Chapter 24: New Intent

Romaine's POV

"Did I ever tell you guys about the Goblet of Fire?" Dondre asked

"Only a hundred times." I mumbled

"Dondre, don't you ever have something better to talk about?" Cas inquired

"Well I mean,~"

"Mornin' guys." Kyle greeted

"Hey Kyle." I said.

"Donte doing ok?" He asked

"Romaine and I have been monitoring his vitals all night." Cas said, "We find it weird that he's still in this state; Romaine was only in it for a few seconds. We believe the prolonged effect is because of when she touched him afterwards."

"Any idea of when he's gonna wake up?"

"Not as of yet, we'll let you know if there's anything."

"Thanks."

"Why the glum face Kyle?" Dondre questioned

"There's something I need to tell you guys.." He answered

"What is it?" I asked, now suspicious

"It's about the Rising Sun, they're getting ready to execute their ultimate plan; Project Sunrise.

"Project Sunrise?" I questioned

"Yes, it's the most important operation of the Rising Sun. We've been putting things into place for almost a year."

"Can you tell us more about it?" Dondre questioned

"I was getting to that. The boss made sure to keep the full thing under wraps until the very last moment, so all we know for now is that it's gonna be big. It was supposed to happen a month from now, but for some reason he decided to push it last second to tomorrow."

"And why are you just telling us about this now?" I accused

"Like I said, it was originally supposed to take place a month from now. I was still looking for the right time to tell you in advance."

"So you know nothing?" Cas asked

"I'm coming from a meeting where the plans were discussed. All I know Is where everyone will be, and what they'll be doing up until near the end. I still don't know what the boss has planned for the last part."

"So I take it you saw the boss?" Cas said

"It was very dark, but yeah. I couldn't describe him for you, but I have no doubt that he'll be there tomorrow; so if you plan on getting him, that'll be your chance."

Oh boy. First Shante, then Donte, now this? Gimme a break.

"I can assure you that with my limited information it might not sound dangerous, but the boss plans on somehow flattening the entire city and rebuilding a new society from the grounds up."

"How do we stop it?" I asked

"I'm not sure how important of a part each of us plays, but if you take out at least one of us, it should be enough to get in the way of the boss' plans."

"Then just don't show up. Simple." I stated

"If I don't show up, they'll kill my brother."

"Plan B then; you take one of them out."

"What do you think they'd do to my brother if I openly betrayed them?"

"K, Plan C: we take the others out."

"We're all starting from specific points. Cas, bring up a map will you?"

"Sure thing."

She went to the computers and brought up a satellite view map of the city.

"Kronos is gonna take out the airport. Crimson's got the cruise port. Obsidian and I have got a Fesco Gas Station. And TK's been assigned to the Cornwall Regional Hospital. We all cause havoc at our designated places before sunrise, then converge at the hospital at daybreak."

"Why were you all assigned to those places specifically?" Cas questioned

"I don't know."

"They're so random, almost completely unrelated to each other." Dondre commented

"They all have tons people?" I suggested

"But the gas station." Dondre pointed out

"It's the potential for destruction. People of all kinds would be affected if the infrastructure of those places were destroyed." Cas said

"But my ability has no destructive potential. Sure that could be why Obsidian was paired with me, but why not exclude me altogether? It has to be something else." Kyle rebutted

I looked back at the map.

"Maybe it's a symbol." I said

"What do you mean?" Dondre asked

I went over to the computers and marked the spots that Kyle mentioned.

"Notice anything?" I asked

"Well, yeah" Dondre said, "The three on the outside look kinda like a~"

"Triangle" Kyle finished

"But what about the inward point?" Cas questioned

I drew a line between the outside points, to form the shape of a triangle. Then I thought back to what Kyle had said; at day break they'd all converge at the hospital. The hospital was the central point. I connected the three outside dots with the one inside.

"What is it?" Kyle questioned

"A symbol of some sort." I replied

"Yeah but what does it mean?" He asked

"That's what we need to find out." I said, "But for now, we should get ready for tomorrow."

"Agreed." Kyle responded

"Dondre an I can easily take out Crimson and Kronos."

"And TK?" Cas asked

"We still don't know enough about his powers to make a move. Plus it would be easier to take care of the outward points. All we need is to eliminate one anyway." I said

"Cassandra, do you think you can bring up footage of October 16 near Courts on St James Street?" Kyle requested

"Uhh, sure." She replied

Cas gently hip bumped me out of the way and started typing on the computers. Soon she brought up the requested footage. It was of Kyle and TK wrecking buildings, with TK doing all the work.

"Oh" Dondre said, "That's when I came and asked you for help."

"Yeah. Cassandra, can you clip only the parts where TK used his ability and play it on loop?" He requested

Cas did as asked.

"Think you guys can deduce anything about his ability from this? How it works maybe?" he asked

I've never actually seen TK use his abilities, I've only been told. But now I'm seeing him perform for the first time; he puts forth his hands and then matter violently collapses on itself and is crushed around a single point. I'd describe it as a blackhole, but without sucking things in.

"Woah." I commented

"Cas?" Dondre asked

"I'm still unsure of what and how exactly his ability works." She said

"The only way I could describe it for it to make sense is torque." I stated

"Angular force?" questioned Kyle

"Yeah."

"Of course." Cas said typing on the computer.

She brought up an analysis of torque.

"Torque is a measure of force that can cause an object to spin around an axis. Also known as the Angular Force." She said, "If his ability were related to the force torque then that would explain why the buildings collapse in a spiral and rotate around a specific point."

"So that's his name" Dondre stated

"What?" I questioned

"Torque." He stated

"Seriously?"

"Well now that we have a concept of how his ability would work, how do we stop him?" said Kyle, "We can't confront him without a clear plan of beating him. We've seen what he can do to buildings, imagine humans."