The group charged through the woods and away from the compound that had kept them prisoner for so long. Even though he was carrying Danny on his back, Rhys was in the front. He seemed to really be in his element. The group ran until they couldn't any more, and they still hadn't made it out of the woods. They stopped for a bit once they felt far enough away to take a breather. Rhys let Danny down and let him sit down on the ground, Danny leaned against a tree with a pained groan holding his side.
"I'm gunna get a lay of the land here and see if I can spot some shelter." Jack yelled before he sent his wings down and launched himself into the air. After a moment of silence, Nate turned to Nyx.
"Now?" He asked her directly.
"Now." Nyx responded with a chuckle as she stepped towards him and hugged him tightly. As the two were having their reunion, Nerissa kneeled down in front of Danny.
"I know this is gunna sound weird, but can you open your jumpsuit? I want to look at your wounds. I might be able to help." She asked meekly, she had no idea who this guy really was, but he was badly injured and she could help. So she would help.
"Thank you, but I'll be okay. I-" A harsh cough interrupted Danny and he brought up his hand to cover his mouth. When he brought his hand back down he saw blood on his palm. "Or...maybe not." He added with his voice hoarse.
"Please...let me take a look?" Nerissa asked him again. Danny only responded by unzipping his jumpsuit down to his abdomen and pulling it open. Nerissa breath caught in her throat when she saw his body. It was covered in dark bruises and cuts.
"Holy shit dude, what did he do to you?" Rhys spoke up as he saw the state of his friend.
"He beat the shit out of me, Rhys. Obviously." Danny responded as Nerissa looked at him, waiting to say something. Danny looked back at her to signal it was her turn to talk.
"So, I can find out exactly what's wrong with you, but it might be... uncomfortable." Nerissa spoke quietly, clearly not really wanting to do this, but if he had a life threatening injury. She needed to know.
"Do what you have to do, I trust you." Danny responded quietly. Nerissa nodded and placed her hands on his chest and closed her eyes.
"Keep your breaths deep and calm, let your mind go calm and quiet and I'll make this as fast as possible." Nerissa's tone changed to determined. Danny nodded and closed his eyes, breathing deeply as the rest of the group watched with bated breath. No one saw Nerissa do anything but suddenly Danny's breathing began to shake as he struggled to keep it steady. Nyx looked down and noticed that Danny's hands were shaking. After a moment Danny's body language radiated discomfort and pain.
"What are you doing to him?" Rhys stepped forward but Soul held up an arm to stop him.
"Trust her, okay? She's helping him." Soul said determined. After a few more seconds, Danny calmed down and his breathing became steady again and Nerissa lifted her hands off him. Danny opened his eyes again, looking exhausted.
"He has four broken ribs and two cracked ones, minor blunt force trauma to his lungs, and a small fracture in his left clavicle." Nerissa said with a somber tone as she placed her hands in her lap and looked at the group.
"How the hell?" Nate asked quietly.
"Oh, I can manipulate water and such, and there's water in people's blood. So I used my ability to "manipulate" his blood. Injuries tend to radiate heat so I isolated the parts of his bones and tissues that were radiating the most heat and found the injuries there." Nerissa said with a slight cheery tone.
"Woah, I didn't know you could do that." Nyx said to her friend. "Good to know we have a doctor in the group." She teased.
"Very funny." Nerissa chuckled slightly. "The good news is that he won't die in his sleep. The bad news is that if I want to heal him, I need a water source."
After a moment of silence, Jack swooped back down causing a small gust of wind to assault them all. "So, good news, I guess the Erebus clan has retreated from the compound. Another set of good news, I'm pretty sure they didn't leave a guard alive."
"That's supposed to be good news?" Nerissa said sarcastically.
"For us? Yes. Now for the bad news, I spotted a warehouse that seemed to be abandoned, maybe a former den for the homeless, but it's at least 2 miles away." Jack finished as he looked at the group.
"Well, I don't see how that's bad news, I can carry Danny. He weighs like nothing. Right dude?" Rhys said as he turned to look at Danny, who was already passed out from exhaustion. "Oh damn it, okay we should get going." Rhys said as he bent down to try to ease Danny onto his back again.
"Oh hey, Jack." Nate turned to him as the group started walking. "What about Zachariah? Was he killed?"
"I didn't see him, dead or otherwise. I'm assuming he was taken to safety the moment they attacked. Rich people tend to get perks like that." Jack responded as his wings were retracted into his back.
~~~~~~~~~
After almost an hour of walking, the group finally cleared the forest and took cover behind a few trees on the edge of the treeline.
"Okay, there's the warehouse I saw." Jack whispered out as he nodded his head towards a large building with few windows. The windows it did have were either boarded or broken.
"Looks clear, go quickly." Nate whispered to Rhys, who immediately sprinted with Danny on his back. He made it to the building so he was out of sight to anyone driving down the road. He had to adjust Danny on his back to prevent him from slipping. The movement caused Danny to jolt awake and make a pained noise.
"Sorry, man. We're almost in, just hang on." Rhys reassured him as the rest of the group made their move while it was clear.
"Rhys, I'm gunna lift you up to that second story window and then I'm gunna pass you Danny from there alright?" Jack said as he unfurled his black wings again. Rhys nodded and passed Danny to Nate then Rhys turned around and raised his arms. Jack wrapped his arms around Rhys under his armpits and slammed his wings down. Rhys was lifted off the ground and up to the second story window that was almost completely missing the glass. Rhys used his foot to kick out the last few shards of glass before Jack gave him a little boost. Rhys grabbed the windowsill and climbed inside with little effort. Jack brought up Danny next, except Jack carried him bridal style to make it as painless as possible.
"Careful." Jack whispered to Rhys as he passed Danny to him.
"I got him." Rhys responded as he carefully eased Danny through the window. After Danny was in, Rhys moved his right arm, the one that didn't have the broken clavicle, and lifted it around his shoulders. Guiding him further into the building while Jack brought everyone else inside.
"Come on, smart guy. You can almost rest." Rhys spoke in a soft tone to keep his friend comfortable.
"Rhys, I'm fine. I'm just exhausted." Danny responded, the exhaustion evident in his voice.
"Danny, you're not fine. You have four broken ribs and a beat up lung! You coughed blood an hour ago!" Rhys responded clearly frustrated with Danny for not taking this as seriously as he should.
"Yeah, and Nerissa said she could heal me if we find her a water source. Seems to me like you should be checking some faucets in here, there's gotta be a sink in this building somewhere." Danny responded as Rhys set him down on an old dusty mattress that was in the corner of the empty room. It was then that Jack was climbing into the window after everyone was inside.
"How ya feeling?" Nerissa asked Danny as she sat down a few feet away from the mattress.
"In pain." Danny responded bluntly. "Rhys is looking around for a sink right now to see about that water source of yours."
"Good." Nerissa responded as everyone was sitting down in a small semi circle.
"Found one!" Rhys called out from down the hall. "Nerissa, come here!"
Nerissa got up and shuffled down the hall to get water as Nyx turned to Danny. "You're gunna be okay." She smiled warmly at him.
"Oh, I have complete faith in her abilities." Danny responded as he closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. He was exhausted, everyone was.
"Alright." Nerissa said as she walked back into the room with Rhys behind her. Nerissa had her hands held up in front of her like she was holding water in her hands, but the softball sized glob of water was floating in the air above her hands. "So, I can heal your broken bones and damaged tissues with this, but there is one part that's gunna suck." Nerissa said to Danny as she kneeled down next to him.
"What's that?" Danny asked her as he opened his eyes again, slightly concerned.
"While I was examining you earlier, most of your broken ribs didn't really move from their respective spots. However, there is one that has shifted and I'm going to have to use my...other technique to set it properly." Nerissa sounded uncomfortable.
Danny closed his eyes and sighed, "Do what you gotta do."
"Okay...do we have something to hold this water in while I do that?" Nerissa looked around the room for something.
"I got it." Nyx said as she squatted down and held her hand up with her palm facing the glob of water. The glob was sucked away from Nerissa and was held floating in front of Nyx's palm.
"Cool." Rhys whispered in awe, causing Nyx to snicker a bit.
"Guys, I'm gunna need you to hold him so he doesn't move." Nerissa looked between Nate and Rhys. They both looked at Danny with a worried look, but relaxed a bit when Danny nodded at them. The two guys kneeled down on each side of Danny and held him with a hand on each shoulder and wrist.
"Do it." Danny whispered in distaste. He was NOT looking forward to this. Nerissa lifted her hands and placed them on his chest again.
"Try to keep your breaths deep and slow. This may cause your heart rate to start racing and you'll want to panic but I need you to stay calm. Can you do that?" Nerissa spoke to him softly. Danny only answered with a swift nod. Nerissa took a deep breath before she slightly clutched Danny's chest.
Danny's whole body tensed as he made a short yell of pain before he remembered what Nerissa said. He started breathing deeply through his pain. Small groans of severe pain still bleeding through his breaths as Nate and Rhys kept him from moving.
"I know, I'm sorry. It's almost over." Nerissa said in an attempt to reassure him. A few seconds later she relaxed her fingers and lifted her hands off his chest. Danny exhaled deeply and leaned his head back in exhaustion.
"Now I can heal you and the pain will stop." Nerissa said as Nyx passed her the glob of water. The glob of water flowed close to Nerissa's hands as she brought them down to Danny's chest again. There was a faint pale blue glow that illuminated the room before the water soaked into Danny's skin. He closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh of relief as the constant pain finally faded away. Everyone watched in awe as his bruises and cuts faded away before their very eyes. The scars from Masamune however, still remained.
"Am I...good?" Danny opened one eye and looked at Nerissa.
She smiled at him as she took her hands away. "Why don't you get up and stretch it out?" Nate and Rhys released him as he stood up, Danny brought his right hand up and gripped his left shoulder, he moved it around in a windmill fashion before a smile crept onto his face.
"Looks like it worked." Drake said quietly with a smile on his face. Danny brought up both of his arms and bent his whole body in a big stretch before throwing a few practice punches.
"I feel great! You're truly gifted, Nerissa." Danny said in delight as he continued stretching.
"Oh stop." She responded sarcastically with a swipe of her hand.
"Well, now that that's over. It's a thousand degrees in here." Soul grumbled as she unzipped the top portion of her jumpsuit and tied it around her waist. She was wearing a black sports bra underneath, Danny immediately spotted something under Soul's collarbone that filled him with intense dread.
A tattoo, about two inches long, two black snakes coiling together to look like an eight. He recognized that tattoo. Masamune had the same one.
Danny's eyes widened and he took a few steps away from her, catching her eye.
"What?" Soul asked him in a confused tone.
"Where did you get that?" Danny asked her sternly.
"Did you not tell Danny about her?" Nyx looked at Nate with a passive expression.
Nate made an "oh shit" face before speaking. "So I think this is a good time for proper introductions huh?" Nate stood up and clapped his hands together. "Soul, why don't you start?"
Soul glanced back at Danny's hard expression before she took a deep breath. "Okay fine, I'm Soul...Erebus..." She had a defeated expression when she said her last name.
"Well, shit..." Rhys said with a tinge of disbelief.
"I want to say this quickly, I am NOT like them. In fact, I despise them with every cell in my body. I already hate it enough that I look like my wonderful brother." Soul looked down.
"Oh yeah, he seems like a real good guy." Rhys said sarcastically.
"I knew you looked familiar...I got...a pretty good look at him." Danny said as he gestured to his scars.
"Yeah why do you think I saved your ass?" Soul shot back with a little more attitude than she intended to use.
Danny's eyes widened a little, "Oh...right, that was you...thanks by the way." Danny sounded ashamed.
"Forget it, I didn't want to watch my brother mercilessly kill another innocent person." Soul's tone dropped.
"Danny? Your turn buddy." Rhys said as he shoved Danny's shoulder playfully.
Danny scoffed at him before turning to the rest of the group. "I'm Danny Alaeta. IQ 196. Capricorn."
"Wassap." Nyx said as she held out her fist, Danny breathed out a small laugh as he fist bumped her.
"My ability is... superior prediction? I originally thought that I could just find out the combination of an electronic lock in seconds but recently, I've been seeing these visions of life threatening events moments before they actually happen. I've only seen two visions so far, when Masamune ran me through the first time. Then again right before Soul saved me. From what I guess, this is a new development in my ability. Or everyone else I've ever fought in the past never had any intent to kill me." Danny said as he pushed up his glasses. He seemed to be lost in thought, so Rhys decided to speak up to keep the introductions going.
"Hey, I'm Rhys, I don't know what the hell my IQ is, but I'm a Leo." Rhys said before he looked at Nerissa and winked with a click of his tongue. Nerissa held back a small smile. "As you all can see from my beautiful eyes, I'm basically a human cat, I have crazy speed and agility and if I get pissed enough I can grow claws and fangs. I haven't really been able to get it to happen when I'm not pissed off." Rhys flexed his fingers a little as if he was trying to bring out claws before making a disappointed face.
"You'll get it, dude. Especially now that we have all the time to practice." Drake said before he turned to the group. "I'm Drake, Scorpio...and I'm pretty much the snake version of this guy." He said while jerking his thumb to Rhys. "I can harden my skin and spit venom, or bite someone to poison them that way." Drake was silent again after that.
"You don't talk very much, do ya?" Nyx asked him.
"Not really, your turn." Drake answered her.
"Pff, okay. I'm Nyx, Capricorn." Her and Danny fist bumped again. "I can levitate and move objects with my ability, I guess it works in way more ways than I thought. You go." Nyx finished as he poked Nate.
"Aw, man. Okay, I'm Nate, hello. I'm a Libra. And I can hear people's thoughts and talk to them in their minds. I can also control people's bodies for a few seconds if I lock eyes with them. What about you, big guy?" Nate finished as he looked at Jack.
"Uh alright, I'm Jack... Aquarius, not really sure why we're sharing our signs. But I think it's pretty obvious what my ability is." Jack shrugged as he looked at Nerissa.
"Oh! It's my turn. Okay, hey, I'm Nerissa. Also a Leo." She said as she glanced at Rhys and fist bumped him with a small "hell yeah" and a smile. "I can control and manipulate water, as well as freeze or boil water. And as you all saw, I can find internal injuries and heal them."
"Great! Everyone knows each other now. Obviously, we have a lot that needs to be discussed, but frankly, I'm exhausted. I assume everyone else is as well considering the day we had. We can have a meeting in the morning and go over a game plan." Nate said as he looked between everyone. Everyone looked at each other and mutually agreed.
"There's only one mattress though." Nyx said quietly.
"I'm sure there's more littered around the place, we can figure it out." Danny responded to her as he walked out to go and find some, Rhys followed him.
"Here, Nyx. For right now, you can take this one. Get some sleep." Nate said to her in a gentle tone.
"Finally, sleep." Nyx said with a tired tone as she crawled onto the dusty mattress.
"Yo, Nate! Come here!" Nate looked up when he heard Rhys from the other room. Nate groaned before he got up off the floor and went to the next room.
"Alright, what is it?" Nate said as he walked into the room. He stopped when he saw Danny and Rhys standing there with their arms crossed and staring at him. "Why do I feel like you're staging an intervention for me? I can stop whenever I want." Nate joked at his friends, but they didn't laugh.
"Nathan. Rhys and I have been around Nyx for a total of two hours and we both agree." Danny started so Rhys could finish.
"You are so in love with her, it's painful to WATCH, DUDE!" Rhys said as he threw his hands down in childish frustration.
"Are you serious? THIS is why you idiots called me in here?" Nate said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Nate." Rhys said as he planted a hand on Nate's shoulder. "As your attorney..."
"You are not my attorney." Nate interrupted him with a defeated tone.
"AS...your attorney...I advise you get your shit together, and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ALREADY." Rhys leaned in close and shook Nate slightly.
"I never thought I'd say this, but Rhys is right. She pulled all of our asses out of that hellhole and she talked us all up so much that her friend, a complete stranger to us, saved my life. Girls don't really care that much for strangers that someone vouches for unless they REALLY trust them. She REALLY trusts you, dude. There's a good chance that she feels the same way." Danny pushed up his glasses as he schooled his friend.
Nate sighed, "Fine! Fine, I'll think about it." Nate looked at his friends. Rhys slapped him in the back a few times before he grabbed a mattress and began dragging it into the next room. Danny looked at Nate and shrugged before he grabbed another and dragged it out. Nate was left standing there in his thoughts, I really just agreed to potentially tell Nyx I love her.
"Fuuuuck." Nate groaned out as he wiped his face with his hands.