Vice and Virtue

Chapter - 15

When Kai shot into the air with no time to spare, he wasn’t expecting to trash the plan and take on Jason but he ended up doing exactly that. As soon as he was up in the air, a kind of adrenaline rush clouded his judgement because all he could think of was the anguish and despair left behind by Jason’s death or so he thought. They weren’t ready for him, tackling Jason off the building and taking him on himself was too easy and tempting, so, he went for Jason instead, leaving Renae to clean after his mess. He took Jason by surprise from behind and took towards the clouds. It didn’t take long for Jason to snap out of it and start to fight back. they didn’t have any vocal conversation but their struggle was more than enough for them to understand each other. He nearly let Jason slip away whenever he was stuck by a solid elbow in his abdomen or his face. He tried to dig his claws deeper into Jason’s body but for some reason, he wasn’t able to even scratch him. Into the clouds was nearly suicide and Kai knew this very well, so he prepared himself for a sudden nosedive, although Jason’s struggle to get free was proving to be quite a hindrance for a smooth flight. Since he didn’t really plan on taking on Jason, Kai had no idea as to what he should be doing, now that he already had him. He really wanted Jason to be not on his enemy’s side and for him to act the way he did was all a big misunderstanding but he already knew the truth and he also knew that he has no other option but to accept the reality of things. As they neared the clouds, Kai left Jason midair and bent backwards with his arms wide and free. He took to a freefall but didn’t let Jason out of his sight for even a second, while Jason gathered himself before he started to descend and although he didn’t have any weapons on him, he didn’t even activate his abilities, instead he just regained his balance and awaited Kai to get close again. They locked their hands midair, trying to throw the other off balance. At this point, he noticed that I couldn’t hold onto Harold but it didn’t matter. It didn’t even matter that Tricia’s quick shots missed me or that they were directed towards him too. It just got nastier by the second and was a full on dogfight by the time I disappeared breaking into the building.

At this point I had no idea as to what was happening outside. Renae struggled to stay alive while Kai’s onslaught just got fiercer and fiercer. At one point, there were flames coming from in between them both. Kai barely scratched Jason, n matter how hard he attacked but on the other hand, he was taking a lot of damage. Jason was a lot different from the time we knew him. He was more mysterious, silent and had a really unfamiliar and uncomfortable air about him. His fists were as heavy as boulders and each and every hit from him made Kai’s insides turn. Barely clinging to him, Kai held his stand but Jason showed no mercy. As they got closer to the rooftops, he got even colder. With his bare hands, he stabbed Kai, although the wound wasn’t fatal due to Kai’s quick reflexes, he was aiming to kill. This was the point when Renae realized what was happening and had a lapse of good judgement. Kai couldn’t hold on any longer, slowly he let go of Jason but they were already set on a crash course towards the rogue division at breakneck speeds. Renae, Tricia and Max, all three of them were stuck in time at this point and were anxiously waiting to know what happened. Kai managed to stand himself up and face Jason, who walking toward him. Kai’s back faced outside and the impact caused the formation of a smokescreen, while they were already quite deep in the tower. ‘Why…’ he managed to speak out weakly. Jason answered him with one single sentence ‘It’s just the way of life in this new world, my old friend’. With that he slowly burst into flames, starting from his fingertips, reddish purple flame crept up to his heart and climbing up to his neck and also covering most of his torso. He cracked his next as he got closer to Kai, who was barely holding on to his life. Blood dripped from over his forehead, his wings flickered, losing life, and he was clutching the side of his stomach, pressuring the wound from before. He tried to talk, but he was too weak to even grunt, his skin pale and cold, he just stared hard at Jason, realizing it was the end of his line. With less than 10 feet of distance between them, Jason dashed forward and grabbed Kai’s neck, scorching and suffocating him. He pushed Kai towards the ledge and as he neared it, he let out a burst of fire from the palm of his hand that held Kai. He stopped about a couple feet from the ledge and mercilessly burned Kai alive while he held him above himself by the neck. Kai, unable to scream or help himself, stopped to struggle and finally accepted his fate and his hands fell to his side in his despair, inanimate. Jason upped the intensity of his flames, enveloping a wide area in front of him in intense purple flames. He let go of Kai’s corpse as he controlled and absorbed the fire back into himself. Kai’s body fell off the ledge, crackling and crumbling midway. Jason, back in his human form, slowly walked toward the ledge. At this point, Renae was already sprawled on the ground, unable to fathom the events that unfolded in front of her eyes. Tricia and Max, both perplexed by what occurred and the purple explosion. I got back onto the rooftops, with no idea whatsoever about what happened and why everyone was stuck in their places. Theo was close behind me and he went silent as soon as he got up too. As the smoke cleared, Renae’s face twisted with horror and so was Kai’s for some reason. I got weak at the knees and fell to the ground losing my balance, Tricia and Max fell back and got defensive and from the sky, Harold landed with a big impact right in front of us, ready for a fight.