How To Ruin A City

Chapter Thirty Four

Catalina

Polar had a bleeding hole in his stomach, somehow managing to get shot while we were away. According to Sidestep, she hadn't been able to catch the person responsible. The working theory, as deranged as I thought it was, was that Ghost and Riptide and a few other TVAH members were behind it.

"I saw five figures on that roof and they were gone by the time I managed to teleport up there. Ghost is the only person in the city who can open up portals. Teleporters can't handle taking that many people in one trip. It must've been her." Sidestep wiped away a few tears and pressed an already blood soaked towel against Polar's wound.

He groaned and leaned back. "I'm fine."

"You're not!" she cried. "You're bleeding out!"

Blazing led us into another room. "We can't go to a hospital. Too risky right now. I'm going to switch with Sidestep, wait here."

Sidestep came inside a few moments later, running red hands through her hair as she took in a few shaky inhales. Her eyes snapped over to me and she instantly straightened up. "Glacier, come with me. We're going to find someone who can help. I need you, since you're so persuasive and all."

I decided not to press for the real reason. "Who?"

"Jerald Davidson. Let's go."

Inferno looked to me and nodded as I stumbled to her. I shot him one more look over my shoulder before Sidestep teleported us inside a club.

Music blasted through my system, making my chest tighten as I covered my ears. Bright blue and neon lighting distorted the room, pink and green lights flashing through the crowd as bodies pressed in around us. A hand grabbed my arm and yanked me with them to the entrance of a room blocked by two security guards.

"Where's Jerald?" Sidestep shouted over the music.

"He took a house visit to some sick kid," one of the girls replied evenly, glancing Sidestep over before opening the door. "On his way back now. You can go wait in the room."

"But--!"

"Inside," the girl snapped, shoving us into the room.

I stood in the corner as the music became a drowned out background noise, eyeing the area as if some sort of monster was going to leap out from behind the fake potted plants. Bookshelves lined the walls, and the only thing you could sit on in the room were low seated, round chairs surrounding a tiny desk.

"You could've just let me and Inferno go."

"Not until we help Polar. Your friends did this." I rolled my eyes while she circled the desk. "Luna did this. How much more does she need to take from me?" One potted plant hit the floor, vase shattering. "What did I ever do to her?"

I frowned, sitting across from her when she finally sat. We faced each other, uneasy stares meeting in the middle.

"You were a hero before all this. I saw clips of you fighting Blazing and Polar. You're the one who apprehended them. Why does he matter to you now? Why's he even helping you?"

She looked away. "Because we love each other, Glacier."

"But...how? You were enemies."

"I've only wanted to help him and people like him. Polar wasn't a bad person, people don't just become evil when they start donning a mask. But some bad things happened to him, he fell in with the wrong people. When I visited him after he was arrested to get some information, he helped me when nothing was forcing him to. He didn't hate or resent me. So I kept visiting him and we came to an understanding."