A Magical Word Revealed: The World Unravelled

Day Six, Chapter Thirteen, A Broken-Hearted Battle

Edmund, Northern Territory, Australia

Tuesday, 6/2/2024

05:56

Nathan Pendragon was panicking. He was such an idiot. He should have realised that she was using a Neurocharge. He had been tricked once again.

Idiot!

Idiot!

Idiot!

Hiss!

Cu-Woosh!

Oh no. Nathan was bowled over by a magnetic net. With Industrial Control's influence removed, the traps were working perfectly fine. Nathan knew what these traps were. Wall Bullets. One of Aurora's own inventions, they were very similar in function to Aocache's Pressure Bullets. Pressure Bullets were small disks that you could hold in your hand. When activated, they flung out a magnetic net. Wall Bullets were identical in appearance and almost identical in function, except that they; one, had an adhesive lining; two, could be set to a timer; three, could be activated remotely; four, could be camouflaged or easily hidden. Aurora had set up thousands of these. With more loud "hisses" and "whooshes", more magnetic nets slammed into Nathan. They connected, binding him in a metal cocoon.

Selective Intangibility

One net slid through him. But he couldn't focus enough to escape the other three.

Fracture: Second Degree

All four nets were blasted into pieces. Nathan tried to stand.

Crack!

While he had been distracted, Aurora had approached him. With literally bone shattering force, Aurora had kicked him in the collarbone. Thanks to both Resist and the Rocket Braces she wore, she might as well have had superhuman speed and strength. Nathan fell back down. The nets reformed as he did so, cocooning him once again. This wasn't going well.

Regen

Nothing happened. Regen was working so slowly that it was insignificant.

Thousand Percent > Regen

Again, nothing. This was a serious problem. Nathan didn't have any way to heal! Without Reversal, a Subpower and therefore inaccessible, he couldn't even use Enhance to heal himself. All his methods relied on either raw power or Reversal.

Air Blast

Pulses of air exploded from the Copycoat. There, that got the nets off at least. Four Tangles wrapped around his chest and pulled him upright. Aurora punched Nathan hard in the gut. He went flying back.

Cannon Sprout

Gun barrels appeared on his hands. They fired. Aurora flicked one of her switches at the same moment. The bullets went crazy, dipping in all different directions, losing momentum and finally striking points metres away from where they had been aimed. Projectile Destabilizer. A spherical device that could open up to emit a constant field of electromagnetic energy. This energy essentially causes an inconsistent increase in air resistance. When someone moves through the field at walking speed, this change is unnoticeable. When running, it slows them very slightly. However, when something moving very fast went through, like a bullet, the field would cause them to go haywire.

Fracture: Third Degree

Glowing cracks spread through the air. Aurora deactivated the Destabilizer and dodged sideways, her Rocket Braces quadrupling her normal movement speed.

'Just give up Nathan,' Aurora called, sounding exasperated.

'Not happening,' Nathan muttered.

Aurora flew forward and slammed into him. They both tumbled.