Page 55 of Infamous Heart

“You’re in no shape to fight,” I whispered. “If you don’t get that looked at soon…”

It was the dark reality of being a superhero. The normal folk had grown desensitized to the danger of living in a world with these titans. Hell, even I considered them like comic book characters. But in truth, every time a villain decided to unleash their wrath, we were only a misstep from death. Slipstream understood that, it’s probably why she put on the uniform.

“I need to help him.” She pulled her hands from the wound, trying to place them on the ground. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she hissed through clenched teeth. Whether she liked it or not, she wasn’t getting back into this fight.

“Can you teleport to the hospital?”

“Too,” she gasped, “much pain.”

“We need to slow the bleeding. You’re going to be fine.” I tried to sell the lie as I tore off my shirt. My last first aid class had been in high school, and I spent more time lusting after the teacher than I did paying attention.

“I’m going to pull the glass out.” It was a bad idea. Every TV show said don’t do it, but I couldn’t pack the wound without moving the glass around shredding her insides. I had two bad options before me.

“It’s going to—“

“Do it,” she hissed.

Wadding up my t-shirt, I prepared to make the exchange. Deadly shard of glass for the absorbent material. Holding the end of the glass, I carefully pulled. The first attempt had my hands sliding along the crimson surface. Using my sleeve, I gripped the glass and gently pulled it free. It didn’t matter how much care I took, Slipstream growled, whimpering between breaths.

I tossed the glass to the side and pushed the balled-up shirt against the cut. The blood continued to flow, and I couldn’t understand how one human contained so much liquid. Or had; every time I thought about it, my stomach grew tighter. If we didn’t move, she was going to die on the side of the street.

“Hold it in place,” I got to my feet. “Up with me.” I put my arms under her armpits and lifted her to her feet. Thankfully, the hero weighed almost nothing. Putting her arm over my shoulder, I wrapped the other around her waist, prepared to drag her along as we made our way to an ambulance, or cop car, anybody. Somebody.

Slipstream couldn’t die. Not after she saved me and, now Sebastian. I wouldn’t let it happen. If I had to make a deal with the devil himself, this wouldn’t be how she died.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when a nearby upside down car screeched. The alarm whooped, echoing through the empty street. The white of Wraith’s eyes turned in our direction.

There was nowhere to run, at least not that a supervillain couldn’t easily reach. We’d be safe as long as Sebastian could—

The black poured out of her legs, running along the ground as if a dam had exploded. Her entire body grew, the shadowy figure owning the name Wraith. The liquid reached the sidewalk and moved over the curb as if it were alive.

The shield she created to stop Sebastian’s bursts of light shot forward. Tendrils of black sped through the air, wrapping around him. Up to this point, she had been toying with her nemesis, and now it appeared as if she were done playing. Even as Sebastian attempted to blast away the shadows, they reformed until they gripped his limbs.

He punched at Wraith’s otherworldly ability. When that didn’t work, he attempted to fly out of reach, but they refused to let go. Sebastian locked eyes with me. I stood at the crossroads of an impossible decision. No matter what I did, the heroes of the Ward were about to die.

23

An impossible decisionrequires an impossible answer. I lowered Slipstream to the ground, pressing her hands over my blood-soaked t-shirt. There was no plan, just a gut feeling that I needed to follow.

“You can’t stop her,” she whispered.

“I know,” I said. But I could buy them time.

“Wraith!” I shouted as I turned back to the hulking mass of shadows. I approached the edge of the sidewalk, where her shadows licked at the concrete. Years of reading comic books had come to this.

“Pick on somebody your own size.” Okay, my dialogue needed work, but right now I was too concerned with not peeing my pants. Her eyes were sinister on their own, but as she smiled, revealing pearly white teeth, she reminded me of the scary things children believe hid under their beds.

“You’ve won,” I yelled, “you’ve beaten every hero in the Ward, so what? They were never your target.”

“They never stood a chance.” Her raspy voice held an air of arrogance, a trademark for villains. I doubted I could get her into a monologue, but if she wanted to hurt Sebastian, it wouldn’t be by crushing his body.

“Great, you defeated them. You broke their bones, but they’ll heal. You’ll do this all over again.”

“Or I could kill them.”

“It’s a onetime pain.”

I took a step onto the street, my foot sinking into the muck. I expected her to swallow me in an instant, perhaps hurl me against the building like she had Slipstream. But my dull, boring, ordinary self had caught her off guard.

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