^^^***Orion concept art included***^^^
"He's in there?" Rhys clarified what Jaya had said as he looked at the large steel door on the far end of the room.
"That's right. I'm fairly sure that even Willow doesn't know what's in Azriel's Sanctum. I've obviously never been there myself, so I can't say." Jaya responded quietly as they all started approaching the door. "There's just one problem. It's wired to a lock that requires a passphrase, and only Azriel knows it." Jaya said as they all got to the door and stopped.
Jaya turned around when he heard Danny scoff quietly, he stepped to the side as Danny was cracking his fingers in front of him. "Not for long." He said with a small smile before he placed his hand against the console. His eyes started shimmering silver as his mind searched for the proper passphrase. After a few seconds of silence, there was a soft and high pitched voice that rang out through the large room.
"Look, Rudi, look!" A young girl with long green hair yelled out slightly excitedly as she clutched the hand of a larger man. He had brown hair and was wearing a black suit jacket over a dark green shirt. He was also wearing a stoic and passive face as he raised his head away from the little girl and looked up towards the rest of them. "That's her, right?" Kala asked the tall man excitedly as she pointed right at Nyx.
Rudi huffed a bit, "That's right, Kala. That's Infinity." He said evenly as his gaze landed on Nyx and stayed. Nyx felt her body stiffen as Danny, Kyle, Orion, and Nate moved in between Nyx and the strange duo in front of them. Each of them stared back with a stern gaze before Kala's hand dropped from Rudi's and she skipped forward a few steps. Nerissa watched the situation with a blank face, but a slightly nervous curl to her lips. She remembered the vacant and empty look in Kala's eyes when she met her, this was not how Nerissa expected her to act at all.
"She's supposed to be dead, ya know! It's not exactly polite to get people's hopes up like that and then just come back!" Kala said in a slightly pouty tone and Nyx tensed again. This girl looked like she was maybe thirteen years old, and she was saying it wasn't polite for Nyx to be alive?
"Well too bad, brat. You don't always get what you want." Kyle shot back with a small smile on his face. Kala's face shifted, her eyes seemed to darken and her brow bent downward, but there was a smile on her face.
"Wrong! Papa always makes sure I get whatever I want! And I want to kill Infinity!" Kala said before she leaped backwards and planted her feet onto Rudi's hand. He pulled his arm back and threw Kala towards them with insane speed, Nyx's eyes widened and she made a split second decision. At the speed Kala was moving, Nyx knew that she was the only one who could take the hit without getting hurt.
"Move!" Nyx yelled before she motioned with her hands as if she was aggressively opening curtains and the four guys in front of her were sent out of the way. A dark violet hue surrounded Nyx as she brought her arms in front of her, Kala spun her body and sent both of her feet into Nyx's arms. Nyx was disturbingly surprised when they were both sent backwards before crashing into the cement wall with a thunderous boom. Everyone was disturbingly surprised as a matter of fact.
"Nyx!" Nate yelled out in concern before Kala flew back out through the cloud of dust left behind. She landed on her hands before nimbly flipping back onto feet with a giggle. Nyx emerged from the cloud, her hair wild, but otherwise uninjured.
"What the fuck?" Nyx said in angry confusion as she stared at Kala.
Kala giggled, "You wanna know what I can do?" Kala said as she bent her knees like she was about to jump. When she did, she soared into the air way higher than any normal person would be able to. She planted her hands onto the tall ceiling before shoving off it, she left a crater on the ceiling and a gasp left Nyx. She leaped out of the way before Kala landed where she was standing, creating another crater. Everyone stared at her with wide eyes, it seemed like they were all thinking the same thing.
"Can you... manipulate gravity?" Nyx asked with a slightly shaking voice, unable to believe it was true.
Kala snickered, "No, stupid, that's you. I can change the density of myself, and anything I touch." Kala said with a small smile, but anyone who was looking at Rudi would've seen a slightly somber look on his face. Everyone tensed as they watched the fight, desperately wanting to assist but, after hearing the description of her Gift, were worried. It seemed like Nyx was the only one who could stand a chance against her.
Except someone did step forward.
It was Orion. He walked up next to Nyx and looked at Kala with an even gaze. Nyx looked over at him with a surprised and slightly worried look. "Orion, are you-"
"Yes." He said suddenly, already knowing her question. "It doesn't matter if she changes my density-" Orion flexed his arms downward and his draconic wings sprouted out from his back. "-I can compensate." He said in a confident tone. Nerissa gasped gently and her eyes widened, she hadn't seen Orion's altered Gift and it shocked her.
"Ohhh, I get to fight both of you? Fun!" Kala said excitedly before she suddenly dashed towards them. "I think we should go somewhere with a little more space!" Kala said as she quickly closed the distance, Nyx could already guess what she was going to do and she roughly shoved Orion out of the way before Kala's foot found a purchase on her crossed arms that she had used to block. Nyx was kicked straight up into the air at alarming speed until she collided with the ceiling with another cacophonous boom. Except this time, she was sent all the way through the ceiling above them until she came out on the other side and flew into the open air.
"Nyx!" Nerissa cried out in concern before Orion got back into his feet as Kala sent herself through the hole after Nyx. Everyone looked worried as they looked at the hole before Orion's voice made them all look at him.
"Relax, guys. I got it." Orion said as his wings slammed down and he flew up through the hole after them, leaving the rest of them still down in the bunker with Rudi. They all turned to look at him as Rudi cracked his knuckles in front of him.
"Well, I guess that leaves me to deal with the rest of you." He said in a deep, yet tired tone. "Shouldn't be too difficult."
Outside, Orion soared into the open air to see Nyx in a midair scuffle with Kala before Nyx got the upper hand and threw her down to the ground. Nyx landed down on the grass in the woods with a small crater under her feet and Orion landed next to her. "Are you okay?" He asked her quietly.
"I'm fine. It'll take more than that to cause me real pain." Nyx said evenly as she stretched her shoulder in a circle. Orion watched her for a moment before he looked at Kala, who was getting up.
"Okay, I'm here with you, so I hope you didn't plan on fighting her alone." Orion said confidently and it made Nyx smile warmly with pride. Something changed in Orion, he wasn't acting like the scared little boy that she met all those months ago. It seemed like this change in his already powerful Gift gave him a huge boost of confidence, and she was ready to see what he could do.
"Ugh, stop talking already! Let's hear some screaming." Kala said excitedly before she picked up a large boulder next to her and threw it at the two like it weighed nothing. Nyx took a step forward and held up her hand with her palm facing outward. When the boulder made contact with her palm, it shattered with a loud crunch. Chunks of rock and dust flew past her, and Orion as he stood behind her. When the dust cleared, the two noticed that Kala was already in front of Nyx and tried to kick her into the air again. The dark violet hue surrounded Nyx again before Kala foot made contact, Nyx could also feel Orion's hands on her back for extra support. Nyx's feet only left the ground by a few inches and she let out a stiff grunt before initiating her counter. She quickly grabbed Kala's arm and threw her over her head, deep into the woods.
"I'm not exactly keen on the idea of hurting a child." Nyx said to Orion, now that they had a few seconds of time at the very least.
"You don't have to seriously hurt her. We can just try to knock her out, I will say this though...if our backs are to the wall, and it's her or us? I'm picking us." Orion responded sternly, but his voice still sounded slightly empty. Nyx didn't get a chance to answer before Kala shot back towards Nyx through the trees and barreled into Nyx. They were both sent backwards through the trees and Orion whipped his head around with wide eyes. His brow bent downward and a soft growl left him before he began glowing with fiery blue energy and he shot into the woods to follow them.
It was easy to follow their path from the windswept grass and broken trees. Orion considered releasing his dragon but this would be the first time he'd be releasing it and he hated to admit that he was anxious. He didn't want to risk losing control of the dragon and hurting someone that he didn't intend to hurt. Even though it shouldn't be possible, considering that he never lost control of his small dragons, he was still anxious nonetheless. When Orion reached the two girls, he didn't even slow down before barreling into Kala, causing her to fold over his shoulder before she was released and rolled across the ground. Orion then finally looked over at Nyx and his eyes widened a bit, she was actually bleeding. "What happened?" He asked her.
"Turns out that adjusting an object's gravity on the fly is a bit more difficult than I thought. Especially when she can make a pebble feel like a truck." Nyx responded as she wiped blood off the side of her head, they both looked over at Kala when they heard her breathing heavily and slightly whimpering in pain. They saw that the front of her clothes were slightly singed and the skin on her arms were red, like she had a bad sunburn.
Orion looked confused for a moment, Woah, did that happen just from touching me? That's...new. He thought internally before Kala looked at them with pained anger.
"That hurts, you big bully!" She yelled out in a childish tone. On the bright side, she was injured and her movement would be impeded from the burns on her arms. Except now, she seemed to be angry.
"Consider it a lesson on picking your fights a little more carefully." Nyx said with a smile that Orion mimicked.
"You're a child, I'm more than happy to let you walk away. But if you continue to attack us, I have no problem showing you real pain." Orion said slightly darkly and it caught Nyx off guard a bit. Kala looked scared for a moment as she looked into Orion's burning eyes that held an emotionless gaze. Nyx had gotten used to the empty look in Orion's eyes but she still remembered what it was like to be on the receiving end.
"I already know what real pain is...a-and you're not going to scare me!" Kala said before she turned to her left and picked up a tree that had been knocked down from their scuffle. She swung it around like it was nothing before lifting it up to try and slam it down onto Orion. He ducked down quickly and the tree stopped dead above Orion's head when Nyx had stopped it with her hands as she stood behind him. Orion then became ghostly and leaped up, moving through the tree until he was in the air above it. He became corporeal again and his feet planted on the tree above Kala.
"Boo." Orion said quietly as he leaned around the tree next to her head and Kala yelped in surprise. Orion's feet planted on the ground next to her and he quickly reached forward and gripped both of Kala's wrists. Nyx held up the tree with little effort as Orion quickly pivoted his body and shoved Kala down onto her stomach. He held her arms against her back as Nyx dropped the tree away from them before walking over to the two. When she reached them, Orion held both of Kala's small wrist with one hand and used the other to fist bump Nyx.
"Nice." She said to Orion before dropping to one knee in front of Kala to speak to her directly. "So, clearly you lost, and I'm not in business to kill kids. So, what do ya say you just surrender?"
Kala gritted her teeth in childish frustration, "All I have to do is scream and Rudi will come running! I bet he already killed all those other jerks!" Kala yelled out angrily. To which, Orion leaned down a little bit to speak to her without raising his own voice.
"If you're so confident, then try it." He said quietly and Nyx swiveled her eyes to look at him. Kala thought for a moment before she let out an ear piercing scream that caused Nyx to plant her hands over her ears while Orion managed to keep Kala restrained, but winced from the loud noise. Nyx already guessed what Orion was doing by taunting Kala like that, there were two ways it would play out: One, their friends had terminated Rudi, and he wouldn't come to Kala's scream. Two: Rudi would come running, away from their friends, giving them time to recover if they needed it. After a few seconds of silence, Nyx and Orion jolted when the ground a few yards away from them exploded outward and what emerged, was like nothing they had seen before.
It was...kind of like a person, but huge. It had large, hairy, gorilla-like arms, but the fingers were tipped with sharp talons. It burst through the ground and let out a cacophonous roar before the two realized that Rudi was clutching something.
No...
Someone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twenty minutes earlier
Inside the Bunker
"I guess that leaves me to deal with the rest of you. Shouldn't be too difficult." Rudi said in a tired tone as he cracked his knuckles. Kyle tensed slightly, he was the only one here who knew about Rudi's Gift and as much as he hated to admit it, it intimidated him.
"Guys," Kyle said quietly, causing everyone's eyes to flick to him. "This guy's Gift is metamorphosis, he's probably going to drink some weird DNA goop and he's going to transform. I hope you're ready for one hell of a fight." He said quietly enough so Rudi couldn't hear. "One more thing, keep him away from Nate. He probably knows that Nate is our key to stopping Azriel, and will try to kill him. We cannot let that happen, got me?" Kyle's tone changed to sternly as he noticed Rudi pull a small corked vile out of his coat pocket. Nate looked over a Rudi and took a few steps back, he hated being sidelined, but this time he knew it was absolutely necessary. Nerissa looked nervous but swallowed her fear as Rudi popped open the cork and downed the strange blue contents of the vial. The group of Sanctuary's agents watched as Rudi's eyes clenched shut, likely from the unsavory taste of the foreign substance he had just drank. His eyes snapped open again and his entire eyeball was glowing bright red and it unnerved everyone watching. Rudi yelled out in pain and the sound of popping bones sounded through the cavernous room as Rudi dropped to his hands and knees.
His arms tripled in size in a matter of seconds, his clothes tore and fell off in shreds as his entire upper body grew to resemble a large gorilla before he stood back up. Rudi let out a loud roar as he flexed his fingers and talons grew from his fingers. Danny swallowed and his heart began racing as his eyes flicked to Rhys for a moment, who was standing in front of Nerissa with his arm held behind him to protect her. He had a bad feeling that Rhys would only be able to handle this fight with his Gift fully activated, but that would be...dangerous.
Rudi's thundering footfalls pulled Danny out of his head and he focused back onto the biggest problem. Once he reached the group, Rudi lifted his huge hand and tried to slam it down onto them, but the group scattered and avoided the strike. Soul turned her body towards Rudi and thrust her hands forward before clenching her fists. Shadow tendrils slithered from her shadow and wrapped around Rudi and tried to lift him off the ground. He was lifted off the ground a few inches before Rudi let out another roar and his huge arms flexed, the shadows ripped apart and he was free again.
"Shit..." Soul uttered quietly before she shifted her stance to prepare for fast movement. "Let's try a different approach, Kyle? Danny?" She said as she glanced at the two boys. They both nodded before dashing forward as Soul summoned a sharpened tendril of shadow, waiting for the perfect moment. Danny gripped his katana and began charging his electricity as Kyle manifested a several clones of himself and Danny. Once the clones got close, Rudi began violently swiping at them, destroying every clone that got close while the real Danny, who was cloaked by Kyle, tried to sneak close to give him a violent shock.
When he got close, Danny had a vision invade his mind, he saw himself get gutted by Rudi's razor sharp talons as he blindly swung at the clones. When Danny came back to real time, he quickly reacted and slid under Rudi's massive hand, avoiding the slash as he destroyed another clone. The momentum brought Danny underneath Rudi, and just as he was about to grip Rudi's leg and release the charge he had built up, another vision came to him. He saw Rudi's foot stamping right onto his chest, caving it in instantly. When Danny was brought back, he immediately abandoned that plan and rolled out from under the massive creature. Rudi stomped down and the cement crunched loudly before Rudi halted for a moment, it was then that Danny realized that Rudi could hear his fast breathing and fear filled him. Rudi suddenly swung his arm and it collided with Danny, knocking him out of cloaking and sending him across the room before he slammed into the concrete wall with another loud crunch.
Nerissa gasped in fear, "Danny!" She cried out before she dashed towards him at top speed, Rhys also ran out, but his goal was different. He wants to hopefully distract Rudi long enough for Nerissa to heal Danny, because he was likely severely injured. Nerissa slid up to him with water from a nearby basin already being swirled in-between her hands as Danny breathed shallowly through his agony. She didn't even have to examine him to tell that he had broken ribs and maybe a few cracked vertebrae. Danny was quickly healed and Nerissa helped him to his feet.
"Thank you, Nerissa." He said quietly after he had spit out a bit of excess blood that was lining his throat.
Nerissa chuckled softly, "Danny, you never have to thank me for-" Nerissa cut herself off when she saw the look of fear on Danny's face as he stared past her.
"Look out!" Danny yelled as he roughly shoved her out of the way and Rudi's massive hand grabbed Danny instead of her. Nerissa landed on her backside and finally noticed Rhys struggling to stand after Rudi had supposedly thrown him as well. She looked back up and saw Rudi with his free hand lifted up, Danny saw a vision crash into him.
Rudi crushing his skull with his bare hand.
Danny struggled violently when he was brought back from his vision, but it was no use. He quickly realized his sword was on the ground where Rudi had originally sent him flying. He could hear Soul and his friends cry out in concern as he clenched his eyes shut...but instead of sudden darkness, Danny heard a noise and everything stopped.
It was a loud scream of a child.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the massive cloud of dust and dirt cleared, Nyx and Orion could finally see who Rudi was holding. It was Danny, he was gripped around his waist by Rudi's now massive hand. He didn't have his sword but he was charging up a violent charge on his hands that crawled up his arms. Nyx and Orion watched with wide eyes as Danny planted his hands down onto Rudi's arm and the charge was released. Rudi roared out in pain as he was violently electrocuted before he swung his arm up and released Danny, sending him high up into the air. A look of fear coated Nyx and Orion's faces when they realized that Danny would be killed from a fall of that height.
"Orion!?" Nyx shouted sternly as she stood up swiftly.
"I got him." Orion responded calmly before he slammed his wings back and shot like a bullet towards Danny. He managed to swoop through the trees and catch Danny mere feet before he hit the ground. Orion followed through with his flight path to avoid injuring Danny with the whiplash before easing him down to the ground. Danny fell to his knees and was breathing heavily as he clutched his chest and Orion stiffened slightly. "Danny?" He said quietly as he kneeled down in front of Danny.
"I'm...I'm alive?" Danny said quietly as he leaned up a bit and Orion could finally see his frantic eyes. Danny's eyes finally rested on Orion's face and his pupils came into focus. "Orion! What the hell-"
"Where are the others?" Orion interrupted Danny with a question that needed to be answered, he knew Nyx could handle Kala and Rudi, but not for long.
"They're still down in the bunker, I assume they will be on their way shortly." Danny spoke through his shallow breathing that was beginning to calm. "Orion, that guy...Rudi...he is way too strong. I-I don't know how we're going to beat him without Nate's Gift to just take control of his mind." Danny sounded exhausted and he finally noticed that it was starting to get dark now, they still had about an hour or two before Nate's Gift would be back.
"We don't need it, we can do this, Danny. We just have to work together, there's no way he can handle all of us." Orion said with a soft smile that filled Danny with a newfound confidence. He exhaled deeply before standing up with a confident look in his eyes.
"I'm fairly confident that at least one of them will grab my sword on the way up here so-" Danny stopped himself mid sentence when he heard Rudi roar out loudly in pain. He had a large laceration on his back and they both quickly saw it to be from a sharpened shadow tendril that slithered back into Soul's shadow. Suddenly, pink streams of digital energy flowed through the air next to the two boys and Kyle faded into existence with Nate next to him. Nate was holding Danny's katana and held it out with the handle towards Danny and a smirk on his face.
"I believe you dropped this?" Nate said playfully before Danny gave him a grateful smile and took the blade before fist bumping Nate with the other hand.
"What's the plan here? That big ugly fucker is seriously powerful, and that brat seems to be as well, considering she held out against you and Nyx." Kyle said as he looked at Orion, he let out a soft sigh.
"We were doing fine before I told her to bring Rudi here. Honestly, I prefer it this way, we can all fight them together and our chances of success will be higher." Orion responded with an even tone as he watched the fight in front of him.
Danny smiled, "That's right." He said with a slightly proud tone in his voice. He could also feel the heat coming off of Orion and it was intense. "You think we'll need your dragon?"
Orion thought for a moment, "I hope not, I've kind of been anxious about bringing it out." Orion was looking off to the side now, noticeably embarrassed.
"Nyx?!" Nate suddenly yelled out, bringing everyone's attention back to the fight. They saw her flying through a tree, cracking it in half before she slammed into a second tree behind it with a choking yell of pain. Nate noticed a seriously deep gash on her thigh and his instinct caused him to run forward, but Kyle's right grip on his shoulder stopped him.
"Easy, Romeo, we need you alive to deal with Azriel, we can handle this." Kyle said sternly, but his voice was noticeably sincere. He ran forward into the fray as Orion took off into the air again.
"Sorry, man..." Danny said quietly as he started his movement slowly before turning around and properly running away from Nate. He stood and watched with clenched fists and anger is his body. He knew he had to stay back, but it still irritated him nonetheless.
When Orion landed in front of Nyx, she was breathing heavily and clutching her thigh just above the massive gash. "Are you okay, Nyx?" He asked her and he knelt down in front of her to inspect the wound.
"No, I'm not okay. This hurts like hell, Orion... I'm so exhausted, I don't think I can keep this up much longer..." She said with a pained tone as she locked eyes with him, the look in her eyes said everything Orion needed to hear. He closed his eyes with a soft sigh before standing up.
"Okay, Nyx...I'll handle it. Just stay back and rest." He said quietly before Kyle manifested from his cloaking again, this time with Nerissa at his side to heal Nyx as Orion walked towards the raging fight.
"What is he doing?" Nerissa asked with a slightly worried tone as she brought glowing water to Nyx's wound.
Nyx smiled weakly, "Hopefully, something cool." She said quietly, they all watched as Orion's wings were retracted back into his shoulder blades, but the vibrant blue glow around him stayed and even began to intensify. Nyx couldn't see his eyes, but if she could, she would see them open wide and glow more vibrantly than anyone had seen before. A light blue, translucent mass emerged from Orion's back and continued to grow in size before taking shape. Two massive wings, four massive legs slammed into the ground with a thunderous boom that caused the fight to stop in its tracks. Black scales coated its body along with slight blue that matched the color of Orion's eyes and trademarked glow, it was truly an astonishing sight.
The large dragon let out a gutteral roar that caused everyone in the surrounding area to tense in fear, even though Orion's friends knew they were safe, at least they hoped they were safe. A long and faint stream of light blue energy could be seen flowing from Orion's chest and into the large dragons chest. The dragon slowly leaned its head down next to Orion until its chin was almost touching the ground. Orion wordlessly climbed onto the dragon's neck and gripped its large horns as the dragon leaned its head back up again with a gutteral growl. Orion had a smile on his face as Kala locked eyes with him.
"That's right, child. I have a pet monster too."