Archer Warrick February 29th,20XX

Archer! Tillo! Get DOWN!

Eva’s voice ripped into my mind and near took control of my body. It wasn’t like she could use mind control or anything, but her sudden command on top of my already chaotic mental state made my body move.

The icy floor hurt as I slammed my entire body weight into it and I felt shards of glass bounce off my back. I wasn’t that close to the fracture, so I was better off than the criminal, but I still got a few cuts on my arm.

The fire extinguisher was heavy on my arms, and my elbows hurt from the impact to the ground. As soon as I’d heard Eva’s shout, I’d moved the extinguisher over my head as I fell, and my elbows and shoulders had taken most of the impact. I hoped they did not fracture, but the adrenaline that ran through my head made it hard to take an accurate scan of my body.

I frantically cut off the connection I had to the man’s mind as he roared out in pain, but his real voice was enough to make up for the difference.

I couldn't believe the same person who had put a knife to Tillo’s neck and had tried to hurt me just a few seconds ago was the same individual as the adult that currently rolled around on the floor and cried in pain.

After the shock slightly wore off, his low-pitched voice ripped out expletives like a waterfall and I heard his body hit the ground. I gathered what little strength I had left and set the fire extinguisher down, then gently pulled myself up to my feet.

Or I tried.

My arms gave out and I hurt my chin again in the fall.

‘Archer!’

“Tillo!”

Kaja and Eva’s voice assaulted my ears and my mind as they ran towards us and tried to get us to our feet. Kaja easily pulled her twin brother up and looked him over as best she could, but Eva’s small hands could only pull at my shirt and softly pat the back of my head.

She got more and more agitated as she failed to pull me up, and soon, I could feel something wet hit the back of my neck.

Part of it was Eva’s tears, I could tell from the muffled sobs she tried to suppress, but as the adrenaline wore off, I slowly regained awareness of my body and the various injuries. I recognized a few of them, like the growing bruises on my elbows and knees, and the cuts on the back of my legs, but I figured the flying glass had cut me at the top of my shoulder blades. It was probably pretty deep going from the amount of blood that flowed around my collar and down my back.

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I went over all of my injuries like they belonged to someone else. I could feel them, but they somehow didn’t hurt like they should have.

Archer! Get up! Get up now! If you don’t get up, I’ll get really mad. I will.

Eva’s nagging and growing panic as I stayed face-first on the floor finally gave me the motivation I needed to pull myself into a sitting position.

She twisted her small face into an ugly expression and she anxiously looked over at me, looking more upset than she’d sounded. I grabbed her into a hug and pressed her face into my shoulder, despite the open wound that was only a few centimetres below it.

“Yeah, I’m up. Don’t get mad, yeah? I’ll be okay too.”

She finally let go and cried loudly despite this not being the most hurt she’d seen me before. I didn’t read her mind to find out what to say to her, partly because I wanted to respect her thoughts as much as possible but also because I really didn’t think I could use my powers without passing out completely.

“Aaron! Aaron, Stop!”

Kaja’s distressed voice pulled my attention away from my younger sister and made me look up to see what had happened.

There, only a few feet away from me, was Kaja hanging on to Aaron’s left arm and trying her best to pull him away as he mercilessly ground his foot into the open wound he had created.

Or well, I didn’t know for sure if he’d created it, but I doubted either Eva or Kaja could have created a bullet out of a pebble.

He’d kept the face mask on but had pulled the goggles up into his hair so I could see half of his expression.

I’d seen quite a few facial expressions off of Aaron. I’d seen him happy, sad, stressed out, and even slightly angry.

It had only been a few weeks, but I’d seen a lot of him and had thought I knew him pretty well. I’d thought that, but looking at the furious expression on his face as he repeatedly kicked at the injured man and ignored his screams was… scary.

“Aaron! Aaron, stop!”

Kaja tightened her grip on his arm and pulled him back enough to make him stagger backwards, but he was in a trance. He shook her off and slightly closed his eyes for a few seconds, then crouched down and pulled the man up by his hair.

The assailant wasn’t a thin or light man, so being held up completely by his hair must’ve hurt, but I couldn’t say I felt too bad for him.

“Open your eyes and look at me, I know you aren’t dead yet. Scum like you don’t die that easily.”

The assailant’s eyes stayed closed, but by the way his lips trembled and the muscles around his eyes tensed, I could see that he was awake.

“If you keep your eyes closed, I’ll make sure you can never see out of them again. I want you to listen to me closely.”

The criminal’s eyes snapped open at the threat and widened so much that tears beaded in them. His face was a bloody mess from the shards of glass that had flown at him and the injuries that Aaron had inflicted on him.

“D-don’t hurt me!”

Aaron’s eyes widened in disbelief at the plea and his voice came out in a disgusted amusement.

“I shouldn’t hurt you? I shouldn’t hurt you? You’ve got to be kidding me. You Rat-like waste of air.”

The way he talked, his actions, his words, his tone. They all sounded too familiar, and my body shook. I could feel Eva shrink into my grasp as well.

This wasn’t right.

This wasn’t right at all.

I knew he was angry for us and not at us, but it felt so wrong.

Aaron was a nice man.

He was a good adult that cared about us and wouldn’t hurt us. He… wasn’t like this.

Ahh, my head hurt… a lot. My heart did as well. It felt tight and I suddenly couldn’t breathe. I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this at all.

“AARON STOP.”

Before I could stop myself, before I could think properly, my throat ripped into a scream.