I hope Rao's okay...
His shop was a few blocks away from where the smoke inated from. So…he should be okay. She’ll have to check up on him ter. Right now, she o find out what happened.
Rather thaing her body, she let her power pull her from rooftop to rooftop, building to building, her roller skates granting her additional momentum and stability. Axio her knees as she nded, her muscles abs the impact, while the microeleics within her skates pensated for the remaining strain.
Whenever she pushed off, her skates' powerful motors accelerated her movements, adding an additional burst of velocity. Coupled with her gravikinesis, the results allowed her to cross a block or two in a single, fluid motion.
As Axion he Rust Market, she sed the streets below, searg for any victims, perpetrators, or clues. A dense, plume of smoke domihe area, partially obsg her view. Fming debris littered the roads, and scorched fragments marred the pavement, trailing towards the in point. Pedestrians scattered wildly, panicked screams mingling with the chaoti.
"Edith! Something happe the Rust Market. you send your drones over here and s the area?"
"Thanks."
Axion picked up her pace, arg smoothly over the final rooftop, a into the thick haze. Her gravikinesis pulled her forward and slowed her dest, and she dropped softly onto the road, her roller skates rolling to a halt.
"Over here! Axion's here!" a voice yelled, eg faintly through the choking fumes. Axion pivoted, peering into the smoke, and spotted a figure limping toward her, arms clutg his stomach. Blood oozed between his fingers, and his plexion ale and sallow.
Axion skated forward, catg him before he colpsed. Up close, his clothes appeared singed, his flesh burned and bed. A massive, bleeding wound gouged his abdomen, the tissue infmed and charred. Axion flinched, suppressing the bile rising ihroat, and gingerly lowered him to the ground.
"Hey, yonna be fine, alright?" Axion reassured him, trying—and failing—to keep the apprehension out of her voice. Holy shit, his wounds looked awful, and he was bleeding out fast.
"They—they came out of nowhere, a-attacked everyohe wounded man gasped, his breath ragged and strained. More blood bubbled forth, his skin a ghostly, ashen shade. "A-axion...look o-out, they're—"
Before he could finish, a bullet zipped past, whizzing over Axion's shoulder. Another followed, ricocheting off the asphalt, and Axion threw herself protectively over the injured man aed her field to deflect more ining fire.
Bullets smmed uselessly against her gravitational barrier, careening to the ground. When the barrage stopped, she scooped up the wounded man and pulled herself to a nearby alley, darting behind the retive safety of the wall. Bullets tore apart the brick, scattering the debris in her wake.
Axion deposited the man out of the line of fire and crouched beside him, peeking cautiously around the er. Through the fading smoke, a group of figures emerged—five, to be exact. Each wore a matg leather ensemble, highlighted by a metallic harness. Tubes and iors snaked beh their clothing, and a glowing, fluorest liquid circuted throughout.
One sported an assault rifle, and he shouldered the on and raked the alley with another volley. Axion fttened herself against the brick, wing as the bullets impacted her hastily structed gravitational barrier. Another was armed with a submae gun, spraying her cover recklessly, while the third wielded a pair of wicked, electro-whips. Two stood a fair distance behind the frontliheir hands hidden behind holstered ons.
"Edith, do you know who they are?" Axion whispered, her voice low and urgeh's drones would arrive soon, but Axion needed an edge, and fast.
They definitely weren't gangsters from around here. Their getup and guns looked top-notch, military-grade—something you don't see in the slums, even from the Ironcd Legion.
Axion took a deep, calming breath. Alright, so five Adrenomancers versus one her. Not optimal, but doable. She could manage. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.
She looked back at the injured man slumped behind her.
He's not looking too good. She pressed her fingers against his neck, cheg his pulse. Fortunately, he was still breathing—barely. Still, she couldn't leave him out in the open.
"This guy's hurt bad. I have the medkit you gave me in my bag. If I take him somewhere safe and you guide me while I treat him, he st until I'm done?"
"Okay," Axion muttered, assessing the situatioh was right—she had to defeat these guys first, otherwise none of her efforts would matter if they attacked more people.
Okay, priorities: Get this guy to safety. Take out the Adrenomancers. Treat his injuries and stabilize him.
"Guess there's no easy way out of this." Axion sighed, grittieeth and eling her power. Then, she burst from the alley, accelerating swiftly and drawing the Adrenomancers' ire.
"Target located! Focus fire!" the gunman barked, squeezing the trigger. Axion veered erratically, using her gravikinesis to propel herself sideways. Bullets streaked past harmlessly, smming into a stall and shredding its tents.
She ducked and swerved, using the market's wares and rubble as cover. Her roller skates carried her nimbly through the wreckage, their motors whirring and enhang her movements. Bullets tore up the ground and bsted crates to splinters, sh her with wood and debris.
Axion deflected the shrapnel, extending her gravitational barrier to repel the smaller fragments.
She just o get withiy meters of them, and this should all be over. She eyed the Adrenomancer, gauging the distanly a few more seds and she'd have him.
"Keep her pinned down! Blitz, Voltaire, go fnk her!" the gunman ordered, firing a sustained barrage.
Axion zig-zagged, twisting and pirouettiically to dodge the gunfire. One bullet clipped through her gravitational barrier and ricocheted, tearing a shallow gash across her exposed arm. Axion winced, biting back the pain. Her skates carried her toward a stall, and she dove over a dispy rack, bursting through the opy.
Why did a bullet gh my field? What was different about this one? I'll have to figure that out ter. First, I have to deal with—
Axion jerked back, her instincts screaming. A blur zipped past her peripheral vision, and something cold aallic scraped against her helmet. She slid sideways on her skates, whirling in time to witness another Adrenomancer wrench his bde out of a crate. His pale plexiorayed a faint hint of surprise, but it quickly vanished beh a roguish smile.
You won't be smiling for long. I've got you now!
She increased the gravitational force exerted on him, doubling him over in an instant. The Adrenomancer sank to his knees, his face t in a pained grimace. Axion maintaihe pressure, holding him in pce.
A torrent of gunfire ravaged her cover, disrupting her tration. The weight disappeared as she erected her shield again, f the bullets away from her. Damnit, they weren't letting up at all!
The Adrenomancer who had ambushed her staggered to his feet and ran back to the group, the gunfire dying down momentarily to let him pass. As soon as he returo their ranks, the shooting resumed with renewed vigor.
Fine. If all they wao do was shoot, then she was gonna py the same game.
She focused her senses on the ining projectiles, increasing the magnitude of her field while altering the gravitational eddies to redirect the bullets back at her attackers.
The redirected projectiles peppered the Adrenomancers' positions, f them to dive for cover. Axioheir temporary distra to skate toward them and close the distance. However, as she closed in, a glimmering tendril shed out from behind the stalls and snapped around her ankle, jerking her bad throwing her off bance.
She careened sideways, colliding violently with a nearby booth. Then, a shock jolted her body, electricity c through the whip's metal and dang along her suit.
Axion yelped in pain and surprise, hastily rolling out of the whip's grasp. She crashed to the ground in an ungraceful tumble but regained her bearings quickly and skated away before her attacker could entangle her again.
The Adrenomancer wielding the whip—Voltaire, probably—grinned and charged after her, drawing his arm back for another swing. His metallitraption whistled through the air, snapping and twirling with each arc. Axion swerved deftly around his strikes, eling her momentum into sharp turns aic ges of dire.
She used her power to divert the whip away from her and drive it toward the ground. Every time the electric on tacted the pavement, a blinding spark fshed and a spray of rubble erupted.
Great. Another whip-obsessed freak. She had already fought someoh a sword-whip before, so this one hardly surprised her. This one had a longer reach, and a dangerous electrical element.
But her range was greater.
Axioated him into the air and flung him straight into a metal vendor cart. Voltaire yelped, crashing through the shelves and sprawling onto the ground. Axion nded, skating closer.
Before he could react, she stomped her foot, and the ground ruptured. A n of asphalt surged, lifting him into the air and sending him somersaulting.
"Ugh—what the?!"
Voltaire plummeted back to earth in a cloud of debris, groaning as the shockwave scattered the remaining wreckage.
As he was getting up, Axion lunged and dropkicked him square in the chest. Ribs cracked, aapulted backwards, tumbling end-over-end.
Bullets from the gunman tio pepper the area. Axion flung fragments of metal and crete at the shooter to keep him pinned down. Then, she hurled the whip-user's body, bowling him into his rades. They scattered, leaping in different dires.
Didn't matter. They were now all within her range.
She increased the gravity around them, pinning them to the ground—or not.
Three Adrenomahe gunman, the speedy bde user, and the walking brick wall, groaned and struggled, but mao lift themselves.
The burly one lumbered forward, bellowing a wordless war cry.
Axioated, eling more of her power into keeping him restrained. He shuddered visibly but tinued his advance.
What? How much strength does this guy have?! Axion hastily backed away, but he bulldozed onward.
The Adrenomancer roared and swung, and Axion barely sidestepped, narrowly dodging his ched fist. He tinued his wild barrage, and Axioreated, frantically avoiding his frenzied assault. His fists smashed through stalls, upending the dispys and scattering their tents across the pavement. Every strike gouged a crater in the asphalt, shattering stone and rending steel.
"Stay still, dammit!" the Adrenomancer roared.
Axion ignored him, her roller skates carrying her away. Okay, new pn: Avoid melee. Hit-and-run tactics.
She extended her power aated several ks of roto the air. Then, she uhem toward the lumbering Adrenomancer like miniature meteors. The rubble rocketed forward, smming into the brute and knog him back. Axion maintained her offensive, b him with wave after wave of projectiles. Every rock elicited a grunt from the Adrenomancer as he shielded himself from her attacks. But despite her assault, he refused to stop pursuing her.
Oh, e on! Go down already!
From the er of her eye, Axion spotted a kid lying prone in the debris, arms shielding his head from the battle. She sprinted over to him and scooped him into her arms—only to find herself holding nothing but air. The kid's form flickered and dissipated, revealing a small disc-like device lying in its pce.
"Wait, what—"
A hologram?
The world ed around her as she rose from the ground. A figure materialized out of thin air, brandishing a pair of knives—oucked between her fingers and one held in a reverse grip. A visor covered her eyes. Her smile was both teasing and predatory, sending a chill down Axion's spine.
Reflexively, Axion ged the vector of gravity in front of her upwards, hoping to flitacker skyward. To her surprise, the woman flickered like a glitchy hologram, disappearing in a blur.
Axion spun, searg for where the Adrenomancer went, only to catch a boot to the chest that sent her flying. She careened into a stall and crumpled to the ground. She picked herself up hastily, dazed and disoriented.
"Good job, Mirage! You got her!" The gunman shouted.
Axion shook her head, trying to clear away the fog. Before she could react, something hard smashed into her helmet. Stars danced across her vision.
The brute grabbed another k of crete and raised it over his head. "This is payback for the rocks!" He swung, smashing the boulder into Axion and sending her sailing through the air. She nded and rolled across the rough pavement before sliding to a halt.
Ugh! Dammit...that hurt. Her gravity field dampened most of the impact, but that still packed quite a punch.
Axion staggered to her feet shakily and tried to activate her link to Edith. "Edi—" she mao gasp before Voltaire joihe fray, swinging his electrified whip. She yelped in surprise as the s ed around her forearm. Thericity surged through the metal links and jolted her body.
Axion grimaced, biting back the agony. She directed her power and flung him into the air, yanking the whip free. The Adrenomancer careened into a stall, obliterating the opy, before nding with a muffled groan.
Before she could collect herself, the big brute had mao get behind her and yanked her upward, then found herself plummeting face-first into the ground, her cyber helmet's visor g upon impact.
Pain blossomed in her skull, and her ears rang. Axion groaned, f herself upright, her vision blurring. Damn, that hurt.
The big Adrenomaomped, and she scrambled baarrowly evading his crushing blow. His boot pulverized the ground, sending asphalt spraying and cleaving the pavement.
Fog her poumping enough forto it to cripple a normal person—she flung the brute to a nearby building, his reinforced body cratering the brick. She kept him pihere, doubling the amount of effort and tration she used.
Axion's head throbbed, and the mental strain intensified. Sweat dripped down her forehead, and her cyber helmet's interface flickered erratically, glitg and fshing red.
The brutish Adrenomahrashed and pried himself loose. Axion swore under her breath.
Oh, e on! This guy's crazy strong! I 't even keep him immobile for more than a few seds! How do I even deal with someone like him?!
"Lay it on her Blitz!" The man with the rifle ordered.
"On it!" The speedster shouted, sprinting forward with blinding speed.
Before she could react, he delivered a fierce kick. At first, his aim seemed off, but his leg swerved unnaturally as her gravity field caused his kick to angle back at her—eg solidly on her fnk.
Axion wheezed, doubling over, and he followed with a krike tut. She coughed, staggering back, and Blitz pursued relentlessly, his strikes a whirlwind of kicks and punches.
Damn, he's fast!
"Eeeh? So that's how you avoid getting hit?" Blitz sneered, his movements a blur. "Dunno what your power is, but it ain't all that impressive. Just an off-brand TK."
What the hell was he going on about?
Axion gritted her teeth, blog and dodging, but he was all over the pce, his movements a fusing, freic blur. His heel ected with her sor plexus, and Axion keeled, gasping for breath. Blitz swept his leg, and she toppled, falling ft on her back.
She tried honing in on his movements so she could el her gravikinesis to affect him, but he was impossible to follow. Another kick smmed into her ribs, and Axion grunted, curling instinctively.
"e on, Axio," Blitz teased, kig her again. "This isn't fun if you're not fighting back."
"Shut...up," Axion hissed, eling her gravikinesis. Stop. Moving. So. Fast!
Blitz blurred, striking her a third time. "What's the matter? Too slow? Here, let me help you."
Axion snarled and thrust her hands, and the surrounding debris hurtled towards him. Blitz reacted instantly, pivoting and dodging the hail of rubble. Then, his knee ected with the side of her head, and Axion's cyber helmet's interface flickered again.
Shit, that hurt. Axion swayed unsteadily, struggling to retain her tration. Blitz darted in again, and Axion released the debris, fog her power solely on him. Gotcha!
Her gravikinesis seized him, yanking him down.
Blitz stumbled and crashed into the asphalt.
Axion trated, eling mravitational force to keep him pinned.
"Not so fast anymore, huh?" Axion forced herself upright, but suddenly, a hail of gunfire erupted. Bullets ricocheted against her barrier, and Axion flinched.
Right, fot about him.
She blocked the gunfire, redireg the projectiles back to the shooter. The gunman swore and dove aside. Axion maintained her grip on Blitz and eled her power. Let's try this.
She hauled, yanking him through the ground. The asphalt ruptured and buckled, and his body scraped harshly against the ground. Axion heaved him upward, and his limbs flopped lifelessly. Then, she swung him viciously and hurled him straight at the gunman.
They crashed with a satisfying thud.
Voltaire rushed in, swinging his whip.
Axion jumped away, using her power to fall up towards the building where the big Adrenomaill struggled. She nded on her roller skates, steadying herself against the brick.
"Hey, Havoc. I don't remember Prime's telekinesis doing that kind of shit. Are you sure her power's the same as his?" Blitz asked the rifleman, who was groggily pig himself up.
"It's simir," the rifleman—Havoc—responded. "Just a different application, probably."
"Huh." Blitz shrugged, rushing at her again.
This time, she was fast enough to react to his speed—and her power took hold. She anchored him with gravity and pulled, redireg his momentum. Blitz jerked and collided violently with the side of the building. A guttural wheeze escaped his lips as he crumpled.
Axioated him up to her level, aumbled helplessly. She then flung him towards her as she pulled back her fist, aligning the vector of gravity around it to augmerike.
"Oh shi—" Blitz sailed through the air, his smug smile morphing into dread, and Axion punched, her gravikiic-powered attack eg squarely on his jaw.
The speedy Adrenomancer rag-dolled, spinning ically before crashing into the asphalt and rebounding, the asphalt cratering as he plunged into the ground.
Axion's roller skates carried her backward, cushioning her momentum. She exhaled, flexing her bruised hand, satisfied. Ha, take that.
The sound of someoomping towards her made Axion gnce over. The big Adrenomancer somehow got to his feet and charged, the building's wall g under him with each step.
Oh shit!
She released her hold over him and then watched him fall, crashing messily to the ground three stories below.
He grunted, rising slowly.
Axion scowled.
eling her power, she repeated her bo, levitating the brute, pulling him towards her, and following up with a devastating punch. But just as her fist ected, the big Adrenomancer tered with a punch of his own as he sailed towards her. His reach exceeded hers, and his fist ected first, hammering Axion's gut and sendihrough the wall beh her.
As the effects of her gravikinesis dispersed, both of them tumbled through the room within, crashing into furniture and trashing the interior.
Without breaking stride, the big brute grabbed her by the shoulders and headbutted.
Her cyber helmet's interface flickered, and its warning indicators fshed red. Blood trickled from her mouth, and her helmet's visor fractured.
"Had enough yet, Axion?" the Adrenomaaunted, pung her repeatedly.
Each blow rocked Axion's head bad jarred her brain, her cyber helmet's visor fracturing further. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe, could hardly process his onsught.
Desperate, she eled her power and unched him out of the hole in the wall. Unfortunately, the Adrenomancer's grip remained vice-like, dragging her with him. They arced downward, and the big brute adjusted his positioning, smming her back-first onto the road.
Axion's vision exploded with stars.
"Stay. Down!" the Adrenomancer grunted, battering her body with punches.
Paied everywhere, and the world blurred.
In a desperate attempt, she caused him to float up while pulling herself away. Their grips broke, and the Adrenomancer drifted skyward. Axion rolled and skated away the instant her roller bdes touched the asphalt. Finally free, she sucked in a shuddering breath. Every part of her ached.
She gingerly touched her cyber helmet. Cracks marred its visor, and its visual feed faltered.
She gnced back, and the big Adrenomancer floated upside-down several meters above, raging.
"Voltaire! Mirage! Do something!" the gunman—Havoc—berated, turning towards the whip-wielder and the visored woman who had been tent to hang back.
Axion didn't wait to find out what their pns were. She summoned her remaining stamina and skated autting as much distance as possible between her and the Adrenomancers.
She sed the area to see if there were any bystanders nearby—there weren't. Thank goodness. The Rust Market was deserted now; the shoppers either fled or hid in nearby buildings. Eveher vendors seemed to have abaheir stalls. No one wao get caught in this mess.
But the guy she rescued earlier still needed her help.
Axion ged course, skating back to where she had left him. Once she spotted his unscious body, she scooped him up, using her gravikinesis to lessen the load and hasten her rollerbde-aided movement.
Axion g her cyber helmet's fractured s. Sure enough, an indicator had appeared, dispyih's suggested location.
Axion gritted her teeth. Hopefully, the Adrenomancers wouldn't pursue her—she ent.
Thankfully, no footsteps or sounds of pursuit reached her ears. Axion checked behind her. No one.
She sighed, relieved. Looks like they gave up.
Axion resumed her escape, her roller skates carryihrough the streets.