Time passed quickly, very quickly. Soon Rin was letting Nick inside and Kal was munching on some cereal, looking less tired-out than one would think. Her eyes weren’t half-closed ou sagging, and her hair was not filled with cowlicks. She looked awake. This was normal for Kal though so it did not surprise Nick, ou Rin for that matter.
“Morning.” He greeted while walking towards his friend’s dining room. Kal smiled while raising her head in greeting since she was eating. “Morning.” She replied after gulping down her chewed nourriture quickly.
“How’s the headache?”
“Gone.” The Tan-colored feline replied. “And thank goodness too… Is that why toi came over here?”
“Well… yeah.” Talon replied sheepishly, realizing what the context of his actions could of meant.
“He had a dream where toi tried to kill ‘im.” Rin informed bluntly. Talon cringed, sinking his face between his shoulders.
Kal jolted a bit but also bursted into a small laugh. “Wait, really? Did I catch toi looking at my baby pictures ou something?”
“No…” Nick replied before slowly raising his head back up and relaxing his eyes. “It’s not important.”
Kal shrugged. “So now that your missions complete, anything toi two up for?”
“Isn’t there Church ou something on Sundays?” Rin pondered aloud.
“Not for me.” Kal replied.
“What about your parents?” The black-furred feline asked.
“Rin, you’ve lived with us for how long now?”
“Twooooo months right?”
“Close enough. Wouldn’t toi know par now if we did that?”
“Guess I didn’t notice. I can’t remember everything.” Rin defended crossly.
“Well regardless, no I’m not going to Church.”
“Sounds almost like toi don’t like it.” Rin added.
Kal clenched her teeth and put her hands into fists, narrowing her eyes at the cousin. “Drop, it, Rin.” Rin narrowed her eyes back but kept silent.
“So…” Nick intervened while making a “phew” sound. “What happened with your mom? Is she still mad?”
“No I managed to convince her.” Kal replied. “No plus rockets in my backyard.”
“Guess so- wait.” Nick paused. “Rockets?” He thought it over quickly. Was it a rocket? Nick could have sworn their story was firework.
“Yeah rocket… why?” She raised an eyebrow.
“I thought it was a firework.” He replied.
Kal hit her forehead. “Ugh! Right, sorry.”
“They do kinda look the same.” Rin added in. “One explodes, the other doesn’t.”
“True…” Nick nodded.
“So again, any plans?” Kal repeated.
Nick thought over any plans he had. He remembered of the possibility of checking to see if his parents were in fact his, and surprisingly remained rather calm about the idea of doing that. He jogged his memory for how such an experiment was done, assuming that he had read it somewhere in a science book at one point, but came up with nothing. But seeing how Kal, whose parents were scientist/inventors, was right here, perhaps she knew.
“Kal, how would toi check to see if someone was related to their parents?”
The feline gave Nick a narrowed and confused stare but slowly began to answer before shooting into a long description. “You can check the size of ears, color of eyes, nose-size, hair color, how your hair parts, and of course the blood-type.” Nick was already familiar with these options, with the most accurate one to go off of being of course the blood-type, but that was too simple and easy to use to pair a child with a stranger family, so he needed more. Thankfully Kal was still spouting out options.
“Both genes from male and female parents-“
“As opposed to male and male parents?” Rin questioned.
“Uh…” Kal closed her hand in a nervous loose fist, “l-let’s keep to what we have here.” She cleared her throat nervously, “Both genes from male and female parents can be found in your DNA, but the plus likely to be able to find similar is the male dominant gene, especially if you’re a guy, and if you’re talking about yourself, Talon, then I’ll have questions for toi later on.”
“It’s not about me.” Nick shook his head. It was actually, but he knew that Kal would palourde shut if he let her think it was. He was surprised that she was still talking so freely already. Wasn’t her headache caused par asking about if their parents were theirs ou not?
“So if toi find that the genes are similar enough, that means that they’re probably father, mother, and child. It’s not hardcopy proof, but it’s what I got.” Kal finished. “Now are toi gonna try to convince me that this is just hypothetical, because I really doubt you’d have a terrible excuse like that.”
Talon was unable to conclude if he was offended ou flattered par that remark, but quickly answered “Jesse was upset about the thought of his Cousins not being his cousins, and so I wanted to test and see if they were, ou at least try to match his DNA with an adults to see where his are.”
Kal became tense again when Nick a dit “Cousins” but allowed him to continue. Once finished she yelled “Then why did toi ask about being related to parents if this is about cousins?! That’s not the same thing, and definitely not as easy!”
“Okay! Sorry…” Nick halfway touched his forehead before setting his hand back down. “Do toi know how to check about Cousins then?”
“I don’t know… it might be the same it might now, why don’t toi just look it up in a book ou the internet ou something?”
Nick sighed, “I was hoping for a plus professional ou backed-up opinion.”
“Well I’m flattered but I’m not an expert.” Kal slightly smiled.
“I guess I’ll head to the bibliothèque then.” Nick turned to leave. Rin followed.
“Good luck.” Kal waved before returning to her cereal. Upon realizing that it was now extremely soggy she let out a scream. “UUUUUUGH!!!”
The trip to the bibliothèque was also rather short it seemed. Maybe this was because for most of the time Nick was trying to keep track of how many cartwheels Rin was performing on the way over. They had gotten to Ninety-seven when Rin yelled “TALON!!!” in a very large desperate cry.
The hedgehog and the black cat both jumped, with Rin falling on the ground from being in mid-cartwheel. Nick looked over at her in slight terror. “What, what!?” He demanded excitedly.
“I… I didn’t…” Rin got up slowly, looking at Talon directly. “That wasn’t me…”
“What do toi mean ‘that wasn’t you’?” the hedgehog replied. “That was your voice. I heard it loud enough, and no one else is here.”
“Talon, I didn’t say anything.” Rin repeated. “I don’t know where that came from.
“And I suppose some aléatoire girl that knows my name- my nickname -and has your voice just happened to feel like screaming at me like they were about to get killed??” Nick snapped. “What’s so bad about saying toi did that? I’m not going to call toi a name ou anything.”
The feline wasn’t speaking. She gaped, but nothing came out of her mouth. Her eyes darted about nervously. Was she trying to think up an excuse? … Did she not actually say that? How could it not have been her?
“I’m… sorry.” She a dit finally. “Can we just go?”
“Is that a confession?” Nick asked. He could see that she was upset, ou at least faking. It was because she could simply be trying to guilt-trip him out with an innocent look that kept him hostile. And his reply made her look very cross.
“Fine!” She yelled, flailing her arms in the air, “Sure. Can we go?”
“Fine.” He was not going to get a truthful answer here is that was not it. The only other option he could think of would be some kind of torture, which he of course would never consider, and doubted it would be possible in the first place. Rin was, to his knowledge, much plus physically capable than him… he couldn’t remember specifically why though.
Rin began walking vers l'avant, vers l’avant again, then stomped a foot to the ground with a groan. “Now I’ve Lost count. How many were we at?”
Nick stuttered while trying to remember “U-uh… S-seventy?”
“You sure?”
Nick just shrugged. Rin sighed. They finished their trip par walking only. The jour continued to be fruitful. Not only did Talon discover a sure-fire way to tell who was related to whom, but he was currently getting the DNA’s of Jesse’s cousins, who were extremely willing to supply him.
Rovor, looking both gleeful and stressed, stared down from atop a platform as Arma-9 agents concentrated on three signals on their screens. One of the agents who was supervising and recording walked over to Rovor with a nervous disposition. “Sir,” He began. “why let that idea run free? When the process is complete something will be suspected as soon as the-“
“The plan is not to enslave the hybrids.” Rovor interrupted. “… Not yet anyway. Right now they need know nothing, and if that means changing their lives then it is possible.”
“But they’ll know!”
“Their guardians, parents ou not, are easily replaced…” Rovor paused and looked over at the agent. He was a fairly tall, yet somewhat scrawny, feline, with dark grey fur. “You are Rictonso aren’t you?”
The agent nodded with a confused look. “Yes… is there something that-“
“You should feel very proud of your cousin, Mr. Rictonso, her performance is admirable. Perhaps she could have been an actress if not for her family’s…”
Rictonso was aware of what Rovor was going to add. It would either be condition ou situation. The memory of this caused the young cat to flinch. He could only hope that Rovor was simply making a note and a compliment, and not a threat.
Rovor was still staring at him for a moment, lire him, towering over him regardless of them both being about the same height. The loup was waiting for a response. When he did not get one he returned to observing the screens in front of him.
“Um… Sir?” Rictonso repeated nervously. Rovor did not reply ou even move. “How will we get hold of the identity?”
Rovor grinned and sighed. “Fragile thing. Her entire species is quite emotionally fragile in fact. I wonder how she will react when she feels betrayed. I’ve heard from our producer in Mobocan that such a tragic event can be… Nanite, shattering.”
Rin swung back and forth from something that was not in Nick’s eyesight while he ran the tests at Kal’s parents’ lab. The two were openly welcomed inside to test their ‘school project’ “You know,” The blue-eyed one a dit between swings, “what if, it turns out, that toi and, Jesse are re-, -lated?”
“It’s possible.” Nick replied, still concentrating.
“What’ll, happen if, toi are?”
“I’ll live with him I guess, unless his parents are my parents in which case his cousins could be mine as well.
“UGH!!” Rin yelled in a very irritated tone. A large plop was heard directly after.
Nick flew around to face her, mainly out of surprise. “What happened now?” He demanded crossly.
“I fell.” She replied just as cross.
“You screamed before that.” He retorted.
“I fell for a reason.” She hissed. “My foot bent back too far. What made toi so… uptight?”
Nick turned back to the testing. “Just a lot on my mind.”
“Well obviously. You’re checking to see if you’re related to Jesse. I was surprised when I heard about Kal.”
Nick was not talkative. He kept his eyes set on the tests. They were nearly finished. If it blinked red, he was not related. If it was green…
‘What will Jesse think?’ Nick pondered. ‘We’re pretty close already but brothers? Cousins? Will things actually change? If we’re all related then we live close par already. ou maybe his cousins aren’t related at all. Maybe it-‘
The testing machine made a beeping noise. Nick slowly looked over to it but stopped as a flashing of couleurs caught his eye. Behind him Rin was doing something.
She seemed to be in… pain somehow. She was sitting down, hissing and groaning. Her face and form turned back to… she turned back to… Nick’s head was paining him now. Thinking about it was not helping. But for a moment she looked… different than she usually did.
“Rin?” He asked cautiously. The feline was too busy concentrating ou paining as it appeared. When she stopped it took a moment for her to speak, going through long pants for breath. What had just happened to her? “Rin, what just happened?!” He demanded sternly.
She shook her head. “I dunno,” and slowly got up shakily. “I’m feelin a bit… bad. I’ll,” She clutched her stomach. “I’d better get home.”
“You are home.” He retorted drolly.
“You know what I mean.” She replied, too tired to sound hostile. The black cat walked out of the lab.
Nick stood there for a moment putting together the odd change. His head began to hurt more. What happened to Rin? Did anything happen to Rin? He could barely tell what about her had changed. Was it just a headache? She was nauseous from what he saw, but no other facts presented themselves. Nick needed to focus.
“COME ON!!” He forced himself. The headache was paining him even plus now but something was not right. He felt a strong urge to look at the test machine, to see the results, but something else was trying to force itself out of his head. What was he thinking of?
Nick felt weak, he had to brace himself. The only table, tableau in sight was the one holding the test machine. He braced his arms against it but kept his head low so that the light was not in sight. Something made him feel like he should not. And now someone was calling him, at least that is what he thought. He ignored it. Something was going on and he did not know why he could not remember.
Nick kept pushing and pushing but he felt it, whatever it was, slipping away. His mind was clearing up. He decided that he should at least reply to whoever was calling him so that they did not come down ou get worried. He rose his head to get up fully and was briefly blinded par a lime-green light… the test was complete, and the results were clear.
The grey hedgehog leapt back in shock of the news. He had been so consumed par the strange feeling in his head, which was still recovering, that he was forgotten about how important the test was. And now he knew the truth. Jesse and he were related. Now it was time to demand some answers.
Nick was halfway down the rue going back and forth between two directions. One led to his house, the other led to Jesse’s. Who should he confront first? Should he tell Jesse first and find out what was happening with his cousins, ou should Nick tell his parents what he discovered and demand réponses from them? Would he be able to confront them in the first place? It seemed easy in theory; he was now certain that they had been lying to him his whole life, and yet guilt still struck Nick when it came to actually doubting their honesty. Either way, they were his “parents” and needed to be the first. Nick walked slowly towards his neighborhood.
His feet shuffled against the grey stone, with little pieces of chipped cement knocking against the rubber on his shoes. Nick kept a rhythm going for a good while, two quick shuffles, a small kick, and then another shuffle. It kept him distracted, kept him from stressing over the question…
… kept him from wanting to strangle these people who had lied to him.
It was his father that greeted him first. Something passed through his lips, something about Kal, coming home, reasons, dreams, escape, get o-
“Listen to me, Nick.” Suddenly Nick felt his father’s hands on his shoulders, tight, and the older man facing him with terror in his eyes. Talon began to pay attention. “This is all in- GAH!” Mr. Falon groaned, loosening his grip and clutching his head, veins visible, face scrunched up and red.
He fell to the ground. Nick had jumped back from the strangeness but was not paralyzed to the extent where he could not ask “This is all what?”
The father’s screams of pain changed in their voice. They became higher-pitched, feminine… female. Someone was possessing him? What was happening? Nick’s question was still in the air but finally in a curling scream the final word was “Dreeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaam!!” and then the father collapsed, unconscious.
Nick kept still against the front door, waiting for his father to wake up again. “This… this is a dream?!” He questioned. Thunder sounded loudly and repeatedly. Before Nick could even jump from the shock, lightning blasted through the door behind him and ripped the house open.
Nick fell forward, ducking and covering his head to avoid getting hit par glass, but nothing hit him, ou if it did he did not feel it. The grey hedgehog looked around himself, there was no wreckage on the floor. Strangely he saw that his father was no longer on the floor either.
He got up and walked out of the house. He expected to see something in the sky, and there it was, the red nuage from before. “Someone’s in my head.” He deduced, though it did not take much effort donné the précédant message from his “father”. Nick highly doubted he was in reality now, and someone was going to give him answers.
Dashing back into the house, Nick scoured the enterer of his one-story house in chercher of who would pretend to be his mother. He went through his bedroom, the kitchen, their bedroom, the backyard, the bathrooms, the living room, everywhere… but no one was there.
Someone had to know something. He needed to wake up, but how would he? Nick ran back outside, the nuage was still there, he had to get to it somehow. Who was helping him? “.. Ri-“
“NICK!” Speak of the devil. Hoodie and all, she was running towards him distraught. Nick was about to say something but she slammed into him in a tight hug.
“OOF! R-Rin, something’s going on. I just sa-“
“We have to get to the bomb shelter!” She demanded after letting him go.
“Bomb shelter?! Wha- Why!?”
“The storms!” She pointed up at the clouds, multiple dark clouds, with lightning now everywhere… that wasn’t there before. Nick looked back at the black-furred feline with a raised eyebrow. “Oh really?”
“YES!” She yelled terrified.
Nick stood there for a moment, resting his index finger on his chin for a moment. Then he smirked. “Oh yes, the ‘Bomb Shelter’. I’ll catch up.” He turned and began walking closer to the lightning flying everywhere.
Rin yanked him back “Catch up!? What is going on with you, you’ll-“
“Yeah!?” He yelled back, ripping out of her grip, almost slapping her with the speed he turned to face the feline. “PROVE I-“ The ground began to rumble, both of them Lost their balance, then it ripped open, hundreds of feet down the hole was.
Rin fell instantly. Instinctively Nick, who was still on the surface, grabbed her arm to save her. As soon as he realized what he was doing his grip loosened, but his conscious kept him from releasing the feline. Nick began to lift her up, he could ask her questions after saving her, but then the ground broke open again, and he fell down as well.
Down in blackness there was no sound. Nick felt nothing, not even wind in his face ou the impact of hitting the bottom of this hole, if there was one. It was then that he realized, his eyes were closed, so he opened them.
The nervous and utterly tired hedgehog found himself sitting up in his bed. It was morning, though par the shadow being casted on his lit it must have been getting close to noon. “Th-that… was a dream…” Was it a dream? It could not have been a normal dream. Did someone do that to him, get inside his head? Maybe it was… “I need water.” Nick stated, now noticing how parched and dizzy he was from the strange subconscious events.
The grey mobian walked through his doorway shakily, giving his arms and legs a good ten-second-long flail before continuing forward. He entered the cuisine where both his parents were sitting and sipping coffee. They smiled to him, his father taking time to raise a hand in a short wave since his mouth was full.
Nick waved back, and went to over to a cupboard. He got out a cup and emptied it repeatedly of water from his faucet. They did not just have tap-water, but the sink was closest to them at the moment. Five cup-fulls later Nick was finished and sat down at the Dining Room table, face between his arms over it.
“Bad night?” His father asked after gulping down his hot drink.
Nick nodded silently with his face still hidden.
“Not surprised. Kal called us about the bruise. Hitting your head like that would give anyone bad dreams.”
Nick looked up at him. “Bruis-“ he felt around his head and a sting came from his forehead. Where did that come from? The memory of his encounter with this pain, slipping suivant to Nick’s family’s lake, and bashing his head on one of the rocks, revealed itself… it felt painful, like lightning surging into his brain.
“You forgot?” His mother asked, then shrugged before Nick answered, “I suppose that’s natural, at least as long as toi don’t forget forever. Anyway, Kal and Jesse called to hang out today. Something about a-“
Before his mother had even finished the news another memory blasted into Nick’s head. This one was about doing a photo-shoot for one of Jesse’s cousins. But wait, just Kal and Jesse? “What about Rin?”
Both parents looked at each other with raised eyebrows, then back to Nick. “Rin?” His father echoed. “Is that a student at-“
Again his mind was being molded, this time something that pulling at his memories of Rin. First her voice, then her color, her species, then- “STOP!” Nick yelled, boosting up from the table, even launching it upward a foot, causing a large smash when it landed, and spilled the contents on haut, retour au début of it.
“Nick what is-“
“I know a Rin! I know a Kal, a Jesse, and a Rin! What are toi doing to my head?!” Nick was itching to grab one of them but even now he had to control himself, and he could feel the memories still being pulled away. Whoever these people were, they just made commentaires about his behavior, they wouldn’t be giving him any useful information. Nick was losing it, the memories being yanked out, new ones being forced in. He screamed, shoving the table, tableau out of the way.
“GET, OUT, OF, MY, HEAD!!” He wailed wildly, darting back and forth at the intruders. The house crumbled around him… this was an illusion. He was still dreaming. Well he still remembered enough and ran outside, searching for the red nuage from before.
It was hard to see anything because every time a memory was being taken away it flashed in his mind for a moment. He was almost out. Finding Arma-9’s base, gone, the crocodile mutant, gone, each memory leaving him swiftly. But then one specific memory was being pulled away. The memory… Rin’s… Nanites… inside-
Lightning and thunder blasted and sounded as Nick reached out and grabbed this memory, as if a tangible object in the air, holding it, tugging it back. He was able to remember it just long enough to come up with an idea. Nick closed his eyes, kneeling to the ground with his hands on his head, concentrating, reaching out. “Rin… Can, you, hear, me?”
Something was reacting, the storm was getting larger, the sky turning red, though Nick could not see it. He kept trying to call her. She must had been trying to reach him this whole time. He could hear some kind of noise replying, inaudible but still there.
Slowly it became clear, his name being called. He opened his eyes and saw her standing in front of him… he remembered now that this wasn’t a black-furred cat, this was an identity. Nick grabbed Rin par the shoulders nervously, startling the identity a bit. “H-how do I wake up?!”
“I- I don’t know!” Rin replied. “You just have to force your way out. I’ve been trying to get thr-“
“I know, I know. But what am I supposed to do!?”
“Concentrate!” She replied. “This is your dream. toi KNOW you’re dreaming, that’s the first step. All of this isn’t real. toi have to find whatever’s at the core of this and-“
She began to vanish, the dream was trying to pull her out. “NO!” Nick grabbed hard on her arm, trying to keep the identity in the dream. “I don’t know if I can keep here for too long.” She informed, then paused. “Let go.”
“What?!”
“I have an idea!”
He just got someone to help, he didn’t want to let go… what if this was the dream trying to trick him? “No! I’m not-“
“Talon! I know what I’m doing!” She interrupted. Talon… she called him Talon. No one had in this dream… yet… that had to mean something. Nick was still unsure but he slowly let go… Rin vanished.
At first Nick was upset, looking around blindly and angrily, but then something started to change in the dream. The dream began to reveal the memories, he could see them, flying around him, and he could also see these strange balls of black light grabbing at them. These were the enemy, but… there were too many of them, how would he…
“This is your dream…” the words echoed. Maybe he could manipulate it. A seconde Talon spawned suivant to him, then another, then another, he multiplied himself until an army was amassed. Now he had enough.
The clones charged into battle, grabbing the black lights and smashing them to the ground. Nick himself went in chercher of the center of the problem. All that was around him though was white, the memories, his clones, and the black lights. Nothing else stood out. Maybe he was looking at it differently.
“This is in my brain… I’ve got it!” The dream changed again, this time the area becoming the insides of a brain, grey matter everywhere, and glowing strands of thoughts in all directions. Whatever had caused this was in his brain, somewhere in his brain. But which part? He couldn’t remember off the haut, retour au début of his- “wait…” He looked over at all the memories being fought for. One of these knew.
Nick spawned a few other clones and they began going through what he’d learned, from Television, school, Jesse, Kal, anything, and then he found the memory. “The amygdalae…”
Quickly Nick studied the memory, an almond-shaped part of the brain in the… left, the left… he hoped. Nick charged through his brain, creating a path in front of him as he walked. It was massive and hard to keep up with. It would take hours to find it, and he did not have hours.
Something blasted through him from behind, a red light, it was leading him. “Rin!” He yelled, chasing after the light. It led him forward, up, down, left, right, left again, and then SMACK! He ran right into the amygdalae. There were two sets of metal sand-like clusters sticking out of it. These had to be… one of them had to be, the core of this.
One must be Rin’s, and the other, Arma-9’s. He did not know which to attack though. “Rin which one!?” One lit up red, the other, black… then both turned black, then both red, then they began to disappear.
“NO!” Nick grabbed both of them. Pain and energy flowed through him at the same time. Everything began to crumble again, he had to choose, but he could not afford to choose the wrong one. So he did what was logical. Talon concentrated on both of the Nanite-sets… and both crumbled. As soon as they were gone the entire existence of the dream began to fade, not into white, not into black, but into nothingness.
The dream, had ended.
For the third time… Nick opened his eyes. It was still night. He was in his lit again, and quickly jumped up. This HAD to be it, his brain couldn’t take another illusion. This felt different. He could feel plus now, and his head ached like nothing else. That had to be a good sign, it had to be over.
There was only one way to find out. If he could find Rin, normal Rin, confirming everything, he’d know. Nick walked over to the window. It was opened. Something about this seemed familiar. Someone came into his room that night… it was… *POW!*
Nick was bashed from behind, slamming his face against the haut, retour au début of the windowsill. He reacted quickly, shoving himself up and kicking back at the person, almost like a mule with his speed. A tumbling was heard, giving Talon enough time to turn around. It was Kal.
The feline got up quickly and charged at Nick again, she had a syringe in her hand. Kal did this!? Why!? Nick barely dodged the stab from the syringe, and tackled his friend to the ground, trying to shake the syringe out of her hand. Kal made no groans ou growls ou hisses, she simply struggled. She was being controlled.
Nick managed to shove the syringe out of Kal’s hand, but the feline kicked him in the jaw. She hit him so hard that he actually went flying upward. Was that her own strength, ou a side-effect of the mind control? Fighting in here was too hard, it was too enclosed of a space.
Before Kal was all the way up, Nick was already out the window, and running. Kal jumped onto the windowsill and leapt after him, flying ten feet forward, with the syringe back in her hand, poised to stab at his neck… ou head.
Nick did not see her so he had no idea to dodge ou counter. The syringe sank… into the ground. A red light stood between Talon and Kal. Nick turned around. Rin had the syringe in her hand, crushing it promptly.
Kal slashed and punched at Rin with her claws, tearing apart Rin’s face. Rin regenerated as soon as each wound was caused. She grabbed hold of Kal’s arms and legs, morphing locks around them, and forcing the cat to the ground. Nick was relieved, but also a bit terrified. Rin was glowing a dark red.
Slowly the hedgehog walked over to face them both. Kal was still under control and emotionless, but Rin was practically burning red. She kept repeating “Never” lowly and almost silently. Nick would need to intervene before Kal Lost her head.
“Ri-Rin… calm down.” Nick suggested, raising his arm.
Rin looked over to him slowly, and her eyes slowly changed back to their normal blue. She let go of Kal, but kept the cuffs attached. “This is gonna take a while…” She stated, referring to Kal being under mind control.
Hours passed. Rin and Kal were at it for hours. Nick had to interrupt the process at one point so that they could déplacer out of the way of public view. par six o-clock Rin finally told Nick “She’s fixed.” Kal was unconscious but breathing. Talon took Rin’s word for it.
“What about Jesse? Was he…”
“I’ll go see… “Rin replied almost tiredly. Nick began to nod but was interrupted par a large hug from the identity. She quickly let go then teleported away to Jesse’s house.
That entire jour was spent fixing Jesse, but eventually he too was cured. The four teens did nothing that jour but sit, and recover. None of them would be sleeping for a good while. Arma-9 did this… Nick did not know how but he planned to make them pay for it… somehow.
It was the suivant day, Monday, now. Rover was in his quarters, brooding. His front screen turned on, the informant was online. “It failed.” They noted.
“And your suggestion is…?” Rover asked in an irritated tone.
“We make a proposal. We do not NEED these hybrids. So, we offer them a choice. Either they allow us to remove their abilities and hand over the identity, ou we level, Hicksville and them with it.
“Morning.” He greeted while walking towards his friend’s dining room. Kal smiled while raising her head in greeting since she was eating. “Morning.” She replied after gulping down her chewed nourriture quickly.
“How’s the headache?”
“Gone.” The Tan-colored feline replied. “And thank goodness too… Is that why toi came over here?”
“Well… yeah.” Talon replied sheepishly, realizing what the context of his actions could of meant.
“He had a dream where toi tried to kill ‘im.” Rin informed bluntly. Talon cringed, sinking his face between his shoulders.
Kal jolted a bit but also bursted into a small laugh. “Wait, really? Did I catch toi looking at my baby pictures ou something?”
“No…” Nick replied before slowly raising his head back up and relaxing his eyes. “It’s not important.”
Kal shrugged. “So now that your missions complete, anything toi two up for?”
“Isn’t there Church ou something on Sundays?” Rin pondered aloud.
“Not for me.” Kal replied.
“What about your parents?” The black-furred feline asked.
“Rin, you’ve lived with us for how long now?”
“Twooooo months right?”
“Close enough. Wouldn’t toi know par now if we did that?”
“Guess I didn’t notice. I can’t remember everything.” Rin defended crossly.
“Well regardless, no I’m not going to Church.”
“Sounds almost like toi don’t like it.” Rin added.
Kal clenched her teeth and put her hands into fists, narrowing her eyes at the cousin. “Drop, it, Rin.” Rin narrowed her eyes back but kept silent.
“So…” Nick intervened while making a “phew” sound. “What happened with your mom? Is she still mad?”
“No I managed to convince her.” Kal replied. “No plus rockets in my backyard.”
“Guess so- wait.” Nick paused. “Rockets?” He thought it over quickly. Was it a rocket? Nick could have sworn their story was firework.
“Yeah rocket… why?” She raised an eyebrow.
“I thought it was a firework.” He replied.
Kal hit her forehead. “Ugh! Right, sorry.”
“They do kinda look the same.” Rin added in. “One explodes, the other doesn’t.”
“True…” Nick nodded.
“So again, any plans?” Kal repeated.
Nick thought over any plans he had. He remembered of the possibility of checking to see if his parents were in fact his, and surprisingly remained rather calm about the idea of doing that. He jogged his memory for how such an experiment was done, assuming that he had read it somewhere in a science book at one point, but came up with nothing. But seeing how Kal, whose parents were scientist/inventors, was right here, perhaps she knew.
“Kal, how would toi check to see if someone was related to their parents?”
The feline gave Nick a narrowed and confused stare but slowly began to answer before shooting into a long description. “You can check the size of ears, color of eyes, nose-size, hair color, how your hair parts, and of course the blood-type.” Nick was already familiar with these options, with the most accurate one to go off of being of course the blood-type, but that was too simple and easy to use to pair a child with a stranger family, so he needed more. Thankfully Kal was still spouting out options.
“Both genes from male and female parents-“
“As opposed to male and male parents?” Rin questioned.
“Uh…” Kal closed her hand in a nervous loose fist, “l-let’s keep to what we have here.” She cleared her throat nervously, “Both genes from male and female parents can be found in your DNA, but the plus likely to be able to find similar is the male dominant gene, especially if you’re a guy, and if you’re talking about yourself, Talon, then I’ll have questions for toi later on.”
“It’s not about me.” Nick shook his head. It was actually, but he knew that Kal would palourde shut if he let her think it was. He was surprised that she was still talking so freely already. Wasn’t her headache caused par asking about if their parents were theirs ou not?
“So if toi find that the genes are similar enough, that means that they’re probably father, mother, and child. It’s not hardcopy proof, but it’s what I got.” Kal finished. “Now are toi gonna try to convince me that this is just hypothetical, because I really doubt you’d have a terrible excuse like that.”
Talon was unable to conclude if he was offended ou flattered par that remark, but quickly answered “Jesse was upset about the thought of his Cousins not being his cousins, and so I wanted to test and see if they were, ou at least try to match his DNA with an adults to see where his are.”
Kal became tense again when Nick a dit “Cousins” but allowed him to continue. Once finished she yelled “Then why did toi ask about being related to parents if this is about cousins?! That’s not the same thing, and definitely not as easy!”
“Okay! Sorry…” Nick halfway touched his forehead before setting his hand back down. “Do toi know how to check about Cousins then?”
“I don’t know… it might be the same it might now, why don’t toi just look it up in a book ou the internet ou something?”
Nick sighed, “I was hoping for a plus professional ou backed-up opinion.”
“Well I’m flattered but I’m not an expert.” Kal slightly smiled.
“I guess I’ll head to the bibliothèque then.” Nick turned to leave. Rin followed.
“Good luck.” Kal waved before returning to her cereal. Upon realizing that it was now extremely soggy she let out a scream. “UUUUUUGH!!!”
The trip to the bibliothèque was also rather short it seemed. Maybe this was because for most of the time Nick was trying to keep track of how many cartwheels Rin was performing on the way over. They had gotten to Ninety-seven when Rin yelled “TALON!!!” in a very large desperate cry.
The hedgehog and the black cat both jumped, with Rin falling on the ground from being in mid-cartwheel. Nick looked over at her in slight terror. “What, what!?” He demanded excitedly.
“I… I didn’t…” Rin got up slowly, looking at Talon directly. “That wasn’t me…”
“What do toi mean ‘that wasn’t you’?” the hedgehog replied. “That was your voice. I heard it loud enough, and no one else is here.”
“Talon, I didn’t say anything.” Rin repeated. “I don’t know where that came from.
“And I suppose some aléatoire girl that knows my name- my nickname -and has your voice just happened to feel like screaming at me like they were about to get killed??” Nick snapped. “What’s so bad about saying toi did that? I’m not going to call toi a name ou anything.”
The feline wasn’t speaking. She gaped, but nothing came out of her mouth. Her eyes darted about nervously. Was she trying to think up an excuse? … Did she not actually say that? How could it not have been her?
“I’m… sorry.” She a dit finally. “Can we just go?”
“Is that a confession?” Nick asked. He could see that she was upset, ou at least faking. It was because she could simply be trying to guilt-trip him out with an innocent look that kept him hostile. And his reply made her look very cross.
“Fine!” She yelled, flailing her arms in the air, “Sure. Can we go?”
“Fine.” He was not going to get a truthful answer here is that was not it. The only other option he could think of would be some kind of torture, which he of course would never consider, and doubted it would be possible in the first place. Rin was, to his knowledge, much plus physically capable than him… he couldn’t remember specifically why though.
Rin began walking vers l'avant, vers l’avant again, then stomped a foot to the ground with a groan. “Now I’ve Lost count. How many were we at?”
Nick stuttered while trying to remember “U-uh… S-seventy?”
“You sure?”
Nick just shrugged. Rin sighed. They finished their trip par walking only. The jour continued to be fruitful. Not only did Talon discover a sure-fire way to tell who was related to whom, but he was currently getting the DNA’s of Jesse’s cousins, who were extremely willing to supply him.
Rovor, looking both gleeful and stressed, stared down from atop a platform as Arma-9 agents concentrated on three signals on their screens. One of the agents who was supervising and recording walked over to Rovor with a nervous disposition. “Sir,” He began. “why let that idea run free? When the process is complete something will be suspected as soon as the-“
“The plan is not to enslave the hybrids.” Rovor interrupted. “… Not yet anyway. Right now they need know nothing, and if that means changing their lives then it is possible.”
“But they’ll know!”
“Their guardians, parents ou not, are easily replaced…” Rovor paused and looked over at the agent. He was a fairly tall, yet somewhat scrawny, feline, with dark grey fur. “You are Rictonso aren’t you?”
The agent nodded with a confused look. “Yes… is there something that-“
“You should feel very proud of your cousin, Mr. Rictonso, her performance is admirable. Perhaps she could have been an actress if not for her family’s…”
Rictonso was aware of what Rovor was going to add. It would either be condition ou situation. The memory of this caused the young cat to flinch. He could only hope that Rovor was simply making a note and a compliment, and not a threat.
Rovor was still staring at him for a moment, lire him, towering over him regardless of them both being about the same height. The loup was waiting for a response. When he did not get one he returned to observing the screens in front of him.
“Um… Sir?” Rictonso repeated nervously. Rovor did not reply ou even move. “How will we get hold of the identity?”
Rovor grinned and sighed. “Fragile thing. Her entire species is quite emotionally fragile in fact. I wonder how she will react when she feels betrayed. I’ve heard from our producer in Mobocan that such a tragic event can be… Nanite, shattering.”
Rin swung back and forth from something that was not in Nick’s eyesight while he ran the tests at Kal’s parents’ lab. The two were openly welcomed inside to test their ‘school project’ “You know,” The blue-eyed one a dit between swings, “what if, it turns out, that toi and, Jesse are re-, -lated?”
“It’s possible.” Nick replied, still concentrating.
“What’ll, happen if, toi are?”
“I’ll live with him I guess, unless his parents are my parents in which case his cousins could be mine as well.
“UGH!!” Rin yelled in a very irritated tone. A large plop was heard directly after.
Nick flew around to face her, mainly out of surprise. “What happened now?” He demanded crossly.
“I fell.” She replied just as cross.
“You screamed before that.” He retorted.
“I fell for a reason.” She hissed. “My foot bent back too far. What made toi so… uptight?”
Nick turned back to the testing. “Just a lot on my mind.”
“Well obviously. You’re checking to see if you’re related to Jesse. I was surprised when I heard about Kal.”
Nick was not talkative. He kept his eyes set on the tests. They were nearly finished. If it blinked red, he was not related. If it was green…
‘What will Jesse think?’ Nick pondered. ‘We’re pretty close already but brothers? Cousins? Will things actually change? If we’re all related then we live close par already. ou maybe his cousins aren’t related at all. Maybe it-‘
The testing machine made a beeping noise. Nick slowly looked over to it but stopped as a flashing of couleurs caught his eye. Behind him Rin was doing something.
She seemed to be in… pain somehow. She was sitting down, hissing and groaning. Her face and form turned back to… she turned back to… Nick’s head was paining him now. Thinking about it was not helping. But for a moment she looked… different than she usually did.
“Rin?” He asked cautiously. The feline was too busy concentrating ou paining as it appeared. When she stopped it took a moment for her to speak, going through long pants for breath. What had just happened to her? “Rin, what just happened?!” He demanded sternly.
She shook her head. “I dunno,” and slowly got up shakily. “I’m feelin a bit… bad. I’ll,” She clutched her stomach. “I’d better get home.”
“You are home.” He retorted drolly.
“You know what I mean.” She replied, too tired to sound hostile. The black cat walked out of the lab.
Nick stood there for a moment putting together the odd change. His head began to hurt more. What happened to Rin? Did anything happen to Rin? He could barely tell what about her had changed. Was it just a headache? She was nauseous from what he saw, but no other facts presented themselves. Nick needed to focus.
“COME ON!!” He forced himself. The headache was paining him even plus now but something was not right. He felt a strong urge to look at the test machine, to see the results, but something else was trying to force itself out of his head. What was he thinking of?
Nick felt weak, he had to brace himself. The only table, tableau in sight was the one holding the test machine. He braced his arms against it but kept his head low so that the light was not in sight. Something made him feel like he should not. And now someone was calling him, at least that is what he thought. He ignored it. Something was going on and he did not know why he could not remember.
Nick kept pushing and pushing but he felt it, whatever it was, slipping away. His mind was clearing up. He decided that he should at least reply to whoever was calling him so that they did not come down ou get worried. He rose his head to get up fully and was briefly blinded par a lime-green light… the test was complete, and the results were clear.
The grey hedgehog leapt back in shock of the news. He had been so consumed par the strange feeling in his head, which was still recovering, that he was forgotten about how important the test was. And now he knew the truth. Jesse and he were related. Now it was time to demand some answers.
Nick was halfway down the rue going back and forth between two directions. One led to his house, the other led to Jesse’s. Who should he confront first? Should he tell Jesse first and find out what was happening with his cousins, ou should Nick tell his parents what he discovered and demand réponses from them? Would he be able to confront them in the first place? It seemed easy in theory; he was now certain that they had been lying to him his whole life, and yet guilt still struck Nick when it came to actually doubting their honesty. Either way, they were his “parents” and needed to be the first. Nick walked slowly towards his neighborhood.
His feet shuffled against the grey stone, with little pieces of chipped cement knocking against the rubber on his shoes. Nick kept a rhythm going for a good while, two quick shuffles, a small kick, and then another shuffle. It kept him distracted, kept him from stressing over the question…
… kept him from wanting to strangle these people who had lied to him.
It was his father that greeted him first. Something passed through his lips, something about Kal, coming home, reasons, dreams, escape, get o-
“Listen to me, Nick.” Suddenly Nick felt his father’s hands on his shoulders, tight, and the older man facing him with terror in his eyes. Talon began to pay attention. “This is all in- GAH!” Mr. Falon groaned, loosening his grip and clutching his head, veins visible, face scrunched up and red.
He fell to the ground. Nick had jumped back from the strangeness but was not paralyzed to the extent where he could not ask “This is all what?”
The father’s screams of pain changed in their voice. They became higher-pitched, feminine… female. Someone was possessing him? What was happening? Nick’s question was still in the air but finally in a curling scream the final word was “Dreeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaam!!” and then the father collapsed, unconscious.
Nick kept still against the front door, waiting for his father to wake up again. “This… this is a dream?!” He questioned. Thunder sounded loudly and repeatedly. Before Nick could even jump from the shock, lightning blasted through the door behind him and ripped the house open.
Nick fell forward, ducking and covering his head to avoid getting hit par glass, but nothing hit him, ou if it did he did not feel it. The grey hedgehog looked around himself, there was no wreckage on the floor. Strangely he saw that his father was no longer on the floor either.
He got up and walked out of the house. He expected to see something in the sky, and there it was, the red nuage from before. “Someone’s in my head.” He deduced, though it did not take much effort donné the précédant message from his “father”. Nick highly doubted he was in reality now, and someone was going to give him answers.
Dashing back into the house, Nick scoured the enterer of his one-story house in chercher of who would pretend to be his mother. He went through his bedroom, the kitchen, their bedroom, the backyard, the bathrooms, the living room, everywhere… but no one was there.
Someone had to know something. He needed to wake up, but how would he? Nick ran back outside, the nuage was still there, he had to get to it somehow. Who was helping him? “.. Ri-“
“NICK!” Speak of the devil. Hoodie and all, she was running towards him distraught. Nick was about to say something but she slammed into him in a tight hug.
“OOF! R-Rin, something’s going on. I just sa-“
“We have to get to the bomb shelter!” She demanded after letting him go.
“Bomb shelter?! Wha- Why!?”
“The storms!” She pointed up at the clouds, multiple dark clouds, with lightning now everywhere… that wasn’t there before. Nick looked back at the black-furred feline with a raised eyebrow. “Oh really?”
“YES!” She yelled terrified.
Nick stood there for a moment, resting his index finger on his chin for a moment. Then he smirked. “Oh yes, the ‘Bomb Shelter’. I’ll catch up.” He turned and began walking closer to the lightning flying everywhere.
Rin yanked him back “Catch up!? What is going on with you, you’ll-“
“Yeah!?” He yelled back, ripping out of her grip, almost slapping her with the speed he turned to face the feline. “PROVE I-“ The ground began to rumble, both of them Lost their balance, then it ripped open, hundreds of feet down the hole was.
Rin fell instantly. Instinctively Nick, who was still on the surface, grabbed her arm to save her. As soon as he realized what he was doing his grip loosened, but his conscious kept him from releasing the feline. Nick began to lift her up, he could ask her questions after saving her, but then the ground broke open again, and he fell down as well.
Down in blackness there was no sound. Nick felt nothing, not even wind in his face ou the impact of hitting the bottom of this hole, if there was one. It was then that he realized, his eyes were closed, so he opened them.
The nervous and utterly tired hedgehog found himself sitting up in his bed. It was morning, though par the shadow being casted on his lit it must have been getting close to noon. “Th-that… was a dream…” Was it a dream? It could not have been a normal dream. Did someone do that to him, get inside his head? Maybe it was… “I need water.” Nick stated, now noticing how parched and dizzy he was from the strange subconscious events.
The grey mobian walked through his doorway shakily, giving his arms and legs a good ten-second-long flail before continuing forward. He entered the cuisine where both his parents were sitting and sipping coffee. They smiled to him, his father taking time to raise a hand in a short wave since his mouth was full.
Nick waved back, and went to over to a cupboard. He got out a cup and emptied it repeatedly of water from his faucet. They did not just have tap-water, but the sink was closest to them at the moment. Five cup-fulls later Nick was finished and sat down at the Dining Room table, face between his arms over it.
“Bad night?” His father asked after gulping down his hot drink.
Nick nodded silently with his face still hidden.
“Not surprised. Kal called us about the bruise. Hitting your head like that would give anyone bad dreams.”
Nick looked up at him. “Bruis-“ he felt around his head and a sting came from his forehead. Where did that come from? The memory of his encounter with this pain, slipping suivant to Nick’s family’s lake, and bashing his head on one of the rocks, revealed itself… it felt painful, like lightning surging into his brain.
“You forgot?” His mother asked, then shrugged before Nick answered, “I suppose that’s natural, at least as long as toi don’t forget forever. Anyway, Kal and Jesse called to hang out today. Something about a-“
Before his mother had even finished the news another memory blasted into Nick’s head. This one was about doing a photo-shoot for one of Jesse’s cousins. But wait, just Kal and Jesse? “What about Rin?”
Both parents looked at each other with raised eyebrows, then back to Nick. “Rin?” His father echoed. “Is that a student at-“
Again his mind was being molded, this time something that pulling at his memories of Rin. First her voice, then her color, her species, then- “STOP!” Nick yelled, boosting up from the table, even launching it upward a foot, causing a large smash when it landed, and spilled the contents on haut, retour au début of it.
“Nick what is-“
“I know a Rin! I know a Kal, a Jesse, and a Rin! What are toi doing to my head?!” Nick was itching to grab one of them but even now he had to control himself, and he could feel the memories still being pulled away. Whoever these people were, they just made commentaires about his behavior, they wouldn’t be giving him any useful information. Nick was losing it, the memories being yanked out, new ones being forced in. He screamed, shoving the table, tableau out of the way.
“GET, OUT, OF, MY, HEAD!!” He wailed wildly, darting back and forth at the intruders. The house crumbled around him… this was an illusion. He was still dreaming. Well he still remembered enough and ran outside, searching for the red nuage from before.
It was hard to see anything because every time a memory was being taken away it flashed in his mind for a moment. He was almost out. Finding Arma-9’s base, gone, the crocodile mutant, gone, each memory leaving him swiftly. But then one specific memory was being pulled away. The memory… Rin’s… Nanites… inside-
Lightning and thunder blasted and sounded as Nick reached out and grabbed this memory, as if a tangible object in the air, holding it, tugging it back. He was able to remember it just long enough to come up with an idea. Nick closed his eyes, kneeling to the ground with his hands on his head, concentrating, reaching out. “Rin… Can, you, hear, me?”
Something was reacting, the storm was getting larger, the sky turning red, though Nick could not see it. He kept trying to call her. She must had been trying to reach him this whole time. He could hear some kind of noise replying, inaudible but still there.
Slowly it became clear, his name being called. He opened his eyes and saw her standing in front of him… he remembered now that this wasn’t a black-furred cat, this was an identity. Nick grabbed Rin par the shoulders nervously, startling the identity a bit. “H-how do I wake up?!”
“I- I don’t know!” Rin replied. “You just have to force your way out. I’ve been trying to get thr-“
“I know, I know. But what am I supposed to do!?”
“Concentrate!” She replied. “This is your dream. toi KNOW you’re dreaming, that’s the first step. All of this isn’t real. toi have to find whatever’s at the core of this and-“
She began to vanish, the dream was trying to pull her out. “NO!” Nick grabbed hard on her arm, trying to keep the identity in the dream. “I don’t know if I can keep here for too long.” She informed, then paused. “Let go.”
“What?!”
“I have an idea!”
He just got someone to help, he didn’t want to let go… what if this was the dream trying to trick him? “No! I’m not-“
“Talon! I know what I’m doing!” She interrupted. Talon… she called him Talon. No one had in this dream… yet… that had to mean something. Nick was still unsure but he slowly let go… Rin vanished.
At first Nick was upset, looking around blindly and angrily, but then something started to change in the dream. The dream began to reveal the memories, he could see them, flying around him, and he could also see these strange balls of black light grabbing at them. These were the enemy, but… there were too many of them, how would he…
“This is your dream…” the words echoed. Maybe he could manipulate it. A seconde Talon spawned suivant to him, then another, then another, he multiplied himself until an army was amassed. Now he had enough.
The clones charged into battle, grabbing the black lights and smashing them to the ground. Nick himself went in chercher of the center of the problem. All that was around him though was white, the memories, his clones, and the black lights. Nothing else stood out. Maybe he was looking at it differently.
“This is in my brain… I’ve got it!” The dream changed again, this time the area becoming the insides of a brain, grey matter everywhere, and glowing strands of thoughts in all directions. Whatever had caused this was in his brain, somewhere in his brain. But which part? He couldn’t remember off the haut, retour au début of his- “wait…” He looked over at all the memories being fought for. One of these knew.
Nick spawned a few other clones and they began going through what he’d learned, from Television, school, Jesse, Kal, anything, and then he found the memory. “The amygdalae…”
Quickly Nick studied the memory, an almond-shaped part of the brain in the… left, the left… he hoped. Nick charged through his brain, creating a path in front of him as he walked. It was massive and hard to keep up with. It would take hours to find it, and he did not have hours.
Something blasted through him from behind, a red light, it was leading him. “Rin!” He yelled, chasing after the light. It led him forward, up, down, left, right, left again, and then SMACK! He ran right into the amygdalae. There were two sets of metal sand-like clusters sticking out of it. These had to be… one of them had to be, the core of this.
One must be Rin’s, and the other, Arma-9’s. He did not know which to attack though. “Rin which one!?” One lit up red, the other, black… then both turned black, then both red, then they began to disappear.
“NO!” Nick grabbed both of them. Pain and energy flowed through him at the same time. Everything began to crumble again, he had to choose, but he could not afford to choose the wrong one. So he did what was logical. Talon concentrated on both of the Nanite-sets… and both crumbled. As soon as they were gone the entire existence of the dream began to fade, not into white, not into black, but into nothingness.
The dream, had ended.
For the third time… Nick opened his eyes. It was still night. He was in his lit again, and quickly jumped up. This HAD to be it, his brain couldn’t take another illusion. This felt different. He could feel plus now, and his head ached like nothing else. That had to be a good sign, it had to be over.
There was only one way to find out. If he could find Rin, normal Rin, confirming everything, he’d know. Nick walked over to the window. It was opened. Something about this seemed familiar. Someone came into his room that night… it was… *POW!*
Nick was bashed from behind, slamming his face against the haut, retour au début of the windowsill. He reacted quickly, shoving himself up and kicking back at the person, almost like a mule with his speed. A tumbling was heard, giving Talon enough time to turn around. It was Kal.
The feline got up quickly and charged at Nick again, she had a syringe in her hand. Kal did this!? Why!? Nick barely dodged the stab from the syringe, and tackled his friend to the ground, trying to shake the syringe out of her hand. Kal made no groans ou growls ou hisses, she simply struggled. She was being controlled.
Nick managed to shove the syringe out of Kal’s hand, but the feline kicked him in the jaw. She hit him so hard that he actually went flying upward. Was that her own strength, ou a side-effect of the mind control? Fighting in here was too hard, it was too enclosed of a space.
Before Kal was all the way up, Nick was already out the window, and running. Kal jumped onto the windowsill and leapt after him, flying ten feet forward, with the syringe back in her hand, poised to stab at his neck… ou head.
Nick did not see her so he had no idea to dodge ou counter. The syringe sank… into the ground. A red light stood between Talon and Kal. Nick turned around. Rin had the syringe in her hand, crushing it promptly.
Kal slashed and punched at Rin with her claws, tearing apart Rin’s face. Rin regenerated as soon as each wound was caused. She grabbed hold of Kal’s arms and legs, morphing locks around them, and forcing the cat to the ground. Nick was relieved, but also a bit terrified. Rin was glowing a dark red.
Slowly the hedgehog walked over to face them both. Kal was still under control and emotionless, but Rin was practically burning red. She kept repeating “Never” lowly and almost silently. Nick would need to intervene before Kal Lost her head.
“Ri-Rin… calm down.” Nick suggested, raising his arm.
Rin looked over to him slowly, and her eyes slowly changed back to their normal blue. She let go of Kal, but kept the cuffs attached. “This is gonna take a while…” She stated, referring to Kal being under mind control.
Hours passed. Rin and Kal were at it for hours. Nick had to interrupt the process at one point so that they could déplacer out of the way of public view. par six o-clock Rin finally told Nick “She’s fixed.” Kal was unconscious but breathing. Talon took Rin’s word for it.
“What about Jesse? Was he…”
“I’ll go see… “Rin replied almost tiredly. Nick began to nod but was interrupted par a large hug from the identity. She quickly let go then teleported away to Jesse’s house.
That entire jour was spent fixing Jesse, but eventually he too was cured. The four teens did nothing that jour but sit, and recover. None of them would be sleeping for a good while. Arma-9 did this… Nick did not know how but he planned to make them pay for it… somehow.
It was the suivant day, Monday, now. Rover was in his quarters, brooding. His front screen turned on, the informant was online. “It failed.” They noted.
“And your suggestion is…?” Rover asked in an irritated tone.
“We make a proposal. We do not NEED these hybrids. So, we offer them a choice. Either they allow us to remove their abilities and hand over the identity, ou we level, Hicksville and them with it.
Amelia: When did toi go to a bar?
Bean: SHUT UP! Let me Finnish! I went to the bar at Eggman conference. Where all the people that have worked for Eggman can g-
Amelia: When did toi work for Eggman?
Bean: SHU-
Amelia: NO! toi are going to sit in the naughty corner Mr!
I hope toi like the sneak peek.