BRAVERY OR STUPIDITY PART 3

Hey kid? We're you listening?" The voice said to her as she was in a trance of some kind.

Stacya recovered from it and turned around to see none other than the man who saved her from herself, the human she idolised.

The one and only Captian Rocket.

Stacya stared at him in shock and started to question her perception of reality.

I'm assuming you didn't hear me. I said I'm introducing your new training buddies." He said to her.

Before she could process what he said, more familiar voices filled her ears.

So this is the Atlantean girl you told us about. Lame!" The cold yet eccentric heroine Diamond Light said as she walked into the large white room with a skinny nervous teen behind her.

C..c'mon ma'am. Be nice. " The scrawny teen boy in the green suit said with a drop of sweat falling of his mask wearing face.

How many times do I have to tell you?! Stop calling me ma'am! I'm like, 18! You're literally no younger than me!" She shouted at the boy in annoyance while giving him a knock on the head.

Hey no you two! Play nice!" Captain Rocket said to the them as he approached and gave them both a severe bear hug.

Stacya continued to just look on in shock. Was this a memory? A dream? A hallucination because of the gas. She didn't know. All she knew was that this moment was her first time.

Okay you two, this is Stacya. An outcast Atlantean I picked up from Coral city beach. She had a little incident in her homeland and she wants to do some good on land to clear her name so be nice! Oh and Stacya! I'd like to introduce to you Diamond Light and Expander!"

Come on sir! W..with all due respect, my name is Expanding man!" The boy said matter of factly.

Oh when are you gonna realise that name sucks man?" Diamond Light said with another knock to his head.

These two are gonna be responsible for your training. If you do well you'll qualify to join the Danger Squad like Diamond Light here." Captain Rocket said while pointing at the pink cybernetic prodigy.

And if your unlucky you'll be stuck as my protege like this cute little son of a gun!" Diamond said grabbing Expander by the shoulder and giving him a series of painful sounding knocks.

Sracya approached the two and extended her hand. A land dweller tradition she learnt from Captian Rocket. Expander shook it gently while giving her a nervous smile and Diamond Light shook it vigorously with a confident grin.

I can tell the three of us are gonna get along just fine." Diamond Light said with a laugh.

They did shortly after. Stacya's love of combat mixed well with Diamonds love of strategy and challenge while her ambitions mixed extremely well with Expander's drive to make the team. Something which was hidden behind his timid demeanor.

Everyday she'd wake up from her secret home in a lake in Empire City park and head to train with er new friends.

Until tragedy hit like a truck. Captain Rocket dismantled his recruitment program where he picked up young mumans and hid them from the Commonwealth government to train them to be part of his independent team, The Danger Squad.

Why you ask? Because said team was massacred.Diamond Light along with the rest of the Danger Squad were dead. Killed by one of their own no less. One of their strongest fighters by the name of Ace.

Captain Rocket gave each of his many recruits secret identities including Expander who now goes by Zack.

As for her, she went back to live in the lake but before she that she was given a special button and had only one assignment.

If the button glowed red, she needed to be at his location ASAP.

That's what led her to saving Hawk Knight.

And failing to save Captain Rocket.

Just like she failed to save her papa.

And her kingdom...

But it wasn't time to think about that now, she needed to save her friends. She tried to snap out of her gas induced trance but all she did was walk right into another memory.

She saw him lying unconscious on one of the Nest's hospital beds. She wanted him to wake up. To talk to her. She didn't know why but he had a certain aura of superiority around her.

She needed to know where it came from.

Although her method was a little... unconventional, it worked and although he was a nervous wreck at first, as time went on and she got to know him better, she realised why he released such intense aura

And soon, she realised she admired him.

And eventually began to love him...

But she couldn't think about all that now!

She screamed, shouted, held on and on, and finally, for a brief moment, she saw them.

The dark room, the green holes, the green gas, her friends huddling in fear, holding their breaths to keep the gas from mutating them.

And for a moment, she remembered what she was supposed to do. Liquify the wall so they could escape this deathtrap.

And in that same moment she realised she was breathing the gas in and began losing her sanity...

Bit...

By...

Bit...

But in that one moment, before she fell to the gas' control, she had a brief moment to think.

And she didn't waste it.

Pulling everything into one thought, she held onto the wall hard and let all that power lose...

And there was nothing...

But a ripple...

And soon, a small part of the wall began to melt!

But just like that,Stacya's body began to convulse and twist in immense agony at the gas' effect.

Zack noticed this immediately as he was running out of breath. Not wasting any time, he grabbed Paulina and jumped headfirst into the tiny hole Stacya made.

That's when he noticed Stacya's eyes glowed a brighter shade of green and with foam pouring out of her mouth, with sharp teeth aimed right at him, she lunged toward them with overflowing bloodlust.

In the brief moment, Zack realised what the gas did to mumans. It made them feral beasts who wanted nothing more than carnage and destruction!

Also in that brief moment he knew he needed to act fast. Throwing Paulina through the hole with one hand, he expanded the other and gave Stacya a strong punch to the face with all the strength he could muster.

Luckily it knocked her out just in time for him to grab her with that same hand and throw her through the hole she made.

Sadly, by doing that he was out of breath. The gas consumed him right afterwards.

He had not nearly enough strength to resist it, let alone walk to the currently shrinking exit.

And in the blink of an eye, Zakc began to lose himself to his feral instincts.

Until a hand grabbed him by the neck and tried to pull him I'm through the hole.

But that this point he was too large to fit through. With his consciousness almost gone, Zack looked at the outstretched arm and slowly realised who it belonged to.

Before he could react however, he heard a voice.

Please Zack! Shrink!!!"

Till this day, he didn't know whether it was instinct that drove him or he returned to normal for a brief second but after hearing that voice, he obeyed.

With all his remaining strength, he shrunk to the size of a button and fell right into the palm of the outstretched hand and was pulled out of the green deathtrap.

Right into the bosom of the love of his life.

As his mind went blank, all he could feel were her tears of joy falling on him and her small cheers of delight at his safety.

And another voice he was unfamiliar with.

Well that do we have here?!"

To be continued...