"KENZO!" Fii screamed.
Before she could react, before Kenzo could react...Prime raised his hand and clenched his fist.
With a sickening crunch, Kenzo's body twisted and bent in unnatural ways before falling limply to the ground. She stared in horror at his crumpled form. His once vibrant eyes were now dull and lifeless. Blood pooled around his broken body. He wasn't moving...he wasn't breathing...he was dead.
She collapsed to her knees, her mind reeling in shock. All her emotions churned together as the scene before her began to blur. Anger. Sadness. Grief. Rage. All the things she felt on the verge of explosion.
Time slowed to a crawl.
All the sounds around her faded away, everything else became numb...except the deep agony of the moment...until that too dissipated into a void of darkness.
She barely registered the agonizing screams escaping from her throat...she didn't realize she was crying...sobbing...shaking. She couldn't comprehend anything other than the rage coursing through her veins. Her entire world became focused on Prime. Every fiber of her being became fueled by anger...and hatred...a blind fury unlike anything she'd ever felt.
A surge of raw power erupted within her—a violent wave of unadulterated force. And the only place this energy could go was out. It forced its way through the cracks of her psyche like water bursting from a dam. The edges of Fii's vision blackened, and the ground below her began to crack and vibrate. A faint ring permeated the air.
I'm going to kill you...
I'm going to fucking kill you!
As the burning emotion in her stomach surged outward from her limbs and coursed through her veins like wildfire, her fingers began to shake. An all-consuming rage settled within her mind—and in a brief moment of clarity, she sensed something awaken within. Something new. Something raw.
Like the flickering spark of a flame given oxygen, the ember inside of her blossomed into an inferno. The world around her took on a new layer. One that she could suddenly feel—with her skin and with her mind—one that she could see with more than just her eyes...
Space...time...gravity...it all spread out before her as if a map unfurled in her consciousness. The hidden ties that bound the world together began to shine brightly like an invisible web. She reached out instinctively and the connections took shape. She pulled, and they moved.
It was her rage that sparked the revelation. As the mental energy cascaded around her, it solidified in a form she had never consciously seen before but somehow understood instantly. A spectrum of colors spread out before her, like the lines of a circuit board, or the threads of an impossibly vast net—if a spider could build webs large enough to span space.
That spider was her, and these strings...these colors...her gravity.
Prime floated a meter or two from where Kenzo lay, the center of his own network of colors, similar yet distinct from her own gravitational web. These threads were finer, more intricate, and seemed to flicker and dance with a peculiar energy. They pulsed and vibrated, creating patterns that resonated with the space around him.
"It appears I've touched a nerve." Prime's voice was flat as he stepped out of the clouds of dust. He brushed off his suit, but a long crack marred the white material of the shoulder where Kenzo's sonic strike had hit.
It didn't stop him from floating in midair—though a small hint of wariness began to bleed through the man's mask. "His death was justified. Attacking an Ultimate Guardian is a capital crime—in or out of the metropolis. Surely you're not surprised by his execution? Don't waste your grief on those undeserving. In any case, there's still time for you to be redeemed. Give me Virgil's head. Then perhaps you might—"
With an instinctual motion, Fii flung her arm to the side.
As though yanked by an invisible rope, Prime shot away from her. The superhero screamed in surprise as his body soared into a wall at incredible speeds, with such force that the concrete splintered as he passed through. He bounced off the other side before crashing into the street below. Chunks of the broken wall rained down on him.
"Hngh! Ungh...you little—" Prime climbed unsteadily to his feet. The glowing lines on his suit flickered in and out of view as he pulled himself out of the crater. "Very well. Playtime is over."
This time, Prime leapt off the ground.
He dashed through the air in a zig-zagging line and stopped abruptly, floating ten meters off the ground, his hand sweeping upward in a fluid motion. Instead of hurling debris or creating blunt force, he twisted the air itself, warping the space between them with a telekinetic spiral that drilled towards her like a corkscrew.
Fii's heart raced. She could felt the tug of the spiral, trying to pull her in, to twist and distort her body like it did the air.
With a swift outward slash of her hands, she manipulated the gravity around herself, flattening the space in a wide disc. The spiral distorted, unable to maintain its integrity against the sudden shift. As Prime attempted another spiral strike, she flattened the space around her again, watching as the distortion slopped and fell apart.
With her other hand, she twisted the colors around his form like threads and dragged him downward. Prime resisted and managed to lift a few centimeters off the ground before Fii pulled harder, sending him barreling through the pavement and deeper into the soil. The concrete cracked around him. Dust and rocks flew out in all directions.
But still, he fought back, erupting the ground beneath him. The earth exploded outward as he shot out of the rubble. His body glowed brightly in her mind's eye. The lines rippled and shimmered with kinetic energy, and he seemed to be concentrating his power for a large attack.
Once again, he tried to warp her body into unnatural shapes—his attempt to crush the life out of her. The strange sensation filled her with a sense of panic...and this fear filled her mind with new ideas for counterattacks.
Focusing on the colors surrounding her, she countered the vectors of force with opposing ones of her own—not completely canceling them out, but deflecting and redirecting the warping effect into harmless spirals that caused her to spin and twist at times.
"This...is a surprise," he muttered. "The unexpected telekinetic capabilities you show—though clearly still inferior—it's a shame...you could have made something of yourself. A real asset...like myself."
Prime reached out with his hand as if grasping at the air.
Fii felt a telekinetic grip tightening around her throat, cutting off her air and hoisting her off the ground.
The hero rose off the ground in tandem and floated closer. "Still...inferior...yet intriguing. Virgil must have found someone very special...someone who has never shown her gifts before."
The pressure on Fii's neck grew stronger, causing her eyes to water.
"Give me Virgil, and I'll release you," Prime offered. "This...is the last time I'll ask so politely."
The snarl that ripped from Fii's throat surprised even herself. She focused on her rage, on the white-hot pain inside of her, and concentrated her mind, matching the hero's invisible grip with an invisible push of her own.
Her fingers reached out and clamped on nothing as she dragged at the empty space around her neck. With an exclamation of exertion and anguish, she found the spot in the space where Prime's power connected to her. She oscillated the gravitational field on the spot, disrupting the stable entanglement Prime needed for his telekinetic control. It broke.
Her eyes shot wide as air rushed into her lungs and she slammed back to the ground. Immediately she sprang to her feet and resumed the offensive.
The air around her became a chaotic mess. A flurry of dust swirled with rocks, pieces of metal, and other debris—anything near enough to respond to her gravity.
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Prime hurled chunk after chunk of earth and concrete at her, but she sent them right back with her power. Each piece deflected or dispersed back at him with equal or greater force. The resulting swirl of air around them compressed into a chaotic eddy of currents and crosswinds as their powers clashed.
Both of their tempos increased as their attacks became more powerful—and more furious. Even at her fastest speed, Fii couldn't land a hit; Prime had an uncanny sense for where her gravity-driven objects were coming from and where they would strike. The dust swirled and eddied like the aftermath of a small tornado; their movements kept the cloud churning over them.
A two-meter chunk of wall spun into the air behind Fii; as it rose above the whipping currents, she tethered to it and shot it at him as fast as she could. It split as soon as Prime caught the object with a telekinetic grasp. The two halves, now thrown off target by his grip, hurled in a wide arc away from the two combatants. The sonic crack of the concrete against the buildings resounded across the slums like the report of a cannon. The pieces sent up dust clouds like smoke.
In that instant, Fii hurled herself skyward towards the top of the wall behind her—as she reached its highest point, she focused all of her power on herself and lifted off.
Her perception of time slowed as she watched Prime spin around—she felt as he stretched his own telekinesis over the area like a blanket—then felt his attempt to tighten his control over her—to constrict her like a fly in a spider's web.
As Prime attempted to ensnare her in the grip of his power—like he did Kenzo—she again interrupted his power's entanglement, distorting and shattering his control. With the telekinetic hold broken, her ascent resumed.
She drove her boot heel into Prime's helmeted face with every ounce of her velocity. The impact fractured the gleaming plasteel with a deafening crack; Fii's momentum sent them both flying through the air towards the far side of the slum.
Fii hit the ground in a tuck and roll and stopped.
Prime tumbled through the street in a messy somersault before rolling to a stop, sprawled out in the rubble. Fii paused. The man lay on the ground with one hand reaching up towards his cracked helmet. She raised herself from her crouch slowly.
"That..." Prime mumbled quietly. "Is not supposed...to be possible."
With a deep groan and a grunt, the man slowly lifted his head, turned slightly and glared at her with a flicker of white fire in the LED eyes of his shattered helmet.
The superhero gingerly pressed two fingers to his broken helmet—the index finger and middle—and then slammed a palm hard to the ground beside his head. "I will give you...one...more chance...to redeem yourself...give me...VIRGIL...or...DIE."
"Circuit's closed, asshole," Fii growled. She squared up with both her fists out as her senses zeroed in on the man's faint outline in the swirling cloud of debris. "Go fuck yourself."
Prime scrambled to his knees, both palms pressing flat into the gravel below. "THEN DIE!"
His scream pierced the air as he extended his palms forward. With a resounding crack, he pulled apart both palms and telekinetically tore up four three-story buildings on either side of Fii.
They hovered there for a breath, then with another scream, he heaved them towards her.
A grim smile split her lips as she reached out with her power and grabbed hold of each building. A titanic surge of energy coursed through her limbs as she connected to the space surrounding the colossal objects.
She didn't try to deflect the structures—that would have required far too much force and concentration. Instead, she focused her energy on resisting his telekinetic control—on nullifying the hidden tendrils of influence the hero grasped at with his power—to block him from further movement.
For a long moment, they held the standstill—locked in a contest of wills. Fii grit her teeth against the effort of restraining Prime's influence...she could feel her opponent fighting her. This time, Prime struggled against her—concentrated his effort on shifting the direction of his broken structures—as he attempted to pass them through her blockage. His will warred with hers, trying to re-assert control and finish the strike...to crush her where she stood.
She didn't move; the gravity-laden structures started to pivot in place. Then they began to teeter and shift at a glacial pace, but slow and steady won the race. Fii felt beads of sweat run down her cheek from the strain. Centimeter by centimeter, her efforts began to win out. The structures began to tilt at an angle as they twisted like they were stuck in the mire. They creaked and groaned as she exerted all her mental force to slow their rotation and turn them back.
They rolled over, crashing to the ground a short distance away. A cloud of dust exploded up from the ground where they landed—missing Fii by several meters.
She fell to one knee as she watched the cloud expand outward in slow motion; each second of time dragging on forever...each instant ticking past...torturously slow. Her breath came in shallow, ragged gasps...but her heartbeat thrummed like a drumbeat in her chest; the rush of adrenaline surging through her veins gave her a heightened clarity.
Everything moved like she was wading through molasses...and the man who killed Kenzo...he too moved sluggishly as he slowly picked himself up off the ground.
"It's...im...impossible!" Prime muttered through the static from his cracked helmet. He rose slowly to his feet. The LED eyes of his cracked helmet were dull and flickering...but still sharp as they burned with contempt and fury. "No one...can resist...my control...not even the other...Ultimate...Guardians...not...POSSIBLE...how did you..."
Now was her chance. He was wounded...he had to be running out of steam...all she had to do was kill him.
Despite the adrenaline and the clarity it brought, her body screamed for rest. She could feel the limitations of her gravikinesis pressing against her mind, but she couldn't stop now. She had to finish this.
Prime extended his hand, his telekinetic force wrapping around her like an invisible vice. She felt the pressure building, attempting to crush her like a tin can.
Two can play this game...
With a savage cry, she conjured the deepest desire for violence she could and drew on the remaining reservoir of strength from within. She brought her hands out in front of her, bringing them together as though she were going to crush Prime between her palms.
She stretched and pulled at the very fabric of space with every ounce of her mental might—twisting and squeezing at the invisible web holding everything together. The edges of her vision began to darken and blur, but she could see the world around her become hazy as Prime's control over the area was disrupted.
"WHAT...WHAT...IS...THIS!?" Prime shouted; the flicker from his helmet eyes became even more pronounced. "WHAT...ARE...YOU...DOING...TO ME!?"
The space around him shimmered, bending inward. Prime's scream morphed into a gurgle as his body began to contort and compress in on itself.
Fii could feel the immense strain on her own body, but she didn't let go. She couldn't. Fii squeezed harder.
Prime's telekinetic grip on her faded away. His body constricted into itself—collapsing under its own mass. Blood began to leak from Prime's helmet cracks and spurt from between his arm plates and legs joints. More blood began to stream from the unblemished portions of his armor—from any opening or seam it could find—and ran in rivers down to his feet.
"W-Wait! Y-You don't h-have to—!" Prime pleaded. His voice came through the helmet's static in garbled stutters. "S-Stop! S-S-Stop! Y-You realize this is a c-crime!" he bellowed. "If y-you d-do this...y-y-you will b-be on the—urk—lo-list forever! You-r life-life as you...kn-k-k-now i-it is-is over-rr-r-rrrrr-RRRRRR-RRR—R-R—"
Prime's plea twisted and shifted into the worst audio glitch Fii had ever heard. It trailed off in a dying fizzle.
Despite his pleading, she felt his power trying to counteract hers. He was desperately attempting to shield himself using telekinesis to stabilize his collapsing body...to repel her own power back. But every time she saw him achieve a degree of relief against her attacks, she squeezed again...and again...and again...crushing him...collapsing him...ignoring his pained screams. The hero's telekinesis field fluctuated in and out of focus; Fii felt its influence grow weaker and weaker over time.
With a final, guttural scream, Fii unleashed all her power. There was a moment—the most minuscule of breaths—where the hero held himself together...
...and then he was gone. His armored form pulled into himself, collapsing like a deflating balloon as he was drawn inexorably towards a single point.
The space around that point distorted, the fabric of reality bending inward. For a fraction of a second, a point of infinite density formed. She had read about it in the physics books Edith forced her to study—a micro black hole.
The immediate environment drew towards this singularity—debris, dust, and even light itself sucked into the void. The dilapidated buildings around them groaned as their structures were pulled, windows shattering and walls creaking under the immense gravitational pull.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end; a brief sensation of panic washed over her as the threads of light and the shimmering colors in her gravikinetic vision began to swirl—to distort at the edges—as even the very ground beneath her feet seemed to lose its integrity. It felt as though the world might rip itself apart...
It was about to burst.
Fii envisioned a well, a deep, dark sink around the area into which the violent energy could be absorbed and contained. It was a desperate gambit, but there was no other choice.
Then...with a brilliant flash of light, the micro black hole evaporated, releasing a wave of heat and energy that rippled outward in concentric circles. The shockwave tore through the area and shook the ground, cracking the roads around them.
As if someone had pulled the ground beneath her feet, Fii felt the world shift. Her mind spun. Her body spun. The ground, the buildings, the sky—everything spun. It all faded to white.
----------------------------------------
Fii opened her eyes to the gentle rays of dawn washing over her face. Everything hurt; her mind felt dull.
Pain lanced through her, and for a few moments, she lay still—her breathing shallow and ragged as her vision gradually returned. Through hazy eyes, she watched dust motes float peacefully through shafts of the early morning light peeking through the cracks in the ruined wall beside her. With each breath, she winced. But every breath told her she had made it—she had survived.
She groaned softly as she tried to lift her head.
A crater as wider and deeper than the Rusted Colosseum was all that remained where Prime had been, with a small gap from where Fii had managed to shield herself from the blast. The ground rumbled, and Fii turned her aching head in time to watch a two-story building crumble from the edge of the crater before settling in a heap.
The remnants of the explosion echoed through the desolate streets, followed by an uneasy silence, a stillness—only the ringing in Fii's ears disturbed the quiet.
With another grunt of pain, she slowly moved her hands and brought a knee underneath her to prop her body up. Her arms and legs trembled with every effort; her muscles felt like they were on fire. The acrid smell of spent dust hung heavily in the air. Dust and soot coated every surface.
Fii pulled her thoughts back together to wrap her mind around what she had done—around what had just happened.
She just killed a superhero…