Swallowed in Flame

Chapter 8

Dad and Rhodey's faceplates drop and the drones start firing at us. Ok Hailey, think. If I make a ball of fire around me I will be guarded right? Yeah. Sure. Maybe?

I make my ball of fire around me as a shield but make it so I can see through it. I take down as many drones as I can with my awesome fire powers. I am now really liking this ability. Dad and Rhodey also take out a bunch of drones. Firing their different weapons and kicking ass. I think I look way cooler but whatever. 

Dad takes down three drones with one shot. "See that?" dad asks Rhodey. "Yeah, yeah. Nice," Rhodey responds. "You guys are lame," I shout at them. "Why?" Rhodey asks still fighting. "Uh because I can do this," I say and then blow up 10 drones without touching any of them. Dad laughs and says, "All right. You are the cooler one and we're lame." 

After a little longer of fire dad says, "Rhodey? Hailey? Get down." I don't move since I have my cool fire shield. But Rhodey ducks as dad sends lasers all around him in a spinning motion. Dad and Rhodey both sit there for a second before Rhodey says, "Wow. I think you should lead with that next time." "Yeah. Sorry boss. I can only use it once. It's a one-off," dad explains. I snort. They both look over to me. I had put down my shield thing. "What?" dad asks. "Uh you guys are really lame," I say again. "Yeah we get that," dad says. "Like really lame," I emphasize "Like I didn't even need to duck for the laser thing because I can make a shield out of my fire. So you are lame."

I hear Natasha warn Rhodey and dad of another drone. There shouldn't be anymore drones. A big suit of armor lands behind me. I turn around to see Ivan. I back up to where I was next to dad. Fear over takes my body. Why hadn't I been afraid before? I don't know. Probably because I'm super badass but wasn't thinking. "Good to be back," Ivan says. 

"This ain't gonna be good," Rhodey says and Ivan turns his whips on,  "I got something special for this guy. I'm gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife." "With the what?" dad asks. A small compartment pops out of Rhodey's suit and there is a whirring sound. The rocket gets ready to fire then does. It bounces off of Ivan's suit and lands in the river fizzing out. "Hammer tech?" dad asks. "Yeah," Rhodey says. "I got this," dad says proudly. A bunch of missiles come out of dad's suit and fire at Ivan. They do nothing against his armor. I swallow the lump in my throat and hold back tears. Yep this is fear. Definite and utter fear. Ivan rotates his whips and whips one straight between Dad, Rhodey and I. 

Dad grabs me and pulls us to the side. I see Rhodey fire at Ivan but the gun gets whipped off. "Um Hailey? I need you to do something cool that would be really helpful," dad tells me urgently. I look down at my hands and try to start some sort of flame but I can't. My body won't do it. I can't do it. "I can't- I can't- I-I I don't know," I stutter out holding back sobs. Dad takes one look at my face and tells me, "Go hide behind that rock and stay there until it's safe." I nod my head and do as he told me to. I sit there and take in deep gulps of air to try and calm myself down. I just get more panicked with every breath that I take. 

I hear dad get slammed against a rock. I hear clunking and grunts from both dad and Rhodey. Get a hold of your emotions Hailey. Just breath. Your fine. But I'm not fine. I'm going to die.

"Rhodes. I got an idea. You want to be a hero?" dad asks. "What?" Rhodey asks in confusion. "I could really use a sidekick. Put your hand up," dad says. Oh he's doing the whole explosion thing. I take another deep breath and put my head in between my knees. "This is your idea?" Rhodey asks. "Yep," dad responds. "I'm ready. I'm ready. Go, go, go!" Rhodey exclaims. 

I hear the repulsors start up and I can see a glowing light in the corner of my eye. Then there's a defining explosion and all I can see is white for a minute. Thank goodness I was behind this small rock. I stand up after hearing dad and Rhodey get up. I limp over to stand next to Rhodey. How I hurt my leg? I don't know but I dop know it hurts like hell. "You lose," Ivan spits out in his last dying breath. A red light starts beeping on the reactor of his suit along with the rest of the drones.