Black Zero just wants to connect with you on a spiritual level.
Roxanne pushed herself to one knee, eyes fixed on the floor. Destroy him? Azonne’s garbled words echoed in her head. Wes Gibson? She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. With a cry, Roxanne raised her hand, the Cyntaff sparking alive. A bright arc of plasma lanced through the air, striking Wes full in the chest. He screamed—a distorted shriek that made her vision blur. The sludge on his body hissed and burned away until he fell to one knee, smoke rising from his shoulders. Roxanne trembled, guilt clawing at her chest. This was her fault. Every bit of it.
She clenched her teeth and focused, channeling everything she had. In her mind, she pictured the corruption peeling away from the man inside. If she could just see it clearly enough, maybe she could will it into being.
But Azonne’s voice cut through. Back in the White Room, she had called it impossible. That word—impossible—made Roxanne furious. With all their power, all their shared memory, how could anything be impossible? Sweat dripped from her brow. Her vision blurred, but she held the image in her mind. She could do this. She had to.
Roxanne, it is not working! He is starting to stand!
Roxanne ignored her, but Azonne was right. Wes rose, black sludge pouring from him in waves. His arm shot forward, and the thick tar slammed into her like a tidal wave, lifting her off her feet. He hurled her into a wall, then the opposite one, each strike cracking marble and glass. The penthouse groaned around them, foundations splintering under the strain.
She landed hard in the kitchen, shattering steel counters and crumpling appliances. Dazed, she pushed herself upright just as Wes loomed over her. His massive hand clamped around her throat, lifting her into the air like a rag doll. Roxanne’s feet kicked helplessly. She managed a desperate kick to his midsection, forcing him to grunt and drop her. She swung a fist into his jaw, but the hit barely registered.
He seized her head and slammed it into the floor. Oily tendrils lashed out from his body, wrapping around her legs, hoisting her upside down to dangle before him.
“Wes, stop! This isn’t you!” Roxanne choked, reaching toward him. His expression twisted with rage, and he drove a kick into her ribs, sending her spinning before she crashed to the floor again.
“WeWeWe share a beautiful hatredhatredhatred.”
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