Chapter 19: Reverse Pandemonium

Romaine's POV

It was long before I finally fell asleep last night. If I have to endure anymore of Dondre and him rewatching the Lord of the Ring I think I'm going to go insane.

I got up early, and waited for Kyle to arrive. He came by in the late morning. I was curious as to where he was, yes, but it's none of my business. Plus he could've just been visiting his brother at the hospital or something. Thanks to what he said yesterday, I know where his loyalties lie.

Usually, I'd have to deal with boring school right around this time, but Hennessy said they took care of everything; and if my own mother doesn't remember me, I doubt my school would. So I'm free from that dilemma now.

I went down to the lab and greeted the never sleeping scientist herself.

"Hey Cas" I said

"Good morning to you too." she replied

"Any progress made on that reverse-inhibitor last night?"

"No... I have a lot of things to do you know. And I said I'm not even sure what we're dealing with. Give me time."

"Yeah well, that's something we don't have at the moment."

She rolled her eyes and scoffed.

Dondre came down the elevator, and struck up a question.

"What are you guys talking about? Can I get involved?"

"Top of the morning, Dondre." I greeted

Cassandra went on and ignored us. Shortly after, that's when Kyle arrived.

He silently walked in, without uttering a word.

"Good morning." Dondre said

"Good, morning?" Kyle questioned

"Hey don't look at me," I said, "I'm done with morning greetings."

"Yeah and since when did you care about them anyway?" he asked

"I blame Cas."

She turned her attention to me and raised her eyebrow. I shrugged and moved on.

"So what now?" Kyle prompted

"Well," I started, "I figured we could do some~"

"Formation Training?" He finished my sentence. I hate when he does that.

"Yes.."

"And you were planning on using my powers to do so?"

"Yes.."

"Well ok then. Sure."

"Can you also read minds or something?"

"No.."

"Then how do you~"

"Know the end to your sentences and guess what you're thinking?"

"Yes!"

"You're predictable. That's it."

I sharpened my stare at him.

"So, Kyle." Cassandra started, "How do your powers work, exactly?"

"Well.." he went on, "I'm not sure myself. All I know is that my naked palms produce light, and if you see it then you're transported to some other reality."

"Hmm.. based on Romaine and Donte's explanations, it's an exact replica of city?"

"Well, yeah. I don't know how, but yeah.'

"I'd like to identify your powers; can I see you use them now?"

"Sure.."

Kyle slowly peeled the glove off of his right hand. Just as he explained it, light shun from his palm as soon as it was exposed. Upon glaring, we were all transported to the alternate reality, even Cassandra was there this time.

The AR version of the lab looked the same as the last time I was here. And the atmosphere in general was still dark and empty.

"Interesting.." Cassandra commented

She immediately went over the the computers and started typing.

"There's nothing.." she said softly, "Absolutely no trace of any other life here."

"Go figure." I mumbled

"Communication with the outside world is completely cut off."

"And that's bad?" Dondre questioned

"Not exactly. This could be a great way to enable multi-layered communication."

"Ok then.."

After a bit longer of typing, she finally spoke again.

"I'm in!" She announced

"In...what?" Dondre asked

"I've connected to the satellites overlooking the city."

We all exchanged looks.

"Impressive." I commented

"No it's not." She said, "How do you think I got access to them in the real world? It's easy."

"Well.."

"Nevermind that, this is in fact a perfect replica of the city."

"Well we told you~"

"And based on what I'm seeing, the whole world."

The three of us exchanged a variety of looks.

"Wait-" Kyle started, "That must mean you hacked into all of the world's satellites."

"Well, yeah." She said, "It really wasn't that hard."

"But when did you have the time to do that?" Dondre asked

"Look," she started, "You people underestimate the sheer amount of genius you have on the team. And 80% of it's me."

"And the other 20%?" I asked

"Kyle fills in 15%, you would fill in 3, and Dondre, 2."

"You think I'm worth 3% of the team's overall brains?!"

"Yes."

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"Guys," interrupted Kyle, "let's not argue about this."

"Coming from the guy that got the 15%." I mumbled under my breath

"You're acting childish. Does it matter who's smarter? We all have something to contribute."

"Whatever.."

"We should probably get going to the campsite now." Dondre suggested

"Good idea." Cas agreed, "Maybe you should be the 3%."

I rolled my eyes and the four of us went out.

~~~~~~~

We practiced our plan for literal hours to the point of perfection; everyone knew their places, their roles and their cues. Plus if we didn't stop now I think they would've gotten tired of me bossing them around.

"Black Zero won't know what hit him." I said

"Agreed." Followed Kyle

~~~~~~~

When we finally left, we were all interested in hearing Cassandra's analysis of Kyle's abilities.

"Interesting.." Cas commented, looking at her watch.

"What is it?" I questioned

"We spent hours practicing in Kyle's alternate reality, but in real time it's only been a few minutes."

"Well.. I kinda already knew that; since I've been in there before." I stated

She looked at me, her eyes portraying her intolerance.

"So what do you have on my powers?" Kyle questioned

"Well.." She started, "Based on the limited information, I've deduced that your X-Gene triggered somewhere in your brain, but manifests itself through your hands. I believe the light, is caused by a very thin layer of sweat that reflects any light it comes in contact with. That's all I have. How those connect to transporting someone to an alternate reality? I don't know."

"Well thanks.."

"Maybe it would help if you told me what happened when you first got your powers?"

Kyle's expression quickly transitioned into a more dark one.

"..I'm good." he replied, "I'd much rather not talk about that right now."

"Oh.. ok then."

Secrets, Secrets. Nothing good can come from this. If he hides anything then he might as well be putting us in danger.

"You can tell us." I stated, not wanting to sound demanding.

"I said I don't want to talk about it right now."

"If you're going to be a part of the team, you can't be hiding anything."

"Do you ever think, just for a second, that maybe it's a traumatic experience that I don't want to go over?"

"Well- No, I mean."

"Gosh. Everything does not, revolve around you, Romaine Green. Everyone has feelings and a life too; just like that cousin you kicked out."

Kyle immediately left after that, not leaving me any time to respond. I looked over at Cas and oddly, she seemed disappointed.

She shook her head and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Went don't need a repeat of what happened with Donte. He came here to help; don't push him away."

After saying that she walked off as well. I was left alone with Dondre, who just stared blankly, before leaving as well.

Why do I keep pushing the people around me away?