Powers

“Harder, Chelsea!” Christopher Montgomery grabbed the panting woman in front of him and took a deep, ragged breath, “You know how to do this. What’s going on? Why aren’t you using all of your muscles?”

“I’m sorry sir. I’ve just got a lot on my mind. It’s hard to concentrate.”

“That’s not a good enough reason! You are at the Academy to be taught how to fight, to use those powers of yours and to learn how to harness those powers. I keep telling you, the difference between people isn’t what they can do. It is how they can control the things that they can do.” Releasing The Flame, as her friends had so aptly dubbed her, her Instructor got back into his stance and waited for her attack. And not for the first time he wondered how he had gotten the curse, and blessing, of teaching Chelsea.

She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Spreading out her senses she could get the impression of everything in the room. There was a door to her right that would take her to the rest of the Training Facility 2 and two long windows towards the ceiling that allowed all the members of the Agency of Paranormal Intelligence watch what was going on in the room below. Except when she and Christopher were in the room, then they were barred from the little room up there. There were white tiles on the floor, walls, and ceiling that were more to keep things in the room rather than to decorate it. Last and definitely the hardest to deal with, there was her Instructor. If she tried hard enough, she knew she would be able to sense him there but she would also be able to feel him there. She’d done it before. That’s how she knew that his hair was always soft and certainly didn’t feel like the sand that it resembled. She could tell that he’d been getting a workout because of the extra muscles on his long and lean arms and legs, and she also knew when his moods changed. Not only could she see it in his chocolate eyes but she could tell by the emotion he emitted. Yes, he was most certainly the most disturbing of all the things here at the API Headquarters. Even in the Instructor’s uniform, he looked great. The black pants hugged his body just enough that she could see with her minds eye what he would look like. His red shirt was always soft warm and all around…inviting. He managed to look classy even when sweating from exertion.

Concentrate, Chelsea! You’ve got to stop this! She told herself, Find his weak area. Find his opening and fight! She closed her eyes against her mental path. Forcing her focus on the task at hand, she breathed deep and centered herself. Then she released the fire within her, opening her eyes to her Instructor’s startled yelp.

“Ah! Chelsea, Damn it! You barely missed my head. What were you trying to do? Kill me?” Christopher just stared at the woman in front of him and shook his head. One minute she was unsure and the next she was jumping so far ahead. The main reason for Chelsea’s nickname was because of her pyrokinetic abilities, but Chris also knew that her unruly mane of red curls hid the fiery temper of a lioness and that her beautiful violet eyes could spit fire themselves when she was angry. Also, he knew that her small body hid more strength and determination than those of most men he knew. She really was talented and he had always known that she would surpass him in ability. However, he had not expected that with all that she had going for her that she would be so shy and scared. “Maybe we should call it a day. Go to your room and relax a little before dinner and evening lessons,” he said as he placed a hand on her back, leading her to the door. As he leaned against her to open the door, he finished his thought, “this way I can get rid of the singe marks.”

“I’m really sorry sir, I was just going for your weak spot like you taught me. I just figured you would have protected yourself. I didn’t mean to hurt you…honest,” her pleading eyes begging for his belief, almost ensnared Christopher.

“I know. The reason my head wasn’t protected was because it isn’t my weakest point. You’re getting closer. Almost too close. I think I’m going to let you start practicing with one of the Aides. I know that an Instructor is the only one that’s supposed to train a Pupil or a New Trainee but I think it will be safer for you to train with someone your own age. Okay?”

“It’s fine with me. I just don’t want you to get into trouble because of my inability to fight correctly.”

“Wait a minute! I’m not going to have you think that it’s because of your abilities as a fighter that I’m doing this,” he grabbed her shoulders and turned her completely to face him. Staring into the eyes that haunted his dreams he tried to convey his reasoning for his decision while trying not to, “because it’s not. I’m doing this because you scared the living shit out of me, Chelsea. I didn’t expect you to go for my head. And if you can get enough power behind your launches to fire at someone’s head and get past the natural defenses, then I don’t think I want you to find out my weakness. It would put both you and me in danger if we were ever in a real battle. And the absolute last thing I want is you in danger because of me. Okay?”

“Sure,” her voice trying to conceal her doubt, “I think I better go.”

“Relax a lot before you go to your lessons tonight. You’re getting too stressed. Your concentration is off. You need to stop getting distracted by things and you have got to sleep. You can’t skip sleep and expect to be in your best shape,” his hand came up, as if to feel her cheek, but quickly fell away, “If something were to happen and,” he cleared his throat, “As I said, you need to be at your best. So you should go and rest,” he just looked away from her as he spoke.

With a downcast face, Chelsea walked out of the room and down the dark corridors till she entered the sanctuary of her room. Silently she slipped under her blankets, willing herself to sleep and hoping that for once she would sleep peacefully without the nightmare that seemed to always haunt her dreams.

It was always the same thing. Her Instructor was there as well all of her friends from the Academy. They were always beside a large clump of green that towered over them. In the dream she knew something bad was going to happen and she always woke up before it did happen. The final image she would awaken with was Instructor Chris looking at her with emotions she wanted him to have for her. It wasn’t a good image though because she also woke up knowing that whatever was going to happen, they weren’t going to be together in the end.

Just as she was starting to fall into a deep sleep, someone began pounding on her door, “Chelsea,” the pounding continued, “Chelsea! Will you answer the door!” Slowly she climbed out of bed and trudged across to the door, “Chelsea, I swear if you don’t open this door I’m going t-”

Jerking open the door, “What, in the world do you want!” she screamed, her hand twisted into her hair, face scrunched up in annoyance, “I’m trying...Instructor Chris, what are you doing here?”

“We have to go, there’s a situation. Didn’t you hear the alarm go off? Someone’s gotten into the compound. We’re in a Stage One code alert.”

Chelsea just stood there and stared at the Instructor. Her eyes blank with incomprehension and mouth slightly ajar, “Um…. well…okay,” she finished lamely as she turned to get her necessities.

“We don’t have time to spare.” Grabbing her arm he pulled her out into the hallway and away from her room.

“What are you doing?! I have to get shoes on. You can’t just jerk me from my room. I do have to grab some things and change into the battle gear!” Throwing a look of utter disbelief over her shoulder, Chelsea ran back to her room and began throwing things together. With each piece of her battle uniform she put on, the air turned a little more red and the temperature rose.

“Hurry up, we’ve got to get to the airstrip checkpoint. We don’t have time for any of this,” Chris yelled to the room, his voice conveying with perfect clarity that he was impatient and was getting agitated himself.

Suddenly there was a loud crack and Chelsea squealed, “What’s wrong!” came the answering voice, “What are you doing?” Chris demanded as he stepped back into the doorway.

“Nothing, our emotions got things a bit heated up and I burned my hand on the door handle.” Before Christopher could answer or express the concern showing on his face, Chelsea said, “Don’t worry, I’m fine.” As she pulled her still vaguely charged mane back into a high ponytail, she ran out the door and passed her Instructor. Turning slightly she yelled, “Well if we don’t hurry then I guess we aren’t going to make it. Move it!” Jumping the last few steps of the staircase, she couldn’t hear what was said behind her.

Before she ran out the door, he caught up with her. Panting, he said, “You didn’t even ask who it was. Why?”

Stopping, she turned to him with a look of bemusement, “What to do mean why? First of all, we don’t have time to discuss this right now. As you were so keen on telling me, we don’t have time to spare. If he’s gotten through the guards then he’s come prepared and we’re in for a major fight.”

“Then you do know who it is.”

Her eyes began to flicker as she continued on, “Secondly, I have many talents. This you know. But seeing as you seemed to have forgotten, I’m a Pyrokinetic, which means I’m also a Telekinetic. But, alas, I am clairvoyant at times as well. Why you have forgotten this all of the sudden, I don’t know, but it is really inconvenient. Can we go now?” Three steps away she was jerked back around.

“You knew that this was going to happen!” Christopher said through clenched teeth, his grip on her arm bruising her skin and burning it as well. The flames of anger burned a bright yellow and danced with menace, “What were you thinking! I woul-”

Before she could really think about it, she sent fire running down her arm onto Christopher’s hand. Eyes glowing, she steadily and calmly stated, “I did not know this was going to happen. The third reason I didn’t ask is because Dominic Maledict is the only person who is strong enough to get through our defenses. He’s also the number 1 terrorist in the world that is under the United World Government’s watchful eye. This means that we track him. That’s one of the API’s duties, if you haven’t forgotten that too. Thus, logically, he’s the only one who be stupid enough to come barging in here. Now, let go of my arm Instructor or I’m really going to put a fire under your ass…literally.” Jerking her arm away from him, she turned and ran towards the airstrip checkpoint.

How can he think that? Do I really come off as deceptive? I wish I could read minds. If only that were possible. She sighed softly into the wind and ran faster, trying to get to the battle she knew was coming and away from the pain and sadness that could only bring disaster.

She didn’t remember to take stock of where mass amounts of energy were located before she burst onto the front. Luckily, she ran into the other API members and not Dominic and his cohorts. Christopher came right up behind her when he reached the same point, nudging Chelsea’s friend James out of the way.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he lightly held her waist hoping that she would listen, “I didn’t mean to upset you. I really didn’t believe you would put us in danger. The way you were talking though, that was the first thing I could think of. Forgive me Chelsea?” She turned and looked at James to see if he’d heard, but then remembered that he could read their minds. Turning back to Chris with a blank expression, she opened her mouth to speak, “Don’t say you weren’t upset,” he interrupted, “I saw that you weren’t surveying the areas. There could have been people behind any of the five buildings we passed or any of the greenery. I’m sorry that I did something to put you in danger. I really am.”

“We don’t have time to talk. Dominic is charging up. I can feel the static electricity starting to gather. We have to get into positions and fight,” she said as she grabbed James’ arm and left Christopher standing there. But she paused slightly, letting go of her hold on her friend’s arm, and said almost inaudibly, “I’m sorry you would think so low of me but I could forgive you for anything,” and went to the front of the line and began to gather her wits and emotions to fight.

About the time she was ready to fight, she was attacked. Without thinking about what she was doing she began to fight. She met each punch with a blow of her own but with twice the force. While Chelsea was fighting the first person another one came up from behind and began to aim at the opposite area from that of his ally. Chelsea kept them both at bay with very little effort but the two men still managed to get a few blows landed on her. These guys are really strong. Wait a minute! Grabbing the first man’s wrist, she flipped around behind him and jerked his arm up. As the crack from his bones was heard she twisted yet again and placed the man between her and his teammate just in time to block the kick aimed at her head. As he slid to the floor, Chelsea grabbed the remaining person and disposed of him quickly. This isn’t right. Why are they all Normals?

“Chris! Is James near you?” Chelsea screamed, as she threw another person over her shoulder and onto the uneven ground. Something doesn’t fit. Why is all of the fighting concentrated right here? There’s nothing here except for the airport and the two jets, she thought as she fought. She knew before the first person had attacked what these people were. They had no powers at all and that made it really easy to predict what they were going to do. They didn’t have the control that Powers had over their aural emissions. And every Power knew how to read those. This is too easy.

“Christopher, is James near you!?” she screamed, urgency pushing her voice further, trying to find the answer, “Damn it, Christopher!” she muttered, as she flung a fourth man to the ground. I seriously wish I could do telepathy right now! she thought as contestant number five got up to charge her again. Turning at the last minute she stared straight into his ice blue eyes with her molten purple ones and watched the ice melt into fear. Quickly, she moved away from her mounting pile of people in search of her errant Instructor. She had no doubt that he was still alive and kicking. That’s the funny thing about weaknesses. You always know when it’s in trouble. Flinging various people to the side as she went, she resembled Moses parting the Red Sea. When I find that man…But instead of finding her Instructor, she found James.

“James,” she said and then paused to deal with another person, How many people did Dominic bribe into coming down here? There has got to be fifty Normals for each Power, “can you communicate with your Instructor? I think we may have a problem.”

“Of course I can, Chelsea! How many more problems can we handle? There seems to be enough here,” James replied. His powers didn’t have much combat ability in them so he was the leading Pupil in hand-to-hand combat. His movements were fluid and continuous, never once did he falter, which only proved that there had to be something else going on. It was just way too easy, “Not that I’m complaining. If this got any easier I could have tea and take in a movie.”

“So I’m not the only one who found this ‘attack’ lacking believability,” only then did she realize that she wasn’t fighting anyone. All the Normals that could move had turned tail and run. It was then that she felt the electrical current flowing in the air, “Shit! He’s getting ready to fire off a bolt.”

In a split second, she knew why Dominic was there. He was trying to destroy the strongest amongst the Pupils so that he can attack the United World Government’s building in Versailles. “James, tell everyone you can that this was all a trap. We need to conserve as much energy as possible. He’s coming after us himself,” she whispered, staring off into the darkened woods that helped shield their facility from outsiders. “You might want to tell your Instructor to step to the left about three yards.”

She closed her eyes and concentrated. Trying to pinpoint his exact location was going to be interesting. He was exuding enough power that it should have been simple but he seemed to have other sources of power. There’s a box of power around him. It feels like it’s feeding him power…but how is that possible. He’s Electrokinetic. The electric runoffs themselves can kill. “SHIT!”

“What’s going on, Chelsea?” Christopher asked. He had come up as she was surveying. How did I ever think she was part of this? He wanted to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder to keep her from getting hurt any more. He cringed for each bruise she was going to be sporting. How much trouble would I get into if I just took her away and kept her safe? Who am I kidding? It’s more like, how hot would the fire be she put me into if she found out I was thinking such things. His eyes lightened a bit at the scene his mind played out for him.

“He’s come to weed out the Pupils. He wants most the most powerful of us gone before he attacks the UWG building. He in the woods, about 25 yards in,” she placed a restraining hand on Christopher’s arm when he began to move away, “He’s not alone. He has a diamond of power around him. I think he’s got people there with him, feeding him power. Right now we’re all screwed. He’s got us overpowered with energy,” her eyes began to glow with fire as she continued to talk about Dominic’s plan. Only when Christopher yelled at her to stop, did she realize that she’d burnt a circle around the two of them and wasted energy.

Chelsea sighed, “He’s going to attack James’ Instructor first. I’m not sure why. He seems to only want the Pupils dead but he’s going to attack her first. I don’t get it at all.”

“Do you know when he’s going to attack?”

“Can’t you feel it? We don’t have enough time to go after him but we don’t have enough time to gather enough energy to fight him properly either. Basically, we’re sitting ducks. I do recommend that we try and gather enough for a Deflection.”

“You know those don’t take much. Why would we have to gather for it?”

“Because there are NT’s out here who can’t maintain a Deflection for long. We have to compensate for them. They’ll have to lend energy to us. Guess it’s time to tap the emotions huh? I just wish I knew why he wants to attack Pupils and not Instructors.”

Christopher just looked at Chelsea with big eyes that spoke volumes, “You always go after your opponents weakness. You know that. It cripples them and makes it easier to kill them.”

“Are you telling me that every Pupil’s weakness is her Instructor?”

“He’s getting closer to firing levels Chelsea. Do we have to go into this right now?”

“Yes, I want to understand this. Why isn’t he going after you guys? Why just us? Instructors are the strongest people at the Facility and everyone knows that.”

“Not entirely true. You’re stronger than I am now, even without all the training complete. We really should be working on those Deflections. Don’t look at me like that. We have to protect the NT’s as you pointed out.”

“Fine, but tell me why he’s coming after us and not Instructors? You talk, I’ll gather,” her eyes closed with the sight of Chris’ eyes rolled upwards in exasperation.

“It’s a two-fold deal. Pupils always have more power because they’re younger and have less control over their emotions. And, as you know, emotions can fuel our powers. As to the reason why Pupils are the obvious choice…well…it all goes back to weaknesses. I mean, it’s not…,” he paused and looked at Chelsea’s face uncertainly. Should I tell her all of it? “uncommon for Instructors to care for their Pupils. If you kill the weakness, assuming it can be killed, the person can go crazy with rage. I’d be nothing if you died,” his voice was barely a whisper but Chelsea heard it as if it had been shouted.

Joy ran through her entire body so fast that she almost lost her Deflections. Clearing her throat and clenching her eyes to hide tears, she said, “I think I have the Deflection’s base in place. We’re going to have to- SHIT!”

A bolt of electricity shot through the sky and hit the Deflection right over Chelsea. Grunting under the pressure, she managed to hold the Deflection up until someone else down the line of Powers took the Pillar position of holding it in place.

“That was a lot more than I thought it was going to be. Wow, he’s powerful. We’ve got to get rid of those four sources. If we don’t … well you know.”

“Okay. Let’s get to work,” looking around he saw that everyone else was focusing on trying to keep the Deflection up, “The four sources must be firing off small bolts because that Deflection is harder to hold than it should be. We’ll be doing it alone it seems.”

“All right.” Closing out the world, Chelsea and Christopher started to use their senses to find their targets. Once they were found, their weaknesses were the main concern. It took a little bit of time, which caused both of them anxiety because they could feel Dominic charging up again. Finally, they both hurled out streams of fire that found their prey. Almost instantaneously the Deflection was lighter and some of Dominic’s charged energy fell away.

“Oh no! We underestimated him again!” Chelsea screamed. Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, she calmed her anger. Her whole demeanor was one of calmness and tranquility. Using all of the techniques Christopher showed her, she had a tentative hold on her emotions and energy usage, “Sorry, that makes the second time we’ve done that though.”

“I understand. We need a better plan. Something to put him on the defensive. Do you know his weakness?”

“He’s charging again, but much faster. And yeah, it’s his brute strength. He prefers to do hand-to-hand but knows that with all the Powers here he wouldn’t be able to do much damage. Aim at his heart and that’s it.”

“All right, I’m going to start feeling. I’ll keep it light so that I don’t make him aware of it, if that’s possible.”

As Christopher began working, Chelsea stared at him. She couldn’t believe that he had admitted to caring for her. It was like a dream. For a very brief moment she pushed her senses towards him. She wanted to feel his hair, just to see if it felt any different. Just when her senses touched him, she felt Dominic’s power release and come flying towards Christopher. She quickly sent a shot of fire at him.

Jumping aside, Christopher narrowly missed getting hit by Chelsea’s shot. But he didn’t jump far enough to not get hit with Dominic’s. Screaming, Chris was thrown far behind the rest of the line. At the sound of his scream, everyone else lost concentration and dropped the Deflection. Most of the New Trainees ran to him to see how bad he was hurt. But Chelsea was focusing on Dominic. He was charging again and at a faster rate.

Then she heard it. Dominic was laughing as if there had been a joke told. As he walked out of the woods and straight towards her, the laughter got louder and faster.

All at once, Chelsea changed. Fire rose up around her, engulfing her until all that could be seen was the purple flames of her eyes, “Don’t try it. You won’t kill me with that attack and we both know it. Save some of your dignity before your death.” The temperature increased with each word as she calmly stared down the person in front of her. Slowly and deliberately took steps towards him. Every movement she made was without doubt, without hesitation.

The others just watched in silent trepidation and awe. They all realized what had just happened and added their own energy to Chelsea’s. It was one thing to take out a member of their team in a fight, but Dominic to tried to murder one member just to get at another and that was worse. Dominic wasn’t going to live through this battle and they all knew it. An enraged woman is bad but a pissed Pyrokinetic will bring the fires of Hell itself down upon you and dance in the flames as she watches you burn.

When NT’s are first being trained, they are taught to never stand in close range of their targets, but Chelsea seemed to have forgotten all the rules of battle because she stopped walking mere feet from Dominic. She stood with a perfectly straight back and a regal air that was meant to intimidate as well as an expression meant to terrify. She knew what she was going to do and was going to do it with everything she had.

You don’t fuck with those I love. And you sure as hell don’t live to bloody laugh about it! Chelsea thought as she stood there and glared at the person before her. Glancing back briefly, she sent a look that conveyed everything to Christopher. Love, admiration, respect, and sorrow flew to him with a haste that stood at odds with her outward calm. When she turned back, her eyes were once again a purple inferno. Fixing on Dominic’s weakness, she wasted no time as she fired out her entire store of energy plus that of her comrades at Dominic’s chest cavity. At the same time as the garland of flames hit its mark, Chelsea fell to the ground completely motionless.

A split second later, Christopher realized that Dominic wasn’t dying. The blast that should have burnt him into charred dust, had only wounded him. This was immediately followed by the knowledge that Chelsea was still alive. Standing up gingerly, Christopher began to walk towards Chelsea. Barely acknowledging the enemy, he didn’t catch the beginning of the static electricity. Then he ran.

“Chelsea, no!” Dominic was aiming at Chelsea and she was drained. She couldn’t even summon enough strength to create a simple deflection shield. Pooling the last of his strength and tapping into his burning emotions, he began to push out his senses as he positioned himself far enough in front of Chelsea as to not harm her with the heat. As soon as he was able to get a good feel of Dominic, he attacked with all he had. With a thunderous cry, a white stream of fire shot across the expanse and hit the incoming energy blast from Dominic. Turning around, the last thing he saw was the woman he loved lying on the ground.

Chelsea shot up off the ground, her leg burning in protest, and ran towards the red cloud. It seemed like the ground stretched further and further away with every step that she took. Desperately she tried to beat it, running harder and faster until everything took a large leap forward, away from her outstretched hand. “CHRIS!”

By the time Chelsea had regained consciousness, her powers had returned to its current full strength. She knew she was back in her room and she knew without a doubt that her precious Chris was not in his. That last surge of power could have meant only one thing, Christopher had sacrificed himself for her. But it wasn’t just the power surge that told her he was gone. Chelsea felt drained, like someone had siphoned off some of her energy. So this is what it’s like to not have a weakness. I thought that being without one was supposed to make a person stronger. “I guess even the smartest of them don’t get it right.” Sighing loudly she turned gingerly in her bed.

“I don’t think you want to do that, Chelsea. You’re pretty bruised up, I’d hate to see you crack something,” came James’ voice, “and I know what you’re thinking.”

“Yeah, I know. You can read my mind, James.”

“No, I can read your eyes. He did what was right. You know that. Most of us would be dead if it wasn’t for the two of you.”

“Still doesn’t make it any better. Without him, I feel like I’m missing something. It’s a horrible feeling.”

“I’m sure it is. But he did the only thing he could do. He took control of one of the things he could do, and in the process he helped defeat the only Power in the world that could have destroyed the API. Don’t belittle his sacrifice by wishing him back, Chelsea. That’s not fair.”

“Shut up or go away.”

“Okay, but he died to save what he believed in: the API and you. Think about that,” he said as he got out of his chair and left.