Page 98 of Lovesick Gods

“I take it back, Zeus,” Ludgate’s voice emanated from the suit itself, from every individual reflector. “This is so much better than your normal suit.”

“Ah!” Danny cried out as his arms and legs locked into place, overextended,painful.

His head remained frozen looking downward long enough to see the eyes in the suit blink away to reveal a mosaic of Ludgate’s body asDanny’sbody, and then the eyes were back. Danny’s head snapped upright and he caught the panicked look on Cho’s face.

“No!” Danny called when Cho rushed at the suit with a snarl. But he wasn’t fast enough, not when Ludgate had control of Danny’s body.

A lightning fast crack filled the room as Danny backhanded Cho the second he got close, striking the side of his face so hard, he flew several feet before he landed amidst the carnage of shattered glass. Danny stared in horror, but though his own reaction was to stay still, his body pitched forward of its own accord.

Shaking his head, Cho pushed up on trembling arms. He’d been struck too many times, hurt too many times to react fast enough. He struggled to find his footing in the glass.

“Get up!” Danny cried, but he was already reaching for the thief.

“Here, let me help you,” Ludgate said from out of a thousand tiny mirrors, all linked together like a network of reflections that left Danny as little more than a doll.

The hands that seized Cho from behind and hefted him to his feet were far from gentle. They pulled Cho back against Danny’s body, wrapped tight around his middle, and squeezed with an impossible strength.

“Da—!” Cho choked and gasped as his ribs were crushed.

“Cho!” Danny could feel the tear tracks on his cheeks. “Mal…please. I can’t stop. I can’t stop!”

“Danny…” Cho croaked. “We need…your team.”

“I can’t reach my comms!”

“Where…are they?”

“Right eye, on the side, but I can’t…Ican’t…”

“Da…” The gurgle that came from Cho was awful, the feeling of his ribs bowing inward, so fragile within Danny’s grasp, just like when he’d almost broken that man’s arms. Cho couldn’t focus enough to use his powers. He couldn’t breathe, and in a moment, his ribs would snap.

Danny was killing him—killing himand he couldn’t stop.

With a slowly building howl, Danny wrenched his arms apart, feeling like he was breaking them in the process. Cho heaved in breaths and nearly fell to his knees, but before he stumbled, he flailed an arm back and gripped the edge of Danny’s shoulder. Using Danny for leverage, he pulled himself around and slapped his hand against the eye of Danny’s mask.

“Andre!” Danny screamed, praying his friend was still there.

The longest fifteen seconds of Danny’s life passed as Cho collapsed to his knees still sucking in air and Danny fought against Ludgate’s control over the suit.

“Dude,ow,” Andre came over the line. “I think you blasted out my eardrums—”

“The suit! Ludgate’s controlling the suit!”

“Wait,what?”

Danny had seconds to explain to Andre and no idea what to ask for, what could possibly be done to stop him from hurting Cho further. He felt his control over the suit slipping as he reached for Cho again.

“You’re strong, Zeus, but not as strong as me, inmyworld.”

“Who the hell is that?!” Andre shouted.

“The reflectors! He’s in the mirrors! Ludgate, please…” Danny begged, his hands shaking as he tried to hold back from reaching Cho, who didn’t have the strength left to get away. “Please don’t make me hurt him…”

“Shit,shit,” Andre chanted over the comms. “Lynn!”

“Already told you, Zeus,” Ludgate said, unified into a single resonant voice. “It’sHades.”

Danny’s fingers closed around Cho’s throat.

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