Chapter 9
"Run!"
"Stars and stones, where did she go!?"
"I dunno, just keep moving!"
The warehouse was a maze of cargo containers, and losing Pyrrha wasn't particular difficult. Whatever Roman had done to her had slowed her down for the moment. Not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, they took their advantage and ran with it, quickly got lost down the maze of corridors.
It was only after several minutes of running in circles that they finally came to a stop, Thomas in the lead and Harry watching the rear. Murphy took up the middle and slumped against one of the crates, catching her breath.
She was the only vanilla mortal of the two of them, and the shortest to boot. No matter how good of shape she was in, Murphy couldn't keep up with Thomas and Harry forever. She only needed a moment though, and quickly stood back up.
"What do we do?" she asked.
Harry scanned the tops of the crates for any flashes of red, and said, "We keep running for now. Torchwick dropped a glamour on her, so now she sees us as her enemies. I can break the glamour, but I'll need you guys to buy me time."
"Forget that," Thomas said, "We outnumber her three-to-one, I say we take the fight to her. If we split up like that, she might start picking us off one by-"
Steel shrieked, and a crimson blade blossomed from the steel container Thomas was standing next to, inches from his nose.
"-One?" he squeaked.
The blade screeched and vanished. Pyrrha's arm punched through the cut a moment later, and grabbed Thomas by the throat. She slammed his skull against the wall once, twice, three times. The container groaned again, and the entire wall exploded in a shower of sparks, sliding across the floor and pinning Thomas to the nearest cargo container. It all happened within seconds.
Harry and Murphy stood there, dumbfounded at the display of raw power, until Pyrrha emerged from the ruined box. Her pupils had shrunk to pinpoints, and the green of her eyes dulled to a dead olive. They flicked to Harry and Murphy.
"…Hells bells, this is gonna hurt," Harry whined. He was not wrong.
Pyrrha charged. Harry briefly noted that the concrete beneath her feet was cracking with each step. That was about a second of thought. The rest was occupied with sudden pain. Pyrrha slammed her shield against Harry's face, spun to the side with her leg kicked out, and knocked Murphy off her feet.
Harry staggered forward, cupping his nose. It stung, but was miraculously unbroken. His luck did not hold up.
Pyrrha's hand wrapped around behind him in a bear hug, and his entire world view flipped. Harry crashed to the ground, and Pyrrha quickly swung onto him. She raised her sword over head for the killing blow.
Harry felt rather amazed that this was how it would end. He always knew he'd die in combat, he just had expected something a little bigger, or sneakier, given the enemies he'd made over the years. Killed by an Amazonian warrior child with Magneto style powers hadn't even cracked the top ten.
"Oh no you don't!" Murphy yelled, and tackled Pyrrha off Harry.
The two women rolled across the floor and a flurry of thrashing limbs and steel. Murphy tried grabbing Pyrrha's arms, to pin them down. It was a bold effort, but even Murphy knew she couldn't hold a candle to Pyrrha's strength.
Pyrrha planted one leg against Murphy's stomach, and kicked. She flew across the hall and crashed into floor. Last minute thinking saved her from a broken limb. Murphy rolled with the landing and crashed into the cargo container.
"Right then," Harry said through clenched teeth, "That's enough of that."
He hauled himself to his feet, using his staff to steady himself, and called, "Pyrrha! Over here!"
The red-head twisted to face Harry, and launched across the ground. Not metaphorically, literally. One moment she was standing on the concrete floor, the next, she had propelled herself through the air directly at Harry. Her shield was held in front of her, like a big bronze battering ram, and her sword had transformed into its spear form.
Harry shook his left wrist to expose his shield bracelet. It was a chain made of braided strands of several metals, silver predominant. Metal shields hung from the bracelet, each individual one crafted from silver, iron, copper, nickel, and brass.
Several intense experiences had taught Harry to prepare for any unlikely situation, and his shield bracelet had evolved as a result. Once, it only protected against kinetic and magical energies. A bad encounter with a vampire and a flamethrower had nearly torched his hand to the bone, so Harry had whipped up new enchantments into his bracelet that could absorb most forms of energy.
The obvious downside was that it needed more energy to maintain a more complex form of protection. The upside proved itself when Pyrrha bounced off his shield like a pinball. The shield flared silver-blue where she impacted, but remained firm.
To Harry's slight irritation, Pyrrha did not crash to the ground. She bounced off the shield like she had meant to hit it face first, and gracefully landed on the floor in a perfect three point landing. She didn't even drop her weapons.
"This is so unfair." Harry said.
Pyrrha looked at the air in front of Harry, her brow knitting together in thought. Harry kept the shield spell going while he thought of a way he could undo the glamour and get Pyrrha back to her senses. The easiest way would be water, but he didn't dare leave the warehouse. If Pyrrha got outside, she might go after random dock workers instead. No, he had to keep her here, in the nice dry warehouse.
Lovely.
His shield spark and Harry blinked. Pyrrha was carefully drawing her blade against the shield. Her eyes watched the wake of light and sparks that trailed the tip with surprising clarity. She was testing the shield, obviously.
Pyrrha looked at Harry once, then back at the shield. She took several steps back and crouched down. Harry smirked a little, and kept the shield going. Even she didn't have enough physical strength to break his shield. Trolls couldn't break it, she didn't have a chance.
She still charged him though, and jumped. Both her feet hit the shield with hollow 'bwong!' and she was launched back again. Her sword and shield fell from her hands and clattered behind Harry.
Despite himself, he smiled a little and said, "Just sit tight Pyrrha, we'll get you back to normal once you're done trying to kill us.
Pyrrha stood up from where she landed and raised one hand. In response, Harry raised a brow, "Um…Yes, the Force is strong with-Oh shit."
The realization what she was doing hit him hard.
Mostly in the lower back.
That jump maneuver had been a deliberate feint, to get her weapons behind his shield without him noticing. It had worked like a charm too, much to his humiliation.
Pain shot up Harry's spine, and he collapsed like a sack of bricks. With his shield down, Pyrrha calmly recalled Miló and Akoúo̱ to her hands, then walked over to him to finish what Murphy interrupted.
"Hey!"
Pyrrha ducked, and a cavalry sword spun by overhead, burying itself at the end of the corridor. She stood back up and glanced at where it came from.
The steel wall that she had used to pin Thomas had been pushed aside. He was unharmed, saved for some tears in his silk white shirt, and was striding towards Pyrrha with purpose.
"Stay away from the idiot, and I'll go easy on you," Thomas promise.
Pyrrha didn't say anything. She remained serene, and calmly stepped over Harry towards Thomas. He raised his hands fisticuff style and began circling left. Pyrrha raised her weapons and did the same.
Several silent moments passed between the two, neither making a move to attack. Harry watched them, and made no move to get up, yet. The last thing he needed, was to get Pyrrha's attention. Murphy did the same, and both watched as Thomas prepared to take Pyrrha on.
Pyrrha attacked first. Miló shifted into a spear aimed for Thomas's neck. He yelped and ducked right. Pyrrha slammed her shield into his chest at the same time and knocked him back. Following through with the attack, she twisted on her heel and performed a reverse roundhouse.
Thomas spiraled through the air and crashed to the floor. Pyrrha thrust Miló down at him, only to hit concrete. Thomas was already back on his feet, and the two began to exchange blows. At least, that's what Harry thought was happening, he couldn't tell.
Pyrrha was a blur of red and bronze, whipping through the air so fast he could barely make out her shape. Thomas was equally as fast, all fast kicks and punches. The only thing that Harry could make out was one detail. As fast and skilled as Thomas was, he did not land a blow on Pyrrha.
She ducked, weaved, and almost casually deflected his attacks. There was an elegant grace to it. Then Harry cursed as he understood what she was actually doing. Pyrrha was just toying with Thomas, learning his fighting style before she took him serious.
Thomas tried kicking Pyrrha with what some would call an 'axe kick'. His foot went up high enough to kick her chin. Pyrrha jumped back, and caught his foot as it came down. What happened next looked to be in slow motion, at least for Harry.
Pyrrha tossed Miló into the air, balled her now free hand into a fist, and punched Thomas at the fork of his legs. There was a solid, crisp cracking sound that immediately followed. Murphy winced, Harry ducked his head in sorrow, and Thomas squeaked.
He hit the ground a moment later, cradling his shattered family jewels. His vampiric rejuvenation would repair the damage, but no amount of supernatural juice could dull testicular pain on such a scale. Thomas, for the time being, was out for the count.
"Oh screw this," Harry hissed under his breath. He was a wizard damn it, he had powers and experience far beyond what Pyrrha possessed. Yes, she was an incredible hand to hand fighter, and yes she was just a young girl not in control of herself at the moment. But if she was allowed to run rampant, people could die. As much as Harry didn't want to do it, he was going to have to knock her out of commission in order to keep others safe.
He looked over his shoulder at Murphy. His blonde compatriot was already on her feet, but keeping her distance from Pyrrha. She had an idea of what Pyrrha could do better than anyone, and knew she was way out of her league. Harry looked back at Pyrrha, who had started ferociously rubbing at her eyes.
She knew something was wrong.
That would explain why they were all still alive, and not in tiny pieces on the floor. It also gave Harry time to plan.
He pushed himself up onto his knees and grabbed his staff. One scan over the corridor showed Harry that there weren't any weapons, obviously, and most of the crates were securely stacked. Except one.
At the top of the left side of the corridor, was a cargo container that was uneven. Its right edge hung over the side, not a dangerous angle, but enough that one well place shot could send it crashing down on Pyrrha. He looked at the girl again, who was still scratching at her eyes.
"Sorry Pyrrha," Harry whispered, "But it's for your own good."
He gathered up his will, pointed his staff at the near left corner of the container, and shouted, 'Forzare!'
Unseen force lanced from the tip of his staff, and slammed against the container. The entire crater bucked to the side like a startled animal, and crashed back down with an ear splitting crash. Then, its balance off center, it started to slide down the makeshift hill. First it was a slow grind, but gravity quickly took over, and the it began to screech towards Pyrrha.
It didn't have far to go, but there was enough momentum to reasonable imitate a freight train barreling down on her. Pyrrha wasn't stupid though, and whirled in surprise towards the container. It came down too fast for anyone to see exactly what happened. All they saw was Pyrrha raise her hands and brace herself. Then the crate slammed into her and the wall of containers behind her.
The sheer mass of all those containers meant that one runaway crate wouldn't possibly move them. It did, however, utterly crush the one Pyrrha had been standing for, rather spectacularly. Steel crumpled instantly, and the rear of the container flipped on its end, then toppled over with a resounding thunderclap.
Harry stared at the mess of crates, his grip on his staff tight. He hated that he had to do that, and he hated that Torchwick had thrown him into a situation where he needed to do that. But Pyrrha would eventually have killed them, given enough time. There were simply no other immediate option, short of flinging fire at her, and Harry wasn't that cruel.
He sighed and felt a hand on his shoulder. A quick look confirmed it was Murphy. He shook his head and looked forward again. They both stared at the wreck in silence, until Murphy said, "You think she's alright?"
"I think she's tougher than most. She's healed from injuries faster than any normal human, and tanked explosions that sent Thomas on his ass. She'll be okay. Just unconscious, I hope."
"Right," Murphy said, and looked at Thomas.
The poor man had slowly unfurled himself, and was now struggling to stand back up. Harry and Murphy walked over to help him to his feet. He winced once he was standing, and readjusted his pants.
"T-thanks," he squeaked. His voice was an even alto.
Harry resisted grinning and just nodded, "Yeah. You gonna be okay?"
"I-I'll live." Thomas looked at the crash site, and shuddered, "What about her?"
"Same thing I told Murphy. She's tanked a lot that'd kill a normal human. I think she's okay, but we should start clearing the wreckage and find her before-"
That was when the humming started. It started low, a faint rumbling pitch that rolled through the floor and into Harry's very core. Slowly it rose higher and higher, until it was an audible groan, the sound of a dozen industrial presses. Then, the ground began to shake, and the wreckage shuddered.
"No, no way," Harry said. He took several steps back. Thomas and Murphy followed his lead.
"Empty night," Thomas breathed.
As if suspended by cables, the crate Harry had dropped on Pyrrha began to shift and move. It slowly left the ground, picked up by an invisible giant. The container it had smashed followed suit. Both soon floated twenty feet in the air, and standing below them completely unharmed, save for a few new tears in her sweater, was Pyrrha.
With both hands raised, she was near effortlessly manipulating two nearly full cargo containers, several tons, without breaking a sweat. There were neat perfect half spheres on the end of one crate and in the center of the other. In the time it took the crates to crush her, Pyrrha had created a bubble of magnetism that essentially protected her from the worst of it. Harry was honestly starting to wonder how powerful Pyrrha was.
Murphy started to back up, "Harry…"
"I didn't know she could do that!" he protested.
'Well she can! Now what!?" Thomas demanded.
"Run!"
A smart move, obviously.
Pyrrha dropped the crates and ran after them both. No game of cat and mouse this time, she was done with that. She scooped up Miló and Akoúo̱ and jumped. She careened through the air, and landed on the containers running along the corridor.
"Harry!" Murphy warned.
"I see her!" he yelled, and pulled out his blasting rod.
'Fuego!'
The small wand fired a beam of fire in front of Pyrrha. It tore a hole clean through the container behind her, but Pyrrha didn't slow. She jumped, putting her shield between her and the fire, and rolled to her feet on the other side, and continued without missing a beat.
"Bullshit!" Harry cursed.
Pyrrha jumped again, and landed feet first on Harry's back. Just another pain in his back, followed by further acquaintance with the floor. He made a good springboard for Pyrrha though. She flipped through the air and landed in front of Murphy.
Murphy, to her credit, rolled with it. She threw a punch as Pyrrha stood up, and it actually hit. She just kept running while Pyrrha was stunned, not dumb enough to stay for a prolonged conflict.
Thomas on the other hand…
Well, Harry had been left behind, and he was his brother and… Well, familial dementia is a strong motivator. Despite several parts of him screaming to run from the scary red headed amazon, Thomas turned around attacked Pyrrha.
Pyrrha deflected his first punch with a casual flick of her shield, and followed through with heavy uppercut. Thomas wasn't sure what happened immediately after, but he did remember his vision returning as he was soaring into the air…
Followed by Pyrrha punching him straight into floor. The very floor cracked under the impact, and Thomas was once again introduced to a familiar pain.
"What's your problem with my balls!?" he screamed.
Pyrrha ignored him, her eyes tracking Murphy as she ran for cover. The red head glanced up, glanced to the left and right, bit her lip in thought, then nodded. She took one step forward, pulled back her arm, and flung her shield like a Frisbee.
It spun through the air, bounced off the walls three times, and on the fourth hit Murphy square in the back of her head. Murphy fell face first on the floor. She did not get back up.
Pyrrha called her shield back to her, and casually equipped it. Around her, friends lay in pain and in Thomas's case, agony, and she was none the wiser.
Harry groaned and looked up. Pyrrha was stepping towards him again, and there was no one to save him this time. It was rather sad too. A glamour was one of the easiest spells for a wizard to counter. With the Sight, Harry could see clear through it, but Pyrrha didn't have the Sight. If he'd had some running water, that would've worked just as well. Water grounded magic, and a glamour would be shredded by something as simple as…
'Oh Thomas is going to kill me after this,' Harry thought.
He looked up past Pyrrha, at the ceiling. Like any warehouse, there was a line of windows near the ceiling to let in natural light during the day. Had he looked minutes earlier, he'd have seen what he saw now. That the rain had returned in full force, and the only reason they couldn't hear the hollow 'tap-tap-tap' from the roof, was because Pyrrha had been firmly planting her foot up their collective asses.
But the rain was here now, and Harry was going to take advantage of it. He pushed himself onto his back, despite the screaming pain of his injuries. Once rolled over, he pulled his blasting rod and pointed it skyward.
Pyrrha saw the motion, and sprinted at Harry. He didn't know what she saw, and didn't have time to contemplate it. He just took one deep breath, and shouted, 'Forzare!'
More unseen force whipped through the air, kicking up dust and loose flakes of paint in its wake. The roof buckled under the blow, and a patch of steel several feet wide was sheared off from the roof of the building.
Pyrrha landed on Harry's chest, and raised Miló overhead. Had Harry been a moment later, he might've died on that floor.
Instead, he and Pyrrha found themselves soaked from the rain, and several gallons of water that surged through the now buckling hole Harry had torn. It was a waterfall of filthy dirty water, but it was better than the alternative.
Pyrrha spattered and gagged at the taste of dirty rainwater, and wiped her bangs from her eyes, "What in the world was…was…Harry?"
She stared down in surprise at the wizard she was straddling. Pyrrha blinked and looked around at the chaos around her. Damaged cargo containers, shattered concrete, and Thomas cradling his devastated pelvis. She looked down at Harry, whose face was beginning to darken around the nose.
He gave a little wave, and Pyrrha blushed.
"Um… I'm sorry."
A/N: I'm not terribly pleased with this chapter. Expect and edited and revised version in the coming days, thanks in part to my own stubbornness and my newly acquired Beta Reader.
That all said, there are aspects I like of this chapter, and I certainly hope you enjoyed it, even if it was just one big fight scene/homage. BTW, bonus points to anyone that can successfully guess what I was homaging in this chapter. Poor guys just can't catch a break in this story, and for those wondering, yes, something else is wrong with Pyrrha, as even she shouldn't have been doing as well as she was. This will be expanded on later, I promise.
But the next chapter will be back to more plot stuff, some expositing, and the appearance of a character I cameo'd all the way back in chapter 2, I think. But that's for Tuesday. In the meantime, that's all there is today. No questions asked from the last chapter, surprisingly, but if you guys have questions today, leave them in your review. Or leave criticism, thoughts, jokes, etc.
We authors feed on your reviews, so remember, more reviews equals more motivation!
Not that I'd stop updating of course, I love you guys too much for that. But thats enough for now, I'm exhausted after cranking this bad boy out and need my beauty sleep. I'll see you all next Tuesday!
In the meantime, Ta-ta for now!