Power Play (Book 2)

Chapter 13: Help and Harm

Dropping down into the crowd, I’m a good distance from the battle but still far closer than I’d like. The crowd is thinning out as people continue to push away from the hotel and the ones who are left part around me like a stream around a rock. This gives the people on the ground a chance to recover. A few scramble to their feet and continue running down the drive. Others moan and limp but rejoin the retreat, looking at me with a mix of confusion and terror. One woman pauses to stare at me, eyeing my costume up and down.

“What are you?” she asks.

“No idea, lady,” I tell her. “Get out of here!” She does.

Four people still lay on the concrete. Two men, one woman, and Ryan. All of them are unconscious, and judging from their positions they’ve had a rough time of it under the crowd’s feet. Ryan’s left leg is bent at an angle that makes me wince. I crouch next to him and grab his hand.

“Ryan? You awake? We’ve got to get you out of here,” I say.

He opens his eyes one at a time and swallows hard. He has a gash on his head where it hit the pavement. “What happened?” 

“You tried to take on two hundred people going the other way. You lost. Now lie still.”

“Did you find him?” Susan asks frantically in my ear.

“Yes, he’s in rough shape but he’ll live. He’s going to need a doctor.”

“I’ll see if we can get an ambulance out there, but… Brandon, you have a lot of stuff headed your way. Police, security, and there’s something else coming down from the north. Air traffic control is going nuts over it.”

“I saw them,” I tell her. “I’ve got this,” hoping it’s not a lie.

“Be careful,” she tells me.

Ryan’s hand goes limp. He’s passed out again. I could carry him, but it would be slow flying out of here carrying someone, especially with so much going on. I certainly can’t fight and carry him. Running at super speed also isn’t a good idea as I’d jostle him around too much with his injuries. What good are all these powers if they can’t help the people I care about? 

There’s an enormous crash and I turn just in time to see a huge portion of the massive canopy collapse, crushing several people below it. They had been trying to escape back into the hotel lobby, but the hotel must’ve locked the doors. Donovan leaps away from the wreckage, battling furiously with one of the clones. 

Rage and guilt swim through me. Rage that these fools seem unconcerned about everyone caught in their cross-fire, and guilt for my not saving those people. Going to check on Ryan while these lunatics kept fighting probably cost those people their lives. The guilt and rage combine into one ball of fury and I head back towards the fight… only to be stopped by someone grabbing my arm.

“Wait,” a voice says. I spin and it’s another clone. He’s dressed like the others, but his clothes are clean and undamaged so he must be new. How many of these guys are there? His eyes shift from the battle to me.

“You should not fight them further. Come with us,” he says, with a calmness and conviction that’s a little unnerving. 

“Listen, you idiots, that’s my friend right there. He’s injured, and I’m not abandoning him. If you want to help, hold Donovan’s team off while I get him to safety.”

“You must not be captured. You are more important than your friend,” he says.

“Not to me, buddy. So help or get the hell out of the way.”

Having taken out another clone, Spider turns her attention back to me. “Oh no, you don’t,” she yells, racing towards me in long, graceful leaps.