Bring The Heat

59. Awakening (CB ARC 8)

Mariah recoiled heavily, watching as Cece was whisked away down the hallway by the man in the jumpsuit. Her terrified eyes looked up to the hatch, which had now swung closed. That was her way out, and it was gone!

And now, behind her, those footsteps, clacking against the floor in a casual gait, not rushing despite the obvious commotion, like they knew, they
just knew, that no matter how the dice were rolled, how the cards fell, that they would eventually catch up to their prey.

Mariah stumbled into the middle of the large room, and slid under one of the undoubtedly hundreds of desks just as the footsteps entered the room.

-(COREY)-

Corey looked around the dark, musty room, examining every detail slowly. He had a photographic memory, and just liked to observe.

But this time, he actually did notice something. Now, from what he had heard from down the hall, it was obvious that the hatch was opened, Vertigo had come through, and attacked someone on the other side, heading down the hallway on the other side of the room. This much was obvious, judging by the row of desks pulled ever so slightly towards the path he had taken with those disastrous wind tunnels of his.

The confusion and chaos caused by those damned tunnels was yet again working against Corey, as now papers and small objects littered the floor around his path, having been thrown in the air, but... maybe it wasn't all too bad, the effects of these wind tunnels; upon closer observation, some of the nearby debris seemed to be scattered a little further than the others, heading deeper into the room. Corey's ability sucked things towards his wind tunnels, but these were pushed away. Perhaps... by somebody disturbing them, dragging them along the ground with their feet? A second target?

Corey meandered smugly towards the back of the room. He could feel it now - the presence of fear in the room with him, that deep correctness in his brain. Yes, he was so correct, so right, so incredibly intelligent! This runt surely stood no chance! He would find them, and ki-

His train of thought was interrupted as he passed a desk, and a teenage girl jumped out from underneath, stabbing him in the shoulder with a pen.

"OW! STUPID BITCH!" he exclaimed, recoiling in pain.

The first person to ever draw blood on him was... a teenage girl? No... no! It was a cheap shot! He'd show her!

Mariah shoved Corey aside, trying to escape just past him, but he grabbed her hair roughly, and dragged her back to him. She screeched, and smacked at his arms, but her blows didn't land - his arms were dematerialized, and she was being dragged back in by disembodied hands.

Flowing with adrenaline, Mariah spun around fully and threw a punch and Corey's face, but his head receded into nothingness, right down to his neck. Her attack missed, only for Corey's head to rematerialize around Mariah's arm!

She pulled as hard as she could, but couldn't get away.

"Not so fast, brat! You-"

Once again, Corey's superiority complex and extensive trains of thought as a result were his downfall, as he was suddenly taken aback by Mariah spitting on his mask's visor. Being a sister to an annoying younger brother, Mariah had learned some dirty tricks!

Corey quickly released her to wipe it off with his sleeve, disgusted. Mariah was almost disturbed by how vain and childish he seemed, acting like it was the most disgusting thing in the world to be spit on by her. Actually, she took offense to it! Surely, someone out there would be into that. Those people, they were her true allies!

Still, she was mid-battle, so Mariah turned to run, before realizing that there was no chance of her even getting out of this room without this guy catching up to her. She got a sinking feeling he wouldn't pursue with that casual pace anymore...

Thinking quickly, she grabbed a nearby desk, flicking it's wheels from their wells with the tips of her shoes, and began to charge Corey with it. But as she did, he looked up, and... stayed completely still? What could he possibly be trying?

But there was no point in thinking about that! The table collided heavily with Corey, and... slid right through him, due to him dematerializing his lower half! As the desk continued to fly forward, Mariah was clotheslined by Corey's upper half, and fell heavily to the ground.

He rematerialized his legs, and put a heel down roughly on her chest as Mariah lay dazed on the ground.

"Show's over, brat. Enough!" he jeered, pulling a large knife from his belt, and preparing to plunge it down onto her. At the last moment, Mariah flung her hand up to protect her face...

All went silent for a second or two, and nothing happened. Mariah's eyes were screwed shut in fear, but then she heard a heavy thud, and opened them to see what the noise's origin was.

In front of her, Corey now lay stiff, frozen, like a statue! He had toppled over, but... how was he frozen?

Whatever had happened, Mariah didn't care! She had been presented with opportunity, and fully intended to use it to get the hell out of here!

Jumping to her feet, Mariah scurried out of the large room and ran as far down the hallways as she could, searching for somewhere to hole up until this whole thing blew over.

-(2 HOURS LATER)-

"Corey! Get the fuck up, lazy bastard!"

Corey was awoken by some faint, belligerent insults and heavy smacks to the side of the face from Vertigo. As he rose, he shoved Vertigo away, disgruntled.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to get you up?"

"The target... did you kill it?"

"I... I lost her. We're... I'm really messing this up." Vertigo explained, sighing, "What the hell happened to you?"

Corey stood up, brushing himself off.

"There's another one." he replied bluntly. His ego was slandered, after all.

"What? A new one!?" Vertigo inquired.

"No... the powerless one. But she's not- she's not powerless. This wasn't in the damned files, Vertigo!"