly up through me until his head was sticking out behind my neck. I turned my light blade and thrust it down his spine and out his stomach, letting gravity do the rest of the work to split him into two even halves.

His body parts fell to the ground, taking out a few more villains with his impacts.

Then two of the people in the crowd rose up to replace him, and I groaned as I realized that they were also using the ground forces to mask the number of flyers hidden among them.

“Work faster Wallace,” I coached. “We’ve got less than twenty seconds before first contact with the military.”

I dove at the two villains approaching me, neither of whom I recognized. One man veered right in attempt to distract me. I turned my suit’s light output to the highest setting I could imagine.

It wasn’t nearly as bright as Wallace had done, but it still blinded both my opponents, allowing me to slay them as they clawed at their eyes and screamed in agony.

“They’re here!” Vicky shouted over her radio.

I flew up quickly, feeling relieved that the chopper was just a scout. I watched it circle the tower once before it flew off quickly. I noted its direction, knowing that I could expect the others to come in from the same vector in less than two minutes.

“Wallace, how are you doing?” I asked.

“Better,” Wallace said. “I’ve managed to kill about thirty of these guys, but unless my math is wrong, more have arrived to replace their fallen comrades.”

“No, your math is correct,” Morgan said. “However, these guys definitely aren’t comrades. I’ve got fights breaking out all over the place. As for numbers, I’m tracking at least one hundred supers surrounding Wallace. Leona has gone invisible so I can’t—oh, sweet Jesus, thank you! Okay, to modify that, Leona is invisible because her suit is ripped and she’s being modest. Based on my last very nice visual, I’d say she has at least twenty-four flyers near her position.”

Snorting, I asked, “Is there anything new to report beyond your woody?”

“Yes, but it doesn’t make any sense,” Morgan said. “The scout hasn’t met up with the main group yet, and already they’ve got another single chopper headed our way. The main force is holding position three miles to the southwest.”

“What about their ground forces?” I asked, already turning to look at the black dots in the sky, the fleet of helicopters.

“Still moving in, and they should be here any minute now. They’ve been slowed down by the fleeing rioters.”

I said, “The rioters screwed up our plans too, so it’s only fitting that they help us out before they leave.”

I heard a soft sound like a cat landing on gravel and spun to find three villains behind me. All were Japanese women dressed in long black kimonos. Reaching into their sleeves, each woman drew out two swords and surged forward. They weren’t attacking me though, and Vicky screamed in terror as they closed in on her.

I flew as quickly as I could, killing one by crushing her neck. I spun to kill another, but she was gone. I looked behind me, and then at Vicky, who could only shrug. Her pouting expression showed her obvious confusion. Under my mask I probably shared the same baffled expression until I felt a kiss on my cheek.

“You’re welcome,” Leona said, and then  she became visible in front of me.

Her bodysuit was torn, exposing half her chest, and she had a huge bruise on her collarbone.

“What happened?” I asked. I was rigid with concern for her.

“Del Toro happened,” Leona said.

The Bull, or Jesus Ramirez Vasquez Del Toro, was a big guy that was nearly indestructible. He usually favored bank jobs and protection rackets. Looking at the damage he’d done to Leona, I felt anger coiling in my stomach.

“Were you able to kill him?” I asked.

“Yep,” Leona replied. “After I recovered from his sneak attack, I phased my hand into his head and gave him a lethal migraine.” Smirking, she added, “That is, I did once I found his brain.”

The tension easing out of my tight shoulders, I said, “Wallace, get up here. The ground forces should be distracted by the infantry once they arrive.”

“They’re here, and you’re right,” Wallace said. “The villains are going to pick them apart.”

He landed a moment later and looked at Leona. “Rough day?”

Leona nodded. “Yes, and getting worse all the time.”

“This is the last part, I think,” I said hopefully.

We turned to look at the approaching chopper as we heard the motor faintly. Walking across the rooftop, I picked up the binoculars I’d left on the ledge and trained them on the silver helicopter.

“It looks like another scout, but that seems wrong, doesn’t it?” I looked at Wallace, feeling very confused. “Why would they send a second scout?” I wondered aloud, resisting the urge to throw my binoculars at him when he shrugged.

The helicopter’s motor became a roar as they got closer to us, drowning out almost everything around us. It circled us twice slowly, and as I tracked its movement, I saw Burgess come running out of the service door.

His mouth moved rapidly as he pointed at the chopper, but I heard nothing.

I looked from him to the helicopter as it stopped moving right in front of us, hovering about five feet from the roof. It swiveled until we were looking at its right flank, and the door slid open before I could read the seal. Nevertheless, I had a very bad feeling as I looked at the angry man dressed in a dark gray wool suit.

He signaled to someone inside the chopper who handed him a bullhorn.

“Hey, he looks familiar!” Leona shouted.

Wallace groaned in dismay and yelled, “He should!”

The angry looking man put the bullhorn to his mouth, looking directly at me, a good trick since Wallace and I were dressed the same. “This is the President of the United States! Release my daughter, or I will have the military attack your forces!”

I felt Burgess’ hand on my shoulder, and I leaned toward him.

Bellowing in my ear, he asked, “Is it safe to assume you also forgot a paddle?”