He was battling the fresh Other while the tall one prepared himself to call for more reinforcements. She had to stop him. There was only one way to stop the SOS. She had to kill the contract-holding Other.
“Hey, stretch, you want me dead? Well, come and get me!” Mia called.
The tall Other had had it with this brat. She was costing him money. He drew his sword and swung it several times. Each time, he was surprised by her blocking the swipe. He backed up and walked around, looking for the best way to fight the diminutive human. He smiled. He drew a second sword and brought one sword down, which Mia caught with hers. He then thrust the other forward.
Mia read his moves as if it were Dr. Seuss. She stepped aside, letting the weight of the Other propel him forward onto the ground.
He was quick and rolled over, but Mia was quicker. She landed with her knee to the creature’s throat. She reached inside his coat, drew out the contract, set it on his chest, and drove the dagger into his heart. “Contract canceled!” she called out.
And as the Other’s blood soaked into the paper, the fighting stopped. Mia got up, her legs wobbly. “You can collect your dead, but the contract’s canceled right?” she asked the new Other.
“Yes. Well played, Mia Cooper.”
“Mia!” Orion called.
Mia looked around her. “Where is he?”
“On the other side of the wall tending to your fallen comrade,” Nicholai said.
“Ted?” Mia asked.
Nicholai nodded.
Mia ran full out, vaulted the wall, and landed just shy of where Orion was administering to what was left of Theodore Martin. Orion shook his head before Mia could ask if he could be saved.
She knelt, putting her face close to the teen’s. “Hang on, Teddy Bear. Angelo can take you to the aerie.”
Angelo prepared himself to do exactly that when Orion shook his head again. “He won’t make it. Make your peace now.”
“Mia, I didn’t see them coming. They tossed me around like a dog’s chew toy. I was holding a bomb at the time. I blew them and myself up,” he confessed.
“We wouldn’t have survived the first onslaught if it wasn’t for you. You’re my superhero,” Mia said, stroking his face.
“I’m Batman,” Ted said in a hoarse whisper. “You go and find Burt. You find him, and I live again. If you don’t, you’ll have to marry Mike. He said he had dibs.”
“No, you stay with me. Orion, please…” Mia begged.
Ted coughed hard. Whatever had kept him alive this long faded away and with it Ted.
Mia’s world went red. She got up and stumbled away, tears and snot running down her face. Angelo reached out to comfort her, and she growled and drew her knives and hissed, “Stay away from me!”
“Mia!” Murphy shouted, knocking the knives out of her hands.
Mia looked at her hands and then at Angelo. “I’m sorry, I’m not myself.”
“It’s understandable,” he said.
Murphy turned her around and took her blood-streaked face in his hands. “Mia, we have to find Burt. He may not listen to Mike. These guys will take care of making sure the Others don’t send any more assassins. It’s Orion, Angelo, and Nicholai, you trust them in the future. Trust them now to get you out of this.”
Mia turned and looked down at Ted. There was nothing left but a broken shell.
“Mia, we should leave soon,” Orion said. “Ted’s explosions may have attracted attention. We are witnesses to the canceling of the contract. We’ll do our best to stop this from happening again, but you still have a chance to set everything right.”
“You’re right. I have to at least try,” Mia said. “Murphy…” Mia asked.
“I’m coming,” he said. He watched her recall her knives, pick up Ted’s backpack, and walk towards the hospital. He turned to Orion. “If she doesn’t complete this task, she’s going to embrace her demon side, collect forty legions of demons owed to her, and go on a rampage. I’m afraid she’ll not listen to me. She’s losing her humanity. Ted was her last hope that somehow she could get it all back.”
“We’ll be back,” Orion promised.
Murphy picked up his axe and followed Mia.
Nicholai watched the battle-weary little girl walk away before addressing Orion, “I don’t like her odds in there. Maybe I should stay behind.”
“Did you see her fight?” Orion said proudly. “That was some of the best fighting I’d ever seen.”
“I’ve seen it before,” Angelo said and patted Nicholai on the back. “It is almost as if she had you for a teacher.”
~
Mia opened the door and slid inside. She looked around her and tried to make sense of what she was seeing.
On the open-arms staircase, there were dozens of ghosts standing in their bedclothes with bedpans held up as shields. Each had a weapon made of a piece of silverware tied to a broom handle. They snapped to attention as someone entered the lobby. Mia turned to see a willowy man in a long coat. He wore his collar high, but Mia could tell that he’d faced death at the end of a rope.
She slowly let the pack slip off her back.
“Welcome to my kingdom,” the lab-coated, self-proclaimed king said to the blood-soaked little girl.
Mia curtsied and thrust her hand inside the pack. She grabbed the necklace Ted had made for her. She put it over her head. “Please excuse my appearance, sire,” she said. “You see, I had to fight my way in here.”
Murphy
