Power Play

Chapter 21: Lily

Chapter 21: Lily

    Lily was intently watching the fights that even now were going on at the A and B targets. The C target fight had ended quickly. The spotter had turned out to be fairly weak in terms of other powers, and he hadn't posed much of a challenge for Silver and Harken's freak combined. The guard was well overmatched against Evan and Alaine alone, but once the other two turned to join the fight against him as well, with the spotter already down, the guard had tried to flee away from them across the rooftops. He hadn't gotten away. The four of them had quickly chased him down and finished it. There wouldn't be time for them to get to the other two targets before those fights were over, so they'd begun making their way back to Lily's position.

    The battle at B target was nearly over as well. As the four freaks working for Masters approached, the leader and his wife responded by escaping their building, fleeing towards the waiting B team. The four freaks gave chase, and by the time they realized there was an ambush laying in wait it was too late. The leader and his wife turned and were joined by the B team in rushing them. It still might've been a difficult fight, as it was clear from the start that the four freaks in this group were all strong ones, except for Vanning. It had long been thought that he might well be the second strongest freak in the region after Harken herself, but until tonight Lily had never seen the full extent of his powers. While his strength was exceptional, it was his speed that was frightening. He was faster even than Simon Terroft, and up until that point Simon was the fastest freak Lily had ever seen in action. Not only that, but as he was joining battle, four shadowy limbs seemed to erupt from his body. It made him look a lot like a giant spider. He used the shadow limbs as effectively as his real ones, and the damage caused by every blow they struck was clearly tainted. Vanning was laughing as he attacked and countered his opponents. It was clear he could've handled at least two of Masters' freaks effectively on his own with no problems, and with his controlling the fight from the start, the rest of the team had been making short work of Masters' freaks there.

    The fight at the A target was the most interesting one. Ryan Lydon was a pleasant surprise. His technique could still use a lot of polish, but he analyzed and reacted well from what she could see. Plus he was apparently capable of swiftsplitting, a technique she'd never actually seen in action before, but that he'd obviously discovered early into his new life given how short a period he'd actually been a freak. When she saw the gun larikin, saw what it could do, she was worried the freaks at the party might get completely decimated before backup could even arrive, but Ryan was able to effectively neutralize what was probably the single greatest threat in the room.

    Still, despite the fact that Ryan and Simon were doing well, it was clear the battle wasn't going well for the rest of them. She could feel the tension and nervousness in her gut, and she wasn't even fighting. All they had to do was hold out until the rest of the group got there. When Ryan blocked the escape of the two freaks who tried to flee just as the rest of the team neared the building, Lily knew it was over, they'd won. It was just a question of whether they could escape too many casualties. That was when she saw the man charging Ryan with the larikin. Ryan didn't see it in time, and one good swing of the bat was all it took to partially cave his skull in. He was still alive though, even after he hit the ground, she could tell by the way his eyes looked, the way his body twitched, the faint breathing. As the rest of the team crashed through the wall into the building, she saw the freak step over Ryan's fallen body, saw him raise the bat. She knew Ryan wouldn't survive another blow. But just as the bat started to descend, Kyra Sagrand, who'd charged at the freak the second she entered, leapt into the air behind him. One sharp kick to the back of the neck cracked the freak's spine and sent him tumbling forward, the bat missing Ryan's head by inches as it struck the ground and then clattered out of the freak's fingers. Kyra didn't give the freak time to recover. Before he could even roll over to look up at her, she delivered another couple forceful kicks to the freak's head, driving it down into the floor each time. The freak stopped trying to move, his shattered skull probably causing him difficulty in thinking. Kyra took the opportunity to step further in and stomp down on the freak's head twice, as hard as she could, crushing the freak's brains beneath her foot. Then she simply turned, reached down to scoop up the bat the freak had dropped, took a split second to adjust her grip on it, and charged into the rest of the battle.