Screams echoed through the air. The smell of charred plant life and flesh permeated my surroundings. My vision was blurry, but it had finally

begun to return to me. The only thing I could make out was the smoke and rubble that littered what had once been my home. In the distance, I heard a building collapse.

I stumbled my way through a crater that had appeared. What happened? Was this my doing? My mind was clouded. The only thing I could remember was trying to contact

Jolene. They had abandoned me. From the look of things, it seems as though my journey was over. I had no backup and no escape from the mess I had just caused or the

attention it had no doubt garnered. I heard sirens approaching rapidly. Helicopters flew in the distance, most likely searching for survivors. I dropped to my knees

and surrendered. I didn't care what happened now. My thoughts returned to Nora and the life I was trying to build. It had all been torn from me by the government, and

for what? So they could have a super powered freak? Whatever. It didn't matter anymore. Just as the sirens were closing in, I felt a hand firmly grasp my wrist and

yank me to the side. When I opened my eyes, I saw Jolene and Lillian standing over me. "Marcus, what the hell happened?" Lillian asked, an unmistakable look of concern

painted her face. "I could ask you the same thing!" I shouted as I slowly stood, "You left me! Abandoned me! I thought I was done for!" Lillian gently put her hand on

my shoulder and gazed in to my eyes, "That's not what happened. Jolene told me she had sent you back to your home to contact a girl you knew. Not long after that, we

were attacked. It seems that the drug lord of Brazil caught wind of our existence and he tried to kill us. Jolene didn't have time to pull you back before the siege

began. Marcus, they killed Barron." I stood in shock, unable to speak. I just stared at Lillian. She sighed and continued, "The drug lord had more super humans than we

had anticipated. It seems he found a unique way of creating them that hides them from Vlad's abilities. They destroyed our safe house. The only reason we made it out

is because Barron stayed behind to hold them off. We came to get you as soon as we found another safe house." I looked down at the floor. My thoughts were more clouded

than ever. I had come to know Barron over the course of our journey. He had been a massive help in my progress up to this point. "What happened to you?" I heard Jolene

ask. "I don't know," I replied, my voice shaking softly, "I thought you had abandoned me. My heart started racing, my mind got cloudy, and then I heard an explosion."

Jolene nodded and pointed to a hallway a few feet away. "Your room is down there. First door on the left. Take some time to calm down. It seems as though your loss of

control might have something to do with that explosion. Your powers are still volatile, after all." I made my way to my room and sat on the makeshift bed that had

already been prepared for me. I couldn't say how much time had passed, but I was finally starting to feel better when I heard an alarm sound. Ferus burst in to my

room, "Marcus, get ready. They found us." I jumped to my feet and rushed outside behind her. Lillian, Jolene, and Vlad were already in position. I could see several

helicopters rapidly approaching. Were these the same super humans that had forced their retreat earlier? Before I had time to ask, a figure lunged from one of the

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helicopters, landing several feet from us. It appeared to be some sort of robot at first, but upon further inspection I realized it was a woman in a unique set of

armor. She quickly closed the gap, thrusting her palm in to Lillian's chest. Lillian flew back several feet and slammed in to a large tree hard enough to knock it

over. The woman then turn to me. I realized that my power had changed but I had no idea what it was. She moved swiftly toward me, drawing a sword from a hidden sheath

on her back and swinging at my head. It was then that I noticed that everyone seemed to be moving particularly slow. Perhaps my power for the day had changed my

perception. Regardless, I took advantage of the situation and dodged her attack. I punched her ribs several times but it had no effect, other than making my knuckles

burn. I stepped back, carefully dodging her flurry of slashes. Soon, the helicopters had arrived with the remaining forced. There were no fewer than ten others

present, each with their own unique abilities. One of them landed and launched some sort of shockwave from his hands, forcing everyone, including about half of his

team, to the ground. Another lunged in to the air and made some sort of symbol with his hands. Soon after, a torrent of ice rained down on us. I dodged most of the

shards but a few grazed me, lightly cutting my skin. It seems as thought he was one of their weaker operatives. Jolene pulled out some sort of staff looking device

and caught all the shards in her area in a field of some kind and launched them back. The ice shredded through the attacker's body. With that annoyance out of the way,

another took his place. Another woman with a whip rushed forward, lashing it violently at Jolene. It appeared as though the whip was surrounded in some kind of energy

that would cause great harm should it connect. Just as she was about to deliver a blow, Lillian appeared, catching the whip and yanking her forward. She caught the

woman by the throat and hurled her towards the group. I realized that I could achieve much more with tactics than brute force, as speed was my only advantage. I rushed

over to Jolene and took her staff, then over behind the woman Lillan had thrown. I activated the device and caught the woman out of the air, then I ran as fast as I

could. Using one of the attacker's heads as a launch pad, I forced myself as high in to the air as I could and activated the device again, rocketing the woman trapped

in the field down on to her comrades. The shockwave from her impact knocked most of them to the ground. Just before I hit the ground myself, Lillian caught me and

threw me in to a portal. I tumbled across the floor of what I could only assume at the time was our new safe house and quickly jumped to my feet. Lillian followed

behind and Jolene deactivated the portal. Vlad, Ferus, and Jolene all rushed to me, lifting me in to the air. They cheered for me. It was an experience I was

unfamiliar with, but it was pleasant. Lillian slowly approached, a smile adorning her face, "That was impressive, Marcus. You're getting better. If you continue at

this pace, we might be able to take down the corrupt governments of the world sooner than planned." I couldn't help but smile. These people had become my family, and

now I felt as though I could start repaying them for all they had done for me. However, we still had one important matter to attend to. We gathered in the living room,

to my surprise our safe house was an actual house this time. We formed a circle around a small pile of objects. Barron's possessions. Each of us took a turn expressing

our sorrow at his loss and our joy for having known him. When it was my turn, I took a moment to gather my thoughts. I wanted to do this properly. Finally, I spoke,

"Barron was the first super human I encountered since taking the drug. We may have gotten of on a...strange foot, but he showed me that he was always there from the

beginning. He taught me tricks to controlling my power. He showed me how to fight. He helped calm me when things got chaotic. No matter what happened, I knew I could

always count on Barron to watch my back. He was like a brother to me. His loss will not be in vain. He died for our mission, so we can not fail. We will not fail. This

is no longer about getting my life back on track. This isn't for me anymore. From this point forward, I fight to free everyone who has fallen victim to this super

human race that the governments of the world have forced upon us. They will pay for what they've done." With that, I left the circle. Soon after, I heard the others

break apart to attend to their business. I locked myself in my room and pulled out my bag. I don't know who had taken the time to grab it during the fight, but I was

glad to have it. Inside, I kept a pair of gloves. Barron had made them himself to match his. They were red leather and fingerless. On the back of each was a cross. I

had never been a religious man so I never wore them. Until now. I wore them in honor of Barron. We had reached the point of no return. Once we acquired our target, we

would have little time to train them before we went to war. The time drew near for the people of the world to bare witness to our existence and watch as we annihilated

those who ran this world and built a new one from their ashes.