Atomic: Rebooted

63. Burn

MIRA

I ducked under the arc of Black Phoenix's fireball and took a general swing, hoping to hit any of the three villains. They all scattered back, Dr. Electra moving to protect her machine.

Black Phoenix tilted her head, this way and that. "Fine. We do this the hard way, then."

Her hands erupted into flames as she ran at me, the fire dancing around her arms like bracelets.

I ducked and dodged, skirting back as I tried to formulate a plan, to figure out what to do now that the element of surprise had been lost.

My friends would make it to the elevator soon enough, and they needed me to distract Titanio at the very least.

But if I could take him out of commission, that would be better. . .

I stopped, close to the edge of the rooftop—I'd let Black Phoenix back me up a little too far. I saw her charging at me, my pulse thundering in my chest as I tightened my grip on the baseball bat. Then I stepped out of the way, letting her plummet towards the cop cars surrounding the building. Gunshots rang out—but they didn't hit Black Phoenix, as I realized when I looked over the edge.

No, she had used the propulsion of her fire to fly and was heading right back up.

"Oh, come on," I muttered, backing away as Black Phoenix shot up over the rooftop.

This was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

I dodged fireballs raining from around me as I made my way to Titanio, only to end up flung to the ground by a red energy blast.

"That's got a kick," I muttered as I got back up and scrambled to grab my baseball bat.

Sure, I'd learned to fight without weapons. But if there was one thing I'd learned from that first fight with Glitch and Dr. Electra's minions down in her lair, it was that weapons were the greatest equalizers.

My fingers closed around the bat as Black Phoenix descended gracefully onto the rooftop.

I glanced between her and Titanio—Black Phoenix wasn't the one who could stop my friends from coming if he really wanted to, with those red energy things.

Besides, maybe if I had him distracted, maybe he wouldn't turn off my friends' powers..

I did a feint like I was about to go for Black Phoenix, but whirled around and swung at Titanio. He raised his hands to his face and the bat collided with his shoulder—

Only for it to bounce off harmlessly, like it was a pillow.

I realized with sickening dread that I had no idea what I was dealing with, when it came to Dark Titan's son. Whatever his second and/or third sets really were, I couldn't hope to win against him.

Not without my powers, at least.

That was the only thing that could even the playing field.

But I couldn't even begin to ponder the full power wielded by this teen villain wannabe.

I turned just in time and brought my bat with me, landing a hit right in Black Phoenix's abdomen.

She went flying back, hitting the ground with a thud. The fireball she'd been aiming for me sailed harmlessly over my shoulder, colliding with Titanio.

For a few seconds, I smelled smoke and burning flesh and I was brought back to the Winter Festival.

Titanio hissed distorted curses as the fire just stopped.