This wasn’t going well. And even that was a generous description.

I tried to grab a hold of her, but she dodged every advance I made. I rushed at her, arm out. But it was too telegraphed. She sidestepped me, grabbing onto my extended arm and threw me back to Maria.

I felt a surge of energy through my arm and my whole body. Everything around me became a blur. This had to have been a power. In a single moment, I felt myself hit Maria and then with another massive bang we broke through all the walls and into the narrow street outside.

And everything hurt .My left arm more than anything else. It was trembling, and I could barely use it. The one I’d telegraphed and she’d used her power, whatever it was, on.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

She walked out. Raised her hands, and with them, every single piece of rubble that surrounded her. Come on, Alex. You had faced stronger opponents. For heaven’s sake, you’d beaten Paragon. Twice.

But I hadn’t been alone then, had I?

Maria had already gotten up.

But I didn’t. No, I just put my hands down on the floor. Red lines and then another explosion. This time, below her. Dust covered the area in front of us.

“Run!” I said to Maria. “We need to get to a more open area, call for backup.”

She grumbled but seemed to agree, since her spheres were flattened into disks, big enough for us to stand on.

“Get on,” she said.

I did, and with a wave of her arms, we both started flying away on them. I put the phone in my pocket. As the wind hit my face, I hoped that this was the last of her. She’d go back, try and plot something else with her superiors.

A few moments and an ear shattering scream later, I realised I was wrong.

I turned back only to see her flying at us.

“Γαμώ το σπίτι της,” said Maria. “Jump off!”

“What?”

“Now!”

The woman held out her arms and her golden bars flew straight to us. Crap. I jumped off, falling straight into the sea next to Koules. I looked back up as I did. My disk had been split in two. One half became a shield, while the other flew down to me.

I grabbed onto it as well as I could with no gloves and let it lead me to the walkon right next to the stone fortress. I stumbled and fell to the ground, civilians and passersby gasping and looking at me.

The disk became a small spear and lunged up. I followed it with my eyes. They were now stationary above here. Maria was jumping back and forth between the two disks she had on top, dodging the other woman, while using the sphere to–unsuccessfully–attack.

The other woman was just too fast.

Maria was just surviving from the skin of her teeth.

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I looked around. No heroes. Just people pointing to me and whispering, trying to figure out what was going on. I was breathing heavily. I flexed my left arm while taking out my phone with my right. I dialled one hundred. Just a little longer. A few moments.

“A villain at Koules!” I said as soon as they picked up, not even giving them a moment to talk. “We’re two Atlantis students fighting her alone!”

As soon as I said that, Maria fell in front of me, barely managing to catch herself with one disk, as the other two fell with a clang. She was full of bruises, groaning as she struggled to keep herself up.

“We need help. Now.” I hung up. Everyone started to clear out, running to safety.

Smart people.

The woman was floating above us. I hadn’t realised it, but she was wearing boots with small metal wings on each side.

“She’s like me,” said Maria with a grunt. “But I think she has a different limit.”

Maria had telekinesis. But she could only control metallic things, hence the spheres. Made out of a malleable metal so she could get the most out of them. And they worked. Saved our butts today.

“I’ll admit to you being stronger than I expected,” said the woman. The bars reattached themselves to her chest. “I heard your call for backup, but you can’t honestly think you’ll stall long enough for them to get to you.”

“We have a saying in Greek, you know.” I switched to English and stepped forward. Flexed my fingers. “Directly translated it means that whoever’s in a hurry, will trip and fall.”

“Is there a point to this?”

“Yes.” I crouched. “It means that you shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Because you might just end up being beaten up by two students and spending the rest of your life in prison.”

She laughed.

I tried to look more confident than I was. Maria wasn’t in a position to fight. She was clearly barely keeping herself standing. And my opponent was more than a little strong.

But because we were also standing in the shadow of a fortress that was one of our city’s oldest buildings and part of our culture and legacy. Destroying it, yeah, it wouldn’t be a good thing.

She lunged in the air, coming straight down to meet me. I smiled and dodged her attack. This wasn’t the first time I’d fought against a flying opponent. And she hadn’t landed. She was still floating. I thought of Iraklis.

We were looking at each other. I took a deep breath.

She sped towards me in a giant boom. Luck, and her arrogance, was on my side. I dodged, barely, stumbling back to the fortress. I rushed at her, taking advantage of her momentary confusion.

I reached for her. Two bars flew to my arms, slapping them away. Fortunately, I’d learned a thing or two from my training, and headbutted her. Not the best idea, since we both staggered back by it, but thankfully I recovered first.

I stepped forward and reached for her again. Her eyes widened. I felt my fingers start to brush her shoulder. A pressure on my stomach. The bars. And I was pushed back, my back hitting the stone wall of Koule and all air leaving my body.

I couldn’t breathe. My chest felt too tight, and every breath I took was a wheezing mess. My asthma. Damn it. Why now?

But she was breathing heavily too. And from the corner of my eye I could make out Maria getting ready to battle again. Good. At least one of us was back in a fighting position. And then, like a miracle, a blast of wind pushed her away from me.

I turned to my left. Aiolos, dressed in his black karate uniform stood there with his arms up and crossed with one another.

“Two Atlantis students in Koules,” he said in Greek. “The police told us about it, but thought it’d be a prank. You’d then be surprised that the Project: Tomorrow server notified me about an attack on Koules. Where I saw two faces I’d seen once before. Two great warriors and, apparently, heroes.”

“You think you’ll be enough to stop me?” said the woman.

“I don’t know,” said Aiolos, this time in English, with a shrug. “But our Association is stronger than ever thanks to Alpha Surge’s project. And I won’t be alone for long.”

“Alpha Surge is dead!” she said, venom dripping from her voice at his name. “You better damn be sure his dream will die too.”

“Come on then. Kill it.‘

“Not today.” She turned to me. “I underestimated my opponents. It won’t happen again.”

And, with another loud boom, she flew off, leaving only the cracked ground in her wake.

And I believed her. She wouldn’t underestimate us again. We just had to figure out a way for that not to matter.