••••

I attempt again to make a switch, this one smaller, intending to turn off the boy flame, and once again his sister calls out, and I'm scrambling to get away. This time I'm not quite fast enough to escape completely, as flames start licking up my right leg. It only takes a second to put it out on the snow, but the heat had been intense!

I did not even bother trying to make a switch this time. I'm not sure what exactly the redhead is able to do, but those chrome eyes seem to be capable of seeing beyond normal sight.

It takes me a moment to get my feet under me, and I can already tell that my leg is badly burned.

I'm surprised that they're giving me the opportunity to stand, until I realize that they don't really fear me.

They know before I can attack, they can act quicker than I can. In fact, they're just standing there, waiting for me to either give up or attack again.

What is the deal with these two? Flying, superhuman sight, fireballs… Wait a minute…

Vage, I send to the alien I know is always watching, how do they have more than one ability? I asked.

Thankfully, the siblings did not attack while I'm communicating. The girl probably can't see the transmissions from the nanites.

"They only have one ability each. They are able to draw other abilities from those diamonds around their necks," Vage said through telepathy.

"You mean those gems are from the others they've killed?" I gasped out in shock, not hiding the shock I feel.

"Yes. His ability allows him to crystallize another's power. Her gene lets her see those with abilities. They are twins."

Shit….shit….and….. triple shit.

Basically, I'm up against two dragons armed with my kender of an ability.

Well, if Tasslehoff Burrfoot was brave enough to do it, then so can I.

If only I had his immunity to fear. Or Raistlin. Yeah, the dark wizard would really come in handy right now.

Despite the cold air, there's no mistaking the steady trickle of sweat running down my spine.

Thankfully, communicating with the nanites is nearly instantaneous, and only a couple of seconds have passed since I regained my feet.

"Last chance, demon. Surrender now or prepare to fight," James intones solemnly.

The word demon, applied to me, sets my teeth on edge, and my decision is made. Not that I ever really had much of one to begin with.

If this goes badly, please be ready to get me out of here, I send to Vage.

I did not wait for a reply before running straight at them, doing my best to ignore the agony in my leg.

I have just enough time to register the shock on their faces. They were expecting me to flee, not charge. As I move, I form a switch, forcing the air in front of me to solidify.

Despite Jessie's warning shout, the sheer audacity of my move makes James hesitate. That hesitation is all I need, and the switch I form locks into place.

If there was more time, I would have sighed in relief. I hadn't been sure I could still manage something this complex after failing so badly during a drunken game of beer pong. My powers really are growing and evolving.

James's fireball slams into my shield and detonates, bathing the world in light and heat, and momentarily blinding me. The crowd gasps again, louder this time.

That crowd. That foolish, television-trained crowd.

I grit my teeth and prepare another switch, feeling the one holding my shield begin to burn. Not metaphorically. It feels like someone has pressed a red-hot wire into my skull.

Now that is unpleasant.

The switch I'm forming to kill their abilities refuses to take shape.

"Brother," Jessie says calmly, "he has the ability to alter the quantum state of matter."

Quantum state?

I don't have time to dwell on it. The last remnants of my shield melt away in a ball of flame, and I dive sideways as heat roars past me, snow hisses and evaporates from where I was standing a moment ago.

I roll, and stagger to my feet, then I debate on tackling one of them but I push the thought out, that might work, but only if they don't have superhuman strength stored in those diamonds necklaces on their necks.

The necklaces.

That's the key.

I form a small, precise switch and both of clasps holding the necklaces snap open simultaneously.

The necklaces fall and James's fireball winks out of existence mid-flight, leaving him staring at his empty hand in disbelief.

I did not hesitate and lunge at him, I only make it maybe two steps before something hits me like a freight train.

The world flips sideways and for a moment I'm airborne, then I'm no, before I slam into the ground hard enough to drive the air from my lungs. Pain erupts along my ribs.

I've got some broken bones for sure.

Through watering eyes, I see Jessie standing where James had been, her hand clenched around her necklace again, her arm extended toward me.

So that's how fast she is.

"Nick!" Stephanie's sharp and terror filled voice cuts through the chaos.

"Dammit—" I try to swear, but blood sprays instead.

That's when the foolish crowd finally understands that this is for real.

Screams erupt. People scatter in every direction, slipping and falling on the snow as panic takes hold. My ears ring so badly that James's words blur into meaningless noise as he retrieves his necklace.

Another fireball blooms in his hand.

The nanites are working, I can feel them trying, but my injuries are too severe. They're triaging, prioritizing. It won't be fast enough.

I know that fire. I know what it will do.

As the fireball streaks toward me, time slows in that strange way it does when you know you're about to die.

Stephaniea's face flashes through my mind. The way she looked at me earlier. The sound of her laugh. The absolute unfairness of leaving her with this memory of watching me die.

I'm sorry Stephanie, I think.

I'm so sorry you have to watch me die.

The fireball fills my vision.

And then…..

Oblivion takes me….

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