Supervillainess (Part Two) Read online

  “You have to use it when you defeat General Savage.”

  “I can definitely do that.”

  “We better get going.” Igor stood.

  Kimber glanced at the time, surprised he’d been absorbed enough in superhero movies to lose track of the time. He changed quickly into his uniform and joined Igor in the living room. Not even the taxi waiting out front dimmed Kimber’s excitement about planning to finally take down General Savage.

  The cab whisked them across town and dropped them off.

  Kimber gazed up at the sign then looked at Igor, his enthusiasm waning slightly. “I don’t remember superheroes in movies planning to take down their arch nemeses at Denny’s,” he said.

  “We’ll get a superhero discount, since you’re in uniform.” Igor sounded pleased by this.

  Why not. Kimber shook his head and followed Igor into the quiet restaurant. They were seated in a far corner immediately. Self-conscious of the odd looks he was receiving from the few patrons present, Kimber kept his eyes on the menu.

  Soon after ordering, Keladry arrived – trailed by one of her ninjas – and ten steps behind her, Officer Ford accompanied by three of his law enforcement buddies. The separate groups joined Kimber and Igor.

  Kimber initially wasn’t able to take his eyes off Keladry, until Igor nudged him, and he realized everyone else was watching him.

  “Reader’s buying. Get what you want,” Kimber said.

  Keladry’s eyebrow rose, but she didn’t object.

  Everyone ordered and then fell into an uncomfortable silence. The police officers were glaring at Keladry and her ninja. The villains seemed to be the only ones unconcerned with anything or anyone.

  “I hear we have a plan?” Kimber prompted when no one spoke.

  “We’re taking down the mountain,” Keladry replied calmly.

  No one spoke.

  “You mean figuratively or literally?” Kimber asked at last.

  “Literally. As long as my father has a fortress we can’t penetrate, he’ll win. So, we’re going to take his fortress away then squash his henchmen like cockroaches as they escape and tear my father’s -”

  Igor cleared his throat.

  Keladry glanced at him. “ – uh, freedom right off his shoulders.”

  Kimber chose to ignore her hastily veiled attempt to cover her true intentions. He vowed to be there personally when General Savage was taken down to ensure the supervillain saw the inside of a courtroom instead of a coffin. Kimber looked towards the others around the table. Officer Ford appeared impressed, while Igor was nodding. It was the latest in a long line of instances where Kimber alone seemed to be on a different page.

  “How exactly are we going to do that?” he questioned when no one else did.

  Keladry motioned to her ninja. He pulled a rolled piece of paper out of the satchel he carried and handed it to her. She unrolled it in the middle of the table.

  “I lost forty ninjas to obtain this,” she said. “Blueprints of my father’s fortress.”

  Kimber leaned forward, along with the others.

  “There’s one point of weakness in the mountain we discovered in the blueprints.” She pointed to the center of the complicated schematics.

  Kimber studied it, brow furrowing.

  “Extensive tunneling has damaged the integrity of the mountain. The entire structure is supported by a central pillar right here.” She tapped it.

  “But why would …” Kimber drifted off, recalling what he’d learned from watching the superhero movies. “Because there’s always a core weakness in the supervillain’s plan the superhero is uniquely qualified to exploit.”

  “Bingo,” Keladry said.

  Kimber didn’t fight the irrationality that had to have been involved in creating a fortress with a single crippling weakness. He didn’t question how a mastermind genius would fail to proactively develop redundancy. He didn’t even have a meltdown when he realized they were plotting to take down the most dangerous supervillain in the country while squished shoulder to shoulder in a corner booth at Denny’s.

  “We can rig it with explosives,” Officer Ford said. “We’ve got the weapons Doctor confiscated from Reader in police evidence. Is what we’d need there?”

  “Yep,” she confirmed. “We calculated we’d need four tons of explosives. There are three tons in your evidence warehouse and another ton or two at one of my bunkers.”

  “How do we get to this point?” Kimber asked. “We barely made it out the last time we went through the sewer system.”

  “We go in from above. During daylight,” Officer Ford said, lifting his eyes to meet Reader’s. “The police force has had an emergency plan we’ve never been willing to execute. If we go in from above, using our helicopters, can we get to the center of the mountain?”

  “I have an order of red velvet pancakes,” their waitress broke in, disrupting their meeting.

  Keladry raised her hand.

  All talking of the operation ceased as their food was delivered. Keladry’s henchman rolled the blueprints back up and replaced them in his satchel.

  “We think we can do this.” Officer Ford said, his words muffled by the food in his mouth. He stacked the saltshaker on top of the napkin dispenser in the center of the table. “Mountain.” He picked up the pepper container next and then shook it out over the mountain. “As a distraction. Feign an attack from the air.”

  “Cover fire for a demolition team and four tons of explosives to take position,” Keladry finished for him.

  “Exactly.”

  The two fell silent as they stuffed their mouths full of food. Kimber considered the plan.

  “So I’ll be carrying eight thousand pounds of explosives,” he guessed after swallowing a bite of his salad.

  Keladry nodded.

  The group fell quiet as they ate. When the dishes were cleared, the talk began again.

  Kimber listened to Keladry and Officer Ford plan the mission, impressed by the knowledge of both when it came to running an operation of this scope. The two knew what they were doing – and he was still learning. At times, Igor chimed in.

  By the time the dinner was finished, and all talk fell quiet, Kimber felt reasonably confident in their plan.

  “When is this going down?” he asked.

  “How fast can you get the explosives we need?” Keladry asked Officer Ford.

  “Tomorrow.” He glanced at the police officer beside him. “It’ll take some convincing on our parts, but we’ll get it done.”

  “Then we move tomorrow before sunset,” Keladry said. “I don’t want to give my father too much space to plan another explosion like the one that took out the Coffee Beanery last week.”

  “We can meet up at the diner near the base of the mountain,” Officer Ford said.

  Keladry nodded. “Six o’clock.”

  Officer Ford and his companions left.

  “We training tonight?” Kimber asked Keladry.

  She started to smile but stopped herself. “Yeah. Igor, you need a ride home?” she asked her former nanny.

  “I do.”

  “Give Igor a ride home,” she directed her minion. “Doc, you can come with me.”

  They left the booth and exited the restaurant. Igor accompanied the silent ninja, while Kimber trailed Keladry to her expensive car. The driver started it as soon as he spotted them, and they got in.

  Kimber reached out to take Keladry’s hand in the darkness of the backseat. She glanced at him, a wicked gleam in her eyes, his first warning she had plans for him this evening.

  Instead of taking them to the docks, the chauffeur drove them into the city, towards a familiar road Kimber quickly identified as Millionaire’s Row.

  They were dropped off in front of the townhouse where Kimber had stayed for a night several weeks ago. Keladry led him in and up the stairs to the fourth floor. She began to strip as she walked down the hallway, and Kimber got the message quick.

  “I like this kind of training,” he s
aid and caught her around the waist. He pulled her into his body. “It’s my favorite.” Kimber nuzzled her hair and breathed her in.

  “In case you don’t make it tomorrow.”

  He gave a startled laugh. “Why do you assume I’m the one who might die?”

  “Do you really have to ask?” she countered.

  “We have a solid plan and enough explosives to take out half the city. I’m pretty sure we’ll do fine.”

  “You don’t know my father,” she murmured.

  “Do I detect worry in the voice of a supervillainess?” he whispered. “I’ll protect you, Keladry.”

  “I don’t need protecting!”

  “Everyone does sometimes. You’ve been protecting me since we first met.”

  She was silent.

  “So let me help protect you,” he said. “Just this once. Okay?”

  Keladry twisted in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hauled herself onto his hips. “Shut up and fuck me, Kimber,” she said.

  They were the nicest words she’d ever spoken to him.

  Twelve: It all leads up to the epic battle between good and evil

  The next evening, Kimber’s hands clenched into fists and released, over and over, as he sat hunched over in the woods at the base of the mountain. His faith in their plan was fading the longer he waited. The sun perched on the horizon, casting long shadows around him, and rendering the shadow of the mountain even more formidable than it already was. The forest smelled of pine and overflowed with the sounds of spring, from the chatter of chipmunks to the cheerful songs of birds. None of them seemed to understand how important this evening was about to become.

  Kimber was crossing the gray. He was about to launch an attack on a supervillain far stronger than he was, and if he failed, his friends – and those they loved – would pay the gruesome price.

  I’m a superhero, he reminded himself. I was born for this day.

  As the thought crossed his mind, he almost laughed. He had gone from complete disbelief to acceptance of his bizarre role over the course of a few weeks. There were moments when his life still didn’t feel real, when he wondered if he’d ever woken up from the coma after his overdose. As he breathed in the scents of the forest and tugged at the sleeve of his uniform, he realized how very real this was. Tonight was the single most important night of his life, the moment he’d unknowingly been waiting for. He wasn’t going to save one or two lives, as he might in a night at the ER. He was going to save five million.

  “Police choppers are preparing to lift off,” Officer Ford said quietly through the earpiece Kimber wore. “Reader?”

  “Ninja army in position,” she confirmed. “Igor?”

  “Mobile command center up and running,” Igor confirmed. “Doctor?”

  “Ready,” Kimber breathed. His pulse quickened at the confirmation that the operation was about to begin.

  “Doc, did you memorize the instructions this time?” Officer Ford asked.

  Kimber rolled his eyes. “Dude, I got this!” He looked down at the writing on his palm. He’d spent years in medical school memorizing physiology, diagnoses manuals, disease symptoms and everything else. But he’d never been under this kind of pressure – with the world on his shoulders. He’d memorized the highlights and then written down important details on his palms. As a physician, he could refer to his reference materials or others in the field if he were stumped or needed guidance. As a superhero, there was no one but him.

  “Our first distraction for the night is lifting off now,” Officer Ford said. “Start your watch timers.”

  Kimber did so and shifted so he could see the top of the mountain better. Two police helicopters were supposed to attack the peak, while Reader’s ninjas closed in from the opposite direction with the hope of corralling all of General Savage’s henchmen at the top of the mountain and leaving the main approach thinly guarded.

  Kimber repeated his first few steps mentally as he waited for the action to start. Within five minutes, the thumping of rotators against air soon grew audible, and the police helicopters came into view. They didn’t wait until they were directly above the fortress but began launching missiles as soon as they were in range. Reader and Igor had briefed Officer Ford on the mountain’s defense system, which included a comprehensive surface-to-air rocket battery. The closer the choppers got, the deadlier the battery became.

  Missiles slammed into the side of the mountain. Chunks of rock exploded and rolled down the sides of the stone peak. The air was soon filled with the dust of obliterated rock. The helicopters managed to shoot over a dozen missiles into the rocky face before the air defense battery began to fire at them.

  With the helicopters focused on evasive maneuvers, their ability to fire weapons slowed.

  “Moving!” Keladry called over their communications system.

  “I’m up next,” Kimber whispered and glanced at his watch. The helicopters had to distract the mountain for five minutes while Keladry’s ninjas swarmed into position, aided by another helicopter and armored vehicles.

  Easing out of the forest, he returned to the dirt road – an old logging path – and the armored vehicle towing eight thousand pounds of explosives behind it. One of Keladry’s henchmen was the driver. He started the vehicle when Kimber climbed in.

  At the five-minute mark, Kimber nodded at the driver. His mouth was too dry to speak, and he was anxious enough that he could barely focus on anything other than the mountain whose top was visible, over the tree line, to his right.

  “We lost one chopper,” Officer Ford reported grimly.

  Kimber clenched his hands again, hating the idea of people dying around him and feeling helpless to do anything about it.

  “We expected that,” Igor said. “Though it is regretful.”

  People dying was a terrible price to pay. Tonight will be the last time anyone dies because of General Savage – or because of me, Kimber vowed.

  The driver reached the main road leading up the mountain and stopped.

  “We’re at our first point.” Kimber managed to keep his voice steady.

  “Tell your driver to proceed at ten miles an hour,” Keladry instructed. “My second wave is working its way up the mountain but they’re engaged in heavier fighting than anticipated.”

  “As long as they’re not killing people,” Kimber reminded her.

  “Stun grenades, non-lethal combat, Tasers and rubber bullets.” She gave a heavy sigh. “You wound me, Doc. My ninjas will obey whatever command I give them, no matter how ridiculous.”

  Kimber ignored her barb. She was keeping her end of the bargain – no matter how reluctantly. He gave the driver the instructions.

  They pulled from the bumpy dirt road onto the asphalt. Within a minute, the bodies of black henchmen began appearing alongside the road. Kimber studied the first few, until he was satisfied the men were alive as promised. They were hog-tied and gagged, with most of them wriggling to try to free themselves.

  They proceeded up the mountain pass. More bodies were piled up in the ditches and sides of the road. Soon, around the halfway point, they crept up to the wave of Keladry’s henchmen who were clearing the path to the top.

  Kimber checked his watch with a frown. They had seven minutes to make it to the initial point where they could enter the honeycomb fortress inside the mountain. It had taken twice that to reach the halfway point, and they were at a stand still until the fighting before them stopped.

  Keladry’s men pushed through the layer of defense, and the armored truck in which Kimber rode crept forward once again.

  A man in black on the side of the road a short distance ahead waved his arms frantically.

  “Hey, Doc, one of my ninjas just radioed in,” Keladry said quickly. “There are landmines in the –”

  An explosion tore through the engine of the truck. One second, Kimber had opened his mouth to tell the driver to stop. The next, fire and heat engulfed the cab, and his stomach dropped as the truck sailed int
o the air. The cab turned into a metal cage and closed in around him, sending pain shooting through him from multiple points. The truck rotated and fell, smashing onto its top several feet away from the cargo bed lined with explosives.

  Kimber opened his eyes, stunned by the sudden explosion. He lay still until he could orient himself again. Lifting his head, he realized the cab had landed on its side. His window was busted, and the asphalt of the road was against his right arm. Despite the flashes of pain, his body was mobile. He pulled off his seatbelt and planted his hands on the dashboard before him. With a hearty push, he snapped the collapsed frame and moved the front half of the cab a solid three feet to clear his legs.

  “Doc?” Keladry called.

  “Yeah,” Kimber grunted. “Found the landmines.” He paused to allow his body to heal up some before maneuvering out of the cab and standing beside it. One of his calves had been crushed. As he watched, it re-inflated, like a balloon.

  “Is the truck operational?” Igor asked.

  Kimber’s gaze swept over the mangled truck. “Not exactly.”

  “The driver?”

  He limped around to get a better look. The ninja who had been driving was in two pieces. His lower half was trapped in the wreckage while his upper body had been blown free of the cab and lay in the middle of the road.

  “He didn’t make it either,” Kimber said, his confidence sinking another notch.

  “If they hit the explosives, we’d know,” Officer Ford said. “Is the trailer in any shape to make it the rest of the way up the mountain?”

  “Give me a minute.” Kimber leaned against the side of the truck and shook out his injured calf, waiting for it to heal more before he put all his weight on it. He looked in the direction he had to go. Keladry’s ninjas were nowhere in sight, which meant they’d cleared this area. The road curved around the mountain, so he couldn’t see far ahead.

  “Other chopper is down,” Officer Ford said. “Our decoy is now gone. They did some damage, but you can bet all eyes are going to turn your way, Doc.”

  “I’m positioned between my father’s forces and the Doctor,” Keladry said. “But we need to make sure he doesn’t call in all his henchmen from across the city before we have a chance to get those explosives up the hill.”