Page 25 of Wrong Squad, Right Mess

And just like that, I fell in love all over again. No matter how scared Yun might have been, how unprepared to deal with this she was, she didn’t back down. She didn’t cower, didn’t give in. Nah, she stood there right beside us, ready to take on whatever we did.

I sighed. Yeah, this erection wasn’t going away any time soon.

The man who stood across the way shifted, just a subtle adjustment, but one we all recognized. It came a moment before a blast of power, before wind struck us and this shit started.

Let’s do this.

Chapter Fifteen

Yun

I steadied my breath and went back through what those stupid self-defense classes had taught me. I’d hated every moment of them, but suddenly I found myself at least somewhat grateful.

Sure, the others would do what they could, but I refused to be a burden, especially when a lot of this was happening because of me. This wasn’t just a dungeon, but rather our own Guild targeting us because of me. I refused to sit this one out.

The clash between monsters and espers was a thing of beauty, a fight of opposites, good versus evil and all that. It was flashy and so easy to identify. This proved much more difficult to watch.

When all the participants were human, it made it a challenge to see anyone as overtly evil, and the appearance of red blood instead of purple brought it all home.

Ingram stood there one moment, gone the next. A scream drew my focus up to the rooftop, to espers I hadn’t even noticed. Ingram ran a blade across the throat of one, the body falling from up there like trash.

My stomach rolled at the sight.

I didn’t blame him—this was survival, after all—but seeing it still stuck with me. It made it clear that this wasn’t some game, that the stakes were high no matter how casually Carter spoke.

Ingram moved again before the body had even hit the ground, though the next esper—another on the roof—was prepared for it.

I would have continued to watch him if there wasn’t so much else going on.

The espers swarmed, and another blast of air knocked me down. My hands ached from the impact, the small, sharp stones that littered the street embedding into my palms.

Someone grabbed me—too rough for it to be Kenyon or Shear—and yanked me to my feet. There was a man, one who hadn’t spoken, his eyes searching around us as though to find a path.

Which told me he planned to get me out of the middle of this. I wasn’t dumb enough to think that was some favor to me, of course. Instead, he wanted to finish this and have me secured—and possibly even use me against them—as quickly as possible.

I didn’t plan to let that happen.

I still held the pistol from earlier, tucked into the holster at my waist. Actually killing an esper was a bit far for me, but I didn’t mind wounding one when needed.

He yanked me against him, the air around us crackling in a way that made me guess he was an elemental, that he planned to take off with a speed that even Carter and Ingram couldn’t follow.

I didn’t give him the chance. I withdrew the pistol—freshly loaded, thanks to Carter’s help earlier—and unloaded a single shot into his foot. He screamed, releasing me and collapsing down to clutch at the wounded limb.

I couldn’t help the way I both mocked him and sent out an apology in my mind. No one wanted to be shot, but at the same time, he was an esper. He shouldn’t collapse quite that easily, right?

I hadn’t used my defensive powers because I wasn’t sure when I’d need them. The last thing I wanted was to risk over-exerting myself too early.

I slid away from him, not giving him the chance to take revenge. I wasn’t about to give in, but I could still see how they outmatched me.

Shear dealt with two of the espers—at least, I assume he did given his focus on them and the way the two shook their heads, stumbling around as though they couldn’t get their feet beneath them or make sense of the space around them.

Carter kept separating from the woman who had spoken, then crashing back together. She seemed to be a combat esper, given that she could go toe to toe with Carter.

I had always envied espers that, at least, that women were every bit as strong and dangerous as men. Because the power didn’t come directly from the muscles or frame, size didn’t matter much. It meant this woman, despite being shorter and smaller, could go hit for hit with Carter. The same held true for other esper types as well.

The sex or gender of an elemental didn’t change their power or strength in the least. It meant there was a truly level playing field when it came to espers.

Kenyon went to the esper I’d shot, and at first I thought he’d heal him. Instead, he set a hand over the man’s chest, and a moment later, the man’s screaming stopped because he went silent.