I'd had to get creative to fight back and it was almost fun.
Until the humans ruined the moment.
The helicopter was all but over our heads now, and with a frustrated sound I used the wind to nudge Justice into my arms. She sent a bite of her power into me, and even completely untrained she was impressive. If she ever took the next step and embraced the full extent of who she was … she’d likely kick my ass.
"I'm going to kill you," she muttered, pushing against my chest.
I didn’t release her.
Normally, I wouldn't use my strength against her, physical or otherwise, but in this situation I was channeling Braxton and his dominating ways. Whatever it took to keep her safe.
"We're surrounded," I whispered, keeping my wind and fire swirling around us—limiting the armed forces visibility and providing protection. "Humans on all sides. Two helicopters above, and what I think is at least a dozen drones."
"How do you know this?" she bit back, still pushing against my hold. She didn't have a chance though.
"I know everything," I said, trying to joke. My timing wasn’t the best, but I had to do something to bring normalcy to this situation. For her and for me.
She shot me a dirty look; now was apparently not the time for humor.
“I think you need to try another tactic,” she said drily. “Unless you want to just kill them all and call it a day.”
I thought on it for a second, and she let out a huff of air.
“Yeah, okay, maybe murdering them would be a little extreme,” I admitted. “I’ll try to manage the situation.”
Not as much fun, but since I was ready for this to be over, I dropped my power, letting it shatter around us. My flames flickered out the same way a real fire would if deprived of oxygen. There was a blissful moment of silence, but that all ended with screaming.
“Hands in the air!”
“Get your fucking hands up!”
"Why do they say that?" I asked Justice, releasing her so she could raise her hands.
"So they can see you're not armed."
I shook my head. "They have a lot to learn."
I'd stolen or destroyed most of their weapons; a few still hovered above us, my power keeping them aloft. But they'd clearly found some spares, marching closer to us, pointing them our way.
"Hands in the fucking air," another human shouted. It was a man on the front line, dressed in full desert camo, wearing a don't-fuck-with-me expression.
"Got to protect the lady," I called back casually, hoping the tension would unravel before shots were fired.
"Just put your hands up," Justice hissed, "I'm not going anywhere."
She was no fun. But since I was actually here to stop a war between humans and supes, it might be best at this point to cooperate. Hands in the air or not, I was never unarmed.
Lifting my hands, I released a long breath, hoping the lavender scent from the woman who’d just been in my arms would dissipate. Her scent drove me fucking crazy.
I did not need the distraction.
“Bring us to President John Caine," I said shortly when the armed humans were in earshot. "We’ll speak only to him."
The frontline was about six feet away, hesitating to move any closer. "Follow us," a woman said. “And if you try anything at all, we will shoot you dead and ask questions later."
It took a concerted effort not to laugh. Their guns were fucking useless against our power and strength, but since I had Justice to worry about as well, and she was unpredictable, I just nodded.
They parted, indicating we should move first. We were walked back to the American compound, entering through a small gate. From there, they marched us toward the bunker. Once inside, I blinked to adjust my sight to the darker room.
