Obeten wasn't kidding when he said the situation outside was bad. There was panic in the atmosphere, people trying to find a place to hide. How could they hide from a Tsunami though? They had found out they couldn't leave Lagos because of the Sigmas positioned just outside Lagos on both sides.
So it was the situation of a headless chicken running around before it was all over - the civilians being the headless chicken in this analogy. It was about 4 P.M but the skies had grown dark due to the monster sized black and grey clouds gathering. There was no lightning yet, thankfully - but boy, was it windy.
Flying using my pyromancy abilities was actually not as hard as I thought it would be. It was like walking or jumping - you just had to tell your brain to do it and will your body to follow suit. Steering, on the other hand, could take some getting used to. John had first helped me find my balance in the air when we first started towards the crime scene. Now below me, not far in front, were my sister and John running side by side. For a Sigma One - as egocentric as they were said to be, he was actually good at playing well with others. He was different - but if you ask me, his helmet looked a bit...archaic. I heard the strong rev from Obeten's bike. He was coming up behind us. On the road, cars and bikes and tricycles were making 'U' turns or speeding away from the direction of the robbery. I flew on, fire trailing behind me.
If someone had seen me from afar while I was flying, they'd probably describe me as a comet. COMET - I like that name. That's going to be my superhero moniker. I decided I was going to tell the others soon as I got the chance.
Ojodu came into our general view. It was chaos. Smoke filled the air in some areas, vandalized cars littered the street leading to the road near the banks, there were injured people the robbers left in their wake with no one to rescue them. No police car or uniform in sight - in a world where people with abilities could do monstrous things, the police could only risk their own lives for so long before totally giving up. My sister gave a signal for us to stop at a hidden location just about seventy yards from the action. Obeten flipped off his bike while in motion and managed an athletic landing. His bike possessed artificial intelligence so it drove itself almost silently to one of the make-shift sheds used for selling wares and parked there. That bike is so damn cool! I powered down and let myself drop not far from Obeten. I stumbled but someone's hands steadied me before I could fall forward - it was John. He gave a reassuring smile and I nodded my head, thanking him.
The four of us huddled together for a team talk before the action began. There were gunshot sounds and other chaotic noises coming from the direction of the banks. Oyiza, being point man - or point woman, began to delegate our assignments. My sister was good at leading when she wanted to be. I smiled in spite of myself.
"Alright, guys, this is it", she began. "The robbers are currently working three banks. Zenith bank, Access bank and Ecobank. Access and Ecobank are on the other side of the road. Let's make sure they don't get any further. First, I'm going to get to the injured and heal them. While I do that, the three of you engage the criminals in Zenith before we work our way to the other side of the road. According to the reports I gathered, they're twelve Sigmas - Ten Fours and two Twos. That means ten people with moderately enhanced speed, strength and agility. No special abilities, however. That doesn't mean you underestimate them. They have automatic weapons. The other two could possess dangerous special abilities. The rest are human. John and Nene, take care of the Sigmas. John, watch my sister's back; anything happens to her, I'll kill you. Obeten, rescue the hostages inside the banks and subdue whoever tries to stop you. John will also have your back on that. He's strong and quick enough to handle two tasks, I believe. Soon as I'm done with healing the injured, if you guys aren't done, I'll join you... good?". We all nodded.
"Finally, we need code names. Can't be shouting our actual names in the middle of the action if we need to communicate; we might get made and that won't bode well for our loved ones. So, I'm Jade and Obeten is Voltage. Nene, you haven't decided on a hero moniker yet, so are we going to call you Red...at least for this mission?", Oyiza ended with a smirk.
"Hell no", I rolled my eyes. "My name's COMET". I stuck out my chin, striking a superhero pose.
This earned me 'ooh', 'aah' and 'nice' from the other three. They liked it...I liked it more.
"John...", Oyiza poked at the energy helmet which gave off the lightsaber sound again. "...what's yours?"
He thought for a couple of seconds, shrugged then answered, "Lēohtan".
I cocked my eyebrow at him. That wasn't English or any other language I knew. Lēohtan? Really? I'd ask him why but...another time. Right now, we had an immediate crisis to deal with.
"Lēohtan. Okay", Oyiza breathed. "We ready?", she asked turning to the rest of us. "Let's do this!"
Immediately, we all broke off, our assignments in front of us. Oyiza sped over to the first couple of injured people she found. I couldn't hear her, but I could see her leaning over them, probably telling them everything was going to be okay before she started healing them. Obeten nimbly scaled the fence next to us into the first bank's premises. Me and John got the real interesting part. John walked out in the open narrow Ojodu road, pushing a vandalized car out of our way - such a gentleman after all. Some of the robbers were littered across the road, trying to load up the getaway vehicles while some stood guard. I saw one spot us. He tapped the goon closest to him and pointed in our direction.
"What's up, boys!", John yelled thrusting his hands to his sides. As he did so, his hands started to glow with static energy. I took that as my cue. I lit up my frame with my flames. That was enough to let the robbers outside know they had a problem. "Remember what I told you about your heat field? Now, try to burn hot enough for objects to melt before they reach you", John said to me.
I nodded. Here goes nothing. I had my bulletproof suit on and my big sister to heal me if shit went south. I mentally increased the heat of my flames - like turning up the volume of a sound speaker. At that moment, the goons cocked their automatic weapons and opened fire on us. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for impact...but nothing came. The guns were still going off like loud firecrackers. I opened my eyes, half expecting John to be shielding me with his huge frame. He wasn't. He was beside me, chuckling.
"Attagirl", I heard him say under his breath.
I looked myself over. The bullets had melted a few inches away from my suit and my face. My eyes went wide. I looked at John and started to chuckle...then cackling wickedly. I didn't have to walk on eggshells in a gun fight anymore. The guns stopped and the goons started to reload. I caught sight of four robbers coming out of the nearest bank. The way they carried themselves - Sigmas... most likely Fours. The thing about Fours was that they were like cockroaches; not that strong, but resilient enough for you to have to smash them at least twice to make sure they stayed down.
"Shall we, milady?", John said in a mock british accent, bowing courteously.
"After you, m'Lord ", I bowed.
I could feel John grin through his helmet before he bolted off towards the goons. He was going for the Sigmas. I took to the air and began to unleash hell from above just enough to harm, but not kill. I hoped John would do same.
He had already beaten down two Sigma Four goons as if he was swatting flies. Another one thought it was a smart move to lunge at John with a knife. John blurred over and caught the goon with an uppercut. Before his body could hit the ground, John held him by his foot and literally used him to whip a couple other goons who came forward. Then he threw the poor goon away.
Here and there, shots were fired at us but it did nothing. I decided to get up close and personal in my phasing form. I dropped into the ground and bounced out right behind two goons. I used a sweeping move to clear their legs from underneath them. One heavy punch to the face each and they were out. I carried out an evasive roll towards three more. One tried to punch me in the chest but his fist passed through me and hit his partner. I came out of my phasing form and dealt the third guy a slap so profound, he was unconscious before he hit the ground. A roundhouse kick to the gut of the first attacker sent him crashing into a nearby abandoned vehicle. I twisted in the air nimbly and brought my other boot curving straight into the second guy's face. I think that knocked a couple of his teeth out.
I heard gunshots in the first bank. That meant Obeten was as busy as I was. The goons on the other side of the road had already been alerted to our presence and they were ready for us - or they thought they were ready.
"Comet, I'm done here!", Obeten yelled out to me from inside Zenith. He had secured the hostages. Nice work. The goons on the other side of the road prepared to open fire. I switched back to my pyro ability.
"Lēohtan!", I called out to John. "Voltage's done with Zenith. You done with those guys yet?"
John sped over to me with the last goon from outside Zenith Bank sprawled over his shoulders. He then jumped backwards unto the tarred road with the guy still in his hold - a move I recognized from a wrestling match on TV. He got up and smugly dusted his shoulder. I scanned the environment for my sister. I saw her knock out a goon on the far end of Access bank in order to get to an injured security guard.
"I'm going after the Twos. I can sense them in that bank", John said to me. I nodded to him. He bolted over the barricade to the other side of the road where all the rest of the goons were waiting for us. He was headed for Ecobank where he had sensed the Twos. That left Access bank for me to focus on. I shot high into the air and came down like an asteroid, devastating the goons in the periphery of my landing. I looked up in time to see a lightning bolt go over my head and electrocute a Four who was headed straight for me. I flinched. Shit. I hate lightning. As if the ones coming from the skies weren't enough, we had to have a lightning guy on the team. However, I nodded at Obeten, thanking him for watching my back. He returned the nod through his biker headgear and ran for the gates of Access. It was my turn to cover him.
Just then I heard a sonic boom go off in Ecobank and the ground shook. I kept my balance but the goons surrounding me, not so much. John was really busy with the Twos but I had no doubt he was going to come out on top - the guy was insanely strong. I glanced around and almost felt pity for the local government whose job it'd be to clean up this mess - if they decided to take care of it, that is.
I began to hurl fireballs in the general direction of the goons who were begining to regain their balance, keeping them too busy to notice Obeten scale the fence. Some of them ducked, others weren't so lucky, running around trying to put out the fires on their bodies - serves them right. I made quick work of the rest, making sure I knocked all their lights out. A gun shot followed by crashing sounds came from inside Access bank. Obeten had his suit - he had the situation under control.
I had eased up a bit when I heard a yell from behind me - one of the goons had snuck up on me and was about to wildly open fire. My eyes went wide in surprise...how did I miss that one? I panicked and quickly activated my phase ability. At that same moment, a couple of civilians ran out of Access bank right into the goon's line of fire. I was in my phase form so the bullets would pass through me but the civilians wouldn't be so lucky and I wasn't fast enough to save them before the bullets would reach them.
Just as his automatic weapon started firing, a figure in green landed right in front of the goon taking the short burst of bullets - Oyiza. I don't remember the last time I felt so relieved. She knocked the gun out of his hands and gave a kick to his gut that sent him flying about twenty meters backwards into the street we had come out from. She turned to me and gave a thumbs up then took off towards Ecobank. I turned my attention to the civilians making their way out of the bank and led them to safety on the other side of the road. Soon, Obeten made his way out too, leading the civilians to safety. The environment was a mess but who said a hero's work was pretty? In the distance, John and my sister were coming out of Ecobank.
John was dragging what I presumed to be a Sigma Two behind him. The perp was squirming - he was still conscious. I guessed he couldn't use his special abilities because John was negating them by touching him. It turns out; John was pretty resourceful. I caught myself admiring him for a moment.
Military sirens blared in the distance, bringing me back to reality. I smiled. At least the military had the means to detain Sigma Fours so, the human perps would be soft work.
When the team huddled back together briefly, we decided John and my sister would interrogate the perp in one of the abandoned sheds while I and Obeten helped give over the other perps into military custody. Meanwhile, the Sigma Two was yelling stuff in his ethnic language; about how he was going to sink us in the ground when he got the chance - he was an 'earth shaker'. He must have been the one that made the ground shake a few minutes ago. Tough luck. While still gripping the man by the front of his tank top - camouflage patterned, John raised an energy fist hand and with one punch, put him to sleep.
We agreed we would all meet at home in an hour. Obeten told us he had gadgets that could help us sync better for the main fight - communicators and ability augmentors. The augmentors were basically designed to increase both the special and base abilities of a Sigma for a limited period of time. I had heard about those kind of gadgets when Kaycee would tell me a bit about his missions. I was very curious to see what they could actually do.
At this point, the skies had become filled with clouds that threatened to spew Noah's flood. Lightning flashed every now and then, but it had started to bother me less. In this moment, it felt like we were finally in control. Even though I was worried about Kaycee, I had strong hope that we could win this - all of it - together. But to be able to stand a chance against multiple Sigma One threats like The Inevitables, we needed to draw up a really good plan... and quickly.