Eris ▷ s.rogers [1] ✔️

32.| THE GHOST OF YOU

TONY RAISED HIS HANDS AS he approached. Brown eyes flitted from where she stood, to the men in pursuit, then back.

"Flickers, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything."

He didn't look convinced. Eris set her jaw and clenched her fists, resolution in her blood. The lights overhead flickered and Tony tensed. His hands raised even higher.

"This isn't gonna make things any better, Flickers. You need to stand down."

"I won't go back to a cell, Tony. I can't."

"We'll figure something out—"

"I already have."

He slowed to a pause.

"Sinthea isn't going to stop haunting me, Tony. Not in a cell, not on the run. I'm going to kill her and then I swear, you'll never see my face again. Just—" Eris voice cracked. She was pleading with him and it was all she could do. "Let me go."

For a long moment, Tony held her gaze. Remorse flickered through his eyes and he stepped forward again, making her heart plummett.

"I can't do that, Flickers. Please, I don't wanna hurt you."

A cold resolution gripped her heart. Despite everything else. "Trust me. You won't."

Tony's stance went taut.

But Eris leaped forward before he could react.

Driving her knee into the man's stomach, she sent him doubling over. The second Tony dropped his guard, she drove her elbow into his back, hearing a crack. The blow knocked him to the ground.

Tony made a grunt of her pain. Eris steeled herself against it.

Gunfire finally opened up at her back.

Instantly, the lights overhead went out and the shadows rushed to her aid, forming a wall of protection. The gunshots rang off them, silenced as they were engulfed in the darkness.

The alarm had died. The only light that came in was from outside.

Eris looked down at the billionaire, lying still, and forced herself to step over him. All the voices in her mind screamed. She started toward the opposite exit, both resolution and regret in her blood.

I'm so sorry.

She got five feet away.

The glass in front of her shattered.

Stumbling to a stop, Eris whirled around. Tony was on his feet again, swaying unsteadily, but up all the same. Blood seeped from his nose. Where amusement usually shone, his brown eyes were narrowed.

On his hand, a red gauntlet glowed. Powering up again.

"I said stand down, Flickers."

"Tony—"