How To Ruin A City

Chapter Twenty

Nic

Roulette gave a grin. "Hey, Inferno. What are you doing here?" She squinted. "Isn't this area out of your jurisdiction?"

"The Vigilante Assistance Hotline has the power to make arrests anywhere in Iron Beach-"

"Spare me the lecture."

I scowled, more sparks lighting up the air as I walked forward. Roulette's smile broadened, genuine delight taking over her features as she stared at them.

White Reaper stood back, leaning against the car. His demeanor turned harmless, clearly observing rather than getting ready to jump into a fight.

"Sit down," Roulette said, voice gravelly. Her smile disappeared.

I dropped to the ground without a second thought, heart hammering. A small internal battle started, then died just as quickly as it began.

"Stay there," she ordered, eyes boring into mine as she walked forward. Without taking my eyes off of her, I tried to send an emergency SOS to Ghost.

"Break your phone," she snapped.

My jaw clenched and unclenched. I hurled it to her face. Roulette ducked a split second before it hit her and I prayed the screen didn't crack.

"That was rude."

White Reaper snorted, about to step forward when a flash of red appeared and pounced on him. He didn't even stumble, simply grabbing her by her neck and throwing her onto the ground. "Bad kitty."

Scarlet Cat jumped up and tried to swipe his feet out from under him. A menacing laugh cut through the night as he picked her up by her shoulders.

"This is a really weird team up," he commented. "Guess the money hungry villains prowling around this city like to hunt in packs. What should we do with them?"

Roulette made a show of pausing to think. "Let's torture them a little, huh?"

I could sense White Reaper grinning as he flung Scarlet Cat into the nearest building. I instantly threw up a wall of controlled flames to block him from her, then let the flames travel over the street towards the pair. It circled around them in the perfect ring, trapping them by their stolen car. The flames grew to impossible heights and I hoped between the crackling of the fire that I wouldn't be able to hear Roulette's commands.

I dropped the flames protecting my new ally, running over as she sprang to her feet. "Are you-?"

Her hands suddenly slammed against my chest, shoving me back. Stumbling and falling, I could only stare up at her in open-mouthed shock at the knife sticking out of her throat. For a split second, she stood there looking just as confused as me, then dropped to her knees while blood gushed out of her neck. She ripped it out and I gasped.

Frozen in horror, deer in headlights, whatever you want to call it. I couldn't move for the longest time, not even after she collapsed. My eyes traveled to White Reaper.

"Nice try, kid. Fire doesn't scare me," he said simply.

I focused on Scarlet Cat's limp body before forcing myself to crawl over to her, tears spilling out of my eyes. The firewall must have dropped on its own, because suddenly Roulette was at her mentor's side cackling.

There was no pulse when I got to her. I picked the knife up and gazed down at the red-stained metal without a single thought passing through my head. There was only disbelief.

"You were supposed to be one of the good ones," I finally choked out, looking to Roulette. She didn't react at first, but I guess the way I was looking at her finally made her drop her gaze and unclench her fists.