Enemies(12)

He whipped a hand around again in that moment and a blast of wind flung Adelaide through the air and sent her crashing into the window, splintering the glass where she hit. I heard the thud, could almost taste the blood from where she’d bitten her tongue, and I could feel the sharp pain in the back of her head. “Aeolus, huh?” she muttered from where she came to rest on the seats, lying across them as though she were splayed out on a couch.

Her foe rose to his feet, his considerable bulk showing in the flash of the overhead lights. “I prefer … Fūjin.”

Adelaide squinted at him, blankly. “What?”

A flash of insecurity showed on the bald man’s face. “It’s … Japanese. Wind god. You know, it’s more … it has cachet.”

She looked at him from where she lay. “Cachet?”

He stammered. “Y-you wouldn’t understand, it’s a … it’s … I’m not like the others, okay?”

“Really?” Her head bobbed in slight disbelief, and she whirled her legs around to stand. “You’re not like the other aioli?”

The man who had called himself Fūjin flushed. “I don’t think the plural of Aeolus is aioli. That’s a garlic sauce.”

Adelaide got to her feet and squinted at him. “You’re no garlic sauce, that’s for sure.”

The big man squinted back at her. “Are you gonna fight or what?”

She spread her arms wide. “You’re the one with the range advantage, mate. Throw a vortex at me and we’ll see what happens.”

Fūjin shook his head. “You don’t understand. I can wreck this car, this train, kill all these people and you with them.”

Adelaide put her hands up in a defensive posture, as though she were ready to box again. “Then why don’t you get to it and quit chatting shit?” She stayed out of his arm’s reach. “You know why you don’t? Same reason you’re down here fighting me to begin with. You got a serious case of indecision, mate.”

The big man looked down at her in pity. “You’re calling me undecided. How old are you? Twelve?”

“I’m eighteen, but don’t go changing the subject,” Adelaide said. “You ran for the tube the minute you heard me coming for you, and when you couldn’t get away in time, after taking a pounding, you finally decide to unleash your powers. You’re undecided. You’re not willing to let loose and do what you’d have to in order to stop me from taking you out.”

“I don’t see you coming at me right now,” Fūjin said. “The minute you do, you might see me change my mind.”

Adelaide smiled. “And won’t that be an unfortunate thing for these poor gits.” She waved at the back of the compartment, where people were stacked up three deep trying to melt their way through the wall. “You’re not a proper villain, and I respect that. But you’re not in control, either.”

“I’m not coming with you,” Fūjin told her, “not coming to … them.” He stared back at her defiantly, his fingers outstretched. “I’d die before I went to them—and I’m in control of that.”

Adelaide took a long, slow, deep breath in through her nose then shook her head slowly. “Not really.” Her body was relaxed, from top to bottom, the points of her hair moving with the nod, like fists raised in solidarity. Without any warning she dived as though she were jumping for a Slip ’N Slide, and came in low, underneath Fūjin’s raised hands. He fired off a burst of air, a tornado, but it went high over her head, dispersing in a blast of air when it hit the side of the compartment.

Adelaide slammed into his knees with her shoulders, managing to avoid ramming her head into his thighs. She hit with such force that I heard both legs break and Fūjin screamed in pain, which was made worse when she lifted her head and rammed her skull into his groin with bone-breaking force. “Mind the gap,” she muttered, “as you’ve got one down there, now.”

As he squirmed, his broken legs wrapped around her head, she stood, carrying him on her shoulders using her back, and brought him up, where his head slammed into the top of the train. She brought him over like a waterwheel and pivoted, slamming his head and neck down on the nearest bench. He hit with brutal force and the seat didn’t yield. His face, however, did, Adelaide’s meta strength smashing it to pieces against the hard object. She finished him with a booted kick to what was left of the back of his head, and his skull turned to a fine mush right there, splattering the grey plastic with a fine mist of red for several seats in every direction, coating the nearest ones with a thick spatter.