Lula

"Are you watching this?" Lula asked.

"Watching what, sweetheart?" A tiny holo of Vince was projecting out of the table beside Lula's couch and his voice was filling the room. "They're all talking about you, every local network at least. A couple of the national ones are starting to pick up the story too."
Lula groaned. Her television had been sweeping from channel to channel for days, nearly every one of them was covering her and her charity work for Capital City in the wake of the inferno.

"What are we gonna do about this?"

"Listen, Lu, we don't gotta do anything about this! This is the best press you could hope for."

"I know, it just makes me uncomfortable."

"What? Is it the money? You worried about matching those donations?"

"No, it's not that, you know it's not that."

"You're still all worked up about Lee, huh?"

Lula didn't say anything. Her TV landed on channel 6 and she saw a familiar face. Yara Garlan, who had pushed for more personal details during her last press conference. "Attempts to contact Capital City Police regarding Mr. Bardello's whereabouts have so far gone unanswered--"

"I see Miss Garlan is still running with stories about Lee."

"So let her, what's it to you? Unless, like I said, you're still worked up. You can tell me, you know."

Just as she felt the crushing pressure of fear and anxiety hovering over her head, she heard a happy meow from her feet. She smiled down at Lucky, still hobbling in the cast the vet made for him. She bent over and scooped him up so he could lick her cheek.
"You really gonna keep that filthy thing?"

"Of course. I saved his life. How could I just let him go after that?" She scratched Lucky's chin but there was something different about the cat. He wasn't purring. "What's wrong, little guy?"

"Oh God, don't talk to it."

"Why not? He understands me better than most human men." She thought she was starting to feel the cat revving up his happy purr but it was different. "I think something's wrong with him."
Lucky was growling now. He pulled back his lips and hissed just as Lula heard a crash from the kitchen.

"What was that?"

"I don't know." Lula stood with Lucky in her arms. The cat was pressing against her and shaking. There was a second crash and Lula fought back a scream. "I'm calling the cops."

"No!" Lula was relieved to see her personal bodyguard come out of the kitchen. "It's just Jing. Are you okay? What was that crash?"

Jing looked at Lula and she could see he was sweating. He took a shaky step forward and it looked like the movement hurt him. "Jing? Are you okay?"

The huge man stepped forward again and fell to the floor. Lula wanted to run to him but something held her back.

"What's he doin? I can't see, is everything okay? Lu?"

Jing turned his face toward Lula. His arms moved like a rusted machine as he lifted himself up. As he got to all fours his face twisted and he struggled to speak. "R-r-r--"

Lucky hissed again and Lula held him tighter. "What? Jing, what are you saying?"

Jing was on his feet again. He looked like he was mustering every ounce of strength he had, like someone was controlling him but he wanted to fight it. Lula was suddenly overcome with a vision from her past that she had tried to forget. The night Lee attacked her, the way he filled her veins with pain, the way he forced her to submit as he stabbed her and danced in her blood.
"Vince, I think... I think it's Lee!"

Jing's eyes grew wide and he screamed "RUN!"

Lula turned and ran with Lucky in her arms. Jing crashed after her, slamming against the furniture and the wall. He leapt at her and she managed to dodge his strong hands. He rolled across the floor and she took advantage of his distraction. She got to the door and exited out onto the deck overlooking the lake but instantly she regretted it. High in the air, silhouetted by the full moon and suspended on a pillar of spinning water, Lee was staring down at her.

"Hello, Lu."

Lucky hissed and jumped from Lula's arms, running off into the dark. She was alone, staring up at the man who tried to kill her. "What are you doing? How are you doing this?"

Lee smiled as Jing came up behind Lula and wrapped his strong arms around her. "I'm... I'm sorry." He struggled to say it and Lula knew why. Lee could control people somehow, she knew she had felt it before but she couldn't tell anyone about it. It was a crazy thing to say, she couldn't imagine anybody taking her seriously but now here he was proving her right by taking over the only guard she trusted to have in her home.

"It's not your fault, Jing, it's his."

"Isn't it beautiful? I'm amazing, Lu, can't you see that? I'm a god, I have to be!"

"You're crazy! You're a psycho, that's all you are!"

Lee's pillar of water lowered him down onto the deck and he let the lake fill back up. He stepped towards Lula and she watched as a gush of water shot out from behind him and formed a sharp, curved blade of ice in his hand. "Call it what you want, Lu, doesn't change the fact that I'm in control here. I have the power. You're mine again and I get to finish what I started."

He moved forward and pressed the cold blade against Lula's chest. She held back a scream as he drew a line of red across her pristine skin. Her blood seeped from the wound and clung to the icy blade. Lee laughed as the red drops lifted into the air and danced around him. "It's so beautiful, isn't it? I'm doing this, all of this!"

Lula didn't say anything. Everything inside her wanted to insult him but she held back. "It is kind of..." She swallowed her pride for the sake of her life and said, "divine."

Lee's fanatical smile changed. He seemed pleased to be acknowledged for the exceptional beast that he was. "It is, isn't it? Divine... I am divine."

"You were right, you know? You must be some sort of god."

"I am!" Lee screamed it and his voiced echoed over the still lake behind him. "A GOD!" He raised the icy blade high into the air and slashed it down across Lula's chest again. This time she let herself scream as her blood spiraled around Lee and he danced in it.

"Hardly." It was a woman's voice. Lula turned her head as best she could in Jing's grip and she saw a woman with unkempt black hair. "Just another lunatic." The woman flexed her hands and blue flames erupted over her fingers. She pushed forward and channeled the flames towards Lee's chest but he conjured a jet of water that blocked the attack.

"Who are you?" Lee's eyes were hungry now. "Another god, like me?"

"I like the sound of that." The woman lashed out with another lash of blue flames and this time Lee was too slow to block it. It hit him in the chest and he flew backwards, his clothing singed and smoking. Lee quickly climbed back to his feet and summoned three huge icy stalactites from the lake. One of them launched towards the fiery woman but she melted it before it got too close. The second projectile came closer but her blue flames blasted it from the air. The final frosted missile escaped the woman's power and she was forced to jump aside. It sliced into her arm before she could roll away and she screamed. As she hit the ground she roared and a ball of blue flames fired from her mouth. It slammed into Lee and he laughed.

"Why are we fighting each other?" Lee asked. He swung his arms around and the woman became trapped in a block of ice. "Together we could rule the world! We're special, don't you see?"

There was a yowl from the darkness and Lucky came sailing down towards Lee's hand. The cat latched onto him with all three healthy limbs and cut deep into his flesh. As Lee's concentration was broken so was the woman's icy prison and she rushed forward. She jammed a needle into Lee's neck and the man fell to his knees.

"We're... gods," he said as Lucky launched off of him and ran inside the house.

As Lee lost consciousness, Jing let go of Lula. She turned to Jing and saw that he was crying. "I didn't want to," he said, "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." Lula smiled at Jing and touched his face. Her touch seemed to calm him.

"The subject is subdued," The mysterious woman said into her fist. "And ready for transport."

Lula watched the woman as she inspected Lee. "Thank you," she said, "You saved my life."

"I was following orders."

"I'm Lula, by the way."

"I know who you are."

"And you are?"

"Just a soldier, for now."

Lula heard a hovercopter approaching. She lifted her head and saw it come to a stop over her lake house. It slowly came as close the the ground as it could and then a rope ladder was thrown down. A woman in a white lab coat climbed down towards them and smiled at Lee. "Thank, you Nari," she said to the woman who had saved Lula. "I knew you were the only one who could help."

"The only one?"

"The only one. Now, we need to get him back home."

"Back home?" Lula approached the new woman, the one who seemed to be in charge. "Where is home? Who are you?"

The woman smiled and held out a hand for Lula. "My name is Doctor Mariella Whynn. I was trying to help this man but he escaped from my facility."

"What facility? Half the country is looking for him and you've had him in secret this whole time?"

"Miss Lavender, I'm sorry but I can't tell you these things."

"Why not? I'm Lee's girlfriend! I'm the hero of Capital City! I'm the woman he tried to kill, twice, for God's sake!"

"The hero..." Whynn smiled. "You know what, you're right. The people love you."

"Damn right they do."

"Fine, if you'd like to know more about my operation, take my card." She produced a business card from an inside pocket and gave it to Lula.
Dr. Mariella Whynn, it said, and underneath that, Toro Corporate Medical Facilities.

"You work for ToCo?"

"Sweetie," Whynn smiled. Lula noticed that the woman named Nari was securing Lee's body to the end of the rope ladder with a series of straps and buckles. "We all work for ToCo, whether we realize it or not." Both women climbed onto the ladder and it started retracting back into the helicopter. "Come find me when you're ready to talk about what's happening. I wouldn't tell the public about this, though."

"Why not?"

Whynn smiled. "Just trust me when I tell you that I know what's best here. Come to my office, I'll explain everything."

With that she climbed back into the hovercopter and she and Nari pulled Lee inside. She waved down to Lula and Lula waved back. She wasn't sure why, but something told her she would go to Whynn's office for an explanation, and she wouldn't tell anybody about it.