Superdim 6

The next room was huge, a blunt crescent shape with enormous models of planets. She caught the motion as Hammer's face turned to look at a particularly large one, but he sprinted back towards a dome. She didn't notice which model he'd been looking at.

She was hot on his heels. He took the stairs two at a time and she did the same. He reached the wall and wheeled around. She saw the whites of his eyes widen as she brought the baton up.

He dodged.

It hit the wall with a sickening crack and broke.

Ji-Min started at it uncomprehendingly. She lifted her weapon. Her trusty hitting stick. It had betrayed her.

She kind of wanted to cry.

"Damn," Hammer whistled. He slid away from the hole she'd put in the wall and jumped on one of the chairs. "Have you considered a different approach? We could do something a little more collaborative."

She dropped the broken baton. She looked at him. Ji-Min didn't know what was on his face, but she saw him flinch.

"That's a no," he said to himself. He started running again.

She took a few steps back and grabbed at one of the planets. It wasn't meant to be removable. Concrete cracked under her hands. "Heads up," she said grimly, and then threw it.

Hammer shrieked and hit the floor.

What she now recognized as the Moon sailed over his head and hit a chair with a sickening crunch. It paused for a moment in gravitational indecision before wavering downwards, towards the next row of chairs.

"Whoa!" Hammer leapt up and shot her a conspiratorial grin. Then he ran off after the ball like a goddamn golden retriever. He didn't look at her. He chased after the Moon as it rolled into the center of the dome, cracking against chairs as it thumped downwards. "Fuck- we can use this. That's the moon, right? Moon… Moonshot…" He fisted his hands in his hair, unconsciously mussing it.

Ji-Min gripped one of the viewing chairs and pulled. The bolts holding it to the floor creaked.

He wasn't paying any attention. "That was so cool- this really could be your branding." He snapped his fingers. "Moon something. Moon… hit, moon striker, moon-"

The bolts broke with a satisfying clunk. She hefted it up and threw it at him. She immediately snatched up a strip of metal that had been holding it to the floor and followed up with that.

He had to stop talking to dodge the chair. He didn't manage to dodge the metal pipe to his ribcage.

"Ow." Hammer hit the ground hard. It seemed to take a lot of effort for him to turn his face to look up at her, cheek squished against the concrete. "Good hit," he said. The sentence came out a little garbled. He spat out blood and then frowned at it in confusion. "That mine?"

"Pretty sure," Ji-Min confirmed. She knelt a distance away and reached out to poke his leg. "Did I hit you hard enough?"

"Yes," he said vehemently.

"Hard enough that you won't get up before the cops get here?"

"Impossible," he immediately denied. He coughed up more blood. "Hell. This is- this is gonna take at least an hour to walk off Moonstrike."

She flinched and looked around.

"That's you," he clarified. He laughed a little and gingerly rolled into his side. "Ah, ah, ow," he whined. "Goddamn." He gave her a pitiful look. "You could be a little gentler. I'm a delicate boy."

"Stop doing this shit, and I'll leave you alone." Ji-Min prodded him unsympathetically.

He cringed away. "Stooop," he whined.

"You're fine," she said, fairly sure that he would be. He seemed to be sturdy. Super strength came along with a good constitution and accelerated healing.

"You're gonna kill me," he accused.

"We can't have that."

Her heart dropped to her stomach. She wheeled around to see a scene from a nightmare. She took a few paces away from Hammer, mindful that she had enemies on both sides now.

"Hey, buddy," Hammer greeted.

"Hey there," Gene said amiably. Four wraiths spread out behind him, bleeding concentrated evil into the museum.

Hissing. It took a moment to interpret it as words.

"The car woman?"

The leftmost wraith was looking at her in confusion. He seemed to be wondering what the odds were.

"What." Ji-Min thought she might throw up.

'He recognized me? Is that the driver? Fuck. Of course Gene's driver brought him here. Gene is Hammer's friend? How the hell-'

No. That was obvious. Of course they knew each other from prison.

"Car- a mechanic?" Hammer said. He managed to get his palms on the floor and push himself up.

She was in deep deep shit now. Gene saw her face. He had her personal number. There weren't that many female mechanics out there. They were going to find her.

"Fuck a hell," Gene said conversationally. "I forgot to call the mechanic. Thanks, bud."

…Ji-Min looked at him. She looked at the wraith, who raised a skeletal hand to point directly at her. She looked at Gene again. He was digging around in his pockets and paying no attention to the wraith doxxing her civilian identity.

The relief was overwhelming. Her whole body relaxed.

'Thank god,' she thought with feeling. 'I'm so glad he's not smart.' She could nearly kiss him. She could kiss his beautiful empty cowboy head right now.

Hammer let out a whistle between his teeth. "That's no good, man."

The wraith seemed to sigh. He lowered his hand. She shrugged at him. For a moment, they were commiserating.

"No good," Gene agreed. "I ain't got no phone."

"Use mine, man."

Ji-Min's soul tried to leave her body. The adrenaline spike directly on the heels of the last one was too much

'Is my phone in the car? Did I bring it in here?' Her vision was blurry, tunneling in. 'If it rings, Gene'll be able to dox me to Hammer. I saw him this morning. He'll remember what I look like.'

Hammer reached into his pocket.

She had never been more intent on a phone in her life.

There was only one option.

Hammer tossed the phone. Gene raised his hand to catch it. Ji-Min leapt in between, grabbed the phone out of the hair, and beat it against the wall.

"The fuck?" Gene said.

She banged the phone against the wall against, viciously beating it to death. She let the body fall.

"What is wrong with you?" Gene's voice went high, incredulous. "She's going to think I'm unreliable - it's so inconsiderate to promise to call and then never call!" Genuine anger crept into his voice at the end there.

If she was in a different frame of mind, she'd be frozen in fear. Gene was out of her league. Hammer didn't kill people, but Gene certainly did.

But there was something worse than death: Hammer being able to find her in her normal life. So she tilted her jaw up in defiance and waited for the other shoe to drop.

"I think it's her hobby, man." Hammer didn't seem mad. "She's here because she's honestly kind of a mood killer," Hammer said. He rolled his eyes but it seemed teasing. "Here we are, ready for some classic supervillain shit, and she can't let it be."

Ji-Min stared at him. "Classic supervillain shit," she repeated. "Here." She took a look around, not letting Gene out of her sight. "Here?"  It probably wasn't good for her health to use that skeptical tone, but she was a snarky little shit and would always be.

Gene snorted. "We are at the Planetarium, law lady."

She looked at him. She was waiting for elaboration. He really seemed to think that was enough.

“Planetarium,” Hammer stressed. His tone told her that he thinks she’s an idiot. He waves a finger around his ear to drive the point home. “Planet? And then a noun form that tells us it’s a place associated with the first part of the word.” She can see through his domino mask that he’s rolling his eyes. “Duh.” He cocks his hip, one gloved hand dug into his pocket.

'Why is he even wearing a mask? Everyone knows who he is. I hate him so much I'm going to die.'

“You are so stupid,” Ji-Min sobbed. She gritted her teeth. There’s actual tears in her eyes. She lunged forward to club Hammer on his stupid head. She's already lost, she just wants to hit him again at this point. He dodged, but the hood covering his hair was dislodged.

“Hey!” Hammer protested. He dodged her next swipe too and scrunched up his nose petulantly. “I’m going to steal Jupiter, and there's nothing you can do to stop me, hero!” He bolts down the hallway. “Why are you so obsessed with me, anyway?”

For a moment, she is frozen in horror. That's it? That's his plan? He thinks he can find and steal Jupiter?

Ji-Min screamed. She couldn't help it. The sound echoed through the Adler Planetarium and out into the greater Chicago area. The sound stunned him, sending him crashing against the wall. “I hate you!”

Hammer stumbled on.

She wanted to chase after him. But she had a bigger, more immediate problem. Gene tilted his head at her.

Oh. Oh, fuck.

Ji-Min came back to earth. She swallowed, hard.