The Undoing Of Villains | ✓

twelve

(a/n: dedicated to Liv_bands for the wonderful love you've given all of my books lately, and the nice comments! hope you continue to enjoy the book xp and thank ALL of you for reaching the goal so quickly, i was very excited to continue writing! ENJOY <3 )

twelve

I SCRAMBLED for the focus required to keep myself suspended in mid-air, but found I didn't have to  - as the glass pane shattered, I rolled over the edge of the building only to come to a full stop. 

Beneath me shimmered a hard, unyielding surface of compressed air. Glancing up, I saw how the air around me rippled and shimmered, as if I was entrapped in a sphere. Undoubtedly, it was Vector's doing. The thought that my safety lay in his highly volatile hands irked me. 

It was obvious there was a force field encasing me. Placing my palm on the dense air, I raised my torso from the surface of the compressed air and directed the fiercest glare I could muster toward Vector. He'd stepped toward the edge, one boot crushing the shattered glass remains scattered across the deck. Dark eyes were narrowed behind his mask, his mouth twisted in displeasure. 

He'd made a mistake, placing me in a temporary safety net. Closing my eyes briefly, I inhaled deeply and regained a brittle sense of focus, steering my powers to the nerves which transmitted pain signals like beacons of light. The healing process started slow, as careful tendrils of my powers sought out the source.

Finding out precisely what was injured was hard when the majority of my cells were screaming out in pain. I had a slight chance to heal the most of myself that I could, before Vector acted next. 

Opening my eyes to glance at Brann's prone form, disappointment sunk in my chest like a lead weight. He was my best chance at telling Vector to lay off me, since the older super obviously thought me to be a lying scoundrel at this point. 

And I was even going to apologize! 

Coughing, I opened my mouth to attempt to explain my situation. All that came out was more coughing, and the edge of the transparent force-field suspending me in mid-air was splattered with blood. Grimacing, I reached with my shaking arm to wipe the blood off my lips. 

"You know-" I croaked, nearly doubling over from another round of coughing, "- you're going to feel pretty stupid soon." 

"Keep quiet." Vector hissed, raising his hand toward me, "- if you want to stay alive."

Averse to killing, was he? I smiled through the pain, feeling a stream of my powers run through me. At least my arm, which previously to this had been throbbing intensively, seemed partially healed, letting me know it was working.

As much as I wanted to burst through his force field and strangle some sense into him with the nearest roots I could find in the Valerian garden, I had to retain a sense of self-preservation. Draining my powers to that extent would not benefit me, and at the moment shoving his head underground granted me no benefits. 

No, I'd had to stand it, until the little squirt decided to wake up from his afternoon nap. 

Which you placed him in, so maybe we won't be so quick to slip the blame on someone else, will we? 

Moving my mostly healed arm, I pushed myself up completely so that I was kneeling in the middle of the sphere. My eyes were forcefully averted from the ground, aware there was thin air beneath me. A lot of it.