Up in the front seat, Kit and Lily opened Kit’s door and made ready.
“With that power amp you gave me… probably a tank shell, at most. Though sustained fire will be an issue, too.”
“Kit, lead on,” Felix said, taking a hold of Andrea’s legs. “Hold on, Andrea.”
The Beastkin woman nodded her head against his shoulder.
“Go,” Kit commanded.
The group of five stormed out from the safety of the car, sprinting for the alley Kit had mentioned.
Bullets sprayed over the bubble they were in, spitting up chunks of the pavement.
What took seconds felt as if it were a year, finally getting into the cover the alley provided.
Kit kept out in front at a light jog, Felix and Eva a few steps behind her.
Above them, the maze of fire escapes twisted and turned. Kit had them turning at random locations down towards directions he hadn’t considered.
There’s either people following us, or people ahead of us.
It was the only logical conclusion.
“No restrictions if we run across an enemy. Kill ‘em and move on,” Felix huffed, balancing Andrea on his back.
“Understood,” Lily said darkly from behind him.
“I can’t shake ‘em,” Kit admitted in front of them. “They’re ahead of us and keep moving to intercept. The ones behind us are long gone, but… I can’t shake these.”
“Fine. Give us a good place to fight from, then. Let’s stop, peek into their heads, and figure out the place they don’t want us to go,” Felix said, pulling up short.
Kit’s head swung to the right, looking at a wall. There was a high-pitched scream in the distance.
“They’re supers. One down. Not dead, but… probably never to, well, never anything now.
“They don’t want us getting into an open space. I think their team is primarily an ‘up close and personal’ one. Though their telepath is strong enough to keep me from turning anyone else into a carrot.”
“Okay, that works. Which way, then? Get us an open space and we’ll deal as best as we can. Preferably somewhere the three of us can hole up while you two deal with them.”
“Felix, I can’t really fight that well. I’m a telepath. Telekinesis isn’t in my power set.” Kit turned back the way they had come and led them off down the twisting alley.
“Huh. Well, it’s a sister power to yours. So why not—”
Felix tried to focus on Kit’s power set, adding telekinesis directly to it.
Second Power(Unlock): Directed Telekinesis
Required Primary Power: 90 (Met)
Required Intelligence: 80 (Unmet)
Upgrade?(30,000)
“Goddammit.” Felix fumbled with his screen and smashed two points of intelligence into Kit, getting her up to eighty.
The second window flashed green as her Intelligence now met the requirement.
Kit slid to a halt in a dead-end corner of the alley. It was an expanded circle that looked like it had once been a park.
“Hold onto your tits, Kit, you’re getting a second power.” Felix stabbed the upgrade button.
As it activated, he called up his character screen for her to check the result.
Name:
Kit Carrington
Power: Directed Telepathy
Alias: Augur
Secondary Power: Directed Telekinesis
Physical Status:
Healthy
Mental Status:
None
Positive Statuses:
None
Negative Statuses:
None
Strength:
51
Upgrade?(510)
Dexterity:
54
Upgrade?(540)
Agility:
48
Upgrade?(480)
Stamina:
46
Upgrade?(460)
Wisdom:
72
Upgrade?(720)
Intelligence:
80
Upgrade?(780)
Luck:
41
Upgrade?(410)
Primary Power:
91
Upgrade?(9,100)
Secondary Power:
45
Upgrade?(4,500)
“Congratulations, it worked. I’m betting it works the same way as your telepathy,” Felix said. Turning his head around to inspect the area, he found a dumpster.
Kit had staggered to one side, her hands going to her knees.
Trotting over to the dumpster, he pushed it open. Glancing inside, he found trash bags and nothing that looked like it’d hurt. Then he dumped Andrea in. “Sorry, Andrea. I’ll make it up to you later. You’ll be safe in there.”
Andrea moaned as she hit the bags and lay there, limp and unmoving. “Eva, get your ass inside.” Felix gestured at the teenager.
“What? I’m not getting in there.” There was enough room for the two of them, but not if he tried to get in too.
“Get in. Now.”
Eva’s lower lip jutted out but she clambered in, unwilling to defy her master.
Once she was in, he lowered the lid into place and then got behind it.
“If I can help, I will; I’m no fighter, though.” Felix wedged himself against the wall and tried to keep himself hidden.
Lily clapped her hands together and then shook them out. The bubble around the area disappeared in a flash.
Standing up, Kit hesitantly motioned to a trashcan and it zipped through the air to crash into a wall.
All around the two women, runes formed in thin air. They looped and wrapped around them faster than he could believe possible.
Then they tightened together and flashed.
Holding her right hand to her side, Lily conjured lightning into existence.
Kit hastily began arranging objects around the area. Moving them into specific positions that she could call on from any direction to attack with.
“I want a third power after this,” Lily said.
“I just upgraded you. Why should I give you a third? Giving Kit a second one was expensive.”
“Because if you do, I’ll make sure you never regret it. You’ll have a devoted soul magician till you die.
“I’ll even bring your soul back from the grave if I can, just so I can serve you longer.
“I know what I want already, too.”
Kit shook her head, perhaps still feeling a touch unsteady. “It hurts. It was like someone punched a hole through my brain.”
“We’ll discuss it after. Kill them, eat their souls, whatever.”
“They’re here.”
Several seconds after Kit said that, a group of four men and women stepped into the circle.
They were all dressed alike in black spandex and black hoods. Their bodies were hard to gauge other than male or female.
Cosplay for the gimp.
One of the four dropped an unmoving fifth member to the ground to one side.
“Where’s your master?” the one in the lead said. “We want—”
A rock carved into a block the size of a wheel flew in from the side. It bulldozed into one of the women’s midsection and smashed her to a wall.
There was a sickening pop as she screamed and fell over to the ground.
“My back! I can’t feel my damn legs!” she screamed.
At the same time the group started to react, a lightning bolt slammed down from the sky into the middle of them, sending them flying in every direction.
One of the remaining three pressed their hands to their head and squealed, dropping to their knees and then lying still.
The final two charged in. The first was a blur of speed, dashing straight at Lily.
He zipped around her in a circle, trying to catch her unaware. Lily watched him warily for a few seconds and her runic shield flashed as the man attacked her repeatedly.