Chapter Text
Kayden walks down the sterile halls of the Spectre laboratory, trying his best not to be seen as suspect in any manner. Locating the floor where the room John and Leilah’s sister were being kept for their recovery, he finds the doors firmly shut to those without a badge.
Shit, This floor is blocked off.
Seeing no other option, he struggles to pry the door open, pulling at the metal handles with all his strength. Soon his struggle is rewarded, as the door opens with a hairline gap before snapping back shut. For most, this would be a sign to attempt a new strategy, but Kayden smirks to himself, a sense of accomplishment filling his mind. He concentrates for a second, visualizing himself on the other side of the door that he just barely saw.
Shoom!
Ha! He teleports into the blocked-off floor, quickly looking around to find the recovery room his targets are in. He eventually finds the room, hurriedly knocking at the door. The lab technician operating the machine swings the door open, greeting Kayden with a less-than-amused look on his face.
“Hey! They sent me down here to help you out.” Lying through his teeth, Kayden surveys the room, glancing over the man's shoulder.
“Uhh… Who are you? Where’s your access card?” Kayden pats his lab coat, pretending to feel for it while continuing to look around the room. He spots John and Seraphina lying down on hospital beds in the back corner.
“Oh uh, sorry man I must have left it at my desk.”
“Then I’m not letting you in here. Go back and get it.” Closing the door, he lets out a large sigh.
Those damn newbies are always forgetting their passes. Pausing for a moment, he begins to tense up, realizing the issue with Kayden’s statements. How the hell did he get on this floor without a pass? On higher alert than he was before, he begins to make his way over to the radio to let his superiors know of the suspicious activity.
Shoom!
A crimson glow fills the space in front of the door where the man had just stood, and an image of the suspicious newbie appeared in its place.
“HEY!” The scarlet-haired technician leaped at the man who had just apparated into the secure space. His ability wasn’t the best for combat, a visual enhancement allowing him to see either further or closer in on objects, so the technician had made an effort when he was younger to learn some basic self-defense. While it was his first time initiating a fight, he wasn't about to be the one caught off guard, any more than he had been by the arrival of Kayden. Throwing a jab in the intruder's direction, his fist connected with a stomach, doubling Kayden over.
"Ugh!" Kayden groaned, the unexpected hit throwing him off. Leilah said I wouldn't have to fight! Looking back up he narrowly dodges the next punch he sees flying towards him, jumping to the right and trying to find an opportunity to counterattack. He hasn't activated his ability yet, is he a noncombatant? The lab technician stands back, seeing that Kayden was now fully focused on the fight, and puts up his guard. Should I teleport to catch him off guard and end this? Will I have enough aura to get the two of them out of here?
"I've got reinforcements coming any second now! Stand down!" Bluffing in an attempt to distract the intruder while also making some noise to potentially draw actual assistance was a good attempt at a plan, but all it seemed to do was solidify in Kayden's mind the need to finish this fight as quickly as possible.
Shoom!
Kayden disappeared from sight, moving instantly behind his opponent. Reaching for a chokehold, the scientist feels Kayden's presence behind him and jerks back, attempting a headbutt. Surprised, Kayden falls backward with the man in his grasp and lands on the recovery machine, grabbing at anything he can with his open hand to try to maintain an upright position. His hand lands on the dials and switches of the complicated machine, moving many of them out of place in his mad scramble to recover his footing.
Shit, I hope that didn’t mess with anything for their recovery! He doesn’t have much time to ponder the consequences of the alterations, however, as the technician struggles against his grip. Kicking and clawing at Kayden, who still has the man in a chokehold, the light slowly leaves his eyes before slumping to the floor with the grace of a ragdoll.
I’m gonna give Leilah a piece of my mind when we get out of here. Now where the hell should I hide this guy?
He looks around the room and spots an open utility closet door, dragging the limp man under the arms.
The evidence against him safely hidden away, Kayden surveyed the lab, making sure John and Seraphina were safe as well as examining the equipment he was meant to leave with once the pair was awake.
This is some complicated machinery, should I even try to fix what I did to it during that fight? He shakes his head, laughing at himself for thinking that. No, I’ll just mess it up even more, this is way out of my league. It’s best to leave it.
Glancing back at the sleeping pair, he wishes he could be taking a snooze right about now.
These two slackers, taking a nap while I’m out here busting my ass.
Liam and Candice are performing their standard security rounds in the facility when their radio starts beeping, indicating a potential issue.
“What is it?” Liam asks, and the radio replies quickly, crackling over the poor microphone quality. “*zt* There’s been a breach in one of the laboratories on the Main Floor.*zt* We found an unconscious guard in a broom closet.*zt*” Liam’s eyes go wide as the radio operator continues, “*zt* Someone stole his lab coat.*zt*”
Liam turns toward Candice, the conviction in his voice clear.
“I’ll investigate this issue, you head straight to the recovery room,” Candice replies with a cold nod before turning and running towards the lab.
Kayden looks at the display on the recovery machine, the text reading Recovery Process… 98%.
Good, it doesn’t look like the mishap earlier had much of an effect on the rate of recovery. They should be awake any time now.
The doorknob rattles, causing him to jump. It then proceeds to swing open as Candice enters the recovery lab.
“Good afternoon. Can I help you with something?” He puts on his best acting performance, trying his best to hide his surprise at his unwanted guest.
Luckily Candice doesn’t seem to notice, seemingly satisfied with seeing the patients still unconscious and on their beds. “Have you noticed any suspicious activity around here?”
“No, did something happen?” He deflects, praying she doesn’t notice the sweat forming on his face.
“This girl here is known to be quite crafty,” she explains. “I was sent here for your protection.”
“I see. Thanks for the warning.”
“Don’t mention it.” She walks towards the machine, curiosity evident in her eyes. “So… you’re an expert on this device?”
“I guess you could say that.” Come on, it’s at 100%, any time now. The process is finished, WAKE UP ALREADY!
“I heard that the ability disabler we use has a property that forces channels closed,” Candice says, turning back towards Kayden. “Is that correct?”
“Uh.. yep?!” Kayden squeaks out, trying his best to mask his deficiency of knowledge on the subject.
Pressing further into the topic she asks, “So then this device helps the high-tiers recover by opening up their aura channels?”
“That’s right!” More sweat forms on his face.
“And what’s the science behind that? How were you able to isolate one’s channels?” An almost expectant look forms on Candice’s face as she waits for the answer.
“We… uh…” Kayden struggles to find a good bullshit explanation. “Lots and lots of research…”
Candice seems disappointed with his answer, stepping closer. A look of concern flashes across her face. “Hm… Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. Are you new?”
Shit, I’ve been caught! “Yeah, they transferred me here last week.” Her eyes go wider, an eyebrow arched in suspicion.
“One week? How were you approved for access to this room so quickly?” Candice’s hand glows purple as her transferred ability activates. “Let me see your ID.”
Kayden tries to back away, “I.. uh left it-” His excuse is cut off by the Spectral Claw clutching at his face.
“You don’t have one, do you?” She asks, not really expecting an answer back. Her eyes glowing deep red, she hangs Kayden up by his head, compressing his skull and crushing his concentration. She smirks in pleasant surprise. The conversion tech worked!
“UGH!” His cries of pain as blood drips down his face do nothing to halt her attack. I can’t focus enough to teleport out!
Out of nowhere, a pink and magenta streak sends Candice flying across the room, slamming into the wall with enough force to send cracks along the impact point. Seraphina and John had woken up. Seraphina continues to confront the attacker, while John begins checking in on the injured Kayden.
“Hey, can you move?” He helps Kayden up.
“Ugh, took you guys long enough.” John looks up at Seraphina and Candice, ability active.
What’s going on here? Something’s wrong with that girl’s aura… I can’t get a proper read on it.
“Sera, something’s off about that girl’s ability, be careful!” It’s like her ability and her aura don’t match.
Sera stands over the coughing Candice, glaring at the security guard with hatred.
“He was right about you,” Candice spits out, her head tilting back up towards Seraphina. “You’re going to be a problem for us in the future.”
She shouldn’t be conscious, I thought I used enough strength to knock her out. “John! Kayden! Hurry up and grab the machine!” John notices another aura entering the room. “They’re onto us,” Seraphina continues. “We need to get out of here, fast!”
While she’s speaking, shards of ice fly toward John and Kayden from behind. Being swiftly captured and copied by John, he blocks the deadly shards with an ice formation of his own.
Wait, my aura feels off too… My channels feel like they have been forced open… wider than they should be! “Careful Sera! I think something went wrong with the recovery, my channels feel different!”
He turns toward where the projectiles came from, and stops, stunned.
“You!” His voice drips with malice as he remembers the attempt on the lives of himself and Seraphina. He prepares to attack him but pauses after remembering the plan. “Kayden, Ready when you are!” Kayden nods, understanding the signal perfectly.
Kayden teleports to cover, allowing John to sample his ability for himself.
“You got away once,” Liam says while producing a large ice projectile. “This time you won’t be so lucky.” The ice clump flies at John, who raises his own ice barrier to block. Liam’s projectile crashes into the barrier, sliding up and off, narrowly avoiding John. Seizing the opportunity, John teleports behind Liam, wielding a blade of ice aimed at the neck of the murderer. Sensing John’s presence, Liam state-shifts into his water form and the frozen weapon slashes right through the current.
“Tsk.” My aura isn’t stable enough for that form, he might have the advantage here.
Taking advantage of the scuffle, Candice attempts to get back up, only to be stopped in her tracks by Seraphina’s boot to her chest.
“Stay down!” Sera threatens.
“You little bitch…” Candice’s eyes glow orange as two duplicates of herself form around Seraphina, rushing her with the Spectral Claw active on both.
John and Liam are still locked in a fierce battle, neither side finding a large advantage against the other. John may have more aura output than Liam at the moment, but the instability caused by the machine lowered the density of his ice, and each teleport John performed took more and more of the aura he did have left out of him. None of that matters though, I just need to lock him down! He throws more ice shards at Liam and waits for the moment when he state-shifts. Now! John rushes at the swirling mass of water, arms outstretched, reaching to freeze the assailant in his place. Encompassing Liam in a gray and yellow ice prison, he turns toward Sera and her attackers.
Locked in battle with the three Candices, Sera notices that she has less control over her speed than normal. Often finding that her punches and kicks are either wildly faster or ridiculously sluggish, resulting in a much more difficult fight for the Ace than it would have been at 100% recovery. She gets in close to the main Candice body, after finding good opportunities against the other two and knocking them to the ground. Suddenly, Candice grabs Seraphina’s arm, bruising it and exclaiming, “Now, you can’t run!”
Clenching her teeth through the pain, she fires back a punch and quips, “Who said I was going anywhere?” While distracted by the main body, Sera doesn’t notice the other two Candices getting up off the floor, ready to capture their opponent. From behind, the two claws squeeze the sides of Seraphina, preventing her from attacking while moving her away from the main body.
“SERA!” John screams, propelling long spears of frozen malice in the direction of his friend's assailants. The ice punctures the two clones, and they disappear in a burst of orange aura. Sera falls to the ground, her mouth dripping blood and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. John turns, hatred burning in his golden-colored eyes. “I’LL KILL YOU!” he wails, pinning Candice to the wall with ice.
“John, wait!” He hears from behind, as Kayden calls out to him, “We need to get out of here! They have backup coming any second now! I’ll grab the machine, you get Sera!” Kayden turns back towards the machine, not giving John any time to object. Reaching out, he touches the panel and in a flash of crimson aura, the room is left empty of its technology.
As Kayden leaves, Liam’s ice prison begins to crack and shatter open, letting him escape in his water form. Seeing the threat of Liam back in order, as well as Candice breaking free from her restraints, John runs over to Sera and grabs her, using the last of his aura reserves to teleport both of them to safety in Leliah's apartment.
Kayden and Leilah are deep in conversation, mostly about the amount of fighting that Kayden had to do when John and Sera appear in a flash of warm aura. John hangs over Sera’s body, still unconscious from the effects of the claws.
“Wake up! Please!” He begs, praying she’s okay while tears form in his eyes. “Doc! Where are you?!”
“Hey there John, you’re being a little loud.”
John gasps, then lets out a massive sigh of relief. “Sera, thank god you’re alright. You had me worried there for a second.”
“Ugh,” she groans as she sits upright, still holding onto John for stability. “That was a strange feeling. I didn’t feel in control of my ability at all.”
“Yeah, our auras don’t feel quite right. We wipe the floor with those clowns with our normal abilities.” John looks inward at his own channels again in an attempt to see further into the situation while Sera is looking at her bruised arm, and begins to rewind her injuries.
“Our channels look like they were abused, forced open by some artificial process. I’d be careful with using your ability until we figure out exactly what went wro-” John is cut off by a surge of magenta aura enveloping him and Sera, as her rewind runs rampant. Seconds pass as the aura storm surges in the apartment. Sera hurriedly tries to get her ability under control but fails miserably, and soon, as if they were never there, the living room of the apartment that was their refuge was empty.