Ryan dove to the side, rolling along gravel as muzzles flashed and jacketed rounds sprayed in his direction. Bullets whipped past into the space he had been just a half-second ago. A torrent of water the size of a small car met them, engulfing the bullets like a sponge and slamming Renee's new forces off their feet. The torrent continued, throwing them farther back before they could even shout for aid.

Kill ‘him’ meaning Sarah, not me. Right. But she's not under control so why is she...

Sarah Masters, the water telekinetic from before, raised her both hands in separate directions and answered Ryan's unasked mental question. The water above her split apart into two bodies. One swirled around the guards, buffeting them along like fish in a pond and preventing their escape. The other lifted high into the air, quickly rising above even the trees. It would’ve been impossible to see at night, but Ryan was able to distinguish sharp, needle-like points forming on the bottom.

Holy shit. She wasn’t after me, she wanted the guards! She's going to Iron Maiden them!

"Wait!" Ryan shouted hurriedly as he put both hands up "Stop! They're on our side now. They can't hurt you any more!"

Sarah glanced in his direction. A completely unconcerned look drifted onto her face as she drew one boyish eyebrow up. Her eyes were filled with an utter lack of empathy Ryan recognized. He had felt it just the other day in fact. It was the kind one only earns after being tormented at the hands of another.

"So?" She asked. That one word filled with enough resentment to crush the men all on its own. Sarah's right hand curled into a fist, locking the men into immobility. She lifted her left and added more water to the coffin above their heads.

Renee quickly moved to the side, getting out of the splash/kill zone. Ryan couldn't see where she went after, but he was glad she was safe. He sympathized with this young woman, so he wouldn’t hurt her even if she had almost tidal wave’d him. It hadn’t been personal. But when it came to stopping her… his own superpower could do little against that much water.

But… Words have their own power. Maybe I can still talk her down.

"So… we can use them to free the others. I won't try to take away or diminish what they've done to you - and you can kill them after if you want - but we're here to rescue your fellow prisoners and if someone has to soak bullets when we do I'd rather it be them first." Ryan jerked his thumb towards the struggling trio, his tone as even as he could make it.

He meant it, too. Ryan couldn't care less if she killed these men. His uncle had taught him that an eye for an eye made the whole world blind… but Ryan believed that if you just got rid of the idiots taking eyes in the first place the world would be much better off. And honestly, if she didn't kill them now, he would've by the end of the night anyway. There’d be no second chances for people who chose to do evil on others indiscriminately. They would face the music. Either by her, or by him.

Or, hopefully, by doing some good as meat shields before we send them shuffling off to whatever hell they believe in.

Sarah looked at him for a long moment without speaking. Then her gaze swept over his attire - some of his cousin's clothes that he’d thrown on. She looked over at Lucas in his full wolf form and at Renee who was wearing a country girl outfit that wouldn't be out of place at the state fair. His aunt's clothes fit her well enough. Only needed a belt and some creative imagination to believe they were actually hers.

He couldn't blame her for being suspicious. His group didn't exactly look like heroic commandos on a midnight raid. It had to be hard to trust in rescuers who looked like randoms off the street… even if they had just taken out the guards. Who's to say they wouldn’t end up being worse?

No… If they were going to keep this rescue stuff up, they were going to need new clothes. Not anything ridiculous like a super suit, but something... decent. Designed. Or at least tailored.

Ryan had time to ponder all of this as Sarah considered his words. Her arm hovering only inches away from crushing three full grown men like overripe grapes.

"Renee here has them.” He added, nodding his head in the direction she’d gone. “They won't be hurting anyone innocent while she's in control. Now you can help us or leave, it's up to you. If you come with us… I can help you. I can even fix that rib. But if you kill them now… you're on your own." Ryan cautioned the young woman.

The small, genderfluid appearing woman snorted. "Trust someone with mind control?" She shook her head in disbelief, her mind evidently made up. "Nope. Not that stupid. Thanks for the help and all, but you guys can do whatever it is you came here for - without me. Masters, out."

As Sarah spoke the last word she dropped her hands in a perfect 'mic drop' motion. With it the water above came rushing down in a torrent around her that never even touched the ground. It swirled up into a perpetual wave next to her that the young woman hopped up onto as if it were solid ground. Then she snapped her fingers and the tide surged forward past them. Sarah riding it all the way downhill and out of sight.

Did she just do a surf exit on us? Ryan thought as the group stared off after the retreating woman. The strange scene made her look as if she were riding a wave at the beach instead of over a city street through a raging fire.

Renee walked up beside him and tapped Ryan's shoulder with hers as she nodded at the woman literally washing herself away. "Okay, I wasn't sure at first, but I like him. He’s got a certain... “ She waved a hand about the air. “... moxie."

"Right? Oh, ‘he’ is a ‘her’, by the way."

“Really?”

*********

It didn't take them long to make it back up to the school proper. Given the racket they'd made, between the fire and the thunderclap of the super-on-wolf fight, Ryan had expected to meet heavy resistance once they got to the entrance.

They were surprised to find out that wasn't the case. Not an ounce of resistance met them at the gate, the courtyard, or in any of the halls. When questioned, the front gate guards confirmed at least four other men should've been stationed here. Ten being the minimum number of guards for a night shift. So, Ryan’s group took it slow as it made its way through the school, treating each corner as if there were guns aimed at the other side. Their new friends pointed the group towards the rear classrooms as the location where the captives were being held.

The reason for the last four’s desertion became clear when the group arrived.

The men were dead. Extremely dead.

Four lower halves of human-ish corpses lay in various places about the corridor outside the first classroom. The top halves of each had been pulped and now painted the wall above with viscera. Blood dripped from the ceiling. Like they imploded, almost. Or someone squeezed until they popped.

The metal door, previously welded to the wall of the first classroom, now rested in hundreds of shards across the floor. Several pieces wedged themselves in the lockers on the opposite side of the hall. Lucas went in to check the room and reported only three empty beds inside. Next to each were broken chains and some torn medical equipment. Likely used to sedate them, given the shredded IV drips.

“It appears some have rescued themselves.” Lucas noted warily as he finished his brief inspection.

“But why didn’t they free the rest?” Renee asked, looking down the hall. The far wall had a massive, gaping hole busted clear through to the other side. Ryan could see it led out of the school and into the night. Wind whistled in and rattled school spirit posters above the lockers.

The five metal doors leading to the other classrooms were untouched. Each welded in place to metal that had obviously been added to the existing wall as reinforcement. Large metal plates were bolted to a locking lever that was itself bolted to the door. There were no keyholes, locks, or obvious opening mechanisms on any of them. None of them looked like they were designed to be opened. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“Not everyone is willing to risk their safety for others.” Ryan said gently as he walked up to the wall next to the metal door of the next classroom. An instant later, the wood began to disintegrate away from his hand. Lockers fell to the floor, clanging loudly. “Now come on, let’s get these people out of here. We need to be gone before a change in shift shows up or reinforcements come looking for whoever set that fire.”

In all, they managed to find and rescue thirty-five people of varying ages, gender, race, and injury levels. Among them were Renee’s sister and Lucas’s wife, but none of the friends Ryan was looking for. All were sedated, but clearing their status was as easy as removing the IV and spending a few points. Renee took charge after that.

Ryan masked his disappointment as Renee got the last of the former captives in line and headed for the hole. Lucas, posted at the new ‘exit’ the previous captive had made, reported no movement.

Before they left, Ryan asked the guards if there were any hidden stashes of items, money, or people that they hadn’t found. The leader of the trio grimaced, then begrudgingly pointed him to a mismatched section of stone in the courtyard. Ryan had Lucas start getting people out and went to acquire the loot personally. The mismatched section turned out to be more metal, but that hardly proved an obstacle.

Would you like to melt a 6 inch diameter hole in this steel? Cost: 10 points. Yes, or no?

With an emphatic mental 'yes' and his mind playing that suspenseful chest-opening tune from his favorite green-clad hero's video game series, Ryan watched as his power rapidly melted an opening. Once the metal cooled a bit and the acrid smell went away, Ryan looked inside. The gleaming treasure trove below brought a wicked smile to his face. Marcus would no doubt be pissed to find all of this missing. It was enough that he almost considered sparing the guard’s life.

Almost.

Once in the forest, the group took a circular route back to the entrance that kept them off the path and in the opposite direction from the still-spreading fire. Luckily, the blaze would be contained by the boundary of the school’s property and wasn’t likely to spread into town. Whether much of that property would be around afterwards… well, Ryan didn’t particularly care.

At the hill’s bottom with their rescued captives, Ryan had Renee order the guards to give their equipment to a few of the sturdier-looking captives. Clothes included. When they were stripped down to their skivvies, he absorbed them and used the points of the first two to rapidly renovate one of the buses being used as fencing. In seconds, it looked like a tour bus straight out of a metal concert video. Complete with monster-truck-sized wheels and an upper deck. The captives climbed in with little prompting, Lucas taking the wheel.

The last man’s points were spent repairing BGM to - and beyond - her former glory. She’d been burned a little bit, but nothing he couldn’t fix. You did a damn fine job, girl. Time to go home.

Ryan held the door open for Renee and her sister to climb into the now monstrous truck and got in the driver’s seat. BGM’s engine roared to life with all the vigor of an angry phoenix, and they were off.

Back to the farm. Back to stock up on supplies. And then…

Then we find our own refuge and hunker down. Build up. Rescue more people. Find my friends. Build myself and everyone up...

Then we take the fight to Marcus and take back our town.