"What the hell are you planning, asshat?" Soul growled at her brother as he stood outside of her cell.
"I can't spoil the surprise, there's no fun in that." Damien responded as he ran his hand through his hair to get it out of his face. "But I can tell you that it's brilliant."
Soul stared at him intently before asking the question that was weighing heaviest on her mind. "What did you inject me with earlier?"
"Oh, that. Let's just call it insurance. It's a drug that's been developed by the same doctor who brought me back from the grave." Damien lifted his hands in a triumphant manner. "This drug completely inhibits all abilities for 12 hours." Soul's eyes widened and Damien smiled. "That's right, go ahead, try using your Gift."
Soul eyed him with shock for a moment before her face softened and she lifted her hand to summon a shadow tendril. It didn't work. "Why the hell would you even want to make an ability inhibiting drug?" Soul asked her brother in a stern tone.
"Isn't it obvious? I need it for my plan, duh." Damien rolled his eyes and walked out of the room, ignoring the protests from Soul.
Orion entered the room later after that, he approached the cell slowly. "I know what his plan is."
Soul looked at him with intrigue. "What is it?"
"You aren't gunna like it." Orion responded as he looked down.
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Nate was the first to wake up the next morning, he was jolted awake by someone knocking on his door. His head instinctively turned to the side where he saw Nyx still sleeping soundly in bed next to him. After all the time he had spent waiting for this, it almost didn't feel real. Nate finally got out of bed after a second series of knocks came from his door. He put on a pair of pants before opening his door to see Rhys.
Rhys' jaw dropped slightly and a hint of a smile could be seen in the corners of his mouth. "Well, it's about damn time." Rhys said in a calm voice.
Nate peeked behind him, there's no way Rhys could see his bed from where he was standing. "How the hell-"
"Dude, you have bite marks all over your shoulders and neck." Rhys clicked his tongue as he pointed at Nate's shoulder. Nate tensed and his cheeks flushed slightly before he turned around to put on a shirt. "Oh, and scratches all down your back, Christ on a stick, dude!"
Nate turned around as he grabbed his shirt that was on the floor and shushed his friend, not wanting to wake up Nyx. He left the room and shut the door behind him as he finished putting on his shirt. "What the hell are you even doing here?"
"Ah right. Nerissa is looking for Nyx. Apparently there's this new cafe that she thinks Nyx will just love." Rhys added air quotes.
"Ah, I guess I'll wake her up and let her know. Tell Neri that she'll be down in a bit." Nate responded through a tired yawn as he brought a closed fist up to cover his mouth.
"You got it, tiger." Rhys chuckled as he turned and walked down the hall, Nate laughed once as he walked back into the room to see Nyx was already awake and was in the middle of putting her pants on.
"Oh, well good morning, hermosa." Nate said as Nyx stood up straight. He pulled her closer by her waist and kissed her lovingly. "Did you sleep well?"
"Of course I did, stupid." Nyx responded in a loving voice, Nate responded with a smile. After the previous night, they both had the best sleep they had in a while.
"Neri is looking for you I guess, something about a new cafe or something." Nate said as he leaned against his dresser. Nyx's face changed to excitement.
"Ooo, a new cafe!" Nyx said as she bounced slightly from the excitement. Nate smiled a laughed again, he loved seeing her excited. "You mind if I go?"
"Of course I don't mind, go have fun with Nerissa. I can hang with Rhys and Danny." Nate said casually as he held open the door for her, he knew that Nyx hadn't really gotten much girl time in a while. She probably missed it, now that Soul was gone. Nyx smiled as she walked out of the room as Nate followed her. Nyx looped her arm in his as the two walked to the yard, where they assumed everyone was, and all felt right with the world.
Outside, the two saw Oliver, Danny, Rhys, Nerissa and that other boy from their first day, the young looking boy named Gregory. He was talking to Rhys and Danny and it seemed like they were giving him fighting tips. "Nyx!" Nerissa called out before she looped her arm in Nyx's and practically dragged her away from Nate and everyone else. Nyx quickly said goodbye to Nate as he laughed to himself, "Why are you so excited over a cafe, dude?" Nyx said to Nerissa as she dragged her away from any listening ears.
"Will you forget the cafe? Listen." Nerissa said as she tapped her phone screen a few times before holding it up towards Nyx. Her eyes widened when she saw the words: "Voicemail from Soul Erebus."
*Beeep* Voicemail received on October 14th, at 3:16 am. "Nerissa, it's Soul. I know you're probably pissed at me right now, or trying to find a way to come break me out so I'll save you the trouble...don't. I know that this was sudden and there was no warning, I know that Danny is probably upset too... considering what my family put him through. If you want to talk about it, I texted you coordinates in the city. I'll be there today if you want to talk, please...I want to explain myself, you can bring Nyx but please don't tell anyone else. I don't need gossip getting back to the Chairman." End of message.
"Holy shit..." Nyx said quietly as Nerissa lowered her phone. "Do you wanna go?"
"Of course I do! She has some explaining to do, but I do think we should bring a guard or something, someone who is sworn to secrecy. Just in case." Nerissa said in thought.
"Just in case? Nerissa, it's Soul. She's not going to attack us." Nyx responded in a casual tone.
"I guess, I'm sorry I made up the cafe thing...she asked me not to tell anyone and frankly...I don't blame her. The guys can be...intense." Nerissa carried a slightly meek posture as she spoke.
"Yeah, you're right about that." Nyx's eyes shifted slightly to the side. "Okay, we can go...besides, I have been wanting to find out why she said goodbye to Danny and not us."
Nerissa nodded before the two walked back over to the guys as Rhys was trying to help train Gregory. "Hey, were gunna go into town to see that new cafe." Nerissa said in a confident voice as she jerked her thumb behind her.
Nate looked concerned for a moment before it faded, "You'll bring your mask, right?" He asked Nyx quietly.
Nyx smiled slightly, "Yes, I have it." Nyx was happy that he still held concern for her.
"I'll bring mine too, not that you asked." Nerissa teased him with a smug smile on her face. Nate looked embarrassed for a moment before Nyx leaned forward, placed her hand on his shoulder and kissed him. Nate's shoulders relaxed and he was immediately calmed.
"I'll be alright, Chéri. I promise." Nyx smiled to reassure him. Nate blushed slightly, she hadn't spoken French in...a long time. He then smiled back, but he still had a bad feeling whispering in the back of his mind.
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Nerissa and Nyx walked down the street with their masks pulled up. They didn't speak very much, and their eyes kept darting everywhere. At this point in their lives, it was ingrained in them to constantly be aware of danger.
"Here it is." Nerissa said quietly as she looked from her phone in front of her. It was a dark alley that turned a corner and went deeper. "Well, this alley leads to the place, at least." Nerissa looked uncomfortable.
"Well, she did say not to tell the guys, so it stands to reason that she wanted to keep it on the DL." Nyx said as she faked confidence. "Let's just...get this over with." Nyx walked forward and Nerissa followed after a moment of hesitation. Nyx walked with determination, each step fueled her more into a mixture of anger and hurt. The girls turned the corner and came to a dead end, and no Soul.
"The...hell?" Nyx whispered in confusion before she heard Nerissa yelp slightly. Nyx whipped around and saw a stranger covering Nerissa's mouth with his arm...
And a syringe injecting a strange green liquid into her neck.
"What the fuck?! Who the hell are you?" Nyx's lip coiled in rage. "And what the FUCK is in that needle?" Nyx was seething.
The stranger's piercing blue eyes flashed at her. "You'll find out." Was all he uttered before Nyx felt a sudden and severe pain in her thigh. Nyx heard Nerissa's muffled scream as she choked down her own scream of pain. Nyx was shoved to the side, she hit the wall with a low grunt before she finally looked down and finally saw the source of the pain in her leg.
There was a knife in it. The same knife that Danny had stolen from the Erebus Estate.
Nyx's vision began to blur slightly as she stared down with wide eyes as the blood began to spread across her jeans. She was snapped back into focus when he heard a bone chilling voice that was disturbingly familiar.
"I don't believe we've properly met." As he spoke, Nyx's head whipped up and the color left her face.
"M-Masamune?" She uttered softly through the pain still throbbing in her leg.
"Damien, if you don't mind." He said as he walked more into the light. He was ghostly pale and his eyes looked sunken, but it was definitely him. Nyx saw the violent scar on the side of Damien's throat, the wound that had killed him. Nyx's face twisted in anger as she remembered what this sick fuck did to Danny. She lifted her hand to slam Damien into the wall with her ability, before her heart started racing when nothing happened.
Nyx gasped softly as her eyes widened, Damien laughed darkly as he stepped closer. "Yeah, that's not going to work, thanks to the fascinating new drug that's coating that knife." Damien approached closer before two shadow tendrils shot out from Nyx's shadow against the wall and coiled around her wrists. They pulled her arms against the wall.
"I know those hands of yours are more lethal than any gun or blade." Damien gripped the handle of the blade, still stuck in her thigh, and leaned close to Nyx's face. Nyx gritted her teeth and growled in pain, choking down the scream. Nerissa struggled against the stranger who was holding her back, her eyes radiating fear and panic. A sickening smirk spread across Damien's face. "And I know that you're a skilled fighter, even without your ability. So I had to take more... drastic measures with you."
"How are you even here, you sadistic fuck? Didn't Danny kill your pathetic ass?" Nyx spat out before Damien swiftly pulled the knife out of her leg and stabbed it into her abdomen. Nyx tried to yell in pain but Damien planted his hand over her mouth. Nerissa's muffled scream could be heard as she struggled against the stranger more aggressively.
"As much as I'd love to hear your brand of screams, that will have to wait until later." Damien purred out at her as he leaned close enough for their noses to almost touch. Suddenly, the stranger yelled out in pain as Nerissa stomped her heel onto his foot. She snaked from his grasp and tried to run towards Nyx. A shadow tendril shot out from Damien's shadow and coiled around Nerissa before she was pinned against the wall next to Nyx.
"You got sloppy, Ezekiel." Damien growled as he turned his head towards the stranger slightly. "Do I have to do everything myself?"
"Sorry, sir. I wasn't expecting her to be this... feisty." The man, who they now learned was named Ezekiel, said as he walked up next to him. They stared down the girls in distaste before a blunt shadow tendril lifted from behind Damien. The girls eyes widened in fear before the shadow shot across them, knocking them out.
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Nyx lifted her head with a soft groan. The world around her started to come into focus before her eyes snapped open fully, she knew exactly where she was. She was in the Erebus Estate, however she didn't recognize this exact room. She tried to get up and run but she quickly realized she was bound to the chair. She could also feel the thickness of bandages wrapped around her stomach and leg, I guess they don't want me to bleed out just yet. It was dark, so it took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She saw blood staining the floor and her pulse quickened. She looked behind her and saw an IV drop pumping her full of...something. Her eyes scanned the area more before her eyes landed on something that caused time to feel like it stopped.
She saw Danny's glasses on the ground a few feet to her right. The rims were bent and one of the lenses was cracked. This was where Danny was brutally tortured by Damien.
"Fuck..." Nyx uttered barely above a whisper as she stared at the glasses with unblinking eyes.
"I know, right?" Nyx's head whipped to the casual voice that sounded in the darkness. She saw the man from earlier, Ezekiel, as he stepped forward into the light and grinned at Nyx. "The blood really brings it all together, doesn't it?" Nyx only glared at him in response. "Ya know, I didn't wanna bring you in here. These surroundings aren't exactly suitable for a lady, especially one so pretty."
"Fuck off, creep." Nyx growled out as she leaned forward. "What is in this IV? And where the FUCK is Nerissa?" Nyx snapped as she leaned forward as far as she could.
"Okay, one: rude. Two: That there is a nifty little drug that will keep that ability of yours under control. And three: We had to separate you two, didn't want you getting any ideas." Ezekiel used his finger to brush his golden blonde hair out of his face. "You Sanctuary kids are always so aggressive, which always made me confused as to why I was kicked out." Ezekiel looked off in thought.
"You used to be a member of Sanctuary?" Nyx asked in a surprised manner as she leaned back in her chair.
"Oh, cool I never get to tell this. Yes, I used to be in Sanctuary, however the Chairman gave me the boot because my ability was too disturbing and my methods for achieving results were too brutal." Ezekiel added air quotes as he spoke, it seemed to Nyx like this guy didn't know she was the Chairman's daughter. "My ability may have driven another agent to suicide." Ezekiel added with a snicker and Nyx felt her heart start racing.
"What's....your ability?" Nyx asked with a slight hint of concern in her voice.
"Oh, fun! I'll show you!" Ezekiel said excitedly before stepping forward, his hand reached up and he tapped his first two fingers against Nyx's forehead. On the outside, Nyx's head dropped and it looked like she had fallen asleep suddenly. On the inside, Nyx was standing in the midst of a swirling black fog until Ezekiel appeared again. "Welcome to the inside of your mind." Nyx was free now and she took her chance, she ran towards Ezekiel and tried to strike him. He poofed into more black fog the moment her fist made contact, the fog swirled around her until it coalesced into Ezekiel again. This time he was behind her. "That isn't going to work, princess."
Nyx gritted her teeth as she turned around to face him. "So, this is your ability huh? To annoy people inside their own head?"
Ezekiel chuckled softly, "You'll see what my ability is soon enough. Tell me, have you had any nightmares lately?" Ezekiel asked in a dark tone and Nyx started to look worried.
"Everyone has nightmares." Nyx said with feined confidence, but Ezekiel's eyes glanced down to see Nyx's shaking hands.
Ezekiel hummed as a smile spread across his lips, "And that is what makes my ability so much fun." He said smugly before the black fog that was swirling around them started to shape and form into a scene. "My ability is called "We're All Mad Here" and the premise is simple, I can reach into someone's mind and pull forward the target's greatest nightmare. I use this nightmare to soak up their fear and anxiety and turn it into energy for myself to use however I please, strength, speed, whatever I need. So, let's take a look at some of your nightmares." Ezekiel finished his speech with a manic grin before the scene before them finished molding. Nyx recognized what she was looking at immediately, it was the moment just before she discovered her Gift. She was watching the scene unfold from a bystanders point of view. She saw the stranger with his knife in Nate's shoulder, his face twisted in pain. She looked up and saw the metal piping beginning to slip. Nyx looked back down with wide eyes as she heard herself scream, she saw a faint purple glow outline the knife in the strangers hand before it shot into his throat at insane speed. "Interesting. So you've always been a killer? Maybe we will get along." Ezekiel taunted her playfully.
"I am not a killer. That was...just an accident." Nyx defended herself, she thought she was over this but watching it back again....
"That one, maybe, but there's more." The scene faded away as Ezekiel spoke, taking shape into a different scene. The law enforcement she had blown up while fleeing from Mike's Corner Store. Nyx's eyes widened as Ezekiel smiled. The scene shifted again to one that was fairly recent, when she had met Orion for the first time and he had cut Oliver open like a fish being gutted. The scene then skipped ahead to the moment Nate had taken a hit meant for her. It then skipped forward again to the end of the fight, when she was about to mercilessly kill Orion for what he had done. "After all of that pain, this boy had nearly killed two people close to you and you were about to gladly return the favor." Ezekiel spoke in a deranged tone as Nyx watched the scene with wide eyes. She watched Danny approaching from behind her and telling her to stop. Begging, even.
Nyx felt an unbearable guilt course through her veins when she heard herself speak. "I know I don't have to, I want to."
"Interesting. You wanted to kill someone because of their actions. You wanted to pass judgement unto them simply because he was doing what he was told. And you seemed to take great joy in that idea. Sounds like a ruthless killer to me." Ezekiel toyed with her as he calmly walked around her. Tears began to tug at Nyx's eyes.
"I know I'm far from being a hero, I know that I've acted selfishly more times than not. I know that I've let my emotions get in the way of the greater good. But the only reason I act so selfishly is because I was forced into this life by means well beyond my control!" Nyx turned towards Ezekiel as he eyed her. "I didn't ask to be Gifted! I didn't ask to be hunted down and targeted by you psychos!" Suddenly, the fog all faded away before Nyx jolted awake again and she was back in reality, sitting in the chair in the dungeon.
Ezekiel laughed in a hum, "I've got all the energy I need from you for now, don't want to accidentally bleed you dry. Although, I am curious what kind of nightmares the other one has for me." Ezekiel said in a quizzical tone before he turned and left the room. The only sound permeating the deafening silence was the sound of Nyx quietly crying as she slumped in her chair before the metal door slammed shut, and the thunderous click of the lock turned into place.