Hexus

>35< Defeat

[6:24PM, November 17, UTC +08:00]

“Help!”

Agnes startled and looked up at the direction of the voice. Wind blew into the room, whipping paper from the printer and throwing the bed sheets up into her face. She beat down the cloth and found Augustus kneeling on the ground, his shirt covered in blood, holding a bleeding gasping boy who was had four large glowing spikes sticking out of his back. After a few seconds of staring, she realized it was Nathan.

“What happened now?!” she exclaimed “Where did you go?”

Augustus trembled, his face as pale as death. “I don’t…. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Calm down. Tell me what happened.”

There was a noise at the door and she turned. Austin stood there, sniffing, and she saw his eyes get glassy at the sight of blood, his lips parting to reveal elongating fangs.

“Go!” she screamed at him. “Now, before you lose control! Call Dad, it’s an emergency.”

He jerked back, shaking his head and snapping out of his daze. He nodded grimly and ran towards the stairs, just as another sound of hurried feet came towards them. Linus rushed in and reeled back in shock, his eyes widening at the sight of Nathan. He looked up, frowning.

“Why is the portal not closing?”

Agnes whirled back to see that Augustus’ green portal was, strangely, still open, about the size of an orange. Through it, she caught a glimpse of a congested street where a mass of Asian people were running, and a powerful stream of air rushed out of it. She got closer to get a better look, and then something blocked the view. Dark grey eyes looked back at her, giving off a menacing glare.

“You can’t run away from me, Augustus.”

“Shit!” Augustus hissed. “Everyone get out!” He struggled with Nathan’s weight and Linus rushed forward to help him, lifting and dragging Nathan out of the room. Agnes ran after them, stopping at the door to glance back at the portal. It was growing wider, opening the connection to wherever Augustus had just come from. Wind blasted in, throwing up the bed sheets and sending books flying off the table. She acted impulsively and sent a wave of fire towards it. The flames reached the portal and blew away, deflected back into the room, setting the bed and shelf ablaze. She stared, stunned at the outcome, before she got a pull from the side. She stumbled after Augustus, whose shaking hand rattled her wrist as he hurriedly pulled them away from the room.

“You can’t fight her with fire,” he said, huffing. “She can control that too.”

“Who?”

“Moira,” he hissed. “She’s the one controlling everyone.”

Agnes blinked.

“Nathan said I should get the others,” he continued. “We have to stop them from fighting the Hexus.”

“What? But we’re the Hexus.”

“No we’re not!” he shouted, looking flustered. “Hiene is the Hexus. They’re the good guys here. We are the bad guys. Nathan and Moira lied. They want us to fight them so that one of us gets killed in the process.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Yes, Augustus, what are you talking about?”

They turned at the voice. Moira stood by the room door, the orange light from the flames behind throwing shadows over her face, which made her look even more threatening.

“You know, running is meaningless.”

Two glowing spikes seemed to condense into Moira’s hands. They looked like something between big needles and small javelins. She released her grip and they levitated quickly and shot forward. Agnes reacted, again on impulse, grabbing Augustus and pushing him down. She screamed as one pierced her right shoulder, and then there was a flare of green and a feeling of weightlessness and then-