Mira Arvaith
The guard lunged for my throat. I ducked beneath his blade and drove my fist into his elbow, knocking the weapon from his hand. I caught it midair and immediately slashed his thigh.
I was never a fan of blades. They require too much precision for my liking, but I'd have to make do. Using my abilities anywhere near the reactors would be a death sentence for all of us.
Right after I spun out of the attack, one guard wrapped his arm around my neck, while the other tried to disarm me.
The pressure around my windpipe tightened. Desperate, I flipped the blade in my hand and drove it into the assailant's abdomen.
Then I felt it.
The blade had struck something hard.
Damn it, they're wearing armor.
I glanced at the scientists. Concern was written across their faces as they watched me struggle for air.
I might just have to risk it.
I let more cosmic energy trickle into my body, giving me enough strength to grip the forearms of the man choking me.
I heard him gasp as his grip loosened. I swung my legs up and kicked him in the head before dropping down and sweeping his legs out from under him. He slammed into the floor, making the catwalk sway violently beneath us.
The last three guards stumbled after me, while I picked up the knife I dropped earlier.
Sirens behind me blared.
"The reactor is going into meltdown!" One of the scientists said.
Damn it, I gotta finish this fast.
I dashed across the catwalk, blade tucked to my side, primed to get past the armor this time around.
But just as I prepared to strike one of the guards, the one in the back suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled something out.
It was a small, rectangular silver box with a couple of buttons.
"Take one more step further, and I blow those scientists to smithereens," the guy said, waving the device.
I froze and looked over my shoulder at the scientists tending the reactor.
"Same goes for all of you back there. Stop what you are doing. You've been told not to tend to the reactors. We are going to crash this isle to the ground."
The scientist behind me dropped their equipment and sat on the catwalk floor.
"Now as for you, hand over the knife and go take a seat next to them." The guard said, still waving the trigger mechanism in his hand.
I hesitated for a second.
Can I push through the two in the front and get to the trigger man in time?
I probably could if I used cosmic energy to enhance my body, but that would accelerate the meltdown process.
How much effort should I put into saving these scientists?
They gave up and went straight to destroying the reactor in service of these assailants.
They weren't willing to die for the right thing.
For justice.
Were their lives worth more than everyone on the island?
I sighed and settled, handing over the knife to the guard, and let the guard walk me over to where the scientists were.
This time they tied our hands to the railing of the catwalk, and the guard placed an explosive around my stomach.
The scientists spared me a sorry expression.
"We're sorry we got you roped up in this mess," one of them said, glancing down at the bomb.
I ignored the scientist and analyzed how his explosives were set up.
The rig was simple; I had watched members of my father's guild use very similar models to loosen up rock formations for mining.
But there was only one way to stop it from triggering.
One had to disrupt the wireless transmission from the bomb and the trigger. If I had my tools, I think I could stop it easily.
Think Mira. You did all that studying; there has to be a way out of this?
Then I felt something cool, and a damp brush past me.
What was that?
I scanned the area, saw nothing, and just frowned at the sensation.
"Yo Mira, why are you looking at me like that?" a voice said in my head.
"Jace?"
"Of course it's me; who else would it be? Did you forget I set up a tether?"
In the moment, I felt dumb, because I had forgotten. But I looked harder into the chasm, trying to find him.
"Where did you go?"
"I sensed a few cosmic energy signatures scaling the chasm from below through a little opening at the bottom. But I'm currently in my vapor state, so you can't really touch or see me right now. But why are you tied up with a bomb strapped to your chest?"
I gritted my teeth.
"No time for all that. I need you to run a small current through this transceiver on the explosive."
"Won't that set it off?"
"Not if you do it the way I explain it to you."
"Alright then, show me. What about the guys next to you?"
"They'll figure it out."
"Sounds good."
I explained the method to Jace; he was a quick study and performed the task without a hitch.
As soon as we were clear, I asked Jace to take care of the remaining guards while I tended to the reactor.
He vanished, and the scientist got up with me and began running diagnostics on the reactors.
"Hey, what are you doing?" the guard with the trigger yelled, waving the remote.
"You guys must really want to die," he said, pressing down on the button.
When nothing happened, his face was twisted with confusion.
He pressed it multiple times, almost breaking the remote, trying to get it to work.
"What's going on with this thing?" the guard said, pulling out his own dagger and charging after us.
I let a wide grin tug at my cheeks as I watched a grey cloud engulf him and the other guards.
Three quick streaks of lightning, a couple of deafening wails, and within moments Jace had the guys knocked out in front of us and tied them to the rails.
I owe him my life, but I will never give him the satisfaction of saying it to his face.
When I turned back to the reactor's main screen, the core was deteriorated by seventy percent.
"We gotta seal up the cooling systems now!" I yelled at the other scientist, who seemed to be in shock due to all the stress of the situation.
They would have benefited from our rigorous schooling.
I dashed over to the cooling systems, placed my hand on them to bend and shape the minerals in the panels. I called Jace over to use his lighting to weld them into place right after, and we repeated the process for the rest of the panels.
When I got back to the control panel, the process was beginning to reverse, but it was still too slow.
I need to find out how to speed up the cooling process.
Then one of the guards' walkie-talkies went off.
"The isle should be at a lower altitude by now. If it doesn't increase in speed fast, we are giving the authorities enough time to throttle our plans," someone said from the other side.
A few moments passed in silence.
"Is anyone there. If not, we are going to continue with plan B, killing the students whose bodies are still here. There are only two places we have to worry about. The gymnasium and the test isle; they are defenseless right now, so it shouldn't take much time. We will meet your squad at the rendezvous point." The person on the other side of the walkie-talkie said.
Jace and I glanced at each other. No words were needed; we were already on our way out of the reactor room.