Page 31 of Remnants: Disruption
“Right,” I say, taking that as a confirmation.
The other two look more human. They’re both huge men, but the flames licking at the fingertips of one and the frost coating the hands of the other lead me to believe their powers are more elemental.
“This time,” Triggerman says, redirecting my attention to him, “we’re going to bring you in. And then we’ll let them torture you. Have their way with you.”
His eyes gleam with a sadistic pleasure.
“And then we’ll kill you,” he shrugs. “You had your chance last night to do this the right way.”
He gives Percy’s unconscious body a long look. She stirs slightly, fleshy hand coming up to brush back the bangs covering her eyes.
“What the fuck?” she groans out, bionic elbow coming back to rest on the ground behind her, propping her up.
Triggerman backs up a step as the other three dash forward. I step between Percy and human boulder. His fist lands directly into my gut and I make a show of doubling over.
In reality, the blow doesn’t even register.
I grab onto his fist, twisting with it as I roll off to his side. He doesn’t follow, instead his entire fist shatters from the wrist with a sickening crack.
“Fuck!” he bellows out, staggering back a few feet, clutching at his maimed wrist. “She took my fucking hand!”
I glance down at the rock in my hand. It begins to disintegrate and the remaining sand and pebbles trickle from my fingers.
The fire guy lets out a grunt, loosing a stream of fire. Beside him, Triggerman fires wildly into the inferno.
I dive to the side, landing just beside Percy who gets to her feet.
The barrage of bullets and fire singe the back of my head and neck. An acrid smell of flesh and hair meets my senses as Percygrabs me around the bicep. She pulls us further back into the alley, making space between the assailants and us.
“I’m going to call for backup,” she says, hunkering down behind a dumpster. She draws her service pistol, checking the settings along the side before holding it at the ready.
I glance over the edge of our metallic covering. Fire guy and ice guy are making their way down the alley—the smoke from the torrent of flame clearing slowly. Triggerman stands further back, his remaining knuckles white as he grips the gun. Beside him, the rock guy looks like he’s regrowing his hand.
“Fuck,” Percy hisses out, the phone hitting the dirt with a crunch. “There’s no signal down here.”
“Probably intentional,” I whisper, peaking around the dumpster again. “We’ll have to fight our way out.”
Percy’s silent for long enough that I turn to look at her. Her eyes are pinched slightly as she studies me.
“With what? Your fists and my gun?”
“Do you have a better solution?” I hiss, finally annoyed with this. If she weren’t here, I’d have already incapacitated or killed these idiots. Hell, Triggerman already got his second chance last night.
He’s forfeited his life now.
The bolt of ice strikes me squarely in the chest. Like the blindside before, it catches me off guard and I tumble backwards. My head strikes the stone behind me.
Lights flash in the semi-dark. A bright kaleidoscope of color beats alongside my heart rate. Even as I scramble to my feet, I hear the crack of Percy’s gun as she fires back at the other two Remnants.
The first shot goes wide right, almost clipping Triggerman who raises his gun again. The second shot strikes true, catching the fire guy in the shoulder. He drops back, hissing in pain.Whatever Percy has loaded as munitions is clearly Remnant-oriented.
The ice guy closes in on us, and I step between him and Percy. I catch his first swing with my forearm and retaliate with a right hook. My fist catches him squarely in the temple and he staggers back with a swear.
Percy fires off two more shots. One pings off the stone beside the rock guy’s foot. The other catches Triggerman in the thigh. He yells out something sounding like “cunt.” His wild shot, though, strikes me in the chest.
“Arya!” Percy cries out, but she’s too late to get to my side before I drop to one knee. Ice guy’s fist catches me directly along the jaw and lights dance in my vision.
Time freezes as the bullet from Triggerman’s manifested gun saps at my strength. I can feel the way it pulls at power far greater than it’s capable of carrying. The manifested metal dissolves into nothingness as the spread of his power does its best to pull at the reservoir.
