Page 59 of Seductive Architect
He gestured toward Janet. “Why not you?”
She tapped her head. “This is impenetrable. A little trick they taught us at MI6.”
We sat in silence while we mulled over the facts. The situation had grown dire, and I couldn’t find a straightforward way to victory. Apex had laid a plan, making it impossible to stop.
“We have to blow him up,” Janet said.
“What about Arthur and the others?” I asked.
“Neural inhibitors.”
I didn’t want to ask how she knew about the technology. “We can’t get to everybody he’s infected quickly enough.”
“We can’t,” Hudson said. “But Connie can.”
They both turned to me. Logically, she had been compromised, possibly infected by malicious code from Apex. The facts were clear. She had betrayed my trust, misleading me while I investigated the senator. Facts didn’t negate years of her being my confidant. She had been with me when I got fired from the herbal supplement job. When I got lonely, she’d log into my console and create acharacter to fight beside. Absolutes came from machines, and eyeing Hudson, I realized perhaps I had isolated myself too far.
“He’s right. This just became a rescue mission.”
“We’re going to save my girl.”
Janet jumped to her feet. I believed Connie had been picking up bad habits from Janet. Perhaps that’s what happened with your friends. Thanks to Wyatt, I kept an extra chocolate bar in my drawer, just in case of emergencies.
“Shit,” I said. “Apex has Wyatt and Drew.”
She pointed at Hudson. “We have a super soldier, and…” She waved a hand in front of me. “Whatever is going on over here? Of course, I could handle them myself, but I suppose teamwork makes the dream work.”
She had a point. Though if we were going to go on a suicide mission, I’d need to make some adjustments to my armor. While I considered the arsenal necessary for our mission, Hudson stood, holding out his hand. When I glanced up, I could have swooned. That beefy body, the bulge of muscles in his chest, but most of all, that grin.
I took his hand.
Janet threw her arms around us. “Welcome to the Coven. We’re not the best heroes, but we get shit done.”
I had taken a risk letting people see therealme. An accidental lunch date had turned into a world of possibilities. I didn’t know where things would go with Hudson, butI wanted to find out. Even Janet continued to surprise me. They weren’t the allies I expected at the end of the world, but they were the ones I needed. Now we needed to save the rest of our friends and stop the end of the world.
“First superhero team,” Hudson said with a smirk.
“Damn straight.” She gave us both a hard smack on the ass. “Now let’s save the world.”
In a world full of heroes, be Janet.
19
Janet’s snoringhad reached a crescendo. Sprawled out on the couch, she had passed out the moment her save-the-world energy faded. Hudson had helped me get my suit on a workbench. If I needed to storm the proverbial fortress, I wanted to make sure I was prepared for anything Apex could throw at me. That meant including an arsenal capable of taking down Wyatt, Drew, and any other super he had under his control. I pushed the thought out of my mind.
“How are you doing?”
Hudson looked up from a dismantled gauntlet. “I’m good.”
“Really?” I didn’t have a computer in the bunker. Any adjustments I was going to make would require my powers. “Even with your non-quite-human status?”
He didn’t reply. Instead, he rested his hand in the gauntlet until the straps moved into place. When he held it up, his eyes widened. “Is this what you hear?”
I raised an eyebrow, about to ask what he meant. The nanites on the gauntlet shifted, moving about. I closed my eyes and found that rush of Hudson’s code speaking directly with the gauntlet. When the tiny robots finished, the repulsor had moved from the palm to the top of the knuckles.
“Did you do that?”
He shrugged while he nodded. “I think so? Ever since ourtalk,I’ve noticed weird things. I’m super strong.” He raised the table off the ground to emphasize the point. “I think I’m fast? I know a lot about guns, like a whole lot.”
