If reality, Aly didn't have much of a choice.
Well, she technically had three.
1) Go Intangible like. This option was moot from the start as Aly's intangibility had been disabled by the copter's weaponry, and even if it hadn't been, going intangible would have been a moot point anyway because if the missiles didn't hit him, they'd hit the building behind her and considering Aly had been willing to sacrifice a great deal of his energy to stop the Obliterator from hitting the building, she certainly couldn't let eight highly destructive missiles hit it: the results would probably be far far worse.
2) Die. That was pretty much out of the question as well.
3) What she chose to do.
So, as you can see, as the missiles bore down on him, Aly really only had one choice break her winx form and…
Gandalf said it best.
FLY, YOU FOOL!
And Aly did so, as she gathered what little energy she had left and soared up, her nobler side hoping that the missiles followed her, which was immediately drowned out by her survival instincts yelling at her nobler side about what would happen if the missiles did follow her, and then the missiles actually started curving up to follow Aly and the girl managed to batten down the screaming primitive fears enough to do some thinking.
But not much, as the missiles had about 4000 pounds of thrust behind them and that allowed them to move considerably faster then Aly could. Then again, as mentioned, Hellfire missiles were technically air to surface weapons, designed to hit targets on the ground: despite their great lock on system, they really weren't meant to go chasing a target into the air. Now, why doesn't Aly use this and do some aerial fanciness until the missiles screwed up? The same reason Aly was flying into the air in the first place: even if she lost the missiles, they had to hit something. And that something would most likely be buildings filled with people.
So Aly was, for the moment, doing her own flying by the seat of her pants, as she flew high up into the air and started flying backwards, as the missiles began to curve towards her. Gritting her teeth, Aly ignited spectral air on her hands, and as the first missile began to close in, she thrust out her hands and began firing.
Blast after blast slammed into the missile, causing it to stumble and then violently lurch, and Aly's heart leapt into her throat as she became afraid the missile would just lose its rocket booster and plummet into the heart of Magix…and then it exploded. Aly felt a brief surge of relief, which magnified when the second missile, which was right on the first one's tail, flew into the immediate explosion and was prematurely detonated by the heat. Aly would have let out a whoop, except there were still six missiles left, and they were farther behind: by the time they reached the spot where their first two fellows had met their ends, the explosions had dissipated enough to prevent the remaining six from being blown as well, and Aly yelped and kicked it into high gear again as the missiles flew after her, getting closer much quicker then she had expected. And despite her fear-driven air dash, they were gaining on her.
Peering up through the cockpit, Stormy looked at the destruction of the first two missiles almost quizzingly. Looking down, she thought for a few seconds, and then glanced at the radar that showed Aly's position. Seeing what was happening, she smirked a bit, and then her helicopter turned slightly and she flew off in a different direction.
Leaving? Hardly. But Stormy had been running on such high-octane screaming fury for so long that she had finally burned herself out, the insane rage finally being replaced by a colder, more refined wrath. True, it probably wouldn't take long for Stormy's storm powers to fire up again…but at the moment, she was actually rather calm in her thinking process. Which was still to destroy Aly and retrieve the gryphons power, but instead of just throwing stuff at her until she finally died, Stormy was actually forming a strategy. She'd relied too much on the computer in this machine, she needed to actually think her way around destroying the girl. And she'd had an idea after watching her actions on the radar.
Said action was perhaps the hardest choice Aly had ever had to make in her life, one that could potentially haunt her dreams for the rest of her days, but Aly was, despite her gift was still human, and humans want to survive.
Aly had quickly discerned she couldn't outrun the missiles, and she had also discerned she couldn't stop and shoot at the missiles again because chances were one of them would get him before she got all of them. She'd tried shooting at them while on the move, but no dice: she couldn't aim well enough going at the speed she was going at to properly hit the missiles. And she couldn't wait around for one of her friends to help: they might, but they also might not, and Aly didn't have the time.
So, she could do two things.
Stop, let the missiles hit her, and nobly give her life to ensure the missiles didn't harm Magix. Which was pointless as Stormy was still flying around and if she died with everyone else down they'd be nothing to stop her from turning her wrath on Magix.
Or, she could get the missiles out of the way by getting them to hit something else.
And the moral anguish was, there was nothing good she could crash them into. There were no nearby parks or abandoned districts she could reach before the missiles got her, nothing she could scapegoat with no risk, and if she tried to fly off and find one, the missiles would most likely get her before she could. She had to either crash the missiles into a building, which as previously mentioned was out of the question…or a street, and hope against hope that she avoided doing too much damage…or killing anyone.
And with six missiles needed to get rid of…the odds were against her.
A rock and a hard place.
The devil and the deep blue sea.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
It shows the character of a man, or a woman, if they can actually make a choice like this.
Aly did.
As she dove towards the ground, blocking out the horrors she could cause with the cold rationale she needed to do this.
And perhaps, finally, fate reached out and gave her a small blessing.
As she happened to see that a four way intersection between several tall buildings was relatively clear of cars. If she flew nearly straight down, the missiles should curve to the point where they would all hit the intersection of the four empty streets…but she knew it wouldn't be empty long, and this was probably the best chance she was going to get.
So down he went, the wind making her eyes water, even as her body reminded her she was beat, but Aly didn't care, she had to do this…the missiles were following her…but they were also getting even closer…was the grouping they were in tight enough to avoid hitting any buildings? Aly didn't have time to stop and figure it out, as she flew down between said buildings, drawing close to her target.
She flew over a car heading for the intersection, and she managed to turn and fire a blast at the hood, the car swerving when the relatively harmless to metal attack hit the hood, the cars behind it stopping in a scream of brakes. That helped take them out of danger, hopefully, and Aly managed to steal a glance upward. The missiles were coming, and they hadn't hit any buildings, but they were right on top of her and she was turning and putting everything she had into it as she flew and she saw some people and she fired at them to get them to run and then she was at the intersection and she had to look but there was no time she had to move as she dashed to one side and found cars coming…
The first missile hit where Aly had just been, and Aly felt an immense blow of heat and force slam into her back and propel her forward, and then the second missile hit and the third and the shockwaves were making her tumble through the air and sizzling bits of metal were slamming into her back and legs and she was bleeding and…
Aly slammed end first into the car windshield, smashing right through it as the male occupant screamed, even as the last of the missiles hit the ground and turned the four-sided street into a level of hell, fire and smoke exploding upward as windows shattered and nearby parked cars detonated as red hot bits of shrapnel pierced through their frames and people were thrown to the ground or went there on their own as the explosion blasted through their eardrums, even as the car Aly had crashed into swerved and found itself heading for a storefront window, a window the front end crashed into, Aly flying through a storm of glass and somehow not getting cut to ribbons as she flew into a bookcase and sent it crashing over, knocking over the following several rows like dominoes as one last wave of explosions and shrapnel rang through the streets.
And then silence.
Well, not really, but after the ear-rending noise of the explosions the dull crackle of fires and the screams, cries, and yells of people were almost akin to silence, as people got up, looked for loved ones, ran around, and generally acted like chickens with their heads cut off, as the centre where Aly had directed the missiles burned brightly, belching huge clouds of smoke into the air.
Aly's eyes fluttered open, and for a moment she was amazed he was alive. Then her body reminded him there were downsides to that, as the exhaustion and ache came back full bore. But Aly toughed it out, as she rolled over, got to her knees, and somehow got to her feet. She was not aware of small pieces of metal falling out of her calves, thighs, buttocks, and back as she started staggering towards the hole the car had made, the bits of shrapnel being pushed out…by something. What? Who knew…all Aly wanted to know was if anyone was hurt, because that had been the curse of her plan, she so desperately didn't want anyone to be hurt…
An empty driver's seat and a blown air bag, as well as a lack of blood, at least assured Aly that the driver of the car had escaped, as Aly staggered past said car, limping and looking around. She saw people running, screaming, and yelling that the end of the world had come…but she didn't see anyone writhing on the ground, or worse, unmoving on the ground, even as she walked out onto the middle of the street, trying to see everywhere…
And then she stopped, needing air, suddenly very tired, almost to the point of wanting to go to sleep right there, but she couldn't, she had to see if everyone was all right, but then again, what could she do, she'd done everything she could have, and she could hear sirens…sirens, and no screams that sounded like agony…and…and…
Aly's mouth went dry as she heard the sound. The sound of helicopter blades.
And then it emerged, coming from the black smoke like an ancient demon from the pit, Stormy flying the helicopter through the choking murk as Aly turned around, her eyes wide and pleading, but she knew there would be no mercy and Stormy's cruel smile reflected that, as she moved one hand away from the main flying stick and to a new, smaller one.
"Oh no." Aly said.
The chain gun erupted, blasting out hot lead, and Aly found her body on autopilot, finding new stores of energy as she turned and ran for her life, even as the huge 30mm shells began striking the ground behind her and blowing small holes in it like each bullet was a small bomb, a line of mini-detonations that was chasing down Aly, as she tried to run with her limp even as she knew this was pointless she wasn't faster then a speeding bullet she had to fly to fly to…
Aly's body left the ground half a second before it would have been blown into several smaller pieces, as Aly flew down the street, even as people began screaming again and Stormy, her smile fading as she shoved the helicopter forward, the aircraft flying off after Aly even as it shot at Aly, the chain gun ripping a line of devastation wherever the bullets hit.
Aly didn't counter-attack, and she didn't even bother yelling at people to get out of the way: she just blew them out of the way with spectral blasts if they were too close to her or if they didn't have enough sense to get out of the way themselves. Even so, Stormy's bullets wrecked havoc, turning anything they touched into ruins: mailboxes, newsstands, fire hydrants, and a few cars that erupted into flame as the huge shells easily went through their frail metal forms, sparks igniting the gas tanks and causing more explosions, and as much as she wanted to Aly forced herself to fly on, because she knew the second she stopped Stormy would reduce her form to bloody mist, but she was running out of room to fly as the road was coming to an end, turning to the left, and Aly instinctively turned and…
Stopped dead.
Unlike the previous street, this street was full of cars. And people.
And Stormy was right behind her.
Literally, as Stormy flew around the corner at a dangerous speed, barely turning and stopping before the side of the helicopter crashed into the building, the rotors barely missing the glass side of the skyscraper that would have shredded the motors and caused the vehicle to crash. However, the crazy move didn't exactly sit well with the helicopter, as Stormy tried to turn it to properly face Aly and found it turning nearly 180 degrees instead. She cursed and spat, trying to get her machine back under control.
Aly took advantage.
"RUNNNNNN!" she screamed, hoping she could somehow be heard over the noise of the helicopter. She had some luck as the cars had stopped and people had actually started getting out to stare at this out of the ordinary sight, and then she started firing griffin claws again, trying to scare the people out of the way. It worked, somewhat, but what really worked was when Stormy yanked the helicopter back the way it had been and overcompensated again, turning the helicopter in another 180 degree spiral (good thing the corner was REALLY large) even as she tried to fire at Aly again, but the chain gun was tilted too high and the blast went over Aly's head and exploded a line across the windows of one building and over to the other. THAT was enough to send the crowd into a full blown panic, which was bad in and of itself, but at least they had a chance, even as Aly fired a few more blasts to give people wings on their feet, and then she looked over her shoulder and gasped as Stormy finally righted the helicopter. She couldn't stand still any longer.
"Now I have you!" Stormy snarled, and opened fire again.
Aly took off as the chain gun blazed, and Stormy followed. People screamed and ran for their lives as the chain gun tore through more cars, more explosions blasting through the street, but Aly had bought enough time for people to flee into the buildings and the subways, and that was all she could do as her body was now going from prodding to screaming that it had had enough. But Aly was ignoring that as the bullets were starting to catch up. Aly didn't want to fly up: if she put some distance between the two of them Stormy could lock on more missiles and this time she knew he couldn't outrun them, and she doubted he'd get another spot to dispose of them. Instead, Aly started zig-zagging, trying to throw off the fact that Stormy couldn't swivel the chain gun all that effectively without a co-pilot serving as gunner, but Stormy just matched his move by flying back and forth across the street with him, getting dangerously close to the sides of the buildings each time but managing to avoid a crash. Part of this was the that despite the great effectiveness of this weapon Stormy was not afraid of crashing it. Why should she be? She couldn't die without being brought back to life.
So she kept after Aly, the chain gun tearing through everything in its way, which was mostly cars (people? Who knew, Aly didn't have time to check), explosions, shrapnel, and worse nipping at Aly's heels as she fled, and she was coming to a T-section in the road, her route forward blocked by a tall building, she had to make another turn…
She stopped, looking right first…which was fortunate, as it allowed her to see immediately that it was the optimum way to go: there was no one in that direction. Instead, a line of cars went up the street to one of Magix's true skyscrapers…and Aly didn't have much time to ponder anything else as Stormy was on her tail, as she flew down the road. There were no civilians: that was all that mattered.
After flying for a few seconds, Aly turned to look…and was surprised to find Stormy wasn't still behind her. She must have gotten hung up somewhere…and after flying backwards a few more dozen feet, she stopped. She had a feeling she knew what was coming…
Her whole body suddenly spasmed with pain, and Aly hunched over, her breath escaping in a gasp. It was worse then she thought. She couldn't keep it going much longer. But what could she do…
Stormy emerged from the corner, and Aly somehow managed to shove the pain down as the helicopter again made a dangerous turn, nearly crashing into the building on its left side before Stormy righted it. From her cockpit, Stormy glared intensely at Aly. Aly matched her look, ready for what she was guesstimated she would do.
"The force is strong in this one." Stormy muttered, and then wondered why she had said something like that as she locked onto Aly again.
"Please don't use all the remaining missiles." Aly said.
The rockets on the deadly projectiles ignited and flew at Aly…four of them. But Aly didn't have time to pat herself on the back for her correct guess: she still had to stop them, as her hands glowed white. Her body screamed at her for the action, telling her that she was getting dangerously close to trying to get blood from a stone…but Aly didn't care. She had to stop Stormy, and to do that…well, Aly honestly didn't have a clue, she was making this up as she went along…
Aly fired a griffins claw at the first missile, at a precise angle: the blast slammed into the nose and changed its pitch ever so slightly, which resulted in the missile nosediving into the street, blowing up two cars and sending several more up in flames. Aly was aware that Stormy was coming up the street after her missiles, but she was more concerned as she started flying backwards. She couldn't aim well while doing this but she didn't need a direct hit for the second: just enough to send it off course. Three spectral blasts slammed into the missile before it lurched to the side and into an old building that was scheduled for demolition: the missile did the job for the city. Convenient, eh?
But Aly was out of strokes of luck, as well as almost out of room: she was backed up against the skyscraper, the branch of some big real estate business, nice building with a lovely fountain in the front. Aly couldn't pause to admire it though, as the third and forth missiles were almost there, and behind them, Stormy, with a lot more where that came from.
Aly stopped where she was and concentrated fire on the third missile, several powerful blasts slamming into the weapon and finally causing it to explode in mid air. By now Aly's body felt like she was being dipped in acid, but she still had one more missile, as it punched through the fading flame cloud and flew in…
And Aly flew straight up at the last micro-second and fired her last bit of air energy downward, the shot slamming into the nose and sending the missile in a tailspin right down into the lovely fountain, which was reduced to not so lovely ruins as Aly flew up and away from the explosion, even as she began to feel light headed…
Stormy's helicopter broke through the smoke cloud of the explosion, and she gasped and pulled up before she crashed into the skyscraper. The helicopter stopped…right under the ruins of the fountain…as several water pipes finally burst from the damage and a new fountain was born, right under Stormy, the immediate water pressure so intense that it nearly flipped the helicopter upside down. Alarms sounded and sparks shot from the console as Stormy screamed and dragged the spasming machine out of the water, as the computer warned that the water was in all kinds of places it shouldn't be, which was even more indicated by the fact that smoke had begun flowing from various parts of the aircraft.
"Damn ittttttttt……" Stormy cursed, and even though the computer warned her not to, she put the helicopter in a steep ascent after Aly.
Who had just about hit the roof, and was lucky she didn't hit the building: her vision had begun blurring and splitting, and her muscles had actually gone beyond pain and gone totally numb, and even as Aly tried to figure out which way was up and which way was down, she floated over the edge of the building, staggered back and forth a little…
And then the circles appeared around Aly, and a second later Aly Paladin fell the few feet to the rooftop. She lay there, panting for a bit, before she realized what had happened.
"Oh no!"
Aly got up…
And Stormy flew up beside the building, the helicopter engine noise roaring in Aly's ears, even as the wind blew her back, and she gasped and looked at the machine, eyes wide with fear.
Stormy looked at the now girl with not a drop of magic left in her with curiosity.
"Well then, I guess the game is over." Stormy said, as she began arming the last four missiles. The computer kept telling her that the lock-ons and struts were damaged, that the missiles would be wild, but Stormy didn't much care. By now it was like shooting fish in a barrel.
Aly's head jerked over to a small shack. If she knew her skyscrapers, that shack led to the stairs that would take her into the actual building. And while she didn't know how safe she'd be in that, any port in a storm.
Aly started running frantically towards the shack.
Stormy just shook her head: it figured it would end this way. Faeries, despite their claims to the contrary, didn't have much in the way of courage when faced with such a superior foe. Not to mention she was utterly sick of the girl, and she wanted her dead.
"So long fucker." Stormy said, and fired the missiles. The struts sparked, but they launched Stormy's four remaining Hellfire's, down at the roof Aly was running on.
Aly felt rather then heard the missiles coming.
"AHHHHHHHHHH NUUUUUUUUUTTTTSSSSSSSSSS!" Aly screamed, and then she was thrown off her feet and a huge cloud of dust and smoke enveloped her a second before the entire roof went up in flames, the backlash sending Stormy's helicopter into another spin, but Stormy just rode that one, laughing merrily.
"Ohhhhhhhhh…how sweet it is…!" Stormy laughed as the helicopter went back to normal so she was observing the smoking roof, though her helicopter blades were rapidly blowing the smoke away. "Farewell forever…"
More smoke blew away…revealing a form. Stormy's eyes widened.
"WHAT?"
Coughing and retching, a scorched and battered but still alive Aly Paladin was getting to his feet. As mention, the water had messed up Stormy's lock on systems…and that had allowed her to escape all four missiles. How had she escaped the area effect and shrapnel? Apparently someone liked her.
"No. NOOOOOO!" Stormy screamed. Well if she couldn't get the job done with missiles she'd settle for bullets…
Which were refusing to fire. Stormy looked at the vid-screen that had come up before her.
"Chain gun jammed. Missile rails damaged. Would you like to initiate repairs?"
Stormy snarled, but she knew she didn't have a choice.
"Yes." She said, grinding her teeth.
Aly was fully up by now, looking at her hands again.
"I'm alive? But…"
And then she recalled Stormy, and he whirled…and saw that her chain gun and missile struts were retracting into the Fenton-copter. Aly didn't know what that meant, but she wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth…
And she happened to glance at her right leg, and her eyes widened. About an eternity ago, she'd stuck the Mini Witch Catcher in her boot while in Winx and forgotten about it. Now she remembered… Where did it go? For a moment, Aly actually pawed at her pant leg to see if it was there. No dice. Wherever her costume went when she returned to normal, it had apparently taken the device with it.
Well, if she had to change back to get it, she'd do so, as changing back would greatly increase her chances for survival anyway, as she concentrated…
And got nothing. Zip. Zilch. Zero. The well wasn't just dry, it was Antarctic Desert, which hadn't had rain for two million years. Aly may have been improving in power somehow…but it had limits and they were DONE. Aly was stuck as a normal.
And Stormy was stuck without weapons, and was rapidly on the verge of throwing that temper tantrum she nearly had thrown at the end of the last chapter.
Until something occurred to her. Against a human…she didn't need a weapon. This copter would SERVE as a weapon.
Once again, that cruel smile was back.
"If at first you don't succeed…get nastier." Stormy said, as she yanked the stick down.
Aly was rudely jerked out of his pondering on just where the Witch Catcher had gone by the sudden increase of noise as Stormy began flying the helicopter in towards the roof. She arched an eyebrow.
"Huh?"
Smirking, the smile hiding the great deal of effort needed to do this right, Stormy flew in close to the roof and then carefully tilted the nose of the helicopter down, down, down…until she had put the machine at a near 60 degree angle to the roof…and pointed the whirling chopper blades in Aly's direction. Looking up through her cockpit, Stormy's smirk increased in length as she twisted the stick and began flying towards Aly.
Aly yelped as she realized what Stormy had done: turned the helicopter into a weapon. She had to get out of here, NOW. The helicopter was moving fairly slowly, she could run to the stairs, where were the stairs, the stairs…
Aly found them with her eyes.
And her heart filled with ice.
The small shack that had once held the stairs was now a smoldering pile of metal rubble, courtesy of one of Stormy's missiles. There was nowhere to run, except maybe around Stormy…except the wind from the helicopter's whirling blades was making any kind of movement difficult.
Aly tried anyway, running to the left…only to find herself being blown back by the wind. She tried to go back to the right…and found Stormy cutting her off. She backed up, away from the spinning blades…
And almost stepped onto thin air. Aly gasped and stopped as she realized she was at the very edge of the building…and Stormy had cut her off from any retreat.
She was caught again, this time between the devil and the deep open air. Aly looked behind her as if needing to verify her mess, and then turned back to the approaching helicopter. Fear was now flooding her body…but with it came determination.
"All right…" She said as Stormy closed in now. "Now, more then ever…I'M GOIN' WINX!"
And Aly reached deep deep down within herself…
And found nothing.
She'd had it. Not even her impending death could squeeze another drop from whatever she drew her power from.
Aly Paladin was suddenly aware she was going to die. She had been aware of it before, but this time, she had no hope of escaping it.
Aly looked at the blades as they approached her. So she had one last choice left. Step off and fall, or be turned into hamburger.
She wondered which way. If she stepped back she was a coward. Soldiers were supposed to take death like men. But those deaths usually came from bullets: Aly could conceive of taking a bullet like a man but had no idea how to take giant, razor sharp shredding blades…
They filled her vision, all she knew was their blurring form…and the devilish gleam in Stormy's eye.
Three feet.
And then four feet, as Aly, not so much in any real choice but as an instinctive reaction by her body she couldn't control, took a step back.
And found, like many before her, gravity could be a truly vengeful mistress.
"Ah FUCK!" Stormy snarled as Aly stepped off the edge and disappeared from view. She'd wanted to see her blood and guts splatter all over the windshield. Well, maybe she could get a sample off the ground…
And Aly, more then anything, as she started to fall, was looking up to the sky…and apologizing to it. She'd already said a million apologies before to her family and friends for her failings…but strangely, now, she mourned that she would never piece that blue veil and see what lay beyond the planet, the planet that was carrying her back to it's bosom, that planet that would take her body violently…and yet…the sky was so beautiful…
As the fire lines swung out, wrapping around Aly, and she blinked, confused at the sudden change, and then the reality came roaring back: she had been falling to her death…operative word being BEEN, as she was now wrapped in fire energy attached to another form, as Jade shot out another coil as they fell, grabbing a roof and pulling them in like a fishing line.
And Stormy screamed in her helicopter, the rage finally firing up again. What kind of a charmed life did that bastard girl lead… almost like Jades… and quite a bit like Blooms? Even when she was doomed…her fucking allies snatched her from the jaws of death. Well, if they kept denying death her snack, Stormy was going to serve her up a feast, as she twisted the helicopter around, planning to do a wide turn in order to close in quicker.
"God rookie!" Jade said as she set herself and Aly down on the roof, the fifteen year old looking stunned. "You certainly have a set to gamble that one of us would be able to catch you before you went splat."
"Huh…set…gamble…?" Aly muttered.
"Hey, kid! Snap out of it rookie!" Jade said, snapping her fingers in front of Aly. "Don't zone out now, this is a REAL bad time!"
"What? Huh? Where…" Aly said, as she finally came to. "What…Jade! You caught me?"
"No, this is heaven. God is apparently highly unoriginal." Jade said. "Don't thank me kid, it comes with the territory. You fall, we catch you. You can't count on much in this life but with any and all gods as my witnesses you can count on that." Jade said as she turned, looking as Stormy began approaching the pair, though she was still fairly far away. "Damn, where did she get THAT ordnance?"
"Apparently the… guys left it on the helicopter." Aly said, suddenly ashamed. When Jade looked at her though, there was no judgment in the look.
"Great. Peachy keen. Ok, second question: why are you like that?" Jade said, indicating Aly's normal form.
"Uh…I kinda ran out of power."
"You did?"
"Yeah."
"You never bothered to test your limits, get a handle on how much stamina you had? Didn't you ever think a day like this might come?" Jade said: NOW she was looking judgmental.
"I…had homework!"
"Great, just GREAT!" Jade yelled. Stormy was closing in, and the chain gun had apparently been repaired as it was emerging again. Jade didn't hang around to see how good a job was done: she grabbed Aly with a fire line, pulling the teen along with her with a yelp as Jade leapt off the building and shot out another line, swinging away. But one of the advantages of flight was you could take shortcuts, and as Jade swung down a road and turned the corner she suddenly found her vision filled with the copter as Stormy dropped down in front of her, or more specifically, the chain gun in front of her.
"FUCK!" Jade yelled as she suddenly found death staring her in the face. Stormy waved with her free hand, and then reached down and pulled the trigger.
That saved Jade, as she was in mid-swing forward when Stormy had appeared and her mind went with the move, as she abruptly changed the nature of the fire strand she was swinging on even as, at the same time, she "retracted" it back into his palm. Along with that, she let go of Aly, hurling the screaming teenager up into the air even as the retracted strand pulled her out of the way of the bullets. Flying up above the helicopter, Aly looked down and realized that she was out of the frying pan and into the fire: she'd come right down on the whirling blades…
Of course, Jade wasn't going to allow that to happen, as she changed the nature of the fire energy again, converting it to extreme elasticity that yanked her upward like a rocket. As she flew up, Aly started going down, still screaming…as Jade fired off twin fire lines…grabbing the end of the helicopter blade. The rapidly whirling blade yanked Savior forward at super-high speed, so quick she actually flew straight under Aly as she continued to fall…even as a fire line sprang out of Jade's back and snagged the kid, pulling the two away from the helicopter as Stormy tried to figure out what was going on. Jade, meanwhile, flew right over a roof and then abruptly changed direction as she fired off another strand, grabbed the end of a building, and swung low and up, flying up and landing on a water tower. She set Aly down beside her.
And Aly punched Jade on the shoulder.
"DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" Aly yelled, not having much liked the trip. Jade looked wryly at her.
"If I hadn't let you go, your weight would have screwed me up, and there's a good chance you, I, or both of us would be dead." Jade said. "Trust me. I'm a pro at this kid."
"Hey, I'm not…" Aly began.
"Can you change back yet?" Jade said, cutting Aly off. Aly blinked, and tried. Nothing.
"No, I…"
"Well kid, I know you don't like it, but over the river and through the woods…!" Jade said as she grabbed Aly again and swung off as Stormy flew up near the water tower, gnashing her teeth.
Jade swung a few times and then did a tight turn onto another street. Stormy was right on her tail, once again nearly crashing into the side of a building as she followed. The chain gun began blazing again, and Aly yelled in fear as a blast of bullets missed the two heroes by a foot, blowing another line across the concrete. Fortunately, by now news had spread across Magix that there was a lunatic flying around town in an Apache helicopter and everyone was off the streets and mostly in basements. Good for them, as Jade zig-zagged back and forth across the street, Stormy on her ass as the chain gun smashed windows and building fronts and blew up even more cars.
"How you doing up there kid?" Jade tossed over her shoulder as she swung around a corner, flew over a few roofs, and landed, running rapidly. Aly just yelled nonsense to indicate she wasn't happy. "Good!"
Stormy was there, and a line of bullets was ripping across the roof towards the running pair. That wasn't too good: what was worse was that Jade was on a building that was on the edge of Magix and when she hit the end there was nothing to swing or leap to except the freeway coming into Magix…which was several hundred feet away. Jade didn't seem to notice this though, as she continued to run towards the edge, but Aly sure did.
"AHHHHH! STOP! NO MORE ROOF! NO MORE ROOF!"
"SHUT UP AND LET ME DRIVE!" Jade yelled back as she reached the end…and ran right off it. Aly was barely pulled over the edge by the fire line Jade was carrying her with before the bullets hit where she had just been, Jade running straight down the side of the roof via the fire strand that had emerged from her back and attached to the roof. He hit the ground and stepped off, running a few more feet…and then stopping, as she thrust out her hands and snatched up a car.
"Now what are you doing?" Aly asked.
"Buying us a few seconds." Jade said, as fire strands lifted the car up.
Stormy flew over the rooftop…
And Jade hurled the car, sending the vehicle crashing into the helicopter's underside and once again putting the battered vehicle in a spin, Stormy doing her usual screaming curses.
"Hang on." Jade said.
"What are you doing NOOOOOOOOOWWWW!" Aly screamed as Jade pulled out every bit of elastic and retractive force she could muster to fling herself up in the air and off into the distance, towards the aforementioned distant freeway. It was such a long flight, Aly had to stop, take a breath, and then continue screaming. And if you think Aly is acting like a wimp, let's just say that Aly is used to extraordinary experiences in her Winx form. Her human form…not so much.
The two dipped down on the freeway, Jade grabbing hold of an 18-Wheeler on route into Magix and dropping the two down on its roof, setting Aly down gently.
"Do you USUALLY pull such suicidal stunts, or is it only when you have a passenger along to properly terrify?" Aly snapped at Jade. Jade just glanced at her.
"Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash. George Patton." Jade quoted, and then looked over to the approaching helicopter. She looked back at Aly. "Can you turn back now? … I left Jones unconscious just to save you…"
"Uh…I'm goin' Winx!" Aly yelled, reaching deep down again.
I'm sorry, any and all power is out right now, please leave a message and we'll get back to you when we can…
"No! I'm still tapped out!" Aly said.
"Great. Guess we have to do this the hard way." Jade said, as she reached under her coat again. "I managed to retrieve this. Here kid." Jade said, tossing another Incapacitator. Aly would have been glad to see it…if not for her current situation.
"Give me the Witch Kicker Outer Thingie, I'll see if I can get in close enough to use it." Jade said.
"Uh…" Aly replied. Jade looked back at Aly, clearly not happy.
"Please don't say you lost or broke it."
"Uh…well no…it's just kind of…" Jade said, not sure how to explain.
"Great. Forget the hard way, now we have to top Mr. Bond." Jade said. "Or rather, I do."
Aly couldn't believe what Jade did next.
Neither could Stormy, as her contentment that her missiles were finally being reloaded abruptly dissolved as Jade formed a sign over her with the fire.
Specifically, a sign that said "Hey Bitch, WHERE'S MY SANDWICH?"
"You FUCK!" Stormy yelled, as she armed the only two missiles she had at the moment.
"What are you doing! She'll launch missiles at that distance!" Aly screamed.
"Yes, I just hope she doesn't launch too many." Jade replied taking a quick glance at her watch she had to hurry. Aly looked at the white haired hero and decided that there was no two bones about it: the guy was totally crazy... some role model…
And then the missiles were flying at them.
And Jade was flying at the missiles, as she grabbed the end of the truck and threw herself through the air, flying over the honking cars as the missiles headed for Aly, and Aly wondered if she was going to be faced with another jump/get reduced to bits choice.
In the end, no, as Jade flew under the missiles, twisted in mid-air, and launched out Fire strands. Aly's eyes widened.
"No way. This isn't going to work." Aly said.
Jade turned around again, being dragged by the missiles, missiles that were getting too close for comfort to Aly, and she started backing up with a scream, and then with her own yell of effort, Jade yanked down on the missiles as hard as she could, pulling the projectiles towards the ground…and them, almost instantly, shifting the weight and force of the fire Tendrils, she shoved the missile back UP…so that they were facing the other way.
As she landed on a car roof, Jade thrust down her arms.
And the missiles flew off, heading back towards Stormy, whose eyes went as wide as saucers at this ridiculous manipulation of physics Jade had just pulled. But in the world of superheroes, the laws of the universe existed to be broken... of course it helped if you were a conduit…
"FUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKK!" Stormy screamed, recoiling.
The missiles slammed into the copter, blowing it back and sending it into another spin, but as it was quickly revealed, the armour on the copter was truly extraordinary, as it took the brunt and stayed up, even though it continued to spin and smoke was once again pouring from several parts.
"Buddha fucking Jesus!" Stormy cursed, as she once again found herself in a war to get her machine under control, the machine that somehow managed to keep failing and failing in her quest to kill the girl and her fucking allies…
And part of it was about to fail again. Specifically, the door, as a sudden loud noise sounded near Stormy, and as she glanced at her side the door was suddenly wrenched right off and Stormy found herself looking at Jade. The shield might have blocked a direct attack from the Tendrils, but once Jade had grabbed the underside of the helicopter and pulled herself through it, she was free to use her ability, and while the armour on the vehicle was extremely tough, the hinges in the door were small, thin, and breakable.
"Pull over, I need to check your license!" Jade yelled as she reached forward, grabbing Stormy by her outfit and trying to yank her out.
"FUCK OFF!" Stormy screamed, letting go of the controls to punch and claw at Jade, but she had thrown fire guards over her eyes and general soft spots, even as she tried to cut off the seat belt…
And then Stormy's eyes blazed with fire.
"You think I traded in my bite for a new toy?" She asked.
The explosion blew Jade right off the helicopter, the electricity totally consuming her, and Aly yelled in disbelief as the smoking form fell…
And was caught by a black energy hand.
Scorched, Jade shook her head, and then looked up at Jones who glanced down at her with a look that said, how could you have not factored that in? …That was before she used her powers to smash Jade through a building.
"Yeah, now let's go grab Aly before Stormy shoves a missile up her behind." Dani said to the group that was now standing.
And then, with a woosh, four more missiles flew from the helicopter, headed straight for Aly.
"Too late." Flora commented.
"Uh, help anyone? ANYONE!" Aly yelled as the missiles flew in.
Then a dark portal opened up near them and Dani flew out, her eyes and hands glowing.
"SHADOW!" she finished yelling, as black energy encased the missiles and stopped them. For a moment they hung there, Raven making a low groan of immense effort and pain, and then the missiles broke into pieces, yanked into their component parts. Raven flew to the side, even as she threw the now harmless debris off the side of the highway, and Aly, safe for now, looked back at the copter…and saw two more missiles had been loaded and were probably seconds away from firing.
"Man, I wish I could still fly." Aly said.
And suddenly Flora was next to her, her plant power grabbing her by her shoulders.
"Wish granted." Flora said, and hurled Aly off the truck and through the air. Aly screamed again…and then a black energy hand caught him, as Dani swooped in and saved her from becoming roadkill.
The missiles Aly had observed fired, and Dani leapt forward, putting her hands together as the shadows flowed out and formed into a huge mace-like weapon, and she swung it out, slamming it into the side of one missiles and half smashing half shoving it into the other. The two veered off course for a few seconds before exploding, and then Dani landed on the roof of an SUV, denting the metal. She paused for a second to see if the driver swerved in panic: she or he didn't. Indeed, the road was keeping it together pretty well despite the battle raging over them. Or maybe the "drivers talking on cellphones and hence dead to the world" had hit a new epidemic height, but Dani didn't care, as long as a thirty car pileup could be avoided. She looked back to Flora.
"Flora! The sides of the highway are relatively bare for the next mile! Throw the missiles there!" Dani said, "You and I, switching off!"
"Got it." Flora said, and then she flew forward, and Aly was aware that the energy holding her was starting to shift.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"Trust me." Flora said.
And then she tossed Aly to the side, the poor teen so shocked by this that she didn't even get a chance to scream before Dani bounded across several cars, leapt into the air, grabbed her, and dropped down onto another 18 wheeler.
"AHHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
"Making it as hard to target you as possible, so we can deal with the missiles easier." Dani said, as Flora flew forward, two more missiles heading for her, missiles that had been launched roughly at the same time Aly was getting a bird's eye view of the highway. She reached out, concentrating, and then plants appeared grabbed the missiles and shoved them towards each other. They too collided in mid air and detonated, even as Flora flew backwards, seizing whatever wreckage of the detonated she could and tossing it to the side so it didn't fall through some poor schmuck's windshield.
"Here we go." Dani said, and Aly couldn't even protest before Dani used the shadows to toss the two of them off the truck, and then he hurled Aly to Flora, who caught her as another missile fired off. Dani threw out a shadow line, grabbed it, and yanked it off to the side, the missile flying and exploding into a barren field as Dani bounced back over the cars and Flora threw Aly back to her before she could even complain to her that she didn't want to be treated as a softball. While Dani grabbed the yelling/protesting/screaming/generally not very happy Aly and began doing Matrix acrobatics with her shadows back and forth along both lines of the highway., Flora flew in and grabbed the next missile with her plant powers, snapping it in half like a carrot stick and tossing it to the side where it exploded.
"How much longer are you going to do this?" Aly yelled, as she knew what was coming next.
"Until she runs out of ammo or we run out of the proper space to do this, whatever comes first." Dani said, and tossed Aly to Flora as she flew past her, Raven catching her as Stormy launched yet another missile, apparently now so mad all she could do was pull the trigger again and again. Dani leapt across the rooftops of several sturdier cars and lashed a powerful blow against the side of the missile: the weapon spun off and exploded in the air next to the highway, and Dani grabbed onto a nearby truck and hurled herself back the way she came, Flora throwing Aly to her as she went in to take care of her missile(s).
It didn't take her long to realize something was wrong: the missile was flying too low. Stormy had finally wised up and figured that if the BOBS/Winx member wanted to keep stopping her missiles, she'd make them work for it. And so she'd fired at the street.
Thrown off, Flora only had time to grab the missile and rip the explosive head off before the body crashed into the highway, and the street erupted in a gigantic squeal of brakes and other automobile noise as the myriad vehicles in front of the fallen missile tried to avoid it. Flora barely had time to get rid of the explosive tip of the missiles before she had to swoop down and start deflecting and moving cars with her powers, not wanting a huge crash to happen because of her error. But the strain of diverting/moving/outright STOPPING so many heavy machines was murderous, as Flora fought with all her might to give the cars with some distance from the accident time to stop (and hopefully there wouldn't be a crash in the distance, but they were faeries, not gods).
Flora succeeded…at a cost: she collapsed, utter exhausted and spent. Her brain immediately slipped into a meditative state to allow her the rest she needed: it wouldn't take long, but for now she was out of the fight.
Dani had known that when she saw her trying to stop the cars, and she had changed the plan accordingly, finally leaping off the highway as it came back into Magix and swinging through the downtown streets much like Jade. She figured it wouldn't be long until Stormy was joining them again.
"Our incorrigible little friend in sight yet?" Dani yelled: the way she was carrying Aly was from a shadow coming out of her shoulder that held Aly slightly above her so Aly wouldn't get in the way. Aly was currently facing the opposite way Dani was, so while the girl was powerless she could serve as a second pair of eyes. At least the girl hadn't lost the Incapacitator: she'd strapped it to her back.
"No! I don't suppose you could just let me off somewhere and let me rest?" Aly asked.
"Forget it! She wants you! She loses you, there's nothing to stop her from letting loose on the nearest building and KKEEEE-RIST!" Aly yelled as the helicopter swung into the street in front of them, stopping the BOB in her (metaphorical) tracks. When you could fly, you could take shortcuts. Especially when you had a permanent lock on your target and a handy map you could bring up on the special cockpit videoscreen in front of you.
"Six…ten….fourteen…" Dani was saying.
"What?" Aly yelled.
"That helicopter holds sixteen missiles so there…"
The last two remaining missiles fired at the pair. Dani immediately reversed direction and starting swinging backwards.
"Do you see any civilians?" Dani yelled.
"Wha? Uh, no!" Aly yelled.
"Good, hang on!" Dani yelled as she swung down to the street, hit the ground running as the missiles flew in…and then she turned, grabbing a pair of cars with her ability.
"I really hope they're insured." Dani yelled, and then she hurled the pair of cars into the missiles.
The shockwave sent Dani tumbling ass over elbows backwards: Aly actually got the better treatment as the Shadow strand was holding her a few feet above the ground and instead of getting tangled around Dani body it moved around via itself, so Aly stayed off the ground while Dani tumbled along finally, finally coming to a stop a few dozen feet away.
"I think I just lost about a pound of skin." Dani groaned.
"Ummmmm…" Aly replied, and then her eyes widened as the oh so familiar by now sound of an approaching helicopter filled his ears. "Uh, uh…!"
"Yeah I know." Dani said as she pushed himself to her feet and started running, tossing out more strands and swinging up into the air, as Stormy once again did her dangerous spin to change direction move (and considering how banged up the Fenton-copter looked now, that probably wasn't the wisest move to be doing), and was about to start after them…and then she noticed something.
"Hmmmmmm." Stormy said, looking at what lay at the end of the street. Then she yanked the stick up and flew off.
Dani didn't notice: she had pulled out hir communicator and was holding it in front of her with another Shadow strand as she swung down the street towards the skyscraper at the end.
"Ivy, are you there? Have you finished healing yourself yet?" Dani asked.
"Almost! How much trouble are you in?"
"Me, not sure, but if this battle goes on any longer there won't be a Magix left!" Dani said. Aly was yelling at her, but Dani ignored her: she had to finish. "Be ready when you show up, it's a real mess!" Dani said, signing off and immediately trying to raise Stella.
"Stella, are you there? Answer if possible! Stella! Stella!" Dani yelled into the communicator: nothing but static. "Shit!"
"Dani! Dani!" Aly was now screaming at the top of his lungs.
"WHAT?"
"She's gone!" Aly yelled, pointing, and Dani turned and found, much to her surprise, that Stormy was indeed not chasing them.
"Where did she go?" Dani asked.
"Why are you asking me? I don't know!" Aly replied.
"Great. Now what?" Dani said as she looked around…and saw the skyscraper she had almost reached. "Ok, we need to find her! High altitude point!" Dani said, and started swinging again, and when she reached the skyscraper, began pulling herself and Aly up it.
Too bad that was exactly what Stormy had guessed she would do. As mentioned, when not screaming mad, she had a fair brain on her.
Dani pulled herself up onto the roof, doing a small flip and landing, setting Aly down next to her. She paused to take a few breaths: all this running was tiring.
"You ok?" Aly asked.
"Yeah. Great. Better then the Atkins diet." Dani replied. "Ok look kid…"
And then Dani arched an eyebrow as she suddenly became aware of the noise.
"Oh fuck me."
Stormy rose up on the opposite side of the skyscraper, smiling viciously, and why wouldn't she? She'd predicted the girls would go straight to the top of the building in some kind of bizarre phallic bonding Freudian desire something or other, and she'd reacted accordingly, flying around Magix and up the side of the building.
And now she had the two dead in her sights, and while her missiles were once again being reloaded, her chain gun was ready and about to go.
"Eep." Aly said, turning as white as Jades hair.
"You're fired." Stormy replied, in an echo of the greatest cheesy line ever uttered in a movie.
"Ah crap." Dani replied, and then Aly was being yanked to the ground by a Shadow line, Dani putting her body over hers as a myriad of strands sprang from her back and right hand, covering the two in a protective cocoon, going as thick as it could in the second or two Dani had, as Dani braced herself for the impacts.
Stormy opened fire on the energy dome.
As mentioned, Dani's clothing was highly refined armour, but it was armor designed to take bullets designed to kill human targets. Not bullets from a M230 30mm chain gun, which fired rounds that were designed to puncture tanks and armored personal carriers. Body armour or no body armour, those kinds of rounds would have blown Dani's limbs right off with a single shot and punched holes in her torso the size of a basketball. No, this required her shadow's protection.
And indeed, the Shadow was very good protection. It only had one major weakness: blades. And since bullets didn't so much cut or pierce their targets as they so much used the high velocity behind their ejection to ram right through them, the Shimmer was a very good shield against bullets…but even it couldn't take a myriad of impacts like the kind a 30mm depleted uranium shell could make and shrug it off like Superman could, and the cost of having to take it had to happen somewhere.
In this case, Dani's body, as an immense feedback from the barrage being rained onto the shadow tore through her form, all her muscles feeling like they were cramping up and all her nerves igniting and yelling that they didn't like this sensation. But Dani held the shield, pouring more and more "material" onto it to try and lessen the unique agony, trying to make as many of the bullets deflect off the barrier instead of outright absorbing the impacts, but it was still hell, and Aly, under Dani, knew it from the growling/moaning snarl that Dani was making under her breath, right into Aly's ear, even as Stormy reduced the roof to swiss cheese, the glow of the tracers sparkling in her eyes…
And then the chain gun cut out.
Stormy's happy look faded.
"What the fuck? It was just getting good!"
"Chain gun ammo depleted. Reload?" The computer asked. Stormy snarled again.
"Yeah, fine! Fucking killjoy!" Stormy cursed.
And the Shimmer shield pulled away and disappeared from above Aly, and she blinked and then looked as Dani pulled herself away from her. Aly looked at the BOB and gasped: blood was pouring from her nose and her ears. The cost of heroism.
"…………sorry kid…you're…on your own." Dani said, and passed out, blood pooling around her head.
Aly looked at the fallen BOB, and then looked back at Stormy, as the chain gun withdrew back into the Fenton-copter, Stormy taking in the scene below her.
"Well, at least I got one of the sons of bitches!" She said happily. Maybe with both her weapons being reloaded she could try her blender move again…
Aly looked up at the helicopter, as flashes of memory flew through his head…
Stella's limp form flying off in the distance…
Ivy falling to the ground with him helpless to stop it…
Flora collapsing on the highway road…
Dani's blood around her feet…
Jade glared at Jones blood freely flowing from her head wound, as she spat out a stream of blood, as she glanced at the damage she had dealt Jones.
The back of her shirt was torn off… a zig zag pattern of cauterized wounds were on her back courtesy of Jade who suddenly dropped her guard and stood up and looked at Jones. "Giving up already… I've barely broken a sweat," Jones lied.
Jade ignored the comment and looked at her old best friend, "Just like old times huh?"
"Yeah except we never took the place apart… I'll admit it you gotten powerful…" Jones said also dropping her guard.
"You never did tell me why you betrayed me Jones," Jade said quietly.
"Because I could…" Jones said grinning.
"Fine… you don't have to tell me… but here's another question… those years ago why… why did you let me win? If this was going to be the outcome… then why bother… why bother to be my friend through the thick and thin?"
"You beat me it's as simple as that… I didn't…"
"Really do you think I'm stupid… you should know better than that… that day I had twenty bones broken you had none… heck you didn't even have a bruise on you… you let me win why?"
Jones growled at Jade who merely stood there, here eyes focused on Jones, "Because you impressed me… very few people can stand with twenty busted bones."
"So you were never really my friend were you?"
"You needed me more than I needed you."
"Were you ever my friend?"
At this Jade was speechless…
Flashback
A thirteen year old Jade fell to the floor taking a sword to her arm wincing in pain as she stopped an attacker from stabbing Jones in the back.
"You idiot why… why did you do that for me?" Jones asked smashing her would be attacker across the room.
"That's what friends do," Jade said getting up and blasting another attacker.
"Hmph… yeah that's what friends do," Jones said agreeing with her as the two went back to back…
End Flashback
"Yeah at a time I was… but let's forget about it and let's finish this,"
"Fine old friend but I…"
'Jade!' Aly's voice rang through both Jones and Jades head, causing both of them to wince.
"That's the holder of the gryphons force… what do you see in the rookie anyway?" Jones said shaking her head.
Jade cocked her head in the direction of Aly and then glanced her head back at Jones a small smile appearing on her face… "Because she doesn't give up, even if she's losing badly she doesn't give up… and that's why you don't actually stand a chance against us today… doesn't matter how godly your power-ups are… and that is why I have… will defeat you today Jones… friend or not I will defeat you…" Jade said taking her defensive stance once again.
"Then we end this right here no more holding back… one of us has to fall… and this time… I'm not going to lose…" Jones said drawing out her claws as she went full demon her scaly wings spreading out of her back as her eyes started to glow red.
"Fine then…" Jade said her hands beginning to glow… "Let's finish this…" as Jones followed suit flying into the air and also preparing the final blow…
The two threw there blasts at each other as they collided dead on, the power they were emitting was immense creating massive shockwaves as the two tried to push each other back… numerous buildings collapsed but the two titans remained strong as they continued to attempt to push each other back. The battle of wills going on as both Jade and Jones saw their lives flash before there eyes… atleast there lives with each other in it…
"Where the hell did you take us you stupid half breed," Jade yelled shaking Jones violently.
"Hmm judging by the looks of it we're in the underworld… in the land of the band of seven…"
"WHAT! You are trying to kill me… aren't you?" Jade said panicking.
"Nah you can do that by yourself," Jones laughed as she saw Curran a huge guitar in her hand.
"For a faerie your strength is above normal… way above average actually but it's still not enough you have to be strong enough to break bones with little movement…" Jones said to Jade who sat cross-legged in front of a huge tree. "Like this," Jades mouth dropped as she saw a huge hole in the shape of a fist in the tree…
"Cool let me try…" Jade said getting up…
"No… you can't…" Jones began and winced as Jades hand stuck the wood, a scream escaped from her lips. "Idiot," Jones muttered under her breath, as she glanced wincing at Jades crushed bones.
"Hey I did it didn't I," Jade laughed out loud, as Jones stared at the hole in the tree not quite as deep as hers but still evident.
"Yeah I guess you did," Jones said grinning at Jade.
'Jones it be said that you were one heck of a teacher… but as it stands… it's time for the student to surpass the teacher.' Jade thought.
'You may not realize it Jade that you were my only true friend… and for that I really must do this… because you may not survive what's to come…think of it as a parting gift' Jones thought at the exact time.
Just as one blast finally overcame the other…