The others took off. Que went chasing after a red blur. Cassie started throwing large concussive telekinetic blasts from in the air. Jake went for a fire elemental, and Blink began to phase through people and attack them from behind.
Me? I had to get through my sister before I helped them.
Sage shot two twin rays of energy from her eyes at me. They collided into my body, but they didn't hurt, thanks to my diamond skin.
Sage came to this conclusion, too. She transformed her arms into scythe-like weapons and tried to slash them across my torso. I blocked them easily with my arm.
"Switch!" she yelled.
"Ah!" Metagor came crashing down from above. I jumped clear from his point of impact. I wasn't doing that again.
He swung his tail, and spikes were hurled at me. I dodged most of them, but one found its mark. It embedded itself deep into my side.
I grabbed it and pulled it out, even though it hurt. I didn't think anything could pierce my skin, but this spike just did.
"It's made of boron nitrite- a mineral that is harder than diamond," he explained with a slight nod of approval. "I got an upgrade. Apparently, it worked."
He threw off another shot, but this time, I had to dodge them all. I bent down to avoid the first one, then to the side so that the other two didn't hit me. "Is that all you've got?" I asked him, trying to put in a brave facade.
"Nope. That was the distraction."
I felt a bullet for the first time. It hurt. It felt as if a thousand ants were crawling into a hole in my back and they wouldn't get out. They bit my insides, tearing at my internal organs.
I dropped to the ground, my body automatically shifting back into its former state. Blood began to pool on the ground. My blood.
"Hurry up," I heard Sage say. "Before he comes back. I want to make sure he stays dead this time."
My body was immobile. I couldn't move. I could only watch helplessly as the scene played out around me.
"Hey, you!" Metagor yelled out into the crowd of people trying to get Cassie down from her advantageous position. The fliers couldn't gain a foothold because she was sending them in the other direction with her blasts. No one could touch her. That said, she couldn't help me- she had no way of getting to me while keeping them at bay at the same time.
A man emerged, one I had never seen before.
"Come here for a sec." Metagor raised his ugly, long finger at me on the ground. "I need you to shock this boy. Give him a good jolt, probably 300 watts."
300? That was enough to...enough to...
Suddenly, I figured it out. They were trying to destroy my nanobots so that I couldn't heal. And with a bullet embedded in my spine, that would mean definite death.
I started wriggling on the ground, trying to get as far away from the man as possible. But, unfortunately, at a casual walking pace, he got to me easily.
The man stood over me, rubbing his hands together like a defibrillator. He bent down to get a good grip on me.
I was sure my suit wasn't going to be able to protect me from this, and I didn't have the strength to change back to my diamond form, nor the will to, since the pain would be amplified.
I waited for the pain. And it came.
The electricity lanced itself throughout my body. I felt every fiber of my being scream in pain, and I could hear Boan screaming as well. The nanobots were being destroyed, and I was being killed.
Then, my vision closed up, and I was inside of my mind again. But something was wrong. An alarm was sounding, and the darkness flashed red. I tried to summon the memory of my room, but even that was bathed in the total red glow. I couldn't help but be reminded of a fire alarm going off. Except, what was burning?
Boan appeared out of nowhere. "What's going on, Boan?" I asked him. "What's happening?"
"I'm...dying," he said. "They're killing us."
"What can I do? I need to help, Boan!" I tried to steady him against me and moved him over to the bed, where he could sit.
"You can't do anything. But it's okay, you did your best. We're finished fixing you up." Boan coughed, beating his chest with one hand.
"That fast?" I asked.
"Yeah. It's amazing what-" He coughed again. "-What you can do under pressure."
"Boan, come on. Tell me what to do so I can help. Please," I begged him. "I can't lose you."
"You're just going to have to go on without me," he said with a small smile. "It's my time. Although, I thought you would die long before I did."
We grew silent. But it was in no way quiet. The beep-beep-beeping of the alarm was a constant reminder of the pain my body was in back in the real world. Already, I started to feel it returning.
"Why did you call me here?" I asked him. "If I can't help you, then why would you make me watch you suffer and die?"
"I didn't call you here for that." He coughed. "I wanted to tell you something. Before I die, I wanted to let you know that we've given you all of your abilities- you just have to unlock them."
I had to quench the excitement inside of me for the powers I might have in order to keep the straight face on that I was having. I told myself that now was not the time to celebrate. My friend was dying.
"We've taken the liberty of unlocking one. You'll find out when you get back to the real world."
I nodded my head in understanding. "And you? Can't you upload yourself into my brain or something to save yourself?"
"This isn't some sci-fi movie, Jay," he scolded. "This is real life. I can't do that- at least not yet."
"Then why not give me the ability to heal?" I asked. "That way, you would get to live."
"Yes, but you would also be cursed. That ability has a side effect. You would live forever, too." He pinched his nose, giving me the impression that all of this has already crossed his mind. He was ready to die.
"I want to be able to save you," I said. "I want to find some last-second way to keep you alive. But, like you said, this isn't a movie."
"I know. But just promise me one thing," Boan said. His voice began to grow weaker, fading away. "I've always been fascinated with the hero complex. I want you to become one."
"What? A hero?" I asked in surprise.
"Yes. Saving lives with your abilities...I feel like that would be the best way to let me live on...inside of you," he said. I heard his breath catch inside his throat.
No, no, no. "Boan? Boan!" He fell over on the bed. He started gasping for air.
"Promise me..." He said.
"I promise," I said. Tears began to well up in my eyes. I hadn't even known him for very long, but he was always there for me. And now...
His eyes rolled up into the back of his head.
I came back to the real world. The unknown man who had been killing me now stopped, thinking I was dead.
With one hand, he went flying back into the crowd of people he had emerged from. Instantly, they stopped to see what had thrown him. Even the people fighting Que, Blink, and Jake were halted in their tracks. Soon, everyone was looking at me.
Metagor and Sage tensed up, not knowing what to expect.
I opened my eyes. They flowed bright blue with fury.
They began to back up, their bodies telling them to run. But they were frozen in place.
I saw the lights, like in hypermode. But they were different. They went through people now, too, not just through the air. And I controlled them.
I reached my hand out slowly to Sage and Metagor, who had looks of pure terror in their faces. It almost accounted for the amount of pain they had caused me. Oh, wait- no it didn't.
I closed my hand into a fist. A tight pressure formed around their necks.
Then, I twisted.
The crack spread ominously across the whole field. Sage's and Metagor's bodies crumpled.
I let that sink in for a moment. Then, with their deaths still fresh on everyone's mind, I uttered one word that sent them all running.
"Leave."
They all ran with their tails between their legs. Even Cassie, Que, and Jake left. Blink stood still for a moment, then he followed after, not wanting to take any chances with me.
He was right to do so.