Red and e fshes from gun muzzles strobed against the buildings, occasionally silhouetting a figure dug or firing from cover. In the distahe engines of armored vehicles whined as they navigated the terrain. The violent chaos that enveloped the streets made her blood run cold.
And she was about to walk straight into it.
Unbelievable. This 't be real. This 't be happening.
Her legs felt unsteady beh her, and her heart thudded hard and fast. But she had no time to let her fears paralyze her. She had to push forward and hope for the best.
"Stay sharp!" Virgil barked from beside her. His pace quied. He darted ahead and disappeared behind a er. Fii picked up her own pace to keep up with him. He wouldn't wait for her. That wasn't the kind of man he was.
After another half block, he took a right and brought her along a deserted backstreet. Judging by their bearings, Fii figured they were close to the outer reaches of the Ironcd Legion's turf.
The staccato gunfire drew nearer by the sed.
"Virgil..." She adjusted the audio sensitivity in her helmet to better isote his voice.
"Save your breath. We're almost there." Virgil grabbed the pipe rail lining the steps in front of her and hurled himself forward with a strong push. The motions and executioextbook. Fii mimicked his teique and sprang forward in pursuit.
Soon, they emerged oreet's far end, and Fii glimpsed the trail of destru before them. A pair of upturrucks rested on their sides, blog the path. Debris littered the street along with charred bodies. Stray bullets buzzed around the wreckage. A thin plume of smoke rose from a crag bze, the source obscured behind the crates and barriers erected ahead.
The inhabitants of the area scattered like roaches from a sudden light. Dozens of people darted and wove through the debris in an effort to get as far away from the fighting as possible. Others scrambled for whatever meager cover they could find.
Not everyone made it. One man was too slow to rise when the gunfire had ceased and crumpled lifelessly. Two people hiding behind a wall gnced around the side of their barrier to snatch a better look. Bullets ced the wood and buried themselves into their skulls.
No!
"We have to save them!" Fii surged past Virgil, using her gravikinesis and rollerskates to quickly weave around obstacles. She left him behind as she worked her way closer toward the active bat zone. She couldn't let more i people die.
Virgil yelled at her from somewhere behind. She wasn't listening.
Before long, she approached a rampaging Humvee rolling up the street and spraying the area indiscriminately with gunfire. People screamed and scrambled out of the way. Those who fell uhe mae's path didn't have enough time to cry out before being run over.
The sight threw Fii into a frenzy. With a scream of anger, she pnted both feet against the pavement and unleashed her powers. An invisible wave rippled outward and struck the vehicle. It unched upwards as if a ramp had jutted beh its undercarriage. The driver ejected through the top windshield, along with his partner riding shotgun. The vehicle kept arg its climb, eventually flipping onto its top with an explosive crash.
Screaming, the gunmen fell from the sky. Fii watched iached silence as she increased their weight, letting gravity bring them down hard. She crushed them beh a n of force, spttering the crete with red. Her stomach ed with disgust and horror, but the urgency of the situatioed her from vomiting.
The people whnized her rushed past her with cries of gratitude and thanks. To her horror, not all of them were unhurt.
A woman cradling her son hobbled past her. Most of her son's head had been blown away. Blood soaked their clothes and shoes. Other children trailed behind them.
Shouts and cries drew her attention to another cluster. She turo discover the remains of a family huddled behind the safety of a brick wall. All four were covered with wounds and injuries. All were moaning or screaming with pain.
One kid yanked her hair out from underh a car tire. Three men straio lift a jagged sb of crete from a pile of corpses. A girl colpsed into the arms of her mother, blood oozing from her crushed legs.
Several called for help, many clutched their wounded and dead, and all seemed to gravitate around Fii.
So many voices filled the air in a cacophony. It overwhelmed her and drew tears from her eyes. She could barely listen to ohout another one seizitention. Panic threateo engulf her mind. Her trembling legs wao give out beh her. Her fists ched until they went numb.
Virgil finally arrived and shuffled beside her. He k beside her and pced a hand on her shoulder. She recoiled.
"Breathe." His calm, deep voice cut through her daze.
She exhaled, uo produy words. What could she say?
"Focus oing people out. Anyone you . If you spot any Adrenomancers, deal with them quickly then move on. Start small and work your way from there."
"Got it," she answered hoarsely.
The fact that she'd aowledged his and forted her somewhat. Virgil seemed to sehis and gave a curt nod before running into the fray. She watched him leave befathering her nerves aing to work.
Moving among the stranded and wounded people, she focused on moving them from the safety of their barricade and evacuating them further into the slums. She guided people through backstreets, calming the panicked with reassurances and instrus. When an arm was required, she provided it.
"Whe past this se, you guys are free and clear," she said, her voice bolstered by the cyberic modutions of her helmet. "Keep your heads down and stay in the shadows. I'll make sure we get—"
A trio of Adrenomancers bounded around the er, heavily-armed with rifles and faceptes. They caught sight of her instantly, raising their guns to open fire. Fii leaped betweerangers and the gunmen.
Her helmet's HUD honed in oype of rifle they possessed—military-grade submae guns. She had already experiehe force they geed and now knew much much force she o exert against them.
The moment their guns fshed with fire, she erected a gravity field rge enough to enpass the injured and prevent any bullets from reag them. They dropped harmlessly to the ground and pinged off the pavement.
After adjusting the force of her field, the ining bullets swerved around her as if guided by invisible hands. Each lead-loaded projectile orbited in the air before shooting back at her attackers. They jerked and vulsed as the rounds she reflected drilled through their body armor and ripped into flesh.
"Go, now! Get out of here!"
They obeyed and darted off. When they were well out of harm's way, Fii augmehe gravity around her adversaries until they doubled over from the effects. In their weakeate, the increased force fttehem against the road. When Fii finally released her hold, they y still and bloody, with rib cages and bones protruding through their clothes.
Fii blinked numbly at the remains and proceeded onward. Another pair of gunmen raced out from her peripheral vision and spun their guns at her. The same rea. They met the same fate.
Each death numbed her. At one point she had to retch behind a dumpster. Aime she tripped over her skates and vomited onto a corpse.
She was getting tired of taking off her helmet each time to hurl.
Eater left her staggering and nauseous. Guilt weighed heavy iomach, yet her instincts told her to push on and keep helping those she could. She knew she couldn't stop until the situation resolved. If she allowed herself to ponder her as or even assess how she was doing, she would be forced to e to grips with her choices.
No. That had to wait. Focus on resg and saving people. Get them away from here. Stop those bastards.
Nothing else mattered right now. Not the part of her screaming within her psyche, not the quakes wrag her body and tears running down her cheeks. Just keep moving. Move!
Fii scaled up a building with her rollerskates a high in the air, altering her gravity to slow down her dest as she surveyed her surroundings. Fshes and popping noises sounded from a two-block radius ahead. Cries and pleas rang out from the far end where a multitude of people huddled on the ground, trapped.
Closer to her position, she glimpsed two silhouettes leaping toward her position. They dropped on the rooftop in front of her. In a blink they pulled their triggers and began sending a storm of lead her way. Fii narrowed her eyes and sharpened her tration. Each bullet deflected.
She extended her hand towards them. Several baseball-sized pieces of broken crete levitated in front of her palm and with a sweepiure, sent the stones hurtling at them with the same velocity and force as a rifle shot.
The first roailed one of the Adrenomancers in the head, bursting his helmet like an eggshell. The sed smmed into the chest of the other Adrenomancer a him sailing across the rooftop. She didn't relent until the debris pulped them intnizable mush.
She barely had time to catch her breath.
A metallic whine brought her head swiveling around in time to glimpse the ining RPG. She geed a gravity field a huimes the usual magnitude in order to offset its acceleration and slow it to a near standstill. she pushed outward on its gravitational vector and flung the payload skyward. The rocket detonated hundreds of meters above with a burst of thunder.
As the loud boom echoed throughout the streets, Fii sailed towards the building housing the unch tube. The rocketeer dropped his uncher and produced a pistol. Three bursts of psma fizzled from its muzzle and exploded the exterior crete around the windows. By the time she on him, he'd jumped out of his position and skirted along the side of the roof.
Oh no you don't! Reach him!
The hazy ripples in space marking the range of her influeretched and grew. With a hroan, she extehe range a bit farther—forty meters...fifty meters…sixty meters! Her mind burned from the exertion. Almost there!
"e...onnn..." The space ed and distorted unnaturally. The man leaped from the rooftop and tinued sprinting along a hanging terrace. The sery rippled as she delved a final teers.
Gotcha!
Her power ed around him and slowed his dest to a crawl. The gunner gawked at his situation in bewilderment, apparently uain as to whether he was simply falling or not.
Fii pulled him and herself towards each other, flying faster and faster in the space between them. As she neared, she built up her speed and spun to deliver a devastating somersault kick to his chest
—augmented by the bined foromentum, trifugal energy, and altering the local vector of gravity. She broke through his body armor and shattered his sternum. He spiraled and crumpled to the ground like a rag doll.
She pulled herself to a nearby building and stood on its side. Taking a few steady breaths to ease the tightness in her chest, she roller-skated back toward the clustered group. There had to be at least fifty people; too many for her to move on her own. She'd need backup.
"Edith! you spare some droo guide these people out?" Fii asked aloud.
Helix informed her.
"Roger that. Thanks, Helix. Also...have you heard from Virgil? Where is he?"