Reality Hero (9 page)

* * * *

Zane didn’t want any interesting women. He wanted Dina. But he didn’t tell her that.

They sat in silence for a moment, then Zane spoke from his heart. “Di, I know that things have been different for you, and you’ve worked hard to carve a life out for yourself and be successful in your career. I just hope it hasn’t changed who you are.” He watched her face turn red and wasn’t sure if it was from anger or embarrassment. “You’re the most special woman I’ve ever known. I can’t stand by and watch you lose yourself to this hype-filled, corrupt, careless world you’ve immersed yourself in. Is this really what you want...this job?”

“I’m not like the rest of you. I don’t have a higher calling. I’m ordinary. I’ve been able to claw my way into my current place at the network with nothing but that ordinariness. I just can’t give it up. I have nothing else.” She frowned.

“You have me. You have your sister. You have Bridget. She could have really used your support when we lost Aaron. I just wish you could see what you do have.” He reached out and covered her hand with his. She looked down at his hand, but the frown didn’t leave her face.

“I don’t have any of you anymore, and you know it. I’m nothing but a danger to you all, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you died or were hurt because of me—any of you. So please, don’t talk like I can step back into the past. We can’t ever have the old days back.”

“We can have today, and tomorrow, and make a new life together.” He squeezed the hand he held. She tried to pull hers away, but he held on tightly.

“Zane, please don’t do this again. We’ve had this conversation before, and you know my answer already. What are you going to do about your job? Filming will take at least five hours of your day and possibly a few hours each night. For the contestants it’ll be twenty-four-seven, but for you I’ll be able to scale it down to the essential interactions between you and the contestants. We should be able to begin on the sixteenth. I’ll let you know if that changes. If you’re going to keep poofing in here, do it in your costume. I don’t want your identity to be uncovered because you’re helping me. I don’t want anyone connecting Mind Man and Zane Blair with each other.”

“Can you really watch me date strange women?” he asked. He held his breath in anticipation of her response.

“It’ll be Mind Man dating the women, not Zane Blair. I’d only be jealous if Zane went on the dates.”

He couldn’t help himself, he liked her answer. She always had a way of reminding him that he was more than his abilities. He stood next to her in an instant. He wanted to take her in his arms. He could see that his rapid shift in location unnerved her. He ran his hand over her long blonde hair, which wasn’t as soft as he’d remembered. The difference was probably from all the times she’d dyed it to disguise her connection to her sister. He knew she did it to protect Rain, but Ella felt the offense as the sister, not the hero. She’d never looked into Dina’s actions to see Dina was just trying to protect her—them. Understanding suddenly dawned on him as to why she left. Her earlier words about being a risk to them only emphasized the rationale. He’d been as blinded by hurt as Ella was. Could it really be that simple? Did Dina stay away because she loved them? When she looked up at him he saw the longing in her expression. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears.

He put his hand on her cheek, stroking the softness with his thumb. She felt so delicate. Her eyes never left his. He ran the pad of his thumb over her lips. He wanted to kiss her again, but refused to give in to the feeling. Zane closed his eyes and returned to his apartment without saying a word to her.

* * * *

Dina sat staring into empty space. He’d gone as suddenly as he arrived, and she really hated how he could do that. A normal guy would have had to say goodbye before he ran away. There was nothing normal about Zane, or the mixed-up emotion between them. Biting her lip, she picked up her phone and listened to her voicemail. The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

“Hello, lovely. I’ve missed you. I see that you’re still hanging with the old crowd. I’ll be watching you. If you want a real man for your little television show, I’m here for you, just say the word.”

Ian sounded downright creepy. She wondered if he was dramatizing his creepiness or if all the evil he’d done had actually changed the way he spoke. He didn’t sound like the teenager she remembered. He’d been scary powerful as a kid. The idea of that kind of uncontrolled ability wielded by a man bent on destruction gave her the heebie-jeebies.

Closing her eyes, she tried to shut out the fear. Should she call Ella, Zane, or Bridget? No, she wouldn’t say anything. They all had enough to worry about right now. He was just messing with her. He hadn’t threatened her. Maybe this was the way a super villain said “break a leg”.

Even if the others wouldn’t tell her, she wasn’t stupid. She knew he was behind the recent string of electricity related crimes. All the recent freak accidents weren’t accidents at all. Shaking off the feeling of someone watching her, she deleted the message. The creepy call had come from a private number, which seemed to belie his statement about finding him.

She forced the bad memories away as she noticed the time. “Fuck.” She cursed under her breath. She stood up, straightening her skirt before rushing to the conference room. The ten contestants would be waiting. She was late.

Right away, she noticed how the group eyed each other up and down as if estimating the level of completion they could expect. She tried to hide a smile. This was going to be interesting. To get everyone’s attention, she cleared her throat. Ten heads snapped in her direction, looking at her expectantly.

Sitting down and opening her portfolio, she started to pass out the ten booklets of paperwork and information to the assembled group. Many of them looked unhappy. She noticed Purity opened hers enthusiastically. When each woman had one, she started her presentation. “Welcome, ladies. This will be a historic, unprecedented television event. There are a few rules that you should be aware of before you sign these. Firstly, no one is to remove Mind Man’s mask. If he chooses to unmask for you, he’ll make the call. I highly doubt it’ll be on camera.”

She hated the tone in her voice. She sounded like a grumpy, elderly librarian. Being friends with the contestants would be a mistake. She had to maintain her façade of iron-control if she was going to keep the chaos at bay, but that didn’t mean she liked being the bad guy. The looks the girls were giving her made it clear—she wasn’t going to be popular.

“Secondly, no one is to ask him about his secret identity on camera, and I would caution against bringing it up at all. He’ll tell you if you establish a real connection with him. If he’s not ready to tell you, and you ask, I’m betting it’ll be a sure way to get yourself eliminated. We start filming on the sixteenth. You’ll not be able to go to work, school, or home. We’ve rented a remote location for the filming, and when you go on your dates, he’ll be taking you by doing his
poof
thing. You’ll be going to some very exotic locales. This will be the chance of a lifetime. If you break any rules or speak to the media, you’ll find yourself terminated from the show immediately. Each of you has a contract in your packet outlining this specifically. I’d like for you all to take a moment to look over the terms before you start signing.”

They were still eyeing her up like she was an unloved den mother in a sorority that just wanted to have fun. Dina bristled.

She watched the women sort though the paperwork she’d given them. She could see some of them were reading carefully, but others seemed unconcerned about the details.

“I’d like anyone who’s not comfortable with the terms of this agreement to leave now before any more is discussed. Otherwise, I need you to sign the privacy disclosure immediately.”

They all signed. No one wanted to leave.

Dina cleared her throat. “Mind Man is a very private person, and you can understand the importance of his work. He’s agreed to this for his own reasons. I won’t speak for him or about him. Does anyone have any questions at this point?”

Ten voices spoke at once.

Dina interrupted. “I don’t mean to treat you like juvenilely, but please raise your hands so we can maintain order.”

She pointed to Candy, as the woman seemed very excited to ask her question. “Ms. Dell, how do you know Mind Man?”

“I see I need to repeat myself. I’ll not discuss him or speak for him with you. I’m only the producer. He is in charge of how much he tells you about himself. My meeting with him is entirely private and not at all interesting, so please stop wondering or worrying about it.”

She pointed to Virginia, who asked, “Do you know his secret identity?”

“I just addressed this issue with you. Do you have a question not about what I do or don’t know about this man?”

Pouting, Virginia slunk back in her seat.

They all asked her various questions about him, all of them except Purity who sat very quietly, listening to it all. The contestants seemed unable to comprehend she wasn’t going to tell them anything personal about the hero or the man. Finally, she looked over at Purity and addressed her directly.

“Thank you for being respectful of me. Would you like to ask any questions at this time?”

Purity smiled sweetly. “You said he’ll be poofing us here or there. Is that dangerous? And has he tried to do it with another person before?”

“That’s a very good question. I’m sure that it’s safe. He has assured me he’s taken others along when he’s disappeared before without any negative side effects.”

They all signed the paperwork and agreed to meet at an undisclosed location. Dina planned to call them with the location that morning to minimize the odds of the media finding out where they’d be filming. If the paparazzi arrived, it would spell disaster for Zane and for her career.

* * * *

Zane stepped outside to run errands. A misty drizzle hung in the air, making the warm day extra muggy. Even a hero had to eat and go to the bank. He hated taking time away from his work during the day to go. When night fell he’d be too busy to catch up on the tedious tasks his day job required of him.

When he’d first escaped the laboratory he’d started reading comic books. His youthful mind had hoped to gleam some sort of hope that he could reverse what’d been done to him, but of course they’d been good for nothing except entertainment. Comic book heroes always had exotic backstories and more money than a man could spend in a lifetime. Not him, he lived paycheck to paycheck.

His heard something. Stopping, he listened hard, releasing his control over his advanced hearing. He hissed as pain radiated from his ears to his skull. The massive amount of noise hit him hard—cars, construction, people. In a city this big the noise was almost unbearable, but he let himself adjust. It took a few moments, but he was able to catch the sound of a gun firing and a woman screaming. Zane ran down an alley, then turned and ran up three blocks. He never broke a sweat, and didn’t feel the exertion a normal person might. He stepped behind a dumpster and stripped off his suit, wrapping it in his long coat to keep it clean. He found the mask in his coat pocket. He’d learned a long time ago to plan ahead.

He rushed into the nearby bakery where a man was holding a young cashier at gunpoint. There was blood and Zane noticed a middle-aged man lying motionless behind some boxes.

“I’m serious. Open the till.”

The girl shook, but the ding of the register opening set the killer in motion. The man raised his gun, ready to coldcock the girl.

“Stop!” Zane ordered. He pushed his thoughts into the man’s head and the thief stilled. Zane could feel resistance, but he held on to the mind.

“Drop the gun and step away from the girl,” Zane commanded.

The criminal moved with exaggerated motions. The unnaturalness of each movement apparent, his angry eyes were red. This guy was high. Not good. The drugs made his thought patterns erratic and Zane struggled to hold on as the adrenaline in the man’s blood made the drug race faster through his body. Zane’s head ached.

The thief’s arm swung up and down, he still held the gun. He looked like a puppet with a broken string. “Drop your gun,” Zane repeated.

The robber’s fingers clenched and unclenched, but he managed to hold the gun. He fired and the bullet hit the ceiling spray plaster over the terrified young woman. She screamed and dropped behind the counter.

“Dad?” she called shakily.

Zane could feel her agitation and fear as she moved toward her father.

“Daddy?” the girl whispered.

Zane’s focus on the criminal returned and he fought a wordless battle of wills. The shooter’s desperation made him fight harder, and Zane struggled to hold onto his control. He heard the woman dialing a cellphone and whispering to the 9-1-1 operator. The man’s arm jerked again. He pointed the gun at Zane and fired.

He let go of the other mind so he could teleport, but he wasn’t as fast as the bullet. It grazed his arm. He glanced down at the wound on his bicep. He’d had worse. The same thing that gave him abilities made him heal rapidly.

A woman gave a startled shriek. Zane looked up to see that he was in that old, first apartment he had shared with Dina and the others. He sighed. When he thought
safety
, this was where he always seemed to end up. The middle-aged woman who rented the place scowled at him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

She stood at the stove and shook her long cooking spoon at him. This wasn’t the first time he’d poofed into the old kitchen. She rolled her eyes at him and her lips quirked with annoyance.

He teleported back just as the burglar was scooping money from the till and aiming the gun at the cowering girl. This time Zane grabbed his mind with more fortitude. The crook dropped the gun and wobbled away from the girl and her father. Then he dropped the money. Zane felt the drug in his system and he manipulated the substance enough that he was able to clear the thug’s mind for a moment. The robber blinked at Zane and looked confused. He was full of inner turmoil, desperate for another fix. Zane held him paralyzed until the police arrived. The moment they came running in with their guns ready, he brought himself back to the dumpster.