Psycho Gem

Chapter 21: No Victory

Malcolm had figured out our plan. He knew the only other place that Tracks could be where he'd be useful was here. He had grabbed my watch while holding me and teleported us to his lair, where Tracks was in the process of destroying everything Malcolm could use to create another body, as well as his followers. I was almost completely incapacitated as Malcolm held me by my collar, his wires wrapping around my entire body keeping it tightly bound. Tracks and Abbey stood at the entrance to the cathedral room, their body language showing that they didn't know whether to run for safety or stand their ground. I could hear a couple of Malcolm's disciples walking up from behind us. Malcolm looked over at the smoke rising out from the laboratory room, grumbling to himself before cracking a little smile.

"Such raw violence," he said, glancing back at Tracks, "I'm almost proud."

Tracks gave a look of denial, then fear and regret. I could see the thoughts that were going through his head, for I had gone through such a process once before. 'No, I didn't mean to!' he would think, 'I'm not a bad person! I didn't mean to hurt anyone!' People can tell themselves so many lies but still see the truth.

I heard the two disciples from behind us start to march forward, "don't worry my lord, we will take care of these intruders," they said with confidence and bravery in their voices.

As they stepped around Malcolm, who almost immediately threw his hand to the side, throwing the two men to the side wall of the temple with enough force to break a few of their bones.

"No... they are mine!" Malcolm snarled.

I could see the rage in his eyes. He didn't care about anything else at this moment, all he wanted was the last token, and all of us dead. He began to step towards Tracks and Abbey. I couldn't let him hurt them, so I decided to cause a distraction. I didn't exactly know what for, but I needed to buy some time.

"No wonder Xynysus got rid of you," I jeered, "I mean, if there was a version of me out there who was as big of a dick as you then I'd throw you in the universal trash bin as well. Oh wait, I'm talking to him. I've met some real assholes in my time but I've never seen anyone so absolutely edgy that they dress like some virgin Ozzy Osbourne."

Malcolm rolled his eyes and threw me into the rows of pews behind him. My middle back violently bashed into the top of one of the benches, I can still feel the soreness to this day. Malcolm lunged at Tracks, who got into a defensive position, but Malcolm suddenly froze in place and turned his head back towards me. I realised what stopped him as he and I heard the last token rolling on the hardwood floor. 'SHIT!' I thought. It had slipped out of the inside of my shoe where I had secretly slipped it using sleight of hand techniques that Tracks taught me before we left. I quickly rolled over, ignoring the back pain and tried to grab the coin, just barely being able to reach it. Before I could touch it, Malcolm slipped the coin to his hand using his powers before I could get the chance. Tracks saw this and tried to swipe his claws at him, to which Malcolm just kicked him all the way back down the hall. The immense force likely knocked him out, because I couldn't see him get back up.

"Tracks!" Abbey yelled before flying over to Malcolm and trying to impact him in any way, phasing through his body to no avail. Malcolm was completely transfixed on the coin in his hand, not even bothered by the ghost frantically trying to attack him. I saw a flash of blue light out of the corner of my eye, then another, then another and a whole bunch more all around us. B.U.R.N.E. agents were teleporting all around us, their guns trained on Malcolm. Perfect. I knew it was only a matter of time before they found us. They all began to open fire, shooting heavy duty laser fire at the man in grey and red. The blasts were tearing holes through his clothes and burning the skin underneath. Malcolm quickly clipped the coin back onto his necklace and kicked two of the pews across the room, smashing them into most of the soldiers. Almost on cue, another flash of blue light beamed across the room from me. It was Leo. He had dried blood staining his neck and looked beaten and battered, breathing heavily and raspy. The guards that were left quickly turned to face him, before turning back to Malcolm out of fear. I stumbled back to my feet as both of us aimed our palms in his direction. I knew Leo didn't have much strength left in him, travelling to where we were must've drained a lot of his power. I had to make up the difference. I summoned all the strength that I could from my magic as well as the gem in my chest, with our combined strength we might've been able to destroy this new body he had created.