Which is good… But what happens now?
Rain Dancer was unleashing the full brunt of his lightning power against the inner shell of the shield bubble, and it was having a clear effect. The color of the shield was changing, shifting from an opaque rainbow hue into something clearer and less substantial.
“Oh, come on,” muttered Malcolm.
The shield wasn’t going to hold him. Malcolm had played his final card and come up short. As soon as Rain Dancer was free, he’d mop up any resistance that remained, which at the moment, appeared to be just Malcolm.
“Drop… him…” Tapestry’s voice was frail. She looked terrible, like a burn victim past the point of hope.
“What?” asked Malcolm.
“From… the sky…” managed Tapestry.
Malcolm understood in an instant. He took hold of the shield bubble, surprised by how it seemed to be as light as a feather, even with the weight of Rain Dancer inside of it.
“What are you doing?” screamed Rain Dancer. “I will destroy you!”
“Hate to burst your bubble, but not today,” said Malcolm. He hoisted the shield bubble over his head and leapt into the air, pushing himself into the sky with the wind.
He used the method that Shield Maiden had taught him, slowly launching himself upward with quick, intense bursts of air. It felt a little like performing a double jump in a video game, except he just kept going, rising fifty or so feet each time.
From above, Malcolm could see the extent of the damage that their headquarters had taken. Fire was spreading across one side, and the hole in the roof was allowing smoke and air to flow and feed the flames.
There would be nothing left in a couple of hours other than a collapsed ruin of metal and cinders. Malcolm knew that the only way Tapestry and the others would get out alive was if he made it back in time to help evacuate.
He rose even higher, watching as the trees and cars surround their base turned into little, insignificant dots. The air was cold, and chilled his hands and face until he could barely feel any sensation left. Malcolm grimaced as he passed through a cloud, his clothes soaking instantly.
He kept pushing himself higher and higher into the sky until it got hard for him to breathe, and he was positive that the fall would kill anything, super powered or not. Rain Dancer had gone silent. Malcolm considered what his last words to the demon should be.
“Well…” he said. “This is goodbye, I guess.”
Rain Dancer didn’t react. Malcolm didn’t have time to wait any longer. He tossed the shield bubble away from him, like a volleyball across a net, and then disintegrated it. Rain Dancer fell like a rock… for the first few feet.
He froze in midair, appearing to shoot up as Malcolm began his own descent. Then, he hurtled toward Malcolm with his arms extended, flying through the air as naturally as a bird, or a plane. Rain Dancer’s hands closed around Malcolm’s neck, and he grinned as he began to choke him.
“What…?” coughed Malcolm. “How?”
“Sometimes it’s handy to keep the full extent of your powers under wraps, you know?” said Rain Dancer.
His hands crackled with electricity. Pain surged through every inch of Malcolm’s nervous system. Rain Dancer threw him into the air, and Malcolm began to drop, picking up speed as gravity did its thing.
He couldn’t call his powers immediately, not after having Rain Dancer short circuit them through Malcolm’s weakness. The first few seconds of Malcolm’s fall were the most terrifying of his life, up to that point. He screamed wordlessly and windmilled his arms, knowing that it would do little good.
By the time he could summon the wind again, the ground was coming up on him fast. He only barely managed to cushion his fall, landing in an undignified heap in a field a half mile from headquarters.
Rain Dancer descended next to him, gracefully touching down on both feet. Malcolm tried to sit up. Lightning danced over his body, forcing a scream out of him and killing any hope he had left.
“I won’t give you another chance to trap me in a shield,” said Rain Dancer. “You can be sure about that, ya?”
He shocked Malcolm again, and then let out a sigh.
“Wind Runner,” he said. “I thought we could be friends. Not right at first, but we brought you down to Underworld. You seemed like a funny guy, you know? Friends with a spryte, even though you were a champion…”
“We could still… be friends,” said Malcolm. His throat was dry and he had to force the words out. “Let’s start with a trust building exercise. Me… trusting you… not to kill me.”
“Funny.” Rain Dancer shocked him again. “Like I said.”
Just… one more step.
“It was worth it being disappointed by you to meet Rose, though,” said Rain Dancer, flashing a dirty grin. “Mmm, mmm, mmm, am I ever going to enjoy getting to know her better! Anything I should know in advance before pushing in? Any little tricks she likes? Kinky turn ons?”
Rain Dancer took another step. Malcolm shot his hand out, slipping it under the demon’s pant leg and holding tight to his ankle. Rain Dancer let out an amused laugh and let the lightning crackle through his hands. Malcolm felt the tingle, and knew that he had exactly what he wanted.
“Her biggest turnoff is people who underestimate their opponents.”
Malcolm pushed both his palms outward, shooting as much lightning as he could muster into Rain Dancer’s chest. It was enough to knock the demon back a few feet, but it didn’t appear to do any actual damage, at least not physically. The expression on Rain Dancer’s face was one of confusion and outrage, and Malcolm savored it.
“I know,” said Malcolm. “You must be so shocked right now? Get it? Do you get the pun, Rain Dancer?”
“You are nothing!” Rain Dancer blasted lightning out at Malcolm, two or three times as much as Malcolm had sent his way. Malcolm caught the blast by meeting it with his own electrical burst, and both of them stood, pushing back and forth, neither of them upsetting the stalemate.
“I’m a champion,” said Malcolm. “I’m Wind Runner, bitch!”
“You can’t beat me with my own power!” shouted Rain Dancer. “It doesn’t work like that, you. Sooner or later, I’ll get close to you again, and we’ll see who wins in a fair fight.”
Malcolm sent a sideways burst of electricity through a nearby tree, causing it to explode into flaming bits of splinter. He caught a few dozen with a gust of wind and hurled them at Rain Dancer while the demon’s attention was still on pushing with his lightning.
“I don’t fight fair,” said Malcolm.
Most of the wood shards only scratched at Rain Dancer’s shoulders. A few he managed to knock away with lightning, but he hadn’t been expecting to have to deal with Malcolm on two fronts at once. A splinter of wood with a pencil like point took him directly in the left eye, and the demon let out a howl of pain and fell to his knees.
“My… eye…” Rain Dancer reached up, not daring to bring his fingers in close to the piece of wood lodged through the surface of his cornea.
Malcolm was already preparing a spear like shaft of broken wood to deliver the finishing blow. He understood the champion’s policy on killing monsters more clearly than he ever had before. It made things simple, even if it was brutal, and often undeservingly applied.
He spun the makeshift spear around so its point was facing Rain Dancer. The demon saw what was coming through his good eye and leapt into the air, taking flight toward the horizon. Malcolm considered going after him, and then remembered the rest of his friends back at the dome.
It’s not worth risking their lives, even if I’ll have to face him again later.
CHAPTER 36
The Champion Authority’s Vanderbrook headquarters was in complete ruin. Flames had completely engulfed the building. Malcolm took a deep breath and risked going in through the hole in the roof, descending into the inferno.