Page 7

CHAPTER 7 - TOR

W as I dead and dreaming? In Heaven or Hell? Did either of those places have hospital rooms that replicated the Guardians’ prison? Wherever I was, I should make the most of it.

Supergal’s magick thrummed throughout my body, and I’d never felt this powerful and alive. Nerve impulses fired from my brain to my shoulder, and I lifted my arms skyward. Lowering into a fighter stance, I punched invisible comic book foes.

One. Two. Slam!

“Tor, get over here, would you?” Knoxe barked with more impatience than usual for me to join the rest of the team by Serena’s gurney.

Nope, definitely in Hell. Heavenly Knoxe would be nice. Or would he? Being sunshine and rainbows all day, every day, had to be boring and turn a few thousand angels into grouches, right?

Demon, angel, whatever he was, I ignored him, lost in another world. Just call me a walking miracle. A second chance. An angel disguised as a demon.

Comic book headings and scenes flashed in my mind.

Kaboom!

Supergal hit me with an explosion that repaired my broken body.

Pop!

Look at me walking again.

Wham!

My magick more powerful than before, taking down vamps.

Crash!

Got those suckers in cuffs.

Splat!

Mission fucking accomplished.

Poof!

My girl was gone, leaving me stuck in my nightmare.

I wanted to kiss Supergal. Lift her into my arms, twirl her around a few times, make her shriek and kiss some more. I fucking loved that girl. I knew she was a Supergal from the moment I met her, hands fired up with glowing orange orbs, taking on Devon’s gang and defending Vartros. She entered our orbit as a fiery star that burned her name into our hearts.

I rubbed my chest, missing her, hoping she kept her promise and returned to the prison. She deserved to spend a few days or a week with Raze when they were separated for almost two months.

Needing to work off those thoughts, I moved around the room in a circle and tested my legs. Kick. Knee in the balls. Yep, they still worked. Oops. Knocked a patient clipboard from Serena’s bed. I picked it up and replaced it.

Overall, I lost a few points in the strength department, my muscles groaning with complaint after a month of lesser use. Nothing a little gym training wouldn’t fix. Then I’d be back, baby! Bigger and better than ever.

“Tor!” Another bark from Knoxe.

Excuse me for taking a moment to celebrate my good fortune.

I shook off my distraction and reoriented myself. Raised voices. Arguments. A lot of irritated glares directed my way. Serena reclined in a gurney with bandages wrapped around her middle. Machines monitoring our leader’s heart rate and blood pressure. An IV drip feeding her painkiller.

Knoxe blocking Loco from killing me. Pascal resting in the adjacent bed, facial muscles ticking at every cross word.

Ah. Right. Fallout from our mission. Definitely still in Hell.

I crossed back to my team, holding onto the foot of Serena’s bed, leaning on it. The vamps got her good and tore a deep gash across her chest. Loco was lucky to get her back to the prison when he did. Guilt cramped my ribcage for dragging them into the crossfire. To Hell with my promise to Hades not to annoy him for an eternity. He was supposed to keep us safe!

I reaffirmed that I made the right choice. Supergal was alive and well, albeit with a few scratches and mental scars. And as a bonus, Knoxe had superpowers, and I didn’t need a damn wheelchair.

I did, however, owe the team an apology for dumping them into the proverbial shit. I cleared my throat and began, “I’m sorry I haven’t been present for this conversation. I, ah, got a little distracted.”

Serena gave a grim smile, the pseudo-mother of our group. “You got your legs back. That’s something to be grateful for.”

Knoxe’s harsh mouth softened at that.

I nodded and went on, “I want to apologize to everyone for dragging you all into this.” I made sure to meet all their gazes, besides Pascal’s, who stared at his tuning forks, clicking them with his thumbnail, which he did when conflict arose. “I panicked and didn’t make a smart choice.”

Story of my life. I made more of a villain arc than a superhero one. I guess they were always more interesting, anyway. That also meant I was destined for Hell, if I wasn’t already in it.

“I’m willing to accept full responsibility and take whatever punishment is coming,” I told my team. “I’ll tell the warden you had nothing to do with this.”

Serena brushed the sheet and blanket over her torso. “We were just discussing how to explain all this. We can’t exactly inform the warden that we summoned a god.”

“Avatar,” Pascal corrected.

The increasing tempo of his twitching said he grew edgier the longer we maintained the ruse when he couldn’t lie to save himself… except when he dosed on Elysian nectar.

I squeezed his shoulder to comfort him. “You missed out on meeting Hades, buddy.”

His gaze drifted to mine, a slight smile stretching his mouth wide. “Tell me about it, later.”

Abso-fricken-lutely. Play-by-play breakdown.

I returned to Serena’s point. Normally, Vartros gave us free rein to travel wherever we needed to on missions, so long as Knoxe recorded variations in his mission report. In comparison, Vancor was stiff and strict on teams following protocol. Although, he liked to bend rules, like when he sent me out with unapproved exoskeleton technology or put Pascal at a disadvantage without his magick, when technically, he should have been locked up in maximum security like Loco.

I tried not to think about our potential discipline for this or my guilt for dragging them into this mess. My mind whirred at a hundred miles an hour, trying to find a suitable explanation for reasoning away our little detour.

“How about we tell him the truth?” I proposed. “That I broke protocol and went to save Astra. You followed me… shit. No. Then I can’t take all the blame.” I rubbed my forehead.

Loco removed the pen from the clipboard and rotated it over his fingers in the absence of his beloved knife. “We can’t swing it any way other than it is. I would have gone regardless, to save my daughter.”

His support didn’t ease the tightness in my chest that they were all going down with me, “Thanks, Dad.”

The pen came to a stop and dropped into his clenched palm. “I swear, boy, if?—”

“I know, Dad,” I stole the thunder from his words. “You’re gonna kill me.”

Serena cracked a slight smile.

Pascal’s eyes shot up to Loco. “Don’t kill Tor, please.”

I threw an arm over Pascal’s shoulder. “Thanks, buddy.” I patted his chest, holding him for some time, surprised it didn’t agitate him. When he squirmed, I released him.

“It’s safe to say we all would have done the same, Tor.” Serena’s calm delivery made me brace for reprimand. “She’s one of us, Loco’s daughter, your girlfriend, and my son’s girlfriend’s best friend. We don’t leave our own behind. You made the right choice.”

Serena’s support surprised me, and I stared at her. Knoxe chewed my asshole a new one for ruining a mission.

I fell back into old ways and laughed off her attempt to make me feel better when I caused this and accepted responsibility. “They must have you on serious pain meds.”

“I’m serious, Tor.” Her no-bullshit tone pulled me up short. “You don’t have to hide behind your jokes.”

Fuck. I didn’t know what to say. Tor Helms lost for words. A first.

It was no secret that I didn’t make wise choices. I got into trouble. All. The. Time. I made peace with that a long time ago, thanks to Supergal showing me my heart was in the right place, but I just went about things the wrong way sometimes. Life in the Guardians wasn’t peachy. We all made decisions on how to support our families and survive in a difficult environment. That didn’t make us inherently bad. It made us fighters and survivors.

The ache in my shoulders that flared when I came down from my superhero high lessened a few degrees. My gaze darted to the rest of the team, and they nodded what I interpreted as their endorsement of our leader’s sentiment. The suspicious needle in my mind leaned toward us dying and going to heaven. No way would Knoxe go along with this.

“Next time, tell us what you’re planning and don’t pull any surprises on us.” Serena delivered the words like a mother teaching a child how to do better next time. “We’re a team and decide what to do together, even in the event of an emergency.”

A fair request that I’d make if the situation were reversed.

I swallowed, not feeling worthy of this moral support when I was used to being treated with derision and scorn, jettisoned as soon as I made a mistake. My natural inclination was to laugh it off and pretend it didn’t bother me.

“I can do that,” I croaked, slightly suspicious that I dreamed this, and reality was about to slam into me, letting through the voices shouting at me and hands on my arms dragging me to The Hole.

I glanced at Knoxe, who remained silent all the time, probably learning how to be a better leader.

“Good.” Serena smiled.

“Thank you, Serena. I honestly didn’t expect this and will respect you if you want to knee me in the balls when you get out of that bed.”

She waved away my offer.

I turned my focus on the others. “The same applies to the team. One free shot.” I raised my palms. “No knives, Dad. I need the crown jewels.” I stopped short of mentioning “for the purposes of creating grandbabies” out of fear of what he might do with the pen when he stabbed multiple prisons to death with a thin chemical spatula.

Loco glared for a second, the lines easing on his forehead as he burst into a laugh. “Be good to my daughter, or else I’ll reconsider the matter.”

What a sport. I went to give him a hug, and he shoved me away. “Thanks, Dad.” I finally won a real laugh from him and counted that as another win. Today was full of them.

Falling serious again, because we had other matters to settle, I posed the next question, “What do we say about Astra’s location and our failed mission to retrieve her?”

Loco’s pen resumed its circular motion. “We say a vampire grabbed her and ran away with her.”

“Does everyone agree with this?” Serena eyed us all off for our vote.

“Yep.” Knoxe set down his vote.

“Absolutely.” I made it three to two, swinging the odds.

“Me four,” Pascal threw in.

“I agree as well.” Serena concluded the tally.

Good. We were all in agreement for once. It felt nice to be on the same side. Team goodness and light. Or was it team stained with a little darkness? I edged toward a villain, and it was fun to walk on the dark side, so long as it didn’t hurt anyone.

Serena winced as she shifted to grab her drink, and Loco finished the task for her. After a sip, she said, “For now, we reiterate that we caught the number-one on our most wanted list, and that we’ll go out when I’m better to apprehend the missing prisoners, unless Vancor wants you back out there.”

I felt a small relief knowing the doctor gave her pain medication, and she’d be good again in a few days.

Knoxe’s arm muscles flexed from crossing them over his massive chest. “Glad we got it all sorted.”

We didn’t bring up the issue of Astra healing me or somehow giving Knoxe superpowers and enhancing my own. Enough was asked of the team, and we didn’t need to strain it further.

Relieved, I lowered my tense shoulders. I needed to get to a boxing bag and release some nerves.

Right on cue, the doors to the medical bay swung open, and the warden strutted in with two guards accompanying him.

Red spread across Vancor’s face and neck in the typical fashion of rising blood pressure that my team encouraged. “Would someone care to inform me why you returned to the prison with vampire prisoners and not the targets of your assignment?”

Loco took the brunt of his ire. “We went to save my daughter, sir. If you want to punish someone, punish me. Leave them out of it.”

Nice try. We were a team and took the punishment as a unit. “We all went to save her,” I corrected.

The full weight of the warden’s stare bared down on me. “And where is Miss Nomical? She did not register with security upon your return.”

“Taken by vampires in the raid.” I kept my voice level with the best of liars.

“I see.” The warden tugged his tie to alleviate his agitation. “Your failure to follow directions cost us injuries and delays in retrieving the prisoner objectives.”

I didn’t give a fuck about the missing prisoners. Eduardo and Devon could die for all I cared. It wasn’t like they didn’t deserve it.

“You got five vampire prisoners out of it,” Serena reminded. “And we killed Styx and closed his contract. The largest ziker contract.” She emphasized the word for gantii criminal.

“That may be so, but in this institution, we follow the rules.” Ironic hypocrisy from the warden. “And for breaking them, you’ll each lose fifty points from your tally.”

Fifty? Another fucking year in here. He did this on purpose. We were never getting out. Leaving in a casket.

I prayed the Guardians concluded their investigation into the mass prisoner breakout soon and restored Vartros to his role because this guy was a pain in the ass we didn’t need.

Knoxe grunted his acceptance. Loco swirled his pen with defiance. Serena nodded her acknowledgment. Pascal played notes on his fingers. I shrugged. No skin off my nose when I was up for extra time anyway.

“I want you all back out tomorrow if you’re fit,” Vancor ordered.

Serena recited, “Yes, sir,” for all of us.

Vancor’s eyes turned to lasers as they swung to me. “What happened to your exoskeleton, Mr. Helms?”

The question I’d been dreading.