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I hit the ground on my back, August wrapped around me as I try to switch my focus to keeping us from being crushed. I don’t know how many people are in here, but I can feel the weight of the building pressing down on us as I fight to hold it up.
“August, I don’t know how long I can hold this. Get them over here.”
August rushes to his feet as someone screams for help. I glance over at them, realizing their leg is being pinned down by something, but I can’t split my attention and have to rely on August to do it, thankful that he’s very strong because I don’t know how much more I can do. This is already putting an intense mental strain on me as I lie on the ground, focusing as hard as I can. Do I push everything I’m holding back? But I can’t see the street. What if there are still people watching outside? What if there’s a crowd gathered around, and I end up killing someone?
“August, please hurry,” I say as my hands shake, and I can taste blood a moment before I feel it running out of my nose.
“I’m going to freeze time again. When I do, drop your hold and give your mind a second,” August says.
I nod because I’m not sure how much longer I can do this before my mind just decides it’s enough. He freezes time and I drop the hold. Relief rushes through my body as I sag down, feeling absolutely exhausted and questioning if I made the wrong choice when I gave myself a break because… can I start again?
August shoves people toward me that I grab to guide out of the building but all too soon, he turns to me. “I have to start again, but there are only a few people left, and I believe they can move on their own now.”
“Okay,” I say as I mentally grab hold of the building again and start pushing it as time starts up again. “If I crush anyone out on the street, it’s their own fucking fault.”
The remaining people rush toward me as I shove the collapsed building right into the street, feeling like there’s beenplentyof time for them to get the fuck out of the way if they didn’t want to get crushed. Survival of the fittest, right? If they were dumb enough to still be gawking on the street, then I kind of feel like maybe the world wouldn’t overly miss them. The moment I drop the weight, my arms feel so damn weak that I’m positive I’m not going to get up.
“My brain,” I whine.
August slumps down next to me, both of us completely exhausted from the mental strain. It’s clear he’s not doing well either after having pushed his limits of freezing time well beyond the one-minute mark, and I can see from his pale expression and bloody nose that he must be feeling about as rough as I am.
“Everyone make it?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” he admits. “I hope.” He turns to the men and women who seem startled, and some wounded, but no one appears to be severely hurt that I can see. “Everyone okay?”
“I’ll get help,” a woman says as she manages to get to her feet and tries stumbling through the wreckage. A man sets to work on tying a cloth around the leg of the man who’d been pinned under the wreckage.
Then suddenly, a man standing near me lifts a gun up, pointing it right at August’s head.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I growl as I try grabbing for it with my mind when a stabbing pain tears through my head. Darkness hits me and I start to fall forward before catching myself as the realization that I can’t stop this man hits me.
“You did this. It’s your fault they died. Superheroes United is going to pay for what has happened,” he says as I desperately reach for the man with my mind again, but I can’t even seem to find my power among the pain tearing through me.
Suddenly, I hear a shot and try to lunge for August, having no fucking idea what my plan is, when I see the man’s body snap back. His shot has gone high, and I don’t realize why until the man is flailing and grabbing his throat while being dragged back by Deus who has appeared in front of us.
“You seriously think I’d let you kill my new friend?” Deus asks as he tightens the rope he has wrapped around the man’s throat. “That was a really fucking dumb decision.”
“Wait, don’t kill him!” August says, which sounds like a stupid fucking idea. Anyone who dares try to kill the man I love should be fucking incinerated.
“That’s right, Deus, let Lex burn him to death,” I growl. “We want it to hurt more.”
“Ooh! Delightful idea. I’ll hold him still,” Deus says as he expectantly looks at Lex.
Lex has a look of alarm as he glances between us. “I’d rather not,” he whines.
Ellison runs onto the scene looking alarmed. “Don’t kill him! He could have information—is he already dead?”
Deus drops the limp body onto the ground. It hits with a spectacularthunk, especially when the man’s head strikes a chunk of the stairs. “Well… I mean, it depends on how dead, you know? Like is he dead dead? No, I don’t think soyet, but he might be minorly dead.”
“What the fuck isminorly dead?” Ellison yells.
“Like a wee bit dead. Ooh! No! Look, he’s bleeding from his head wound. Must not be fully dead. I mean,at the moment.” Deus looks around at the others. “Anyone else want to be minorly dead?”
Not a single personmoves. I’m not even sure theybreathe.
The unconscious man bursts back to life, leaping up as he gasps for breath, and Deus responds by immediately tightening the rope again.
“What are youdoing?” Ellison says as he frees the man who’s about to lose his second chance at life.
