Chapter 57: Breakthrough

Romaine's POV

"You guys," Cas opened, "I think we finally have a breakthrough."

"Well it's about time." Dondre mumbled

"I didn't see you helping with anything." She belted

"Of course I was, I had the most important job: Moral Support."

"What's it been? Nearly 2 weeks since those sisters first appeared?" Kyle questioned

"Two weeks exactly." The Prince confirmed

"Well I'm glad we can finally clear up some of the confusion." I stated

"Well to start things off," She said, "They're definitely not from another universe, but they're not X-Genists either, not the type we know to be at least."

"What do you mean Cas?" Dondre questioned

"The powers they exhibit are similar in behavior to that of previous X-Genists we've encountered, but the traits differ."

"Yeah, still lost."

"The Prince and I have a hypothesis; if somehow the X-Gene was able to evolve, then that would explain our recent encounters."

"Though in order to share a specific trait or evolution, one must share DNA with the original host." The Prince continued, "However, the thing that these three have shared in common is a suit."

"I don't see how their suits relate this." Dondre pointed out

"When Romaine had confronted the sisters, one of them mentioned their suits being custom made" Kyle said, "I'm guessing that has something to do with this?"

"Yes, precisely." Cas confirmed, "But~"

"Crime alert" Dondre announced

"We'll have to continue this later." I stated

Cas brought up the camera footage of the assailant, as per usual.

This time the man was inside a building, instead of causing random havoc.

"He's attacking the Ministry of Health's office." Cas informed

"Well that's the first." Kyle commented

"Let's go." I prompted the other speedsters, already hasting over to my suit

"Hold on." Kyle stopped us, "I'm coming with you."

"Huh? Why?" I questioned

"This man went straight for the ministry's regional office, he clearly thinks better than our previous encounters. I feel like I need to be there, just in case."

Well his reasoning for coming may have been a bit off, but the extra help would be appreciated.

"Ok then, let's go." I accepted

~~~~~~~

The Ministry of Health's Regional Office is right across from my school, so finding it was pretty easy.

Entering the building, the four of us spread out to surround the villain. His suit was black and dark purple, with similar design to the previous villains'. His initial was a ghostly designed 'S'. And he was waving around some sort of scepter.

"Get out of my way." He commanded

"Yeah, sorry about that." Dondre went, "But no can do."

"Guys, be careful." Kyle warned

"Ok Mr Kyle." said Shante

The corpses laying in the room all look petrified, like they'd seen some sort of ghost.

"Guess we'll do it the hard way then." He stated, after which he raised his scepter, causing a dark aura to fill the room

"The heck is this?" Dondre questioned as the aura shrouded us

"I don't know, step back." I responded

Safe to say, stepping back didn't work; the entire room was quickly misted by the pitch black aura and everyone else disappeared.

The only discernable figure I could now see was by far the last thing I needed today: Black Zero.

He seemed distracted, so I took the opportunity and charged at him headfirst with a speed-punch.

"You bastard!" I shouted

Shante's POV

Once the darkness had surrounded me, it was really hard to see anything. It was like black mist all over the place.

Some of the mist blew off and uncovered someone. It was the evil version of me, but how was she outside of my head?

"You again." I called

She turned to me, and didn't really look too friendly.

I quickly started vibrating to charge my electricity, and raced toward her.

Kyle's POV

The thick black mist was getting a bit too close for comfort, being that it now cloaked the entire room. I could still see the others, though not very well.

Romaine turned towards me, with a rather menacing look in his eyes.

"You bastard." He gritted his teeth, before charging straight for me with an attack

My body's reflexes acted on their own, somehow dodging the superspeed attack, which was when my attention was suddenly turned to Shante.

"You again." She said, following with the same attack Romaine just did

After dodging her attack, I now turned to Dondre, to see if he'd do the same thing.

Though he seemed a bit confused as to what was happening at first, he quickly charged at me with an attack soon after.

"The heck's going on.." I questioned myself

"Zero you bastard!" Romaine screeched, reattempting his attack

"You gotta be kidding me." I mumbled after dodging

Do these three really think I'm Black Zero?

Romaine halted before me, allowing me to take notice of his eyes; his irises were black. And the same with Shante once she had gotten close enough too.

I could tell my body was beginning to struggle with keeping up with these three once they'd started bombarding me with attacks.

"You guys need to snap out of it." I said, still trying to dodge all of them

They seemed to have no idea of what was going on around them, neither did they respond to anything I said.

"They can't hear you." the Villain cackled, "All they're doing is reliving part of their darkest memories."

"That's it? Some crappy illusion?" I dismissed

I stood in place, ceasing the dodging, placing my left hand in it's pocket.

"I've grown tired of this charade." I stated

The three of them came running with their attacks.

"Snap out of it." I commanded, snapping my fingers

My invisible force created a shockwave, instantly dispelling the mist and knocking back the speedsters.

"Huh?" Romaine mumbled, "Where'd Zero go?"

"What happened?" Shante questioned

"I'd like to ask the same question." Dondre said

"You had all succumb to some sort off illusion." I informed them

"Say it ain't so." Romaine responded

"That's a relief." sighed Shante

"And just why weren't you a part of it?" Dondre questioned

"I don't know, maybe my will just isn't as weak as all yours'." I responded

"Haha very funny."

"So where's the guy that did all this?" Romaine inquired, clearly looking for revenge

"He got away while I was dealing with you guys." I informed

"My bad Kyle." Romaine sighed, slowly standing up

"No worries. I hate when my hunches are right sometimes." I told him

~~~~~~~

Romaine's POV

Well that was nothing short of embarrassing, but I doubt that this was it for that guy, so I'm sure I'll get to teach him a lesson soon.

Now back at the lab, Cassandra and his Highness were even sure of their hypothesis now after what had happened earlier.

"So where were we, suits?" Dondre questioned

"Yes," Cas continued, "Though we don't believe the cause of this to be the suits themselves, but rather some sort of chemical compound that's able to not only forcefully trigger but also evolve the X-Gene in order to reproduce superhuman abilities."

"So you two think people are wearing clothes that give them powers?" Dondre mocked, "That's ridiculous."

"Dondre," called Cas, "Let me just remind you that a few weeks ago a number of individuals created an interdimensional portal, and that we're currently in the presence of an alternate timeline version of your bestfriend. Materials that have energy based particles in them really isn't a stretch compared to those, seeing as it's the same as having radiation in their clothes."

"Well is there any way we can test this hypothesis of yours?" Kyle questioned

"Well..."