The sirens cried like a distressed spirit; their noise filled every nook and cranny of the city. I don't know whoever decided on the sound for the warning system, but clearly, they were going for something unsettling. To hear it in the pitch-black didn't help. I wondered why they were going off. The sky was cloudless so it couldn't have been for a storm.

"You need to find a way to move buddy; I need to get home now!"

“Then you find a way to start my car, pal!”

More arguments sprouted up from the crowd. People tried to make calls and start their cars. When that didn't work, they gave into their panic. I expected a fight to break out at any moment.

I looked into the darkness beside me, hoping Katherine was still nearby. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said.

Out of nowhere flickering blue lights appeared. Some were on the streets below the highway. Some were on the rooftops. They made it look like we were surrounded by beautiful stars. I struggled to make out what all of the lights were. Then one of the lights came flying towards us, and I saw the unmistakable shape of a lightning arrow.

“Get back!” Katherine shouted. I started to freak out as I realized we were outnumbered and under attack.

The arrow struck the road. I half expected a blast to go off, but it looked like the arrow had been snuffed out. Feet scurried around me. Wolf yelled at Spaz to get out of the way.

"AAAHHH!!!" A blood-curdling scream filled the air.

“Light—we need light,” Lily said.

I shot a fireball into the air like a flare. It bathed the area in dim orange light. It was enough to see a green cloud of smoke emanating from where the arrow had hit the road. I could see Wolf dragging Kavi out of the smoke. Kavi's body was twitching and jerking like he'd gotten electrocuted.

"Get away from the smoke." Katherine punched the air and a stone dome formed around the smoke cloud.

The crowd by the cars shouted and ran in every direction. More arrows streaked towards us. Kavi continued his awful screams; his thrashing made Wolf lose grip on his arms several times. The team pulled back down an exit ramp, towards the towers of downtown.

When the next arrow hit, the air rippled like a shockwave moving away from a bomb. I watched it spread as I tripped over my feet. Once the rippling energy reached a car, it was crumpled and then torn apart until it was a bunch of useless scrap metal.

My eyes widened with terror. Some of the people in the crowd wouldn't outrun it. Car after car got destroyed. Finally, the ripples caught up to a man. He didn't have time to scream. He was folded over and squashed before exploding everywhere.

“Run! Run!” Katherine yelled. She turned me around and pushed me forward.

I almost ran into the arrow that struck the ground in front of me. Fearing what it might do, I leaped to the side. It exploded, and sizzling acid rained down on the team. The others shouted in pain but didn't dare stop running.

We sprinted out of the spotlight cast by my fireball. In the madness, I'd ceased to feed the flames on my sword. I didn't relight it for fear our enemies would see us. So, we were blind in the darkness. Someone ran into a trash can. Someone else hit a sign. Unfortunately, Kavi's screams were giving our position away. Arrows continued to fly our way.

“Left! Go Left!”

I turned left and bumped into a brick wall. I scrambled alongside it, using my hands to search for a door. Suddenly, the wall disappeared, and I fell through the air. Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me into the building. A door shut behind me.

The whole building quaked. I could hear the street tear apart as the destructive ripples passed. Thankfully, it sounded like they were dying.

Now that we were indoors, Kavi's screams bounced off of the walls. I set my sword on fire and held it up like a torch. We were in a stairwell.

Panting, Katherine crouched down beside Kavi. I winced when I saw him. His clothes were smoking. His exposed skin looked like ravioli after it had been attacked by a two-year-old with a fork.

“What happened to him?” Spaz asked, holding his arm where acid had eaten away at the skin on his shoulder.

“Some kind of poison,” Katherine said and pressed her hands to the concrete floor. The concrete spilled over her hands and formed a coating of protection. She reached into her belt and pulled out a tube that looked like toothpaste. She covered Kavi’s wounds with it. “I know it hurts, but you have to try to be quiet.”

Kavi nodded and chewed what was left of his mask. He squeezed his eyes shut. Tears ran down the sides of his face.

Everyone else sat dead silent. I shrank back against a wall. Dealing with one Betrayal was bad enough; who knew how many were out there, or what powers they had. They'd already taken down three of us.

Screams came from outside. We turned and watched the door, fearing someone would come barging in. I heard glass breaking and a dozen explosions. With each blast, we jolted and cringed. Who knew what was going on out there? Footsteps ran by the door. I raised my sword, prepared for an attack, but no one came through.

Lily gasped and grabbed the sides of her heads. She looked like she had a severe headache.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She groaned and shook her head. “They’re going after the people in the streets.” She hissed. “I can hear what they’re…they’re going to keep killing people until we come out of hiding.” Everyone turned to Katherine.

“We’re outnumbered,” Spaz said. His eyes were so big I didn’t need the firelight to see the whites in them. “They’ve got acid, and poison, and arrows that’ll rip you apart from the inside out! What’re we supposed to do?!”

"Can we call for backup?" Wolf asked.

Lily pulled her phone from her belt. When she tried to turn it on, nothing happened. “Yeah, good luck with that. With the power out, our monitors have no idea what’s going on down here.”

“Won’t they send people to check it out?” Spaz asked.

“If they do, it won’t be more than a handful,” Lily replied.

Katherine put the last bit of white paste onto Kavi's skin. She sighed and shook her head, apparently feeling useless. I couldn't tell if Kavi was stable enough to survive or not. He was still convulsing, but there was nothing else she could do for him. Katherine pulled a glow stick from her belt and rested it beside him.

"You'll be safer in here. We'll come back for you," she said and stood up. She was the only one who wasn't shaking or glancing back and forth at every noise outside. She pulled the concrete gloves from her hands and dropped them on the floor. "We're going out there. Stay together. Do not go off on your own.” She approached the door and raised her sword. “They want a fight, so let’s give them a fight.”

The whole team gulped. That was easier for her to say. She was used to this sort of thing. Just how many fights had she gone through to not be affected by her nerves? I couldn't help but admire her courage. I wished some of it could've rubbed off on me.

I was shaken up and downright terrified at the thought of going back out into the chaos. I kept debating whether I should ask to stay with Kavi or not, but I kept my mouth shut. I would be of better use out there, and none of the others were trying to chicken out.

I tightened my grip on my sword. My palms were sweaty. I took in a deep breath to try and calm down. Katherine threw the door open and charged outside. Here we go, I thought and ran after her.

I could see about as much as I could when I'd come inside from a bright summer day. I could make out the shapes of the buildings because they were the darkest objects. Towards the middle of the streets, things turned a lighter shade of gray. Other than that, only the night sky was visible. Occasionally, little bursts of blue light would come from the rooftops.

The ground rumbled, it cracked and broke apart. The noise got the attention of our enemies. One by one the masks on the rooftops turned to us. Giant rocks the size of semi-trucks emerged from the broken ground. They hovered in place for a split-second then shot out in all directions. The boulders hit the rooftops like canons. Debris sprayed everywhere, and a handful of Betrayals were flattened. The rest prepared to shoot at us.

“Kaine! Being able to see would be useful,” Katherine said.

I swung my sword over my head. The fire on the blade extended outward like a lasso and formed a blazing ring all around us. The cool night air disappeared. The windows of the buildings around us lit up with the reflection. Now every Betrayal was visible.

A haze of arrows came at us. Before anyone could start running, Katherine sent up another round of boulders to deflect the arrows. Some exploded harmlessly against the buildings; others rebounded back to the Betrayals.

Spaz grabbed anything he could find on the streets. He threw cars, newspaper stands, and hot dog carts at the enemy. Lily fixed her stare on a guy perched on a balcony. He cried, grabbed his head, ran into the railing, and flipped over it. I heard a sickening crunch that silenced his scream. Katherine continued the bombardment of boulders. It looked like rocks were raining from the sky.

Some of the Betrayals started to retreat. They disappeared from the rooftops. My unease began to subside. By some miracle, we were pushing them back. I sent fireballs at the few remaining in hopes to send them packing too.

A minute later I discovered the Betrayals weren’t retreating at all. A horde came running up the street. Their bows were now swords. They’d given up trying to fight us from a distance.

Spaz turned into an elephant. He stood up on his hind legs and trumpeted, then he charged. I broke the ring of fire to let him pass and quickly sealed it behind him. I watched as the Betrayals swarmed around him like an army of ants. Spaz's tusks speared several through their legs. He shook his head, and they flew off of him like dust.

“Incoming on this side!” Wolf shouted. He kicked a fire hydrant over. A jet of water shot up thirty feet, sprinkling us with its chill. He created a huge wave and rode it with a surfboard made of ice towards the approaching enemy. The sound of rushing water was deafening.

The Betrayals were swept up into the wave. They struggled to stay above the water. Some Betrayals managed to avoid the big wave, and Katherine immediately blocked their path. Part of the street turned into a sinkhole, sending Betrayals tumbling into the abyss. A handful leaped onto buildings lining the street and ran across them horizontally. Katherine sent up cannonball sized rocks and squashed a few. Others were lifted high into the air by oversized vines, then dropped. Still, it wasn't enough to stop all of them. They were closing in on both sides.

I'd been so distracted by watching the others; I didn't realize I left myself wide open. Someone slammed into me from above. I got knocked to the ground. Their knees pinned my arms beside me. I heard a blade swinging for my head. I squirmed in alarm, but I couldn't move. No, no, no! I thought.

A rock smacked into the Betrayal, and they fell over.

I rushed to my feet and caught a glimpse of my rescuer. Katherine glared at me with a pay-more-attention look. Before I could say anything, a man hollered and came towards me.

I ducked as he tried to slice my head off. I kicked his knee, and it broke with an awful crack, but it might as well have been a paper cut to him. His sword came at me again in a series of arcs and slices. He was a lot faster than I was. I had to keep stepping back to stay out of harm's way.

I gathered the heat in my eyes and concentrated a beam of fire at his hands, cooking them down to the bone. Screaming, he dropped his sword and doubled over.

I raised my sword in an attempt to block another incoming Betrayal, but she ran past me like I was invisible. I noticed they all were going past me. I turned around to see that Katherine was getting surrounded. I was only able to tell it was her in the center of the mob from the boulders that were knocking Betrayals back.

Vines sprang out of the dirt and snatched a dozen enemy throats before sucking them down into the ground. Like a magnet, anything metal nearby was drawn towards Katherine. Cars, signs, and lights mowed down Betrayals. The objects stopped and hovered in midair as they reached Katherine. The metal twisted and rearranged rapidly into a shield that blocked twenty-some arrows. Then, the shield broke apart into spears and went tearing through more Betrayals' bodies. Whoever was left behind met the deadly side of Katherine's sword. I could only stare in amazement at the lethal force my commander had become.

Someone's cry brought me out of my daze. Three Betrayals were cornering Lily. I pushed a wave of fire at their backs. The Betrayals howled and fell back as I ran towards Lily.

“You okay?!”

She nodded wearily. Getting surrounded had spooked her for a second. She gathered her strength and stood up tall. "I'm all right."

“Gotta stick together—”

An icy body butted into me. The force shot me upwards, and my body vibrated from the speed. For a moment, I thought I'd gotten hit with a missile. We went higher and higher until I could no longer hear the sounds of my teammates.

The stars sprawled out before me and it seemed I could almost touch them. Without all of the light pollution, there were billions of them. I could even see the white rim of the galaxy.

Slowly, our speed got sucked away. I hovered in mid-air. Whoever grabbed me let go. I was weightless, floating like a cloud.

Then gravity pulled me towards the ground.

The wind blasted my back, and I went spinning through the air. My stomach jumped into my throat. My fingers and toes filled with the sensation of slipping and being unable to stop. My heart roared in my chest as dread overtook me. The skyscrapers reached out like hands to grab me. I went for the one closest to me.

It was a poor choice. The building had a curved roof. I made a large dent upon impact and then went sliding over the curve. My hands squealed against the smooth surface as I struggled to stop myself. It was the world's worst slide. My feet poked over the edge, and there was only a straight drop below. I kicked away from the building and sent myself whizzing towards another rooftop.

WHAM!

Pain lit up in my shoulder as I hit the roof, but it wasn’t enough to stop me. I rolled uncontrollably until I smacked into the ledge. I groaned and twitched. The rocks on the rooftop were dug deep into my side. I tried to brush them off, but they were wedged in. I hissed as I plucked them from my flesh. My arm looked like the moon with all of its craters.

Someone landed on the other end of the rooftop. The air was already chilly from being up so high; now the temperature seemed to dive even further. I shivered and sat up. Whoever it was, came closer; outlined by silver moonlight. I saw her blonde hair and that ugly mask.

I realized that I was all alone. I'd done exactly what Katherine said not to do. She was far away and preoccupied with all of the others. She probably didn't even know where I was. There was no escaping to safety; my back pressed against the ledge.

The Betrayal walked towards me as if she had all the time in the world. “So, what’s it going to be? You heard what your father said. I see it in your eyes…you don’t fully buy into the way the ninja handle things.”

I held my sword up. I muffled a groan. With my injured shoulder, the sword weighed a ton. "Don't come any closer," I said. Honestly, I felt like I was holding a sword up to the Grim Reaper and telling him to stay back.

She stopped and held her hands up like she meant me no harm. “We’ve been preparing a place for you since you were a child. The ninja aren’t the only ones who can give you what you desire most. You will be high ranking among us, admired and respected.”

I shook my head. “I don’t care about having power.”

“Oh, you will…you will when they won’t listen to you,” she said. Her voice was like the wind in a blizzard. The longer she spoke, the more it hurt because it rose to such high pitches at times. “They didn't want you. You're the son of a Betrayal, and they won't forget it. They'll make sure you never advance, never have a voice, and remain in a place where you can only take orders—no questions asked. What happens when the storms start rolling in, and people begin to die? There's no doubt that you'll go against your orders, and once that happens, you'll be banished, powerless. Don't you see? It's inevitable. You will join us."

I winced at all of the pain flaring up from my side. “Gotta love how you accuse the ninja of being evil; have you looked at the things you’ve done? You were just killing innocent people in the streets, you burned down hundreds of camps trying to find me, you kidnapped my sister to get me to follow you, and don’t forget what you guys did to my commander’s family. You’re just as bad, if not worse. There’s no point in joining you,” I said.

“At least we don’t pretend to be perfect, righteous heroes. We admit our darkness, we let the world see it. We’re open about everything we do. Can the ninja say the same?”

I didn’t have a good comeback for that. The secrets the U.S government kept from its citizens were child’s play compared to the ninja. Sure, it made sense that they would try to control the child of a traitor. Who wouldn’t? But they made an exception. They believed I could do more good with them than harm. Even if I didn’t trust my superiors, I trusted Katherine and my teammates. I didn’t want to end up fighting against them.

"I'm not going to be their pawn, and I'm not going to be yours, either. They won't forget that my dad was a Betrayal, but they haven't forgotten that my grandpa was a master, either," I said and looked down at my old, beaten weapon. "This is his sword, isn't it?"

“Of course it is, Enki gave it to you because he wants you to be just like Pyralis!”

"And you expect me to be like my dad, but the thing is…I didn't know them. I can only be me, and I choose to find my own way," I said.

Her shoulders fell. "So, that's it then? There's no convincing you to leave them? You're absolutely committed?" she asked. I swallowed and nodded resolutely. Her hands shook and curled into fists. "Then that makes us enemies." She took the bow off of her torso, and it transformed into her swords. "And I've sworn to kill all of my enemies." She took a fighting stance. "You can attempt to fight me if you prefer to die that way. It doesn't matter. You're all alone, and your commander can't save you now."

I knew this was coming. I just hoped I'd talked long enough for some of my pain to subside, but I was frozen in place—too scared to move. Was I ready to take on an enemy as skilled as her? I didn't have a choice.

Trembling, I got to my feet. It wasn’t going to be enough to merely survive her attacks; I was going to have to win. I thought about my family, my teammates, green chili burritos, and all of the other things I had to live for. Surely, I had more to live for than she did.

I growled and charged. She ran to me, and we met in the middle of the roof. Both of her swords came down towards my head. I raised my sword to block. The blades rang as they came together and sparks rained down on us. My arms nearly gave out underneath the force of her strike. The shock of the impact made my hands cry in agony. She was strong.

She tried to knock my sword aside. It took all my grip strength to hold onto it, but my torso was left wide open. I stumbled backward as I felt a searing pain across my chest. I looked down to see a nasty wound. I needed to be more careful.

She tried to cut me again. I threw my body towards the ground then rolled back onto my feet. I'd been up for all of one millisecond, and already she was on the attack again. I struggled to keep up with both swords. Each one swung at me at least two hundred miles per hour. It was like trying to block speeding bullets. My arms burned with the strain.

Get back! Get back! I thought. Her swords turned into two spinning fans of death. There was no way I could strike or block them. I felt the back of my leg hit the wall guarding the edge of the rooftop. I wobbled and almost fell over. I chanced a look down and spotted another building below. I got onto the ledge and blasted myself backward, flipping through the air.

I landed on the next rooftop. I stabbed at the air, a cloud of boiling flames shot outward. The night lit up. A wave of heat struck me, but I kept the flames burning intensely for a long time. I hoped that if the Betrayal tried to jump down to me, she'd get burnt to a crisp. Instead, I had just exhausted myself. She slipped right through the fire, completely unaffected.

She tackled me, and we went tumbling across the rooftop. The instant we came to a stop her hand snatched my throat. It wasn't like Katherine grabbing my throat during my final test. She'd been holding back I realized now, and the Betrayal wasn't. She squeezed my neck down to the size of a straw. Blood gushed up my throat and exploded into my mask.

My free hand thrashed wildly, trying to grab any part of her I could. I clawed at her side, but her body was hard as stone. My head was getting light, and my vision was fading. My lungs were shriveling up into nothing without air. My feet were shaking with fright.

Finally, powerful streams of fire exploded from my eyes, and she got thrown back. I gasped for air and panicked when only a trace amount reached my lungs. I winced from the terrible pain that blindsided me every time I took a breath. I staggered to my feet.

The ground shook, the building we stood on groaned and buckled. I looked around to see fights littered across every nearby rooftop. More ninja had come, but so had more Betrayals. I had no idea where my teammates were.

I tore up an air conditioning duct and threw it at the Betrayal. I was trying to buy a few seconds to recover. My head thundered from the lack of air. The pain in my throat throbbed. The world was spinning. Waves of nausea hit me, and I fought to stay upright.

I looked up in time to see the Betrayal coming at me. I could hardly block her assaults. I heard someone having an asthma attack but soon realized I was the one wheezing. I couldn’t focus. I desperately needed a minute to rest. I needed a deep breath.

She could see I was having a hard time and her attacks became more ferocious. Her swings kept getting stronger and harder. I was afraid my sword would snap in half. My arms felt heavy and tired from struggling to keep her at bay. I was reduced to merely running out of her way and hiding behind anything I could find.

My rage intensified at how cowardly I was acting. I wanted her to be on the defense. I wanted her to be hiding from me. What had I put all that effort into training for if I was just going to run and hide? Was I going to let a little pain stop me? So what if I couldn’t breathe! Suck it up! I heard Katherine’s voice ring in my head.

The Betrayal ripped through the water tower I’d been crouching behind. I was ready for her. I sent a wall of fire her way. I jumped through it and swung my sword with wild abandon. She’d only been blinded by the light for a moment, but it was enough to make her step back.

I summoned all of the strength I had and batted my sword against hers. With each strike, sparks flew in every direction like fireworks. When she tried to use her speed to get around me, I sent fire at her face.

Frustrated, she jumped to another rooftop. I went after her. Her swords melded together to form her bow. She shot an arrow at me. I couldn’t get out of the way in mid-air. The arrow struck my chest.

Since it looked like lightning, I expected to feel a zap, but I didn't. I felt hollow and empty inside until a winter storm filled the void. Snow flurries replaced my stomach. Icicles replaced my heart. It felt like an arctic gale was blowing through my veins. The heat got sucked out of me. The flames on my sword died. The heat in my chest dissolved.

I flopped onto the next rooftop lifelessly. I shivered and wrapped my arms around me. I lay helpless as the cold seeped deep into my muscles. My cells were freezing. My shivering slowly stopped. I heard the crackling sound of ice growing over my skin. My body became rigid and locked in place. I was a human ice cube.

The world drifted away. I fell into a black, bottomless pit. It was so cold. I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t know where I was. All I knew was the subzero temperature. For an eternity, I lay trapped in it. There was no hope for escape.

So cold…freezing…painful. If only there were something to make it stop. What could make it stop? I thought. My head hurt. The more I tried to think and remember, the more I got a brain freeze. My mind cramped and ached, but I had the answer on the tip of my fingers. If only I could just grab it. Suddenly I had it! Warmth! Heat!

The strangest thing happened as I tried to remember anything that would generate heat. I didn't think of fire. I didn't think of hot soup, not the sun, not volcanos, nor a desert. The first thing that popped into my head was a girl, a beautiful girl with unforgettable eyes and a bright smile. The memory of her laugh echoed around the emptiness. It broke up the cold and the darkness. The thought of her shattered the ice in my chest. My heart once more became a furnace. Heat and fire pumped through my veins.

The ice on my body began to melt. I could open my eyes again. With every beat, I grew stronger. My wet clothes sizzled as I got to my feet.

“I’m impressed,” the Betrayal said. “Not many can regain control that fast.”

"It's going to take a little more than ice to bring me down." I tried to say in a tough voice, but I sounded weary.

“Oh, I’d be happy to oblige.”

My shoulders slumped. I had a feeling that I was going to regret challenging her.

She moved so fast that she seemed to disappear and reappear an inch in front of me. Her foot slammed into my stomach. I went soaring backward faster than warp speed. I ripped through a building. My back got shredded as I broke through windows, slid across coarse office carpet, snapped steel beams, and obliterated a brick wall. Nothing seemed to be able to slow me down. I zipped through building after building, leaving a trail of wreckage behind me. Finally, I slapped against a cement wall and slid down.

I landed on one of the many balconies of a high-rise apartment building. I heard a dog barking through a sliding glass door. I didn’t dare try to move. So many body parts were twisted and possibly broken. If I could see my skin, I was sure it would’ve been black. Glass shards were poking out of several places. I panted in anguish.

I heard a whistling noise tearing through the open air. I looked up and saw a line of arrows flying towards me. A burst of adrenaline hit my veins. I threw myself into the glass door and hid behind a couch inside. Whatever the arrows hit, froze. The barking dog became an ice statue.

The Betrayal landed in the living room. She overturned the furniture as she looked for me. I crawled further into the darkness hoping it would hide me. Every movement sent stinging pain all through my body. I bit my lip and fought my desire to shout.

She spotted me crawling down the hallway and snatched my ankle. I tried to stab at her, and she deflected my sword effortlessly. She held me upside down, and the blood rushed to my head. Her foot rammed into my nose. It felt like giant needles had gotten jammed into my nasal cavity.

The kick sent me crashing into the kitchen cabinets. They busted into a million splinters, some joining the glass already embedded into my sides. I struggled to pull out what I could as I slumped onto the counter. The Betrayal grabbed my face, putting pressure on my broken nose. She bashed my head against the wall until I could see into the next room. Her fists pounded my stomach. At first, it sounded like she was hitting a sack of sand and then it sounded like she was hitting wet sponges.

My hand fumbled and grabbed a toaster; I swatted her head with it. She snatched a pot and brought it down on my shoulder. I shuddered and tried to scurry away. She grabbed my shirt and pitched me through the window, sending me soaring through the air outside.

I was about to go through another building. I summoned what energy I had. I threw myself into an inhuman speed. I turned sideways and ran across the building, moving too fast for gravity to affect me. I leaped towards the safety of a rooftop lower down.

The moment I hit the roof, I was pulled back into a normal speed and skidded across the surface. The skin on my hands and knees was torn off. My uniform frayed to bits. I wailed as I tried to get up. I felt like there was an elephant on my back. My arms wobbled. Pain swelled from a zillion cuts and sprains. My insides were all mashed. All I could manage was coming to my knees.

A second later, I heard my enemy land quietly on the roof. She strolled towards me. Fighting me had taken nothing out of her, while I felt like a human punching bag. She knew I was weak and didn’t hesitate to take advantage of it.

She thrust one of her swords at me. The ice-cold blade dug into my chest. A blinding, stinging pain sunk into the surrounding tissue. It felt like sitting in a bucket of ice for too long. She snapped the hilt off of the blade. Blood spilled free from the wound, soaking the front of my uniform.

I wavered on my knees. My body shuddered from the shock. I was stunned. I’ve been stabbed…I’m bleeding. I stared at the wound and wondered when I was going to wake up. I toppled over, unable to hold myself up anymore.

The cold blade sucked away my body heat. No matter how hard I fought against it, the cold was overwhelming me again. The amount of energy it took to try to stay warm drained me. My eyelids grew heavy. I wanted to take a nap, at least a nap. I needed to rest for a few hours…a few centuries…forever.

I heard heavy footsteps. It sounded like a giant walking up beside me. That hideous, twisted mask peered down at me. I was suddenly angry because that was not the last thing I wanted to see before I took a nap, I’d have nightmares. She didn’t say anything. She just watched me like a kid who had cut a worm in half.

Then she raised her foot and brought it down against my knee. The bones snapped, lightning shot up my leg. I tried to shout, but screaming made my crushed throat worse. She laughed at my pain and set her foot on my stomach. She slowly, but steadily, applied pressure on my organs. I imagined they looked like balloons someone kept squeezing and twisting until they popped.

I could almost hear her in my mind whispering, “You’re going to die today, Daniel.” Big, watery tears flooded my eyes. All of my hard work had been for nothing. I still wasn't good enough. I let my family down; I let my teammates down. Most of all, I let Katherine down. I was going to leave her just like everyone else she'd cared about. I didn't want to imagine what pain that would cause her.

Icy, vengeful misery surged through me. I was lying in a pool of cold blood. No matter what strength I summoned, it wouldn't be enough. This enemy was faster, stronger, and a more experienced fighter than me. I couldn't beat this girl.

If my life was a movie, I imagined this was the part where I would have visions in my dying state. I would imagine all of the bullies who ever told me I was worthless. I would remember all of the times someone said I couldn’t do something because I wasn’t good enough. I’d be overwhelmed with a sense of strength and just enough will to go on…but none of that was happening.

My body was done.

I closed my eyes, and I felt myself slipping away. I didn't know where I was going but anywhere else seemed better than being in my body right then. One by one my senses shut down until all I had was my hearing.

I could hear everything around me; the ringing swords, exploding arrows, people screaming, people crying and drawing their last breath. The city was getting torn apart. Windows fractured and walls crumbled. When morning came, people would scratch their heads in wonder at why downtown looked like a war zone.

I stretched my ears’ ability. I tried to pick up noises further and further away. I searched for something familiar. At last, I caught a voice that I’d recently heard.

"Keep pushing; we'll have them surrounded!" Commander Argo shouted. I heard thunder and buzzing electricity. What could that be? Was it lightning?

Mere feet from him it sounded like a giant game of whack-a-mole. A boulder was pounding the road and squashing enemies. I heard Katherine exhale tiredly from the effort.

Someone ran towards them. Whoever it was, sounded like they had a broken ankle, but was moving as fast as they could anyway. “Commander!” Lily said. “Commander! Kaine is in trouble!”

The boulder dropped with a vehement thud. "What?!" Katherine said. I heard Lily gasp for air and fall to the ground, no longer able to stay on her injured ankle. Katherine must've grabbed Lily's shirt. I could hear the fabric straining under her grip. "Lily, where is he?!”

"She got him alone." Lily had to stop to suck in a deep breath. "He's on a rooftop. It's bad! You have to go! You have to help him; I don't know how long he has!"

“Juniper—” Katherine said.

“I’m with you,” Juniper said. Wasting no time, I heard them leap from the street to the top of a building. “How’re we supposed to find him in all this?”

"We'll just have to move quickly!" Katherine said. Her voice quivered. Her feet thundered across the rooftop, moving at a speed light that would make jealous. "Please, don't let me be too late," she whispered to herself.

She’s coming, I thought with relief. Everything will be okay.

My relief was short-lived. My limp body started to spasm. My brain wasn't registering the pain signals; there was no point in bothering to listen anymore. I lost sensation. I didn't have minutes; I didn't even have seconds left. My body already turned off. I felt weightless. Whatever tied me to my body was severed. I was free to float away. I drifted out of my body until I was staring down at myself from above.

No! No! I can’t die! Not now! I can’t leave her!

I grasped my body and buried myself back inside. I felt like someone trying to get their battery drained cell phone to turn on. I struggled to move my limbs, and nothing happened.

Get up…GET UP!

I screamed internally. I demanded that my body move. My spirit felt like it had gotten set on fire. Heat radiated outwards, filling all corners of my physical body. I started to glow. Flames danced across my sword.

It was only by the sheer will of my mind that I fought to sit up. Using my sword like a cane, I got onto my one good leg. I saw the Betrayal standing on the ledge to watch the rest of the battle still raging. She turned around slowly, mystified that a corpse had just stood up. I'm sure she didn't attack because she wanted to see what I thought I could do in my damaged state.

“How…are you still standing?!” she said.

"You don't l-leave…the people you love…" My voice strained. I doubted she could hear me, but at that point, I was talking to myself. "I won't let anything take me away. Not you. Not death. Nothing.”

“Love?” She laughed. “Love doesn’t exist. There’s only getting what you want out of someone and then leaving when something better comes along.” I shook my head. “Don’t be naïve.”

I ignored her words. I knew what I felt was real. Without it, there was no way I could’ve gotten off of the ground. It flooded through me, feeding the flames on my sword.

I willed the flames to spread across the rooftop. The fire surrounded the Betrayal. She didn't bother to move. Her icy body protected her. Whenever the fire got close to her, it fizzled out. The flames morphed into lava and slapped sloppily onto her body. She tried to take a step back but was unable to. Lava crept up her legs and her arms encasing her in it. I focused on the intensity of the heat until it broke through her coldness.

She screamed in outrage that my heat was overtaking her. I could see smoke coming away from her body. She was beginning to burn. No matter what she tried she couldn't get free, and she couldn't overwhelm the heat.

I raised my sword into the air and created an immense fiery tornado. I charged it with whatever I had left, all of the feelings I'd kept buried deep. The fire burned so brightly it hurt to look directly at it. Then I sent the inferno shooting towards the Betrayal. She was swept up and thrown far, far away. Her dark shape got lost against the night sky. The fight was over.

My sword clattered onto the rooftop. I could no longer hold it, and my leg couldn't bear my weight. I braced myself as I collapsed.

Someone had caught me before I hit the roof. Their gentle arms guided me down softly and placed my head in their lap. I wanted to smile when I saw Katherine looking down at me. Her fingers stroked my cheek. Yeah…this is worth living for.

Juniper crouched down beside me. Her fingers poked all of my injuries. The pain had spiked before a tingling sensation replaced it then it ceased. I felt the cuts stitching themselves shut and my bones mending together.

"There's a blade buried in here," Juniper said. Katherine waved her hand, and the broken sword popped out. Juniper touched the wound, and it closed. I gasped when my throat got healed. I couldn’t take in enough air. I no longer felt like I had to sip it through a broken straw. After a minute, I was back to normal, if not a little better.

“Thanks,” I said. I ran my hands over my chest. I still expected things to be cut up and was baffled to see the wounds were gone.

“You’re pretty durable. I wasn’t sure what we were going to find. I’m glad we weren’t too late,” Juniper said as she patted my shoulder. She stood up and wiped the blood from her fingers. “I’ve got to go see who else needs help.” We watched her jump away.

Now that we were alone, I sat up awkwardly and turned to Katherine. For once, the look in her eyes didn't seem guarded. I could tell there was a lot she wanted to say to me. She didn't know where to start so. Instead, she pulled me into a tight hug. I felt her slowly crushing my lungs. She was shaking. She hugged me like she wasn't sure I was there.

"I told you I wasn't going anywhere," I said. She couldn't resist laughing. She let go and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes sneakily. "It's okay…"

“These are tears of anger. Later, I’m going to punish you brutally for getting separated from the team,” she said.

“Yeah, I figured you would.”

“I don’t want to break up this happy reunion, but we’ve got a job to finish,” Argo said, suddenly beside us.

We got to our feet. I stood back, not sure what the commanders were about to do. I saw that the fighting on the rooftops had ceased. Betrayals were jumping across the buildings in retreat now.

Katherine raised her hand in the direction of their escape. The entire city rattled, and my whole body vibrated. A huge rock wall jutted out of the ground, blocking their path.

Argo raised his sword. The blade was black like mine, but it started to glow a brilliant teal. Electricity crawled across his hands and onto the sword. A clap of thunder struck my ears, sounding like a bomb going off right beside me. Lightning shot away from the tip of his sword. It streaked in a hundred different directions like the legs of a spider. It zapped Betrayals one by one until they all fell over.

Katherine took a calming breath. She lowered the colossal wall. I heard what sounded like stone puzzle pieces coming together. I peeked over the ledge to see the broken streets getting repaired with new pavement. Cars flipped upright, their crumpled shells popped out and became smooth. Busted light posts floated through the air and returned to their places. Vines twisted out of the ground, grabbed the bodies that littered across everything, and took them deep into the earth. All of the wreckage disappeared. Everything—except things made of glass, plastic, and such—had been restored. Once Katherine was done, the city fell eerily silent.

“Thanks for your help,” Katherine said as she turned to Argo. He squeezed her shoulder.

“Anything for you,” he said. I frowned and gave him the stink eye. He tipped his hat to me. “Take care, fire guy.” I grumbled a response, but he’d already sped off.

Katherine stood still as she watched a streak of blue appearing on the horizon. Dawn would be here soon. "Hopefully they took a substantial hit tonight. Maybe, if we're lucky, they'll leave us alone for a while," she said, then looked down at the unlit streets. "Preservation should be on their way to get the power back on."

“Will Hot Stuff and Castile be alright? Have you seen them? And what happened to Kavi?” I asked.

“Juniper healed him. The others were taken to the base, I…I don’t know if they’ll recover,” she said and closed her eyes in pain. I rubbed her shoulder.

"They're tough. I know they'll find a way to come out of it." I yawned and wobbled side to side. I was ready to tuck myself into a corner and fall asleep. "I'd hate to ask this right now, but do you think you could give me a ride home?"