Ricardo looked through the glass wall, staring out into the night sky. He turned back, pacing around the room once more. Two of the men with him had opened some cans of tuna, letting a pungent smell of fish and oil fill the air. Maria knocked her head lightly on the wall behind her.
"Hey, when do we get to leave?" she asked.
"When we are required to leave, we head to the next safe house." Ricardo walked back, slumping down against the wall next to her.
"What do you mean when we are required to leave? What does that even mean?"
"When we have to."
"I have to go to school. I'll fail if I miss my classes. Do you want me to fail?"
"It'll be fine. Just trust me."
A hollow metallic ding echoed down through the room, rather faintly.
One of the men immediately came up to Ricardo. "Captain, there was a noise from above."
"I heard." He stood back up, slinging himself back upright, ending with a bounce on his toes. "Two of of you come with me. Two of you guard Maria."
After getting off the floor, the four men jogged to their positions, two of them following after Ricardo as he went up the stairs. He glanced over the railing, down the gaping hole between the concrete steps. It went down about six floors and up just one. The once slick railings were now rough, split between peeling paint and forming rust. Dust sprung up as they moved, not touched since the last time they've been through.
Ice formed around Ricardo's fingertips as he slowly went up the steps, careful to silence his footfalls. The two behind him did the same, but their ceramic armor gently clinked as they moved. On the next floor up, he took the lead, fanning out inside. The two men waved their flashlights around, checking the dark corners for any sight of an intruder.
Ricardo saw nothing out of place and raised an open hand in the air. The two men halted, and with a wave of his hand, went towards the next set stairs. The empty rows of hydroponic planters felt eerie now.
A single heavy footfall came from the stairs. Ricardo snapped towards them, as his men raised their rifles towards it. It was silent, a tense silence. Through the metal doorframe, with its door propped open with some ancient bit of debris, Ricardo watched the staircase, going up out of view right at the back wall of the stairwell.
Then, there was a blur of green, barely illuminated. The noise of gunfire shook his eardrums as the two men trailed behind the blur with their rifles, sending round after round digging into the ceiling and floors. The glass walls on the outside of the building shattered as bullets ricocheted through them. Ricardo started dropping the temperature of the room, right on to the cusp of freezing, just enough to have the ice where he wanted it.
The blur swirled around, spinning through the air as a tattered cloth around it obscured the center of mass. As the bullets flew past, Fetter threw a knife at one of the men, embedding into his chestplate, cracking the ceramic down the center. The man paused with the impact, reeling back a step. Fetter pursued, his blurred form stopping for a moment on impact, his foot crashing into the man's face with his jacket billowing behind him. The first man went down.
It was as if Fetter simply appeared for a moment in that position, but that was enough for Ricardo to get a little bit of frost on him. That little bit was enough to slow down his rapid dashing significantly.
The second turned towards Fetter, now more careful with his shots, trying to line up at least a body shot on him. Ricardo tried to box him in, forming walls of ice right in the paths of where he was headed, only for him to jump off them effortlessly. The second man stopped firing, as an ice wall caught a few bullets right in front of him. Fetter crashed through a forming ice wall to Ricardo's left, putting him into the center of the room.
Ricardo sent an ice spear, right towards Fetter, only for it to be effortlessly dodged. He tried again, this time exploding it into a shotgun blast towards him, which Fetter dashed towards, narrowly avoiding the comparatively slow projectiles as he slipped past the blast point. The weight of the frost didn't slow him down enough.
Nero came down the stairs, doing a little jog past the final steps. The place was already a labyrinth of icy mirrors shining in the moonlight. Nero ran past them, trying to find a path. He came out to see Fetter, gripped onto Ricardo's collar, lifting him into the air. Between Nero and Fetter was the second man, turning back towards Nero with his rifle raised. Fetter dropped Ricardo, dashing over to the other man.
Fetter clotheslined him, knocking him to the ground while Ricardo struggled across the floor. Fetter turned back, just in time to see Ricardo point a rifle not at him, but at Nero. Without a second thought he jumped in the path and the last gunshot sounded.
Nero yelled.
Maria ran up the stairs, to see Ricardo standing with the rifle aimed above Fetter, who was clutching his side tightly. The two other gunmen follow behind her, one of them grabbed onto her arm.
"You two," Ricardo said, spitting a mixture of saliva and blood onto the floor. "Get over here with your guns. I'm out of bullets."
"Heh-heh. Sorry Nero. Looks like I couldn't help you save your friend this time." Fetter let out a cackle.
Maria shouted, "Ricardo stop! Please! That's my friend!"
"Really? The one with the black hair?"
"Yes!"
He turned the rifle away from Fetter. "So you two were just coming over to make sure my dear sister here was okay? That's it?"
Nero perked up at the questions, pulling himself back up from the floor. "Yes. Yes!"
"Maria. There's something I've really, really been meaning to talk to you about."
"Can't it wait, Ricardo?"
"No. It can't. Not anymore. You see. I really want to do the best I can for you. I don't care who I have to piss off to do it. Just say the word and I'll help you with anything."
"Really? Then please-"
"But not this time. This time you don't know what you need. I'll even have you hate me if it makes you have a better life. Men. Ready your fire."
Fetter sputtered out some blood onto the floor. Nero's arm gave way, sending him back to laying on the floor. Maria screamed as she tried to break free of the man's grip.
The other man walked over, pointing his rifle down at Fetter. His finger tightened around the trigger, not yet pulling it. "On your order, Captain."
Ricardo stepped back, letting out a deep breath of frosted air. "Fire."
There was a flash of purple light. A small woman, looking just larger than a middle schooler, simply appeared in front of them. Her eyes were glowing bright purple, as a glowing halo of energy radiated around her head. She didn't move, she simply appeared at her destination. She waved a hand, and the air stopped moving, no one in the room could move.
The man's weapon was gone, the trigger had already been pulled, and the light of a gunshot came from just outside the window. Then she was in front of Nero, and he disappeared. She turned her head, looking at the ones left at the scene. She went to the four gunmen, shimmering out of existence as she caused them to vanish as she did. Maria fell to her knees as the last one disappeared, his grip simply gone. She wrapped her arms around Maria's head, gently hugging her before she too disappeared. It was just the small woman, Ricardo, and Fetter now.
She appeared next to Fetter, and with a shake of her head, rubbed his back. He disappeared. She stood up, looking at Ricardo. He could not hear a thing, the air around him wasn't moving. She walked this time, straight at him. Even his sense of temperature was gone, like he was suspended in some room temperature fluid.
She mouthed something to him. "Immature," is what he read it as.
The room around then started shifting, fractals of light moving and shimmering as space seemed to fold over on itself. She looked at the kaleidoscopic patterns for a moment, before reaching over and touching them. They changed back to how they had been. She moved over, with the light fading from her eyes and the halo vanishing from above her red hair. With a tap, she was gone, and Ricardo was staring right at the familiar table he was used to, standing over it.
The air touched his skin again, warmer than he expected, and sounds returned to his ears. Ira dashed into the room, glaring straight at him.
"First the doctor runs off and now you're back? What the hell happened today?"
***
Nero gasped for air, the breaths coming to him fast and heavy. The world around him had suddenly changed, from the dark room with the dim purple light to his own room, staring up at his light, right from his bed. Don was looking over at him, tightly grabbing his own arm.
"Nero?"
Nero couldn't respond, only continue to hyperventilate.
"Nero! What happened? How are you back?"
"Don?"
"Nero! Where's Fetter?"
Don came towards him, his feet heavily slapping against the floor as his heels dug into the carpet. It was only a few steps before he was standing over Nero, curled up on the bed. Nero pushed himself upright, now kneeling on the bed. He looked around, bewildered. Don grabbed onto his shoulder, with his claws digging into his skin. Nero jumped back, spinning around towards Don.
"I'm sorry! I just... I need to know where Fetter is."
"Don. I really am here. I don't... Fetter!"
"Yes! Fetter! What happened?"
"He's hurt! I have to go find him!"
"Nero!"
Don grabbed onto Nero's arm with both hands as he tried to jump off the bed towards the door. Nero jerked back, falling down onto the bed. Where Don had grabbed him was cut open, but Nero hadn't noticed.
"Tell me what happened. Now!" Don demanded, pouring yellow light over the wounds.
Nero looked up at him, tears starting to run down his cheeks. "It's all my fault. Fetter tried to protect me and he got shot. Then a purple light appeared and I couldn't move, and then I was here. I don't know where Fetter is. Don, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Goddammit!" Don yelled. "Where was he shot?"
"The side-ish area." Nero gestured onto himself, around the kidney.
"I'm going to go find him."
"No! He told you to stay here..."
"And I told him to not to go either. Looks like neither of us know when to listen."
"Don..."
Don was already throwing a blanket over himself, like a long cloak, covering his wings and scales.
"Don! Please..."
"I thought you would keep him from doing the normal reckless things he does. It seems I was wrong to place that trust in you. I'm going."
"I can't let you." Nero jumped in front of the door, holding his arms out wide. "Fetter would never forgive me if something happened to you."
"You said he got shot. I need to find him. He's tough, but he's not immortal."
"Please just... wait. He'll show up."
"I'm not waiting this time." Don grabbed Nero by the collar, lifting him into the air.
"What are you-"
Don threw him back towards the bed, slamming his back against the corner of the mattress. As Nero crawled up from the floor, the door shut behind Don.
Then, the phone in his pocket began to ring.