Chapter 48: Toxic Dilemma

Romaine's POV

Racing onto the scene, there was definitely a lot more damage to infrastructure than before when we'd seen the offenders on the monitors. Standing a couple feet away from said offenders, they quickly recognized and acknowledged our presence.

"Omg look sis!" One of them cheered to the other, "The heroes are finally here."

"It's about time." The other one said, turning around to us

It was evident when the second one had shown her face that they were twins. Their suits were the same design as well, though the first sister's was cream, and the second's was purple.

"We got these suits specially tailored." Blurted the first one, "Aren't they cute?"

"Shut up Tif." the second scolded, "They don't need to know that."

"What are two pretty ladies such as yourselves doing out here?" Dondre questioned

"Dude," I whispered, "Remember, they're criminals, I don't think you should be flirting with them."

"Can it, Velocity." stung the second sister, "Acceleration over here knows true beauty when he sees it."

"Oh brother." I mumbled

"Girls, girls," Calmed Dondre, "There's no need to fight over me."

"No one was fighting over you..." I commented

"How about the two of you come with me, huh? I'm sure we can work something out with the law."

"Not a chance." replied the second sister

"Yeah, we've always dreamed of the day we'd get recognized as villains." added the first sister

"And with these fancy new powers, we'll finally be able to make a name for ourselves."

"Well you know, you're gonna have to have a cool name." said Dondre, "I can give the two of you one."

"Which side are you on?" I questioned, turning to him

"We've already got that covered." assured the second sister

The two of them posed as if they were going to take a camera shot or something.

"I'm Toxica." declared the second sister

"And I'm Twister." followed the first one

"Hm," Dondre hummed, "I'll give it a 5/10"

"Huh? How disrespectful!" whined Twister

"Show 'em what we can do, sis." commanded Toxica

"On it."

Twister put forward the palms of her hands, which caused the air around her arms to erratically spin counterclockwise, causing a massive spiral wind to blow in our direction.

While I was caught slightly off-guard, my balance only dwindled slightly; the wind currents were easy to avoid. And Dondre found them just as easy to avoid.

"Woah. Fiesty" Dondre purred

"Why was I sentenced to this torture." I mumbled

"Gn." Toxica groaned, "Let's see you avoid this."

Putting her own palms forward, Toxica formed some kind of, purple gas, which was rapidly increasing in volume.

"Sis." she prompted

Twister repeated the same move as before, but this time her winds blew the gas over to us. As it swiftly traveled in our direction, the gas spread even more through the air. It was only after I'd avoided it that I realized that there was actually someone that was caught within the gas. God knows why people would still even be so close after all this time. When I looked closer, I realized that it was a little kid.

"So one has poisonous gas and the other one can create tornadoes. Go figure." I commented

"They're names suit them really well, don't you think?" Dondre questioned

"Really not the time or place Dondre.." I mumbled

As the child had began to suffocate in the gas, my first instinct was to run.

Sprinting into the gas headway first without even thinking, I found myself in quite the predicament. Almost panicking, and now being 5 steps into the gas, my failsafe was automatically triggered. Now in Hyper Perception, the sound of the girls cackling in the background rapidly slowed down, travelling at such a slow speed that it was no longer recognizable.

-Mental Process-

Oh you've really done it this time Romaine. Running straight into the toxic gas without a plan. Cas is gonna serve me on a silver platter. Jeez. And my body's currently in the middle of exhaling, so by time I get over to the kid, I would've already inhaled the toxins. And I doubt I'd be able to get the necessary energy needed to pick up the child and run back out without any oxygen. But I've gotta try.

Hold on, what's that red thing at the other side of the gas? Electricity.. Shante... of course Zero would send her at a time like this; just to make things more chaotic.

But I'm not able to do anything to fight back.. Any contact I make with her will send me into psychosis. If she put me into psychosis, then I'll unconsciously breathe, taking in the toxins. So game over. But she's closer to the boy, so if I went after him, then she'd no doubt get to me. I'm not too far into the gas, so maybe I could just turn back now and evade her.

Wait, no.. that'd be selfish. I can't put my life over the chance of saving his... but... the odds of saving him are unbelievably low... and he's just one person, whereas if I were to live I'd be able to save many more..

Damnit. How'd I get caught up in some dumb moral dilemma? Unbelievable.

So two options Romaine.. either I turn back in an attempt to escape Shante and the gas, or I take the risk of saving that kid, further endangering my own life. No... there's gotta be a way out of this.. right?

Ahh damn.. things are starting to speed up again.

Well I guess I've already weighed both sides... but I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't at least try..

Guess there's only one option then.

-End of Mental Process-

As the things around me had begun returning to their normal pace in relativity to mine, I wasted no time in stopping my breath and bolted full speed ahead.

While I had attempted to maneuver to avoid Shante while not diverting too much from the kid, my efforts were to no avail. Shante punched me in gut the instant I was about to make contact with the kid, sending me flying backwards.

Barely being thrown out of the gas' perimeter, the psychosis quickly seeped in, giving me another horrid vision of dying by the hands of Black Zero. When I had begun to regain consciousness, my lungs constantly contracted, forcing me to cough multiple times for a few seconds.

Dondre questionably stared at me, probably confused on why I would've bolted into the toxic gas, and then suddenly got launched back out almost immediately after.

Before I even had time to possibly process what I'd just done, Shante was now standing at my head, glaring down menacingly.

"You.." I mumbled, clearly delirious, painfully listening to the little boy's desperate coughs for breath.

I slowly stood up, maintaining eye contact as I did. Weirdly enough, she didn't make any attempt to put me into psychosis. She just maintained her stance and glared at me.

"This is all your fault Shante.." I said to her, "That kid over there dying, I probably could've saved him if it wasn't for you. And even if I'd failed, I still would've tried..."

"Huh?.." she mumbled, partially looking over to the boy

In an abrupt instant, the coughing ceased. We all looked over at the boy, who was no longer moving or breathing.

"Cas...?" I nervously beckoned

-"I.. I'm no longer getting a reading from him... he's dead."- She responded

"Damnit!" I belted, pushing Shante, "This is all your fault! You caused this! That kid's dead now because of you!"

She froze in her place, looking at both me and the boy. Her eyes started twitching, as her muscles seemed to be spasming out.

"Uhh.. what's happening to her?" Dondre questioned

"I don't know..." I responded

As tears started flowing from her eyes, Shante released a bellowing scream.

She was now erratically vibrating on the spot, covered in her red electricity, and twitching at super speed. You could even hear some growls and snarls.

"She's like an animal." Dondre commented

"Don't call her that." I defended, "She's still my cousin."

"Well I hope that level of insanity doesn't run in the family."

Before anything else could be said or done, Shante charged right for me, at speeds that I've only ever seen Zero reach.

She ended up giving me a fistful of electricity right in my face, launching me dozens of feet before the psychosis was even able to kick in.