E rested one of his free hands gently on Jeremy’s back, between his shoulder blades. He lifted his head and directly addressed the camera. “As you can all see, young Jeremy here is terribly obedient and open to suggestion.” Jeremy looked at him adoringly and E smiled. “By the time we’re done with this demonstration, I bet you’re all going to want one yourselves.” He laughed at his own joke.
He raised his other hand, as though being sworn in. “I would like to assure everyone watching that Jeremy won’t be suffering any ill effects from the Mood Ring, at least not at this setting.” He tilted his head to one side. “I can’t say the same is true for what he might do under its influence, however.”
E turned his attention back to Jeremy. “Now, are you right- or left-handed?”
“Left, E.”
“A lefty! Me too. Okay, in that case, lay your right hand on the desk, nice and flat.”
“Like this?”
“Move over a tiny bit, so the camera can get a better angle. Yes, perfect, great job.”
Jeremy’s hand looked very small and dirty on the polished surface of the desk.
E opened the long box in front of them, and I sucked in a breath sharply between my lips and teeth. “Now, take this. Be careful, it’s heavier than you’d expect.” He placed a cleaver in Jeremy’s left hand.
The boy bobbed the blade in his hand for a moment, testing the weight. “It is heavy!” His voice was so calm and curious.
“Do you have a good grip on it?”
“Got it.”
“Great. Now, I would like you to cut off the tip of the little finger on your right hand—just the tip, now—to complete the demonstration. That would be very helpful.”
“Sure thing, E.” Jeremy shifted his weight and planted his feet a bit more firmly, getting a slightly more secure grip on the cleaver. He spread his fingers farther apart. He raised the cleaver a little higher and wiggled back and forth, concentrating, like a cat preparing to pounce. Numbly, I kept the Mood Ring pointed at his head.
Then he paused, lowered the cleaver a fraction, and looked up at E again. I felt a wave of incredible relief. It wasn’t going to work.
“I’m worried,” Jeremy said. “I might not be able to do it right.”
“What do you mean, kiddo?” E reached back and took my wrist, pulling the Mood Ring a little closer. His voice was still chipper but there was a hint of worry in his grip.
“I’m worried I might miss.”
E grinned, relaxing. “Don’t worry, Jeremy! You can always try a few times. I won’t mind.”
Relieved, Jeremy nodded and turned his attention back to his hand. He raised the cleaver again.
E stared directly into the camera. His eyes shone. I watched a bead of sweat trickle down his temple. “If the money arrives promptly, we’ll restrict this demonstration to a single digit. Does that sound fair to you, Mr. Mayor?” He took out his phone and looked at it. “No transfer yet.” He shook his head.
I closed my eyes.
Several things happened very slowly, and all at once. The huge window, through which all that beautiful natural light was streaming, exploded into the room. I felt shards of glass hit my arms and face. I reached up wonderingly and touched my cheek, my hand coming away bloody. I had time to feel lucky that none got in my eyes.
E lurched toward me and tore the Mood Ring out of my other hand. I held on a moment too long and his sudden movement wrenched me forward and threw me off balance. I grabbed hold of the desk to steady myself, my hands landing just a few inches from Jeremy’s.
While everyone else in the room was yelling and diving for cover, Jeremy stayed completely calm and intent on his work, even though he was covered in glass. I could see the tip of his tongue sticking out at the corner of his mouth in childish concentration. My throat went dry. I reached toward him, but I knew I was already too late.
He swung the cleaver down.
The blade never completed its arc. There was a blur, and a smell like ozone, and a gloved hand caught Jeremy’s a moment before the cleaver made contact. Accelerator, the fastest man on the planet, held his hand cupped around Jeremy’s. The sidekick gently pried the knife out of the boy’s hand and tossed it away. I took a step back, and found myself in an immense shadow.
Supercollider stood there between Jeremy and the Electric Eel. Accelerator tucked the boy behind him, creating a distance between the kid and the Mood Ring, trying to break its thrall. One of E’s bodyguards ill-advisedly lurched toward the two of them, and Supercollider kicked the Meat across the room. There was a wet crunch where he landed. Now behind the hero’s broad, impenetrable back, Jeremy started, blinked, and shook his head, like he was waking up.
E took a step back and hissed.
“I have you,” the hero snarled, his perfect quarterback’s jaw clenched tight. As Jeremy became more alert, he started to shiver uncontrollably and clung to Accelerator’s arm.
I’d run into the odd hero now and again in the course of my work, usually C-list at best—Sapphire Mask sat next to me in a bar once and tried to talk to me about my life choices, while the Nucleus had come to the Electrophorous office once on a diplomatic mission—but I’d only ever seen Supercollider on the news. I stared at him stupidly, at the perfect wave of his blond hair and the impossible breadth of his shoulders. On his chest, two gold, concentric rings seemed to burn in the sunlight against the dark blue background. I tried to creep away from him, backing away slowly, easing my feet through all the glass.
“Slow news day?” The Electric Eel’s eyes were wild. I wondered if he’d ever been in the same room as Supercollider. Usually the champion would be averting a natural disaster or stopping a nuclear warhead from detonating, not swooping in to save our mayor’s kid’s pinkie.
“I was in town, as luck would have it. News of your depravity reached me in time.” Supercollider sounded profoundly disgusted. I kept backing up slowly, letting the two of them talk it out, hoping to slink to safer ground.
“Surrender,” Supercollider demanded.
I looked behind me to make sure my way was clear. The two Meat who had been guarding the door were utterly stunned, frozen in place. This was well above their pay grade. Accelerator was keeping an eye on them, darting back and forth like a barracuda in front of Jeremy, unable to remain still.
There was a hum over by the shattered window and, almost lazily, Quantum Entanglement stepped through. She hovered just a couple of inches off the ground for a moment then let her boots sink into the high-pile carpet, crunching delicately on the glass. She strode into the room like a windstorm, her bleached-white hair swirling around her. Like Supercollider, I’d never seen her in person and, in shock, I seemed to have time to stare. The tattoos on her lips and chin were beautiful, complex and interlocking shapes that defined her already striking face.
I expected the Electric Eel to freeze and panic, like the rest of us. Some part of me was waiting for him to hand over the Mood Ring and put his hands on his head, to kneel. E looked down at the device in his hands for a moment, then his lip curled sharply. The air around me seemed to crackle and I could feel the hair on my head writhe, my skirt clinging to my legs with static; he had activated his shock gauntlets.
He actually intended to fight.