Calm down. The plan is solid. You thought of everything. Everyone had agreed. Just breathe in and out. Follow exactly what you thought of.
I was waiting in the hallway, gun holstered at my hip, four rocks in my pockets, back against the wall, listening to the armed men chatting away around the corner.
Once James' clone was done moving the barrier blocking the top-floor stairwell to the stairwell in the lobby to block reinforcements from there, after flying me into an apartment on the floor below that these men were on, Willow would make her move.
And I would too.
Once I had finished my thoughts, it began.
One of the armed men immediately noticed and spoke.
"Hey, the barri- *guh*"
I heard his words get interrupted, and immediately the beginning sounds of a struggle.
I immediately went on autopilot following the plan's script and turned the corner.
I took in the sight immediately.
All five men were facing and aiming in different directions, their guns and bodies grabbed by Willow's clones, who were trying to throw them all to the ground.
My hands moved, following my instincts to improvise, and they reached into my pockets instead of my gun, which I deemed unneeded.
I grabbed a rock in each hand and threw them.
As they flew down the long hallway, I repeated the same action, sending two more rocks flying.
Before any of them hit, I drew my gun, but I already foresaw the outcome.
Four *thuds* as four rocks hit their targets' heads. They all collapsed before being thrown to the ground.
One remained, still struggling with one clone, and I was currently aiming at his back.
I lowered my aim and pulled the trigger.
The bullet hit the back of his foot.
He lost his stance with a scream as the Willow clone threw him to the ground and disarmed him simultaneously.
I ran towards them with ringing in my ears.
One clone immediately held out an automatic rifle towards me as I approached, while another two clones held down the screaming guy while one was simultaneously choking him into silence."
I grabbed it while I kept running, right past the five unconscious people, up the stairs.
And there in the hallway, the real Willow was standing, hand outstretched.
I went up to her and handed her my pistol as I passed. I glanced towards the elevator, its doors jimmied open, and saw that James and Ken were in position.
I doubled back and kept running up more stairs towards the roof.
Opening those doors and feeling the cold darkness outside, I saw that James's clone was already here at the edge.
I ran to him, and he immediately put his arms around me and flew me down to the street below.
As we hit the ground and he let go of me, I immediately ran again.
Then, when I reached my destination, I put my back to the wall right next to the entrance of the building and listened.
"You two, stay here, and you two, come with me," I heard one of the armed men command in a slightly agitated voice.
I then heard the elevator door open and close again, before ascending.
I took a deep breath once again, as I suddenly felt all the cold sweat on my body.
All had gone according to plan, and I myself hadn't needed to kill anyone on the other seventh floor.
I hadn't explicitly said I would kill them, but I didn't deem that we had the time to open that can of worms when we were discussing the details. And I needed them alive for later.
But no, the moment I heard what I had planned happening, I'd turn the corner here and gun the remaining two down while they were distracted. It was the only safe choice to deal with this last part.
It would always come to this. I was prepared. I had accepted it. I'd do it.
The sounds of distant gunfire and bullets on metal snapped me back to attention.
Then the metal screeching, and…
*CRASH!!!*
The explosive sound of the elevator crashing back to the first floor from the top, killing everyone inside, because Ken had made the elevator cables brittle with his power and James' clone had snapped them with gunfire.
The crashing sound would surely have startled the remaining two inside. They would have turned around towards the elevator, their backs towards the entrance.
The moment I would have turned around the corner to gun them down.
But since I heard the crash, exactly like I had planned, I couldn't move. I was frozen in place.
Not because the thought of having to kill them suddenly became too heavy.
In fact, my burdens had lightened.
The gun in my hand had instantly vanished into thin air at the same moment as the crash
I stared at my empty hands, which were now shaking.
My breathing felt heavy.
Why! It went so well until now! So why! I can't! I… I don't understand!
I was empty/handed. I suddenly had nothing. All my rocks were on the seventh floor. Because I had to be quick, I hadn't bothered to pick them back up, nor had I expected to need them again.
And I handed my handgun to Willow as a contingency, because James said that if the elevator cable wouldn't break and they ended up in a firefight upstairs, they would have an extra gun for James' clone to use next to the four remaining automatic rifles, that would be in the hands of Willows clones to spray and pray with.
James had added that while we were all discussing the plan and fine-tuning it. He was right to prepare for that contingency I hadn't thought of, but now, somehow, it had come back to bite me.
What… what do I do now!? Oh… oh no. My powers don't freeze time when I'm like this! H… how many seconds have passed while I'm panicking like this!
While finding some courage, I managed to move myself to quickly peek into the lobby through the glass doors.
Two men remained, near the elevator in the middle back and the stairwell in the right back, one broad and muscled and another slim and fit, staring in panic and fear at each other.
But my eyes went wide open, as were theirs, because they also hardly believed the sight that they had suddenly lost the guns in their hands.
In fact, after I scanned the entire room, for all that I could see…
There were no guns at all.
I pulled my head back and tried to think about what to do now through the panic.
The rest of them were upstairs, and I was alone here. Ken was surely seeing what had happened here, and would probably send Willow and James downstairs to reinforce me.
But those two in the lobby were in panic mode now, and soon perhaps into flight mode!
They knew the stairwell was still blocked by the barrier, that's why they were forced to take the elevator, leading them into a death trap.
So, now there was only one route left they could use to flee. The one right out of the front entrance, where I was!
And if they did that, I couldn't stop them! With firearms out of the equation, our supernatural powers would come back into play, and I couldn't risk going two on one if their powers were still unknown!
If only James's clone were still here with that barrier ability! But he had recalled and resummoned it to the eighth floor at the elevator. He wanted the clone to shoot the cable down, because he was scared of bullet ricochets, of all things!
All my survival instincts screamed at me the safest was to just turn back, climb back up the roof and let them go. We had already gotten eight of them with my plan. Willow would surely forgive me, albeit reluctantly, if I gave a good excuse and explained everything properly.
But… but still… she would at the least be disappointed. A disappointment that would always remain in the back of her mind, preventing her from fully trusting me. From fully falling in love with me.
I couldn't allow that to happen! I needed all of her at my disposal to have the best chances against my father!
…Love?
No! Shit! It… it's the panic! I… I'm not my mother! Elise… I love Elise!
Damn it damn it damn it!!! I… those guys… I couldn't let them go! Can't let them go! I… I won't!
I peeked around the corner again…
And stared straight into the broad guy's eyes.
We both froze, and the shock made my mind gain clarity.
I was too late for a surprise attack, the only thing I could have still done to turn the odds more in my favor. In all my indecision he had already been eyeing the entrance, and had now seen me.
My heart almost stopped, but all my options had faded, and I finally regained my focus and followed my instincts.
Between fight or flight…
I chose to fight!
I turned the corner, opened the doors and rushed into the lobby.
"Enemy!" the broad guy yelled at his partner-in-crime as he also started to rush towards me in an odd stance.
I immediately stopped at the entrance.
He ran from the right/back stairwell towards me, slouched with his shoulder in front and his head tucked in, like someone attempting a football tackle. The other remained in the middle-back by the elevator.
I was way faster than the guy approaching. All the openings I saw in his odd tackle made me quickly recall every martial art I had been taught, and how to use them to intercept him.
Between boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, and BJJ, my first instinct was to use my speed advantage and sidestep his predictable tackle while kicking his head.
An instinct I quickly buried, because that odd tackle of his set off all the alarm bells in my head when I recalled once again that this was a new world full of people with superpowers.
I reassessed the charge. But I saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Was it dangerous or not!?
I… I didn't know what to do.
And as he kept running towards me, the anxiety of danger kept growing inside me…
Until it became unbearable.
Then I saw it.
When he was a mere meter or three away from me
The air was lightly shimmering in front of him.
I jumped to my right, and the guy barreled past me.
I kept the other guy, who stayed in the back, in sight, and he was preparing a… soccer kick?
*CRASH*
The deafening sound of exploding glass suddenly rang out from the entrance…
As my shoulder hit the wall hard in the bottom-right corner of the room.
"Grg."
I gritted through it, because the skinny guy was still in the back and was about to kick towards me.
I ran forward along the wall as he made the kicking motion.
Something caught my leg.
Wind!?
*WOOSH*
I fell forward as I felt and heard a great force rush past behind me.
I caught myself on the ground and stood up immediately.
I heard more footsteps.
Turning my back to the wall I assessed the room again.
The entrance doors were completely destroyed, and the ground there was covered in shattered glass. The broad guy was already running towards me again from there, with his apparently lethal, explosive charge.
The lean guy was once again preparing another kick from where he still stood in the middle-back at the elevator.
I realized it then. I didn't know how to win.
Flee!
I started running again along the wall, towards the staircase in front of me at the back-right corner of the room, next to the elevator in the middle-back and the skinny guy standing in front of that.
My last hope. James would remove the barrier from the staircase once Ken saw what was going on and instructed him so.
In the corner of my eye, I saw the skinny guy kick again at a sideways angle.
The next hurricane kick.
Winds raged behind me.
I heard it crash against the wall.
!!!
A force pushed my back, lifting my feet of the ground.
How!? I dodg—
I fell. I tumbled on the ground.
It hurt!
…What happened!? Think think think!
TThe wind… the wind… had… had it dissipated on the wall and hit me nevertheless!?!?
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*
Footsteps!? How had the broad guy not been blown away!?
The… the air had shimmered in front of him. Did that block the wind!?
The footsteps got louder.
No! Don't think!
St… stand up!
Once risen, I looked back over my shoulder.
One meter away.
TOO CLOSE!!!
I jumped away, barely evading the guy that had charged at me along the wall.
My feet touched the ground and skittered along it slightly.
Where had I landed?
I looked.
I was near the elevator.
Right in front of the skinny guy.
Already finishing his kick.
Pain. My stomach.
My body folded double as the wind carried me upwards.
My right hand covered the back of my head in reflex.
My back slammed against the ceiling.
Then my covered head.
*Crk*
My hand bones shattered.
My mouth opened, but no sound of pain came out.
I fell. The world spun vertically.
I hit the ground. Back, covered head. My hand, terrible pain again.
I slid and rolled along the ground. I ended up on my stomach.
…Can't move.
…Can't breathe. No air.
Everything hurts.
Stomach… I feel sick.
Can't focus.
…Not like this… please.
…Elise.
I promised to get back to her.
Get up! How!
Br… breath!
Can't. Too sick.
Paralyzed.
Then…
I lifted myself up slightly.
Two fingers of my left hand.
Down my throat.
The nausea overtook the pain.
I completely focused on the feeling.
I vomited.
The sickness left.
I could feel what my body needed again.
Breath!
Air filled me. Strength returned.
I could move again.
I stood back up.
*Crunch*
I heard and felt glass crack beneath my feet. I was at the entrance again.
I looked at my opponents again.
The broad guy was charging at me again, only a few meters away. The skinny one was still behind him, and once again had a kick cocked.
We were all back like it was at the beginning.
Dodge again? No, everything would just repeat.
My right hand was useless. My situation was even worse.
I glanced at my puke. No blood. One blessing.
I looked at the stairwell. Nobody was there.
How much time had passed!? Why was nobody here!?
I couldn't last like this.
I saw that the guy charging at me was now seven meters away.
Flee!? No, I couldn't! For Willow!
How do I turn this around!? Retreat outside into open space!? …No, the riot. It was quiet when we got here, but that might have changed. Too risky.
6 meters away.
What else!? What else!? What could change!?
What had changed!
I looked at my feet. Glass shards, some large ones.
Weapons.
I grabbed one with my bandaged left hand. They protected me from being cut by the glass.
5 meters away.
Throw it!?
It wasn't a knife. I didn't know how well it would cut or penetrate and what damage it would do.
And he had a barrier in front of him that could block the wind. I saw that he didn't have any injuries from when he destroyed the entrance. It would probably block the glass, too.
4 meters.
Get closer to stab one? To kill one?
No, there's got to be another way!
Like with those guys upstairs!
3 meters!
I Had to dodge! The side! No, it'd get kicked again by…
Wh… what!? Where was he!?
2 meters!!
I scanned the room. He had disappeared.
How!? That can't be! No… wait!
The other guy's body was just blocking my view of him.
They were… in a line…
1 meter!!!
Inspiration struck.
I looked up.
I went for it.
I bent my knees slightly and jumped.
Gravity lost its grip on me.
I bent forwards.
I saw the broad guy charge past just beneath me.
My feet landed on the ceiling after half a flip.
I launched myself to the foor.
Another half flip and I touched the ground.
I rolled through the momentum and looked in front.
The skinny guy's right leg was backwards up in the air. He held a kicking motion but hadn't committed yet. His expression was full of shock and hesitation.
Surely he was shocked by my acrobatics, but more pressing, his friend right behind me would be caught in the crossfire if he were to kick the wind towards me.
The situation had changed, and his hesitation was now my opportunity.
Before the other guy turned around to charge at me with the barrier again.
I ran towards him in a straight line, not even having bothered looking back.
His expression grew even more anguished when the threat that was me suddenly rushed him.
More hesitation.
I threw the glass shard!
It spun and hit his right shoulder, but didn't go through his winter clothes and instead glanced off.
But it made him stumble backwards out of instinct and shock, losing his one-legged balance, putting his right leg back behind him again.
I was very close.
And he was in panic.
He moved his right leg to kick.
I lowered myself and slid along the ground in a soccer-like slide.
The wind from his roundhouse kick roared above me and hit the left wall as I rammed my outstretched leg into his left shinbone at great speed.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"
An inhuman scream resounded as I slit a few feet further before coming to a stop.
I turned around and stood up enough to look back.
The skinny guy lay whimpering on the ground, clutching his broken leg.
And the burly guy was still standing where I had outmanoeuvred him at the entrance, still unharmed, looking at me with murder in his eyes and ready to charge again.
It was one-on-one now. I could maybe circle around him while dodging his attacks, and then kick him unconscious, but I didn't have to risk continuing this.
I could end the fighting here and now without risking anything.
And do here what I also wanted to do to the guys upstairs.
I moved towards his friend, still lying on the ground and clutching his broken leg.
The instant I reached him, I raised my own leg…
And stomped down on the knee of his still-unbroken leg.
"AAAAHHHH!!!"
Once more he screamed his lungs out, but I cut off his scream prematurely prematurely by bending over, putting him in a chokehold and lifting him back to his feet.
"Don't move!" I demanded of the broad guy, speaking from behind his friend, whom I had
taken hostage so quickly that he had only managed a few steps forwards.
He froze, still staring at me with shock, fear, and horror in his eyes.
"L-let him go!"
In response to his demands, I loosened my chokehold and reduced the strength with which I was lifting my hostage, letting him bear weight again on his broken legs.
"AAAAA—"
I cut off his scream by choking and lifting him again.
"I'm the one making demands here. Get on your knees right now or I'll make your friend here suffer even more."
I saw him turn pale, looking aghast between my and his friend's face, stuck on what to do.
One last push, an offer for their salvation.
"The rest are already dead. You're going to get on your knees and tell me what happened here, and if you're honest and clear, I'll let you two off the hook. You can carry your buddy out and maybe find him some medical help somewhere."
I saw him open his mouth, but no words came out.
"On your knees, now!"
"Al… alright, alright!"
Finally, he lowered himself, and I could finally get the information I wanted.
Something I had intended to investigate later, but unexpectedly had the chance to learn now.
Information about whether my brother was really involved in all this. Whether my father had been pulling the strings all along.
"Why did you target this building and kill everyone here?"
He hesitated.
I let the hostage scream again, cutting off his train of thought.
"Don't think! Just speak the truth!"
"It… it was the captain. He… he came up here…"
"Why!"
"The women! He wanted the women!"
"Then why did you kill everyone!?"
"They… they fought back, killed a teammate! Everything went to shit then! We… we just kept shooting."
"Why were you still here!?"
"The… captain… wan… wanted revenge… on that girl who… helped kill one of us," the man on his knees managed to stutter out between tears.
"Why her specifically!? There were others, right!?"
"We got him, but she kept attacking us. But every time we shot her down, she vanished. We… we knew she was still here. We wanted revenge, so…"
"Did your captain know her beforehand!?"
"I… I… don't…"
"Speak!"
"I don't know! Please! I don't…"
"…Alright… Then why did your captain choose this building!?"
"I… I don't…"
"Did he live here!?"
"No…"
"Have any of you ever been in this building!?"
"No, we—"
Suddenly, his gaze shot away from me. He was staring at the stairwell.
And his expression was full of terror and—
*BANG*
His head snapped back as red sprayed out.
I turned towards the gunshot, keeping my hostage in front of me as a shield.
And I saw the shooter.
My heart froze.
It wasn't someone that we had missed.
James was standing on the stairs, expressionless…
His gun pointed at me.
Wh… why?
My vision turned red before I heard the gun go off.