Charlie screamed much louder than Beatrice. She screamed again and again, and thrashed wildly underneath the crushing weight Night Thief's boot. She shouted every single curse word her brain could think of, and strung together every combination of insults she could put together in the midst of her rage.
But it wasn't enough. It didn't matter how angry she was. Night Thief was stronger than her.
She gritted her teeth, her eyes stinging as tears of anger and frustration threatened to spill over.
No. I was supposed to save Beatrice. I can't let it end like this.
Charlie took a slow and steady breath. Her hands wrapped around Night Thief's boot, and she readied herself.
Then, in one swift movement, she twisted to the side while pulling Night Thiefs foot out from under her with all of her strength. The older woman landed against the concrete with a yelp of surprise, and Charlie stumbled back up to her feet.
When she took in a deep breath, she could feel a painful soreness in her ribs.
Charlie watched as Night Thief tried to pull herself up, wondering how she could possibly take down someone so much stronger than her. But before she could figure it out, a copper colored blur shot past her.
She watched, her eyes wide, as Linton struggled against the villain, trying to pin her arms at her sides.
Fuck. I wanted to do that…
...wait. Beatrice!
Charlie spun around, suddenly a lot less concerned about proving to everyone that she could beat up an international terrorist and a lot more concerned about whether or not Beatrice was okay.
She spotted her leaning against the wall. Her breathing was heavy, and her left arm dangled limply at her side, the upper portion of which was bent at a nauseating and unnatural angle. Charlie ran to her.
"B!" She shouted as she reached her, taking her face in her hands. "Are okay?"
What a dumb question you big dumb idiot! Of course she's not okay!
"... I'm fine…" she gasped out, straightening up. "Just help me get back over there so I can fight!"
"B, you can't be serious!" Charlie said with an incredulous laugh.
Beatrice angrily drew her eyebrows together.
"What?" She hissed.
"Your arm is broken!" Charlie shouted at her.
"So? I have another one." Beatrice said. "Besides, it doesn't even hurt that bad."
"It probably doesn't hurt yet because you're in shock or something! I'm taking you down to those ambulances!"
Beatrice jerked away as Charlie attempted to grab her, whimpering in obvious pain as she did so.
"What if they shoot at me, Charlie? I'm a runaway prisoner!"
Charlie chewed on her cheek. She had a point. Not only was she technically still a fugitive, they might also mistake her for Night Thief and open fire.
"Okay, well. You sit down here, and I'll go help out Linton. Once we deal with Night Thief, then we can deal with that, okay?"
Beatrice opened her mouth, but before any words could even come out, Charlie was dashing back over to the fight. Linton met her on the way over, grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her behind a concrete pillar.
She was ready for him to yell at her to get down to safety, but, surprisingly, he didn't.
Instead, he reached over and pressed something small and round into the palm of her hand. She glanced up at him, eyebrows furrowed.
"This will interfere with her powers. I have one too." He held his up as he spoke. "It goes on the back of the neck. It doesn't matter who gets it on there, it just needs to be one of us, alright?"
Charlie nodded intently, clutching the device in her shaking hand.
"Great." Linton said. "Let's get back out there. You take the left, and I'll take the right."
Charlie nodded once more before taking off around the other side of the pillar.
As soon as she was out in the open, Night Thief's attention was on her. She froze, her legs feeling weak, and shaking like they might give out. Just over Night Thief's shoulder, she could see Linton approaching her from behind.
Okay, I just need to keep her attention on me long enough for Linton to tackle her.
"Hey, uh—" she started.
Shit. What should I do?
"Before you kill me, can I tell you a joke?" Charlie asked.
Night Thief's dark eyes narrowed, and her jaw set.
"I don't know what kind of trick this is, but I can assure you that it's not as clever as you believe."
"Okay, I'll take that as a yes." Charlie said, swallowing. "So there's a dog with a limp that walks into a saloon, and you know what he says?"
"...what?"
Charlie glanced over to see Linton, just a few feet behind her.
"I'm looking for the man who shot my paw!"
Night Thief's face drew into an unamused scowl, and her hand shot out behind her, her hardened gaze not leaving Charlie all the while. Linton was immediately stopped in his tracks and thrown up the ground.
"A stupid trick, really." She said, shaking her head with pity.
Charlie gritted her teeth so hard that she worried her very expensive dental work might chip.
A stupid trick? I'll show her a stupid trick!
She ran forward, channeling all of her anger into willing her legs to run. As she got close to her, she moved her hand to her belt and pulled out the first thing she found and yelled:
"Grappling hook!" She shouted.
Night Thief reflexively jerked away, nearly falling over as she tucked her head down.
A flashlight was what Charlie had actually pulled from her belt. With a smirk, she tossed it to the side and lept onto Night Thief's back at the same time.
Night Thief twisted and jerked as she tried to get her off, but Charlie knew that if her gangly limbs were good for one thing, it was clinging onto people. Despite the villain's relentless jerking, Charlie managed to hang on and fish the small disk from her belt, and slap it square on the back of her neck.
Night Thief yelped, and her body twitched the slightest bit before crumpling beneath Charlie's weight. Linton was at her side in an instant and Charlie climbed off of her as he started binding Night Thief's hands and feet.
Charlie's thoughts quickly turned back to Beatrice.
She ran over to where she sat against the wall, and helped her up.
"We did it! Come on, let's get you down there to the EMTs!"
Beatrice gave her a reluctant look.
"What is it?" Charlie asked.
"...I'm scared of going back to jail. I don't want to go down there."
Charlie reached over and rubbed her thumb across her cheek.
"Hey, it's okay. I swear I won't let that happen."
A couple of tears trailed down her cheeks as she squeezed her eyes shut and nodded.
Linton made his way over, Night Thief slung casually over his shoulder.
"You okay, B?" He asked.
Beatrice sniffled and rubbed her hand across her face.
"No." She whimpered.
"Well, do you think you could get the four of us down stairs at least?" He said softly.
B nodded tearfully.
Linton took her shoulder, and Charlie took her good arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
In a puff of black smoke they were down on the ground, surrounded by police, EMTs, and armed guards. Everything immediately broke out in commotion.
Beatrice hung onto to Charlie for dear life, and Charlie squeezed her back.
"This isn't over yet." Night Thief said.
"I think it is." Lintom said, heaving her into the back of nearby transport van.
Night Thief gave him a sly smile, before producing something small, and metallic from between her cuffed fingers, and crushing it.
Linton immediately went pale.
"What was that?" One of the officers rushed to say.
"An explosive." Linton said, taking a step back. "There's an explosive somewhere."
"Explosives, actually." Night thief said. "You have roughly five minutes until they detonate."
Charlie pulled away from Beatrice and glanced over her, her heart racing.
"That'll never be enough time for the bomb squad to even arrive." The office said to Linton.
"Had to give my precious daughter time to get away, though." Night Thief said. "Someone has to carry on my work."
Linton ignored her, turning to face the crowd of authorities. "Everyone, get as far away from the building as possible!"
The first person turned to run, only to immediately smack into an Invisible wall three steps later.
"Shit!" Linton cursed. "She deployed a force field too!"
Panicked murmuring took over the crowd, and a few people started to desperately punch and kick the barrier between them and safety.
Night Thief looked over at Beatrice, who was pale beyond belief. It seemed to Charlie like she was also on the verge of passing out.
"You may even be able to teleport a couple of your little friends or along with you." She said.
Charlie reached out and grabbed Beatrice's hand.
"B? What do we do?"
Beatrice's features snapped into hard lines, and she shook her head.
"No. No." She said. "I'm not going to run away. I'm not going to let this play out like she wants. I'm going to save everybody."
"How?" Charlie asked.
Beatrice turned to the crowd, jaw set.
"Everybody, get behind me as close as you can."
Of course Charlie fell in line directly behind her, but not everyone seemed so eager to take direction from a criminal. People talked amongst themselves, pensive looks passing over their faces.
"Maybe I should rephrase that!" Beatrice shouted to the crowd. "Get behind me if you want a chance at living. Stand as far away from me as possible if you would like to be turned into a fine, pinkish mist."
The murmuring all but stopped, replaced by the eager plod of feet. Once everyone was packed in, Beatrice held up her good hand, and they were covered with a transparent, marbled dome.
Charlie grabbed Beatrice by the hip, and closed her eyes.
There was silence. Only the sound of people breathing heavily in fear. Then, there was everything.
An explosion, so loud it was barely a sound. The world trembled and shook under Charlie's feet, but she wasn't hit by anything.
She opened her eyes and saw that the sunlight was almost blotted out by smoke and dust, which swirled along the edge of the bubble.
Just like that, another explosion shook the ground beneath them, and she heard Beatrice gasped in pain.
Charlie stood firm behind Beatrice, one arm tight around her waist. She could feel the trembling of her muscles as she stood against what Charlie could only assume was the immense pressure of the blast.
"I can't hold it!" Beatrice yelled. "I'm not strong enough!"
The barrier flickered for the briefest of seconds, allowing smoke and bits of rubble to flow in. A few small pieces of debris flew by Charlie's face, leaving stinging scratches on he her cheeks.
"Yes you are!" Charlie said, squeezing her waist even tighter. "I know you can do it, B! Give it all you've got!"
Beatrice gave one tight nod, and Charlie grabbed her outstretched arm to help her support it. Charlie could really feel how much she was fighting against collapsing under the power of the explosions.
Just when Charlie was sure beatrice couldn't withstand anymore, the pressure stopped. All that was left was the plume of smoke that was expanding up into the sky as the force field night thief had planted flickered away, probably too damaged by the blasts.
Beatrice's arms started to go slack, but Charlie kept her upright as her own barrier vanished. Some smoke surrounded them, but the worst of it was over.
A relieved chatter broke out among the crowd.
"B! You did it!!" Charlie said.
Beatrice didn't respond.
"B?"
Charlie looked down at Beatrive, squinting through the smoke. There was a piece of shrapnel jutting out of Beatrice's side. Charlie blanched, her bottom lip quivering.
"Linton!" She shouted so hard her throat hurt.
Linton ran over, wide eyed.
"I don't want to sound like a cry baby." Beatrice said horsley. "But my arm is starting to hurt now."
"We need medics!" He shouted.
A flurry of men and women in white uniforms appeared out of the smoke, prying Beatrice away from Charlie's grasp.
"Wait, no!" Charlie shouted, trying to claw her way back to her. "I have to know she's okay!"
Linton grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back.
"We need to give them space to work, Charlie." He said. "Come on, we can follow them to the hospital in the meantime."
Charlie nodded, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.
As she followed Linton to his hoverboard, she heard night thief say:
"What a pity. I really thought she could have done something with her life."