Beautiful Ruins

Chapter 29

"We're here for that cure, give it to us and we won't fight you" Clover declares, a knife already in her hand. I eye her black bodysuit, where does she hide her knives? I focus back on the men. I'm not overly surprised they know my name since they had a file with my name on it, and the building is clearly focused on mutants.

The table has multiple different vials on it, with all different

"We're not handing over the cure" the second man declares. That's fine, we're not asking for her permission. A strong gust of wind sends both of them back against the wall and vines appear, holding them against the wall. I remember how easy it can be fighting a normal human, I feel like I haven't had an easy fight in ages.

I approach the cure, about to grab it when I hear more footsteps. I roll my eyes, this building is probably filled with scientists and security guards. I turn around and see three men all with guns, I'm about to use my powers when a knife flies back past, nicking his ear.

"That was a warning, the next one won't miss. I suggest you leave" Clover says, her voice tough and her hand already on another knife. I smile, enjoying Clover's toughness in battle.

"Stand down or we'll shoot" the middle guard says. No, they won't. Not with all the bottles and vials behind us, they'd ruin all their research. Unless the guns are tasers which we can easily avoid, but I think the guns are just for show.

I glance at Clover who shrugs slightly. I nod, knowing she knows what I mean. Clover throws a knife which lands in one of the man's legs. Water shoots at their faces, causing them all to start rubbing their eyes. I quickly use wind to push them against the wall, pinning them back with vines.

We've beat them so all we need to do is grab the cure and leave, I'm tempted to ask about why they're discussing x-men but we don't have time for this.

I raise an eyebrow; this was too easy. We barely fought, we overtook them too easily, these can't be the guards who are tasked with keeping the cure safe. This isn't the cure, is it? Wordlessly I open the cure, pouring it on the floor. It's just water, the vial just makes it look blue.

"That makes sense" Clover says, rolling her eyes in annoyance. She opens up the other vials, all of which just contain water.

"Where is it?" I ask, walking over to the first two men. A flicker of fire appears at my fingertips. "Do you like heat?" They glance at each other and then back at me. As much as I want to ask about my file, getting the cure is more important, we also have no idea if other people are aware we're here, more guards could be on their way.

"You won't make it to the cure, it's heavily protected" the first man says, all traces of his previous annoyance gone. I shrug, I'm sure it'll be a challenge but both of us are willing to do it and we're both pretty good in combat.

Clover walks over after finally tipping out all the vials. "We like our odds" she says, still holding a knife. How many does she have? I turn my focus back onto the men.

My green vines are still holding everyone against the wall, but I will admit that I can't do it forever. As soon as we're out of the room and I'm not focused, my powers will stop, and they'll all be freed and able to tell everyone that we're coming for the cure.

"It's downstairs in the basement. Feel free to try, you'll just end up dead or locked in a cage like-" the second man from earlier stops, as if realising he almost said something he wasn't supposed to say.

My eyes widen as without warning, Clover hits both the men over the head with her knife, knocking them out. It's a smart idea, I just wasn't expecting it. She quickly does the same with the guards and then turns to me. I follow her out of the room, and we start walking, we can't hear anyone around, but I'm sure there's more guards and more scientists. We stop in front of a flight of stairs leading down, this must be where the basement is.

"Of course, the cures in the basement" Clover mutters, I nod in agreement. I haven't watched many horror movies, but this feels like a fitting first scene, two girls walking down to the basement. At least a psycho killer shouldn't be down there.

We walk down the stairs and I open the door, ready for combat. Sure enough, guns start going off straight away. I push Clover behind me and use wind to push the bullets away from us, the wind is strong enough to pull the guns out of the guards' hands. The basement is dark, but we can just make out everything around us, I think I can see the cure, unless it's another fake.

One of the guards lunge towards me but I quickly duck and them punch him in the side of the head, he collapses and doesn't get up. I quickly duck another guard's outstretched arm and slam his head into the side of the grey wall.

A guard grabs me from behind and I grab his arm, pulling it off me and turning around, kicking his legs out from under him. "Go" I say, pointing to the door. He scrambles off and runs upstairs without looking back. Another two guards quickly follow him.

Clover twists a guard's arm because her back and then shoves her forward, she crashes into a cart and falls forward onto the ground, she doesn't get up. More guards continue to flee upstairs, clearly not that invested in protecting the cure and whatever else is down here.

I look around the basement, keeping an ear out in case the guards come back with their guns, but I doubt it. I head towards the blue vial, Clover's already standing in the front of it. She picks it up, examining it. "I think it's the mutant cure" she tells me, not taking her eyes off the cure.

I take it from Clover's hand, it looks exactly like the vial in the cave, I think it's the cure. Now all we have to do is get out of here and return back to Stark towers without the cure getting smashed to pieces.

The floor and walls are grey, dark in colour. A light switch turns on and I whirl around, sighing in relief when I see it's Clover who found the light switch. I gasp as I see someone tied up in the corner, a familiar boy with messy blond and bright blue eyes. What the hell is Ashton doing here?