Page 89 of Lovesick Titan

“Where’s Mal? I still haven’t seen him.”

“Through there, my man,” Andre appeared with Priestly at his side, which Danny would never get used to. He pointed across the room at a set of double doors that led into an old shooting range.

“Went off to try out the new enhancements on his amplifier,” Priestly said. “Wanted to make sure it didn’t feel any different when he uses his powers.”

“Thanks,” Danny said, then slowly rotated in place. “Should I be…doing something? Do you need help?”

“We will,” Andre said, “when we’re ready to move this thing. We’ll have it done today and put you to work getting it ready for transport.”

“Should be able to go after Ludgate tomorrow,” Priestly added.

Tomorrow. Danny shivered at the thought of facing the Elemental so soon, but a tingle of excitement that they were finally close to putting this behind them beat out any nerves.

The carefully controlled chaos continued on without Danny as he moved toward the double doors. It was silly, but he felt more nervous nearingMalthan he did of the looming fight. The familiar sound of blasts of ice greeted Danny as soon as he entered. Various targets, mostly old cardboard cutouts of generic bad guys, were set up on one side of the room.

Danny watched Mal for a while from just inside the doors. The mere sight of him was soothing, like a balm over Danny’s frazzled nerves. All of Mal’s old cuts and bruises were healed now, aside from the thin scar on his arm, though Danny imagined there were more he couldn’t see. He knew Mal was aware of his presence; he was too obviously in the thief’s periphery, and Mal was always keenly aware of his surroundings.

Darting quickly a few feet to the left or right, he would let loose with a blast of ice at a target after only a second to center himself and aim. Most of the time he’d hit the target dead on, but a few shots caught the edges or were lower or higher than Danny thought Mal intended. When he finally paused to take a break, he was only mildly out of breath, but a frown marred his features.

“Still waiting for the new goggles to try out the Miasma Field,” he said without facing Danny, “but the weight feels off on the amplifier now. Affects my aim. I’ll see what Priestly can do.”

Danny walked closer, but still, Mal wouldn’t look at him. “Are you really that mad at me for wanting to join the fight?”

A sigh escaped Mal as he turned to set the amplifier on a table at the back of the room. “I’m not mad. The only anger I have right now is for Ludgate.”

“Then please,” Danny said, coming up behind him as close as he dared while wanting so badly to reach out and touch him, “don’t close yourself off from me. You don’t need to send Helios to watch me like a guard dog. I’d rather haveyou.”

Tension rippled through Mal’s shoulders. Slowly, he faced Danny, and there was that emotion again, so much rawness that Mal didn’t normally let the outside world see.

“Mal,” Danny did reach for him now, he had to, “if you’re scared, you can tell me—”

“Of course I’m scared,” Mal bit out, though he didn’t pull away when Danny took his hand. “We don’t know enough for this mission. Ludgate’s real powers, this vendetta he has against you...”

“Because his Awakening was triggered by the power station explosion, we know that—”

“It’s not enough. Too much could go wrong, no matter his motivations. I never put plans into motion this quickly without knowing exactly what I’m in for. But we don’t havetimefor that.” His eyes cast down at the floor, then clenched tightly closed as he said, “If he gets his hands on you again…”

“Hey…” Danny tugged Mal toward him, lifted his other arm to wind around Mal’s neck, and held him close. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay. He is not going to win.”

Mal freed his hand but only so he could slide his arms around Danny’s waist and rest his head on his shoulder. “Only you, Sparky, could make the impossible feel easy.”

“What’s impossible? Ludgate orthis? Because loving you was so easy, it ambushed me. Pretty typical coming from a thief.”

When Mal pulled back, still holding Danny close, a smile touched his lips that was also sad, haunted the way Danny had been echoing too much lately. Then the smile fell away like blood draining from his face. “I am going to make him pay for what he did to you.”

“No.” Danny unwound the hand from Mal’s neck to cup his cheek. “I don’t want that. Mal, you have to promise me, no matter what happens, unless it’s life or death, you will not kill Ludgate.”

At this, Mal’s face fell to something cold and unreadable, and he released Danny’s waist. “Reality isn’t always painted in heroics. Sometimes people get what they have coming.”

Like Thanatos, Danny supplied, and part of him couldn’t argue with that, but other parts, so many parts, still wished he’d never killed anyone. “I don’t want to be like Thanatos. I don’t want you to be like him either.”

“Danny…”

“If there’s no other way,” Danny followed Mal when he tried to back up, “then there’s no other way. But if I’m supposed to be the hero, then I have to figure out a plan C even when one doesn’t seem possible. Otherwise I’m no better than Thanatos or Ludgate. No better than anyone who takes the easy way out.”

“No better than me, you mean,” Mal said, not with a sneer or show of anger, just a humorless smile.

“You’re not like that,” Danny said.

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