The Fall of the Society

Chapter 4: The Return

She sat in a crater of her own design for quite some time, clutching her new locket tightly to her chest as tears streamed down her pale cheeks. Her crimson red hair hanging down haphazardly. The forest surrounding her was completely silent, appearing devoid of life. In that moment she felt empty, completely lost. He had helped her to grow her strength, to become more powerful and control her abilities better as well as hone her physical skills. Meanwhile teaching her all the skills she would need to survive in a harsh world, how to survive on her own. The one thing she had failed to learn was how to live without him.
She felt as though it was her fault that he was gone. Had she allowed him to continue his mission on the night they met, or even helped him, he would still be alive, and all of this would have never happened. If she had not been so careless and foolish in using her powers in such a flashy way when she learned to fly on her own, they never would have known where to find them. As she sat and contemplated these thoughts, they turned from inner turmoil to near seething and boiling over hate toward the Society. Everything she had suffered was their fault. The Global Society for the Protection of Mankind had perpetrated every terrible thing that had happened in her life and she now knew that Tripp had been completely right. Their corruption needed to be removed from the world. She would burn them to cinders and spread their ashes to the wind, then if she found that the corruption went further, she would burn the world. If the world deserves to be reborn from the ash, then so be it.
Her determination renewed, she pushed her sadness aside and placed the locket around her neck. In a great burst of flames, she rocketed into the air. She headed in the direction that Bulwark had taken. He had walked away from the fight, but he had his hand in his death and did nothing to stop it from happening. The flight to him did not take long, and she slammed down in front of him, fire shooting out in every direction, singing the ground and decimating the foliage around her. Bulwark barely had time to put his shields up and defend himself against her flames. Rose glared at him, her eyes blazed red as tendrils of flames lashed out, smashing violently into the defenses of Bulwark with terrible crashing sounds. He dug his feet in, as each impact drove him back a little further.
Bulwark was large and burly, at least six and a half feet tall, and heavily armored to the point you could not see any of his skin. The impacts continued to drive him back, his breaths were becoming heavy and labored as he struggled to stave off the onslaught. After several minutes of holding on, his defense failed and one of the tendrils slammed viciously into his chest, cracking his armor and throwing him smashing into a tree behind him. The tree splintered and fell to the ground. Rose slowly floated toward him as heat blasted everything around her, causing much of the surrounding forest to burst into flames.
Reaching his hands up, Bulwark struggled for a moment before unlatching his helmet and tossing it to the side. Coughing as if still struggling to breath, he unlatched his chest armor and allowed it to fall to the ground in front of him. Breathing in deeply, he accidently breathed in a large amount of smoke and ash from the burning surroundings, causing him to cough again. "You are everything they feared you would become," he coughed, trying to clear his airway. His face cringed and he placed his hand on his left ribs which were likely broken. "Even worse probably, they expected you to be uncontrollable, that your powers would always be seconds from causing disaster everywhere you went. Instead you have complete control now and they managed to install the hate in you," he continued with very labored breathing. "They have effectively created their worst nightmare." His dark skin was sweating and beginning to blister from the heat. Rose diffused her aura and landed lightly on the ground. Bulwarks muscular form finally managed to take in a full and healthy breath. "Thank you, I would rather not suffocate to death."
"Why should I let you live?" Rose asked spitefully. "You left him to die! You could have helped him!" Tears once more streamed down her face and her emotions flowed freely. "You should have saved him!"
Bulwark's expression told her that he had expected this. "I could have tried, but that would have just caused more death, likely my own, and it would have prolonged his suffering." Rose glared at him, her eyes blazing fiery red once more. He held his hand up to her, "I do not fear death, and if you must kill me for your own piece of mind, I implore you to do so. Tripp was not my friend, but he had my respect. He got a raw deal from the Society, but that did not make me want to fight those that were my friends. Tripp had conviction very few could ever hope for," he told her with a slight coughing laugh. "Believe it or not but that locket is a product of my abilities. Though when I made it, I did not know what its purpose was," he finished pointing at her neck.
     She clasped her hand around the locket tightly and stared hard at him. He appeared to have no reason to lie to her, his face was resolved to the death that was likely soon to be presented to him. "Why did you make it?"
"It is not often I get to use my ability in such a way, and it takes a lot out of me," he told her with a smile. "Any time I can use my ability in a non-combat situation I relish it. I spent every ounce of strength and energy compressing my barrier down into that shape for three days. Tripp likely contacted a man named Maldion, he is a broker that specializes in securing items and information, pretty much anything anyone may want. He contacted me, and I made the locket. Maldion has a lot of sway with a lot of people and does a lot of work with the Society, but he is not one with the Society. He is a very difficult person to track because he moves around a lot. Most of the time you have to put out a word that you have a proposal for him, and he will find you."
"Unless he can give Tripp back to me, or the hearts of those who targeted him, I have no use of a broker," she said, her anger rising again.
"Makes sense I suppose," he replied loftily as he gazed up at the clear blue sky. "If the remaining Heads and Governors find out what transpired here, they will disperse, making them much harder to find," Bulwark stated without looking down. "They will also be heavily fortified. They are terrified of Tripp and you. Granted I think you will be fine going after them." He continued to look at the sky, a small smile on his face. Rose stared at him for a moment, he wanted to be looking at the sky when she killed him, he wanted to feel the freedom that comes with flying. "There were six heads left there when we departed. I highly doubt they all stuck around after the assault team was deployed," he said breaking the silence.
"If you return to the Society you will die like the rest of them," Rose stated coldly before blasting into the air in a burst of blue flames. All around Bulwark, green and lush foliage burst from the ground and the bark on the nearby burning trees repaired and grew stronger. The blisters on Bulwark's skin healed and he could feel his ribs were no longer broken. She hovered over him staring downward amazed at the properties her fire had that she had been unaware of. Once high enough in the air as to not affect the forest, her aura changed to a bright white and rocketed into the distance, passing over the aircraft that Bulwark was headed toward.
Landscape passed beneath her in a blur as she sped along. Focusing inward, she minimized her aura down to a low white while still maintaining her speed. After all, she did not want to draw too much attention and alert the Society to her approach. The countryside was beautiful as the sun was setting, casting an orange hue across the land. If she was correct on the distance she would arrive to where she had been held captive just before midnight. The thought of returning to that place caused her to develop a pit in her stomach. Thus far she had acted purely on instinct and emotion, and that would lead to far more collateral damage than if she was in control.
A city started to crop up beneath her. Suralon, the Eastern stronghold of the Society. Everything was quiet and that made her worry. An ambush was likely waiting for her somewhere within the midst of the dark and silent city. If they wanted to attack her, she would let them. Any amount of forces that they would bring would not be enough in open warfare against her, they would feel the full wrath of her abilities. Finding her target, she continued to circle for a moment. The Hall of Heroes was still badly damaged from the night Tripp had assaulted it, there had been no repairs done. Completely quiet and still, Rose felt tentative with landing in the place she had been held captive, forced to use her powers against her will. She landed softly and quietly, examining her surroundings carefully. Why had they not repaired the facility, it had been an important staging and housing area for local heroes. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as a chill surged through her body, someone was watching her, but from where?