Free Supervillainess (Part One) by Lizzy Ford Page A

a screwdriver in one hand and the broken shaft of his
broomstick in the other, Keladry was battling two men in black. As
he watched, she plunged the screwdriver into the neck of one of the
men, who fell to the ground, clutching his wound.
    The other kicked her hard enough to send her
smashing into the wall.
    Kimber started forward, baseball bat
raised.
    Keladry rebounded easily and drove her knee
into the man’s groin then jammed the broken broomstick through his
abdomen. He fell to the ground, and she yanked the weapon free
before ramming it through his eye socket into his brain.
    Kimber stared, his jaw slack and eyes wide.
He had treated people suffering from injuries caused by fights with
others, vehicular accidents, mauling by animals, and other dreadful
ways to be hurt. But he never witnessed firsthand the actual events
causing the injuries.
    Keladry leaned over the first man, the one
with a screwdriver through his neck. She gripped his head and
snapped it to the right, effectively answering Kimber’s unspoken
question about who had killed the man in the hallway.
    This is a
nightmare, he thought, unable to comprehend
witnessing Keladry brutally murder two men.
    “This is why you lock your door,” she said,
looking up at him.
    “What the fuck is going on?” he managed.
    “My brother sent his henchmen to find me and
probably kill you for hiding me,” she answered.
    “No. What. The. Fuck. Just happened?” he
demanded. “Did I just become a witness in a triple homicide?”
    “I could’ve used this.” She approached him
and took the bat from his wooden fingers. “Stay here. I’ll check
the hallway.”
    Kimber couldn’t have moved if he wanted to.
He was staring at the second man she had killed, who was bleeding
out all over his carpet. He heard the front door open and then
close a few minutes later but was frozen in place, convinced this
was a dream and waiting for it to end.
    “Found another one.” Keladry reported. She
handed him the bat, whose tip was bloodied.
    “Stop murdering people!” Kimber dropped the
bat, horrified.
    “It’s okay, Doc. I took care of it. Here.
There’s glass everywhere.” Keladry planted his shoes in his chest.
She had pulled on a pair of his sweats, along with what appeared to
be several layers of socks in place of shoes. She disappeared from
his stunned sight into the kitchen.
    “We have to do something,” he said at
last.
    “I know. We can’t leave the bodies here or
they’ll know you’re involved.”
    “No, I mean, we have to
call the … involved? As in, I helped you do this?” he demanded,
facing her.
    She left the kitchen.
    “I had nothing to do with this!” he
exclaimed.
    “You sheltered me against my father’s
directives.”
    “We need to call the police!”
    “What we need to do is leave. Quickly.” She
pushed him towards the door.
    Kimber went, more because
he was too shocked to resist than because he understood why they
were leaving. “Wait. I should help them. I need to help them,” he mumbled, eyes
on the body in the hallway.
    “They’re dead, Doc. Trust me, I know. I’m
the one who killed them,” she replied and pushed him harder. “You
will be, too, if we stay here.”
    Seconds later, Kimber stood in the hallway
outside his apartment, staring at the door Keladry had closed.
    “C’mon, Doc!” she said and took his arm,
tugging him away. “We have about five seconds.”
    He blinked out of his stupor and shook his
head to free it from the lingering effects of sleep and surprise.
“What do you mean five –”
    An explosion tore the door off his apartment
and threw it across the hallway. He ducked instinctively and looked
back. Flames darted into the hall. Understanding Keladry’s urgency,
he ceased dragging his heels and hurried after her.
    The elevator wasn’t working again, so they
went to the stairwell across from it and raced to the ground floor
and outside the building. Kimber twisted to see his apartment as he
exited into the