RAVEN FYRE

Chapter 22

The door slid open. It was dark inside. The room was sparsely lit by the glow of various pieces of lab equipment, but not enough to illuminate anything more than a few inches away. As they stepped in and powered on their wrist watches, lightswords in hand, they heard a sharp clang. A tin metal tray crashed into the ground.

"I'll go left."

"I got right."

A cold blast of air came from the end of the room and kept coming. Soon, there were visible flakes and things around them began glazing over with condensation. Using the glow of other small light sources they spotted a frost-line approaching them fast. Lights from electronic devices were going out as they fell to the deep-freeze.

Flames already covering her body, Raven jumped over the table beside her to reach WarFairy. "Look out." With that, she unleashed a large fireball sending it straight down the aisle at the source. As the ball made its way forward, it did a great job at lighting up the room but it also blinded them as to what was on the other side. WarFairy charged up flashes and visible streams of electricity covered her arms.

A second into its flight, the fire ball was extinguished by a huge stream of ice needles that came bursting through it. There was no time to get out of the way. Large eight-or-so inch needles plunged into their bodies. The pain was immense but Raven was no stranger to surprises or immense pain. Thankful she still had her eyes, she ripped WarFairy out of the way and into cover behind the same lab table that separated them earlier. Both of them cried out in pain as they moved to cover.

Raven pulled the spikes from her own face. "WarFairy let me see your face. Did he get your eyes?"

Panic made its way past her defenses as the pain was immense and the full extent of the damage was still unknown. Everything hurt, and there was little time to work on it. With what little light and time that she had, Raven started ripping out as many needles as she could from WarFairy's body despite her cries. She started with the ones on her face and neck.

WarFairy did what she could for Raven. "Use the pain right?" She could barely get the words out. hands shaking from the cold and previous injuries, they both worked as fast as they could.

Raven's fingers were covered in blood and it became impossible to pull out the rest. The same soon happened to WarFairy.

"Gyaaaah fuck!" Raven shook her head at WarFairy unable to keep her eye off the line of blood coming from her neck. "We're done if we don't end this now."

WarFairy nodded. Her blinking slowed. "Agreed." A little spatter of blood accompanied her reply.

"One more push okay? I have an idea. We give everything we got. I can hear him getting closer."

"Out with it then." A forced whisper. Her eyes only opened on occasion at this point.

Raven gently smacked at her cheek. "C'mon. Here's what we're gonna do. Been working on straddling the line between heat and fire. If you can stand, I think I can defrost the room."

"I get yah. Help me up."

Raven smacked her cheek a little harder. "Lets get him."

Once on their feet the girls rounded the corner from behind the desk. Raven took a labored step forward. By now she was fully aware that many of the abilities are controlled by intent. She imagined heatwaves pouring from her and covering the room and soon a relieving wave of heat swept through her body. Having had her abilities for a long time now, she developed a good sense, an instinct, of how much things would cost. She could feel it already, this would take just about everything. She had no doubts that WarFairy was working with even less.

Raven heard a shuffle in the gloom and caught a glimpse of red lenses. "Now!" She released the heat welling up inside her and directed it in a cone shape pointed toward the figure in the dark up ahead.

As soon as the room was ready WarFairy stepped in and unleashed an awesome blast of electricity that shot forth with a loud crack and whip. The lightning tendrils split much more than usual and coursed through the room and everything it touched. Every drop burst into steam, and, at the same time a sharp cry came from the masked villain.

WarFairy fell to her knees. Raven powered her light to full to see if she can get a look at the results. A second later she felt an intense pressure in her chest and was tossed back over the table.

"Raven! No!" WarFairy's hand slipped on various surfaces and she fought to stand up and make her way over to Raven. "No. Oh my god, this cant be fucking happening."

Raven was pinned to the ground, she couldn't move and found herself unable to speak. All she could do was watch from the ground as WarFairy tried desperately to get to her aid. Raven let her head fall back for a moment, too exhausted to keep it up.

"Oh shit, shit. No, nawww." WarFairy cried as she reached Raven. "No. No." WarFairy wrapped her hands around something that looked to be the size of a basketball. "You mother fucker!"

Raven couldn't see anything there. She couldn't feel anything and she still couldn't speak.

WarFairy got on her feet. Small metallic utensils rose up with her. Chairs and other things were being pushed from her five feet away. Lighting burst from her shoulders and connected with random objects. The electricity swarming her body intensified until it exploded in size with a thunderous boom.

Smoke still rising from his body the masked villain began to panic as the loud buzz of electricity that coursed between her arms and legs intensified.

Stop! You can't! Raven screamed in her head. It's too much!

"You're dead!"

The red lenses flashed and he raised his arms. Following that, a wall of ice rose from the ground; a shield. WarFairy's charge increased with another boom.

A small point of ice formed from the wall formed, becoming much larger as it pushed its way out. With a snap, it shot out. The giant icicle was instantly met with a huge bolt of lightning. It exploded downward to the ground. Raven saw WarFairy flinch when it happened. The lighting took on a mind of its own and was protecting her, reacting faster than a blink or any muscle could.

"Son of a bitch!"

The zooming sound of her lighting blast ripping through the air was terrifying. It was incredible but already she could see that her powers were overpowering her physical limit and smoke began to rise from her extremities. Beyond the flurry of thoughts and panic bombarding her mind, Raven wondered how she hadn't gone blind. Her mind was always so inquisitive. She set aside some of the questions she couldn't answer to figure she remained unharmed the same way, to an extent, her fire wouldn't harm WarFairy if she didn't want it to.

WarFairy outstretched a hand and gave the wall a full blast and kept it coming.

Raven could see water and ice swarming in from elsewhere on the wall to repair the damage. Only about five seconds had passed since she began her assault. The lighting and electrical discharges that flew from other parts of her began to subside as WarFairy increased her output. She reached out another hand and doubled up on the stream of lightning. The edges of the icewall were disappearing as the villain tried desperately to keep the shield between them.

"I'm going to fucking kill you!"

Raven couldn't believe her eyes. The giant, crooked lines of electricity began to straighten. In a blinding flash the attack stopped. Her arms glowed white hot from within and an enormous lazer-like blast of energy ripped through the air and pushed through the wall, exploding when it hit its target. Shards of ice mixed with a plume of red mist and chunks of charred body parts went flying away into the gloom. WarFairy was tossed back from the incredible discharge. Black charred flesh covered her arms up to her elbows; a big blast mark could be seen at the center of her chest. Deep burn damage went up her neck and as far up as her nose. Her shoulders and hair were on fire, but luckily, they were extinguished when her body landed in the inches deep water below.

Raven was still dazed by WarFairy's incredible display of power. It only lasted about a second before she snapped out of it and the grizzly details set in. She couldn't take the pain in her stomach from seeing her like that, being helpless, and wondering if she was dead.