PARTY TIME
Adam heard his remaining team members approach, and allowed his eyes to remain focused on the screen in front of him, where a rather cocky looking Proxy Blue reported a nearby disturbance in the city centre.
"Eye witness reports claim that one of the troublemakers tried to light up the club like a Christmas tree," Proxy Blue continued, that same computer-generated grin on her face.
"Did she just say what I think she said?" asked Shalimar as she halted beside Adam, watching the report with curiousity.
Adam nodded. "Sounds a lot like Brennan, doesn't it?"
"It could be another elemental," Natty offered, trying to see another alternative.
Adam looked to her momentarily, telling her, "There are reports from eyewitnesses that one man knocked some people clean across the room, turning to rock, before vanishing when a bystander tried to hit him with a bar stool."
"Jesse," Shalimar mumbled, lowering her head.
"So what about-"
"One of the most shocking things I've heard today is that in the middle of a toasty nightclub, something similar to a small tornado kicked up, and tore pretty much all of the club to pieces," Proxy Blue interrupted. "Weird, huh?"
"That's gotta be Claire," Emma noted, shaking her head. "What are we going to do?"
Adam sighed. He knew it could come to this, and it scared him to even think of what could happen.
"You want us to go after them," Shalimar realised, nodding. "Alright." She looked back to the other two. "We have no other choice," she said to Natty in particular, seeing the look of defiance on the young woman's pretty face.
Reluctantly, Natty nodded.
Adam listened as they walked away, and bowed his head sadly.
* * *
"Over there," Shalimar pointed, striding swiftly up to the shattered door, the opening torn to pieces.
They entered the club, where people were still cowering under the bar, hiding terrified behind toppled tables, glass littering the floor.
The coloured lights flickered, swinging this way and that.
"Shalimar," Emma whispered, nodding her head in the direction of three figures. They were looming over a fourth, simply cornering him off from the rest of the club, before one of the shorter two slammed his foot into the man's gut. The figures laughed.
"Hey!" Shalimar called loudly, drawing the attention of the troublemakers.
Please don't be them, she thought in her head, even as the heads of the three figures rose from their point of concentration, giving the man on the floor time enough to flee.
Simultaneously, the three figures turned their heads to face them, eyes narrowed, devilish smiles on their faces.
They looked like three evil hyenas, as they turned as one to face the three newcomers, their stances intimidating, their hair wild, and their clothes black.
There were two men, and one woman, who stood between the two men. Her glare was the most intense, chilling.
"Oh my god," Natty mumbled in horror, "it's them."
The one of the left was Jesse, wearing leather pants, black thick boots, and a sleeveless vest, covered in a long leather coat that hung at his shins. His curtain-style hair was wild, spiky at the ends above his back, his fringe styled away from his forehead, yet still hanging in front of his eyes partially.
The one on the right was Brennan, clad in identical leather pants; a long-sleeved shirt with wide cuffs; black boots; and a long leather coat, also identical to Jesse's, which swung around his lower legs. His hair was rougher than before, sticking out in every direction possible on top of his head.
And in the middle was Claire. She wore tight clothes from head to toe; a low-cut black top that showed off her midriff; leather pants with a black belt; tall high-heeled boots; and a black leather coat that hovered around her ankles, very low to the ground. Her blonde hair seemed messy, but in fact, had been styled so that it was more feral in appearance, even more so than Shalimar's sometimes. It spiked at the ends, and pointed outwards away from her face. Her feathered bangs hung before her eyes, like a shroud.
Claire delved slowly into her coat pocket, retrieving a small object from it, and tossing it to Shalimar, who faced the woman off defiantly.
Shalimar caught the object, and opened her hand to glance at it.
It was Claire's commring.
Shalimar looked back up at Claire then, as the woman said, "Tell Adam we don't work for him anymore. He can do his own dirty work."
"Dirty work?" Natty grumbled, standing opposite her tall cousin. "What about what they were just doing to that man?"
Jesse was next to speak, his voice much less gentle and soft than before. "What can I say? The guy hit me with a chair."
Claire laughed sadistically, and ran a hand slowly down Jesse's arm.
Natty shifted on her feet noticeably.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Claire said with mock apology, "am I on your turf?"
Jesse grinned wickedly, and stared long and hard at Natasha, who looked away immediately.
"What's the matter?" he asked, "Don't you love me anymore?" He laughed loudly, as did Brennan, and the two looked to each other.
Emma was staring intently at the three of them, and she closed her eyes briefly.
"Don't bother with the mind tricks," Brennan announced, speaking for the first time, glaring at Emma.
The interruption seemed to kill Emma's concentration, and she looked up suddenly, with a sharp intake of breath. What she had been intending to do would have to wait until later.
"Come back to Sanctuary with us," Shalimar told them, "Adam can help you."
"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Claire said, "how's Gerald?"
"He's dead," Emma told them bluntly.
Jesse tilted his head for a moment, shrugging. "Thought as much."
Without warning, Brennan shot a bolt of electricity across the room, narrowly missing his cousin's head.
Natty rolled off to the side like she had been trained, looking up in shock at Brennan, who grinned.
"Sorry," he said, "I was aiming at you, not beside you. I'll try harder next time." He ran at her, followed by Jesse, who bolted right towards a stunned Emma, who only just managed to leap aside in time.
Claire paced over the trashed floor to come face to face with Shalimar, even as Jesse and Brennan dug through the overturned chairs and tables for Emma and Natasha.
"I don't wanna fight you," Shalimar told Claire sternly.
Claire punched Shalimar in the jaw, spinning and following it up with a hard blow with the other hand, knocking Shalimar to the ground.
"Too bad," Claire giggled, "'cause I do."
Shalimar had had enough. She let her eyes glow a feral gold, and leapt up from the floor without the use of her hands, only to be kicked in the stomach, and thrown backwards.
* * *
"Come on, Emma, I don't wanna hurt you," Jesse said, his tone teasing, "I just wanna break every bone in your body, that's all."
He phased out, passing through a wall, hearing Emma cry out in surprise from the other side.
He grabbed at her with a hand, latching firmly onto the lapels of her denim coat, throwing her across the room. She crashed onto a table, breaking it apart.
He laughed wickedly. "That was fun, let's do it again."
Emma scrambled to her feet, and stared at Jesse suddenly.
He came into direct contact with a barrier that had no corporeal form. He slammed a palm against it, and then massed, pounding it with a fist.
Emma gasped, and her psychic barrier fell, letting the massed Jesse through.
He walked straight over to her, still massed, and punched her hard.
Jesse returned to normal, watching Emma slump to the floor, out cold. He shrugged, and looked over his shoulder as the rest of the action continued.
* * *
Brennan shot another bolt at Natty, who cowered behind a fallen table. When she looked back over the top of it, a chair rose from the floor, flying directly towards Brennan.
It struck him in the back as he turned against it, wincing as it stung a little. When he turned back, he had already formed another ball, and sent it careening towards Natty, who hadn't seen it coming.
It hit her full force in the body, sending her flying backwards over the bar, smashing several bottles on the other side, and falling to the ground in a rain of glass.
Brennan shrugged with a smile, and leaned comfortably up against a pillar to watch the centre of attention in the middle of the room.
* * *
Shalimar was knocked back again and again; a barrage of blows slamming into her, each one feeling like the strike of an anvil. Claire's strength was unbelievable all of a sudden, and the elemental didn't even break a sweat. She kicked and punched relentlessly, denying Shalimar the chance to strike back against her.
Kicking Shalimar back across the room, Claire raised her arms, walking slowly towards her, looking to the ceiling, and closing her eyes.
Suddenly, the glass from the windows smashed in with a great gust of wind, and the shards shot towards Shalimar.
She covered her face with her arms; feeling pieces of glass embed themselves in her flesh. She gritted her teeth against the pain, and waited for the wind to die down.
When she looked up again from behind her arms, she saw the three figures had gone. She looked to the open door, seeing them walk down the alley away from the club, clearly bored.
"Natty! Emma!" Shalimar cried, rising from the ground.
Natty came out from the bar holding her head, a cut on her forehead bleeding.
"Where's Emma?" Shalimar asked, just before she noticed the boot sticking out from beneath a table.
She ran over, narrowly avoiding tripping several times, and dug Emma out of the carnage. She lifted Emma off the ground, noticing the painful bruise on the side of her face.
"Come on, we're not finished with them yet," Shalimar growled, and Natasha followed obediently, still holding her head.
They left the club, and in a loud clear voice, Shalimar yelled, "Hey!"
The three looked back at them, and turned to face them.
Shalimar saw Jesse cross his arms, and noticed Brennan and Claire join hands, the latter facing the sky, concentration level high.
A light ebbed and flowed from their hands, seeping into each other's arms.
Jesse watched with half-hearted interest.
Raising their other hands skyward, Shalimar heard a deafening rumble from the dark clouds that had just rolled in. A light flashed from the heavens.
"My god," she mumbled, even as the bolt of lightning shot from Brennan's hand, up into the sky, seeming to set the clouds ablaze.
In the blink of an eye, thunder and lightning were crashing around them, bolts of pure electrical energy shooting down from the sky, tearing the alley apart.
Shalimar, without hesitation, turned tail and fled back into the club, Emma still in her arms, followed by Natasha.
She watched in disbelief as Claire and Brennan let their storm rage for a few moments more, before lowering their hands, and letting go of one another, Claire visibly weakened.
With Jesse, they turned, and stalked off into the shadows, victorious.
Adam heard his remaining team members approach, and allowed his eyes to remain focused on the screen in front of him, where a rather cocky looking Proxy Blue reported a nearby disturbance in the city centre.
"Eye witness reports claim that one of the troublemakers tried to light up the club like a Christmas tree," Proxy Blue continued, that same computer-generated grin on her face.
"Did she just say what I think she said?" asked Shalimar as she halted beside Adam, watching the report with curiousity.
Adam nodded. "Sounds a lot like Brennan, doesn't it?"
"It could be another elemental," Natty offered, trying to see another alternative.
Adam looked to her momentarily, telling her, "There are reports from eyewitnesses that one man knocked some people clean across the room, turning to rock, before vanishing when a bystander tried to hit him with a bar stool."
"Jesse," Shalimar mumbled, lowering her head.
"So what about-"
"One of the most shocking things I've heard today is that in the middle of a toasty nightclub, something similar to a small tornado kicked up, and tore pretty much all of the club to pieces," Proxy Blue interrupted. "Weird, huh?"
"That's gotta be Claire," Emma noted, shaking her head. "What are we going to do?"
Adam sighed. He knew it could come to this, and it scared him to even think of what could happen.
"You want us to go after them," Shalimar realised, nodding. "Alright." She looked back to the other two. "We have no other choice," she said to Natty in particular, seeing the look of defiance on the young woman's pretty face.
Reluctantly, Natty nodded.
Adam listened as they walked away, and bowed his head sadly.
* * *
"Over there," Shalimar pointed, striding swiftly up to the shattered door, the opening torn to pieces.
They entered the club, where people were still cowering under the bar, hiding terrified behind toppled tables, glass littering the floor.
The coloured lights flickered, swinging this way and that.
"Shalimar," Emma whispered, nodding her head in the direction of three figures. They were looming over a fourth, simply cornering him off from the rest of the club, before one of the shorter two slammed his foot into the man's gut. The figures laughed.
"Hey!" Shalimar called loudly, drawing the attention of the troublemakers.
Please don't be them, she thought in her head, even as the heads of the three figures rose from their point of concentration, giving the man on the floor time enough to flee.
Simultaneously, the three figures turned their heads to face them, eyes narrowed, devilish smiles on their faces.
They looked like three evil hyenas, as they turned as one to face the three newcomers, their stances intimidating, their hair wild, and their clothes black.
There were two men, and one woman, who stood between the two men. Her glare was the most intense, chilling.
"Oh my god," Natty mumbled in horror, "it's them."
The one of the left was Jesse, wearing leather pants, black thick boots, and a sleeveless vest, covered in a long leather coat that hung at his shins. His curtain-style hair was wild, spiky at the ends above his back, his fringe styled away from his forehead, yet still hanging in front of his eyes partially.
The one on the right was Brennan, clad in identical leather pants; a long-sleeved shirt with wide cuffs; black boots; and a long leather coat, also identical to Jesse's, which swung around his lower legs. His hair was rougher than before, sticking out in every direction possible on top of his head.
And in the middle was Claire. She wore tight clothes from head to toe; a low-cut black top that showed off her midriff; leather pants with a black belt; tall high-heeled boots; and a black leather coat that hovered around her ankles, very low to the ground. Her blonde hair seemed messy, but in fact, had been styled so that it was more feral in appearance, even more so than Shalimar's sometimes. It spiked at the ends, and pointed outwards away from her face. Her feathered bangs hung before her eyes, like a shroud.
Claire delved slowly into her coat pocket, retrieving a small object from it, and tossing it to Shalimar, who faced the woman off defiantly.
Shalimar caught the object, and opened her hand to glance at it.
It was Claire's commring.
Shalimar looked back up at Claire then, as the woman said, "Tell Adam we don't work for him anymore. He can do his own dirty work."
"Dirty work?" Natty grumbled, standing opposite her tall cousin. "What about what they were just doing to that man?"
Jesse was next to speak, his voice much less gentle and soft than before. "What can I say? The guy hit me with a chair."
Claire laughed sadistically, and ran a hand slowly down Jesse's arm.
Natty shifted on her feet noticeably.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Claire said with mock apology, "am I on your turf?"
Jesse grinned wickedly, and stared long and hard at Natasha, who looked away immediately.
"What's the matter?" he asked, "Don't you love me anymore?" He laughed loudly, as did Brennan, and the two looked to each other.
Emma was staring intently at the three of them, and she closed her eyes briefly.
"Don't bother with the mind tricks," Brennan announced, speaking for the first time, glaring at Emma.
The interruption seemed to kill Emma's concentration, and she looked up suddenly, with a sharp intake of breath. What she had been intending to do would have to wait until later.
"Come back to Sanctuary with us," Shalimar told them, "Adam can help you."
"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Claire said, "how's Gerald?"
"He's dead," Emma told them bluntly.
Jesse tilted his head for a moment, shrugging. "Thought as much."
Without warning, Brennan shot a bolt of electricity across the room, narrowly missing his cousin's head.
Natty rolled off to the side like she had been trained, looking up in shock at Brennan, who grinned.
"Sorry," he said, "I was aiming at you, not beside you. I'll try harder next time." He ran at her, followed by Jesse, who bolted right towards a stunned Emma, who only just managed to leap aside in time.
Claire paced over the trashed floor to come face to face with Shalimar, even as Jesse and Brennan dug through the overturned chairs and tables for Emma and Natasha.
"I don't wanna fight you," Shalimar told Claire sternly.
Claire punched Shalimar in the jaw, spinning and following it up with a hard blow with the other hand, knocking Shalimar to the ground.
"Too bad," Claire giggled, "'cause I do."
Shalimar had had enough. She let her eyes glow a feral gold, and leapt up from the floor without the use of her hands, only to be kicked in the stomach, and thrown backwards.
* * *
"Come on, Emma, I don't wanna hurt you," Jesse said, his tone teasing, "I just wanna break every bone in your body, that's all."
He phased out, passing through a wall, hearing Emma cry out in surprise from the other side.
He grabbed at her with a hand, latching firmly onto the lapels of her denim coat, throwing her across the room. She crashed onto a table, breaking it apart.
He laughed wickedly. "That was fun, let's do it again."
Emma scrambled to her feet, and stared at Jesse suddenly.
He came into direct contact with a barrier that had no corporeal form. He slammed a palm against it, and then massed, pounding it with a fist.
Emma gasped, and her psychic barrier fell, letting the massed Jesse through.
He walked straight over to her, still massed, and punched her hard.
Jesse returned to normal, watching Emma slump to the floor, out cold. He shrugged, and looked over his shoulder as the rest of the action continued.
* * *
Brennan shot another bolt at Natty, who cowered behind a fallen table. When she looked back over the top of it, a chair rose from the floor, flying directly towards Brennan.
It struck him in the back as he turned against it, wincing as it stung a little. When he turned back, he had already formed another ball, and sent it careening towards Natty, who hadn't seen it coming.
It hit her full force in the body, sending her flying backwards over the bar, smashing several bottles on the other side, and falling to the ground in a rain of glass.
Brennan shrugged with a smile, and leaned comfortably up against a pillar to watch the centre of attention in the middle of the room.
* * *
Shalimar was knocked back again and again; a barrage of blows slamming into her, each one feeling like the strike of an anvil. Claire's strength was unbelievable all of a sudden, and the elemental didn't even break a sweat. She kicked and punched relentlessly, denying Shalimar the chance to strike back against her.
Kicking Shalimar back across the room, Claire raised her arms, walking slowly towards her, looking to the ceiling, and closing her eyes.
Suddenly, the glass from the windows smashed in with a great gust of wind, and the shards shot towards Shalimar.
She covered her face with her arms; feeling pieces of glass embed themselves in her flesh. She gritted her teeth against the pain, and waited for the wind to die down.
When she looked up again from behind her arms, she saw the three figures had gone. She looked to the open door, seeing them walk down the alley away from the club, clearly bored.
"Natty! Emma!" Shalimar cried, rising from the ground.
Natty came out from the bar holding her head, a cut on her forehead bleeding.
"Where's Emma?" Shalimar asked, just before she noticed the boot sticking out from beneath a table.
She ran over, narrowly avoiding tripping several times, and dug Emma out of the carnage. She lifted Emma off the ground, noticing the painful bruise on the side of her face.
"Come on, we're not finished with them yet," Shalimar growled, and Natasha followed obediently, still holding her head.
They left the club, and in a loud clear voice, Shalimar yelled, "Hey!"
The three looked back at them, and turned to face them.
Shalimar saw Jesse cross his arms, and noticed Brennan and Claire join hands, the latter facing the sky, concentration level high.
A light ebbed and flowed from their hands, seeping into each other's arms.
Jesse watched with half-hearted interest.
Raising their other hands skyward, Shalimar heard a deafening rumble from the dark clouds that had just rolled in. A light flashed from the heavens.
"My god," she mumbled, even as the bolt of lightning shot from Brennan's hand, up into the sky, seeming to set the clouds ablaze.
In the blink of an eye, thunder and lightning were crashing around them, bolts of pure electrical energy shooting down from the sky, tearing the alley apart.
Shalimar, without hesitation, turned tail and fled back into the club, Emma still in her arms, followed by Natasha.
She watched in disbelief as Claire and Brennan let their storm rage for a few moments more, before lowering their hands, and letting go of one another, Claire visibly weakened.
With Jesse, they turned, and stalked off into the shadows, victorious.