Chapter 34 #2
“You think you can just waltz in here?” Valor spat, circling me. “This is Alliance territory. She belongs here, not with League trash.”
My peripheral vision caught movement. Havoc had pulled Annie safely away from our fight and was checking her arm where Valor had gripped her. His voice carried across the rooftop as he spoke to Helios.
“Stand down. Let them sort this out.”
The solar-powered Hero looked conflicted, his hands glowing faintly as he watched us, clearly itching to intervene. He must have moved to join the fight because the next thing I saw was a field of chaos energy surrounding the Hero, holding him in place.
Valor lunged at me again, moving with the unnatural speed only Trueborn Supers possessed. The world slowed around me as I considered his trajectory and prepared my counter.
I adjusted my stance as Valor charged, his fist glowing with that self-righteous golden light. It didn’t matter if he could throw a punch. He’d kissed Annie. Violated her. Made a mockery of her position. Then he’d hurt her. He’d degraded her. Called her things that made my blood boil.
He didn’t get to do that. He didn’t get to fucking do that.
And so, he had to die.
I caught his punch, the impact reverberating through my bones, and twisted, using his momentum to slam him into the rooftop. The concrete cracked beneath his perfect face.
Valor bucked beneath me, throwing me off. I rolled and sprang back to my feet as he wiped blood from his split lip.
“She ruined everything,” he spat.
I laughed, the sound cold and hollow. “Is that what this is about? Ratings and reputation? Or is it knowing she willingly chose the Villain while you have to force women to look at you?”
His eyes widened fractionally and I launched myself at him again, my fist connecting with his jaw. I wanted to break him slowly. Make him suffer like he’d made Annie suffer when she had to pretend to be his.
“Cipher, stop!” Annie’s voice cut through the haze of my rage, but I ignored it. I was aware that this wasn’t the first time she’d called out for me to stop. But I wouldn’t. I couldn’t.
Valor recovered, his fist catching me in the ribs. Pain flared, but I pushed through it, grabbing his perfect golden hair and smashing his face into my rising knee.
“Havoc, you have to stop them!” Annie’s voice again, desperate now. “He’ll kill him!”
She wasn’t wrong. Every thought running through my mind was focused on one outcome: Valor’s permanent removal.
Valor staggered back, blood streaming from his broken nose, his perfect face marred by my handiwork.
“You’re nothing,” he gasped, spitting blood. “Just a tech Villain playing at being powerful.”
I smiled. “You have no idea what I am.”
I ducked under Valor’s glowing fist, the air sizzling where it passed over my head. His eyes had changed, the emerald green now shot through with gold, pupils constricted to pinpoints.
“You’re going to fucking die,” he snarled.
I drove my elbow into his ribs, following with an uppercut that snapped his head back. “You first, pretty boy.”
He caught my next punch and twisted my arm until something popped. Pain shot through my shoulder, but I barely registered it, my body already repairing itself.
Valor’s fist connected with my jaw, the impact sending me skidding across the rooftop. I tasted blood, spat it onto the concrete, and launched myself back at him. We collided in midair, a tangle of limbs and fury, crashing down hard enough to crack the reinforced surface beneath us.
“STOP IT!” Annie screamed, her voice cracking. “CIPHER, PLEASE!”
Something in her voice, maybe the fear or maybe the desperation, almost made me hesitate.
My suit’s HUD flashed red, warning signals cascading across my vision. Tower security, the secondary systems I hadn’t bothered to disable, were coming online. Automated defense turrets powering up. Containment fields initializing. Backup power routing to the rooftop.
Shit.
The Hammer pulsed in my forearm, a surge of power that felt like liquid lightning flowing through my veins. I didn’t have time to be precise as I channeled it outward, a wave of disruptive energy expanding in all directions.
Everything electronic within fifty feet died instantly.
The rooftop plunged into darkness and Valor’s glowing fist became the only light source.
Valor was already moving in for what looked like a killing blow.
I lunged at him. This ended now. He’d threatened Annie, degraded her, put his hands on her. Unforgivable.
Fucking unforgivable.
Valor’s face was contorted with rage, golden energy crackling around his fists. We were both going for the kill, fucking rules be damned.
“Stop trying to kill each other!”
Annie’s voice rang out, carrying an unfamiliar weight.
My body simply stopped. Mid-motion. Like someone had hit pause on reality itself.
I couldn’t move. Not my arms, not my legs. Nothing. My muscles refused to obey the most basic commands from my brain. I was frozen in place, suspended in the moment before impact with Valor.
Across from me, Valor stood equally immobilized. His eyes, previously burning with hatred, now stared blankly ahead, empty and glazed over, like the lights were on but nobody was home.
I tried to speak, to call out to Annie, but my jaw wouldn’t move.
A strange sensation was creeping through my mind, like fog rolling in over clear water. My thoughts started to slow, edges blurring, sharp calculations giving way to a pleasant, numbing haze.
I fought against whatever was happening, clinging to clarity with desperation as something tried to wrest control from me.
I’d spent my entire life fighting against those who wanted to control me. Doctors with their medications. Parents with their fear. The Alliance with their regulations. I wouldn’t surrender my mind now.
The pressure increased, like invisible fingers trying to reshape my thoughts.
Whatever this was, whatever was happening, I refused to submit. I would not be controlled. Not again. Never again.
I heard Annie scream, the sound cutting off with a choked sob. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
I fought against the compulsion with everything I had, focusing on the sensation of my own body, the subtle vibrations of my suit, the taste of blood in my mouth. Anything to anchor myself against this invisible current pulling me away.
The mental fog pressed harder, trying to overwhelm my resistance. A voice, not Annie’s, but something using her voice, whispered that compliance would be easier. That fighting would only cause pain.
Fuck that. I’d been fighting my whole life.
I concentrated on Annie. On her scent, the way her eyes crinkled when she laughed at my jokes. The way she recited regulations when she was nervous. The precise way she folded her clothes. How she looked sleeping beside me, finally at peace.
The pressure in my mind wavered, just slightly.
I seized that moment of weakness, pushing back with everything I had. My fingers twitched. Then my hand. Progress.
The voice in my head grew more insistent, but I focused on the sound of Annie’s sob. Something was wrong with her.
She needed me.
That thought shattered the hold on my mind. My body was mine again, the fog receding.
I spun around, gasping for breath, and froze at what I saw.
Blue energy danced just beneath Annie’s skin.
A chaotic force sparked through her veins, a visible manifestation of power casting a faint blue glow in the shadows of the rooftop.
She looked like a goddess descending to pass judgment on us all.
The sight of that lethal energy coursing through the woman I loved was terrifyingly beautiful.
But as the fog fully cleared from my thoughts, the reality of the situation crashed into me.
Annie was kneeling on the ground with her hands clamped over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes were wild with terror, pupils dilated to black pools. She was shaking violently, her entire body convulsing with sobs.
Havoc beside her, frantically working on her cuff. The power dampener that kept Halcyon’s stolen abilities locked away.
The cuff that was now completely dead.