Enhance 2: Chapter 18

“Alright Wiz Kid. How’s this stuff work?” Yumi flexed her hands, both fingers moving within the gloves that covered them now. She felt the strings moving beneath the fabric and tighten or loosen near her wrist. Putting both hands out she turned her arms and then turned back to Darren and put her hands on her hips.

Darren sighed as they looked at her and lowered their tablet. “We’ve been over this like three times Yumi.”

“I know but I couldn’t understand anything you said,” she replied. “It was too complicated.”

Feint put her hand on Darren’s shoulder and gave them her tablet, “Alright Yu look at me.” Yumi did just that and Feint flexed her hands slowly. “Remember this. It’ll probably save your life. Finger guns,” She pointed her fingers forward, “Gets the gloves ready. Firing,” she tapped her thumb down and even made a pew noise. “Shoots the cable. Hold on tight once you do that because it’s a wild ride.”

Yumi nodded quickly moving her hands in the firing position but didn’t actually do the motion just in case. “Okay. Is that all? Feels like there was another part to this.”

“Because there is,” Feint held her hands like fists. “Now you want to release the cable and swing forward. To do that you jazz hands,” she spread his fingers wide and laughed. “That releases the cable and you can then go for your next shot.”

“Ohhh. Okay. So, finger guns out, jazz hands in. See Wiz Kid that makes sense. Was that so hard?”

Darren blinked slowly and handed the tablet back, “You’re a master of words.”

“A master of Yumi.”

“Even truer words,” they said and tapped their head set and started touching at the tablet getting the programs up and running. “Are you good to go now Yumi?”

“Yeap. Let’s do this shit,” she pumped both her arms walking to the edge of the balcony.

“What are the odds she hurts herself and breaks our gloves?” Darren asked and Feint shrugged.

“I think this is something she was made to do.”

“I didn’t say she wasn’t. I just think she’s going to break it.”

Feint thought and finally giggled, “A fair assessment.”

“Remember Yumi. If anything goes wrong, shout and Rogue will get you.”

“Commencing test 2!” Darren shouted. “In three. Two. One!”

She rubbed her hands together and leaned forward before jumping off the roof. It was old hat at this point but she still loved every second of it. Letting out a shout she threw her hand forward and shot it aiming at the corner of the building in front of their apartment.

She felt the jolt of the cable slamming into the wall. Grabbing the cable, she leaned forward and swung forward feeling the air rush past her. The moment she flew past the edge of the roof she let it go and just flew forward at an angle she’d never jumped at before. Her breath was stolen away as she floated and just felt like she was floating.

But she started falling and had to get her bearings fast. Jerking her head around she looked around. She was over the street and a few cars were driving below her. She saw a few people glancing up and catching a look at her and she felt the urge to wave but priorities. Throwing her other arm out she pointed at an apartment and got the cable out.

It hooked and she swung around the corner, the cable holding strong. She swept around and released it getting into the rhythm of traveling blocks faster than she could even have run. She cleared a building in one good swing and had to let out another shout. Grinning she shot both out, embedding them deep into the ledge of a building and swung her way forward. Kicking both legs forward she cleared the lip floating backwards.

As she spun she stared at the ground just marveling at how high up she was. Coming back down she landed on the rooftop and stumbled forward. She kept going and slid forward having to stop before tumbling over the edge.

Taking a deep breath, she laughed looking at her hands. They were shaking and she felt it in her legs as well. Stumbling forward she sat down and put her face in her hands. “Hey Echo is Senpai nearby?”

“He’s on his way now,” she thought quickly.

Yumi didn’t have to wait for long for Rogue to appear. She heard his steps on the roof top behind her. He was shocked as he looked at her and she gave him a thumbs up, “Expected me to be in the middle of a free fall?”

“In some ways yes. Color me impressed Firebug.”

“Hell yeah you are,” she threw her arms back and dabbed. But Rogue’s expression afterwards only made her laugh even harder. “Come on Senpai. Be cool.”

“You’re really keeping up with this Senpai thing,” he raised his eyebrow at her.

“Yeah Senpai. Don’t tell me you forgot about our training sessions.”

Rogue looked at the rooftop they were occupying and smirked, “Trust me I haven’t.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” she spread her arms and then looked at her hands. “Have you had a chance to play with these yet? They’re nuts.”

“Not yet. Maybe I’ll try them next,” he held out his hand. “You ready to head back?”

“Yeah. Gotta let Wiz Kid know they have a winner.”

She took his hand and he teleported her back to the rooftop, needing a few stops along the way. They appeared on the roof greeted by Feint and Darren. Rogue left her behind them to go get Echo but Darren ran up to her immediately.

“How did it go? My gloves look like they’re in one piece. From what I could tell you went at least ten miles out.”

“Yeah I did,” she shook her hands out, her fingers still shaking but she grinned at them. “You did real good Wiz Kid. I felt like I was Spider-Man. Seriously. When are these things going to be ready? I need to do that again ASAP.”

“Hold your horses Yumi. Glad you enjoyed them but they’re definitely not ready yet. Battery life is something I want to enhance as well as tuning on the shock absorption. You still feel it when the cable hooks in properly right?”

Now that they mentioned it she winced feeling the throbbing in her forearms. Rubbing them slowly she winced. “Okay yeah. Didn’t notice it during the test.”

“Adrenaline is a hell of drug,” Darren set their tablet down and worked to get the gloves off Yumi’s shaking hands. Once they had them both they gave her a thumbs up. “But thanks. You got me closer to finishing this than I ever thought.”

“Glad I could help Wiz Kid. Hey where’s Shadeow and leader? They have to bask in my glory.” An explosion boomed and they all flinched back as it rippled across their skin and the rooftop. They all turned toward the city and saw a huge black cloud of smoke pluming into the air. “What the fuck was that?”

“There’s some kinda situation going on downtown,” Feint said scrolling through her tablet going through social media. “Explosions and gun shots. No one knows what’s going on but twitter is blowing the hell up.”

“Ha. Sorry, not the best time. Where’s Shadeow and Phase?”

“From the GPS they’re smack dab in the middle of it,” Darren sighed.

“How much trouble are they in?” Echo asked.

Rogue shook his head already moving. “Bad enough. You coming Firebug?”

“Let’s go Senpai,” she took his hand and they vanished.

Shade and Phase both ducked down behind the window of their restaurant as another explosion echoed inside and someone screamed. Tables were turned over, people were shivering and shaking. Glass and wood littered the ground. They could loosely hear gunshots and shouting but a roar overtook it into an explosion.

Phase kept his head down and looked back at Shade who was right beside him. They both peeked up slowly and stared at the street. Some people were on the ground, unmoving while others were whimpering and dragging themselves away from the street. A car had swerved into a light pole and it crashed down into the ground.

Another round of gunshots echoed down the streets, mixed in with sirens. Shade stood up slowly and hopped through the window running toward a man holding a hand to his chest tightly. Red was bleeding through his fingers and shirt. His face was pained and he looked at Shade with hazy eyes.

Shade crouched down and pressed his hands over the mans and held onto him. The man grunted at the new pressure. His hazy eyes rested on Shade and started to close. Shade met his eyes and closed his own as the man slumped down and his hands slid away. Shade stood up and watched as Phase had someone in his arms, a kid no older than sixteen holding onto his leg.

Shade joined him and helped carry him back into the restaurant. An older man and a woman came and took the boy from them while someone cried near the door. Their head was in their hands and they had cuts along their hands. The two made a few more trips helping as many people as they could off the streets and into the restaurant. They ran of towels quickly and had to suffice with napkins to help who they could but not everyone made the journey safely.

A siren blared behind them and a pair of ambulances slowed as they came down the street. Paramedics spread out going to people as they could and Phase put a hand onto Shade’s shoulder. “Professionals have got this. Let’s go.”

Shade nodded quickly and the pair disappeared out the back of the place. Pacing quickly through the kitchen, no one batting an eye and thinking they were getting more paper towels to help when they went out the back door. Standing in the alley the muted noise was more suffocating than the commotion in there.

Shade looked in the direction of hints of noise, “If we go now we can head them off.”

“Or we can turn around and get back home in one piece.”

“What?”

Shade stared at him and Phase stared back. Shade’s shocked eyes meeting Phase’s hard ones. Shade turned around and pointed at the city, “That’s the Vanguard doing that shit.”

“How’d this even happen?”

“Some cop got into it with a kid. Cop pulled his gun, kid pulled out fire powers. And here we are.”

Phase dragged his hands across his face, “I do not want us involved in this more than we have been.”

“How many people are going to get hurt and die if we don’t?”

“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t care. Those people aren’t you. Those people aren’t any of us. My team. My family comes first.”

Shade stared at him and gave him a moment, let it sink in but faced his leader. “I’m going Phase. Cause those people out there were me a long time ago. They are my sister. My nieces.  Innocent people that don’t deserve this.”

“And what happens if something goes wrong? What happens if you’re the one who ends up dead?”

“If it happens it happens,” He looked over his shoulder at him and said, “You come with me you can make sure nothing goes wrong.”

Phase stared at him, stared at his back, and wanted to drag him away from here. But instead he knew that Shade wasn’t going to back down from this. And he knew that he wouldn’t ever abandon one of his own. “I hate this and borderline hate you. You and Yumi are going to get killed one day.”

They climbed to the top of the restaurant and then jumped to a nearby one that was higher up. From up there they could see a few different clouds of smoke radiating up, all of them thick and black. Shade narrowed his eyes to try and get a better view but Phase got out his phone. Scrolling through it quickly he pointed just beyond the smoke clouds.

“If Twitter is trust worthy they’re heading toward Jefferson. We can head them off.”

“Let’s go.”

They moved covering blocks as fast as they could. The diagonal they were going took them away from the main path of the destruction. Since the initial flare up it had turned into a car chase with some danger thrown around for good measure. And all sorts of people caught in the middle.

Bounding past another roof top they landed on the train tracks. But it was good enough because as they ran forward a few more feet they saw the car in question speeding down the street. The whole thing was just a beat up old Chevy. The driver was working through a spider web cracked windshield.

It was the passenger that was the cause of their trouble. A kid sitting out the window holding onto the car with one tight grip. But in their other hand instead of a gun they were holding a ball of fire. A literal glowing ball of fire straight out of a fantasy novel. He shouted as he flung his arm forward and threw it at the cop cars chasing them. The car swerved away and skidded into a parked car with a loud crash. “Well you have a plan in mind?” Phase asked.

“Yeah I do. Gotta move fast,” Phase started to ask but Shade was already gone. He jumped backwards and grabbed onto the edge of the tracks. Climbing forward he swung his legs forward and let go. He launched himself forward his eyes trained on the car. It was moving fast enough and he guessed just right enough.

He hit the roof of the car and it jerked to the side with a loud tire screech. Shade slid across the roof and thrust his hand out to try and grab the roof but his hand missed and he flew backwards. He was moving too fast to right himself and the street was coming up fast. Bracing for his landing instead of the ground he and someone else went tumbling backwards.

They crashed to the ground and Shade looked down at the person functioning as his cushion, “Yumi?”

“Hey Shadeow,” she groaned sitting up slightly and grinned wider at him. “Managed to catch you, didn’t I?”

“What are you even doing here?”

Before she could answer both of them stumbled forward and felt arms around them tightly. And then the ground shook as a car rolled through them and slid into the hard wall of the storefront behind them. Yumi and Shade both looked at the car and then at Phase who finally loosened his grip on them.

“Thanks leader,” Yumi said getting back to her feet.

“Told you if you were here things would be fine,” Shade winced, keeping his arm around Yumi and she held onto him.

With the car chase over things were eerily silent. When Phase looked closer it looked like whatever cop cars had been in the area had been melted or were short circuited. But it was fine, the two drivers weren’t going to be going anywhere anytime soon after that crash. The four of them regrouped on a rooftop.

“Everyone in one piece?” Phase asked looking at Shade specifically. Shade looked at himself and glanced at his arms which stung but weren’t bleeding. He nodded and Yumi nodded as well. “Can you run?”

Shade nodded again and stepped away from Yumi groaning, “Yeah I can keep going leader. No sweat.”

“Good. Let’s go home.”