by The Eurostar
Edulcore Cicciotto:
I am in a cell with no windows, alone. I haven't seen anybody since the soldiers put me here. Jackie and Turner, I believe, are in cells like this one.
I don't know how much time has passed. They have stripped me of anything I had, and without a watch, it's difficult to tell how long I've been here.
Then, the door opens. It's the man I saw giving orders to the soldiers, back at the train. The one Jackie called Giorgio. There are two soldiers behind me.
"Cicciotto, follow me!" he says, coldly and determined. He has a very strange uniform, something very futuristic, I don't know, like kevlar but more shiny. And he holds a funny-shaped gun, like a revolver but without the barrel. The soldiers put me back into handcuffs.
Giorgio walks away steadily. I follow him, while the two soldiers are behind me. There are many cells, all closed. Yet, in front of two there are guards. That's where my friends are, I am sure.
So, our run ends here? They are five, and I am alone. One time, it would have been child's play to knock them down. Supervelocity, superforce, ghost form, power over the elements. There would have been at least a dozen ways to take care of them without them even noticing what happened.
Now, the only thing I could only do is to fly away, but only if there is a window somewhere to jump out of. Merda. It can't end like this.
I scream as loudly as I can. At the same time, I jump into the air, just as Giorgio turns and fires. I am behind him, while one of the soldiers is screaming, hit by the bullet of Giorgio. I land with my foot on the face of one of the guards; a step, and the other one is down. But I am still handcuffed, and the second soldier and Giorgio are aiming at me.
"That was stupid, Cicciotto. Do you really think you could run away from me?" shouts Giorgio.
"I tried. Where are we going?"
"That's not for you to know," he whispers, while from a pocket he takes a dart and puts it into his gun. He aims at me, and the door behind me opens.
Inside there is Jackie. I don't see her, because it's very dark, but I recognize her smell. But something is strange. There is a slight breeze, almost non-existent, but I feel it. This is not a cell. And Giorgio and the soldiers should have entered by now.
"Ed, I have nearly done it," whispers the girl, then there is a snap, and the handcuffs break open.
"Where are we?" I ask.
The light suddenly is on; we are in the cell, and Giorgio and the soldier are right in front of us, staring at us like we are ghosts.
This does not make any sense, but while I am thinking, my fist lands, as if all by itself, on the jaw of the soldiers, who fall down.
I turn, and what occurs between Giorgio and Jackie is something that takes my breath away. They are fighting, but it's like a dance. Every hit is stopped by a counter-hit: a leg stops a kick, an arm deflects a fist. They jump, one above the other, and at some point Giorgio is standing on the wall at ninety degrees. Is he a meta? And Jackie also seems to be a meta.
Meanwhile, I open Turner's cell. He frowns at seeing me. I throw away the strange containment apparatus that neutralizes his powers.
"About time!" he says, smiling.
I point at the fight, which from the cells has moved into the corridors. "Could you...?"
"My pleasure," says Turner. His eyes light up, and Giorgio screams in agony, his suit sending sparks and clouds of smoke.
Jackie, with one hand, wipes away the sweat from her forehead. "That was hard. Thanks, Turner!" she says, smiling mischievously to the man standing near me.
The smoke, meanwhile, has set off the alarm and the fire sprinkler. Under the dripping water and the clouds of vapor, we run toward the end of the corridor, just as the door at the end is discarded by one of Turner's bolts.
"Have you ever been to this place?" I ask Turner.
"Once or twice," he says flippantly, looking around like he is trying to determine our position in the underground structure. "We are very deep. This way!"
Many soldiers are on our tail. Bullets fly away, but like in a movie, none hit us. Then, an explosion. And all becomes black.