Her Superhero Lover

As her arm flashed through the air, time seemed to slow down for her. Every movement of the entire room crept to almost a standstill. She could feel the ruler in her hand, and she knew it was on a straight path as soon as it left her hand. It turned over once before striking the gunman between the eyes, shattering his nose and causing an explosion of blood from between his eyes. Staggering back, his gun dropped to the ground, going off and putting a round through a window. Renee followed the ruler with her left hand, closing the distance and slamming her palm against his cheek in a tremendous open handed slap. The gunmen flew off his feet, crashing into a desk before sagging to the floor, unconscious.

Renee looked for the teacher, who was still huddled with the child the first gunman had ordered to be silenced. She knelt down and picked up the pistol the last gunman had dropped, and handed it to the teacher. “He moves, you shoot him,” she said.

The teacher nodded, and cleared her throat. “Thank you.”

Renee shook her head, and grabbed a shotgun one the first two men had dropped. It was already armed, she hoped as she ran as hard as she could towards the other classroom. Ten seconds had passed since the last booming shot from the room Grady had gone into. Charging into the room, she saw a gunman standing over Grady, who was holding his thigh and was lying on the ground. The gunman had a rifle that looked huge to Renee, and she didn’t even slow down. Dropping the shotgun and lowering her shoulder, she tackled the gunman, spearing him like a linebacker. The two went flying through the air, crashing through the window and out into the front walk of the school. Rolling, Renee scrambled on top of the gunman and punched him once, knocking him out. The media and police in view all stopped and froze as she got to her knees, looked at them, and went back inside.

The room was in chaos. The teacher held his hand over Grady’s thigh, which was pumping blood onto the ground. “He was hit by a fourth gunman,” the teacher explained, “one who had stepped out to use the bathroom. Lady… is he The Horseman?”

“Yeah,” Renee said, taking Grady’s hand. “You okay, baby?”

Grady’s voice was soft and weak. “Need…. lab….. nanos.”

Renee nodded. “I’ll get you there.”

Behind her, she heard someone run up. “Everyone down! SDPD!”

Renee picked Grady up in her arms and turned, looking at the three SWAT officers who were standing at the glass door, each of them holding MP5 submachine guns. She stared at them, Grady’s blood dripping off his hip and onto the floor. “If I don’t take him now, he’ll be dead.”

The SWAT officers looked at each other, and one of them nodded. “Understood.” He turned his head and yelled behind him. “Fall back! Make a hole! Casualty!”

Renee paused by the commander, looking over at him. “Thank you.”

The SWAT cop shook his head. “No. You’re one of the good guys, after all.”

Renee didn’t even reply, taking off running as fast as she could. She knew the shortest path to Grady’s lab, and sprinted as hard as she could to the 805 freeway, staying on the breakdown lane. Slinging him over her shoulder to allow her to pump her right arm as she ran gave her a bit more control as she passed every vehicle faster than almost any of the drivers could see her. Even as her feet began to heat up and her shoes started to melt, she pushed herself faster, until the entire world was a blur in her vision except for directly ahead of her. Ignoring the pain, she took the off-ramp to Del Mar, and followed the city streets until she was close to the ocean cliffs. When she saw the tall white Voelker Consolidated building, she left the streets and took off over the two miles of sand, dirt and mixed turf. When she was close she took a deep breath and leapt. Flying through the air, she aimed at the side windows on the second floor that faced the ocean. Throwing her free arm over her face, they crashed through, taking out one of the large window panes.

On the second floor, she staggered to the stairwell, jumping upwards to the third and then fourth floor. Carrying him to the lab table, she set him down carefully and went to the cabinet, pulling out a vial of nanos. Looking around, she saw the hypospray, and slapped the vial into the dispenser. “Wait,” she said, looking at Grady’s leg. If he’d been shot, she’d have to get the bullet out. “Grady? Grady!”

She shook his shoulder, and Grady’s eyes fluttered open. “Wha?”

“I need to get the bullet out,” she said, looking into his eyes. “Where do you have pliers or something like that?”

“Forceps….. far left cabinet…..” Grady replied, slipping into unconsciousness again. Renee ripped the doors off the cabinet she pulled so hard, looking inside. The forceps were in a small medical kit, and she snatched them up. Yanking the gauntlet off her left hand with her teeth, she eased the wound apart, worried as the flow of blood actually slowed. Grady was bleeding out, and she didn’t have much time. Silently requesting forgiveness, she dug around in the wound, searching for something hard and solid, praying it was the bullet.

She was just beginning to lose hope when the forceps found the bullet, and she pulled it out. Setting it on the table, she immediately grabbed the hypospray of nanos and injected it into his thigh, hoping they would work quickly. She watched in wonder as the edges of his wound started to take on a silvery shimmer, the nanos quickly replicating themselves and going to work. In less than ten seconds, his skin was knitted. In thirty seconds, the skin was unmarked, without even a hint of a scar. Grady’s eyes fluttered open, and he looked up at her. “You found the bullet?”

“Yep. You feeling better?” Now that his eyes were open, her fear evaporated like mist in the morning sun.

“Of course. What’s the damage?”

“Well, I approached from the beach side going cross country, so I doubt anyone knew exactly which building I ran to. On the other hand, we crashed through one of the plate glass windows on the second floor, so you might want to call the accountants downstairs and tell them everything is okay. I’m sure you’ll come up with a good excuse.”

“I will,” Grady said, sitting up. “But first, your turn. Take a look at your feet.”

Renee did, and was shocked at what she saw. Blood and ragged hunks of tissue hung from her skin, and she thought she could see the bright whiteness of bone on a little toe. “Wha….?”

“The nanos. They can cut in and dull the pain if your brain demands it. You’ve got about two minutes before they stop, and your feet scream at you. Now, up on the table, and we get you injected. Then you take a nap, and I’ll take care of the bookkeepers downstairs.”