Eric staggered back from the fire, his hand tightening around the fragment he'd taken from Willow's hands. He only had a moment to feel any semblance of relief before the rain started.
"Adam!" he yelled at the flames. "We have to go, before—"
An invisible force pulled together the falling raindrops, merging them into a sphere that continued to expand as it moved toward the circle of fire. The water swept across the flames, extinguishing them.
Once the fire was gone, the water splashed to the ground. Ash stood on the other side of where the circle had once burned. Between him and Eric stood a soaked Willow, Adam, and the Director.
Willow shot Ash an annoyed look. "You couldn't have been a little more careful?" she asked, rubbing her arm across her face in a futile attempt to wipe away the water.
"Sorry, I'll just take my time next time I save your life." Ash rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to Eric. Eric glanced at the fragment in his hand. The thing may as well have been a giant bullseye.
Running seemed to be his only option.
He shoved the fragment into his pocket and sprinted away from Ash, who started to run at the same moment. Eric's legs started burning after a short few seconds, and his lungs were ready to give out. He slowed and glanced over his shoulder. Ash was going to catch up. Easily.
And now Ash had the rain on his side.
Fallen water rose from the ground to form a wall in Eric's path. He whirled around. "Why do you work for Scorpion?" he demanded, more to stall for time than to actually persuade Ash to reconsider. "Do you really not care that you're hurting people?"
Ash stopped. "Everything we do is for the greater good."
"Oh, come on." As if that wasn't the most overdone villain line in history. Eric rolled his eyes. "Really? What's your end goal? World peace?"
One of the chopper doors opened. Claudia leaned out. "Ash!" she screamed. "It's time to go!"
Eric peered around Ash. Adam was on the ground now, looking dazed, while Willow and the Director had already made it to the Scorpion choppers and were climbing in.
"We don't have the fragment—" Willow protested.
"We're out of time." The Director looked toward the wave of helicopters approaching from the west.
"Give it up," Eric said to Ash. "We won this one." He lifted his hands and started two small flames as a warning. Maybe he couldn't beat Ash, but he could delay him. And Ash was out of time.
They all were.
Ash's gaze moved to something behind Eric. Eric risked a glance back over his shoulder. Veronica, Summer, Sam, and Raveena were all climbing over the edge of the crater. Raveena had pulled her mask up and her hood over her head, which seemed like an overreaction to the rain, even for Eric.
"We have to get out of here!" Veronica shouted.
Eric backed away from Ash. To his relief, Ash let the wall of water drop. And behind him, Adam was getting back up.
"This isn't over," Ash warned. "You have nowhere to go."
Eric's chest tightened at the reminder. "We're not giving up that easily."
"Hey!" Adam stalked toward the two of them, hands blazing. "Get away from my brother!"
"Ash!" Claudia screamed again.
A burst of wind drowned everything else out. The rain picked up.
"Well, then," Ash said as he began backing up. "I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon." He gave Eric one last cold look before turning and running to the choppers.
Eric and Adam hurried to join the other four, who were now sitting on the ground. Or laying, in Summer's case.
"SCI's choppers are almost on top of us," Veronica said, rubbing her forehead. "No way we're outrunning them."
Eric turned around. One by one, Scorpion's choppers were lifting off. "Maybe they'll be focused on getting Scorpion, and we can slip away."
Moments after the words had left his mouth, the first Scorpion chopper transformed. Pieces of the metal exterior shifted around, the blades folded up, and wings emerged from the sides. The aircraft took the shape of a jet.
"What the f—?" The roar of the jet's engine drowned out the rest of Veronica's sentence. It shot off into the sky, far faster than any helicopter could travel. The next chopper transformed and followed suit.
"Okay, scratch that," Eric said. "We need to move." He glanced at the rubble-filled crater where the lab had been. "I don't suppose the van survived."
Sam climbed to his feet and looked to the hill nearby. "Let's find out. But judging by the state of the cars left over from the last accident, I wouldn't get my hopes up."
Veronica helped Summer to her feet. Sam moved to the other side to help support her, but he still looked on the verge of collapsing himself.
Adam moved forward. "I'll carry her," he said.
"You sure?" Sam mumbled.
Summer didn't protest as Adam picked her up, which made Eric nervous. If she thought she could walk, she would've at least tried to insist.
"I think I'm the least worn out," Adam said. "And we need to move fast."
Eric couldn't tear his gaze away from Summer as they walked. She was fully conscious and managed to flash him a weak smile at one point, but she looked awful. Her skin had paled dramatically and sweat plastered stray pieces of hair to her face. He found himself flashing back to when she'd caught a bad strain of the flu last year.
"How much were you able to heal her?" he asked Raveena.
Raveena was watching Summer, too. "I stopped the bleeding for a little bit, but I think the wound reopened while we were leaving the crater," she said quietly. "And I ran out of energy before I could repair all of the internal damage. But I can try to do more once I've rested a little."
Frequent glances back as they climbed the hill revealed that the SCI choppers were, at least for the moment, landing around the crater. The six were able to make it to the van without trouble. And the sight of the van was...promising. The vehicle's exterior had some large dents, and the windows were shattered, but it looked like it could potentially be driveable.
"It's like the damage is random," Eric noted. "Like with the lab."
"Must be weird energy field alterium nonsense," Adam said as he set Summer down on her feet. She didn't fall, but she did keep one hand on his shoulder for support.
"Thanks, Einstein." Eric opened a rear door. Glass rained on the pavement. "Let's see if it'll start."
Sam circled around to the driver's door.
"You sure you're okay to drive?" Veronica asked.
Sam hesitated before answering. "Yeah, I can drive."
"If you're sure," Veronica muttered. She helped Summer climb into the middle row of the van and slid in next to her. Adam climbed into the very back, Eric followed him, and Raveena took the seat on the other side of Summer.
Sam stuck the key in the ignition, took a deep breath, and turned it. The engine made a horrible screeching noise before starting.
"That can't be good," Veronica said.
"Hey, if it works, it works." Eric clicked his seatbelt into place. "Let's just—see what's happened. And hope SCI doesn't shoot at us or something."
"Yeah," Sam muttered. "No big deal."
He pulled into the road, and a weight settled over everyone in the van.
Finally, Veronica broke the silence. "Do you think anything's left? I mean, the van made it out all right."
"I bet it'll be like how Delta used to be," Eric replied, though that was probably the best-case scenario. "I mean, this wasn't just an explosion, there was all that science junk they were saying about the energy reacting with—"
Adam's phone buzzed, interrupting Eric. Adam pulled it out. "We've got service again," he said. "At least I do. Mom's been trying to call."
"Shit," Veronica cursed. "Our parents are probably freaked out." She reached into her pocket for her own phone.
Adam pressed a few buttons and held the phone up to his ear. Eric's heart was ready to give out entirely. Was Mom okay, or had she been trying to call before the collapse?
The phone stopped ringing, and Mom's voice was just audible on the other side of the phone. Eric sank back in his seat, momentarily overwhelmed with relief.
"Yeah, yeah, I—" Adam paused. "Eric and I are fine. What—?" He glanced at Eric and grimaced. "Um, long story. No, we're not in town, we're about to pass through—"
The van rolled over the top of a hill, offering the first glimpse of the remains of Tyche Point.
Eric leaned forward, unable to do anything but stare out the front window, even though every new detail squeezed his chest even tighter.
"Yeah, we'll—" Adam's voice was much quieter now. He swallowed. "We'll come that way and find you. Love you."
He hung up.
They drove through the town in silence.
Like with Delta Labs, the damage was sporadic. Some buildings were covered in cracks, others had collapsed entirely. Gaps in the road made driving rough in some places. Cars that had been left behind ranged from a similar state to the van, to nothing more than partially melted metal frames.
A haze of smoke rested over everything, working with the sun to bathe the world in red.
"Um." Sam cleared his throat. "Anyone want to stop anywhere?"
Adam shook his head. "Apparently the town evacuated to a point a few miles west. Our Mom's waiting there, and I'm sure just about everyone else is, too."
Veronica let out a shaky breath. "I'm still waiting for a response from our parents. I guess that's a good place to start."
"And you don't want to stop by the house, Eric?" Adam asked. "I mean, the damage is kind of random. Some of our stuff might have survived."
All Eric wanted to do right now was get away from here. "Maybe," he said. "But I don't think I can do that right now."
Adam nodded. "Me too."
Eric turned to watch the passing destruction through the side window. "You collapsed the field," he whispered before he could stop himself. For a moment, he didn't even think Adam heard him.
"I hate Scorpion," Adam said, looking down. "And I hate—I just can't believe Willow decided to join them." He shook his head. "I mean, deep down, she has to know they're wrong. But..."
"But?" Eric prompted after a moment.
"She sent out the evacuation order. She saved the people living in town, and Scorpion was ready to take the fragment regardless of the consequences." Adam's gaze was still on the floor. "But maybe I made a mistake."
"We all knew it was going to collapse no matter what," Eric said. Even as he'd fought to stop Willow from collapsing it, he'd known deep down it was pointless. "That still doesn't make it an easy thing to do."
Adam looked up. "You think I made the right choice?"
Eric couldn't answer right away. Finally, he said, "I hope so."
Eric slid the fragment out of his pocket and examined it closely for the first time. Light glinted off the golden flecks scattered across the darker metal. He ran his thumb along the notch on the bottom. If this really was a piece of something, how many other fragments were there? Where were they now?
And where had they come from?