Reunion

Leo used his ability, Winds of Change, to soar through the room and up the stairwell.

Midnight Squad laid defeated on Sub-level 4.

Zero felt a gust of wind push against him as he laid on the stairs after having been thrown there during the squall generated by Leo. It was just enough to bring him around as he looked upwards at the ascending Leo, his vision spotted by the lack of oxygen during the attack.

"D-damn it…"

Leo soared upwards towards the ground floor. "Sorry guys, but you never stood a chance. Midnight Squad is definitely not what it used to be!" He said as he smiled to himself.

He reached the top of the stairwell and saw the exit door that led to the lobby area of Alpha Base. He pointed his hand towards the door and sent a concentrated blast of wind at it which caused it to cave and fly off its hinges.

Leo looked down at the hand he just used and flexed it slowly. I have to say though, he thought, I don't recall my ability being THIS strong before. Well, better not to look a gift duck in the mouth or however that saying goes.

He barged through the opening into the lobby of Alpha Base, ready to mow down anyone who awaited him on the other side.

But to his surprise, the floor was completely empty.

Leo looked around confused. He released his ability and landed on the floor with his hands on his hips. "Man, is today a holiday or something?"

He walked further onto the floor just to be sure. However, there wasn't a soul around.

Leo simply shrugged and headed for the exit.

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

He turned around and saw a small canister rolling on the floor towards him. Leo raised an eyebrow as he eyed it rolling closer to him.

"Wait a minute…..oh, shit!!" Leo turned to run, but it was too late. The canister exploded and sent out a forceful shockwave of fire.

Leo was blown out the exit door and landed hard on the ground, having eaten a bit of dirt in the process.

"Ughhh…." Leo started to pick himself up off the ground slowly. His clothes had been singed in the explosion, but at the very last second he had created a thin barrier of wind that had blocked a brunt of the attack. Otherwise he would be a lot worse for wear.

As he rose from the ground he looked at the smoke coming from the door he just went through.

"You almost fooled me there. To think that you'd still be kicking around this place…"

Two walked through the smoke in his full gear - a single canister was missing from his right gauntlet.

"Two." Leo said with a sneer on his face.

"I don't know how you know my name, but this ends here. You've caused enough trouble."

Suddenly the ground began to shake violently as 3 giant walls made of earth came up from the ground and surrounded them on all sides except for the side that had the entrance to the base.

Leo looked at the walls, a bead of sweat dropped down the side of his face. "Oh-ho. There's only one man that could do something like this."

*tmp* *tmp* *tmp*

One walked out from the building and stood beside Two.

Two raised his gauntlet as he prepared himself to close the book on the situation - but One held up his hand.

"Wait a second, Two." He turned in the direction of Leo who was about 15 ft. away from them. "How do you know our names? I don't know what they were up to down there, but there shouldn't be a reason that they would inform you of us. So…who are you?"

Leo strangely chuckled to himself. A very unique chuckle that someone wouldn't expect to come out of someone like him.

Two lowered his gauntlet. "That laugh…"

"What is it, Two?" One asked.

Two took a few steps closer. He hadn't taken a good look at Leo's face since encountering him, but something had clicked in his mind. Two took a hard look at Leo's face as he stared right back at him with a big grin.

That's when Two's face turned to shock.

"Miss meeeee?" Leo said mockingly.

"There's….there's no fucking way. That can't possibly be who I think it is."

"WHO, Two?!"

"It's….it's…F-"

*WHHOOOSHHHH* A gust of wind shot out in all directions and caused One and Two to shield themselves.

Leo suddenly looked angry. "Don't ever call me by that name again. EVER. The name's Leo now, got it?"

One's mouth was agape. I know that ability from anywhere! He thought to himself.

"How are you alive?.." One said to him.

"Ohhhhh isn't that the million dollar question. Let's just say that ol' Sadiki is keeping more than a few secrets from you all." Leo said. "Which actually brings up a question of my own."

He took a few steps towards them. "If the two of you…the supposedly strongest of the team…are still alive after all this time, how the hell did Zero end up dying?"

One and Two seemed taken back by his question.

"I…forgot how close you guys were." One spoke up. "I'm sorry, we did all we-"

"BULLSHIT! Don't give me that sappy bs about how you tried your best. He's still dead though right? So, clearly it wasn't enough." Leo said, seething anger between his words.

He then stopped and took a deep breath and exhaled it out.

The others watched, not quite sure what he was going to do next.

"But…there's nothing that can be done now, right? So let's move on, old friends."

Wait a second…thought Two.

"Hold on, how did you know that he had been promoted to Zero?! There was no way you could've had that knowledge because it happened after you…after you were gone."

Leo sighed. "Well that's hardly the question you should be asking right now. In either case, I think our time for talking has ended. As I'm sure you're both fully aware, the longer you keep me here the bigger chance that the rest of your little squad will catch up. And we can't have that."

One took a step forward. "Wait…Leo. Is there no chance we can talk this out? We don't want to fight you, but you can't just do all this and expect to get away with it. Just tell us what happened after we last saw you!"

"Like I said, the time for talking has ended. All that's left is for me to put you guys down and get up out of here."

Two stepped in front of One. "Don't fool yourself…Leo. In case it slipped your mind, you didn't stand a chance against either of us back then and I doubt that's changed now."

"Ohh, then you're in for a treat I'm afraid!"

Two quickly raised up his gauntlet and fired off two flame canisters at him in quick succession.

Leo raised a single finger and created a wall of wind that stopped the momentum of the canisters and left them suspended in mid-air. He then flicked his finger towards them, which caused the wind to blow in their direction and send the canisters right back at them.

"Watch out!" Two yelled.

One flicked his palm upwards and a group of vines shot up out of the ground and wrapped around each canister, only inches before they reached them.

"Two, go." One said with authority.

Two unsheathed his katana and dashed towards Leo. Flames erupted out of the openings.

"Ohhh not so fast there, flame boy." Leo unleashed another strong wave of wind as Two approached.

"Nature of Man." One spoke. His ability allows him to directly manipulate nature. Whether it's his hands or feet, as long as part of his body is touching something he can interact with then he can use it. When inside a metal structure such as Alpha Base, he can't use his sight through nature as well as he can outside - but when he heard the destruction happening down on sub-level 4(sound travels through the walls), he decided Two and himself were best put to use in a surprise attack rather than joining the fray down below.

A small platform made of rock jutted up under Two and propelled him up into the air above the wind attack. Once airborne, Two shot a blast of flames away from him which sent him speeding down towards Leo from above.

"Damn!" Leo went to dodge out the way, but quickly found himself stuck.

One had softened the ground around his feet just enough that his feet had started to sink in.

"Oh, you suck man!" Leo yelled out at One. One didn't respond as he focused solely on his ability. While fully connected to nature, he could see so much more than a normal person could see with their eyes. He could shape the battlefield however he pleased.

Two came down with a heavy fiery slash upon Leo who made a quick shield out of wind to block.

Two's attack however was the superior one. It blasted away the shield and left Leo completely open.

Leo quickly glanced down at his feet and saw that One had rehardened the ground so that his feet were now completely stuck. One had set Two up perfectly for the finishing blow.

Two did a short take back of his katana to save time. He then went in for another flash across Leo's chest which sent a spurt of blood up into the air as he swung through his flesh.

"Gaaaahhh!!!" Leo yelled out.

"This is it!" Two reared back his katana and shot it forward in an attempt to pierce straight through Leo's body.

Leo smiled. "Sure you wanna be that close, Two?"

Two's eyes widened at his words."

"F5 Wind Tunnel!"

"Two, get away from him!" One yelled out. However Two was already in the middle of what he presumed to be his final attack so he couldn't change up his form.

A burst of spinning wind erupted from around Leo and Two became caught in it. It was so strong that Two didn't have a hope of trying to break out of it before he was swept off his feet and thrown into the air.

Leo stood in the middle of the enclosed area as blood ran down his body from Two's slash. The wind tunnel continued to spin around him and intensified as it also grew in size.

Two slammed against one of One's rock walls and fell to the ground.

"Mother…fucker.." He picked his head up and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

A full blown tornado was in the works of being created with Leo at the center.

"Wait a second…he wasn't able to do anything of this scale before!" Two said.

One also seemed surprised. "This…if we don't stop this, it'll be catastrophic."

Two could feel himself being pulled into the tornado. He used his heated knuckles to burrow a handhold into the ground, but it was to no avail.

One used his ability to wrap an entire host of vines around his own legs as he held up his hands towards the tornado.

"Two, hold on! I'm going to try to dissipate it!" One could manipulate wind as well, but not to the degree of Leo. Leo could not only manipulate wind but generate it wherever he pleases. And what he had just created was quickly going beyond One's control of being able to deal with.

So he had to act now.

Leo flew up through the eye of the tornado up into the sky. He looked down upon Two as he struggled not to be sucked in and One as he was doing his best to try to get rid of it.

"Well fellas. It was nice seeing you all again! I would stick around, but it looks like you have your hands full. Guess I'll see you aroundddd!"

Leo smirked as he soared off into the sky and away from Alpha Base.