The white shirt pushed the woman he’d been holding back aside. His brethren let their prey go, tossing her bag in her face. Finally free, the women ran to each other, colliding in a tight hug.
Stardust flicked a glance at them. “Stay together and get home safe. Now.”
Once the Players took off, there was a moment of quiet stillness, fraught with violent anticipation. Then, as one, the five white shirts rushed at him and Mike. They tried for a blitz attack, using their numbers to their advantage. It was a smart move. The combination of being outnumbered along with the Croton they’d taken to give them greater than usual strength meant he and Mike would have to put in work to win this fight.
And work they did. Mike used his blast to knock one of the white shirts back and out of the game. Stardust fought fast and hard, spinning, kicking, striking with his sai. Tonight, the two of them worked seamlessly as partners. Sometimes they fought back-to-back, protecting each other, pivoting to switch positions and change-up opponents when needed. The sweetest adrenaline flooded Stardust’s system as he fought with his lover by his side. And though his mind stayed on the fight, he felt azingof pleasure every time he and Mike touched. It was the best fight Stardust had ever been in.
But it didn’t last forever. One by one, the white shirts realized they were up against adversaries they couldn’t handle and beat a hasty retreat from the parking lot.
Stardust was breathing hard by the time they’d run off all but one of the white shirts. And it wasn’t only due to the exertion from the brawl. He turned to Mike, who stood there, holding on to the man singled out for interrogation. Mike’s shoulders were back, chest rising and falling with his deep breaths. The wind ruffled his hair and the parking lot lights gleamed on his glasses. He looked so damn good and strong and confident that Stardust would have happily jumped his bones right then. But they still had work to do.
“Let him go,” he said.
Mike complied. The white shirt immediately tried to run but before he took a full step, Stardust kicked him in the chest with the flat of his boot. The man stumbled back, falling on his ass with his legs sprawled wide. Stardust casually stepped between them, calling up his power as he did so. His hypnotic glow was in full force by the time he squatted in front of the white shirt. And because he had control of his emotions, he was able to direct it at the mugger only so that Mike wasn’t also affected by it. The mugger went still, arms falling to the side, eyes rapt on the golden lights sparkling in front of him.
“I have a few questions for you and you’re going to answer them,” Stardust said.
The man nodded slowly. “Yes. I’ll answer.”
“Who are you and the other people in all white with?”
“The Purity Alliance.”
Stardust nodded. Confirmation of what they already suspected.
“How did you come to join them?”
“I was recruited in an online chatroom.”
Stardust got the name of the site. He’d give it to Caleb and hopefully the tech genius could do something about the recruitment tool. He moved on to the next question. “What does your group plan to accomplish by harassing the Playground Players?”
“Disrupt. Bigger things planned. We want the Playground shut down.”
“Is there anybody on the outside helping your group?”
A slow nod.
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Stardust glared. He focused, drawing in a deep breath and turning up the force of his power when he exhaled. “Don’t lie to me. Who is helping your group?”
The man raised a hand, reaching for the lights, wiggling his fingers to try and touch them.
“I don’t know,” he repeated. “There are bigger people involved but I’m not on a level to know who that is.”
Stardust believed him. The man was completely enthralled. There was no way he’d be able to hold anything back. He had all the information he wanted, which meant it was time to end the interrogation. The glow began to fade.
“You need to think about your life choices,” he snapped in annoyance. “Leave the Purity Alliance and stop harassing people minding their own business.”
“Leave Alliance,” the white shirt echoed dreamily.
Stardust wished it were that easy to make these guys stop. But he couldn’t force people to change their behavior. The second this man was free of the hypnotic glow, he’d go back to doing what he wanted.
The white shirt frowned, reaching again for the lights that had disappeared. After a few moments of waving his hand back and forth, he roughly shook his head, coming out of the trance.
“What did you do to me?” he angrily demanded.
