The air felt like it was vibrating, Danny sat down against the wall of the building. He was clutching Nate in his arms to protect him from any further harm. Rhys held up his arm to block the debris from going into his eyes. Danny lifted his head before he saw the scene before him, Nyx was beginning to levitate. Danny's eyes frantically traveled around the room, he saw that Oliver was still on the ground, a small puddle of blood had pooled under his chest. Danny's eyes widened when he saw that Oliver's body was starting to slide across the ground towards Nyx.
"Rhys! Get Oliver!" Danny looked at Rhys and shouted, Oliver was being sucked in towards Nyx, who was causing a gravitational anomaly. Rhys sprinted forward towards Oliver and quickly scooped him up before running towards Danny and Nate. Danny got to his feet alongside Nate, who had miraculously managed to stay conscious.
"How the hell are you even awake right now?" Danny asked him as Nate slung an arm over his shoulders and they moved quickly to take cover behind a stack of boxes.
"It'll take more than that to take me down." Nate said as he sat down with his back against the boxes. He held his wound again and peeked around the boxes to see the situation.
"Holy shit." Nate whispered as he watched Nyx lift her hands. She threw the small singularities at Orion and they traveled inhumanly fast. Orion's body suddenly changed to a pale blue and they could suddenly see through him. The singularities traveled through Orion before they collided with the ground behind him. When they hit the ground, the singularities grew slightly, sucking in all nearby debris and boxes before erupting in a small explosion. Orion didn't even flinch as the explosions erupted behind him. His body returned to normal as he continued to glare at Nyx.
"What the hell is he?" Nate whispered in shock as he watched.
"It's like he's a ghost." Danny said as he watched Orion closely. "Or at least, he has the capability of a ghost, he can become incorporeal. It seems like those dragons surrounding him have their own consciousness and can make their own decisions as well." Danny whispered in disbelief of this man's gift. He was incredibly strong, but that's what confused him about this boy. Every single powerful person he had come into contact with had such a huge ego and loved to hear themself talk. This man though, he wasn't acting anything like that, he was quiet and collected. He wasn't even taunting Nyx. He was just staring at her with a blank, empty expression. Danny narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. He didn't even know if something like SS-Class was a thing, but if it was? This guy would be it. Nyx growled in anger as her eyes glowed brighter, suddenly there was a bright violet glow outlining Orion before he was lifted off the ground and sent downward at insane speed. It caused another eruption from the impact.
Nyx watched as the smoke cleared and Orion stepped out from the cloud, unharmed. "What the hell?!" Nyx shouted to herself in anger before she sent another singularity at him. Orion suddenly leaped into the air before trying to stomp down on top of her. Nyx quickly shifted out of the way, when she reached point B, she was suddenly struck by a fast flying dragon across her side. Nyx quickly reacted like she didn't even feel the pain and grabbed the dragon. She clutched it in her hand tightly before it started glowing, it suddenly screeched and writhed before it exploded in her hand and faded away. Danny's head whipped to Orion when he heard him cry out in pain. He saw Orion had dropped to one knee and was clutching his arm.
"She's hurting him..." Danny said to himself. "It's the dragons..." Danny quickly lifted his head to shout at her. "Nyx! It's the dragons! You can't hurt him until you get rid of them!"
Nyx smiled manically before she shifted behind Orion and grabbed another of his dragons that were circling him. Three out of five. She grabbed it tightly and did the same thing that she did to the previous one. Orion cried out in pain before he dropped his other knee. Doubling over as he held himself.
"Stop..." Orion whispered through his pain.
"Why should I?" Nyx said back to him as another dragon tried to snap at her, she simply caught it by the throat and held it. "You're the one who started this." Nyx used her ability again to crush the dragon. One dragon left. Orion yelled in pain again, Danny caught a glimpse of something, two things to be exact.
The first was when Nyx crushed the dragon Orion had tears in his eyes. These were not tears of pain, these looked to be tears of fear, terror. The second thing Danny noticed was that he saw the flash of a red light by Orion's ankle. He focused on it and could see it was the flashing light of a tracking bracelet.
A bracelet that a prisoner would wear.
Danny's gasped gently, "Guys, Orion has a tracking bracelet on his ankle."
"So what? Why should we care?" Rhys responded with a gentle tone of impatience.
"Think, idiot." Danny said sternly as he locked eyes with Rhys. "Why would the Erebus Mafia put a tracking device on anyone? There wasn't a tracker on Damien, there's not a tracker on Soul, and they never put one on me!" Danny looked desperate, but he didn't wait for anyone to answer. Danny stood up and sprinted out into the open towards Nyx and Orion.
"Danny! Come back!" Rhys shouted after him, but Danny didn't listen. He ran towards Nyx and Orion as she was standing over him with a singularity forming in her palm.
"Nyx, stop!" Danny shouted at her as he held up his arm to combat the violent wind.
Nyx turned her head around to look at him, her eyes still glowing bright, but the singularity in her hand faded away. Danny then noticed something unsettling. He saw blood dripping from her nose, and it was starting to drip from her mouth as well. Nyx was pushing herself way too far, if she didn't stop it was threatening to seriously hurt her.
"Nyx, please...you have to stop. Look at him, he's defeated, you don't have to do this anymore." Danny pleaded in a whispering tone, he didn't know why but he had a gut feeling about Orion. His gut feeling was that Orion didn't want to do this, he didn't want to hurt anyone, the Erebus Mafia was forcing him.
"I know I don't have to." Nyx tone changed, Danny looked at her with fear in his eyes. She sounded utterly deranged. "I want to." Nyx said in a dark tone with a manic smile as she shifted to the side and clutched the final dragon. Orion's eyes suddenly widened in fear as Nyx used her ability to crush it into nothing but neon blue wisps of energy. Orion yelled in pain as blood splattered out of his mouth and he held himself up with his hand on the ground. Nyx suddenly hacked and coughed, she fell down to one knee as she clutched her chest, she could feel her heart racing.
"Nyx, you have to stop." Danny said gently as he kneeled down where he was standing. "This is going to kill you if you keep going...please." Danny sounded desperate, it hurt him to see her doing this to herself. Nyx looked up at him with an empty look on her face before the next words out of her mouth shook Danny to his core.
"I...can't." She choked out barely above a whisper.
"What?" Danny whispered as he approached closer.
"Stop!" Nyx yelled at him. "It won't stop! I'm trying to...calm down, but I can't...get back!" Nyx yelled before a shockwave erupted from her, sending Orion and Danny backwards in opposite directions. Danny was sent back towards Nate and Rhys. Nate's face was plastered with fear, he ignored the throbbing pain in his neck and shoulder and stood up straight and walked past Danny.
"Nate, no! You're already hurt!" Danny shouted as he held out a hand. Nate ignored him and approached Nyx steadily.
"Nyx." He called out quietly. Nyx's eyes snapped open as she stared at the ground and suddenly, the chaos stopped.
The debris that was flying around the room suddenly stopped and floated still. The air felt so thick that it was hard to breathe. Danny and Rhys watched with bated breath as Nate approached Nyx and kneeled down in front of her.
"I know you're scared, it's okay. Look at me." Nate whispered quietly as his eyes softened. Nyx was trembling and her mind was blank and yet it was racing too. She lifted her trembling head to look at him. His face softened slightly upon seeing the blood under her nose and down her chin and neck. She was trembling and crying before she suddenly stiffened and her eyes turned red.
"Sleep now, hermosa. You need it." He whispered with a somber look on his face.
Nyx's eyes fluttered shut before she fell forward and slumped into Nate's lap, fast asleep. The debris that was floating around the room dropped around them and the thick air subsided. Nate released his ability and his eyes faded back to their normal shade of green. He looked up and sighed as he realized that Orion was gone.
He escaped.
"Is she okay?" Danny said as he stood up.
"She will be, but I'm more worried about him." Nate said quietly as he turned his head behind him, the others knew that he was talking about Oliver, who was still unconscious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nerissa was sitting in the operating room of Sanctuary with her hands in her lap. She was called in to assist because of a mission that had gone wrong, Nyx and Oliver's mission. Her head jolted upward when the double doors of the operating room burst open and Mia entered the room.
"Set him here." Mia said urgently as Rhys entered after her, carrying Oliver in his arms. Nerissa's eyes widened when she saw the huge gash across the front of his body and she was brought back to that night that she found Danny in that horrible dungeon with the same wound. Rhys set him down on the operating table as Nate entered next with Nyx in his arms, she was also unconscious and had blood almost completely coating the bottom half of her face. Nerissa could also see bruises coating her body, she looked up at Nate and her breath hitched.
"Holy shit, Nate, your neck!" She said as she saw the strange wound on the crook of his neck.
"I can wait..." Nate said quietly as he slumped down in the chair by the door after setting Nyx on the second operating table. "Help them first."
Nerissa gulped before nodding, she ran over to the sink and turned on the faucet as Mia rolled up her sleeves and removed her black, leather gloves. "I got this one, dear. You help her." Mia said calmly as she held her hands in front of her in a triangle shape. A ball of warm light started to form inside the triangle, which illuminated the entire room as the boys watched in awe. Nerissa motioned her hands fluidly and the water from the faucet snaked into her hands before forming a ball. The water started glowing before Nerissa moved the water to Nyx's chest where it soaked into her body. Mia moved the ball of light to the center of Oliver's chest where it slowly dropped into Oliver's wound. There was a bright flash of light from the gash, blinding the group as Nyx's bruises began to fade from Nerissa's healing. When the light from Oliver's wound faded, the group could see that the wound was completely closed without a single trace it was ever there. Well, except for the large tear in Oliver's shirt.
Oliver's eyes snapped open and he suddenly sat up with a gasp. His eyes were slightly frantic as he looked around.
"Easy, Oliver." Mia said calmly as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're back in Sanctuary."
"Nyx?!" He said urgently before he turned his head and saw her on the table, he sighed a soft sigh of relief.
"She'll be fine, but she might not wake up for a bit." Nerissa said in an empty tone as she grabbed another batch of water from the faucet and brought it to Nate. "Your turn mister." Nerissa said as the water started glowing as she brought it to his wound. He sighed deeply as his wound closed and the burning pain faded.
Nate looked at Oliver and saw that he was still sitting on the operating table, but he had turned his body towards Nyx, his legs dangling off the side. He was looking down and Nate couldn't see his eyes through his jet black hair.
"Ollie. What the hell happened?" Nate asked him quietly. Oliver lifted his head and his face looked exhausted.
"Everything was going perfectly fine, until that guy showed up..." Oliver spoke quietly.
"You mean Orion?" Danny interjected as he pushed up his glasses.
"Is that his name? He didn't answer me when I asked so I lost interest." Oliver responded coldly. "But yeah, I guess that's him...he is way above my skill...and I'm S Class...how the hell..." Oliver sounded like he was thinking out loud at this point.
"It's not your fault that he was stronger than you." Danny said as he adjusted his glasses, staring off into space as he thought. "It seems to me that the Erebus Mafia has discovered a secret weapon, not only that, it seems like Orion isn't exactly cooperating with them, hence the tracking bracelet I saw on his ankle."
"So, what? The Mafia has a pet, who cares?" Oliver said sarcastically.
Danny scoffed, "Think, will ya? When Nyx had him on his knees, shut up." Danny pointed at Rhys as he snickered at the innuendo. "He was crying, and he looked scared, like a lost child..." Danny trailed off as he stared into space. Nate lightly tapped Nerissa on the leg and nodded his head towards Danny, who was clearly stuck in some sort of flashback. Nerissa saw this and calmly walked over to him and placed her head against his chest as she hugged him. Danny's eyes closed as he returned the hug. Nate stood up and opened a drawer of the counter next to him. He pulled out a washcloth and ran it under some warm water from the faucet before he walked over to Nyx and started cleaning the blood off her face. Oliver watched before a remorseful look covered his face.
"Hey, Nate?" Oliver said as he looked up at him, Nate hummed in response as he continued to clean Nyx's face. "I'm sorry." He said quietly, Nate got the impression that not many people hear him say that.
Nate quietly laughed once. "It's not your fault, dude. You were facing an extremely powerful unknown, it's no surprise that you lost."
Oliver didn't answer, his eyes just looked off in thought. It was then that Nyx began to stir awake, Nate halted his hand as her eyes fluttered open. He smiled when he saw that her eyes were back to their normal shade of blue.
"Hey sleepyhead." Nate said warmly. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Hey." Nyx responded with a small smile. "I'm alright, just tired." She closed her eyes for a moment before she opened them suddenly.
She jolted upward suddenly. "Where's Oliver?" She said urgently, remembering what happened to him.
"Right here." Oliver said flatly as he waved one hand. Nyx looked and her face softened. Oliver snickered, "Didn't know you loved me so much." He said sarcastically before Nyx leaped forward to grab and throttle him.
"Woah woah!" Nate said as he held Nyx back. "He's just fucking with you! Right?" Nate looked at Oliver with a stern look.
Oliver rolled his eyes, "Yes, I'm fucking with you, Nyx. Relax." Oliver said in a sarcastic tone. Nyx calmed down but her brow stayed furrowed, Nate released her once she actually calmed down.
After a few minutes of silence, Nyx spoke again. "I need to go to sleep, Oliver you're giving the report to my mom." Nyx told him in a way that made it clear he didn't have a choice. Oliver threw his head back with an annoyed groan before he hopped off the operating table and left the room. Danny and Nerissa left next, and Nate and Rhys were left alone in the room with Mia.
"You know, boys." Mia said as she walked forward. "I'm not at all condoning what you did, it violates a lot of policies...but I'm glad you did what you did. Those two would've died if you hadn't intervened."
"I know that." Nate said as he locked eyes with her. "That's why I did it."
"I understand, you boys go get some rest. I'll deal with the paperwork." Mia responded flatly as she turned to her desk and began shuffling papers.
Upstairs, Nyx was walking down the hallway towards her room. As she passed Soul's room, her door flung open and Soul ran outside and barreled into her with a tight hug.
"Soul?" Nyx asked, confused. Soul wasn't exactly known for being very touchy.
"Are you okay?" Soul asked as she released Nyx. "Danny sent me a text about what happened, I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help."
"You don't have to be sorry man. Honestly, it was probably better that you weren't there. Did he tell you about the insanely strong guy we encountered?" Nyx said as she rubbed the back of her head.
"What insanely strong guy?" Soul sounded slightly concerned.
"Right...okay well that is a super long story that, frankly, I'm far too mentally and physically exhausted to tell you about right now. Go ask one of the guys." Nyx said rather rudely as she turned around and waved her hand. She walked into her room and shut the door behind her, leaving Soul alone in the hallway.
Soul looked perplexed, what's her problem? Why is she acting like that? What the hell happened out there? Soul thought to herself before she walked back into her own room. More questions had been created rather than answered for her. Although, it was getting kind of late. Soul decided to wait until the next morning to ask anyone about it. She assumed that the rest of her friends needed some time to recover and decompress.
She was right.