Twisted Game

"I have a game for you all to participate in - and I guarantee it'll be thrilling," Nyx announced, his voice booming like some twisted game show host. His holographic face stretched into a manic grin, white hair wild as ever. "Come now, don't look so tense! Games are supposed to be fun."

He gave a dramatic pause, tilting his head with mock confusion."You're not excited? That's disappointing… but also irrelevant." His eyes flashed. "The game is already set."

His laughter echoed from the sky like a curse, and then his expression sharpened.

"Every minute, a random person in your lovely little town will undergo Monsterfication. Their threat levels will vary, of course - depends on how their bodies respond to my serum. But don't worry…" His smile widened into something inhuman. "I'm sure you'll have your hands full either way."

"What?!" Nadya's voice cracked with fury. Her fists clenched, and fumes hissed out of her palms like smoke from a volatile engine. She looked one second away from igniting the entire balcony.

Nyx ignored her. His eyes were locked on Kai, as if nothing and no one else mattered.

"This will only stop once you locate my operative - the one I've hidden in this town. Find them, and the fun ends. Fail…" He chuckled. "And, well, let's just say you'll be the only ones left standing in a graveyard."

Kai's fists tightened, but he stayed composed, his blood blade still humming quietly in his hand.

"It's your pathetic sense of justice that makes you weak," Nyx sneered, voice dripping with contempt. "True justice is evolution. Transcendence. I'm just helping the world evolve faster. We're two sides of the same coin, Subject 357. And this little game? It's just the beginning."

He burst into a fit of deranged laughter. Nadya finally snapped.

"Shut up!" she roared, launching two blazing orange orbs into the sky. They exploded mid-air, right where the drones hovered, detonating with a crack of thunder.

'So she can choose when they explode,' Kai noted.

But after the smoke cleared, the drones were still there - hovering and flickering, unharmed. Nadya gritted her teeth.

Isaac stepped in, eyes flicking between them. Tense. "Nadya, don't-"

But she was already on the warpath, turning to Kai with fire in her veins.

"This is your fault!" she snapped, grabbing him by the collar. "He followed you here. So you'd better get out there and find whoever the hell that lunatic sent to my town. We'll deal with the monsters. You find the cause."

Kai slapped her hand away and stared her down, calm but sharp.

"I'll help, only so things don't go that fucker's way. And I'd watch who you go around blaming for things," he said coldly.

Isaac stepped between them, trying to defuse the tension and also get them to refocus on the issue at hand. His voice was quiet but firm."I'll stay back. Stick with Amina. Do what I can to keep people safe."

He felt useless saying it. His jaw and fists clenched.

'They don't know. I haven't told them.' His hand hovered near the empty sleeve where his arm used to be. The truth stung more than the loss.

'I can't even use my ability anymore… It's like it's gone. Like it's just out of reach. What did that bastard do to me?'

But there wasn't time to unravel the mystery - because the first scream rang out. Then the second. Glass shattered. Flesh tore. A building across town collapsed under the weight of something inhuman.

"The game starts now! Good luck!" Nyx declared with glee as his drones zipped through the sky, scattering to every corner of the town like vultures.

Nadya immediately launched herself off the balcony, twin blasts propelling her through the air. Another smaller explosion softened her landing as she hit the street running.

Kai exhaled sharply and followed suit. He didn't have her power, but he had his own. Blood hissed from his palm as he sliced a line against his skin and jumped - his crimson blades dragged down the wall to slow his fall before he hit the ground and sprinted into the chaos.

'How the hell am I supposed to find whoever's causing the Monsterfication?' he thought bitterly.

He didn't have a tracking ability. He didn't know the townspeople well enough to spot a fake. And knowing Nyx, this wasn't going to be straightforward.

And then, as if on cue, another mutated creature erupted into the streets on the other side of town - jagged limbs, twisted spine, screaming inhuman sounds as it tore through everything in sight.

'Every minute…'

If he didn't find the operative soon, the town would be overrun. And this sick game of Nyx's would end in a massacre...