- Kaze narrows her eyes and smiles:.
"Where the red mountain
Covers the last golden army
There my father dwells" - Well, the Power of Haiku has floored Hitomi, so he's gonna stand there with his mouth slightly open.
This causes Richter to be able to take the shot. Richter's exhausted and hurt, so most of his bullets miss. One, however, clocks Hitomi right in the head.
Hitomi goes over backwards, but doesn't reach the floor before he Travels. - And then, of course, the door behind the Reader bursts open. It literally bursts, because a Mover behind it has pushed on every board in the door at the same time, shredding it apart.
About a dozen students in the blazers, ties and slacks of the Academy are in the hallway. Some have fire wreathing their hands, one is sheathed in ice, one has a massive barbell held in one hand, and so on. They didn't send the Readers and Finders to investigate the sounds of gunshots, evidently.
Richter is closest to them. He puts his gun to the wounded Reader's head.
"Your boss is a Reader, right? Well, read my mind."
From behind the boys comes an authoritative call: "Stand by, my New Men. Mr. Richter has the floor."
Neither Nick, nor Christine, nor Richter wonders where the female half of the student body might be. But it's the first thing Kaze thinks of.
Kaze fades towards Richter and hopefully reaches him, . She materializes with a hand to heal the damage in Richter's torso and another clasping a three-bladed knife that she has pressed against the Reader's spine.
ReplyDeleteRichter gasps as his wounds are mended.
ReplyDelete"Mr. Kellogg, she's got a knife on me," the Reader says softly.
"I know, Carl," says the voice. "She will not use it if you remain calm. Do not try and turn the tables. You've done well -- let us handle the rest of this problem."
"Well, Mr. Richter? You seem to have the floor. What should we do, that we have not done, such that you will cease to trouble us?"
"Kidnapping and murder are a good start," Richter snaps back. "Where do you get your students from? And what happens to the ones you can't use?"
"My students come from everywhere," says Kellogg. "Some are referred by their parents, others I become aware of as I travel. My Power makes me keenly aware of others like myself, wasting away in a world of ordinary men."
The sounds of crashing explode from outside, where Saburo, Janet, Sonny-Boy and Michael are. There's the crash of lightning, the whoosh of flames, the whir of objects hurled through air -- the usual Active medley.