Mutants high

006

"Aeron! No! Aeron, stop!"

Like a flash of lightning, someone burst out from behind a broken toilet stall and lunged toward Alan it was Aeron.

Hours earlier

The restroom was chaos incarnate. Cracked tiles crumbled underfoot, water pipes ruptured, and steam hissed through shattered vents. Alan stood in the center, eyes glowing an eerie purple, flames licking hungrily around his arms. The once claustrophobic, crumbling restroom now resembled a collapsed bunker, thick with tension and the sharp echo of the scream that still hung in the air.

"You're going to get yourself killed!" Violet's voice sliced through the chaos. She emerged beside Aeron, both having sprinted to intercept Alan, but it was already too late. Violet's fiery ginger hair was wild and tousled from the rush; her breaths came ragged and shallow. Yet Aeron didn't hear her, his breathing was ragged, uneven, and the energy crackling around him twisted in dangerous, unstable spirals.

With a sharp cry, Aeron lunged toward Alan, arms stretched wide, desperate to restrain him. Though untrained in combat, he didn't hesitate. Sparks crackled like veins of lightning along his arms. His palms glowed, pulsing with electric energy as he rooted his feet firmly and clenched his fists. A high-pitched whine sliced through the roaring flames.

With a powerful slam of both palms into the cracked tile floor, a wave of electromagnetic energy exploded outward.

"Boom!"

Lights flickered and died instantly. Phones in pockets went dark, and the sprinklers above hissed to life, spraying cold mist into the thick, fiery air.

But most importantly, Alan froze.

The flames wrapped around his arms faltered like a dying candle, his body convulsing as he dropped to his knees. His power flickered, wild and unstable. Then, something shifted.

His breath hitched.

There was a new weight in his movements not exhaustion, but fury, cold and dark.

Aeron stood rooted, unsure whether to press the attack. The effort had drained him, and trembling, he watched Alan slowly lift his head. His eyes no longer burned with fire they glowed with something void and endless.

Alan slammed a fist into the shattered tile floor. The ground beneath him cracked and bent inward. Gravity itself seemed to warp as a swirling black orb, filled with shadows and violet streaks, bloomed beneath him. The very air thickened, suffocating everyone nearby.

"You tried to break me. Now watch me break everything."

His voice dripped with venom cold, hollow, and merciless. His hair whipped wildly as unseen forces pulled at it, and the black hole beneath him widened, threatening to consume all.

Aeron gritted his teeth, regret flashing across his face. That attack had drained him completely. This... this was beyond anything he had expected.

"Damn it, this has turned into something else."

Just as Aeron braced for the worst, the bathroom door burst open.

Jax stormed in, eyes blazing with fury and urgency. He scanned the chaotic scene, confirming everyone was still present. The fire in his eyes cooled, replaced by sharp fear and unyielding determination.

"We need to get out of here now."

Jax's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and urgent. His eyes flicked over the broken tiles, the shattered pipes spraying water in thin streams, and finally settled on Alan still wild, still a ticking time bomb.

"I saw Danny. He just called Division-M," Jax added grimly, the weight of the situation pressing down on them all.

"We can't leave," Violet's voice trembled, her gaze locked on Alan's rampage. "Not while he's like this. It's too dangerous."

Jax's jaw tightened as he scanned the room again. Violet was right the dilapidated restroom could barely hold itself together, let alone them. Every second felt like it might be the last before everything came crashing down.

"No. We leave now. Follow me ,I have a plan."

Without waiting for dissent, Jax strode toward Alan, his boots sliding effortlessly across a slick sheet of ice that bloomed beneath him. A cold mist rolled out like a creeping fog, chilling the air and dimming the heat's oppressive glow. The cryo veil blurred Alan's vision, shrouding Aeron from sight.

"I'm lowering the temperature to buy us time Violet, get Paige on your communicator we need her here."

"Fall back, Aeron!" Jax barked, his breath visible in the sudden chill. Frost spiderwebbed the cracked tiles, veins of ice creeping from his boots as he drew a sleek, matte-black firearm glowing faintly blue from his belt.

It was a regulator-class suppressor, designed specifically to neutralize unstable mutants. The kind of weapon handed to him only in the gravest of emergencies.

Aeron's eyes locked onto the gun, his face falling. "Are we really going to use that?"

"We have no choice," Jax replied without hesitation. "Move."

Alan's eyes, now void of humanity, reflected nothing but primal instinct. Jax raised the suppressor, flicked the switch, and without waiting for approval, aimed steady and fired.

"Krak!"

A pulse round slammed into the ground just beside Alan's foot not meant to injure, but enough to stagger him. The impact rippled through the gravity swell, forcing Alan to flinch.

"Now! Everyone, move!"

MK blurred forward in an instant, a gust of displaced air trailing him like a storm. He ducked low, sliding across the cracked tiles before leaping up to jab a precise strike into Alan's side. But Alan twisted unnaturally, his aura whipping out like fire and shadow lashes. MK was thrown back hard, crashing into a broken sink, coughing harshly.

"Damn it," Jax hissed, eyes sharp on MK's position. "Is Paige here yet? Move to plan B," he barked into his communicator.

Suddenly, a portal flickered open, and a slender young woman with slick black hair stepped through. The portal snapped shut behind her as Paige acted without hesitation. Two shimmering portals sprang into existence: one beneath Aeron, yanking him safely out of harm's way, and another beside Alan, redirecting the residual pulse blast back at him.

"Tsk."

Alan snarled as the redirected pulse slammed into his shoulder, staggering him just enough. From the shadows, Violet emerged, whispering, "Sorry about this." Dark tendrils of shadow laced around Alan's limbs, binding him like chains. He screamed, power flickering wildly, but the shadows held firm, dragging at his body like heavy anchors.

Jax stepped forward, chambering another round in the regulator gun, its glow shifting to icy white-blue.

"Hold him tight, Violet," he muttered.

"Boom."

The shot hit Alan's chest, releasing a burst of compressed cryo-electric energy that halted him cold. His flames sputtered out. The gravity orb beneath him cracked, shrinking rapidly before collapsing into a faint pop of violet light.

Alan slumped unconscious, steam rising from his scorched back. For three tense seconds, silence hung heavy then MK groaned, landing hard on his butt.

"Okay... next time, maybe we try talking him down."

Violet spat blood from her mouth. "I don't think he listens," she snapped, launching into a heated argument with MK.

Paige turned to Jax. "Do you think that'll hold him off?"

Jax glanced from the weapon in his hand to Alan's motionless form. His voice was low, steady "For now."

"So what's next?" MK asked, reaching a hand out to Violet.

"We leave. Before Division-M arrives," Violet said with a sharp shrug.

"That's right," Jax nodded, turning to Paige. "Can you open a portal directly to base?"

Paige lifted her hands as if pulling open an invisible door, ready to lead their escape.

Aeron, who had been silent and out of it for what felt like an eternity, finally found his voice. The moment his words cut through the tense silence, everyone snapped around, eyes locked on him with curious intensity.

"What?" they all asked in unison.

"What about his girlfriend?" Aeron's voice was low but laced with urgency.

The question hung in the air, heavy and unexpected. For a split second, the group realized they'd completely forgotten about Piper the girl who had set everything into motion, the one who might hold the key to Alan's rampage. Eyes widened, shock rippling through them like a sudden gust of cold wind.

Before anyone could respond or fully process the thought, a chilling presence slithered into the room.

Draven.

He stepped in with an evil smirk curling across his lips, his gaze scanning the room like a predator savoring the moment.

"Looking for something?" His voice dripped with menace.

But behind him stood someone no one expected someone who silenced the room instantly. Mouths fell open in stunned disbelief as the weight of this new arrival settled over them all.