Two more chapters after this... hehe... the third book will have to wait... for a while... anyway... to get away from all this serious stuff... i'm going to do a christmas story... finish All growed down... and comebackin the new year totally refreshed...
"Ok Riven. You can't fly, so for the moment, you stay here and protect Aly. I'm going to see if I can finally get that shield to finally give up the witch," Dani said.
"You sure about it Dani? How do you feel?" Riven asked.
"Like someone drove several monster trucks into my head and unleashed a five star demolition derby, but hey, that's the business." Dani said as she floated off the ground. Dani didn't have a reply to that, so she accepted it, as in the distance Stormy turned away from where she had fired the missiles after the Winx club members and started bringing the helicopter higher up from the ground.
"Ok then…now where is that girl…" Stormy said.
Dani flew in front of the copter, letting loose with another blast of black power…closer then she thought: the recoil didn't send her flying, but it smacked her back and make her migraine headache even worse. Stormy was barely staggered by the blast: by now she was used to all the shocks and tumbles.
"How many missiles do I have left?" Stormy asked.
"I'm da greatest tapdancer in da world! Humper dumper dido!" The computer replied.
"Are you STILL messed up?"
"Look out Snake! She's under Mantis' mind control!"
"Why do I even bother…" Stormy said. Well, if she couldn't tell how many missiles she had left, she'd stick with the chain gun for now, as she lined up a shot and opened fire. Dani, even dodging, nearly lost a foot, an experience that would be unpleasant to say the least. She flew up into the air…
And nearly flew right into it, as she suddenly became aware of a weird echoing sound involving the helicopter. Strange, it sounded like the helicopter was behind her…but the copter was clearly in front…so what…
And then she turned and stopped with a gasp as she almost flew right into the second helicopter, and then she had to dash to the side before its forward momentum caused it to ram itself into HER. For a moment Dani thought the police had come back in their own chopper…and then she quickly realized it wasn't the police, and that she had better engage Stormy right away before something really bad happened.
"What the…who's that?" Aly said as she saw the second helicopter fly in, even as Dani zipped down to the copter and smashed it with another blast of power, and then picked up a car and threw it at the helicopter again, doing everything to keep Stormy's attention on her. Riven was wondering himself
What he saw made him wince, and for a moment he was glad they had tried their stupid plan: it kept them from being here and pitching a fit.
"It's the damn media." Riven replied. Aly looked at Riven with incredulous eyes.
"WHAT? What kind of a MORON would be so STUPID to fly in and risk his life filming THIS?"
"Riv's here bitch. You better recognize!" Riven said, and opened fire, shooting at the rotors and engines, trying to do some, or any, damage.
"Argh. Am I being bitten by another mosquito?" Stormy asked.
"My shiny teeth that sparkle! My shiny teeth so clean! My shiny teeth that twinkle! Just like the morning sun! It's almost obscene!" The computer sang. Stormy had by now quit relying on the completely screwed up AI for help and was answering her own questions, as she twisted the stick and swung the helicopter up, flying up to Riven and firing another burst of chain gun fire. But all it hit was the roof, as Riven had run and jumped off it just before she had begun firing. He hit the concrete, his weight cracking it, and then he leaned up and fired a fully charged sonic cannon blast into the copter's underside, rocking the machine up and down as he took the time to run across the street. It wasn't long until he was joined by Dani.
"You want to do our version of the Sonic Boom?" Dani asked.
"I got the sonic if you got the boom." Riven said, as his cannon glowed. Dani nodded and then picked up another car.
Stormy had righted herself and turned back towards the two.
Dani hurled the car at the cockpit, even as Riven shoved his two cannons up and fired them at the same time, the concentrated burst of ultrasonics giving the thrown vehicle even more force as the bullets tore into the gas tank, trying for a spark, hoping for a spark…
A spark.
Stormy screamed as the car exploded five feet from hitting her, the flaming wreckage slamming into the machine and sending it flying back as Stormy's cockpit erupted in sparks again.
"That shield HAS to be finished. I'm going to make SURE." Dani said, as she flew forward, concentrating with everything she had left. "Shadow KNIT"
And Dani lashed out with every drop of force she could muster, and the sky exploded in brilliant light as once again, the irresistible force clashed with the unmovable object. Riven threw up his hands and recoiled…and in the process, happened to look up, which allowed him to see Dani shooting over his head like a bullet, flying across the whole street and smashing through a window at the end.
Unmovable object 2, irresistible force zip.
"Geezus, who gave them the plans for that shield, the Weaponeers from Qward?" Riven cursed, as roller blades sprouted from his feet and rockets from his legs. As Stormy recovered from the blow and started after Riven, the rockets reversed themselves and Riven went shooting down the street backwards, firing his sonic cannon and trying to stay away from the chain gun as Stormy chased him with it.
Aly watched as Riven shot down the street that was to Aly's left…and gaped as she saw Riven turn onto the street that Aly's building was parallel to, as Stormy launched two missiles at Riven, exhausting two of her remaining four Hellfires. Riven increased the power of his rockets, but the boosters on the missiles were a lot more powerful then his, and he found the missiles catching up.
"Damn it!" Riven cursed, as he fired at the missile. Two shots from his sonic cannon managed to connect with the first one and screw it up, and it flew past Riven, going over his head, as Riven turned his attention to the second, but it was too close, there was no way…
"DAMMMNNNNNNNNN!" Riven bellowed as, instead of firing at the missile, he stole a trick from Sky and fired at the ground, thrusting several large shards of concrete up…but still too close, as the missile flew into them and Riven was caught into the explosion, losing his grip on the road and tumbling backwards.
And then the missile Riven had managed to divert slammed into the building behind him, and as the stone face began to crumble, Riven slammed into the base of it…just in time for tons of rock and other debris to come crashing down on him and burying him completely.
"Aw no…." Aly said as she saw this, as Stormy turned around, her radar informing her that her primary target was close. Huh, she'd forgotten all about the girl for a moment! Well, time flew, and she was close now. She'd find her.
As soon as she dealt with Dani, who was now at the other end of the street, though from her floating pose it was clear she'd rather be anywhere but. Stormy smirked to herself: girls had no drive to keep going these days.
"Quote the raven, no more." Stormy said, as she locked her last four Sidewinders and let loose.
Dani saw them coming, but she refused to dodge, because she had to stop that helicopter and she could only thing of one way…
"Shadow KNIT!" Dani chanted as she raised her hands, and as the missiles drew close they were encased in black power, as Dani tried to find the power to turn them around and fire them back at Stormy…
And then Stormy was there, having followed her missiles, and she laughed merrily as she fired her chain gun at Dani. Dani had no choice but to fly up to avoid it…and that disrupted her concentration, the missiles were free, and they were right on top of her as her eyes widened in fear…
"NO!" Aly yelled as he saw a flash of black power be consumed by a massive mid-air explosion. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left.
"Poetry in motion! Oh yeah!" Stormy said, and even though Aly couldn't hear her she could sure as hell see her: her helicopter was right at the base of the building she was on top of. Laughing, Stormy glanced over to her radar to check her main target: once again, close. And this time, she was SURE, there would be nothing standing between him and her.
Aly watched her start to rise, and he knew what she was doing. After all that had happened, was this it? Was she doomed to be killed by Stormy?
The helicopter was still rising.
And as Aly watched it go up, she came to a decision, an absolutely insane decision, but she would follow it out anyway. She had to. She was the only one left.
"Still messed up computer?" Stormy asked.
"Thing Ring, Do Your Thing!"
"Oh well, too bad you'll miss this!" Stormy said. She knew she was almost out of ammo, (hell she was amazed the creator had been able to cram all their hunting junk as well as all the backup missiles onto this thing without harming its performance: they must have been mechanical genius) but she had enough bullets and two missiles left, and that was plenty to completely erase the girl.
And Aly Paladin finished her run and launched herself off the edge, and Stormy's eyes widened in utter shock as the normal girl leapt through the air at her…and fell, as she was no long jumper.
As Aly raised her right hand, tightly clutching one of Riven's devices, and flipped the switch to magnetism.
The yank nearly pulled the device out of her hand: Aly had turned the power switch to near-full, but Aly managed to hold on, as with a yell the device crashed into the underside of the helicopter, the impact once again nearly causing Aly to let go. She grimaced, but she refused to release his grip.
A slight impact rang through Stormy's feet, and she arched an eyebrow: what was that? And where did the girl go? Stormy tried to turn the helicopter to a proper position so she could look down and see the girl's body.
Aly reached up with her left hand and flipped the switch with her right wrist: the second device clamped onto the metal underbelly of the helicopter, leaving Aly hanging from the underside. Sweat ran into her eyes, but she didn't falter, as she adjusted the strength of the magnetic clamp with his thumb and yanked the right device off, clamping it down a few feet away from the first as she readjusted the strength of the pull, and then she did the same with the left one, and again, and again, as Aly pulled herself across the bottom of the aircraft and began working her way up the side.
Stormy didn't notice: she was too busy flying the helicopter higher and higher, trying to find Aly.
"Where are you?" Stormy snarled, and by now Aly was so close she could hear her, and that gave Aly the final burst she needed, as she made one final "step". She was right below the door…just…one…
A loud thunking noise startled Stormy, and she looked to her right incredulously to see an arm having just stuck something on the right side of the helicopter right next to her open doorway.
As Aly reached to her belt and pulled out the Witch Catcher, and then with a scream she yanked herself up to the cockpit.
And Stormy thrust her hands into the controls and blew up the entire dashboard of the helicopter, reducing it to slag and nearly blowing Aly out of the helicopter. It also did what none of the Aly or anyone else had been able to do: disabled the shield, and as it vanished Stormy flew up, melting through the cockpit window and flying into the sky with a laughing cry of triumph, as several parts of the copter exploded and the machine went into a terminal spin, straight down. Leaving Aly alone...
Jade wasn't going to make it, and she knew it...
For all the determination in her heart and soul, it just wasn't enough to put the wings on her back that she needed to reach the helicopter in time. That wasn't stopping her though, as she ran and used the tendrils as much as she could to cut into the distance between her and the falling aircraft. As Jade had said many times, she was a faerie, and if you insisted on calling her it, a superhero. She was not a god: her powers didn't let her cross vast distances in the blink of an eye or be in two places at once.
And it appeared that that fact would result in Aly's death. And there was nothing she could do.
That didn't slow her pace any.
She ran/flew and leapt as fast as she could, even though she knew there was no way she'd make it.
And afterward, if the girl or her family and friends wanted to blame her for the death…let them. She'd shoulder it. She'd done it before.
It was part of the life.
To take the blame for the death.
Aly couldn't care whether Jade was willing to let herself be the magnet of the hate and blame that would result when the helicopter crashed, because she was determined to ensure there was no reason to target her with such vitriol because she was GOING to get free. She had forgotten everything outside of that determination…including the point that even if she could somehow break the handcuffs that Stormy had attached to her, she had no way to get out of the helicopter safely: there was nothing to jump onto or for except the ground, and even if the fall didn't kill them, it would certainly injure her enough to prevent them from moving before the helicopter landed on their heads, or landed nearby and killed them via the explosion or shrapnel.
Such a dearth of hope didn't even register with Aly Paladin, neither did the blood on her hands or the utter exhaustion in her body, as she yanked and tore at the handcuffs, as the copter continued to spiral to the ground in its death throes…
Aly looked up.
And then she saw it, at the downward angle out the window…how close the ground was…and she knew then she wasn't going to get free.
So, she tried, once more, to go winx.
And she found that option was gone to her as well.
And she realized that for all her fighting…she'd failed. Now she would die…
Aly looked outside, as the helicopter spun the final time.
And then she hugged herself.
"We hope you enjoyed the ride!" The computer chirped.
And then it all seemed to go in slow motion, the helicopter slamming into the ground, tail end first, a terrible rumbling going through the machine even as the weight and downward momentum began to crush the machine against the ground like a tin can, even as new explosions erupted from the aircraft, what was left of the cockpit shattering around Aly, as the fuel tank ruptured and gas began to pour out, almost immediately meeting sparks from all the tearing and rending metal…as Bloom flew down, grabbed the handcuff, snapped the chain like it was made of sugar glass, and then grabbed Aly, and flew upward as fast as she could even the copter exploded beneath them, a gigantic pillar of flaming death clawing up after the three as if in a rage that these two had been lost to it, even as Bloom spun and flew away from the exploding machine, as it emitted a noise in its death throes like the final cry of a beast long lost in the primordial ooze in the past.
It was so shocking it felt like a punch in the stomach to Aly, and before she realized what had happened Bloom had finished her upward flight and was now floating there, taking a few deep breaths.
"Looks like…my timing…was excellent." Bloom said, and smiled slightly at Aly.
"…Buh, Buh-Bloom?"
"Yes Aly, it is I. Sorry I couldn't recover and return to aid you until now, but I think you can forgive…"
And then one final explosion shook the ground, as the last remaining ammo and missiles went up, and then suddenly it was there, as the main rotor of the helicopter flew off and up into the air like the devil had thrown it himself, a spiraling clutch of blades wreathed in flame and as black as pitch that spun up towards the three floating figures as the copter made one last gasp in its apparent desire to drag its occupants to hell.
"Oh crap." Bloom said.
And Aly found herself in freefall again as Bloom let her go, even as the whirling, fragmenting death curved slightly, and even as the Paladin fell past it the blade whirled up, as Bloom twisted and contorted her body into a shape she should not have been able to make, the twirling slicing thing eager to slice her body into sashimi…
Several strands of Bloom's hair and a bit of her skirt was snipped off as the rotor missed by the length of a pinkie finger, and as Bloom spun away it flew past and tore into the side of the building nearby, glass shattering and furniture exploding into fragments even as the rotor broke apart and fired off more shards of deadly broken metal, turning the entire floor of the office into a war zone.
Good thing the employees that usually worked here had cleared out a while ago. Not every building was stupid enough to keep working when someone was flying a helicopter around and shooting everything that moved.
Aly didn't even get time to scream again when Bloom zipped down and grabbed her and her mother once more, her air going out of her in a whoosh.
"Let's get away before any more of that machine tries to come over and says hello, shall we?" Bloom said, and flew down the street and around the corner. Setting down near the end of that street, Bloom let Aly go.
And then, Aly was hugging her as hard as she could.
"Thank you." She gasped. "Thank you."
Bloom looked a bit confused, and then she smiled slightly and returned the hug, lightly.
"It was my pleasure." She said. "We…"
And then she let out a slight gasp.
Even as Aly was suddenly aware of a burning sensation around her hands.
"Bloom?" She half asked half whimpered, as she pulled away…
Stormy backhanded her so hard Aly flew across the street and crashed into a pile of trash cans and rotting garbage. Said rotting garbage kept her from breaking her back, and only the fact that Stormy had a bad angle had saved Aly from having every rib in her front shattered from her blow.
"Not anymore." Stormy said grinning as she had used a spell to switch places and knock outBloom... Aly was too busy being stunned and gasping for air to reply, even as the new horror came fully to her. Stormy was back, she was out of power…what did she have…except…
And then, with one final dagger in her being, Aly realized the special Incapacitator, the one she had strapped to her back before she'd pulled her insane stunt to destroy the shield.
Instead, it was in Stormy's hand.
Aly's eyes widened in shock and horror, as she managed to pull herself up a bit from where she lay in all the garbage, and was rewarded with a wave of agony through her form as her front and back complained at what had just happened, sapping all her strength and basically freezing her on the spot.
"Well well…a special toy from your professor to lock me up?" Stormy said, as she waggled the Incapacitator back and forth slightly.
And then it was gone, as Stormy crushed the device in one quick squeeze.
"Awwwwwwww." Stormy said in false disappointment as she opened her hand and let the destroyed device fall to the ground in pieces.
"No…." Aly said, as she tried to get up…and only made it about a fourth of the way before she ran out of strength and fell to her knees, her palms smacking into the ground as Stormy laughed quietly to herself.
"You got more lives then a cat, kid." Stormy said. "And that's REALLY pissing me off."
Aly looked up as Stormy raised a hand, electrical powers, "So…I don't think I'll just kill you…no…"
And Stormy raised her foot…and slowly placed it on Blooms forehead who was laying unconscious beside her.
"Bloom dearest goes too."
"No!" Aly said, trying to get up again. Spirit all too willing, flesh far too weak, as Aly fell again.
"And because of you…she goes first. You should have just rolled over and died kid. Now you have to pay the price of fucking with me." Stormy said, and raised her foot.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Jade swooped down and lashed out with a tendril assisted kick so fierce it knocked Stormy right off her feet and sent her flying the several dozen feet like a bullet before she hit the parking lot at the end of the T-Shaped street, crashing through the small toll taker booth and continuing on until she hit the brick wall at the end of the parking lot and went right through that as well, her body buried in a shower of baked mud rocks.
"No curb stomp for you. This ain't American History X." Jade said, and then she leaned down to check on Bloom. Finding the same thing Bloom had before her unfortunate blast by Stormy, Jade scooped her up via the Tendrils and put her in a nearby alleyway, out of the way…hopefully. She was about to move on when a noise caught her ear, and she turned to look at Aly.
"Still alive kid? You badly hurt?" She asked.
"Bloom…"
"She'll be fine. Hopefully. Where's the Incapacitator?"
"Stormy…ah no...she…" Aly gasped, and pointed. Jade looked down at the shattered ruin that had once been their lone hope to contain Stormy. Her jaw clenched, not just at its destruction, but at the fact that had been the only one they had.
"Fuck. Well, you got any more left kid?"
Aly just fell down to her knees again, gasping for air.
"I'll take that as a no." Jade said, and started walking away, up the street, towards where she had kicked Stormy.
"Hey…!" Aly half-yelled.
"What?" Jade asked.
"…How could you?"
"How could I what?"
"Kick her like that it could have killed her!"
Jade didn't answer: she just turned her head back towards the mound of bricks at the end of the road…a mound she felt had about another ten seconds, at most, to exist.
"You want to stay in this business rookie, you better learn not to just conceive of such choices, but prepare for them as well. Now shut up and lay low, I don't want you getting in the way." Jade said as she resumed walking down the street. Aly just stared, and then she tried to stand up again, lost her balance and fell back among the garbage.
Jade was ordering her mind, the front part preparing for combat and the back trying to conceive of a new plan when her communicator went off. Jade pulled it out and flipped it open in one crisp motion.
"Jade."
"Ah…fuck! Jade! This is Makoto! I'm buried under a ton of rubble at the corner of Masser and Bloor! Can you come and help dig me up?"
"I'd like to but no Makoto. The copter has been destroyed and Aly has been retrieved, but Stormy well she's KO'd Bloom"
"What? OH NO!"
"That was pretty much my reaction. The rookie's completely burned out, and not seeing Dani or anyone else, I'm assuming they're down as well. And believe me, I'd rather be hunting for them. Can you dig yourself out?"
"Uh, yeah, but it'll take me at least twenty minutes…!"
"Keep calling for Dani, that timetable is not optimum for me." Jade said as she walked past the shattered tollbooth and into the parking lot. "In the meantime, I'm going to try and keep Stormy occupied."
"What? You're going to fight Stormy?"
"Screw that, I'm going to kill her if I have to."
"WHAT?"
"Even so, I don't like to do these things."
"Then why are you DOING IT?"
And the mound of bricks exploded, and smoke plumed out and enveloped Jade as she saw the shadowy silhouette rise up from the wreckage. Her eyes narrowed.
"I don't like to lose either." Jade said, and turned the communicator off.
The smoke and dust cleared as Stormy set down, looking more confused then angry. She brought her hand to her face and found once again the fingers were coming away wet with blood, blood she almost didn't recognize for a bit as it had a strange purplish tint to the red of it, and then there was a slight cough and Stormy looked up at Jade.
"Funny, I didn't think I had enough impact to cause you to bleed. I'm either better then I thought, or your taint actually weakened you. I think it's the latter myself." Jade said, her tone a perfect blend between dismissal, smarminess, and baiting.
Stormy's eyes glowed bright purple, a purple that immediately shot through with red, as Stormy screamed and raised her hands, yellow and purple energy swirling into existence…a lot more then Darcy could ever normally muster. Jade's eyebrows arched.
"Well, that's not right."
Stormy shrieked and fired off a stormybolt shooting an energy blast the size of one of the cars in the lot. It would have vaporized Jade right out of existence if she hadn't jumped up via the tendrils, the massive blast flying below her, ripping the concrete to shreds as it flew down the street, turning the wreckage of the tollbooth into nothing, and then zipping past where Aly still lay and continuing until it hit a brownstone at the end of the street, a gigantic detonation erupting as the stone building buckled and then collapsed under the impact of the blast. Glancing over his shoulder, Jade hoped there weren't any people in the building…
And then more important matters were occupying his attention, specifically Stormy flying up at her, screaming as she prepared to do with her fists what she had failed to do with her blast.
Of course, for that to work, she had to actually touch Jade, and she wasn't going to let THAT happen, and since she was in mid-air and it was immensely difficult for people in mid air without their Winx to effect any kind of successful dodging manoeuvre, she improvised, as she thrust out her arms and fired off a myriad of tendrils strands that coiled out and wrapped around Stormy's body. Stormy didn't even seem to notice, as she continued flying up and swinging…and Jade used the witch's body as her brace to yank herself out of the way, and just as Stormy began to realize what was going on Jade pulled herself back, Stormy's body instinctively resisting the powerful tug and keeping it from moving, which in the end was a mistake as it kept her in one place and allowed Jade to slam her foot across her face. Stunned, Stormy could only look up as Jade spun around and yanked herself back down, once again planting her foot in her face at a downward angle. This new blast of pain finally woke Stormy up, and she screamed and tried to fire…and found Jade pulling herself out of the way of the blast. Snarling, she finally reached down and grabbed for the fire ropes, trying to yank them off, but the energy turned fluid and viscous, preventing Stormy from getting a grip on it without burning herself severely, and she pulled at it Jade took the time to swing around again and flew in, belting the woman across the face…
And finding Stormy's hand grabbing his jacket.
"Oops."
Stormy threw Jade to the ground (had she had a clearer head she might have just made the teen eat lightning when she had grabbed her, but wise battle strategy rarely keeps up in the grip of great anger, and nothing helps great anger bloom up then getting struck in the face a few times). Jade decided it would be best not to drag the witch down with her and possibly let her get another, close range shot and released her ropes as she twirled and immediately sheathed her back in fire energy. This shielding manoeuvre was what let Jade take blows like going through walls, impacts that would reduce a normal human's body to jelly, and keep going. Jade used it so much it was as instinctive as breathing to her, and it let her survive impacts like the one she made when she crashed into the hood of a car…though it didn't make it any less painful at times, as the huge collision sent a shockwave through Jade's form and stunned her. She blinked and tried to get her head back together…
Stormy came shrieking down from the sky, a mythical harpy come to life and wanting to feast on Jade's flesh, or more accurately reduce it to a cinder. Jade managed to move, or more accurately the tendrils managed to throw her out of the way before Stormy crashed down, burying her glowing hand shoulder deep into the car before her electrical bolt detonated, turning the damaged vehicle into a fireball and exploding several surrounding cars from the heat. Jade flew through the air as the tendrils sprang up to protect her from shrapnel, and while it kept any razor sharp bits of metals from going through bad places like a skull or a lung, it couldn't protect the teen entirely. Then again, it wasn't like Jade hadn't had the joyful experience of having one's skin riddled with tiny bits of metal before. In her business, you were around a lot of explosions.
Thick black smoke spewed out from the destruction, and Jade was just getting to her feet as it enveloped her. She coughed violently and then formed a mask over her mouth even as more fire strands formed crude fans to blow the smoke away, as Jade's head darted back and forth and up, trying to find Stormy. Her only advantage was superior tactics, and she couldn't use those if…
She never saw the hand, and it's a good thing the blow was purposely half hearted, otherwise the backhand probably would have knocked Jade's head right off her shoulders. Even so, Jade got an introduction to Aly's previous experience as she flew backwards and then bounced and rolled along the ground a bit, losing some more skin as she came to a stop. She gasped, and then collected herself, breathing in hard through her nostrils as she got up.
"You know…I've been going about this all wrong…" Stormy said as she walked forward. "Why blast you into nothing? Why kind of a fate is that for the girl who seems to take such pride in striking people, women, especially myself, in the face?" Stormy said, pointing to her nose.
"You're no woman heck your not even a person." Jade replied.
"Oh, and you're not half the tactician you believe yourself to be, asshole…or should I say, Jade Ember Scarlet Halva?"
Jade's eyes briefly went as wide as saucers, and then she realized how Stormy knew that name…though about the same time as her realization, Stormy was speaking the reason.
A lashing fire whip struck Stormy across the face.
"Unless you plan to talk me to death, better step up or get stepped on bitch." Jade said.
Stormy slowly turned her head back, an angry dark line across the tan skin.
And then she did the last thing Jade expected: she smiled.
"You ask me to step up, yet you have clearly forgotten just who you are asking to start stepping."
And then electricity exploded under Jade, throwing her straight up into the air, and before Jade could react Stormy flew up and grabbed her by the jacket.
"Just because I have all the resources of my body at my command doesn't mean I've forgotten what brought me to the dance. And since you so clearly want to keep me occupied and away from innocent people and that fucking girl, I'm going to make sure you regret it. No blink and done incineration for you asshole. I'm going to beat you to death with my bare hands. Think of this of Darcy's revenge."
And then Stormy slammed her head forward, smashing her forehead against Jade's nose, and even as Jade's head snapped back Stormy laughed and hurled her to the ground. Fire strands sprang out immediately, grabbing the concrete and throwing Jade away…and then a stormybolt flew down and detonated, blowing up another dozen cars and sending Jade flying again. She crashed into the left building of the three that surrounded the parking lot and caved part of the wall in, groaning as pain shot through her body and bricks fell down around her. She shook her head and stepped forward…
Only to find Stormy there, floating in front of her…holding a car above her head with her powers. Jade's eyes widened.
"You can't beat me fucker! In this mood I'm as strong as fifty Valkeries!" Stormy laughed, and then she hurled the car, spinning end over end, at Jade.
Jade stood there for another second, as the car flew at her, drawing in close, the two and a half ton vehicle about to crush her against the wall…and then fire strands sprang behind her, and Jade leapt/dove/was thrown forward and upward, thrusting her body out and drawing her arms and legs together as tightly as possible, even as a fire shield formed over her hands.
And much to Stormy's astonishment, Jade crashed through the front passenger's side window and flew through the car before crashing out through the driver's side window, having gone perfectly through the car before it could continue turning, flying through the air towards Stormy as the car crashed into the place where Jade had been, cocking back her fist as the fire wrapped around it and increased its density as much as possible before Jade slashed her arm out, slamming her fist into Stormy's chest and sending her shooting down to the ground like a comet, her body smashing through a car windshield, and even in mid air Jade was still going, thrusting out her arms as the fire flowed off the limb she had previously enhanced and sprang from the other one, reaching out and grabbing the car, Stormy still laying stunned on top of it, part of her body stuck in the broken windshield, and as Jade landed she lifted the car above her head and swung it back down, top first, onto another car, crushing Stormy between them, as the Fire sprang off the car and grabbed two more on either side of the two compacted vehicles, which were picked up and smashed on each side of the wreckage like a pair of cymbals, leaving Stormy totally entombed in a mass of crushed metal.
"Then I'll kick your ass fifty times." Jade replied.
Crimson-seared purple light streaked forth from within the crumpled mass, and Jade figured she had better get out of the area: it was about to suffer some serious collateral damage. Fire strands flew out and began coiling around and beneath her.
The cars exploded outward as Stormy blew them away from her with a scream, and Jade did a Matrix dodge backwards as one of the spinning, flaming automobiles flew over her form, and even as the cars crashed down and Stormy flew up, Jade leaned back up and then was in the air, flying up and backwards as Stormy let loose with a barrage of rage-imbued stormybolts, and suddenly every single car in the parking lot was exploding, the entire ground beneath Jade erupting into an inferno of fire as she flew up and back, aiming for the building behind her…
And then Stormy exploded up from the flames, heading straight for Jade. She saw her coming…long enough to get out one word.
"Shit."
Stormy's uppercut, her power enhancing mood, which had great strength, could have cracked Jade in half, or at least smashed her arm straight through her rib cage and out her back…if the fire hadn't come to the rescue again, as the yellow energy sprang out and formed as much as a shield it could over the expected to be struck area…as Stormy uppercutted Jade so hard it sounded like a gunshot. Aly, from the street where she had managed to pull herself (or at least until the explosion of the parking lot had knocked her on her ass again), winced in pain as the sound rang through the air over the dull roar of the fire, and with a yell Jade was thrown backwards and off into the distance, smashed straight across the city limits.
Stormy smiled with wicked angry satisfaction.
"Shoryoken."
She had not been killed by the missiles, indeed, their explosions hadn't gotten anywhere near her, as Dani had teleported at the last second. Too last second, as while the explosions had not harmed her, the shockwave had seriously disrupted her concentration, and when you were utilizing such a talent as instantaneous movement between one area and another, having your concentration disrupted can be lethal, and though Raven had managed to return to the physical plane, the disrupted concentration had made the trip even worse to her head and body then when she had had to stop all the vehicles on the highway. Now, tucked away in an abandoned convenience store, lying in the isle that sold chips and cookies at way too high prices, Dani tried to gather herself. This had been a long long fight, and Dani had limits. And when exceeding those limits can result in the literal explosion of your head, one must be careful when one is going to push oneself.
But she wasn't so banged up that she couldn't tell a few things about the battle, and it filled her with dread. Stella's essence, the happy yet fierce spirit Dani knew as a faerie…she felt her energy dwindling. Dani could feel Makoto as well, trying so hard to get out and help, pushing against the limits of his body like he had before…and Aly, the poor kid, who had fought so hard and so long and yet in the end had lost anyway, at least in the sense of the Incapacitator. And Jade…the only faerie she could stand…
She was about to hit ground, and it was going to hurt.
That wasn't what worried Dani.
What worried Dani was that even after such a blow, Jade would probably keep fighting, all by herself.
And though her last name was Halva. Against Stormy, Jade could only give the madwoman the run around for so long, and then she'd be toast.
Literally.
There was no way that she could pull the power of the pri-immortal again after she had once again unlocked against Jones…
Jade came down on an area where Magix was expanding its suburban neighbourhood, a large construction site filled with several neat rows of the wood frameworks of houses surrounded by heavy machinery and piles of materials that would be needed for the assembly. Fortunately, the workers for this site had the day off, probably because the same company that had been building the steel building structure that Stormy had inadvertently turned into a house of cards a few chapters ago was doing it.
Jade went crashing straight through the roof of one of the houses, the fire doing what it could to protect her from the velocity of the fall combined with the whole falling through a tough wood framework. The result of said protection was great for any serious damage to her form but not so great for stopping the pain.
The wood in the house was good stuff, which in the end mean that Jade only went through the first floor under the roof framework before she had bled off enough momentum to stop her fall, crashing down onto the second floor down amidst a shower of wooden debris and sawdust. She spasmed once, violently, and then lay there, blood leaking from her wounds.
Jade saw the world splitting into threes…and then it was coming back to ones as she forced her brain out of the murk. Her right arm twitched, and then reared up, the fingers clenching, and then slammed down into the wood with determination.
"Pain is weakness leaving the body…" Jade hissed to herself as she pulled herself over onto her stomach. "Pain is weakness leaving the body…" She repeated as she shoved herself up, bits and pieces of wood falling around her with dull clunks. "Pain is weakness leaving the body…" She said a third time as she got up to her knees, clutching her left arm, which was now dislocated at the shoulder. Her healing fixed that swiftly, popping it back in as Jade screamed through clenched teeth. "Pain…is weakness…leaving the body…"
And then Jade began to sweat. It was suddenly very hot.
There was no gradualness in what happened: the entire wooden structure of the house suddenly exploded into flames, and Jade reeled back as she found herself right in the middle of an oven. And the fire wasn't just there, it was spreading, as house after house went up like they had been coated head to toe with napalm.
But while the entire house was on fire, much like in the movies, the general area around Jade was free of anything save superfluous flame. And Jade knew there was a damn good reason for that.
Before smirking… the fire couldn't hurt her… she was fireproof… to some extent...
Stormy floated up before Jade, outside the house, smiling contently, and then she raised an arm and gestured to Jade to come to her. "Just Bring It", once more: Dwayne Johnson should be getting paid.
Jade brought it, as she growled and leapt at Stormy, the fire springing out, a myriad of clutching, slicing, thrusting lines, an attack designed to confuse and panic…which didn't work in the slightest as Stormy found her way through all the lines and once again backhanded Jade. This time, she wasn't so gentle: Jade felt her jaw wrench and come on the verge of unhinging even as she flew backwards, crashing through two more frameworks of wood that would have formed walls one day had Stormy not decided to turn the area into her own personal playground. Jade's body hit the floor and nearly slid right off the periphery of the house, only the fire stopping her from falling off the edge. Jade was vaguely aware that her clothes were smoking slightly: Her powers might have provided some protection from the flames but it certainly wasn't going to let Jade do a dance in them.
"I don't know why you bother…" Stormy said as she floated through the holes, as Jade got to her feet (well, more like the fire shoved her up onto her feet and helped hold her up). "You've been with this team a long time Jade. Darcy's and Jones have seen a lot of what you do thus making you predictable you disgusting freak,"
'I'm not disgusting.' Jade replied with finality.
"You all are. Faeries …" Stormy was saying…
The fire strands exploded from behind her.
And Stormy snapped out her left hand, grabbing the strands as they came from her rear, stopping them dead.
"I told you! Everything! Including how you like to stand still and yak a bit while you stick your little lines out your foot and under the ground, but this time…" Stormy said, as she glanced behind her and laughed briefly, before turning back. "You…"
She shouldn't have glanced back.
Because that's what Jade had been planning on: that Stormy would know the move, but assume that said move was her attack plan. It wasn't. The plan was for Stormy to look back at what she had grabbed…and when she had Jade had started sprinting, and there wasn't much distance between the two, as Stormy's eyes widened and then her right hand exploded in crimson bolts, thrusting it out…
Jade made it there first, as she leapt up, her right foot kicking up and striking Stormy's hand, sending it up as well, the Stormybolt flying past Jade at an upward angle, smashing through the roof and arcing down several homes away and blowing one of the already burning houses to bits, and even as that happened Jade followed the right foot up with the left one, striking Stormy under her chin and using other fire strands to add as much oommpphh as he could. Which was a fair amount, as Stormy was sent flying up through the wood floor, smashing another hole through the burning timber, even as Jade completed the flip and landed on her feet.
She placed a filter over her mouth and took a deep breath so she wouldn't choke on the smoke (which, due to the framework nature of the houses, wasn't gathering too much), and then she used the fire to pull herself up to the top floor, where a pissed off looking Stormy was getting up. Jade looked around, and then she thrust out her hands. The fire spiralled out and formed into two rough fans, fans that began to spin and blow the flame away, right at Stormy, flame that she stared at as it enveloped her…and then she scoffed.
"Fire? You're using…?" Stormy said, before she realized this was clearly a distraction. The fire wasn't supposed to hurt her, it was supposed to block Jade from her vision…so she could swing around the house while picking up a flaming two by four, a two by four she was now swinging into her head, the flaming wood thunking loudly on the side of the witch's skull, actually stunning Stormy, just for a bit, which allowed Jade to whack her with the wood three more times before she fell through the floor, at her own accord, as Stormy finally recovered and was about to blast her. Her eyes blazed, and she thrust up her hands, preparing to nuke everything below her…and then Jade erupted from the floor behind her, the fire having weakened the formally tough wood. Stormy turned around to get a mid air snap kick to her face, making her stumble back a bit, but the blow just seemed to make her angry as she flew back at the teen, thrusting out her fist with the intent to take her head right off, except Jade grabbed the blow with her hand and the fire tendrils and redirected it over her shoulder, even as she leaned forward and twisted her leg up, slamming the sole of her boot in Stormy's face with a scorpion kick, and then as she leaned back she yanked, hurling Stormy over her. The woman flew…and then stopped, as Stormy kicked in her flight powers, turning around, only to find Jade had already kipped up and was running at her, already right in her face, as she leapt and actually stepped on Stormy's outstretched leg before she pushed off it, flying up and over Stormy…
As the woman finally wised up and spun her own body up, her leg lashing out and catching Jade in the chest. Jade flew out of the burning house, crashed straight through another one, and then hit the ground and bounced/slid into the ground floor of the next one.
Stormy corrected her position, cracked her neck, and then smiled contently as she flew out of the house, the battered, burning wooden structure finally collapsing behind her. She floated through the second house and down to the floor of the third one where Jade was managing to get up again. She was glaring balefully at her, but that just made her happier.
"Loss of power and control and you're all upset. Classic signs of a faeries exposed." Stormy almost chirped.
"Oh fuck you and whatever twisted murk you pulled your would be degree from!" Jade snapped, and fired off a fire line. Stormy effortlessly dodged around it and flew up to Jade, who seemed to be ready as she caught her with a powerful right hook to the face, then a left one, and then a…
Stormy caught her hand.
"You know…you're landing a fair amount of blows…but I might as well tell you…they're not really hurting me." Stormy said.
Then she started squeezing as she yanked the arm back. Jade screamed as she ground the joints of her wrist together.
"But…I can certainly hurt you." Stormy said, and then slammed her head forward again, smashing Jade's nose with her forehead and finally getting the blood fountain she'd wanted the last time, before she drove her knee deep into her gut, took a step back, and then lashed her foot up, smashing Jade backwards through another wall. She chuckled and then flew over to where the teen was trying to get up.
A vicious albeit controlled so it didn't kill her, yet, kick to the ribs sent Jade flying and rolling several more feet, and she came to rest over a few bits of burned out but still rather hot wood. She started getting up…
Stormy came down on her, one foot planting itself on her back and the other stomping down on the side of Jade's skull. Jade screamed again as her cheek was forced down on one of the wood embers. Stormy laughed.
"What are you? The master of the world? You? This?" Stormy taunted, and ground her foot, twisting Jade's face against the smouldering ember, Jade screaming again as she felt her own flesh burning for the first time, so close she could smell it…
"No. You're just pathetic, worthless, sick, SHIT. And you're where shit always ends up: under my heel." Stormy said. "Oh, I just wish it hadn't been so easy, but how can a fight go when you know every trick a person has?"
Jade growled something.
"Oh? You have something to say, mommy's girl?" Stormy asked.
"Not…EVERY!" Jade snarled, as she finally managed to twist her foot in the right direction and then slammed her heel down.
Twin sections popped off Jade's boots, and with two quick bangs Jade's form was suddenly enveloped in thick, noxious smoke. Stormy's eyes widened, and then she started choking and retching as the gas, part concealment and part disabler, bloomed up around her before she could react. She felt Jade pull herself out from underneath her foot, but she couldn't see where she went as the gas hid her from her vision. She screamed in rage and tried to blow the toxins away, but she couldn't quite manage it. That, and the fact that Jade was so paranoid that she'd made a gas that she was immune to but her witches were not and hid it in her boot and not told anyone…well, Stormy's contented cruelty was quickly flashing back into blazing rage.
So when she saw the silhouette to her side, she immediately swung at it.
And found her arm getting caught, as Jade fell down in a controlled move, yanking Stormy with her, her left arm pulling her arm aside and out of the way as she simultaneously snapped her knee up and slammed her right hand out in a hammer motion, the two limbs smashing into each side of Stormy's head, the blow royally screwing up the witch's equilibrium, which left her wide open as Jade let go of her arm, cocked back her left hand as the fire wrapped around it, and slashed it back up, striking Stormy right between the eyes, sending the girl flying back through the house and out of it, as she flew a dozen more feet before colliding with the side of a bulldozer so hard she left a dent. She fell on her arms and knees, trying to regain her senses. As mentioned, Stormy's body was so tough that Jade couldn't, for all his efforts, damage it. But that didn't mean she couldn't be stunned.
Or otherwise inconvenienced, as Stormy was just getting her symmetry back when she saw fire lines fly over her head, at least a dozen of them, and grab onto the bulldozer behind her, and she looked over as Jade landed in front of her, all the lines extending from one hand.
"Who am I?" Jade asked, the terrible burn on her face that was already healing only making her intense expression more potent, as she twisted the fire around her hands. "I'm Jade. And today I'll be your executioner."
And she yanked backwards with all her might, and Stormy could only look up as the bulldozer tipped up…and then over onto her with a dull crash.
Jade withdrew the lines, and then she leaned over, gasping. Contrary to what you might think, she had not just cold-heartedly utilized an extreme measure that could have seriously killed or maimed Stormy. As mentioned, heavy rains had made the ground extremely wet: the mud under Jade's feet was up to his ankles. That, combined with Stormy's tough body, probably prevented any injury. She'd probably taken more risk with the cars before. She just hoped she didn't suffocate…
The bulldozer suddenly flew back up, and Jade grimaced as Stormy's standing form tipped the bulldozer off her and all the way onto its other side, mud splattering on the back of the already covered in it girl. She'd hoped the weight would hold her longer then a few seconds. She could use the time for a breather, and hopefully a delay until some backup arrived.
Strangely, Stormy didn't look angry. No, she actually looked…amused. Somehow, that made Jade more worried then if she had been screaming mad. Angry "burn baby burn" Stormy was dangerous, but at least Jade knew what to expect. But Stormy when she was actually calm enough to think…not so much.
"Not so good at the bad girls I see though." Stormy said, and then the mud on her form suddenly lightened, instantly transformed into dirt that cracked off Stormy like dead skin, leaving her relatively clean. "You know, I've realized two things. You can't really hurt me, and you're annoying. So I think I'll hand you off and go deal with someone who really deserves to know how she fucked up."
Jade didn't need to be a skilled tactician to know whom she meant: Aly. Powerless, helpless Aly.
"Go ahead then. Run away like the bitch you are." Jade replied.
"Ah…trying to become the focus of my fury, Jade? I'd be glad to do that…except I know, or rather everyone else does, that that's just what you want. So no, you don't get my attention. Maybe later." Stormy said, and rose up from the ground. "But I do have a lovely parting gift!"
Jade was already in the air after Stormy: she would have caught her if she hadn't suddenly called a wave of electricity, putting it between her and him. Jade recoiled away, not wanting to jump through a wall of sparks that was under Stormy's control, and as she drew back her eyes widened as the electrical ball spiraled down…and contracted as it formed a shape.
A humanoid shape.
Jade stared at it.
"Have fun playing!" Stormy laughed, as she flew off. Jade's eyes snapped back to her, and then she was back in the air, heading after her. She'd be damned if she…
And then the electrical being was there, again putting itself at its mistress' defence, as it lashed out with a crudely formed leg, and while it looked gaseous it certainly didn't feel that way as the limb slammed into Jade's chest and sent her down into the mud again. Jade rolled with it and came up to her knees, hissing through her teeth as she grabbed her chest. The damn creature's body acted like a branding iron: Jade's clothes were flame retardant but getting intense heat pressed right up against you isn't the kind of defence flame retardant clothes offered.
Stormy was already disappearing into the distance, and the electrical being was heading for Jade. Jade's eyes narrowed: she didn't have time for this, and she lashed out with a fire line.
It went right through the fire being. Jade's eyes widened.
And then it was right in her face, showing scary speed. Jade was nothing more then a pro though, as he back flipped away from its punch and then fired off several fire bludgeons. They all went through the creature, as its electrical body slithered away from the lines and went for Jade again as she landed. Jade recalled the lines, frantically trying to think, and then the creature was there, lashing out with a roundhouse kick. Jade used the fire to flip right over the creature as it attacked…and then the electricity being twisted the top half of its torso around and backhanded Jade in mid air, sending the teen flying again. She managed to flip and land on her feet, growling and snarling as she grabbed her arm where the creature had struck after twisting its body around like Stretch Armstrong. Then again, it was an entity made of electricity: it didn't have to worry about such things like muscles ripping and bones breaking when it performed its moves…
And speaking of moves, it was moving right for her. Jade growled as she wiped her mouth, wincing as her dirty jacket probably made her face worse…and then she realized she was standing in mud. And she was conduit… time for level two…
And what's something that's electric proof? Dirt. And though soil is usually called upon for that task, Jade figured a few hundred pounds of mud would do just as well for the charging electrical figure, as Jade lashed out with a powerful, precise strike at the ground, sending a huge wave of mud up and over the being…
No, the mud wasn't going over IT, IT was going over the mud, due to a powerful leap. Jade snarled again as it landed before her and started towards the white teen like nothing had happened. Well, she was out of plans: time to fall back to the basics... oh well time to go conduit…
Jade roared as blue energy swirled around her body a two appeared across her shirt…
Jade wrapped her arms in fire energy, and as the entity drew in close she lashed out with a punch. The head proved to be as malleable to Jade's fists as it had with the pure fire, the general shape breaking apart from the blow and then reforming, and that just made Jade angrier as she fired off punch after punch, each having the same result…at least until the flame suddenly solidified around Jade's arm as she punched through the head, and Jade screamed again as the flame shifted around her appendage so the flame being was holding her arm in its crude hands, even as the heat seared through her jacket, and then the being was throwing her, and Jade flew across the lot and crashed into the windshield of a dump truck.
Groaning, Jade pushed herself out of the cab with the fire, rolling off the end of the truck and falling to the ground, blinking to try and clear the blood that was now running into her eyes.
And then she saw it, the flame being running at her, leaping into the air as it prepared to swoop down on her, and as it did all Jade could think of was that this wouldn't serve her well at all, so she better prevent any impacts, and since the creature was already in the air she had better change its direction as best she could, as the fire flowed out and formed into another crude fan that Jade thrust up…numerous math problems flowing through her head…
A little too late, as Jade ended up thrusting the construct right into the fiery being's body as it came down. But Jade didn't realize this until she had already sent the mental command to "turn the fan on."
And it did, right in the middle of the entity's chest. It made no sound as the whirling fire caught the flame of its form and disintegrated it, and Jade's eyes widened as the flame creature was swept up and torn apart, the high winds pulling its figure apart and casting it away, the bolts fading out of existence.
Jade stopped the fan. The lightning did not reconverge back into the humanoid shape.
"Ah." Jade said. So that was it: the being could hold itself together but only to a certain degree.
Then Jade recalled that Stormy was after the damn rookie, and she had a considerable amount of distance on her. Cursing to herself, Jade ran out of the flaming construction site as the houses collapsed behind her.
Out of the fire…into the what?
Aly knew what she wanted to get into: a hospital. Not for her, for Bloom and if she could find her, Stella. Unfortunately, Magix only had one hospital open at the moment: the other was closed due to a bad something or other, and said working one was all the way at the end of the town. But that didn't daunt Aly in the slightest, as she continued to carry Bloom down the street, her arm slung over her shoulders. She found that easier then carrying her in his arms, but even so, it was tiring. She'd hoped that he could find some police or an ambulance or something…but city services were mysterious absent. There wasn't even any sirens, where the hell was…
And then Stormy dropped down in front of Aly.
Aly stopped dead.
"Hey kid. Thought I forgot about you?" Stormy asked.
"…….I had hoped." Aly replied.
Stormy's Stormybolt exploded at Aly's feet, sending her flying back with Bloom. She rolled to a stop, gasping, and then realized she had lost Bloom.
She spotted her several feet in front of her.
Stormy was heading right for her.
Aly pulled herself to her feet and stumbled/ran to her friend, managing to get to her before Stormy did, putting her body between her and the lunatic who was determined to kill her.
"Forget her! She's done nothing! Kill me if you have to, but leave her alone!" Aly yelled.
Stormy paused.
And then she chuckled.
"Still don't get it, do you." Stormy said. "Things have gone far beyond that fucker. Maybe if you'd been a good little girl and died back when I first attacked…but no, you had to fight. You had to be a GIRL. So now everyone dies Aly. You, your family, your friends, this town. You fucked with the wrong girl kid. I've been fucked all my life, and believe me, when you get fucked a lot you learn HOW TO ROYALLY FUCK BACK!" Stormy screamed, her eyes awash in psychosis, and Aly was no longer certain if Stormy was still talking about her and her or what had happened to her long ago or with her and Darcy. She thought even she didn't know, past and present pains meshing together, forming one huge tableau of atrocity that Stormy was determined to repay in spades, and she was going to bear the brunt of the sins, real, supposed, and imagined…
But she was ready to be Atlas.
"You're as bad as the ones who made you. No, you're worse." Aly said the same thing Jade had said to Darcy to some extent.
Stormy went quiet.
Aly, though every instinct in her body was screaming at her to run, stood her ground.
"You…dare…SAY…" Stormy said, as the heat exploded off of her, as her voice began to built to the same mad scream she had used when she was in the copter…
But whatever Aly would have endured from her words was spared as Jade finally caught up, leaping from behind and above Aly and planting both her feet into Stormy's face, sending her flying backwards into a Laundromat.
Aly blinked as Jade landed in front of her.
"…Thanks." Aly said. Jade looked back at Aly, and flashed her a quick thumbs up, though her tense expression didn't really convey any comradely sentiments.
"Best book kid. She's gonna be REALLY pissed now." Jade said. Aly didn't argue: she grabbed up Bloom and dragged her down a side street.
The Laundromat exploded, and then Stormy floated out, clearly caught up in uncontrollable rage again.
"Hey bitch. Thought I forgot about you?" Jade asked.
Stormy yelled as she thrust out her hands, and electricity from the building behind her spewed out and formed into three more electrical humanoids.
"Break her bones and then feed her, her guts!" Stormy yelled, and the three beings ran forward. Jade held her ground, striking a combat pose as they approached…
And then the ground erupted underneath them, throwing the creatures off balance, and then several fire lines emerged and immediately combined into a giant whirling fan. Stormy's eyebrows raised as the creatures were swept up and dissolved by the whirling tendrils, Jade pulling the lines apart so the bolts couldn't combine into one big super-being. The bolts didn't: instead they petered out and vanished. The lines retracted, and Jade gave Stormy an arrogant smirk and waved a finger at her as if chastising her for forgetting one of her favorites tricks so soon.
Stormy just snarled and called more electricity from the burning building, this time forming seven electrical humanoids. Jade didn't know why she was using that choice of tactic, but she was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth as the new group attacked. Jade formed a whirling fan blade with the fire on her arm and thrust it out into the first one, dissolving it and then flipping away as two more attacked him. She reformed the fire energy into arm guards, blocked several punches and kicks, and then did an interrupted backflip, leaping back and then cutting short the escape as, using the fire to balance properly, she form two more disrupting fans on her legs and thrust them into the two entities attacking them. As they were torn apart, another leapt in to strike, but Jade was already on the move, resuming her backflip via the fire and coming down to a crouch as she lashed out a leg, catching the creature by its ankles and throwing it into the air even as Jade formed another fire fan and thrust it into the being, reducing it to nothingness. Jade didn't have time to celebrate: the final three humanoids were on the attack, and Jade was forced to go completely on the defensive as they punched and kicked at her, forcing her backwards and burning holes in her jacket and shirt as…
Jade did one final backflip, revealing that she hadn't just been retreating: she'd been leading.
Right to a water hydrant. Obviously water is a conductor but Jade was already changing the water into dirt magically.
Too bad the electrical beings had no faces: Jade would have liked to see some kind of shocked expression when she tore the fire hydrant open. The dirt quickly did its job, quenching the bolts immediately and dispelling the last of Stormy's soldiers.
And she wasn't happy: the expression on her face made that clear. But no matter: she'd just make fifty new ones…
Until Jade attached the fire over the shattered fire hydrant and rerouted the now water straight into Stormy, sending her flying back into the flaming Laundromat with a scream.
"Well that takes care of her lightning," Jade couldn't help herself: she gave a haughty chuckle/snort, one side of her mouth curling into a sneer.
Then the Laundromat started to shake.
"In retrospect, maybe that wasn't the best choice of manoeuvres." Jade said, and fired off a fire line and started swinging.
The Laundromat exploded into bits as Stormy flew out in an eruption of electricity, as she screamed and fired twin Stormybolts after Jade, gigantic explosions erupting behind her as she swung around the corner and headed down the street (not the same street Aly had taken, though).
"Ok, I'd better stay in the centre so I…" Jade was saying to herself before Stormy flew around the corner and fired off a Stormybolt. Jade banked a hard right as a giant explosion erupted behind her, and then swung back into the centre. She glanced over her shoulder and then banked hard to the right again as another Stormybolt flew at her…and then she squawked and pulled herself back to the centre as Stormy zeroed in on where she was, her eyes glowing bright purple before she fired out beams of energy from her eyes, Jade barely pulling away from them as they raked across the side of the building and the street behind Jade, an explosion erupting alongside the line's wake. The end of the street was coming up, and Jade fired off one last fire line and had it yank her upward instead of swinging on it, as she flew up and onto the roof of the building…
As a Stormybolt flew to the exact same place. Jade's eyes widened.
"Shit!"
The explosion blasted across the entire roof and sent Jade flying back up, this time in a more uncontrollable arc, and the fire flailed out, trying to find a purchase point, as Jade's vision spun around her from her out of control trip through the air.
And then the fire grabbed something firm. Jade's trip was stopped, and she shook her head as the fire reeled her back to its perch.
Which turned out to be one end of a roller coaster. Jade blinked and looked around: she was on the grounds of a fair that had been set up in one of Magix's, parks. Jade looked around at the rides and exhibits.
"Huh. Homage." Jade said.
And then Stormy floated down in the distance in front of Jade, her eyes ablaze and her hands crackling with power.
"Not one I think I'll like though." Jade said, and ran for it, springing to another part of the roller coaster as the part she had just been standing exploded in a blast of heat and power, shards of metal and wood flying through the air.
Jade leapt again, and a second later a Stormybolt flew to the spot where she had just been and blew it apart. Jade hit the ground running as Stormy followed her with her arm, firing blast after blast that just kept missing, as explosions blasted across the tracks of the roller coaster as Jade ran for her life. The entire structure sagged as the detonations destroyed more and more of its supports, and Jade was rapidly running out of room, as she leapt one last time…
The Stormybolt exploded behind her…as the second one flew in to the spot where Jade was about to land. Her eyes widened, and Stormy smirked. She wasn't the only one who could lead, as Jade's form came down on the tracks just before the bolt struck the spot, the explosion consuming her with a scream.
"Heh. Bullseye." Stormy said.
And then Jade flew from the explosion.
Stormy's eyes snapped open wide, not able to comprehend how she could be back so quickly after being blown up. Indeed, it had been mostly luck: Jade had formed as quick a shield as she could, but what really saved her was where the Stormybolt had struck: more the side of the coaster then the actual track. As a result the explosion had only thrown her backwards: the immediately formed fire shield took care of the shrapnel and Jade, thinking quickly, had fired twin fire lines that had grabbed the roller coaster and then violently contracted, sending Jade flying back the way she had come.
"Ditto!" Jade yelled as she lashed out with a fire roundhouse kick, smashing Stormy from the sky. She crashed through the merry go round at an angle, the older ride sagging to the side as Stormy finished her trip into the ground.
Jade landed.
And the entire roller coaster collapsed behind her in a tremendous metallic racket. Smoke and dust plumed out and flowed over Jade, but the air didn't stay obscure long, as Jade started walking towards Stormy's impact spot, her bearing belying a calm she didn't feel.
Stormy flew up with a scream, and she quickly spied Jade and fired off a Stormybolt. Jade darted to the side, the energy blast flying past her and blowing up two game booths. Jade then leapt forward, lashing out with a fire line. Stormy blocked it and tried to fire another stormybolt, but Jade had kept moving and had actually rolled under Stormy's floating form. Stormy turned around as Jade came up with a high angled leaping kick using her shin. Stormy blocked it in time, only to have the fire spin Jade around so she slammed the heel of her other foot across her cheek. Stormy was staggered, but far more due to surprise then pain, and she retaliated with her own kick. She only managed to deliver about 25 of the impact behind the blow as Jade was already moving away, but that was enough to floor her, her body hitting the dirt and dragging several feet along it before she flipped back up. Stormy's eyes glowed purple and she lashed out with another eye blast: Jade leapt into the air and did a spinning dodge as the energy beams barely missed her. The explosion they caused, however, did not miss her, sending her flying through the air, crashing through another game booth and then into another ride, the older whirling cups type. Jade shook her head, and then she saw Stormy fly up into the air in the distance and she had to move, as she fired off a Shimmer line to carry her away as Stormy fired off another Stormybolt. The fairground worked against Jade: there wasn't anything to get any real height with in order to swing, and as a result Jade didn't escape the teacup ride exploding as her back and legs were riddled with shrapnel. She hit the ground at the end of a path between twin lines of booths selling food and offering most likely rigged games of chance and found her legs turning to jelly as she fell. She groaned: she couldn't keep this up much longer… if she had been totally refreshed… then this fight would have been over by now...
A yell of fury sounded behind her, and Jade looked behind her and up: the madwoman had already found her and was preparing more Stormybolts. Jade looked back in front of her: nothing but booths leading up to the small Ferris Wheel. What could she possibly swing from or go to…
And then the Stormybolts were coming, and Jade had to go, and since the fire wasn't going to help at the moment Jade resorted to her wings and flew for it, the stands exploding behind her as Stormy rained fiery destruction down on the fair, trying to change Jade's position from "in the vicinity" to "all over the vicinity". And she wasn't out flying them: the explosions were getting closer and closer…
And then Jade saw two more Stormybolts arc over her head, and she realized they were going to come right down at the base of the Ferris Wheel, which was where she was heading. And the explosions were still closing in behind her. Unable to go forward or back, Jade went the only way she could: up. And since she had no time to plan it properly, as she fired off twin Shimmer strands, grabbing near the top of the Ferris Wheel's framework, she went a lot farther up then he wanted, as she contracted the lines as hard as she could, and instead of just being pulled away from the erupting blasts she found herself flying straight into the air like a rocket, going up past the top of the Ferris wheel and high into the sky.
"Oh dear." Jade said, as she managed to turn around and saw the fair growing smaller in the distance.
Jade's sorrow was about to be doubled: not only did her ascent go much higher then she wanted, but for some reason it really pissed Stormy off. Maybe she thought she was trying to get away, as she stopped near the base of the Ferris Wheel Jade had used to get up so high…and then her eyes fell on it.
Then she had a wicked idea.
"Let's see how strong this body REALLY is." Stormy said, as she flew over to the true base of the Ferris Wheel where the rolling circle was attached to the ground brace and began yanking with her magic.
"What the hell…" Jade said, as Stormy growled/screamed, the veins standing out on her body as she tried to force the Wheel off its moors. As Jade watched with wide eyes, electricity exploded on the wheel, and the ride quickly became completely wreathed in lightning.
"No way, Stormy's strong but she's not strong enough to…"
With a scream of exertion and triumph, Stormy yanked the Ferris Wheel from its base. Jade was right: Stormy by herself probably could not have ripped the Wheel off its stand. But an enraged Stormy…that was just enough to tear the ride free, as Stormy briefly held it over her head.
And then, with another scream, an energy explosion detonated on Stormy's hands, and the wheel was sent flying up from the force of the detonation.
Right at Jade.
Who had finally run out of upward momentum and was stopping.
As the wheel flew up, Jade rapidly ran through her options. Gravity was starting to claim her again, but the wheel would reach him before it did so enough that she could fall away from it. Everyone else was still MIA. The fire had nothing to grab onto or shove off in mid-air, and she couldn't form anything that would give her the away motion she needed in the several seconds she had. And if she grabbed onto the wheel itself, Stormy could very well send her bolts off the metal structure and roast Jade while she was stuck holding onto the wheel.
So Jade was down to one option: if she couldn't get away from the wheel, and for the sake of Stormy's electricity control she couldn't grab onto and stay near the wheel…she'd go THROUGH the wheel.
If she could.
Hell, it worked with the car.
Never mind that going through some safety glass and doing through an electrically charged metal framework without killing oneself wasn't exactly in the same league.
A fire strand extended from Jade's shoulder, and Jade grabbed it with both hands, and then she simultaneously curled into a ball as she yanked on the line, sending her into a tight spinning somersault as he started flying down, gravity adding to his speed. As Jade spun down towards the deadly flaming Ferris wheel, a multitude of fire strands extended from her body and formed into a mass of curved spikes and blades, even as the spin went even faster and Jade became a yellow blur…
Which smashed into the upper side of the Ferris Wheel as it flew up at her. With a tremendous metallic crash, Jade flew through the other end of the framework, bits of flaming metal flying past her as he continued to shoot down towards the ground.
"NO!" Stormy screamed as she saw this. "FUCK!"
Stormy fired a Stormybolt at the falling form, but she was moving too fast for her to get a decent shot and it missed her by a mile. Jade didn't even notice: she had a new problem. She'd worked up enough speed to go through the wheel, but now she was falling towards the ground at high and ever-increasing velocity and as mentioned the buildings in the park were far too short to allow her to grab them in order to bleed off any momentum. In the end, it looked like Jade was going to hit the ground. The fire had let her go through the wheel, now it had to prevent her from going splat.
And it was already working, as the fire energy reformed from spikes and blades to a octagonal cage around Jade's still spinning form, more lines shooting out and forming a more complicated trellis as Jade plummeted down…and down…
And hit. The impact shook the whole park, and a giant plume of dust and dirt flared up. A few seconds later the Ferris Wheel came crashing back to Earth, making an even more tremendous racket then the roller coaster had.
Then an eerie silence.
Coughing and retching, Jade dragged herself from the hole. Her body felt like it had been run over by a steamroller. Well, at least she'd survived without serious injury…though her body certainly wasn't thanking him.
"Dammit people, you make it look easy." Jade said, as she flexed her fingers a few times and tried to get up. Her head swam, and she fell to her knees again, gasping. But Jade came from good stock, and she was already recovering from the impact, as she tried to get up again. She stumbled a bit this time, but kept her feet.
And then a scream pierced his ears. Stormy had found her again, and she wasn't happy she was still alive.
"You know, if anyone wants to help, I'd much appreciate it." Jade muttered.
Stormy flew from the dust cloud Jade had kicked up, heading straight for the battered and burned teen, her hands outstretched and grasping, quite possibly to pull her heart from her chest, rip her head from her shoulders, or just burn her on the spot. Jade didn't wait around to find out, as the fire sprang out and threw her backwards and up…not far enough, as Stormy readjusted her position and flew right into Jade, her shoulder slamming into her stomach and driving the wind out of her as she flew on, carrying her with her. As they flew out of the park, Jade realized her precarious position and acted, lacing both her fists together and slamming them down on the back of Stormy's head before Stormy could do whatever she had been planning. The blow was devastating, and Stormy staggered under it, her flight path screwed up. She smashed Jade's back into an office window, the glass shattering as the two flew through the building, knocking aside and down everything that got in the way, and even as impact after impact rammed into her back Jade was still fighting, rearing up her clenched hands and slamming them on the back of Stormy's head again.
Stormy smashed through the window on the other end of the building just as Jade delivered this second strike, and the blow screwed her up even more so that she dropped Jade, falling to the ground. The white teen found herself in freefall along with the witch…
And then they both crashed down onto something.
A subway train, Magix's sole short train line that ran from one end of downtown to another, mostly above ground. The two titans, one current and one currently disposed, bounced and tumbled across the roof. Stormy put on the brakes before Jade managed to, stopping in mid air and then immediately beginning to fly backwards so her target wouldn't be carried past her. The aforementioned target had finally reached out and grabbed the roof of the speeding train. She shook her head, and then looked around in disbelief at where she was.
"God damnit, WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?"
Stormy was attacking again, screaming as she flew at Jade, lashing out with a fist. Jade leapt backwards and found that doing so on a rapidly moving train was far trickier then it seemed, as the constant movement beneath her feet caused her to lose her balance when she touched down and then she was tumbling across the train again, the few passengers inside wondering what the hell was making the noise, as Jade bounced painfully across the last few cars before she flew off the end of the train. She was saved from a very painful impact on the raised bridge tracks by a fire strand, which pulled her back as Jade quickly collected herself. She looked at Stormy, who had realized she was still alive and was heading for her again, and then she looked around at her surroundings.
"Fuck it, might as well go whole hog." Jade said, and then fire strands sprouted from her back and formed into arms that clamped down onto the sides and top of the train, both to give Jade a better brace and to complete the utter and absolute rip off. Hey, at least I'm admitting it.
Stormy fired a Stormybolt: Jade's new arms jerked her aside and the blast missed, and then they pulled Jade down as Stormy kept flying at her, again trying to punch Jade's head off. Stormy stopped and turned and got a face full of fire arm/brace/tentacles/etc as Jade smashed her with two of the limbs, even as the other two carried her back across the train. Stormy yelled as she was thrown with the blow, and then she got control of herself and flew after Jade. Another Stormybolt shot at her: Jade dodged upward and then to the side as Stormy charged at her again, clawing for her face. Jade contorted her body away and backhanded Stormy: she responded by kicking her in the gut and driving the wind out of her again. She followed up the kick by slashing her hand out in a karate chop to break Jade's neck. The fire pulled Jade away, and then one fire leg lifted up from the train and grabbed Stormy, slamming her into the metal roof of the subway and then thrusting her out and smashing her into the side of a building, dragging her along the surface in a line of broken stone and glass. Screaming, Stormy pulled herself from the painful trip and yanked on the fire line, HARD. Jade was almost pulled off the train, the fire legs moving onto the side of the fast moving subway to keep her from falling off completely. Stormy flew at the teenager, who barely managed to use the fire to dodge out of the way of her arcing uppercut…and then turned, yelped, and just managed to press herself against the side of the train as another train zipped by on the other tracks, almost swatting Jade like a bug on a windshield. Back on the roof, Stormy began charging up another Stormybolt to finally blow Jade to bits…and then the fire leg smashed through the window behind Jade, flew through the train as the three passengers in that car yelled and screamed at this chaos, smashed out the other end, and curled up and around the train to smash Stormy in the back. She stumbled forward, the bolt dying on her hand, and then Jade pulled herself up the side, the three remaining legs throwing her upward as she upper cutted Stormy under her chin and sent her flying back and off the side of the train.
Jade pulled herself up onto the roof again as Stormy stopped just before she crashed into the side of another building. Screaming again, she zapped back after Jade, so quickly Jade barely managed to see her coming before she crashed into her, so hard she tore the fire braces right out of the top of the train as the two bounced and flailed across the top of the subway, Stormy flying so fast she actually outpaced the train…which Jade found out the hard way as she stopped abruptly and Jade bounced a few more feet and then found she was out of ground as she fell off the front end of the subway.
Her hand jerked up and grabbed the edge at the last second, and the conductor yelled in surprise and shock as Jade's legs and lower body thudded into her viewing window. Jade was about to use the fire to pull herself back up when she looked up…and saw Stormy standing above her, smiling, a bolt charged and ready.
"Catch a train." She said, and fired.
Jade got a fire shield up, but it didn't matter: the explosion blew her right off the edge, the window in the front of the subway exploding and sending the conductor stumbling back, as Jade fell down and then under the wheels of the train. She didn't even get a chance to scream.
"Ha ha! YES!" Stormy said as she looked over the edge and saw nothing but constantly approaching track. Laughing again, she turned around to go back to the other end: she'd take a look at whatever hamburger the train had ground the bastard into and then she'd locate the girl again. "Farewell, forever, to that misogynistic witch beating…"
The shadow portal opened behind Stormy.
And Jade flew out of it, her right foot slamming into Stormy's back. Stormy flew forward with such rapidity she quickly passed the entire train while still in mid air, and even as the last of the metal cars disappeared from under her fire strands wrapped around her body and threw her to the side, her body smashing through another building and disappearing.
Jade landed on the tracks, even as the shadow energy formed into Dani and she tried to float down to Jade's side. She mostly made it before she collapsed, Jade preventing her from falling onto the tracks. She'd grabbed her at the literal last second, and paid for it, as she hadn't fully recovered yet. But she couldn't let her friend keep fighting alone; she was going to get killed…
"Hey. You ok?"
"Just…got dizzy for a second…"
"Dan, you need a few more minutes. Stay here…"
"No. We have to stop her. This has gone on too long…have to…" Dani said, the determination in her words rendered rather ineffectual as she sounded like she was stoned.
"Yeah, we will. After you rest another minute. I can hold her off another minute. Ok?"
"No…" Dani said.
"Dani…please?"
Dani didn't get a chance to answer: another explosion sounded off in the distance. She looked up at Jade, who gave her a pleading "please I don't want to be the bad guy but I really think you should rest and if you don't I think both you and I will regret it so please stay here just for a bit" look and then she pulled away, firing off a fire line and swinging off. Dani watched him go, and decided that yes, she probably would be more effective if she waited for the murk in her head to fade. She was tough too, it shouldn't take long.
Jade swung around the building and onto the newest street to acquire a crater due to Stormy's latest venting of temper. And can you blame the girl for being mad? She's basically gotten nowhere for 117 pages!
Stormy didn't need eye beams to burn a hole in Jade as she landed in front of her. Her gaze should have been enough. Most of her anger and hate had been focused on the girl, but this latest affront reminded her on how much she had hated Jade for the minute or so before her sisters death.
"So…" Jade said, and perhaps she has taken too many blows to the head from the level of danger she was playing at. "The expression doesn't really suit you…so what do I say…if you can't bring the heat, go back to the kitchen?" Jade said, and didn't give Stormy a chance to answer as she leapt to the attack.
Stormy didn't fire or strike at her: instead she brought her hands up and screamed, and then a dome of purplish-crimson energy formed around her, the power striking Jade both like a physical blow and an explosive shockwave, and she was flying again, her body managing to miss the two larger targets of a pair of buildings as Jade flew into an alleyway, flying all the way to the end as she crashed through garbage cans and foul smelling bags of refuse.
"Damn. I forgot she could do that." Jade said. "Ugh. That poor kid." She went on, referring to Aly as she got a nostril full of the reek that was now coating her. Trying to summon whatever strength she had left, Jade got up, shoving the garbage aside with the fire.
She took one step before Stormy's form appeared at the end of the alleyway.
"Well well. Dead end. How VERY fitting." Stormy said. "You know, I gave you too much credit. Too much originality for you too much effort ... electrical creatures and flying Ferris Wheels? No, you just deserve something simple…so…" Stormy said, as she raised her right hand. She didn't charge a Stomybolt: instead she called upon her original power as a cyclone with lightning crackling through it exploded in the air above her palm, growing in size and intensity, the heat driving Jade back…and then the lightning went from red to a dazzling, brilliant white. Which was not good, indeed, the brick walls and street were already smoking, and bags of garbage were exploding and bursting into flame themselves. Jade was certain that she should be dead already from being close to such heat: maybe Stormy was manipulating said heat for maximum drama. And pain.
"This body can do more then take a beating." Stormy said, the lightning illuminating her mad look quite well. "It has enough power to let me generate this. White fire. What a fitting end. NOW BURN!"
And Stormy fired off the white bolt as it expanded and filled the entire alleyway, heading straight for Jade.
Jade could only stare at it for a second before she risked having her entire body boiled, and lacking any other option, she went with what had always saved his life, as she crouched down, the fire flying from her shoulders and back and forming a shield around and over her, Jade putting all her power into this shield, as she could already feel the roasting, consuming heat, and even as the fire formed thicker and thicker as it tried to save her host, Jade reached under her shirt, yanked out the fire charm she had made for herself, and clenched it tightly in her hand as she tried to force her willpower into it in the hope it might give her just the tiny little bit of extra guarding she needed.
The fire approached the golden cocoon, and as sweat beaded on Jade's forehead and then immediately evaporated …
And then the attack completely consumed her.
Stormy laughed madly as the lightning devoured the entire alleyway, the intense heat igniting what it didn't vaporize right out of existence. It might not have been agonizing, but it was certainly splendid, as Stormy laughed and laughed…
The golden line smacked into her face and sent her across the street, smashing into the wall, her laugh rudely interrupted and then cutting off completely as the line withdrew…and then Jade emerged from the alleyway, the fire carrying her out through the fire and to the front, setting her down, and Stormy goggled at the teen as she stood there, backdropped by the flame, and actually smiling at Stormy…a goofy, sheepish smile. She'd survived, again…but her head felt like it was floating. Probably because the backlash of trying to protect its host from the lightning had caused the fire to blow more then a few synapses in Jade's brain. No problem, the fire could also regenerate nerve tissue…given time.
And from the way Stormy was clawing at the air and at her face and hair, Jade probably didn't have much time left: the expressions were those of someone completely teetering on the edge and about to fall off.
"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DIE!" Stormy screamed, and then she fired off two Stormybolts, her aim as wild as her mood, but it didn't much matter as the bolts struck the buildings around Jade and the explosions blew her through the air, the fire only able to provided token defence as Jade crashed down near the street. Screaming, Stormy flew up and fired two more Stormybolts. That explosion sent Jade crashing through the window of a convenience store (ironically the same store Dani had been recuperating in), as Jade crashed through the rows of food and knocked them over like dominoes. The trip ended with Jade banging her head against the glass case that held soft drinks and beer, a spider web of cracks appearing around the impact as the teen slumped down.
Then she moaned and started blinking, systems finally coming back online, so to speak. Jade shook her head and managed to get to her feet again, trying to figure out where she was…
The scream caught his attention, and he looked out the street to see a Stormybolt heading her way.
"SHIT!"
The back door was fortunately close by: Jade booked through it and ran for the exit, the store igniting behind her and blowing her out the door and into another alleyway. Jade ran down the alleyway and out of it, trying to orient herself, figure out what to…
Stormy dropped from the sky, and before Jade could react she punched her across the entire street.
Aly had gone in a circle: she knew it. She wasn't the best at directions, and the current situation didn't help matters. As a result, Aly had found herself looking at the still slightly smoking wreckage of the copter, as she wracked her brain trying to figure out where she had gone wrong and how to avoid it.
Then she heard the noise, and she didn't need any real experience to know what was coming. Her powers still weren't turning back on, so Aly quickly booked down another alleyway. She hid Bloom behind some (relatively) clean cardboard boxes and then snuck back to the alleyway entrance to check which way the fight was going…
And then she saw Jade fly past said entrance. She started, and then she hid behind some garbage cans in case Stormy was following her.
Jade landed and bounced once, and then came to a stop, her face covered in purplish bruising. She had nothing left: the heat had completely sapped what was left of her strength, and she knew that Stormy was getting tired of pounding on her and when she got tired she was dead. She needed a plan, a plot, a miracle, a…
And then she saw it.
Stormy flew around the corner, looking for her target and finding her quickly. She was past the wreckage of her former ride, which gave her a strange feeling of nostalgia. The teenager was crawling, on her hands and knees, feebly trying to get away. Stormy, her burning rage dying down again, took great satisfaction at the pathetic nature of the scene, and flew towards her. She wanted a few more good punches.
Aly ducked down behind the cans as Stormy flew past, and then she popped out and carefully snuck to the edge of the alleyway, peeking around the corner…and watching Stormy walk up to Jade, pick her up with no resistance, and throw her back first into a wall. Aly winced.
"Well, you're a tough nut to crack…but I certainly think it's about time I cracked those nuts." Stormy said to the trying to stand Jade, and then she lashed out with a vicious kick. Jade fell to her knees, the look of absolute shock on her face most amusing to Stormy, as she grabbed her hair and then tossed Jade back to the middle of the street.
"Ah man…ah man…" Aly said as she watched the beating. It was clear Jade was out of it, and Stormy had nothing to stop her from beating the teen to a pulp. Much like Stormy would have done to her if Jade hadn't intervened…
She owed her, and as Stormy approached and then savagely kicked Jade in the ribs, sending her tumbling down the street a bit more, Aly crept out from the alleyway and began sneaking towards the woman's back.
"Well…there comes a time in a woman's life when she finally has to stop collecting the garbage and actually toss it down into the incinerator." Stormy said, as she slowly walked up to Jade, who had managed to get up and crawl a few feet before collapsing again. "But I'd like to actually thank you. You let me judge on just what the girl will be capable of absorbing. That way, I can make sure it's ten times more painful for her then it was for you." Stormy said, as she continued her approach. Jade was up and trying to crawl again, and then she coughed violently, holding her hand to his chest.
"What, no blood? You must drink your calcium!" Stormy said, wondering how exactly she should fry Jade's ass.
As Jade, her eyes intense and ready, faked another cough, as she kept her hand to her chest…the Witch Catcher held close to her torso, tucked under her sleeve from where she'd spotted it on the street and retrieved it before Stormy followed him. Now she just had to get close, and then Jade would deal with her, as she put on a pained, pathetic expression and turned to look up at Stormy, her eyes pleading for a mercy she knew damn well she wouldn't give. But Stormy was too caught up in her moment to recall from Darcy stories the fact Jade would never beg for mercy.
"Oh, look at the little dog. Who's the bitch now?" Stormy said, as lightning wreathed her hand. She lifted it up, as she stepped in close…
"You are." Jade replied. Stormy's eyes widened, as the Witch Catcher snapped from under Jade's jacket sleeve and…
"NO YOU DON'T STORMY!" Aly yelled as she leapt on the Stormy's back.
Jade stopped dead. She'd been so focused on Stormy she'd never even seen Aly coming. Then her eyes widened as she realized her whole plan was going belly up.
"NO! OUT OF THE WAY KID!" Jade yelled, trying to get in so she could zap Stormy, but she was thrashing about too much as Aly tried to hold on and claw at Stormy's face at the same time.
"ARRRGGGHHH! YOU LITTLE SON OF A BITCH!" Stormy screamed, as she finally reached back, grabbed Aly, and leaned forward as she hurled her into Jade, just as Jade was trying to get in close for a zap. The impact knocked her right off her feet and the Witch Catcher right out of her hand, and as Jade and Aly fell to the ground in a heap Stormy's eyes were caught by the spinning device…and then she realized what it was, that Jade had it, and that he'd managed to play her for a fool.
Jade shoved Aly off of her and was getting up…as Stormy screamed and fired off a Stormybolt, blowing the Witch Catcher into nothing. Jade's heart plummeted.
"You…both of you…won't die…won't learn…won't ARRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIRRRRRAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Stormy screamed, throwing her head back. Jade recoiled as the buildings around her suddenly exploded into fire, explosions that carried all the way down the street and outward from it.
Dani, flying in, recoiled herself as a whole square block of Magix erupted into flame, even as Jade, automatically putting herself in front of the defenceless Aly, looked as Stormy lowered her head, her eyes literally alight and burning. It was like looking into the gates of hell.
"Now…if you don't mind…" Stormy said with eerie calm. "I would much appreciate it IF-YOU-BURRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNN!" Stormy screamed as she thrust out her hands.
Jade was already in the air, a fire strand grabbing Aly and carrying her along, as a gigantic jet of flame spewed from Stormy's hands, barely missing the two as Jade flipped over the witch. She let the line holding Aly go, leaving the poor kid to fall awkwardly on the ground with a yell of pain, but Jade didn't care. Aly's good intentions had led them straight into hell…and as a result Jade only had one move left before she and the kid were reduced to greasy ash.
She could have done this at any point in the battle, but she didn't want to. From an attack mindset it was the equivalent of a nuke: it might destroy the enemy stronghold but it also destroyed everything around the stronghold and blighted the ground so nothing can grow. She'd saved it as a last resort, no other options available move…and that time had sadly come.
She still hated herself for it, as Stormy realized Jade was directly behind her.
"I'm sorry Stormy." Jade said.
And then she thrust out her hands, her thumb and forefinger clamping down on two points on the back of Stormy's right shoulder, even as fire lines flew from Jade's left hand and slammed themselves into four other points around Stormy's lower back.
Stormy's eyes widened.
And then she started screaming, as her body flooded with pain, absolute utter agony, as Jade pressed down on six pressure points of the witch... Sparrow had taught her something useful after all… In combat, elite fighters were taught about these nerves centres: striking or pressing certain ones could result in favorable results, in combat terms anyway. But the points couldn't be pressed all the same time by people, their hands couldn't do it. But Jade's fire could…even though she knew doing it would result in this.
Stormy's terrible pain hit Ivy like a wrecking ball, nearly knocking her right out. To Stormy, it was like every nerve in her body was on fire, much like how Jade felt when the fire was cut by a blade. But that was just a brief albeit intense flash of torment. This was constant for Stormy, a torture right from the depths of hell Darcy had escaped….Stormy, who had forced Jade to use this move as she finally pulled back.
Stormy screamed in rage as the pain finally faded away. Jade matched her rage, as she lowered her fire to the ground and stood up, finding new strength and ready, willing, and able to put Stormy down.
"YOU FUCK!" Stormy screamed.
"Fuck you." Jade replied, and fired off an onslaught offire blades. Stormy flew back to avoid them, firing a blast of electrical power, but that attack had made her blast feeble and Jade just blocked it with a fire shield and lashed out again…
And then Stormy saw it, as Dani was again approaching, but seemingly a little loopy, probably because of the pain thing, and Stormy smiled to herself and flew low to the ground.
Dani flew in.
Jade's eyes widened.
"Dani!"
"Hey You! Your turn!" Stormy said as she suddenly flew up, and Dani only had time to gasp before Stormy flew into her and her being disappeared into the female girl. The goth girl spasmed a few times, and then went still, and then her eyes opened, Stormy's now, as she looked down at an angry Jade.
"No. Fuck YOU." Stormy replied, and raised her hand.
And then she jerked, like she had been struck from within. She shook her head, made a confused noise, and then she jerked again, her head snapping back like she had been struck in the face.
"What! No! Dammit no! You are mine! You will…!" Stormy cursed, as her body twisted, spasmed, and jerked in mid air, and Jade knew that her friend hadn't been coming over unprepared. She'd anticipated and been waiting for Stormy to possess her, much like Darcy had possessed Yusuke, however Dani was an accomplished witch.
"YOU WILL OBEY! YOU WILL A…Shadow knit!" Stormy screamed as her voice suddenly turned into Dani's cool, intense tone. "Reversiti Blankus!t"
Stormy flew out of Dani's chest, spinning around and screaming in rage. Raven gave her a cool smile.
"You fucking bitch! I'll…wha…huh…what happened…what happened! I can't…my mind! I can't remember anything! I was in the helicopter and then…WHAT DID YOU DO! WHAT DID YOU DO!" Stormy screamed.
"I had a blanking spell ready when you tried to take me over. Wiped your last thirty minutes clean. Now I'll wipe the floor with you."Dani said.
"FUCK YOU! I DON'T NEED YOU! I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL MYSELF!" Stormy screamed, as she raised her hand.
The electronic arming noise was very loud.
"Somehow I doubt that."
Stormy twisted her head to look at The red fountain boys, on the roof of one of the buildings, even as it burned, their sonic cannon charged and ready.
"I'm back bitch. And I'm mighty pissed. Give me a reason." Riven said.
Stormy looked from the red fountain, to Dani whose hands were now alight with black power, and then at Jade who was now armed with several fire weapons, and then around, and finally settling on Aly, who was back near the Copter wreckage, her eyes widening as she saw her look at her.
"Next time." She said. "Next time, IT ENDS."
And then she swirled into a loop and vanished, popping out of existence.
Within a second all the fires went out, leaving nothing but smoking ruins.
And Aly collapsed onto the ground, finally letting herself breathe. It was finally over.
For now.
"Is she all right?" Riven asked as he walked over to where Jade and Dani were kneeling around Stella's prone body.
"Her life signs seem strong." Dani said, her eyes glowing slightly as she examined her comrade. Brandon seemed to be hyperventilating
"Hey hey, hey man. Don't start that yet. Stella's tough. She'll be fine, especially with you and Dani here. Relax."
Brandon didn't look relaxed, as he glanced down at Stella. Her face seemed almost peaceful now, but that didn't comfort Brandon: it made her look like she was dead, a death that Brandon may have herself…
"Where's Aly?" Timmy was asking. Jade gave a general jerk of her hand backwards to indicate Aly's position.
"Hey Aly, you OK?" Sky yelled. Aly gave a weak wave. "Seems like Aly's not hurt at least."
"Yeah, considering I could have avoided all this if she'd just listened and laid low." Jade muttered.
"What Jade?"
"Nothing." Jade replied tersely,
"Hey man, that's a pretty bad burn you have there." Riven said, commenting on Jade's scorched cheek that was slowly healing. "Better fix it before it gets infected."
"Infections take time to take root. I can fix me later." Jade said as she stood up.
"Agreed. After all Jade, you're only human." Timmy added.
"Yeah, and in this business that's a liability." Jade said, and then she headed over to Aly, needing to confirm something.
Aly watched at Jade approached her from where she was sitting, next to the wreckage of the copter. She didn't look happy.
"…I'm sorry." Aly said as Jade came close. Jade had been about to speak, but Aly beating her to it, or more accurately her words, just added to Jade's foul mood.
"…The Incapacitator was destroyed?" Jade asked.
"Yeah." Aly said meekly.
"And the professor probably won't be able to build another one for a while."
"…Several weeks." Aly said.
Jade didn't reply: she just turned his eyes skyward as if she was asking why she had been saddled with this kid, and then she put her hand into her palm, muttering. It made Aly feel bad, not to mention uncomfortable.
"…I just wanted to help!" Aly blurted out. Jade looked up from her hand at the kid: her intense expression, just bordering on anger, just made Aly panic and continue talking. "You saved me…I just thought…"
"I had it in hand. And I couldn't exactly signal you kid. Don't forget what forms the bricks on the way to the gates of hell." Jade said.
"………..I did my best." Aly said, feeling miserable.
The words made Jade look like Aly had insulted her mother.
"Your best? Your BEST?" Jade said. "Kid, it's the losers who whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen!" Jade snapped. Aly had no reply, and her expression just made Jade angrier.
"Well then, let's review this royally fucked up mess we called a battle, shall we?" Jade said. "No Stormy… no Icy.,. Darcy fled earlier on, no Incapacitator, no idea when or where she'll strike next, god KNOWS how much property damage, and if there isn't a casualty from this shit stain of a fight it'll be the biggest miracle ever!" Jade yelled, and then fixed Aly with a blistering look.
"Great job, ROOKIE."
But it was over…Jade knew it...the battle had finally been won… Stormy and her sisters wouldn't be back for a while anyway…