Hindmost - Another Word for Chaos

9: The Battle in the Caves

They walked through the tunnel, Discord cracked her knuckles as Linus bowed his head, arranging his thoughts, getting into battle mode.

"You gonna need any help out there?" she wondered.

"I'll manage," he responded.

"Good," she nodded, "Four of them, we get two each, you keep the big guy and the mercenary off my ass, I'll take care of the casters, Hope, you stick with Linus, stay at his back and out of the way."

"Okay," Hope agreed dancing around his head.

"Why me?" Linus demanded, "I mean I don't stand still in combat."

"I didn't tell her to stand still either," Discord sneered, "You protect her and she'll watch your back, it all works out, besides, she likes you."

"I do not!" Hope insisted, her flame turning red.

"Lie to yourself but don't lie to me," Discord scoffed, picking up a stone, "Alright kids, let's do this thing."

She came to the exit and let the rock roll over her fingers, trailing a long black thread from her palm. She swung the stone like a flail and broke into a run the moment she saw the back of Gemma's head.

Before Discord could reach her, Gemma turned about to throw a handful of lightning into her face. Discord yelled, and her feet flew out from under her, bringing her charge to a sudden abrupt halt.

"So..." Gemma wondered as she stepped over her, "Did you actually have a plan, or were you just intending to beat me to death?"

"Beating you to death is a plan," Discord responded.

"Yeah," Gemma rubbed her hands together creating a shower of sparks, "And how's that working out for you?"

Discord clapped her hands together sending out a web of black streamers that wrapped around Gemma's wrists and dragged her down where Discord elbowed her hard in the face. As blood flew from the blonde woman's nose, Discord grabbed hold of the black thread around the stone she'd dropped and whipped it around Gemma's neck to strangle her.

"Pretty well thanks for asking," Discord smiled as her opponent's face turned blue.

At that moment a black hole opened up beneath them. Both women fell through and were dropped out of another portal, twenty feet away, and twenty feet off the ground, separating on impact when Discord collided hard with a broken pillar on her landing. Groaning as she tried to recover, Discord spotted Devon as he laughed at her from his spot across the cavern. He was still just laying around, he hadn't moved an inch.

"Sorry," he mentioned, "Can't let you choke out my girl, gotta support your team after all."

"Oh, save it," Discord threw her rock only to watch it disappear into a portal Devon opened in front of himself.

The rock reappeared from a second portal next to her head. Discord managed to catch it before the rock could strike her and then tossed it a few times in her hand, swung it around, and struck Gemma in the jaw. The two continued their scrap, with Gemma throwing out massive bolts of lightning and Discord dodging around and searching for an opening. Meanwhile, Harold picked up the drill and advanced on them. Without warning, Linus ran up behind him and kicked down the back of his knees before smashing the machine against the back of his head.

"Well, that was quick," Hope mentioned before shouting, "Look Out!"

Linus ducked left, just barely managing to avoid a rock that zipped by his head at high speed.

"Wait," Rufus chuckled, a flock of pebbles circling his raised hand, "That thing talks?"

Grabbing hold of the drill bit, a long metal spiral that Linus twirled like a quarter staff, he was able to deflect most of the projectiles thrown his way until a faster shot ricocheted too close and tore open his right bicep.