Phoenix Part 11

I drink much anyway, but this was easily the worst hangover I've ever felt. That resounding headache is what shocked me awake. Almost instinctively, I tried getting up, but my body wouldn't allow it. Even at my prime, that many back-to-back switch-ups would've knocked the wind out of me.

But with my current condition combined with Rev, stabilizing my powers might as well be the world's greatest balancing act. My potential hours pretty much got turned to minutes, as every part of my body was starting to ache as if I pulled a muscle everywhere. Still, I could acclimate just enough to pick myself, having just enough juice left for at least a bit longer.

When my still stinging eyes readjusted, I saw nothing but ash, dust, and ash as far as the eye could see, any remnant of the Gigantoplex getting completely eviscerated. Part of me wishes I could've saved at least something, but I didn't blame myself for some strange reason. Because facts were, if I didn't stop those blasts, there's no telling how many city blocks would've gotten destroyed. So I didn't even want to think of the casualties.

But maybe I should've worried about myself more as suddenly, in an instant, I found myself in a rear-naked chokehold. Any air I had quickly escaped my lungs, completely caught off guard despite knowing full well who I was facing as I could feel the slightly smaller wings from earlier surround me.

"My, my, my, that was a great light show. It took almost everything I had to escape the blast, even took most of my feathers, but I knew from that little display this afternoon that you weren't exactly right now. Good on you for surviving, but I think it's finally high time we continued where we left off. Sting, Beowulf who would like to come and do the honors."

Like something out of a zombie movie, the two opponents returned as bloodied and bruised as I was. Yet even then, their bloodlust didn't vanish. No, it only heightened now that their prey was cornered and almost ripe for the taking. Yet despite their hunger, they still had the time to joke, hell even gamble on my life.

"I should do it, bitch knocked out one of my teeth," Beowulf said adamantly.

"True, but she didn't nearly send you on a one-way ticket to the afterlife. If I didn't go all flat, that punch would've ended me."

"Not my fault you decided to grab her head-on."

"And it's not my fault that you got sent on a demented mid-air merry go round, see how well the blame game works," Sting said spitefully.

At that moment, fear petrified my being once again because I got a painful reminder that these people would kill me without a second thought. That to them, life was nothing more than a game. Instantly the pressure and weight got to me, once again sending my head in a tailspin of emotion, I could almost feel my powers rise and spiral out as I tried one last plea.

"Don't do this, please, we can still talk this out," I said through a harsh voice, still gasping for air.

Unfortunately, that bit of decent got met only with more cruelty as the winged woman raged out.

"The time for talking is over, dumbass. Now's the time for action, and it starts with you. Sting, you're faster, so you get the last blood, enough juice for that?"

"Course I do, Lucia, one fired hero coming up," he said with a venomous low toned crackle in his voice.

From there, he collected his various tentacles into a set of hands as they started and struggled to spark it up with a grin on his face.

And as I saw my life flash with every spark, as I felt every eye in Krimo pierce harder than any blade, as I saw my parents watch over me in the heat of it: I made the ultimate snap judgement. For once in my life, I turned back on Omna and focused on Victoria's scared, desperate, angry. Once I compartmentalized all those heavy emotions, I visualized myself piercing through all those in my path and led myself to the ultimate experiment.

All my prior feelings focused themselves together in one last stand, stabilizing my energy and letting loose in a violent crimson blast from my eyes and collided with the taser-like blast! Once again, another violent flash happened across the battlefield as it threw me to the side.

At that point, my vision became blurry once again, not even knowing up and down. But when I saw Sting laid out on the floor smoking, a grave fear rattled my very soul. In the beginning, I limped towards him, hoping and pleading I hadn't done what I thought. But once I saw the smoking hole where his heart is, I knew I just did the unthinkable.

Despite the life and death situation, I still wept tears despite the rage I had felt. My entire body raced with a pulsing numbness, leaving me in utter shock and horror. Then, through the overwhelming mess of thoughts, one question rang out.

"Why, why couldn't you just let me save you," I whispered through sobbing breaths.

But like a slingshot, I'm brought back to earth as, with an instinctive quick shot to the ground, I propelled myself out of the way of a blind-sighted swipe from Beowulf. My wig was utterly cut to ribbons, but even I didn't bother caring. Beowulf's expression was one of pure rage he tried to speak.

"You're going to pay for that bitch!"

As the animalistic man made his charge, I stayed still, his words having a prominent effect. But, instead, my mind flashed to those same potent words I heard weeks ago.

"You can't save what's already broken, Omna, just like how you can't save them."

But that only made me ask the question again.

"WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST LET ME SAVE YOU!" I said as I bathed the battlefield in an intense red light.

Through this light, Beowulf's strike missed completely. Instead, the wolfman panicked uncontrollably, reaching out with outstretched hands while screaming out.

"I- I can't see!"

At that moment, that numbing grew even more significant as, in cold fury, I followed up my assault by shooting Beowulf straight in the throat. The blast was more concussive than piercing, throttling him aside straight into unconsciousness.

From there, I thought I got done, but just quickly as the fight settled, I found myself instinctively meeting a wave of glowing feathers right at me. Of course, with my lasers on a wide dispersal, I'm able to intercept them all. But amid the storm, I missed a stray set of feathers, having them wrap around my throat like a garrote. With that, Lucia made her way forward with utter heartbreak.

"So I guess all that hero talk was nothing more than a lie! Guess you were just like everybody else, nothing more than a fake who talks a big ass game."

At that moment, whatever sense of self I had was completely lost, as for once, I finally snapped at the brutal truth.

"A FAKE!?"

I fired off a blast to eviscerate the cuff in one motion, facing my opponent with glowing bloody red eyes!

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH I 'VE GIVEN UP FOR YOU?!"

Before she even tried to counter, I fired another cutting beam, lopping off her right-wing before she could even think of attacking. I didn't let her register the pain. Instead, I gave more to the process, making my advance while shooting round after round across her body.

"I'VE GIVEN MY BLOOD, SWEAT, TEARS, LIFE, FUCK EVEN MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY! I'VE GIVEN EVERYTHING TO YOU AND EVERY PIECE OF SHIT LIKE YOU! AND YET ALL YOU DO, ALL YOU'VE EVER DONE IS TAKE AND TAKE AND TAKE!!"

My lasers burned hotter than any flame taking her piece by motherfucking piece as her ungodly screams rang out for no one to hear. She gave up any hope a long time ago. Volumes of steaming blood splattered the ground like split paint, seemingly boiling while colliding with the autumn air. Each shot got carefully aimed as some sick part of me wanted to punish her as long as possible. But when that patience ended in a snap decision, I sliced off her other wing as I made my point known.

"HOW DOES FEEL LUCIA, TO BE POWERLESS, TO BE WEAK!? TO HAVE ONE PERSON PASS JUDGEMENT AND TAKE EVERYTHING FROM YOU!? HOW DOES FUCKING FEEL LUCIA?! IS THIS REAL POWER?! ANSWER ME!!!"

But I never got that answer. Instead, all I heard was mindless whispering and murmuring by the time I stood over her charred, smoking body. And just like that, my anger vanished, replacing me with the prior numbness that made my entire surroundings blink out of existence.