Welcome to Olympus City, where super-powers, physics-defying tech, and unearthly creatures are all possible now. Human nature, however, remains unchanged.
No one is born a perfect superhero, but a few strive to live up to the ideal anyway.
Previously: Alyssa infiltrated the offices of a large marketing company to pursue an invisible woman, Yuna, who wants to murder the owner. Meanwhile, Miranda, Ken, and Carey are trying to save Olympus City from destruction.
Part 3
Alyssa twisted away from the invisible dagger. The tip smashed against the elevator wall and scarred it.
Confusion slowed Yuna, the invisible would-be assassin. She wanted to know why this young woman was able to see her or at least sense her presence. More than that, though, she wanted to dispose of the obstacle and get on with killing Pete Peterson.
So, Yuna lunged again, this time nicking Alyssa’s shirt.
Don’t panic, Alyssa reminded herself. Think.
She thought directly into Yuna’s head.
Yuna tottered back as a migraine seized her. Alyssa started to reach for the dagger but froze upon realizing she knew only its approximate location.
The tip sliced Alyssa’s palm, and a flat heel stomped her stomach. Alyssa doubled over, unable to concentrate on her psionic attack, unable to concentrate on anything except the dagger that was plunging toward her back. She threw herself to the side, evading the blade but slamming against the wall.
The elevator doors opened. Yuna was torn. She wanted to finish Alyssa off but feared the screams might draw too much attention. As a compromise, she kicked Alyssa once more and rushed out the elevator.
Alyssa crawled toward the closing doors and flung her hand between them just in time. They reopened while she pulled herself up.
A receptionist rose from her desk, alarmed at Alyssa’s state of disarray.
“Can I … help you?”
“Where’s Peterson?”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“This woman—invisible—going to kill him …”
Abject confusion radiated from the receptionist. This was not in the job description.
“Never mind.” Alyssa read the receptionist’s mind for Peterson’s whereabouts. Down the hall, in his office, meeting with a few of his senior staff.
Alyssa had a clear line of sight to the opaque glass door, which was cracking open as if by a ghost, just enough to permit entry to a slender individual.
The receptionist’s shouts followed Alyssa as she raced down the hall, but she paid no attention. Let her call security; they might help.
Pulling the door open, Alyssa entered a spacious office loaded with trophies of past marketing successes—a legion of award plaques, a tube of toothpaste cast in sterling silver, and a giant steering wheel. And that was just at first glance. The tall, wide window drew her second glance.
A massive tidal wave loomed over the city. It stood beyond the skyscrapers, and it was merely standing there, threatening to crash down and submerge much of Olympus but holding off for now.
A quartet of upper-middle-aged executives sat around Peterson’s desk, though all had turned to face the window. They calmly discussed the existential threat as if the motionless tidal wave were merely an image on a television. Alyssa heard notes of genuine fear and concern in their thoughts—they mixed right in with some of her own—but the PRAM crew all convinced each other that the superheroes would resolve the matter in time.
“—would love to get close-ups of them in action,” Peterson said, swiveling back toward his team.
His eyes flinched behind his round glasses as he noticed the intruder. One of the intruders, anyway. The wiry man rose from his desk, the overhead lighting bouncing off his ample forehead as he flashed a business-friendly smile.
“You seem to have taken a wrong turn. Go see Ginny at the front desk. She’ll get you sorted.” He pointed at the door, his words an amiable command that carried the faintest hint of warning.
Alyssa ignored him and focused on the invisible head that was already halfway across the room. She locked on to Yuna’s brain and blasted it.
Yuna writhed and wriggled, striving to resist the agony long enough to sink that dagger into Peterson’s cold heart. Hatred and resentment splashed back into Alyssa’s head, as did glimpses of Yuna’s life before invisibility. So many days in this office complex, each devoted to monitoring email deliverability, such a tedious and unchanging routine until the accident with the coffee machine.
Teeth clenched, head bursting in pain, Yuna pressed forward, her fingers tightening around the dagger’s hilt.
Alyssa intensified the pressure. A large hand squeezed her arm.
“Come with me, miss.”
“No, wait!”
Yuna’s mind slipped out of Alyssa’s psionic grasp as the security guard pulled the visible intruder toward the door. He was strong, too strong.
Alyssa jammed her knuckles into the soft base of his neck, expelling the air from his lungs. While he gasped, she spun back toward Peterson and cast her mind out. The CEO stared at her with a mix of fear and fascination.
A scream rang out from the empty space beside Peterson, and he jumped back with a yelp. He froze up completely when a dagger dropped onto his desk.
Yuna faded into view as she sank to her knees. She was a rather striking woman, it turned out, with a face that would have been the very definition of photogenic were it not contorted in agony.
The now-visible assassin passed out, and Alyssa released her hold. A second guard had arrived at some point. He had positioned himself beside his partner, behind Alyssa, and both were poised to grab her. But they now rushed toward Yuna.
“She’s alive,” one said, checking her pulse.
The other glanced at Alyssa, then turned to Peterson.
Peterson shook his head in response to the implied question. “No. Thank you.” He rounded his desk and approached Alyssa. “And thank you. How did you do that? Some sort of mental attack?”
“Something like that,” Alyssa said, stepping backward. “I’ll get out of your way.”
“You saved our lives,” Peterson said, that business-friendly smile resurfacing. “I’m not kicking you out. We were actually just discussing superheroes like you.”
Alyssa recoiled. “I’m really not—”
Peterson eyed Yuna as security carried her off. “Lack of costume notwithstanding, you evidently are. I’d love to get into the superhero business.”
“Business?” She glanced at the marketing memorabilia around her, this time noticing a cardboard cutout of a toy company’s mascot, some sort of platypus character. “Um …”
“I know, I know.” He smiled and nodded as though he understood perfectly. “I don’t want to tug on any altruistic capes, but surely there are expenses to meet, lost income from whatever day jobs these exploits pull you away from.”
The dental hygiene symposium would be well underway by the time Alyssa made it back there. She hadn’t given it a second thought since entering the lobby.
Peterson said, “What’s the upkeep on Terrific Hall? You do know the Terrific Trio, don’t you?” He tossed a glance at the window. The motionless tidal wave had vanished, clearing the view of the blue sky. No more rain fell; no fire monsters raged. “Or whatever they’re calling themselves these days.”
One of the other executives wagged a finger as he finally figured out why Alyssa seemed so familiar.
“You were at Argus Max fighting that deformed person, weren’t you? The reports said there was a masked person who was just sort of standing there—just like you were doing here.”
“I need to go.” Alyssa backed up to the door. “I’ll see myself out.”
“Of course,” Peterson said, a twinkle in his eye. “You know the way. My door is always open to you.”
Alyssa got out of PRAM as fast as the elevators would take her.
*****
She returned to the apartment at the end of the workday, having managed to attend most of the symposium. It was a struggle to pay attention, though.
Miranda lay sprawled out on the couch, her exhaustion palpable and loud. She flipped herself upright when she heard Alyssa’s entrance.
“Fun symposium?”
Alyssa crashed beside her on the couch. “Exhausting. I notice the giant tidal wave didn’t kill us all, so good job with that. Did you catch him?”
“Got away.” Miranda was still beating herself up about that fact. “So close, though.”
They fell into a tired silence as they slouched into the cushions. Miranda’s phone toned, and she snatched it from the coffee table. She had set a news alert for reports of superhuman activity, and she opened the latest article. Her super-speed-reading was hard to keep up with, but Alyssa picked up the gist. An invisible person had targeted a local CEO and was thwarted by an unidentified woman with mental powers.
Miranda set the phone down and turned to her roommate. “Exhausting, was it?”
Alyssa’s lips curled up into a faint smile. “Yeah, real exhausting.”