Chapter 6

It's been several weeks since the mutant incident in the high school, where six of its ten Neu-Volke students had disappeared. The normal humans that were inside at the time described what had happened as 'instant'; in truth, Andrea Powell's psychic control had paused their perception of time, and anyone that tried to enter the shadow that Jeremiah had projected were immediately stopped by his mad lover.

For the Neu-Volke, however, it was completely different. They had seen their friends get dragged off by monsters straight out of their worst nightmares. Their stories contradicted one another; Raymond said to the authorities that he saw humanoid creatures made of pure darkness, screeching and pouring in an endless horde that only ended when they had accomplished their goal at least partially. Caitlin said she witnessed big, bald men in black jackets with taser batons that grabbed the Psykes sisters and those other three mutants off the cafeteria into the depths of... who knows where. Nikolai's testimony was similar disproportionate; he said that the things that carted the six mutants off were Neo-Nazis, if they were zombies with massive mouths that came straight out of the Titans in a certain Japanese cartoon. In the days that followed, the four that weren't kidnapped were placed under protection by TFOAN; the Task Force on Anomalous Entities, a rather underfunded (until recently) branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that served under the Department of Defence. At least, that was what they said they were. Their presence was a little more comforting though, as three of the six members of the team that came in to help were also Neu-Volke just like them. Those three were Matthias Helstrom, Yuki Masahiro, and Gustav Mahler. Matthias had pyrokinesis as his power, though wierdly enough, his flames were green in color and didn't hurt if he didn't want them to, even if you were sitting right on top of them. Yuki in turn had aerokinesis as her ability, and was strong enough to create a tornado within five minutes. Two of them were chosen to be part of the same team as they had quite a bit of synergy in between; Helstrom's flames and Yuki's tornado were quite dangerous when combined, and most of those mutants that had thought of using their powers for crime would be stopped by the sight of a green fire tornado. For this reason, they were called the Green Inferno; that being said, Matthias and Yuki were actually quite friendly when out of duty. Matthias had brought the four teens to a pizza place when they talked about what had happened. Yuki in turn makes them those little cakes whenever they have to give their team HQ a visit. Gustav was a little more reserved with their charges than his two co-workers, though he does give them spare cash when he does come along. He hasn't shown his power directly yet, but Matthias had told the kids that Gustav was a technopath capable of seeing transmissions and controlling machinery just with his mind's eye.

Of course, their task force would not be complete without the oversight of Doctor Meah Lee. A graduate of Stanford University, she is one of the foremost authorities when it comes to mutant biology, and appeared to be quite concerned at the resurgence of the Powells, who were supposed to have been entombed in a prison deep under Alcatraz. And now... she has another job to do. Four high schoolers to interrogate and protect; a conspiracy to unravel; and a brooding suspicion of treason within the Task Force...

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"Hello dad... mom... yes, we're fine... no, they're still looking for the attackers... yeah, thanks. Love you. Bye."

Ray set the phone down on the table, and looked towards Nathan, who was sitting on the side opposite his. Ever since the incident in the school, Nathan had stuck with them, and was getting closer every day. "Sooo? How is everything?", Nathan asked.

"Not much happened, really.", Ray replied, getting down from his bunk bed that TFOAN provided for them in this... secure facility. "Other than the fact that no one in the house cane reach the top shelves, and without me, stuff keeps falling on my little brother's dumb head."

Nathan chuckled. "Haha...", he said with a sniff. "I envy you. Your family loves you as you are, even though you're different. Mine..." Nathan sighed, and set his head on the table in a seemingly defeated gesture. "My ex-dad said that my powers are from Satan. God... I literally have the power to be the light in the dark and they call me Lucifer Morningstar."

"You didn't say that before.", Ray replied, walking closer and sitting beside Nathan, rubbing his back with his hand before hoisting Nathan back up to a sitting position. "I'm sorry to hear that. Who were you living with, then? I can't believe we've spent weeks together here and we haven't talked to each other as much as we should have."

"I live with my aunt.", Nathan answered, wiping his sleeve on his eyes. "She says that I'm a blessing. She's the only member of my family that thinks of me as... not demonspawn."

"Well you have us.", Ray offered a quaint smile. "We're your friends now. You used to be the lone wolf, but now... well, it turns out that you wanted to have company as much as anyone else. You were just scared that when people discovered what you were, they'd throw you away. Am I right?"

Nathan looked rather shocked, as he had hit all the points of truth. "Are you reading my mind?"

"No, that's not my thing. I just... know."

"So you're like Nikolai in some way." Nathan then yawned, and continued. "Ray, why do we exist? Ever since I first got this power, I've always felt down. My family disowned me, my friends left me..."

"Heeyyyyy. Come here," Ray extended his arms at Nathan, an invitation into a hug. The gesture was quickly received, though it would be a little difficult for him as he was... small. "Okay, now you're just crushing me."

"Sorry." Nathan released him, looking a little embarassed. "It's just that it's the first time someone has hugged me."

"Ah, so you're craving for affection." Ray slowly nodded. "Makes total sense."

"I... I'll sleep." Nathan plopped on Ray's shoulder, and in a few moments he was already snoring. It was an envious thing, really, that he could just fall on the bed and then sleep so fast. It was a talent far greater than any Neu-Volke power.

Just as it seemed that Ray was about to get up from the bed to let him fall on the pillow, the door to their bunk opened, and Matthias' rather tall form stepped in. He had his hair in a half cut, with his bangs swiped over to the right side of his head to the point of overshadowing one of his eyes. The jacket he wore was a little too big for him, and its tail dragged on the floor.

"Heyo, we got a lead.", Matthias said, walking in to look down on both of the boys. "Oops, I'm sorry, am I interrupting something? I could just tell you later if-"

"No, no, Nathan is just drowsy.", Ray answered, as the other boy had just fallen asleep. "I was about to get going too."

Matthias crossed his arms and continued his gaze down at them, though he was trying hard to not burst into hysterical laughter. "Well, it looks like you can't move at the moment, then." The man then leaned forward, his hand glowing green as he touched Nathan on the arm... and surely enough, Nathan got up from his sudden slumber, apparently woken by the heat of Matthias' power. "Hot hot hot... what the..."

"Wakie wakie, kiddo." Matthias winked. "We have a lead on the matter of your friends' kidnappers. Wanna know as it comes or do I just make a summary later- actually get up from there and listen to the doctor and the two investigators. Geeeeet up!"

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Ray and Nathan walked into the office of the doctor, who quickly closed the door behind her. It was a normal office for a doctor; medical books on the shelf, a quaint desk with a brand new computer, no less than six cushioned chairs, two of which were positioned in front of the desk while the other four were arranged in a row on the wall connected to the door itself. The doctor herself sat on a black rotating chair. The ceilings and walls were painted white, while a plain blue carpet adorned the floor.

Lee quickly brought her chair forward, placing her hands on her desk. "Tyson and Alondra for some leads on your attempted kidnappers." She then motioned to a bald black man and an Indian woman with her hair set on a ponytail in the room. Tyson wore a black shirt, white trousers, and a blue jacket, while Alondra kept had a grey hoodie over whatever she was wearing under it, completing her casual look with jeans.

Tyson spoke first. "The eggheads back in the headquarters in D.C. have analyzed the trace energy that the teleporter had left behind after that incident on your school."

"As you all know," the doctor pressed a key on her computer, and a holographic projection of a list of suspicious individuals appeared. "Every Neu-Volke is different from everyone else; no two are alike. The trace energy is consistent with a certain teleporter that has been giving the Task Force a massive headache these few months: Igor Stravinsky." The projection then zoomed towards him, showing a mugshot and some basic information on him. "He was arrested when he broke into the Kremlin and stole some rather embarassing things from the Russian government. Things we'd rather not discuss. But, telepathic probing has proven that he was acting under orders from grownups, and thus he was released after the Mafia gang that were using him were destroyed. However…"

"He's back at it again." Alondra continued. "Gustav here intercepted an encrypted transmission that was headed for Stravinsky. According to said transmission, he told to rendezvous with… wait for it…"

"The Powells." Tyson then clicked another button in the doctor's computer, this time showing the contents of the transmission. "And it seems that there is a third party. All it says about them is that they're called 'the Organization'. Talk about uncreative names..."

"The puzzle pieces are coming together now." Matthias muttered. "The attempted kidnapping of Caitlin here, the successful abduction of those six others, and the facility that she saw too. And this Organization…"

"Look," Yuki raised a hand. "Whoever they are, they are well funded and have the assistance of Neu-Volke that are too happy to turn in their own kind to them."

Gustav looked over the kids in the room. "The transmission has coordinates attached; that would be where they will meet, no doubt. It seems that they're meeting in a hotel in Manhattan, and there's a lot of money involved."

Doctor Lee stood up from her seat, putting her palms on the desk. "We're checking it out." Looking at Matthias and Yuki, "Go with Tyson and Alondra, see if you can tag him. And, remember," she gazed upon then with a serious expression. "The Powells are persona-non-grata, per orders of the higher ups. If you encounter them, remove them from the equation entirely. We can't let them black out another school like they did before."

Yuki nodded. "Understood, Doc. Is there anything else?"

"No. But kids," Lee looked at the teens. "Stay, I'll talk to you for a minute."