Chapter 2

Smoke’s lip curled. “Gross. But Heartstring’s not going to spend any time in a cell. The fact you think you’ve got a cell that can hold him, or that you can put him on trial when his whole power involves mind control, is just adorable. It’s unsafe, but it’s adorable.”

Gin caught movement out of the corner of his eye and barely had time to blast the Marine attacking him. The man fell to the ground, bleeding. “Every second we stand here arguing is more time these men are in danger. You get that, right?”

“They’re not exactly civilians.” Smoke waved a hand, and a cloud of thick black smoke engulfed a group of ten Marines. Their guns fell silent, but there were plenty of others to pick up the slack. “It’s a war, Ice Man.”

“You do know that’s not my name.” Gin had no idea why it mattered. He wasn’t here to make friends with Smoke. Smoke might be attractive, but he also had a long list of crimes to answer for himself. “Look. We’re not here for you today and Heartstring isn’t someone you can go up against. Just run along home and we can fight it out another day.”

Smoke scoffed. “Are you asking me out on a date, Ice Man? Because you totally need to work on your technique.” He smirked then. “Of course, thanks to Quake, that wasn’t exactly news.”

Smoke’s mention of Gin’s ex rankled, but he wasn’t going to show it. Gin wasn’t exactly surprised by Quake’s big mouth or sour grapes. “A date in court, maybe.” The shadows bruising his arms might keep him from running, but they weren’t restraining his hands at all. He reached for the flashlight on his belt. It wasn’t much, but he didn’t need to do much.

Light banished shadow, after all.

He shone the light directly into the shadows holding him and fled while he had the chance. He wasn’t going to waste his time arguing with Smoke, even if he was attractive. Gin wasn’t the kind of guy to let a handsome face distract him anyway. He had a job to do, and as far as he knew he was the only person who could do it.

The problem, of course, was that he couldn’t stick to the shadows. Avoiding Smoke’s secondary power meant he had to run across bright, open floor. He generated an ice helmet around his head, which would make his hair look terrible but that wasn’t important right now. The rest of him would be protected by his suit. He ran as fast as he could.

The suits reacted to bullets, and they stopped most of them. Gin was grateful for the protection the dynamic armor provided, but they didn’t provide invulnerability. He felt every bullet that slammed into him with the same force as a good, strong punch. The only thing keeping him on his feet was his desperation to get to Heartstring and prevent more Marine deaths. He didn’t look back, not once.

If he had, he’d probably have seen the wall of flame coming.

That wall knocked him onto the concrete floor. It brought with it not only the unknown Alpha Team fool who’d sent the fire (and seriously, since when did Alpha Team have a pyro?) but also Smoke. Because of course Smoke still had to get in Gin’s way.

The pyro, a short white guy with big ears, let out a blast of pure fire directly into Gin’s face. The helmet protected him, but only until it melted away. Fortunately for Gin, his reflexes were enough.

He wrapped one leg around the pyro’s ankle and slammed his boot into the pyro’s knee. The pyro must not have been expecting such a mundane attack, because he fell backwards with a shout and hit his head on the concrete.

Gin didn’t rest on his laurels. He jumped to his feet and punched Smoke square in the nose

Smoke was ready for him. He pulled a knife from his belt. “I don’t have time to be nice to you today, Ice Man. I’m here to take out Heartstring by any means necessary.” He lunged in to stab at Gin’s side.

A Marine joined in the fight. “You’ll never take Heartstring down! He’s saving lives!” He swung the butt of his weapon toward Smoke’s head and then shot Gin at point-blank.

The bullet didn’t pierce his suit, but the impact knocked Gin back onto the ground. He didn’t need an X-ray to know he had broken ribs. That was going to suck. He’d be grounded for weeks. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to sit up, eyes blinking.

Smoke, actual smoke, lined the warehouse ceiling. This wasn’t good at all, especially since Gin’s enemy was still lying on his back too dazed to be causing it himself.