…. EPISODE 51…..
….. Posted by uc beverly…..
………KENNA…….
“So nice to see you again, Kenna. It’s been too long,” Rex says, walking into the room as the two members of the Ray-Ban Brigade shackle my legs. My immediate reaction is to panic.
This is exactly what I wanted, what we counted on happening—Rex wanting to confront me, to destroy me face-to-face. That doesn’t mean I’m not absolutely terrified of him. My heart is stuttering like a machine gun, and it takes every single ounce of my strength to keep my legs from shaking.
I refuse to show him my fear. The more confident I act, the more immune I seem to his position of power, the more likely he will let his emotions take over.
“You know that it’s ridiculous to be this afraid of one teen girl,” I taunt, glancing down at my bound ankles. This wasn’t part of the plan—the shackles or the mouthing off—but if I’ve learned nothing else in the last few weeks, it’s how to improvise.
“You mistake caution for fear. It’s not the same. Besides, how am I going to put you on display if you look like you’re out for a stroll in the park?”
His voice is gentle and so are his eyes, but when he grabs me, his grip is too tight, his fingers digging into my arms hard enough to leave bruises. Clearly my jabs are getting to him. Score one for Nitro’s tactic for keeping Rex off balance.
“The powers-signature scanners confirmed that the rest of your little band of misfits are long gone,” he tells me. “You’re all alone down here.”
It’s almost funny how he can be so right and so very wrong at the same time. Rex pulls me back into the hallway and then we’re walking, his two goons behind us. I don’t want to blow my advantage by attacking him directly. But that doesn’t mean I can’t mess with his attack dogs.
Closing my eyes, I breathe deeply. Try to focus, at least as much as I can while shackled and being dragged to God only knows where by a madman. I try to activate the powers inside me. I’m still new to this game, so it’s harder for me than the others, and even harder now that a half dozen powers are wrapped up inside me.
But I have to do this. The whole plan hinges on me controlling these powers, so I focus like I’ve never focused before. Try to find the strengths I’m looking for in the spiraling mess inside me. I practiced a little—a very little—before I got here, but it’s not like I had time to master them all.
It’s easier to find the powers I’m looking for than I expect. Then again, how can it not be when I carry so much of Draven inside me? Both of his powers are blue, like his eyes. I reach for those two threads and call them up. Try to tell them apart. I can’t make eye contact right now, so messing with the Ray-Ban Brigade’s memories won’t work. No, it’s the biomanipulation I’m after.
I finally get it sorted out, can feel Draven’s ability welling up in me. I try to focus, but it’s hard. How does Draven manage to hold all this power inside himself? The control it requires is unbelievable, and I’m terrified that I’m going to make a mistake, let it loose, and do way more damage than I intend.
But I can’t think like that now. Not when there’s so much at stake. Certainly not when I’m prepared to level this place and everyone inside—including me—if that’s what it takes to bring Rex to his knees.
I send a little jab of Draven’s power behind me, focusing in on the two agents as tightly as I can. I don’t hear them react, but that doesn’t mean much. It’s hard to hear much of anything inside this ridiculous helmet—well, except Rex’s voice. That seems to come through loud and clear. Besides, it’s not like Draven’s power
is a loud one. It’s not like I lobbed one of Nitro’s fireballs at them or something.
Now that would be unmistakable.
I send another small jolt of power. I know that’s not how Draven usually does this—his is a steadier stream—but I’m new to this ability. I don’t want to kill them by mistake. Rex may have no problem murdering with impunity, but I do. No matter how awful the Ray-Ban Brigade is. Unless the plan goes to hell and I’m facing the worst-case scenario, no one dies.
I still haven’t decided if that no one includes Rex.
One more small flash of power directed at the guys behind me finally gets a measurable result. Something hits the wall next to me, and I glance over in time to see one of Rex’s goons kind of listing against it, arm braced against the cool rock in an attempt to hold himself up. A look in the other direction and Rex’s second lapdog is rubbing his temple, his eyes shut and a grimace on his face.
I take another deep breath and feel the power flow down to my fingers. Then I let out another small blast straight at each of them.
The first one stumbles and falls to his knees, and the second raises a hand to his nose, which is suddenly gushing blood. Rex turns around with a scowl, ready to growl at them. But when he sees the state they’re in, he immediately turns to me. “What are you doing to them?” he demands.
“I’m not doing anything,” I tell him, chin raised defiantly. “I’m in a powers-neutralizing helmet. And handcuffs.” I lift my wrists. “What could I possibly be doing?”
Rex’s eyes narrow suspiciously, but he doesn’t say anything else. At least not until I send one more tiny blast of power at the two goons and they hit the ground, totally unconscious.
Rex reaches for me, and for a second, I think he’s going to break my neck. Our plan is totally going to fail—because of me.
Instead, he rips the powers-neutralizing helmet off my head and examines it. When he sees that the indicator light is out, he throws it to the ground in a fit of rage. Then he grabs me by my upper arms and pulls me up to my tiptoes. “Let me guess. Electromagnetism?”
I shrug as casually as possible.
“Then what did you do to them?” He nods at the unconscious goons. “I told you,” I say, “I didn’t do—”
He shakes me. Hard. “You don’t want to screw with me, Kenna. I will kill you right now.”
“No, don’t think you will,” I answer, my scowl at least as fierce as his. “Not down here in the depths of this place where no one can watch. You don’t just want me dead. You want to enjoy it. You want me humiliated in front of as many people as possible. You want me powerless and disgraced. There’s no way you’re going to kill me when the cameras aren’t rolling.”
I’m pushing him too far, I know. Poking at the beast. It could backfire. But at this point, I don’t have a lot of other options. I need to buy enough time for the others to execute their parts of the plan. This is a risk I have to take.
Besides, I can tell by the rage in Rex’s eyes—a mix of hate and arrogance—that it’s working.
For long seconds he doesn’t say anything, but then he lets me go, his hands dropping from my shoulders as he reaches for the communicator on his belt loop. “You’re right. I’m going to enjoy watching you die,” he sneers, right before he hits the transmit button and calls for backup in the south tunnel. Which I’m guessing is where we currently are.
It’s not what I was expecting. I figured Rex was arrogant enough to think he could handle escorting me by himself. But I guess I underestimated just how much he hates me—or how much he wants me to die. He’s willing to admit a weakness if it means he gets to see me burn in the end.
I probably have only seconds before his backup arrives, so I try to concentrate and roll with the punches as the first steps of my plan go right out the window. I can only hope the rest will go more smoothly.
I’ve got the powers untangled now—green for Dante’s wind, red for Nitro’s fireballs, yellow for Deacon’s water, along with the blues from Draven. Not for the first time I wish I could have taken the hero powers too, but the immunity serum makes them immune to all powers—including mine. If that’s the price of making sure their minds are never under Rex’s control, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay.
Deciding to go big or go home, I draw on the red thread and lob a small, orange fireball straight at Rex. It dissolves inches from his shoulder. Shit.
Rex’s evil smile fills his entire face. “I had my suspicions about the contents of the syringe,” he tells me, shaking his head ever so slowly. “Your mother kept your power hidden your entire life, and knowing Jeanine, she would want to protect you from other powers as well.”
It’s hard not to back away as he approaches.
“I didn’t want to wait for the test results, so I injected half of the dose in myself.” He spreads his arms wide in triumph. “I was pleasantly surprised to discover that powers no longer affected me.”
Great. A powers-immune Rex. That is not something I want to face.
Not that I have a choice.
The door at the end of the hallway flies open and six hero soldiers come pouring in. I grab hold of the yellow and green threads of power. The first hero fires a bolt of electricity at me so fast I don’t have time to dodge it. I brace myself for impact…but it never comes. The bright-white streak flows around me like the filaments in a plasma ball.
I’ve gotten so used to not being immune to powers anymore that I’d forgotten how it felt. How powerful it made me.
The hero stares at his fingers, as if he misfired.
Rex laughs. “Now why am I not surprised?”
Before any of the rest of them have time to figure out that their powers don’t work on me, I throw every ounce of concentration I have into accessing all the powers at my disposal. A high-powered jet of water shoots straight down the hallway, knocking my attackers back through the open doorway. I could get used to that combo.
Weapons go flying—and so do people—until no heroes are left standing. Except Rex. My powers don’t touch him.
Before his troops can recover, I send another gust of wind to shut the door and follow it with a fireball that I hope is hot enough to melt metal.
With a roar, Rex lunges toward me. In this fight, we are both equally powerless. No force he or his goons can summon will touch me, and none of the half dozen powers coursing through my system will harm a hair on his perfectly gelled head. And since Rex has at least six inches on me and a whole lot more muscle, I’m not about to win in a fair fight.
Pulling on the red thread of power within me, I lay down a line of fireballs on the cement floor between us. Nitro’s flames won’t hurt him, but I’m betting he won’t entirely trust that. It would take a lot more courage to walk through fire than a man like Rex Malone possesses.
“You’re going to pay for this, Kenna.” He inches back from the wall of flames. “No one does what you’re doing—”
“No, Rex, that’s where you’re wrong. No one does what you’re doing. And I’m prepared to do everything I can to stop you.”
There is a huge crash at the end of the hall, and I turn just in time to see the door fall flat to the floor. Four of the heroes rush through the opening. I guess my water jet wasn’t as much of a deterrent as I thought.
I send a huge blast of wind, knocking them back out of the room. As the wind rushes through, the flames lick higher. Rex jerks back. Then I watch as the reality registers with him. He stretches his hand out, through the fire. He looks at me and smiles.
Fine. He might be immune to my powers, but his backup goons aren’t.
Digging deep for the glacial blue of Draven’s biomanipulation power, I focus on the four conscious heroes in the hall. The power is becoming a little bit more familiar, and as I reach out, it’s like I can feel them. Almost like I’m pulling up the mental image of a full body scan.
Two of them are already on their feet and the other two are struggling to stand. Before they can make it back to the door, I lower their blood pressure, dropping it just enough to knock them out cold, but not out for good.
“Stop right there, Kenna!” Rex shouts, stepping through the flames.
As I turn back to face him, the light from the flames I created glints off the barrel of a gun.
“Cameras or not,” he tells me, “I am prepared to kill you.” And just when I thought my heart rate couldn’t get any faster.
One of two things is going to happen. Either Rex is going to shoot me, in which case the plan will be an abysmal failure, I’ll be dead, and everyone will be doomed. Or I can surrender to save my own life, which will give Rex all the power and everyone will still be doomed.
Those are lose-lose options, and I’m just naïve enough to believe there is a third.
I lower my head in pretend surrender. Then, as Rex relaxes and starts to lower the
gun, I reach for the red thread of power and send a volley of Nitro’s fireballs over
his head. The floor beneath us may be concrete, and the walls may be covered in
paint and plaster, but the ceiling is covered with good, old—extremely
flammable—acoustical tiles.
At first nothing happens.
Rex actually starts laughing.
And then it starts. Just a trickle of smoke at first. But soon, almost before I can blink, the entire hall is filling with thick, gray fog. I can barely see my still-cuffed hands in front of my face.
I drop to my hands and knees—keeping below the blooming smoke and, hopefully, Rex’s aim.
“You can’t kill me,” I taunt him, “if you can’t see me.”
A bullet whizzes two feet above my head. If I’d still been on my feet, I’d be bleeding from the gut right now. Good to know Rex is playing for keeps. His coughing breaks up the eerie silence. I use Dante’s wind to keep a small bubble of clean air around me. If I stay low, hiding in the smoke, and keep moving, there’s a chance I can sneak out of here. A chance I can buy enough time for at least one part of this plan to work.Recommend you to download Topster Stories App for Exclusive Access To Erotic and Romantic stories (Join Group) https://t.me/topsterstories
But I can’t leave the two Ray-Ban goons to die of smoke inhalation.
I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them. The only thing I can do, I guess.
Drag them out of this hall.
Rebel’s telekinesis would be really handy right now. Or even Riley’s flight.
Or V’s echolocation. My racing heart would feel a lot better if I could pinpoint
Rex’s exact location.
As I’m dragging the first guard out the far door, I hear Rex’s footsteps an instant before a bullet sails through the open doorway. I dive back inside, rolling out of the way as another bullet slams into the doorjamb. For the first time since this nightmare began, I wish I’d cooked up some of my mom’s version of the immunity serum. This would be a lot easier if Rex didn’t have his super-hearing right now.
I send another fireball crashing halfway across the room, and Rex whirls, shooting in that general direction. If I knew anything about guns, I’d count the bullets he’s expending. But since that’s just about as useful to me as the hero powers I don’t have, I go about my plan of getting the other guard out of the hall.
As I dump him next to his buddy, the chains of my leg shackles clank against the concrete.
Another round of bullets.
I fire back with a different kind of fireball—I’m not sure what the purple ones do, but it sure feels destructive. The smoke in the hall turns a darker gray.
I lean over the second goon, the one who’d cuffed me in the first place, and pat down his jacket until I find his keys. I start trying them in my handcuffs and am thrilled when the third key slides in and the catch releases. I yank off the cuffs and stuff them in my back pocket. Then I crouch and take off the shackles, even as I use Dante’s wind and Deacon’s water to churn the smoke into a mini-tornado, with Rex trapped inside.
He could walk right out of it if he wanted, but I’m hoping it takes him a few seconds to remember he’s immune.
The smoke is getting kind of out of control. I’m really not interested in killing myself, V, and who knows how many innocent people with this ceiling fire. Since
fire can’t exist in a vacuum, I suck in a deep lungful of air and then use Dante’s power to suck the rest of the oxygen out of the hall.
Gee, I hope Rex has been practicing his free-dive breathing. When I’m sure the fire has been starved, I let the air back in. “Enough, Kenna!” Rex shouts. “Enough!”
Damn immunity serum.
I draw on the red thread of power and conjure up a small pink fireball in my palm. It may look innocent enough, but I can feel its lethal energy tickling across my skin. And, like a dead man’s switch, if Rex shoots me, it will unleash a devastating explosion.
“Give me one reason,” I yell above the sound of my mini-tornado, “why I shouldn’t blow this entire place up, and you along with it.”
“Because,” he gasps, still hacking a little from smoke inhalation, “if you destroy this facility, it won’t only be me and a few heroes you’re killing.”
“I know. You’ve been luring innocent villains into your evil clutches.” I shake my head, even though he can’t see me. “I’m sure most of them would gladly sacrifice themselves if it meant ending you.”
If the other parts of this plan are going according to design, no one will be sacrificed. Hopefully it’s only my end of the mission that’s going sideways. “Not just villains,” he says, and the way he says it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “Your father is here. Blow up this place, and he’ll die right along with the rest of us.”
.
T.B.C
POWERLESS
……………. extraordinary……..