Spectrum ⇒ Avengers [ 1 ]

Twelve Seconds

One-

I'm well aware it takes the average person about 34 seconds to run a hundred metres, but this is not a hundred metres, this is ten, or less, at least. Ten metres and a rapidly descending gate, a whole legion of soldiers rushing at me and an alien weapon in my hands.

My life is really, really weird.

I swing the sceptre like a baseball bat, hitting the first man to reach me in the head with a hideous crunch. The others fan out, their guns raising, faces concealed by balaclavas and helmets as I whirl the sceptre back into my hands, holding it braced like I would with my staff.

Two, three, four-
Shit. Okay, okay, think-

I look down at the glowing gem and point it forward, feeling the metal begin to shake under my fingers as the gate behind the soldiers continues it's decline, the orange-coloured sirens flashing over the vivid blue hum of the sceptre. Feeling the power in my hands grow, I take a panicked breath and run as fast as I can towards the soldiers-

Five, six, seven-

The staff explodes in blinding light, a pulse of blue shooting into the centre of the group and causing a miniature explosion so powerful that the room shakes. I stumble and slide across the floor, swinging it with as much strength as I can, ejecting another pulse of energy- I don't know what it is- and knocking several people into the wall.

Eight, nine, ten-

I scramble past the guards and throw myself towards the gate, letting my body drop to the floor in an attempt to scramble under the rapidly-closing metal wall, the sceptre trailing behind me. As I manage to get to the other side, though, someone seizes the other end of the staff, gripping onto the gold. I whip my head back, staring under the closing gate, to see one of the soldiers has grabbed onto the end of the sceptre. But before I do anything, before I can even try to pull it out of his hands, the blue gem at the end of it pulsates with light, catching him in the chest and sending him flying back. I pull the staff away just as the gate slides shut.

Eleven, twelve.

I sit against the newly-formed wall, panting. My wound is aching again and my arms feel like they're filled with lead, but I'm in awe of the weapon I'm holding in my hands. It's still glowing with an unearthly power that fascinates me, and my fingers go to close around the gem, the magnetism between it and my hand electric.

"Freeze!" My head snaps up, and I groan. More soldiers? How many soldiers can one person control- does she have her own army, or something? "Drop the sceptre, now!"
I heave myself to my feet to the dark blue clicking of guns and sigh, going into a defensive crouch, the staff extended. Alright. Pretend you're Black Widow.
"Come and get it, fucker."

Instead of charging, however, their guns explode in stabbing sharp bright, orange and yellow, and I have to dive to my left to avoid the shower of darts that indent the gate behind me. They don't look lethal, but I know I can't let any of them hit me. Undoubtably it's some kind of tranquilliser. I am not an animal.

The sceptre starts glowing again, and I can only turn my head as it explodes in a flash that looks like a blue dome, a mushroom cloud of some sort of alien weaponry. I really need to work how to control this thing. Even the slightest touch or movement makes it shoot a violent burst of blue light, which isn't exactly a bad thing, but it ricochets so much that it's as likely to hit me as it is the soldiers.

I manage to get a steady grip on the damn thing and thrust it forward, sending another jet of blue light that hits someone in their chest. Unfortunately, it doesn't hit his friend, who charges at me. I lift the sceptre with a squeak, praying for it to shoot another bolt, but it doesn't. Instead, he runs straight into the tip, and freezes.