When Hell Runs Cold

Chapter Seventeen

Blitz kept his hand around wrapped firmly around Alysia's throat, holding her hard enough to bruise. "Who are you?" he repeated, slightly lessening his hold on her throat so she could speak.

Before Alysia could say anything, a blast of wind threw Blitz across the room, slamming him into the wall. By some miracle, Blitz let go of her, instead of dragging Alysia along with him. Nathan stepped in front of her, one of his arms still outstretched. "Back off, Blitz. She's my new sidekick."

"Not a sidekick." Alsyia muttered, shooting the vigilante a look.

"You mean a thief? I didn't realize you were taking in criminals now, Whirlwind. That's low. Even for you. What's next? Are you working with Frostbite?" Blitz accused, jumping up quickly, his arms in a defensive stance.

A rebel groaned, sitting up, but before he could do anything else, Nathan slammed the rebel's head against the wall. "Stay down." Nathan hissed, before dropping the rebel. "For someone with super speed, you showed up pretty late, Blitz." he mocked. "How is that even possible?"

Blitz let out an exasperated sigh. "You can either come peacefully, or I'll force you to turn yourselves in. Vigilantes and thieves have no place trying to play hero."

Alysia scoffed, drawing the attention of both Supers to her. "What's the saying? An enemy of an enemy is a friend? We all want the same thing, don't we? Frostbite's defeat. So why are you fighting against us?"

Ever since Blitz had first made his first appearance as Ziren City's new superhero five years ago, she had despised him. Alysia hadn't exactly liked the boy before, but knowing that everyone in Ziren City adored him, made her hatred grow. Maybe she was jealous of him, considering her father saw him as his child more than her, and perhaps it stung more harshly than Alysia would admit. But now she was simply mad.

"I can deal with Frostbite on my own. I don't need the help of two criminals to take down a third. The only thing you two will be fighting is a jury, in a court of law." Blitz said haughtily, glaring at Nathan and Alysia.

He still annoyed the hell out of her.

Nathan let out a humorless chuckle. "There are two of us and one of you, Blitz. You're at a disadvantage here. I don't want to hurt you, but I will."

"You're not going to turn us in, Blitz. Because if you do, your identity will be leaked." Alsyia said confidently. Blitz blinking in surprise at her statement. Nathan turned towards her, giving her a confused look.

"You're bluffing." He accused, but a thread of doubt bled into his voice.

Alysia wrapped her fingers around the stun gun, noticing the hesitation in Blitz's eyes. The cameras had been disabled by the rebels, according to Nathan, so she didn't risk losing her only piece of leverage against Blitz.

"Your name is Benjamin Grey, twenty-six, and you work at the police department as a forensic scientist. If word got out about who you were, your sister would be in danger because of the families of the people you put in jail. So you can either stand with us, or leave us alone."

***

"Lockheart, I've got to say, that was pretty badass of you." Nathan admitted. "Didn't think you had it in you."

"I kicked your ass the first time we met, of course I had it in me!" Alysia called out from the bathroom, releasing her hair from her ponytail. She quickly ran her fingers through her locks, before exiting the bathroom.

"How'd you know all that stuff about him anyways? No one knows Blitz's identity." Nathan tossed a cold water bottle at her, which she caught with ease.

"That's a secret." Alysia replied, smiling as she saw Nathan give her an unimpressed look. "I have my ways, Carstairs." She took a few sips of the water, before placing it on the table. "I think he'll leave us alone now, though." She took a seat at the black couch, crossing one leg over the other.

After a few moments of silence, Alysia decided to speak again. "Also, you're a real jackass." Nathan slightly smiled at her statement.

"Next time, don't show up to training hungover." Nathan said simply, turning away from her to pour himself a glass of whiskey. "Think of it-" He took a sip of his drink. "-as a training exercise."

"It was a crappy training exercise." Alysia frowned, uncrossing her legs and leaning back on the couch. "You suck."

"There was improvement though, wasn't there? You barely got hurt, minus a punch here or there. And not every opponent will have the same moves as me, so you would've been unprepared in bigger fights. I was doing you a favor, Lockheart." He raised an eyebrow, content in his smug righteousness.

Alysia rolled her eyes. "Such an asshole." She grumbled under her breath.

Nathan slightly smiled. "I know."

Alysia gave him a dirty look, fidgeting with her necklace. "Can I at least skip training tomorrow? I think I deserve it, you know, because we won."

He gave her a disapproving look, before shaking his head. "No, you need to show up tomorrow." He downed his whiskey, placing the empty glass on the table. "But we're not training tomorrow anyways. We need to figure out who Frostbite is, and what they want."

"Well, they've come after me a few times. And went after my friend. So like you said, unfortunately this is about me." Alysia reminded him.

Nathan nodded. "Do you have any enemies?"

Alysia scoffed, giving the man a look. "Is that even a question? All the Gevasi rebels hate me, and want me dead. I thought that was clear by the way they broke into my apartment. Why else would I be crashing at your base?"

"Frostbite started coming for you even before the Gevasi rebels turned against you. Plus, a member having powers completely goes against everything Gevasi stands for. They'd be dead, unless Blanchard showed them mercy for some reason, like he did with you." Nathan pointed out, gesturing widely with his glass.

Alysia leaned forward again, resting her chin on her hand.

That was a good point.

Nathan crossed his arms, staring just above Alysia's head. "I think, whoever this is, has a problem with Alysia Lockheart, and not Lux." He lowered his eyes, his piercing blue eyes locked onto hers. "So the question is, who has Alysia Lockheart screwed over?"

Happy Friday! Am I two weeks late with this update? Yes. Do we talk about it? No. But in all honesty my update schedule might be a little off, junior year is hitting me like a truck. But like, a truck that keeps coming back to run me over and over again.

But my SATs got cancelled! Which is really good, because that's a lot of stress off my shoulders.

Anyways! Question of the day!

QOTD: What's your favorite season or seasons?

My favorite seasons are fall and winter, because I have much higher cold tolerance than heat tolerance!