Ataris saw Jesseca fly backward from Hannah and rushed to continue where she’d left off. The tall African American turned to mist and phased through the mob unharmed. Returning to solid form in front of Hannah he held up his axe with a smile. “Remember me?” he asked.
“I remember that you were annoying.” Hannah said and fired a blast of radiation at him, missing him as he turned his chest to mist again to dodge the attack.
“Slow learner?” he asked with a chuckle. He started to phase back but suddenly felt cold. Looking down he saw that his torso was now a solid block of ice.
“Apparently not.” Hannah said with a sinister grin as she punched a hole into Ataris’ chest with a radioactive fist, shattering the man’s chest and killing him instantly.
“Jesseca, we need to get out of here, we’re the only one’s left.” Severe thought to her teammate as she hovered above the crowd, scanning the area for a sign of Jesseca.
“Leaving so soon?” Hannah asked as she hovered behind Severe.
Severe tried to attack Hannah with a blast of telekinesis, but found Hannah’s mind to be a minefield of insanity inducing thoughts. Screaming in pain and holding her throbbing head, Severe lost her memory of having superpowers and quickly plummeted to the Earth, dying instantly.
The mob parted as Hannah hovered down to meet Jesseca on the ground. “Just you and me now kitten.” she said with a smile.
“I’m gonna rip your heart out you homicidal bitch!” Jesseca shouted and leapt at Hannah, sword swinging furiously at her foe.
“Swatting flies?” Hannah asked with a chuckle as she dodged the blade every time Jesseca swung it at her.
“Keep joking, it might be hard to do later when your head’s on the other side of the room.” Jesseca said as she blasted at Hannah knocking her backward.
“You got a whole lot more powerful since the last time I left you for dead.” Hannah said, blasting back at Jesseca and sending her flying backward.
Jesseca recovered quickly and sneered at Hannah before running full bore at her, sword overhead in preparation of a strike. Hannah leapt over Jesseca and let her run underneath before landing behind her. What Hannah hadn’t noticed was that Jesseca had spun on her heels and brought her sword back around, slicing Hannah in half at her waist.
“…and smarter.” Hannah managed to choke out before the two halves of her separated and fell to the floor with a sickening wet thud.
Jesseca breathed heavily as she looked around at the horde of enemies still surrounding her. “One down, a thousand to go.” she thought with a sigh as she lifted her sword once more, readying herself for a fresh onslaught, but none came. As Jesseca stood still, waiting, she heard someone clapping.
“Very good Ms. French, you passed with flying colors.” an unseen voice said from somewhere in the vast courtyard.
Jesseca watched as the army of Thorns disappeared before her eyes, and the courtyard faded into a stark steel room, void of everything except one man. “Who are you? What’s going on?” Jesseca asked, noticing that her attire had changed to a simple shirt and disposable diaper, her sword and other enchanted items gone along with her jumpsuit and her surroundings.
“I am Ernesto Hess, and you have passed your trial.” the man said with a smile.