Esper Chapter 20: Stormwall

Part 1

A dark night that robbed the air of its pleasantly warm weather, only contributing to dismaying a group of hyperventilating teens. Lined up, kneeling on sharp gravel, the four were on the verge of tears as six large and unsavory thugs encircled them. With vehicle headlights blaring in the faces of the distraught young people, the men silently rummaged through the pockets of their black and beige jackets for weapons. “Stun gun on this one.” One pulled the only weapon from a teenaged boy’s pocket.

“Wait, I paid a lot for th-” Without warning the boy was struck! A punch to the side of his head sent him crashing to the ground, and before he knew it another gangster followed up with a kick to the gut! They didn’t stop. Another joined in, stomping the boy who could only curl up into the fetal position as the full-grown men unloaded strike after strike on the downed teen!

“Stop it! Please!” A girl threw her body onto the battered boy, hoping that she could shield him, and they wouldn’t hit a girl. She was wrong. One man yanked her up by her medium length brown hair, then delivered a hellish punch so devastating she felt it travel through the gut to her spine!

“Alright, chill out.” An uninvolved thug, red beanie contrasted with the night sky behind him, said while casting aside an oddly colored cigarette. Frightening the already distraught children more was the handgun haphazardly sitting in the waistband of his jeans, made to be clearly visible. The girl was released and the trampling of the boy ceased, leaving him bloodied with broken fingers, wrists, and a crooked nose. “Remember what the boss said, we need to know who’s in charge of these little fuckers. Don’t kill them…at least not all of them.”

“We-we’ll tell you whatever you want! Please don’t kill us!” Leader of their small group, the tallest boy with freshly set cornrows, begged. His response was being pistol whipped by the gangster’s gun! He cried, feeling the bridge of his nose breaking immediately as the gangsters once more followed up! They stomped the teen out for a minute until the red capped gangster called them off.

“OK…” The obvious leader, red beanie, crouched down to meet the one remaining boy eye to eye. He lit another strange cigarette and took a long drag, with a euphoric feeling circulating through his body. Terrified, surrounded by thugs, and fighting back tears, the boy silently prayed for the police. Blanketed in the shadows cast by the bridge overhead as they were, hope of rescue was fleeting. Whenever the sound of a car’s tires zoomed above, the boy wanted to stand up and make a run for it, until looking at that handgun once more. “…I’m going to try and be nice. Kid, what’s your name?”

At gunpoint, the boy answered. “Otto…”

“Cool, cool. Otto, yesterday, ‘bunch of our boys and girls got locked up. ‘Few even died. Then, friend of mine got torched in that theater house. Broke my heart!” Otto noted the distinct lack of emotion on the man’s face when saying that. “Now, I’m sure you get why losing a friend is pretty heart breaking, right…?” With the cigarette between his lips, the man pointed his handgun at the stilled downed girl!

“Uh…!” Otto halted, remembering the beatings the other boys had taken.

“You get what I’m saying?” Point made; Otto began to openly weep.

“I-I…get it!” The teenage boy was broken. With a situation unlike any he thought he’d experienced; fear had destroyed the child.

“Geez, quit crying!” The red capped lowlife shouted in Otto’s face, which didn’t stop the boy from bawling. “…Alright, fuck it. We’ll get what we want from the other ones.” He placed the gun’s barrel against the boy’s forehead. “Should’ve just stayed in school, kid. Shouldn’t have fucked with the 365!” And like that, he halted. The sound of shoes disturbing gravel beneath them caused the man to turn his gun in that direction! “Who the fuck is there?!” On the opposite side of the bridge, someone stood, silhouetted by the orange lights overhead.

Face obscured by shadows cast from their hood, only a pair of purple eyes stared at the men. The red beanie man studied the stranger’s petite frame, clothed differently from his captives. In an oversized black hoodie with lining as vibrantly purple as those eyes, matching yoga pants, and a set of dark purple running shoes, he perceived them as an inopportune jogger!

“…Well? Who are you?! This ain’t a joke! Get lost or you’re fucking dead.” The man cocked his gun, to which the figure simply stood unfazed with hands in the front pouch of their jacket. “Ow…ow…” Words flooded his mind as a headache erupted. Run, leave, fear, death, survive, escape, surrender, they all continued to pour into the man’s mind as he became weak in the knees and nearly toppled.

“You good?” One of the gangsters asked, reaching out his hand only for it to be swatted away!

“Get off me! Don’t fucking t-touch me!” The signals were crossed! He gripped his gun and began unloading on the figure! Before the bullets were even fired however, the figure leapt upward and disappeared onto the bridge, gliding over twenty feet into the air! “The fuck?! Go! Go after that fucker!” Three of the gangsters heeded their leader’s demands and ran up the grassy embankment to the side, and then onto the bridge! Several unclear noises and yelling resounded once the men left the sight of the red capped man. “…What is happening? Hey! Guys!” Next thing he knew, all three of the men were launched off the side of the bridge, sent crashing into the gravel covered ground! Then, from atop the bridge, the figure gracefully floated down. They were wrapped in a continuous wave of magenta haze, hovering down like some kind of angel, or in the thugs’ eyes, a devil. “F-Fuck! Shoot!” With a wave of their hand, the mist blasted the gravel, dirt, and chunks of ground into the gangsters’ faces! The makeshift smokescreen blinded all the men, covering the area in a cloud of debris! “I can’t see shit! D-do something!”

One of the gangsters tried to escape the dirt cloud, but a sudden orange light approaching caught his eye. An incoming burst of flames caught the man, igniting his chest and engulfing his whole body! He howled in agony, flailing his arms and dropping to the ground, rolling and wishing to extinguish the ceaseless fires! His calls for help fell on deaf ears as the man standing beside the red capped gangster was also suddenly ignited! Next, two men were turned into bonfires as well, so the red capped thug assumed he was next, thus he ran! Successfully escaping the dirt cloud, he was met by the hooded figure flourishing a sleeve of magenta mist.

Red beanie felt his body squeezed from all sides and a warm embrace slowly lift him off the ground. “What is this?! Yo! Yo!” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the roasted bodies of his men laid on the ground, unmoving. Terror gripped him as he slowly began to realize the gravity of the situation. “…I heard that Beset’s sword had shooters…it’s you?!”

The figure looked up, their purple eyes gleaming under the orange bridge lights, and spoke with the calm voice of a young woman. “…Maybe so. Regardless, I have a few questions for you.”

Part 2

Amala Singh held the gangster within her clutches, exercising restraint in not burning him to a crisp like the others. As the dirt cloud subsided, she saw her approaching accomplice nearly tumble down the embankment with his flabby legs. “See? My way worked better.” Smug as she was, her accomplice, Harper Wolf was more worried about the other teens. The cornrow haired boy, and lone girl from the group had recovered, as did the crying boy, though the first boy who’d been beaten still laid on the ground. “…Is he okay?”

“Let me see! Hey…hey!” With a black baseball cap pulled down, surgical mask covering chubby cheeks and mouth, and sunglasses, Harper’s identity was concealed. Amala, in contrast, elected to just use her hood and scarf. (These must be the guys who were posting on that message board. They’re all fucked up.) With no medical knowledge, Harper just rolled the boy over and checked his pulse like on television. Placing two fingers against the beaten boy’s neck, he didn’t feel anything immediately, then checked again by moving his fingers, and nothing! (Shit! Shit! Shit!) He gave in and tried to read the boy’s mind! An accidental deep dive resulted in Harper mistaking the boy’s broken fingers for his own, and shouting in pain!

“Are you okay?!” Amala looked to Harper, confused by his screaming and giving the red beanie wearing boss a chance to try and aim his gun at her! Though he managed to point the barrel in her direction, the thug ended up being slammed by Amala’s pyrokinesis flat onto the ground! “Stay put, or else!”

Harper recovered from the shock, and noticed the boy breathing again, although laboriously. “Thank…God…” He said, frantically checking the fingers on his right hand. Intact, yet the sensation was inescapable. Double and triple checking didn’t alleviate the ghost pains; however, he did realize his nose wasn’t bleeding! (…Isn’t it supposed to bleed when I do that?)

“H-Hey…um…” The boy with cornrows called to their rescuers. “Who are you guys?”

“…Doesn’t matter.” Amala said, with eyes locked firmly on the red beanie’d thug, not intending to get distracted again. “Go home. You kids are in the way.”

“How’d you guys even get caught up here like this?” Harper asked, receiving a glare from Amala. She clearly wanted to proceed with interrogating the man.

“These…bastards killed our friends.” The leader fought back tears while trying to break his nose back into place. “I saw them shoot Ronnie right in the back of the head!” Harper didn’t need his telepathy to empathize with the boy’s fury.

“I get that…I think. She’s right though, you guys need to leave. Will, here needs a hospital.” Harper grasped the names of the group from his momentary reading of the downed boy’s mind. The others gathered around and lifted Will, still wheezing through a broken jaw, onto their shoulders. “Go home.”

“B-But we…” Harper held up his hand, halting the boy.

“Daryl, right? Listen, Daryl, you’re worried about your boss, Canary, right?” That dive into Will’s mind was deep enough that Harper glimpsed the boy’s motivation for the evening. “Hey…uh…” Realizing only then that he couldn’t call Amala’s name out loud, an improvised name was given! “Spitfire!”

“…” It took a minute for Amala to realize Harper was referring to her, and when she did a sour taste brewed in her throat. Closing the distance between them way faster than he’d ever expected, Amala was right in Harper’s ear! “Absolutely not! That is absolutely not going to be my codename!” She whisper-yelled.

“What do you suggest?”

“Not something so dumb, something cooler. It better be cool!” She left Harper with a befuddling criticism. “Now, what did you want?”

“These guys have been getting chased around the city all day. A bunch of them did end up getting…you know.” The implications were obvious. “When they got together earlier, the 365 found out and crashed their party.”

“That’s reason for you to all stop this.” Amala spoke to the cornrow haired boy. “You all did well in finding that stuff on Joffe, but that needs to be the end of it.” The name Joffe was heard by the red beanie wearing gangster and a thought passed his mind, that did not go unnoticed by Harper.

“…Liam Joffe, you know him?” Right away, more thoughts barraged the man’s mind. Fear fraught, he struggled against the intensifying heat all around, only for his gaze to meet the frigid purple spotlights of the vigilante herself. A squeeze of her hand began to raise the temperature of her pyrokinesis and seer the man! “Wait, don’t!” Harper asserted! “Keep it low, his mind is getting frazzled. You want to know things, right? Maybe…we can get some stuff out of him.”

“Fine…” Amala agreed, lessening her fiery grip. “Who is Liam Joffe to you? Were you associated with Omar Redmond too?” It was like having locked gates opened up before his eyes! Harper was pulled along a path with words and names thrown by so fast he could barely catch them!

“…Does the name Keith mean anything here?” It did! That name rang keenly for Amala and the members of Beset’s sword! Horrified by his inner thoughts being broadcast aloud, the red beanie man broke into a cold sweat.

“Keith? As in Keith Lawless!” Danny with the cornrows chimed in! “He was one of the people we outted for working with Liam Joffe and Omar Redmond!”

“Yes, them and Arnold Patrick.” Amala knew all those names far too well, lamenting the loss of Omar’s phone during her raid on the Maddison Falls hotel. An abundance of information, gone.

“I’ve got to tell the boss.” Harper transcribed to the gangster’s terror. “Is what he’s thinking.”

“Boss? Is your boss Keith Lawless?” Amala knelt down to lock eyes with the man.

“Yes, it is.” Before the man could lie, Harper confirmed. “He was going to lie. Apparently…” Harper dug deeper into the man’s psyche and came across things he’d wished he never did. Flashes of people being pulled away from their loved ones, forced into acts against their will, having weapons pushed into their hands, those images bombarded his mind! “…Drugs…and people…” Unforgivable imagery, yet Harper halted, noticing the red beanie man on the ground shaking violently from a seizure! “H-hey is he…?” Unsure if worrying for such a clearly evil person was justified, Harper was gripped by indecision.

“What happened? Did you see anything?” Amala asked, caring nothing for the man.

“At a waterpark or something. P-people are there being forced to make drugs and do…other stuff.” That set Amala off! She looked to the man, crushed beneath her haze, and ignited him to a near instant crisp with the flick of her wrist! Harper pulled back, hearing the screams, but more so, escaping the wild and frenzied thoughts. The members of Beset’s sword stood in awe of the monstrous fire pit forming, roasting the man into nothing but cinders as his howls were silenced by death. (That’s fucking insane. She did that without a second thought!)

“Y-you said a waterpark, right?” Danny spoke, hesitant to upset the super powered woman. “Our leader, Canary kept saying an Oasistopia had a depot. We have to—” Meeting eyes with Amala, she had no reason to restate her opinion, the boy understood. “We’ll take Will to the hospital, but if you see Canary, please help them.” Without any confirmation, Amala watched the teens lug their battered bodies away.

“Oasistopia?” Amala searched the locations for the franchise waterpark. “There’s one a few miles from here.” Without another word, she cast her haze over Harper!

“Whoa, wait! We’re going?!” Not that he expected for the evening to end in anything other than a bloodbath, the frightened teen was still reeling from the visions he’d experienced while scanning red beanie’s mind.

“Yes. You can read minds, so if there’s anyone there that knows what I want to know, you can tell me.”

“And what exactly is that?”

“…We’re going to find their boss and base, then torch it all!”

Part 3

Being downwind of the Oasistopia gates, the odor of chlorine reached both Harper and Amala’s noses before the welcome sign graced their eyes. A happy cactus sporting sunglasses rode a waterslide on a floaty, the extravagantly cartoonish design welcomed people to the park. “That’s not cute at all.” Amala whispered to herself, ducking back down the incline. “Well? What are you picking up?”

“…A bunch of thinking. Gangsters…some other people who’re scared…hey!” Harper shot up, chasing behind Amala as she began to confidently storm toward the park! He grabbed the woman, smaller as she was, and tugged her back down the hill!

“Get your hands off me!”

“Shh!” He shushed! Carefully distancing himself, Harper scanned the thoughts of anyone nearby. “I don’t think anyone saw us or knows we’re coming, but they do know you exist. We can’t just run up in there and start killing!”

“I’ve already done this a bunch of times before.”

“Yeah, no shit…” Disdain for those she deemed evil permeated every fiber of Amala’s mind. Harper swore off ever peering in again, however, to no surprise her plan was walking in, pyrokinesis a blazing and indiscriminately killing every thug. “Well, I can just tell you from where I am, there are a lot of people in there. They probably have guns, and I’m not sure if your powers can stop bullets, are you?”

“…No.” She hated to admit it, but Harper was right.

“Then here’s an idea. On the opposite side of the park, they’re doing construction, I saw it when we were flying here. How about we enter through there, keep low, and if we encounter anyone…then you can do your thing.”

“…My goal…is to kill all of those gangsters and human traffickers…”

“Right, but-”

“But!” Amala cut him short! “…My main goal…I want to help those who are being trafficked. If people are here against their will, we will rescue them. That’s more important than anything else.” Interacting with the self-righteous vigilante made Harper view her as a coldblooded killer, yet there must’ve been some humanity buried within Amala’s psyche yet uncovered. The fear of delving into her mind was twofold; should she feel him doing so, Amala would likely immolate him, or worse, come to terms with possible truths best left hidden as far as he was concerned.

Harper was gripped by Amala’s haze and the two soared high over Oasistopia’s parking lot. True to its name, Oasistopia was an oasis among the surrounding mountainous and dry desert land. The roads leading to and from the water park were properly lit and well-maintained, but beyond that was near pitch-blackness, wild animals, and cacti. Several empty cars were lit by the orange glow of lampposts in the parking lot, and only a few small lights illuminated the center of the grounds. Opposite the entrance to Oasistopia, large freight vehicles were parked around the under-construction rear gates.

As the two descended again, Harper halted Amala, pointing toward a rotating CCTV camera. “Best not to be seen; this place has got to be under heavy surveillance.” Amala nodded and redirected the two toward a darkened portion inside the gate, nearly landing on top of a set of lumber and power tools! “Careful!”

“You shush now!” The young woman whisper-yelled with a mocking grin! The two crept through the dark construction zone, feeling DeJa'Vu set in.

(I hope this doesn’t become a thing.) Scanning the area with his telepathy, voices rang louder than before. “We’re close. In…that…someone’s coming!” Harper pointed around the corner of a massive and winding slide just as a figure sprinted toward it! They ducked under the structure, barely eluding a group of men giving chase! They were quickly cornered, and began scaling the metal fence beside the slide, and jumped onto a guard rail, escaping into the slide tubing! “What is going on?” The pursuers all looked at each other, expecting someone would follow behind, but the athleticism seemed beyond any of them.

“Get to the other end, there’s only one exit!” Was demanded by a strikingly fit businessman. He tossed aside his brown suit jacket and expensive glasses, then rolled up the sleeves of his name-brand button-up and leapt onto the fence himself! “I’ll go after them, since you idiots are too busy smoking and drinking to do your fucking jobs!” He scaled the structure, entering the tubing in pursuit of the unknown figure.

“That person being chased is scared. I think they’re a member of Beset’s Sword, so it’s probably their leader!” That communicated enough to Amala for her to decide the next step.

“Stay back until I call for you.” Without missing a beat, the vigilante swiftly moved in behind all the men! She wrapped three of the six in her haze and slung them into the others, sending the lot flying like a collection of bowling pins! Bodies flew, and before any of them could recover, Amala launched haze from one hand to restrain half of the group, and more haze to hold the other half separately! “Where are the people you trafficked?” Dividing her attention between two masses of people took more concentration than she’d assumed at first, but it wasn’t impossible. (I can do this. Just holding them is easy, and if I don’t tense up, they won’t ignite!) Proud of herself, Amala neglected to notice the figure from before exiting the other end of the slide! They spent less than a second observing the conflict until the businessman exited behind them in hot pursuit!

“What the fuck?” He exclaimed, halting until he made eye contact with Amala! Instantly, she recognized the young entrepreneur as Keith Lawless!

“You! Stop right there!” With her attention divided, one of the men Amala held was able to reach for his gun and fired a shot in her direction! To Amala relief, the bullet missed! In return, however, she ignited her pyrokinesis, sparking an inferno! Keith Lawless witnessed that, sprinted off behind the figure from before! “I said stop! You, hey, come on!” Amala dashed after the fleeing businessman, and Harper did his best to keep up with her!

Grabbing an unattended nailgun, Keith unleashed several shots at Amala! She stopped the nails with a quick wave of her haze, pulling them into to her palm and continued to chase Lawless. The shots gave him enough leeway to bridge the distance from his pursuers while also giving him a weapon, which he fired at his target! With the nailgun, he was able to successfully stop the figure, volleying multiple shots down near their feet until one finally caught their left ankle! They collapsed, rolling onto the ground and writhing in pain! Keith had chased them all the way into another carted off portion of the park, surrounded by workbenches, vehicles, and equipment. Under the bright construction lights, the park owner stood over the downed person, preparing the kill blow with his improvised weapon. Though he grinned, gleefully ready to end a life, Keith spied a shadow moving overhead. He looked up and saw two circular saw benches being lobbed haphazardly in his direction! With only a second to spare, the businessman barely avoided the machinery launched by his pursuer, the enraged Amala Singh.

“I told you to stop.” Eyes ablaze with righteous fury, the vigilante seethed with a calm fury. Seeing the figure from before up close, it was obvious they were a member of Beset’s sword, wearing that hooded jacket they all seemed so fond of. “Are you alright?” She asked, and nearly jumped away when they turned to face her!

A bright yellow face, smooth and round with only one vertical eye looked back at Amala! Taken aback from the sight, it took a minute for her to realize that wasn’t the person’s face, but a mask, one meant to evoke imagery of a monstrous canary creature. The smooth mask had indentations along the face which led down into a beak, and though only one eye was made obvious, on closer inspection, other holes for seeing and breathing properly existed. “I-I’ll live…thank you.” The voice of a young girl, likely in her teens, grunted through the clear pain of being shot. Amala reached down, gripped the girl’s leg, and yanked the nail loose without warning! The girl cried out in pain, but thanked Amala again! “T-Th-Thanks…”

“Canary, right? Your friends are safe. Get out of here while you can. I’ve got other things to do.” Having bashed his knee onto the concrete while leaping to safety, Keith Lawless was still recovering. Amala approached, preparing to interrogate the man, but struggling to stay calm.

“Back off!” He turned and fired more nails at her, but they were caught midair! “…So, it’s you then…”

“You know who I am, then? That means this should be quick.” To both Amala’s and Canary’s surprise, Keith chuckled, into a full-on laugh! Harper finally caught up to the group, badly wheezing.

“H-hang on…what…did I miss?” Needing to pull off his facemask to catch his breath, he turned to see Canary, and for a second time, someone nearly jumped at the sight of her mask! “What the hell?! Are you…Canary?” He asked but was interrupted by Keith confidently standing back up!

“More of Beset’s sword, huh?” He discarded the nailgun and began fixing his appearance, running his fingers through his graying brown hair and adjusting his shirt. “Yeah, not a surprise. You kids have been causing havoc all over the city lately. Killing innocent men.”

“Innocent?!” That nearly set Amala off right there! She stepped forward, and ignited her haze, creating a swirling orb of fire in her hand!

“Yeah, innocent!” As much as Keith tried to feign confidence, he backed away from the furious pyrokinetic. “You blew up a bunch of empty factories across the city, then burned down a theater house for no reason! And I know about the hotel, fuck what the media says, I know that was you all! You put my name out on some kind of hit list, just like Liam Joffe…which is why I got some protection! Hey!” With Keith’s call, men and women emerged from the darkness, all armed and prepared to shoot. “Now, you kids stay right where you are until the police come.”

“Police?” Amala was deeply confused.

“That’s right. I called them when I saw these little shits skulking around my park!”

“Dummy! Calling the police, they’ll just see you here with all these gangsters, and then find the people you trafficked, you evil jerk!”

“Gangsters?” Keith placed his finger to his lips, again feigning innocence. “Trafficked people?!” He did it once more, mocking and further incensing Amala!

“That’s right! You monster! You! You kidnapped people, forced them to work for you, forced them to do…things! You sick, disgusting, wretched, evil man!” Both Canary and Harper were watching as Amala grew deeply upset.

With the most confident smile a person could muster, Keith opened his arms, as if he had nothing to hide. “There are no gangsters or trafficked people here! Only my employees, and these fine gentlemen I hired for protection.”

“What?!”

“Look around! I don’t see anyone who seems unsavory, or anyone wanting to run away? Do you?” Looking across the crowd surrounding them, it was as Keith had said. All of the guards were all dressed up similarly, wearing bullet proof vests, black caps to match the rest of their clothes, and equipped with similar handguns. Though they all stood at a distance, appearing unbothered by the sight of Amala wielding flames in one hand, clearly some didn’t follow along. “Now, drop the…fire and get on the ground!”

“…Hey…mind reader.” Amala spoke softly to Harper. “Do you see that one over there…” With only a glance, Amala made out one individual she recognized. Even with her hair covered by the cap, and wearing baggy clothes, Amala knew the woman. Her exhausted posture, feeble grip on the gun, and most of all, blank and hopeless eyes were unforgettable. “That woman, second to the left of Lawless, read her mind and tell me what you see.”

“Ok…sorry in advance lady.” Neither wanting to, nor understanding why Amala requested it, Harper decided to delve in regardless, and immediately regretted it. Diving deeply into that woman’s mind was a mistake, one far greater than Harper had expected. The ground was pulled out from under him, and like having his head forced beneath the surface of a pit of vile sewage, his senses were assaulted with horrible memories! Hands that would hit him, drag him, invade him, force him, threaten him, and steal from him, ravaged the boy’s mind! He experienced so much of that woman’s thoughts and memories at once, in less than a second, it overwhelmed him, causing Harper to vomit his stomach nearly empty! “Fu…fuck…fuck!” Harper shouted over and over, slamming his fist into the ground until it bled! “What is wrong with you people?! You…sick fucks! You…what you did to her…!” Pointing right at the woman, who was down on one knee holding her head, the telepath could barely even look at Keith without vomiting again. “Evil…you’re evil!”

“…Yeah, he is, and evil should be punished!” Taking the flames in hand, Amala shot it down sending out a massive wave of heat and telekinetic energy! Everyone was blinded by the dirt and steam; missing Canary and Harper being carried along with Amala’s haze out of the line of fire!

“Can’t see! Get them! Shoot, shoot!” Keith ordered! The dust settled, and Amala swung the circular saw benches with her pyrokinesis! She clobbered some of the gunmen as the others took aim! Again, she swung the heavy benches, shattering upon collision! Amala soared upward, disappearing into the dark night sky! “Get those lights upward! She’s in the sky! Shoot her down!” As instructed by their boss, the spotlights were turned up by one of the guards. An unfortunate position for him, as he became an immediate target of Amala and her new favorite weapons.

Traveling down the beam of light, a silver saucer whirred, spinning faster than a top! Next thing the man knew; he was looking at the backs of his own boots, an inconceivable pain in his neck causing him intense fear. That man’s life faded, as his decapitated head lay on the ground, severed cleanly by one of the red hot circular saws wielded by Amala! She retracted the blade then hurled another toward the next men on the ground! They fired wildly into the sky, but missed Amala, weaving across the black night like a fuchsia blade!

She readied the saw near her hand, spinning and charging it with insane heat, warping the blade into a blazing disk of fire! Launching one of her two new blades, the saw missed her intended target, but continued along into the side of one water park attraction! Spinning faster and faster, the saw severed the slide’s supports and caused it to collapse! The massive structure toppled and crushed several guards beneath it! A man who survived backed away in fear, only for Amala to catch him, stealing away his chance to escape or fight! Reaching back, she threw the super-heated disk into, and through, the man’s chest! Upper body sliced in such a way when leaned to the left, the man’s organs spewed out of the right side of his ribcage like a broken accordion!

“Fuck…fuck this!” Keith pushed aside his supposed ‘workers’ and made to run for his life! “Get her! Stop her and don’t let her get me!” He screamed as the workers, some frail men and women turned to view Amala. In their eyes, they only saw a super powered monster with fiery blades of death floating around her! Not a one raised their guns, they simply abandoned them and ran. “What are you all doing! Don’t leave! I’ll fucking tell the boss; you’ll all be shipped back! He’ll kill you all in the worst way possible!” None of his threats sunk in. “Dammit! You bunch of worthless-” Keith’s rant was cut short with the unbelievable pain in both of his thighs! He looked down, and the buzzsaws were sent straight through his legs, sending him falling back onto the ground! Unable to even form a word, the man howled in agony, gripping the unintendedly cauterized stumps where his legs once were! “Help! G-Get back here! Help me!” He reached out for the backs of the escaping people. A small, and admittedly light, sneaker stomped onto his outstretched hand!

When Keith looked up to see the owner, it was the vigilante herself. Amala looked down, heartless glare conveying that Keith wasn’t walking away from that encounter; metaphorically or literally. “…Your boss, their name.” She demanded. “Now.”

Part 4

“Screw you, bitch. You’re going to kill me anyway, so it doesn’t matter-” His tune changed instantly. Amala pulled one of the blades down onto his outstretched forearm and sliced it clean off! “You-agh! You bitch!” Keith writhed on the ground, quickly realizing he was only down to one last limb!

“You can tell me, or…hey!” Amala called over to Harper, just making it back to his feet alongside Canary. “Come over here and read him.”

He hesitated, seeing Keith’s suffering. “Hang on…” Emulating pain came along with reading deep into someone’s mind, and Harper was terrified at the prospect.

“W-Wait! Please…let me live! I’ll T-Tell you…” Keith begged holding up his remaining arm.

“Then talk, and don’t lie! We’ll know if you do.”

“I…don’t know the boss personally, none of us really did.” That shocked the three vigilantes. “We…always get instructions down a ch-chain of command. Some of us do jobs…and others don’t interfere or even know about it.”

“And you’re one of the human traffickers, right?”

“…” Keith paused, knowing the answer would seal his fate. “I can tell you the names of the others!”

“Arnold Patrick, and Howard Tanner, right?” Stunned by Harper interjected, Keith looked to the boy for mercy!

“Y-Yes…but there are more people!”

“Your boss.”

“…I…I just don’t know him! Arnold, he knows him! He’s the one the boss communicates with most! Omar used to but…but you killed him, r-right? Wh-what about Joffe’s kid…I can tell you…” That emotionless glare answered him. “Heh…” He began to chuckle. “Hahaha!” Breaking out into a full-on cackle, Keith fell back onto the ground, realizing there was nothing left. His life, young as he saw it, was about to come to an end. “Just do it.” Accepting his fate, Keith prayed the death would be quick…but nothing came. Confusing the maimed trafficker, as well as Canary and Harper, Amala went back toward the remnants of the battle.

Amala walked up to the woman who shot the member of Beset’s sword, seated in the fetal position. She bent down, trying to make eye contact. Like staring into an empty house, one ravaged by time and mother nature, the portals to her soul were barren with everything stripped away. Amala offered her hand and spoke warmly. “Come with me. I’m here to help you, all of you.” Within her soul, that gesture was something she’d wished someone had done for her all those years ago. “I’ll protect you; you’ll be safe, I swear.”

That hand, aura, reassuring eyes, and smile were warm. Though the spark of life hadn’t returned to her eyes, something compelled the woman to reach out and take Amala’s hand. Frail and nearly weightless was the woman when Amala pulled her up. The woman’s jumper hung off her emaciated frame, as if it were draped onto a skeleton. Fury surged in Amala, but before she could storm over and end Keith’s life the sound of boots approaching caught her attention! Suddenly, from the darkness a small army of black body-armor wearing figures appeared! They trained high powered rifles on everyone, with red laser lights popping up across their faces and chests like gnats!

“Hands up, and down on your knees!” A voice shouted over a megaphone! “This is Tobias Bennet of the Trenton Police Department! We have you surrounded, Beset’s sword!” The greying officer called from behind his wall of armored gunmen. The police had arrived!

“Wait, wait! We’re trying to help!” Harper frantically dropped to his knees, throwing his hands up, as did Canary!

“…Haha! Won’t you look at that?! Haha!” Reeling from the loss of his limbs, Keith still managed a mocking cackle! The situation from his perspective, dire at one point, had completely flipped! He was going to live! Live and tell everyone about what he’d seen, and make all those who abandoned him suffer! “Took you long enough, officers!”

“Keith…Lawless?! My god! What happened?!” Tobias nearly dropped his megaphone in shock! Seeing the man eviscerated to such a level, it was like something out of a gory horror movie! “On the ground! Now, all of you!”

“…” Amala stood, studying the situation. (Am I fast enough to get us away all at once? Should I just give up and blast them? Can I catch those bullets? Maybe I should take a hostage and use them to make an escape?) The whole time, she never released the woman’s hand, feeling her shaking in fear. “Don’t worry.” She looked back, smiling the warmest smile she possibly could muster. “I’ll protect you. No one is going to hurt you.”

“Oh, really?” Keith interrupted. “No one, huh? You hear that Phoebe? No one will hurt you. Remember, that’s what they told you before. They said you’d be safe, and what ended up happening? You came here, and I helped you. You said it yourself; I was the nicest, and treated you the best out of everyone!”

“Shut your mouth!” Amala yelled back at the suddenly confident man!

“Hey, hands up! Now, or we will fire!” Threats from Tobias that fell on deaf ears for Amala!

“D-Do as he says! He’s serious!” Harper was on the verge of tears, with vomit still draining through his nose and mouth!

“Phoebe, do you think the police will let you go after what you did? You killed that kid in cold blood. Blew his brains out! Even if they let you go too…where will you go? Nobody out there cares about you, loves you, or gives a shit! You’ll end up right back here, and I won’t protect you. The boss will find you…”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Amala was enraged! “You don’t know anything! Shut up!”

“Last warning! Hands up!” With their guns at the ready, Tobias prepared to give the final order!

“Get down on the ground, you idiot! They’ll kill us!” Seeing that Amala wasn’t listening, Harper tried to influence her mind, seeing no other option! (Hate me later! Wait…what…?) In trying to connect to Amala’s mind, he picked up someone else’s thoughts too. It lasted for a blink, but then he focused in and read deeply into the woman’s mind, into Phoebe’s mind. “No. No…don’t do it!” The flash of a gun firing startled everyone except Keith, who laid on the ground belly laughing in disbelief!

Amala turned back, witnessing with her own eyes, Phoebe’s life meeting its end via the gun she’d pressed firmly to her own temple. Harper screamed, having gripped that deathly feeling and emotions. Canary fell to their knees, broken at the sight of someone’s life ending before her. Tobias cursed, angry at failing to stop that suicide. Keith mocked, laughing and pointing as if he were a high school bully, enjoying the expression on Amala’s face. Amala just stood there, holding the woman’s hand…a failure.

Part 5

“Feeling better?” They asked, sitting with their legs hanging out of the back of their van.

“Yeah…mostly.” Azure haze floated down from his arm, gripping pebbles off the ground and levitating them before him. With a sharp whipping of the hand, the pebbles were launched like bullets, obliterating the trees ahead! Even if they were old and dried out, the feat gave the young spiky haired misanthrope a good chuckle.

“Hey, partner! Your phone finished charging!” They turned back over, sliding back on their shoes and ran over to meet their partner with a smile.

“Thanks Aran, even though it’s your fault my phone died anyway.” He muttered the last part. “Two days off the map…and basically unconscious the whole time. I hope I’m not fired.” Nicolaus Thompson said, booting up his phone…and for the first time in 2 days beginning to read through the events he’d missed, not knowing that everything was changing at that exact moment elsewhere.

End of Chapter 20