Page 45 of Lovesick Titan

He was on his knees, clutching at the collar of his suit. The cold field had its uses, but this was effective too. Danny continued to wheeze and cough as he struggled to breathe.

“Do you like the outfit, Zeus?” Mal said, indicating how good he looked for the occasion. “Wore it just for you. See, you’re feeling the heat field right now, but when we go, I’m gonna leavemyamplifier behind so you can spend a little quality time with the cold.”

Reaching out as if to say something, as if to plead with Mal, Danny fell forward, barely able to push up onto his hands and knees, still gasping for breath.

“Let it up, Dom,” Mal said.

Dom didn’t move. Just stood there, glaring at Danny.

“Dom.”

“Tch. Fine.”

Mal could see Dom’s heat field radius through his glasses as easily as he saw his own, so when it dropped, he saw the circle of red dissipate. Danny panted and rolled onto his back as the heat subsided enough for him to finally take in fresh, cooler air again.

Circling him close, Mal knew he only had moments before Danny would be able to lightning jump away. “You’ll be able to crawl out of the cold field eventually,” he said as he crouched at Danny’s feet. “Might take a few hours though, while you’re slowed. And tired. Andfreezing. That trick your suit can do to heat you up, it won’t last, right? And your friends, if they come to rescue you, they won’t be able to get close without suffering through the cold too.

“So I wouldn’t bother!” he yelled since he knew Vaughn and Rivers would be listening. He was bluffing about the length of time; the amplifier would run out of juice once it was disconnected from his powers, lasting only a handful of minutes, but Danny didn’t need to know that. “Zeus will be fine. He just needs a little time to think about his actions. Maybe give those IA officers more of a head start before your team brushes it all under the rug. Or maybe you have Shan in your pocket already. He does let Zeus get away with quite a bit. Maybe he doesn’t care if his people are crooked.”

“Mal…” Danny croaked out but Mal spoke over him.

“Tell me, Zeus. Do you miss me?”

There was a pause before Danny managed a strangled, “Yes.”

Mal didn’t believe him, but his lip curled as he said, “Good. Now here’s what’s gonna happen next…”

“Mal, wait.” Danny sat up, and instantly Mal and Dom infused raised palms with their powers. “Please!” He held his own hands up but didn’t try to move again. “Let me explain. Let me try to—”

“You’ve done enough talkin’,” Dom growled, and by the increased brilliance of her fire, Mal knew she was about to let loose.

“Dom!”

Flames shot forward, scorching the earth where Dannyhadbeen—only now he was gone, leaving only a trail of lightning.

Charging across the burnt grass, Mal grabbed Dom by the collar of her shirt. “Don’ttry that again.”

“Knew he’d run,” Dom shrugged him off. “Just didn’t want you fallin’ for any more of his bullshit.”

“It’s not bullshit!” Danny’s voice called from—damn.Somewhere.

Mal and Dom circled each other with hands ready to fire as they sought out his location.

“The only person I was conning was myself!” Danny shouted. “I thought you were the lie, Mal. Thought everything you showed me and how you acted was just part of your own long game, and in the end you’d prove I was in the right.”

Mal snarled, “Come out and face me then if you’re so righteous!” Because Danny’s words were too close to what Mal was feeling now, and he couldn’t fall for it, couldn’t falter and acquiesce just to get swindledagain.

“Every day we were together, you proved me wrong,” Danny said, “until none of it was an act anymore and I just wanted tokeep you.”

“Shut up!” Mal cried and gestured for Dom to search right, while he went left.

“I wanted to be worthy of you, Mal, and everything you thought you knew about me. I’m not. I’ll never be worthy of that, or you. But it wasn’t all a lie. It was everything I needed based on a lie I toldmyself, but when I started to care about you—”

Catching sight of a blur of white ahead of him, Mal fired a blast of ice into the trees.

“Thatwas real!” Danny yelled, even as Mal saw his lightning trail streak away.

Mal surged forward. He couldn’t see Dom, so he couldn’t risk turning on the cold field without catching her in its path too. As he followed Danny, he lost sight of the clearing and the car quickly, but he knew he was headed the right direction because he saw a burst of orange from Dom’s fire.

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