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Snare in the Shadows
The room was charged with tension as the group gathered at Ivory's house. Lucía was still in the forest, overseeing the cleanup efforts with the protesters. Back here, emotions ran high, and the conversation was a racket of overlapping questions and concerns. I could only offer the same response over and over, "I don't know." as I tried to process the events of the day.
Braden's frustration finally boiled over as he shouted, "You saw him twice, in broad daylight this time! And you still don't know what he looks like?" Nods of agreement rippled through the group, save for Ivory and Ryan, who stood by my side.
Fabian rose from his seat and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, Ellion, right? I know you're new to the group, then you suddenly have powers and on top of that, they try to make you the leader of a group of people you barely know? You didn't ask for any of it. They shove leadership upon you, and it's a lot to handle. If it's too much, it's okay to step down." Fabian said to me with a pitied look.
I could only stare blankly at them because I still didn't have any answer in me. Fabian was right, I didn't want this.
"If Nicholas were here, he'd have made me the leader. He always said I had the strongest ability." Braden declared, his tone dripping with pride.
Fabian released his hand from my shoulder and turned around. "Let's put it to a vote. Nicholas always liked me best out of everyone, and he told me I had potential as a leader."
Then Charles, seemingly out of nowhere, chimed in, eager to stake his claim. "A vote? Count me in. I want a shot at leading this group."
The room erupted into chaos as everyone began to argue and stake their claim for leadership. I felt like an outsider, a mere spectator in this power struggle. It was clear that they were all fixated on personal ambition, but today's events have shown me something different. They needed someone who could see beyond their egos and personal desires, someone who could unite them and channel their strengths toward a common purpose. They seemed fixated on their desire for power, but that wasn't what this was about. They were missing the point entirely.
I stood my ground and made my decision clear. "You're right," I began, "I didn't seek this leadership, but today has shown me that it's necessary. During the protest, many of you were too focused on Lucía, rather than the people and their surroundings. Our goal is to protect others. I acted as Nicholas would have—prioritizing each other, which led to saving Ryan. That's why Nicholas would have chosen me as your leader."
The room fell into a momentary silence, and then Ryan broke it with his trademark bluntness. "You obviously have my vote, cabrón." He placed his hand on my shoulder, the gesture feeling far more supportive than before.
Alexander nodded subtly from behind the group, showing his support for Ryan's vote while trying to keep it low-key. The rest of the group remained silent. Fabian, however, spoke up. "You can participate too if you want. It's only fair." His smile appeared more like a front, instead of being genuine.
Before the discussion could escalate, Ivory intervened firmly. "There will be no vote. The decision that was made is final. It's what Nicholas wanted. Ellion won't step down; he will lead us to victory, I'm sure of it." Her words carried authority, and the group quickly fell in line. Ivory might not be the leader but she has the utmost respect for it.
Braden left the room in apparent frustration. Charles expressed his indifference and returned to the kitchen. Fabian then turned his attention to me and said, "Sorry for that, boss. So, what's the plan to catch the guy hunting us?"
I met his gaze with determination. "We let him hunt me," I replied confidently. Fabian looked puzzled, but Ivory wore a knowing smirk. If he was hunting us, we would use ourselves as bait and then strike when the opportunity arose. He may be powerful, but he doesn't know the full extent of our abilities. We just needed to wait until nightfall to put our plan into action.
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The plan had been set in motion. I walked alone through the darkness, knowing the trap might be obvious. But if he believed I was truly alone, the hooded man who appeared in my hospital room that night might show up.
Of course, this would only happen if my theory about there being two different hooded men was correct. The one in the hospital, despite threatening me, could have killed me right then, but he didn't. Why issue a warning? The one in the forest acted entirely different; he seemed determined to kidnap Ryan and possibly harm him. If they were the same individual, he would have patiently waited until night when Ryan was alone. It was all very puzzling.
I continued my solitary journey through the dimly lit alleyways. I hadn't intentionally chosen this route, but these streets were as familiar to me as the back of my hand. They were the shortest path to the bus terminal, which would take me home. The warm wind carried faint sounds of television shows and laughter from the nearby houses. There wasn't much activity here; most people preferred the northwest of the island for their gatherings. I wasn't worried about being robbed either, as the locals could tell when someone was not from the area. Nevertheless, I kept my ice powers at the ready, just in case.
As I entered the final alley leading to the avenue that led to the terminal, I spotted something peculiar. It appeared to be tentacles wrapped in ink, forming a barrier at the exit of the alley. Emerging from it was a dark figure; it was the hooded man. While I wasn't afraid, I didn't expect to engage in a fight. Unlike the initial encounter, I didn't experience the same fear. It seemed he wasn't here to hunt us, or at least not me.
"You finally showed up," I remarked, my gaze fixed intently on his every move.
"So, it was a way to catch my attention. How did you know I wasn't going to kill you right now? You're all alone; I could've come out from the shadows behind you and pierced your heart." he stated, though he remained motionless, only the squiggly-like tentacles behind him moved.
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"I had a theory, and you just confirmed it," I replied. His lack of reaction intrigued me.
"... What do you want?"
"Who is the other hooded man?" I asked, and this seemed to pique his interest. He looked directly at me, and even in the darkness, I could finally see his face. It wasn't the same man from the forest.
He began to approach me slowly, asking, "What more do you know?" as dark tentacles emerged from his body, writhing wildly. Could this mean they are both involved? Perhaps I had made a grave mistake.
"I just know there is another man with a hood like yours, and he's targeting us, nothing more! I wanted to confirm it wasn't you and to see if you had any information on him." I responded, readying myself for a fight as he kept walking toward me.
As he drew closer and closer, he questioned, "And what does she know?" But just then, Fabian descended from the air, crashing into the hooded man and creating a swirl of darkness and debris.
Fabian rose confidently, declaring, "Just one shot, easy." However, the darkness that had been lingering in the air enveloped him, tightening to form the same black tentacles as before. The hooded man emerged unharmed from the shadows on the ground.
"I was sure you were alone, I checked everywhere." The hooded man claimed.
"You didn't check the sky," Ivory shouted as the group descended, thanks to Braden's control over gravity, which made them weightless in the air. Ryan, Fabian, Charles, and Yelena joined us, as Alexander remained back at the house. Seven against one, those were odds I could get behind.
With a vicious roar, Fabian broke free from the shadowy restraints. He kept his eyes fixed on the hooded man, ready to counter any move he made. Suddenly, the black tentacles sliced through the air, trying to separate and snare us in their grip.
We all leaped back, and Charles released two small flickering energy balls from his hands, directing them toward the hooded man. When they got close, they ignited in a small explosion, sending the tentacles and the hooded man crashing into the wall.
A shadowy darkness began to emerge from him through the wall as if he were merging with it. Fabian rushed toward him with a clenched fist, pushing through the wall and shattering it. However, the darkness clung to the wall as the tentacles reemerged, this time in even greater numbers, nearly a hundred of them. Fabian managed to evade some, but they ultimately grabbed hold of him in mid-air.
Meanwhile, Charles hurled more small bombs, while Ryan discharged bolts of electricity at the lunging tail-like darkness. Yelena, Charles, and Braden were soon ensnared by the dark tentacles, while Ivory continued to evade capture thanks to her teleportation abilities. Fabian was consistently battling to break free from his restraints, regardless of how many ensnared him. I, on the other hand, generated an icy mist from my body. As the tentacles closed in, they froze upon contact, but I couldn't move from my spot.
We needed to stop the relentless barrage of these attacks. I raised my arms and released a continuous blast of ice toward the wall. The tentacles wrapped around my limbs, constricting and tightening, but I held firm. Even if I lost consciousness, I had to freeze the wall to capture him.
The movements of the tentacles started to slow down as the darkness retreated from the encroaching ice, which was gradually freezing the wall. I knew it! , now, all I had to do was immobilize him, and then we could capture him.
"Ivory!" I shouted to her, and with a subtle nod of my eyes, I indicated the direction where the darkness was retreating. She quickly understood and teleported to where it was headed. The hooded man's head started to form just as Ivory kicked it. The darkness burst out, wrapping around her leg and hurling her against the wall.
The shadows began to take the form of the hooded man once more, but before they could fully form, Yelena extended her arms and seized him by his cloak, yanking him to the ground next to Fabian, who used his foot to stomp him down. Yelena released her grip, and he began floating upward. Braden harnessed his gravity powers to make the hooded man weightless.
As he was floating in the air, Fabian intercepted him in midair and unleashed a flurry of punches. Each strike punched holes through his form as if he were pummeling a liquid substance. "It's like he's a literal fucking shadow!" Fabian bellowed in frustration, intensifying his blows.
The black tentacles then ensnared Fabian entirely, along with the entirety of the hooded man, and they both levitated in the air. Exhausted but determined, I continued emitting ice to freeze the darkness entirely in mid-air. Fabian eventually broke free and plummeted to the ground just as Braden used his gravity powers to crush the darkness, reducing it to countless tiny fragments.
"Woo! How do you like that now?!" Fabian triumphantly exclaimed.
We waited for him to reappear from the ground or ice, but he didn't. "Guys, I don't want to ruin the moment, but look at the exit." Yelena suddenly said. The wall of dark tentacles blocking the exit was still there, and it began to wriggle more and more. The tentacles started to come to life, merging into one spot, forming the shape of the hooded man once again.
He stood there, laughing. "It's been a while! Wow, I've missed this, sincerely."
Everyone regrouped and prepared for the attack. However, in a sudden twist, for a brief moment, thin glowing lines began to appear from one side of the alley wall to the other, tracing what seemed like a wall. The skeletal structure gradually solidified its texture, dividing the hooded man from us. Then, in the blink of an eye, the wall material, without a sound or any noticeable movement. It was as if it had always been there.
"What the fuck?" Everyone exclaimed.
We approached the strange wall slowly, touching it to confirm its reality. It was solid and sturdy. Fabian then punched it, creating a hole. As the debris cleared, we saw three hooded figures behind it.
"Okay, so if one was giving us some trouble, can we handle three?" Charles asked.
"It's still seven against three, and we were gaining the upper hand. This battle has already been won." Fabian declared as he confidently approached them.
"Good, I've been dying for a fight." One of the mysterious figures said. "Let me take off this ridiculous cloak first." As he removed his black cloak, the face of a teenager emerged with eager eyes. The shimmering lines we had seen in the air before now floated around him, forming spears that materialized a few seconds later. "Shall we?" He asked with an eager smile, ready for a fight.
"Wait!" The hooded man in the middle suddenly stopped the young man. "We're not going to fight anymore. It's time we talk." The young man reluctantly calmed down, and the spears surrounding him dematerialized.
"Talk?! There's no need to talk, you tried to kill us!" Fabian retorted.
The hooded man gazed directly at me, waiting for my response. "If he wanted to kill us, we'd be dead already," I explained to the group.
"What are you talking about, cabrón?" Ryan asked, confusion evident among the group.
The hooded man removed his cloak and stepped forward, revealing a brooding appearance with a face filled with resolve. He has short, unruly black hair with a slight stubble. "My name is Cristofer, and I'm the leader of a small group, similar to yours but with different goals. One of our members killed one of us and has gone rogue, now he's hunting you." He revealed.
Name: Yelena Russo [https://img.wattpad.com/3081be1560df0c19fb9064a171392dc6d2bf9943/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4b53637a37397646514c766e78673d3d2d313336383036303735352e313761616637613332643332646633353438323535303835303533362e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Name: Yelena Russo
Clemons Cell Ability: Elasticity
Character Info: The highest GED score on the island. Ever since she was little, she's been a genius, jumping from high school to college. She spent years at USC, but as the years passed by, she started to hate it there more and more. She refused to use her knowledge to help the USC, but instead to help free Vanity Island from the USC grip. They say that she was always smiling, but when she came back, her facial expressions had completely changed.