Page 24 of Lovesick Titan (Lovesick #2)

Having timed things just right to catch the guard so he wouldn’t trip any alarms early, they knew the perfect alarms to set off later to bring Zeus running.

Only Danny was already there, so Mal didn’t care about bringing the police anymore.

He’d frozen the sensors on his way out the door.

Maybe this would be better despite Lucy’s meddling, with no fuzz to get in the way when he lured Danny to the edge of town.

Finally, Dom burst out of the exit door, carrying the paintings beneath her arm as she turned and fired back inside the building.

Mal had the trunk open. Once Dom deposited the paintings, he closed it tight and they went to their respective doors.

Dom would drive—she always drove—but the engine was already running.

She tore her mask off and shifted gears just as Danny darted out the door after them through a cloud of smoke.

“Go!”

Dom gunned it, not that speed mattered against Zeus.

Outrunning him was never an option, but Mal wanted Danny to follow, needed him to.

The best thing about hitting the museum was how close it was to their destination.

They still had a drive ahead of them, ten minutes out of town, but when being pursued by Zeus, that might as well have been an hour.

Danny didn’t risk jumping inside the car; a moving target was too tricky.

Instead, he jumped close enough to grab onto the side of Mal’s door.

Mal had purposely lowered the window, but he knew Danny wouldn’t pull him from the car, not yet.

He wanted to talk . Wanted to plead more of his case and wrap Mal around his finger again. No dice.

“Mal!” Danny called. The way the yellow of his lightning surrounded his white and gold suit was a beautiful sight as they sped off down street after street, expertly weaving through the few other vehicles on the road.

“Sorry, Zeus, but since you were early to the party, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to even us out.

” Mal blasted ice out the window, sending Danny careening back at high speed from the sudden tumble.

He crashed into a parked car hard enough that Mal cringed.

That would have seriously injured anyone else.

But not Danny—he’d be up and on their tail again sooner than they could afford.

Touching his wrist to dial the cold field up, Mal watched through his glasses until the radius surrounded the car.

That would keep Danny from getting too close before they were ready for him.

It might be a risk relying on a reflective surface with Ludgate still around, but Mal had to be certain he knew the distance of the amplifier’s expanse.

As Dom turned off onto the last road that would take them out of town and into the woods, Mal could make out Danny’s lightning trail behind them, sparking every so often when he jumped forward and then vanishing when he hit the edge of the cold field.

A glance at Dom after watching Danny for so long made Mal frown. “Dom…”

She wore a prominent scowl, but that wasn’t the problem. When she glanced aside to see what Mal wanted, he made a point to nod at the seatbelt currently not buckled in. “We’re almost there!” She gestured out the windshield.

Mal kept his stare firmly focused.

With a huff and exaggerated motion to pull on her seatbelt, Dom complied.

Relaxing as he turned to stare forward again, Mal glanced in the rearview mirror every so often to make sure Danny was still following. He wasn’t being reckless. He was never reckless. He knew exactly what he was doing.

They reached the spot he’d picked out and slowed to a stop to park. Even with the cold field up, they didn’t have long before Danny would be on them. Once they were in position, Mal turned the cold field off. And Dom turned the heat field on .

Hidden behind the same large tree as they waited for Danny, Mal’s anger simmered to a cold calm.

He felt nothing toward Danny now, playing out the same old game of cat and mouse.

Danny wouldn’t give this up. He wouldn’t accept defeat or failure.

Mal just wanted to hear him say that, hear him lose control and admit how much he’d hated Mal all along.

“You sure you don’t want me to fry him?” Dom grumbled, welder’s mask on again but tilted up to reveal her face .

“We stick to the plan,” Mal said. “I want him brought low, not dead. Understand?”

“Yeah, yeah. But if he’s worth all this, maybe he deserves it.”

“No. We don’t kill anyone unless we have to.”

“Wasn’t all that playin’ nice bullshit his idea?” Dom scoffed. “And yer still bowin’ to it?”

“I don’t bow to anyone, least of all Zeus. But I’d have to be an idiot if I couldn’t admit when my enemy was right. We don’t kill,” he said again, sharper, to drive the point home. “We don’t need to.”

“Mal!” came Danny’s voice as he finally entered the clearing.

Mal and Dom both straightened, and Dom pulled down her mask.

They could hear the crinkle of sticks and leaves on the ground as Danny moved slowly into the heat field, looking for them, obviously seeing the car parked out in the open, but not yet having spotted them.

Mal nodded to Dom to expand the field in case Danny tried to back out of it, just as they heard him give a faint, gasping cough.

“Wh-What…?” Danny gasped again. The air outside the safety of the eye was superheated like the inside of an oven. There was another harsh intake of breath that no doubt seared Danny’s lungs, then a thud indicating he had dropped.

“You didn’t think I was the only one with new tricks, did you?” Mal called as he and Dom took their cue and parted ways around the tree, only to come together again on the other side, facing Danny as a unified front.

He was on his knees, clutching at the collar of his suit. The cold field had its uses, but this was effective too. Danny continued to wheeze and cough as he struggled to breathe.

“Do you like the outfit, Zeus?” Mal said, indicating how good he looked for the occasion. “Wore it just for you. See, you’re feeling the heat field right now, but when we go, I’m gonna leave my amplifier behind so you can spend a little quality time with the cold.”

Reaching out as if to say something, as if to plead with Mal, Danny fell forward, barely able to push up onto his hands and knees, still gasping for breath.

“Let it up, Dom,” Mal said.

Dom didn’t move. Just stood there, glaring at Danny.

“ Dom .”

“Tch. Fine. ”

Mal could see Dom’s heat field radius through his glasses as easily as he saw his own, so when it dropped, he saw the circle of red dissipate. Danny panted and rolled onto his back as the heat subsided enough for him to finally take in fresh, cooler air again.

Circling him close, Mal knew he only had moments before Danny would be able to lightning jump away.

“You’ll be able to crawl out of the cold field eventually,” he said as he crouched at Danny’s feet.

“Might take a few hours though, while you’re slowed.

And tired. And freezing . That trick your suit can do to heat you up, it won’t last, right?

And your friends, if they come to rescue you, they won’t be able to get close without suffering through the cold too.

“So I wouldn’t bother!” he yelled since he knew Vaughn and Rivers would be listening.

He was bluffing about the length of time; the amplifier would run out of juice once it was disconnected from his powers, lasting only a handful of minutes, but Danny didn’t need to know that.

“Zeus will be fine. He just needs a little time to think about his actions. Maybe give those IA officers more of a head start before your team brushes it all under the rug. Or maybe you have Shan in your pocket already. He does let Zeus get away with quite a bit. Maybe he doesn’t care if his people are crooked. ”

“Mal…” Danny croaked out but Mal spoke over him.

“Tell me, Zeus. Do you miss me?”

There was a pause before Danny managed a strangled, “Yes.”

Mal didn’t believe him, but his lip curled as he said, “ Good . Now here’s what’s gonna happen next…”

“Mal, wait.” Danny sat up, and instantly Mal and Dom infused raised palms with their powers. “Please!” He held his own hands up but didn’t try to move again. “Let me explain. Let me try to—”

“You’ve done enough talkin’,” Dom growled, and by the increased brilliance of her fire, Mal knew she was about to let loose.

“Dom!”

Flames shot forward, scorching the earth where Danny had been —only now he was gone, leaving only a trail of lightning.

Charging across the burnt grass, Mal grabbed Dom by the collar of her shirt. “ Don’t try that again.”

“Knew he’d run,” Dom shrugged him off. “Just didn’t want you fallin’ for any more of his bullshit. ”

“It’s not bullshit!” Danny’s voice called from—damn. Somewhere .

Mal and Dom circled each other with hands ready to fire as they sought out his location.

“The only person I was conning was myself!” Danny shouted. “I thought you were the lie, Mal. Thought everything you showed me and how you acted was just part of your own long game, and in the end you’d prove I was in the right.”

Mal snarled, “Come out and face me then if you’re so righteous!” Because Danny’s words were too close to what Mal was feeling now, and he couldn’t fall for it, couldn’t falter and acquiesce just to get swindled again .

“Every day we were together, you proved me wrong,” Danny said, “until none of it was an act anymore and I just wanted to keep you .”

“Shut up!” Mal cried and gestured for Dom to search right, while he went left.

“I wanted to be worthy of you, Mal, and everything you thought you knew about me. I’m not. I’ll never be worthy of that, or you. But it wasn’t all a lie. It was everything I needed based on a lie I told myself , but when I started to care about you—”

Catching sight of a blur of white ahead of him, Mal fired a blast of ice into the trees.

“ That was real!” Danny yelled, even as Mal saw his lightning trail streak away.

Mal surged forward. He couldn’t see Dom, so he couldn’t risk turning on the cold field without catching her in its path too. As he followed Danny, he lost sight of the clearing and the car quickly, but he knew he was headed the right direction because he saw a burst of orange from Dom’s fire.

Pushing into a run, Mal spotted Danny darting around trees, avoiding Dom’s furious blasts that weren’t held back like Mal had ordered.

“I know you won’t believe me, Mal!” Danny called, hoping Mal would hear him but not seeing him, not realizing Mal was almost upon him. While he huffed as he leaned against a tree, Mal took aim. “And that’s okay! That’s okay… I just needed you to hear me say it.”

Mal stood in wait as Danny rolled to the side when another of Dom’s blasts hit the tree.

The kid sprang to his feet, and Dom had a clear shot.

Danny saw it coming, had all the time in the world to jump out of the way, so Mal readied himself to head him off with a blast of ice whichever direction he darted.

Only Danny didn’t. He saw Dom start to blast forward with an arc of flames, but he just stood there, waiting for the fire to consume him.

And closed his eyes.

“Danny!”