I awoke holding Weaponsmith’s decapitated body in my arms.

The tornado had ceased. The area around me was utterly destroyed, rubble and debris surrounded me. The remnants of the hotel stood shakily, seeming like a single kick would knock them over.

Mangled limbs, brain matter, and bone stuck out of the rubble. The debris was coated in fresh blood from the hundreds of people that were in the now-destroyed hotel. Taking a better look at the remnants of the hotel, bodies with their intestines hanging out and their top halves ripped off were common on many floors.

I threw up again, the little food I managed to steal from the breakfast bar exiting my body. I dropped Weaponsmith’s body in disgust as I realized what could have happened.

Did Mac die? What about Moriti and Aria?

I had to look for them, there was no time to stand still here regretting.

I quickly stood up and limped around the desolation, looking for anyone.

A glitter of shining metal caught my eye, blood soaking it. I limped over to it as fast as I could and almost emptied my insides in disgust at the carnage I caused.

I found Mac crushed under a pile of rubble, everything below his abdomen was shattered into a million pieces. His lower right arm was completely torn off from the elbow, a mix of wires and veins visible from the wound.

I fell to Mac’s side and checked his breathing. I felt his hot breath faintly hit my ear, and I knew he was alive, but just barely.

Far behind me, I heard a familiar voice yelling, “Sol! Are you okay?! Where’s Mac?!”

I immediately recognized it as Moriti’s and turned around. Moriti was entirely okay to my shock, as even I had several deep cuts on my face and torso.

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“I’m okay, we need to get Mac out of here right now! Where’s Aria? We need her help carrying his body,” I managed to get out, I tried not to waste time questioning his lack of injuries.

Moriti broke down crying immediately after I mentioned Aria’s name.

“I… I teleported away once Aria got shot. I was a coward and ran without thinking of taking Aria with me! When I teleported outside the hotel it was already being destroyed by your tornado so I couldn’t go back for her!” Moriti cried, his voice cracking with emotion.

Too many things were happening at once. It was only a matter of time before the other heroes came to finish off Moriti and me. We had to get out of here right now or else we’d die. There was no time to look for Aria.

“Moriti stop wallowing and help me! If we don’t get out of here the other heroes will come and kill us!” I screamed, I knew it was insensitive to his feelings but I didn’t have time to worry about them.

Moriti understood and helped pick up Mac’s body. We ran, his blood soaking us with every movement, behind a massive piece of rubble that cast a large shadow.

Moriti sunk into the shadow, taking Mac and me with him.

Before I could react, I was grabbed and taken away at sound barrier-breaking speeds. A hero wearing a blue and black full-body spandex suit stood before me, throwing me onto the ground. The hero’s mask had black goggles and a piece that looked like the bottom of a knight’s helmet on the bottom of the mask. On their chest was a circle with an hourglass symbol inside of it. The black bits of their costume lined around their chest and abdomen and down their legs.

The hero spoke, their voice was raspy, “You’re the boy Riot told us about, the boy who managed to defeat a Remnant with no powers. And here you are, killing a hero. I think you got a little too confident in your abilities. Don’t worry I won’t kill you, I’ll just send you to The Nine Circles.”

They don’t know about my power, or at least they don’t sound like they do. There’s practically no way I can get out of this situation, so I’ll keep it a secret and use it to escape once they think they’ve captured me and let their guard down.

The wind was knocked out of me as the hero caught me again.

This time, the force from the grab and the speed knocked me out.

How am I supposed to get away from someone faster than I can think?