The car hummed silently as the quartet drove along. It was silent for the most part until Jonas began to play with the barrier that separated the back seats from the front. Despite driving, he took his right fist and thumped on the cage. It rattled with every hit.
“Didn’t police vehicles used to have these?” Jonas said as he continued to prod the cage with every word. “Temporary prison cells; too bad they’re useless. What’s a tiny fence going to do against an ability like Chloe’s, but I guess we’re going a different direction these days.”
“What do you mean?” Zeta said, her annoyance apparent to everyone but Jonas.
“I don’t know. After the year 2000 passed, society turned soft. Back then they would murder a criminal on the spot.”
“They still do that,” she said.
“Yeah, but it’s less gruesome, more ethical.”
Zeta rolled her eyes. As if that made it any better. She started to understand why Chloe found him annoying.
Jonas provided another point, “Plus, they train people with certain powers to specifically transport people to Lance-guarded prisons. They make a lot of money. I’d consider doing that, being an aid or something.”
Bobbi popped up in Zeta’s mind. It sounded like a suitable job for the other girl in the prison, being able to transport objects and all.
“Fucking city drivers.” Roren honked on his horn. “You ever drive a car before?”
Zeta paid no mind to Roren’s road rage. Instead, she noticed a blank screen in place of the usual buttons to configure the heating, radio, and a bunch of other settings. She heard about physical knobs, buttons, and cranks being completely phased out, but she never encountered an entire screen interface in person before. She tapped on the screen to distract herself, and it awoke upon her touch. A white background slowly filled in, until the user interface loaded in virtual buttons. She much preferred for them to be physical.
She pressed around, hoping to find a brightness setting. She found a night mode which made the screen bearable. The screen transitioned from a glaring white to a comfortable black-gray, but it was still bright.
She continued to play around with the system until she noticed a button that went to the last opened application, which happened to be video-related. Streaming and video services. It was not something that should be in the front of a car, but there it was proving Zeta wrong. She pressed the video button and it broadcast the last played channel.
The audio blasted from the car’s speakers. On the screen, a car in slow motion flipped over intense, upbeat music. The music faded away and the loud rumbling of the car flipping against a guardrail boomed.
She shut out the rest of the noise mentally as she lowered the volume. But, instead of pulling down a knob, she tapped frantically on graphical buttons. She adjusted the volume too far and muted the system, but pressed up a few levels to get the car at a suitable volume.
Zeta stared at the screen for a few seconds, the show was reporting on Isaiah Delton, his chase already in progress. The flipped car from earlier was a competitor that failed to capture the criminal, so the next one was up.
“Are we late?” Zeta asked.
Roren said, “Just a bit, maybe. I should have gotten a notification on my phone that it started. But, we’re going in the right direction. It’s not about where he began, but where he’ll end up. Jonas, you recognize where they are?”
“I do.”
“Let’s start heading that direction.”
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Zeta’s attention went back to the screen.
The announcer said, “I am so excited to see what Richie Gomez has in store for us.”
“I have to agree!—“
She tuned out the audio. Her nerves were coming back in. She survived one encounter but was to greet death’s door yet again. She closed her eyes and tried to meditate, to prepare herself.
She did not have the time to; danger was there yet again.
Wham! The car was rammed from behind, and it skittered slightly. Fortunately, Jonas got the vehicle under control and continued, but this time he sped up.
Zeta turned to look behind her. Two similarly fashioned cars, white paint and black-tinted, were on their tail. She focused her abilities on the two vehicles.
“Who the fuck is that?” Jonas said.
“Looks like the people you stole this car from,” Zeta said. “I’m using my powers on them.”
“Good, I’ll take care of it then,” Roren said.
Zeta continued to watch, focusing her energy intently, waiting for Roren to do something. His eyebrows tightened, then he looked at Zeta. The stare caused her to tense up.
“Zeta, release your hold from me,” he said.
“It’s on you?” Zeta wondered what he was referring to. She checked to see if her powers were on him, or if they were releasing uncontrollably. They were not. She shook her head. “It’s not on you.”
Rammed again from behind. Zeta’s neck slightly twisted. It was not enough to cause an injury but enough to make her cautious. She positioned herself to look forward and placed her neck into a safer position.
“Roren?” Jonas said. He swerved to dodge a car from oncoming traffic.
The four of them launched forward again and their seatbelts continued to prevent them from flying off.
“I can’t use my powers,” Roren said.
“Me too,” Chloe said. “Zeta, what are you doing?”
“I’m not doing anything!” Zeta said. She was faced forward but could feel the animosity on her spine.
“I warned you already, nicely too,” Jonas said. His voice rose. “Are you that stupid to try something again, in a car with all of us?”
“I’m not doing anything!” Zeta shouted.
“Hey!” Roren said. “Let’s all calm down. Especially you, Jonas. You’re driving. Just shut up and drive.”
Zeta blurted out the first thing on her mind. “If it’s not me, it’s someone else. Why am I the first person to blame?”
“True,” Roren said, more collectively this time. “Sorry for doubting you. But, you’re right. Jonas, I can feel my power’s presence. It’s tiny. Can you amplify me real quick?”
“Sure,” he said flatly.
Zeta looked through the rear-view mirror catching tiny glimpses of the cars. Her eyes turned to look at her side-view mirror, her field of vision slightly better but still not as great. Her eyes transitioned from one mirror to the next, using whichever was most appropriate at the time.
She decided she would turn around again, so she could utilize her powers better. Applying large radiuses of energy on two entities was draining as is.
“Make it quick,” Zeta said. “My powers are depleting.”
A surge of energy rushed within her. She turned momentarily to Jonas. Without taking his eyes off the road, he nodded.
The given energy caused her to jitter, not in the nervousness sense, but ecstatically. She focused her energy on the cars and dampened their abilities. It was so effortless that it made her smile. She never felt such power before.
A second later, the two cars flew forward, another attempt to ram them. Zeta braced herself for impact, but right before contact, their pursuers veered off the road and crashed into parallel parked cars.
“Oh, fuck!” Chloe yelled. She turned to face forward, and her face cringed so tightly.
“Shit,” Jonas said. “I think I amplified you too much.”
As with the rest of the city, the street lights illuminated the event. Even though Zeta did not get a clear picture of the scene, amidst the car zooming off, and objects passing her by, she noticed eight stumps on the road. Her brain did the rest of the work.
The eight stumps were eight legs. Two people in each car. Their legs had increased in weight per Roren’s ability, which did stop them, but Jonas must have amplified Roren’s ability stronger than he should have. The rest of their bodies continued forward as a result while the cars they were in segmented their bodies in half.
Even if they did survive, Zeta knew they would bleed out.
“I wasn’t expecting that. I only wanted them to weigh too much to move.” Roren paused before speaking again. “I knew you shouldn’t have had an extra energy drink.”
Jonas grunted as if disagreeing with Roren’s callout, but otherwise did not argue.
Zeta wondered why they were so dismal. They must have faced worse, she thought. Chloe had an ability that caused things to explode. Humans must have been included in that group. She must have killed before, so why was she so bothered? Then, she thought about it.
Despite the faults they had, their main one being involved with organized crime, they were still human. Even if they faced worse before, it did not numb them, at least not entirely.
“Change of plans,” Roren said. “I was hoping not to get involved so much, to intercept Delton after he was captured by the third party, but with the skills they’ve shown, there’s no way that’s happening. We’re going to have to capture Isaiah Delton ourselves. So, let’s hurry up. The show is going to end soon.”