Dylo was honestly beginning to wonder if there was a single place on earth that wasn't freezing cold. He shivered in his seat more and more as the aircraft neared the infamous area of bluster and ice.
The crisp, harsh atmosphere gnawing and biting at his skin only made him more uncomfortable, and the fact that he desperately needed to go to the bathroom definitely wasn't helping.
"Aw man, now I gotta pee." He complained, pacing back and forth across the aircraft, fidgeting a lot more than usual. "Any chance we could turn this thing around?"
"We told you to go before we left." Eliza said, posted up against the wall as she twirled her dagger through her fingers.
"But I didn't have to go then." Dylo whined as everyone else proceeded to tune out the sound of his voice.
Amber would've chuckled, but she was too busy counting her arrows. A single arrow missing could spell catastrophe for her out in the field. Resting in one of the seats near the exit door of the jet, she whispered to herself as she made a mental note of each set of arrows.
Her arsenal only consisted of 25 conventional arrows, and two of each type of trick arrow. After the assault on the facility, her arsenal had been nearly depleted. Not to mention the fact that her bow had been slightly damaged.
Today, she'd have to make do with what she had, but then again, she'd always have her cryokinetic powers. The freezing temperatures of the environment would theoretically amplify her abilities to insane levels, so she figured she'd be alright.
"Explosive, tranquilizer, sonic, grappling hook, smoke, cryokinetic..." Amber muttered to herself as she noticed that her electric arrows were missing.
She threw her head back in frustration as she mentally chided herself. Unbelievable.
Leo noticed the girl's frustration as he walked over to her table, slyly smiling. "Looking for these?" He asked, pulling out a trio of blue-tipped arrows. "I knew you'd forget them."
Amber's facial features lit up as she sighed in relief. "Hey, I didn't forget them, I just misplaced them. Two completely different things, you know." She protested.
"Yeah, sure." Leo remarked as he sat down in the seat adjacent to the girl, leaning his titanium staff up against the padded chair.
"Shut up." She chuckled, but her smile immediately faded as worries about the future flashed back into her mind. She averted her somber gaze to the table.
No matter how much she wanted to believe otherwise, she knew that there was no way that all of them were making it through this. She didn't know if this was the last time she'd see Leo or not. She needed to let him know something. Something important.
"Something on your mind?" Leo inquired, his face now adopting a more serious tone as he began tapping the metallic desk lightly with his gloved fingers. "You seem a bit stressed."
"I'm just wondering how all of this is gonna end. We've all grown pretty close in the past few months, you know? I just don't wanna lose that." Amber stuttered out as her voice quivered and shook. "I don't wanna lose you."
Leo's heart thundered with his chest as his mouth grew dry. His body shivered at the thought of losing Amber. Kai may have been their leader, but to him, Amber had always been the glue that held the group together, the heart of the team. A beam of light.
Because that was what she was. A bright star in a hopelessly dark universe.
He extended his hand over the table, grabbing Amber's. His cobalt eyes drilled into her own, and she couldn't look away no matter how hard she tried.
"Listen, I'm not going anywhere." He whispered, his voice remaining solid. This time, he didn't stutter. "None of us are."
"Thanks." Amber replied, squeezing Leo's hand tighter and tighter every second. Her mind was in a constant battle with her heart. Her heart said that they would win, but her mind told her they'd lose.
It was the fact that she didn't know which one was right that scared her the most.
Kai peered through the bulletproof windows, unable to see anything other than snow, which was enveloping the outside of the entire aircraft at this point. He looked over at Dylo, who was hyperventilating.
Every few seconds, he'd reach down and open his nourishment compartment, checking to see if his power pellets were still there before swiftly closing it again.
The boy had gotten used to going on smaller missions, but this one was on an entirely different scale. The attack had dwindled their numbers and had shaken the team as a whole. They were walking into battle blind. He didn't know what they'd face out there.
When going all out, he was slightly slower than a bullet. His enhanced reflexes were the only thing that allowed him to evade them with such ease. Plus, the immensely low temperature of the environment would begin to cause his atoms to move slower, negating the boy's speed even more.
Kai understood the boy's fear completely, but he desperately needed to calm down and focus if they wanted to finish this mission.
"You alright, Dy?" He asked, mounting his sword on the magnetic holder on his back.
"I'm not nervous. Who said I'm nervous? Do I look nervous? Because I'm not. You're the one who's nervous!" Dylo babbled at such a speed that Kai was surprised that he didn't get tongue-tied. The blond's bottom lip quivered as he hugged his body to keep himself warm.
Kai put a firm hand on the speedster's shoulder, causing his shivers to cease. "Look, I know you're nervous. We all are. But you need to remember why we're doing this. That machine down there-the Triton-is what's powering that army of theirs. If we shut it down, we defeat them. Remember that."
Dylo took in a few heavy breaths as he visibly began to calm down. "You're right. You're right. I'm good, I'm all good. Thanks, man. I needed that."
"No problem. It's what friends are for." Kai replied, patting his buddy on the back he mulled the strategy over in his head. Hopefully his tactical prowess would prove to be a great asset the group of young superhumans.
Jetstream, the dark-haired woman piloting the aircraft, was apparently the most skilled pilot in the state of Oregon. She'd activate the aircraft's cloaking device as soon as their jet got within close range of the base.
While Grid, Field, Cloak, and the rest of the operatives held back the agents, Guardian, Inferno, and Frost would head down to the Triton to destroy it.
Kai knew it wouldn't be that easy, though. Amber and Troy were likely be preoccupied with Steel and Rift, and he knew it would only be a matter a time before they confronted Ajax once more.
But he was prepared for that. At least, he thought he was. During the few days following their departure from the facility, he hadn't been trying to get stronger. Instead, he'd focused on making a few adjustments to his fighting style.
Originally, he'd only attacked with his sword and defended with his shield. After a few days of training, he'd successfully taught himself how to do both with both, allowing him to blend his attacks together and make his combinations harder to counter.
When he'd first faced the mercenary, his method of fighting was predictable and to-the-point. He rushed in with little regard for technique just a barrage of simple strikes. However, he'd learned from his mistakes.
He now moved with a constant, unpredictable motion, and he kept his sword and shield moving, making it much harder for Ajax to anticipate what he'd do. From now on, he wouldn't simply block the man, he'd counter him, using his own offense as a defense.
Hopefully his new skills would be enough to take down Ajax once and for all.
Adam's gaze lingered upon Agent Owens. Though the topic seemed to be insignificant, he desperately wanted to know why everyone called him Echo. He hadn't exhibited anything that alluded to his codename.
Sure, the man's daughter had been murdered a few months after Elias' transformation into Ajax, but that still didn't have anything to do with his name. All Adam knew about the guy was that he was a highly trained operative, and that he absolutely despised Genodium.
He concluded that the main reason behind his abhorrence was the death of his daughter, but still, he wasn't sure.
He would've looked into the man's head, but he'd easily be caught, as the person's skull began to lightly vibrate when Adam was in the process of using his telepathic abilities on them. It was a major invasion of privacy, anyways.
But the boy just couldn't seem to help himself.
"Excuse me, Agent Owens, sir?" He asked, attempted to seem as innocent as possible. He figured that it was the way to extract the maximum amount of information.
"Yeah?" The man responded, his voice gravelly.
"Sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering, why do they call you Echo? Did you choose the name, or did they just give it to you?"
"I chose it myself." The man said, beginning to turn away from the adolescent telepath, pacing to the other end of the aircraft. "I don't like to talk about why, so leave me be."
Adam's shoulders slumped as he squinted in opposition, his gaze narrowing. If they all somehow survived this battle, he promised himself that he'd eventually find out what the man was hiding.
Jolting him out of his daydream, the jet gave a shudder as Adam felt himself being thrown around like some inanimate rag doll. Fortunately, he regained his composure and his footing. His shoulder felt limp, though, seeing as he'd been thrown into the wall beside him.
"What the hell was that?" The boy demanded, looking around frantically as he firmly grasped his shoulder.
The plane started rattling. The noise was so loud that it sounded like a rumbling earthquake. Kai already knew what it was. Those were bullets, and if they were coming from Primus, then there would definitely be something else following them. Something deadlier.
They had to get out of the sky, and fast.
Kai turned to Bianca, who, like everyone else, was struggling to keep herself from falling over. "Bianca, field up!"
The girl nodded as she generated her force field, encasing nearly the entire aircraft within the energy barrier, aside from Jetstream, who was still piloting the jet. She struggled to extended her force field around Jetstream to protect the woman, but the sphere of solid, violet energy wouldn't budge.
Kai heard a faint whistle growing louder in volume as he instinctively brought up his bio-shield. Jetstream barked out some commands, but they were muffled. His ears were deafened as one of the walls of the aircraft was disintegrated by the blast wave that followed.
Several operatives were immediately sucked out of the gaping hole in the jet's exterior, eventually plummeting to their demise. He looked away, refusing to bear witness to their deaths as the metallic floor crumpled underneath his grip.
Leo looked outside, gulping heavily as he registered the broken wing of the jet, feeling a sudden increase in pressure as his body became plastered to the floor. It felt like the gravity had been multiplied by a thousand. He couldn't move a muscle.
He wrapped Amber in his arms as the girl buried her head within his chest. She was unable to move, but she didn't even know if she wanted to at the moment.
To her, the safest place now was in his arms.
It all happened so quickly. The hard impact threw Adam forwards into the seat in front of him. The front of the jet was being stripped away from the body as they bounced across the rocky, snowy earth.
Ignoring the sharp pain in the back of his head, he peeled out from behind the padded seat as he heard three words that shook him to his core.
"Brace for impact!" Jetstream yelled at the top of her lungs. Even over the distorting rumble of the plane, he could hear the woman's voice clearly. His heart thundered within his chest as his eyes began to water from the cold air rushing through them.
He extended his hands outward, gritting his teeth to suppress the pain in his shoulder. He intended to use his telekinesis to slow the plane down before it crashed into the humongous, icy rock up ahead.
For now, it seemed to be working. It seemed to be slowing down, but not nearly enough to hinder it from smashing into the boulder ahead. He could feel the pressure decreasing, but he didn't know how long he could hold it back.
His body registered an intense jolt as Bianca's force field dissipated. He blacked out for a second, but regained his mental composure a few minutes later. He heard the swift sound of armored feet shuffling through the dense snow. Primus' agents were already outside.
That wasn't what he was worried about, though.
Kai's body ached in protest as he staggered to his feet. This crash had been much more devastating than the last, having given him a small bruise on the side of his elbow, but the adrenaline muffled the pain.
He could taste the coppery blood pooling in his mouth, grazing his teeth and soaking his tongue. He immediately spit it out, retrieving his sword from the rubble as he pulled Dylo, Adam and Bianca to their feet. Troy had already stood up, taking cover behind the broken wall of the aircraft.
Eliza, Echo, and Sharpshooter crawled out of the bent mental, along with the remaining Genesis operatives. Leo and Amber followed.
"Everyone alright?" Kai panted, gazing around at each of his teammates as Leo performed a headcount on everyone.
"Never better." Eliza sarcastically retorted, grabbing her remaining daggers onto her black utility belt as she peered out the window, taking a mental note of the legion of guards swiftly surrounding the aircraft like a vortex.
"We gotta get a move on, guys. They've already got us surrounded." Dylo rapidly whisper-yelled, his eyes growing bigger with every syllable.
"Wait, where's Jetstream?" Leo asked, a sullen expression engulfing his face as he looked around, frantically attempting the locate the heavily experienced pilot.
She was nowhere to be found.
A sharp yelp escaped from Bianca's lips as her eyes settled on the crumpled, deformed pile of metal that used to be the cockpit. Large spots of crimson decorated the exterior of the small mound of titanium.
Her skin felt was tingling as she trembled, tears swelling in her eyes. She was rooted to her spot.
Jetstream was dead because of her.
"She was the closest to the crash." Adam replied, a somber tone riddling his quiet voice. A moment of silence engulfed the entire area for a few seconds, before being broken by Amber.
"Well, we can't let her death be in vain." Amber said, gritting her teeth as her fists tightened. "We have to stop Matthews before anyone else meets that same fate. What's the plan, Guardian?"
Kai knew that by now, it'd be impossible for them to escape the aircraft without another one of them dying. It was too much of a risk. A hail of bullets would be unleashed upon them before they'd be able to flinch. He may have been bulletproof, but his teammates weren't.
"We move out." Kai commanded, walking out of the demolished jet as his gaze was focused on the red-haired lady before him-Rift. He watch the snow tumble, those feathered crystals, their chaotic flight forming a blanket that could not be more uniform, more orderly.
Troy gazed at the horde of soldiers as his hands proceeded to light on fire. It took more effort than usual, because of the cold environment. At the slightest sign of attack, they'd kill all of them on the spot. If that was the case, then he'd drop as many of them as he could before he went down.
"I'm sure Ajax would forgive us if we didn't take any prisoners this time." Rift maniacally smiled, spinning her dagger between her fingers. Amber's jaw clenched as she eyed the blade. "Do you even know the amount trouble you've found?"
"Clearly not enough if you're still talking orders from Matthews." Troy sneered. He fully intended to get under his enemy's skin.
"Cuff that burning one first." Steel commanded as he pointed to Troy. The boy's brow furrowed as he instinctively began to attack, until he noticed Kai's lingering gaze.
The guy gently shook his head in an attempt to calm him down. One wrong move, and all of them would die. They couldn't afford that. They'd already lost Jetstream today. They weren't about to lose anyone else.
Troy huffed as the flames spawned on his hands began to slowly dissipate, before becoming completely extinguished. The soldiers swiftly advanced on their positions, stripping them of their weapons and gear and handcuffing them.
These handcuffs, while boasting the same design from before, seemed to negate all of their superhuman abilities. Agent Owens, Eliza, and the others non-powered agents were restrained with conventional ones.
Kai's lips bared at his teeth. He would've attacked, but he couldn't risk anymore of his friends' lives. It was his job as leader to make the tough calls.
Somehow, they'd find a way to escape this nightmare and put an end to Matthews' treachery.
Somehow.