19 Friend and Foe Part 2

Chelsea Pov

Waiting is always the worst part. Especially in this world gone mad of ours. One minute you think that things could go back to the way things were and bam, giant sentient cockroaches pop out of the ground. Today was no different as I had to pull off yet another all-nighter to wait and see when the Prophet's horrible proclamation would come to pass. When I chose the name Prophecy, I did it to remind myself that I had put everyone on this uncertain future of ours. Every piece of slander that I received this past year is warranted. I find it even more despicable that some random, meaningless sociopath would even dare use my name for something as perverted as this.

I made the Champions rebuild a separate world while he seeks to divide even further. And on my soul, I will use every bit of my power to make sure that his perversion will never come to pass. Luckily for me, I didn't have to wait long until to see which one of our ideals will truly last because as soon as morning shone upon the ruined city of Philly, my police scanner got reports of attacks in 3 locations. Once I knew the identity of my attackers, I sent the proper Champions out to each attack and prepared myself for a battle; they may decide everything.

Ivan Pov

Despite Prophecy's orders, I didn't sleep; I was far too angry for any of that. When I came to America, I thought it was to make a new start, but it seems that I hadn't escaped anything. Ursa was still somewhere in this city, free to plan and hide behind any Helix that he pleased. And even when I thought I was free to pursue my freedom, it seems that another person close to me was trapped in a potentially endless cycle. Which makes what I'm about to do so much worse.

With Chelsea providing Reconnaissance from the air, I was able to get a bird's eye view of the police headquarters I got to work relatively fast. Depending on perspective, my "target" was already busy taking care of the brunt of the scattered police. Knowing that they were mind-controlled victims made my job so much harder as I had to fight them and the cops. Luckily for me, they were unfocused, so obsessed with their mindless mission that they had lost all immediate focus. After half a dozen cops and helixes were down, I quickly piled onto the wrecked and evacuated top floor. Using a stolen police flare, I signaled my final stand as I prepared for one of the toughest fights of my career. Too bad Prophecy decided to interject my clear focus.

"You only get one shot at this Winter are you sure you can sync up?"

"I'm sure Prophecy, I just need to make sure your calculations and location are correct as well," I said passive-aggressively.

A couple of seconds later, I closed my eyes and focused the endless storm inside straight into my arms and let it accumulate over time. The closest thing I could compare it to was sticking my bare hands into a cold bucket of shard-like ice. In this state, the world seemed to slow down to an unbearable crawl with my surroundings fading into the ether. This crawl only stopped when Prophecy in tensed breath said one pivotal word.

"Now!"

In that second, my eyes flew open, but I knew that Prophecy was wrong. Three seconds later, I felt my gut cave in from a punch, unlike any other! With my focus finally interrupted, my accumulated power unleashed its full force onto Wildfire! And as our combined might send both of colliding into separate walls, I braced myself for when I would have to get back up again!

Because unlike the other Champions, I knew that my power differed. Besides Alchemist, every other Champion has limits; what they do is what they do. In a sense, there is a sense of peace in knowing that. But I know better than anyone that my power is far more significant than my body could ever support. This means that if it ever came to the wire, it would be my will, my resolve that decided life and death. It was a gap I knew that I could never surpass, with the battle against Gyro and Barrier proving that all the more.

Thus after that battle, I worked hard to make sure that I could end the fight as soon as possible; to force out all of my power in one concentrated blast! I never thought I would have to use it on a friend, but now was the perfect time to test the full strength of my FlashFreeze! In an instant, the surrounding area was caked in seething cold and wind, turning the entire area into an unstable ice rink. The good news is when I hit the opposite wall, I wasn't out of the fight, the stinging daggers of cold in my arms saw to that. The bad news was the force was enough to completely dislocate my left arm, leaving my powers cut in half. Still, the alarming cold was enough to keep up consciousness. Pushing past the pain, I used my blast to lunge upwards in the air to pelt the downed Wildfire in ice and snow! Too bad, I was just a millisecond late as Wildfire was able to launch himself into the opposing wall near the elevator so hard it left cracks.

It was at that moment I knew that I had some small chance of winning this. If Wildfire was indeed slower while mind-controlled, my flash freeze had turned him to a snail by comparison. With a frozen foot, the icy floor and lower body temperature made it, so his speed was gone. In pained breaths, I kept hovering towards Wildfire at a steady pace. But my sloth may have been my greatest weakness as there was still a glint of fire in his eyes. In a panicked bid for survival, I managed to dodge a thrown elevator door by a hair. But that movement created an opening for Wildfire to overwhelm me in mid-air super speed spin completely! Dizzying speed and crippling force made my cold husk of a body helpless against the hold as I'm suddenly sent flying out the building! It was only thanks to год that I was able to leap out of one of the already cracked windows as I spiral back down to the imminent ground. Call it survival instinct or pure desperation, but using every last bit of strength, I fired a blast that sent me careening down the streets of Philadelphia on a slide of ice and snow!

Between my cold body and the intense speed, all I could do was blitz past the surroundings around me. I thought I could at least make this last for a little while, but soon enough, I saw myself right in front of a car. Once again, fear pushed my powers to their limit as in a single bound; I flew over said car just enough to lead into a survivable fall. With my few seconds of rest, I promptly threw up my breakfast on the frosted over streets. I was sick and dizzy. I couldn't even see my frosted breath or blaring cars. What I could register was Prophecy's blaring voice.

"Ivan, you need to move now!"

At her insistence, I placed my hand on the floor to create a small dome of ice around me. Only a second after I put up said barrier a broken lamp post soon invaded its way. Shortly following said lamppost a dozen or so sounds started to pelt against the barrier like hail. Once again, I found myself remembering the painful past, wholly trapped and powerless against an opponent far above me, with Ursa's painful teachings still echoing in my heart. Because as much as I hated that monster, it's times like these that make me wonder if it was all in vain. If I truly needed to feed on my fear, anger, and greed to pioneer in this world gone mad.

But just as the thought entered my head, I realized how stupid it was. Ursa and this Prophet were both the same; they preyed on others to get what they wanted; they never thought about anyone else in their entire lives. And if there is any promise that I would make to myself after that nightmarish incident, it was to make sure that I would do everything in my power to uphold my promise. The promise to always and forever make sure I defend those in need! With my resolve even higher, I used my free hand to propel my right arm into the barrier. A rickety pop made me gasp in pain, but using my powers, I had already dampened it somewhat. Once again, icy daggers dug into my right arm as I asked Chelsea one final request.

"Prophecy I think he's moving slower than usual, you think you can calculate where he's going to be next?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute."

A tense 60 seconds soon played out as, by the second, the barrier's integrity started to crumble. Still, I made my final stand like a cowboy in a western. With my left arm at its limit, this may indeed be my last stand. So I poured all the power I could spare into one final attack that I could barely contain. And as my glowing finger held the weight of a storm, I finally got my location, and I fired with all my might! My igloo completely shattered upon firing as with the speed of a bullet and the force of a blizzard the blast finally held as it connected with the unexpecting Wildfire in a powerful light blue explosion of intense and chilling wind! Like a stone, Wildfire sunk to the ground in a near lifeless heap. Using what little strength I could muster, I stuck to the mission ahead and checked to see if Wildfire was even still alive. Despite his cracked skin, barely shuddering body, and slow beating heart, he was thankfully still alive. I had made through it all with my principles intact.

Besides our distinct power sets, there was another reason why I chose Wildfire to be my opponent. Because I knew that to win it all, we would need to take chances we may not usually like. And I just hope that the others can take that risk, no matter what costs we would have to pay in the future.