Super Secret | Half Hero Book 2 [ON HOLD]

Chapter 17: Super Stupid

All that could be heard was the blaring alarms from the homes on both sides of the property. It sounded as if an entire squadron of emergency vehicles was dispatched to my mom's house, or at least what was left of my mom's house.

Something close by was on fire and the acrid fumes were creating a thick black smog that had settled over the busted back-half of my mom's house.

"I'm going to get us outside," I made the spilt decision as my legs swung into action, panting through the effort it took to keep him upright.

My superhuman abilities weren't working for shit, and the stranger was in a bad way. His mask puffed and caved with each labored breath while we hobbled over the wreckage, gnashing his teeth all the way to what used to be the courtyard.

The fountain had been split in two and was spurting water over the singed dirt where severed pipes were leaking dangerous natural gases. What was left of the zen rock garden had been pulverized to gravel. I couldn't see a single bad guy, which was troubling. 

It was as if they'd melted into the pitch black beyond the still-intact privacy fence.

I pulled the man in black into one of the few bristly hedges that was miraculously still intact near the base of my mom's privacy fence. He was trying to keep his coughing muted and it seemed to make his suffering worse.

"Was it them?" I asked, lowering my face until I could smell the blood soaking his mask. "Did you see who attacked us?"

He wheezed and nodded yes, but couldn't take a full breath. I reached to yank off his mask, but his hand came up to clutch my wrist with a surprising amount of strength.

"What are you doing?" I fought his grip, but it was no use.

The tracker hummed and buzzed, lighting up my arm with a painful streak of tangerine fire. His other hand pressed down over my mouth while he twisted at the bracelet embedded in my flesh. 

I screeched through the suddenly agonizing flames consuming my body as my wristlet sizzled and snapped open to reveal a line of tiny needles around the inner edge, like a mini bear trap. 

Then, he fell back with a loud thud.

Inside the house I could hear shouts and orders being given. The officials had shown up, and we were seconds from being spotted.

"Hey! Hey!" I hissed, shaking his torso as the ache gradually receded into my bloodstream. "What did you do?"

"Cyrus did you a favor," a disapproving voice whispered over my shoulder, scaring the poop out of me. "Now get off my brother."

I twisted around to find the sexy lady scuba diver that had accompanied my emo-stalker on one of his mysterious visits. She was about as limber (and nice) as the Terminator the last time we met.

"Cyrus?" I repeated the name she'd uttered.

The curvy cat-suited woman leaned over to push me aside. "That's what I said," she derided through her swath of glossy hair.

"That's his name?"

"Are you stupid?"

"Yes, that's how I saved his life," I snapped. "With my super-stupidity."

She kept her flawless features hard as she regarded me with her cool green eyes. Fury radiated through her nearly invisible pores, but I wasn't about to back down now.

Her black cat suit shone in the ambient glow of the wreckage only a few feet away. She closed her eyes and brought both her hands to her heart while I watched, completely dumbfounded.

"Eleanor!" The illustrious (if not slightly strained) voice of Jonathan Miller filtered over the darkness.

"Oh the fun never stops!" I hissed, glancing over at the beautiful woman who had picked the worst possible time to contemplate the meaning of life (or whatever the hell she was doing.) "That's the fuzz!"

"Eleanor! Ella!" More voices layered over the din.

"Go," she whispered to me. "I've got him."

Reluctantly, I crawled on my thrashed hands and knees to pop up a ways away from the bush.

"Hey y'all!" I called out, waving to draw their attention. "You'll never guess, I found my contact!"

A chorus of small clicks seized my heart to a complete stop. Guns were trained on my position from every angle. 

My mother's distant screams were probably the only thing that kept the army from turning me into Swiss cheese right then and there.

"Stand down!" Someone yelled.

Just then, an electric purple hue lit up the shrub where I'd been squatting and their rifles swung with terrifying accuracy. 

The furious thunder of discharged shells filled my ears as I wailed in horror.

The topiary concealing the man that had saved my life (and my family) was shredded within seconds while I stood helpless and watched. 

Uh oh, the man in black was in that bush! Oh! And here's how to pronounce the man in black's name: Si-Ruse (phonetic spelling is fun y'all!) You know, now that he's possibly been blown up into itty bitty pieces, you should probably learn his name ;) 

Let's hope that Cyrus lives long enough to meet Ella again, so he can tell her what the hell is going on! ;P