Seth – Sonic

Kashif was bleeding like a stuck pig, but given the situation he didn’t have a lot of options, so he mimicked Jake and tore his shirt out from underneath the football gear to make bandages. While he worked he took stock of the situation. What he saw made him smile.

Just about all the heroes were down. The kid with the lightning bolts was unconscious, the girl who had jumped out of a shadow was unconscious, the bitch cat that had torn up his shoulder looked awake but in a lot of pain, and Amanda had the last girl caught up in her slow-mo.

“You all right?” Seth asked, walking over. He took the ends of the shirt strip from Kashif and tied it on tight. Kashif winced.

“Yeah I’ll be fine. Gonna need to get to a hospital eventually though.”

“Me too!” Jake said angrily, stomping up to stand next to Seth. “Raph – I mean Reign of Pain took the pain away but my arms look pretty bad. Right?”

“Strobe-” Raphael put a hand on his friend’s shoulder but Jake shrugged him off.

“So what about it, huh?” Jake rushed on. “Where does a hospital fit into all the ‘plans’ you guys made? Who’s gonna stitch me up while we’re flying across the ocean?!” Jake began to glow.

“Calm down,” Seth said in a tone that he meant to be soothing but came out sounding exasperated. “We CAN get you guys stitched up while we’re flying to the Caribbean. I’ll just go tell the cops that we’ll give up all the hostages as long as they put a doctor on the plane that’s waiting for us. OK?” Seth turned without waiting for a response to go make good on his promise. And stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Aaron standing in the doorway, talking on a cell phone.

Instantly on guard, Seth hissed under his breath for the others to stay there, and then slowly began walking closer to Aaron, uncapping a second water bottle in preparation. The newcomer was raggedly dressed: torn blue muscle shirt, tight black biking pants with one leg rolled up, mismatched socks, patched shoes, glasses with duct tape on the bridge; all this Seth took in at a glance. As he got nearer he began to catch bits and pieces of the phone conversation.

“….yeah, just got here….no…not yet…pretty bad…she’s here….ok, I’ll wait…hurry.” Aaron hung up abruptly, continuing to stare off to the side. Seth followed his gaze to Amanda who was in the corner keeping Nicole in slow motion. Looking back to Aaron, Seth saw a burning intensity in his eyes that sent a shiver down his spine. Without warning those eyes flicked over to Seth’s, who involuntarily took a step back.

Gulping, Seth managed to force a few words out. “You with the heroes?” he asked lamely.

Aaron didn’t respond vocally. The sound of his knuckles popping as he clenched his fists by his sides spoke a thousand words.

Just then a slim stiletto twirled over Seth’s right shoulder, straight for Aaron’s throat. Moving so quick his body seemed to flow like water, Aaron twisted down and to the left, his right hand shooting up to snatch the blade out of the air. He instantly straightened back up and hurled the knife at Seth.

Seth barely had time to open his mouth before the handle of the knife struck him in the throat. He sank to his knees, doubled over trying to suck in breath through windpipes that suddenly seemed too small. Aaron walked past him without a word.

He headed toward Josh next. Leslie made a move to intercept, but Josh held up a hand. “Just watch the hostages!” he snarled, eyes never leaving his target. She complied, cursing him under her breath for being an arrogant idiot.

The guy got within twenty feet of Josh and stopped, looked him up and down. His eyes lingered on Josh’s neck. Finally, he spoke. “I know the guy who gave you that necklace. Thought you might have a hard time getting it off. Hurts when you try, doesn’t it?”

Josh snapped. He brought his hands together, tore knives out of his wrists, and started throwing.

Aaron leaped high into the air, flattening out his body horizontally so the first two passed underneath him. Josh let fly with two more, planning where the hero would be landing. They missed, though, when instead of landing on his feet Aaron continued to curl forward, turning the landing into a dive roll. A knife sliced inches above each shoulder. Aaron rolled, popped back up to his feet, and was abruptly still.

For the first time since he had gotten his ability, Josh felt a ripple of fear pass through him. Aaron stared at him calmly; eyes empty of emotion, it seemed he was daring Josh to make another move, a new move. Happy to oblige, Josh stamped down hard on his fear while lifting up his shirt with one hand and pulling off one of the guns on his stomach. He cocked it, transferred it to his other hand, and then pulled out the other one. Aaron didn’t move a muscle the entire time.