Burned

1.10 The Fight

WITH THE FLAMES IN HER EYES, SHE BURNED.

'Leave me alone, please.'

The middle Witch held out her hand. Suddenly, my throat was getting closed off. It was getting harder and heavier to breathe, until I was getting choked. The Witch levitated me by my throat. Tears welled up in my eyes as I gurgled, desperately looking for oxygen to fill up my lungs. But red wisps threw the Witch against a wall behind her. I fell on my knees again. I coughed, breathing heavily. Morgan ran to me to make sure I was okay.

'Don't make this any harder than it already is, Artemis. If you just wouldn't fight, we could all go home peacefully,' the third Witch from the left yelled, not very convincingly.

That same Witch moved her hand, only to throw Wanda against an abandoned car. She hit her head harshly and got knocked out. Morgan yelled out angrily. I looked up, seeing she shot the women with her repulsors. The first Witch moved her hands as if she was opening a Christmas cracker. Morgan stopped running, her suit getting slowly ripped apart as her arms were beginning to almost break.

'Oh, that's not a smart move,' I hissed at the Witches. 'If I were you I wouldn't even so much touch her.'

'You're not very attentive in class, are you? I remember that you were taught not to let emotions control your magic, it'll weaken it,' the middle Witch told me, standing up again.

I stood up, too. I realised that I knew no useful spells and with my Book of Spells, lying somewhere on the ground, I would have no chance of beating them. I had to have someone fight for us while we would be able to flee from the Witches. I had to cause a distraction. But, first I had to make sure Morgan would be out of pain. The first and only spell that came to my mind was the very first and only spell I had ever created.

'Teichos puros!' I yelled to strengthen the spell.

An orange curtain fell between the Witches and us, this time stronger than the one in New York. Morgan fell on the ground and yelled a short "I'm okay!". The Witches tried to get through the wall. I held my hands up, trying to keep the spell up for just a little longer. I had to connect myself to the air, to fire and fight at the same time. It was a lot to keep up.

'Captain Rogers!' I yelled out.

'If we're fighting together, kid,' you began, running over to me, 'I think you can call me Steve.'

'Do you trust me?' I asked nonetheless.

Something in your bright blue eyes changed, but you nodded anyway. 'I do.'

I then stopped focusing on the wall of fire, making it easier for the Witches to break through the barrier. I turned around without wasting a single second. My hand moved to your forehead and before you could even react on the strange motion I made, I whispered the Greek words "nous etoimos". Your eyes closed for a moment. You inhaled. Then my wall fell, the Witches breaking through. I pushed you toward them, waking you up from your trance again.

'What did you do?' you asked me confused.

'Enhanced your intuition a little,' I explained, already walking the other way. 'Trust it. Peter!'

Peter came running to me while you went to the Witches, performing one of your combat moves on them. 'Do we have a plan, Artemis?'

'No,' I answered honestly, grabbing his left hand. 'Pur.'

A little flame appeared right above the palm of his hand. I had to pull back my arm quickly, trying not to get burned by the hot substance. I knew it wasn't damaging Peter's skin, because I had performed the spell a few times before. Wow, I never really realised how much I use the fire spells. But, then again, fire is a really beautiful phenomenon.

'Holy shit!' Peter exclaimed.

I pushed the teenager toward the fight. 'Go and help him! The fire listens to you, use it!'

'What can I do?' Morgan asked who stood next to me out of the blue. Peter had already gone to the fight, taking on two Witches at the same time.

'Hold on,' I told her while I put up my hand, making you jump a little higher than usual and coming down on one of the Witches with more impact. 'You and Harley have to get one of the cars here to work. We need to get out of here. I'm going to get Wanda.'

Morgan nodded while her head got covered with the nano tech again. She flew away, probably to where Harley was standing to tell him that they, the two smart mechanics, should go and steal an abandoned car. I ran toward the Sokovian, who sat on her knees, holding her head in her hands. Her fingers were cover with blood. It almost made me throw up, but I ignored the sick feeling in my stomach, crouching down beside her.

'We have to go,' I told Wanda.

Wanda looked up, tears in her eyes from the pain. 'I don't think I can run. I might've broken my leg.'

'That's okay,' I responded, taking her left arm from her head and putting it around my shoulders. We slowly stood up. 'I'll help you.'

But as soon as we stood up, I heard Peter yell loudly. Then right in front of us he fell from the sky, the flame in his hand extinguished. He groaned, standing up again. But you followed Peter, also getting smashed into the ground right in front of us. Suddenly Morgan and Harley stood nearby. I recognised it as teleportation. But with the six of us standing this close to each other, the Witches stood in position and surrounded us. I cursed under my breath.

'What the hell?!' Morgan exclaimed.

'Dude, did they just teleport us?' Harley continued confused.

My eyes widened, knowing there was no escape this time. 'We're so fucking doomed.'

'Artemis,' Peter asked me, seeing the seriousness of the problem, 'any good plans?'

But before I could tell Peter that I was out of idea, all five of you vanished.

I knew it weren't the Witches who had teleported them somewhere else so they could get to me, judging by the looks on their faces. I could see confusion, surprise and amazed looks in their eyes, probably because they thought it was me who teleported you. And teleportation is a hard thing to master, so obviously they would be surprised and  amazed. But it wasn't me, so there had to be a third party here whose side wasn't known yet.

And indeed there was.