Sarah groaned coming to slowly. Her head was pounding in a way that was entirely physical pain. Her eyes crossed slightly and she forced them to focus and looked to her side. Cal was lying next to her his eyes shut and equally immobile. She nudged and shook him slightly but he didn’t budge. His skin was red and parts of his shirt were burned black. His stone against his wrist was dull and cracked.
Looking down at her bracelet she stared at her bracelet and it felt like a stone. Not a magical gem ready to give her, her armor and her axes back. Just a regular rock that didn’t even look that pretty anymore. Frowning hard she began to stand and stumbled thinking there was something against her back to keep her steady. It turns out concreate barriers were shorter than she remembered.
Taking a step forward she winced holding her chest. Just breathing was hurting enough for the time being but she started running because she could hear it. The sound of the fighting, a distant explosion, and the rumble of the ground. Stumbling down the street she grabbed a car door and it broke off sending her tumbling down to her knees coughing.
“Come on. It shouldn’t be this hard. Let’s get it together Sarah,” she said to herself.
Resting a hand on her bracelet she stared at the stone. The ground rumbled again and she glared at the stone even harder, “Come on! I’ve got to help them!”
The stone vibrated in her hand as if responding to her pleas. Within the center of it she could see a spark of light inside it, spreading through the web of facets and cracks. Just staring at it she felt the power rumble through it but it felt different. Fragile.
Her hands shook over it because everything in her mind screamed for her to wait but she looked down the street and saw another flash of light. She was definitely not going to be waiting.
“Alright Sarah. Time to go to work.”
The warmth of her power raced over her body and the pain numbed like an Advil. When it completed she took a deep breath and then grunted falling to her knee. Looking down she saw the open gashes in her armor and then at her hand which was just being covered by the material of her suit and not armor.
“That’s not good.” She took a slow deep breath, concentrated, and forced the power running through her veins like dragging her hand through water and putting a mold in it. Crafted it into an axe and snatched it from the water and into reality. Spinning the axe in her hand she nodded comfortably but when she looked at her other hand she saw the sparkle of electricity but not a second axe.
She tried again but still nothing. “I guess we’re calling this lemonade.”
Limping forward she took a hard breath and started running toward the sounds of the action. Jumping she landed on a balcony, stumbled slightly and then got up to the roof. Sprinting forward she hopped from one roof top to the next.
She went three buildings down when she finally caught up to the bulk of the fighting. Looking over the side of the building she watched Seth slide backwards across the street with Aegis running right after him.
Neither of them showed any sign that they cared about playing defense or even protecting themselves. They just started swinging back and forth, jabs, hooks, uppercuts. Body blows back and forth to the point where it was as if they forgot they had any limbs that weren’t their fists.
Flames poured out a nearby lot and she watched a flash of blue light within the flames appear. Kathryn vaulted backwards as Vixen chased her, her claws bouncing off the thin blue shield coating her body. A fox leaped from the smoke and her shield blocked the flames but the screeching that roared past her stole her attention away.
Diving away from the edge of the rooftop she watched as Hawk came spinning past her his wings tearing through the bricks and metal piping. Jack was flung past her, his scythe finally dislodging from the wings as he rolled across the edge of the apartment. Red light flashed at her side as Marco rolled across the ground, popping back to his feet. His ankles snagged against the back of the roof and he almost flipped over the side but Sarah closed the distance between them and caught him.
Marco stared at her shocked, “Sarah?”
“Sarah’s here?” Jack repeated struggling to his feet and whipping his scythe around.
“Focus on that asshole Jack,” she shouted and jumped forward swinging her axe down and bringing a trail of lightning down on Hawk’s head. The bolt drove him down onto the rooftop with a boom of thunder. Hawks crashed down on his hands and knees grunting. “Like that shit?”
“I thought you were supposed to be dead,” Hawks grunted forcing himself up to his feet slowly. His wings tried to spread but they spasmed before going wide. “Guess I’ll finish what she started.”
He dashed forward and the trio stood together. Jack got in front of him first and spun his scythe around blocking each swing of the wings. He matched the blows, deflecting and redirecting them. It took some time and a lot trial and error but he had gotten the hang of his fighting style.
Stepping forward he swung down and Hawks took to the sky flying backwards. Marco surged forward stepping off Jack’s back. He fired his entire clip of bullets at Hawk’s chest. The first few found their marks but the rest ended up deflected away and back toward the roof. He pointed his wings at Marco unleashing another storm of feathers.
Marco crossed his arms in front of his face as he was blasted backwards. Hawks let out a smirk but he looked back up as a surge of yellow came for him. She swung her axe down with both hands and Hawk raised his arm. The axe bit into his armor and then the lightning came down.
It struck them both with a bigger boom blowing away nearly all of the armor on his arm and they sank a few feet before his wing’s barely caught them. Silence hung in the air as Sarah and Hawk matched each other’s gaze.
She raised her hand and slammed it down on the axe digging it even harder into his arm. He screamed in pain and she cackled as the sky rumbled again. She started to let out a shout but her voice caught and her blood sprayed from her throat turning into a muted gurgle.
He held it for a moment staring at her and watched the yellow armor on her body started to glow. Her axe faded and her armor disappeared. He smirked, his wing holding in the air, ““Nice try bitch.” Dragging his wing back she jerked and started to fall.
Marco and Jack screamed in unison, “Sarah!”
The Harlequin Library 