Legion of 8

Chapter 10: Jax

To be back was an interesting mess. I certainly didn't blame Harvey or anyone else for being mad at me. After all, I did leave them alone. But I realized that regardless of what I did, my grandfather was going to find a way to kill everyone anyway, so it didn't matter. I was only a pawn in Veritas's giant, messed-up chess game.

I didn't even really know what Veritas would do if they got the Cover open, but I didn't want to find out. It would be a show of their power, yes, but what would happen when there was no one else around to show that power to?

Footsteps pounded from the outside of the corridor, making my heart leap out of my chest. It was almost deja vu since the last time we were in this same corridor, praying that Veritas wouldn't see us. But this time, they most certainly would, because we were ready.

At least that's what I told myself.

The footsteps weren't frantic like I expected, but calm. I guess Veritas knew what they were doing so they didn't bother with rushing.
Upon seeing us around the corner though, all of that calm, collected, planning was thrown out the window. There were about ten of them, some of whom I recognized, while others looked completely new. They'd brought Jason Esoteric and Professor Helen with them too, still with that same blank, dazed look in their eyes.

"Nice to see you here," said my grandfather before the rest of his crew drew their fists and weapons. I was fast, but my grandfather was faster. He pulled out his gun and shot, but just when I thought I was dead, the bullet stopped its trajectory and fell to the floor.

I looked over my shoulder and spotted Ella, who seemed to have drawn a blocking spell just in time. All eyes fell on her.

"So she's what set this whole mess off," sneered one of the Veritas soldiers as he charged. I stopped him though and ended up in a fistfight as I prevented them from getting to the door. Quillion knocked two of the soldiers out pretty easily, just using his super strength to throw them around until they were motionless.

I saw my grandfather on his phone calling for reinforcements and immediately turned to Ella and her newfound spell.

"Ella! Put one of those shields up around the building!" I yelled.

"I don't know if I can!" she responded while simultaneously fighting off a smaller Veritas soldier.

"You're going to have to try!"

She dodged the Veritas soldier, who rammed himself into the wall after not expecting her sudden flee of the situation. She sprinted off towards the back exit as the soldier she was fighting slipped to the floor with a thud.

The only downside to taking out the smaller, weaker Veritas soldiers first was that it was now survival of the fittest, and we had to deal with all of the stronger ones at the exact same time.

My dad was one of the biggest threats next to Antonio and my grandfather, as he moved giant chunks of metal from the ceiling and items from the janitorial closet right in the way of where people needed to run or fight.

He moved a mop bucket right in front of me as I charged to fight another Veritas soldier, so I literally kicked the bucket and fell right on my butt. It was a move that might have been comical in any other situation, but it was different when I needed to be fast on my feet. The Veritas soldier I had been charging at took this as the perfect opportunity to tackle me to the ground.

He'd seemed like an easy target because he hadn't really done much in the grand scheme of the fight, just stood around, haphazardly following orders and throwing people around. But he may not have been as weak as I thought, since he was about to put me in a chokehold.