Trickster of the Butterfly

Praereptor pt. 2

A glowing sphere was stuck to his hand, Ezekiel was hopelessly struggling, and a crazed serial killer was inside their house. Dane was frozen in fear. He had no means of defending himself and he was sure his computer design graphics skills wouldn't do him any good here.

Janus dashed toward Dane with blinding speed and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying then slamming against the window.

"Owwww..." Dane's back ached like crazy while he sat on the floor.

"You know, I'd bring a gun and end this quickly but I'd like to break your bones first," Janus taunted. He snapped his fingers and another man in a black shirt went into the room carrying an unconscious Shane on his back.

"Say, what's that bright little trinket in your hand? Mind if I shove it down your brother's throat?" Janus said.

The sphere suddenly felt lighter in Dane's hand and it didn't feel stuck anymore.

In a desperate effort, Dane threw the sphere at Janus, who then caught it.

"No need to get violent, that's my job," Janus examined the glowing crystal through his black mask. How he could see through that thing was a mystery.

The sphere's light suddenly faded and became jet black.

"This-" Janus was interrupted by the sphere exploding with a flash of bluish light, throwing him, along with the two other goons holding Ezekiel and Shane, across the room.

"ARGH! The hell was that?" Janus roared as he got up. He noticed the sphere was no longer in his hand. "Get up you two-"

He turned around to see the two gruff men in black backing away from their hostages.

Shane's whole body was glowing with a bright white aura and Ezekiel's body was crackling with blue-colored lightning. They rose from the floor with gazes that burned with anger.

"Impossible."

"Very possible, you @#$$%" Dane cussed at Janus as he got up with his own bright aura glowing silver.

The gangsters were surrounded and clumped together in the middle of the room.

Silver light from Dane's body began creeping like smoke across the floor.
"Ooohh. Why did Michael erase our memories? I missed feeling this powerful." Dane said.  He recalled the day they almost killed each other in the garden and the Voice's subsequent order for their powers to be taken away until the "worthy day" comes. Dane also wondered how the sphere was unlocked without the help of Michael nor his own powers, since the Voice said it was made from time and space.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Take them out!" Janus ordered with an unsettled voice.

The tall, buff goon charged at Shane.

A soccer ball-sized sphere of white light appeared in front of Shane. He put his hands on either side of the ball and willed it to shoot at the goon.

"Ooph!" the goon was hit in the chest with the ball and exploded, throwing him away. Dane ducked to dodge the goon before he crashed straight through the window, breaking the glass and sending him outside.

Ezekiel shook his hands and electricity surged and covered his arms.

"Take this!" Ezekiel shot a lightning bolt from his left hand and it hit the other goon, blasting him into the bookshelf and leaving him smoking and groaning on the floor.

"This was... unexpected." Janus was the last man standing. The three brothers closed in on the terrorist.

"Who are you and where's our brother?" Shane demanded. He summoned a spear of light in the air already aimed at Janus' head.

Janus made an amused laugh. "So many questions, too little time."

The floorboards of the room creaked and cracked, then a chunk of it broke off from the ground and was glowing with silver light. The chunk of splinters hurtled toward Janus and rammed him straight out the window.

"Sorry, that guy got on my nerves." Dane said.

"Ano ka ba?! Tatanungin pa natin siya!" Shane scolded.

"Chill bro," Dane willed another chunk of floorboards to wrap around the goon by the bookshelf and throw him out the wiindow too.

"Overkill," Ezekiel said.

"Buhay pa naman sigu-" Dane's whole body began to convulse and made him fall to his knees.

The same happened to Shane and Ezekiel. All three of them glowed intensely with their respective colors.

"AGGHHHH!" they all screamed in agony.

"Now is not the time for you to keep these. For a better time instead, heroes." a deep disembodied voice spoke.

The brothers' light aurae drained from them and gathered into a floating ball in the middle of the room. As soon as all their bodies were devoid of glowing, they collapsed. The floating ball became a multicolored crystalline sphere.

In a flash of light, the sphere disappeared and all the damage to Michael's room was repaired and the lights came back on.

"Ouuch. Anong oras na?" Ezekiel got up in a daze. His two brothers were still fast asleep on the floor. Ezekiel didn't remember going to Michael's room and neither did he remember a thing about his powers. He peeked out the window.

"Sila mama!" he exclaimed at the sight of a taxi in the rain, stopping in front of their house. His father went out first to open the door and shade his mother with an umbrella.
Peering more closely through the window, he also saw a man down across the street helping a limping man as he walked. Ezekiel could've sworn the the limping dude's clothes were smoking like he'd been hit by lightning or something. A third man in a black jacket looked up in the direction of the window as if he knew there was someone watching him.  Shortly after, the trio disappeared into the darkness of the night.

Ezekiel thought he was just seeing things so he ignored it. He went down the stairs to greet his parents.

Elsewhere...

Michael's backpack suddenly felt heavier as he walked. He checked it and found a shining crystal sphere resting atop his supplies.

"Oh there you are! Nakalimutan ko pala to... Kelan kaya yung "worthy day"? Kamusta na kaya yung mga kapatid ko..."

THE END

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Note: "Praereptor" means "Invader" in Latin, in case you were wondering.

Loved the chapter? I really hope you did!

Hold on to your seats readers, we're going to go back to the main story as we move on to the climax!

Excited? Well, BE excited.

God bless you guys :-)