SYNTHETIC: ECLIPSE
CHAPTERS III AND IV
CHAPTER III: Tech Support
The juniors and seniors from Sactowne High boarded the travel buses to take them to Arcadius Labs for a tour. The laboratory looked like a castle, only with baton-wielded guards at every entrance and exit. The high-schoolers lined up outside of the giant building waiting for the president of Arcadius Labs, Camden James. He was a tall African-American man wearing a crisp and clean suit. The tour was finished within an hour of Camden’s introduction. He allowed the teachers and staff to pamper themselves at the Buffet Room, while he showed the students a project his team was working on in the Tech-Hall.
The doors closed themselves, and the bright, white lights dimmed as Mr. James ordered his crew to unveil their project to us. They knocked on a glass dome, and heavy footsteps shook the floors. Mr. James’ face burned with as much anticipation as the rest of us. The dome began to float, exposing heavy robotic feet; when the dome was fully lifted, there stood a human-sized robot that had human-like eyes. “Speak,” Mr. James commanded, the creepy robot tilted his held to the commander, and then began to communicate, “hello, class of 2021, and, class of 2022, I am here to teach the subject of Synthetic DNA Coding.” Nena and Edward glanced to me, I was utterly confused as well. “In the year 1996, an intergalactic ship crash-landed in the front of the White House, after further investigation a body was found feet from the crash. The body was that of an unknown species that resembled that of a Homosapian. The government sent the body to Arcadius Labs for an additional analysis, it was determined that the being had a different type of DNA Coding, as if the strands were modified to give these organisms a special ability. The being Arcadius Labs had in their possession had the ability to liquify its entire body; a defensive attribute.” Mr. James stood next to the robot and asked it a series of questions, “you said the being had a Defensive Attribute, correct?” The robot comedically put his thumb up, “-so, if there happened to be others like the one we found twenty-four years ago, what are the odds of it having an Offensive Attribute?” The robot gave an answer, “The odds of the U.S.A harboring a Synthetic with Offensive Attributes, is 77%, would you like to know how dangerous Synthetics are, sir?” Mr. James nodded his head, “In the year 1999, the city of Sactowne, California was hit by an attack that left exactly 94 innocent people dead that worked in the Sactowne Financial Building. With Advanced Analysis it was determined that the object that deteriorated the building was a Synthetic with the abilities to disintegrate any type of structure, and, move faster than CCTV can pick up.” The room filled with whispered cuss words, and, hatred towards Synthetics. “Is it possible for a Synthetic to have super-reflexes?” The voice came from an isolated Richard Costello, Mr. James signaled him to stand by him, “what’s your name, kid?” Richard cleared his throat and replied, “Richard Costello,” “-well, Richard, we can’t determine exactly how these Synthetic abilities work- unless we were able to find one and extract a DNA sample from them… what happened to your hand?” He asked while observing the thick cast, “wrestling accident.” He replied. He cut his cold, blue eyes at me. An almost unnoticeable smile formed on one side of his mouth.
Everyone gathered in the Buffet-Room for lunch, before our departure. I kept my eyes on Richard whom was hip-to-hip with Mr. James, “what do you suppose we do?” Nena asked, “let’s keep our distance from him, I have a bad feeling he’ll stop at nothing to figure me out,” Edward began to speak of a plan, “-what if we tracked his every move, so, we knew where not to go?” Nena commented, “-one problem; the three of us combined can’t afford another tracker. We wasted it on pale-man,” Edward pointed to a door that read ‘Computer Science Lab,’ “we make friends with someone in there, have them teach us how to track phones, and then we can continue to fight crime without worrying about Rich the snitch.” Nena unbuttoned the top of her shirt, and applied a seductively colored layer of lipstick, “I got this.” We followed feet behind and watched Nena as she entered the enormous futuristic room; the floors were made of a black onyx that resembled a mirror at first glance, the glass walls had holographic computer screens reflecting from them. Nena made her way towards the first guy she noticed staring at her, “could you possibly help me out?” She asked brushing her loose bang behind her ear, and exposing her dimples. The guy replied with comical tone, “sure, that shade of red does not go with those adorable brown eyes. Also, you should button-up, these horn-dogs have never seen a pair of boobs beyond those screens,” Edward and I looked at each other, trying our best not to burst out in laughter. “-so, what can I help you with?” The guy asked, “I need to learn how to track phones,” he began to laugh and replied suggesting that Nena should “just break up with her boyfriend if she feels the need to track his phone,” the two joked around some more, before he introduced himself as, Peter Reyes, an eighteen-year-old whom was personally written a check from Mr. James to have Peter use his limitless skills to hack, decode, and track basically anything with a screen. “I’ll help you, dimples. For one-hundred,” Nena offered something else instead. She pointed directly to me and motioned me to join the conversation with her finger. “Drew, this is Peter,” I shook his hand; he observed me from the top-down, he explained that he’d help if I got his condo “party-ready,” by moving his expensive furniture to a safe spot. Edward introduced himself, and we exchanged the three of our numbers with his. The doors shook open; Edward, Nena, and, I instinctively got into a combat stance. It was just Mr. Skinner, and two security guards; “who told the three of you to leave the buffet-hall?” Skinner rhetorically asked in a loud tone, “relax, I was just showing them our high-tech, state of the art facilities. That is why you come to ‘tours,’, right?” The buff security guards snickered, and exited the room. “-enjoy after school detention tonight,” Skinner said coldly, “we’ll try,” Edward quickly responded. “You’ve been mistaken, Mr. Pulse. As for you and Ms. Arreola; you two will be far too busy helping the Lacrosse team stay hydrated at the away game against Parkour City.” As we left the computer-lab, Ryan stood outside the door. He just stared at me with no expression. Creepy.
It felt weird having After-School Detention (A.S.D) without Nena and Edward, but I quickly got over the feeling and made my way through the deserted halls and to the library. There were five other students already there, they all looked up as I entered the room, the orange-haired girl smiled at me. I took my seat and started to catch up on my studies. After a while I was beginning to feel uncomfortable, I took a glance at the other students; the four of them looked down at the empty table once I moved my head. Something was bizarre. It was soon hard for me to breath, something was around my neck. As my vision became blurry I could see the other students rise from their seats and walk towards me with creepy smiles on their faces. Quickly I came to my senses and pushed back as hard as I could, causing the orange-haired girl behind me to fly into a bookshelf, knocking it over. The others, whom were a set of boys and girls, pulled out stun-rods. These were not ordinary students. The most painful amount of electricity went up my spine, I fell to the ground, trying to focus on healing, but I couldn’t concentrate due to the episodic shocks of electricity still affecting me. Before getting hit by another, I quickly grabbed for my pocket knife, and went for the nearest pair of legs; my blade was kicked out of my hands, then came the four stun-rods. No matter how hard I tried to endure the pain, I couldn’t. Two of the males lifted and slammed Drew onto the wooden table, as one of the females and the remaining male left the library. The female still in the library pulled out a tiny vile that contained a silver thick liquid, she poured the slowly excreting liquid into Drew’s mouth, that was held open by one of the males. Drew immediately began to convulse and his veins turned blue. The three-specialist chuckled as they made eye-contact with each other. The mixed pair returned to the library with a rather pale, paramedic. Drew laid on the table with no motion. As if he was dead. The paramedic held the pocket knife to Drew’s arm vein, as one of the females held a vile under the arm. They were going to extract his blood. All the lights shut off and fire alarms disrupted the depressing quietness as a glowing red and orange flicker emitted from the doors. The five specialists equipped their stun-rods and waited for the door to be kicked in: the violent flames from the hallway pushed the double-doors off the hinges. Vendalia walked into the library, with each step starting a small fire that slowly grew with each second. The group ran to the slowly walking Vendalia and swung their rods; Vendalia extended his flaming wings, flew into mid-air, and spit blue flames from his mouth, torching four of the strange people. The surviving woman was grabbed by the shirt and thrown like an object, crashing into the pale man attempting to flee from the back exit. A flaming snake forced them to stay in a corner until the police and other emergency units arrived.
I woke up attached to a monitor while lying in a car-bed, with a little light-skinned girl with big, curly hair, and bright red eyes hovering over me; “where am I?” A familiar voice came from a dark corner in the childish room, “you’re safe, little brother,” Ven turned on the pink television and switched to the news channel: Just a few hours ago Sactowne High was set ablaze by these two culprits; 31-year-old, Helen Clare, and, 46-year-old, Arnold Millar. Judge Malakai O’Rourke sentenced the two to fifteen years for Arson. The school will be closed for up to a month due to repairs of the entire second floor, including the library- “what happened in that school, Drew?” He asked, I explained what was said at the tour between Camden James and Richard. “It’s time you learn about our history-.” “Synthetics originated from a planet called, Arcane. We were once protected by Lord Judith, and were known as Arcanes. Arcanes were a people that lived in a harmonious peace within our planet, and, fought in unity against the threats of other planets. Abyzu, the Demon lord, killed our Judith and allowed the Human Elites and their families to enslave us. He then began to create his own Arcanes (Synthetics), giving them abilities at random, and, forcing them to fight. Allowing the survivors to live or work as slaves. In 1995 the Synthetics rebelled, ultimately ending in the planet’s demise by an angry Abyzu.” I suddenly remembered the lesson that robot had given us earlier, “-in 1996 a Synthetic crashed onto Earth, and Arcadius discovered what it was” Vendalia and his daughter traded a look of concern, “what did Arcadius do with the body?” He questioned, “Camden James never mentioned that, but, he and his researchers found out it could liquify it’s body.” Vendalia cuffed me to the bed, “stay with him,” he commanded his daughter as he left the room in a hurry. “What’s going on?” I asked the little girl, “he’s suiting up which means someone’s going to be killed,” I ripped the cuff off; one end still attached to my wrist. I tried to leave the room, but the girl stood between me and the door. “You aren’t strong enough to leave,” she assured, I continued to approach the exit, she pressed both palms on my chest causing a small explosion that lunged me against the wall. She cracked her knuckles and spoke with a smile, “-if you get past me, you’re free to go,” quickly I stood to my feet and ran for the door, she pointed to my feet and a red beam shot out and singed the carpet. I would have to push through her and those beams to stop Vendalia, whom was probably close to Arcadius by now. As I ran, I noticed the little window in the room, it was much too small to climb out of, but, if I could get my niece to send me through it, things would be a lot simpler. She continuously shot the painfully hot beams at me as I fought through the grief, “I’m surprised you’re still fighting,” she taunted as she shot me once more with the burning beam. I was now close enough to grab her, she clapped her hands once, giving off an enormous heatwave that carried me through the air, and straight through the walls. The cool air of the night helped me heal the burns and blisters on my skin. Once I noticed my surroundings I could see that Vendalia and his daughter lived in a normal neighborhood with white fences bordering each home, “you ok?” The girl asked as she jumped through the hole I created; I gave her a thumbs-up and headed towards the road, I turned back and noticed she was following behind, “your house is that way,” I explained sarcastically, “well, my father is this way,” she replied. She sat on my shoulders as I traveled to Arcadius Labs. The building looked intact; no alarms were going off, so, we stepped forward. We were snatched before either of us could make a sound. It was Vendalia, he was hiding behind a building opposite from Arcadius. “The guards are will be alerted as soon as you step off this street,” “what are you planning father?” His daughter questioned, he pulled up a 3-D Blueprint of the laboratory on his phone, “we need to get up to the Main Lab, which is 20 stories up, once we get to the 20th floor, there’s an elevator that takes us there,” I zoomed in on the blueprint and revealed that there were at least 5 guards on each floor (you do the math); “do you think we can do this alone?” He snickered, and replied, “invite black hoodie and Ms. Temper,” he was talking about Edward and Nena, well, M-Pulse and Call-Girl. I got ahold of them, they agreed to help after they got suited up. It took a little over an hour for them to arrive, “who’s the kid?” Edward asked as he extended his battle stick; she held out her hand and introduced herself as “Bella.” Vendalia explained the plan to the four of us: Vendalia would wait on top of the building until M-Pulse and Call-Girl find the Key-Code to enter the Main Lab. Bella and I will have to focus the guards’ attention away from the Vigilantes. Vendalia took Call-Girl and M-Pulse by the hands and flew them to the roof, where they would enter a vent. “What’s our plan?” Bella asked, I peaked at the windows to get a look at the guards, “we have to get in there before my friends set off any alarms, and since the lab is closed, we’ll have to play smart.”
After a few minutes of frustrating thinking, I thought of a plan that would involve the both of us to use our abilities to lure the guards out. I gripped the bottom of the heavy window and forced it open to an empty office, Bella put her middle finger under her thumb and flicked it, as if she was discarding a booger. A tiny ball of fire left her fingers and fell onto a stack of papers, the fire briefly grew and set off a fire alarm; the front doors opened and a troop of guards along with some people in lab coats exited frantically. Bella and I high-fived and entered through the window. Call-Girl and M-Pulse met us on the 20th floor in front of the elevator, Firefighters stormed in from the front entrance and extinguished the fire. “Did you guys find the keycode?” I asked, “who needs a keycode when we have a Synthetic who can rip the door open,” Call-Girl whispered; we got inside of the elevator and started to ascend, “what is your dad planning?” Edward asked Bella, “he’s going to steal the Beta Bug, and look for anything on that Synthetic that crashed here.” We stood facing the great metal door, I observed the Keypad, it needed a Handprint, and looked securely sensitive; “I’ll call Peter and have him unlock it for us,” Nena volunteered. We hid until he came through the elevator doors, “hey guys it’s me,” he whispered in the dark corridor, we emerged from the shadows; Bella using the palm of her hand as our light source. He freaked out when he realized Edward and Nena were the vigilantes he’s heard about, but, when he realized that Bella was in fact, controlling the fire, he almost passed out. I explained what we needed out of the Labs, “-if you don’t want to risk your career for our problem, that’s fine,” I added, he glanced at the Keypad for a moment, before, approaching it, and unlocking the door. I thanked him briefly, then, rushed into the room to begin the search. There was a bright red glow, and then a start-up sound. It was the robot, standing there in the huge, pitch-black room staring blankly at me. “Synthetic Detected: Apprehend,” it darted forward, clinched my neck with both cold, metal hand, and slammed me on to the ground; Call-Girl, M-Pulse, Bella, and Peter sprinted into the laboratory and went for the robot strangling Drew, Call-Girl and M-Pulse summoned their shields as they held their combat sticks in the other hand, and, began to beat the robot while it stumbled to stand up. “It’s wearing the Beta-Bug in its chest plate,” Peter yelled out before running off into another room within the lab. Drew attempted to put the robot in a headlock, but it slipped away, and returned a blow to Drew’s face. Nena banged her shield against its face as hard as she could; it stumbled backwards, Bella jumped onto its back as she continuously punched it in the head with her fist on fire, Edward ran towards it from the back going for the legs, as Drew ran towards it. Once the two boys were close, Bella jumped off it’s back, allowing Edward to trip it, as Drew close-lined the neck of the robot. Almost knocking its head off. The robot charged after the four of us; before it had the chance to attack, Vendalia crashed through the window, and, kicked the robot in its chest, sending it crashing against a large glass case that contained some sort of liquid. “Synthetic Threat Level: Highly Dangerous” The robot’s metal began to bulk, as the Beta-Bug burned bright; Vendalia instructed M-Pulse and Call-Girl to leave, but, before they could consider it, the flood of guards exited the elevators and stood behind the buff robot. Peter arrived from the room wearing a welding mask to cover his face, and, a set of high-tech, metal gauntlets. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder: Edward on the far left tightening his grip on the aluminum stick, Nena gritting her teeth as she did a showboating taunt with her floating shield, Peter activating the gauntlets, Bella, completely covered in flames, and Vendalia whom punched the ground causing him to be also covered in flames (but blue). Vendalia and Bella merged together, creating a purple flame, that manifested into a purple Phoenix, it swung its fiery wings, sending flames in the robot’s direction; it jumped through the fire and jumped onto the large Phoenix, ran down it’s back, grabbed the tail, and brought the Phoenix crashing down. Drew, now furious, leaped high into the air and slammed both fist down onto the robot’s chest; it fell on a crowd of guards that Edward, Nena, and Peter were fighting. Peter’s gauntlets easily knocked out the guards, he effortlessly punched through the endless wave of security. Edward flung his shield at the group running towards him; the shield hit each man in the head, rendering them unconscious. Nena was hitting the men in the knees and proceeding to bash them in the face with the metal shield. The Phoenix dug its claws into the chest of the robot and ripped it open, revealing the Beta-Bug was attached to a Human heart. I felt disgusted as I reached and removed the tech-infused organ. All the guards were hurt and lying on the ground in agony; Peter inspected the heart, “you won’t be able to use that until I remove the device from the heart and repair it, and that could take at least a month”. The Phoenix disbanded, splitting up Bella and Vendalia, “I’ll worry about the other Synthetic another day, for now, we worry about repairing the Beta Bug,” Vendalia took Edward and Nena by the wrists, then, flew through the glass roof; Bella jumped on to my back as I super-jumped, crashing through the roof. Peter stuffed his gauntlets and mask into his bag and exited the front doors.
CHAPTER IV: Team Synthetic
Nena, Edward, Peter, and I spent our nights training with Ven, and, Bella, these past few weeks. Sactowne High wouldn’t re-open until October 1st, which meant we only had a week left to find any information on the Synthetic that crashed on Earth. Peter worked endlessly on repairing the Beta-Bug, he believes he can destruct the tech and re-create it giving it more upgrades that could help Ven and I fight Abyzu. The three of us sat in Peter’s enormous condo as we waited for him to show us his “surprise.” He entered the porcelain room holding nothing but a giddy look, as three shirtless men each wheeled in a glass case with a black curtain hiding the contents within. “Hold on to your seats,” he announced as he revealed the first case, “Nena, I took it upon myself to give your costume some pizzazz,” the sun beamed off the skintight, black, suit, as a man pulled down the curtain; an ‘S’ was located on the center of chest, there was a holster for her new Escrima Sticks (A metal rod that can be detached and used as two batons), as well as an attached face mask that contained a tiny mic on each dimple of the mask. “I added a cellular interphase, so you can get in touch with any of us at any time, also, I added a layer of standardized armor, so, feel free to get hit more,” the two laughed before unveiling the next case. It was a black muscular bodysuit with the turquoise letter ‘S’ on the chest, the holster was located on the lower back and the Escrima stick poked out from the east and west end of it, “-be careful with that, while the stick is holstered it’s being charged with a deadly number of volts,” Peter instructed Edward how to tune down the amount of electricity the weapon has. The men pushed the case in front of me, “I saved the best for last,” Peter explained teasingly, he allowed me to pull off the curtain. Our jaws dropped as I revealed the black super suit, it looked like something Superman would wear (minus the cape), the ‘S’ was placed in a turquoise circle, and there was a neon blue glow that wrapped around the ankle of the suit to the upper thigh, “what’s that?” I asked while spectating the glow, “that, my friend, is something I took from Arcadius known as, ‘Anti-Aero,’ in a nutshell it’s an anti-metal that allows your jumps to be as high as you feel they need to be.” We thanked Peter before heading to the training warehouse. As we left the condominium, Edward and Nena stopped in a complete halt as if they had just been paralyzed, Peter put his hands on both of their shoulders as he walked them to their new chrome motorcycles, ‘Call-Girl’ was spray-painted on the saddle of one of the motorbikes; ‘M-Pulse’ would be seen in bright red colors on both wheels if he hit high-speeds. They mounted their vehicles, I offered Peter a ride, he declined before pressing his thumbs into the center of his palms, he pressed a tiny button that attached to a device found on his back, soon, he began to be covered in the metal his gauntlets he wore were, he then put on his welding-mask before ascending into the air with the help of his shoes; “race you there,” he announced before taking off at increasing speeds, I squatted before jumping, so I could increase the speed, before I knew it I was looking over the entire city, it was as much alive from up here as it would be if I was on the ground.
Vendalia and Bella was already deep into their training, so we decided to sit and watch; Vendalia threw a fiery punch; Bella caught the punch, and ran up his arm, locked her legs around his neck, then proceeded to toss him. He attempted to torch Bella, but, she absorbed it by holding out her arms widely. Vendalia blocked each attack Bella threw at him, she clinched her fist tight as smoke emitted from her little hand; she covered the warehouse in complete darkness due to the thick smoke. Bella quickly transformed into a familiar flaming snake and went for Vendalia’s legs; he summoned his wings and soared over the attempt, before grabbing the snake with a beaming red whip. Bella went back into her regular form, Vendalia was holding her up by the arm, “I won,” he teased with a smile; Peter, Nena, Edward, and I, began clapping, we must’ve surprised them because they immediately shot a fireball and a beam in our direction, making us jump for cover. “I’m glad you guys are here, we were just warming up to stop Flash-Mob from breaking their two partners out Red Steel Prison,” Ven explained, we removed our regular clothing and revealed our new suits, Bella was amazed; Vendalia was unimpressed, “you guys a team, or something?” He asked, Peter wrestled in his bag and removed two black t-shirts, “I’m not wearing this,” he rejected as he unfolded the shirt, “come on, dad, we’re technically a team,” Bella said, already wearing the t-shirt. He put on the shirt and stood uncomfortably, “this is a copyright issue waiting to happen,” Ven said pointing to the ‘S,’ “well, did you want to be sporting a ‘Team Synthetic’ shirt, no? I thought so,” Peter furiously replied. Call-Girl’s suit began to beep, “that means Richard Costello is in the vicinity,” Peter clarified, “why would he be here?” I asked. Suddenly there was a loud banging on the entrance door, “open up! This is the Sactowne Police Department, we have a warrant for your arrest Mr. Jennings,” Vendalia and I looked at each other confused on which of us they wanted, the banging commenced, “we’re going to give you to the count of three, before we kick in the door!” Ven told us to hide, while he approached the door. Several cop cars were surrounding the building, instantly, the cop cuffed my brother and spoke, “Vendalia Jennings, you are under arrest for the murders of Nichole Debbie, Walter McCoy, Jared Vega, and Samson Lance. You are also under arrest for Arson to the Sactowne High School, plus, breaking and entering.” Vendalia kept quiet; his eyes were pierced on Richard, whom was shaking hands with the Sheriff. Vendalia allowed the cops to take him away. The rest of the team and I agreed that we would prioritize and stop Flash-Mob, before dealing with Richard. The prison was isolated from the city, and highly secured. A grim voice greeted us from the entrance, “No visitors,” “we’re not visitors, we’re making sure Flash-Mob doesn’t break in and break out,” I spoke back to the monitor, “trust me, kid, no one is getting in and no one is getting out,” the voice responded, “we’re not going anywhere; we have unfinished business, if you were smart, you’d let us stay,” Call-Girl shouted at the man, there were no further argument. After hours of waiting there was an Attack Chopper flying towards the prison, I got a glance at the pilot, and gunner, both Flash-Mob members. Alarms sounded from the prison as guards gathered outside with their pistols pointed to the chopper, the gunner pointed down at us and pulled the trigger, but before any bullets rained down, I pushed myself off the ground ripped through the chopper with my body like a bullet. The two members jumped from the explosion and fell through the skies at alarming speeds, before I could catch them, something swooped in and grabbed them both. The guards furiously shot at their savior, the hooded figure turned to face us slowly and removed his black hood, revealing it was Richard. “What did you do?” I asked noticing his completely black eyes, “I found God,” he said as he ripped off his cast, exposing that his hand was replaced with the hand from Arcadius’ robot. Before I could say anything else, he released a beam from the hand that forced me on my back, M-Pulse and Call-Girl noticed the Flash-Mob members snuck into the prison and went after them along with Tech-Support. The guards scattered when Richard jumped into the air and crashed down on my stomach, he started pounding at my face. Bella, in snake form, wrapped around his neck until I was able to free myself. The cold voice spoke on the intercom, “Flash-Mob released the prisoners, I need every guard in here, now!” a door being kicked open was heard before the announcement ended, the guards rushed back into the prison that sounded like complete chaos once the doors opened briefly. “You let him experiment on you, didn’t you?” I asked, “experiment? No, he showed me true power, and I’m going to show you,” he materialized his robotic hand into a huge blade and slashed at us, Bella and I both thought of pushing each other out of the way, which caused us to equally distance ourselves from the attack. He repeatedly swung his blade-arm heavily at me; I dodged each attack and followed up by grabbing his head with both hands and forcing it down on my knee, as he stumbled back, Bella darted towards me, “give me a lift,” she yelled from afar, I kneeled and cuffed my hands together, giving her a boost high into the air, her fist burst in flames that became more fierce as she descended; she smashed her fist into his face as he looked up astonished by the little girl’s abilities. The punched put Richard into a hole that perfectly shaped his body, he laid there motionless; I picked him up by the throat and stood him to his feet, “you will never be true to anything, you’re so drunk on vengeance you don’t see where you stand on the moral meter,” Bella insulted before hurling him into the large body of water with a blast to the chest, “too harsh?” She asked.
The prison was completely black, and was eerily quiet, “where could they be?” Bella asked as she lit her hand for light, a loud yell was heard from upstairs, we began running up the spiraled staircase until we hit a large door that was forced shut by a metal bar twisted around the knobs, and I couldn’t break through the steel walls. Bella pointed to the ceiling, “we could go Arkham City on their asses,” I said, agreeing with Bella, she held on to my back as I crashed through the ceiling, we crawled through the maze-like vents. There were suddenly loud banging’s coming closer to us, Bella lit the vent, and there it was, coming straight at us with its sharp teeth exposed by a disturbing smile. A shark, with the body of a very muscular man. Bella fled with no sudden warning, I tried to follow behind, but the shark-man caught my leg with his big mouth, luckily Peter’s Anti-Aero protected me from the bite, I buried my fist into eye twice, and sped off into the dark vents, taking any turns that I could, then, I hit a dead-end. The heart-stopping stomps began to get closer, I clinched my fist and prepared for the shark to run my way. He hit the corner slowly, but, quickly noticed me. As it made its way towards me, I noticed that he was going in slow-motion, my senses forced me to look upwards, I ripped off a long pipe and quickly realized what I needed to do. Time resumed, and the shark was charging at me again, I turned the pipe right-side up and it got lodged between its teeth, forcing its his mouth open. That did not stop his momentum, he was still running forward, pushing me through vents, until we were falling from a high distance. I opened my eyes, still dizzy from the long drop, the pole ripped through the shark-man’s head as we fell, blood covered the dirty prison floors. I didn’t realize I was in the center of a prison brawl, there was so many bodies, some on the brink of death; the majority already dead. “Nena!” I heard being yelled by Peter and Edward, my head instinctively turned to their location, I jumped through the air, making my to their fight. Drew swung both his fist behind his head, as if slam-dunking, he slammed his fist on to the porcelain floors, causing a wave to crack them. The wave took the man with a metal arm off his feet and threw him, along with other brawlers, to the far side of the prison. Peter (in badly bent armor) and Edward (sporting a black eye and a clearly broken nose) kneeled over Nena, who was curled in a fetus position, Peter removed her bodysuit (we wear light clothes under our suits, just in case.), and placed his hand on her side; she winced in agony, “get her to a hospital,” Peter demanded; with no hesitation, I carefully held her and used my body to break through each level of the prison until reach the outside. M-Pulse and Tech-Support found Bella. and filled her in on what happened with Flash-Mob: they escaped along with their two partners, and, five of Sactowne’s worst criminals, known as ‘Psycho Cinco’. Bella helped get her and the boys out of the prison. Peter got them across the body of water, and safely back to the city, where they met Drew at the Hospital. Nena’s parents were in the hospital room, scolding Drew and Nena. “-going around fighting people? You’ve done a lot of dumb things, but this, young lady, is the final straw. After you’re cleared to leave this bed, you will be moving to Altona and getting a better education.” Mr. Arreola yelled while still clinching my shirt, “but, that’s on an island far from here,” She argued. “Your mother, and I have tried so hard to get you out of your rebellious ways for far too long, you’re sitting in a hospital with 6 broken ribs for heaven’s sake,” Edward, Bella, and Peter entered the room dressed in their regular clothes as well, but still bleeding and bruised. “This just gets better, doesn’t it?” Mrs. Arreola commented. Peter locked the door, letting Edward speak, “sir, you own The Sac, yet, you don’t report any stories about the messed-up stuff that happens in this city, Camden James is producing extraterrestrial drugs and weapons, and selling them in not only Sactowne, but, to anyone who has the money and can keep quiet about who supplied it. Nena was victim to one of his buyers,” Peter then spoke, “The Pyscho Cinco crew broke out of Red Steel Prison, along with Flash-Mob, and I’m pretty sure they’re plotting something huge. It’s your choice whether you warn the civilians or have them hurt more people,” Mr. Arreola released my shirt, and looked at his wincing daughter. “The second you’re better, we’ll get you a passport,” he glared at the four of us before leaving with his wife. “I’m sorry guys,” Nena said, her voice shaking while fighting back tears; the four of us huddled around her allowing her to let her cries out. Before I knew it, we all were sobbing. The nurse came into the room and politely asked us to leave for the night, we each said our ‘good-bye’s’ and left Sactowne’s Urgent Care.
Mr. and Mrs. Pulse took us to dinner after we explained that Nena was moving to the little island city. I wanted to confess to everything that’s been happening; my powers, our four-year career of putting each other in harm’s way, all of it. Instead, Edward and I sat in silence picking at our food; Mr. Pulse owns Sactowne’s most beloved Food Truck, and Mrs. Pulse is a weather lady for the Sactowne Solar Watch news channel, “check this out,” Mrs. Pulse said as she showed us a video sent to her and the rest of the News Channel, “-if my calculations are correct, as they always are, we will be experiencing another Solar Eclipse in the next three weeks, except, unlike the one we had three years ago, this one will last approximately one hour.” Edward and I traded a concerned face, “how cool is that?” Mr. Pulse exclaimed, sparking a discussion about the Eclipse with her Husband and son. For some weird reason I couldn’t get that nurse out of my mind, she looked very familiar. The realization hit me like a brick when I matched the orange hair to the face from one of the women in the library the night I was drugged. I felt the color flush from my face, I weakly stood up from my chair and excused myself; Edward made up an excuse for my absence before following behind me, “dude, what’s wrong?” He asked grabbing my shoulders as I exited the restaurant, I managed to spit the words out of my dry mouth, “the lady from the library, she’s the nurse.” Edward’s eyes widened, “I’ll tell Peter to meet you there, and keep mom and dad’s suspicions down.” I explained that there was no time and that I had to get to the hospital as soon as possible.
I entered the hospital and confronted the lady in the lobby, “room 299, Nena Arreola, where is she?” I asked furiously, “sweetheart, I’m sorry, but she was taken down to the Autopsy Room,” I sighed in frustration, before boarding the elevator and kicking in the room door. “She’s still alive, the little bitch puts up one hell of a fight, but, she’s alive.” Camden revealed himself in the dark room sitting upright in the hospital bed. “You and your friends broke into my lab, set fire to hundreds of important documents, destroyed my robot, and stole my life’s work,” Drew quickly shouted, “you’re trying to re-create my race, only to enslave them! I saw what your ‘creations’ did to those people in Red Steel, you’re powering criminals to destroy the city that you live in,” He laughed, “are you really that naive? My plans revolve around repenting, rapture, and rebirth.” He paused to stand face-to-face with me, revealing the anger in his eyes, “I’ll cut to the chase because I’m sure the Pulses are waiting for you to return for desert. You, your brother, and the little girl are going to activate The Arcane Reviver,” I cut his sentence off, “-and if we don’t?” He forced me to hold an object that looked like a simple glass rectangle; “-you will if you care about this planet,” he said before walking off. A projection of Earth being hit by three meteors appeared, the planet then turned into a cloud of particles that drifted off into space.