All the King's Men Read online

  Danika gulped, and fought so hard to make sure her fear wasn’t on her face. Ever since the Turning, the Powered were hunted, and here she was, facing the hunter himself.

  The tables weren’t just turned, they were spinning out of control.

  “Worthy? I don’t have to prove shit to you,” she grumbled, feeling everything inside her tense. “And what? You’ve been betraying your own people? You proud of that, you sick fuck?”

  “QUIT TALKING!” He took a step forward, pushing Danika to take another step back, closer to the edge. “Let’s play a game.”

  She moved again and hit the railing. She threw her eyes over her shoulder and saw the roof of the attached housing building about 30 feet down below. Her stomach was set to spin cycle, churning with sickness as she was forced to be so close to Franco. The orders were to kill if necessary, but now, if she tried to wind up her powers, he would just put a bullet in her head.

  “Just stand down, everyone’s on their way now to take you in,” She bluffed.

  “If you live long enough.” Out of the corner of her eye, his face looked twisted, almost demonic; the skin looked as if it had withered away for a few seconds to reveal his skull, his irises a pure red, and he was smiling at her. Suddenly, he lunged across the space between them, and pulled back to wind up for a right hook.

  Danika gasped, eyes wide as she reached up to block his punch with her arms crossed in front of her. From the knuckles of her balled fists up through her elbows, the white glow of the Gale was barely enough to contain the thundering punch Franco delivered. He landed back on his feet but pulled a small stiletto from his belt and started to swing. Franco was a southpaw, which meant she would have to mirror her counter attacks, to transfer her weight to the opposite side.

  He arced his swing in front of him, and she pulled everything in and backwards to avoid damage. Danika ducked on his next swipe, bending her knees to jump down. She made a maneuver to sweep but he’d anticipated the movement and he jumped out of the way. Danika stood back up to reset and he hit her with a front kick. She felt a burst of pain in her gut as she flew back and landed a few feet away, flat on her back.

  “All that knowledge,” He tapped his forehead, “but you still don’t understand how I work.”

  She couldn’t move, pinned by his foot on her chest as she gasped for air. She spit up, a spatter of blood hitting his boot and the concrete beside her. “Go…to h-hell.”

  “Been there, I’m afraid. But you and I, we’ve just begun, baby.” His hands wrapped tightly around her shoulders and pulled her up and over the barricade.

  Danika lost all sense of direction and location when he threw her down to the housing building, but she was able to soften the fall with what she could conjure from the Gale. Her wrists cracked as she braced herself against the concrete, and she let out a cry when she landed. It wasn’t enough to stop the pain, but it was something. “Franco!” Danika’s voice echoed. “Shit!”

  His boots trailed away from her and he vanished.

  “I don’t have time for this shit. Come on!”

  He didn’t answer. The rooftop provided enough cover and he was now high enough to get a good vantage point. Danika thought maybe this was his plan all along. Franco was a vindictive sort, a hunter, a predator who always got his prey. She calculated that he must have taken enough distance to set up shop, but if his sights were as good as they said he was, no matter what she did, Danika was going to die here.

  “Danika, you there?” It was Frost, a voice she was relieved to hear.

  “Frost? Frost! Yeah, I copy. What’s going on?”

  “I picked you up with another trace on the roof, are you alright?”

  She nodded, “Yeah—yeah it’s Franco. Look, what’s the situation, are the kids alright? Where’s Erik?”

  “En route. We’ve secured the kids at base, going to regroup and return them home soon. Sending cavalry soon, but you have to get closer to somewhere the copter can land.”

  “How? He can spot everything I throw at him, and—”

  That rumbling laughter cut through the comm and in a sing-song voice, he whispered: “I can hear you…”

  Her eyes darted up, searching the edge of the roof that she could see, but he was hidden well, and stayed out back, out of her line sight. Bastard. Not even a flicker of movement. Danika couldn’t take her eyes off the building. She gulped. “Frost, this channel is no longer secure!”

  “Shit. Just be careful Dani, stay low!” Frost sounded panicked. There was no way to get assistance when Franco could hear every prompt.

  “One on one, doll. Fair is fair.”

  A shot rang out from behind her like thunder from the barrel of his gun. Danika dove to the ground. She started to crawl across the pavement, dragging her legs behind her, just like Morgan taught her as she desperately sought out cover. Keeping as low as possible, Danika crawled over to the nearest wall, and tucked herself into the corner. Her fingers laced together and she pulled her head down, trying to lie still, when a bullet shot a hole in the concrete barrier.

  She sucked in a breath, her adrenaline rush pumping her blood through her veins. Danika waited a second and when she peeked up, she was greeted with a cloud of a fine dust of demolished concrete.

  “Aw, Danika. You gotta make this fun for me. I promise I won’t kill you right away.” He teased.

  “You son of a bitch…” She cursed, as she pushed up to a crouch. Keeping her shoulder tucked, she rolled forward to the next barricade and hugged that too, trying to keep low and as flat as she could without peeking over. The beat of her heart was a triple-kick pedal and she was fighting to keep up with its racing time signature.

  Franco was resourceful, she had to admit that. He was utilizing the cover barriers on the roof as well as the trees to make sure he was out of sight. His powers, his natural camouflage, probably assisted that too. His higher vantage points tipped the fight in his favor, since his eyes could keenly spot the slightest movement. He had her comm unit compromised. He had her pinned down as low as she could possibly go without melting into the damn pavement.

  Fuck-fuck-fuck! She cursed as she ran across the way to the next area. But another shot roared from a direction she wasn’t anticipating. The bullet grazed her thigh, along her right quadricep. It ripped the fabric and shaved away the layers of skin, exposing the wound and the torn tissue beneath. Blood soaked into her pantleg. “Shit!” Danika grasped for the wound, but without proper tools on her person or the skills of her beloved Doc at the Ward, she wasn’t going to get very far with mending this wound.

  A piece of cloth landed near her, and a shadow followed shortly after.

  “Koa?” Danika was surprised. “You shouldn’t be here, what are you—”

  Koa’s sea-green eyes were locked with hers and he put his large forefinger to his lips to signal her to be quiet. “I will help you.” He mouthed.

  “Thank you.” She silently replied as she put her hand to her heart. She was uncertain how far Franco’s hearing could reach, but if he was anything like Charlie, with the right focus he could already know that she had backup. Using this lull in the fight, she tied off her wound using the cloth supplied by Koa, sealing it temporarily so she could run about without worry of catching dirt or debris in it. Once that was set, Danika tumbled across the way to hide beside the tattooed giant.

  They pressed forward together, trying to keep out of sight, but his form was hard to miss. He stopped after a moment and bowed his head.

  Koa whispered something in a foreign tongue. Danika was confused at first, but his prayer caused the ink from his tattoos to slide across his skin, until they slithered and morphed outside of his body. Danika’s eyes widened as her towering ally moved to stand in front of her. She knew this must be his true ability, to make the ink come to life. He finished his incantation when his tanned skin was clear of any markings, and Koa held a spear and shield before him. The black ink had taken on a brighter glow, almost a brilliant, earthy red, as he fashion
ed it into his own weapon and guard. Koa started to run, the mass of him impressively fast as he held the shield in front of them. It was large enough to cover most of his body, protecting him and Danika as they charged closer to the building nearby, to reach better cover and an opportunity to move up to the next level, where Franco was hiding.

  Their barrage brought Franco out of wherever he’d taken cover, the glint of red eyes peering over them as he recklessly let rounds loose from a machine gun. Koa’s shield was being riddled with bullets, some deflected, some clearing through until it was too thin to be considered protective at all. The bullet holes caused faded ink to melt back into his skin, but he held tight to what was left of the shield. Making one last attempt to help her, Koa launched himself forward, covering the lower ground in a zig zag formation, a way to throw off anything aimed at them.

  BOOM.

  Another smattering of bullets were fired, and when he raised his arm to brace himself, one pierced through the center of the shield and hit him just above his heart. Koa’s hand loosened around the equipment, blood dripping out the side of his mouth.

  Danika’s neck jerked toward the sound of skittering footsteps along the ground, running at them and up the length of the bullet-riddled shield. One, two, three—Koa wound back, losing grip on his weapon. The attacker pulled the spear from Koa, twirled it, and jabbed the spearhead into the meat of Koa’s shoulder. The towering man cried out in agony, one of the first sounds ever emitted in front of others. The blow brought him to a knee. The fighter kicked up and back, delivering a powerful kick to Koa’s chest and face before he landed flat on his feet. The shield shattered into a thousand glittering shards before diminishing into the air.

  “NO!” Danika charged the assailant at once, not minding the more dangerous predator on the higher ground, armed to the teeth with deadly aim.

  “Hi, Dani.” The stranger slowly stalked towards her, hands flexing at his side, as if he was fixing to fight.

  Even under a mask, she knew that smile…that voice. Her heart sank, and it felt like ice-cold water spread through her veins.

  This person standing in front of her wasn’t Charlie… It couldn’t be. As she knelt by Koa’s side, she felt the flesh wound on her thigh tear a bit further, and she seethed. Danika rolled out of the way as he wound up and pounded his fist into the ground where she’d been crouched, but he was winding up again to attack her. “Charlie, what the hell are you doing?”

  Her gears were already ground when Charlie was taken away from them, but him fighting against his own teammates was the final straw.

  A puff of red and black smoke blew past her. Charlie was stolen away; something grabbed him by the arms and dragged him roughly ten feet away.

  “Sloane!” Danika called out to him.

  His Powered form hadn’t fully taken hold, though it was close. He barely managed to keep it in check, which was for everyone’s sake. The devil that constantly lurked in his mind had peeked out more than once before, and transformed Sloane’s normally pale form into a demon surrounded by floating ash and his trademark smoke. She hadn’t seen him at this level since Monroe, and it was just as terrifying. He peered over at her with brilliant red eyes, effortlessly holding Charlie by the neck.

  “You got this?” Sloane’s voice was so deep in the bass registry that it made the earth shake, a terrifying growl of a beast that was close to taking over, and would use her friend like a husk, like a puppet to his macabre showcase.

  “Go,” she said, signaling him to take off. The longer he held that form, the worse it would become, so they needed to move fast.

  Sloane snapped his fingers and stomped on the ground, and in another blink, he and Charlie disappeared in red and black smoke, leaving behind a trace of an arcane symbol behind him, before it vanished.

  Danika tapped her comm. “Frost, Sloane is inbound. Need an entrance to HQ and secure the brig… He’s got Charlie.”

  “Copy.”

  Dragging her legs behind her, Danika heaved herself to lie beside Koa, hovering her hand over his nose and mouth to make sure he was still breathing. At that point, she didn’t care that she was left vulnerable, open to Franco’s next shot. As she saw it, she’d already conceded defeat by engaging, so running and hiding was not an option.

  Danika, you’re in sight…He can see you.

  “Stay out of this,” she snipped.

  Not out loud. I can’t hold this for long…

  Tilting his head, Franco peeked up from above and he looked at her with his red eyes, almost like a built-in laser system to lock in his precision shot.

  Erik is almost there, just hold him off. Don’t do anything stupid.

  “He got Koa. I’m not backing down.”

  “Who the hell are you talking to?” Franco asked as he fully emerged. He propped his rifle on his shoulder and moved up closer, the toes of his boots at the very edge of the rooftop directly above her.

  Danika glared.

  Danika…please…Don’t do anything stupid. She knew that those weren’t Callie’s words since the timid pixie tended to be shy around her. They had to be coming from Frost.

  “You know what? Doesn’t matter.” Franco raised his gun again, his eyes on the sight. They were close enough now that his aim would not be tested; the bullet would surely find the target without fail.

  The life flashing before her eyes bit felt like such a stupid cliché to Danika, but she gasped when the revelation struck her at once. As she stared down that dark void of the black barrel, it rushed to her—settings and places from her childhood. The smiling faces of her parents, the embrace of her siblings, to the day she married Carter, to the day she lost him. In a brief flicker, she saw Charlie there too, his big warm smile, and those chocolate eyes that were so kind…and his kiss… She still didn’t think any of this was real, but she savored what last bit of life she could hold onto until her very end.

  The sound of someone yelling made her head jerk in that direction. Her cavalry dove in front of her. Who was it? The blades of the evac-copter were absent, which meant Erik hadn’t arrived, and the stench of sulfur and smoke was missing, meaning Sloane hadn’t returned. Instead, the earth shook beneath them, footsteps bounding toward her. Her savior was almost unrecognizable in his fully Powered form. It was a miracle that the mountain-man could move at such speed, just in time to dive in front of her as the gun spat again, taking the bullets that were meant for Danika.

  This was her fight with Franco, one she was ready to face the pain and consequence for, but everyone wanted to shield her. She raised her arms to shield her head from the debris, covering her ears a little too late from the sound.

  Why?

  She’d walked away from all of them, in some form or another. She was ready to go, ready to take this to her bitter end. But that feeling dissipated in just a millisecond once the dread settled in her cold body, Danika realized that she was close enough to her new shield that the blood spray from his gunshot wounds hit her in the face. “No!”

  The bullets made a small explosion of rock and dust in front of her, and a few of the pieces hit her face and chest. She squinted to keep her eyes protected, but she could see clearly as Franco’s bullets penetrated Morgan’s chest. The sound was like a wrecking ball crashing into the side of a building, although higher pitched since the projectile was more finite. His grouping was deadly, a double-tap to his heart.

  Danika could hear him breaking, piece by piece, like rocks tumbling down the hillside, crumbling as he fell. The shale over Morgan’s skin was disintegrating, exposing his bare human flesh underneath. The dust and stone flaked, and blew away in the soft wind that howled through. His eyes faded to from their molten glow in his Powered state to the dull mahogany at rest. He weakly stared up at her, his eyelids heavy.

  “E-eyess…u-up…” The terror and fear in his eyes were second in line to his disappointment as he fell to his knees, and he weakly reached up and touched the bullet holes in his chest, feeling the blood oozing out.
/>   “Those were mine, Morgan. God damn you…”

  Tap. Tap. Tap. Franco. He was standing right behind her. “It hurts, doesn’t it? Losing your only family?”

  Now with the opportune moment to attack, Danika found no reason to hold back from her opponent, as he was sure she was going to surrender and die. One hand extended, she reached toward the hunter, the Rook. The power was intoxicating; she could already feel the heft of the Gale’s force pulling at her core, her own energy source. Small hits, protection, gusts—those were all a fraction of what she could really do, but the drain was often worrisome, until now.

  Her palm was illuminated at its fullest. The Gale screamed from her fingertips as she raised Franco from where he stood, throwing him backward into the wall of the building. Danika had him pressed up against the one of the building’s windows.

  Another smile pulled at his grim features. “Yeah, that’s it! What are you waiting for, girl, kill me!” Franco taunted as he fought Danika’s pressurized grasp.

  She held on tight, an unseen hold around his neck. The Gale’s fury extended to pull at his limbs, his entire body trembling as he resisted. If she gave in to its power, Danika could have easily ripped him apart. She could have used a whirlwind force to shred his skin, flay him layer by layer until he was nothing more than a smear of red jam over the wall. However, Danika resisted, looking right into his eyes as she continued to crush him against the glass. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, the descant of microfractures on his bones adding to that rhythm as she stepped closer. Franco was nearly out of breath, but he managed to laugh, and she thrust forth with more of the Gale.

  “K-kill me now… Just do it, girl…” He panted, “KILL ME!”

  Her entire body was alight with the Gale when she finally looked up at her victim, her dark eyes glowing with intense light. She inhaled deep and let out a piercing scream at the top of her lungs as it roared through her. The extension of white wings made of light protruded from the otherworldly being that stood above her shoulders. An intense heat filled her entire body and the power coursed through her. The cry was so loud and shrill that it shattered the window that Franco had been forced into, and a million fragments of shimmering glass crystals exploded outward, flying in every direction. The blast sent him backward into the lounge of the abandoned building, until his back hit the bar countertop about midway through. The impact struck him in the middle of his spine, folding him against the natural motion of his body and he crumpled into a broken heap onto the floor.