The Undoing of Sidekicks | ✓

fourteen

(a/n: dedicated to Jennia20276 for the awesome support <3)

fourteen

MISTRESS' HEAD SHOT up. The mist disbanded for seconds, allowing our glares to meet. 

Her lips curled up, exposing a cruel grin. 

"Nymph." The snarl felt like nails on a chalkboard to my ears, "What a surprise."

"Indeed." I replied. Standing by the railing, I peered down into the atrium. Mistress had fisted her hands on her hips, scowling my way. Josh stood a few paces away, hands engulfed in fluid flames. His eyes were startlingly bright, exuding heat. I could almost sense his stare, drilling through the side of my head. I noted he'd put on a dark mask, shrouding most of his face from visibility. 

I placed my elbows on the railing, leaning further forward. No matter how nervous I was on the inside, I kept a confident smirk plastered across my face. There was a dark, volatile mist curling around Mistress' legs. I could sense her animosity even from my vantage point. 

Time to face the music. You ordered this symphony, remember?

Tugging at my powers, my eyes turned to molten gold as my body tipped forward over the railing. My limbs poured through the fourth floor like sand, the heap at the bottom quickly building itself up into human shape once again. It took little more than a second, and so I found myself standing a few feet away from my arch-nemesis. My former mentor. Her eyebrows were steep angles, ending in a face twisted into a grimace. 

Between us, the ground seemed to tremble. I clenched, relaxed, then clenched my fists again. Mistress noted the movement, and then she scoffed. 

"Nervous?" Mistress rolled her eyes, " - I would be too, going into a fight I knew I'd lose." 

"You keep saying that, yet you're still standing there." I cocked a brow, noted the anger brewing in her face, " - I'm inclined to believe you're scared." 

The mist swirling around her legs pulsed, growing even darker. It snaked its way across the floor, but my hand shot out — sand spilled out from cracks in the floor, forming a low blockade. Her lips peeled back as she sneered at me. 

"Worthless. Both of you." Her snarl echoed around the atrium, " - where's your adult supervision? Brann? Didn't Vector come after his protege?"

Brann rolled his shoulders, "He didn't feel the need to." His words seemed to physically shake Mistress as she very nearly winced, then hardened her resolve once more. 

"You kids think you can beat me." The mist swirled faster. She scoffed once more, then cracked her knuckles, "Cute. Very well. You may try." 

Knowing her moves, I crouched down. She'd always be the first on the offensive, teasing a reaction before she undercut the next move. Brann moved his hands, a tangible sphere of heat forming in his hands. He launched it Mistress' way, but she turned into a fine mist and switched locations in a heartbeat. The ball lodged itself in one of the walls before it exploded, punching bricks out onto the street. 

"Men have no business interfering with women," sneered Mistress. A wisp of mist shot out, wrapping around Brann and locking his arms to his sides while it shoved him against the wall at the other end of the atrium. Meanwhile, Mistress herself shot like a missile my way.