Megan slid to a stop on the pavement beside Felix just as Olivia sent a huge wave of water flying skywards. With a flourish, she too attacked, sending pellets of ice at the Air Nexians as they dropped down to attack. Olivia was wearing the Water Nexus headband, but they focused their attacks on a wide front to wear them all down at once. Fortunately, a hastily conjured wall of ice blocked the air perfectly, and Felix jumped back to get a clear view to counterattack.
There was a flurry of movement to the right, and Megan glanced over. At first, seeing the humans running forward, she wondered how they’d gotten there, and why they would willingly go somewhere that was so dangerous for their kind. But as she watched the woman in the lead draw her arm back and hurl something at them, her danger sense honed through battle pinged, and she realized that they were attacking.
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Jenna led the attacking group out of the building. The Water Nexus was distracted by a shot from above! There was no better chance than this. But then one of the Nexians turned slightly, spotting her. She could see the confusion in the woman’s face turning slowly into suspicion, and knew that, as things stood, she wouldn’t get close before she was knocked back with water or ice. But that was fine. She had prepared in more ways than training her body for this fight.
She retrieved one of the small grenades she carried at her waist, drew her arm back, and threw it for all she was worth. The Water Nexian immediately ducked to avoid it, but she hadn’t been Jenna’s true target. Instead, the grenade flew right where she’d aimed, the heart of that large fountain, in which four of the Nexians were currently standing.
“Olivia!” Megan screamed, fear making the time seem to stand still as she watched the metallic object flying through the air. Even after over six years in Ahya, her mind immediately realized that it was a grenade. Her voice broke with the panic as she screamed her friend’s name. Olivia, hearing it, saw the grenade coming, and seemed to realize what was happening. She could have stopped its progress with her power easily, but instead, she summoned a spout of water that reached out and surrounded the grenade. Then she drew the item to her chest and hugged it tight, crouching low.
Even dampened, the grenade burst with enough force to send the other three flying through the air. A cloud of some white substance flared out for several yards in every direction. It only took an instant for Megan to realize what it was, for it froze the very air crystals in her lungs as she gasped. She felt her power vanish in an instant, and she fell to her knees, coughing desperately, trying to take in a breath. But it was no good.
The liquid nitrogen in the grenade might have killed all seven of them if it weren’t for the quick action of Nick and the Air Nexians. There was a powerful torrent of wind, and the white mist was blown away like wisps of feeble smoke, revealing that human woman charging forward, her eyes burning with hatred. It was clear she intended to kill them, grenade or no grenade.
A figure dropped out of the sky before Jenna, his dark face twisted by rage. It was the Water Nexus Lieutenant, Jose Garcia. She jumped to the side as he reached out one ice-clad fist to strike her down, and behind her, the Captain lifted his weapon, an elephant shotgun. Normal guns might not work as well against Nexians, but this gun packed so much of a punch it could take down much larger creatures. A loud explosion, and a flash of light, and Jose fell to the ground, several small holes in his chest.
Megan might have spared a moment to grieve or even scream for her fallen Lieutenant if it weren’t for that woman bearing down on her. She could see the casual grace and light feet and knew this human was an expert fighter like the warriors of Issho-Ni. She scrabbled back on her hands, then threw a wave of water forward. It was a feeble attack, as she was still weakened by the liquid nitrogen.
Jenna dove under the splash of water, barely slowing down as she rolled back to her feet. She was mere inches from the dark-haired woman on the ground when something hit her hard in the ribs, and she staggered to the side. Grunting in pain, she saw the dark-skinned twin of the woman who’d taken the grenade for her allies. He couldn’t use his powers, of course, but he displayed terrifying martial prowess as he advanced, kicking and punching at Jenna to force her away from his fellow Nexian.
Caught by surprise, Jenna retreated under the flurry of blows but quickly recovered, and started fighting back. She was nearly Felix’s equal in terms of unarmed combat skills. He was much stronger, but she was like a blur, dancing around him as she pressed in for an opening. That thick gauntlet she wore struck him in the ribs, and he felt a jolt of electricity enter his body, stunning him. He caught her booted foot as she spun around for a high kick, and received another sharp shock. Suddenly, he lost feeling in the arm, and it fell limp at his side.
Megan watched in horror as she watched the human girl striking Felix down. She’d killed his sister, and now he was about to suffer the same fate. Felix’s arm fell to his side, then his leg was the next to give, sending him crashing down to the ground with a grunt. Before the woman could move in for the finishing blow, however, Megan threw another attack. Finally, this one had some real power behind it as her body had warmed slightly. The water caught Jenna in the chest and threw her back.
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Before she knew it, more figures dressed like the girl were rushing in. The two Nexuses, surprised and demoralized by early casualties, broke out of their careful formations. She saw the hulking leader, dressed in some kind of body armor from head to toe, bat Katrina aside with a casual sort of strength, then level his massive rifle at one of the Air Nexians, shooting the poor man out of the sky.
A massive gust of wind slammed into the Captain of Libera Terra, sending him to the ground. That was Ted Bell, who’d had the good sense to get high into the air and begin firing blasts of air in every direction to support his allies. He’d seen the danger at once and knew that the competition was over. His first priority was to protect the others to the best of his ability. He knocked out two more attacking humans, still flying backward to avoid the retaliation that came.
Nick came into view, flying low with his staff of air clutched tightly in two hands. He swung the weapon left and right in a blur of motion, quickly knocking two more of the attackers senseless. One jumped high enough to grab him, but he spun quickly, throwing the human skyward, then blasting them with more air so they actually flew out of sight over the nearest building with a scream.
For a moment, the disorientation and confusion suited the attacking strangers perfectly. But the Nexians quickly caught up, and the Air Nexians were providing excellent support from above. The Water Nexus was regaining the use of their powers quickly as well, and fighting back. Megan saw another of the soldiers producing one of those liquid nitrogen grenades and threw a large spike of ice at him. It skewered him and slammed his lifeless body against the wall of the building from which he’d come, but the grenade flew through the air.
“No!” Acting on pure instinct and relying on her powers over water and the cold, Megan latched onto the only fluid within her reach, the liquid nitrogen. As the grenade detonated, the freezing liquid tried to burst outward, but it met an invisible wall as she exerted her will over it, and instead fired in the opposite direction, covering five or six of the humans in that white mist.
“No!” This time, it was Jenna’s turn to scream, but in fury. She charged Megan, striking her squarely in the chest and knocking her back a foot or two. Her entire body went numb under the impact, and she flopped onto the ground like a ragdoll. Rachel charged in, determined to get her revenge. She ducked easily under the shard of ice that another Water Nexian threw her way, and dived.
A flash of bright blue-white light, and a roar. Perhaps it was her delirium, but Megan thought she could hear the sound of a massive beast in that roar. The lightning flashed right over her limp body and slammed into the human attacking her. It stopped her in her tracks and threw her several feet back, to crash onto the cobbles with a cry of pain.
Megan couldn’t turn to see who had saved her life, but deep inside she knew who it was. Sure enough, a second later, she saw the lithe form of Eric leaping over her. He moved with the speed of lightning, darting between three of the attackers and dealing terrible blows to each of them. He was alone, but he moved far too fast for the humans to deal with. Even the heavily armored Captain stood no chance against the strength of his strikes.
In a matter of seconds, Eric struck down the remaining attackers, helped by Nick who continued to swoop around, laying waste with his staff of solid air. Where the Nexians had previously been outnumbered four to one, now they were the only ones left standing. Well, most of them.
“Olivia,” Megan croaked, looking at the fountain. The water there was still frozen solid, but one glance told her almost nothing remained of her friend. Tears filled her eyes as she let out a screaming sob, a sound echoed by nearly all the Water Nexians still conscious. But it still wasn’t over.
There was a flicker of movement on one of the nearby rooftops. The human that Nick had sent flying was still alive, and he had a strange-looking rifle mounted on his shoulder. He lifted it to fire at Ted, and a large net crackling with electricity slammed into him. It stunned him completely, and he fell nearly eighty feet to the ground.
“No more!” Eric was racing up the building. In a flash, he’d grabbed the human by his collar and dashed back down the wall, filled with rage and focused only on revenge. At the bottom, he slammed the man down onto the concrete, killing him just as quickly as he’d killed Ted Bell. Eric himself rolled to a halt, and though he wasn’t moving, his body continued to crackle with electricity, and his eyes burned with a mix of hatred and grief.
Finally, it was only the woman that had led the charge. Pushing herself to her feet, she glared around at the Nexians rising to their feet and staring at her. Her hood and mask had been dislodged by the fighting, revealing bright red hair and a tanned Hispanic face. Her chest was heaving as she scowled at her enemies, furious that their attack had ended so quickly.
“I’ll kill all of you!” she screamed, drawing a long knife from her belt and fixating on Megan. Then she broke into a dead sprint. “You’ll all die for your cri-”
Her words were cut off by a long spike of ice conjured by F elix, who’d stepped into her path and rammed the makeshift weapon through her chest. She gave a weak gasp of fear and pain, and she slowly lifted her eyes, meeting the ice-blue, hate-filled eyes of the man who’d just struck the fatal blow.
“K-kill,” she gasped, feebly drawing her knife back. Before she could plunge it down, Felix grabbed the wrist and twisted, breaking it, forcing the knife to drop. Then, her eyes went dim, and she sagged. With a look of rage and disgust on his face, Felix threw her limp body aside.
“How?” Nick had landed at last, his wide eyes taking in the carnage of the scene. How had everything gone so poorly so quickly? Slowly, he turned to look at Eric and Megan, a look of dawning suspicion on his face. “Don’t tell me this is what he planned.”