Dane Curse (24 page)

Chapter 45

“My ear.” Lynchpin pressed a hand against his head, and looked at me with equal parts rage and surprise. “You shot my ear.”

Damn it, just another inch to the left.

“Time to die, all of you.” Lynchpin raised his hands.

We were too close to the edge. There was nothing left to grab. One more push like the last one, and we were done for. But a black blast caught Lynchpin dead center. He crumpled to the floor, twisting and writhing on his back.

Lynx picked him up with her TK, and hurled him into the wall. Then she dumped him in the center of the room where Hate gave him a kick that could crack an engine block.

“That’s enough, he’s powerless,” Lynx said.

Those of us still standing gathered around the fallen crime lord. We had torn his kingdom down. The furniture culled from old growth forests, his liquor that was more expensive than my rent, even the carpets weaved for Persian kings, everything was destroyed.

Lynx turned to me, Franky, Hate, and Hoarfrost. “Good work.”

Franky said, “Back at you bo-”

Something moved in the corner. We all turned towards it, ready to attack. It was Skip. His arms were badly burned, blood covered half his face and most of his shirt, but still he crawled towards his boss.

“Freeze his hands and feet,” Lynx said, “and put him next to my dad.”

Hoarfrost and Hate obeyed. As they did Lynx turned to me.

“So that’s that,” she said.

I felt great, despite the bruises, but I had to know something. “How does a nullifier work on your dad?” I looked over at Hoarfrost. The long metal rod she held was glowing red.

“It doesn’t, not completely. But it diminishes him enough so that my power can keep him in check.” Lynx turned to Hoarfrost. “But we could’ve used it so much sooner.”

“Sorry,” Hoarfrost said, “I got tagged a little early. We’re lucky it didn’t go out the window.”

“No matter. He’ll need to be dosed again though, so as soon as it’s ready...”

As Hoarfrost nodded the black rod started glowing blue. “Speak of the devil,” she said, and with a loud ‘zap’ fired another shot into Lynchpin.

“How long’s it take to recharge?” I asked.

Lynx said, “No more than a minute.”

I looked at the weapon. Lynx was right, Hoarfrost sure took her sweet time, but who cares? I was alive, and we had Lynchpin. “It’s finally over.”

Lynx looked at me. “Not yet.”

I nodded. “Impenetron?”

“Yeah, Impenetron.”

Hate stepped forward. “What? I thought-”

“Quiet,” Franky snapped.

Lynx looked at them both. “That’s right.” She walked over to Lynchpin and grabbed him by the lapel. “Because he’s the one who killed Pinnacle, and he’s going to jail for it.”

Lynchpin spit out blood and laughed. “Pinnacle?” He looked at me. Then Lynx. “The MAGMAs, the Bleach. I should have known. Of all my children you’ve always been the smartest.” He shook his head. “You think it’s going to be easy? Without me to protect you?”

“I don’t need your protection.” Lynx backhanded him. “I’ve never needed it!”

“Yes you do,” he said from his back, “you always have.”

She kicked him in the ribs. “Liar.”

Lynchpin coughed. “Yes.”

“Thief.”

“Yes.”

“Murderer.”

“All that and more. But I-”

Lynx stomped on his head, then nodded to Hate. “Silence him.”

The lumbering giant scooped Lynchpin up, and with one punch broke his jaw, then dropped him back to the floor.

“Nice,” I said, “now all we have to do is call the…”

All eyes turned to me.

And I realized I didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

“Who?” It was Franky.

I looked at Lynx. Her face didn’t move. Then I looked at Lynchpin. “I don’t know.”

Lynx walked to me. “The cops aren’t equipped for this, and we can’t call the SPECs.”

I shook my head. “No. Humphries will make sure he doesn’t survive interrogation.”

“Same thing with Glory Anna.”

“Maybe we can record his confession,” I said, “play it on the news.”

“A forced confession against those two from the world’s worst villain? Who’s going to believe it? The evidence we have only implicates him.” Lynx looked angry. “Damn it, the hard part’s over, now what?” She paced back and forth, then gave her dad a hard look before turning to me. A cold front rolled in behind her eyes. “Dane.”

“Yeah?”

“Get your gun.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

I looked around. My Thumper was nowhere to be seen, but I still had Lois. I walked to where she was, and picked her up.

Lynx joined me, and put her hand on my shoulder. “You know what you have to do. We’ll never get him inside of a prison, his accomplices would never let us. The bastard murdered Benjy.” Tears filled her eyes, and she looked at her father. “And now you’re going to get what’s coming.” She turned back to me. “You know what you have to do.”

She was right. I did. Maybe Glory and Humphries helped, but Lynchpin was the one who killed Pinnacle. I’d tend to those two later, but for now, this was the only way. So I aimed. Real careful. Right at Lynchpin’s chest. I put my finger on the trigger, clicked off the safety, and the gun glowed bright green as the barrel increased in size. Looking through the sight I couldn’t help but think of Pinnacle’s body. I thought about how he died, and remembered the promise I made. I wanted to finish it so bad.

But then I thought of how Pinnacle lived. And what he would’ve done. Suddenly the trigger was too hard to pull. So I released it, and Lois powered down. I had a better idea. “The press.”

“What?” Lynx said.

“The Gold Coast Chronicle. It’s perfect. Once we show them the proof they’ll run it worldwide, and when everyone hears the story there’s no way Humphries or Glory will get away with it.”

“But what about revenge?”

“We’ll have our revenge.” I holstered my Kapowitzer. “By sending them all to jail.”

“Jail?” Lynx said through grit teeth. “Put him in the ground!”

I shook my head. “No.”

“No?”

“No Lynx, that’s not what Pinnacle would’ve wanted. I knew the man, not as well as you, but I knew what he was, and he wouldn’t have wanted anyone executed, even for his own murder. If you really want to balance the scales then you have to do it his way. Lynchpin will testify against his partners, and they’ll all go down with him.”

I really liked the sound of it.

The only thing I got out of the rest was silence, but I wasn’t bothered. Deep down in the heart of even the darkest black cape there’s a sense of justice. Sure, it takes them a little longer to find it than most folks, but all I had to do was wait.

Hoarfrost was the one who broke the silence.

“I told you he wouldn’t do it.”

Chapter 46

I looked at Hoarfrost, then to Lynx. “What’s she saying?”

Hate and Franky started to laugh.

I didn’t like the sound of that. “What’s so funny?”

Lynx said, “Ha. You know, you’re worse than Sledge. Say what you will, at least that guy didn’t let a little ass throw him off the trail completely.”

“But he wouldn’t join in,” Hoarfrost said. She extended her hand and a sharp icicle grew from it. “So he needed to be removed.”

“No, apparently you were the only smart one.” Lynx froze me with her TK like we were back in Henchmen’s. I pushed back with everything I had left. It didn’t do much.

“You won’t kill daddy. That’s fine. I don’t need you to. The fact that you own the last Kapowitzer on earth will link his corpse directly your gun, the same type of gun they got you snatching from Mindgame’s. The same one you pulled on the Agents at Sledge’s house. I’ll pop dad with it, and when they find his body all I’ll have to do is send another anonymous tip to the SPECs on where to find the owner, and they’ll give the speed of sound a run for its money as they beat a path to your door. You were wrong about Mindgame, he wasn’t the perfect patsy.” Lynx leaned in close. “You are.”

“Heartless bitch,” I said, “why?”

“Why? You really bought it all, didn’t you? You thought I’d settle down like some dried-up, old housewife. And with Peter Pureheart Benjamin fucking Pinnacle Waller of all people?” She laughed from the belly. “Jesus Christ Dane, take a look around. You got to have nothing but hair under your hat if you think I’m anything but the baddest black cape to ever swing her dick around this town.

“I mean what’s the point of having powers if all we’re going to do is office work? I loved my teens, mixing it up with heroes, kicking their heads in. But then dad started the Sindicate and it all came to an end. He had me learn accounting.” She turned to Lynchpin. “Accounting. And I wasn’t alone, plenty of us wanted a return to the old days, like my baby brother, but with dad in control we didn’t stand a chance. Now with him and Pinnacle out of the way we’ll finally take what’s ours.”

Hoarfrost said, “Not that I don’t love this, but shouldn’t we get on with it?”

“Yes, we should. Say hello to Spitfire for me, Dad.” Lynx pulled my jacket aside. She reached out, and grabbed Lois. Then she scream and jumped back. “Son of bitch, what was that?”

“Seems Lois doesn’t like the plan,” I said, “guess you can’t think of everything.”

“I’ll do it.” Hate stepped forward. “That pistol doesn’t scare me.”

“No.” Lynx cradled her hand, and turned back to Lynchpin. He was still on his knees, a little groggy, but coming to. “I’ve got a plan B. Franky, go to the desk in my office and pull out the black folder in the second drawer. We’ll have to get daddy’s signature on a few documents making me chairman before he goes on an extended trip. It’ll take longer but whatever, the repellers downstairs will give us plenty of time.”

Franky called Church Mouse on his cell as he scampered towards the door.

“Hate, hold on to this for me,” she said, and motioned my way.

Lynx released me from her TK just as the big goon pulled my arms behind my back.

“With pleasure,” he said.

I twisted against Hate, but found his grip as strong as the metal inside him. I looked at Lynx. “How?”

“How what?” she said.

“Pinnacle,” I said, “how did you do it?”

Lynx held her hand out. The metal rod freed itself from Hoarfrost’s grip, and swayed back and forth as it floated towards Lynx. She snatched it out of the air. “Recognize this? It looks like any other nullifier, I know, but thanks to Mindgame’s sacrifice it’s powerful enough to work on Pinnacle.” The black rod turned from red to blue, and Lynx gave her old man another taste of it. Lynchpin twisted in agony. “And once his skin was as soft as his heart I used my TK to punch a hole all the way through him.”

“But the evidence you showed me,” I said, “the MAGMAs.”

Lynx laughed. “They had nothing to do with it. Dad bought them to protect our interests in Japan. And as for his accessing the Black Bleach, he did that after Doctor Wagner broke in. All I had to do was change the dates. I did enjoy watching you tailor your theory around Humphries and Glory Anna, though. You’ve got one hell of an imagination, thinking either of them would be dirty enough to work with my father, or have the guts to kill Pinnacle.”

Lynchpin hacked, and spat up a glob of blood.

We locked eyes. “I’m sorry Lynch, I didn’t mean...”

He took a deep breath, and said, “Urine.”

The room froze.

I said, “Urine?” That was odd.

“Urine. Dee.” He was in pain. He was straining. “It.”

“What?” I wanted to hear the old man’s last words, I guess I owed him that much. “What are you saying?”

Lynchpin steadied himself, and through grit teeth said, “You’re. An. Idiot.”

Lynx, Hoarfrost, and Hate all broke into laughter.

The nullifier started glowing blue. I expected she’d light up her dad again, but instead Lynx turned to me, and pointed it at my chest. She smiled, then gave me a taste. Its beam hit hot like lava. The room spun. My legs and guts went jelly. It was like I was back in Tunnel Town with a collar around my neck, only so much worse.

Someone whispered in my ear, “What’s the matter blunt skull, not the way you saw it working out?” It was Hoarfrost. She raked her icy spike across my forehead.

Warm blood ran down my cheek. I twisted against Hate as hard as I could.

“This guy’s as weak as a kitten,” he said.

They laughed again, but Lynx silenced them. “That’s enough fun, toss him out the window already.”

And do you know what?

That’s exactly what they did.

Chapter 47

Nobody sheds a tear when a black cape catches one in the back. That wisdom holds true whether it’s a real black cape or just a guy they hire to get them some justice. It’s also true when it’s a case of asphalt poisoning they catch instead of a bullet.

As I rocketed towards the street below the cold wind cut through my clothes like they weren’t even there. Through mostly shut eyelids I could see the lights on the ground. They were closing in, fast. Falling like I was a human body can hit 120 mph. At that speed I would get to the ground level before my powers returned, and if that happened I’d be dead for certain. I needed a lot more time. Grabbing two handfuls of coat I extended my arms out as far out as they’d go, like a pair of makeshift wings. It slowed my fall, but just barely.

Maybe I could grab a flagpole or something else. I looked around. There was nothing, nothing but the city’s skyline. Yet even from my grim vantage point Gold Coast sparkled like the jewel that it was. And now that Lynx was in control of the Sindicate the city was going to burn. There’d be no stopping her. With that nullifier even Team Supreme would be easy pickings, and she could finish the SPECs off at her leisure. My only consolation was that I wouldn’t be around to see my home get torched. My home, and then the world.

Yeah, the world. It was a whole lot bigger now. I was close enough to see the cars clearly. The tops of the buildings were now above me. And the street was getting so close tha-