Sam focused on his breathing, and kept his strides long. He'd always been fast, but Roman was giving him more trouble than expected. They left the road and crashed through the wet undergrowth of the forest.
Under the thick canopy of leaves, the rain wasn't so relentless, and Sam could finally see without spitting and blinking water out of his eyes and mouth. And he could hear a little better, too. He could hear the sound of his teammates trying to catch up, and the ground-shaking sound of the giant Super chasing just behind them.
But Sam didn't look over his shoulder. His sight condensed to the narrow stripe of Roman's back, just out of reach. He would reach it. He had to.
Just as a stitch in Sam's side threatened to slow him down, Roman burst into a clearing. One without any rain.
And the dell - dry and sunny - wasn't empty. Sam stopped dead in his tracks, dread filling him down to his bones.
A boy stood there, beside an elderly woman with the clothes and the features of a villager. She was clearly a cityless Super. And judging by her upraised face and the way the clouds swirled around her high above, she was a weather Super - the rarest of all Supers.
And the boy. Sam didn't need to ask him for a name to know who it was. He looked just as Dianna had described him. Almost angelic looking, except for the anger in his eyes.
Roman skidded to a stop right behind Khan, breathless from the sprint. The boy, who looked startled to see Sam, blinked in confusion. Seconds later, the rest of Sam's squad and their pursuers burst into their glade.
"Roman?" Khan asked, brows furrowed. "Have you touched them yet? What's going on?"
"There's a Super in the ground!" Lark's frantic warning sent chills down Sam's spine. "She got Jason!"
"Sam!" Finn raced forward, throwing up shields to stop the blood-wielder from slicing any of them in half. Sam's team surrounded him again, but they were missing Jason, Zuri, and Hank. Sam pushed away the horror in his heart and tried not to imagine what had happened to his classmates. He would get to Khan if it was the very last thing he did. Lark and Finn were by his side, trying to slow down and hinder the giant and the blood-girl, who spread out to surround them.
"Roman, what-" Khan didn't get to finish his sentence. Roman reached out and shoved Khan forward, closer to Sam's group. No... closer to Sam.
And Sam realized with sudden clarity that this was a trap; but not for him. Roman had set this trap for Khan.
"You can't!" Khan whirled on Roman.
"My powers are gone," the teenager ground through his teeth, jaw tight with tension. "You told me not to get taken by the mind-controller. That's him. I'm following your orders."
Khan whirled and speared Sam with a look of hatred and incredulity. "This is him? Don't bother touching him, then. Just kill him!"
Roman, now commanded directly from Khan, pulled a knife from his belt. Without his power, it was the best he could do. The blood blades whipping from the girl turned to Sam directly, and the giant groaned with effort to push past the gravity field and reach Sam. Lark and Finn both cursed as they tried to adjust.
"Where's the one in the ground?!" Lark was looking around frantically even as she held down the giant with all of her strength. Finn also seemed on edge, shifting from foot to foot as if afraid to stand in one spot for too long.
"Sam, go! Now!" He commanded. "Just get to him!"
Sam sprinted forward. Khan gasped and backpedaled.
"Protect me!" He cried.
A Super woman made of mud and earth sprouted from the ground and reached forward to slice at Sam with hands made of rocky shards. He dodged, barely a hair's breadth away from getting his throat cut open. Roman grabbed Khan and pulled the boy away from Sam, but one of Finn's shields sprang up behind Roman's feet, tripping him over backwards. He fell, and Khan followed suit. The kid crab-walked backward, trying to stay out of Sam's reach.
"Protect me!" he screamed again.
But it was too late. Sam grabbed the boy by his collar and hauled him up so they were face to face.
And the entire world exploded.
Their surroundings melted in a kaleidoscope of dissolving colors. It all spun and whirled, as if Sam and Khan stood at the center of a tornado. There was an immense pressure against his skull. A squeezing sensation as Khan tried to impose his will on Sam's mind.
Sam sank to his knees, hands still locked on Khan's shoulders. The boy was clawing his nails into Sam's hands, and neither of them seemed to be able to let go.
The tornado around them narrowed until the whirling power nearly touched their backs. Sam could feel it pulling him backwards, whipping against his skin like a lash. He held on tighter to Khan, and then shoved, trying to get Khan to fall into those spinning colors. Somehow, he knew the one who let go and fell into that void would be the one who lost.
"You'll lose!" Khan shrieked. He kept his footing, standing over Sam, who was struggling just to kneel. "You're weaker than I am! Even with your energy booster friend, I'm more powerful than you!"
It was true. Sam felt his feet sliding, his knees losing traction with the ground. And even the earth beneath them seemed to spin, making him dizzy with the collision of their power. Khan let go of Sam's hands and shoved at his chest, trying to get him to fall back into the raging storm of their own creation.
"And you know, it's that fire-boy's fault that this is happening the way I planned!" Khan gloated. "He had to stand next to Roman to save Dianna in the forest. Roman went into Kole's dreams and learned everything! I knew where everyone would be, and I sent my friends out to take care of them. Even Dianna! I know about her weakness. She won't be able to stop me! No one will!"
"What did you do?" Sam demanded, horror overtaking him.
"I matched everyone perfectly. I won! I've won everything! And I'll win against you, too! You're not strong enough to beat me!"
He's right, Sam thought. I'm not strong enough.
Everything inside of him turned to ice at the thought of losing his mind to someone else. Of losing everything. Was this it? Was Sam going to lose to Khan? NO! He refused to allow it! It was true that Khan was stronger, but he was still only a child.
"You're just a kid with mommy issues." It was an effort to speak. His words grated through his teeth, his muscles clenched, his head felt like it was splitting. His calves cramped at the strength it took to keep him from being pulled backward. But he would never give up. "No one would be your friend if they had a choice, or if they weren't afraid of you. No one really loves you. You're just a baby with a lot of power and no idea how to use it! Even Dianna said so. She'd rather die than be your friend."
"Shut up!"
The intangible wind began to shriek around them, gaining strength as they both used all they had to keep their footing. The pressure against Sam's skull was so intense he thought his skull would be crushed. The pain was indescribable. It radiated through his nervous system, and his vision swirled with colors and faded around the edges. His hearing went fuzzy. It felt like he was losing.
"Your mom died because you were too much of a snot-nosed brat to go to school! It's your fault she's dead!" Sam pushed. "You told Dianna you didn't want to go to school. Well guess what? That's part of growing up. But you were too spoiled to care. Didn't your mommy tell you to go to school? Or was she mind controlled, too? Could she ever tell you to do anything? Or was she just your slave? Did she ever even really love you? Really?"
"You don't know what you're talking about!" But the kid was shaking now, both in anger and with emotions Sam couldn't begin to guess.
"That's it, isn't it?" Sam taunted, nearly breathless with the agony of the mental warfare. "You don't even know if she loved you. You can't control when you take someone over, can you? Is that the secret you hide? That you don't actually control your power at all? It is. You're power is stuck on. Did you ever wonder if she would have left you? If she could have?"
"That isn't true!"
"Isn't it? You're the reason she died! You and your selfish, childish stupidity! Not some governor or nonSupers. And you know it!"
"Shut up! That isn't true!" He tried to push Sam back again. But they seemed equally off balance, now. They both struggled with the storm they'd created.
"You were born cityless, weren't you?" Sam asked. Then, he continued in village-speak. "When you leave this life for the next, she probably won't even be waiting there for you. When you find her, she will turn her back on you. Because you murdered her."
"No!" Khan screamed, also in his native language.
The boy's feet slipped, and he was suddenly being pulled backward into the whirling air. He screeched in terror and clung to Sam, his eyes wide and scared, his feet not even touching the floor. For a split second, Sam grabbed Khan's hands, as if to save him, nagged by instinct to protect the child. But then reason caught up with him again.
He pushed Khan into the swirling wind.
And then everything settled. And Sam was kneeling in the dirt with Khan in his arms, limp and unresponsive, and under Sam's control.
He'd done it. He'd won. But not for long.
"He's fighting me." Sam spit the words out, though it was difficult.
"Let me." A familiar voice startled Sam, and he looked up to see Roman standing above him. "I'm not sure if your teacher knows that Khan's under control, or what happened, but I got my power back about twenty seconds ago. It's lucky I couldn't reach your mind while you were fighting Khan."
Khan didn't physically move, but Sam felt the moment Roman put the boy into a deep, real sleep. The fight to hold Khan's mind broke, like tension finally released, and Sam sat back on his heels, relieved.
"Thank you," Sam said tiredly.
"Me?" Roman's deep voice was sad, and filled with self-loathing. "You're the one who should be thanked. I couldn't get out on my own. And I did things... bad things."
"You didn't have a choice." The earth Super woman became a regular-looking human and stood onto her feet. "Is your friend ok?"
"Jason?" Finn asked warily, hands still raised as if to defend himself. "I don't know. Hank gave Zuri all the power he had and she is carrying him back to Johnson City to be treated. It was a bad wound, though. And Zuri was wounded, too." His voice carried his resentment, and the woman winced, her face pale.
The elderly village woman watched them, confused. Lark walked over to her hesitantly and tried to explain things to her in village-speak. The ominous clouds overhead broke apart. The rain stopped. A gentle, natural wind blew and Sam heard some tentative bird calls.
They'd done it. It was over.
"We did it." Sam didn't realize he'd said it out loud until the giant Super - now back to a regular human size - laughed once, nodding in agreement. And then the man broke down and cried. The girl who had been using her blood as weapons swayed on her feet, pale and on her last legs. Roman quickly went to her, and called her by name. They both wore Lonesome Academy uniforms, even though they were clearly in different age classes. It stood to reason they would know each other.
"Alpha Team to base, come in base." Finn fiddled with the dials on the radio, but he got nothing but static. "Something's wrong. We should still be in range. And without the storm messing with the connection, we should be able to reach them."
Sam felt himself pale as all the taunts Khan had made came back to him with sickening clarity. Had the Supers he sent to take out Dianna's team already won?
"Maybe there was an equipment failure," Lark said uneasily. "Right now, we need to go back and check on Jason. He might not make it."
Sam's already weak stomach turned to water at that statement. He couldn't even imagine Kole getting the news that his brother had died. It didn't bear thinking about. And Kole... was he even safe? Who would Khan have sent to deal with him? Kole seemed so unbeatable, but not in a storm. Sam stood up, about to speak-
"We should check on Dianna." Unexpectedly, it was Roman who said it first. "Khan sent someone with electrical-based powers to her, and someone to deal with Abarra, too. And since your teacher let go of my power before you actually won against Khan, it's possible something happened."
"How did he know where they'd be?" Sam asked, although he already knew.
Roman's shamed silence was the only answer Sam needed. "I'm sorry." He said. "I would never have..."
"I know." Sam said the words, but his heart did not forgive. Not yet. It would probably take a while for the truth of it to settle in. That the Roman who tried to kill them and take Dianna was not the Roman who was with him now. And even time might not be enough to forgive him; not if anything bad had really happened to Dianna or Kole. The disturbing thought sent a shiver down Sam's spine. "I'll go check on Dianna. Finn, you and Lark should go to the city to check on Jason. Someone should go do a headcount and make sure everyone made it. Kole needs to be found so he can be with Jason in the hospital."
"I'll go with you," Roman said. "I owe Dianna an apology and... if she's hurt, I want to help."
Sam didn't respond. What is there to say to that?
The group split up, and Sam and Roman went to find Dianna together.
********************
DIANNA
When the storm broke, I was more concerned than relieved. I had a feeling that it meant the battle was over, but there was no way of knowing who won.
I was alive, and so was Mr. Sato, but just barely. His breathing was shallow, his face bloodless and pale. I was pretty sure at this point that he had fallen asleep or lost consciousness, and was no longer meditating.
My hands were soaked in his blood. I kept pressing against his injury, and the bleeding seemed to have finally slowed, but he'd already lost so much. How much longer would he be able to wait for medical care? I was running out of time, and I couldn't move him in this condition. The radio was broken, and it was my fault, so there was no way to call for help or to find out what happened with the other teams. I was powerless in any way that mattered.
Fifteen minutes after the rain stopped and the clouds dissipated, I heard the sound of people jogging to the cabin's front door. My shoulders tensed. I prepared myself to Push whoever had come to attack us.
"Dianna!"
Sam? I was so shocked that I didn't answer for a second. "Sam? Sam! I'm here!"
When he rushed into the room, I was so relieved that I could have cried. But then the second person entered the cabin, as well, and I gasped. It was Roman.
I Pushed Sam away and set up a Push wall between us.
"Dianna? What are you doing?" Sam asked.
"You could be infected!" I said. "Why is he with you?"
"I broke Khan's mind control," Sam said. "I did it." His eyes roved over the grisly, bloody scene. When he saw Abara, the grief and shock was clear on his face. I took a leap of faith and decided that anyone under Khan's mind control wouldn't be able to show that depth of genuine emotion.
I dropped my Push wall. "Mr. Sato got stabbed. I need to get him to the city."
"Why didn't you take the rover? It's still parked outside." Sam asked, kneeling down to inspect Sato's shoulder.
"I don't know how to drive it."
"I'll help carry him to the vehicle," Roman said. Together, he and Sam lifted Sato. They tried to be careful, but it was impossible not to jostle him as they hauled him up off the ground and shuffle-walked outside with him. My teacher groaned, but didn't otherwise react. I took that as a bad sign.
My eyes kept sliding to Roman against my will. It was bizarre seeing him in real life again, looking like a normal person. His eyes were that same, bottomless black that they were before, but there was no coldness in them anymore. If anything, he radiated remorse.
I wasn't sure how to feel about him. I didn't want him near me, but I also pitied him.
"Should we get..." Sam trailed off, but his meaningful look back at the open cabin door said what he couldn't.
"I- I don't know. Maybe." I didn't think I could carry Headmaster Abara's dead body, much less ride with it in the vehicle with me.
"Maybe just block the doorway to keep him safe, for now." Roman said softly, glancing at the woods. "I'm sure your SuperCorps will send someone out to retrieve him. We should focus on your teacher, right now."
Sam and I both readily agreed, since it gave us a reason not to go back inside and handle the corpse of someone we admired and liked. It was too much. And I still felt like it was my fault, regardless of what Abarra had said. I couldn't stand to face the guilt.
Sam jumped in the driver's spot, since Roman said the controls were different than he was used to. That left me and Roman in the back seats, awkwardly holding Mr. Sato draped across both of our laps.
"I'm going to try and get us to the road quickly," Sam warned us. "It will be a little bumpy. Try to keep him stable."
It wasn't until we rolled back onto the road and sped up to reach the city that I realized I hadn't asked any important questions.
"Where's Khan?" I asked.
"Sleeping in a field. Sarah's guarding him." Roman said. He spoke almost too politely, and kept his gaze averted from my face. I felt the awkward tension between us and tried to ignore it.
Yes, we were enemies until earlier today. Yes, he has seen my entire life and all my worst fears and weaknesses. Yes, he tortured me for hours. Yes, it's weird. There's nothing I can do about that.
"Who's-"
"She was one of us," Roman anticipated my question. "One of the controlled Supers. She's a good person. She was one of the SuperCorps members from Lonesome City."
"And he's asleep?" I asked again, making sure. "She's not going to touch him and get infected?"
"She won't touch him, trust me on that." Roman's voice was hard, and for a moment I saw a glimpse of that cold-eyed killer he had been before. It gave me chills, but then that glimpse was gone and he was back to being overly-polite. "And yes, he's asleep. I'm holding him right now. He won't wake up until I want him to. He's been too close to me for too long. It will take a few weeks for my power over his sleep to wear off."
That was a small comfort, at least.
Sato's breathing stuttered and Roman and I adjusted our grip, trying to hold his blood inside of his body without moving the knife blade too much. After a few attempts, we managed to get him settled and he stopped gasping in pain. Silence reigned for a long minute as we all gnawed on our worries and anxiety. But soon, my burning questions were too pressing to deny.
"And... our people?"
Sam knew who I was asking about, even if I couldn't make myself say their names. He answered me when Roman stayed quiet. "We don't know anything about Kole, or Damien. But Jason's in a bad way."
That's not good. I'd never had a sibling, but from what I could tell by watching Kole and Jason, it was a big deal. Like a best friend, but even more. If Jason died, would Kole be alright? I doubted it.
Sam must have been feeling the same way, because the rover lurched forward and we sped up.