The Pyramid Chronicles: Tyche Point (#1)

Chapter Forty-Two: More Than This

Eric and the others could barely get blows of their own in. They'd been forced into a tight circle, and with altered and soldiers attacking from all sides, they spent every second focused on defense.

Veronica was able to get the closest kids back into the air, but it didn't take long for the pyrokinetic girl to reorient herself and start chucking fireballs.

"Veronica!" Summer exclaimed as she dodged flames. "Try doing the opposite!"

Understanding crossed Veronica's face as she glanced at Summer. "On it!"

The altered hovering in the air dropped. The increase in gravity was enough to keep them pinned against the ground.

"Can you get any more of them?" Eric asked, eyeing the altered who'd kept out of Veronica's reach.

"I can't." Veronica grimaced. "Sorry."

Ash was one of the altered outside of Veronica's gravity field. He'd been thrown to the edge of the chamber by Sam a minute ago, but he was back up now, stalking toward the group with his eyes on Eric. Eric lowered his gaze to the floor between them and spotted some broken soldiers, scattered in a loose circle around himself and the other four. Heat flooded his chest.

One by one, the soldiers caught fire. Ash paused.

Adam's gaze flickered to the door. "I have to go find Willow!"

"What?" Eric shot his brother an incredulous look. "We're already outnumbered. You can't leave!"

"Hey, Eric?" Veronica's voice strained. "Remember how you said when Wren took your powers, you could feel it?"

Uh oh.

Gravity pulled Eric to his knees, and then to the ground. Cold floor hit his skin. He winced as pain shot across the palm he'd cut open earlier.

The others collapsed around him. The fires he'd started went out. Veronica lost her hold, too, freeing the enemy altered from the chamber floor. As they rose to their feet, Wren pushed her way to the front.

"Finally figured out how to use those gravity powers." Wren tipped her head back and laughed.

~

Ash stood in the center of the chamber and watched Seth pull up metal panels from the floor to trap the five enemy altered.

As they struggled against Wren's increased gravity, he realized how wrong Scorpion had been to underestimate them. Sure, they'd lost the fight, just as Ash thought they would. But they'd dragged the battle out for a long time. Far longer than he'd expected.

Scorpion was always fighting against larger numbers. They'd broken into countless facilities armed to the teeth with guards. Even SCI had been a breeze compared to some of their other missions.

But these new enemies were like them. And Scorpion's army rarely had to deal with other superpowers. The soldiers they'd brought to the chamber, soldiers that easily handled SCI agents, had been fried and melted and smashed. Only four were still functioning. And the altered were exhausted. When was the last time they'd had to fight this long?

Seth took a step to his right to bring up another panel. Eric managed to pull his hand a few inches off the ground and let off a small blast of flame.

Seth yelped and jumped out of the way. "Hey, Ash? Little help?"

"You're doing fine," Ash replied.

"Yeah, but I'd be doing better if you, I don't know, brought a few inches of water over here?"

"We're stuck on the ground, dumbass!" Summer exclaimed. "We'd drown."

"You know, this would be a lot easier if you stopped fighting us." Ash took a few steps toward the group and folded his arms. "What's it going to take to make you give up?"

Eric glared up at him. "More than this."

"Great," Ash muttered. "Thanks for making my job harder."

Eric snorted. "Job?"

"Yeah, do you guys like, get paid?" Summer asked.

This was a mistake. "We get a roof over our heads," Ash said coolly.

Not only were they rolling their eyes, but Seth started laughing, too.

"Seth, what are you laughing at?" Ash demanded. "You're on my side."

"You take everything too seriously." Seth had barely finished the sentence when Eric sent another small fireball his way. He stumbled out of the way.

Ash smirked. For a moment, anyway, before the chamber door opened behind him. He glanced back over his shoulder.

The Director stepped in first.

"Who's that?" Adam asked in a low voice.

"Scorpion's lab director," Eric answered, his eyes narrowing.

Ash's gaze flickered to Eric, briefly recalling Eric's only encounter with the Director. Yeah, he probably didn't have the best impression. To be fair, even most of the altered weren't fond of the guy.

They all barely had a chance to take in the Director's arrival when someone else stepped in behind him.

Willow West.