Overkill

Chapter 3 A Fight, A Promise, and A Plan

Noah's team had been waiting in the wooded area for a while. Will kept eyeing Silus nervously as if he expected him to punch him. He flinched as Silus spoke.

"Hey man," he looked past Will at Andrew who was leaning against a tree. "I'm sorry I threw you into the road back there. I thought you were here to fight us."

"No problem, bud. No harm done, didn't feel a thing."

"Good, just wanted to get that off my chest." That was when he noticed Will staring at him. "What's wrong with you...Will...right?"

"Uh, yeah. I don't know...I guess... I never thought something like time could really be controlled. It seems like such a set thing, I don't see why it needs to be controlled."

"You think I do? I have no idea why I was given these powers over something else. All I know is that this is what I have to work with."

"Yeah, I guess." Nobody really knew what to talk about. They had been enemies days before this, but now they were a team. It didn't feel right. Everyone could feel it, but Emma was the only one to step up to fix it.

"Ok, we all know that we aren't going to get along right off. Will, Andrew, you tried to kill us before. The rest of us kicked your asses. Lets all just get over it and..."

"You did not 'kick our asses'." Will stated. 

Emma turned towards him in a huff. "Oh yes we did. You ran away faster than a high school senior runs away from school on the last day."

"We needed to regroup..." Will stepped forward so he was right in Emma's face. "...and then we would've come back and kill you all without any trouble."

"You wanna bet?"

David stepped forward but Ben placed a hand on his shoulder to hold him back. David looked at Ben who shook his head and leaned against a tree, David following his example. "Of course we do. Andrew and i could take you down."

"Then lets go. You and Andrew against me, just me. I'll take you down myself." 

Will chuckled and turned to see that Andrew wasn't moving from his spot. Like the tree he was leaning against, he was rooted in place. Will turned back with a smug look. "I can take you down myself."

"I'd like to see you try." Emma took a step back into the shade of a tree and sunk into the ground. Roots came from a nearby tree and lifted Will up into the air. He looked around, trying to find Emma. She had reappeared behind a nearby tree where she could see Will but Will couldn't see her. The shadows created by the trees grew larger and darker. 

Will squinted in the darkness and knew his disadvantage. He swept his arms in front of him and the trees branches collected so that the trees were as compressed as possible. This made for a very weird looking, and very open forest. The sunlight beamed down on the shadows and destroyed them. 

Emma scoffed from her hiding place. Will had his back to her. He was shouting into the open forest. "You gonna run now? Things were just getting good! I guess you really don't have what it..."

A force ripped Will from his perch on the roots. Emma had been launched up, saying a quiet thank you to James for the silent boost that she was sure he heard. They landed on the forest floor, Will on his back and Emma with her knee in his gut and fist ready to punch him in the face.

"You asked us for help, don't forget that." Roots came from behind her and grabbed her wrists, suspending her in the air. Will dusted himself off and cleared his throat. 

"But you need my help to. If you're going to defeat the master than you need as much help as you can get."

Emma tried to twist out of the roots, but their grip was tight. Her legs dangled freely beneath her and Will walked right up to her, getting in her face again. Emma wasn't listening to what he was saying, but his mouth moved constantly. Emma's anger grew inside her and finally she noticed that her upper half was coated in the shadow of a nearby, weird looking tree. It wasn't much but it would have to do.

She smiled as a distraction, the shadow touching her turning darker. Then she chuckled "What's so funny?" The roots grew tighter, but that wouldn't matter in a second.

"You forgot something."

"What's that?"

"You may have learned everything that you CAN do...but it takes practice jackass." She kicked out her legs and wrapped them around Will's waist, pulling him close. He tried to jump back in surprise and confusion but her legs were strong. "And that is what I've had the time to do." She felt herself get sucked into the shadow, Will coming with her. 

They reappeared nearby, Will screaming with fear from the complete nothingness that came with shadow traveling. Emma walked away, dusting off her clothes and glancing at Andrew. He gave her a thumbs up and she kept walking. 

It wasn't long after that when Noah and Sam returned with a second car. It was  a black Impala with Sam behind the wheel. "Ok," Noah announced as he stepped into the wooded area they had been hiding in. "So we had to steal it but we have a second car now." He saw Will, still obviously shaken from his trip with Emma. "What's wrong with him?"

Emma answered with a slight smile as she walked past. "Long story." 

Noah looked at her and then Will, confused, but then shook it off. "Normal crew, jump in the Cobalt, the rest of you, jump in the Impala. Silus, you drive."

"What makes you think I can drive?"

"When I recruited you, you were drinking at a bar. That means you're either over twenty-one, or you have an astonishing fake I.D."

"You make a good point. Where are we going anyway?"

Noah sighed and looked over at Sam, then back at the team. "Colorado, it's time to end this."

...

They were driving down the same roads they had days before, the mood obviously lower than it was the first time. David was the first to speak after a couple hours of driving. "Why are we going back?"

"We need to defeat the master's army, and we need to kill the master. We can't run forever. There's no doubt in my mind that he's been keeping track of us and is planning to send the army after us. We need to kill them while they are least suspecting it." Noah looked into the rear view mirror and pointed it at David, who was obviously scared. "We wouldn't be able to hide forever anyway. We mine as well fight now, go down swinging."

"What about Sam? Can't she hide us? She hid you for practically your entire life."

"That's different, David, there's ten of us now. She can't just take everything the master learns about all of us at once."

David looked down for a second. He cleared his throat and wiped his eyes before looking back up. "What if we can't do it?" 

"If we can't defeat them then..." Noah looked over at Sam for a moment and then back at the road. "...then you and the rest of the team are going to run. I'm the only one n the vision...that means I have to finish this alone. Whether I die or kill them all, you will make it out of this, David. I promise that I will do whatever it takes to keep you and the team alive."

Everyone was silent for a while after that, which confirmed Noah's first worry. This was going to be a really long car ride. 

...

The master looked over his army in training. They fought, practiced, and tested. The master kept calling for select few the come and train with his personal crew. He kept Jacob with him at all times though, which caused a lot of boredom in fear in the young child. He was barely a teenager, but his recruiter sensed a darker power in him so he was forced into the army, like so many other people. 

The master closed his eyes with a smile. "Ah," he sighed with delight. "They are coming. A little ahead of schedule, admittedly, but it is still good news." He looked down at Jacob with his evil grin. "This means we will have to slow them down."

"Is...is that where I come in?"

"Not yet, I have better plans for you, young Jacob. I think we have about a week before they will get here, we will need to at least double that. I'm thinking we send Billy and Liam, what do you think?" 

"Um...good idea?"

The master straightened up and looked back down at his training army. "Yes...yes it is."