Lightning flashed in the sky in sync with the moment the five of us clashed with the five of them. On our side, we were mostly augmented while on their side they had the advantage of raw power. However, one special thing we had was a real reason to fight...to keep fighting...and we would not lose to The Inevitables, especially not when everyone and everything we loved was at stake.
I had just hurled a large fireball at Reign faster than he could react. He was barely able to shield against it so it sent him flying a few meters backwards. Even with their Invulnerability, I'd noticed that fire had a way of making a Sigma One uncomfortable when they got hit by it - which was just my luck. I wasn't going to even try and understand why. However, I'd be more than happy use it to my advantage.
In a couple of seconds, I looked around me, taking in the battle scene. There were bodies littered across the ground; the lesser Sigmas we had put down.
John and Atlas were locked in a grapple hold - it looked like Atlas was just a bit stronger than John, strong enough to knock him backwards a few feet when he kicked him. John sped forward and slugged his jaw. Atlas quickly recovered and returned the punch. For the first time since I'd met John, I saw a hit actually daze him - even though it was temporary. He yelled and retorted with an energy blast from both his hands, sending Atlas stumbling backwards. John lunged at him with a sonic punch but Atlas shielded against it with his forearms. Then they got locked in a close range fist combat.
Oyiza was nimbly dodging the vines Gaia was sending her way. In the midst of dodging, she picked up a machete - courtesy of one of the lesser Sigmas who had attacked us before - and started to slash at the vines still coming at her, pushing her way forward to Gaia. Gaia stomped on the ground, sending a ripple of debris headed straight for my sister. Oyiza jumped out of the way and super sped for Gaia, swinging the weapon.
All around the battle scene, two blurs chased each other, colliding here and there making sonic clap sounds. Mercury and Kaycee were too fast for my eyes to follow. Kaycee had a lot of experience in fighting, so I wasn't worried about that aspect. I was worried about Mercury's Invulnerability and how Kaycee would handle it.
Obeten and Voilet were locked in battle too. I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry he had to fight with his ex over the fate of the world. He didn't seem like he was fighting her, however. It looked like he was evading her water hits, all the while trying to get close enough to her and make her see reason. She managed to blast him away with water but he was back on his feet quickly and headed for her again. I could hear him yelling for her to listen as he kept evading her water blasts. Here and there, he would shoot bolts of electricity at her just enough to nick her but not harm her - not that her super Invulnerability would allow any real damage come to her.
Lightning flashed as Reign charged straight at me, visible air surrounding his lanky frame. I took to the skies to establish a vantage point and I was quite bothered to see Reign not far behind me riding on the wind - of course, he could fly. Damn. He started to hurtle balls of wind - if I could call it that - at me. I spun around and dodged them, hurling fireballs at him. He countered them with wind again. We kept doing this dance for a couple of minutes, him not being able to get close to me or hit me and vice versa. It was beginning to irritate me.
I decided to resort to using my fists. Thinking quickly, I summoned a big fireball and sent it hurling down at him and changed into my phase form, allowing myself freefall just behind the ball of fire I'd sent. Just as I expected, he used his wind power to tear the fireball assunder, only to reveal my sweet punch headed for his face. His eyes went wide with surprise just before my fist connected to his nose. The punch sent him hurtling downwards and I caught fire again and balanced myself in the air. He quickly regained his balance too, however.
"You impress me, girl", he said, rubbing his nose lightly as he levitated slowly towards me. "Are you sure you're a Three? Your abilities are quite something. You'd have been a beautiful addition to our cause...and to my life as a strong but subservient wife", he sneered.
The nerve on this fool. I found myself seething and my flames burned brighter.
"First of all, I AM a Three. Second...", I said then flew straight at him yelling, "I'm TAKEN!"
He smirked then flew straight at me. My fists were imbued with raw firepower and his fists were surrounded by wind visible to the eyes. I threw a voilently charged punch at him thinking he'd fly straight into it. He ducked and speared me instead, hurtling both of us up into the dark clouds that flashed with lightning behind me. SHIT. I held his back and let my fire burn hotter than I think I'd ever let it. It sizzled the back of his trench coat, burning through it and I touched bare skin. He yelled in pain but he kept going. We had entered into a dark thunderous cloud when he let go of me. He made lightning flash here and there, lighting up my dark prison. It was so damn scary in here. Lightning flashed just a few feet from me. I yelped and shut my eyes tight - I was beginning to be able to handle looking at the lightning flash from far away now but not this close...not this damn close.
I heard him laughing from somewhere...no...everywhere in the cloud. I just couldn't bring myself to open my eyes. He hit my fiery form with a gust of wind.
"Coward!", I yelled over the thunder rumbling in the cloud. He cackled this time. His voice came from nowhere and everywhere. I could feel my flames starting to go away because of my fear. He hit me with another blast of wind. I fired at him blindly. I hit nothing and instead I heard him cackling. It was as if he had somehow merged with the cloud. I heard thunder roll...or wait...was that an explosion from down below?
"Who is the coward; I, who brought you here amidst your annoying attempt to burn the skin off my back or you who harbors the ridiculous fear of lightning? Look at you; you can't even open your eyes, girl! This is where you die - where no one will save you...unless you beg for your life or make me an offer I can't refuse... give me something I like, then maybe I'll let you live", his words came to me from everywhere. I felt his fingers trace the lines of my face down to the bottom of my chin.
The way he said 'something' took me back mentally to the times men had tried to proposition me when I was human. This bastard was doing the same! I opened my eyes, an inexplicable rage surging through my body. I didn't care about the lightning anymore. I felt like a battery that was about to overload...no, I was a comet in it's full glory. I heard him curse under his breath as his form appeared not far in front of me. He tried to retreat but he was too late.
"You're finished!", I shouted as my flames went up in a massive explosion. The energy of the blast hit him square in the chest as he screamed in pain, falling out of the cloud in the sky. The cloud dissipated quickly with the force of the explosion. I saw him hurtling downwards, semi-conscious. I willed myself to fly at an incredible speed, reaching for him with both my hands and grabbed him by the front of his trench coat. In my rage, I began to pummel his face, exerting my power as we hurtled down back to the battle ground. I couldn't believe it, but I was bloodying a Sigma One. I had to keep it up before his body started to repair itself but I knew deep down I was starting to over-exert my powers and I could feel it dwindling. With a shout and one last powerful blast to his torso we collided with the ground, causing an explosion and a sizable crater.
At the bottom of the crater, I crawled away from on top of his now lifeless body and stumbled to my feet, groggy. I'd done it. I'd killed one of them. I took a couple of steps forward and felt the floor move from under me - I was seeing double. I thought we couldn't experience this kind of fatigue as Sigmas. Turns out, when we exert ourselves, we actually get tired, I thought to myself. It literally felt like I'd given this fight all I had.
I heard my sister's voice over the comms yelling something about someone's gadget running out of juice. As I lay down not far from Reign's body, I silently prayed that the others were going to be okay. Above the crater, the rain had stopped and the dark clouds were beginning to dissipate very slowly - Reign's hold on the weather dissapearing. I managed a smile.
A pair of black boots landed right beside me. I looked up and saw the muscled guy in a battle-worn trenchcoat glaring down at me. He was bloodied and he looked weak - John had really done a number on him. But...where was John? Atlas looked Reign's body over and gritted his teeth.
"You managed to kill Reign. I'm impressed. However, your victory is to be short-lived as it's time for you to die", Atlas bellowed in an unnervingly deep voice.
I tried to raise my hand and shoot flames at him. He placed his boot over my wrist and I felt it break. I cried out weakly. I looked up just in time to see another figure jump into the crater - John. He looked ruffled and a bit beat up but his energy helmet was still glowing and he managed to stay strong.
"You didn't think that last hit would make me stay down now, did you? We're not done yet, big guy", John said, pointing at Atlas.
"Come on then, let's finish this so I can get on with killing your girlfriend", Atlas said in a mocking tone. I'm not his girlfriend, I thought weakly.
"She's not my girlfriend", John bellowed.
"Doesn't make killing her any less sweeter for me", Atlas retorted.
Yelling, John charged at Atlas, head-butting him into another corner of the crater. My eyes followed them as they traded blows. No matter how John sped around, he would have to end up hitting Atlas and Atlas would retort with his own blows using the short bursts of speed he possessed. Although now that Atlas was weak, he was starting to miss a few hits and John started to overpower him. I turned on my side and managed to shoot fire at Atlas. It was weak, but it distracted him long enough for John to get around him, kick his legs from under him and lock him in a sleephold while his knees were on the ground. Atlas frantically fought back. I wheezed as I got to my feet and launched a punch at his jaw with my good hand. I knelt down in front of him and held his head in my palm. I pushed my fire ability to the surface and started to burn him. Atlas couldn't hit me because he was pulling at John's arm, trying to stop him from cutting off the air to his lungs. I increased the heat, forcing Atlas to try and push me with one of his arms, inadvertently giving John a better grip. I grabbed his arm and started to burn it too. He grunted through clenched teeth and grabbed my neck in a chokehold - that proved to be a deadly mistake. John switched his sleephold to neck-breaker. We had struggled this way for over half a minute till Atlas gave a loud yell just before John snapped his neck which reacted in a small outburst of energy. We stayed that way, breathless for a few seconds. Then my hands went limp at my sides.
John was about to come to my rescue when a blur faster than I could see rammed into him - it was Mercury. The force had sent John crashing into the side of the crater. He looked like he'd been knocked out; his body wasn't moving but his energy helmet stayed on. I never thought I'd see the day John would get knocked unconscious.
Mercury appeared in front of me and squatted so we were face to face. He sneered at me.
I was getting dizzy, finding it hard to stay awake. I hadn't given my powers enough time to charge back up and my sister was definitely going to have to heal my wrist before it got better. Damn, I swore under my breath.
"What have you done...with Kaycee...?", I managed a whisper.
"You mean your speedster boyfriend?", he laughed. "You've missed quite a lot, Pyromancer. Well, his gadget ran out of juice. He actually managed to hold his own for a bit after that, but his loss was inevitable", he said dryly. My eyes went wide in disbelief. No. No no no. God no. I started to sob softly.
"Oh, calm down...he's not dead...yet - but he soon will be. Right now, however, he's unconscious. I was about to end him when I heard Atlas scream - I've never heard or seen him experience pain till today. I came to help but it turns out...," he looked towards Atlas' body. "...I was too late".
I actually let out a sigh of relief.
"Don't blow out the candles yet, Pyromancer. You're not out of the woods...in fact, you're about to die inside aforementioned woods. Mother said we need John, so we can't kill him. She said nothing about needing the rest of you", he sneered as he raised a vibrating hand to my face. From the corner of my eye I saw John quietly start to get up and I smirked at Mercury.
"You know what your problem is, Mercury?", I asked weakly, looking straight into his eyes.
"I'm sure you're about to tell me", he jeered.
"You talk too much", I smirked. In that moment, John grabbed Mercury and lifted him over his head then brought him down with force onto his knee, breaking his back and killing him instantly.
John wasted no time in coming for me and helping me to my feet. He carried me in his arms and flew softly out of the crater. He gently dropped me on the interlocked ground, smoothing my hair. He looked worried. I knew it wasn't the physical injury that bothered him, it was the fact that my powers were dwindling like a remote controlled toy car very low on battery hp. I forced a smile to let him know I'd be okay. He walked off, a little distance away towards the stairs.
I turned my head to look around and destruction greeted my eyes, bodies littered all around. Landmark Hotel was still standing, but barely. Parts of the building were falling off. I saw Voilet sobbing as she cradled Obeten's weak form in her arms. His helmet was off and his face was a little pale and injured, blood trickling down the side of his mouth. His eyes were closed but I could tell he was still breathing. He was going to be okay and it looked like Voilet wasn't in a fighting mood anymore.
Worry washed over me as I frantically looked for my sister and Kaycee. Kaycee sat on the ground with his back against a damaged vehicle not too far from us. He was still alive, that meant he would eventually recover with his speed healing. Things were not so bad, notwithstanding...
Mercury was right - I had missed a lot during my fight with Reign.
My sister was standing over Gaia's unconscious frame but when she saw my state, she ran to me, sobbing. She quickly knelt by my side and started to heal me. Her skin wasn't damaged but her suit was torn here and there and her eyes were glowing a weak shade of green. The battle had worn her out too. I could tell she herself would have been barely able to to keep going, if not for her self healing ability. It was slower than usual but I was beginning to feel my wrist healing and my power returning little by little. I smiled at my big sister and she returned the smile with teary eyes.
I saw John begin to look around too at everything that had happened. I recognized the rage in John's eyes. His helmet started to glow as he suddenly turned around and yelled, "Harbinger, show yourself!".
Almost immediately we heard a sonic boom in the atmosphere. A body of white light was headed for us.