Ryan jumped from landing to landing, making his way up the staircase. He didn’t have time to do it the slow, human way. Once in the upper levels, guards started pouring into the halls from every door. They must have known he was coming. Good. The more eyes were on him, the less they would be on Violet and the group.

Igniting the fire in his fists, he fought his way out. Flesh sizzled with every punch he threw. It was still dark when he finally made it outside. Good. Better viewing conditions for his little show.

He hurled fireballs until the entire base turned into a green inferno. By now, most of the employees and guards had encircled him, desperately trying to get close enough to take him down.

Not today, he thought, keeping them at bay with the occasional burst of flames.

Now, there was only one thing left to do.

Inching to his left, the crowd reacted like the opposite end of a magnet—no one wanted to get too close. Once he was within range, he held out both arms, and poured every ounce of his energy into sending a solid wall of green flame in the direction of the generators. He held it for as long as he could, and with one final push, the wall of fire ceased. But it had done exactly what he intended. There was a small explosion in the generator, but it set off a chain reaction throughout the entire base. Ryan did an about-face and ran toward the hills.

As he neared them, Ryan saw Violet cresting the hill. Good, she made it.

“Violet, get down!” he yelled as soon as he was within ear-shot.

The entire group ducked with their hands over their heads, just as a ground-shaking explosion erupted through the valley. The percussion vibrated his chest and rang in his ears.

“Are you okay?” He said as they stood up. What little was left of the base smoldered behind them.

“Yes. You made it,” Violet said with a smile.

“And now that it’s all over, I can finally do this.” Ryan reached his hand to the side of her face, and pulled her lips onto his.

~

The Hunter crawled out from under a pile of debris, retrieved and dusted off his hat, and placed it gently on his head. Every human inside the base had died instantly with the explosion.

It was a good thing he wasn’t human.

He could see the pack of maimed mutants at the top of the hill on the outskirts of the valley. Now that his employers were dead, the pyros were no longer his concern.

Except those two, with the green and indigo flames, they were responsible for this mess. And they were his next targets. No more capturing and hauling them back like a dog playing fetch. This time, he would be hunting for keeps.

“They’re using fire from pyros to generate power; they’re being drained.” Violet said, tears streaming down her cheeks as she stared unblinking at the unconscious girl. “We have to get them out of here.”

“Blast the doors with your fire!” Ryan yelled as he started running to the other end of the hall.

She tried, but the doors held.

“It’s not working.”

“Try the windows.”

Glass breaking at the other end of the hall let Violet know that the windows would work. So she held out her arms, closed her eyes, and sent all the fire she could muster through her hands.

The explosion of glass made her jump, but she quickly recovered, climbed through the broken window, and lifted the girl to her feet. Her eyes cracked open. She was alive! Violet helped her through the window and hurried to the other cells. One by one, blast by blast, they freed the tormented pyros from their prisons. Those responsive enough to know what was going on joined in and started freeing others.

Violet couldn’t believe that no one had heard all the commotion they were making. But they were quite a ways underground, and there were probably no security cameras. Don’t want anyone to know what goes on in the lower levels…

Soon, fire blasts of every shade and color lit up he dismal corridor as more and more pyros came to. Within an hour, the entire network of tunnels had been freed.

“Now how to we get everyone out of here?” Violet said as she met up with Ryan. “There’s no way we can sneak this many people out the way we came in.”

“You’re right. What do we do?”

“You’re the map. Is there some sort of back exit we can take?”

“This whole compound is connected through these underground tunnels. We can take those, but we still need to find a way to make sure these people can never do this again.”

“Any ideas?”

“Actually, yes.”

“Get ready?” Violet said. “Ready for what?”

Ryan glanced above them at an AC vent.

That’s his plan?

How would they even get it open before being spotted?

“Where are they?” a familiar voice shouted from the next room.

The guard got up from his perch and walked to the door. How did Ryan know they would have an opportunity?

That was when Violet saw how—Ryan was watching the reflection of the security camera off the metal door of a cabinet next to the guard’s desk. Smart.

As soon as the guard’s back was turned, Ryan ran under the vent, lifted his hands, and blasted two streams of green fire at the ceiling, destroying the vent and leaving the duct wide open. He jumped, higher than Violet thought was possible, grabbed the ledge and lifted himself inside.

“Your turn,” he said, reaching out his arm.

Violet jumped, surprising herself that she made it just as high as Ryan. He helped her up, and just as she was clear, the guard and the man who had been yelling entered the room below. Now she knew why the voice sounded so familiar. It was the Hunter.

“They’re gone! What part of ‘dangerous, high-priority, target’ did not compute with you? I called to warn you when I realized they were heading here so that you could take them below, somewhere more secure. Not leave them unattended.”

While they were still arguing, Ryan and Violet crept through the duct with Ryan in the lead. He seemed to know exactly where he was going. They made multiple turns, until he finally stopped and looked through the vent to the room below. From what they could see, the room was devoid of people, but was filled with high-powered microscopes, incubators, computers, and several other pieces of lab equipment Violet didn’t recognize.

“Coast seems clear,” Ryan said. He removed the vent and they dropped to the floor.

Not missing a beat, Ryan went straight to the computer. Within seconds he had hacked his way past the password protection.

“You should see this,” he said. “This goes much deeper than I originally thought.”

“We’re here,” Ryan said as they crested the hill and looked down on a valley littered with a network of buildings and an immense power plant at its nucleus.

“Wow,” Violet said. “Now what?”

“Now we get inside.”

“Okay, and they’re gonna let us just waltz right in?”

“Well, there will have to be some stealth involved on our part…”

“So what’s the plan?”

“Intel. We first need to know what they’re up to. We’ll worry about the rest when we get there.”

“Great. Flying by the seat of our pants. Love it.”

Ryan smiled at her playful sarcasm as they descended into the valley. The half moon in the sky lit their path, but wasn’t bright enough to expose them. Violet’s heart was beating so fast she thought it might explode. How did a simple, young college student such as herself manage to get caught up in all this?

Oh yeah. I randomly developed a mutant power. Thanks fate.

Deep down, Violet had to admit she enjoyed it. It was fun and thrilling, even if it meant crazy people would try to kill her on a daily basis.

The two of them crept along the wall of one of the buildings. Without warning, Ryan grabbed Violet’s shoulder and pushed her to the ground. A second later, a bright search light swept across her previous position.

“Thanks,” she whispered.

“Don’t mention it,” he whispered back. “You see that door? After the next pass of the light, we run for it. Ready? Three…two…one…now!”

Hunched over, they ran into the open, fully exposed for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, they made it to the cover of the doorway without incident.

“Locked,” Ryan said as he unrolled a set of lock picks.

“Ooh… someday you’re gonna have to teach me how to use those.”

With a soft click, the door unlocked and they opened it to see a massive guard with arms crossed, blocking their way.

“Well, what do we have here?”

“How do you know my name?” Violet said as they ran through the trees, the occasional stray branch scraping her face.

“I’ve been tracking him, tracking you. His name is Russell and he is more powerful than you think. Don’t be fooled into believing you can win him over. You can’t.”

“How do you know so much about him?” Violet gasped, remembering what the Hunter had told her about the single pyro to ever escape him. “He told me about you. Well, briefly. You’re the only one he ever lost.”

“That’s me, in the flesh and at your service.”

“Wait, you used your ability as we were leaving. He told me how he tracks people like us. He’ll be able to—”

“Don’t worry. I know how he uses the embers to find us.” Ryan stopped running and faced Violet. “Ignite your fire.”

“No, it will only make it worse.”

“Trust me.”

Strangely enough, she did trust him.

“Okay.”

Violet let the familiar heat spread through her body and congregate in her fists. Opening them, her indigo flames flared to life. It was a strange relief, letting the fire course through her like that. In such a tense situation as this, it brought clarity to her mind and calmed her nerves.

“Absolutely beautiful,” Ryan said, staring at her hands, the indigo light flickered across his face.

Grabbing her hands, he ignited his own flames. The green and indigo swirled together for a moment until Ryan nodded, signaling Violet to cut off the flow.

“Now we backtrack and take a different route,” he said. “We use his own methods against him.”