Rage and Ruin | 2

5 | 9

J A K E

      It all went to shit as soon as Benny broke away from the group and ran like mad toward Delphinium and Gigi. I saw the latter being forced into the blades of a helicopter that the assassin was controlling. Gigi was about to lose her head. The thought almost made me smile.

      I abandoned the others—Kane and Jaxon were brawling on the ground as Arlo screamed at Riley. Finn fought the Imperium agent that Benny brought, his fire creating a haze of smoke and ashes.

Benny was too close to her now. She had to kill Gigi, had to get rid of this threat. I shot an icicle toward Kane's brother and watched it sail through his abdomen. Unfortunately, he'd already reached her. Then Delphinium's attention was turned away from Gigi and her control over the helicopter was lost.

Gigi hurled herself out of the way as the helicopter blades touched the ground and sent itself flying. Pieces of the blades, glass and metal went everywhere. It was quiet and the dust had begun to settle before the entire wreckage exploded. Smoke engulfed all four of us.

      When it cleared, Gigi was beginning to get back on her feet. She didn't look good; the assassin had her bleeding from several different lacerations. A large gash on her back told me that perhaps Tesla had pushed her far enough to clip the blades of the helicopter.

      "You..." she gasped, seemingly at a loss of words for the assassin, "You bitch. You almost beheaded me."

      "Did you expect me to stand here politely while you slowly turned me to a corpse?" Her words were sharp, but she then let out a muted scream and clawed at her body. I had no idea what exactly Gigi was doing to her, but it clearly was painful. A smug Benny watched on as Gigi sated her desire for revenge. Despite Gigi healing the injury I'd given him, he still moved with a slight stiffness.

      His dark eyes met mine. "You see, Evans? You'll never win." He was wrong; I'd always come out on top. They simply hadn't gotten it through those thick skulls of theirs yet.

A deep rumbling came from within the earth. Tesla was moving something great with her power. Cracks in the asphalt spiderwebbed outward from where she knelt on the ground.

My attention switched back on her opponent. Gigi was so solely focused on the assassin that I wondered if she even remembered the rest of us existed.

I lunged for Gigi. Dodging two bullets shot by Benny in an attempt to stop me, I found myself right at the side of our former healer. There was no hesitation on my part when I dragged the broken blade in my hand across Gigi's throat.

As she dropped to my feet, I gave Tesla a look. "I told you I'd have your back." The words came out sharp and mocking. I didn't spare Gigi a glance.

She didn't even glance up at me. Both she and Benny stared down at Gigi, crumpled in an odd position on the ground. I thought she was dead. Any wound like that would have cut both arteries.

But there wasn't enough blood. The slice on her neck was getting smaller, closing up.

"Oh, Evans," Benny chided, looking very pleased. "All you've done is make her more angry."

Out of nowhere, the broken, bleeding hand raised off the concrete and grabbed my leg. I kicked her off, still not quite sure how this could be possible. She had to be very powerful to survive a wound like that, especially since she already had so many others.

Gigi sat hunched over like some sort of inhuman creature, her long braids falling wildly all over her face. When she finally raised her head, the wound on her throat was visible, not closed, just slightly healed. She wouldn't die from it immediately, but it was taking a visible toll on her.