[OLD] The Scorpion Mission (#2)

Seven

Ivy dodged the tennis ball Spencer flung at her and retaliated with a small burst of flame. Spencer jumped out of the way. With a sweep of his hand, he covered the ground beneath Ivy in a layer of ice. Ivy's feet slipped out from beneath her and she hit the deck with a thud.

"Not bad," Spencer said. "You're getting better."

Ivy sighed. "Yeah, I know. But..."

"But what?"

"It's still hard when I'm in an actual fight. I mean, I can take down soldiers without a second thought, but fighting the Altered is different. I'm scared of hurting them, even though they're the enemy."

"Hey, that's fair," Spencer said. He held out his hand and helped Ivy to her feet. "I mean, at the end of the day, they're just like us. They just wound up on the opposite side. And after everything you've been through..."

He trailed off and Ivy sighed. She didn't understand how Spencer managed to stay so level-headed all the time.

His words were comforting, but Ivy didn't want to talk about her powers or her past. She opened her mouth to change the subject, but Spencer spoke first.

"Wanna work on electrokinesis?" he asked. "It's not as destructive as fire. You might find it easier to fight with."

Ivy nodded. "Okay," she said. She held up her arms and took a deep breath. Electricity crackled between her fingers.

"So, what did that Malcolm kid want to talk to you about?" Spencer asked. He held out his hand and summoned a blade of ice. He lunged forward and swung at Ivy.

Ivy jumped backwards a fired a bolt of electricity back at him. It had been a few days since she'd spoken with Malcolm, but the days since had been packed with training and missions and planning.

As Spencer dodged Ivy's attack, she answered his question. "He says he want to help us, but I don't believe him. I mean, he did attack us."

"Newman was going to lock him up," Spencer pointed out.

Ivy launched another attack, which Spencer stopped with a wall of ice. "Still, if he had surrendered peacefully, he would have had a better chance at persuading us."

"You think?"

"Maybe. I mean, he's still pretty terrifying. And he knows a lot about us. Stuff that even we don't know, apparently."

"Like what?" Spencer asked.

Ivy's hands burst into flame and she held them out to melt the wall Spencer had put up. "He said that the scientists at the labs did experiments on some of the Supers. Including Claire."

"What?" Spencer's arms fell to his side. "What'd they do to her?"

"I don't know. Malcolm said she was really powerful, so they did something to suppress her powers, or something. He said we had to let him out if we wanted more information."

"Maybe he's bluffing about how much he knows," Spencer said.

Ivy shrugged. "Maybe." She doubted it, though, and it seemed like Spencer did too. Either way, Malcolm wasn't leaving his cell anytime soon.

Spencer frowned. "Speaking of the labs," he said. "Well, and Cladis Point... is it just me, or did the destruction seem really random?"

"What do you mean?"

"It just seems like if there were an explosion, it was destroy everything. But some of the buildings were in pretty good condition, while others next to them were rubble. If I didn't know any better, I'd say tornado, but even on a small scale..."