He flung the ball of fire at me, and I leaped to one side. It struck the wall behind me. Jones screamed and raced out the open door.
'Run!' Twelve thundered at his retreating figure. 'Run and tell them a God now walks the Earth!'
He leaped over a table and cartwheeled over a bench. I jumped back. If he had everyone's powers, then he also had Ebony's transmutation ability. He could turn me to dust in a second. I created a force shield between us, and he collided with it. He pointed at me and tried pushing a jagged spear of ice through the shield.
He's strong.
'They will build a statue to me!' he snarled.
I doubt it.
Struggling to push him back, I focused on removing his air supply. He gasped and gripped his throat. I leaped over a table and through the exit door. Fighting in the lab was only putting the others in danger. I needed to get him into the open. Racing down the corridor, I projected a shield behind me, but Twelve didn't follow. Mister Jones was already gone. I jumped into an elevator and hit the button for The Cavern. There was plenty of room up there. At least I'd be able to maneuver—
The elevator shuddered violently. I peered down at my feet just as a fist slammed through the floor.
Twelve's angry face appeared through the jagged tear.
'You will obey me, child!'
I doubt it.
I sent a wall of wind at him that took out the entire floor. The elevator—or what remained of it—continued to rise. I then destroyed the ceiling and flew past the broken cable. Glancing down, I saw that Twelve had fallen several floors before punching a hole in the wall of the elevator shaft to stop his descent.
How do I stop this guy?
Reaching The Cavern level, I forced air between the shaft doors—just in time. A roar rushed up the shaft as I leaped through the gap, and a ball of white-hot flame missed me by inches. I heard an explosion and screaming. The ground shuddered. Fire alarms came to life.
I flew across a sea of machinery. The sight below me was terrifying. There were scientists and administrative staff everywhere. They had no idea what was on the way. Another huge explosion came from the shaft. As I landed, I saw an enormous piece of machinery fly through the air and slam into a group of scientists.
No!
I took to the air again. I had to take Twelve out as quickly as possible. He was utterly out of control. Whereas I didn't want to harm anyone, he had no such morals. He stalked across The Cavern, firing at anything in his path. Building up a blast of air, I readied it to fire just as he spotted me. He raised a hand, and then a haze of white flew toward me.
Ice.
I struggled to break free, but it had wholly encased me.
Cold. It's so cold.
It was like being inside a frozen coffin. Even before I hit the floor, the block of ice was already several feet thick. This was almost worse than drowning; I was unable to move at all. It pressed against my skin. My face. Even my eyeballs. I lay on my back, surrounded by it.
There's got to be a way out.
I only needed a gap. And that's what I found. There was the tiniest space between my body and the ice. It wasn't even a sixteenth of an inch, but it had to be enough. I focused on that tiny pocket of air, searching for a weakness in the ice. The air expanded outwards into a tiny crack near my waist. It broke into that crack and pushed, expanding against it like a stone cutter smashing open a rock.
Crracckkk!
The ice exploded into a thousand pieces. I was just in time to see a look of astonishment on the alien's face. I then wiped that expression away with a hurricane blast that knocked him flying.
A hail of bullets rang out just as Twelve regained his feet.
It was a group of security guards. Fortunately, they were shooting at Twelve, but the bullets were bouncing off him. His alien makeup, along with the modification, gave him a degree of invulnerability. With him distracted, I picked up a bench and flew behind him, determined to use it as a club. At the last moment, he swung about, grabbed it in midair, and turned the bench to white powder.
That's a problem.
Anything I hit him with was just going to dissolve into some chemical compound. Unless I simultaneously threw so many things at him that he couldn't focus on them all. Within seconds, I was tossing dozens of items at him. A cut opened up over his left eye. Okay. It wasn't much, but at least I was getting somewhere. His invulnerability was dependent on his focus. If he were busy, he couldn't protect himself.
A figure raced across the concourse towards Twelve. At first, I thought it was a guard trying to attack him. Then I realized it was Mister Evans, Twelve's receptionist.
No, I thought. Don't do it!
Through some misguided loyalty, the receptionist had decided to try to talk sense into the alien.
'Stop!' I yelled. 'Keep away from him!'
But there was nothing I could do. The aide had already reached the alien. Twelve laughed. It was a horrible sound. Mister Evans faltered and took a step back, but Twelve advanced on him.
'Run!' I screamed.
'Mister Evans!' Twelve yelled, reaching out a hand. 'Thank you for all your years of service!'
He gripped the aide's hand and transformed him into yellow powder: sulfur. The person that used to be Mister Evans splatted to the floor. Now Twelve turned his attention to me, blasting me with another beam of fire. I only just got my shield up in time; the heat was so intense I couldn't remain in the air. Landing on the floor, I was driven to my knees as I struggled to keep my barrier in place. The temperature went higher and higher. Pieces of equipment were bursting into flames and melting all around me.
The heat began to seep through the barrier.
I should have flown away, I thought. Now it's too late.
The blast cut off. It was as abrupt as the turning off of a tap. The floor all around me was scorched and black. I expected to see Twelve advancing on me, but instead, he was lying badly burnt on the floor about ten feet away.
What happened?
A voice rang out across the cavern.
'You take on one of us,' Chad yelled. 'You take on all of us!'