Ablaze {Marvel} ||2||

28. "One Last Time."

At least Kasey hadn't exploded like Ethan had when the bullets had gone into her.

I rose on shaking legs, seeing two red spots in her chest. Another was in the square of her forehead, weeping blood. Hope she doesn't detonate here.

Peering over the wall of the highway that separated it from the Pentagon, the fires seemed to lessen. The gunfire sounded less frequent. Things were ending on that front.

Focusing more on what was close, I saw Todd leaning against the barrier of the highway, eyes unfocused from the shock. My mouth parted.

He'd shot Kasey Clark.

I hunched over at feeling the burning in my chest grow. It didn't work. It only gave me an extra month or two. I'm still going to die. I bit down on my fist, eyes bugging at seeing it start to glow.

I could feel it taking over, my power. The heat spread through my veins, faintly burning me from the inside. It was only a matter of time before I would burst into flames.

"Kiara."

I tried to scurry away from Steve, as he was gingerly making his way to me, but the pain kept me rooted where I crouched. "Stay away from me!" I bellowed, hating to be shrill with him. "I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't, Kiara, I know it." He took a few steps closer to me. I shrunk away from him. "Don't make this difficult."

"If I explode, you'll die too. I can't let that happen." As Steve came closer, I retreated. The pain was barely tolerable, but tolerable enough to where I could stand on my own two feet and stumble away. I refused to take Steve with me. This was my condition, and nobody aside from me was to be taken by it.

Right now, he was the only one in danger. The people hiding in and behind their vehicles, all they would feel was the heat. All they would witness was a superhero dying at the hands of her own power.

"You can control it," Steve insisted gently.

"Have you not been paying attention?!" I screeched at him. I tried to pull my arms out of his grip once he got a hold of me. "Let me go, you idiot! You're making a mistake!"

"I know what I'm doing. You need to listen to me, Kiara."

"You've got it backwards; you need to listen to me." I tried to shove him away. "I'm going to die. I'm not letting you go with me!"

"Look at me."

My eyes flew up to Steve's face. I could see it on him, the determination to help me, the stubbornness to not leave my side. Gods, he was an idiot.

"You can control it." He flinched as he grabbed my face in his hands. "You need to relax, Kiara. Focus on my voice, look at me."

I screamed as the burning grew more intense. Relax, he says. I'd like to see him fight this. I wanted to cave in to the pain, but I stood my ground. If Steve wasn't willing to run off, I was going to stick it out with him and try to control the pain and the power before it overwhelmed me.

For his sake, and mine, I pulled away from Steve, shaking my head vehemently. He needed to get the message in his thick skull that he was being stupid and risking early death. It would be better if he was taking cover with the civilians, where he would be safe.

"Kiara!" I saw Todd leap onto the pavement.

"Not you too!" I snapped.

"No, listen! If you can subdue this long enough, we can get the answers out of Seth that we need!"