Stella and Orion quickly moved into the motel room.
Two beds were pushed against the back wall. Both were unoccupied, as was much of the room. She didn't see Oscar—or the little girl with him—anywhere inside. Eyes narrowed, Stella cautiously moved around the small space.
"Where are they?" she grumbled, mostly to herself.
Orion remained near the door, his head on a swivel. His golden eyes lit up as he found the bathroom. He pointed at the closed bathroom door.
Stella nodded.
The pair of them slowly moved toward it. The stained carpet beneath their feet cushioned their footsteps. Though, Orion kicking down the door surely alerted the pyrokinetics of their presence.
Stella pressed her finger to her earpiece. "Neon. Tempest. Be on high alert."
"Copy that," Samantha said. "I'm watching the parking lot now."
"Good," she replied. "They're going to try to r—"
The bathroom door exploded off its hinges, smoke rolling off its metal surface. It sailed across the room before clattering through the thin walls of the motel room. Oscar and his hostage darted out of the bathroom like fireflies. They beelined toward the newly made hole in the tacky motel room wallpaper. It led straight to the parking lot where Samantha would be waiting for them.
Stella wasn't planning on letting them get that far.
Lashing her arm out, she released a blast of concussive light at Oscar. He twisted his torso as the flashing bolt whizzed past him. It crashed into a painting, leaving a sizable hole in the middle.
Oscar kept running. He was gripping the hand of the little girl trailing steps behind him. They were nearing their exit.
Stella turned to Orion.
He nodded at her.
The man took off from the ground and flew toward them both. He scooped up the girl by the scruff of her shirt and lifted her from the carpet. She kicked and screamed, clawing at the iron-like grip holding her above the ground.
"Stop resisting!" Orion ordered, his voice robotic as he struggled to keep her still. "We are trying to save you!"
"Don't need saving!" she yelled back. A feral yell erupted from her throat. Waves of heat rolled off her body. Stella raised her hand to shield her face from the raise in temperature. It didn't take long for her face to become slick with sweat.
What the hell?
Orion managed to keep hold of her. The heat wasn't affecting him in the slightest.
He was quickly forced to let go, as a torrent of red flames slammed into his chest. The girl dropped to the ground and rolled toward Oscar after hitting the carpet. He quickly helped her up and the two continued for the hole in the wall.
Stella rushed over to where Orion had landed. A smoldering mark had been burned into the center of his black uniform. She pressed a hand to his chest.
"Are you alright?"
He pointed at their escapees. "Do not let them get in their car."
Nodding, she sprung back to her feet and took off after them.
The brisk, midnight air met her clammy skin. The inside of that motel room had begun to feel like a furnace after the girl did whatever she had done. Her reluctance to comply was surprising.
Perhaps she wasn't a hostage at all.
She seemed to be an accomplice.
Oscar and his companion were gunning for their red mustang. And they were closing in on it.
Samantha emerged from behind a hedge to intercept them. The girl raised her hands to the sky and conjured up a medium-sized storm cloud. Pellets of ice rained down from the cloud.
It didn't slow them down.
Oscar summoned a ball of fire and chucked it at her storm cloud. It punched through and continued upward before evaporating into smoke. Samantha moved the cloud until it was directly over Oscar and the little girl. They shielded themselves from the relentless hail, which was stopping them from progressing any further through the parking lot.
Stella smiled.
Bringing Tempest along was proving to be a great call.
Out the corner of her eye, she could see Orion climbing through the hole in the motel wall. An angry look had surfaced on his face. He stomped forward, javelin in hand. As he surged past Stella, he prepared to launch his weapon.
Her eyes widened. She stepped in front of him with her arms spread wide.
He looked down at her, eyebrows raised. "What are you doing?"
"You can't kill them!"
"I don't—"
"There's a little girl with him, for Christ's sake!"
He frowned at her. Then his expression went blank. He moved her aside with his arm and readied his javelin,
Her skin went cold as she gawked at him.
What the hell is he doing?!
As she prepared to stop his attack again, he threw his javelin. It sailed through the air in search of its target. With her mouth ajar, Stella watched it fly toward Oscar's back.
The pyrokinetic dodged just in time for it to only nick his forearm. Crying out, he clamped a hand around his bleeding appendage. He and the girl made it to the mustang, though.
Samantha's storm cloud was no longer raining down hail. In fact, it had gotten significantly smaller. While Oscar got the car started, his accomplice stood near the trunk with more heatwaves rolling off her small frame.
The air temperature rose a few degrees with every passing moment. Soon, Stella felt like she had stepped inside of a blazing oven. A rush of dizziness overcame her as she wiped the moisture off her forehead. Panting, she activated her earpiece.
"Neon," she said breathlessly. "They're on the move."
"On it," the speedster replied.
In the distance, she could hear his footsteps approaching the lot. His faint, green energy trail got closer until he arrived at the motel. He skidded to a stop, his blond hair flying around his face.
In a flash of neon green, he appeared next to the car. He reached for the steering wheel just as Oscar began pulling away. Oscar coated his hand in flames before swatting at the speedster.
Zach was forced to back off.
Orion sprinted at the car. He picked up his javelin on the way and prepared to throw it again. Stella flew toward him, determined to prevent him from doing so.
Stopping Oscar from escaping might have been the mission, but she didn't want to kill him. Not unless she had to. She also didn't want the child with him getting hurt; she wasn't sure what spell he had her under, but it wasn't her fault. She didn't deserve to get injured—or worse—for his reckless decisions.
Stella arrived in front of Orion just in time to place to hands around the long handle of his spear. He glared intently at her, a hint of confusion in his eyes.
"Let go!" he bellowed. "They're getting away!"
"You can't kill them!"
Orion replied by wrenching his weapon out of her grasp. He sent her spinning through the air. She caught herself before dropping down to the asphalt. Still panting, she glared at him.
What is his problem?
She wouldn't get a chance to dwell on it for much longer, as Oscar had sped off the lot and was now gunning down the empty highway. Zach was in close pursuit, his green line of energy crackling in the lane beside them as he tried to stop their vehicle.
Samantha had taken off after them, trying her best to use her storm cloud to throw more hail and rain their way. Lightning crackled within the ash-gray clouds, threatening to strike down at any given moment.
Stella turned back to Orion, who hadn't moved. She shot him a bewildered look.
"What has gotten into you?"
"Our mission was to stop them."
"No, our mission was to arrest them! We can't arrest them if they're dead!"
He snorted. "Your feelings are getting in the way of the objective."
"Sorry I'm not a murderous android like you!"
His left eye twitched. "I am not an android."
"Whatever," Stella grumbled. She jabbed a finger at him. "No lethal force. Not until I say so."
He stayed quiet.
"Do you understand?"
"Yes...I understand."
Nodding, she gestured toward the highway. "Now, I believe we've got some Primes to catch."
#
Samantha was quickly left behind by the group.
Stella and Orion had taken to the skies while Zach continued his pursuit from the ground. He managed to stay beside the car the whole time but wasn't able to slow it down. The girl in the passenger's seat kept lobbing weak-looking fireballs at him. They weren't enough to hurt him, but they were enough to keep him at bay.
Gritting her teeth, Stella willed herself to push faster through the air.
She had to catch up to them—preferably before Orion. He may have heard her command, but she wasn't sure if he was going to honor it.
Though, matching his speed was no easy task.
He was steadily gaining on the mustang as he barreled down the highway. About half a mile down the road was a semi-truck headed their direction. Loud, obnoxious honks from its horn ripped through the night. The sound drilled into Stella's bones as she continued for Oscar's car.
As the truck got closer, she watched Oscar throw fire onto the ground about a hundred yards ahead of his car. The spark spread from one side of the highway within seconds, creating a wall of raging fire. He was gunning right for it.
And so was the semi.
Stella slowed up in the air as she clocked his plan.
"He's trying to crash the truck!" she yelled.
Orion kept flying toward them. He would be on them in seconds. He reached out, hoping to grab the mustang's spoiler.
Oscar swerved at the last second, sending the Prime crashing into the black tarmac. He hit the ground shoulder-first before rolling around a few times. An enraged expression had consumed his face as he picked himself up.
Scrapes and cuts tarnished his suit, revealing parts of his bronze skin. His eyes were enlarged with fury and his mouth was twisted in a full snarl.
She had never seen him express such emotion.
It terrified her.
She dropped down from the ground, her landing harder than she anticipated. Stumbling forward a few steps, she eventually caught herself.
Ahead of her, the driver of the semi-truck had slammed on their breaks, but the massive vehicle had built up too much momentum. It was headed straight for the wall of raging flames waving in the night.
Oh no.
As it got closer, Stella realized it was an oil tanker.
She turned to Orion. "We can't let that thing crash."
"But Inferno. He'll escape."
"Zach's got him. And we can always catch up."
He thought about it for a minute before nodding. "Alright." Without another word, he took off for the truck. It was only a few seconds away from skidding into the fire. Orion met it before it did, though, and tried his best to push it backward. He managed to get its tires to come to a screeching halt, but he hadn't taken into account the speed of the tanker. While he pushed the front carriage forward, the back attachment lifted into the air.
Stella zipped toward it. She created a solid wall of yellow light to stop it from hitting the ground. The flames below it grew taller. They reached for the tanker like the flailing arms of the damned.
Her eyes cut to Oscar, who was beginning to put a bit of distance between them. She could see him manipulating the flames with his left hand.
Everything around her slowed down as the tanker slammed into her barrier of light.
But she was too late. The fire had gotten to it first.
A massive explosion rocked the entire highway. The force of the blast sent Stella careening backward like a ragdoll. She was too disoriented to catch herself as she dropped from the sky. Her ears rang and she went blind for a moment. Through her fractured vision, she could see Orion zooming toward her. She felt his strong arms wrapping around her. After landing, he cradled her body, shielding her from the flaming pieces of metal soaring through the air.
He held her for what felt like hours.
The smell of burning gasoline and rubber filled the air, invading her nostrils. Smoke infiltrated her lungs and wrapped its toxic fingers around her throat. Wheezing, she held tightly onto Orion as she buried her face into his neck.
She could hear the shattered pieces of the demolished oil tanker crashing to the ground around them. One landed just a few feet away from her. She jumped, pressing her face deeper into the crook of her savior's neck.
Finally, the metal rain stopped.
Stella removed herself from Orion and gawked at the wreckage.
There was no sign of the driver of the semi-truck. She eventually found where the front part of the truck had landed. After seeing its condition, she couldn't bear to look at it again. Shards of blackened metal littered the highway, along with a few tire marks and pools of burning oil. The flames were beginning to spread—not due to Oscar or his accomplice, though.
They were long gone now.
In a flash of green, Zach arrived on the scene. Panting, he doubled over.
"I...I couldn't..." He dropped to the ground and rolled on his back. "I couldn't keep up."
"You tried your best," Stella told him. She couldn't tear her gaze away from the wreck.
She cursed herself internally for not figuring out Oscar's plan earlier. He was never going to outrun them—not without a huge diversion. And that's exactly what he did by causing the oil tanker to explode.
Now an innocent was dead on her watch.
She turned to Orion. He was still crouched on the ground, his head hanging. There was almost nothing left of his black mission suit. It hung off his torso. Parts of his skin had been burned, revealing the raw tissue underneath.
"Orion..." Her hands trembled as she moved toward him. "Orion, are you—"
His head snapped in her direction, instantly silencing her. He didn't speak, but his eyes said everything she needed to hear. Multiple black marks, likely soot from the smoke falling around him, adorned his cheeks and forehead.
A piece of jagged metal emerged from his lower stomach. He was bleeding.
She didn't know he could bleed.
Tears brimmed in her eyes.
"Orion..."
"Jeez, dude," Zach said. "You don't look so good."
The Prime ignored the boy. He shakily rose to his feet and staggered toward Stella. "You..." He coughed. "You..."
She held firm as he approached her.
Swallowing hard, Orion blinked away his own tears. "You should've let me kill him." A let out a shuddering, broken breath of air. He dropped to one knee. Then two. Finally, he collapsed onto his side with his eyes closed.
They didn't open again.