Summus Proelium

Amber was an idiot. She was a completely gullible, naive, ignorant moron. Or at least she felt like one. How could she not have realized that Whamli--Jerry was a bad guy? How could she have spent so long around him, done so many things right alongside that unbelievable bastard, and never even had the slightest inkling that he was a psychopath? She should have known. She should have noticed something at some point. A better person would have. A smarter person would have seen an inconsistency, noticed something in one of his reactions, done something to catch the bastard instead of just ignorantly stumbling right into his fucking trap!

And what a trap it was. First, the Minority (aside from Fragile, who was unavailable) had been dealing with what they thought was a simple fight between some Prev members of a couple gangs. That had been easy enough to break up, all things considered. And from there, it was simply a matter waiting for the authorities to come pick them up. That was supposed to be the easy, boring part, simply making sure the already-cuffed criminals were safely loaded into the vans to be taken to the jail and sorted out by the people who were paid for that.

Which was precisely what Jerry had been counting on. That much was obvious in hindsight. He had taken advantage of everyone else letting their guards down while going through such a routine motion. Hell, it was a routine motion following a fight, albeit one that they made it through fairly easily. Too easily, in hindsight. They’d had their action and were waiting for their prisoners to be picked up. As far as they knew, as far as their adrenaline knew, the exciting part was over and they could relax.

Thus, when the supposed authority showed up with the vans, Amber didn't think anything of it. She was just stepping over to say something to the driver when she noticed something about his uniform. Before she could react, he hit her in the face with a cloud of noxious gas from a small gizmo that she had only belatedly noticed in his hand. And just like that, her consciousness had fled as she felt herself hit the ground. Behind her, she had heard the others being ambushed as well.

Then she woke up in this shielded place, a room who knew where. It looked like the inside of some empty storage space. Empty, that was, aside from her, Wobble, Raindrop, all four of the Syndicates, and Carousel. The Syndicates and Raindrop were all asleep and couldn’t be roused no matter what Amber, Jae, and Laki (Wobble) did. Which, the fact that even the intangible versions of Syndicate had somehow been drugged or… or whatever, had driven the seriousness of the situation home even more.

Jae knew about Jerry. Amber had been able to tell that much from the way the other girl started to say there was something she had to tell them about him after Amber and Laki questioned where he was. But before she’d been able to continue with that, the door had opened and Jerry himself had come in, using several of his coils to carry a few figures with him. One had been Pack, a sight that instantly got Amber on her feet, while the others were Eits and Broadway. All three were unconscious and looked as though they had been put through the wringer.

Seeing the boy so casually and cruelly throw the unconscious forms against the far wall, Amber, Jae, and Laki had tried to use their powers to attack him. But the moment they did, agony filled all three of the Star-Touched, driving them to their knees. Only then did they find the yellow stones that had been placed against the back of one another’s necks. Which was when Jennica, that girl who had been responsible for the zombies (or at least responsible for controlling the guy who was responsible for them), showed herself and made it clear what was going on. They were prisoners of these wannabe Scions, who were going to sacrifice them to buy their way in. And they couldn't even fight back with their powers or Jennica’s stones would send crippling pain through them.

Not that that stopped them from trying to fight back without their powers, of course. They’d taken months-worth of combat training, and had been made to learn how to take care of themselves without their Touched gifts in an emergency (not too unlike this). But with the same training and his own powers intact, Whamline was too much. Especially in that small space. He seemed to revel in being able to throw them around with his energy coils. Amber’s arm had almost been torn out of its socket as he yanked her off the ground before sending her flying into the wall, then yanked her back to him to kick her in the face. To say nothing of the others. Jennica and several other Scion wannabes helped make it even more of a very unfair fight, as if it wasn’t enough of one already. Amber, Jae, and Laki were completely outmatched. Even when Pack woke up and tried to help, it only ended in her leg getting ripped out from under her by another coil before she was sent hurling into the wall. That by itself would have been enough to make Amber want to claw that suddenly-smug asshole's eyes out, especially when he shook the other girl’s backpack out while ranting about how he was going to make her watch as he stepped on her lizard’s necks until they broke.

Fortunately, that didn’t end up being possible. The backpack was set up so that no one who wasn't Pack herself could actually access the lizard cage it was linked to. For Whamline, and anyone else who tried, the bag was empty. The lizards were safe. Obviously, the piece of shit wasn’t happy about that, and proceeded to kick Pack repeatedly while trying to demand she bring her lizards over. She, of course, refused. Amber had been afraid he would go even further, but then Jennica had interrupted to say she had to go do something and couldn't stand around watching him pull the wings off butterflies anymore. Whamline made it clear he would be back to finish the job, and then they were left alone. Jae and Pack both spent the next few minutes telling Amber and Laki what they had been up to and how they had ended up working together to find out that Whamline was one of the Scions candidates. Obviously, Amber and Laki were both a bit upset about not being told what was going on, especially given the situation they’d ended up in. But Jae said she’d wanted to be certain and get actual proof before accusing one of their own teammates of something that could never be walked back if it turned out she was wrong or he was being set up somehow. And, to be frank, Amber couldn’t really hold the other girl keeping secrets against her, given… well, everything with the Ministry and all that.

Laki had his own issues with finding out that Jae had teamed up with a few villains through the course of the whole thing, of course. But even he knew there was a difference in what sort of villain someone was, and that there were times when it made sense to put aside their differences. Amber was pretty sure he was more upset about not being told what was going on, and only finding out now when it was too late. But he put it aside for the moment.

Besides, they obviously had more important things to worry about right then. Like getting out of there. Unfortunately, they couldn't use their powers with Jennica’s stones on them, which made that difficult. And nothing they did could wake up Raindrop, Broadway, the Syndicates, or Eits. Not that it was likely that any of them could get out either, but still.

They’d been visited one more time, by a couple of the other Scions candidates, a guy with a bear mask and a woman wearing regal clothes complete with tiara and cloak. The two of them were dragging another figure with them. Grandstand, another person Jae’s group had been working with. It turned out that Pack, Broadway, Eits, Grandstand, and possibly a couple others had been nearby, planning to act as backup if Whamline tried anything. Which he had, but before that group could jump in to help, they were ambushed as well, by the rest of the Scions candidates. Apparently they’d been spotted somehow, or maybe everything they’d found out was an intentional trap. Whatever it was, they were taken by surprise before they could actually help Jae and the rest of the Minority people. And now they were all captured.

Or were they? Jae and Pack both made it clear they didn’t want to say anything out loud and risk being overheard, but from the way they were acting, Amber thought there was more to the whole thing.

Whatever the truth about that, the fact remained that they were all in danger. Amber was terrified about the fact that she couldn't get Izzy and Damarko to wake up. The stuff they had been drugged with was clearly strong enough to keep them out no matter how much they were shaken and shouted at. But they were breathing, for now at least. So Amber, Pack (she had to think of the girl that way so she wouldn’t accidentally say Dani out loud) and the others had to focus on getting out of this fucking trap. There had to be a way. Whamline wasn't a genius, and nobody who actually wanted to join up with the Scions to be Pencil’s lackeys could be that smart either. There had to be a way to break the forcefield and get out of there. Which seemed especially possible a couple minutes later when those yellow (she refused to think of them as amber) stones from Jennica had turned dark and fallen off them. She didn't know if the psychopaths out there had any idea that had happened, but either way, they had to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, even with their powers, they still couldn’t get out of that room. Oh, Amber could teleport again, but there was some sort of forcefield around the entire space. It was a lot like the one around the apartment building the rest of the actual Scions had been holing up in. They couldn’t break through it.

Still, with their powers, maybe the next time that door was opened Jerry might poke his head in without realizing Amber wasn’t shackled by the stones anymore, so she could take him by surprise. Oh, how she hoped she’d get that chance. He was a traitor, a monster who had murdered a reporter just to impress the Scions so he could join them?!

She was still reeling from that revelation. It wasn’t hard to understand why Jae had kept it to herself, to say nothing of Dani. For the former, accusing a teammate of being that sort of monster had to be hard without firm proof. And for Dani… well, their relationship was still really new and confusing. Amber thought about how she would feel if she had to tell the girl that one of her own teammates and close friends was actually working for the Scions. It made her cringe, and they were actual villains.

That… probably wasn’t the best way to bring it up. But the point was, despite the initial anger that rushed over her, exacerbated by the situation they were in, Amber had to admit that she knew why they had waited. They were looking for proof. Hell, Dani had even told her that she had something serious about ‘the people you work with’ to talk about, but that she’d had to double-check some things. Amber had thought she was talking about some of the cops they worked alongside, or a judge or… or something to do with the Ministry! She didn’t know it was anything like this.

Suffice to say, mistakes had been made. But they still had to get out of this. Then they could talk about… everything they needed to talk about. And she had some of her own confessions to make, especially to Jae.

They tried to wake up the others, tried to get out of that room, tried a number of things. In the end, they only managed to get Grandstand up, and her power wouldn’t help them escape. It might help her get out if someone opened the door and lowered the forcefield as they wouldn't notice her, but they had to get that far first. And there was no guarantee they wouldn't just leave the forcefield up until she showed herself.

In the end, it was sound coming from outside the room that drew their attention. It sounded like some sort of fight going on, which made Amber's heart leap. Someone had shown up after all. Someone came to help. But was it enough? Were they, whoever they were, enough? God, this was so frustrating! Raindrop, the Syndicates, Eits, and Broadway remained completely impossible to wake up, they couldn’t get out of this room, couldn’t talk about anything for fear of being overheard, and now someone else was out there fighting these pricks and there was nothing Amber and the others could do about it!

The fighting carried on for a bit while the group inside exchanged helpless looks, before seeming to move away from the door. A few long, torturous moments passed, before another sound came: that of the door unlocking. It was heaved open, and Amber found herself staring right at two small, teen figures wearing ski masks. As soon as she took a step that way, their hands went up. “Your side, your side, we’re on your side!” the girl blurted.

“Facs and Yeet,” Grandstand put in. “What happened? What’s going on?” She still seemed a little groggy, and had to put a hand out to steady herself.

“We brought Paintball!” the boy, Facs, blurted. “He tried to bring his team but they’re not here yet, so he came in to fight those guys because they were gonna kill you, and now he’s downstairs and he needs help!”

Without wasting another second and without even thinking about the others, Amber spun herself to the north and teleported herself downward. If Cassie was here, going up against Whamline and all the others--no, no!

She arrived down there, coming into view just in time to see Whamline holding Paintball in the air with a couple of his coils, while several of the other Scions candidates picked themselves up. Jennica wasn’t there, but Amber didn’t have time to worry about that. All she could worry about, the only thing that existed right then, were the words that came out of Whamline’s mouth.

“Not all of us give a shit about Pencil. You don't know what you're talking about. But I’ll tell you one thing, I’m glad you're here. Cuz then, when I tell Way that I’m the one who killed her dad, I can punctuate it by killing her little friend too.”

The one who killed her dad.

The one who killed her dad.

The one who killed my dad!

Before she even realized it, Amber was making a noise. It didn’t sound human. It didn’t sound coherent. It was the sound of a girl whose father had been killed, and who had then unknowingly spent over a year working, talking, and playing right alongside his killer. A killer who was utterly unremorseful, wanted to brag about it, and was planning to cap it off by killing her friend as well.

It was a sound not unlike the screeching of a car as it slammed through the body of a man who had been minding his own business, driven by a joyrider who had never, ever faced justice.

Amber had been angry before. Now? Now she was beyond that. She was beyond rational thought, beyond any thought. The sound she made was of a wild animal, and her mind was no clearer. Before any of the people there could react, Amber launched herself that way, teleporting once more. That carried her directly in front of the piece of shit himself, just as she lashed out with one fist. That time, that fucking time he couldn’t throw her against the wall, couldn’t mock her helplessness, couldn’t threaten to kill her girlfriend’s lizards, couldn’t gloat about killing her father, or anything else.

All he could do was take that punch. And the second he did, the very instant her fist collided with his face, Amber used that physical connection and teleported yet again. That time, she took the two of them as far north as she could, emerging on the roof of a building almost a full mile from where they had started.

She didn’t let up either. Even as they came down from that teleport, her opposite fist lashed out to punch the other side of the boy’s face, and she used that to teleport as far as she could again.

Now, as they came down on another roof, Amber didn't even know exactly where they were anymore. She’d lost track. The building was some sort of office structure, only a few stories high. There were a few small electrical structures and such scattered across the roof, along with a small garden in one corner someone was maintaining. Other than that, the space was wide open. And they were alone.

Whamline wheeled backward from the two quick punches before hitting the roof with his coils to propel himself backwards in order to gain some distance. He came down on his feet and shook his head to clear it. With a grunt, he put a hand against his mask before yanking it off to reveal his face. He had blood splattered across it from his nose, just like Amber did from when he had struck her. “Huh, guess we're even then.”

“You…” Even saying that one word made Amber's voice crack to the point of almost being indecipherable. “It's true.” She had no doubt in her mind, not anymore. “You’re the one.”

Jerry raised his hands. “Hey, you've gotta understand, at the time, it was an accident. I was just trying to have some fun. It's not like I even knew you or your dad. I definitely didn't have anything against him. So, I hit you, you hit me, let's talk about what comes next.”

Amber shook her head, reaching up to take her own face mask off so that her features shifted back to her own and her hair returned to its normal black state. She wouldn’t do this as That-A-Way. This wasn’t for That-A-Way.

It was for Amber. And as Amber, her face set itself into an expression of rage beyond all comprehension as the girl flung herself that way.