Chapter 5.2: Darkness Writhes

Ray shook his head as the Psykes sisters were being dragged away like logs. He then sent a wave of telekinetic force to knock back several shadow creatures unto a wall with an audible crack of bones. "I'm going after them."

"You're crazy.", Nikolai said, trying to grab him by the shoulder to keep Ray in line. "There are too many between us and them!"

Of course, it was too late for him to do anything. Ray had already run off, using his potent telekinesis to clear the way towards the Psykes sisters. With simple gestures from his arms and hands, the air rippled towards the creatures of darkness, sending them tumbling towards the floor in droves or simply causing their necks to snap in a grotesque fashion. Ray wasn't thinking; no, he was acting out of pure emotion at the moment, fueled by impure rage at the sudden attack on his friends and the other mutants in the school. It really was fortunate that the cafeteria wasn't full yet, and was just barely at half capacity when the attack began; otherwise, it would be near impossible to navigate through the inert statue-like bodies of those who did not bear power. He wasn't going to let anything happen to Emma, or to her sisters Kara and Maria. If the shadows got them, who knows what terrible things they would go through. Maybe they would get sent to the same place that Caitlin was imprisoned in for a day, only this time, it would be a lot longer than just a day. Or, worse, experimented on for the sake of demented science. No one knows if there was any secret federal agency that experimented on Neu-Volke, or some private contractor paid to do the dirty work. Well, that's why they're secrets; no one is supposed to know.

"Blyat." Nikolai cursed, frying a shadow creature in a furious blast of energy. He could only look on as Ray took on the ever increasing swarm of shadow creatures, which seemed to never run out no matter how many the mutant teens killed in the effort to defend themselves. Shards of ice and cold gusts of wind struck their dark bodies in deadly fashion; beams of energy seared their flesh and turned them to ash; and waves of telekinetic force sent their forms tumbling and cracking into the dark abyss that was the walls of the cafeteria. The darkness was intensifying; by now, the windows that lent light from the outside were barely visible anymore, with the only illumination left in the massive room being the overhead lamps, which were also dimming every few moments. Other than that, there were the blasts of energy that emanated light whenever they struck, and the slowly growing center of photons that was Nathan, who was still gathering brilliance within himself in order to dissipate the darkness.

Caitlin struck a shadow creature with an ice spear, sticking its body into the floor. She then turned and looked at Ray, who was still fighting his way to get to the Psykes sisters. "Ray! Get back here! It's too dangerous!"

"Not until they get them!"

"Typical." Nikolai shook his head, focusing his energy to form a portal to take in the Psykes sisters from the grasp of the darkness. It still wouldn't work though; spatial abilities were still blocked somehow. "Ray, I'm telling you..."

"Go get your friend." Nathan said, not bothering to look as he was busy concentrating on his power. "I can handle it myself."

"No, man." Nikolai shook his head, blasting another shadow into oblivion without having to look at it. "You're hurt and bleeding."

Nathan frowned in response. "Just get the wonder triplets and your baby boy back here, please."

"Unbelievable." Nikolai turned around and began to chase after Ray, who was already a good distance away from them and is nearing the place where the shadows have dragged the sisters to. A group of shadows chased after Nikolai, but he quickly incinerated them with a beam of energy before continuing to run after Ray.

Ray, at the meantime, carried on, throwing off the creatures that tried to come between him and the sisters with telekinetic attacks. Most of them didn't die from it, though; they were usually dazed, but still alive enough to give chase.

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"How is the operation?"

"Exactly as planned."

"Excellent. Now we can see what they can do in such a situation... give it time."

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"What's going on in there?" An agent stood in front of the school, gawking at the sphere of darkness that had covered the entire cafeteria area. Her partner, a man in his 30's, stood beside her, barking orders into the radio. Apparently, two suspicious characters had entered the school right before the darkness descended into the cafeteria; from what the other agents saw, there was a man and a woman, both in their mid 20s. The man wore a black jacket and obscured his face with a grey facial covering. The woman in turn wore a blue dress and a cyan scarf, along with dark brown leggings. She seemed to be Asian, from the looks of it, and had dark hair.

Adult Neu-Volke were not unheard of; in fact, there quite a few kicking about. However, they were too few and far between to cause any major concern; any one of them would be easily swarmed by an angry mob and neutralized should they cause any trouble. But these? They were quite another story now...

"An adult male and female were seen entering before the darkness descended, sir. The female agent looked over at the sphere of pure black. "Have you told Mrs. Vanburen about the situation? Her daughter is right in there."

"Yes. She told me to go in, but..."

"Yeah, two of our guys instantly stopped moving once they got through the entrance of the school. We can't go in."

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Nikolai called after Ray, finally catching up to him while narrowly avoiding being hit by the flying corpse of a shadow creature that Ray had destroyed with telekinesis. "Ray! Don't go alone, dumbass!"

"I knew you'd say that." Ray responded curtly. "Help me get the three."

"Of course."

There they were, the unconscious bodies of the three sisters lying prone to the floor right behind a cadre of shadow creatures. Their smiles were unsettling, their grinning expressions the stuff of nightmares. The emblazoned light on their skins turned from blue to a tone of red as they charged forward, though they kept bumping into each other while doing so, indicating a lack of coordination in their part. Ray glared at the creatures for a moment before unleashing a telekinetic wave at them, breaking their bodies almost instantly as their bones broke from the sheer amount of kinetic energy. "Leave them alone, creeps!"

Sometimes, you scare me. Nikolai shook his head, as Ray was focused enough to not break the bones of the frozen people sitting nearby. "Let's get them out, and then we come back for Cait and Nathan. And whoever those are." He looked towards another trio, who were surrounded by the shadow creatures, though they were faring well on their own. One was literally breathing fire; another was shielding her friends with energy forcefield, and the last one was just... punching the creatures really hard with his fists. Probably has super strength.

Just as they were about to grab the unconscious Psykes sisters, a pair of feet stepped in from the cafeteria entrance. It was enveloped in a dark blind spot; a shadow so great no light can pass through. Alas, it was the man from earlier; mid 20's, black jacket. He seemed to be Hispanic, black haired, with rather long hair. "Uh uh uh." He smiled at Nikolai and Ray, and spoke with a rather high pitched voice. "Can't let you do that, my dear. Not yet."

At that moment, though, Nathan released a surge of photons from his body. A great light washed all over the cafeteria, bathing the entire area in sunlight. The lights went back in, and the darkness dissipated, revealing the woman that was with the man from earlier. Blue arcs of energy were cycling around her hands, and she had this smug expression that would tempt anyone to slap her right away. The creatures too were gone; it seems that they depended on the darkness to exist.

It came at an apparent price, though, as Nathan fainted, falling only for Caitlin to catch him before he hit his head on the floor. Close call.

"Oh, dearest." The woman said with a mock worried expression. "Your shadow got dissipated, what ever shall we do?"

"Hm." The man pondered for a moment. "More darkness, perhaps, my love."

"Excellent idea, dearest."

The man then sent out an even greater darkness, one so great that no one in there could see anything anymore.

It was here that Nikolai realized who these two were. They were Jeremiah Powell and Andrea Powell, a pair of rare adult Neu-Volke with umbrakinesis and psychic control as their powers, respectively. They were the last unregistered adult Neu-Volke, and were arrested two months ago... why were they here attacking their fellow mutants though?