Chapter 31 #3
I didn’t know much about replicators, but I could only assume that it was a benefit to being able to clone yourself in most instances.
After all, ten men against two had a greater chance to win a fight.
On the other hand, I believed I had stumbled on one of their weaknesses.
The original was able to feel any damage done to his clones.
I’m sure their deaths were even more devastating for them.
With that thought in mind I decided to weaken the man even more and hope and pray Terrance and Marcel got up in time to defend themselves.
I imagined a dark cloud over the replicator’s head and his clones. Instead of water coming from the cloud, I chose to have gasoline fall in a deluge of liquid. A woman in her early to mid-twenties paused her attack on one of our operatives and her head whipped around. Her eyes bulging with panic.
“It’s gas, Lou—”
Before she could finish her statement, I threw fireballs toward the group.
The woman attempted the dive at the replicator in an attempt to save him but only ended up getting gas poured on her as well.
My fire balls hit the mark for three of them.
One of his clones that was on fire stumbled into her and soon the screams of the replicator and hers filled my ears.
Their screams were enough to snap Marcel and Terrance out of their stupor.
They spun around and quickly stood. I caught a glimpse of crimson red and a black suit but was unable to figure out what I was seeing as they stepped in my line of sight, followed by Miranda sound of concertation.
I whipped my head to the side to see Miranda’s attention was on a big beefy man off to our left.
It took me a moment to realize what had caused her distress.
A weird wiggling movement caught the corner of my eye, and it took a few moments for my brain to catch up with my eyes.
Shiloh was hanging from the ceiling in a cocoon made of thick silk like threads.
She was thrashing and attempting to get out but her struggle was futile.
I saw Micah blink in and out and realized he couldn’t jump to grab her.
His gift wouldn’t take him to her. He wasn’t able to fly or didn’t have a stable surface to stand on so his gift was protecting him from making a rash decision.
His actions almost became desperate as the man held his hands back up and more silk streamed from his fingertips.
It was then that I realized he was going to completely encapsulate her into the cocoon.
Panic rose within me and I found myself screaming from the top of my lungs. “Stop!”
The silk from his fingertips stopped mid-air and fell to the floor ineffectively.
I sighed in relief and noticed then that the sound of battle around me had ceased.
It was then that I realized a majority of people surrounding me were frozen in a state of inactivity.
I turned to look at my guys and noticed they seemed just as bemused by the sudden stillness.
Miranda cried out Shiloh and Micah’s name, also not affected by my unintended command and ran over to assist them.
“Wow, Ake. That’s one way to end the battle. Do you think you could have done that sooner?” Gavin breathlessly inquired, wiping his brow.
“I didn’t intentionally do it.” I wryly admitted.
I looked around and noticed only Gavin, Jemmy, Mercedes, Bentley, Kurt, Ben, and my guys seemed to be the only ones unaffected by my demand to stop. Kade and Victoria pushed through the swinging doors of the kitchen and slowly looked around. “Um, what happened. This wasn’t me.”
Troy threw an arm over my shoulder before kissing my temple. “This time it was Blake. She commanded one of the guys to stop and the whole room did.”
“Well, most of the room.” Noah joked.
Micah reminded us of Shiloh’s predicament. “Can I get a little help over here?”
“I got you.” Gavin jogged over, stopping by a frozen Race to grin at him. “Hey, bud, I’m gonna mimic you. Thanks!”
He jumped and sailed into the air to reach Shiloh.
He studied the silk as if he wanted to make sure, he extracted her safely before lowering her.
Micah walked over to the silk that had fallen from the man’s fingertips.
He went to reach for it when Miranda quickly pushed his hand away. She let out a pained yelp.
“It’s coated in something that burns to the touch.” She held up her reddened fingertips.
Micah seemed to be torn by irritation and gratitude.
I’m sure he wanted to be the one to save the day and discover how to rescue his connection so that’s where his irritation stemmed.
His logical side, however, realized he should be thankful Miranda was willing to hurt herself before he got injured.
I knew I was filled with thankfulness, and she may not know it, but it was just another check I was putting in her positive column.
She wasn’t the same woman who abandoned us, and she was proving it every day.
“Borrow Brandts gift. He’s invulnerable.” Jace suggested.
“Good idea.” Gavin grinned before starting the painstaking process of getting Shiloh down.
“Why aren’t we frozen?” Alex asked, popping up from under one of the tables.
I wasn’t the only shocked by his sudden appearance nor the only one concerned by his presence. When and how did he get here and who was supposed to be with him? We had all agreed he would have to stay away from the battle. He could indirectly help but not be in the thick of it.
Alex seemed to realize his mistake by revealing himself and looked down at the floor kicking the toe of his shoes against the tile flooring. “I needed to help.” His voice was barely loud enough for us to hear.
Kurt was the one to answer his question, amusement lacing his tone.
“I believe it’s because we are level tens or higher.
If Blake had true intentions behind her compulsion I think even, I would have struggled to fight off her command.
” He winked at me before addressing Alex once again.
“I am thankful my eight-year-old doesn’t have any gifts.
She’s onery enough without a gift added into it.
I can only imagine the trouble she could get herself into if she had one at this age. ”
I realized that the horse was already out of the stall, no use closing the door now.
We could wait to talk to Alex later. Right now, we needed to come up with our next plan of action.
I knew I wasn’t only one thinking about it when some of my guys started talking at once.
It was Alex’s voice that we heard over all others.
“You should bring Bex to our Fourth of July party.”
“What Fourth of July party.” Kade joked at the same time Kurt gave Alex a skeptical look. “How did you know my daughters nickname was Bex?”
“I don’t think we have the time to go down that rabbit hole yet.” Jaxson teased before he looked over at Mercedes and Bentley. “Think you can open up a portal to get rid of some of this trash.”
“Yes, lets.” Remy walked over to pick up one of the people. He paused looking over at me. “Are you feeling any strain?”
It took me a moment to realize what he meant.
Logically, I should be expending a lot of energy.
I paused and took stock of my body. My body was sore, but I attributed that more toward the tense way I had been holding myself the entire time we had been in battle.
Oddly enough my gift seemed just fine. I wasn’t feeling any strain at all and if I did it wasn’t enough to be noticeable.
“I feel fine.” I honestly replied.
Remy studied me for a moment before he seemed satisfied by my response. Bentley and Mercedes stood facing each other, opened their arms wide, and backed up to widen and lengthened their portal. Within seconds, Mary appeared with her entourage in tow.
“You guys are keeping me busy today.” She jokingly quipped.
“We know how bored you can get.” Troy teased.
She good naturedly snorted before giving instructions out to her men. I was thankful to see that she had more reinforcements with her. It would make the process go faster and wouldn’t require much out of us.
Some of her men and women fanned out and whipped out these baton looking weapons.
Unlike batons though pale blue lights shot out from the tip.
Within seconds the intruders were encased in a glowing bubble.
With one flick of the wrist the prisoner was inverted to a lying position, lifted, and floating through the air.
It wasn’t the first time I had seen this being done, but it was no less impressive.
One day, I would have to sit down with Pops and discover how the technology existed and why it wasn’t well known.
With thoughts of Pops my head whipped up and around. “Where’s Pops?”
Everyone seemed to pause at my question. “And Horatio?” Kade worriedly inquired.
“Pops was over there the last time I saw him.” Jemmy frowned.
A sinking feeling settled in my chest. With the absence of Pops and Horatio my alarm bells started going off. All of us exchanged looks and I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling off about the whole situation.
Micah looked torn for a moment. It was evident that he wanted to find Pops, but he wanted to stay by Shiloh’s side as well.
“Find him. We’ll make sure she gets to the clinic.
” Noah reassured him. “Her gift must have protected her from the brunt of the damage.” He tentatively reached out and touched the little protrusions that were all over her bare skin.
The protrusions were reminiscent of the setae on the exoskeleton of a spider.
They were bristle-like and had definitely limited the damage the cocoon silk could have done to her skin.