Revolt: New Haven

XXII. Family Matter

Kendra took two steps forward, glaring at her son standing before her. Max glared back at her, his fans shaking slightly in his trembling hands.
"Maxwell-" she started.
"It's Max!" Max interrupted, his voice somewhat trembling, "You're insane! Can't you see what you're doing?"
"Disciplining insubordinate children is deemed insanity in your mind?" Kendra asked condescendingly.
Max gestured dramatically to Lena, whose leg was still encased in citrine, then to the smashed window on the upper-most floor of the building behind her.

"This isn't right," Max said a moment later.
Kendra glared at him, then looked to her other three children, who looked back at her unsurely.
"We'll discuss this later," Kendra seethed, "The rest of you, restrain these br-"
She was interrupted, for she had to raise her citrine fists to her face to block a sharp leaf that barreled towards her. It clanged against the gemstone surface and dropped to the ground, dissipating.
She looked down at it, and then looked up to see Max had rushed at her, jumped up, and proceed to kick her in the face.
She stumbled back into the wall as Max landed back onto the ground. He then ran at her, spinning around and swinging his fans. Kendra blocked the strikes at the last second with her fists, the fans scraping across the citrine.
Max continued his assault, performing a side flip and drop-kicking his foot onto the top of hat.
Kendra was forced to lean downward, stumbling back again, as Max moved in and struck one fan across her forearm.
Kendra yelped and leaned back, looking down. The part of her forearm not protected by the citrine had a long, red cut, the suit jacket ripped through to the skin.

She looked at Max, who held his ground, the edge of one fan being colored red with blood.
Kendra let out a cry of rage, and raised a fist back, charging forward.
Max back-flipped out of the way as the fist came down and struck the ground where he stood.

The others watched in absolute shock, not sure they believe what they were seeing.
"Raina!! Look out!" Lena shouted, noticing Matthew throwing fireballs at Raina from behind.
Raina looked back quickly and flew upward, the first fireball barely missing her. She then flew downward and struck the ground where Matthew had stood, the boy having taken flight himself.
As they took to the skies, Jace gulped as he noticed Martha approaching them, a stream of water swirling around her body.
Before she could do anything, though, Melissa grabbed her shoulder.
"Don't!" she said.
"Melissa!" Martha exclaimed, "You-"
"Max is right! This is insane!" Melissa said, "Martha, please, don't do this! I love Mom too but she's not right!"
Martha looked at her sister in disbelief, "Mom said-"
"Forget what Mom said!" Melissa shouted, "At the dance, that tall Fray kid was right...! About everything! He had us completely pegged! You've got to see that, Martha!"
Martha paused, looking at the ground, thoughts seeming to be racing through her head.

Meanwhile, Lena looked down as Aria and Luke continued to chip away at the citrine.
"Ugh," Aria groaned, "This is taking too long."
"Luke will have a better chance of breaking that stuff," Melany said, "Go help Max, I'll help Raina."
"What about me?" Jace asked.
"Come with me, maybe fireboy will back down from a three-on-one," Melany suggested.
"What about those two?" Luke asked, looking over at the Charmaine sisters.
"Not sure what they're doing, but if they become a problem, they'll have to answer to us," Melany said strictly.

With that, the three hurried off.
Max was avoiding citrine crystals being thrown by his mother, using his fans to deflect some of them. However, the sheer force of the crystals being thrown are managing to break some of the sharpened leaves that make up his fans.
Kendra was advancing on him when a barrage of water hit her from the side, pinning her to the wall of the building as it kept rushing into her.
A moment later, it stopped and she dropped to the ground, soaking.
Aria ran over and joined Max, the short boy fixing his fans.
"You okay?" Aria asked.
"Not really," Max said worriedly, "Can't worry about it now, though."
Kendra slowly stood back up, snarling in frustration.

Raina and Matthew, meanwhile, were racing around in the air, exchanging fireballs.
Matthew then felt a vine wrap around his ankle. He looked down to see Melany holding the other end.
Jace then stepped forward and unleashed a barrage of lightning, electrocuting Matthew midair.
Matthew let out stuttered yelps and screams as the artificial electricity coursed through him.
Raina looked on, smirking.
Melany raised a hand up, and Jace stopped.
Now smoking, Matthew simply dropped down.
Melany made a giant leaf sprout up from the ground, which he landed on, cushioning his fall.
Raina landed next to them, smiling smugly.
"That's what you get, fool," she said to a nearly unconscious Matthew.
"Jace, look after him," Melany ordered, "Raina, go help Aria and Max. I'll see about his sisters."
Agreeing, the three sprinted off in separate directions.

Luke kept chipping away at Lena's encasing, much to Lena's frustration.
"I feel so helpless," she grumbled.
"Hey," Luke huffed, "I'm doing my best here."
"At this point, just drop me from the roof and hope it breaks," Lena groaned.
Luke then noticed Martha and Melissa coming over to them from behind Lena, and he stumbled to get up, forming small boulders in his hands.

"Wait!" Melissa shouted, "We're not going to hurt you!"
Luke paused as Melany joined them, perplexed.
"What's going on?" Lena asked, awkwardly turning around on her encased leg.
Melissa looked at her sister, who had her arms crossed uncomfortably.
"I think I might help with that," Melissa said, turning back to the three, "But, you might not like it..."

Kendra, meanwhile, was raising rock walls and pillars throughout the ground to throw off Max and Aria. Aria stepped to the side just as a pillar rose up where she once stood.
Max managed to get caught on one and was hoisted up in the air. He lied down on his stomach, gripping the pillar fearfully.
Kendra returned her attention to Aria, and threw more citrine crystals. Aria formed multiple water spears and threw them in response.
The spears knocked the crystals off their trajectory, causing them to either impale the grassy ground or bounce off the damaged cobblestone path.
Kendra then ran at Aria, letting out a battle cry as she did.
Aria thrusted an arm forward and a big water hand reached from it, grabbing Kendra by the legs and flinging her into one of her own stone pillars, crashing through it violently.

Kendra fell and tumbled on the ground amidst pieces of her pillar, which began to dissipate.
Raina came over and joined her as her water hand dissipated, looking around.
"Woah," she said, "Nice."
Aria just smiled warily at her.
The two then looked over as a moderately big sunflower rose up from the ground to the top of Max's pillar, watching as he stepped onto it and it carried him back down to the ground before dissipating.
Max was sweaty and tired, but joined up with them regardless.
Aria gave him a quick hug, pleased he was alright.
"Not bad," Raina said to him dismissively.

The interaction was cut short as Kendra stumbled forward, her stone structures dissipating and an enraged look on her face.
Max gulped but held firm, as did Aria and Raina.
Kendra charged again and raised an arm. Several giant citrine stalactites crashed up through the ground, stemming from her to right underneath the three, all three diving out of the way just as they did.

Max landed on the grass on his stomach, and as he got up, Kendra's citrine encased fist grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hoisted him up.
She took a few breaths as she glared up at him.
"Traitor," she scowled, "You will pay for turning your back on family."