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infamoussparks · 5 months ago

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Chapter 9: Sparking Emotions

Approx. 8400 words; 50 minute read

Fetch leaped to the ground and stood beside Delsin with a snarl on her face, “They’re here.”

She kept her hazel eyes trained on the horizon and within seconds two figures appeared walking toward the warehouse with a confidence reserved for those who assumed they were in full control. Neither figure seemed to hesitate or falter in their steps despite the welcome party of five that awaited them.

It wasn’t a long way back to the warehouse but Benji felt an overwhelming need to use speed to his advantage, the weight of the news he was carrying was too important to be delivered even a second too late.

He decided to use his abilities and used a combination of parkour and shadow dashing to gain and hold speed as he left the train yard behind him. His internal monologue was racing with what he needed to say and what he would tell Lucky once she joined him back at the warehouse. He was very worried about her and could not shake the feeling that she was going to be in trouble once Orion showed back up.

Maybe Delsin will let me come back to escort her, he thought as he lept over a dumpster and entered the city borders. And then he faltered in his steps, as his name pulled his attention and he nearly fell over trying to stop his own momentum.

“Benji! Over here!”

“Makayla?” Benji jogged over to the girl who was flagging him down from the next block over. He looked her over and she did the same to him in greeting.

“You’re okay! Thank goodness,” Makayla seemed relieved and she placed her neon green fishnet-gloved hands on her hips.

Benji gave her an apprehensive eyebrow raise, “Was I not supposed to be?”

“No, dummy. But Delsin sent me after you because he got your note. Or rather Fetch gave him the note you left in your dorm after she went looking for you this morning.”

“Oh, right, that,” Benji sighed, “I had to check on someone. I was worried. I’m still worried, but now I have to get back to the warehouse. We have an emergency.”

Makayla adjusted her goggles over her eyes and winked at him. “It was Lucky, wasn’t it?”

Benji felt his ears heat up and he cleared his throat, “It wasn’t Celia, that’s for sure. Is everyone okay at the warehouse?”

“Yeah,” Makayla confirmed, “Why? What’s the emergency?”

“Celia is declaring war and Orion is on his way at her side.”

Now Makayla brought her hands together before her chest, cracking her knuckles together. “Then let’s get back to the warehouse and prepare to win the war.”

Benji nodded, grateful to have Makayla on their side now. He wanted to say more about Lucky and his suspicion about her safety but he knew getting to the warehouse was the priority right now. He could tell the Heroes and maybe they could help get Lucky pulled from there as soon as possible. Maybe they’d send a recon team to the train yard under the direction of Benji.

Being a hero was both exciting and terrifying.

Orion returned to the train yard, looking a little worse for the wear with traces of cuts across his face and his shirt in shreds. He was constantly balling his hands into fists and then relaxing them again as he walked directly into the main meeting room.

“Celia!” His shout had the rabbit-mask wearing woman turn her attention to him. Orion summoned mirror shards to his hand and they hung in the air twisting above his palm, reflecting his face as they shifted toward him.

Celia said nothing, just crossed her arms over her chest.

“We need to move. Now.”

“Orion… what gives you that idea?” Celia tilted her head to one side, her mask giving a creepy stare as it tilted.

Orion grabbed his mirror pieces and threw them to the floor, the glass cutting into his palm. He didn’t flinch with the pain. “The longer we wait, the more prepared they’ll be. If you want the girl we need to move before they do.”

Celia nodded and started walking toward him slowly, “What did you do, Orion?”

Orion raised an eyebrow at his boss and shifted his weight between his feet. For a moment he thought about confessing to her–about what he suspected with Lucky, about their fight, about his bar fight after that–but then a new idea took place. Why confess when you can simply lie?

“Lucky warned them. She told them everything. You were right about her.” The words came so easily and he smiled, spitting them out of his mouth.

Celia nodded once in confirmation of the information, then rested her hand on his shoulder, standing on tiptoe to reach him easier. Her other hand touched her mask gently and it exploded into a mass of paper confetti that fluttered to the ground.

She narrowed her black eyes, her gaze locked on Orion’s eyes. “She’s a liability. She could throw the battle against us. You need to take care of her. Get her off the playing field, Orion Stella.”

Orion couldn’t remember if he had ever seen Celia without her mask on and he found himself thinking that she looked as delicate as the paper she wielded with all the sharpness of a knife. Celia’s command settled under his skin and he frowned slightly. He didn’t want to hurt Lucky, unnecessarily, but the more he thought about it the more he was giving himself permission to saddle her with the blame. Whatever she had coming to her was of her own doing.

Now it was his turn to nod solemnly at Celia, accepting her request.

“She won’t be a problem.”

The warehouse was a mess of people.

Students were everywhere, gathering belongings they deemed “important” and packing to leave for a while. The announcement was made via email that an emergency situation was underway and no students were to be left on campus past 3 PM. Rosaline had further assisted with the evacuation notice by mentally intruding on the students within range and filing their heads with urgency sans panic. Her threshold for her ability had been stretched further, thanks to her ongoing training, though her radius only covered the warehouse alone. Anyone off-campus would get the email and hopefully that would be enough.

“I could send everyone a text message, too,” Eugene offered. The office was just as chaotic as several people were inside the space making plans and back-up plans for every scenario they could imagine. Benji was eyeing everyone in the room and picking up on the tension and anxiety around him.

“Yeah, why don’t you do that, Eugene,” Delsin agreed and then turned his attention back to Makayla and Benji who were occupying the couch. “Okay, so we know Celia is coming for Caly. What can you tell us about… what was his name? Osiris?”

Makayla sighed, “Orion! Gosh, Delsin. Get good with names.”

Fetch snickered from beside Delsin and he shot her a disgruntled look. The neon-user just shrugged, “Hazards’ right. Get good,” She playfully hip checked Delsin and he rolled his eyes.

“Says the woman who has a zillion nicknames for everyone,” Delsin refocused and made a note on a piece of paper. “Okay, so what’s Orion’s power? Shape-shifting?”

“Mirrors,” Benji chimed in. He was mostly quiet for this meeting but was clearly paying attention. He noted that the only ones missing from this meeting were Rosaline and Caly. And Lucky.

“Mirrors… that makes sense,” Delsin wrote something else down and circled it, then he adjusted his beanie and seemed to be chewing at the inside of his cheek.

Fetch read over his shoulder and then perched against the desk, her arms crossed loosely over her chest, “That’s probably going to be more offensive. I’ll take him.”

“No one is taking anyone. We’re trying to figure out something without having to resort to an all-out war to protect Caly, remember?” Delsin stated.

“Fetch is right, Orion is more offensive. He’s an asshole, too,” Makayla retorted.

Fetch chuckled under her breath. Benji was glad to see that Fetch and Makayla had put their transgressions behind them for the moment. He cleared his throat, “What about Lucky?”

“The luck-user?” Eugene asked.

“Yeah,” Benji continued, “I mean, she’s not going to help them but we can’t just leave her there alone with Celia and Orion.”

Makayla elbowed Benji and he looked over at her and she winked at him. The heat rose in his ears and drifted over his cheeks.

“How do you know she won’t help them?” Fetch questioned. She had a good point and Benji didn’t know how to explain it without it sounding like a crush and a prayer.

Makayla answered for him, “Lucky doesn’t like hurting people. Did you even have any injuries when the siblings showed up on campus the other day?”

Fetch and Delsin exchanged a glance that Eugene joined in on. That was a solid argument. Benji made a mental note to thank Makayla later for the save.

“Good point,” Delsin sighed, “Okay, so we just need to focus on Celia–who seems to have some new tricks–and Orion. Both of them are going to be a problem together, so our main objective is to separate them if things go sideways.”

“We can’t plan for everything, Smokes. We’re going to have to just wing most of this.” Fetch pointed out.

Delsin paused for a moment and then looked over at Eugene. “Where are we at with evacuation?”

Eugene had the laptop all to himself and he typed and clicked around for a moment before he provided an answer. “It looks like 75% of students are safely off-campus at this point.”

“Excellent. Fetch? Call Juno and Kane in here.”

Fetch gave Delsin an odd look before she pulled her phone out of her pocket and did as she was asked without questioning it.

Benji pulled his phone out from his pocket, too. No new texts from anyone. No communication from Lucky. He was growing more nervous about the situation as every minute passed in silence between the two of them. He was also trying to figure out a way to bring the topic of Lucky back up without it sounding nagging. No one had really answered his question.

“Where are Dr. Hutch and Caly?” Benji changed the subject to occupy his mind with something else instead of missing Lucky and being so worried about her. She could take care of herself, right?

“Rosaline is with Caly in the training room. It was the safest place for them during the evacuation.”

“Wait, they aren’t leaving the school?” Makayla suddenly seemed nervous at hearing this information.

Delsin shook his head, “We thought if we moved them off-campus that Celia would bring the fight to them. Holding the two of them here helps us ensure the battle doesn’t leave the warehouse grounds and we can keep more people safe that way.” He paused and glanced at Fetch. “That is if a battle happens at all.”

“Oh, it’s gonna happen. Orion has always been hotheaded and I can see him acting out without Celia even saying anything at all,” Makayla interjected, “He’s fast, too.”

“Great update, Makayla. I’ll add that to the notes,” Delsin rolled his eyes and wrote something down on the paper plans he had been keeping throughout the conversation.

A knock sounded on the office door and five pairs of eyes turned to look as the door opened. A small, mousy woman with black and blue hair and a few striking tattoos entered beside a taller, thin man with hair about the same length as Delsin’s, only poofier. They both seemed nervous and excited to be in this coveted space, off-limits to anyone who wasn’t a “Hero of Seattle�� or in trouble with them.

Delsin gave them both a warm smile and welcomed them in. “Juno! Kane! Welcome. Just the two I needed to see.”

“Uh… hey?” Kane gave a short wave while Juno seemed to be working on finding her words, a blush settling in her cheeks. Benji inhaled softly at knowing that feeling all too well.

“Alright, you two. First, thanks for sticking around during the evacuation,” Delsin began, “Second, I need you to both help make sure the campus is empty–fully empty–within the next hour.”

Juno checked her watch and gave Delsin a puzzled glance, “But it’s only twelve thirty in the afternoon. The text said to be off campus by three.”

Delsin nodded, ”That plan has changed.”

Celia had been acting strange all morning and now that Orion was back Celia was actively preparing for something. Lucky wasn’t sure what was happening but she knew it was something bad and that it was happening sooner than expected.

She had tried to talk to Celia, to get some information out of her that could help the warehouse team but it was useless. Celia seemed to be ignoring her, telling her only to stay put to guard the train yard and their meager space for a base. It was strange and Lucky did not like the feeling it gave her.

Plus, staying behind meant that she couldn’t join Benji, or worse give him more warning of what was coming.

So when Celia abruptly passed an origami dove to Orion and then left, Lucky knew something in the delicate balance of power at play had shifted. She quickly went back to her favorite train car to decide what to do next in the silence as she pushed down the rising panic in her chest.

Familiar footfalls entered the space behind her. As soon as she heard the sound of small silver charms gently striking against one another, Lucky closed her eyes. The air shifted before her and she knew she was in danger.

“Orion… quit playing around.”

“Playing? Who said I was playing?” Orion whispered in her ear, his breath warm against her neck. Lucky hid a shiver and squared her shoulders.

“Open your eyes, Lucky. Or are you scared of what you’ll see?” Footsteps paced behind her but Lucky found steady breaths and scrambled internally for something, anything to grasp hold of that could get her out of this situation.

“You don’t have to do this, Ry. You are smarter than this. Celia has been trying to separate us since we joined her and I–”

“You what, Lucky? You always have all the answers to the unasked questions. All the commands.” Orion cut her off, his voice low and angry. He was directly behind her, Lucky could feel his body heat against her back. “It’s my turn now, Lucky. I’m making the rules. Not you, not Celia. Me. And you will do as I say and not interfere.”

Lucky buckled down in her stance. Her hands were so tightly in fists, small crescents were forming from where her fingernails dug into her own skin. “No.”

“What did you say?”

“I said, no. Orion, stop this.”

He placed one hand against her back and Lucky swallowed hard.

“Open your eyes, Luckster. Open them now and tell me what you see.”

Lucky was terrified. She knew this move and she knew Orion was breaking his promise to never hurt her like this. She felt the end was coming, rushing toward her, yet she did as she was told and opened her eyes. She held her own gaze in the mirror before her, a mirror summoned by Orion’s ultimate use of his power. Her dark brown eyes were full of fear and anger and loss. She had seconds to decide how this would end. Time seemed to slow. Luck was on her side.

Orion laughed, a low gravelly noise beside her ear. It echoed around the empty train car and dared Lucky to break her stare. She did not.

“Your time’s up. No one is coming to save you now. Enjoy the Mirrorverse, sister.” Orion shoved Lucky forward–toward the mirror which now rippled and warped before her–and several things happened at once. Lucky deftly threw her right fist behind her, grabbing ahold of Orion’s wrist and then she lost contact with her reflection, her eyes moving to watch Orion’s reflected face and meeting his gaze. He was snarling, drunk on power as his eyes glowed with bright golden crescents. He looked terrifying. His power increased and the mirror all but sucked her inside of itself.

“Bad luck, brother.” Lucky’s last words rang around the train car, her eyes flashing with silver crescents before suddenly losing contact with everything and being alone in a dark space. The room was huge with a heavy fog weaving around her legs like a cat. There was nothing here, nothing beyond a gaping, empty place and a heavy feeling of loneliness. The Mirrorverse reflected her deepest insecurities back at her tenfold.

But she got a small glimmer of hope when Orion yelled out in frustration from someplace she could no longer see. Her sudden spell and power usage before being locked away beyond the glass had cast bad luck on Orion and the second half of his spell was canceled with her own. No duplicate of herself existed in the world. No reflection of Lucky for Orion to mold as he wished while she was restrained here, all alone.

Luck had been her greatest gift and sometimes her greatest curse, but here locked within a mirror that reflected her soul, luck was no place to be found. So Lucky closed her eyes and sank to her knees, praying to any God or Goddess who could hear her for strength while leaning heavily into the hope that someone would come to her rescue.

Fetch leaped to the ground and stood beside Delsin with a snarl on her face, “They’re here.”

Once they were several feet apart, the pair stopped. Orion was clearly sizing everyone up and he gave Makayla the middle finger with a smirk. Makayla spit at him and flared toxic gasses into her hands. Fetch held one arm out in front of Makayla who grumbled under her breath and adjusted her stance, keeping her powers to herself.

“We meet again, Delsin Rowe,” Celia spoke, breaking the silence from behind her familiar rabbit mask. “I’m sure you know why we are here.”

“For the girl, right?” Delsin responded, crossing his arms over his chest.

“For her freedom. You have no idea what she can do, Delsin. Imagine a world where your emotions and actions are molded without your consent after hearing a single note. Imagine the chaos that could be caused in the wrong hands. Give her to us and no one will get hurt,” Celia spoke slowly, her words enunciated with care.

Makayla scoffed, “Not even the girl?”

Orion barked a laugh and Celia threw an origami dove at him. He fell silent again but Fetch noticed something seemed different in his eyes. Celia didn’t answer the question.

Delsin shook his head once, “Absolutely not, Celia. Your idea of freedom isn’t as freeing as you think it is. Freedom requires rules and boundaries, not endless cycles of battle royales. I certainly don’t trust you with ‘training’ Caly or her abilities and you are not a queen among conduits.”

Fetch saw Orion raise an eyebrow at this and then turn his focus to Celia. The paper-user balled her hands into fists at her side and she narrowed her stance.

“Your name may be more well-known than mine, but I assure you that I am the only one qualified enough for the role of queen.”

“I beg to differ,” Orion interjected. Celia snapped her mask toward him and he didn’t even flinch under her gaze. “If anyone is queen material, it would be Fetch.”

Fetch opened her mouth and then closed it again, narrowing her eyes at this man standing across from her. He was about Delsin’s height but clearly younger than she was. He cocked an eyebrow at her as their eyes met and Fetch suddenly felt like she was being studied. She didn’t appreciate his staring.

Benji, who had been quiet this whole time, cleared his throat and pulled Orion’s attention to him instead. “Where is Lucky?”

He was right. The other girl was missing from the lineup and that seemed odd to Fetch given what Benji and Makayla had said about her and her closeness to her brother. Something was off here.

“Her luck ran out,” Orion stated flatly. He narrowed his gaze at Benji and this caused Benji to take a half step backward.

“If we deny you access to the girl, what will your next move be, Celia?” Eugene asked very matter-of-factly.

Celia tilted her mask in thought and brought her hands behind her back. Fetch watched her movements like a hawk spying a mouse in a wheat field.

“You already know, Eugene. I’m not leaving without her,” Celia responded, “Whether you give her to me yourselves or whether I take her from you by force makes little difference to me.”

“Two against five? Seems like we’ll win regardless. You should just leave.” Makayla teased.

A noise pulled Fetch’s attention to glance behind her. Running across the grass quickly was Caly, reaching out toward something with a grin across her face. Rosaline was chasing after the girl looking incredibly fearful and Fetch knew she wasn’t the only one who noticed her. Fetch cursed under her breath as a burst of paper flew by her face heading to intersect with Caly. She shot off neon missiles into the paper particles and true to form, did not miss her target. Celia reappeared and staggered a few steps, holding her side.

Celia yelled over her shoulder, “Orion! GO!”

All chaos broke loose.

Every plan the Heroes of Seattle had devised, every scenario, was scrapped for a new plan as they simply nodded to one another and immediately split up. Fetch dashed forward toward Celia, her neon a good match for the speed of paper before her. She knew Eugene was going to try to stay on Orion to slow him down or distract him long enough to learn more about him and his attacks. Delsin was moving with drained smoke, dashing toward Caly to get her to safety, as long as Fetch could hold Celia’s attention. Benji and Makayla had each other’s backs and would be fine as long as neither of them tried anything too risky. It was the most basic of plans but it was the only one suited for the mess that was slowly rippling toward disaster.

Fetch reached Celia quickly and tackled her to the ground, the two conduits grappling on the grass among singed blades and paper particles. Fetch pushed her thoughts toward Delsin hoping he’d reach Caly and get her to safety.

<CALY!> Rosaline reached out with her mind and her hand, being too far from the small girl to grab her in time. Caly paused in mid-run and turned around to look for Rosaline having heard the shout in her mind. She was a deer frozen before oncoming traffic.

* * * * *

“What did you find, Caly?” Rosaline asked as she saw Caly squat before a messy corner of the training room. A bunch of props were haphazardly stored here, likely tossed from students using them during class. No one else was here now to straighten things out but something had caught Caly’s attention.

Rosaline didn’t see anything right away and she slowly dropped onto one knee at the behest of Caly pointing excitedly into the pile and then pinching her index finger and thumb together and sliding her hands away from her nose along her cheeks. It was the sign for ‘cat’. Rosaline squinted as she peered into the shadows of the props.

Lo and behold, a tiny kitten was staring back with large pupils and its ears swiveling cautiously. Rosaline tapped Caly on her shoulder and reached slowly toward the shadows, making a soft, soothing sound with her breath and rubbing the tips of her fingers across the floor in a quick flick of her wrist. Caly seemed to be watching both Rosaline and the kitten and then squealed happily once the kitten pounced at Rosaline’s hand.

Rosaline reached out her other hand slowly and gently petted the kitten. It was a small orange tabby and it stilled a moment beneath her touch before suddenly arching it’s back toward her hand for more. Rosaline reached for Caly’s hand and ran her small fingers across the kitten’s back. Caly immediately seemed to glow with joy as she pet the kitten again and again.

“This is just a kitten, Caly. I’m not sure how it got in here. I guess we can keep it occupied while we stay put,” Rosaline spoke quietly so as not to scare the kitten. It rubbed against Caly, walking around her and playing with a string that was dangling from her pants. Caly giggled loudly and the noise startled the kitten enough to have it temporarily skitter back into the pile of props.

Caly reached for it there and Rosaline stopped her before she was swiped at. Instead Rosaline taught Caly the faster movements along the floor and the kitten was quickly mesmerized and pounced at Caly’s hand playfully. Caly clapped for herself. Rosaline was able to get a better look at the kitten and determined it was a boy.

“Let’s call him Colby Jack since he’s the same color as the cheese, or CJ for short. His name starts with a ‘C’ like yours, Caly,” Rosaline signed the spelling of both names and emphasized the letter ‘C’.

Caly nodded and signed, “CJ! C for cat. C for Caly. Caly’s cat, CJ!”

Rosaline laughed. Then a strange noise sounded from outside someplace and Rosaline felt tension rise in her body. She was running through the things she had been training with Garrett on to expand her abilities and was able to pick up on several strong emotions coming from outside. Now was the time to stay put and stay quiet.

So when CJ suddenly sprinted forward toward the door with Caly in tow, Rosaline felt a flare of her own fear and jolted after the young ones only to be too slow to catch up with them before they were both out the door and running though the grass.

* * * * *

Delsin all but tackled Caly, sweeping her into his arms with a trail of smoke wisping behind him. Caly had CJ tucked against her chest and the kitten’s face looked just as confused as Caly’s from where Rosaline stood. She sent a quick check around the area and counted bodies–a total of nine, ten with the kitten–and had only a moment to collect herself before Delsin was standing in front of her protectively, Caly sandwiched between the adults and standing at Rosaline’s feet.

“Can you protect her?” Delsin was already breathing heavily with his burst of power and Rosaline found herself wondering how long it had been since Delsin was forced to use his abilities in a life or death situation like this one.

She nodded, “Yes, I’ll try.”

Delsin tossed her a glance over his shoulder, “Do it. No trying. We may not get a second chance.” Then he dashed forward, leaving a puff of smoke to dissipate where he had stood. Rosaline knelt and spun Caly around to look her in the eyes. Caly looked worried and scared, a lot like how she looked the very first time Rosaline saw Caly in the hospital only a week ago. It was a strange wave of deja vu and Rosaline tucked it away into the depths of her mind.

“Caly,” Rosaline kept her voice steady and stern, offering contact by way of running her hands up and down Caly’s arms. Caly was holding CJ tightly but the kitten seemed to understand he was a source of comfort and didn’t struggle nor complain. “No one is taking you away from me. No one is taking CJ either. Stay close to me and do what I say, especially if you are the only one who can hear my voice. Do you understand?”

Caly nodded and relaxed her grip on CJ who shimmied into a more comfortable position within her arms.

“Good. Thank you, Caly,” Rosaline stood and stepped in front of the girl to gauge the battlefield before her.

Eugene swept his arms open and five hologram angels appeared at his aid. They flew quickly toward Orion and the man squatted down before leaping backwards with a smirk. Where he had stood five reflections of himself now stood, each an exact replica of the mirror-user and doing identical movements as Orion dodged and attacked the angels easily. Reflections met holograms and the two clashed, the casualties of the battle quickly shimmering into thin air and counting down to reveal the real Orion among the clones.

Eugene was making mental notes as quickly as he was dispatching his holograms. Orion didn’t seem very strong, though he was well-matched against this tiny army. He was smart, quick on his feet and he didn’t seem to have anything to lose, so his fighting style was brash and focused. Eugene noted that even though Orion was fighting here, he kept glancing over at Celia and tracking where Delsin and Fetch where. This was unnerving to Eugene as he wasn’t sure what Orion was thinking just yet.

A sharp pain snapped Eugene back to the battle at hand. Orion had shoved a mirror shard into Eugene’s shoulder, his final hologram a burst of pixels as the final mirror clone glittered into dust beside him.

“Focus on me, Sims,” Orion growled into his ear before he shoved Eugene quickly away from him and pulled more mirror shards into the space around his right hand.

Eugene gasped and left the mirror where it dug into his shoulder, quickly summoning more angels with a wave of his hand. They doubled now, ten standing before his form. With a final push of breath from his lips, a shield formed before him, the blue color tinting his view of Orion as the mirror shards were flung forward and sunk into the holograms, destroying the decoys in flashes.

The shield was heavily reinforced and the second wave of mirror shards only succeeded in piercing the remaining holograms before bouncing off the shield and clattering on top of one another in the grass. Suddenly, the pain in Eugene’s shoulder doubled and he realized Delsin was there beside him and had pulled the glass from his skin in one swift movement.

“Thanks, Del,” Eugene huffed out between wincing from the pain before conjuring angels into the sky and giving them the signal to rain spears down upon Orion. This caused the mirror-user to have to retreat a bit, buying Delsin just enough time to ask a few questions.

“No, I’ve got him for now. But he’s definitely waiting on something from Celia. See? He keeps looking over at her and Fetch,” Eugene summarized.

Delsin nodded and clapped Eugene on the back while utilizing the shield for himself as well. “Good work, Eugene. Rosaline has Caly in her protection and I’m sure Fetch has Celia struggling. Benji and Makayla look like they are ready to jump in as soon as you give the signal.”

Eugene nodded, already straining a little with pushing his powers in so many directions at one time. Orion seemed to have regrouped as well and a new wave of mirror clones were pushing the holograms backwards. Delsin dipped around the shield and unleashed Smoke bombs lobbed at the mirror clones. They not only successfully wiped out all the clones but one also exploded right in Orion’s face, causing him to cover his face with his hands and double-over. With Orion distracted for a moment, Eugene signaled and Benji and Makayla nodded with the tag-in.

“There!” Benji shouted.

“Finally! Let’s play!” Makayla chimed in and quickly adjusted her goggles into place over her eyes before running full speed toward Orion who seemed to be staggering in his steps after Delsin’s attack landed.

Makayla reached Orion quickly using her toxic gas as a way to flicker in and out and build momentum. She leaped toward him, toxic gasses spewing forward and hitting him in the face as he took a moment to look up. Orion must have heard her coming though, as he dodged to the left and forcefully exhaled, rendering her gasses useless for the moment.

But Makayla wasn’t alone in her leap and attack. Two wolves of shadow latched onto Orion’s arms via his own shadow and the sound he made was one of guttural pain. Makayla winced on his behalf and glanced over her shoulder looking for Benji, but instead found Celia looking directly at her for a moment before Fetch punched that rabbit mask right off her face.

Makayla didn’t have any time to laugh–as funny as that was to witness–because Orion was free of his shadow restraints and he tossed shards her way. Makayla heard her name being shouted and quickly dodged the shards thanks to Benji’s call.

“I’ll only ask this one more time,” Benji stood with shadow weaving around his legs like a fog of hungry wolves waiting for a signal to lunge. He was focused on Orion and giving Makayla time to move into position behind her former teammate. “Where is Lucky?”

Orion now turned his focus on Benji with a snarl, “Leave my sister alone.”

“After what you did to her? No.” Benji retorted.

“What did you just say to me, shadow boy?”

“No.” Benji repeated with more assurance than was written on his face. Makayla pulled more toxic gas into her palms and raised them to her face.

Orion’s hands became fists at his sides and he dashed forward directly at Benji. Benji quickly utilized his shadow dash to move further from Orion than was humanly possible. Unfortunately, this was also further from Makayla and she clenched her fists around her toxic power with a grumble to herself.

“All that for nothing. I gotta get him closer.” Makayla shifted the gas into her own dash to catch up to the two men moving and flinging mirror and shadow at once another in unaimed bursts. She rolled her eyes behind her goggles at the mess they were making. But at least they were giving Delsin, Eugene and Fetch more time to figure out what moves to make next.

“Get off me!” Celia yelled up at Fetch as the neon user had her pinned to the grass. Her mask was gone, knocked off her face and a bruise on her cheek was already quickly fading with color.

Fetch scoffed, “So you can run? No chance, Doves.”

She knew she could catch up with Celia but Fetch knew it was always a risk to even have the paper-user free to run and right now Celia would probably reach Caly before she could, despite Rosaline being in the way.

Celia scowled below Fetch and then started to laugh slowly, “I don’t need to run to get what I want.”

Before Fetch could comprehend what Celia was saying, the girl simply exploded into shredded paper bits and Fetch was suddenly kneeling over the grass and a pile of white confetti. Hazel eyes went wide and she looked over her shoulder at Rosaline to warn her.

<I see her!> Rosaline’s voice flooded Fetch’s mind and she watched as Rosaline grabbed Caly in her arms and dodged right. A viper of paper seemed to rise from the grass and bite thin air where Rosaline and Caly had been seconds before. Then Celia reappeared on the rooftop of the warehouse and was quickly scared back to the grass as Fetch opened a barrage of neon missiles and lasers upon her.

Fetch wasn’t sure how Rosaline saw Celia before she did but that question would have to wait. Celia was now flinging doves with sharp edges toward Fetch and a few of them bit into her skin as she was caught off guard. Papercuts lit her face and arms with blood trails as their only proof of hitting their mark.

Celia was fast with her attacks and relentless now, spurred on by being so close to her goal before she was thwarted. Fetch was having a hard time avoiding attacks and closing the gap enough to knock Celia down again. The struggle was real and for a moment it felt like she was going to lose this battle if she didn’t make her move soon. Fetch summoned neon into her palms and released a status bubble toward Celia which thankfully caught the paper-user in midjump, slowing her descent long enough for Fetch to release missiles into the bubble. Celia flew backwards, bounced in the grass and stayed down.

Four-against-one was not fair in the least bit. But Orion was enjoying himself despite the tables not being in his favor. He bounced his attention between these goody-two-shoes conduits who thought they could stop him and he laughed under his breath. This wasn’t even half his power. Let them continue to push him, he’d show them things they would wish they could forget.

As much as he hated Benji for seeming to win over his sisters’ heart, pushing the battle backwards was all part of his big plan. Orion shifted the conduits closer to Fetch and Celia. After a few more minutes of discarded mirror and avoiding shadow and toxic gas hallucinations, he reached close enough to shift his full attention to the women he was aiming for all along.

Then Celia was knocked out and looked to be staying down. Orion had his suspicions that Celia would be okay but of course this was the perfect opportunity to make his move.

“Fetch… finally, a worthy opponent,” Orion was offering her his hand as though this were some strange ballroom dance. She scowled at him. “Oh please. You know it. You know you are better than everyone here.”

“Define ‘better’ because all I’m hearing is that I can beat your ass and you want me to,” Fetch snided.

Orion chuckled, “Hardly. Though I’d let you test that if circumstances were… different.”

Fetch cocked an eyebrow at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

Orion smiled, “I meant what I said back there, about you being a queen among conduits. Think about it, Fetch. You could fold everyone in this fight, in your school, to your whims.”

“I don’t see the need to do that.”

“No? Not even with a powerful king by your side?” Orion stepped closer to Fetch. Benji and Makayla had flanked him and he knew this but his focus did not waiver. “We could be so good together.”

Fetch tilted her head to the side and seemed to clamp her teeth together behind her lips, “Are you really asking me out right now? In the middle of this fight?”

“Would you be mine if I said yes?”

“I’m taken.”

Orion huffed and narrowed his eyes at Fetch. She stood her ground which was making it hard for him to be angry at her but he hated being told no. He tried one more time, pushing mirror into his palms which he now held behind his back.

“I don’t care for Celia’s idea of freedom. It’s convoluted and tired. I want a new empire for conduits and I want you to be my Neon Queen.”

Fetch seemed distracted for a moment as she opened her mouth to speak and abruptly closed it again. Then after a moment of silence she moved her hands to her sides and neon flared brightly without hesitation, “Fuck you.”

Orion had no time to bring his mirrors to his aid before he was shot backwards by neon, the heat burning into his stomach. Mirror shards scattered to the ground around his feet. Fetch moved toward him and Orion summoned a full mirror shield just in the nick of time as a neon blast headed for his core. Instead it reflected off the mirror and flew backward into Fetch herself. She was unprepared for this defense and was knocked to the ground by her own blast, Benji and Makayla rushing to her side.

Orion took this moment to turn his attention behind him and race toward Delsin. If he couldn’t get Fetch by his side voluntarily, he would take out his competition.

Delsin saw Fetch flinch backwards as her neon collided with her and he quickly left Eugene in a series of smoke dashes across the field.

Before he could reach her, he collided with Orion who looked hellbent. Orion wrapped his hands around Delsin’s neck and through sheer conduit strength lifted Delsin off the ground by a few inches. Makayla screamed something to Delsin but he couldn’t hear her over the sound of his own blood rushing in his ears. Orion worked quickly, summoning a full mirror behind Delsin and growling as Delsin clawed at Orion’s hands that were reducing his air flow. Delsin had no time to ask questions before he felt himself being slammed backwards, Orion’s eyes shining with brilliant gold crescents.

He hit the floor hard. It was cold, concrete beneath his body. The grass gone and the battlefield lost to some doorway he could not reach. The view through the door shifted to show only sky and Delsin knew he was trapped in some magic box lost among the blades of grass. He felt an overwhelming ache of being a disappointment, the fear of never being good enough for anyone creeping from his innermost thoughts and into the open space around him. He sunk into the depression, dropping to his knees in this mirrorverse trap.

Orion knew using his ultimate this early was not in his plans but he wanted Fetch and so he took out the Delsin she knew and summoned his karma opposite to do his bidding instead. The full mirror shrunk and was pushed backwards into the grass to hide it and give him more time to control this new version of Delsin standing at his side. He pointed to Fetch who was slowly standing while Celia seemed to be struggling to sit up a few feet away from her.

“Do your worst, Delsin,” Orion sneered and Delsin shook out his arms before smoke dashing with red embers in his wake toward Celia.

Celia wasn’t sure what was happening but she seemed to have enough power to burst into paper scraps and reform on the rooftop again, out of Delsin’s reach for the moment. She turned her attention to Orion and gave him a hard stare, reforming her familiar rabbit mask in her hand.

“What are you doing, Orion Stella? You dare defy me?”

“You said it yourself, Celia. I’m stronger than anyone gives me credit for, yourself included. I’d advise you to run away now or face your final fold.”

Celia surveyed the ground before putting her mask on, “You will regret this decision.”

“Doubtful.”

Celia moved to dash and suddenly Eugene was on the roof sharing the space and giving Celia another blockade. Orion shifted his attention to see where Delsin was and saw the man sizing up Benji instead.

“Rowe! Get Celia! Benji is mine.”

But it seemed this evil karma version of Delsin had now decided that he took orders from no one.

Makayla recognized the attack Orion was doing on Delsin and called out to him to free himself but it was too late. Delsin was banished to the mirrorverse and would be trapped there until someone could break the mirror or knock Orion out. Breaking the mirror was going to be easier but finding it among the scattered shards and the tall grass was going to make that more like a Where’s Waldo search. Regardless, Makayla burst off toward where she thought the mirror may be to try and set the real Delsin free.

“Forgive me, Lucky. I’m not looking for bad luck right now,” Makayla spoke under her breath while stomping on mirror shards trying to find the piece that Delsin was trapped within. She didn’t know how big or small it would be as she had never stuck around to see what the mirror looked like after Orion had used his ultimate successfully. She was suddenly glad for wearing platform boots at a time like this with glass crunching below her feet on purpose.

For some reason she glanced over her shoulder and saw Delsin seemingly narrow in on Benji. Makayla was too far away to shout a warning so she left her location and hoped she’d find this spot easily enough in a minute. She pushed her toxic gas to her limit, building momentum that she did not stop as she collided with Benji, shoving him to the right as Delsin unleashed a red-tinted smoke bomb that she took the full impact of.

The smoke wasn’t bad to breathe as she was used to her own power but the taste was awful and the blast knocked the wind out of her as she splayed out on the grass, dizzy and weak all at once.

She vaguely tracked Benji leaning over her and shaking her to wake her before she passed out.

Eugene raised a hologram cylinder around Celia on the rooftop. It trapped the paper-user in her tracks and she banged against the side of the blue pixelated walls in anger. They filtered in color but remained in place.

“Relax, Celia. I just want to talk,” Eugene said, one hand raised, palm facing Celia to maintain his creation around her. She shook her paper mask at him from within the cylinder. “Please. All you have to do is call off Orion and promise to leave us alone and I’ll let you go.”

“You don’t understand,” Celia called out, “I lost control over Orion moments ago. I cannot stop him.”

Eugene blinked at her as though this were some sick joke, “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” Celia nodded, “But if you set me free I’ll help you contain him.”

Eugene studied Celia for a moment. It was hard to read her with her mask on and he hadn’t really worked well with her in any capacity but he didn’t have much of a choice right now. Fetch seemed too injured and low on neon to do much fighting, Makayla was out, Delsin was flipped to Orion’s side.

Eugene did what he thought was right.

He let the cylinder fall and Celia glanced over the edge of the rooftop in silence. Then she moved in a flutter of paper pieces to directly behind Eugene.

“After all these years and you still trust too easily, Eugene Sims,” Celia whispered into his ear from behind him before he felt a wet sensation crawl up his legs quickly. He glanced down and saw papermaché forming around his body and encasing him in a shell faster than he had time to react to.

The world fell into darkness as his paper coffin encased him completely there on the rooftop, the last thing he saw was Celia inspecting her work as she walked around him and then disappeared into paper pieces to leave the battle to Orion alone.

Everyone was much closer to them now and Rosaline did her best to protect Caly and keep the child from watching too much of the fighting happening around her. Because of her. Everyone just wanted this tiny spark of a girl all to themselves and it was disheartening to think about.

Rosaline had seen Orion using mirror though she didn’t know what he was planning and she alerted Fetch to be careful. Fetch had done her best in that moment but now seemed very low in spirits and power. She could drain from the warehouse, of course, but she’d have to retreat to do so and Fetch did not seem like someone who retreated that easily when she still had fight left in her.

Rosaline wanted to help in some way. She wanted to help turn the tides in their favor. But with Caly clinging to her legs she knew she couldn’t just run onto the battlefield. Besides, what good would that do? She didn’t have offensive attacks and she didn’t even know how to throw an effective punch.

She ran through her small list of abilities that she had been practicing and expanding and found something that maybe could work, if she could target the right person. Seeing Benji looking distraught, Makayla out cold, Fetch low on power and Eugene lost above her someplace, she had two options to try: she could target Orion, or she could target Delsin.

She reached out to both, pulling their emotions into visible auras for her to sift through. An idea formed in her head based on what she knew about both parties. She pushed her way into Delsin’s head and increased the one thing she knew he wanted the most right now–his desire for more power.

Delsin’s head snapped up suddenly. He swung his focus from Benji, to the one oozing power right now–Orion. The hyper focus was almost tangible. Rosaline magnified the drive for power with everything she had.

“What… What are you doing?” Orion accused Delsin as the man suddenly turned his focus and started stalking toward the mirror-user. Orion took steps backward to keep the distance from closing between himself and Delsin.

“Rowe! Go after them, not me! Make them pay!” Orion pointed toward the group behind Delsin but the mimic with the crimson beanie paid no mind to Orion’s words as he picked up his pace toward his personal target.

Orion knew he was in trouble. He suddenly turned to run and Delsin gave chase. The two men moving at a breakneck pace as they moved over the grass, away from the warehouse. Orion was purposely zigzagging through the field and breaking every mirror he found trying to undo his own spell and set things right to save his own hide.

Suddenly, Lucky was in front of him and Orion stumbled in his footsteps upon seeing his banished sister. The vision of her faded away and Orion spun on his heels, the distraction allowing Delsin to catch up too quickly. Orion watched as Delsin leapt toward him, hand outreached for him, and Orion shielded his face with his arms knowing it was too late to run now…

Thank you for reading and enjoying InFAMOUS Sparks!

A huge thanks goes to my beta readers and friends who encouraged me to write this and get my characters into the world. They are truly my sparks of inspiration.

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