Page 30 of Seductive Architect (Grunts of Vanguard #2)

I peered over the railing, hoping to see Janet at the coffee shop making herself a drink. She defied expectations, but I worried. Even our crazy office assistant had limits. It made stopping Apex more urgent. Until his computers had been wiped…

“They’re coming,” I whispered.

I spotted a single employee below. In their PJs and slippers, they had left their home at his summons. Another came in through the rear doors. Scientists and accountants we could handle, but who knew how many heroes he had infected? I wanted to punch the pompous program more and more.

“Let’s go,” I said.

I was about to offer flying Hudson to the floor below when he climbed onto the railing and leapt. Clearing thirty feet, he grabbed onto the ledge, pulling himself over. I launched myself across the building, landing beside him.

“You’re a super soldier, huh?”

“That’s what I keep hearing.”

“You’re amaz?—”

It burned. Whatever slammed into my back threw me through the glass doors, through the lobby, and into the maze of labs.

We had reached the part of the night that’d rack up the collateral damage.

The jetpack fired, slowing my slide along the white tile.

When I rolled over, I spotted the white light shaped like a person.

“Prism,” I hissed. Apex didn’t want us to reach him.

When he shot forward, Hudson grabbed his ankle, dragged along behind him.

“This asshole, again?” Connie didn’t hide the anger. “We can beat him up, right?”

“Yeah,” —I climbed to my feet— “we can.”

Hudson dug his heels into the tile, bringing Prism to a stop.

He swung the villain against Tia’s desk, throwing naked troll dolls across the lobby.

Prism fired a laser, but Hudson spun out of the way.

The villain kept trying to blast Hudson, but he moved with a grace I wouldn’t expect for a man his size.

When he flipped out of the way, I gasped. I witnessed the rise of a super.

“If you’re going to gawk…”

My jetpack fired, and I zipped into the lobby.

I drove a shoulder into Prism’s back. His entire body turned into an ultra-bright strobe.

The heads-up display went on the fritz, and I closed my eyes to focus on the code.

Unlike Wyatt and Drew, he wasn’t being controlled by Apex.

My newly acquired arch-nemesis had sided with the bad guy of his own free will. Go figure.

Something struck my chest, knocking me to my knees. I blocked the knee to the face, but without being able to follow the fight, I was all but useless.

“Connie, some help?”

“He’s disabling all the cameras. I can’t?—”

Pain. Searing pain. The nanites couldn’t repair themselves fast enough as Prism cut through my suit. No, I wouldn’t let a senator—one I didn’t vote for—kill me.

“Fire.”

“What wea?—”

“All of them.”

Every compartment opened. Missiles. Repulsors. Knockout gas. If I installed it, it fired. I spun, Prism’s laser cutting across my shoulder. My jetpack popped off, firing in his direction.

“Hudson, down!”

The jetpack exploded, throwing me through walls. The slicing pain stopped, replaced by an ache throughout my entire body. I smashed into a desk somewhere deep inside Synergy’s labs. The dollar signs continued to grow as the collateral damage shot up.

“Damage report,” I groaned .

“Suit is 67% operational. Weapons offline. Flight capabilities gone. Orion, you’re a hot mess.

” When I laughed, my ribs hurt. The display in my helmet had returned.

As I sat up, the entire floor had been blown apart.

A light mist sprayed from the ceiling, putting out fires in several labs.

It had gone from an insurance claim to millions in research destroyed.

“Ricardo is going to be pissed,” I mumbled.

In the mist, I spotted a bulky outline. I breathed a sigh of relief. It wouldn’t have been good for our relationship if I accidentally killed Hudson. I sat upright, groaning. There were broken ribs, most likely a concussion.

“You should ask him.”

“Who… Oh.”

A man made of silver stepped out of the mist. I thought it was great that so many superheroes worked in a single building.

While Ricardo didn’t take to the streets like the rest of us, I always appreciated knowing a super oversaw a lab dedicated to researching our abilities. My opinion had changed—a lot.

His hands extended, replaced by long metallic blades. He had never registered with the HeroApp?, but I had seen enough of him in the janitor's closet to get the gist. Liquid metal and the ability to reshape his body made him a deadly puddle.

“Great,” I mumbled.

Another shadow emerged. Hudson’s arm hooked around Ricardo’s waist, whipping him about and smashing him into a cement column.

For the second time, he came to my rescue.

At this point, we’d have to reconsider who was the sidekick in this relationship.

Ricardo reformed, swinging the blades, trying to eviscerate Hudson—step, lean, retreat, spin, block.

Hudson predicted every move, staying one step ahead of Ricardo.

If it hadn’t been a fight for his life, I’d have called it a beautiful dance between them.

Watching him move, it wasn’t just Hudson anymore. This was the synthetic person. Did that mean he was still Hudson? We’d have to figure that out after we won.

“I’ve got him,” he shouted.

“I’m not leaving you.” Climbing to my feet, the suit did its best to repair itself. At this point, my tech was anything but useful.

“Go.”

Go.

The barrier between Hudson and his programming had vanished. As he blocked Ricardo’s arm, pivoting and flipping him over his shoulder, I could see the programming at work. Ricardo hit the floor, his body deforming. Hudson didn’t slow, his fingers digging into a metal cabinet.

Raising it over his head, I held up a hand. “Ricardo’s a good guy.”

It didn’t stop Ricardo from reforming, his arm elongating, snatching Hudson’s ankles.

As he tumbled, he brought the cabinet down on Ricardo’s head.

Arthur’s boyfriend wouldn’t stop until he killed us.

Hudson couldn’t pull his punches if he wanted to survive.

There was only one way to stop this insanity.

“Don’t die,” Connie said.

I ran down the hall, heading toward our real opponent. At the center of the web, Apex waited. If we could stop the puppet master, then we would have a chance. Leaving Hudson behind was the hardest choice. But I trusted him. He could handle Ricardo. It didn’t make the decision any easier.

“Stop the AI. Save the city.”

“Ahem,” Connie interjected. “Evil AI, mister.”