Avalanche: New Haven

XIX. Fire on Ice

Kai and Hunter stood and waited on the sidewalk outside a small house sandwiched between two bigger buildings. They could hear the voices of Bushida and Ryū inside, explaining the situation.

Kai groaned, unzipping his coat ever so slightly.
"I hate wearing this thing," he grumbled.
Hunter didn't reply, he just leaned against the wall of the neighboring building, arms crossed.
Kai looked back at him, then looked to the ground. He opened his mouth, as if he had something else to say. Nothing came out, however.

His face turned to an uncomfortable expression and he looked in the opposite direction. Sighing, he went over to the same wall Hunter leaned on and took off his hood, brushing his hair back with his hand.
Pulling out his phone, he scrolled through the text messages he got, only to see nothing from Dai.
"Your bro finally send us something else or is it still nothing?" Hunter asked, in a frustrated tone.
Kai exhaled sharply, "No."
He pocketed his phone, and the two stood in silence once again.

Kai looked down the street, looking at the people walking on the opposite sidewalk. He noticed how a few of them were looking over their shoulder.
Upon noticing that, he then noticed something else. All the people that were looking over their shoulder were looking in the same direction.
Kai peered further down the street, and his eyes widened.

A team of five Bàs Fuar warriors skated around the corner on ice paths, zooming down the street, straight towards himself and Hunter.
"Grab on," Kai said, clutching Hunter's coat sleeve.
"What?" Hunter started, but it was too late. Fire ignited underneath Kai's feet and lifted him in the air. He then grabbed Hunter's arms and carried him upwards with him.
They flew down the street in the opposite direction, the warriors giving chase.
"What the hell?!?" Hunter screeched as he felt his lower body flailing.
"They've come for us," Kai said, "I know it."
"Probably because you took your stupid hood off!" Hunter shouted.
"Not now!" Kai retorted, as he noticed an ice beam being fired next to him.

The warriors had started ice beams at them as they skated along.
Kai turned another corner, zooming over a group of children.
He looked around, and saw a wide alleyway coming up on the side.
"I'll drop you here as a place to hide! I'll guide them away!" he said.
"What?!" Hunter shouted again.
Kai then zoomed into the alleyway, dropped Hunter off behind the dumpster found in said alleyway, then zoomed back up and out.
Hunter watched him go, and watched as the warriors raced past, not a single one stopping to investigate the alley.
Hunter blinked, then hurried out of the alley and looked to see the warriors take a turn down another street.

Hunter's face turned pensive, as he stepped back into the alleyway, and ran off to get back to Ryū.

Meanwhile, Kai kept leading the warriors down various streets, dodging their ice beams to the best of his ability.
He then turned another corner, only to see the street led into a dead end. It was too late to stop, so Kai smacked into the building at the end of the road.
He made a hole in the wall, half of his body lying inside the building. He stayed there, groaning in pain, rubbing his head. Upon getting a view of the inside, the building seemed abandoned. Bits of the wallpaper were torn and missing, no furniture, dust everywhere.

Kai didn't have long to think about it, or even regain his bearings, for he felt something icy wrap around his ankle, and yanked him out of his hole in the wall.

He found himself falling, but he used flames under his feet to catch himself midair. An ice chain was clasped to his ankle, and the warriors holding it was trying to pull him down.
Kai flew upward, fighting against their pull. The two sides were in a brief tug-of-war like struggle, until Kai finally threw fireballs down.
Two other warriors raised ice walls, the fireballs hitting them and melting part of them away.
Kai still tried flying upward when an idea came to him.
He then flew downward, grabbed the chain and heated up his fist.
The chain melted apart and he slammed into the warriors, knocking three of them onto their backs.

Kai kept flying, trying to get away, only for an ice beam to hit him from behind. His entire body except for his head was frozen solid. The ice extinguished his flames and he fell onto the asphalt of the road, the ice shattering on impact.
Kai rolled and tumbled over, groaning in pain as he came to a stop.
He got on all fours, looking up to see the warriors had surrounded him in the middle of the street.
Taking deep breaths, he thought of many possible ways to escape, until finally, he just sat up, extended his arms, and blasted big bursts of fire from his fists. He got up and began spinning around as the warriors formed ice walls to protect themselves. The flames caused them to melt on impact, but the melted parts were reformed almost as soon as they happened, for the warriors continued feeding them energy.

Kai then flew upwards yet again, aiming to get as high up as possible. He didn't last long, though, for he felt more ice on both his ankles now. Looking down, he saw that all five warriors together were forming a massive ice weight on his feet, resembling a large anchor with a small chain.
His flames were extinguished once again on his feet, and he found himself being pulled down by the anchor.
He threw fireballs at the anchor as he fell, though because he was frantic, most of them missed. The anchor landed on the asphalt, shattering with a crash. Kai fell on the asphalt with it, briefly knocked out.

Using the opportunity, one of the warriors pulled out a GR collar, and clasped it around his neck.
Kai came to a short moment later, and shook the warrior off of him. With a desperate yell, he thrusted an arm forward, sprinkles of fire coming to life.
They disappeared as Kai felt a sharp pain in his neck, dropping to his knees. He clasped at it, feeling the metal collar.
"What... is this...?" he asked, exasperated.
One warrior then grabbed his arms and froze them behind him.
Another froze an ice slab over his mouth.
A third pulled out a cellular phone, and made a call as the others escorted Kai away. As they did, Kai looked closely at them, still bewildered. His eyes widened as a horrifying realization hit him.

He realized these were the same warriors they fought in the police station.
And they had captured him.

"Captain Nylas," the one with the phone said, "We got the fire Gifted."