Page 19 of Seductive Architect
“It’s just us.”
“We’ve got this,” she said.
I appreciated Connie’s misplaced confidence. As my uniform stitched itself together, I lacked her enthusiasm. I only put on the suit out of necessity. This was Wyatt and Drew’s dream. I preferred focusing on the villains working behind the scenes. However, no rainbow-wielding asshole was going to stop me.
“We’ve got this,” I echoed. The nanites cheered.
Screams. From this vantage point, my visor highlightedpeople trapped in a taxi as it dropped off an employee. As it rose into the air, Prism turned visible. I lunged from the building, jetpack firing. Adding the repulsors in my gauntlets, I sped toward the bad guy.
“Shit.” While I focused on the big bad, I hadn’t looked for accomplices. Three men turned visible, grunts with ski-masks and guns. I hated it when villains hired lackeys. It reeked of insecurity.
“Connie. Drone.”
Prism hurled the car at the building. Connie disconnected my jetpack, sending it toward the car. I rolled along the ground, jumping to my feet. Firing lasers from my gloves, Prism smacked them away as if they were nothing more than an inconvenience. Stupid. Of course, he wouldn’t be bothered by a few high-intensity lasers. I only needed to distract him long enough for Connie to save the people in the car.
The ground shook as the taxi smashed into the building. Connie had attached my jetpack to the vehicle, slowing its momentum, but not enough to stop more shattered windows. Ricardo had best have good insurance with the number of times he had to rebuild the lobby.
The three goons headed inside. Dammit. I couldn’t be everywhere at once. “Connie, can you handle his sidekicks?”
“On it.” The jetpack detached from the car andflew inside.
I turned just in time to see Prism’s entire body flash white. I threw up my arm, a purple shield spreading out from my gauntlets. The beam hit with enough force that my feet slid along the pavement. As soon as it vanished, I blasted forward, landing close enough to smash a fist into Prism’s jaw. If I were going to stop the goons, I needed to put this villain down.
I followed with another fist. Prism caught it, squeezing until the metal bent, sparks erupting from my knuckles. With the remaining glove, I fired the repulsor, breaking free of his hold. This wasn’t going to plan, not in the least. I’d need to work on developing weapons that didn’t rely on light. By the end of the week, I’d have suit 2.0 ready to go. For now?—
Prism started to fade from sight. I fired the nanoscopic tracker, embedding it in his left shoulder. Now, it didn’t matter if Mr. Destroy Company Property went invisible or not. In a burst of multicolored light, he shot into the air… running away? Okay, that had been easier than expected. I’d spend the evening pondering the why?—
“Shit! Distraction.”
I turned to the building. With only one working gauntlet, I couldn’t fly. That had been Prism’s goal all along. I had been too focused to think about the end game. I ran, the suit letting me move faster than the average human. With a single blast, I jumped into the air, tucking myself into a ball as I smashed through a window. Sorry, Ricardo.
“Connie, report.”
“Three men. Invisibility tech. Automatic rifles. Standard ammunition.” Her voice had a quiver to it. I hadn’t programmed that. “You have backup… I think?”
“You think?”
When I landed, I sprang to my feet. Shots fired. Somebody had torn the door off the car and used it as a shield. When one of the goons stopped to reload, the door whipped through the air like a Frisbee, smashing the henchman against a metal column.
“Hudson?”
Connie navigated the drone, sweeping in and stealing the rifle from another henchman. “It seems your boyfriend has moves.”
I watched as he charged the gunless man. Meanwhile, my head jerked to the side as the gun pressed against my temple. Shots fired, making my suit vibrate. When I didn’t drop dead, the man tried again.
“Why do bad guys insist on doing the same thing after it fails the first time?” Another three shots struck my cheek and neck. “You deserve this.” I fired a repulsor into his chest. Soaring through the air, the drone snatched his gun. He crumpled to the ground. I did a quick scan: still alive. For good measure, Connie fired a tranquilizer dart. He’d be useless for the next few hours. But he didn’t deserve my attention.
There it was again—the hum. It remainedjust out of focus, swallowed by the white noise created by the technology throughout the building. It came from Hudson, a faint whisper. No, it wasn’t that I couldn’t hear it, wherever it came from, spoke faster than my powers could interpret. That hadn’t happened since grade school.
The remaining henchman pulled a bayonet from his belt. He swiped at Hudson, who ducked under the blade, stepping to the side. With a kick to the back of the leg, the bad guy fell to his knees. As he drew a pistol, Hudson caught his wrist, snatching the weapon. In a fluid motion, he dropped the magazine and separated the slide from the body. He moved with grace, a control that only came from years of combat. My new friendmustbe former military.
The henchman didn’t know it, but he had already lost this fight. Hudson caught the man’s fist. Bones snapped. With a kick to the chest, our last villain flew across the room, skidding to a stop at my feet. Hudson might have muscles, but enough to toss the baddies around like they weighed nothing? Could his performance and the hum of code somehow be linked? Just when I thought I could focus on an adorable man in sexy suspenders, my questions were becoming theories.
When the henchman groaned, I stepped on his chest, ensuring he’d stay down. “How did you do that?” I needed to know.
Hudson eyed his hands, an eyebrow raised. He seemed as surprisedas I was. “I just did.”
Did we have a sleeper agent in our midst? I’d have Connie analyze the security footage to see if we could uncover any useful information. He pulled out his phone, waving it in the air. Before I could argue, he dashed over, his phone leading the way.
