Page 109 of Greed
“Lilo!” Griffin shouted and his hold wobbled. He turned to Evan. “Help her!”
“Shit. Fuck!” Evan swore. “I can’t electrocute him while he’s holding her. It’ll pass into her.”
Evan pulledshurikenfrom his belt and threw them at the beast’s head, but the metal throwing stars glanced off as though made of plastic.
Thousands of screams overhead snapped his attention back to the teetering train. Griffin was tired. So tired. If he didn’t let go soon, he’d break. And people were in danger. But he had to save Lilo. He would die before he let that happen.
“Power me up,” he ordered Evan.
“He’s like a fucking ape. King Kong. Jeezus.”
“EVAN. Focus here. I need a boost. Just like we spoke about at training. Give me a boost.”
Evan turned on Griffin, noticing for the first time his dangerous strain. “But Parker said it was risky. You could die.”
“I don’t care!” he shouted, one eye on Lilo struggling against the beast. “There’s no time. Do it.”
Evan frowned, but acted immediately. He placed his hands on Griffin and electricity surged into his nervous system. Griffin seized in agony as the power threatened to rip his atoms apart, but with each millisecond of charge, his magnetism boosted and he grew the strength to push the train back on the rails until it reached safety. The instant it had, Griffin twisted out of Evan’s grip because the subatomic manipulation was excruciating. His vision blurred. He tasted metal. Gasping, he dropped to his knees, not only cramping from the recent surge, but the deadly greed hitting him from the beastly version of Doppenger now gathering Lilo in his large claw-like hands.
Lilo.
He had to keep going. Had to get up. Had to go hard.
Trembling, Griffin lifted a knee and then pushed himself upright, reaching for his metal bo-staff still wedged in the asphalt. It trembled and shook until it dislodged and soared through the air to his awaiting hand. Biting through his pain, he ran toward her, legs pumping. Two meters out, he leaped and swung his staff toward the beast’s head. When the force of the rod hit the monster, vibrations rang along Griffin’s arms and he went flying backward from the transfer of energy.
When he landed, he rolled and returned to an attack position, staff poised to his side for balance.
Doppenger had let go of Lilo and was crouched, shaking his head for focus.
He shouldn’t be able to withstand that sort of blow. It would have caved any normal person’s skull in. For the first time since arriving, Griffin’s battle confidence disintegrated. This was no normal foe. Nothing liked they’d faced before. He was bigger than them, stronger than them, but not smarter than them.
“Lilo.” Griffin dashed for her and lifted her to her feet, guiding her swiftly away. “Are you okay?”
Blood oozed from a wound at her temple, and her brown hair was covered in white dust, but she held her head high. She barely had a chance to nod before a deafening growl filled the street, rumbling the ground: “Mine!”
The grating sound froze Griffin for a good moment before his instincts kicked in. He turned to see the Doppenger beast approach with murder in his eyes. “Give me!”
Tiny in comparison, Evan launched onto Doppenger’s back and gripped him around the neck. What the hell happened to make Doppenger that way? What had the Syndicate fed him?
Evan loosed his power. White and blue light sparked at his fingertips, sizzling into the giant whose eyes rolled back in his head.
“What happened to Doppenger?” Griffin asked, hand on Lilo’s shoulder, still guiding her toward the safety and shelter of a building.
“He injected himself with something,” she said, breathing hard. “Triple the dose he was meant to have. No wait. Four times the dose.”
“Do you know what it was?” Parker came up behind them, dressed as Pride—full leather combat gear, purple mouth mask, dark hood shadowing his eyes.
Lilo shook her head, then winced, hand moving to her bruised and bloody cheek. “Only that it doesn’t last long, that’s why he took more doses.”
“Must be what gave him the power of Greed,” Griffin said. “And it’s twisted him into something else.”
Sirens blared in the distance.
“Shit,” Parker said. “Cops will be here soon. We gotta wrap this up.”
The passengers must be safe. All that was left to do was secure Doppenger for the authorities to deal with. Or perhaps it would be better to take him back to HQ for investigation.
The instant the thought formed in Griffin’s head, Doppenger rallied and resisted the electrical charge pumping into him. His eyes stopped rolling, they refocused on Griffin with his hand on Lilo and broke free from his constraint like a raging bull. He threw Evan from his body and charged.
