Our guns go back into their holsters, there's no use for bullets that don't work. Kay-Oh didn't even have to deflect it consciously, the relic protected him until it deemed it was a worthy victory. Somehow we need to beat a time-manipulating culprit in a theatrical way. No cheating here and our tech will be limited in helping out in this fight.
"Clyde, deploy the safe zone."
A small device is placed on the ground around us. An invisible barrier of twenty meters in radius will interfere with time manipulation by stabilizing linear time sequences. Twenty meters is definitely big enough for this cramped back alley, so now she's rendered useless.
"What is that?" she asks.
"Something that'll stop you from messing with time."
"Ispio has a device that can stabilize time? I don't like it."
"Yeah, well, we don't like you. Now you're just an ordinary woman who can't climb rain gutters without busting her ass. So you want to surrender or what?"
She covers her face again with her soaked hood. "Tell you what: make me come with you. I want to see you perform an act of excessive force on this helpless, powerless woman. Is that what Ispio is all about?"
Clyde pats my shoulder. "Go cuff her, Troy, I'll make sure she doesn't do anything funny."
The handcuffs swing around my finger, and she even puts her wrists together as I approach. I reach for them and try to think of something witty to say, but suddenly, her wrists aren't in front of me anymore. I look to the left, and she's on the opposite side of the alley.
"How did you—?"
In a flash, her elbow has already connected with my chest, and the speed she came at was so incredible that it shoots me out of my spot and into the brick wall. The impact is devastating, and all my wind has been taken from me, but I hear no cracks, no bones have broken. Wasn't Clyde supposed to be watching her to make sure she doesn't do this kind of thing?
"What!? She's fast!" Clyde yells. He sprints for her, but on his second step, his whole body is slowed down. His eyes move around at normal speeds, he realizes that his body is stuck in some type of stasis.
Blood is mixed with my saliva, droplets of it spew out when I talk. "The safe zone, what happened? I think they gave us a dud."
"Maybe your tech isn't as advanced as you thought. Stabilizing time is such a sci-fi plan, there's no way your team would be able to get it right the first time. Keep working at it, I'm sure you'll crack the code one day."
"You sped yourself up, slowed the bullet, and Clyde down. Your power is limited to single objects, aren't they? You can control time for one thing only, isn't that right?"
"Unlike Kay-Oh, I don't plan on revealing anything about how my power works. The less you know, the better for me. Since Clyde seems to be permanently out of the fight, why don't you just tuck your tail and beat it?"
"Wait, can you at least tell me your power's name? I need something to write down for the report."
"Didn't I just say I won't be giving you any information on me? I think my elbow strike shattered your eardrums."
"Yeah, you're really smart. I shouldn't have even thought that these low-leveled tactics of persuasion were going to work on you."
"You just keep talking. Why? Why do you need to know anything about me if this is the last time you'll ever come after me?"
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Afterburner (SS Mini-Series)
Боєвики***Warning*** Scenes of excessive gore are frequently present in this work. Profanity is present in this work. ************************************************************ After The Character was defeated in Season 2 of Skirted Spies, The Key scoute...
