EKKO IV
"Watch out!"
I tackled Powder to the floor just in time for the superhuman punch to sail right over our heads. Her fist blasted a hole in the wall behind us, splitting the cement and showering us with dust. The pink-haired girl tried to follow up with an overhead smash while we were still prone but I quickly blinded her with a handful of soot. Thanks to our masks we were unaffected by the cloud of dirt and while she was coughing up a storm, Powder and I took the opportunity to get back up on our feet. The other Firelights already had their weapons out but I put up my hand to signal for them to hold their fire.
Under normal circumstances, for the safety of my people, I might have written the girl off as a tragic lost cause. But Powder seemed to be experiencing some sort of psychosis that made her think this person was Vi. So to kill this girl while she was in this mental state might trigger her to do something that even I wouldn't be able to stop. "Vesper," I looked to Wengo who was the only one within the group that knew about Powder's condition and might have a clue of what was going on, "take what we've salvaged and lead the others back to the sanctuary. Jinx and I will handle this."
The others looked ready to argue but Wengo's voice as the second-in-command had enough sway that they did not linger for long. As the last of them left the room, the dust in the air dissipated and we were left alone with the crazed girl. Powder took off her mask and pleaded with her, "Vi, it's me, your sister. It's okay, you're safe now, I'm not going to let anyone hurt you anymore." I readied myself for the girl to charge again but contrary to my expectations, she froze at Powder's words. That only reinforced her delusions and she took another step toward the younger girl.
"Powder…" I warned as I caught her elbow. On one hand, she was handling the situation extremely well but on the other, I was worried everything was going to blow up the moment she snaps out of her episode. "That's not Vi." I thought it would be better if she heard it from me first but that proved to be a mistake as the other party saw my movement as a sign of aggression.
The pink-haired girl charged at us like a raging bull but even though she was fast, her movement was crude and predictable. We synchronously side-stepped her stampede but as I was about to trip her, Powder blocked my leg with her own. "I said I wasn't going to let anyone hurt her anymore. That includes you." Her sharp blue eyes stared me down and I felt a chill run down my back from the intensity.
Before I could answer, the drugged-up girl pushed off the opposing wall like a springboard and began wildly swinging at us. I bobbed and weaved out of her strikes and countered with my clockhand but Powder kicked my weapon out of my hand with the heel of her boot. I switched to a crystal grenade and tried to restrain the pink-haired girl but the bomb was shot out of the air by my partner's excellent marksmanship. "Wake up, Powder!"
"I'm wide awake. You're the one that doesn't seem to be listening right now." I gritted my teeth in frustration. How was I supposed to subdue the girl if Powder was actively working against me? Also, how was she doing all of this while dodging the girl's punches at the same time? At that moment, I was reminded that Powder wasn't just a quirky genius inventor, she was a fierce fighter too and that meant she wasn't someone that needed constant coddling.
If she wanted some sense knocked into her the old-fashioned way, then I was happy to oblige. "Alright, you wanna play like this? Fine." I pulled out my hoverboard and picked up my clockhand with a foot trick. I was glad I sent the others away since this wasn't the mature response they would expect from their leader but she was asking for it. I pulled off the owl mask as she playfully twirled her gun, "Just don't come crying about it later."
Without any more warnings, I reached into my bag and threw my newest invention at Powder: the Flashbinder. It was a small metal device that expanded into an energy disc mid-flight but while it was dazzling, Powder was prepared for it. She showed off her flexibility by bending her body backward like a bridge and easily dodged the projectile. "Try harder, Little Man, I built that thing with you."
"Only half of it…" I uncovered the magnet on my hand and the disc's trajectory slowed and rewound to me. Her blue eyes widened as the Flashbinder came flying back but a quick push off a handstand allowed her to creatively dodge the second part of the attack as well. I climbed onto my hoverboard and met the Flashbinder halfway for a fast re-equip and launch. Powder darted forward and we began our dance while the wide-eyed girl turned into a mere spectator to our game. I tried to get to her but she stuck behind Powder like a baby turtle duck following its mother, recognizing that this fight would be quickly lost without her protection.
Powder leaped into the air to try and kick me off my ride but a spin trick allowed me to maneuver past her. I raced straight for the pink-haired girl but the popping of a grenade pin drew my attention down to the chomper that got attached to my hoverboard. "Shit!" I quickly jumped off, expecting it to explode underneath me at any moment but instead of heat and shrapnel, my body got covered in hot pink paint. I looked back at Powder as she laughed and pointed at my hoverboard that crashed headfirst into the wall. "Okay," I nodded to myself, "you got me good this time."
"It's okay to admit that your ego is hurt, I won't hold it against you," she taunted me with a grin.
"You always know how to get a rise out of me, don't you?" Just as I was about to reach into my pocket for my last set of crystal grenades, a deep rumble echoed around us. The walls fractured like broken glass and dirt started to fall through the cracks on the ceiling. The structure was already severely damaged by the girl's reckless attacks and my hoverboard was the straw that broke the camel's back. I whistled for us to retreat but Powder grabbed onto the girl's arm and held her in place. "What are you doing?!"
"Too late," she said as she raised her gun toward me and fired. The rocks caved in and the image of the two girls disappeared underneath the rubble. The shot hit me straight in the chest and the shock blasted me out of the room right as the ceiling collapsed. The wind was knocked out of me as my back hit the wall and I fell back onto the ground with a loud thud. I groaned in pain as I reached out my hand toward the room before my vision faded to black.
Shadows danced over the owl mask as he slowly floated forward to the mouth of the pipe. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. A stoic leader on the outside but a storm of emotion brewed just underneath. A battle of dread and anticipation raged within his heart as he played with his stopwatch. Time's up. Sunlight illuminated their masked figures as they stepped out of the darkness and without a word or delay, they took off toward the airship docks.
Their attack was fast and coordinated. Silco's goons didn't know what was happening until it had already happened. Half of them were restrained by crystal grenades before anyone could even blink and the other half was quickly taken care of. "We have five minutes till they're out of there," said the Firelight leader as he spun his stopwatch into his hand and started the countdown. He cracked open the X-marked barrels with his clockhand and found exactly what they were looking for.
"You ever seen this much Shimmer before?" asked his female lieutenant.
"They're expanding. Check for more below. Burn it all."
Two of his men went down below while the rest of them started pouring a flammable mix into the barrels. Suddenly, an explosion beneath the deck rocked the airship and stopped everyone in their tracks. Smoke filtered out of the trap door before the latch popped open with a hiss. Tension rose in the air as a single set of boots approached them and the silhouette of a blue-haired girl slowly appeared through the smoke.
She looked around sheepishly with her hand on her chin as if she was lost before turning to the assailants, "Hi." Two bombs instantly appeared in her hands and she yanked out their pins with her mouth before tossing them at two of the Firelights. The chompers clamped down on their faces and sent them tumbling down over the edge of the airship before exploding in a blaze of pink.
The Firelight leader responded with grenades of his own but they were easily dodged and shot out of the air. His demi-human lieutenant leaped out from behind the boxes and tried to skewer the bluenette with his spear but she side-stepped that as well. The two exchanged a few quick blows but he was ultimately no match for the one-girl wrecking crew. The leader focused back on the main objective and finished pouring the mix into the barrels before whistling for the female lieutenant to light the fuse. A red flare was struck but before she could drop it, the blue-haired girl grabbed onto her arm and knocked her mask off.
Pink hair and blue eyes.
She froze.
"Vi?" Old memories danced within her eyes but the fragments have long been tainted by her mind. The pink-haired girl hesitated for a moment but gritted her teeth and dropped the flare into the flammable solution. A purple flame ignited underneath them but still, the blue-haired girl did not let go. The Firelight struggled and struggled and was finally let go but before she was even able to take two steps away, she was shot in the back.
"No!" he shouted as he reached out to her. The bullet pierced right through her body and she fell lifelessly to the ground. Blood pooled onto the ground underneath her as the Firelight leader rushed to her side. He shook her body again and again in hopes that she was still alive, but it was too late. Anger consumed him as he let out a low growl and turned his focus to the girl that he once called his best friend. How had it come to this? Where did he go wrong? She stared back at him with not a flicker of remorse for the life she had just taken. The purple flames danced in her eyes and within them, he saw only Jinx.
…
"The past is already written. The ink is dry."
My eyes snapped open as I shot up grasping at nothing but air. Sweat rolled down my brow as if I was still surrounded by the hot purple flames. No dream has ever felt as real as this. It was like I had just spectated my own life, almost like a memory, but it wasn't my life. Yet, everyone I saw acted the exact same way they would in the flesh, except for Jinx – no, Powder. "Powder…" My mind returned to the present and I remembered what had just happened. "Powder?!" I ran over to the collapsed room and started desperately digging into the dirt and moving the rocks. "Powder?!"
A cold feeling wrapped over the top of my head as fear spread through my core. The feeling of loss I felt in that dream has now magnified a hundredfold but relief soon found me. "Down here." My head snapped up as I heard her voice beneath the stones and I quickly ran over to the source. A medium-sized rock separated us but with some rope and engineering, we managed to create an opening large enough to fit through. "Hi." Blood trickled down the side of her forehead as she sat tiredly against the collapsed wall. Her left braid was broken and her long blue hair pooled around her like a blanket while the girl laid asleep on her lap like a pillow.
"You're hurt," I said as I quickly kneeled by her side and pulled out my first-aid kit.
"Stupid girl wouldn't stop moving," she said as she winced from the alcohol wipe.
"How did you guys survive that?"
She tossed me the prototype force field device that I had in my bag and giggled at my confused face, "Swiped it from you when I put the chomper on your board."
I looked at her incredulously, "We haven't even tested it yet."
"Well, good news, it works."
"You could have died!"
She looked down apologetically, "Sorry."
I sighed and didn't press the issue any further. After all, I knew why she did it. "She's not Vi, you know?" I whispered gently.
"How many times are you going to repeat the same thing?" she said with a sad expression as she ran her hand through the girl's pink hair. "I know. I realized it after the first time you said it."
"Then why did you go so far to save her?"
"When I talked to her, the word she reacted to was 'sister.' She's just a lost little girl," she turned and looked at me. "Do you get it now? Why I couldn't abandon her." I nodded quietly. The person Powder risked her life saving wasn't just the pink-haired girl but a reflection of herself – another little girl that had lost her sister. "I risked both of our lives for a stranger. I'm crazy, aren't I?"
"No, I think it was brave and it took a lot of empathy," I said honestly as I patted her head. "Just give me a heads up the next time you decide to do something like that, you nearly scared me half to death."
"Really? Which half?"
"The half that cares about you."
"You only half care about me?"
"Well, I gotta leave half to care for myself, right?"
"I whole care about you though."
I laughed, "That's not a thing."
"Yes, it is," she pouted. "By the way, I totally kicked your ass back there."
"No, you didn't."
"Yes, I did."
"That was a draw –"
"What?!"
"– at best."
"Oh, here we go."
"I was about to win on my next move."
"What was your next move?"
"I'm not telling you."
"Uh-huh."
"Speaking of which, you owe me a new hoverboard."
"Now you're just being salty."
"I want my shirt back too."
"Nope, too late, you already gave it to me."
Our conversation was interrupted as the pink-haired girl let out a cough and slowly opened her eyes. There was a moment of silence as Powder's blue eyes locked with the stranger's grey before she spoke, "Thank you."
"I didn't do it for you."
"Thank you anyway."
Powder looked away but from the side of her face, I saw a small smile form. "Let's go home." The girl fell back asleep as the high of the drugs wore off and although I offered to carry her, Powder insisted on doing it herself. Ever since that rainy night, she closed the door off to any human connections apart from me for fear of experiencing that feeling of loss again but at that moment, I saw her peek out again for the first time. It didn't have to be all at once but step by step, I believed that one day she will be surrounded by friends once more. On that day, when I'm no longer her only supporting pillar, I'll tell her how I feel.
A/N: Sorry for the late update this week! I recently moved back to Canada and had a ton of stuff to sort out (didn't even have a bed to sleep on for the past couple of days XD) but I'm decently settled in now so hopefully the schedule remains consistent going forward. This chapter was a little shorter compared to the recent ones but it contained a spicy clue to the main plot of the story. I look forward to seeing your theory-crafting in the reviews but for now, thank you for reading and hope you have a great day!
EJHowell: I'm glad you are liking the duality of the voices. One of my favorite things about writing Powder chapters is playing with their tones for when she is happy versus when she is under a lot of stress and how it subsequently affects her behavior.
Warlocktoungue: Would you believe me if I said I wasn't planning on ending last chapter on a cliffhanger XD? Originally, it was supposed to have more content but it was running a little long and I felt like the tone of the chapter was starting to drift which is why I broke it up into two. Ultimately, it ended up working out with that key plot moment being from Ekko's perspective.
dreadnod244: Ride the Powder and Ekko ship all the way and you won't be disappointed with the ending I promise ;)
MysticSpider: A desperate writer has got to keep the readers coming back somehow :'(
DashBoy47: Oh you asked a great question, I could talk about this for pages but I'll try to summarize it succinctly. The way I'm writing her voices is that they are both a boon and a curse. They are a reflection of her subconscious thoughts which can be very harmful when she is under duress but at the same time, allow her to process a lot more information than a normal person can. This is the concept that she works with everything she sees while regular people only work with what they are aware of. In practical terms, it allows her to be hyper-aware of her surroundings and multi-task very efficiently as seen when she found the secret entrance to the basement and when she was fighting Ekko. I hope that made sense and wasn't just me rambling :P Super happy that you are enjoying the Ekko and Jinx moments otherwise I wouldn't be doing my job right!