Part 14 (1/2)
Frost stared at it, and ice formed on the device. A momentlater, it looked like a very large ice cube.
Malefica let go of it, and the trigger clattered to the ground. Useless.
”It seems that your little plan has. .h.i.t a snag. No trigger, no bomb, no explosion. Pity.” Malefica laughed and blew me a kiss.
Frost pulled out his freezoray gun and leveled it at me. ”Shall I put her on ice?”
”I say we just tear her apart with our bare hands,” Scorpion chimed in. His poison-tipped talons gleamed in the moonlight.
”No, I think we need to come up with something a little more special for Miss Cole for refusing to go quietly.” Malefica tapped her booted foot on the gra.s.s. ”How about Frost hits her with his freezoray gun, then you shatter her icy limbs one at a time?”
”Works for me,” Scorpion replied.
”I hate to interrupt,” I called out. ”After all, it is terribly fascinating to watch you three plot my demise, but there's something you should know.”
”Oh really?” Frost sneered. ”What are you going to do now? Plead for your life?”
”No. I just thought you should know I've got another trigger.” I took my left hand out of my pocket and held up the metal device so they could see it.
I hadn't rigged the ground in front of me or the bench or even myself. I just said that to keep the ubervillains away. Without superpowers, I could never go toe-to-toe with any of them, even if I had a bottle of pepper spray the size of a jumbo jet. Instead, I'd rigged the swing set. According to Jasper, explodium produced a concentrated blast with no shrapnel and no debris. It sucked everything in toward itself. His bombs had a blast radius of no more than twenty-five feet, meaning I should be safe at this distance.
By moving away from me and my supposed bomb, the Terrible Triad had floated right into my trap. I might have been crazy trying to take on the Triad by myself, but I didn't have a death wish.
Malefica's eyes began to glow again. I knew I only had seconds before she yanked the second trigger out of my hand.
I loosened my grip- A silver sword sailed through the air. It embedded itself in a nearby tree, which burst into flame.
”No, no, no!” Malefica shrieked.
Striker leapt out from the shadows and landed on Scorpion. The two went down in a pile of flailing arms and legs. A line of flames cut the two off from Malefica and Frost.
”Hit her, Frost!” Malefica screamed. ”Hit her now!”
Frost pulled the trigger on his freezoray gun.
I threw my hands up, still clutching the trigger. Instead of an icy blast, something stung my shoulder. I looked at my jacket, where a tiny dart stuck out. What the h.e.l.l- Another tree erupted into flames. Frost threw switches and raked back the slide on his fancy-looking gun. Scorpion and Striker struggled on the ground. They rolled over and over each other, hitting, punching, kicking, clawing. They sounded like a marching band clanging and cras.h.i.+ng together. A KarmaGirl.
trashcan zipped up into the air and zoomed toward Malefica. She held out her hand, stopping it.
Still holding the bomb trigger, I ran around the bench. While grateful for Striker's intervention, I couldn't help but be annoyed. Another three seconds, and Malefica and Co. would have been snoring through dirt. Permanently. My problem, Striker's problem, would have been solved. Now, I couldn't blow the bomb without catching the Fearless Five in the blast. Plus, I had no desire to be in the middle of a superhero-ubervillain battle. They'd destroy the whole park before they were done. This time, I didn't have a police barricade to keep me a safe distance away.
A figure with flaming hair and fists emerged from the shadows to my left. I put my hands up to ward off the intense heat and light.
”Stay out of the way!” Fiera hissed.
The superhero ran past me. Sparks landed on my jacket and roared to life. With one hand, I ripped off the smoldering cloth and stomped on it. My inner voice cried out. Something came up fast behind me. I hit the ground. A metal trashcan sailed over my head and off into the darkness.
I scrambled to my feet. Malefica stared at me. The ubervillain's eyes glowed neon green with hate and rage. Another trashcan came at me. I ducked back behind the bench. The can hit it and rattled off.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a green-and-white figure. Malefica saw him too. She picked up another bench with her mind and tossed it at Mr. Sage. One of the discarded trashcans zoomed through the air to meet it. The bench and the can seesawed back and forth, creaking and cracking and groaning.
Another wall of fire roared up between Malefica and Mr. Sage.
”Let's go!” Malefica screamed. ”Now!”
Frost hit another b.u.t.ton on his gun and pulled the trigger. A shrieking sound ripped through the air, just like it had at the vacuum cleaner plant. I clapped my hands over my ears, but it wasn't enough to block out the excruciating wail. My brain felt like it was on fire. Mr. Sage, Striker, and Fiera clutched their heads in agony, but the noise didn't affect the Triad. They scampered away and vanished into the dark woods on the far side of the park.
After a few seconds, the sound faded away. The fires snuffed out. I stood. The superheroes cl.u.s.tered together, checking to make sure no one was seriously injured. They turned toward me.
”Thank you-”
My vision fuzzed over. I shook my head. The world spun around, and a searing pain roared to life in the back of my skull.
”Carmen? Carmen!”
Striker's voice sounded long and slow, like he was underwater. I staggered back and forth. I squinted as hard as I could, but I couldn't focus. What the h.e.l.l had Frost injected me with? My throat closed up. I couldn't talk. Couldn't breathe. My foot snagged on something, and I tumbled to the ground. I tried to hold on to the bomb trigger so I wouldn't blow us all to bits, but my fingers felt numb, lifeless. The metal device slid from my grasp.
The light on top of the trigger flashed once.
An enormous roar ripped through the air.
Heat washed over me.
Then, everything went black.
KarmaGirl.
13.
The machine was the first thing I was aware of. It beeped and buzzed and made it impossible for me to sleep. I frowned. I didn't have any sort of machine in my bedroom, other than my old clock radio. Had it suddenly gone haywire?
My eyes fluttered open. A blurry haze covered my vision. Slowly, the tile ceiling came into focus. The harsh fluorescent lights made me squint. I frowned again. My bedroom ceiling wasn't tiled, and I didn't have fluorescent lights. A muscle in my arm twitched. Pain shot up my shoulder.
The pain brought back memories of the battle between the Fearless Five and the Terrible Triad. Frost had shot me with some sort of dart before his gun had produced that horrid noise. I recalled lots of fire and trashcans flying through the air. Everything else was a bit foggy. Had the Fearless Five defeated the Terrible Triad? Or had it been the other way around? Did the bomb go off? I couldn't remember.
I sat up on my elbows and realized I was in a hospital bed. An IV dripped some sort of clear fluid into my arm. Another machine sounded out my heart rate and blood pressure every few seconds. Still more machines burped out information.
Several microscopes and other medical paraphernalia perched on a nearby table. Latex gloves peeked up out of a box. A large metal sink ran along one wall, and a long window with thick gla.s.s looked out onto an empty hallway. A set of hydraulic double doors sat at the far end, leading out to . . . where?
I wasn't in a hospital or doctor's office. Although the room had the antiseptic feel of an infirmary, it was too large to be your average hospital room, and the equipment seemed far too advanced. I couldn't see anything beyond the doors, and I couldn't hear anything except the whines and chirps of the various machines. No nurses, no doctors, no other whimpering patients. A ball of fear formed in my stomach.
Where the h.e.l.l was I?
I threw back the bedsheets. A pair of white pajama pants, socks, and a loose T-s.h.i.+rt covered my body.
Not your typical backless hospital gown. Who had put the clothes on me? And why? I looked like a rat ready to be dissected in a lab. Perhaps this was Frost's lair, the place where he readied his test subjects before he experimented on them. My alarm grew.