Libertatem: Origins

Chapter 5: Wylie - Part Three.

"We're officially in the deep end now. Any ideas?" I ask Luke as we stand back to back, surrounded by three Colburns and her two men.

"I'm all out of ideas at this point." He replies with a sigh and starts breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. It's something he does when he's readying himself for a tricky situation.

"We obviously can't beat them, and by the looks of it we can't outrun them either. I guess the only option left is to go down fighting." I say matter-of-factly.

"We obviously can't beat them? Please, you underestimate me. I think it's time you learned something new about me." He smiles and walks towards the Colburns, who have moved to stand together facing Luke, leaving her men to watch me.

"Colburn, here's the deal. I'll take you on; all three of you. And when I've kicked your butts from here to Timbuktu and back, you're going to tell my friend here why you're so intent on kidnapping her, apologize profusely, and then disappear from her life. Understood?"

"Luke, what are you-"

"Wylie, please. Just let me do me, alright?" He turns to look at me with a reassuring smile.

"You overestimate yourself; but since you want to take me on, only one of me is enough to take you down." All three Colburns say, starting to merge into one. Now, I don't know what Sci-Fi movies and books have shown you about merging, but seeing it happen with your own eyes is one of the most unsettling things you could ever witness. Her skin seems to melt and ripple as the other two are assimilated into the one standing in the middle. Her face, if you can call it that, is a mass of eyes, noses and lips, and for a few seconds she looks like a mad scientist's failed attempt to clone conjoined triplets. Luke makes a face and gags, looking at me and pointing, while she completes the merging.

"Just so you know, after I'm done separating your ego from yourself, I'm going to take my time breaking your friend here till she begs me to take her  with me, just to stop the pain." She says, giving me a cocky smile. Luke simply shrugs nonchalantly and wishes her luck with that.

"By the way," he adds, "if your men over there even think about joining in to help you, my friend here is going to turn them into scrap metal. Just putting it out there."

"Are you done talking or do I have to rip your tongue out to shut you up?" Colburn spits out.

Luke smiles and walks calmly towards her, and almost as fast as a blink, hits her right in the nose... again. I hear a squishing sound and she takes a few steps back and holds her nose, which is bleeding now. Her men use my distraction as an opportunity to try and grab me, so I trip them and watch them stumble and roll over each other.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you guys. You caught me unawares before, but not this time." I say in the most threatening voice I can manage. The voice, however, comes out sounding like a frightened teen unsure of how her mouth works. They snicker and start coming at me again after getting back on their feet. The rage boils up within me when I realize that they seem more afraid of Luke than me. I concentrate on lifting the man on the right off his feet and dangle him a foot above the ground. The other man stops when he see this, unsure of whether to help his friend or to attack me. He decides on the latter and i throw the first man at him with enough force to knock them both back a few feet.

"Okay, you want to have fun? Let's have fun." I say, my voice sounding exactly as I want it this time; like a psychopath. I throw random pieces of wood at the first to get up on his feet, watch him try to block or evade, then suddenly change their course so he is hit in a different place. It's fun for a few seconds until I hear the sound of someone crashing into crates and see Luke getting up and wiping blood from his cheek. He looks at me and winks, and goes back to attacking Colburn, who's bloodier than he is. A pair of strong arms grabs me from behind and lifts be off m feet.