Jackie looks around the empty void. A figure looms in the distance. With nowhere else to go, she walks over to it. It turns around to face her.
"...Jackie? How did you..."
"Oh, you're that Demos guy, right?" Asks Jackie.
"Yes, but how did you get here?" He asks.
"What do you mean? Am I not dreaming?"
"I mean, you are... but your consciousness is literally here. You're asleep, but this isn't a dream."
"So you weren't a hallucination. Huh. Why did nobody else talk about you?"
"What do you mean? Are you saying you remember what happened?"
Suddenly, they hear a noise echo through the void. They look over to its source. For spiraling spheres of energy appear and merge together, creating... something. Jackie isn't exactly sure of what she's seeing; it's indescribable apart from the fact it's human-shaped.
The thing screams in agony, and Demos takes a step back. The thing grasps its face and stops screaming. It now takes a more coherent form, one Jackie can describe.
"It's like... a human? A purple human?" She observes. Suddenly, it speaks.
"I can... think... and feel... but I am yet... incomplete. My mind is... hazy," it says. It looks up and points at Jackie. "COME TO ME." Jackie blacks out.
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Jackie shoots up in her bed, sweating and breathing heavily.
"Will you keep it down up there?" James complains. "It's 1 A.M. I haven't slept a single second with all the talking in your sleep you've been doing."
"James, when you got your powers... did a man come up to you and say some vague stuff?"
"What?" James confusedly asks. "The hell are you talking about? All I remember from that moment was it felt like something slapped me across the face."
This is fucking weird. What the hell was that dream? Jackie hears someone open the door leading into the lobby area.
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"Did you hear that?" She whispers.
"Yeah," replies James. "I'll go wake the others." In a few moments, James, Paul, Abby, and Billy are all peeking through the bedroom door into the lobby. "What do you see?" Asks James.
"I can't tell for sure," says Billy, "but I think a bunch of Shirxon guys just came in. We've gotta go. Now."
"Give me a second," says Paul. He extends his palm out and a flat disc of spinning pink energy appears on the wall. They all run through, narrowly escaping when the agents bust down the bedroom door.
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When they arrive on the other side of the portal, they find themselves in a small forest.
"Where did you take us?" Asks Abby.
"I don't know for sure," says Paul, "but somewhere safe. I can create a portal without knowing exactly where it will lead, I just have to give it some basic parameters."
"So what now? Now both the government and Shirxon is going to be looking for us," notes James.
"I think we should confront this 'Phineas' guy and see what exactly he wants," says Jackie. The others stare at her.
"Paul... are you able to take us to him?" Billy asks. "I mean, I don't really want to be charged with trespassing or anything, but if we get him to stop both the government and Shirxon will stop hassling us."
"I can try," responds Paul. He extends his palm once again, opening another portal that they walk through.
This time, the portal leads to a large office high over some city none of them are familiar with. "What the hell..." says Abby.
Phineas turns in his chair to look at them. "Pfft!" He spits out his coffee, leaping out of his chair. "How the hell are you guys- I mean, who the hell are you!?"
"Cut the shit. Why are you hunting us down?" Asks Paul.
"What are you talking about? I've never seen any of you in my life!" Phineas's voice sounds panicked, even through the grating filter of his respirator.
Jackie walks over, creating flames to surround herself. "Tell us, NOW!" She yells angrily and charges at him. Phineas narrows his eyes and claps. Jackie, for some reason, stops when he claps.
"You fucking brats," he says. "I wasn't going to hurt any of you." Jackie can't will herself to move from her position, and her flames die down. "You're not the only ones that freak gave powers to. You're in the range now where my telepathy is the strongest!" Wait, he remembers Demos too!?
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The armored man scrambles as the pulsing sphere of floating blue energy trembles. "Shit! What do I do!?" The golem he had been working on, now awake, says, "Nothing. Maybe he'll finally die."
"Wait... maybe you're right. The Goggles of Revealing show me a very faint link has been formed between four other nearby points of energy. They lead to..." The man traces his gaze over towards the cells. He smiles under his helmet.
The man opens the bars to the cell, the occupants turning their heads towards him. The dragon, its chains much bigger than normal, roars at him in anger.
"Hush now, Fikre. The time is almost upon us. I'm sure you've felt it in your souls. He has begun reabsorption. However, he cannot complete it until I retrieve the last components. Therefore, I will leave immediately. Enjoy your last few days of life." The man slams the bars closed, heels the golem to his side, and steps through the rift the mirror showed him to go through.