“Distractions are what I do best,” said Malcolm. “Get ready.”
Tapestry nodded. Her expression was hard, but Malcolm could see the surprise and confusion in her eyes. Savior had lost against Rain Dancer. For the first time in history, the incredible leader of the Champion Authority had been beaten, and was now a prisoner of his own limitations.
Malcolm signaled Tapestry to make a run for it and threw himself into the air. He knew that the primary danger would be the gun wielding Multis. He didn’t just expect them to open fire on him, he was counting on it.
A salvo of gunshots roared after him as soon as he flew into direct view. Malcolm felt his ankle explode with pain, and had to grit his teeth to keep from losing his focus.
Getting shot hurts, even when it’s for a good cause.
He landed on the roof of a nearby building, immediately falling into a roll to keep from having to put weight on his wound. He could already feel Tapestry’s regeneration ability working its magic, sealing off the injury before he lost too much blood.
“Wind Runner!” shouted Rain Dancer. “You are next, you know! I haven’t forgotten about my eye. Maybe I’ll let your friends live… but you will die.”
“Aw,” said Malcolm. “You have an eye only for me. That’s so sweet.”
He pushed out into the open air again, circling a few times and drawing more gunfire. Malcolm threw in every defensive movement he could think of, somersaulting and barrel rolling to make himself a harder target.
He caught sight of Tapestry and Wax slipping into the black BMW, Morph already behind the wheel for a quick escape. Malcolm felt a surge of hope, but only for an instant. A lightning blast struck him from ground level, and he fell at an awkward angle, slamming into the edge of a building and only barely managing to pull himself up onto the roof.
Gunshots ricocheted against the spot where he’d been an instant before. Malcolm’s entire body tingled with pain from the electric strike. He licked his lips, trying to listen with the wind to the sound of a muffled conversation in the street below.
“Rain, the police are moving in on our position,” said Shield Maiden.
“So?” snapped Rain Dancer.
“So… We don’t want a bloodbath,” said Shield Maiden. “A lot of people support the movement for monster rights. If we play this right, we can completely overthrow what’s left of the Champion Authority. People will see them as tyrants, and us as heroes.”
“Damn,” muttered Rain Dancer. “Fine.”
He cleared his throat.
“Wind Runner!” he shouted. “I’ll be waiting for you at the Church of the Awakened Children. If you don’t want me to go after your friends and family, you will come and face me there at dawn.”
Malcolm leaned his head against the roof of the building. He looked, making sure that Tapestry and the others had made it away, and then burst into flight. The Multis didn’t fire on him, and Rain Dancer didn’t give chase.
They don’t have to chase me. They’ve already won, and they know it.
CHAPTER 36
Malcolm flew to the top of the tallest building in Vanderbrook, heedless of the toll using his wind manipulation so liberally was taking on him. The euphoria felt good, a counterpoint to the dark mood that had taken hold in his chest.
He stared down at the town below. The night sky was cloudy overhead, and any extra awareness of the situation on the ground his position might have given him was diminished by the conditions. Malcolm sat on the edge of the building, feeling defeated.
He checked his phone. Tapestry had sent him a text, just the address of a motel on the edge of town. Malcolm ran his hand through his hair, wondering if he should even bother heading to meet up with the other champions.
Rain Dancer will make good on his threat. If I don’t face him, he’ll kill all of them. Maybe even Rose, too.
The fact that she hadn’t been there at the protest, fighting alongside the other monsters, made Malcolm wonder. She’d wanted him to stay with her in his apartment. Did she know ahead of time about the trap? Was she trying to keep him out of danger? That seemed to go directly against what Rain Dancer wanted, another chance to kill Malcolm and take revenge on him for the eye.
It didn’t seem to matter if she’d defied orders or not, in the end. Rain Dancer’s plan had probably gone off better than he could have hoped. Malcolm thought about Savior, and whether he had a plan to get back to Earth. It seemed unlikely, if not impossible.
Malcolm headed for the motel, using his flight powers in moderation to keep from pushing the limit. He found it easily enough, and headed into the front office. A bored looking clerk pointed him in the direction of two rooms on the second level, at the end of the walkway.
His friends were in the first one, all of them huddled together around a TV. There was a somber tension in the room, the kind that only comes in the wake of unexpected death. Tapestry ran over to him and pulled him into a tight hug as soon as she saw him.
“What took you so long?” she demanded.
“I just… had some thinking to do, on the way here,” he said.
“She was worried sick about you.” Melanie had apparently been picked up along the way, and was sitting in one of the beds. “She went on and on about how it was a mistake to let you try to distract them. I figured you’d be okay, though. You tend to be pretty good at surviving, even if you make stupid decisions, every now and then.”
“Thanks… I think?” said Malcolm. Tapestry was still hugging him, and only stepped back after another couple of seconds. Morph and Wax gave him a nod, most of their attention still on the TV.
“I haven’t seen anything like this since Day One, Diane,” said one of the news anchors. “The reports of Savior’s death, which are as of now, still unsubstantiated, have set off a wave of protests all around the world.”
“The Champion Authority has pulled out of Chicago and New York,” said the female anchor. “A state of emergency has been declared in seven states. The death toll is currently just short of ten thousand, but we expect that to climb in the near future.”
“Just how much of this is the work of monsters?” asked the male anchor.
“From the reports we’ve received, its monsters and protesters acting in tandem, with looters taking advantage of the chaos,” said the female anchor. “The president has advised everyone to stay indoors and wait until a peaceful solution can be found.”
A peaceful solution. The Champion Authority is in ruins, and sprytes and demons finally have an event to rally around.
“This is insane,” muttered Malcolm. “How can this be happening so fast?”
“Somebody live streamed Savior being pushed though the portal,” said Wax. “I never suspected that the reaction would be this extreme, but Savior was the head of the Champion Authority.”
“But the Champion Authority isn’t just him!” said Anna. “It doesn’t make any sense. Where are the rest of the champions? Why aren’t more of them fighting back?”
Tapestry glanced around at everyone in the room.
“We’re in hiding,” she said, slowly. “If I had to guess, I’d say the champions in most major cities are in similar straits. The threat of Savior showing up to handle powerful demons personally is what kept most of them from being brazen.”
Malcolm frowned, slowly shaking his head.
“As strong as Rain Dancer and Multi are together, not even bringing Shield Maiden and the others into it, they’ll have control of the city in a couple of hours,” he said. “Remember what happened when you tried to shoot Rain Dancer with your gun, Tapestry? And Multi, well, he’s not exactly impervious to bullets, but he won’t be put off by fighting armed policemen.”