"Fuck...fuck fuck fuck!" Kyle repeated in anger as he grabbed his phone off the counter before rushing out of the Infirmary. He needed a shirt before he left to go find Nyx.
"Kyle, stop. You're in no condition to be moving around, let alone fighting." Elizabeth said sternly as she followed him down the hall, Damien was also following behind.
"Well there's no way in hell that I'm letting Nyx fight against that sicko by herself, so if not me, then who?" He responded as he continued to speed walk down the hall towards his room to get a clean shirt.
"I'll go." Damien's words caused Kyle to pause and whip around alongside Elizabeth.
Kyle scoffed, "Like hell you will! It's taking enough restraint to not beat you senseless, there's not a chance in hell you're getting let loose in the city." Kyle said as he stepped forward and got close to Damien's face. Damien only stared back with an even gaze and a slightly turned upward chin.
"You're not going, Damien. If you're seen out in the city, it will cause more problems for everyone, including you." Elizabeth added before Kyle broke off his aggressive stare and continued moving down the hall. Damien growled angrily to himself before he turned around and walked in the opposite direction where they came from. Elizabeth watched him turn the corner before turning around to catch up with Kyle.
When she did catch up, it was at the doorway to Kyle's dorm room as he rummaged through his dresser drawer. "Kyle, if anyone should go out there it should be me." She said to him in a calm tone.
"Why? So Azriel can turn the tables on you too?" Kyle said as he pulled a shirt down over his head. "They managed to lure Nyx, Nate and Orion into a trap. They kidnapped Nate! I can't even imagine their reasoning but-"
"There's a half a million dollar bounty on Nate's head." Elizabeth interjected in a flat tone, causing Kyle to halt and look at her with subtle shock.
"Fuck...well that would do it. Okay, so it wasn't just him diving on a grenade for her again. That makes things even more serious." Kyle said with subtle concern bleeding into his tone, it was clouded by the physical exhaustion he was feeling. His eyes suddenly snapped open when his foggy mind finally connected the dots. Jaya Suzuki, Reiko's brother...he's the one who took Nate, which means that Nate is...
Kyle quickly pulled out his phone and called Danny, he started moving down the hallway again as it rang. Elizabeth watched him leave with an exhausted and worried look before she sighed deeply. She knew that nothing she said would change his mind, but honestly, part of her knew that Kyle would do whatever was necessary to save her daughter.
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Danny halted when he heard his phone ringing in his pocket as he and his team ran down the street. Rhys and Soul halted as well and turned around as Danny pulled out his phone and shock spread across his face. He quickly swiped his thumb across the screen to answer the call and put the phone up to his ear.
"Kyle? Is that really you?" Danny said into the phone and mirrored looks of shock spread across his friends faces.
"Yes it's me, shut up and listen. Nyx activated her panic button, Jaya and Reiko lured them into a trap and Jaya kidnapped Nate. I'm 95% sure they took him back to Azriel's hideout, you guys need to get down there now and get him out of there. Nyx is alone with Reiko and an unconscious Orion, I'm on my way now to help her, but you guys need to save Nate." Kyle explained the situation quickly, Rhys and Soul watched Danny's jaw clench in fear that he was trying but failing to hide.
"Understood. Be careful, Kyle." Danny said in a restrained voice before he hung up the phone and looked at his team. "Change of plans, Nate's been kidnapped by Jaya Suzuki and he's likely been brought back to Azriel's bunker. We need to go down there and get him out, and possibly deal with Jaya as well." Danny spoke as he glared at his friends, his eyes looked serious.
"Fuck...but what about Nerissa?" Rhys chimed in, almost like he was holding back from saying it.
"As of this moment, Nate is in way more danger than her. Nerissa isn't the one with a huge bounty on her head. We'll be lucky if Nate is even still alive when we get there." Soul spoke up with a serious tone as she looked at Rhys, who looked back at her with a worried look. He didn't want to imagine getting there only to find his best friend's corpse.
"Okay, you're right. Let's go get him." Rhys responded as he looked down. The three took off down the street towards the south, hoping to reach the bunker as fast as possible.
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After finally reaching the edge of the city, the three of them slowed down to catch their breath. "Okay...we're in the woods, now what? Just wander around until we find the bunker?" Rhys said slightly irritably, he and Soul weren't nearly as winded as Danny was.
"Soul, can you give us a platform and lift us up? Maybe we can see it if we're above the treeline." Danny asked after he caught his breath. She nodded and motioned her hands in front of her with her palms facing the ground. The shadows beneath all their feet grew and coalesced before darkening into solid black. Then, Soul lifted her hands up and the three of them were lifted into the air until they were all in the air above the trees.
"Hey, there's a clearing in the trees over there." Danny said as he pointed off to their left. "That's a good place to start looking at least." No one had any better ideas so Soul lowered the three of them down to the ground and they proceeded on foot.
After a few minutes of running with Danny leading them, he tripped slightly and looked down as his friends halted in their tracks. Danny's eyes widened when he saw that he had triggered a tripwire. It was then that the vision crashed into him, a long, needle-like object shooting straight through his throat and out the other side. When he returned to reality, Danny quickly swung his arm with his katana in hand. A metallic sound rang through the air as he deflected the needle and it stuck into a tree to their right.
"Right...okay so, we're on the right track, huh?" Rhys said through his slightly surprised breaths.
"Definitely. Let's watch our steps, we're getting close." Danny responded before he placed his hand on his own chest and his eyes started shimmering as he fully activated his Super Prediction. He continued to lead the charge at a quick but cautious pace before they came to the clearing. There was a large door, made of what looked to be solid steel, surrounded by stone that was cut into a large hill. Definitely a bunker.
"This has to be it. Is the door wired to an electronic lock?" Soul asked as they approached the large door and Danny slid his sword back into the sheath. Danny could easily spot a keypad on the left side of the large steel door. He lifted an eyebrow when he noticed something different about this keypad, compared to the others he had previously dealt with.
"This door requires a passphrase, not a numerical code. I wonder if my Gift will work..." Danny muttered to himself before he placed his fingertips onto the console. He closed his eyes before they opened again and they were shimmering even brighter. It took about 30 seconds of silence before Danny quickly typed in the passphrase, but he hesitated pressing enter.
MORS CERTA, HORA INCERTA
"Is that it?" Rhys asked his friend as he watched Danny's eyes fade back to their normal shade of grey. "What does it mean?"
Danny swallowed, "Death is certain, its hour is uncertain." He said quietly as his finger hovered above the enter key. He turned his head to look back at his friends. "You guys should stand back, just in case." Soul and Rhys exchanged a look before they both backed away and moved off to the left side of the massive door, out of the way, but still close. Danny took a deep breath before he pressed enter on the keypad. The words on the small screen flashed green before they could all hear loud metallic groaning coming from inside the door. Danny jumped a bit when the large door popped open a few inches.
Danny swallowed again before he moved to push open the large door, the metal hinges shrieking as he did so. Once the door was open about halfway, Danny tensed as another vision crashed into him. He saw the flash of something moving impossibly fast until the vision ended with the image of his throat spraying blood after being slashed open. Danny was already reaching for his blade when he returned to reality. He unsheathed the katana and brought it in front of him with barely enough time to block the small blade as he heard his friends gasp in surprise. It was then that Danny realized that Jaya Suzuki was standing in front of him, in a vicious grapple of blades. "You..." Danny uttered with anger bleeding through his voice.
Jaya shoved back hard and caused Danny to stumble backwards before Jaya left his arm across his body to slash at Danny again. "Back off!" Soul yelled in anger before sending a shadow spike at Jaya's head. Jaya abandoned his slash at Danny and ducked to avoid the spike, he then shoved off the ground hard, leaping into the air before his feet planted on the spike. As Danny regained his balance, he looked back up and gasped to see Jaya using the shadow spike as a vaulting board before he shot towards him again. Fuck, he's fast! Danny thought before he lifted his blade again. Another clang sounded as their blades collided once more and Danny was sent even further back from the force of Jaya's swing. It was then that Jaya stood up straight and held a loose posture.
"You're trespassing." Jaya said in a flat and empty tone and he gave Danny a piercing, yellow eyed gaze. "Leave now."
"We're not going anywhere without Nate." Rhys responded sternly, Danny could see Jay's eyes swivel to the side in response before he looked back at Danny.
"I remember you. You were outside the pub in the slums." Jaya said quietly as he looked at Danny with the same look he gave that day. Danny gulped as he recalled the massacre he and his friends saw in that bar, less than two minutes after Jaya had walked in before he was gone without a trace. Danny focused back on Jaya when he heard him sigh. "You're Nerissa's brother."
Danny's eyes snapped open wider when he heard his sisters name and as he inhaled sharply. "Where is she?" Danny asked in a slightly unhinged tone as he tightened his grip on his sword. "And I want you to think really hard before you try to lie to me." Danny's threat wasn't missed by anyone as his entire presence shifted. Jaya's visage didn't waver, but he did take a deep breath.
"She's inside." Jaya said quietly before he heard Rhys let out a growling yell of anger. Jaya leaped to the side to dodge Rhys' wild slash. Jaya landed on the ground a few feet away before turning around to face Rhys.
"Where is Nate?! Did you kill him?!" Rhys interrogated angrily as he growled with each breath, he was barely holding his rage back at this point.
"I did not, and I don't know what became of him. After I brought him here, it was out of my hands, I did inhibit his Gift however." Jaya responded as his left hand flicked up and his small blade spun in the air before he caught it with his right hand. Danny swallowed as intense worry flooded into him, Nate was completely vulnerable, and so were they by the looks of it. Jaya proved himself to be frighteningly deadly with the small blade he wielded, with insane speed to match. He might even be faster than Damien. Danny thought in his head as his lip curled in anxiety. "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to proceed." Jaya's voice took his attention again and he saw Jaya holding one finger to his ear before he said something quietly enough that Danny couldn't hear. After a moment, the group heard a yawn coming from the large iron door and they whipped their heads to it.
A man walked out of the large door calmly as he recovered from his yawn. He was tall and had long brown hair that flowed down his back, and soft blue eyes. Soul took a step back as he exited the bunker completely and the man's eyes looked at her for a moment. "Ah, hello." He said to her calmly and Soul was surprised to feel her body tense. The man looked forward again and continued his even stride out into the clearing.
"Isaiah." Jaya spoke before his eyes flicked to Danny for a split second, but Danny still saw it and his body stiffened. The man, that they just learned was named Isaiah, glanced at Jaya before his gaze locked onto Danny.
"Understood." Isaiah said sleepily before he lifted his hand and snapped his fingers before his eyes started glowing brightly. Danny suddenly groaned and instinctively brought his hand up to his head as it started violently throbbing. He dropped to one knee and stabbed his blade into the dirt to keep himself up.
"Danny?" Soul said in concern before she looked over at Isaiah. "What did you do?!" Soul was angry now. Isaiah turned around and Soul could see his eyes pulsing brightly.
"I've crippled his mind. Which means that his Super Prediction is crippled as well." Isaiah said with a small smile as he pulled out his own blade, a medium sized knife. Soul gasped gently before Isaiah spun around and dashed towards Danny with the intent to kill, and Danny couldn't see it coming.
"No way, asshole!" Rhys yelled as he swung his arm at Isaiah when he tried to pass him. Isaiah slid his feet under him and ducked under Rhys' swing before quickly getting back to his feet. Rhys whipped back around in shock before he felt the wind of Soul's shadow tendril shooting past him. The tendril wrapped around Isaiah's wrist and stopped him from stabbing down into Danny's head with only inches to spare. Rhys then ran forward and spun his body before sending a sweeping kick into the center of Isaiah's body, sending him away from Danny. Rhys then immediately bent down to help Danny to his feet.
"Dude, what's going on?" Rhys asked him urgently as Danny groaned with his hand still on his head.
Danny shook his head stiffly, "I don't know...I can't...think straight..." Danny whispered as he tried to blink away the dizziness. "My head...feels like it's spinning." Danny then backed away from Rhys and slid his sword out of the dirt. He periodically shook his head again to try and get his vision back into focus.
Rhys watched with a look of concern. "Danny-"
"I'm not helpless, Rhys...I can...still fight..." Danny said quietly as he held his sword in front of him with both hands. Danny couldn't think straight and his vision was blurry and doubled, but he could still hear somewhat well. Besides, he refused to be helpless, he was done feeling that way.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Isaiah said as he recovered from the kick and stood next to Jaya. "That mind of yours is truly a work of art, but I'm afraid I can't let you use it." He said before he turned his head to the side when Soul sent another tendril towards them both. Isaiah didn't react, or even flinch when it started to close in before the tendril was suddenly stopped dead in its tracks and inch away from the two. The group gasped in surprise when they noticed the glowing pink chains wrapped around the shadow tendril and their heads whipped to the source.
"Alright, that's enough of that." Xavier said as he emerged from the tree line, he whipped his hand forward and another chain shot out towards Soul. She quickly reacted and parried the chain with a tendril before she leaped towards her friends. Xavier walked closer to his comrades as he retracted his chains, and Soul retracted her shadows.
"Dammit." Jaya mumbled under his breath with his hand up to his ear again, causing Soul's sense of hearing to be honed in on him as he turned to Isaiah. "I have something to deal with, keep them busy." She heard him say before Jaya dashed back towards the door into the bunker and her eyes widened.
"Rhys, go after Jaya!" She yelled urgently as she turned to him.
"But-"
"We'll be fine, just go! You have to get Nate!" Soul ordered with a look of urgency in her eyes. Rhys' jaw clenched before he nodded and took off after Jaya at top speed. Soul watched as Rhys made it into the door just after Jaya, then watched a chain whip the door and it slammed shut with a loud noise. Danny groaned from the loud sound causing his head to pound again.
"Danny...? Are you sure you're okay?" Soul asked him quietly as she heard him groan.
Danny stood up straighter as he shook his head again, his head still swimming from Isaiah's strange Gift. He brought his sword in front of him and held it with both hands. "Yeah...I can...handle it."
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"Orion can't run, Kyle. I'm not leaving him. Don't worry, he won't lay a finger on me." Nyx took her phone away from her ear and hung up on Kyle without taking her eyes off Reiko. She slid her phone back into her pocket as Reiko started chuckling darkly. "Thank you for being so patient while I took that call." She said in quiet sarcasm.
"Man, you sure are confident." Reiko said through a soft chuckle before his voice became unhinged, "Can't wait to rip that right outta ya." Reiko reached behind him with both hands and pulled out his two knives with a flourish.
Nyx's lip curled, "You have three seconds to answer me. Who was that yellow eyed Gifted, and where did he take Nate?" Nyx growled out like an order.
Reiko laughed again, "That was my older brother, Jaya, and unless you're way dumber than you look, I'm sure you know where he took him." Reiko responded as he slid his blades together a few times. "After all, there's a pretty big bounty on his head... overthrowing a city can be expensive."
Another growl of anger left Nyx's mouth. "You motherfucker." She uttered in rage before she shot forward, over Orion and slammed her foot into Reiko, sending him back through the hole she sent him through the first time. She quickly followed him through the hole and found herself having to jump to the next building over through a second hole. She then found herself in a large room that seemed to be a lounge bar, any people that were in here had likely cleared out when Reiko was sent through the wall the first time.
Reiko was still getting up by the time Nyx had reached him and she tried to stomp her foot down onto his chest. Reiko rolled out of the way and Nyx's foot left a large crater in the ground. Reiko used the momentum of his roll to bring him to one knee and he tried to swipe one of his knives at her. Nyx swiped her arm and batted the knife away before she stepped back when Reiko hummed evenly. "I can tell you're already tired from your escapades in the city. Otherwise, you probably would've already snapped my neck by now, huh?" Reiko taunted her with a sly grin on his lips.
"Keep talking shit, and I will." Nyx responded with a hateful glare before she held her hand out and a bottle of whiskey flew off the shelf behind the bar and into her hand. She lifted her arm and whipped the bottle at Reiko, he was ready for it and pivoted his body to avoid it and it exploded behind him with a loud crash. Nyx then shifted forward and grabbed Reiko by his shirt and threw him down the surface of the bar before he flew off it and onto the ground.
Nyx strode towards him angrily before her face softened slightly, he hadn't made a single peep. She remembered that he couldn't feel pain, but that didn't mean his body would be undamaged. All she had to do was incapacitate him, or even better, kill him.
When Nyx got about three feet away from Reiko, he stood up with the help of the bar. "You know, it's kind of embarrassing to find out I didn't kill that pink haired asshole." He said in another unhinged taunt, causing Nyx's blood to boil. "But that mouthy little boy toy of yours however..." The manic grin on Reiko's face grew wider. "He's gunna die for sure, and no one is gunna be there to save him. No one is going to hear him scream and cry in agony. Well, no one except Azriel, that is."
"Shut...your FUCKING mouth!" Nyx yelled in rage before she shot forward and spun her body with a loud yell. Her foot collided with the side of Reiko's head so hard that his head whipped to the side and a loud crack sounded through the room. Reiko dropped to the ground with a dull thud and Nyx's heavy breathing was all that filled the silence. She stared at Reiko's still open eyes and unmoving body for a moment as her mind raced. I have to get to Azriel's bunker. I have to get Nate out of there.
Nyx quickly turned around to go back through the hole in the wall to get to Azriel's lair. She took about five steps before she felt something quickly coil around her waist and a hand planted on her hip, her breath hitched and her whole body seized in disgust. She felt something planted on her shoulder and suddenly heard a raspy voice purr in her ear. "You know, you're not the only one who's difficult to kill." Nyx heard Reiko's voice whisper in her ear as she felt his other arm coil around her upper body, and his cold, clammy hand...coiled around her throat, slightly pushing up her chin. Nyx's eyes widened in fear, mostly from the disgust she felt from his arm coiled around her waist with his hand resting on her hip. She felt frozen from his sickening touch on her throat before it felt like the skin on her neck suddenly felt ice cold. She let out a soft wheezing gasp as it felt like her throat suddenly began to burn and close up, she then heard a shuffling sound, followed by a voice. "Nyx?!" Her eyes finally focused on the voice before dark dots danced in her peripherals.
"K-Kyle..." She wheezed out and her throat burned in response. His face looked horrified as he watched the dark green veins spread across her skin from under Reiko's hand. Kyle's eyes traveled down and he saw Reiko's arm coiled around her waist in a sickening display. He then felt a hot burning ball of fire in his chest and he couldn't hold back the dark growl that left his lips.
Reiko hummed as he planted his chin on Nyx's shoulder. "Hmmm, now it's getting interes-" Reiko tried to taunt Kyle, but he had no interest in hearing Reiko's voice for a second longer.
"Take...your disgusting hands...off her."