The Ties That Bind Chapter 30

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Of Heroes And Villains:
The Ties That Bind

By Minikisa


An assassin.

A fallen hero.

An unlikely meeting.

The road to redemption is long and hard and filled with explosives.
The Ties That Bind



Dionaea yelped when one of the remaining heroes suddenly discharged an energy beam into their direction. Tex growled and pushed her with him onto the floor as the buffet table behind them exploded, shielding her with his body.

First rule of combat: Always, always protect the medic.

Especially when there was a targeted virus going around.

He could hear screams all around him, escalating into the familiar sounds of battle. Tex scrambled behind the overturned table, dragging Dionaea with him. She seemed a little dazed, but unhurt, and more importantly, not intent on attacking everyone around her.

“You have mental defenses?” he asked, and peered around the corner at the black-haired woman who was laughing on the stage, clapping in delight as she watched the sudden violence.

“I…I wear PsyBlockers.” Her red eyes were wide.

Tex nodded, calculating. He wasn’t really much of a strategist – there was a reason he preferred to work in teams where people would point him toward what to explode – but he did have almost a decade of combat experience.

He could still see several people convulsing on the floor. Possibly dying. Or about to be trampled.

“Okay. You need to get to the sick people to heal them.” He snapped his fingers, producing a small spark. “I’ll distract the psychic and hopefully take her out.”

Psychics were often physically weak and vulnerable; once knocked out, whatever control she was exerting should dissipate.

He hoped.

Just as he had to hope his mental walls would hold long enough to get near her.

Psy had given him those walls. He had insisted on it in their senior year in high school. While Tex had built rudimentary shields reasonably quickly with his help, Stephen had still pestered him beyond that into daily meditations for months until he had judged them ‘adequate’.

Mark remembered being annoyed. It had struck him as unnecessary. Being young and stupid, he hadn’t been able to conceive of ever not working with Psy, who shielded all his allies during combat anyway.

Nowadays, Tex was grateful for his friend’s legacy, all the more in situations like these. His strong mental shields had saved his hide from mind control more times than he cared to count. He was aware of the bitter irony in there somewhere.

“That plan is about as brilliant as I expected from you,” Dionaea said, baring her claws. Literally. She was flexing her fingers, her nails growing sharp and long, curving like thorns.

“We ain’t exactly got a lot of options here. Do you want to just let them die?”

“No. But I’m not in the mood for getting crushed, and the psychic would use her puppets to block your path before you ever reached her.”

She pressed her claw into her palm, running it down to her wrist. Blood welled, and Tex stared incredulously.

“So you’re just, what, suicide-ing to save her the trouble?”

Her blood dripped on the floor, dissolving into fine red mist at the impact. The ground cracked, and started moving, as if something was slithering beneath the dance floor. It expanded outward with every drop of blood it was fed.

“No, I’m doing what I do best.” She grinned slyly. “Tying people up.”

Dozens of enormous vines burst forth from the floor, lashing out to wrap themselves around the fighting guests, prying them apart. They coiled around their limbs, tightening until movement was impossible, no matter how much they kicked and struggled.

Tex, impressed despite himself, dashed from their hiding spot, not one to waste an unexpected opening. The psychic’s eyes were already narrowed in their direction, no doubt looking for the source of the attack, and Tex was more than willing to provide a target to distract her from the healer.

Dionaea’s vines had not been able to catch everyone, however. One of the mind-controlled heroes instantly turned to Tex, eyes milky white, firing a hail of energy blasts. Tex dodged, rolling on the floor, and then kept running at the woman whilst strafing in an unpredictable pattern. His palms were crackling with red lightning, charging his explosive energy.

White eyes glared at him, puppets in suits and gowns closing in on him, but more vines broke through the floor, sweeping them away and clearing his path. Tex absently thought that Dionaea was surprisingly good at team work, although he still glanced over his shoulder and motioned for her to prioritize the sick, not him. He red gaze showed no comprehension whatsoever, so apparently she’d never learned tactical sign language, but at least she was making her way to the wounded anyway.

Agony speared his mind.

Tex gritted his teeth, his shields barely warding off the mental assault, almost cracking under the pressure. The woman was laughing at him. Yet then she suddenly jerked her gaze away, eyes narrowing at the nearby balcony. The woman’s face twisted into a grimace, not paying attention to him in the slightest, and Tex used his reprieve to charge ahead.

She flinched, and then her hateful gaze swung back to him.

Stop moving.

His knees almost buckled, but he pressed on. His vision was blurry, darkening at the edges, and he crouched low, realizing he was out of time. Tex’ hand closed around the debris Dionaea’s vines had left when they broke through the floor, suffusing the shrapnel with his kinetic energy.

Then, aiming as best as he could with his darkening vision, he threw a volley of explosives into the psychic’s direction.

The stage exploded, the shockwave of the small yet devastating blasts knocking nearby people back.

Tex sank to his knees, panting, the pressure on his mind easing. He blinked rapidly, his vision returning.

“Enough.” The haughty voice was calm, yet undeniable enraged. Tex’ head snapped up.

She’d dodged his blast. Only the very hem of her long gown was singed, trailing smoke. Suddenly hands grabbed him by the shoulders, yanking him back and hoisting him up. He kicked and thrashed against the grip of her puppet, but it was no use – too strong. Out of the corners of his eyes he saw that he was being held by a young woman, her eyes white and blank. He recognized her as a newbie heroine named Miss Chief with the power of superstrength.

Tex could have charged the fabric between his fingertips. His own blasts couldn’t hurt him.

But the heroine had no invulnerability to go with that superstrength. She wouldn’t survive an explosion at close range.

“Your shields are strong. But not strong enough.” The woman’s face smoothed back into her smile, although it no longer hid the mad gleam of sadism in her eyes. “To you, I will give a very special nightmare. A wonderland of tooth and claw and your greatest fears, feasting on your insides. Smile, hero. It’ll be fun. For me. Not so much for you.”

Tex squeezed his eyes shut, pouring all his concentration into maintaining his shields, but he could feel her, her touch so very light yet scraping the outer layer like nails on a chalkboard, the noise so unbearably grating.

And then she actually attacked.

Mark cried out as razors dug into his skull, shredding the remains of his shields. The green of his iris paled to silver as the ballroom fell away, the dark and twisted shadow of an old-fashioned country house looming over him. The shadow was dancing, flickering in the light of the burning barn while a woman screamed, screamed with a twisted maw, saliva dripping from her canines, screamed at him, for being a freak, for being wicked, for bringing nothing but misery to her life since she had let him into it –

And then he was back in the opulent hall, panting, disoriented, blinking at the black-haired woman in front of him. Her brows furrowed and Mark could feel her scraping his shields again, shields that were suddenly back and whole and unbroken.

She hissed and he felt an echo of her slamming against his restored walls. But it was just that; an echo. No pain.

“Crude,” chided a soft voice.

A familiar voice.

Mark froze.

“My walls are not that easily broken.”


***



The nerve pinch Radiance utilized left a grown man unconscious for up to five hours.

That estimate did not take into account a healing factor.

Kara’s fingers started twitching.

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Comments

Yes!

“Crude,” chided a soft voice.

A familiar voice.

Mark froze.

“My walls are not that easily broken.”

I guess that was PsyKick's form of a sarcastic "I'm baaack!"

Wonderful chapter. Thank you.

Cicero2K
'Otium cum dignitate'

great but...

are the chapters getting shorter, your just doing that to torture us right?
great chapter, thanks

*giggles*

Once I get past 1k words, I set the endpoint of a chapter for maximum emotional devastation. So it can vary anywhere from 1,2k to 2,5k :P I promise the next chapters are all 1,5k+

Great Story, Impatiently waiting for more...

As I've said before with your stories in this universe, I'm loving what you've written, and am impatiently waiting for the next day to arrive and with it the next chapter each time after finishing the most recent one :/

I've got to say that that is one way to re-enter the life of an old friend... and looks like Shade will be turning up despite Caroline's best wishes... :P

Let the flames of inspiration blaze within, and the sky be less of a limit, and more of a challenge

Epic

Gotta love dramatic entrances.

Awesome stuff

Hehehehe

Tas's picture

The end of a chapter always leaves a grin on my face. Thank you again for these! I know I don't usually leave comments, but I thought I'd put one down to remind you of all the people that enjoy your stories but find it difficult to leave comments (when reading on phones/tablets for example).

:)
-Tas

Can't stay down

I knew that Kara would not be down for long, and she will be mad when she returns.

The future

I have said it before, I'll say it again: I love your work!

Out of curiosity, have you got many other stories, Of Heroes and Villains related or other story universes, planned for your hungry audience? Can we look forward to hearing the stories of other Paragon City residents?

I feel greedy asking for more, since what you have produced so far is a superb smorgasbord, but still: more, please?

Hugs.

More you shall have

I'm currently writing the threequel starring Captain Dudebro, and also have assorted smaller stories I'll post once I've gone through my backlog of chapters :) For other story universes... have you read Dragonslayer? :3

Indeed!

Yes, thanks, I have read it. It was, ooh, weeks ago, so maybe I could read it again! Have some other ideas germinated around that seed? Perhaps some backstory of the Dragon or the Archer?

I am glad I have more to look forward to!

It is an honour to be part of your audience.

Hugs,

A.

Rrg

Tas's picture

I want to leave actual comments, but the cliffhangers are just forcing me onwards.

Next chapter!

-Tas