Parker ran to them and pulled Hailee to the side to keep her away from whatever happened between Lara and Master Terra. Before he could truly make a decision about saving the master or letting him die, Alexis’s Imperial ended and his decision was made for him.

Not ready for time to start again, Parker practically tackled Hailee to the ground to protect her. Lara’s fire blast missed by mere inches, burning the side of the master’s face and his neck, just like Alexis had been.

Master Terra rolled to the side and sent a barrage of street chunks flying at Lara. She quickly vanished and the rocks crashed into the side of a building. Parker could hear the glass shatter and the screams of the people inside.

“We need to stop them!” Parker shouted to Alexis and Caleb. He just didn’t know how they were going to be able to do that.

Lara appeared behind Master Terra and clapped her hands together right behind his head. The force that he was blown to the ground with made Parker ache. He reeled back when Master Terra lifted his head and he saw the blood coming from his wounds.

The master rolled over onto his back and Lara looked down over him. She had the complete advantage; Parker knew there was nothing that the master could do at this point to save himself. Lara raised her hands above her head like she was about to plunge a dagger into him, but before she could do whatever that was, he disappeared. She looked around confused, trying to figure out where he went, when she spotted Parker.

“Why are you here?” she spat out over the chaos that surrounded them.

“I came to make sure you don’t take things too far.”

Lara smirked. “Well? How am I doing?”

Parker thought for a minute before answering her. “Well, you haven’t killed a majority of the population which is a plus but you’ve definitely done a lot more damage than was necessary!”

She shrugged her shoulders as she continued to look around for the master. Parker approached her to see if he would be able to talk her down at all or get her to take the master and all of them somewhere more secluded.

“This doesn’t have to happen here,” he pointed out. “You can have this confrontation literally anywhere in the world.”

Lara laughed out loud at his suggestion. “You haven’t tried to teleport someone who’s trying to evade you yet. It’s not quite the same. So, I had to act where I could.”

Parker took a look around and saw all of the destruction that had occurred just on this street. Cars were on fire, bricks and stones were falling off of buildings. Screams could be heard from all around. How had he let it get to this point? Wasn’t he supposed to be some super strong Imperial or was that just an ego stroke others gave him?

He spotted Alexis and couldn’t have been happier to see that she was unharmed. Caleb seemed to be all right as well. Hailee hadn’t moved from the spot where Parker had tackled her. He was beyond ecstatic that it looked like she was still okay, but then Master Terra appeared out of the ground right next to her and they disappeared again.

“He’s using his Imperial to move them around underground,” Caleb shouted. “I can feel it in my feet!”

Parker saw Lara close her eyes and focus, which he knew probably wasn’t a safe thing. The next thing he knew, the six of them were standing on a street corner that was perfectly calm. The quiet around them was unsettling after being surrounded by such intense chaos.

Everyone was looking around slightly confused when Lara grabbed Master Terra by the collar and hoisted him into the air. As they ascended, Parker couldn’t help but look up and watch to see what would happen.

“We should move,” Caleb suggested.

“Why?” Parker muttered, enthralled by what was happening above them.

Caleb pointed to the windows of the buildings that were around them. Alexis and Hailee followed his finger and noticed people staring from the windows, eyes glued on Lara and Master Terra. Several people ran screaming as chunks of the road began flying into the air at Lara.

“I agree, we really should move!” Alexis sounded panicked.

Her voice caught Parker’s attention and he looked to where Caleb was pointing and saw the spectators. He silently grabbed Alexis by the arm and started moving to the side, so they weren’t directly under whatever was about to happen.

Just as they made it to the side of the building, Lara sent Master Terra hurtling straight down to the ground. They had gotten out of the way just in time. Right before Master Terra crashed into the ground which everyone assumed would be fatal, the ground sucked him up, like it had a mouth and just swallowed him whole.

The four of them just stared at the spot where Master Terra disappeared, again. Lara landed right on top of that, trying to sense where Master Terra had gone.

She turned and noticed Hailee and quickly walked to her. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Is there anything you need from me?”

Hailee blinked several times, trying to take in everything her mother just asked. She just shook her.

“What?” Lara asked. “I don’t understand. Did he hurt you?”

Hailee shook her head again. “No, but I think he wasn’t far off from trying to take my Imperial away from me.”

“Ah!” Parker screamed as the ground opened up from under them and swallowed them whole.

They landed in a chamber that was pitch black. Parker couldn’t tell how big it was or what else was in it, but he knew that Master Terra was behind it all. All five of them made a ball of fire in their palms to light the room up. In the dark, they could see gentle highlights on Master Terra’s face as he stared at them, silent.

“You—“Lara started to say.

“Why won’t you leave us alone?” Master Terra screamed at her. The four kids stared at him, wide-eyed and terrified.

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Lara almost started to laugh. “Leave you alone? You’re trying to kill our daughter!”

The four kids slowly backed away as far as they could, hoping the adults wouldn’t notice, even though they were holding fireballs.

“I’m not going to kill her! Why would I kill our daughter?”

Lara slapped him across the face with her free hand. Parker couldn’t believe with all of her power, she resorted to a basic slap in the face. “You may not physically kill her but taking away her Imperial is basically the same thing!”

It was Master Terra’s turn to laugh. “You Omnis, you’re all the same!”

“Us Omnis?” Lara said in an exaggerated voice.

“Yes, you Omnis! You need to be contained or you get it in your head that you should be able to do everything!”

Parker couldn’t see it, but he could sense that Lara had just put her hand on her hip. He squeezed Alexis’s hand, afraid to lose her if he let go. He wanted to whisper to his friends but was afraid how the others would react. The thought of teleporting the four of them away also crossed his mind but he knew that even if he could teleport all four of them, they would just be followed anyway. They could escape Master Terra , but Lara would be right on their tails.

The next thing any of them knew, they were standing on yet another street corner, just as quiet as the last had been. Parker looked around, afraid of the damage that might happen from them. He wished he had the confidence to teleport all six of them to some hillside in the country but there was no way he could teleport all six of them, let alone to a spot he didn’t know. He’d only made it by teleporting to a core he knew and on top of that he wasn’t even one hundred percent successful.

“Stop!” Hailee yelled at the top of her lungs.

Everyone, startled, turned their attention to Hailee. No one really knew what to say. It was so unlike Hailee to raise her voice in this manner, but Parker couldn’t blame her after everything that had happened.

“Just stop!” She took a big, deep breath. “Dad,” she said as if she had a bad taste on her tongue. “You don’t need to take my Imperial away from me. I’m not going to fall down the same trap that she did. I don’t crave more power; I’ve seen what it does.” She turned her attention to Lara now. “And mom, you don’t need to kill half of the population in order to save me. How is my life more important that billions of people?”

“Because without you, my life has no purpose.” Lara’s eyes started to water. Parker wanted to laugh. He knew that she cared for her but with everything she was doing he couldn’t believe that this is what would make her tear up, he wasn’t sure if there was anything that could make her cry.

“I don’t want you to fall into the same trap she did.” The master pointed at Lara and sneered.

Hailee huffed. “I just said I won’t. I already know what it looks like, and I don’t want to go down that route.”

The two adults looked at her. Parker couldn’t believe that they were technically being civil, even though they were really just distracted. Was this his chance to get everyone away? Would they be able to hide from Lara? He doubted it, but he supposed there was hope.

“Lara said the same thing when she was your age. She still fell down the route of greed. There was never enough, she always wanted more. That’s why I left.”

Parker was trying to think of anything he could. Anything at all. But nothing seemed like it would actually get them to freedom. Even if they went back to school, would they be safe? Or was that too predictable of a place to go. Master Terra would probably check there first. And Lara’s already proven that she can sense people from across the globe. Why couldn’t he think of something?

His frustration kept growing. He needed to think of something. Hailee wasn’t the only one in danger anymore. All of them were. It was obvious that Lara and Master Terra couldn’t control themselves around each other.

The two adults turned their attention back to one another and slowly took a few steps back to both stay on their guard and have the space they needed to attack the other. Lara glared at Master Terra and he returned the favor.

“What are you going to do with her?” he asked.

She laughed. “What am I going to do?” Lara wanted to look at her daughter but didn’t dare take her eyes off of him. “I’m going to protect her from you! And help her realize what she’s capable of.”

He pointed at her. “See! Right there. You’re leading her down the same, dark rabbit hole you fell down.” The master had had it and started his attack. He threw boulder after boulder that he pulled from the ground and buildings at her.

People all around them started to run and scream. Taking cover anywhere they could find it. Parker grabbed Alexis and hugged her, covering her from anything that flew in their direction. Caleb did the same with Hailee.

The fight grew more intense by the second. Master Terra was sliding around the street, moving the ground under him to make him move faster. Lara was flying around throwing fireballs and ice balls at him. He blocked everything by creating shields from the ground.

Debris rained through the air and littered the streets. Glass from any of the surrounding buildings didn’t stand a chance against their battle. At one point, Parker was pretty sure that Master Terra was shooting bricks at her from the buildings.

“We need to move!” Parker yelled as a brick bounced off of his shoulder. Alexis could feel it hit him and wanted to help but didn’t know how. None of them knew what to do, who should they help? The one that wants to kill their friend or the one that wants to kill all of the humans. Parker knew that she promised not to, but he also assumed at this point that Lara had forgotten all about her promise.

The four of them ran for cover under a business’s entrance. Parker looked out into the street and saw the chaos and destruction that had already been caused. In only mere minutes. He spotted a subway entrance across the street that he thought would be the perfect hideout for them.

“Look over there!” Everyone followed his finger and saw the subway entrance. “I say we go there, and get out of here. I don’t think I can teleport all four of us though.”

“But won’t they just follow us?” Alexis asked.

“I figure one of two things can happen,” Parker started saying. “If we stay here, whoever wins will have us right where they need us. If we leave, only Lara will be able to find us. So if Master Terra wins, then we should be safe.”

“Do you think he can beat her?” Caleb asked. Parker didn’t know what to say to him. Could he beat her? Doubtful.

“Either way, I think our best bet is to get to that subway and ride away from here. Get as far away as possible.” Parker tried to sound as optimistic about his plan as possible to get everyone on board. “We even have cover amongst all of the other people running and screaming. It should be just enough but we need to go now before everyone clears out.”

Everyone stared at him, afraid to go out at this point. The battle between the two outside had intensified more than they thought was possible. Lara was throwing ice spears from everywhere. Disappearing and appearing all over the place. How was Master Terra holding his own? Parker couldn’t believe everything he saw. He found himself frozen in place, but not out of fear. The battle enthralled him. Would he ever get to battle like that? It was like the school duels only with no rules. Would the real world be like this at all? If so, he looked forward to it even more.

Alexis squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek. “Let’s go! The people are starting to thin out a lot.”

Parker’s heart raced. Was it safe enough to go? If so, this was their chance. He sprinted forward, tugging Alexis behind him. Caleb and Hailee followed right on their tail. People were screaming in every direction but the street was becoming very empty. Lara was flying above them and the master was sliding around the outskirts of the streets, as if he were skateboarding through the air. Parker didn’t know that was even possible to do with an Earth Imperial. He had so much to learn still. Was he falling down the same dark rabbit hole that Master Terra mentioned before?

They were halfway to the subway entrance when there was a large crash above their heads. Master Terra plummeted to the ground from a few stories high. His body made a crater in the ground not far from them causing even more chaos amongst the onlookers.

There was a loud bang, followed by a high-pitched bell-like sound that resonated through Parker’s ears. Dazed, Parker turned his head toward a crowd and saw a woman screaming next to a police officer with their gun raised. He turned his attention to where the gun was pointed and saw Hailee’s body limp on the ground, still holding onto Caleb’s hand.