2-17

Victoria landed in front of the guy in a lab coat with cobbled together power armor. It looked like it was built from inside his garage or a run down lab. She could see weld spots on the outer layers of armor. He leveled a gun in her direction when she appeared. It was a boxy thing with cables sprouting from it to his backpack.

The guy didn't look very healthy. He was sweating heavily with his hair sticking up in random places. His labcoat was covered in stains or grease. He was taking in heaving breaths and had been walking down the street shooting random buildings with his gun. He pulled the trigger on his gun and rolls of light shot from his backpack to his gun through the cables. The gun lit up in places and shot a blue liquid ball at Victoria.

Victoria took a step into the blow when it came. She had learned to do that after one surprise hit had slapped her down a block. The blue ball hit her in the chest and it felt like someone splashed warm water down her shirt. She stepped through the plasma and with a flex of her will shot across the distance between them and set her hand on top of the gun.

A jerk ripped it from his hands, she kept pulling and he spun giving her direct access to his back pack. She dropped the gun and set her hands on the frame of his power armor and the backpack before tearing it off. The suit went dark and powered down. Victoria slowly lowered him down onto his back. She could hear sirens in the distance, “The police are on their way. Take a time out.”

He started screaming about how the whole town was owned. Victoria floated back, she thought he had something deeply wrong with him. Probably something wired wrong in his brain. “Next problem.”

The little arrow that had led her here flipped and pointed up. She looked up and with a flex of will, shot from the ground following it. Victoria had been doing this all day, she was hungry and thirsty. She had turned the temperature down on the suit awhile ago, it felt like wearing clothes pulled out of a refrigerator. It helped her keep cool but it didn't stop her sweating from the stress. She could feel it pool on her lower stomach and her boots.

She was starting to feel gross but she had to keep going. Victoria figured out what that timer in Ambers lab was for. The world had fallen into almost chaos and Victoria felt like she was the only one holding it together. Shooting through the sky felt freeing but every time she dipped back down to the ground she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders even more.

She shot through the cloud layer following the arrow. It tilted at an angle down and she saw the problem before she got close. There were a couple buildings on fire and some guy trying to burn down another. People were running from the area and fire fighters were starting to show up.

Victoria stepped into the man who was shooting fire out of his hands. She just slowed down enough to push him out of the space he existed in. he lifted of the ground and slapped the side of a burning building with his face. She nodded then lifted off the ground and started looking in back yards for something. When she saw it she dropped into the back yard and grabbed the steel tub that people used for watering plants. It was half filled with water and the lady in the back yard gave a shout as Victoria lifted it, “I need this. Emergency!”

She flew up and over to the fire fighters who were getting their hoses out, ready to fight the fire. Landing near them she set the tub down and pointed at it, “Fill that. I will be right back.”

They looked startled but pointed the hose into the tub. Victoria nodded then flew back over to the guy who started all these fires. He was trying to pick himself up off the ground. She swooped down and snatched him off the ground by his armpits. He gave a yelp and she flew back to the firefighters with him below her.

When he saw the firefighters he started shooting flame directionless. Victoria, still holding him, gave a quick spin. The blood left his head and he passed out. She finished her flight by lowering him into the now filled tub of water. She tucked his limbs in and set him so he couldn't sink, it was a smaller tub. She grabbed the sides of the tub then pulled, twisting the metal, locking him in and stopping him from lighting any other fires.

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Victoria nodded to the firefighters then turned to one of the burning buildings. She flew through a broken window and looked around the room. When she didn't see anyone she went to the next. If there was a bed she flipped it, if there was a bathtub she checked if it was empty. Victoria even looked in all the cupboards for any small human. When she didn't find anyone she flew over to the next house, then the next house until she cleared them all.

She handed the little dog to the firefighters, “Give me some space. I am going to make a vortex and starve the fires. You guys will just have to spray a little water and watch so the fire doesn't restart after I leave.”

She gave them time to give the fires space and when they gave her the go ahead she leaned forward and flew forward. Victoria kept her speed below the speed of sound but she pushed as close as she could. She slowly built height as she flew circles around the fires, when she felt she was high enough she would change her angle and fly down closer to the ground.

She felt the fire get really hot then suddenly go out, burning through its resources too fast to keep going. She came to a stop above the fire and when the wind calmed down she watched the firefighters run towards the smoldering buildings and hose them down, “Next.”

The arrow twisted upwards. Victoria let out a sigh then turned to face the blue sky and shot off into it. When she passed through the clouds the arrow was still pointing upwards. Victoria lifted her hand in front of her, curled them into fists and really pushed. It got really loud, the wind screaming in her ears and across her helmet. Then suddenly it went quiet as she blew through the sound barrier.

The horizon stretched out before her and the moon rose with her. It gave her a little fluttering feeling in her stomach but she shoved it to the side and pushed forward faster. She followed the arrow as it slowly curved down. Passing through the clouds she saw where the arrow was pointed and as she got closer she saw the problem. There was a line of military vehicles stretching a half a mile. The road they were on was approaching a city and she knew what that meant.

She pushed forward and slammed down a few feet ahead of the lead vehicle. She stood up from her crouch and turned to the side, the bumper of the truck hit her hip. Shrieking metal and the snapping of plastic, the front of the military wrapped around her. She heard the back end of the truck slam down so she pushed and shoved her way out of the wrecked vehicle.

She stepped back away from the wreck, it jumped forward as the vehicle behind it slammed into it. She shook her head then floated up and looked in the cab. The driver was fighting the air bag that had slapped him in the face. Victoria felt relief at the sight of his seatbelt then turned back to the sky and took off. She flew down the line of vehicles, people were starting to stop in the convoy. The closer they were to the crash the faster they stopped, some were starting to step out of the vehicles.

She extended her leg out and slammed into the last vehicle in the line. It looked like a massive truck with tarps on the back made for carrying people or ammo. The hood crumbled under her heel followed by the engine. She hit the truck harder than she intended and came out the underside, burying her foot in the blacktop over her knee.

She felt oil and other engine fluids fall down on her as she pulled her leg out from the ground. She turned and crawled out from under the vehicle through the front. She stood up and looked down at her suit, ignoring the driver standing by her side screaming at her. She watched the oil slide down her suit and pool at her feet.

She floated up and let it drift off her boots. When the last of it fell off she turned to the sky and took off, “Next.”

The arrow flicked and she took off after it. This one did not make her shoot straight up into orbit but almost. It led her a few cities over, near some train tracks. There was a semi with a really low trailer that was stuck halfway across the tracks. She slowed and landed lightly, the trucker was unhooking his trailer from his truck. Victoria looked down the tracks and saw a train about a half a mile away, the driver was moving like it was ten feet away.

Victoria watched and waited, she was starting to get looks from the people watching the approaching train wreck. The driver climbed into his truck, it let out a hiss and then jerked as it got free of the trailer. Victoria flooded closer to the trailer and the train started blowing its horn.

She grabbed the little round tongue of the trailer and pushed up, lifting the front of the trailer above her head. It creaked pretty bad, there was a lot of equipment in the center of it and the trailer bent. The driver of the semi started freaking out behind her. She took a step forward and started pushing the trailer off the track. Step after step she walked it off the track and when she was on the other side the train flew past, throwing her cape wildly.

She set the trailer down, then lifted off the ground. She floated higher and higher as she watched the activity below. Some type of police force showed up and started questioning people. She lifted her hands and saw the grease covering the gloves from the trailer. “I am done for the day. Give me an arrow to the lab.”

The arrow flipped and she followed it. She floated through the barrier of the lab and landed inside. She turned and walked through the lab, passing by OwlBots and different machines. “Start making me some food and things for when I am out of the shower. This suit needs a wash before I put it back on.”

She entered the showers, ignoring the VIs reply. She lifted her forearm and pushed a button and the suit stopped hugging her so tight. She pulled off the gauntlets and dropped them to the floor. She reached down and pulled off her left boot. She then turned it over and a river of sweat ran out onto the tile flooring. She pulled off the rest of the suit like it was a swimmers wetsuit and stepped into the shower.

Stepping out of the shower the suit was gone and there were clothes sitting on the little table in the corner. She threw it on then went to find the food she asked for. She would eat it, pass out in her room then put on the suit and do it all again tomorrow.