Chapter 1
“I like this bad guy. He’s big, dumb and hung.”
“Stardust!”
The stern voice cracked like a whip into Stardust’s ear piece.
“Yeah, boss?”
“Stay on task.”
“You got it, boss.”
“And don’t call me boss.”
Stardust grinned but didn’t respond as he got ready to fight. He, Frost, and Sonica had been sent to take down a group of people rampaging up and down the Delmar Loop, one of St. Louis’s entertainment districts. It was a busy Thursday the first week in September, when nights were the perfect temperature to sit outside, and the street was filled with people who’d come out to have a beer and listen to music. Now, they were panicked. Screaming and running to get out of the way as five men caused indiscriminate destruction in front of the shops and restaurants.
Stardust took in the scene. Tables flipped on their sides, food and drink spilled on the sidewalk, plates shattered, and cups crushed beneath fleeing feet. Several shop windows were broken, with their displays and merchandise tossed into the street. One of the rampagers was naked, with the exception of a face mask, a pair of thick white athletic socks, and mountain climbing boots. The naked man yanked back and forth on a lamp post, which despite his efforts, wasn’t coming loose from the ground. Still, he continued mindlessly yanking. Stardust shook his head in disgust at the pitiful sight.
Sonica took charge. “Frost, you get the two at the other end of the street. I’ll grab the two in front of Iron Age and check inside the building to make sure there aren’t more of them in there causing a ruckus.”
“Got it,” Frost answered.
“Guess that leaves me with Mr. Nakey,” Stardust said, already looking forward to the fight.
“You both be careful,” Sonica said before she teleported away to the legendary tattoo shop.
Frost took off in the opposite direction in a swirl of cold air,whooshingdown the street on an ice slide they created with their powers.
With his partners after their targets, Stardust walked up to his own. He kept his hands loose at his sides, easy and non-threatening. The multicolored lights from the Blueberry Hill sign above the naked man reflected off his pale sweaty skin. Stardust couldn’t see the guy’s face thanks to the mask he wore, but he could see his blue eyes, cracked open wide and rolling in their sockets. The wild eyes were a clear sign that he’d overdosed on Croton — a drug that increased a user’s physical capabilities and blocked fear receptors but caused mindless rage and massive heart attacks after prolonged use. His assumption that the guy was on Croton wasn’t an official diagnosis, but anyone who stripped naked in the middle of a busy entertainment district and tried to rip a lamppost out of the ground had to be on something.
“Hey, big man!”
At the sound of Stardust’s voice, the naked man stopped his attempted vandalism, and turned to face Stardust, giving him a good look at his mask. It was acid yellow, with blood-red slash marks across the mouth and eyes. The mask was clearly meant to instill fear. But seeing this guy standing there bare-assed naked, with his dick literally swinging in the wind, Stardust wasn’t at all intimidated.
“I don’t know how far gone you are in that Croton rage but I can help you if you let me.” He stepped closer. “Don’t get me wrong, I like to fight. But you probably want to put your pants back on and go home, right?”
Naked guy threw back his head and roared before stomping toward him, fists clenched, veins bulging in his forearms.
“Guess not.”
The guy was huge. He had a foot and a half in height and at least thirty pounds on Stardust. But this was one occasion where he didn’t care about size. Stardust pulled his sai from their thigh holsters. He twirled them around to grip them by their handles, pommels up, blunted blades held against the inside of his forearms.
As the naked behemoth charged, Stardust sprinted forward to meet him. Right before they crashed into each other, he jumped up in the air, flipping over naked guy’s head to land behind him. Spinning around, he punched out with his sai, hitting the man in the kidneys. The rampager roared with pain but didn’t go down. He turned to face Stardust, swinging with massive fists. Stardust wore his own mask, but he still preferred not to get punched in the face. He dropped down to avoid the hit, sweeping his leg out in the same motion to kick at naked guy’s ankles. The man stumbled and fell in the middle of the street. But to Stardust’s unpleasant surprise, the big man had speed too. He rolled and leaped back to his feet.
Although he was impressed at the move, Stardust sighed in annoyance. “You should have stayed down, man.”
The naked berserker finally spoke.
“I don’t stay down.”
“Oooh! A challenge.” Stardust spun his sai again. “I accept.”
They rushed at each other once more. This time, Stardust met him head on. Before his opponent could strike, Stardust double-punched with his sai, hitting him dead center in the solar plexus each time. When the big man doubled over in pain, struggling to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him, Stardust jumped up with a flying high knee, catching him on the chin. He caught a glimpse of those wild eyes rolling back in their sockets before the berserker crashed to the street, landing flat on his back. This time, he didn’t move.
“Guess you were wrong about not staying down,” Stardust mocked as he straightened from the defensive pose he’d landed in. After sliding his sai back into their holsters, he put a booted foot on the big man’s shoulder, rolling him over to his front in order to restrain his hands behind his back. Once the guy was secured, Stardust turned his attention to the people who were standing nearby.
“Everything is all right, everybody.” He looked toward a trio who appeared relatively calm. “Can you help right some of the tables and chairs?”
