Just as Cordelia was about to stand up, a gun was already pointed at her forehead. One which was already cocked.
“Sit the fuck down.”
Hellen spoke in a commanding voice. Even Aiden’s eyes widened a bit as he watched his good natured neighbor finally snap.
She continued, “Using abilities left and right for every problem you got, how very much spoiled you fucking idiots. I am long tired of babysitting brats from the academy, one more misbehaving and I can’t guarantee you’ll be able to complete your mission. I give no fucks whether you get high scores or not. I hoped they sent an actual experienced team instead of a bunch of idiots with their noses in the air.”
Hellen was quick to spot Scottus move and Alastair opening his mouth but she quickly shot the gun on the carpet, stunning the inexperienced brats before swiftly pointing it back to Cordelia.
“Who is faster do you believe? My gun or your abilities?” She asked, with an unfriendly tone without a hint of patience she had shown earlier.
“We aren’t your enemies, agent Hellen.” It was Cedric who spoke, holding up his hands, the screen on his phone packed full of words. He continued in a pacifying voice, “Please? We aren’t here to fight. I am close to finding out what is actually going on, we are here to unite against it. Can you please put down your gun?”
Aiden, always sharp about people’s words, was quick to notice how Cedric never mentioned any of his own team member’s faults.
He didn’t talk about how Cordelia was almost about to activate her abilities on aunt Hellen. Nor how Scottus has been consistently provoking us and refusing to cooperate. Telling us to unite against the ghost? Hah, why don’t you unite your team first?
Aiden’s sight fell on aunt Hellen as he continued thinking.
On another note, how was Hellen able to quickly point a gun at Cordelia? No, that’s not the main point, she was able to do it before Cordelia was able to activate her abilities. How did she even know Cordelia was about to activate her abilities?
The main point to think here is, did she intend to really just simply threaten that group from the beginning, or did she do it after sensing that Cordelia gathering was about to use her abilities? Damn
Aiden snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed that the tension had calmed down considerably. Alastair, who had oh-so-mightily declared he would handle Scottus was only just butting in now, holding back Scottus and also calming down Cordelia.
Aiden noticed from the corner of his eye that Luna, who was sitting on a table at considerable distance, had, at some point, closed the distance, standing behind the part of the sofa where Cordelia sat.
Well, Cordelia did introduce Luna as her partner. Could the conditions of Cordelia’s abilities have something to do with Luna? Or maybe needing just a partner, any partner.
His thoughts came to a halt as Cedric interfered in the talks of aunt Hellen and Alastair as the previously high tension in the room had almost dissipated. His eyes already held despair as he spoke in a tone of urgency.
“Found it. And oh my fucking god. We are in big danger. We need to notify the Bureau. We definitely need an Adept, or worse, a Master to handle the situation.”
Without giving them any further information, he dialed a number on his phone and quickly moved to the side.
“What is he talking about?” Aiden finally spoke up.
It was still painful in the chest, but not as much as before. But judging from how there was no dizziness or difficulty breathing, he figured it wasn’t much of a serious injury. In normal cases, he would’ve seen a doctor if there was persistent severe pain way after the time of injury or any of the above cases and if not, some painkillers and a few days of rest would’ve done the job. But could he rest now?
Alastair gave him a once over and spoke after a few seconds, “It is the worst case scenario we are told of. Immediately evacuate once you encounter such a situation and notify the Bureau.” He looked at their faces and grabbed his hair before continuing.
“It’s very likely a special ghost.” Looks of horror dawned upon the faces of Scottus, Cordelia and Luna while the rest, even Hellen, remained clueless. He continued after seeing their expressions.
“Ghosts are considered of three types. First are the phantom ghosts. We call them this because they suddenly appear anywhere without warning. One moment there could be nothing there, and another moment a rotten corpse with abilities is about to attack you. Once manifested, they can go anywhere.
“Second are the normal ghosts. The only difference is that they stay in a range. They manifest unpredictably too, albeit within a given range.
“Third, and the most dangerous type are the special ghosts. I talked about normal ghosts and their range, yes? This range I am talking about is a domain of special ghosts. Now listen carefully.”
Alastair shifted a bit in his seat and leaned forward, his posture suggesting he was absolutely serious.
“These special ghosts, let’s just say when something weird happens in an area, like all people of the region coughing, having nightmares, or any such thing. That’s almost always an indication of a special ghost appearing. Of course, it can also appear without such a phenomenon, like now, but they mostly do.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Special ghosts have a domain. I had my doubts when agent Hellen said the whole town saw the red moon, and it only intensified later.” He suddenly asked Hellen, “Wait, how did you not realize this abnormality?”
Hellen frowned, “I have come across some ghosts which have a wide area of application for their abilities but none so large that it covers the entire town. I just thought that maybe it had something to do with its abilities being more suited for it.”
Alastair frowned, “If it had an ability which allowed more people to fulfill its condition that would be even more terrifying.”
“There are abilities like this?” Lucas suddenly asked.
We are derailing, but I want to know too.
Aiden thought.
“Yes.”
Hellen nodded, understanding that Lucas was a rare case among supers who didn’t go to academy nor was forced to deal with the ghosts, it was obvious he wouldn’t have much knowledge about abilities.
She continued, “Look, let’s take an example. There is an ability which lets you amplify sound.” Seeing the faint look of confusion on Lucas’ face, she explained further, “Which means, it lets you increase the volume of sound.”
She wasn’t present when Lucas told Aiden and the two little girls about his past. So she didn’t know he hadn’t gotten much education in the first place, but it didn’t stop her from being patient. Without being judgemental, she continued in a simpler language.
“And the conditions for this ability is that at the minimum of 20 people need to hear your voice at the same time without you using any sort of instrument. You get this? After the first time, instead of increasing any other sound, the person could simply increase their own voice and continue fulfilling the condition of their ability.
“The problem isn’t this, but what if this ability is the type which can increase when the condition is fulfilled in surplus? Instead of just 20 people, what if next time, when the person uses their ability to increase their voice, 50 people hear it? Then the person’s ability which they’ll eventually use with this would be more powerful too. They can increase the sound more.
“Now, with this extra increase, won’t even more people hear it? Let’s say 100? You can imagine it right? Remember how I said, minimum of 20 people? That’s one of the indications that an ability can increase its output or effectiveness in relation to its condition.”
Wow? A perpetual ability? That’s broken. Aiden thought. But he immediately rescinded his opinion once he heard her next words.
“Of course, abilities have a limit. In this case, beyond a certain limit, let’s say 120 people, no matter how many people hear your voice it would be useless. Anyway, not all abilities can increase their effectiveness if their conditions are fulfilled in surplus.”
Cedric had already returned at some point, and smiled as he heard her finish her explanation. “Experience really is important huh. Your explanation was beautiful.” Turning to Alastair, he said, “Before you continue with your explanation of the special ghosts, I need to relay to you that the Bureau has informed us not to evacuate quickly.”
Cedric’s expression was grim as he continued, “They told us to deal with the normal ghost and get an idea of how many times it uses its phaseless ability. They want us to stay and assist agent Hellen and Lucas in dealing with the ghost. If nothing, they want us to keep the ghost in the town and not let it move anywhere. In the meantime, they’ll prepare to send reinforcements based on our reply.”
“How could they?!” Cordelia shrieked. She was just barely holding on when Cedric went to call the Bureau and began panicking even more when Alastair put forward that the case might involve a special ghost. But hearing Cedric’s words from the Bureau, she couldn’t hold it in anymore.
She burst out, “Does the Bureau intend to let me die here? Tell them to pick me up from here!”
“They specifically mentioned that all of us stay here to assist with the ghost.” Cedric spread his hands to show his helplessness.
“No no no, I’ll call the Bureau. I don’t want to stay here any longer.”
She stood up and went in the corner of the room to call.
Alastair took a deep breath and glared at Scottus who was about to make another mess. He was here for good grades, who knew things would turn out this way? Even Hellen was far more capable than the Bureau made her out to be, or were they simply inexperienced.
Aiden, who was looking at everything while sitting on the sofa, laughed mentally. This is the Bureau’s team? This is your unity? This is the Bureau? These are the top students?
A smirk subconsciously broke out on his face still, which everyone on the scene took notice of except Scottus who had his head in his hands.
Alastair and Cedric clenched their fists, fully capable of understanding where his smirk was directed at. But they didn’t say anything. Aiden leaned back and asked,
“So? Can we know about special ghosts please? Information is important, or we can also get to testing the helping ghost. The night is setting in, it will soon be the time when it can’t use its phaseless ability. I don’t know why the Bureau needs to know but I am guessing it’s important? Since they’ll be sending reinforcements on that basis?”
Alastair simply nodded and spoke, “You spoke it was sometime between 11 and 12 pm that it lost its ability right? It’s 10 right now, I might as well finish telling you about the special ghosts, then we can move on to finding out about the helping ghost.”
He evaluated Scottus’ condition and told him to take out all the useful things for their eventual dealing with the ghost. This way he would have something to do and also not be in the way he spoke to the rest of the people.
“So, I was on domains, yes? Normal ghosts manifest in the range of domains of special ghosts. They can also only move around in the range of the domain of special ghosts, contrary to phantom ghosts which can move anywhere.
“If there is no classification for the abilities of phantom and normal ghosts, there is one for special ghosts. Just one word, dangerous. Without exception, the abilities of all the special ghosts are dangerous.
“What is special about them is supposed to be their abilities, which are considerably dangerous and their domains. Frankly speaking, we don’t know yet what domains are capable of. Instead of that illusion being its ability, it could also be that it’s an ability of the domain? An ability of the special ghosts by extension. This is just my speculation.
“Keeping that aside, they always say we should evacuate and let the Bureau handle it so we aren’t taught a lot about them. This is all I know. Your helping ghost could be one of the ghosts which manifested under the domain of this special ghost. I don’t know why the Bureau needs info on the number of times the helping ghost could use phaseless ability though.”
He leaned back after saying everything, taking a deep breath.
“I know.” Cedric answered, taking a seat beside Alastair.