Joey's brain short-circuited for a moment at Paris' words. The costume looked kind of ridiculous, but that didn't mean he was any less dangerous. Lightning beside him was the first one to move.
"Destroy Achilles? What is this?" She moved in front of him as if to act as a shield as the green mist continued to rise from the ground.
"Exactly what I said," Paris said, his languid voice betraying no sense of anxiety or urgency. "I am Achilles' natural enemy. Of course I would come to defeat him."
That finally got Joey thinking straight again.
"A villain, hm?" Achilles said, stepping forward with his arms crossed. "Then I suppose I'll have to defeat you."
"Good luck with that," Paris chuckled. Light Master charged forward at him, palms facing his opponent.
"Sunlight Beam!" he cried, sending two bolts of white light toward Paris. The man dodged easily, but the kid kept running.
"I'll back you up!" Achilles called, running across the alley.
"What's the military doing?" Lightning muttered irately before zipping behind Paris and grabbing his arms.
The whole time, Joey couldn't move. He could only watch. Weaver had backed off to the side, as if she had no intention of getting involved. At least he wasn't the only one.
Even so, three-against-one would surely make this a quick apprehension. The green mist was probably Paris' Miracle, but what did it do? It was spreading faster, spreading like so many coiled snakes of fog. As Lightning forced Paris down to a kneeling position, he just laughed as if this was all according to plan.
"Get away from there!" Joey yelled. Something was wrong. What, he didn't know.
Then Light Master collapsed, coughing. Achilles and Lightning were still in the cloud. So the mist had to be something dangerous. Poison perhaps? Some chemical fumes could be lethal in high concentrations, right?
"Stay outta the mist!" Lightning said before zipping clear of the fog, dragging Paris with her. When she realized the fog would follow Paris, she dropped him and ran towards the military.
Achilles kept running at Paris, completely focused. Why wasn't he getting out of there?
Light Master's coughing pulled Joey back into reality and he took a deep breath before holding it and leaping across to grab the kid. As soon as he had him, he jumped back out. The mist was spreading, so Joey lifted the kid onto his back and hopped up a level to get him away from whatever Paris was spreading.
"No...I gotta..." Light Master started coughing again as Joey put him down.
"You're of no use like this," he said firmly. The kid probably needed medical attention, right? If only Bruce was here. As is, was it okay for Joey to pull off the pillowcase to check the kid's condition?
"I...I am...Light...Master," he said between coughs.
"How do you feel?" Joey peered at one of the eyes behind the pillowcase. The pupil was dilated, and the eye looked red and watery.
"I'm...fine..."
"Don't lie to me."
Fresh air would be best, so Joey moved the kid to an air vent where the air exchange would hopefully help.
"Stay here," he ordered. "I'm going to check on Achilles."
"No..." Light Master choked out, trying to stand.
Joey sighed heavily. Was there a way to keep this kid from getting into more trouble?
"You!" A military officer ran up to them, raygun drawn. "Hands up."
Joey obliged, stepping back from Light Master as he did.
"He's not doing great. I think he needs medical attention," he said, pointing at the kid. "Can you get him some first aid at least? And keep him from running back into the mist."
"You don't give me orders," the officer growled as he pulled out two pairs of handcuffs.
Crap.
"I gotta go keep Achilles out of trouble," Joey said quickly before leaping away. Hopefully the officer wasn't too harsh on Light Master. He was just a kid after all.
And if anything happened to the boy, Joey might never forgive himself.
When Courtney realized the mist was as bad as it was, she got out as fast as she could, running towards where Barron was waiting. She slid to a graceful stop (a feat she had only managed a couple of times) and called out to him.
"Meeting's been attacked. He calls himself Paris and he releases some kind of toxic fog." She coughed a couple times before she could continue. "Training and abilities unknown. Do not breathe in the mist, whatever you do." Her lungs were already burning from it, and the tiny Light Master seemed to be in dire straits. She saw Jumper take off out of the corner of her eye as Achilles recklessly charged in.
"Do you know of any countermeasures?" Barron asked quickly.
"No, sir." She couldn't help but talk like one of his officers considering that until recently she'd been one.
"O'Neil, go catch up to Jumper. Or try to at least. Treat the kid as best you can and call medics to your location. West, watch his back. Richardson, relay this information to Pena. Tell her and her officers not to approach. Woods, Pham, Lee, take aim with rayguns. Do not hit anyone except Paris and Achilles."
The officers called acknowledged the orders before taking off to carry them out. Courtney coughed a few more times and looked at the fight between Paris and Achilles.
It did not look good. Achilles was hacking up a lung on the ground while Paris laughed like it was the most amusing thing in the world. When the raygun shots were fired, he ducked and used Achilles as a shield.
A clever tactic, considering the rayguns had no effect on Achilles, but brutal considering the state of things.
What were Paris' goals? What had Achilles done to him? Did this have anything to do with the Phantasma incident?
The whirling thoughts occupied Courtney's mind as she readied herself to charge back into the mist. If someone had to do it, it might as well be her. At least she could minimize her exposure time with her speed.
But then Jumper fell down from wherever he'd disappeared to, landing heavily on the ground and staying out of the mist. He looked like he was calculating the next move, like Courtney. She took a deep breath and zipped through the cloud, hoping to get someone to bounce ideas off of.
Joey's hands were shaking. He hadn't inhaled much of the poison - for lack of a better term - so he could probably risk going to get Achilles out. But what was the best way to stop Paris before someone else got hurt? Was there a way to neutralize the mist?
If only this was one of Ned's videogames! If it was, someone would have some kind of status ailment removal ability - wait, that train of thought was useless.
When had he become such a gamer?
Lightning tore him out of his thoughts as she appeared beside him, breathing heavily.
"Got a plan?" she asked, coughing a couple times.
"No," he muttered.
"Someone's gotta get Achilles out for starters. The military's trying to hit Paris, but he's using Achilles as a shield. I'd rather not have to break the guy's neck, but I might not have a choice."
Fear settled in Joey's stomach. Could she really do that? Just...break someone's neck?
"Wait, where's Weaver?" he asked, looking around for her. She was gone.
"Damn. You're right, she could have been useful here. Guess it's up to the two of us." Lightning looked over at Achilles and Paris. The big blue hero was certainly looking pretty bad.
"If you run and pry Achilles out, I'll try and deal with Paris," Joey said slowly. If he could come in from above, he might be able to avoid the worst of the toxins. But then how would they stop him from emitting it?
"You got a plan for dealing with the yucky stuff?"
"No. But he can only create so much at a time, right? So maybe if I keep him moving fast enough he won't be able to make enough to affect the area too much."
It was a bad plan. Such a bad plan. They knew too little, and there were so many ways it could go wrong. But Lightning nodded.
"Sorry to load it on you, but good luck, kid. We don't have time to come up with anything better. That mist spreads too much more, officers are gonna start falling. And after them, the normal people."
Joey nodded and jumped up to the next level as Lightning readied herself. He stared down at the scene below him, waiting for Lightning to make her move.
Damn.
Damn.
Damn!
Olivia had worked so patiently, so meticulously, to get this chance to take out Achilles and this Paris was just going to do it like it was no big deal?
As if!
She'd hidden in a narrow space between two buildings, usually used to store garbage, and watched the proceedings. The poison mist was a nice ability, and she had to hand it to Paris for having the balls to go in head-on like that.
But she wouldn't let anyone take out Achilles without involving her. It was selfish, but she wanted so badly to claim with her own hands the life of the man who'd taken Keyla's.
She adjusted her headscarf so it was covering her mouth and nose. Hopefully that would keep her safer. As she prepared to intervene, however, the woman they'd called Lightning moved in instead.
And then that accursed Jumper came down from the sky.
