Page 101 of No Capes

“Bologna,” I say. “I heard the tapes.”

“Believe me.” Phil has the audacity to chuckle. “I wanted to kill them all. I would have, if they hadn’t crashed first.”

Phil must not grasp that he incited Fox’s parents to kill my mom.

BOOM.

A force-field comes out of nowhere, throwing me against Phil’s desk. I hit it hard, the mirror slipping from my hand.

Crap.

My hands had started shaking, Phil’s reflection wavering in and out of the glass, enough for him to take advantage.

CRASH.The mirror shatters on the floor, sliding into the pool of water I created. Any hope of beating Phil falls with it. The sky outside us bursts white, as D.S. angrily tries to break in. Keeping my eyes on Phil, I take the smallest step toward the window.

Another force-field smacks into me and I dive onto the floor. Phil couldn’t face himself in the mirror, needing others to like him, weaponizing his charm.

But the force-fields?

As a third force-field sends me flying against the wall, it clicks.

The guy who needed to be liked so badly he got powers, is the same guy throwing up barriers if someone gets too close.

Phil would have dominated my support group.

I meet Phil’s force-field with a hard blast of water, but he sends it right back with another invisible wall. I push harder, then harder, until finally the water hits the window D.S. is trying to open. He hits it with a bolt of electricity at exactly the same time. The reaction causes the window to shatter in place, and D.S. soars through, smacking Phil down.

Despite everything, I smile. This is the first time I’ve invited D.S. to come in through a window.

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like Phil can create force-fieldsinsideother people, or we’d be dead already. Maybe he can only create them from the open air. Dark Static crouches near Phil, ready to pounce. Tiny bolts spangle his gloves, which he aims at Phil, sending a glowing shockwave right at the mayor’s throat.

D.S. could attack Phil with a bolt of lightning or a searing laser, but those would risk killing him. If we attacked together, my water could amplify Dark Static’s electricity and have the same result.The good guys don’t kill.A small voltage shock, however, should manage to disarm Phil while keeping him alive.

Phil dodges the shockwave by diving to the floor. He grabs one of the CDs and holds it to reflect D.S.’ blast.

The shockwave hits the tower wall, sending a rumble through the ceiling. The CD shatters on the floor. D.S. hands spark with the beginnings of another wave.

“No,” I shout. Dark Static stops, realizing he’s destroyed a piece of evidence. Just one CD among dozens, but Dark Static can’t attack without risking more damage

He nods to me, on the same page. After a silent count to three, he leaps to Phil, prepared to knock him out, and I dive for the evidence. Right before D.S. makes contact with Phil, the mayor shoots a force-field at me, which sends me flying as my momentum hits it head on. All I see next is an open window.

~

I fall through the air like a drop of rain breaks away from a cloud. First, it squeezes its little body into the world and then accelerates downward until it hits something solid. Then it breaks into fragments of drips and drops, which break into more drips and drops, until there is nothing left but a tiny, shattered body.

It takes about two seconds for me to fall from the third-floor tower, but instead of landing on the gravel and sleeping with the fishes, I land on something cushiony that has enough give to protect a body falling from a tower.Umph,I groan, turning over my shoulder. That’s going to leave a mark.

The platform turns out to be a spring mattress with extra padding.

“What can we do?” Someone asks when I regain my focusing capabilities. A purple figure stands beside the mattress, Materio. He must have transfigured something into the mattress to help me land.

Is he on my side?

“What does Static need?” Materio repeats.

Guess so.

“Bridges has powers,” Flare mutters, in shock.