CONTAINS CONTENT:
Action violence, mild gore, mild language.
{{Unedited}}
Austin leaned back; his eyes narrowing with anger. Lifting a hand, he twirled his fingers, creating an icicle. “We’re chasin’ a damn ghost,” he growled, chucking the ice knife, it soared through Cory’s image, breaking it apart.
Austin braked, skidding the bike, and swerved, taking a shortcut to A site.
“Is everyone alright?” Marielle asked into the earpiece.
“We’re holding on… But, not well,” Jamie replied.
Then another distant explosion.
Austin and Marielle actually heard and felt this one, and gave one another a quick glance of concern. “Guys…” Han said gravely in their ears. “Get here quickly.”
“We’re coming, Han,” Austin replied, his heart racing, although he could feel Marielle’s pounding between his shoulder blades as well.
***
Panting, Han fell against the wall at the top of the stairs she’d just darted up. Looking around, she noted the ruin that she stood in now as the building had been blown to pieces on one side. Was she alone? She had no idea. Had Cory followed her? She didn’t know; but heard no following footsteps as the dust settled.
She clasped a hand over her throbbing heart. Where was anyone else?
As she rested a moment, she reminded herself that it was important to stop or she wouldn’t have the energy to produce or throw her knives. After the fight that had taken place on lower levels, and the explosion that she’d just barely made it out of, she was spent.
Leaning over her knees for a moment, she forced her breathing to calm. Jamie had been with her at the bottom of the stairs, oh God, where was he now?
She slid down the wall, keeping her eyes peeled for any movement on the partial floor that she was now sitting on.
Before she’d darted up the stairs, she’d killed one of the black riders with her knives as she stood on the bottom tier of the stairway. He’d followed her, and she’d floated, drawn her blades, and chucked them all, smacking him with a thunk with most until he dropped.
Jamie had turned, just a few feet from her, put himself behind a wall, and fired several bullets from his pistol…at who or what? She had no idea; she had to run. If she didn’t get somewhere safe and clear, she’d have no energy.
A massive wave of heat danced over her fair skin, and moments later Jamie burst through the stairwell door as well, fell to his knees and embraced her, holding her against him. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he whispered, “I got a firewall up.” He glanced around, “Where is everyone?”
Han gasped into his chest. Jamie shook his head. “Did-Did you see Cory?”
“Yeah, he’s back there, somewhere. Wall’s blocking him.” It’d keep people away for about a minute. That wasn’t enough time for much of anything, but it was all that they had.
Jamie glanced around the area. They were on the third floor of what used to be an elementary school; there was a poster on the wall of something to do with letters and a smashed glass case that obviously once held trophies and awards, Italian words were fading.
About thirty feet ahead of them, the building dropped abruptly, and the floor was sloped down like a ramp toward the ground floor; metal beams and bars were exposed at the seam.
Next to that, however, was a swift drop; at least thirty feet straight down.
Jamie knew that he was running out of time on the firewall he’d set downstairs, and after placing a run it back point down just in case, he stood, and slowly made his way to the edge to look down.
Peering over, he noted commotion to the right.
That’s when he heard Austin’s voice come in- “Nightwatch heading to site A, he has the spike. I repeat, he has the spike. We’re following him, but be ready. I don’t know what tricks he has up his sleeve.”
Liam’s reply, “Uh…copy that… but there must be some kind of mistake.” Jamie heard Liam cry, “Molly!” and saw a grenade go arcing through the air like a football on fire. Then he saw the explosion that saw at least one body fly from it. It was certainly not Cory’s or anyone on their teams. “Cory’s already here…” Liam finished.
Jamie looked back at Han, and she raised a hand as if to say, ‘I’m fine. Feeling better.’ He nodded, but saw movement in the stairway over her left shoulder that drew his attention.
When his eyes widened, Han’s did reflexively in response and she turned to look into the hall, on her feet like lightning and ready for a fight.
Her eyes fixated on Cory’s figure in the hall as he came up the steps.
Neither of them saw the figure creeping up the fallen floor ramp, to Jamie, and before either of them could do anything, Cory had grabbed Jamie around the front of the throat, and leaned in.
His teeth elongated and pierced Jamie’s dark skin, drawing blood as he drank.
Jamie’s widened eyes went black, all the way through.
When Cory pulled back, wiping Jamie’s blood from his lips with his wrist, he stayed near his right ear and whispered something.
This was when Han turned to see what was happening- too late.
Jamie turned, and went to the edge of the drop, and walked off, falling to his death.
Han screamed, reaching after him as she heard the crunch of bones and the thud of a weighted body.
Cory grinned at her with dripping red teeth, and slowly began towards her. Shaking, and not registering the hot tears on her own cheeks, she said into the earpiece, “Guys… get here quickly.”
She didn’t even hear Ausitn’s reply as she realized that she had enough energy to lift off the ground and hover in the air, throwing a swirling cloud of white and gray at Cory’s feet. It separated the two of them, obstructing his view of her, but she was already losing energy and the gray dome began to die out rapidly.
The worst wasn’t over as Han looked to where Jamie had fallen only to see someone floating above the ground… herself, a twinkling golden shimmer encasing her body making her double look like she was a floating, sinister angel.
Han’s eyes widened in awe, as she pressed herself against the wall. Two things passed in her mind at that moment. The first was that she was beautiful, and she was only now realizing this about herself, followed by how odd the feeling of coming face to face with yourself was- but this wasn’t time for that. The second was that if she could fight her, she was going to clip Jett’s wings.
Cory momentarily sucked his teeth as he looked over his right shoulder at the twin, smiled, and turned back to Han, “Go ahead…have some fun,” Cory jeered, giving her a large grin before essentially vanishing down the stairs.
The other her smiled menacingly and gracefully landed on the ground before drawing all of her knives. They danced and swirled around her lovely form as she approached Han, who, to her disappointment, was utterly spent.
Trying desperately to stay in the air wasn’t working, she wavered, and crashed down, slowly backing up; if she could get to the stairway, maybe she could run to the next floor for cover.
Jett continued her slow approach and the knives started to come soaring through the air at Han.
She raised both arms in a cross over her face, and continued back. One of the gleaming blades struck its mark, planting itself deeply into her arm and Han cried out. Where was her gun? She remembered dropping it somewhere between the bottom of the stairs and the top when the explosion had occurred. With any luck, Cory had it now, and she was inching right towards him.
Blood spilled down her arm in rivulets, and Jett shook her head at her tauntingly. “You’re not better than me,” she chuckled cruelly.
This was when, to Han’s relief and surprise, Jamie appeared in a fiery blaze between them, wrapped in brilliant gold and orange. As the fire around him died, he flicked his coat collar, whirled to the other stunned Han, raised his pistol and fired three shots straight into her chest.
The doppelganger fell to the floor, eyes fixed, dead.
Once again, Jamie ran to Han and threw his arms around her. She rested against him for a moment, wiping her tears against his chest. “Oh, I was so scared for a moment.”
“Thought I’d actually died, huh?”
“If you actually die, I want your jacket,” Han replied, sniffling and clutching her fingers around the knife.
“Ah don’t be like that, you know you’d also want my shoes,” Jamie chuckled. She looked up at him and he playfully pushed her hair down into her face, and ruffled it with his fingers. She smiled, then grimaced.
Jamie glanced down at the situation. “Hold up a sec, lemme find something.” He kicked through the rubble until he found a short piece of rebar. He wiped it, then heated the end until it was cherry red. Han gulped, biting her jacket’s hood. “Trust me love, this works a treat until we can get to Wei Ling.” She eyed the glowing red for a moment with wide, terrified eyes. Then nodded her agreement. “On three, pull the knife.” Han bit harder, and squeezed her eyes shut. Then “one, two, three!” She jerked the blade out, and Jamie quickly applied the brand, making a sickening sizzling.
Tears squeezed out of Han’s eyes, and the sickly-sweet smell of flesh tickled both of their nostrils.
After a few seconds, Han caught her breath, wiped the blade on her pants, and tucked it into her belt. “They’re nice shoes,” she stated.
He grinned, and the two stood quickly and darted to the stairs. Somewhere during the middle of the second-floor landing, Han remembered again that she’d dropped her gun, and glanced around their feet for it.
It was gone. Dammit. An explosion rocked the building, raining old dust, and she reflexively pressed herself against the wall for a moment.
Jamie, mid stairs below her, glanced back and motioned for Han to come.
The moment that their feet hit the ground outside the building, something blue and round rolled past both of them and stuck against the wall, glowing brightly.
They exchanged looks, and both reacted, turning and pulling their pistols, training them on the spot that they knew that Kiritani would appear.
At that moment, gunfire rang out close behind them, and they whirled to see a black rider in the building that they’d just exited, shooting at them both from the third floor drop they’d just come from.
Jamie could no longer use his run it back ability to revive himself; at least not until he was rested enough. So, when the two of them split ways to avoid being shot, with Han dashing left and Jamie dodging right, they realized that they’d had no time to talk about this, or what it might mean.
That was when the helmeted rider threw something at them like a knife. Han dodged again, feeling the pull of exhaustion, and looked back at what had smacked into the ground… ice.
Jamie and Han traded glances, “Austin…” They said simultaneously.
She spoke into her earpiece, “Tundra’s here!” She sighed, realizing that she was spent of energy and wouldn’t be flying again for a while, or else she’d consider going up and trying to sling knives at him while he chucked icicles.
Austin and Marielle were just pulling up to the back of the scene and both whirled off, drawing their guns. Austin discarded the bike all in one elegant movement. They exchanged looks.
-Stay with me.
-I’m planning on it. She replied. And both ran into the scene, Austin taking down a black rider who popped around some rubble on the second story of a building with his pistol.
Site A was a mess; a conglomeration of rubble, white powdery dust all over the ground and in the streets, debris left and right, concrete blocks half blown to bits, and about ten to fifteen buildings in varying stages of collapse. Exposed metal bars and broken, twisted support beams were sticking out in random places, making this space difficult to manage safely.
Marielle spotted Sasha on his knees, firing an arrow towards someone that looked like a Mateo double? Gekko? The young man was ducked behind some fallen debris from the building he was leaning against. With relief, Marielle realized that Wei Ling was with Sasha.
She confirmed the enemy’s identity the moment that a small blue creature went into the air and floated, staring down at them, then she spit blue goo at both, blinding their vision for a moment. Luckily for both, Austin fired several shots to keep Gekko back as they wiped the sludge from their faces with hands and sleeves.
Dizzy was frozen, floating in the air as she stared down at them with giant eyes, and neither Sasha nor Marielle had the heart to kill her.
Both knew however, that now they had to move; their exact location had been given away.
As if this wasn’t enough, Gekko sent Thrash out, and that’s when Marielle knew that things were truly about to get ugly. Thrash was one of Gekko’s animals, and he had the ability to freeze everyone for a moment.
Still partially blind, Sasha grabbed Wei Ling’s arm and pushed her away from Thrash. Thrash hit Sasha, freezing him in place. He stumbled back a little, moving like his entire body was inside Jell-O.
Vision clearing, Wei Ling raised her crossed hands and made a motion that lifted a wall blocking off Gekko’s path and trapping him in a corner. “Hey!” He cried; they heard him start to chip at it with a knife. “Man!” He continued to work away at it.
Sasha was getting movement back, and he wiped his face one last time and grabbed Marielle’s hand and yanked her away from the area, and around the back of the blocks that they’d been using as a blockade. Austin was right behind the two of them, pistol trained on the area that Gekko was trapped behind. Then he aimed up, looking for more.
Marielle looked up to Sasha, “Owl drone?” she asked.
He briefly lowered his bow to talk to her, “Shot down,” he replied quickly, throwing a glance at the broken machine on the ground.
“Do any of us know where Cory is?” Marielle asked into her earpiece.
“He’s here,” Liam said.
“We had some fun with his sister a few minutes ago. My guess is that she’s on her way to you all right now,” Vincent’s voice chimed in.
Marielle sighed, and blew a few wisps of hair from her face. “Where are the others?” she asked, pointing her weapon at the space that she knew Gekko’s head would show if he actually managed to break through the wall. Austin was on her right, doing the same, but flagging the area, as well.
“Well, Liam and Tata-” Sasha used Tayane’s nickname, “are further back in,” he gestured over his left shoulder with his thumb, but none of the rest of him moved. All of them heard a canned sounding cry of “Molly!” as Liam chucked a grenade, shortly followed by an explosion. Sasha pulled his lips together tightly, as he loaded another arrow. “Jamie and Han are over there,” he pointed right, and Marielle followed his finger and spotted both of them.
Jamie’s fists were up and he was now engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Kiritani? The yellow glow internally made her call him his agent name – Yoru – to keep her sanity. Sasha began to speak again as Austin shifted positions, toward her back, “and…” an ice shard suddenly came whizzing through the air, and struck Marielle sharply in the upper arm. She yelped and fell back against the ground, taking complete cover.
Austin fell at her side, eyes wide as he looked the wound over, “let me see…” Wincing, she let him pull out the inch of bloody icicle, “Need healing.” He looked down at the shard, and as Wei Ling stepped over the realization hit him. “It’s me,” he whispered, looking up at the helmeted black clad figure staring down at them from the third floor. “I think he meant to hit me.”
“He did,” Vincent said into the ear piece. Everyone had nearly forgotten that the others were on their way at this point. “We’re here,” he added, “stay away from him.”
To everyone’s surprise, Tundra leapt down to the second floor, landing on the ramp, and then dropped the rest of the way, bending only slightly at the knees and standing straight and tall.
“Not gonna be an option,” Austin said to Vincent, keeping eye contact with his double; or what he assumed was eye contact through the black helmet. “He’s coming towards us.” Then he spoke to himself, “okay, we’re doing this,” Austin said with a sigh. He looked Marielle over, “Are you going to be okay?” She nodded, giving him a small, forced smile.
Austin took in a deep breath and stood, slowly turning to himself and stared for a moment before he swaggered forward. His mirror image did the same. The walk instantly gave him away.
“I’m guessing introductions are pointless,” Austin quipped.
There was a pause, then Tundra lifted his gloved left hand, flicked the helmet shield up to briefly reveal ever familiar eyes; albeit smudged with black eyeliner, then slapping the shield down again before he slowly lifted the pistol in his other hand.
An explosion that actually rocked the area caused Tundra to slowly turn his head towards it. Austin remained trained on him, and he dragged his gaze back to Austin, unmoving.
“Guys, Liam is down!” Tayane cried into the earpiece.
“I’m not dead! Don’t make it sound like I’m dead, I’m just out for a moment,” Liam growled. “Took a good one to the leg.”
“Where’s Wei Ling?” Tayane asked.
“I’m coming!” Her voice broke in and she was already breaking away.
This was when the rest of the party screeched up, putting a barrier between Tundra and Austin with the other SUV. They all piled out so quickly that they were practically on top of each other, and Vincent stared Tundra down.
“Austin, get her out of here,” Vincent said into the earpiece, jerking his head to the right, as if telling him where to go. Chamber threw down his teleporter to the left and out of sight. “Fight me,” Vincent growled, stepping toward Tundra and pounding his chest once with his fist. Chamber backed him up, as well as John, Sabine. Vincent waved Kirra off to go hide. She understood.
Kirra couldn’t heal herself, and being the only healer on this side of the fight meant that sometimes she had to stay out of direct combat in order to do her job. She left the party, and ducked behind the stairs in a nearby building that’s third wall was nothing more than dust. She kept a close watch with her pistol in case she needed help someone.
Tundra looked like he took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly by the rise and fall of his chest, his gaze followed Austin as he dragged Marielle away until they both vanished; despite the mask, his rage was evident. “Okay…” he said under the helmet. “We’re doing this again.”
“I’m the one that you want, right?” Vincent hissed, pounding his chest.
Tundra removed his gloves, putting them into his left pocket, then his helmet, and everyone got their first real look at him… a darkened, brooding version of the man they knew, thinner, dark black make up around his eyes that was running along with the sweat. His cheeks were deeper, but his gaze was more sinister- evil… A grin that would make the devil proud spread across his handsome face, “You have no idea,” he seethed through his wolfish smile.
What happened next was utter chaos.
John teleported behind Tundra, Tundra anticipated this, and threw a kick, knocking John briefly on his back.
Sabine shot a poison orb, and Tundra flipped over it, meeting John’s punch with another kick when he landed, and giving his heel to Sabine, knocking her back as well while the glowing green dome obscured the other’s view of him; Sabine was momentarily down with a groan.
The gas dissipated, and Chamber tried to shoot him with headhunter, and Tundra dodged the bullet whirling one way, then dodged Vincent’s going the other.
Then, as both Vincent and Chamber approached, Tundra whirled in toward both of them, thrust a hand out, grabbing Headhunter away from Chamber and grabbed Vincent’s as well, icing his to a point that Vincent couldn’t hold on.
Vincent dropped it from the extreme temperature; he wouldn’t be able to draw it back into himself anytime soon, so he pulled his teleporter card, tapped it, and slung it to his left and out of sight as a backup plan while Tundra was whirling and giving his heel to John’s middle, knocking him back again. John sat up, and threw some of his purple dust at Tundra, momentarily disorienting him. “Fear me… paranoia!” He hissed. Tundra crossed his wrists over his face to block this. All it did was pass over him; it wasn’t enough. When it cleared, John was helping Sabine up.
Chamber was retrieving his own golden gun; because he and Vincent were the same person, however, he accidentally sucked up the other one as well, and the cold shock caused him to go to his knees in agony as he shot it back out. As Austin spun Sabine into a headlock, with his arm around the front of her neck, he grabbed Chamber’s frozen arm by the wrist, yanking it outward, and in a fluid movement, he brought his right leg up, then slammed his heel down, breaking it.
Chamber wailed, and crumpled for a moment before pulling his trademark and placing it; hoping it would slow the situation.
Tundra spun, drew, and shot the camera with his other hand, destroying any possibility while still keeping Sabine as a human shield. John attempted to go for her, but Tundra put his pistol to her head. He raised his hands and backed off for a moment to think. All of this was happening too fast.
Chamber snapped, teleporting and resting his back against the wall he’d set the teleporter anchor down in front of. He heaved and winced as pain shot through his right arm.
Sabine sunk her teeth into Tundra’s arm, but was shocked to find that not only did he not react, but drawing blood meant nothing to him. He wasn’t letting her go, and he was dragging her with him with every movement and whirl. She lifted her heel and smashed it against his shin, no luck. While being jerked this way and that, she desperately tried to drop a poison orb, but kept failing as she was puppeted by the mad man strangling her.
“How is he doing this?” Sabine growled.
“He’s fought all of us before,” Vincent replied, as he pulled Tour De Force from his arm and tried to aim it, and to his terror, found that Tundra grabbed the end of the gun; his eyes blazing blue. The gun began to crackle as it froze, and Tundra dared him to let it go with a wild look in his eyes; for a moment they were the only two people in the world, eyes locked on one another; Tundra’s in hatred, Vincent’s in fear; he was going to have to drop the rifle. He tried to fire it, but it was malfunctioning due to the ice, and the freezing temperatures were slowly creeping up his arms. Vincent let it go, and it dropped to the ground.
Tundra jerked to the left and used his hand to spray frost over John, disorienting him as it froze much of the dust that continually circled over his body. He was momentarily out of the fight.
“I could have stayed and fought,” Austin said in the earpiece, as he, Sasha, and Marielle went to help with Liam and Tayane.
“You don’t understand, Austin. It’s a distraction.” Vincent tried to throw a punch; Tundra ducked it. “He doesn’t want to fight. He only wants Masin.”
“Really?” Austin asked, flicking a glance to Marielle, then away as they ran.
“Yup.”
For a moment, Austin felt something that he didn’t like as they weaved between a warehouse and another building whose moniker before destruction was unrecognizable… empathy. He pushed it out of his head as they both followed the pack.
Jamie had Yoru around the neck and Han pulled Jett’s knife from her belt and stabbed Yoru through the heart.
Yoru fell to the ground, dead, and both nodded at one another, realizing that they had to find cover and rest for a moment if they wanted to be any real help. Neither of them had any ability strength anymore.
They both glanced at the fray taking place a hundred feet away… Tundra was keeping them all busy.
Jamie took her hand, “You heard him, it’s a distraction. Let them fight, and let’s get to a vantage point where we can shoot if need be.” She nodded and followed.
Marielle, Sasha and Austin rushed into the area that Liam and Tayane were watching from behind a stack of sandbags, obviously left there from the war.
A quick survey of the space showed Marielle that they were at the steps of what looked to be a bank or courthouse; it was difficult to tell after the destruction. Across the way was an office structure, and there was a courtyard just to the left and nestled in between it and the adjacent building.
Scanning around, both Marielle and Austin noted black riders, and probably doppelgangers, hiding beside blown out windows and around every bend. The entire area was littered with them.
Wei Ling was crouched next to Liam, and she healed him as he sat back down, sweaty and spent from firing into the building across the way. “They’re trying to plant,” he explained gesturing to the courtyard on the left side of the building and over his left shoulder.
“Let’s rush in,” Tayane suggested, pumping her arms.
“Oh, be careful, love,” Klara’s voice came in from back at the rental.
“We could,” Marielle agreed, looking to Austin. Austin nodded, drumming his bottom lip with his fingers for a moment as if try to think of a plan.
“Cory’s over there,” Liam explained, gesturing with his head towards the courtyard. “I saw him a moment ago, but I lost visual.” Liam spoke into his earpiece to everyone, “Keep a lookout for Cory.”
“Liam,” a voice with a British accent came in, “Cory already spent his ultimate on me, he won’t be able to use it for a while. So, none of you guys have to worry about that Sleep Walking thing.”
“Good to know, Jamie.” Liam wheezed as he glanced over his shoulder, aimed, and fired, hitting a black rider in a second story window. “How is everyone else?”
“Tundra is literally fighting them all at once,” Marielle replied, eyes wide with shock.
Liam shook his head, incredulously, dropped a clip, and reloaded. “I’m running out of bullets, here,” he wheezed again.
Austin saw movement in the courtyard, lifted his pistol, and fired twice. Someone went down, the other two went on, and he lost visual contact with them.
Austin stood, and gestured to Tayane, “Okay, I have an idea…” he turned to Marielle, “They’re trying to plant. Marielle and I will rush, and defuse the spike.” He gestured to the others, “You guys cover us, and Liam, can you call your orbital strike?” he asked.
Liam tilted his head at Austin in thought.
Klara had helped Liam several months ago to put Valorant’s personal satellite into orbit, which, upon Liam’s command, could send a massive laser blast down from space, but then it would need several hours to cool again.
Liam nodded once. “I see where you’re going, soldier,” he acknowledged as he handed Austin the spike defuser.
“You can direct them, right?” Liam nodded, “Use it if necessary. Over half of us are right here,” he gestured to the group with his pistol pointed down at the ground in a circle. “But the others might need help in a minute. It’ll either kill Tundra, or make him break away.”
Liam nodded. “What if I hit one of them?”
“Announce it first,” Austin spoke into the piece, “We’re rushing the spike – if Liam announces his airstrike, everyone over there get back, are we clear?”
“I’ll say Open up the Skies,” Liam said with a strong nod.
“Copy that,” Vincent replied, everyone could hear the continued fighting with Tundra in their ears.
Austin acknowledged, and he and Marielle covered one another, advancing into the courtyard with Sasha right behind and Tayane following.
Liam stayed in his position and covered them while Wei Ling continued to patch him up.
Tayane moved ahead of them, and gesturing to stay back as she released her boom bot and like a Roomba, it skittered along the ground, looking for signs of life in the planters of the courtyard.
It found someone and exploded on them, destroying itself in the process.
That’s when the entire team heard the sound they’d been dreading. The spike had been planted. There was an audible timer counting down.
“Spike planted!” Austin called into the ear piece.
Vincent threw his knife into Tundra’s shoulder, who yanked it out and continued to fight like nothing had happened, despite the rivulets of blood gushing from the area.
However, Sabine managed to reach around far enough and press on her mechanical glove, which dropped a poison orb at her and Tundra’s feet. This happened just in time, too as Tundra had just found an opening to put a bullet between Vincent’s eyes.
Both Tundra and Sabine dropped to the ground, acid beginning to burn their skin.
At the same time, Marielle, Tayane, Sasha, and Austin rushed into the courtyard. “There!” Marielle pointed, and Sasha shot someone through the chest with an electrified arrow. He wavered, spasmed, and tumbled forward out of the third story, crashing gruesomely to the ground.
Marielle stayed on Austin’s back as both scanned their vicinity until they found the bomb… their first look at it made them both exchange glances. It was almost pretty; triangular, about a foot and a half tall, and it was glowing blue. “Cover me,” he whispered, dropping to his knees in front of it and began to try and defuse.
She, Sasha, and Tayane all pointed in three opposite directions aiming high, then low, then high again.
“Come on, come on, come on!” Marielle wailed.
Austin cocked his head, “I can’t freeze time, Marielle,” he replied in a rushed tone. The device began to beep faster.
“Cory?” Marielle asked.
Sasha shook his head, “That bastard’s long gone… I guarantee it. He wouldn’t risk losing.”
Marielle nodded; she knew Sasha was right. Cory had too much to lose if they actually defused this thing. His life, for starters. They were probably safely tucked away somewhere while Kingdom grunts did the hard work and gave their lives.
Sasha aimed and fired. Marielle did the same. Two more assailants out of game.
The bomb started to beep faster. “We’re gonna die… oh, God, we’re gonna die,” Austin grunted under his breath. The only thing he could think for a moment was how much he loved Marielle, and how desperately he wanted to tell her and give her a kiss before he said goodbye to the world forever. He glanced at her, taking in how beautiful she was; her long black hair hanging against her hips, and her bare back, shimmering silver in the sunlight. He hated that she’d die more than he hated that he would.
However, just as that seemed like a real and true possibility, the detonation ceased, the glow faded, and the triangular sides of the spike slowly pulled back, collapsing it in on itself.
Austin fell back against the concrete, one knee bent, panting for a second before speaking to everyone. “Spike’s defused.”
At that moment, Liam raged, “Open up the skies!” And a red beam burst through the atmosphere.
Vincent, Chamber, John, and Sabine, jerking away from her own acid, all darted in opposite directions. John teleported and got safely away with Sabine, injured and shaking in his arms.
Tundra did as well, and the column of pure energy struck almost exactly where he had been standing, shaking the ground and splitting it with a deafening roar through the air.
It swallowed concrete, metal bars, and beams whole as the earth broke open.
Sadly, when everyone collected themselves, they realized that Tundra had vanished.
Wherever he was, his suit was being eaten away and his skin was sizzling, but confirming that he was dead was impossible.
Vincent stood shakily, and growled. He’d gotten away again, hadn’t he?
Kirra ran out, joining them and went straight to Sabine whose nervous system was malfunctioning due to the acid seeping into her skin; she was violently shaking and going into shock. Kirra healed her, and Sabine took in a deep breath, relaxing, and lay her cheek back on John’s chest.
Chamber sat back on the ground and looked down at his right arm as Vincent approached.
“I think you should stop breaking yourself,” Vincent quipped.
“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” Chamber replied with a wince, the smell of burning asphalt and flesh seeping into all of their noses.
Vincent knelt next to him, “Well, what did you expect? He obviously didn’t want a kiss.”
“Surprising, really,” Chamber chuckled, sucking Headhunter back into his arm. “Merde. Bastard broke my arm.”
Vincent shrugged, “He said no, nicely.”
Chamber lifted his left pointer finger, “This is true, I did poke the snake,” he winced again, and sucked in through his teeth, rubbing his upper arm with his left hand, “My good arm… I only have the two, you know?”
“You can shoot left-handed. Just compensate a little.”
Chamber made a face and suggestively flicked his brows, “I’ve done weirder.” He looked to Kirra who was bent over her knees now, looking at him, “Maybe Kirra will heal me again,” he suggested.
“Hmmm,” Vincent stroked his chin, “I don’t think she likes you very much right now,” Vincent lifted a flirtatious eyebrow at Kirra.
“If I ask nicely,” Chamber met eyes with Kirra and gave her a charming grin.
Vincent chuckled heartily, and licked his dry lips. “I think that she’s afraid that you’ll kiss her again,” he retorted.
Chamber’s eyes hadn’t left Kirra’s, and a slow, knowing grin spread across his mouth, “No, she’s not,” he replied. Her cheeks filled with color and she glanced down, abashedly. “I must apologize, I did not ask earlier, and that was unfair,” he began, “it was not right of me,” then he smirked. Sabine rolled her eyes. “Would you like another, more tender kiss as a thank you?” Vincent and Chamber exchanged brief glances, both knowing what the other was thinking. It was hilarious how much Vincent used to be like this, and how much Chamber was, and how they made great wingmen for each other.
She bit her bottom lip and looked up at him. “Yes,” she said, and she put her hands to his arm and soothing relief spread through his radius and ulna, pinning and sealing his bones and resetting them into their correct places.
He sighed, and briefly closed his eyes. She was lingering near his mouth, and he leaned in and gave her a tender, appreciative kiss. “Thank you for giving me relief,” he whispered before using that same arm to stand.
Vincent glanced back, surveying the area. Wei Ling’s wall was gone, but so was Mateo… That wasn’t good.
“Let’s get to the others,” he said, urgently.
The five rushed towards the other part of the map.