The three heroes had ultimately tracked their prey, a greasy and violent slimeball by the name of Thoi Ngoc, to a vast expanse of sand and heat. Minh wasn't entirely sure where they were geographically, it was Thanh in charge of navigation. It didn't matter. They thought they were about to corner him, and he sent his top bodyguards on them, because of course he did. He was desperate. It was just a little confusing, though, because unless one of them had the ability to make them all invisible, there was absolutely nowhere in the flat, plain heat hell they could have been hiding.
He recognised one of the three bodyguards. A Latina girl, he didn't know her real name, but she went by the alias of Gigantica, because she could grow bigger than the trees. He'd fought her a lot in the past, and the two definitely hated each other. The second appeared to be a man who had been alongside Ngoc many years back, one of the men in his original cartel who must have also survived the raid. Though he looked to be Vietnamese, despite strange, inhuman eyes, he introduced himself quite amicably as Firebreath Qinni, and had spoken with a strange accent, one Minh couldn't quite place. The third was a bored looking white man none of the three had ever seen before, but every step seemed to send a quake through the ground. He was the smallest of the three, but seemed to carry some major power in that small body of his. Quake didn't introduce himself, never once opened his mouth to speak, just moved to protect his charge.
It took a long time to settle, during which time Ngoc had successfully escaped. Now, Minh didn't consider himself the strongest in the team by any means, far from it, the situation was a good one for him. The only one who could fly, nimble and quick, and more resistant to fire than the others, luck was in his favour for a short while, and he was able to deal some damage. Hien and Thanh had been taken out, and he was flying around, buzzing by Gigantica like an annoying fly, albeit a fly that could breathe fire and had caused partial thickness burns here and there already, trying to avoid being swatted out the sky by her. Below him, Qinni and Quake were either out for the count, or playing dead. He didn't really want to find out which one. Hien was bleeding badly, Quake's powers having caused his armour to splinter and cause him harm, and Thanh was unconscious. Minh wasn't badly hurt, but he was tired. The fight was close, and he couldn't be sure he would win, even if his opponent was struggling to land a hit. One wrong move could end with him crushed like a bug.
Minh made a decision. He decided to swoop down, grab his friends and beat a retreat. Positioning himself, he dived down behind the enemy, toward Hien. The Guardian was starting to look scarily pale. He drew close, outstretched his hands, and something shiny and sharp burst from nowhere and hit him in the chest.
His own speed, mixed with the weight of the impact, sent him spinning back across the hot sand. He tumbled, like falling down a flight of stairs, and ended sprawled in a less than comfortable position not far from Gigantica's foot. Near The Guardian, a woman slowly stepped out into existence, holding two long, bladed weapons dripping with blood. She had brown hair, greying, tied in a bun that made her look like Miss Trunchbull. She was older than the other three, and sunburned. Minh hadn't realised there had been a fourth enemy lurking around, but it sure explained why the others had been so well hidden. There was little miss invisible, here to ruin the day. He wanted to get up, get away, but the hit to his chest had winded him badly. He managed to get a hand to his chest, and was surprised to find it stung to touch. His hand came away wet, and he became aware his shirt was also getting soaked with something other than sweat.
The bladed weapons. The fourth hadn't just hit him, she had sliced into his flesh. He wondered if she would have made herself known if he hadn't tried to escape, or if she would have gone and killed his friends unseen. Fuck. Fuck, this was bad. He had to get out of there before it got worse. Keeping one hand to his chest to stem the flow of blood, he reached his other out to pick himself up
and Gigantica picked him up faster. Large fingers closed around his waist, trapping his elbow to his side. His stomach dropped out as she lifted him into the air, bringing him to eye level. The fourth enemy flew up and sat on Gigantica's hand, next to her captive.
"What should we do with him?" The big lady asked the small one as Minh tried to struggle. He couldn't move his legs, and breathing in was hard, so he could hardly get a spark out of his throat. He beat at her fingers weakly with his free hand, but that did fuck all.
"I have a few ideas." Answered Invisible, as Minh decided to dub her. "Take him down to ground level so his friends can see. I'll wake the boys."
Gigantica shrunk down, but kept her hand large enough to hold him, tightening her hold just briefly to make him stop struggling. He cried out weakly, not having enough air to scream. He shut his eyes tight, not sure how long, but when he opened them again, Qinni and Quake were up again, stood in front of him with Invisible. He tried to take a deep breath, but it came shallow and painful. Qinni leaned in close and drew a sharp fingernail across his cheek.
"You're the kid Gaddris saved." He mused, cocking his head to one side curiously.
"G-Gaddris?" Minh hadn't heard that name since he was fourteen. He sure wasn't expecting that name from this man's mouth. "How...how do you know Gaddris?"
"Gaddris...he's no friend of mine, if that's what you're thinking. Quite the opposite." He circled round the hand, and Minh turned his head to try and keep him in view. "The real question is what Braveheart Gaddris would want with a human child in the first place. Of course, he's no ordinary human child." He felt the man touch his wings and shuddered. "Someone's been sleeping with humans, I see. Which suggests you're a family relation?" He heard Qinni spit. "That's disgusting. That's like if a human had a baby with a dog." None of the others seemed at all offended by Qinni's words. In fact, they seemed to be watching him as though awaiting orders. Behind Minh, he gave a firm nod and wiped his hand on his trousers. "Let's clip the wings of Gaddris' little champion here."
"No!" Minh started to struggle again. "No no no, please, no!" It had been so painful growing them in the first place, he'd been through so much just getting them, and if he couldn't fly, he and his friends would be stranded in this desert, left to die. He heard something wet tear behind him, and saw bits of Qinni's clothes and skin fall to the floor.
Quake gagged and turned away. The hand that grabbed Minh's wings was now thicker, clawed and scaly. He really was whatever strange thing Uncle Gaddris had been.
"Please...please no..." Minh begged again. "Please d-" He cut off with a strangled squeal as Gigantica tightened her hold again. He heard pops and cracks as joints dislocated and bones broke, and by some miracle managed not to cry. He panted for breath and felt a pull at his wings.
Maybe it wouldn't be too bad, he thought. Maybe they'd injure one wing, stop him from flying, and leave him there. Maybe someone would come to save him. They had devices on them they could activate to send out an emergency distress signal, they could have called for help as soon as the villains left them be. Maybe no-one would die today after all.
"Kristen, Ram, come give me a hand here, will ya? Kim, be a dear and hold him steady." Invisible and Quake walked round behind him to join Qinni. Quake still looked a little ill. Three pairs of hands gripped his wings, and at Qinni's command, they began to pull.
At first, it was tugging, pinching, then muscles pulling and tearing, the joints of his wings dislocating. There was no way the three of them would be strong enough to fully rip his wings of, though, right? Nails and claws were digging into leathery flesh, and Minh was crying now. He was sure every joint he had in there was gone, and they were still twisting and pulling. He wasn't sure how long they were pulling for before they stepped away, getting their breath back. They sure as hell weren't going to move any more, sure as hell weren't going to fly.
"Think he's had enough?" Asked a man's voice.
"Not nearly." Answered a woman. "He burned my face! My face, Qinni! That's my best damn asset!"
"Yeah, it's fuck ugly now. You have blisters all over the place."
"He likes his wings so much, I want them ripped all the way off!"
"See, I only want to hurt him because he's with that fuckhead Gaddris. You have a personal vendetta."
"You know how many times I've fought this little idiot? Enough times that I'm not satisfied seeing him blubbering like a baby. Little dream crushing fly."
"Oh, go for it. Just make sure to save some for us too, yeah?" And with that, he was being lifted up again, and now it was Gigantica's finger and thumb on his wings.
It was as easy to her as pulling the leg off a Barbie doll. The sensation of having a body part physically torn off was one he couldn't really describe. It hurt, it was agonising. Flesh and sinew tore, and he felt his back try and go with it. His shoulders pulled back with the force, his body almost bent double. For a moment, he thought his spine would snap in two. He was faintly aware that he was screaming now. It seemed like an eternity, and then his back was a mess of torn, bloody flesh. He saw his wings thrown carelessly aside, and then...she opened her other hand.
Minh fell, no way to save himself. If he hit the ground from up there, he would certainly die, but there was nothing he could do to prevent it. He shut his eyes and awaited his fate, pain rippling through him still. He couldn't even think about the wind rushing by him or the ground coming up to meet him. All he could think of was the pain.
No comments:
Post a Comment