Mutants high

004:-heavy storm

The moment I stepped into the men’s restroom, the stench hit me like a physical blow. It was a wave of harsh, industrial cleaner warring with something much fouler stale urine and a dampness that seemed to cling to the very air. My face twisted instantly. I slapped a hand over my nose, trying to filter out the rot as my eyes darted around the room. White tiled walls and urinals lined up like soldiers—some gleaming, others yellowed and neglected.

“Ugh,” I muttered, my voice muffled behind my palm. “What the actual hell… Don’t tell me Danny was messing with me.”

I forced myself to walk further in, though “walk” was a generous term. My feet dragged along the floor, every step sluggish and heavy, my gut screaming at me to turn around. I rounded the corner toward the stalls when a sound stopped me dead.

The voices were Low, hurried, and muffled like someone who was trying to hid from something .

Without hesitating or even stopping to think about what I was about to do next. With a sudden burst of adrenaline, I kicked the stall door open.

My blood ran absolute ice-cold.

“Piper.“

She was crumpled on the floor, duct tape slapped brutally over her mouth, her arms and legs bound tight. Her hair was a tangled disaster, and her eyes were wide, feral with panic. For a split second, she froze, her brows furrowing in confusion when she saw me, but realization hit her fast. She started to thrash, her muffled cries spiking in desperation.

“Shit—hold on!” I rushed forward, dropping to my knees. My fingers were trembling so badly I could barely get a grip on the tape, but I managed to rip it from her mouth.

Her breathing came in fast, shallow gasps.

“Who did this to you?” I stammered, though the pit in my stomach already knew the answer. “Don’t tell me… Danny?”

“Clap. Clap. Clap.“

The slow, rhythmic sound echoed from behind me, making me jump.

“What if I did?”

The voice was cool, unapologetic, and cut right through the stagnant air. My head snapped back toward the entrance. Danny stepped slowly out of the shadows near the far wall. He had that crooked smirk plastered on his face, hands tucked casually in his pockets like he hadn’t just left a girl bound and terrified on a bathroom floor.

“Are you gonna fight me or something?” he asked, his tone dripping with mockery.

Instinct took over. I stepped in front of Piper, trying to shield her. My legs felt like jelly, my breath hitching in my throat. But the second I shifted my weight, my foot hit a slick, damp patch on the tile.

I went down landing hard.

I crashed onto my backside, a pathetic grunt escaping me. Humiliation burned hot in my chest, but terror burned hotter. I scrambled back up, swallowing down the bile crawling up my throat.

"No, don't do this. Let her go!"

I surged forward instinctively. Even though my whole body was shaking with fear, I was determined to protect Piper.

"Shut up."

Danny's voice snapped like a whip. He turned to his boys. "Bring him."

My heart pounded. As they closed in, I stumbled backward, arms shaking, legs weak. I could feel how cold my skin was and how my shirt clung to my body like a second skin. My eyes darted around the toilet stalls for an escape, but all I found were grins—hungry, dangerous grins.

"Stay away from me!" I let out a high-pitched scream.

AND THAT’S HOW WE GOT HERE. IF YOU HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT YET, WELL, I HOPE THIS MATCHES UP.

All I could hear was the noisy room and the sounds of laughter and footsteps. Everything became a blur. I didn't even know what was going on with me anymore. My skin felt hot, boiling, like fire was surging under it.

My vision blurred, but I could feel something trying to burst out of me. My hands itched as if they held a power I didn't understand. I tried to hold it in. I swear I did. But it hurt. It felt like a boulder was lodged in my throat—one made of lightning, fire, and rage.

I couldn't take it anymore. I screamed.

And when I did, the ground split beneath my feet. Flames burst from my back, licking up the tiled walls and dancing across the ceiling. My fists slammed against the floor.

“BOOM!" A thunderous shockwave exploded outward, knocking two guys into the sinks and shattering the mirrors in a burst of flying glass. Something darker followed. A swirling black mass began to form beside me. Small, dense... a void. The air twisted toward it. Loose tiles, papers, even the belt from someone's pants began pulling into it.

“I told you to leave her out of this!” I roared.

Danny looked around, panicked, not understanding what was happening. One minute he was standing across the room, and the next, something strong pulled him toward me. My hands wrapped around his neck, gripping tight , i could already see the blood rush up to his face.

But just when I thought nothing more could happen, the sound of heavy, shuffling footsteps from the hallway broke my focus. I turned toward the doorway, expecting security, but what I saw made every muscle in my body lock up.

Four guys squeezed through the entrance, straining to haul a massive iron drum between them. A violent hiss escaped the lid, steam curling aggressively into the stagnant bathroom air. The metal itself looked scorched, blackened at the bottom like it had been dragged straight out of a fire pit.

My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic rhythm that echoed in my ears like a war drum. I took a shaky step back, my eyes glued to the container.

“Wait…” The words tumbled out of my mouth, breathless. “Is that… paint?”

Then the stench hit me. It wasn’t the cold, stale smell of the bathroom anymore. It was a thick, suffocating wave of fumes that burned my nostrils. Acrid. Chemical. *Scorching.*

It was paint. **Boiling hot paint.**

Danny began to laugh, mocking my horror. “What are you gonna do now, huh?”

The four guys who had brought in the hot paint stood there watching me hold Danny by the neck. Then, one charged toward me at full speed.

Seeing as my hands were occupied with Danny, I lifted my knee high. I charged it with enough energy that it began to vibrate before I slammed my heel into the ground. Immediately, a cone-shaped fracture traveled through the floor, sending all four boys to the ground. None of them got back up.

Upon seeing what I had done to his gang, Danny’s face—once full of smirks—began to pour with sweat. But that didn't stop me. Every instinct told me to kill him. I raised my hand and placed it over his face, sending a high-frequency, low-volume pulse through my fingertips.

But just as I was about to release it into him, someone burst into the toilet stall like a flash of lightning and lunged toward me.