Page 196 of Villainous Intent

Dust particles danced in the moonlight, the only evidence that anything had happened at all. I pushed myself up on my one good arm and cradled the other to me as carefully as I could.

The building’s exterior crumbled further as two figures burst back into the open. They moved with inhuman speed, trading blows that echoed like thunder across the training grounds. I caught a glimpse of black armor with subtle glowing lines.

Cipher.

He launched himself forward, driving Dread backwards into another mock building.

Dread’s shadows surged, coiling around Cipher like living ropes.

Brilliant light erupted from above. I squinted against the harsh glare as a dozen hovering drones burst to life, their powerful lights cutting through the darkness. The shadows around us recoiled violently, shrinking away from the harsh illumination.

Dread howled in rage, as his darkness dissolved under the assault of pure light. The shadows that had seemed so substantial moments ago now flickered weakly, unable to maintain their form.

“Run!” Cipher shouted, not taking his eyes off Dread as he advanced. His voice was raw, strained through what sounded like pain. “Get out of here, Annie! Now!”

I struggled to my feet, my body protesting every movement. Blood still trickled from the cuts Dread had inflicted, but adrenaline dulled the pain.

I lurched forward, desperate to escape while Cipher held Dread at bay.

The shadows around me, weakened but not defeated, began to writhe. They twisted and coiled across the ground, forming barriers that rose up before me. I veered left, then right, trying to navigate through the shifting maze of darkness.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Dread’s voice echoed. A tendril of shadow shot out, wrapping around my ankle. I crashed to the ground hard as I tried to protect my arm. The shadow yanked, dragging me backward.

As I struggled to get out of the shadow’s hold, I saw Dread throw Cipher off him. Cipher’s body slammed through the wall of a mock building, disappearing into a cloud of dust and debris. The entire structure groaned, sections of the exterior crumbling away.

Dread floated upward, shadows swirling around him as he reached into his coat. He pulled out the Hammer and pressed a button. The effect was instantaneous.

All around us, Cipher’s drones flickered like dying stars, their brilliant light cut, then darkness. Thuds thundered around us as they dropped from the sky, striking the ground.

Worse, the subtle glow of Cipher’s suit, the armor that gave him his edge, winked out as he climbed from the rubble, leaving him in shadow.

“No,” I whispered.

Dread laughed, the sound echoing unnaturally across the training ground. “Technology is so fragile,” he said, twirling the small device between his fingers before pocketing it.

Cipher adjusted his stance, shoulders squaring as he faced Dread. There was something defiant in his posture, but I could see the hesitation. Without his technology, he was just another serum-enhanced Super facing a Trueborn monster who could manipulate darkness itself.

And that same damn darkness coiled around my waist, my arms, my throat and squeezed as close as they could get to my skin. They suspended me in the air for one terrifying moment, then slammed me back to the ground.

Air exploded from my lungs and pain radiated throughout my entire body. I wheezed, trying to suck in oxygen that wouldn’t come.

“Annie!” Cipher’s voice sounded distant, panicked.

“Did you think I’d let you leave?” Dread’s voice was closer now, guttural with rage. “Did you think I’d let him take what’s mine to destroy?”

The shadows tightened around me, squeezing until spots danced across my vision. The darkness was consuming me inch by inch, cold tendrils slithering across my skin.

Cipher collided with the shadows surrounding me, his hands tearing at the darkness as if it were solid. The shadows recoiled.

Cipher’s mask was gone and his face was transformed by rage. Blood streaked down his temple, matting his black hair to his skin. But beneath that killing fury, the same murderous intensity I’d witnessed after Baron Ash’s death, I saw something that I’d never seen from him before.

Fear.

Cipher was afraid. The man who calculated every probability, who moved through life with absolute confidence, he was afraid.

“Cipher,” I gasped as I struggled to my feet.

He pulled me up, one arm wrapping around my waist to steady me.