Chapter 12: Assistance

Dondre's POV

"Oh come on come on come on come on come on!" I was pacing all over the main room of the lab. "So much for computer genius. It's been 12 hours and you still haven't been able to find them yet!"

"Maybe if you shut up for a second I can focus better" Cassandra responded

"Nuh-uh. I'm not taking the blame for your computer incompetence. I mean for crying out loud the guy's your boyfriend! You should've found him by now just for that very reason."

"For the last time, he's not, my, boyfriend. And why don't you go search for him then, huh? 'bestfriend'."

"Yeah well maybe you missed the part last night where I spent literal hours running all over the country until I was sick."

"Oh my god, you are insufferable."

"I really don't want to hear that coming from you."

"Alright, I've had just about eno~"

The crime alert interrupted her, I don't think I've ever been that relieved hearing that a crime was going on.

We silently agreed on a temporary truce, just until we solve this problem.

"What is it?" I peered

"Hold on"

She brought up live CCTV camera footage of the event. At first all I saw was just some random guy wrecking buildings, (as usual), but then I noticed someone standing beside him.

"Wait.." I said

"What is it?"

"Is that, Kyle?"

Cassandra looked closer at the feed.

"Yeah it is, Kyle Forlurne."

I gotta admit, I've never seen Kyle in such weird getup before, I mean a trench coat? Ridiculous. But that was unmistakably Kyle's face. An that other guy beside him, he had a weird outfit too might I say, but something that caught my eye, was the image of a sun on the horizon on his chest. It looked a bit familiar, but I just couldn't place it.

"Wow. I haven't seen Kyle in ages."

"Well just so you know," she said, "that sun emblem represents an unnamed group of X-Genists that we've been taking down for months; including Obsidian."

So Kyle's with the enemy huh.. well not to worry, he's always been a man of reason. I'm sure I can convince him to help us look for Romaine, we're all old friends after all.

"Cas, I got a plan." I informed her, already on going for my suit.

"Really? You? I doubt it."

"Well believe it or not, I'm gonna get us some help from an old friend."

"We haven't even identified how the guy's powers work"

"I'm sure you can do that while I get there"

Before she got the chance to answer, I shut the elevator doors and went up.

On my short trip to downtown I tried practicing my speech. I didn't really get past the first word, "Kyle,", but I knew I'd come up with something good in the moment.

I got on the scene, the other guy had just finished demolishing another building to bits.

"Good Job TK, keep it up" Kyle said to him

"Stop telling me what to do, kid." He responded

When Kyle noticed me, he only seemed half-surprised at my appearance; I guess when you do stuff like this a lot then you grow to expected.

-"Dondre,"- Cas called from over the comms, "He's causing major damage, you need to stop him, now."

"Alright, I got it."

TK turned his attention to me. He looked like he was ready to obliterate me. Kyle blocked him with his hand and said,

"No TK, I'll handle him. You just focus on the mission."

I planned to remove my cowl and reveal myself to Kyle as my trump card, but I can't possibly do that in public.

I need to somehow get him in private. I don't know what his powers, are, but I'm certain I can outrun whatever it is.

As he slowly removed the glove off of his right hand, I put my guard up, expecting anything. Light shun from his palm, and the next thing I know, everything was black.

I woke up and everything was dark. I was in the same spot as before, so it looks he just knocked me out.

"I guess I can't outrun light" I thought out loud, rubbing my head

I got up and actually took note of my surroundings. Everything was desolate; completely silent. I originally thought it was night time because of the darkness, but there's not a star in the sky. I got more wary of what actually could've happened to me. Was this some kind of purgatory? If so, then I admire the attention to detail by making an exact replica of the city.

"I'm getting really tired of you speedsters getting in the way all the time" I heard a menacing voice from behind

I turned around to see Kyle, he didn't look too pleased.

"Hey wait, Kyle, hold on."

"How do you know my name, bastard?"

He seemed to get more upset at me calling him by his name, I better pull my trump card quick before he kills me.

I went to take off my cowl, but he was being cautious. He held out a knife at me.

"Don't. Move."

"Kyle, just wait, it's me, D~"

"Shut up."

"Look I promise I won't hurt you, you gotta trust me."

He held his guard up. I just risked is and moved at superspeed. I took of my cowl and showed him. Upon seeing my face, he immediately begun to lower his guard.

"D..Dondre?"

"You know it"

"Hold on, you're a speedster?"

"Mhm. And so is Romaine, think you might've seen him a few times, he goes by Velocity"

"You're kidding.."

"Someone like him isn't fit to be a speedster; the guy's late to everything."

"True, but not anymore."

After the waters had settled a bit I decided to get to the point.

"Uhh, look. Romaine and his cousin have gone missing since yesterday. We're at a dead end, and when I saw you I knew you'd want to help."

"Well, yeah of course, but.. I don't know if you realized, but I already have a team working with."

"A bunch of bad guys, Kyle?"

"It may just seems like a bunch of bad guys to you, but our goal is peace."

"Come on, leave the misfits behind, your friend needs help."

After a long while of silence, he finally responded.

"Alright, I can't turn my back on a friend."

"Great! I knew you'd come through."

"So what'd we do?"

"Well first, you let me outta here."

"Oh, right. I gotta take care of TK first."

When Kyle finally released whatever he did to me, I was a bit dizzy at first, but I quickly got over it. By the looks of it, that TK guy really went to town on those buildings; everything on the block is destroyed. And why would he just be randomly destroying infrastructure and not steal anything? He stands to gain nothing from destroying stuff like that. Well I guess I can just Ask Kyle later, but for now, time to locate friend.

I went over to Kyle and told him to hang on tight. I didn't waste any time to listen to him question as to why, I just ran with him over to the lab.

When we finally stopped in the elevator it was as if he was on a rollercoaster.

"Oh my god, I'm gonna hurl" he muffled with his hand over his mouth.

I playfully chuckled as he struggled to keep everything in.

"Never, do that again."

"No promises"

I continued to laugh as the lift went down.

"We got a new team member" I announced, walking toward Cassandra

"Dondre.." She started, "You do realize.. that you just brought the enemy into our base of operations, right?!"

"No need to be so fussy. Kyle is one of the most loyal people I know, and he'd never turn his back on a friend in need."

"Hmph. Well I won't be the one too explain this to Romaine; if he even comes back that is."

"Gosh your so obno~"

"Hey wait shut up, shut up" she interrupted

"Rude.." I muttered

She showed us a new broadcast mentioning the capture of a murderer with X-Genist abilities.

"That's Donte's address." She pointed out

"Well," went Kyle, "do they mention who the alleged murderer is?"

"No, they're keeping the identity of the convict hidden"

"Guys," I said solemnly, "I hate to say it, but.. that's gotta be Romaine. It's no coincidence that we're seeing this now. Plus it happened at Donte's house, which was where Romaine last went to."

"Wait," Cassandra's tone turned a bit soft, "You said you went all around the country."

"I did."

"And you didn't check Donte's house?"

"Honestly, it didn't come to mind."

"I'm surrounded by idiots."

"Hey hey, Ms Smartass, you didn't ask anything about the house and you didn't do any searches there either. So I guess we were both being stupid."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to the computers.

"Wait, a minute" Kyle added, "I only know of one place that they use to contain X-Genists; Brinestone X Facility Prison."

"Of course!" Cassandra cheered

"I've heard the name before, but is it really that good?" I asked

"Oh, it's only the most fortified X-Genist containment facility in the country." Kyle replied

Cassandra brought up a satellite image of the facility exterior.

"Yup" Confirmed Kyle, "That's where they're holding our boy captive."