Indigo's Owl [Indigo Rewrite]

Chapter 22 - Far Too Familiar

Athira felt the presence to her left a moment before she allowed him to grab her by the wrist and twist her against the wall.

"I thought you were supposed to be helping your Orange with evac, Keeper." The Red, if she recognised his voice correctly underneath that grey mask. "Take a wrong turn?"

Athira glanced over his familiar hold — the same, Zaqarin style she'd been taught so many years ago. Interesting. "Wrong turn? What, you didn't see the signs around the station?"

Red's voice was just confused enough to make her feel sorry for him. "Signs?"

"The signs that say no littering," said Athira. She turned her head back towards his masked face and smirked. "I'm just here to pick up the trash."

Red was not amused by that comment. He attempted to proceed with the next step of the hold he had on her where you kicked your captive in the side of the knee and more or less incapacitated them.

Unfortunately for him, the hold hadn't been designed with flight in mind. The instant Red's foot came off the ground, Athira pushed herself upwards into the air. He held on and came with her, his head slamming into the ceiling as she slipped through it.

"Kione, the Sleeper's coming up the stairs. Evacuate the paramedics and anyone else who's still conscious up there."

"Copy."

Athira dropped out of the roof a few metres behind the tall Blue and the potential Purple. In a regular fight, neither would have posed an issue for her, but with the Sleeper nearby and a Purple with an unknown ability, she wasn't taking risks.

She popped a set of binders into shape and had them on the potential Purple's wrists before he'd realised she was there. A quick kick to the back of the knees sent him tumbling forward, hands bound behind his back, and with a second set of binders already in her hand, Athira set her sights on the Blue.

She had one of the Blue's wrists in the binders when a thick piece of Red, shaped out of the air between them and rapidly expanding, shoving her backwards into the air.

"We weren't done yet," said the Red, striding towards her with a dull, Red aura flickering around his hand. It was rare for a Red to be able to shape something without touching it — even more interesting.

"Of course not," said Athira, boots touching the ground. "I was just making sure your friends here respected our one-on-one." She tapped another set of binders on her belt. "Unless of course, you think you could beat me with one hand tied behind your back?"

"I'd rather not embarrass you."

Athira snorted. "You wouldn't."

Predictably, the Red charged her. Somewhat less predictably, he also shaped a Red arch around her ankles at the same time — thin enough to trap her feet, but wide enough that she didn't feel it until she attempted to step backwards and tripped.

Athira ducked under his punch as the internal Black caught her fall. Ankles still locked in place, she planted her feet, dodging the next three strikes before retaliating with one of her own aimed at his abdomen. Her fist connected. Red stumbled back, and Athira quickly followed it up by looping a thin tendril of Black around his wrist to complete his fall.

It bought her a few seconds to deal with the Red trapping her feet, attempting to break it with no success. If she phased through it, it'd dissolve the Red — something the Owl was known for — so that was off the table, but perhaps she could make it look like she'd broken it.

As the Red got to his feet, Athira sliced Black through the shaped Red around her feet, dissolving a knife-thin layer through it. The shaped Red split in half as she stepped free, appearing to have simply been cut in half.