Badass Ch. 06

Erykah looked at the four who she had just taken out with that barely controlled Quake and saw that they were still trying to get up.

'These guys need to fucking stay down! I'm getting sick of them!'

Erykah was breathing deeper, and was also breathing through her mouth. She was becoming increasingly frustrated, and watched as the next wave started running towards her. She then ran straight towards them and jumped up, flying directly into them like a bowling ball which had just been thrown into a group of pins. She started going on a rampage, grabbing, smashing and then throwing guys around, trying to end things quickly. There seemed to be no end to them, and just lost it, throwing her fists up above her head.

"QUAKE; Richter Level FOUR!"

As Erykah smashed her fists into the ground, she realized slightly too late that she had made quite a mistake; she had lost her composure and tried to end things with a technique that had too much power. She tried her hardest to catch the energy and stop it from transferring to the ground, but it had already done so. She remembered that as long as she had her fists on the ground, she could still control the direction and depth of the force.

'Ok, ok, concentrate me. Divide the amount of force by two, effectively downsizing it to a Richter Level Two. Do the same with depth, and then direct the now halved Quake into these mother fuckers.'

Erykah was straining to maintain control as she was already mentally fatigued and still agitated. She had actually become more agitated due to her being mad at herself for her carelessness. She looked in front of her and saw that the Quake had done the damage, causing them to lose their footing again.

'Luckily I don't always stick to the same timing; otherwise they would have figured it out and started jumping to avoid the technique.'

Erykah then remembered that she still effectively had a Level Two Quake still in her hands. She was just about to direct it into one of the groups of bodies when she looked up and saw that there were still some guys left.

'Fuck! I miscounted!'

Just as she was trying to direct the energy towards them, her mind lost control, and was no longer able to direct the energy as she was tired. The fact that Erykah had just recently discovered the whole 'energy directing' technique and wasn't quite adept at using it yet, and because she was frustrated and worried about Zdenek meant that mentally, she was working over time and that the fatigue finally caught up with her. Erykah didn't think too much of it though, as it was just a Level Two Quake and it wasn't going to do much damage to the building, so she just let it go. Something went wrong however, and all the energy which was supposed to disperse actually shot straight back at Erykah and hit her, which meant that she had essentially taken all the force of an area effect technique on her body. Erykah screamed in agony as the energy spread across her body. She struggled to, but succeeded at staying on her feet as she didn't want to fall down. She looked up and saw that 6 men on her.

'I fucked up.'

The first man swung at her, and she ducked under the punch, and her knee buckled. As she ducked under the blow, she gripped his neck, and choke slammed him into the ground. One guy jumped onto her back, and attempted a sleeper hold, but he got flipped over and punched in the gut as he landed on his back. Erykah got on one knee, and tried to stand up before she got hit but that failed and she got punched square in the face. The punch however got her onto her feet, and she threw a punch of her own which connected with the guys jaw, sending him flying. The guy she choke slammed had recovered and he punched Erykah in the face which rocked her slightly. Then another guy kicked her in the gut before another guy threw a low right hook which caught her in the temple, dazing and confusing her a bit. Then another guy came gave her an uppercut to the jaw causing her head to fly up before the guy she got in the gut before gripped both sides of her face, pulled her head down with force and made her face become acquainted with his knee a few times before pulling it back and ramming his knee into her face one last time, sending her flying into the air. Erykah floated in the air for what seemed like an eternity, with her consciousness slowly fading.

'Zdenek...'

Amy had been zipping about and fighting the Q and Jason like a woman possessed, going at full tilt the entire time, trying to get something for Steph to notice about them. The two guys had actually developed a kind of partnership, with Q being the front man, doing most of the attacking and Jason hanging back until Amy got the better of Q, then he'd jump in to and try get the upper hand. It was a simple plan, but it was a simple plan which was quite effective.

'Fuck, I wonder if Stephs' got anything yet. Zdenek is M.I.A, while Erykah is having a tough time over there, which is actually quite surprising. Her area techniques are fucking powerful and she should have been able to finish those guys off already, although I guess they are going to be members of Aegis.'

Amy was just standing up straight, lost in thought. She had almost forgotten that she was in a fight of her own and that the two opponents she was facing down by herself were actually quite competent and had worked out a system. Just then, Q snapped her out of her day dream.

'Fuck, it's that creepy Croc AE asshole!'

Q threw a left hook, to which Amy ducked under and tried to deliver a kick to the gut, but Q make it difficult with his awkward fighting position, with his torso bent over, barely exposing his stomach. Q then turned his body around rather quickly, and pumped his hips, causing his tail to whip around rather quickly, making Amy jump backwards. Amy then charged toward Q and drew her claws before she started swiping away and him. He replied by swiping back at her, and they exchanged a flurry of blows, with sparks and a 'KLING!' noise being made when ever their claws came into contact with each other. Amy was quite the acrobat, jumping and spinning around, doing the splits to duck moves, bending her spine back backwards to evade blows, springing off of surfaces and generally looking like a cat as she fought. Q was a difficult customer to deal with as part of his body other than his belly and torso and such was covered with hard scales and spikes, and due to his fighting style, only the harder parts were ever exposed.

'Fuck, this guy is annoying! Come on Steph, hurry up and find something!!'

Amy was looking back at Steph when she was thinking that and was giving her a look which said just as much. Steph just ignored her and just wondered why Jason was hanging back and letting Q do most of the work. She also wondered why he hadn't come straight for her while Q took on Amy.

Amy was getting sick of Q and she leapt backwards, creating some space between herself and him. She closed her eyes and started letting out a cry as flames started dancing around her and streaks of flames whirled around her forearms and onto her hands. Her claws were still protracted, and the flames covered her hands/paws. She opened her eyes as she let out a final cry as the flames fluctuated before settling down and completely molding to the shape of her hands.

"Flame Claw."

Amy looked at Q and smiled before running towards him and starting another exchange with him, although this time she was doing more damage. Q himself activated his powers which were earth based, and that meant he had hardened himself with his power.

Steph sat on the sidelines, watching with apprehension as Amy guns blazing at Q.

'She knows that she can't maintain that technique very well because its' energy requirements are crazy, and she doesn't have that high a capacity when it comes to elemental power stamina. I know she's trying to force them into revealing their secrets, but this is just reckless!'

Just then, Q went flying into the wall behind him, and Jason, who had already joined in midway through Stephs' thoughts, started to push more, his elemental power also flames and entered into quite an exchange with Amy. It took a few moments, but Amy eventually got the upper hand over Jason and also sent him into the wall, but by that time, Q had recovered enough and was back on the attack. As Q was approaching, Amy took long deep breaths, and looked back at Steph.

'Come on Steph, these two are fighting in such a way that they get breaks in between skirmishes and unfortunately, that's a luxury that I don't have.'

Amy settled into a stance and waited for her next skirmish with Q. When he got to her, they started exchanging blows again, and things went in that usual pattern, with Q and Amy having the longer of the exchanges and Jason joining in just as things started getting difficult for Q, which was always after a long while. Steph knew that there was a meaning behind this pattern, but just needed a bit longer to figure it out.

'Please hold on Amy, I've almost got it.'

Steph watched the fight a little while longer, and the period of time between skirmishes as the length of the skirmishes began to decrease, which allowed Steph to see both Jason and Q in action for a lot longer as both them and Amy began to tire. Steph looked at all three of them, looking at their body language, facial expressions etc to get a feel of their moods.

Between the two, Amy seemed to prefer fighting with Jason because even though he was the more powerful and skilled fighter, he only fought with her for brief periods of time. She looked like she disliked fighting Q because it almost seemed like he was just hanging around to take up time. Steph suddenly felt as though she had made a breakthrough.

'Wait a minute!'

She waited for another skirmish to happen and watched out for when Jason would enter the fray. When he did, she watched him exclusively and paid attention to him after Amy had sent him flying. She just looked at him, and saw how as he stood up, he was breathing heavily and panting a lot, which confirmed her suspicions.

"Amy! Amy!"

Steph ran over towards where Amy was standing, as Q was slow at getting to her.

"Amy, I finally figured it out; I figured out Q and Jasons' weaknesses! Q has a soft 'underbelly' so to speak, and Jason has absolutely....no.....stamina...."

Stephs' excitement drained from her body and seeped into the ground below her as she looked at Amy. She was hunched over, her shoulders had dropped, the flames around her hands were barely flickering and she her breathing was far more raggedy than Jasons.

"Shit!"

Amy looked at Steph with a smile on her face.

"I wish you would have told me slightly sooner Steph."

Steph looked absolutely mortified, as she had forgotten about how Amy couldn't maintain use of her elemental powers for long. Just then, they both heard Erykah scream in pain and looked at her. They saw Erykah get swarmed by the six men and get beaten. Amy looked horrified.

"Fuck! Where the fuck is Zdenek, and how the fuck did those fucks get the upper hand over Erykah?!"

"Quickly Jason, an opening!"

The two of them had completely forgotten about Jason and Q, and as they looked at them, it was too late. Four solid earth beams came flying at them, and Amy pushed Steph out of the way. They all hit Amy one at a time on various parts of her body, before Jason joined in and sent a flaming beam straight at Amy. The flames completely enveloped Amy and burnt her as she roared in pain. After the beam had completed its course and burned into thin air, it revealed a slightly burnt but completely worn out Amy, who fell down to her knees, and then onto her hands. She remained there on all fours, trying her hardest to stand up, but couldn't. Steph stood there in shock, looking at the awful state her friend was in.

The twins were engaged in a slug fest with Ronald and Andrew, and there was nothing else going on besides punches and bear roars. Both Steve and Don were stronger, faster and better than Andrew and Ronald; however they were actually coming out second best against their opponents. Steve and Don could not focus in the slightest on their fight, as they were far to worried about Erykah, Amy, Steph and Zdenek to concentrate. Andrew and Ronald didn't know this of course, and thought that they were winning because they were superior to the twins, even throwing in the odd elemental technique. Despite their hardest efforts, the twins could not focus on the task at hand, and during an exchange, where bested and sent flying into the wall behind them. They looked at each other with worry on their faces.

"Steve, we have to focus on these two."

"I know, but it's fucking hard! What the fuck has happened to Zdenek? Are you seeing how Erykah is struggling, when she should be killing those guys?! And what about Amy and Steph? I get why Steph doesn't want to use her AE powers, but she could still help you know?!"

"I know Steve! Fuck, let's finish these two off, and then go help everyone else, ok?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea!"

The two of them were pretty thick, so they became happy just as quickly as they became sad, and this applied with all of their emotions. They both got up and started chraging their wind, which formed gusts around their hands. The fur on their forearms and hands was ruffling in the wind as they got themselves all charged up.

"Okay Don, let's go!"

"Yeah!"

As they both started charging at their opponents, Steve saw Amy having some trouble, and Don saw Erykah having some difficulties as well.

'Fuck!'

The two of them were pretty thick, so they became sad as quickly as they became happy. They were worried all over again and the consistency of the strength of their wind fluctuated and they weren't nearly as powerful or as sharp as they should have been, which resulted in the both of them getting bested once again in the exchange. They were losing out in the exchanges, with their punches being blocked by arms and hands, while they were blocking the blows with their faces. In all honesty, they should have been beaten, however because they were stronger than their opposition, they weren't actually getting fucked up that badly, which was what made it worse. Finally, they slid into the wall after being punched hard and flying backwards, landing on their asses and sliding on their asses into the wall. Andrew and Ronald then approached them while laughing. Andrew seemed to take the more dominant role, and spoke first.

"Well guys, it seems that you two are as useless as the rest of The Hand, especially that Alpha of yours. She's so pitiful; she got fucked up by low level idiots! Ahahahaha, useless bitch!"

They were trying to get the twins all riled up, and their plan succeeded as they got up off the floor growling loudly. They were pretty thick, so they became angry just as quickly as they became sad. They didn't even talk this time as they just launched themselves at Andrew and Ronald, swinging like crazy and not controlling themselves in the slightest. They were just throwing punches haphazardly and weren't actually paying attention, which meant that they kept getting tagged without being able to reply. It took a bit, but they were finally beginning to tire as they had been getting beat on for quite a while. Ronald and Andrew delivered what they thought to be finishing blows which resulted in the twins flying and landing on their backs. They slowly but surely got up, and stood on unsteady legs as they looked directly at their opposition. They both seemed to be on the same wave length and thought the same line at the same time.

'Fucking hell...'

All of the Hand of Aegis had been beaten down pretty much to the same level, and the moments all seemed to be happening at the same time; as Erykah was floating in the air, Amy was on all fours with Steph standing there, and Steve and Don were also pretty much collapsing. Just as each of them was about to be finished off, Boris was suddenly alert as his senses told him something was coming. A blur emerged quickly from where he had hit Zdenek and flew towards Amy and Steph.

Mays' arms were wobbling as she was trying to get up, but just couldn't. Just as she was about topple, she suddenly felt a presence next to her and felt two arms hook hers beneath her pits, and start to lift her up. Her eyes opened fully as she was lifted up to her feet. When she was upright, she looked down at her chest and saw two furry blue hands on either of her shoulders, looked up to see Zdeneks face as he looked directly at Jason and Q. He then disappeared from sight before appearing in front of Steph, and placed him right hand on her head. She looked up at him to see him looking directly ahead of himself, before disappearing from sight again. He then appeared behind Steve and Don. He stuck his head between theirs and put a hand on the side of either ones head, gripping tightly. They both looked at him and saw him looking directly at Andre and Ronald. He then pulled their heads in firmly and tilted his head downwards, so that their foreheads came into contact with either side of his head. There was a resounding 'THUD' as their heads made contact with his, and then he disappeared from sight again. He then reappeared behind Erykah, who was still flying back and he opened his arms. Her consciousness was still fading until she suddenly felt herself landing against something warm, and then two arms wrapped around her, one around her stomach and the other her shoulders and collar bone. As she came to a stop, she became nestled in the warm embrace and her consciousness continued to fade until she remembered how familiar this embrace was, and that she had just experienced it last night. Last night? Who did she hug last night? Images flooded her mind until she saw silver hair and amber eyes.

'Zdenek.'

All of a sudden, Erykahs' eyes burst open as her consciousness flooded back to her and became stable. She looked down and saw blue hands holding her tightly, before looking up and seeing Zdenek looking straight ahead of her at those who had just beaten her and the others who were just regaining their strength. He the let go of her, and disappeared from sight again, reappearing in front of Boris. In that brief second, Zdenek had gone around given all of them a touch to let them know he was ok, and also to raise their spirits.

Erykah, who was still kind of fucked had finally gotten what she was looking for during the latter stages of the exchanges; confirmation that Zdenek was alright. His being alright was more than enough, but his suddenly appearing and catching her just made her catch a second wind. She started roaring like a gorilla, before water started for swirl around her entire body, and not just her arms. She knew she only had one shot at finishing these guys off, so she summoned as much energy as she could. The jets of water swirling around her became larger and larger in volume, and eventually it looked as though she was caught on a vortex. She wasn't standing at her full height either and she was slouched over, with the only thing keeping her upright being her arms. She looked up at them to memorize the locations of those who were still conscious and closed her eyes to concentrate.

"Hydro Eruptions."

The jets of water then formed into one large jet, which then split into 7 beams which set off and flew towards the 7 who were still conscious. They couldn't move as the beams were moving too quickly for that, and they made contact with all 7 targets perfectly. They didn't stop at contact however, and drove their targets up high into the air, almost touching the ceiling before smashing them down onto the stairs leading up to the room. The beams then swung back around and gathered up all of the others, before dumping them onto the stairs with the rest of their fellows. The beams then returned to Erykah and spun around her before settling down and disappearing. Erykah then started teetering before tipping over and falling over.