Half Hero ⚡️ {Superhero Adventure Scifi}

Chapter 10: Collateral Damage

"The helicopter he was on, the crash in Syria, Ella," Rishi confessed like a desperate man about to hear his last rights. "It wasn't an accident."

"What?" I bleated.

"There isn't enough time to explain," he replied, ducking as more voices floated and bounced off the concrete walls.

"Now you don't think there's time to explain everything?" I complained. "Get down!"

Rishi dove to the floor and rolled under the streams of lightning I sent rocketing into the next wave of soldiers. The building groaned and rattled at the force of my squall. (Side note: Squall might make a cool code name if I live through this.)

"C'mon!" Rishi sprang up and kept going, sidestepping the bodies once again to climb through the next door in the wall. "We can take the stairs."

"What happened to my dad in Syria?" I yelled after him.

"I know someone who can help you, he's an old friend of your dad's," doctor Rishi went on. "You're going to need to find Christopher MaClaine."

"Why can't you help me?" I squawked as he threw himself at a grey metal door to thrust the handle down.

Rishi fell silent and I panicked that he'd already split.

"Because I'm already dead!" His voice echoed from the other side.

I followed just in time to see a chorus of boots slamming down the stairs.

"Move back!" I yelled at Rishi, who ducked down.

My next blast wasn't as powerful as my last. I was exhausting myself quickly. I needed to find another source of energy. The soldiers withered in agony and fell down the stairs while we stomped over skulls and limbs to clamor up.

"Rishi!" Hamm's voice bellowed from below.

"Holy fuck-a-moly!" I yelped. "Go! Go! Go!"

Rishi went as fast as he could and I shadowed his efforts to clear the stairs two-by-two. More boots thundered below us as Rishi shoved the latch to push through.

As soon as I passed the frame, I wheeled around to place my hand on the door's clasp. Blue sparks flared under my skin and pulsed through the steel to soften the ore, sealing it closed. Rishi's breath caught in his throat, watching me work.

"How did you do that?" He cried.

"You think I know?!" I shouted. "Keep going!"

We were in a low-lit white hall that looked uncannily like the Taiwan airport (save the blinking orange alarm swirling overhead.) Light gray doors broke up the monotony, but no windows. I couldn't tell if we were above ground or even close to the outside.

This time, I jogged ahead to rip the plate off of an exposed outlet near the carpeted floor. Woolen fibers scratched at my bare knees as I jerked the wires free of the plate. Rishi watched in rapt fascination as I brought them to my mouth.

"We've made so many mistakes," he shouted over the trivial wattage infusing with my bloodstream. "We were foolish to think we could control that which we don't fully understand! When you find MaClaine, you need-"

The door I'd sealed blasted outward spewing bits of shrapnel into the hallway.

Rishi's eyes widened and he dropped to his knees with a sickening crack of bone and cartilage. I released the live wires to lunge for him but fell short. Smoke wafted into the cramped hall and I reached up to fire a shot back.