Free Screwing the Superhero by Rebecca Royce Page A

the main building.
    “Screw this.” Leaping upward, he plowed through the ceiling of the elevator.
    He’d probably regret making the hole later, but for now, only one thing was on his mind. He needed to see Wendy.
    Reaching the lobby, he kicked the doors that blocked the entrance to the elevator shaft unless the elevator was present. It gave way immediately and he touched down on the ground floor.
    A chaotic scene lay before him. People shouted. One woman he knew as a clerical worker from Colt’s floor grabbed his arms and shouted something he couldn’t make out. Using his super eyesight, he zoomed in on the source of the problem.
    From his vantage point, he could see outside. The western wall of the lobby was missing. It had crumbled to the street outside.If the entire wall of the building was missing, then twenty floors of offices, plus an impressive roofline, were exposed to the outside world. On the street, a giant machine stepped on top of another building in its path. It looked like something out of a comic book. A giant cat on two feet with gigantic claws maneuvered away after having destroyed the place he and Ace had built from scratch.
    “Ah … hell, no.” Running as fast as he could, he exited the lobby and reached the building next door. Flying upward, he landed on the roof of the other building ad looked up at the groaning piece of machinery.
    Above him, he heard Ace yell. Leaning back, he looked toward the top of the cat, which had to be at least as tall as Powers, Inc. Ace was shouting to someone trapped in the cat’s grip. Using his super sight, he zoomed in and gasped. Wendy .
    Draco leapt into the air, ascending quickly until he floated next to Ace, who had grasped onto the head of the Cat machine. “What the hell is this thing?”
    Ace shook his head. “No frickin; idea. I’ve tried ‘talking’ to it and as far as I can tell, it’s remote controlled.”
    “It’s destroying everything in its path.” If they didn’t find a way to stop it soon it was going to cause a disaster of epic proportions. “I can bring it down.”
    “I could too, but I’m afraid if either one of us do that, it’s going to drop or squeeze its unwilling passenger to death.” Ace nodded toward Wendy.
    Zee and Colt flew to join them.
    “I’m having Mandala clear the buildings. Some of the other Superheroes are arriving. They’re controlling the chaos,” Colt said.

    Draco had forced himself not to look at Wendy. As soon as he saw her up close, he knew what would happen. If she even looked moderately upset, it would be his undoing. Forget decorum, forget plotting, he’d break the thing off piece by piece to free her and screw any bystanders below. So he didn’t look. He kept his gaze entirely on Ace.
    “We need to maneuver him to the river. We can take him down over the Hudson.”
    Ace groaned. “Maybe I can interrupt the satellite signal that lets whoever built this monstrosity control it.”
    “Are you saying this thing is equivalent to a giant, remote control car?”
    “Exactly. The only difference, instead of it breaking someone’s lamp, it’s destroying New York City.”
    “You will have one job when this is over and that will be to figure out who built this. Do you understand?”
    Ace had the audacity to laugh. “And what will you be doing while I involve myself in this?”
    “You mean besides figuring out a payment plan with the city to pay for the damage they are bound to see as my fault even though I had nothing to do with this?”
    “Yes.” Ace nodded, flying to the left to land on the cat’s left ear. “Besides that.
    And before you get worked up, I’m sure all of these buildings are insured.”
    The cat swung at them with its free paw. They all pulled back, hovering in the air out of reach, except for Ace, who was still positioned on its ear.
    “They don’t make insurance to cover this kind of disaster.”
    “They should.”
    “You never answered my question.” Ace ducked under the