There are several ways of waking up from sleep. One either wakes from a bad nightmare, a sudden sound, pain, the need to go to the bathroom and the snoring of a partner. Tonight, Maha woke up from pain. Her eyes opened at the sight of her temporary bed three meters below her, right after her head banged against the ceiling. She came down, her arms stretched out in front of her, but before she made contact with the bed she felt an arm grab hold of her leg and was suddenly flung to the wall to her right.
The wall cracked and she slid down, trying to catch her breath. Maha had no idea what was going on. Suddenly, a man in a black and familiar uniform appeared out of nowhere in front of her, on the other side of the bed. With her gasp the man disappeared and reappeared right next to her. He grabbed her shoulder and before she knew it, her body went from a sitting position to a floating-in-the-air standing position. The man punched right below her rib-cage, expertly landing a blow that crippled Maha’s breathing. The impact sent her back into the wall. A second fist contacted with the edge of her jaw, her hair then suddenly pulled downwards where her face met an incoming knee.
The man, still in the shadow of the dark room, once again grabbed hold of her, this time by her ankles and began to lift and swing her. Before she knew it, they had teleported to the other side of the room, the force of the swing drastically amplified, ending once Maha met the wall with her back. Smokes of dust exited through cracks surrounding the entire room. The man in black quickly unleashed several punches to her face, ending the combination by pulling her hair back, exposing her neck and punching it.
Three hours earlier
“Maha Azim wields more than a hundred God Particles.” Officer Ulyssa stated to a squad of Demigods sitting inside a dark briefing room. “We won’t be able to overpower her. Your expertise in hand-to-hand combat and deadly force is what will get you your victory. When we strike we strike hard, we strike precise and we strike with tactical purpose. We cannot let her think. We cannot let her throw a punch, a ball of fire, conjure a weapon, let alone flee from the scene. This has to be a one-sided battle.” Ulyssa looked at her main man. “Harlan, you’re going in first. Be careful and use that anger. Let everything you have be a crippling move. Do not let her stand up. Do not let her breathe. Do not fucking let her think… Or she will end you in the blink of an eye.” “Yes ma’am.” “But remember!” she looked at everyone one by one. “We’re not here to kill her. Only subdue her. Asher has obtained a pair of Anti-God handcuffs. Subdue her… then cuff her.”
Present Time
Maha was choking, fighting for air while trying to endure a painful headache. She couldn’t tell if it was her or if the room was getting darker and darker. Harlan, the man readying himself for his final combination of attacks, was only seeing red for personal reasons. Concentrating on his powers, he grabbed hold of Maha and began teleporting and swinging her from wall to wall. The building was beginning to shake from each impact. With each new attack, he was building up his speed. The two Demigods were barely visible in the room as they kept disappearing and reappearing at some other corner of the room faster and faster. He kept her at bay, discombobulating her at all times with attacks to her throat, ears, nose and head.
His team should have been in position by now. They had to subdue her, he kept reminding himself, not kill. The bed was quickly teleported out of the room and Maha was brought up and forced to stand in the middle of the room. Harlan appeared behind her, jump kicked her with both his legs. The force sent Maha chest-first into the wall. She came stumbling back towards him where he flung his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet backwards. He held her higher than him as he brought her head back down to the ground behind him. Her neck smashed into the cold floor and she came rolling off like a rag-doll.
Harlan teleported standing at the edge of her feet. Maha felt his hands on her hair and then the immense pain that followed once he pulled her up. She was suddenly looking at the view from the balcony she was smoking from a few hours ago. Before she could think about anything, Harlan kicked her from behind, the metal balcony fence whining as she was forced through it, breaking it, then falling four floors down.
Harlan pursued her, teleporting behind and putting her into a headlock to stop her from breathing. He only had a few seconds to land a few punches before he would have to teleport away to safety as they neared the courtyard grounds. Once his seconds were up, he teleported to where a squad of Demigods were waiting to finish the job. Maha landed face first into the cement. Her body was burning, aching and not functioning in any way.
“Yvor!” Harlan yelled. Yvor, a Demigod with the powers to conjure lava and other elements of earth, stepped up. Maha’s body rose up as a giant fist made of lava plunged out of the ground. The fist began to surround her entire body, forcing her arms behind her back. She was engulfed in the lava but her head and wrists were left exposed. Another Demigod then began to freeze the lava, solidifying the structure. Asher, a masked Demigod recovering from wounds from an earlier fight, quickly proceeded towards Maha’s wrists to cuff her. Once he closed in, he realised Maha had fainted from the severe amount of pain.
It took a while for the lava to cool down and stop inflicting pain on her. Once she woke up however, she was presented with nothing but fire. The military base had been attacked. The buildings razed to the ground and burning still. There were dead bodies everywhere. Then there was a group of people in black uniforms standing in front of her, and the one who had attacked her was standing in front of them.
“The traitor is awake.” He said. Maha tensed up, trying to draw her powers but felt an uncanny weakness instead. Her body couldn’t move at all and her brain was fuzzy. “See these people here?” Harlan walked up to her. “I sent them all on a nice freefall.” He pointed at the bodies in the courtyard. “I was nice about it though. I teleported them so high up that they could basically choose where they wanted to land.” The Demigods behind him laughed. “Some landed on the fucking roof! Some God knows where. This one guy was quite the spectacle. He hit the edge of the roof, his body spun like crazy, hit that tree over there, crashed through several branches and then hit the floor.” He turned back to face her after dramatically re-enacting the scene to her with his hands. “Too bad I can’t do the same to you.” “Who the fuck are you?” Maha spat. “We’re the team that’s bringing you in. You have killed a lot of innocent people.” “They had to die for a greater cause.” “And we’d like to know what that cause is. You know… they were going to let you off? General Arcadeus only wanted to talk to you. He wasn’t actually going to prosecute you. But you…” he forced his index finger on her forehead. “You have quite the temper and impatience.” “He’s the bad guy here, not me.” “Yes well, you saying that leads us to believe that you’ve gone through some bad brainwashing mojo. We’d like to find out what really happened once the Necromancer died.” “There…” a sudden pain rushed through her chest, almost knocking her out. “There what?” Harlan asked. “Who are you?” Maha asked, looking at them like she saw them for the first time. Harlan suddenly became very irritated. “You like fucking with us, don’t you?” “What?” Maha was genuinely confused. “I won’t take this shit. You know you killed me sister in that hallway?” Maha felt the pain once more and this one only angered her. She suddenly began to scream and roar.
Asher put his finger on to his ear where a comms device was planted. “Officer Ulyssa, there’s something wrong.” He whispered. “Oh God…” Maha suddenly broke free, the frozen lava shattered and impaled Harlan. She grabbed hold of him and with lightning speed, tossed him into the building behind her. Maha slowly turned her gaze upon the staring squad. “What the fuck!” Asher yelled. “She’s got red glowing eyes!” “What!?” Ulyssa gasped. “Asher! Repeat!” “RED FUCKING EYasaqzdw” the transmission was suddenly broken. She had lost contact with her team. “SHIT!”
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