Chapter Five

Chapter 5

I know there is no hope. Unless... no. I don't have time to stop him either. I think. But a miracle happens. Time slows in front of me. Green... I wonder why he was slowing time on such a big scale. My back foot isn't slowed, because it is at the edge of the barrier. I slam it down to the ground. The man falls slowly. The enhancement on the bullet is gone. But the bullet has already passed through the shield. I check back on my brother, and I try to see why Green slowed down time, knowing that I have already done all I can.

Meanwhile...

Dawg runs at the woman and slammed his claws into her face. He tries changing into something else, and finds he is a great dane. He bites her face. A vine knocks him down. He sees a second woman walk up. He knows it's too much to handle. He barks, and uses his super speed to run away. The two woman are joined by a man. The three walk and open the hatch. The first woman speaks into a communicator.

"The boy's intel was correct. Fetch him so he's waiting when I get back. Alpha team, out." They jump down, into the dark hole. A vine slams in to the first woman.

"He's pushing my attacks back at me!"

Times Square Ruins: 1 hour earlier...

Green and Chloe entered the ruins.

"What are we even looking for?" Chloe asked.

"Well, I guess those neon lights would be a good place to start. They kept moving, pushing their way through rubble, crawling under broken signs. Green tripped on something, but he slowed gravity so he could get up in time. It was one of the neon lights. Chloe, try touching this. Chloe picked up the light. Green heard a thump. Someone had entered the ruins. Green stood ready. He figured if he slowed down time all around them for as far as he could, her vision of the past might not be affected. He had to try it. He took all his energy, and slowed down time.

Chloe's vision: Then...

Eclipse flew into Times Square, New York on a shield of light.

"Dragon! Up to your old tricks again, I see."

"Oh, it's a whole new ball game. My powers are enhanced to their height."
Fire blasted in every direction around the square. Chloe watched in awe. Dragon's fire was blocked by a shield of light. Eclipse ran to Dragon, made a giant fist, and slammed it at him. Dragon ducked, and flew with his wings and fire launched from his hands into Eclipse, knocking him into a neon sign. The neon sign that fell on Chloe's brother and his three friends.

"Since when... could you do that?" Eclipse choked out. Dragon sliced a large cut in the blond man's chest. Yellow blood trickled out into the neon lights.

"You cannot defeat me. I am Dragon! I am invincible!"

"Yes I can. Because I have friends."
A blast of ice hit Dragon, freezing him. A whole team of super heroes appeared behind Eclipse. Dragon used his heat to melt the ice.

"You know you can't win Dragon. You're outnumbered," A girl in blue and white taunted. She was the one who had shot the ice. Dragon knew this, and flew as fast as he could to a helicopter above. The girl started to follow.

"No. I'll get him," Eclipse said, and followed after on a shield of light. As Eclipse grabbed the helicopter's tail, I knew where it was going. It was going to the ruins. The Dark Age was about to begin. The vision ends.

Times Square Ruins: Now...

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" A little girl that does not seem so little yells. She holds her ground, and holds up a giant shield of light. Green lays on the floor, gasping for breath. Before he is he is rendered unconscious, he sees a bolt of lightning hit one of his enemies in the back of the head.

Tifa's Base...

Proto pushed them back as hard as he could, but he was only able to stop one. The other two made it through. He pushed back her plant attacks, but one hit him from behind, and another from below. She wrapped a vine she was holding around his neck and began to choke him.

Meanwhile...

I sigh, knowing I cannot help them, as if something in the charm keeps me from helping. But Arlen falls from the quake too. The bullet passes over her head. Time returns to normal. I knock out the villain.

"Are you okay?!"

"Ow... I think-so. Oww..." She manages to say, still in shock. She transforms her hand back to normal. There is a bleeding, bullet-sized hole.

"Oh my-!"

"NONONONONONONONO! SHIT! THERE'S A HOLE IN MY HAND! MAKE IT GO AWAY! MAKE IT GO AWAY!"

"Try to shapeshift it away," T.C. suggests. She concentrates hard, and tries to turn her hand back.

"I-I can't. It feels... empty."

"I'll see if I can stop the bleeding," T.C. says. He reality bends the blood back, making an ugly scabbish-wound appear.

"I can't shapeshift this either!"

"I'll turn this leaf into a bandage," T.C. tells her, and he did so. He wraps the bandage around her hand. "That'll have to do for now."

"T-thanks..."

"Can you keep going? The others aren't doing well, but they wouldn't like it if all of this was for nothing." I say.

"I-I think so. I guess it's the price to pay for being a hero."

"Yeah. Thanks for hanging in there, Arlen." She shapeshifts into the man and takes his clothes and items, in case she needs any later.

"Lucky he has gloves to cover the wound," I said thankfully.

"Let's go," Arlen said, shoving the man into a dark alley, "I have a score to settle with these people." I check my charm as we head out.

Meanwhile...

Proto knew not to struggle. He would only die faster. So he didn't push the vine. He pulled it. And it worked. In seconds, she was next to him. He kicked her in the face, and she released her hold. He pushed her to the floor, tying her down.

Meanwhile...

We arrived at Power Inc., the Rogue's base. T.C. and Zoe were able to make themselves and me unseen. It was up to Arlen to get the door open.

"Card," the man at the door said. She took out her Power Inc. Card. "Well, my records say you are active. You were supposed to come back with food, yes? Put it here."

"Here it is," Arlen said, dumping our extra food on the counter. The man took it.

"Where's my strawberry shake?" The man asked. Arlen turned pale. "Nah, I'm just pulling your leg. This'll do. Welcome to Power Inc." The man laughed and opened the door. Arlen laughed awkwardly to keep up her facade.

"From here, we split up," I whispered.

T.C. and I wander the halls and eventually find a computer lab. It requires a key for access. I curse in my head.

"I have an idea, but I need metal," T.C. tells me. I find a small vent that nobody would look at and break off a piece of metal with my super strength. I hand it to T.C. He reality bends the lock to fit the new key, and turns it, before turning it back and letting out a breath.

"You OK?"

"Yeah. Reality-bending just takes a lot out of me. Let's go in." We go in the lab, still invisible because of T.C.'s powers. I walk up to the largest computer. A page is open. I gasp at its contents, and let T.C. look it over and download it onto a flashdrive as I check on the others.

Meanwhile...

"I have word that at least two of the targets at Times Square have been neutralized. Phase Two of our plan is working. We have more food and money in today. That is all. Please stand by in case we need you. The leader will be here tomorrow," A man speaking into a microphone says. Arlen and Zoe have gotten information. They had been set up. Either Green, Chloe, Tifa, Drako, or Eddie is hurt. Not only that, but two of them are. They have to go help them.

"We have a mission for you, Pain," the man said to Arlen. Oh no... she thought. "We believe one of our Times Square agents has been neutralized. Go help them."

"Ok."

"Ok, sir," he reminds her. She turns pale. And for the second time in this horrid place, the man laughs. "I'm just playing Jim. Now head out there."

Times Square Ruins: One minute earlier...

"Chloe, remember whatever you just saw, we have to go now. I slowed down time a bit, but they came anyway. I had to run deeper in the ruins. Our attacker has met up with friends. We have to get out now!"
Chloe was still holding the neon light as Green told her this.

"Keep this safe, put it in your hat," she instructed him. He did so.

"You're not going anywhere," two men and a women appeared out of nowhere. One shot plasma bolts, just like the man they'd arrested earlier, and hit Green to the floor.

"Now for you, little girl," one man said.

"No... NO! GO AWAY! YOU CAN'T GET TO HIM!" A shield of light erupted from her fingers. "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"
A bolt of lightning struck the woman in the back of the head. Green fell unconscious from the previous attack.

Times Square Ruins: Now...

The woman falls to the floor. Cloud steps in.

"Whoa, Chloe how did you-?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

The third enemy turns invisible. "I CAN FIND YOU!" Light wraps around what looks like air. A fist of light and a bolt of lightning both hit the spot, and it falls to the floor. Chloe sits down. Cloud comes to comfort her.

"It's okay... they're all gone."

"Thanks, Cloud."

"Please... call me Eddie."

Meanwhile...

I drag Arlen out of the building, running as fast as I can. I see T.C. similarly dragging Zoe.

"I have a mission," Arlen says to get out of the gate. We leave and go to a dark alleyway. Arlen turns back to normal, but keeps the gloves. "I'll need them."

"They set us up!" T.C. and Zoe yell in unison. "They're attacking the-"

"-crash site!"

"-base!"

"What?!" Arlen exclaims.

"It's true. I can see all of this with my charm... but for some reason I can't talk about it or do something about it!"

Power Inc.: Minutes earlier...

They were distracting us for some other villains! And the other villains wanted us to die. They knew where our base was. But how?!

"Hey, who left the door open?!" A man walked in. Oh no. T.C. and I ran. We ran all the way to where we left the others. I tapped Arlen on the shoulder.

"Arlen, we need to go now!"

Outside: Now...

"You check the crash site," I told Arlen and T.C. "Zoe and I will check the base."

"Okay," they responded. I check what's going on with my charm.

Meanwhile...

Michael hears them coming. Two of them had made it through. A woman with blue hair and skin walks in.

"I am Ssserpent. Come easssily or die."

"Never!" Michael, gloves on, punches her in the face. She knocks him over with water. He jumps back up. The second person walks in. "YOU!"
It is the agent who had taken his brother. The one who caused him all of that pain. The one who came at curfew, years ago, to find that Michael wasn't there. "YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He yells louder. Michael runs up to him, but os stopped by Serpent. He knocks her over with a kick, and keeps running. Then, he does the unthinkable. He takes of his glove, and reaches out to touch the man's bare face.

Meanwhile...

Zoe and I find Proto outside the base. Dawg runs up.

"Three of them. Too powerful. Have to help Michael..." He panted. We drop down into the base. There is Michael, about to murder a man with a touch.

"Michael, no! Don't kill him! Stop!" Proto yelled. But Michael doesn't listen. He touches the man, who dies instantly, devoid of pain.

"Michael, we don't kill! What was that?"

"That was the man who took my brother!"

"He might have been mind controlled!" The blue woman takes this time to run out. I ran out behind her. She takes the one outside, who I realize has green skin and hair, and they jump onto a helicopter, that starts to fly away. And I can't believe who's on the helicopter with her. I check on Arlen.

Meanwhile...

T.C. and Arlen run up to the ruins. They find Tifa laying there. Matt lays by her side, both being tended to by Eddie and Chloe.

"We did it. Can you go find Drako? We left all the villains on top of the ruins."

"Sure," Arlen answers. They run around the ruins until they find him, being woken up by a government agent.

"Let's go, Breaker," he says in a rough voice, "we have work to do."

"Drako what are you doing?!" Arlen screeches.

"What I have to do to get my brother back, and what I've been doing this whole time." He jumps onto the helicopter.

"No! No! Stop, please!" But it flies away. Arlen tries to shoot it down, but to no avail. She falls down to the floor and cries. "Why... why... why?!" T.C. attempts to comfort her.

Meanwhile...

Drako. My friend, is standing there, looking like he's been helping them the whole time. And I know he has because of the charm. The only question I have is, "Why?!"
But I know the answer before it comes out of his mouth. "Jason."