"You prick!" Hurricane spat in Dick's direction, the air crackling with his electricity again. Moving as fast as before, the green escaped it's concrete tomb and this time furled itself around Hurricane like an anaconda with it's prey. He struggled against their strength, releasing high voltage currents to destroy them in an attempt to break free. For every bit of foliage that burned away, more rose to replace it, keeping him cocooned.

His balance better than a minute ago, Dick swayed slightly to a stop beside me, both of us focusing on

Roman's next move.

Roman himself was assessing the situation before him, clearly trying to figure out who to hit first. I saw the second he decided, his eyes falling on me and narrowing as he gritted his teeth. Then there was nothing but pain slicing through my head, blinding me and tearing through my lungs with a harsh scream. I heard Dick call to me but he sounded underwater. I pressed my palms into my temples, hoping to mute the throbbing pain somehow but only seeming to make it worse. I was beginning to second guess my plan of making him weaker as I felt the blood seep from my nose and my command on my vines slowly slipping with each agonizing breath. If he was doing this much damage without touching me, how could I imagine that I was making him any weaker?

Dick must've made a run for Roman because I heard the distant sounds of grunts, the pain in my head momentarily disappearing. With that moment of mental freedom, I saw Dick kneeling on the floor again, biting back his screams so they came out more as strained moans. He was only a few feet away from Roman, who somehow had gotten a hold of one of Dick's escrima sticks and angled to strike. Seeing my eyes on him, Roman smirked and brought the stick down swiftly on the back of Dick's head before continuing his mental attack on me too.

The pain building in my head again, the image of him striking Dick flashing on the back of my eyelids violently; the anger pushed me to focus harder. Almost as if I was sensing the cracks in his power, I felt myself gaining enough control for one attack. I pushed everything I felt down, feeling it thicken in my lungs as the sonic cry built up. My head was angled down from the pain but if I could force it up, I could easily hit my target.

I gasped in air sharply, pulling my head back as the scream let loose. I felt it ripple back at me, bouncing off the concrete beneath me before spreading further and further across the space. I knew when it made contact with Roman the second the pain cleared from my head. I opened my eyes again to see him, back against the pillar, staring at me in shock. He apparently hadn't been aware of my scream.

I staggered slightly but rose to my feet, heading in his direction to do more physical damage when a gust of air suddenly swept me back. I pushed forward again only to be shoved back further and spun on my heels to glare at Hurricane. He seemed confused, looking around at us all like he wasn't sure what was happening. Whether it was true or not, I didn't have the time or will to find out.

The vines started rising of their own accord this time, twisting their way towards him when Roman spoke, surprising me. "His fight isn't with you, it's with your boyfriend," he said gruffly. "We all know you can take him easy enough, so why not let the wannabe Dark Knight have his time."

"In what world would that be a fair fight? He doesn't have powers like we do—"

"I can make Daniel not use his," Roman interrupted me. I couldn't help but wonder why he was so eager to do so, but I couldn't deny how helpful it would be to my plan of weakening him. "Strictly hand to hand, even fighting ground."

I gritted my teeth. He was up to something and I'm sure it was something I wasn't going to like. The vines continued their path, wrapping around Hurricane who looked just as weary as I felt. Sparks flickered at his fingertips again, his own attack pending.

Then, another surprise.

"Do it," Dick said to Roman. I nearly got whiplash, my head snapped to look at him so fast. "Make him do it and I'll fight him."

"What are you doing?" I hissed at him.

He looked at me more calmly than I thought anything warranted until I noticed the tightness of his eyes. He wasn't just calm, he was deathly calm. The kind that always terrified me to see. "He got you killed. I can take care of him." I wanted to argue with him, insist it wasn't necessary, but in reality none of it was in my control. Roman was the one with the mind control, all I could do was hope he kept his word.

Rising from his spot on the floor, Roman looked directly at Hurricane, calling his attention. "No powers. Fight him and show him whose boss. Prove yourself to Emmy."

"My fucking name is Madalyn," I snapped, but they all ignored me.

Hurricane only nodded at Roman, his eyes redirecting and focusing solely on Dick. I was reluctant, but called the vines back as Dick moved into stance. Inside, I was torn between worrying about protecting Dick's inner virtue and whether Roman's order would be strong enough to hold over Hurricane.

Dick made the first move, running and jumping at Hurricane, twisting himself to lock around him and flip them both to the ground. Hurricane let out a pained sound but wasted no time in landing his own blows. He elbowed Dick in the face repeatedly until he was forced to let him go, then flipped them over in an attempt to pin him down. Dick reversed the move fluidly, tossing Hurricane over him before flipping himself back up to stand.

I was so intent on watching the scene that I noticed what seemed like flickering at the edges of my vision. I blinked a few times in an attempt to clear it, thinking it was a side effect of Roman's earlier attacks. A reminder itself, I turned to Roman, finding him swiping at the blood still coming down his nose. His eyes looked over and met mine, anger burning in them. "You obviously see what's happening to me," he said. "Are you just going to stand by and let your little brother die?"

"If you would've asked me—if you would've told me about what was wrong, the right way without deciding for me what was going to be done, maybe things would've been different," I answered. "Maybe I would've worked with you to find a way that we could both stay alive. But you never considered that."

He laughed bitterly. "You know, if they were alive, Mom and Dad would tell you you're being very selfish right now. We both know you're only turning me down because you want to stay with your boyfriend."

"No. I'm turning you down because I know what it's like to die. I've done it twice now and I have no intention of doing it again. Especially not as another lab specimen for someone else's crap theory on genetics."

"I can always make you, you know."

"The blood spewing from your face is telling me otherwise."

Roman's jaw tightened, his eyes locking mine with his fiercely just as the pain returned to my head. It wasn't as bad as before but still enough to bring me to my knees, my teeth grinding to fight it. I managed to keep my eyes on his, challenging him to do his worst. It probably wasn't the best course of action, given what he could do and hearing Dick yell out to me from his brawl, but it seemed like a better idea to keep him preoccupied with me so he couldn't intervene with Hurricane and Dick.

"Well, maybe these words falling from my mouth will tell you something else," he said, trying to sound intimidating despite the tired slump to his shoulders. "You can't force plants up out of the cement, Emmy, you just aren't strong enough. You weren't made strong enough. Your scream is useless, it's a normal scream with no other effect than annoying everyone. All the power you thought you had was just wishful thinking. You're only purpose for existence is to give your life so I can live. Wouldn't you agree?"

I could feel the words working their way through my mind, sewing themselves into me. I believed him; every single word. Roman was my brother and why wouldn't I be willing to give my life if it meant saving his? He would do it for me in a heartbeat. We were twins, we'd always had each others back and we always would. I loved him more than anyone or anything; there was nothing that could beat that. And really, I wasn't worth anything. Like he said, I was weak. I couldn't just make plants materialize, let alone thrust out of stone and really what was the point of being able to manipulate them if it had such constraints? I'm just a glorified gardener. Why not do something that actually mattered with my life?

"Madds! Don't listen to him!" Dick's voice broke through my thoughts, starting out low before seeming to echo around inside my skull. "You're strong! Stronger than anyone I know!" My head turned slowly in his direction, hearing his words and seeing him in brief instances as he and Hurricane continued their battle. When he was able to meet my gaze, his was undeniably pleading and pulled hard at something in me. "Madds, whatever he wants you to do, fight it. What would Donna tell you?"

The name struck even harder at me, my eyebrows drawing together warily as her face flashed across my mind. Donna, the truly strongest person I had ever known, who was taken out too soon. Donna, who if she'd been here would've probably slapped me for everything I'd put her and Dick through with my disappearing acts. Donna, who had died to save innocents, to save people who truly deserved it.

People who wouldn't have pitted Dick and Hurricane against each other, equal fighting plains or not.

That part of me that pulled when Dick spoke, slammed repeatedly into me now, keeping rhythm with my heartbeat as I focused on those thoughts. Focusing on the truth past what Roman wanted me to believe. I could feel my power just out of reach, not letting me dip into it no matter how much I wanted to. I knew I was stronger than he wanted me to think, but whatever he'd done in my head wouldn't let me reach it. The throbbing pain grew as I fought against it and I slumped forward, the zipper on my jacket end digging into my arm as my body pressed against it. I was starting to hate myself, feeling like a failure for not being able to save myself, thinking of how broken I was going to end up leaving Dick if he survived this and I didn't.

I thought back to when we first met, a lightbulb suddenly going off in my head. I moved slowly, hoping Roman wouldn't notice, my hand slipping into my pocket and fingers curling around the familiar sharp edges. I swallowed hard, hoping I was able to pull off what I was about to try.

After all, I may not be able to pull the green through the concrete under our feet, but I could still very much manipulate what already exists.

The second I stopped fighting his words, the pain eased considerably and I was able to sit up normally again, breathing ragged. The steel cutting into my palm, I kept my fist tight but my face blank as I swiped at the blood stream down my nose and chin. I stared out at the ground in front of me, giving the most defeated act I could and hoping he believed it.

I barely waited two minutes to attack after I registered his pleased smirk from the corner of my eye.

Moving swiftly in a way that I didn't know I could, I slipped Dick's gift to me in between my fingers, feeling the velvet vines and registering it inside my body. With the flick of my wrist, I sent the sharp edged R flying across the space between me and Roman, willing the vines into action. Relief flooded through me as I watched the vine grow around the dart, wrapping itself around Roman and thrusting him back into the cement pillar behind him. A pointed edge of the R just pressed into his throat, digging enough into the skin that a bead of blood formed beneath it.

I stared at him with a smirk of my own on my lips, my mind made up without me needing to think about it. He was intent that only one of us would survive, so why fight it? "Say hi to Mom and Dad for me," I scoffed, watching his eyes narrow at me. "I'm sure you'll all see each other in hell."

"Probably," Roman replied, surprising me with a laugh. "But then again, so will you. See ya soon."

I glared back at him, a chill running through me from his words but I shoved them aside. I wasn't going to let him get in my head anymore.

I watched the foliage push the dart rough but slowly into his throat, blood choking out of his mouth as it dug deeper. I could see him drowning on his own blood, the last living relative that I knew of, and it meant nothing to me. I didn't so much as blink as he struggled to say something through the blood, making more spill with each pulse of muscle.

As I watched him die, I knew we still had Hurricane to deal with and D'amato, wherever he was, but something in me said it was okay to relax. I kept my eyes on Roman wanting to see the last of his life snuff out for good but grew nervous as I realized he was smiling. In fact, he was more than smiling; he was laughing triumphantly. It confused and distracted me, my mind trying to understand what was so funny when the pain suddenly struck me hard again in my head. This time it was like an explosion, shrapnel embedding in the most painful places in my brain, my vision going white then black. I opened my mouth, my sonic scream escaping of it's own accord.

Despite it's volume and force, I somehow heard Dick call out my name full of fear and pain.

Be honest guys, is this chapter as bad as I feel like it was? 😅 I hope not lol
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