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“Your mom’s birthday.” Not my best retort, but I was running on steam. I knew it’d be my mouth that got me in trouble one day. Eclipse barreled toward me, moving faster than should be possible. The day had come. My mouth was going to get me killed.
“It’s beyond me what he sees in you. You must be dynamite in the sack.” He grabbed my shirt, dragging me close enough that I could smell his breath through the mask. He thought poking at my insecurities would do more damage than a punch. Eclipse obviously didn’t understand how much I had already beat myself up. If I had been smart, I’d have kept my mouth shut.
“I’d have ruined you,” I shouted. “You’ll never find out what you’re missing.” He could have struck me down or hurled me across the Centurion’s base. I prepared myself for a world of pain, so much that I flinched as he pushed the phone in my face. If he wanted dick pics, he just needed to ask.
“You are only a means to an end. I couldn’t care less if you died. Mundanes aren’t worth my efforts.”
“Your mom—“
Now, he threw me. The glass monitor shattered under my weight. I went limp like they taught us in school. It did nothing to stop the pain in my back. I landed on the floor, the wind knocked from my lungs, and all I could focus on was my inability to draw air. Glass cracked under me. I couldn’t stop, not now. Whatever he was about to—
“Burn. You blocked his number? Is there trouble in paradise?”
Shit. He unlocked my phone so he could make a phone call. I prayed Theo was saving the world. I didn’t want him to respond, not today. Let one of the Centurions come and save me. I wanted Theo and Julian as far from this lunatic as possible.
He raised the phone to his ear and waited for Theo to answer. “Oh, I’m sorry. Alejandro is busy bleeding on the floor.”
I could only draw the tiniest of breaths, but I forced myself onto my stomach. Dragging along the glass, I ignored the pain pulsing down my ribs and into my tailbone. I opened my mouth to warn Theo, to tell him not to come, but nothing came out of my mouth. I failed him. Eclipse would lead him into danger, and there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop the villain.
“That’s a lot of vulgarity from a hero.” Eclipse took pleasure in the misery of others. His powers were only fitting. “I’m not sure how much longer I can resist breaking his smug jaw. You should hurry. Tootles.”
That arrogant asshole. It had never been about me. He wanted to use me as bait. He threw the phone in my direction as he waltzed toward the screens. The maniacal laugh might have been cliche, but something on the monitor elicited a terrifying chuckle.
“I’ve won. Do you hear me? I’ve already won.”
The certainty in his voice offered no room for debate. What had this villain done? At least he was too occupied with his own genius to notice I discovered a piece of the screen to slice my way through my restraints. What was I going to do once I was free? I’d figure it out as I went. Theo and Julian were about to walk into a trap. If I could get to my phone, I’d be able to warn them.
The movies made getting free look easy. If I sawed any harder, the glass would slice through my hands. Maybe once I joined the gym to firm up that belly, I’d take one of their “Escape the Villain” classes for adults. With the number of times I got kidnapped, I could probably teach a master’s course on what not to do.
Free. I glanced down at my hands and fought the urge to hurl. Blood. More blood than I hoped for. The jerk had used duct tape to keep me locked up. Now to see if I could reach the phone before he did one of those super blitzes and knocked me across the room again.
Theo needed me. Julian needed me. Hell, the Centurions needed me. I was their last defense before Eclipse enacted whatever diabolical plan he had up his sleeve.
It was five, maybe six feet. I just needed to get my feet under me and sprint. My superpower was the lightning speed at which I could send a text message. Not even Zipper could compete. I just needed to—
I pushed off, running. The surrounding glass cracked as I almost slipped. Four feet. My lungs refused to cooperate. I’d send the message and pass out after. Two feet. I reached out as Eclipse turned around, his crazed laughter stopping. Phone. We had a co-dependent relationship. Even as it pressed against the cuts, it snuggled against my palm.
Unlock. I punched the keys. Trap.
Eclipse barreled into me. The room spun about as I flew across the Centurion’s base.
“Oomph.” I smacked the floor with a thud, the phone sliding out of my hands. I reached, trying to crawl toward the device. But the world was turning fuzzy as my lungs decided they had had enough. It was time to admit defeat. I wasn’t a hero, and there was no way I could defeat Eclipse. He stood over me, placing a foot on my chest.
“You tire me. I hoped you’d get to see me crush your men. But it looks like you’re going to die alone.” His foot pushed down on my ribs, threatening to break my sternum. Behind the mask, I imagined he smiled, satisfied with his handiwork.
But it was my turn to smile.
“I’m not alone.”
28
The portal openedto Eclipse’s side. It might be Theo’s doing, but it was Julian who came flying out. He wrapped Eclipse in a bear hug, tackling him with a deafening roar. I coughed, causing a bolt of pain down my body as the sound of fists pounding meat filled the base.
Julian was a bruiser, stronger than the average hero. But it didn’t seem to slow Eclipse. They rolled about on the ground, Julian landing a punch to the face and Eclipse returning the favor. Neither slowed as the other continued their hammering.
In a puff of smoke, Eclipse shot backward, landing on his feet, squaring up for another round of slugging. Julian got to his feet as Eclipse hovered in a thick covering of black smoke. If it had just been about strength, I believed Julian would wipe the floor with this half-baked villain. But Eclipse had powers beyond strength, and if they affected others as much as they did me, Julian was in danger.
With a thunderous clap from his hands, the smoke around Eclipse dissipated, leaving him in his bright cape flapping in the wind. Julian charged, but seconds before driving his shoulder into Eclipse, he vanished through a portal.
