Chapter 37 Idiot Juice.

Chapter 37: 37 Idiot Juice.

I think there’s idiot juice in the water somewhere. Was there some compulsion these people had to tell me their backstories?

"Yeah," I said, finally wrenching the ball off its stand, metal snapping audibly. "I’m the villain. But you know what? Sometimes, the villain wins."

If I was looking to calm him down, that was the worst thing I could have said. Good thing I wasn’t.

I wanted all his attention on me, and I got it. His face was downright purple now, almost lost in the strikes.

I smirked cockly, drawing on every last bit of rage in him was the only way to make this plan actually work.

He raised his arms and lighting streaked across the sky, gathering all the lighting around him into a ball above his head that burned like a brewing thunderstorm.

Then the sky exploded down on him and merged into the ball. The sheer heat of it would likely blast the whole building into rubble if he set it off.

Which was why I didn’t give him the chance.

I wrapped him in discarded metal from the rubble around us so his arms could aim, leaving all that lighting surging in his body.

Just from the way his veins lit up beneath his skin I could tell he was about to blow so for the finally the giant metal ball came swinging for him.

I saw his face sag in momentary surprise before the ball smashed into him, clock first, knocking him back out the hole and into the building opposite, crashing through the wall with bone-crushing force.

Without his power fueling it, the fire in the air dissipated, extinguishing with a hiss and curling away.

Steam still rose from the floor, but the heat was no longer unbearable. Not that I planned on waiting around for it to cool down further.

I looked about. Everyone left in the room was either dead, unconscious, or iced. Well, that worked. I grabbed Glacia by the arm.

"Alright, we’re gone!"

"What?" she gasped. "But—"

"Show’s fucked up. And we need to be out of here before the cops show. Come on!"

And as much as it absolutely pissed me off, that was a pretty right assessment.

As I pulled Glacia towards the now convenient hole in the wall, ducking my head out to make sure there were no more surprises waiting,

I lamented how badly this job had been screwed by some heroes.

I dragged her through the deserted alley, my armour peeling back and into my bracers and anklets, leaving me once more in a somewhat singed but still serviceable suit.

We passed the cratered building beside the gallery where the brass ball had taken Surge, but no light shone through the new hole. Good.

I hoped the fucker was dead for what he’d done.

"S-sir," Glacia gasped.

I looked back at her, and she didn’t look too good. Her face was paler than usual, almost grey, and sweat gleamed on her brow.

That heat must have done a number on her. Only one thing for it.

Stopping, I hooked an arm under her legs and another around her back, scooping her into my arms. She gave a startled squeak, eyes shooting wide open.

"I-I can walk, sir," Glacia gasped. "Please, sir, you don’t need to-"

"Maybe you can. But I’m doing it anyway," I said, pushing the magnetic field of my cuffs and anklets off the metal piping under the street, lifting me and Glacia into the night sky.

I flew with her, skipping over buildings until we reached where I left my Corolla.

A couple patrons in the McDonalds peered at us as we set down, but I ignored them as I let Glacia inside the car, then hurried about and to the driver’s seat, slamming the door behind me.

I started the engine, pulling out into traffic and heading straight for the highway, drumming my fingers on the wheel.

"I’m sorry, sir," Glacia finally said. She was hunched miserably in the seat beside me, practically buried in her snowy coat. "I let you down. I... I disgraced you."

"Hey, none of that," I said firmly. "Things went wrong, but it happens. The important part is you’re okay."

Which was important, but that didn’t change the fact that everything went fuck up. And I could tell by Glacia’s face she knew it. I sighed, shaking my head.

"Glacia," I said. "You can’t blame yourself for this. Really. In this business... well, these things happen.

No plan goes off without a hitch, no matter how much foresight you put in. Even the people who can literally see into the future don’t get it right all the time.

We did our best here, and you have nothing to be ashamed of. No civilians died, we’re okay, and the diamond is still there."

"But sir..."

"I know how you feel," I said sincerely. "Believe me. I’ve been on jobs where things went utterly wrong. One time, a city block was levelled because in the middle of a ’bank robbery’, some villain with a mole theme and a giant drill came right up from under the floor.

He’d tunneled under half the city to get there, and when I smashed his stupid drill down, it took out the entire building along with its neighbours."

"The Mole King Incident," she said softly, nodding.

"Yeah, that’s right," I said, surprised she knew about it. But now wasn’t the time to ask her how. "These things happen," I said, shrugging. "It’s part of the job. And we’ll get another chance. I’ll go to Lacey tomorrow and talk to her. Don’t worry about it."

"Yes, sir," Glacia said miserably.

I let it pass, focusing on the road. I’d said all I could for now. Things would look better tomorrow with the benefit of hindsight, I was sure.

I hadn’t been exaggerating when I said I’d faced similar circumstances as she did, and I knew that failure weighed you down until you could pick yourself back up again.

But for now, I simply drove Glacia back to her place, and headed home to collapse into bed and get some well-deserved rest.