Velocity [Season II]

Chapter 104 - The Magnum War Part 4: Lighthouse

Romaine's POV

Seeing my cousins laying on the ground half dead with their bodies visibly singed, I immediately broke away from Kyle's supportive hold and ran over to assist them.

"Guys!" I panicked, "Donte, Shante, what happened?"

They were alive, but barely so; and unconscious at that. Scanning their bodies, they sustained what I could identify as third degree burns all over; though their arms were a completely different story. The skin one their arms were completely burned off, to the point where I could even see their bones and what appeared to be their muscles. I've never seen burns this bad, they might never even recover from this.

"Kyle, quick we need to-" Turning around in distress, my friend was nowhere to be seen

In that moment, I felt his presence touch my shoulder.

"This was just a one time thing." his voice faintly whispered, "Consider it a get out of jail free card. You're on your own for now, but I'll always be watching."

Though I couldn't see him, I could tell he was wearing his signature smile on his face.

Even though I'd already come to terms with his death, it felt as if I was losing him all over again.

"Soon you'll end up just like them!" spoke a voice from the sky

Turning my attention upwards, I realized it was the Hunter that they were put up against.

"So you did this." I gritted my teeth

"Who else?" He chuckled, "All will fall before the great Mortar."

Stifling my rage, I used Shiver Style to enhance my body by 1,000 and teleported behind him in the air.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing to my family?" I threatened, before elbowing him in the spine at full strength.

Mortar flew towards the ground faster than a bullet itself, slamming face first into the earth's crust. He's likely to have full paralysis after this, so he shouldn't be bothering us in the future.

Displacing myself out of the air and beside my cousins' bodies, I took them up and promptly brought them back to the lab. On my way there, I witnessed as the sky was lit up by a beacon of shimmering golden lightning.

Cassandra's POV

Chasing swiftly after my enemy speedster, I had to keep in mind his ability to gain power via prolonged use of his speed; meaning the longer this goes on, the lesser the chances of me beating him.

As we approached an intersection, I turned off the main route in an attempt to corner him. Finally managing to get him to stop and face me, I could tell that he'd already gathered enough energy to beat me. At this point engaging in hand-to-hand combat would be fruitless and only end in my defeat, though getting him to burn some of that excess energy was exactly what I needed.

Reinforcing my body with a lightning cloak, I charged towards Overdrive with fighting intent. During my training with Future Romaine, we didn't really go in depth with hand-to-hand combat, though with my Foresight I should be able to compensate for that.

Trading blows with the overzealous Overdrive, I dodged what was avoidable and parried what wasn't, taking any openings possible.

Realizing that his attacks were being read somehow, Overdrive amped up his energy output, quickly overpowering me. The longer the trade-off went on, the more energy he gained. It eventually got to the point where merely parrying his attack would cause me to sustain damage, and the difference in speed disabled me from dodging his attacks, even if I was able to predict them.

"How much longer do you think you can hold on?" He jested

"As long as I need to." I replied, being forced to break the encounter and dash backwards

"You're useless to your team if you can't do anything but run. You're supposed to be the brains of the operation aren't you?"

"I don't plan on running, even if the odds are stacked against me, I have people relying on me."

"And I'm not about to lose to some rookie speedster!" 

Overdrive charged towards me, flashing between positions. I only had enough time to put my hands up to block his attack, though once he threw his punch at me I was sent flying. 

Laying on the ground, his words started getting to me, causing me to realize that the only purpose I served was back at the lab. Why was I even given these powers then if all I'm meant to do is lab work. And this Foresight isn't really all that useful if all it can do is show me events that I'm unable to avoid.

It was then that the words of Future Romaine replayed through my mind.

"If you end up facing an opponent that's too overpowering for you, you're a smart girl, so I'm sure you'll think of something. But in the event that you don't, remember these words carefully: Your speed is unique, just like every other speedster, with your special brand of lightning, only the sky is the limit."

"There's nothing 'special' I can see with my lightning," I thought out loud ,"all that it does is create dust particles based whenever I run. How will that even help right now?"

Wait, dust particles. This could only be caused by constant discharge of electrons. If that's so then, I might just have an idea of how to stop this guy.

Getting up to my feet with a slight smirk, I took the initiative of starting the second round of the speedster chase, darting towards the outskirts of the city.

"Though there are many higher points in the city, I rather reduce the collateral damage and possible casualties I might cause."

A factor I certainly didn't expect was the fact that because Overdrive's stacked up on so much energy, the speed gap between up is even wider now; preventing me from maintaining the lead for long.

"It's no use trying to outrun me, Princess." He mocked, "You should've stayed cooped up in your lab." 

In a mere few seconds Overdrive had caught up to me, having me within an arm's reach.

Trying to bide my time and attempt to lose him temporarily, I detoured from the current route to the pier. This would actually turn out to benefit me since the lighthouse there was one of the highest points in the city.

As we prolonged the chase, I did my very best with each step, trying to pull even an inch further ahead of him. By the time we had reached the base of the lighthouse, all the energy I've been storing up was starting to erratically discharge. 

It felt as if time started to stagger as we ascended up the side of the lighthouse. Though it didn't seem like it, I knew that many were depending on me to take him out. And for me, this would prove that I have a place fighting in the field.

"You're wrong about me." I sated, "I'm not just some lab rat. I'm a beacon of hope; and not just that."

Jumping off the summit of the lighthouse and turning to Overdrive, I discharged all my available energy, striking him with my fist.

"I'M A LIGHTHOUSE!"

Just as planned, the discharged energy produced a physical reaction, creating a massive column of golden lightning, stretching from the upper limits of the skies and going directly to the ground below; with me as the conduit. 

Not only was Overdrive overpowered by the column of lightning, but his face was also serrated by my fistful of lightning; launching him into the ground at high speeds.