Blue Mercy: Blood of the Masked God, #2

By Gerhard Gehrke

Lily never wanted to be a hero.

 

But she had murdered the strongest man on the planet for revenge, and now the world needed a champion.

 

She knows she has a limited time before her powers fade. Before they do, she has business to take care of.

 

A mysterious assassin is on her tail.

 

The dead hero Chronos has a family which hasn't forgotten about the woman who took their favorite son.

 

And the situation around the meteor impact site is only getting stranger.

 

Lily and a group of superpowered crimefighters have been gathered to stop the growing disaster. As the heroes prepare themselves, Chronos's sister Mercy is gathering her own soldiers, and Mercy doesn't forgive.

 

Check out the second novel of the superhero action thriller trilogy and follow Lily's adventure!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lucas Ross Publishing
• Release date: Nov 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781393169130

Gerhard Gehrke

Gerhard Gehrke is the author of Nineveh's Child, the Supervillain High series, and A Beginner's Guide to Invading Earth.

Book preview

Chapter One

Alicia Clark’s day shift at King Memorial Hospital should have ended at 6 p.m., but a Jane Doe had been brought in by the county-contracted ambulance service at 5:30, and the woman’s injuries were horrific. She had multiple compound fractures, with arm and leg bones protruding through the skin. Significant trauma to the thoracic and pelvic regions should have meant significant internal bleeding. But initial sonography showed there was none. When the attending physician had Alicia redo the test and the results showed the same images, with none of the telltale blotches that would indicate hemorrhaging, the doctor had checked the monitors himself.

That shouldn’t be possible, the doctor said. He took a moment to dab his nose with a tissue as he examined the computer screen.

Alicia was used to being second-guessed by the doctor even though she was among the senior staff. Whether it was because she was female or African American, she wasn’t certain.

Blood pressure steady at one hundred over sixty, Alicia said. Heart rate forty. Shock index good. She’s breathing on her own. Vitals are strong and stable. She continued with her own check of a junior nurse’s initial exam data. Her voice was calm and strong, with no trace of the panic that a scene like this would stir up in a novice.

That’s crazy, the doctor said. It’s like she’s sleeping rather than fighting for her life. Let’s take her for a CT. We need to know what we’re fixing before prepping for surgery.

Alicia signaled an orderly and he and another pushed Jane Doe’s bed towards the CT scan room just down the hall. Jane Doe’s slack mouth and rolled-back eyes made it look like she had merely collapsed from severe exhaustion. Alicia walked alongside the bed. She believed in miracles but didn’t think she was seeing one at the moment. The human body was a mysterious machine, capable of startling fragility and amazing resilience. That Jane Doe’s grievous injuries hadn’t killed her spoke to the latter.

Then Jane Doe’s hand clamped down on Alicia’s. It startled Alicia. But she squeezed back.

You’re going to be okay, Alicia said. You’re at King Memorial Hospital. You’ve been in an accident, but we’re working to make you better.

Jane Doe’s eyes cleared and she stared at Alicia as she was wheeled into the scan room. Dealing with shock and pain were all part of Alicia’s training, but she saw no signs of shock. That didn’t mean her Jane Doe’s injuries wouldn’t trigger any number of life-threatening events, like a heart attack, seizures, or sudden hemorrhaging. But the calm look in Jane’s eyes was unnerving. By her vitals, she was an athlete at rest, not someone who should by all measures be at death’s doorstep.

With the two orderlies, Alicia got Jane Doe prepped for the scan. The only thing in Jane Doe’s arm was the saline drip. Alicia disconnected the line so the patient could be placed inside the machine.

What’s your name, dear? Jane Doe asked in a raspy voice. With her chest wall deformity, speaking should have been difficult. The fact that her lungs and diaphragm were not only working but functioning well enough to speak made her condition truly amazing.

I’m your nurse, Alicia. I’ll be with you for the duration. What’s your name?

Call me Mercy.

Mercy? That’s a pretty name. I’m getting you prepped for a CT scan. This will take x-rays of every part of your body so we can see how to fix you. What’s your level of pain right now?

Mercy’s lips turned up in a soft smile. Pain? There is no pain. Pain is only that which the mind can’t cope with, neh? We all have to be strong for what’s coming.

Alicia was half-listening, watching the scanner’s monitor. The system was booting up. The hospital’s scanner tech was out sick and his replacement hadn’t shown up either. There was a lot of absenteeism of late. Rumors of mass psychotic episodes were in the news and on social media and spreading among the staff. People were having nightmares. The reports about the meteor strikes and unhinged superheroes were too horrific to watch. But Alicia went about doing her job as best she could. She knew the CT machine well enough and had run dozens of scans before.

What’s coming? Alicia asked distractedly.

My father, Mercy said.

Good. We didn’t have any family when we checked you in. Once they arrive we’ll get them here. But for right now, I’m at your side. This will be a bit uncomfortable. We have to see what’s going on inside you before we know what we can do for you. Your pain—

Is my own and there’s nothing you can do to help.

We’ll see about that. They have some pretty good stuff here. Now sit tight so we can get through this.

As Alicia punched in the password on the log-in screen, she heard a crash from outside in the ER. This was followed by someone shouting. Not unusual sounds, but except for the Jane Doe it was a quiet night at the hospital. Perhaps an OD case had been brought in. Between meth and fentanyl, King Memorial had almost daily cases arriving at its doorstep. Nothing like in the cities, but enough that dealing with agitated patients was the norm. The bloodwork on Jane Doe would no doubt reveal some sort of pharmaceuticals in her system.

There came another crash from outside and the clatter of metal objects scattering on the floor. A man screamed. This was followed by a heavy thud. Just as one of Alicia’s orderlies reached the door, a skinny man wearing a ragged collared shirt and threadbare work pants entered the scan room.

Before the orderly could say anything the skinny man shoved him back into a counter and he went down to the floor. The second orderly stood motionless, stunned, as the man stepped close and shoved him aside. Alicia went for the wall phone. Before she could dial security, the skinny man put his hand to the plastic yellow phone and crushed it. Alicia backed away and raised her arms to protect herself.

Don’t worry, dear, Mercy said. Temp won’t hurt you, will he?

The skinny man went to the bed and appraised the injured woman. Then he took her hand. Sister.

You found me.

Temp put his hand to the back of her head. I’m here to bring you home.

Wait, Alicia said. You can’t move her. You’ll kill her.

Temp’s narrow eyes looked down at Alicia. They were dead, hollow slits. The man was a walking scarecrow. She had seen enough addicts to know the look, but there was something else about him, a stillness that she had never seen in a junkie. The man looked more reptilian than human.

Mercy’s body arched upward. Alicia moved closer but Temp held her back.

She’s seizing! Alicia said. Let me help her or she’ll die.

A long, pained cry erupted from Mercy’s lips. Her head twisted from one side to the other. Then came a series of dry pops. With each short, sharp sound her body shuddered, as if her torso were changing shape and the rhythmic cracks were the sounds of bones shifting. Mercy rose higher off the bed, held up by her shattered arms and legs. Her head turned so far to one side Alicia thought her neck might snap. It was as if all her patient’s muscles were contracting uncontrollably. Alicia’s mind raced to find a possible cause, but it was like nothing she had ever dealt with. All she could think was that nerve agents could produce results like what she was seeing.

Help us! Someone call security! Alicia screamed. Neither of the other orderlies were doing anything. One appeared dazed as he lay on the floor. The other was watching Mercy in stunned horror. Alicia saw no way past the skinny man.

Temp put a finger to his lips. Shhh. Mother’s healing.

Mercy flopped back down onto the bed. Her face was pulled tight in a rictus grin, her teeth clenched. Her sun-beaten face was turning red.

She’s not breathing!

Temp didn’t respond. He continued to hold Alicia back. Mercy’s limbs fought to straighten out on the bed as if pulled upon by some invisible outside force. The woman groaned as more bones made snapping sounds. Sharp bleeding tips of the compound fractures receded into her skin. One twisted hand wrenched further in the wrong direction before turning on the wrist and straightening. Sweat bathed the woman’s face. And then the tremors ceased.

Mercy’s legs remained contorted at the hips and knees and ankles. Her left tibia and fibula were both still jutting out through open lacerations. The foot of the leg was twisted 180 degrees. The woman pushed herself upright.

Alicia realized she was holding her breath. What she was witnessing was impossible.

Temperance, I’m tired, Mercy said.

The skinny man scooped her broken body up. Let me bring you home.

Mercy nodded but then said, No. Our days there are finished.

What do you mean?

Our time for hiding is done. Diligence falling ill was only the beginning. Father has found us. The hour has come for me to go out and see that our family stays safe. Can I count on you?

You need never ask.

Mercy ran a hand along Temp’s gaunt cheek. Then she looked at Alicia. Come closer, dear.

Alicia was trembling. She had faced down violent addicts tearing up the ER while suffering through a bad trip and had once been robbed at gunpoint in a parking lot by some kids in Concord. But this was a new fear.

What she had seen the woman do with her body was so profoundly unnatural it made Alicia wince. She knew a few superpowered individuals had documented abilities to regenerate, like the hero Shieldbreaker. But seeing flesh and bones mend firsthand was beyond belief. Perhaps it was all some illusion or trick. Alicia prided herself on being constantly grounded. She was the breadwinner in her home. She couldn’t afford the luxury of indulging in fantasy, whether brought on by belief or insobriety.

But Mercy’s chest was no longer misshapen. Through some unseen mechanism her arms had straightened and the compound fractures had set themselves.

How did you do that? Alicia asked.

Through faith all things are possible, my dear. You’ve dedicated your life to healing. I have things I could show you. All you have to do is take my hand.

Chapter Two

Iwas in the back seat of Carter’s black Mercedes. Carter was driving and the hero named Loremaster sat in the passenger seat. The car’s rear end was still smashed up, but the car drove well enough and getting driven around was less conspicuous than Loremaster’s suggestion that we fly. At least in the car we could talk, but at the moment I was rethinking my decision.

I’m saying this is a detour I wasn’t expecting, Loremaster said. We really should begin heading south. We have to meet up with everyone else so we can figure out how best to help.

Over the past twenty-four hours the situation in Virginia had grown dire. A massive wall of red clouds obscured the entire impact zone where the meteor had struck Norfolk. And the crimson weather system was growing, spreading down into North Carolina and heading towards Richmond. Loss of life from the impact was estimated at over 100,000, but there was no way to be certain. Nothing sent into the cloud came back out. Maid of Honor had flown in and no one had seen her since.

Similar weather phenomena were occurring at the other impact zones near Iceland and in the Pacific. At least there hadn’t been a fourth impact.

The situation was indeed urgent. Critical. Life and death. People were dying as we spoke. And as we drove, Loremaster reminded me of all of those things repeatedly. If we had flown I could have outpaced him and he’d have had to concentrate just to keep up. It would have been much quieter. But flying off to handle my current mission would mean leaving Carter behind, and at the moment I was still unsure how much of a hero I wanted to be.

Judging by the look on Carter’s face, he wasn’t thrilled with Loremaster being there.

When I’d texted Carter wanting a ride, he had responded immediately and showed up twenty minutes later as if he had been prepped to go. When we had parted ways I had told him I didn’t want to see him while I worked through some of my issues, one of which was that I only had about a week left to live. But then Loremaster had shown up on my doorstep looking for help. After a couple of days brooding and healing I gave the hero a call. Said I’d work with him.

But I had conditions.

Carter had barely said word one after he picked us up. I hadn’t told him I had company.

Jealous, maybe.

I told him where we were heading. An auto shop in Bay Ridge. While he drove I brushed a few persistent snags out of my hair. After the past week of activity even multiple long showers and double conditioning hadn’t helped much. The dark brown was showing by at least an inch, pushing the red out. Time for a recolor.

So you’re Red’s friend who’s been helping her out, Loremaster said.

‘Red?’ Carter asked. Is that what she said her name was?

We all have the right to privacy in this business.

And what business is that exactly?

Loremaster didn’t appear fazed by Carter’s icy tone. Getting dressed up in costumes and using our powers for the greater good, he said cheerily. Wrongs we can right. Bad guys to deliver to the police. Kittens to save. You know.

Carter just clenched his jaw as he drove.

Loremaster is helping me track down Princess Pike, I said. I have to talk to her and find out who it was that hired her. I don’t like the idea that someone was out to get me even before I ever manifested my powers.

Call me Paul, please, Loremaster said. We’re all friends here and there’s no reason to keep it formal. He put his fist out for Carter to bump but Carter ignored him.

Just tell me where to drive, Carter said.

Loremaster pointed the way.

And how are you doing this exactly? I asked. Loremaster had already explained to me his powers, but I thought it might help Carter’s mood to keep him in the loop.

It’s kind of like being a mental bloodhound. It works with most people I’ve met, especially ones I’ve talked to. I get a sense of where they are when I concentrate.

And you talked to Pike?

Yeah, sort of. We tussled once briefly a couple of years ago. Pike showed up at a film premiere where the villain Lightshow was trying to kidnap the movie star Claudia Engels. Apparently Claudia had tweeted something about Lightshow that wasn’t nice. Pike was there to take advantage of the chaos and steal a collection of Graff jewelry being worn by the sultan of Bahrain, who was attending the premiere. Slingshot was there and fighting Lightshow. I thought I was too late, as their fight was winding down, but then Pike and I went at it. Just when I thought I had talked her and her goons down and convinced them to get back in their van and leave, she almost cuts me in two with her weapon.

You were going to just convince her to leave? Carter asked.

It’s what I do. I tweak how people feel about things.

I’ve read about you. Empath, right? Which means you can implant thoughts and emotions inside people’s heads.

Not thoughts. And it’s not as easy as it sounds. I make options clear that are already in people’s heads. They just get a warmer and fuzzier feeling about things they were already considering. Like maybe robbing a sultan’s jewels isn’t the best way to spend an evening. That should have been enough with Princess Pike but she shrugged me off. Maybe she has some inherent resistance.

"You’re still making people think things they don’t want to, Carter said. No matter how you try to put a bow on it."

Carter, can you ease up? I asked. We need Paul right now to find Princess Pike.

Did you use your powers on Jade?

No! Loremaster said.

Or how about on me? Are you in my head right now?

I’m not. I don’t do that. I use my gifts ethically and within the confines of the law.

What does that even mean? There aren’t any ‘laws’ that tell psychics whether or not they can read minds or control people or tweak their emotions.

Carter, what’s gotten into you? I asked. I could see his face was flushed.

It’s like Chronos all over again. Loremaster, Maid of Honor, any of them. It’s all the same. They get powers and there’s nothing to stop them from using them as they see fit. Being a vigilante is only another brand of criminal. You’re willing to get into a fight which can hurt and kill bystanders and you excuse the harm you do because you claim to serve humanity, or the city, or the greater good.

Paul’s helped talk down jumpers, I said. The police use him as a hostage negotiator. So calm down.

He glared at me in the rearview mirror. And you have almost everything that Chronos had. His flight, his speed, at least some of his strength. You’re not about to do anything to give that up, are you? You’ve even kept his cape.

I didn’t ask for any of this, I said. You know that. So I’m not sure what the point of your tirade is. Whatever power I have might be killing me. For the short time I have left I’m going to use that power.

That’s the trap, isn’t it? No one gets super strength or any other talent and gives it up. Have you eaten more of the food from Dogwood? Does that keep you strong?

It keeps me from dying.

Carter grew quiet. We navigated an intersection heavy with traffic and soon were driving down through a light industrial area. Loremaster was intent on the road in front of us and appeared unperturbed by Carter’s rant.

I felt myself getting angry. If Carter didn’t want anything to do with me or my powers, why was he here? The answer was obvious enough even if I didn’t want to acknowledge it. He liked me. I was the first woman in his life since his wife had been murdered in a superpowered battle between a villain and a hero. We had partnered up on the premise of killing the most powerful superbeing on the planet.

Success shouldn’t have been an option.

But now Chronos was dead, we were victorious, and I had superpowers. I had become the thing we both hated. I had taken a life with my bare hands. There hadn’t been time to process it all. I had been so focused on my own sickness since going to Dogwood and getting exposed to its poisonous air, I hadn’t given much thought as to what our journey had done to him.

Here I was playing hero with another New York City vigilante and I’d called Carter to be our chauffeur.

Loremaster pointed to a short vanilla-and-brick corner building with a weather-beaten sign that read Gino’s Auto Repair. This is the place.

Its high windows were all blacked out. There were a couple of cars parked in the double-space skirt of a driveway, both of which had serious body damage.

Want me to drive around the block? Carter asked.

Pull into the driveway, I said. No point in being coy. We can go in through the front door. We have superpowers, remember?

Chapter Three

Alicia had never walked away from work before.

The man named Temperance had hurt people. One of the orderlies in the CT scan room was unconscious and a security guard lay groaning and bleeding on the floor in the hallway. But Temp carried Mercy past them and the rest of the fearful hospital staff as if they weren’t there, and Alicia followed.

They went straight to Alicia’s gray Kia. Alicia unlocked it with the fob and Temp placed Mercy in the back seat.

Well, isn’t this nice? Mercy said.

There’s injured people back there. I’m supposed to help them.

Yet here you are with me. Have you wondered why?

Alicia looked back at the hospital as if undecided. I don’t know.

Maybe not yet, but you will soon. Now be a dear and start the vehicle.

When Alicia turned, she saw Temperance had vanished. The man had been right there on the other side of the car.

Don’t you pay Temperance any mind, Mercy said. He has his own means of getting around.

In the distance, Alicia heard sirens. She knew the orderly who had been knocked out. Oren. Always good for a joke. And the security guard, he was the one with the daughter with lymphoma. Hutch, he liked to be called. He sometimes brought jelly-filled cookies to the nursing station. And yet Alicia had ignored them and followed Mercy out, all because the strange woman had asked her to.

She climbed in, started the car, and drove out of the lot. The white and blue lights of a police cruiser raced past.

I don’t know where I’m going, Alicia said.

Home, of course, Mercy said.

My home? But why? I thought you’d want me to take you someplace.

Mercy didn’t say anything. Alicia gazed at her passenger in the rearview mirror, but the woman appeared to be content to sit silently in the dark as they drove. The police would be looking for answers and Alicia had been seen leaving with Mercy and Temperance.

Alicia only entertained the notion of turning back for a moment as her mind settled in on what she had seen Mercy do with her body. The woman’s flesh and bones had molded and healed in an act of sheer will.

How do you do what you do?

Instead of answering, Mercy posed her own question. How have you been sleeping?

Alicia made a turn. It was dark out and some of the poorly painted roads around the town of Haverhill had deep gutters and soft shoulders that could wreck a careless driver. The gravel and asphalt crunched under the tires as she drove along.

Not much sleep the last few nights, Alicia said. It’s all been dreams.

And what do you dream about?

Bad things. She tried not to think about it, but the images of her persistent new nightmares had been clinging to her mind ever since they had begun. I see the world end. Over and over. There’s dark clouds, a storm which covers the world. People are screaming.

And are you one of those people?

Alicia drove past the four driveways that preceded her own duplex on the small lot between two properties. The owner of one of them raised horses, and on her days off he let her come up and visit the animals. She had spent many an afternoon talking to a bay mare that never turned down a handful of plucked thistles or dandelions. Her husband Kendall didn’t like animals and never joined her. He’d come straight home after a grueling four-hour shift at his job at the big chain-store pharmacy, grab a beer, and play on his PlayStation.

When Alicia had told him about her dreams, how they kept repeating themselves, preventing sleep, and how real they were, he had dismissed it as mass hysteria brought on by all the bad news of meteors and earthquakes and volcanoes around the world. The power was still on. Humanity wasn’t being wiped out. And his clan rankings in whatever shooter he was currently playing required him to be online for practice both before and after work.

Kendall had never been bothered by nightmares.

They had been married for three years. Talk about an actual honeymoon or something resembling an actual vacation came up from time to time around the holidays but tapered off anytime Alicia tried to get specific. Kendall said he loved her. He could be affectionate and sweet, but those times were few and far between. He had recently purchased a home theater speaker system for them both, but Alicia could barely stand to be in their living room when he played his games, especially lately. She had requested several times that he use his headphones when she got home from work, as her nerves were often frazzled.

But I need to hear what the enemy is doing, he would say. And I didn’t get this sweet system just to plug in headphones. Besides, there’s no one living next door to us to complain about the noise. Why don’t you go outside with your horse? I’ll just be playing for another hour.

Another hour meant three or more. Even in their bedroom the walls would vibrate. Although he kept his headphones on so he could use the microphone to communicate with his clan, he channeled the audio through the surround sound. No matter where she was in their house, she could hear him shouting into his microphone, cursing both his teammates and his enemies.

But tonight her home was