Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

“You must see you’re massively outnumbered! And that we have lots of really big guns. There’s no way you could hope to survive massed firepower like this. So . . . please surrender, and let us take you to see Mr. Hyde in his office. Who knows? Maybe he just wants to talk to you.”

“Does that even sound likely?” said Daniel.

“Not really, no,” said Nathan. “But it has to beat dying here in a hail of bullets. Please come along . . . and then we can all go home and hide under our beds till this is over.”

“Oh sure,” said Tina. “Because this is all about you.” She turned to Daniel. “I get it now. Edward wants our bodies as undamaged as possible, so he can use them to make more Elixir.”

“And I’m pretty sure he can’t do that while we’re still alive,” said Daniel. “So the most likely scenario is . . . we’ll be ushered into his office, where Edward will be all smiles and apologies, and say there’s been a terrible misunderstanding; and would we care for a nice drugged drink? Once we’re under the influence he can just carve us up, and squeeze what’s left of the Elixir out of our systems.”

“That does sound like Edward,” said Tina.

“Couldn’t you cooperate just a little?” Nathan said desperately.

Daniel looked at Tina. “Do you feel like cooperating? It might get us to Edward’s office a bit quicker.”

“Really not in my nature,” said Tina.

“Or mine,” said Daniel.

Tina stretched slowly, in an anticipatory sort of way, and the whole crowd flinched.

“I think it’s time we got to work,” said Tina. “Beating up a whole crowd of gunmen isn’t going to happen on its own.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” said Daniel. “Tallest pile of bodies wins?”

“Now you’re talking,” said Tina.

They threw themselves at the massed gunmen, and before any of them could react the two Hydes were in and among them, moving too quickly for anyone to draw a bead. They punched people out, kicked their feet out from under them and trampled them underfoot, or just picked them up and threw them at the nearest wall. And laughed out loud while they did it.

At first, the gunmen hesitated to open fire for fear of hitting one of their own, but as more and more of them crashed bleeding or unconscious to the floor, it was inevitable that someone would panic. A man Daniel and Tina hadn’t even got close to suddenly started screaming and opened fire with his machine pistol, shooting through everyone else to get to the Hydes. And once he started, everyone else joined in.

The noise of so many guns firing at once was deafening. Some people were blown off their feet, while others dropped their guns and threw themselves to the floor, praying for it all to be over. Heads disintegrated, and flesh exploded in bloody clouds. People were screaming everywhere, but no one could hear them for all the gunfire. Daniel and Tina darted back and forth, slapping guns out of hands and punching out those who tried to hang on to them, but as more and more people were cut down there was less and less cover. Daniel suddenly found himself facing a man with an automatic weapon, and nowhere left to go. Daniel hesitated, and the gunman opened fire at point-blank range.

The gun seemed to keep on firing forever. Bullet after bullet slammed into Daniel, but though his body rocked from the impacts, he stood his ground and stared defiantly back at the gunman. His body soaked up the bullets, and stopped them before they could penetrate far enough to do any real damage. It hurt like hell, but Daniel had known worse.

Everyone else stopped what they were doing, so they could stand and watch. Eventually the weapon ran out of ammunition, and a sudden hush fell across the lobby. The man slowly lowered his gun and stared, wide eyed, as one by one the bullets slowly emerged from Daniel’s body and fell in a soft metal rain to the floor. Daniel looked down at his wounds, to reassure himself they were already healing—and then looked up again to stare coldly at the man with the empty gun.

The gunman threw his weapon away and sprinted for the exit. In a moment the rest of the crowd had thrown away their weapons and were hot on his heels, fighting one another as they struggled to force their way through the only door. It wasn’t long before the lobby was empty, apart from all the bodies lying scattered across the floor. Most were dead or unconscious, and the rest had enough sense to pretend to be. Tina moved over to stand before Daniel and ran her fingers gently over his healed wounds.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” she said quietly.

“Neither did I,” said Daniel. “But if I can do it, so can you.”

Tina grinned. “Good to know.”

“Edward made us better than he knew,” said Daniel. “Let’s go talk to the man and show him how appreciative we are.”

“Can’t wait,” said Tina.