They had run to the upper deck before they came across a single agent.
It turned out every soul on that ship had gone to guard the one place they knew the group would go to escape. Three rows of agents stood between them and the tenders that could get them back to solid ground. The deck around their feet was slick from the light snow falling around them.
Winter was still in full swing.
Joel was drenched in sweat from the effort to keep them all unseen. Hera could sense his power dwindling by the second and quickly sent out her much more potent power, destroying all the mods in the agent's heads. There was a collective groan from the crowd, and the four moved around to their left. A small opening appeared behind the agents, and they snuck past along the starboard side just as Joel dropped the illusion.
His soaked shirt clung to his body, and his nose bled. A disoriented look flickered across his face before he fell to his knees, winded. A handful of guards turned at the sound and shouted in alarm, guns raised.
"Hold your fire!" One voice screamed. Hera took no time connecting her power to the steel deck beneath their feet, tearing it six feet in the air. Yells of shock and fear echoed as bodies slid across the port side; many splashed in the frigid waters below.
"Let's go. Get in the boat." Theo yelled. They all piled in as the remaining agents appeared on either side of the mauled deck. Shots rang out, and they all ducked as bullets rained down on the small boat. The mechanism to lower the tender jammed, and just as Hera went to dismantle it, a familiar voice boomed.
"Ceasefire."
Fear shot through her heart as his boot steps got closer to their position.
"I leave for twenty-four hours, and you escape your room, break my hold on my son, my wife, and you destroy my ship. Are you sure you aren't one of mine?"
Theo went rigid, and his mother cringed at Azrails words. Hera pulled the fork she had stashed in her pocket earlier and focused her energy on melding the prongs together and shaping the top like a spearhead. A brief tap on the point drew a spot of blood from her fingertip, and she gripped it, ready to strike.
"I could make you stronger than anyone could imagine. We would be unstoppable." As Azrail spoke, she remembered Jane's letter; he was riddled with mods. She knew she wouldn't have long before he realized what she was doing and forced her back. Her energy excitedly buzzed through her, and she threw it outward faster than she thought possible. She felt his mods oozing power into his hulking form, and she crushed each one into dust before anyone had a chance to blink.
A horrible, strangled sound passed his lips, and he dropped to a knee. "Bitch!"
He was so close now she knew he would reach them before she could drop the tender into the ocean to escape. She went to stand when the modified fork was ripped from her grasp by an invisible force. She knew instantly what Joel was planning and sent him a surge of power from within herself.
The shimmer of his weak illusion disappeared, and she prayed it would hold. Just as Azrails hand reached into the boat, it was drawn back with a hiss to withdraw the weapon jammed between his ribs.
Hera wasted no time ripping the mechanism apart, causing them to drop a story as Joels' smug face reappeared before Azrail. The water was freezing as it flooded the tender's floors, dousing them.
"Jump!" Hera screamed just as a hand gripped Joel's throat, snapping his neck in an instant. Hera screamed again in despair as the boat rumbled to life beneath her feet. Jane wrapped her arms around Hera and went to pull her to the bow when gunfire erupted once more.
"Fuck you!" Hera shouted, praying Juno would appear as she ran to protect the outboard from damage. Her prayers were answered as a shield encompassed the tender, and they pulled off at twenty knots a furious Azrail left glowering at them. They were soon out of range of the guns, and Juno's guard tiredly dropped. A huge sigh escaped Hera's lips as she turned to head to the front with Theo.
"We did it." Hera's relief died in her throat when she saw Jane slouching on the floor in a puddle of crimson. She raced over and sank to her knees as Theo sped on until the ship was out of sight in a cloud bank. "Is she okay?" He yelled.
"I don't know." She called back. "There's so much blood."
Tears filled her eyes. She couldn't lose two people in one day. Everything felt so unfair. She lay Jane on her back and found the wound oozing blood from her abdomen. Hera ripped off her sleeve and applied pressure to stem the flow, causing groans to pass Jane's lips. "Can't you just close the wound?" Theo demanded, looking down at them, fretting his lower lip.
"I don't want to cause more damage." She whispered. Jane was still lucid and smiled sadly at the pair.
"It's too late, my loves. But, please, I need to tell you some things."
The shoreline was still not visible, so Theo dropped down to ten knots and crouched down next to his mother, hoping they wouldn't hit shore before Jane could finish speaking.
"I need you to know that I'm sorry everything happened this way. Azrail caught me as a teenager, and he used me to do horrible things. He did horrible things to me. But he also gave me you, Theo, and I never regretted having you ever. I love you so much."
"Who is he? Why is he controlling the group that hates us and uses us if he is one of us? I don't understand." Hera questioned softly.
"Power." She responded simply. "None would go against him. So many don't know what he is. He craves power, whether it be money, weapons, or us."
A cough shook her petite frame as she continued directing her attention back to her son. "When he told me he would send you away to find the Community, it broke me. I didn't think I'd see you again, and I stopped fighting him. I wish things could've been different, but you turned out more special than anything I could imagine. He was so furious when he couldn't find you. You see, I injected you with a serum I made from one of my friends. Eva." She smiled, lost in a memory.
"She was 'resistant' to his control. He was overpowering when he touched her, but the further away he was, the more she was herself again. I hoped so desperately it would work for you, and he would never find you..." she locked eyes with him. "Why would you come back to this forsaken place, Theo? What were you thinking?"
Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, "when we captured the Vulture, he told me that when the time came, I would go without a fight or you would die..." He swallowed painfully, "I didn't understand what he meant until Azrail spoke." His head hung in shame for what pain he caused his people.
Jane caressed his cheek, "It's not your fault." Her chest rattled as her body shut down on the floor of the boat. "Help her!" Theo pleaded with Hera, but she only sobbed, looking at his dying mother.
"I can't. I don't know what to do. Jane, help me, please."
Her head lolled to the side, and Hera lifted it gently into her lap, stroking her face. "You saved me. Tell me how to help you."
"Please!" Theo begged, squeezing her hands in his.
Jane spoke no more words as her life force left her eyes. A smile caressed her lips before her expression fell slack, and her pain was gone. Theo screamed in pain and despair as she died, her hands falling from his and thumping on the cold floor.
Hera sobbed harder when Theo stood furiously destroying everything around them. He shoved his fist through the acrylic windshield before increasing the boat's speed to the max.
The engine roared in Hera's ears as she cried silently on the way to shore.
YOU ARE READING
Evolved
Fantasy"Do you know what you're doing to me?" He leaned his head forward and buried it in her neck, inhaling deeply before peppering kisses along her sternum. She was on fire now. Her energy had a mind of its own, intertwining with his and causing them...
