J A X O N

  
There would never be another battle like this one. I'd been in many fights, but none of this massive scale. As a team, we'd fought for our own lives, but never the lives of the entire world. I hardly liked the responsibility. In any other circumstances, I would have hated it. But fighting in a worldwide war...it was all I could ask for.

Though my power was gone, that restless energy thrummed in my limbs, begging to be expelled. It was stoked by the planes overhead, firing bullets into the masses, by the smell of blood and violence in the air.

But I wasn't stupid; I knew how hopeless this fight would be. Soldiers peeled away from the army to cover the open distance to us as we stood cornered behind enemy lines. More and more were realizing our presence and taking shots, knowing we couldn't hold out for long.

We were trapped.

The only reason we'd broken through their lines was thanks to our power, which had held out most of the way until we got too close to the fortress. And dozens of our own soldiers had done their best to open the Imperium ranks for us, but they couldn't reach us here. It was four against thousands. It was only a matter of time before they realized their advantage, gathered their troops, and wiped us out.

"We fight," Benton said suddenly, probably reading my thoughts. "Even if it kills us."

"Until the end," said Kane, eyes even more solemn than usual. Jake said nothing, staring at the soldiers before us.

Knowing we were about to charge, I unbuckled my pack from my back. Its contents were only for emergencies. And though we might be hacked to pieces by the Imperium army, at least we could make it bleed before we fell.

We advanced as one, weapons gripped tightly. The world seemed to move slowly, even as more black and gold-clad soldiers came for us. I picked them off with a gun in one hand, the other clutching the strap of my open pack.

At our march, the soldiers at the back of the ranks all turned, guns raised. This was it. Our last stand.

     And then there was a flash of silver and an explosion rocked across their ranks. The blowback was so scorching hot I had to close my eyes and turn away. The flesh felt like it would melt off my very bones.

     Blinking through the smoke, I squinted at the canyons to our left. Two dark figures were working their way down the steep side. It was Gigi who had fired one of the explosive arrows I constructed for her. They were meant for the Scorpions, but I wasn't about to complain. Her aim had been impeccable.

      Knowing she'd bought us time and blinded the Imperium soldiers, we delved straight into the smoke. Not being able to see well, I slashed out at everything that moved.

      The smoke hadn't even cleared when I began throwing more bombs to clear our path. The others beat back the soldiers attempting to follow us through the fog. I took a stab to the shoulder and too many blows to count. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw the others were suffering as well. But the smoke layer was working to keep us covered.

      The glowing ray of a Scorpion's plasma cut through the smoke, turning the hazy world white. I leapt out of its path, positive I was going to be burned to a crisp by the time we got to our side again. Another came even closer, trying to wipe us out. There was no time to even think before there was the sound of metal hitting metal, and I knew my father's anti-Scorpion cannons had found its mark. The second stream of plasma promptly disappeared into nothing.

It was unsaid, but we were all feeling the absence of our power. When we'd been here in this portion of the Imperium army before, our powers were able to function. Now, as we stood in the same area, they did not. The weapon's strength was growing.

     It was somewhere near the fortress, for that was where it had been most powerful. I could only hope Riley and Finn or Delphinium could find it and knock it out. Once they did, we would have a greater chance in fighting Imperium.

      It might have been thirty minutes or two hours, but finally, finally, when the smoke began to clear ahead of our path, my vision was filled with dark green instead of Imperium's onyx. We were so close.

     When the smoke cleared further, I saw how our own people fought to bring us back, doing their best to keep our path clear. They hoped we could return and our power would help them in the front lines. They didn't know about Orion's weapon yet.

      Out of some miracle, we were behind our own lines again in a small clearing the surrounding men made for us. I panted, assessing the damage done to my own body. A few wounds gushed red here and there. My head pounded. Every breath hurt.

But I could still fight. I would insist on it.

      Someone made a sound of horror. I looked up to see Kane leaning nearly all his weight on his brother, his right leg gushing blood from the knee downward. I had seen that kind of spraying blood-flow before—when my arm was severed.

     "Fuck," I swore at the sight of it. In the end, the Scorpions won after all.

Benton was ignoring his own black eye and dripping wounds, quietly comforting his brother and holding both their weights no matter how much it pained him. Our eyes connected for a second, and I knew Kane needed immediate medical help if he was going to survive through this.

Kneeling at their feet, I tore off my shirt and began to rip it into strips for a tourniquet. After the first knot was tied, my eyes flicked up to Kane's face, which was unusually ashen, and screwed in pain. I would have thought his utter silence in the midst of his leg's loss was simply characteristic of him, but by the way he was clutching at his brother, I knew he likely didn't even have the strength to cry out even if he wanted.

Just as Delphinium had done for me, I wrapped sheet after sheet around his knee. There was a horrible nothingness just beneath it and something in me was repulsed every time I looked. It made the stump of my now-metal arm ache with the ghost of phantom pain.

     My hands were slathered with his too-red blood. For the sake of saving his eerie calmness, I ignored it. I would not let him die. Especially not from a similar injury that I had survived.

A way off, Jake stood poised, a cut on his brow bone dripping down his scarred face. He was watching something in the distance, but I had no time to waste. I was determined to stop the red blossoming through the material of the cloth. It was too thin, I knew that, but there was nothing better. So I hid the panic beginning to overtake me.

     I was very near to deciding to cauterize the wound, when an even worse turn of events began to take place. An eerie sound rolled over the land. Nearly like a foghorn. Something about it made my blood chill.

      Only after it sounded three times did I realize what it was. And why Gigi and Arlo abandoned their position on the cliffs.

      Through the mass of our men, I saw another army gathering at our rear, wearing masks of Imperium's black and gold. They were going to crush us on either side. And there was no way out.

      The air was knocked from my lungs when I realized who the army was: the enhanced soldiers Orion created, their power alive and well, for they were far enough out of the weapon's range. And despite never seeing them in person before, I knew who led them: the children of Orion.