No Heroes Left Behind (Book 1)

Chapter Thirteen: How Mysterious

I fly up into the air just above height level of Hellfire. He shoots a beam of blue flame at me and I dodge it. I fly around the villains in a large circle, dodging the beams being whipped at me. Until I feel the hot blue flame wrap around my torso. I struggle and squirm and begin to fly away but Hellfire pulls me back with the fire chain attached to the band around me.

He yanks on it hard and I come flying towards him and collide with the ground at his feet. My body scrapes against the cement and I feel my suit rip slightly on my elbow, shoulder and basically my entire right half of my body. He kicks me hard in the back of the head and I gasp at the sudden pain surging through me. He walks to the other side of my body and repeatedly kicks me in the stomach and face.

I already feel the blood trickling from my nose and I spit out blood onto the ground beside my head. I look up slowly to see Hellfire's black boot hovering over my head and he smashes it into my cheek, pressing my face against the ground. Rancor stands at a distance and watches in silence. His shoulders are tense but he pretends like it doesn't affect him. He has to.

"Scarlett," Hellfire says in his raspy voice, "it's funny how you thought you could take on all three of us." 

The Whisperer, after recovering somewhat from the devastating kick I landed to his junk, crouches in front of my face. He looks up at Hellfire and chuckles in his menacing velvety laugh he always has. "Rancor, get over here." The Whisperer says sharply. Rancor slowly walks over to stand next to him. "I need you to laser her face for me. Teach her a lesson about kicking people in the goodies." He laughs again and backs away to watch.

I look up at Rancor. He doesn't say a word. His eyes behind the mesh of his mask are void of emotion. I just watch as the lasers from his eyes shoot through the tiny holes in the mesh that were specifically placed so the lasers can shoot through. The lasers hits my cheek, hurting my skin. My breath hitches as I try not to show the pain it is causing me. I breath heavily out of my mouth. The red laser moves down my cheek towards my neck. I feel tears stinging the back of my eyes but I dare not let any fall. My heart pounds in my chest.

I close my eyes and breath in a deep breath. Hellfire's boot pushes my face further into the ground and my cheek scrapes the ground. Then suddenly, the weight is gone. I hear a loud oomph come from him and the lasers stop burning my skin.

I hear the sounds of punching and Whisp is cursing heavily in another language which I cannot properly identify. There's a familiar voice shouting to someone to come and help me up. Two hands grab me and lift me off of the ground. I open my bruising eyes to see Zeus looking at me, worry clearly present on his face. Rush is floating over to us and she gasps when she sees me.

"Scarlett, I'm so sorry this happened to you!" She shouts. I look passed her and see Indigo and Ghost fighting the two villains I was just previously being tormented by.

"What happened to t-the two who w-were supposed to take t-them on?" I ask shakily. Zeus begins floating, carrying me in his arms bridal style, into the air with Rush by our side. He starts flying away from the scene and towards a nearby rooftop, away from the action.

"By the looks of it," he takes in a deep breath that has a hint of anger and frustration embedded into it. "they bailed on you because they didn't want to go through with the plan." He sets me down gently onto the roof and holds me so I am sitting up slightly, leaning against him for support. Rush kneels down in front of me.

I breathe out half a laugh and look at my torn suit. "I should have known." I murmur to myself. The two of them exchange glances and fall silent. "I mean, it's to be expected. You guys even think it is a stupid idea, to trust Rancor." I continue. Just as I say this, Rancor flies up to the roof and falls to his knees upon landing. He scurries to his feet and runs over to us and skids to a stop beside Rush, kneeling down beside us.

"Scarlett, are you okay?" He asks frantically, concern evident in his voice and in his eyes behind the mask. Rush looks sideways at him with a look of confusion and a hint of what seems to be content. It must be pleasantly surprising for them to see him reacting this way. To see him actually caring.

I shift positions against Zeus who is still holding me upright. I inhale a sharp breath as a pain shoots through my side. "Uh well, despite a couple broken ribs as well as a bruised and burning face, I'd say yeah I'm doing great." I reply with sarcasm. He scoots closer to me and I feel Zeus's muscles tighten, becoming tense.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do anything. If I did, they would've known I'm helping you guys." He says quickly, meeting Zeus's pointed stare. I hold out my hand in front of me to silence him from his rambling. He stops and looks down at his gloved hands in defeat.

"It's okay." I tell him softly. My eyelids begin to grow heavy and with each blink, the world grows darker for longer periods of time. "I think I'm gonna go to sleep now." I close my eyes and before I fall out of consciousness I hear Rancor, Zeus and Rush shouting at me to stay awake, but it's too late. By that time I was already losing it.

•••

I slowly begin to regain consciousness. My eyes flutter open but the world around me is a blur. As my eyes adjust, I gain focus on the familiar room that I am in. I'm in my bedroom.

"What the...?" I start to sit up in my bed. I look around in suspicion. Am I dreaming? I swing my legs over the side of my bed and touch my toes to the cold hardwood floor. I look down at myself and see I have different clothes-my regular clothes- on overtop of my suit, and my mask is laying neatly next to my pillow.

The window in front of me is open and a cool breeze blows through. It is still daytime right now so I must've only been unconscious for a couple hours. I walk over to the window and look out to see that familiar dark figure looming at a distance. 

"Rancor." I say aloud. He looks up and meets my eyes, and in one quick movement he is right outside my bedroom window, floating a few feet away. I look at him in silence for a while, studying him. He lets out a big sigh after a long moment of silence and flies closer, perching himself in my window sill.

"Hey Scarlett." He says in a low whisper. 

I narrow my eyes at him. "How'd you know who I am?" I ask with a tinge of anger. He jumps through my window and flops down on my bed as if he owns the place. I spin around to face him.

"I followed you home by accident." He says weakly, which leads me to believe that he is lying. I step closer to him and lean over so that I'm face to face with him.

I frown. "First off, how do you follow someone home 'by accident', and second, is that the truth?" I ask him sternly. He blinks a few too many times than necessary and lifts his head up off of my bed so his face is about two inches from mine.

"Maybe, maybe not." He says and by the tone of voice I can tell he's smiling. I punch his shoulder and sit on the floor with my back against the wall for support.

"Well," I light a flame on my index finger and move it to my other fingers in sequence. "I think that since you know who I am, it's only fair that I get to know who you are." I look over at him to gage his reaction. 

He lets out a deep, almost evil-sounding chuckle. "If you found out who I truly am, then there wouldn't be any mystery left." And with that, he gets up and flies through the window, disappearing into the city.