The Indestructibles (Book 2): Breakout Read Free Page B

twice, bang-bang, forehead to forehead. The protective layer she installed in her mask took most of the impact, but still it left her dizzy — though not as dizzy as her opponent, whose eyes went bleary and jaws went slack. Kate shoved LaCoste off of her and yanked a zip-tie around his broken hands behind his back.
          She fell to one knee; the room swam around her. Tapping a button on her belt, she turned the music off and the lights back up.
          She almost screamed when she saw the costumed man cuffing one of the gunrunners a few yards away.
          "Missed one," the familiar, gargled-glass voice said.
          In the old days, before he retired, the man was known as the Alley Hawk. One of Doc Silence's old teammates. He was like Kate, a normal human running on determination and planning and luck instead of some sort of superhuman ability. They spoke once in a while, Kate visiting him in his ramshackle hideout on the outskirts of town, but she'd never seen him in costume before. Not in person. Certainly there were photos around the Tower, old news clippings, but up close, he was terrifying — costume both gargoyle-like and avian, a smoky blend of dark grays and gritty browns. His suit was not unlike Kate's own, with protective plates and hidden compartments, a half mask revealing mouth and jawline but hiding his identity. She could see the scars that ran all over his face on his exposed skin. There was something almost birdlike about the shape of his half-mask, a slight hooking downturn that hinted at a beak.
          "You're wearing a cape," she said, taking the protective buds from her ears.
          "You might consider it," Alley Hawk said in his low, rumbling whisper. "They have their uses."
          "Like getting caught on doors."
          "And helping you blend into shadows. And making you look twice the size you really are," he said. She had to admit he did have a point. Out of costume the Alley Hawk wasn't much taller than she was, though he was built like a fire hydrant. In costume he seemed enormous.
          "What are you doing here, Hawk?"
          "Backing you up," he said. He slammed the gunrunner's face against the floor and stood up to his full height. "You have an entire team of super-powered allies and you decided to take these guys down alone?"
          "This is my beat. My collar."
          "Fair enough," Alley Hawk said. "Where's your partner? The walking carpet?"
          Kate sneered. She did it before she even had a chance to think about it.
          "He's busy."
          The Alley Hawk adjusted his cape, shifted his shoulders. He cocked his head, hearing the sirens before Kate did. Police on their way.
          "You call them in?"
          "No. But you could hear your music trap three blocks away."
          "I liked my music trap."
          The Hawk smiled.
          "So did I. Are you going to stay and talk to the cops?"
          "They aren't crazy about me," Kate said.
          "They never liked me either," he said. "Do me a favor, kid."
          "I don't owe you any favors yet."
          "No, you don't," he said. "But listen to me. Let someone watch your back. I did it alone for years."
          "And everyone said you hated working with other heroes."
          "No," the Hawk said, letting out a barking laugh. "I hated taking orders. But it'll drive you mad after a while. "
          Kate nodded. The Alley Hawk pulled a grappling gun from his belt and she did the same. Before he fired, she spoke.
          "What happened to your partner, Hawk?"
          The Alley Hawk looked at the ceiling, never making eye contact as he answered.
          "He went in without me one time too many times," he said. Then his grappling gun coughed and the aging vigilante disappeared through the skylight.
          As the sirens grew closer, Kate escaped as well. And she wondered where her partner was, going it