Amias ducked behind an overturned table as a ball of red heat flew at him. His heart was racing and his breathing was shaky.
What the friggin hell was this? This was supposed to be a standard job. He and Rayne had planned everything down to the smallest detail, and they'd been sure nothing could go wrong.
Well, they definitely hadn't seen this guy coming.
"Come out from behind there!" he yelled. Amias snorted. As if he'd listen when this jerk seemed intent on killing him.
Where was Rayne? Was she okay? No, nothing he could do about it. He'd have to trust that she'd handle herself. His biggest concern had to be his own skin - if he got hit by one of those things, it would probably be ugly. Very ugly. Even from a short distance, the heat was intense.
Amias glanced around. A few sleeping employees littered the floor, but since it was shortly after 8:00, not many customers had been here. Deliberate, of course. Putting too many people to sleep at once was tiring business.
And, since he'd put those employees to sleep, he couldn't use his Miracle again for a while. He estimated it needed about fifteen minutes between uses. Usually not a problem, but today it was a royal pain in the ass.
He'd know when his Miracle was ready again. Call it instinct, but he'd know. All that was left was to hope he could survive that long.
Footsteps approached. Amias clenched his teeth and wished he could turn invisible like Rayne. She'd better be getting as far from here as possible...
"In the name of the Legion, I command you to come out quietly." The footsteps got closer. Amias glanced around, looking for a weapon. The table had been overturned to act as his shield, and beyond that...
A person would be too heavy. Unless he used them as a hostage...but he didn't have a good weapon to threaten them with. So scratch that idea. Chairs had been scattered just a little too far. A tablet? He'd feel bad about wrecking it, but this was his life on the line here.
Amias slowly moved to grab the loose tablet within his reach. He had to pry it from the sleeping hands of an employee, but that Legion freak didn't seem to have noticed. Good. A blunt object to the head would hopefully slow him down. Maybe Amias could escape without using his Miracle.
He'd have to leave the money behind, but his life was more important. They could always steal more money later, but a person only had one life.
"Come out, come out, little villain." The guy stuck his head over the table and looked down at Amias with a grin. His flamboyant outfit was various shades of yellow, orange and red. Looked boorish to Amias, but that didn't matter.
He leaped up, swinging the tablet as hard as he could. The Legion freak fell over, crying out and clutching his head. Amias ran for the back room, wincing at the state the poor tablet found itself in. Maybe he should just steal it instead and see if they could glean anything from it.
Better to have something to show for their trouble after all.
"Get back here you bastard!"
Another ball of heat flew at Amias. He caught a glance of it in the window and somehow managed to duck in time. The first projectile was quickly followed by another one and Amias rolled away in a panic.
"You think you can play dirty like that?"
Shit. This guy looked livid. Maybe even totally unhinged. Amias braced himself for what was coming next, praying that his Miracle would return while his skin was still intact.
"I'll show you for destroying property!"
Another ball of red heat. No, this one looked more...blue? Amias scuttled away from it again, his heart nearly stopping when he saw the black marks on the wall behind him.
Who was destroying property again? Amias had warped one poor tablet in self-defense. This freak was leaving a far bigger mess for the cleaners!
Amias dodged again, scuttling towards the main desk. A couple people were slumped over it. Surely a so-called patron of justice wouldn't attack that direction?
He slid behind it just as another shot whizzed over the desk.
"Come on out! You can't hide forever." The man's footsteps stalked towards Amias' new hiding position. He huddled under the desk, braced with his tablet. As soon as there was a chance, Amias was going to hit him as hard as he could again, and pray to whatever gods existed that it'd be enough to escape with his life.
Closer. Closer.
"I'm not falling for the same trick twice, you two-bit criminal."
Damn. He'd stopped far enough away that Amias probably couldn't pull off the same maneuver.
Now what? Amias' next move relied entirely on what this psycho did.
"Burn in hell, you bastard."
Amias didn't like the sound of that.
Another ball of heat flew over the desk and landed a short couple feet in front of him. But this time, instead of dissipating, the light landed, reaching up as if to touch the ceiling. It crackled, and slowly started to spread.
Staring at it like this, Amias finally recognized it. It was used often in old movies, but no one on Arx had ever seen the real thing.
Fire.
If the movies were to be believed, it would spread and consume everything. Even the poor folks who'd just been put to sleep to make his robbery easier.
A string of curses ran though his head. Some of them were best not repeated.
How to get out of this? The fire was creeping closer. And a single tablet wouldn't be helpful in defending himself.
"If you come out quietly, I'll let you off easy with just a few major burns." Amias grimaced at the self-assured voice coming from behind him. A few major burns? Seriously? In what world was that getting let off easy?
The answer came quickly and Amias wanted to hurl. Angela's world. Her type would break every bone in your body and then tell you they went easy on you since you still had your life.
Wisps of grey came up from the flames. The smell was foreign and unpleasant.
"What's it gonna be?"
Surges of adrenaline danced through Amias. He knew what his choice was.
I'm gonna live, and I'm gonna get out of here in once piece so I can go back home with Rayne.
Now, was there a way he could manage that?
The same thoughts and ideas flew through his head on repeat, and none of them were useful. Amias scooched further down the desk, shaking so much he could barely see straight. The flames started licking the leg of one of the employees.
Great. This Legion freak was gonna bring the whole building down to get to him.
As despair set in, a sensation ran through him. He couldn't describe it with words, but his Miracle was ready. Now he just had to make sure he got this guy with it.
"Hey," Amias called, speaking for the first time. He didn't want voice recognition to catch him, so he normally stayed quiet when he could. Now, though, he had to make sure this guy could hear him.
"What? Ready to surrender?"
"Who are you exactly?" Amias grinned. Now he just had to make sure the snapping of his fingers would be heard over the crackling flames.
"Hot Rod. Member of the Legion. And you?"
"Just a guy who puts people to sleep. Speaking of which, you should put out those flames. You're gonna burn these poor people."
"Huh? They're not dead already?"
No they aren't, you idiot! Check their breathing before you start doing something this dangerous!
Amias kept his thoughts to himself and steadied himself again.
"No. I just put them to sleep. They'll wake up within the next hour. Speaking of, I think this poor lady's going to wake up with a nasty surprise on her leg."
The flames extinguished abruptly. Amias breathed out a sigh of relief, then coughed slightly at the stink still in the air.
"Okay. Now come out with your hands up."
Amias obliged, standing up behind the woman so Hot Rod wouldn't attack. As soon as he made eye contact, he snapped his fingers and Hot Rod fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
He could collapse from the relief, but there was still more to do. If he didn't get out of here and go home safely, this would all be for naught.
Swiping the mangled tablet and a couple more things that looked valuable, Amias got out of there as fast as he could.
