Degrees of Separation: 16/17
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"You know," the other man said, "you're some piece of work. That kid is your son, and all you want is money?"
"He's not my son. He's an alien halfbreed. Intergang's welcome to him. Both of them. I'll take the bounty on them. Where is it?"
"You'll get what's coming to you," the other man said. He withdrew his hand from his pocket and pointed the revolver in it straight at Morris Myers. "But I get the money."
Myers stared at him as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "What --"
"I said Intergang had offered a bounty for superkids. I didn't say I was part of Intergang. 'Bye, sucker." He fired.
**********
And now, Part 16:
Marta clapped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut at the report of the revolver. She heard Morris Myers give a kind of a groan, and then the sound of something striking the concrete with a soft smacking sound.
'Marta!' Wyatt's mental voice jolted her back to the present. 'He's gonna get away!'
That took her attention away from what she had just witnessed. Her eyes popped open, and she saw Morris Myers' former partner opening the driver's door of the car. If he got away with Linda, Ally and Ben, they would be in the hands of Intergang within a couple of hours.
But he was going to have a bit of trouble driving with a flat tire. Marta adjusted her laser vision to a pinpoint beam and aimed it at the right, rear wheel.
It took only a second. Marta shifted her aim to the other wheel.
'Great!' Wyatt's "voice" sounded impressed. 'I can *see* your heat vision in the dark! It's like a laser beam!'
'Yeah. I know. Let him try to drive on three flat tires!' Marta said. Again she took aim, this time at the right front tire.
He was trying, though. The engine revved and the car lunged forward on the rims and one wheel. Marta and Wyatt ran after it as it lurched unsteadily forward. Sparks flew from beneath the car as the undercarriage scraped on the concrete.
And suddenly the motor died. The door opened and the driver jumped out. He glanced once at the ruined tires and then slewed around to scan the darkness.
"I know you're there," he said. "Come out right now, or I open the box of Kryptonite again. That wouldn't be good for your friends." He held up the box.
'Don't do it!' Wyatt's voice said in her mind. 'He just wants to get his hands on you, too!'
'I know.' Marta hesitated, thinking. 'If I knock him down, can you grab the Kryptonite?'
In the darkness, Wyatt frowned, and then nodded. 'Okay. Say when.'
'I'm going to run at him and knock him down. When I start running, you run, too. You'll have time, but not much. Okay?'
'Okay.'
'Okay, now!'
**********
Marta ran at the driver, accelerating as she did so. She wasn't as fast or strong as CJ, Wyatt Dillon knew, but she was fast. Fast enough to run nearly four miles in less than five minutes, and strong enough to lift Wyatt in her arms. Her body was nearly as dense as CJ's, and if she wasn't invulnerable to everything but Kryptonite, she was the next best thing.
The driver had no time to do more than gape at the streak rushing toward him, before she collided with him, knocking him a good ten feet away to crash against the scarred side of the old apartment house. The box containing the Kryptonite flew from his hands to land on the street. The lid came open and the green rock, perhaps half the size of a golf ball, tumbled out onto the pavement to lie glowing malevolently.
Marta staggered back as the first Kryptonite radiation that she had ever felt struck her, but the rock was a good six feet away from her and Wyatt didn't waste time.
As she rammed the driver, Wyatt was already running toward him as well. He swerved slightly toward the Kryptonite and scooped it up. With the skill gained as the only catcher who could handle CJ Kent's pitches, on the Jason C. Hunter Jaguars, he spun, still running, and hurled the Kryptonite in the opposite direction, straight into the Dumpster. Never lessening his speed, he seized the lead box from the ground and looped around the car, racing back toward the Dumpster, and heaved the lead box after the rock. He could retrieve it later, after they had dealt with this character.
Spinning around, he saw the driver of the car getting painfully to his feet, facing Marta, who now stood between him and his vehicle. Marta's fists were clenched, and she was glaring at him with an expression that made Wyatt very glad that it wasn't focused on him.
"Get out of here," she said. "You're not taking my friends."
The driver rubbed his shoulder, staring back at her. Then he grinned. It wasn't a very good grin, and Wyatt saw him wipe his hand over a streak of something dark at the corner of his mouth, but it told Wyatt that their enemy wasn't out of the game yet. "Come on, honey," he said. "There's no way you're going to get away. Get in the car."
"No way!" Marta's childish voice was as challenging as Wyatt had ever heard it, and looking at her from this far away, illuminated by the reflection of the car's headlights, he suddenly realized just how much she resembled her mother.
The driver started toward her, and Wyatt saw him wipe away the trickle of blood again. "You've already had a dose of Kryptonite. I don't think you can stop me, baby."
Was it possible? Wyatt didn't know but he was suddenly afraid for Marta. She hadn't gotten enough of the deadly radiation to knock her out, the way it had done the others, but it might have weakened her.
Marta's body language didn't change. Wyatt saw her shift her weight, and knew that his girl -- somehow, he thought of her that way, although neither of them had ever talked about it -- his girl was going to tackle a guy twice her size to protect Ally, Ben and Linda. He felt a rush of pride. She was Superman's daughter, through and through.
Well, she wasn't going to do it without him.
Out on the street, he saw a flicker of light, and realized that the streetlights were starting to come on. The power outage must have finally been repaired.
It didn't matter. Wyatt hurried forward, stepping over the body of Morris Myers almost without thinking about it, and stopped a few feet away from Marta so as not to interfere with any of her Tai Kwon Do moves. "You're going to have to get through me, too," he said. "Are you sure you can handle both of us?"
**********
Lois Lane came slowly to consciousness, aware of a throbbing headache. Outside, she heard the voices of two men, and then the sharp report of a gunshot.
It made her try to sit up and the resulting burst of pain in her head made her see stars.
She lay still, letting the pain subside to a dull throbbing, fighting back the nausea that tried to climb in her throat. Outside, she heard the slam of a car door, and the roar of an engine starting up. Slowly, she raised her head again at the squeal of a tire and the distinctive grate of metal on concrete.
And then the engine cut off and an instant later she heard a man's voice again.
It sounded familiar. Slowly, Lois got to her hands and knees, gripped the arm of a wooden chair and pulled herself painfully to her feet.
The window to her right was open, she realized through the throbbing in her skull, and it was from there that the sounds came. Moving carefully, she made it to the window and peered out.
Outside was a narrow alley, with a broken, concrete surface. Several feet to her left, a car sat askew, and the two rear tires appeared to be completely flat and somewhat shredded. The short man who had pulled the gun on her was standing beside it, holding the lead box that had contained the Kryptonite, and looking past the car into the darkness to her right. The red taillights were completely inadequate to show her what lay back there, but an instant later, she saw what he was looking at as a streak emerged from the darkness to collide with him hard enough to hurl him backwards. The box flew from his hand, hit the concrete, and flopped open. A chunk of green glowing crystal bounced out and lay on the ground. At the same instant, the streak resolved itself into Marta, who staggered back from the thing.
Wyatt appeared from nowhere, scooped up the Kryptonite and, never stopping, threw it hard in the opposite direction. He grabbed up the lead box and disappeared around the front of the car.
Marta straightened up and positioned herself between the car and the man.
"Get out of here," she said. "You're not taking my friends."
Lois wanted to scream in protest at the sight of her twelve-year-old daughter taking on a man twice her size to protect Ally, Ben and Linda, who must be inside that crippled car. Marta had to have used her heat vision to destroy the tires and prevent the gunman's escape, and she and Wyatt had removed the Kryptonite that was the main weapon against Marta and the others.
"Come on, honey, there's no way you're going to get away." The driver sounded very sure of himself. "Come on. Get in the car."
"No way!" Marta replied. Lois saw her crouch slightly and recognized the way she held herself as a defensive stance designed not to alarm her opponent.
"You've already had a dose of Kryptonite. I don't think you can stop me, baby."
Marta shifted her weight, positioning herself for defense against an anticipated attack by a larger adversary.
Wyatt stepped into the small puddle of reflected light. The boy didn't look very big from Lois's angle, but she was surprised at the pugnacious look on his face. He ranged himself beside Marta, several feet from her, and Lois realized that he was being careful not to get in her way.
"You're going to have to get through me, too," he said. "Are you sure you can handle both of us?"
"If I have to." The driver launched himself at Marta.
Marta dodged sideways, avoiding his charge, spun and pushed him hard from behind, sending him crashing into the car. It was a trick Lois had learned years ago when she had attended a workshop in multiple forms of martial arts. She had shown it to Marta, after her promotion to the highest level of junior rank, and Marta had learned it quickly and well. Her daughter was definitely able to put up a good fight, but Lois didn't wait to see any more. Her head was throbbing enough to make her slightly sick, but she turned and slithered backwards out the window, hung by her hands and dropped several inches to the alley.
She went to one knee and had to wait for her head to stop spinning. Maybe this was a mistake, but she couldn't let Marta and Wyatt handle this criminal alone.
With a supreme effort, she staggered to her feet. No one had seen her yet. Marta's opponent pushed himself painfully away from the car and turned around to face her.
"Superkid!" he snarled.
"Yeah," Marta said. "I am. I'm Superman's kid. And I'm gonna kick your butt!"
Out by the street, the lights were flickering on, Lois saw. The blackout was over, and as she watched, a car went by, and then another. Traffic was beginning to pick up; perhaps soon the citywide jam would begin to clear. She tried to push away from the wall and had to fall back against it again as the headache and dizziness increased. She saw Marta shift her position as the car's driver again lunged at her. Marta stepped aside and struck at his ribs. He tried to dodge and nearly fell. Wyatt charged in from the side like a guard sacking the quarterback and struck him just below the ribs with his shoulder. It was enough to overbalance him, and he went to the ground on his face.
Lois's legs gave under her and she went to her knees. Wyatt was staring at her, having apparently just noticed her. She was in no condition to fight and Marta and her soulmate seemed to be doing pretty well.
'CJ?' Wyatt's mental voice spoke loudly in her head. 'Can you hear me? We need help!'
'Coming!' her oldest son's voice said clearly.
The car's driver staggered to his feet again. Marta took a step toward him and his nerve broke. Perhaps the knowledge that he was facing Superman's daughter and that she was indeed kicking his butt was the deciding factor, but he turned and fled toward the street, just as the whoosh of CJ's arrival sounded in Lois's ears. She turned in bewilderment at a shout from Marta.
"Look out! Stop!"
There was the blast of a horn and a deafening squeal of brakes, followed by a loud, sickening thump.
CJ went past her in a rush of air, and she caught a glimpse of a Superman-blue shirt emblazoned with the famous "S".
Lois leaned her head back against the building's rough brick wall and closed her eyes. She only opened them again at the sound of Marta's voice, saying, "He ran right in front of the car. I couldn't stop him."
**********
The traffic jam collecting in the street forty feet from their position in the alley wasn't a good thing, Wyatt thought. There was the car with Ally, Ben and Linda inside, Morris Myers, lying dead a few feet farther back, and Mrs. Kent looking like she felt pretty bad. Somehow they had to get out of here before the police arrived.
'CJ!' he called. 'We need some help over here!'
In a gust of air, CJ was back. "I need to get back out there," he said. "The guy's dead. I couldn't do anything, but people saw me, and the police will be here in a few minutes."
"Can you help here a minute, too?" Wyatt asked. "The guy had Kryptonite and tried to kidnap Ally and Ben and Linda. They're in the back of the car, out cold. And your mom got hit on the head. She should get to a doctor or something. We don't want the police to find us."
"Great." CJ apparently checked the car with his x-ray vision. "They look like they're coming to. Stay here while I take Mom back to the townhouse. I'll be right back for the others. Can you guys get home by yourselves?"
"Yeah. Marta's bicycle's out by the front steps, if nobody stole it," Wyatt said. "Go on. You probably need to get back out there pretty quick. That guy that got hit killed Ally's dad, too. He's back there behind us." Wyatt pointed at the body of Morris Myers. "You better tell the cops."
"Yeah, right," CJ said after a minute pause. "But you better explain this while you're headed home, so I'll have some idea what to tell 'em."
"Okay," Wyatt said. "First I've got to go get the Kryptonite and the lead box. I don't want some homeless guy to find it."
"That's for sure," Marta said. "Better hurry."
Wyatt got to his feet and ran to the Dumpster, while behind him he heard the whoosh of CJ's takeoff. In a matter of seconds, while Wyatt was putting the green rock back into its box, he heard CJ's arrival again, and then another whoosh. He climbed out of the Dumpster in time to see CJ arrive again, pick up Linda in one arm and Ally in the other and take off once more.
"Come on," he said quietly to Marta. "Let's get out of here."
**********
tbc
