XIII: True or Faux

[WP] One morning, you woke up with the ability to see true and false when written down. If it glows a golden color then it is true, but if it glows a dark color, then it is false. Out of curiosity, you go to the library and walk into the History section, and to your horror, all you see is darkness.

*****

An adrenaline rush is the best way to describe it in layman's terms, but if I was being honest, that must have been some super ultra mega adrenaline rush. I was in a real-life or death situation - which I had never experienced in nearly 23 years of being alive. I knew that Flames' hands were tied as far as this situation was concerned; for her to produce flames of intense heat again, she would need to save up her air for that attack.

It was not about her, at least not as much as it was about me. This situation would prove if I had what it took to stay alive by myself in a world where I had become a target overnight, and my enemies were more formidable than anything I could have imagined. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and moved to the left.

I wasn't fast enough. At least not to avoid the needles completely, but I still avoided death or life-threatening injury. About three needles lodged themselves in my left arm, stinging as they were, but otherwise, I was good. Flames only spared me a glance before inhaling sharply, and then I knew what that meant for Mill.

Two formidable opponents had been reduced to fodder right before my eyes. When I first heard about them, I was genuinely worried for our safety and had come to terms with the fact that it was highly unlikely that we would leave any confrontation unscathed. And yet, Flames was just about to finish them with only minor injures on my part.

With her fair flying wildly, her tanned skin tinted red and yellow-white flames bursting from her mouth, Flames looked like she was about to turn into a dragon. And with the way she breathed fire upon the spot Mill was, I started to wonder if she was not only half-human.

Mill screamed and ran while his body was engulfed in flames, but he didn't get too far before falling and remaining motionless while the flames continued to burn.

I thought that this would be a good time for Flames to target him and finish the job, but she hit her limit sadly. She stopped that within about three seconds, however, painting for air. She had hit her limit abruptly, and that was understandable. It was one thing if she used lava, but it was another thing if she had just produced white, then blue flames, released superheated air from her body, and still breathed yellow-white fire.

She rushed towards me and I held her hands only to withdraw mine sharply. Her body was hot - high fever hot.

She smiled weakly while panting. "It's... not a very windy day, so I had to put almost twice the effort into using my ability, meaning that the oxygen reserves which I normally use to cool my body down are depleted. You drive, Camp Denzel," she said before fainting.

She'd run out of oxygen.

I carried her to the car and propped her up in the passenger's seat before driving at top speed to allow the breeze to hit her. I knew the popular campsite she had mentioned, and so I drove there while I watched her take light breaths.

She was still alive, just unconscious. I heaved a sigh of relief as soon as we entered the camp because she woke up and looked around.

"That was fast. You burn my tires?" She asked, sniffing.

"Street racing. Bad habit, went to jail for six months last year. Old habits die hard anyway, but this time it was for your sake."

She smiled weakly as we got out and we walked down to the site where my new unit was supposed to be waiting for me. There stood three people:

In the center with a smile on her face was a woman who was not more than 27, yet had rich, silver-white hair. Her eyes were a deep shade of blue and they seemed to pierce into the depths of my soul. While they were fixed on me, I had the feeling that she took in the general appearance of t2he both of us. The blood-stained handkerchief on my upper arm must have made me look like some sort of punk.

The girl by her side must have been around 19 years of age. She held a flower in her arms and looked completely uninterested in both of us. The last guy, a boy with spiky black hair and Asian looks had his gaze fixated on Flames with a puppy dog look in his eyes.

I was beginning to miss Cisco and Iris. These guys just looked like nutjobs.

"Well, if it isn't the legendary Arsonist! You look like you've been to hell and back, Flames. What must have happened to reduce Justice's finest to this? That pallor, and that stance!"

I could tell her tone was full of mockery, but I had to indulge her. "She just finished off agents Meek and Mill-"

"You weren't being spoken to, so why to speak?" the girl with the flower said icily.

"I could say the same for you, Eve. Why don't you just shut up and-"

"Keep silent," the woman said, her voice sounding rich and musical.

I opened my mouth to attack her as well, but no words came out. There was no sound, no vibration of my vocal cords, and therefore no words came out. I stood there, shocked. Was her power muting people, or compelling them to do as she said?

"I'll ask you to treat him well, Harmonia. He means a lot to us back at my unit."

She laughed, asking me to follow her as she turned and walked towards her car. Again, I found my legs moving of their own accord. Her ability seemed to be even more disturbing than Flames, or any other that I'd experienced. "He's no longer in your jurisdiction, Flames."

"What does that have to do with my instruction?" Flames asked.

The woman stopped in her tracks for a moment before laughing. "Ever the fiery one, Flames. As much as I'd like to challenge you one of these days, I wouldn't want that heat melting my cold heart. I'll do my best to keep him alive if that's what you want."

I looked back at Flames uncertainly while she waved before entering the backseat of the car with the other guy.

As we zoomed off, I felt I was in for a whole lot of trouble.

*****

TO BE CONTINUED.

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