How To Ruin A City

Chapter Nineteen

Nic

It shocked me that Kyle actually managed to do it. It was hard to process he could even manage it. Him showing his face was one of the few mistakes the rookie made, but since I deleted the security footage later I wasn't too bothered.

But I guess you want to know what these crazy bastards did busting out of my place of employment.

So there I was, talking to my mother as I struggled to find an excuse for where I was when some maniacs started screaming like they were the first person in any horror movie to get killed off.

"What was that?!" my mother demanded.

"I'm at a party."

Don't say kids are doing drugs, Nic. Come up with-

"A birthday party," I clarified. "I told you about this last week, Mom."

"You did? I must've forgotten...Who's screaming?"

"Some kid just got whacked in the face with a bat because this other kid got steered away from the piñata. I have to go." I didn't wait for her response before hanging up and pocketing my phone.

I started racing towards Evergreen and Paramount, who were also running straight at me.

"Don't think so!" Evergreen shouted as vines wrapped around my foot. I glanced over my shoulder at the plant in the lobby. With a scowl, I set it on fire. Evergreen gasped. "You monster!"

"Sure," I growled, throwing a fireball at the pair. Paramount ducked and pulled Evergreen down at the last second, so I threw another. It hit somebody's flesh and they let out a little squeal.

Of course they break out when everybody went back out for patrol!

Ghost teleported next to me, letting the shadow portal close up completely before sending a huge flash of light to blind them. It turned the whole other half of the lobby white. I shielded my eyes as the two villains shouted in protest.

Then two idiots fell out of the vents.

I jumped back as Glacier landed in front of me, flat on her back, followed by some dude landing on top of her in a ski mask.

...Kyle? Oh, ew, I can see the outline of everything!

"Is that...?"

"Blonde Boy," she groaned in confirmation.

"That doesn't clarify much when you nickname everyone based on their hair color."

"My sidekick then," she muttered as she forced herself to her feet.

Paramount lunged from somewhere in my peripheral. My head snapped to the side as pain exploded across my cheek, fury bubbling up and exploding. But before I could do anything about it, she had a forcefield surrounding her.

I scoffed, pulling Evergreen away from a tussle with Riptide and Ghost, dragging her in front of Paramount. Everybody stopped to watch while Evergreen struggled to break out of my grip, crying in frustration.

"I'll set her on fire if you don't drop the shield. You'll get to watch her burn," I snarled.

Paramount's eyes widened in a split-second of horror before she was grinning. "I'm calling your bluff, Inferno."