Cole glances down at the four militia cargo trucks, each one holding a scary amount of armed men.
"Sure packing a lot of heat just to humiliate some police," Cole says, connecting to Zeke's call.

His friend answers with a sigh of release. "It'll be worth it. The cops in those cages are just a fraction of what they got back at the plantation."

"Bust those men out, and it's going to be hard to hold them back," Y/n adds, landing next to Cole and crouching down.

Cole sucks in a flinched breath. "You gotta stop doing that."

She sends him a smile. "You made the right choice, Cole," she said and quirks and eyebrow at him. "You ready?"

With a lifted grin, Cole says, "Let's get this show on the road."

"Don't mind if I do," is all Cole heard before Y/n launches herself to the floor.

Two spikes of rock suddenly protrude from the ground, taking out the wheels of the cops cages. Unable to move their cargo, the militia yell and shout out a single word.

"Helicopter!"

Still on the roof, Cole sees when Y/n's fists tighten and she just barely ducks away from the reign of bullets.

"Cole!" He hears her shout through the phone, and has little time to question how she connected to the call. "Take out that chopper, I'm going for their leading truck."

He nods and gets to diverting the helicopter's attention to himself.

It wasn't hard to get the vehicle close to exploding — his electric powers giving him a huge advantage.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see the bender place herself only a few yards from the militia's leading car.
His panic levels spiked and his focus went elsewhere.

"Brookstone," he shouted, running to the edge of the roof. "What are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed!"

When she didn't spare him a glance, he went to yell again but his words were silenced by her next moves.

Raising — what Cole assumed was her good hand — she surrounded it with the leftover rock she had uplifted.
Her stance changed and she was now fully facing the car that had yet to slow down.
She swung the rock-covered hand down, right in time for it to smash the front of the truck into pieces.

Her strength created a blast so strong that it knocked the truck back a couple feet and Cole felt the wind blow past his face.

But the awe he felt for her was short-lived when a bullet wizzed past her cheek and she dropped to the floor in attempt to save herself from anymore.

Another scolding yell of his name and he finally took down the helicopter, moving to open the cages that held the ex-cops.

"Holy shit, you're trying to get me killed, aren't you," Y/n sighed, joining him at the top of the cargo box.
"Sorry," he huffed, using his amp to open the cages. "I got distracted."

"Wow..." he heard her drag. "Cole MacGrath, distracted? Ha, n-"
"Hey," he said sternly, cutting her off.

Her eyebrows rose in amusement. "Just messin' with you." She grinned. "Now, get these cops free and let's get to work."

With a grunt, he finished prying open the cages and all of the previously trapped men glanced up at him.
"Grab a rifle off one of the militia, we're attacking the plantation!"

Y/n left the open cargo without another word and moved for the militia plantation faster than Cole realized, and it left him to stumble after her.

"Head to the carriage house out back," Zeke filled them in. "I think that's where they got her."

Cole lost sight of Y/n as she ran through a herd of militia, all raising their guns and shooting.

"Damn," he grunted, throwing out a few blasts of his own. "It's good we got these cops in our side, it's a mess out here," he said and waited for a reply, but there wasn't one.

"Y/n?" Cole asked into his phone. He worked his way closer to the back house, trampling through militia. "Y/n!"

He faltered in his step when an explosion rang out and the ground rumbled.
Followed by another, and another, and-

"Argh!" Y/n yelled out, tackling into Cole at full force and throwing the two of them to tumble a few feet, right at the same time a mortar landed where they had just stood.
It absolutely demolished the ground.

Y/n gasped out, having taken the brute force of the fall, and pushed Cole off her body with a wheeze.
He felt guilty as he helped her off the ground, watching her face screw up in pain.

"We have to take out those mortars if we want any chance at reaching Kuo," Y/n said and her eyes lit up.

She used her hands and summoned a rock wall, ignoring the commotion of bullets around her.
"Alpha Blast this," is all she said before smashing the wall into pieces.

Cole did as she ordered and the bits of rock he pulsed took out almost seven militia at once.
It cleared a path to the main mortar.

"Take care of that one, I'll get the other two," she said and ran off, once more vanishing from Cole's vision.

He wanted to praise her smart thinking, but another mortar headed his way. He snapped out of it and chased for the man controlling it.

Easily overpowering the man and destroying the mortar, Cole went back to the smaller shack, signing in relief when nothing exploded at his feet.

Y/n landed next to him as he prepared to unlock the metal doors.

Her hair was a mess, her clothes were tattered and covered in traces of dirt and blood. Her cheek was still trailing blood from the bullet the helicopter hit her with.

She was taking the spotlight away from Cole, clearing a path for him to Kuo; keeping him safe.

She's smart, he thought with a deep exhale, but reckless.

"Go," she said, snapping him from his thoughts. "Zeke's on his way, we'll be waiting."

He nodded to her, fully trusting her words as he headed into the shack.

He shivered.