Avalanche: New Haven

XXIII. Fight For Your Lives

Jace teleported to the upper floor, looking around in the hall only to find Lena lying next to the hole in the floor.
"Lena!" he shouted, and raced to her side, helping her sit up, "Are you okay?"
Lena groaned, feeling the spot on her lower torso where the pillar rammed up into her.
"Okay enough, considering," she grumbled, "тупой..."
Jace helped her stand back up.
"Ugh, this hoodie," she grumbled as she pulled off Dai's hoodie and tied it around her waist.
Jace then looked down the hall as numerous footsteps caught his attention.
Numerous Bàs Fuar warriors ran around the corner and charged towards them, forming ice weapons in their hands.
Lena rested a hand on Jace's shoulder comfortingly, "Can you handle this?"
Jace gulped, before giving a determined expression.

"I am not letting another one of those collars around my neck."

❄️

Kai carefully sneaked up behind the guard from within his cell, his hand gently reaching for the keyring hanging off of his belt.
He grabbed the bunch of keys, and carefully lifted it off its hoist as the guard in question began to doze leaning against the bars.
Kai rolled his eyes as he managed to successfully pull the keyring off his belt. He then tip-toed over to the door and was about to start trying keys on the lock, when a loud explosion from above rocked the detention block, causing dust and rubble to fall from the ceiling.
The guard, Francis, snapped back into reality.
"Huh?!" he looked up, "The hell?"
Kai quickly hid the keys behind his back, just as the guard looked in on him.
He grunted in annoyance, "Stay there."
"Wow. What a great command. Not like I can go anywhere," Kai retorted sarcastically.
Rolling his eyes, the guard hurried over to the stairwell, the door slamming shut behind him.

Kai pulled the keys back out once he was gone.
"That was easy," he said, just as another explosion from above rocked the block again. He peered up at the ceiling, dumbfounded.

"The hell is going on up there?"

❄️

The guard, Francis, joined his other comrades outside the police station, two exploded police cars in flaming pieces before them.
On the other side of the cars, was Ryū. Behind him was Hunter, Luke, Aria, Bushida, and the former non-ice Gifted cops.

Nylas Leroy then weaved between the group of his own personnel and stood in front of them, facing the resistance.
"Growing ever more defiant, aren't we, Bushida-sama?" he mocked.
"This is your last warning, Leroy," Bushida said, stepping forward, "Leave Nagahama, and never return."
"Why leave when we have control of the entire city?! And not even the country knows it?!!" Nylas laughed, "Even with your pathetic excuse of an army, you are in no position to make demands, old man."

Bushida's brow furrowed as Nylas' underlings stepped forward, icy energy emitting from their hands.
The tense standoff stood in silence for a moment.
"We know you have the fire Gifted boy," Ryū said, "Release him."
"Is he what this is about?" Nylas asked.
"No," Ryū answered, "But it would be nice if you would spare him."
"He's a criminal," Nylas huffed, "Besides, my father has plans for him. And the Master of the Bàs Fuar is never denied."
Aria then stepped forward, after taking a deep breath.
"He is today," she said.
Luke looked at her, an expression of both surprise and pride on his face.
Hunter rolled his eyes, "Did she seriously just say that?"

Nylas chuckled, "Is that so? A little insignificant water girl tells me what is and isn't available to my father today?"
"That water girl has powerful Gifted on her side," Luke said, also stepping forward.
Nylas gave a look of mild disgust, "Wonderful."
He then looked to his personnel, "Kill them already."

The ice warriors were about to attack when two fireballs hit two of them from behind.
"What?!" Nylas shrieked.

Kai stepped slowly out of the police station, holding the unlocked collar in his hands.
"You guys really need to up your security," he smiled, "Stealing the keyring and then finding you keep all the collar shit in the supply closet on the same floor? Wayyyyyyy too easy."
Luke and Aria smiled and cheered, while Ryū just nodded approvingly.

Kai then forcibly threw the collar onto the ground, it breaking in half and shorting out once it did.
"Now," Kai said, forming two fireballs in his hands, a confident smirk on his face, "Who's ready to rumble?"

❄️

Two warriors brought their swords down on Lena, who blocked them with her own.
She ice beamed one and froze him solid, twirling around and disarming the other before giving her a swift kick in the ribs.

Jace, meanwhile, kept launching a barrage of lightning, forcing many of the warriors to take cover behind ice walls.
"Keep it up, Jace!" Lena shouted, then ran forward.
She ran around one of the walls and swiftly kicked the warrior hiding behind it in the chin, forcing her to the ground.
She then dissipated her swords and shoved one of her massive tidal waves forward at the two in front of her.
Given their limited surroundings, the wave easily swept them away and slammed them into the wall, hard enough to make cracks in the wall itself.

Jace stopped his barrage when he saw, looking in awe.
Once the wave dissipated, he looked over to the ginger girl, the hoodie wrapped around her waist and her hair all messy.
"You're amazing," he uttered.
Lena looked over at him upon hearing this, both immediately becoming red-faced.

One warrior jumped out behind Lena, an ice knife in her hand. Acting quickly, Jace zapped her with a quick bolt of lightning from his fingertip.
She yelped as it hit her face, making her fall back onto the floor.
Lena turned around and ice beamed her, freezing her over solid.
Three more warriors came running down the hall as the ice walls around Lena dissipated.
Lena formed water spears in the air around her, froze them solid with ice, and threw them.
The three stopped and formed an ice wall, the ice spears impaling it, the tips popping through the other side.
All three gasped, and took a collective sigh of relief.

Jace and Lena then rushed them from either side of the ice wall. Lena shot barrages of water from her palms while Jace fired a barrage of lightning.
The water plus the electricity made all three scream in pain as they were violently electrocuted.
They stopped after a few seconds, all three warriors collapsing on the floor, smoking.

Lena and Jace took a minute to catch their breath, coming down from the adrenaline. Jace then rushed down and put two fingers to one of the warrior's necks.
"Pulse is still there," he sighed with relief.
"They probably would have only died if they were Giftless," Lena said, "Besides, they would have tried to kill us-"
"It matters to me," Jace snapped, looking back at her with a grim expression.
Lena flinched, not expecting his change of tone.
"I... I didn't mean to say I was okay with killing them, Jace," she said, choosing her words carefully, "...I was saying it was a good maneuver since they were trying to kill us."
Jace looked down at the K.O.ed trio of warriors, before breathing a sigh.
"Right," he said, "We should get back downstairs."
Lena nodded in agreement, hugging her arm solemnly.