The Metahuman Trials

Casualties of War

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The Cinema:

It was hard to make out amongst the choking clouds of grey dust and black smoke, but Harrison was sure that he could see a helicopter rotor embedded in the lobby's tile flooring.

Inches away from his head.

"Could have... sworn that a truck crashed into us. Not a goddamn helicopter." Harrison managed to mutter to himself as pushed himself onto his feet.

"Same here" A voice called out. It was the red-haired man, Fraser, that had spoken. Like Harrison the man had been thrown to the ground by the blast. The entire entrance to the cinema had collapsed in on itself with chunks of concrete and shattered tiles and glass piled in a unsteady heap. The crumpled fuselage of a dark painted helicopter was the only thing recognisable amongst the rubble.

Harrison couldn't see the body of the driver. That was probably for the best.

"Think the mind controller did that?" Another voice called out, this one female. The girl he'd fought with outside. What was her name again? Jess, thats right. She appeared to have dove behind the staff counter before the helicopter crashed. 

"Who the hell else could it have been?" Fraser shouted.

"Well I don't know!" Jess shouted back "For all we know one of the others has super strength or can snap their fingers and make helicopters fall from the sky. This is the trial! Us three and the mind controller aren't the only people fighting today!"

"Damn ok. Relax." The other man responded, both he and Jess moving to the centre of the room and closer to Harrison.

"You relax! I was almost just hit by a helicopter!"

Ironically enough, a helicopter crashing only metres away from them had actually broken the tension a bit, but now the three were all back on their feet and no-one had forgotten they were all supposed to be killing each other. Harrison could already feel the power coursing through his fingertips start to surge. All he would have to do was create any shape he wanted and change the flow of time within it. Harrison wasn't going to make the first move so it was a waiting game to see if either Jess or Fraser struck first.

Both were dangerous. Fraser had displayed an incredible amount of power outside with that building sized wall of fire and he was likely capable of much more than what Harrison had seen so far. 

Then there was the possibility that the woman, Jess, had nearly killed him once before. The sudden change he'd noticed earlier during his fight with her, where Jess had suddenly vanished into thin air and he'd turned to find her standing behind him with a bloodstained knife, made him come to the conclusion that Jess had mortal wounded him and he'd blinked himself backwards in time to survive.

 It was too similar to his time training his self rewinds back in Newfoundland to be chalked up as the woman's power messing with him again. 

He was definitely wary of the woman, but Harrison was almost certain that the power Jess possessed couldn't effect him if he didn't look at her. Which was easier said then done when she was trying to cut his face off with a knife. He would manage somehow.

He just needed to make sure he didn't look at her.

Jess cleared her throat, a sharp noise created with the intention to draw attention to herself, and acting on impulse Harrison looked away from Fraser and glanced her way. Before he could even stop himself it was too late.

Harrison was filled with rage. A dark, forceful anger overwhelming him in an instant. He didn't know why he felt the way he did, only that he wanted to run forwards and tear the throat out of the smug, blonde hair woman that had...