Hydra Heart

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter 37: Umbra

KCD agents had been forced to memorize details on every single documented Kit user as part of their training. When they were briefed on Molly, they were told she had no combat utility in her Kit. They were told that she was easily distracted.

On the contrary, she was ignoring her surroundings. Her eyes were fixed on the Pillar, and she seemed to not even notice the soldiers shooting at her. Stranger still, their bullets were returned properly. She did not even seem to be in control of what she was doing, as if she had no choice but to put one foot in front of the last. Her face made no expression at all.

The Platform began to creak and fall over after making impact with the tower, crashing down upon the land beneath it. It lay at an angle, crushing a bed of skyscrapers into one slope. Molly was ascending. She was getting close.

She reached the pillar and walked up the grand set of stairs leading up to it. One step at a time, she ascended. Eventually she reached the massive door in between her and Banner. It was unlocked.

She pushed with some effort. Her feet crossed the threshold into the building. Banner stood there, waiting for her with some weapon she did not care to understand.

"So, you've made it," he said. "It seems our final confrontation-"

Had Banner planted his feet one second later, he would have died. Molly roared, she screamed, but he couldn't hear it through the overpowering blast of wind that was coming off from her. She continued screaming for several seconds. Banner struggled to stay standing. The air around her was bending, pushing out, and then snapping back into place where the vacuum was. The force blew the windows out, windows that had stopped missiles. The maelstrom persisted, with her at the eye of the storm. The concrete walls were shredded, and a cloud of dust came to occupy the entire room.

Then, she struck. He didn't even see the first hit, only felt his metallic skin dent. Then, again, this time he barely caught a glimpse of her as she carved a scratch across his face. She was using the wind to hurl herself into him recklessly. He was dented, but she was bruised from slamming into the wall behind him. She didn't notice.

When Banner drew his weapon to defend himself, she just came in faster. Again, she pushed herself into him at speeds beyond his ability. This time she struck his back, practically piercing him.

She stopped, landing on her feet at the opposite side of his chamber. She looked down at her hands, at the blood and bruising up and down her arms. She did not feel them.

Her eyes made contact with Banner's; he averted his gaze instinctually out of terror. Then, she started screaming again.

The concrete trembled, and dust was stirred up again. Banner felt his planted feet skid backwards, almost pushing him out of the window. An overpowering force was displayed, a performance beyond Molly's limits. The hurricane was raging even harder, she was pushing and screaming with all her might, and he still wasn't dying.

She launched herself at him, again aiming wildly. She's slower this time, Banner observed. He failed to step out of the way completely, but Molly only managed to chip a small piece of his side off.

She roared again. The wind pushed her in, and she made contact, causing Banner to scream in pain. She was actually spinning in the air when she attacked, gaining momentum to hit even harder. He deflected this last attack with his weapon, a sword.

It was incredibly wide, and imbued with a coil to conduct his SOLE. He thought he would be facing Vesta, so a gun was impractical. This weapon will be fine for slaying Molly as well, he figured.