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Evajael, enirock, jupitre, Lakesc, sodeeqsulaimon88, Khristarl, PenHub, samfrancis1, yungbanks, kvngfrosh, nkemdave Haryomhide1, Horladstar, Gauisc, Surayj123, ijawcitizen, Ann2012 we are finally on the way again.

Forgive me if I couldn't remember your moniker

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“We have gathered together here to say farewell to our sister, friend and companion, Shelby Elias and to commit her into the hands of God. Many of you might not have known who she was, I also wasnt familiar with the deceased when I was consorted by her friends to hold this burial, but a young soul passing on is always something of a tragedy that we must always mourn, because some of them didnt get to fulfil Gods chosen plan for them. Lord our God; you are the source of life. In you we live and move and have our being, keep us in life and death, in your love and by your grace, lead us to your kingdom through your son Jesus Christ our lord. Amen."

“Amen.”

"Is there any of her friends that would like to say something about or to the deceased before we conclude this service?”

Justin turned to look at the girl in black who had been clinging to his arm since they had stepped out of the car that brought them to the cemetery. She had been that way since Shelby had been pronounced dead by the doctor when they had arrived at the hospital a few days ago, she had said very little since then, and no matter what he did to try to lift the mood, she just seemed disinterested; even the entire mission of stopping Zion had been put on hold throughout that period. She looked exhausted, not just physically, but also emotionally and mentally. And he couldnt help but hope that the guardians that were due to arrive anytime now were right on time. He was about to waive the priest to carry on with ending the service when he felt her grip loosen on him and he realized how warm he had felt through it all. A feeling had been growing in him through the past few weeks they had been together and although it took him a while to acknowledge it, he knew he felt something for her.

The girl in black walked slowly towards the priest and took his place at the edge of the hole that was going to house Shelbys coffin, she stared at the hole for a while wondering how her life would have gone if she hadnt been at that spot in China and saw her fight that fallen. She turned back to the crowd of five, consisting of Justin, the priest, the caretaker of the cemetery, and the two men that had been paid to lower the coffin into the ground. She turned to look around the whole ground, hoping to catch Zeke lurking around somewhere, she felt really bad that he had chosen to miss the funeral, even after knowing the circumstances around Shelbys actions. It was not like she had a say in it though, since she hadnt seen him ever since he flew into the sky and left Shelby on the ground for dead. She felt a bit of anger towards him but also understood his plight, humans emotions, so complicated!

“I am not here to say much, I just felt that I should come out and speak something on her behalf, since the closest person to her that is capable of sending her on her way with his forgiveness had decided not to turn up." She paused and turned to stare at the coffin that stood to her side, on top of a four legged bench. She ran her hands over the curved wood, following the pattern and getting lost in the moment. She sighed back to life and started.

“Shelby was a beautiful soul, a little bit stubborn, but still a beautiful soul. I remember the first day we met, even under the frightening circumstance; she still wanted to know how I was faring and even offered to take me to the hospital even after witnessing the gory event that had taken place just a few minute before. I grew really fond of her and her curiosity after then and she would always give all she had to protect the ones she loved, even if that meant giving up her life." She paused as her head suddenly became clogged and tears began to form behind her eyes. She sniffed. "I'm sorry, its just that when I asked her to join me in my journey, I never knew that things would be taking this kind of turn and that I would have to be putting her into the ground without any of her loved one being around and in a foreign country too. Surely, her death would not be in vain, and I promise to make sure of that, even if it takes my life too.” She paused, turning to stare at the coffin one last time before walking back to stand beside Justin.

Justin watched her for a while as she wiped the tears that were now beginning to fall from her eyes away, he felt the utmost urge to hold her hands and assure her that it would be fine and that he would be with her all through the way, but on second thoughts, he concluded that it would be best to let her get through it on her own.

The priest concluded the service and the men lowered the coffin into the ground as they hummed Amazing grace, Shelby and Justin casted the first sand and the others dispersed as the men got to work, covering the hole with more sand. The girl in black held on to Justins hand again as they walked away from the graveyard towards their car and his heartbeat tripled again, she paused and quickly raised her head, turning to the direction she thought somebody had been standing, but there was no one there.

"Are you okay?" Justin asked, and this time he was becoming worried for her.

"Yes." She replied. "Lets go."

*

I watched the priest conclude the sermon, and after which the girl in black and Justin both walked away from the graveyard, I was about one-thirty metres away, but I could still hear everything that was said clearly, it was part of my nearly found abilities, coupled with the wings and the mind manipulation. There was still a lot that was unfolding and I was not stable enough to be around them for now. I had to be able to control my mood which seemed to take a swing every couple of minute and at the slightest irritation, what happened next was usually a bit of a blur to me, just like what had happened days ago to the soldiers. When I watched on the news the number of body that had been found and how they were murdered, I couldnt believe I had done that. It took a while for me to finally know how to control the wings and make them regress when I wanted, but I was still having a hard time controlling the other gifts. The girl in black came to a stop and as soon as she started raising her head towards my direction, I quickly hid behind the tree in front of me hoping that she hadnt seen me. I watched her look around and Justin ask her if she was fine, she responded affirmatively and they both walked towards the car, Justin popping into the drivers seat like he always did and driving away.

I came out of hiding and placed my hood over my head, walking toward the men that were still piling up sand on the coffin, I walked to the edge of the hole and one of them asked what I wanted, I did not respond, as I didnt want to give out my identity and cause another ruckus, placing the rose that I had brought by the side of the hole, I walked away with both hands in the side pocket of my hood.

*

Nikita groaned and opened her eyes, turning to look around. Sighing, she shifted on the bed and sat up straight, turning to look at the bandage on her chest, the pain had healed and didnt hurt anymore like it did few days ago, she had been relegated to stay in bed in the same house as the other gifted by Zion, at least until she was able to regain her full strength and could come back to the team that planned for the day of alignment. Zion had finally paid her a visit the day before and she had told him that the mission was successful and that the boy had been killed, as she tried to also convince herself that there was no way he could have made it, and when asked about Shelby, she had successfully pinned her death of on him, and his crew as well, saying she barely escaped with her life as the scene became more bloody than they had predicted. Now that the uncertainty was out of their hair, they only had one mission, and that was to repel the attack from the guardians that were arriving, and holding them off for the rest of the three weeks before the alignment.

She got up from her bed and walked into the sitting room, walking to the kitchen to pour herself some water, she was gulping it when she turned back and was startled by Rachel standing behind her, and staring at her intensely. She slowly pulled the cup from her mouth and she knew what was happening; she was trying to rip out the true event by accessing her mind and she had prepared for it. She quickly reached for the bracelet on her arm and activated it, it was a mini wave distorter that made it hard for anyone around two miles to fully concentrate for long, she was never going to allow a freak was never going to break into her private life. She place the glass on the kitchen stand and smiled at Rachel who looked to be having a certain kind of tremor as blood rolled down her nose but she persisted. Nikita walked towards her and held her head, planting a kiss on it as Rachel gave a loud sigh and pulled back in frustration.

"Why cant I get through to your mind, I want to see how it ended for Shelby and the kind of death that is befitting for them when the time comes."

Nikita smiled as a certain realization hit her. "Why didn't you tell her?" She asked curiously.

Rachel sighed and took her sit on the edge of one of the cushions in the living room. "She always had her heart longing for that bastard." She chuckled in pain. "Too bad he eventually became the end of her. I had always told her that this was war and she had to pick sides, I was by her side all this while, but she never looked at me once. She was so blinded by her love and she died for it."

Nikita gave a fake smile and came to her side, and although it was fake, the feeling was something she could relate to. Unrequited love really hurt the most. She tried to console her by patting her on her back. Rachel sniffled, wiping her face.

"Was it painful for her?" She asked.

"No it wasn't." Nikita replied. "He pointed a gun at her when he thought she was going to harm his family, but she was not. She was only trying to help them escape, contrary to what I had told her. I guess her love for him was that strong. He pulled the trigger twice, and she was dead before she knew it."

Rachel grunted in pain, shutting her eyes as anger built in her. "Its unfortunate that i wont get to come face to face with him and end his life myself."

"You might not have that opportunity, but you can make sure his crew pays for the sins he had committed." Nikita patted her on her back again, pulling her in for a close hug as she smirked behind her. She was loving the power and influence she was beginning to have on the freaks, they might have sworn allegiance to Zion, but she could make them her little puppets too

A maid walked in on them and announced to her that Zion was in the garden and had requested that she joined him. She slowly let go of Rachel and bent to look at her.

"I'm here for whatever you need and dont worry, when the time comes, I will let you have them to yourself."

*

Nikita found Zion standing at the middle of the garden, staring at the family of hibiscus flowers. He looked as magnificent as ever, his black hat place on his head, as he held on to a walking stick; that was new.

"You know humans in all their self acclaimed wisdom have never gotten right the origin of the hibiscus flower. Some claim it originated from china, some others claim it is from Japan, and some others also claim it originated in Hawaii, but they are all wrong. The hibiscus flower just like us, is an alien to this planet that was mistakenly transported from our galaxy to yours, during our escape here. It has fought to survive in your world, under an entirely different atmosphere, evolving over the years just to try to fit in and blend in with the other flowers that had been here all their lives and with time, its popularity rose and now its one of the famous one among your species."

Zion turned to Nikita who had also placed her gaze on the flower. It was one thing she loved about him, his vast knowledge of things, knowledge that would take almost a lifetime to discover.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, smiling and gesticulating at her chest.

"I'm fine now." She replied.

"Well, thats good because tonight is the night it all begins, the end of your planet and the entire universe as you know it and the ascension of a new one.”

Nikita heart mumbled in pleasure, she loved the sound of that, now that all the puns had been taken out, it was finally time to checkmate the king. "What exactly is happening tonight?" She asked.

"The whole process will kick off tonight; we are planning to carry out three plans simultaneously. First, I have secured the location that the guardians that arriving would be landing to meet the one here and the last remaining member of her crew, I have put in motion a plan that would end all of them at the moment they come together. I spoke to the President of the country, and the United States have agreed to give us control of all of their drones in the area. At the moment they are sighted on land, we will launch a drone that will end every one of them on the spot and will put that behind us. You have proven your capabilities to me and i will be putting you in charge of that."

Nikita smiled at the corner of her mouth. "It would be my pleasure."

"Also, we will be activating the five watchtowers today and sending an energy strong enough to shake the gates of Orca and keep it open for about three minutes, this will give the fallen that have been locked up there enough time and the perfect warmhole to escape to your planet and join our quest. We need more manpower if we ever wish to be successful this time. Finally after that, we will be lauching the last program that would create a shield around your planet and prevent anything from going into and coming in from space till the mission is complete, this would prevent any further reinforcement from gaining access to the planet until we are done."

Nikita was silent for a while, the plan was a perfect one, but she had a bit of a concern and wanted to know where his priorities laid.

"You know your daughter will be among those that would be killed right?"

Zion turned to look at her. "I dont have a daughter, anyone that stands on my way is an enemy that must be dealt with. I hope you would be ready for this evening, it would be a magnificent scene."

“If you are that confident, I need one more favour."

"What is it?"

"The girl, Rachel, I want her to be my partner for this one."

Zion remained silent for a while. "If you can promise that the fate that befell the previous one would not befall this, then you can go with her to their drone control centre."

"I promise."

"She will be joining you then." He responded as he walked away slowly, doing his ritual humming as he did.

Thank you Mynd44, I hope the problem would not persist any longer.

The next chapter would be dropping tomorrow. Thanks for everyone that made this possible, I really appreciate it. Special thanks to Evajael and enirock, ya'll are the best

CHAPTER TWENTY

Ten minutes earlier

Justin stared at the CCTV camera just above his head. "This is the last place he was spotted." He clicked into his Ipad. "You know, I must commend him for being able to avoid almost all the CCTV cameras available and if not that we really knew him, and the set of clothes he had, we wouldnt have been able to find him too. There are about 23 square metres between this spot and the next set of cameras and he never made it to them, so he should be around here some place." He raised his head and turned to the girl in black who still had the worried look on her face.

He followed her gaze and she was staring at a park that stood across the street.

"You think he came out for a picnic?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood.

The girl in black rolled her eyes and walked past him. "We have to find him fast, I have a bad feeling about all these and things dont happen to go certainly well when I get this kind of feeling."

Justin scoffed and tried to catch up with her. "And who is to blame for that? I mean, I have not been able to have a good night rest since yesterday night because somebody decided that this was the best time to go AWOL on us. He has just been tagged the most dangerous person in the country and that is the exact moment he decided to take a stroll into paradise."

The girl in black turned to Justin, she was beginning to get irritated by his constant blame game and needed to get her thoughts in one place without having him distort them. "Can you stop with all the blaming, when this issue is resolved, there will more than enough to go around. Right now, all we need to do is to find Zeke and hope that everything is alright with him because he might be in danger."

Justin scoffed and turned away from her. "Thats right, yell at me. You sympathize with the one at fault and yell at the one trying to make things right." He clicked his teeth and turned to look around. "Talking about danger, why does it seem like people are running away from that direction."

The girl in black turned to the direction and immediately, her heart began to race. "It must be him, come on."

Justin stood rooted to the spot, not believing his ears. "I dont think you understand. He screamed after her. We should be running away from danger and not towards danger." He stared at the girl in black helplessly as she turned a deaf ear to him and disappeared beyond the park. He slapped his inner face and sighed deeply before following suit.

*

Justin stretched his head trying to get a glimpse of what was happening amidst the crowd that was gathered around, albeit from a safe distance, he became alarmed as soon as he saw Zeke standing in the midst of the chaos, and immediately turned to look for the girl in black, but she seemed to have disappeared into the crowd. He took a few steps forward towards the scene as he heard a gun go off and people began to take cover. Somebody dragged him aside and he finally found the girl in black.

"Its Zeke, they have his family and I think Nikita is behind all this." She said panting and also taking cover

"We have to get them out of there then." He replied peeping past the pillar they were hiding behind, trying to look at the scene as more gunshots went off.

The girl in black shook her head. "I think its too late for that. They made Shelby shoot his mom, I think shes dead, his siblings too. We can only savage the situation and try to get him out of there.”

"Oh my God!" Justin exclaimed ignoring everything that the girl in black had been saying as he walked out of their hiding spot his mouth slightly opened and his gaze fixed on the spot.
He couldnt believe what he was seeing, his theory had been correct, but what was this?

*

I stared at the soldiers all running around to take cover behind their vehicles as they stared at something behind me that I couldnt see. Nikita and Shelby also had their gaze fixed on me, shock and surprise written all over their faces, as they took steps backwards, trying to put more distance between us. Nikita pointed her gun towards me and to my surprise, I didnt flinch, maybe because I wanted it to end at that moment and didnt care what happened as she pulled the trigger and there was loud bang. Suddenly, everything stopped moving and I could see the bullet drive slowly towards me, it was as if I was watching all of it unfold, like a third party watching a super hero movie. Just as the bullet was about to hit me, something suddenly appeared in front of me and blocked it from hitting me. The bullet ricocheted and hit one of the soldiers in between the head; he fell to the ground lifeless. I stared at it as it slowly retreated, watching it all occur like an out of body experience, I turned to the other side and found another like it, slowly moving behind me too and I seemed capable of controlling them. I moved them slowly in front of me, not having a full knowledge of what was happening; I was caught in a dilemma of what was real and what wasnt.

My gaze caught Nikita who seemed to be in the same dilemma as I was, I could see her lips move and she screamed out something, but I was deaf to my surroundings and couldnt make out the word she had said. The world seemed rather peaceful at that point and moved very slowly, I could feel every single emotion and movement around me, I had none of my own, it had been turned off and I felt numb. The soldiers all came out of their hiding spots and fired endlessly in my direction. I quickly stepped in between the wings and covered myself with them as countless bullets hit them and deflected away. As soon as they stopped to reload, I made my move. I didnt know how, but I suddenly knew what to do. I turned to two of the soldiers that stood to my left and stared at them, I was able to get into their head without any effort and defeated their self will easily. I manipulated their self will and made them turn the gun at each other and I watched in amusement as they blew each others head off.

This caused a spark amongst the others and some of them began dropping their weapons and making it for the crowd, I turned back to the direction Nikita and Shelby had been standing and there was no one there, stretching my wings to its fullest length, I turned to the soldiers that were trying to escape, I was not going to let any of them live, not even a single one.

*

"There, behind the car." Justin pointed in the direction of Nikita and Shelby.

The girl in black slowly pulled out her swords and tapped Justin on his shoulders. "You know how to hotwire a car right?"

“Woah, woah, woah, just because Im a tech expert doesnt give you the right to make assumptions. Hotwiring a car is illegal, and only accepted if the car is yours and you misplaced your keys which I dont seem to have done, so I dont know why you would ask such questions.”

The girl in black ignored him and bent her head. "Get a car up and running if you want to get out of here alive." She hurried away, tiptoeing towards the scene.

“What are you doing?" Justin whispered aloud. He quickly hid his face, slapping his head. This was not what he had signed up for, he was supposed to be the brain of the operation and not do the dirty field work. There was a loud back and the crowd screamed all trying to run away from the scene. He quickly joined the crowd and made it towards the car park.

*

Nikita hurried behind the van, dragging Shelby with her, panting heavily, she pushed her against the van and quickly brought out her phone to place a call. She slowly took a look at the scene as more soldiers began to run towards the crowd. The receiver rang for a while, but there was no response. She grunted in anger and pulled out her guns bullet chamber, reloading it. She dragged Shelby by her collar and held her close to herself, placing the gun on her head as she slowly came out of hiding and took slow steps away from the scene.

"You think you can use me as cover and get away from this, youre forgetting that you just made me kill his mom and you murdered his entire family." Shelby laughed hysterically, tears rolling down her face as her heart ached to what she had been made to do.

“Well, I am getting away from this place, one way or the other and you mean nothing to me. I'm sure Zion would not miss you much and can replace you with another freak."

"And you're forgetting that I dont take orders directly from you." Shelby replied slowly pulling out a small dagger disguised as a hairpin.

She pulled out of Nikitas grip and stuck it into her chest in anger, taking steps away as she watched Nikita struggle to withstand the pain and pull it out. Nikita raised her head in anger and pointed the gun at her, pulling the trigger twice, she applied pressure on her chest and made it for the crowd, quickly blending in with them. Shelby felt the impact of the bullets, one hitting her on the abdomen and the other on her arm, she felt it sting but wasnt bothered by it, she deserved it for being weak and unable to break free from the influence Zion had placed on her no matter how hard she tried. She had thought it was the only way to protect her family but it had been worse than she had imagined.

She managed to turn around, her gaze catching the dead bodies that laid on the ground, some of the soldiers and then Zekes family. She stared at them for a while, hoping they could forgive and not hold grudges against her as she was steps away from joining them. She was becoming dizzy from the loss of blood and she knew at that moment that the bullet had grazed an important blood vessel in her abdomen, she smiled, blood slowly slipping out of her mouth. She knew it wouldn’t be long before it was all over. She raised her head and saw him in the air, Zeke, he looked so blood thirsty, and had was ripping the soldiers apart, as she fell to her knees, she wonder what he was, he was different from them and had been the hardest among the others to manipulate with her mind, too bad she wasnt going to be around to find out. It hurt her that till her last breath, she still loved him and although she knew she no longer deserved his love, she still longed for it.

*

The girl in black slowly pulled up behind one of the soldiers that was trying to take an aim at Zeke in the air and swiped her sword across his neck. She wiped the blood stain on his cloth and took cover, she turned to the direction Nikita and Shelby had been standing, but there was no one there any longer. She heard a gun go off twice and saw Nikita run towards the crowd, holding her chest, there was no sign of Shelby anywhere and this made her hurry towards the direction of the car as a soldier boy flew across her and smashed into the wall of the building. Her gaze caught Zeke in the air as he slaughtered the soldiers in anger. A part of her felt relieved that he could finally take care of himself and she didnt need to worry any longer, but the other part wondered what the new development meant for her and the mission, surely if Zeke was an enemy, she had to put him down. She reached the car and found Shelby lying on the ground, her eyes opened as she laboured to breathe. She immediately bent beside her to assess the level of damage.

"Damn." She muttered turning to look around as the noise had suddenly died down. She turned to look around and found all the soldiers dead. She saw Zeke fly toward her and was alarmed because she thought he had come to finish Shelby off. She slowly pulled out her sword, she was not going to let him do it, he was going to have to go through her. Zeke slowly landed in front her and she could see his eyes clearly. It was an unusual colour, one that she hadnt encountered before, bloodshot and she could see his canine teeth too, they had grown slightly longer. He stared at her and then at Shelby, watching her wince in pain as life left her in every single breath.

"She needs help." The girl in black muttered not taking her guard down for a second. 'She needs to be in the hospital in two minutes, if not she would die. The nearest is about five minutes away and we would not make it in time."

Zeke stared at Shelby for some more time before turning his back on her and flying away, deep into the sky. A car pulled up immediately and its horn went off twice, the girl in black raised her head and found Justin in it, she quickly raised Shelby and placed her in the back sit.

"We have to get her to the hospital her chances are slim."

Justin put the car in full speed and drove off.

*

Nikita hurried across the street, trying to hide her wound with the hair scaff she had stolen from the park. She stepped into the car that was waiting for her and groaned in pain as she took her sit.

"It took you long enough." She said angrily.

"I need to confirm the status of the mission." The man in the drivers sit replied.

"Now? You need to do that now? Cant you see that I am injured? Take me to the hospital." She argued.

"I'm sorry maam, i cant do that." The man replied. "I need to know the status of the mission." He said again.

"There's no way he would survive, he is dead." She replied angrily.

"And the girl?' He asked.

"Dead too, he killed her."

The man started the car and quickly pulled out a gun on her.

"Zion sends his regards." He shot a needle at her, sedating her.

"Sleep tight." He spoke before driving away.

Would try again tomorrow to put up the chapter that was taken down and if it is successful, I will try to put up the new chapter. If you receive nothing from me, that means I've been banned again.

Thanks for the patience, I really do appreciate it.

-

Ignore this, I think it has been rectified now

Gaiusc:
This Is One Of The Best Stories I Have Read. Keep Up The Good Work.


This suspence ehn...

Welcome on board.

HORLADSTAR:
HORLADSTAR on this one.

HORLADSTAR it's been a while, how have you been?

sodeeqsulaimon88:
Thank you for the mention I really appreciate

You're welcome

enirock:
I don't think Zeke's mon and siblings were those killed. I believe the face stealer gave their faces to other people. This one Nikita is being sedated, is Zion trying to dispose of her, or he doesn't want her knowing where she's been taken to Thanks Frankline for the updates.

Thanks for following

Lakesc:
I pity shelby small sha...

Thanks for the comment

EvaJael:
Someone should just kill this Nikita already. I'm tired of her drama.

I can't be the only one that feels indifferent towards Shelby .

Thanks for following

nkemdave:
After the long silence on Nairaland, I'm back to meet this wonderful story written by one of my favourite authors on Nairaland

I Have occupied till infinity oo

Welcome on board man, been a while. How have you been?

sodeeqsulaimon88
It's here!
YOUR COMMENTS ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED!!

EvaJael:
I guess writers just got busy with their lives. I left for a while as well, because of school. Hopefully, we'll get back everyone that made the place lively, or most of them.
I've been goodie good�. I trust it's the same with you.

Hopefully.

Yeah, been good too, just school and its baggage.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Ten minutes earlier

Justin stared at the CCTV camera just above his head. “This is the last place he was spotted.” He clicked into his Ipad. “You know, I must commend him for being able to avoid almost all the CCTV cameras available and if not that we really knew him, and the set of clothes he had, we wouldn’t have been able to find him too. There are about 23 square metres between this spot and the next set of cameras and he never made it to them, so he should be around here some place.” He raised his head and turned to the girl in black who still had the worried look on her face.

He followed her gaze and she was staring at a park that stood across the street.

“You think he came out for a picnic?” He asked, trying to lighten the mood.

The girl in black rolled her eyes and walked past him. “We have to find him fast, I have a bad feeling about all these and things don’t happen to go certainly well when I get this kind of feeling.

Justin scoffed and tried to catch up with her. “And who is to blame for that? I mean, I have not been able to have a good night rest since yesterday night because somebody decided that this was the best time to go AWOL on us. He has just been tagged the most dangerous person in the country and that is the exact moment he decided to take a stroll into paradise.”

The girl in black turned to Justin, she was beginning to get irritated by his constant blame game and needed to get her thoughts in one place without having him distort them. “Can you stop with all the blaming, when this issue is resolved, there will more than enough to go around. Right now, all we need to do is to find Zeke and hope that everything is alright with him because he might be in danger.”
Justin scoffed and turned away from her. “That’s right, yell at me. You sympathize with the one at fault and yell at the one trying to make things right.” He clicked his teeth and turned to look around. “Talking about danger, why does it seem like people are running away from that direction.”

The girl in black turned to the direction and immediately, her heart began to race. “It must be him, come on.”

Justin stood rooted to the spot, not believing his ears. “I don’t think you understand.” He screamed after her. “We should be running away from danger and not towards danger.” He stared at the girl in black helplessly as she turned a deaf ear to him and disappeared beyond the park. He slapped his inner face and sighed deeply before following suit.

*

Justin stretched his head trying to get a glimpse of what was happening amidst the crowd that was gathered around, albeit from a safe distance, he became alarmed as soon as he saw Zeke standing in the midst of the chaos, and immediately turned to look for the girl in black, but she seemed to have disappeared into the crowd. He took a few steps forward towards the scene as he heard a gun go off and people began to take cover. Somebody dragged him aside and he finally found the girl in black.

“It’s Zeke, they have his family and I think Nikita is behind all this.” She said panting and also taking cover

“We have to get them out of there then.” He replied peeping past the pillar they were hiding behind, trying to look at the scene as more gunshots went off.

The girl in black shook her head. “I think it’s too late for that. They made Shelby shoot his mom, I think she’s dead, his siblings too. We can only savage the situation and try to get him out of there.”

“Oh my God!” Justin exclaimed ignoring everything that the girl in black had been saying as he walked out of their hiding spot his mouth slightly opened and his gaze fixed on the spot.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, his theory had been correct, but what was this?

*

I stared at the soldiers all running around to take cover behind their vehicles as they stared at something behind me that I couldn’t see. Nikita and Shelby also had their gaze fixed on me, shock and surprise written all over their faces, as they took steps backwards, trying to put more distance between us. Nikita pointed her gun towards me and to my surprise, I didn’t flinch, maybe because I wanted it to end at that moment and didn’t care what happened as she pulled the trigger and there was loud bang. Suddenly, everything stopped moving and I could see the bullet drive slowly towards me, it was as if I was watching all of it unfold, like a third party watching a super hero movie. Just as the bullet was about to hit me, something suddenly appeared in front of me and blocked it from hitting me. The bullet ricocheted and hit one of the soldiers in between the head; he fell to the ground lifeless. I stared at it as it slowly retreated, watching it all occur like an out of body experience, I turned to the other side and found another like it, slowly moving behind me too and I seemed capable of controlling them. I moved them slowly in front of me, not having a full knowledge of what was happening; I was caught in a dilemma of what was real and what wasn’t.

My gaze caught Nikita who seemed to be in the same dilemma as I was, I could see her lips move and she screamed out something, but I was deaf to my surroundings and couldn’t make out the word she had said. The world seemed rather peaceful at that point and moved very slowly, I could feel every single emotion and movement around me, I had none of my own, it had been turned off and I felt numb. The soldiers all came out of their hiding spots and fired endlessly in my direction. I quickly stepped in between the wings and covered myself with them as countless bullets hit them and deflected away. As soon as they stopped to reload, I made my move. I didn’t know how, but I suddenly knew what to do. I turned to two of the soldiers that stood to my left and stared at them, I was able to get into their head without any effort and defeated their self will easily. I manipulated their self will and made them turn the gun at each other and I watched in amusement as they blew each other’s head off.

This caused a spark amongst the others and some of them began dropping their weapons and making it for the crowd, I turned back to the direction Nikita and Shelby had been standing and there was no one there, stretching my wings to its fullest length, I turned to the soldiers that were trying to escape, I was not going to let any of them live, not even a single one.

*

“There, behind the car.” Justin pointed in the direction of Nikita and Shelby.

The girl in black slowly pulled out her swords and tapped Justin on his shoulders. “You know how to hotwire a car right?”

“Woah, woah, woah, just because I’m a tech expert doesn’t give you the right to make assumptions. Hotwiring a car is illegal, and only accepted if the car is yours and you misplaced your keys which I don’t seem to have done, so I don’t know why you would ask such questions.”

The girl in black ignored him and bent her head. “Get a car up and running if you want to get out of here alive.” She hurried away, tiptoeing towards the scene.

“What are you doing?” Justin whispered aloud. He quickly hid his face, slapping his head. This was not what he had signed up for, he was supposed to be the brain of the operation and not do the dirty field work. There was a loud back and the crowd screamed all trying to run away from the scene. He quickly joined the crowd and made it towards the car park.

*

Nikita hurried behind the van, dragging Shelby with her, panting heavily, she pushed her against the van and quickly brought out her phone to place a call. She slowly took a look at the scene as more soldiers began to run towards the crowd. The receiver rang for a while, but there was no response. She grunted in anger and pulled out her gun’s bullet chamber, reloading it. She dragged Shelby by her collar and held her close to herself, placing the gun on her head as she slowly came out of hiding and took slow steps away from the scene.

“You think you can use me as cover and get away from this, you’re forgetting that you just made me kill his mom and you murdered his entire family.” Shelby laughed hysterically, tears rolling down her face as her heart ached to what she had been made to do.

“Well, I am getting away from this place, one way or the other and you mean nothing to me. I’m sure Zion would not miss you much and can replace you with another freak.”

“And you’re forgetting that I don’t take orders directly from you.” Shelby replied slowly pulling out a small dagger disguised as a hairpin.

She pulled out of Nikita’s grip and stuck it into her chest in anger, taking steps away as she watched Nikita struggle to withstand the pain and pull it out. Nikita raised her head in anger and pointed the gun at her, pulling the trigger twice, she applied pressure on her chest and made it for the crowd, quickly blending in with them. Shelby felt the impact of the bullets, one hitting her on the abdomen and the other on her arm, she felt it sting but wasn’t bothered by it, she deserved it for being weak and unable to break free from the influence Zion had placed on her no matter how hard she tried. She had thought it was the only way to protect her family but it had been worse than she had imagined.

She managed to turn around, her gaze catching the dead bodies that laid on the ground, some of the soldiers and then Zeke’s family. She stared at them for a while, hoping they could forgive and not hold grudges against her as she was steps away from joining them. She was becoming dizzy from the loss of blood and she knew at that moment that the bullet had grazed an important blood vessel in her abdomen, she smiled, blood slowly slipping out of her mouth. She knew it wouldn’t be long before it was all over. She raised her head and saw him in the air, Zeke, he looked so blood thirsty, and had was ripping the soldiers apart, as she fell to her knees, she wonder what he was, he was different from them and had been the hardest among the others to manipulate with her mind, too bad she wasn’t going to be around to find out. It hurt her that till her last breath, she still loved him and although she knew she no longer deserved his love, she still longed for it.

*

The girl in black slowly pulled up behind one of the soldiers that was trying to take an aim at Zeke in the air and swiped her sword across his neck. She wiped the blood stain on his cloth and took cover, she turned to the direction Nikita and Shelby had been standing, but there was no one there any longer. She heard a gun go off twice and saw Nikita run towards the crowd, holding her chest, there was no sign of Shelby anywhere and this made her hurry towards the direction of the car as a soldier boy flew across her and smashed into the wall of the building. Her gaze caught Zeke in the air as he slaughtered the soldiers in anger. A part of her felt relieved that he could finally take care of himself and she didn’t need to worry any longer, but the other part wondered what the new development meant for her and the mission, surely if Zeke was an enemy, she had to put him down. She reached the car and found Shelby lying on the ground, her eyes opened as she laboured to breathe. She immediately bent beside her to assess the level of damage.

“Damn.” She muttered turning to look around as the noise had suddenly died down. She turned to look around and found all the soldiers dead. She saw Zeke fly toward her and was alarmed because she thought he had come to finish Shelby off. She slowly pulled out her sword, she was not going to let him do it, he was going to have to go through her. Zeke slowly landed in front her and she could see his eyes clearly. It was an unusual colour, one that she hadn’t encountered before, bloodshot and she could see his canine teeth too, they had grown slightly longer. He stared at her and then at Shelby, watching her wince in pain as life left her in every single breath.

“She needs help.” The girl in black muttered not taking her guard down for a second. “She needs to be in the hospital in two minutes, if not she would die. The nearest is about five minutes away and we would not make it in time.”

Zeke stared at Shelby for some more time before turning his back on her and flying away, deep into the sky. A car pulled up immediately and its horn went off twice, the girl in black raised her head and found Justin in it, she quickly raised Shelby and placed her in the back sit.

“We have to get her to the hospital her chances are slim.”

Justin put the car in full speed and drove off.

*

Nikita hurried across the street, trying to hide her wound with the hair scaff she had stolen from the park. She stepped into the car that was waiting for her and groaned in pain as she took her sit.

“It took you long enough.” She said angrily.

“I need to confirm the status of the mission.” The man in the driver’s sit replied.

“Now? You need to do that now? Can’t you see that I am injured? Take me to the hospital.” She argued.

“I’m sorry maam, i can’t do that.” The man replied. “I need to know the status of the mission.” He said again.

“There’s no way he would survive, he is dead.” She replied angrily.

“And the girl?” He asked.

“Dead too, he killed her.”


The man started the car and quickly pulled out a gun on her. "Zion sends his regards." He shot a needle at her, sedating her.

“Sleep tight.” He spoke before driving away.

Update dropping soon, stay tuned!!

EvaJael:
It's been a minute, Frankline461. I stumbled on this today and it's such an awesome read. Well done!

Hey EvaJael, yeah, it's been a while. Noticed when I came back that the literature section is not as lively as it had been back then. Do you know what really happened? Also, hope you've been good.

yungbanks:
Ghen Ghen let the show begin

samfrancis1:
nice update.

Thanks for following

Khriztarl:
Ahah, at least one of his 'family' should survive na. I feel bad for zeke.
Nikita get ready for war. Frankline thanks alot

Thanks for following

sodeeqsulaimon88:
Wow,this is such a nice piece
Its really captivating
kindly mention me in your next post

Welcome on board, would make a mental note. Thanks for the comment

Lakesc:
Nikita is truely terrible, thanks to her though zeke will now realize his full potential....

Thanks for the comment

jupitre:
Shelby killing his mom is out of it..it's going to take time for him to move on from that and to forgive her..He might forgive but forget,nah.
But the most obvious thing is even if Zeke forgives her,she's not going to forgive herself..Letting her live with what she did
Apart from the wings aspect,he should have some other abilities too na

Let's watch and see. Thanks for following

PenHub:
Wow...
Getting intense.
Hopes zekes' safe.
Now I'm forming smtin in my head. Is zeke a sister to the girl line black?

Thanks for following

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Justin opened the door that led into the apartment and threw his bag on one of the cushion. He as he walked towards the fridge and helped himself to a glass of water, he gulped down all its content all in one take, sighing loudly as soon as he finished. He replaced the glass on the tiled upstand and walked into the living room to take his sit

“So what you’re trying to tell me you think that your father, I mean Zion, has coerced the other gifted to swear allegiance to him and is using them as a wildcard to win this war?”

The girl in black nodded and pulled her sword from her waist, placing it on the side table. She sighed in frustration wondering how it was possible to stop Zion at this stage. She winced in pain as she ran her hand over a little bruise on it, chuckling in unbelief as her mind replayed the events that had taken place in the chapel. She knew that if they were going to stand any chance of winning this war, they had to take out the variables and make the ground fair.

“Yes.”

“And one of these hunters have the ability of making clones that look just the same way as a real human?”

The girl in black walked towards the cupboard in the kitchen and searched through the content, she pulled out the jar that contained honey and use a spoon to drag some out, placing it on her open wound and rubbing it on gently. Now that she had heard it said out aloud, she also felt it felt stupid. How could somebody have the capability of making the exact clones of people just with their minds, but she knew what she saw; clones that looked exactly like the pope and were even susceptible to touch, but became ashes as soon as she hurt them.

“I’m not certain, but from my little experience, that is the only explanation for it.”

Justin sighed and shook his head. “If I truly belong to the linage of these so called hunters, then I feel like the most useless one in the crew.” He gave a defeated expression.

The girl in black placed the jar back into the cupboard and walked out of the living room, she felt exhausted and knew that she needed to rest to regain her strength. She was spending longer than she and every other guardian had expected and it was beginning to tell in the way she felt weaker than usual after every confrontation. She needed to recharge and she needed to do it before the final showdown. As he fell on to the bed, she felt something was out of place. Yes, Zeke was nowhere to be found. She dragged herself up from the bed and walked towards his room, knocking before pulling the door open. She was met with silence and emptiness, the bed looking well arranged like it had not been laid on for a while. She shut the door and walked back to the living room, catching Justin’s sad expression as he continued to feel sorry for himself. Her gaze went to the clock stand and it was a little past nine.

“Where is Zeke?” She asked.

Justin slowly rolled his head in her direction as the realization also hit him. He turned to look around as if he might had been standing somewhere in the room, watching the mini drama they had been playing out.

“He is not in his room?” He asked.

“No, he is not.” She replied.

“Well, maybe he stepped out to grab us some dinner. I’m really famished.” He replied, turning away to continue his ritual.

The girl in black walked towards one of the chair and sat on it, Justin’s explanation seemed logical but she still fell unease. “Can you track down his device just to be sure?” She said, squeezing her hands to improve her blood circulation.

Justin walked towards his backpack and pulled out his PC from it. He ran a program and inputted Zeke’s phone IP address into it, turning to look at the girl in black as it processed, unable to hide his curiosity. “If one of the can mind clone people and make them seem real, what are the remaining two capable of? I’m not really asking because I’m curious or anything, I just want to know what we are up against and try to figure out a way we can win.”

The girl in black scoffed, his intentions were clearly portrayed in his tone and choice of words. “Well I’m not sure which is which, but one of them should be able to read minds and the other is a face stealer.”

Justin scorned in anger. “I really am the most useless one.” He turned back to his PC angrily as it beeped. “Are you sure he is not in his room?” He asked, clicking into his PC.

“Yes?” The girl in black responded as the feeling grew in her.

Justin clicked further into his PC and suddenly came to a stop. “Well, it’s either he forgot to go with his phone, or he intentionally left it behind, because his phone is in his room.” He looked over his PC towards the girl in black worried as he caught her worried gaze too, he immediately began to click further into his PC.

The girl in black stood from her chair and walked towards his direction. “Something is wrong then, we have a standing order not to go anywhere without our phones.”

“Yes, I know that, but he might perhaps have forgotten and left it behind. I will try to track him using his earpod. He would never leave that behind.” He clicked and came to a stop, turning to look at the girl in black. “Something is wrong, it’s unreachable.

*

Zion walked towards the big screen that stood in front of the room, he placed his hat on the little podium that stood in front of him as he stared at the mini crowd that sat, watching him.

He smiled and began. “Centuries ago, we were condemned and sent away from our home, cast off like the shadows because we wanted the inevitable, the opportunity to bring light to other galaxies and show them our supremacy. Our visions were dismissed as being treachous and we were rounded up and forced to move away from our families and friends and made to face the most humiliating consequences that existed, Orca.
We survived every single thing that life threw at us after that moment, breaking free from captivity, and taking with us the one true key to our success, the Vynet. We had to escape to a far away galaxy even though we didn’t know what awaited us and lived like slaves amongst inferior species, whilst not forgetting our goal and those that have died for it. Slowly we built our army again, and in rage, we struck back, using our newly found weapon to simultaneously coordinate its effect in every single galaxy that existed. But due to unforeseen circumstances, we couldn’t fully pay them back, something that proved to be a blessing in disguise as we finally discovered the capability of the weapon we were wielding.”

He held his arm out and every single carrier stepped forward, handing over their Vynet to him. He received them and turned to Nikita who was standing to his left. She smiled and walked towards him, handing him a device. He placed all the Vynets side by side and placed the device at the center, the Vynets shone and slowly came together, interwinning with one another around the device.

Xiu turned to the others, unable to hide his excitement as they watched the demonstration from Zion. “It’s starting.” He said happily, a wide grin plastered on his face.

“Now that each device has been activated, you are all to return to your various countries and initiate Project arachna. All the fallens have been summoned and asked to resume in their various posts. The guardians are coming to stop us, and we will gladly receive them when they arrive.”

He hit a button and all the vynets unclicked, still shining, all the carriers stepped forward and collected their back.

“You are all to return tonight, you know what to do next.”

Nikita walked towards him, as soon as the carriers stepped out of the building. Zion held on to the device she had handed him and teased her with it.

“What about that little problem i asked you to deal with?”

“He will be out of our hair by tomorrow.” She replied.

He wrapped his hands around the device. “Everything you want is in this, but i am going to hold on to it till you deal with him. I am leaving for the Unites states tonight, join me over there when you deal with the problem here. Australia would be declaring a total blackout tonight and you shouldn’t have much problem dealing with him, from the little I’ve learnt from human, you are well driven when you want something so badly, show me how badly you want this.” He placed his hat over his head, and walked away, some guards walking in front of him as he followed them calmly.

*

I walked as quickly as I could through the streets, making sure that my hood was covering my head and properly hiding my face. I had been at it since the day before, slickly moving through the crowd and making sure that I was not recognized by anyone. I turned to my wristwatch, it was almost noon and I was some metres behind, and was running late. I didn’t doubt Nikita for a second when she said she would be sending them in a body bag if I didn’t show up and as much as I tried to plan a way to get through this, I didn’t see any way that didn’t involve me doing her biding, no matter what it was. I crossed to the other side of the road as I sighted some cops down the road, leaning on their vehicle and sipping out of the coffee cup they were holding as they discussed happily. I picked up the pace, slowly checking the map I was holding, I was about two streets away from the said position and was already two minutes late. I became more nervous and decided to increase my pace, running through the park that served as a shortcut to the meeting point.

I got to the meeting point, panting, as I looked around but didn’t find anyone there, except for a few passer-by, people walking their dogs and a few young couples, smiling and holding hands. My heart suddenly began to race as different questions filled my head. Had she left because i was late? Did she try to reach me to move forward the meeting and couldn’t because i had left my phone behind? Had she......

Almost immediately, a black van pulled up and soldiers pulled out of it all screaming and taking cover as they pointed their guns at me. I took a few steps backward and more vehicles pulled up to my position as soldiers poured out of them screaming and taking cover. Civilians in the area quickly moved way and watched the scenes from far, some quickly bring out their smart phones to record. I couldn’t bring my head around what was happening, I had made sure that I moved undetected and was certain that i wasn’t trailed. It was as if they knew where I was going to be and had been waiting. I looked up to the surrounding buildings and could also see some snipers positioned. Was this a trap from Nikita? I wondered. What did she have to gain from it?

“Put your hands where I can see them.” One of them shouted, pointing his gun at me.

I slowly raised my hands and put it on my head.

Another van pulled over amidst the ruckus and Nikita stepped out of it, she was also dressed as a soldier. She ushered some people out of the black van, their faces where covered but I recognized them, my family. They were parade before me and made to knee in front of me. Nikita turned to look at me as she smiled, slowly pulling he veil off their heads, not taking her eyes off me. I could finally see their faces, the face of my last remaining family, they looked scared and frightened, as their gaze caught mine. I was mad that they were doing this to them, they had nothing to do with anything that was happening, my little sister’s only concern was how she was how she could top her class and my brother’s was how he would get admitted into the top medical school in the country. They didn’t deserve what was happening to them.

“Let them go, I would do anything you want.” I pleaded, but they fell on deaf ears.

Nikita couldn’t keep her joy to herself as she pulled her gun and pointed it t my little sister’s head. My heart skipped and I held my breath. “Please.” I murmured under my breath.

She gave a loud laughter and pulled the gun away, as I sighed in relief, adrenaline pumping through my blood stream. “You know, as I was tied to the chair in your living room, I kept replaying this moment over and over again in my head and I thought of the best way this could hurt.” She gave a wicked smile and turned to the van. “You can come out now.”

I followed her gaze and watched as Shelby pulled out of the van, confused. Nikita walked slowly to her and stood behind her, caressing her hair. “An idea suddenly struck me, as I winced in pain sitting on that chair. It would hurt the most if it was done by someone you once love.”

She handed the gun to Shelby and I shook my head as tears rolled down.

“No, please Shelby, don’t do it.”

Shelby turned to look at me, it was as if she had not heard me, she cracked the gun and placed it on my mom’s head.

“She cannot do that.” Nikita said smiling. “She doesn’t take orders from you any longer.”

“Do something.” I shouted at the soldiers that stood around and pointed their guns at me, but none of them made any move, my back suddenly began to hurt and I had never felt so helpless.

My mom kept her gaze on mine as tears slowly rolled down her eyes, her lips moved and I heard her.

“I love you.” She said as Shelby squeezed the trigger and there was a loud bang as she fell to the ground, lifeless.

I watched in horror, suddenly dead to my surrounding as Nikita retrieved the gun from her and emptied it into the heads of my siblings. It felt like a dream, a horrible dream that I really wanted to wake up from, I felt nothing at that that moment, my gaze fixed on their lifeless bodies and the blood that was filling the ground, as 'Tomorrowland by Leon Elise' played slowly in my mind.

'We all fall down'

Snap

My back pain was gone and I felt a tickling in my back, I turned around and could see the soldiers running around to taking cover as they stared at something I couldn’t see. Nikita and Shelby had their gaze fixed on me, shock written all over it, as they took steps backwards. Nikita pointed her gun at me and pulled the trigger and suddenly something came in front of me, blocking it. I stared at it, as it slowly retreated, watching it all occur like an out of body experience. I turned to the other side and found another like it, slowly moving behind me too and I seemed capable of controlling them.

*

Nikita stared at Zeke confused, what the hell was happening? Zion had told her that he was special but she wouldn’t have imagined that he meant this. Wings? How did he have them when he wasn’t even a fallen. She turned to the soldiers that were all cowering, this had to end there and then.

“Kill him.” She screamed.

An update dropping soon, stay tuned!

PenHub:
Nice update frankline. The success of this mission depends on zeke. Just hope he doesn't fall on the wrong hands.
The suspense is growing.....

Thanks for the comment

jupitre:
It's getting intense..
Zeke has to understand what he is first before he can understand how to do into his power

Thanks for following

enirock:
Thanks for the dedication. I think somehow this will drive Zeke to getting in touch with his powers and somehow learning to use them little by little. Somehow Zion has been able to clone the pope and they somehow have human doing their bidding. When a man wants immortality,he goes extra length to please the giver. Thanks for the update Frankline.

Thanks for following and dropping a comment man

Lakesc:
Without Zeke understanding what he is and reaching his full potential, i clear dont see how he or the others will manage to survive all this and defect Zion. Those other guardians are taking so long to get there, hope they are not copying their Nigerian counterpart_showing up when d action is over. Thanks Op.......

Thanks for following man

ANYWAYS, YOUR COMMENTS ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED!!

Also, ghostreaders, don't ya'll think it's time to say something?

enirock:
So Zion does not know the full extent of Zeke powers or is He just feigning ignorance So Nikita's involvement has a bearing to immotality? I believe the content of the envelop Zeke received had something to do with his family. Please who is that lady Zion kept remembering on the way to meet Nikita, don't tell me there's an attraction we are not aware of. (I won't be shocked if Zeke is somehow related to Zion,or his offspring). Thanks King for the update. It just keeps getting better and more interesting. I believe Shelby will outdo this children and most probably break Zions hold on her.(my thoughts though)

Thanks for following man.

Lakesc:
If it is comfirm that Zeke's family are held hostage by Nikita and Zion, then their situation have clearly gone from bad to worse. Would he try and rescue his family or the world.. Thanks Op, luving it......

Thanks for following

Khriztarl:
Pictures of zeke's parents have been sent ni. Ahh, op this suspense big pass me oo . Thanks for the update.

Thanks for following ma'am

DEDICATED TO Khriztarl, Lakesc and enirock, thanks for following and always dropping your comments. Also, penhub, Ann20212 where are you guys?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Is it recording?”

“Wait, the output is damaged but it should be. We are also running low on battery; you have to do it now.”

“Okay.” Clears throat. “My name is Aemiliana Ahenobarbus Artakhshathra the 3rd, I don’t know if there is anyone out there to hear this message I’m transmitting. About Six months months ago, I was sent to Via Galatica to evict fallen that had escaped there, while on my mission, I and my crew were able to unveil some unexpected developments going on there. At first, we thought it was something that could be handled, if i teamed up with a few hunters here, but our path led us to uncover another unexpected set back; an higher fallen called Zion. He had been here ever since the first cleansing and had stayed here, remaining undetected for thousands of years while he slowly grew his army and made perfect plans towards the day of alignment. That was over a month ago and if this message gets to you while at peace, I want you to prepare for war. He is coming with his cavalry and all he leaves behind is death....”

“Did you hear that?”

“What.”

“Shh, there is something out there.”

“Send the message.”

“It’s being broadcasted live on every radiowave enabled platform, if there is anyone out there, they should get it.”

.

.

“Did you hear that?”

“Yes I did, it’s getting closer, we are no longer safe, we have to get away from here now.”

Lights out.

*

PRESENT

The girl in black and Justin pulled out of the cab, Justin struggling to keep the bag he was carrying on his back. She looked around the surrounding and it was quiet, with just the whistling sound of the birds and the often speeding of cars down the road. The Chapel was located in the quiet side of Sydney, a few miles away from Watamolia beach, it was the perfect place to get away from the buzzing of the city. Justin cleared his throat, interrupting the girl in black’s thoughts. She finally came through and as they walked towards the entrance of the chapel, a man walked out of it, wearing a black suit and a shade, his gaze all business like. Justin gave the girl in black a weird look and she responded with one of hers as they pushed the door open.

The chapel was bigger than it had looked in the papers, and being empty, you could see every nook and corner of it. It was much more quiet than its surrounding and even the constant ruffle of Justin’s bag could be heard so clearly. Being new to the surrounding, they both ran their gaze around, looking for the sacrament of confession, Justin finally found it and nudged the girl in black on to its direction while he took his seat in one of the many wooden long benches in the church. Amy walked slowly towards the small cubicle, walked into the confessing box and took her knee, awkwardly. As she replayed the words Justin had taught her on their way there, she made the sign of the cross and she started.

“Forgive me father, I am here to receive your confessions.”

There was a little silence from the other side and a chuckle ensued. “You know, it has been a long time I met a guardian, and switching between vessels down here does not help in any bit. It seems within this period of time, guardians have developed a sense of humour.”

The girl in black became wary, it was confirmed now; he was a fallen. She slowly reached for her sword and pulled it out of its concealment slowly.

“I am here for one thing and I would like you to hand it over peacefully before things get loud and bloody in here. I hear this is a holy place, we should try to keep it holy, shouldn’t we?”

There was another long laughter from the man on the other side of the cubicle. “I’m really liking this new version of guardians, it makes encounters less tense and not only about business, it’s a pity I don’t have much time as I have been summoned and must get going now. Maybe we will continue our little chat some other time, don’t you think?”

The girl in black scoffed, slowly taking position for any sudden attack, as she staged different reprisal attacks in her head.

”Not so fast.”

She stretched her sword and pulled back forcefully, breaking the divide between them. She was not going to allow him walk away so easily without recovering what they had come there for, she wondered what he meant by being summoned a she readjusted her stance, standing face to face with him as they both stared at each other, planning their next moves.

Justin pulled out his PC and began typing into it; he was trying to get his mind off what was happening in the other room between the girl in black and whoever the priest was. A headline caught his attention and he quickly clicked on it, hoping it was only a click bait.

‘Russia announces total lockdown and bars the use of the internet and multimedia as they deal with internal issues, amidst sightings of flying humans’

It was already happening, what they were hoping to stop was already unfolding slowly before them. It felt like the efforts they were putting to stop it was irrelevant and things were moving as smoothly as it could. He also became curious as to why these countries were locking the country and trying to prevent anyone from knowing what was happening. He quickly initiated a connection to the satellite, if Russia had just announced their total lockdown and had started revoking connections into the country, it would take a while before they were able to deactivate the satellite and move it out of their country’s range and he had to gather as much information as he could while they did. He connected his external hard drive and initiated a software that stored multiple pictures from different aerial angles in the country.

*

Zion slowly paced around the room slowly, he looked restless, but that was a perfect contrast to how he felt. He turned to look at his wristwatch, it was already past six; he had been waiting for approximately fifteen minutes and he hated waiting. He sighed again as a phone call came in. He flipped the phone to check the caller and Nikita’s name appeared boldly on the screen. He hoped it was for good news a bad one would flip everything and might drive him out of his way. He dragged the receiver button and placed the phone slowly on his ear.

“We’ve gone live in Russia, Project Arachna has been initiated in China and we are also on our way in Russia. I spoke to the prime minister of Australia, the Vice president of USA and the president of Nigeria and told them to speed up the plan, we will be going live in all three countries within three days.”

Zion lips folded into a subtle smile, how gullible humans were when they wanted something so bad, their will was unmatched and their capacity, infinite.

“And what about the other thing I asked you to take care of.” He asked.

“On it, I have come up with the perfect plan, he should be out of our hair before sunset tomorrow.”

Zion dropped the receiver and his mind felt more at peace than it had been, one of his guard walked in hastily.

“I just got word from the guard we sent to invite the pope, we have a problem.”

*

The girl in black stared at the man standing in front of her, her was no longer wearing his pope dress, he was dressed in a rather former way and held a briefcase of his own, one that she suspected held the Vynet they had come to find. He had a smirk at the corner of his mouth, one that she was tempted to slap off.

“Even with the manners they teach you guys at the academy, you all are still spoilt little brats, especially you. Your dad is trying his best to rid the planet of scums and instead of fighting by his side; you decide to take the side of his enemies.”

The girl in black repositioned, trying her best not to get influence by his tricky way. She held her sword tightly and jumped towards him, lunging it forward and swiping it horizontally. He was able to get out of the way easily, like a dance move, making sure he was still holding on to the briefcase and his clothes were not rumpled. He burst into laughter as he wiped off the little sweat that had formed on his face with his handkerchief.

“Still the same old training I see.” He checked his wristwatch again. “I really have to go now, we will settle this some other time.”

He turned to leave and the girl in black saw it as the perfect chance to attack. She stretched her sword again, but was intercepted by another sword that showed up out of nowhere. Gaining her balance, she held on to the sword and altered her stance, looking around as the man walked away. She was sure that the block had not come from him, if it hadn’t, where had it come from? She heard footsteps come out of the cotton and there he stood, an exact replica of the pope. Another footstep approached, then another, and another, all the same face and wielding a sword of theirs. Although confused, she maintained her stand and blocked the first lunge towards her.

*

I stared at the pictures I was holding intensely as my hand trembled, everything around me suddenly felt irritating and I was beginning to black out as my heart raced and probably pumped a reduced ejection fraction. I felt anger and at the same time, I was scared, i didn’t know what I would if anything happened to them; I couldn’t even handle the thought. I was holding a picture of my family; they were blindfolded and made to knee with masked gunmen standing at each end. I felt instantly helpless and my back ached again. A piece of paper slipped from the pile of pictures and I bent to pick it up. It had something inscribed on it.

‘From dust we come and to dust we return.’

I was shaken down to the bone marrow as I read this statement, it was a direct threat and it almost drove me mad. There was also something written just at the bottom of the small piece of paper. I wiped up the tears that had fallen from my eyes off it and read through

‘Your family will be waiting for you in Yokohama resort by twelve noon tomorrow, come alone or they die’

I whimpered , my legs felt too weak to carry the rest of my body as the pictures slipped out of my hands. I could no longer think straight and all I wanted at that moment was for my family to be safe, the uncertainty killed me slowly. The house phone rang and it took me a lot of courage to approach it and pick it up as I rubbed off the tears on my face.

“Hello.”

There was no response from the other side. I slowly pulled the receiver from my ears and stared at it, it was still counting. I placed the receiver back on my ears.

“Hello.”

“How do you like what I sent you?” A female voice finally came through and I recognized Nikita’s voice.

“You bit**, if you as much harm a hair on their heads, I swear i will hunt you and your generation down until there is no one left to carry on your bloodline.”

There was a very long laughter from the other side, further enraging me.

“That’s not all the gift I have for you. Turn on your television set and check out the latest news on CNN.”

I walked slowly to the TV set and picked up the remote control from the chair. I switched the channel to CNN, it was a breaking news, the country had been put on red alert because a terrorist linked to multiple killings in six other countries had been spotted in the country. I was confused and was about to speak into the receiver when the terrorist face was put up. I fell to the seat and stared at the screen in disbelief, how was that possible? My face was on the screen for over one billion viewers and I was tagged dangerous and armed, they even went as far as placing a bounty on my head and promised to reward anyone with information about me. My life was slowly turning into a nightmare before my eyes and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

“I guess you must be in shock right now, I know I would be if I was in your shoes. You should know by now that I do not give empty threats, and when I promise to fu** up your life, I fu**it up without remorse. Your family would be at the said position by noon tomorrow; it would be intriguing watching you get there with the whole country keeping an eye out for you. If you don’t turn up at the said time, they would be sent over to you in a body bag. Tik...tok, tik....tok... The time is counting.”

The line went dead.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Shelby walked further into the room; it was decorated in a peculiar way, one that fitted the kind of kids that were in the room, kids with special talents. For a start, the house they were in was situated at a strategic location, not one that was easy to track, and from the look of it, they had most of the things they needed, they even had a caretaker that handled their needs. She wondered why they were put there, away from everything and what it was that they did. From the internal decoration, things looked simple enough, one that didn’t spell obsession or restriction, but didn’t spell freedom either. She took a look at the yard, there were only two guards securing the house, and from the little demonstration they had shown, she knew they could easily take them out and get out of the house; they weren’t kept prisoners. Rachael slowly crept behind Shelby as she stared into the yard.

“We can’t leave because like you, we all swore allegiance to him.” Shelby turned to look at her, and this time, her lips were moving. “We all owe him our lives, he took us in when the rest of the world turned their backs on us, he taught us how to use our gifts and has promised to release us as soon as we help him achieve his aim.”

“Do you know what that is?” Shelby asked curiously, did they really know what they were getting themselves into?

“Something to do with payback? The point is, we know that what he is about to do may or may not be the right thing, but it is not our place to judge or try to prevent him from doing what he wants, he would achieve his aim regardless, with or without us anyways.”

Shelby scorned as she returned her gaze to the yard, her mind slowly drifted to the subway and Zeke, she wondered where he was and what he was doing. She knew he would definitely be looking for a way to stop Zion, and she secretly rooted for him in her mind that they could, the odds had stacked further up against them and their chances of ever preventing the all out alienation were becoming slimmer. At that moment, she wished she had realized what she was getting into by swearing allegiance to Zion but she knew it was what he would have expected her to do, she only hoped he understood how dire the situation was and didn’t hold any grudges against her.

‘You really love him, don’t you?’

Rachel was back in her mind, it was turning out to be true that one couldn’t keep things from her, she wondered what it felt like for her, knowing the exact motives of people around her, being able to read their minds and figure out their true intentions.

‘Yes I do.’

‘And you know that this is an all out war and love doesn’t fare well in things like this. You will be getting to face him with time and would be forced to harm him if it calls for it, it would be best not to have those kind of feelings lingering in you when the time comes.’

“Come on now, I will show you to your room.” She spoke aloud, nudging her along.

*

Zion walked down the lonely road that led to the bridge, although it had been abandoned for years, he still had the memory of a long time ago when it had still been in use. It was where they had first met, on that cold winter night, under the night sky that filled with stars. He could still remember her face vividly even after all the years that had passed, from the subtle curves on her cheeks to the almond red colour of her lips and the fold it made whenever she was in thoughts or when she intentionally teased him. How could he forget her thick curly eyebrow or how her eyes lit up whenever she smiled? It all felt like a sweet bitter memory now, one that had spent too long in his head and made him unsure if it was real or not. He looked down the lonely road and found Nikita standing at the edge of the road; she slowly turned to his direction as soon as she saw him. He walked to her and stood by her side.

“I heard you’ve had a very eventful few days.” He started.

Nikita scoffed. “That is being taken care of. You said you had something important to tell me.”

“Yes, Project Arachna will be going live in the four other countries in a few days and I want you to get ready for it.”

Nikita flinched, had she heard right? “Why the sudden change in plans? The day of alignment is still about a month away, we only just went live in china a few weeks ago after we announced the blackout, running it across four other major countries at once might arise suspicions and that is why I suggested that we did it in phases, we are only supposed to speed it up if we were lacking behind schedule, but by the look of things, we are well on track.”

“I got word that more guardians are on their way to your planet and they would be here in approximately a week, now that they are aware of my presence here, they would be coming here with all they have to stop us. We have to be ready by then, your immortality lies on it. We are very close to our goal and with just one slip up, everything could be destroyed. It’s not a chance I am willing to take. There is also a factor that I never considered that has unfolded, a boy. I had been told by other fallen about him, but I had ignored them, what could one boy do by himself? But finally getting to meet him put me off, he has an aura around him that spells trouble. He is working with the guardian and is a ruffle that should be taken out before it gets sour.”

“He wouldn’t happen to be the corky one amongst the circus, would he?” Nikita asked, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, he is a ticking bomb waiting to explode in our faces if it is not disarmed now, he does not belong to the linage of the Hunters like the rest of the others with gifts, if he did, I would have found him sooner. He is the first of his kind and I don’t know the extent of his powers yet and I also don’t plan on waiting to find out. Handle that, I will contact the heads in all countries to initiate Plan Arachna simultaneously in five days, that should give you enough time to call over the remaining carriers, activate the Vynets and initiate the sequence for the day of alignment. Also, I want all the carriers off grid and untraceable.”

“We are set in China and all our plans are unnoticeable since we took the country off grid. Russia is set to announce the same measures soon, I spoke to the president and they are going to give the statement later today. We need the same time phase to announce in Australia, the United States and Nigeria, and they are scheduled to make their announcements in three, eight and twelve days simultaneously. That way we can position the fallen henchmen there without raising eyebrows and defend the headquarters against any threats without risking an uproar.”

Zion scorned, an human uproar was never a threat to him, they were very easily disposable and even better still if he was able to activate the Vynet successfully as planned. “Get them to speed up the announcements and get the carriers here. We have no time to waste any longer.” He placed his hat back on his head and both hands into the side pocket of his sweater, walking away from Nikita and humming slowly as he did.

*

“Run me through it again, you first started feeling this pain after the accident?”The girl in black asked as she ran her fingers over my back.

“Yes, it was after the accident.”

She stared at my back again, and pushed in one of the vertebrae, I could feel it move into my body and slowly move out again, dragging my skin with it.

“I don’t know what it is.” She finally conceded and I pulled my shirt over my body. “And like Justin pointed out, you do not belong to the linage of those with gifts.”

“I knew it.” Justin spoke out loud, throwing his fist in the air like he had scored a goal.

“And how would you know?” I asked.

“Looking for them was the first thing I did when I got here, they had been very helpful during the first attack, singlehandedly preventing the attack to take down your planet before the guardians could come here and round up all of the fallen, or so we thought. Most of them had died and the rest that inherited the gifts had been killed by the time I got here and it was hard to trace down their linage and figure out who had picked up the gift. I was lucky enough to find the feeler, Shelby, she was the link to the others and with time she was bound to bring us to them, but not you. You are different from the rest, the mural specifically pointed me in your direction and although I don’t know why yet, I think this is an indication. I would have to speak to other guardians to figure out exactly what it might be, but there is only one thing that I have seen that looked like this.”

“What.” I asked curiously.

“A fallen.” She replied.

I scoffed and almost burst into laughter. “It is one thing for Justin to think up an absurd theory that I don’t fit the criteria for selection, but it is another for you to think that I am a fallen. How would that even work?”

The girl in black stood up and walked slowly to stand in front of me, she looked to be in deep thoughts. “When a fallen is inactive, or when an active fallen is killed, their wings always recede into their bodies and it looks the same way as this.”

“Ahh, good, a zombie fallen?” I couldn’t hold the laughter in any longer.

“It’s not funny you know, you said the first time you felt that kind of pain was when you took the soldiers back to the cabin and the second time was when you went to meet Shelby in the subway. What does both moment have in common?”

“Nothing.” I replied. I couldn’t believe we were really doing this.

“Wait, you think the reaction is being triggered by something?” Justin asked.

Great, that was just what we needed at that time, another conspiracy theory from Justin who seemed to be full of it.

“Yes I do, and till we find out what it is, you’re not going to be doing any field work.”

“You are kidding right?” I couldn’t believe my ears. “You are grounding me because of a nonexistent threat and an unproven fact?” I scoffed and slapped my head in disbelief.

“You were lucky that people were around when the pain was triggered, you don’t know how scared I was realizing that I sent you out all alone and that I could have been responsible for another loss to this team. I think it is best that you sit this one out.”

“Like you said, we are a team and you shouldn’t be the only one making the decision.” I turned to Justin hoping that he would back me up, but he remained silent. I scoffed again and turned back to the girl in black.

“So I guess that is that.” She said. She turned to Justin. “Were you able to figure out who the carrier is yet? We are running out of time to stop them from initiating the process, once initiated we can do little to nothing to stop them from doing whatever they want.”
Justin gave a broad smile and I knew what that meant.

“So when you gave me the Vynet to hold, I made a digital print of it you know to give us more avenue to find whoever the carrier was using real time image search.”

“And?” The girl in black asked.

“And as soon as we came into the country, I activated the search for it, using real time images from every camera in the country and....” He tapped swiftly into his PC and a half-image popped up. It was an image from the back camera of a phone and it showed part of the Vynet under the cloth of a man dressed as a priest.

“Who is he?” I asked.

Justin stared at me without saying a word, he turned to the girl in black and she gave a dissatisfied look.

“Wow, so you really are cutting me off.”

“Who is he?” She questioned and Justin loaded some newspaper articles.

“He is the head pope of Sydney and he heads the general catholic church over here, he is very popular and has won so many outstanding awards over the years. He is a very busy man, but takes out time to meet with everyone that goes to see him.”

“Good.” The girl in black spoke, tilting away from the desk. “Who is ready to go confess their sins?”

“I sure am.” Justin replied sarcastically, packing up his Pc and dragging his bag behind him.

They both walked past me and headed out of the house to my disappointment.

“What the hell do you want me to be doing?” I shouted after them as the door shut.

“It’s your day off, turn on the T.V set and Netflix and chill.” Justin replied, screaming from outside.

*

I groaned for the umpteenth time, hitting the remote control on the chair, I turned to look at the time and they hadn’t even been gone for thirty minutes. I sighed and walked into the room, and back to the living room, leaning on the chair as I tried to concentrate on the movie that was playing. Sighing, i rolled from behind the chair and landed on it in a loud thud, dissatisfied. I picked up the earpod and tapped it.

“Anyone there?” I spoke. “How is it going?”

There was no response from the other side. I sighed in frustration and threw the earpod to the chair on the other side of the room. I picked up the remote control and was about to switch the movie when the doorbell rang. They were back already? I quickly got to my feet and walked to the door opening it. I stared outside but no one was there, I looked sideways and still found no one there. I was about to shut the door when I saw a little envelope on the floor. I slowly picked it up and shut the door behind me. I walked back into the living room, sat on the chair and opened the envelope, wondering what was in it. I pulled out its content and my heartbeat suddenly spiked when I saw it, I got to my feet instinctively and had never been so scared in my life.

Thanks for your comments, and sorry for the delay.
An update would be dropping today, stay tuned

Lakesc:
This higher fallen is way ahead of zeke's crew. Those other guardians should arrived real soon o.. Thanks Op, this story line is really great and exciting....

Thanks for following

Puvo:
I don't know why I didn't see this story earlier o
But the story is a bomb

welcome on board man, glad to have you

PenHub:
Thanks for the update sir Franklin.
Really nice and thought provoking. But please can someone enlighten me on whether zeke and Zion are different pple or the same.

I see it has been answered, sorry for the delay

Khriztarl:
Interesting. Thanks for the update sir.

Thanks for following ma'am really appreciate

ijawcitizen:
Greetings sir Frankline461, you've got a brand new fan in moi, and my utmost respect and best regards.

Welcome on board man, a pleasure to have you

Ann2012:
Thanks for the update

Thanks for following

enirock:
Thanks for the update sir. This one Nikita is bringing Zeke family down there... I guess she wants to distract him and somehow I get the feeling that apart from Zion, no one knows the 'potentials' locked up in Zeke. We await more updates boss.

Thanks for your lengthy comments and observations, and also thanks for following too

THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS! I REALLY DO APPRECIATE IT

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Shelby groaned as she rolled on her bed, she was having the same premonition that was quickly turning out to become a nightmare, Zeke was walking slowly towards soldiers that held guns turned towards him, she could see Nikita smiling as she held on to the head of a woman but she couldn't get a clear view of who the woman was. She could hear a voice shout something at Zeke but it was inaudible, she also tried to warn him but couldn't, gasping, she tried to run to him to prevent him from getting shot but she was rooted to the spot, as tears rolled down her eyes, she heard a loud bang and she immediately jumped from her bed. The image of Zion staring straight at her as soon as she opened her eyes further startled her and she immediately rolled away from the bed, hitting the ground in a loud thud.

Zion was surprised at Shelby's sudden actions and kept his gaze fixed on her. He knew what was happening and it was one of the reasons he had left her and a few others to live, watching them grow and making sure they all ended up on his side, all except one. He could always stay a step ahead with a feeler by his side and better still, a feeler that had sworn allegiance to him, that was the last ingredient to win this war he had been planning for countless years, he could easily figure out what the future held and manipulate his way till it foretold one that he wanted. It was almost the perfect plan until the irregularity came up, the deadly offspring that needed to be curbed before he went out of hands, he was not going to let anyone get in his way, and he would always do all he could to make sure everything went according to the book. He stood up from the bed, his gaze still fixed on Shelby, as one of his submissive, he shared a bond with her, a bond that grants him easier access to her memory when compared to others that he had to take by force and all he needed was to hold her hands.

"I see you are having a nightmare. I came to tell you to get ready, I want you to meet some people."

Shelby grumbled and stood to her feet. "And you had to do that yourself? Why couldn't you just send one of the guards to do that." She was still under the influence of the adrenaline that was flowing steadily I'm her bloodstream.

Zion remained silent for a while as he tried to suppress his anger, he wasn't used to receiving such insolence from anyone but he had to keep her unsuspecting while he got what he wanted from her.

"We will be leaving in twenty minutes, we will also be eating out. Just get ready." He glared at her and she folded under its influence. Zion turned to walk away.

"Who are they?" Shelby was not going to cower, he had stolen her free will, but she was not going to let him steal any other thing from her.

Zion turned to face her and he had an unusual smile on his face.

"People that have the same gifts like you, although their gifts differ from yours. Hurry now, I'm sure they would be very anxious to meet you." He said and gave one final smile before exiting the room.

*

Justin walked into the room holding a nylon bag on one had and an ice-cream om the other, he seemed the least concerned amongst the three of us about the event that had happened the night before, Nikita was walking walking free again and even with all the promises she had given us, he still somehow managed to gather the appetite eat. The girl in black had been in a kind of semi concious state for a while, she had not said much since last night and she kept on mumbling something to herself, like she was talking to somebody that was not there. I wasn't very worried though, with her, nothing surprised me again.

"Any luck in tracking her?" I asked Justin as soon as he dropped ths bag and took his sit on his favourite seat.

"If you mean Nikita, then the answer is still no. It's like she vanished into thin air, no footage from three miles shows her or any other suspicious activity that could be linked to her disappearance. But if you mean Shelby, then..... the answer is till no too, but I made an interesting finding when I was going to her background check and a few others. Something stood out and I think it's worth theorizing." He clicked into his PC. "You know when you said that her dad died when she was young and that his killers were never brought to the book? Well, I logged into the police records storage...."

I squeezed my face and rolled my eyes and he reciprocated, rolling his eyes too.

"Fine, I hacked into the police records storage and found her file." He clicked on the enter key as I walked over to him. "Voila."

I stared at the screen and didn't know what I was looking at, most of it had been redacted. I turned to Justin and shook my head in confusion. He smiled instantly.

"I had that same look when I first saw this too. I mean why would anyone go through such length to cover up a mere accident as they called it....."

Oh, I now understood what he was thinking even though I had shook my head in confusion and not in this realization. I felt honoured that he thought we were thinking the same thing..

"...so I had to figure out a way to declassify whatever it was that they were trying to hide and I was able to figure out who had classified it in the first place." He loaded another image of the first page of the document and the line that had been redacted was now visible. It read:

'Classified by JWF'

"JFW, what does that stand for?" I was getting curious.

"It's short for Joint world force." Justin replied immediately and I remembered who the geek was. "It is a force that united various countries back in the seventeen hundreds, countries that belonged to this Joint force enjoyed lots of benefits too. It is hard to get anymore details about them because they were dismissed around the end of the eighteenth century and that was the last anyone heard about them."

My curiosity was suddenly turning into confusion. "Shelby's dad died a few years ago, how does a force that never existed at the time of his death classify his file?"

"Same question I asked." He began clicking on his PC again. "When i was giving it a thought, i realized that i had seen that acronym some place before and even though at that time i didn't I didn't give it much thought, it's worth it now."

He clicked on the screen and two files came up simultaneously. They were for a Pateev Rakesh and Tina Mladov. I turned to look at Justin for further enlightenment.

"They are my parents." He responded.

"Oh." That was all I could say and it felt weird, sympathy wasn't really my strong suit..

"Their files were also classified by the same people. This got me thinking and while I was waiting for the pizza, I quickly wrote an algorithm that searched for classified data in different country's databases, using the length of the reaction and few came up. I narrowed down based on keywords and...." He clicked into his PC and three files popped up. "These files were also classified by the same people. All the accidents happened within twenty years frame and that means that they might have kids that..."

"Might have the same gifts like we do." I completed the statement as the realization hit me.

"Now comes the weird part." Justin spoke again. "You don't fit the theory."

If I didn't fit the theory, then the theory must be false, I thought. I could also see them too and I matched every description of somebody that had a gift, even though I hadn't figured out what it was yet.

"Only three more files have been redacted by this organisation and none is related to you."

"What files?" The girl in black asked getting our attention.

She was finally back from wherever she had gone sitting down on a spot.

"Looks like you finally joined the party." Justin spoke first.

"What was all that about?" I asked.

"I was talking to other guardians, they are on their way here and I had to warn them about what awaited. Like me, they were also stunned at the news of an higher fallen and although they still think I am mistaken, they are going to exercise the protocol for dealing with his kind."

"More guardians are coming here?" I turned to look at Justin who also looked as oblivious as I did.

"Yes, the planets are going to be aligned soon, and I needed help if we are going to stop them before them activate the Vynet, now that we have an higher fallen involved, I'm glad I did. Now what file are you two looking into?" She asked again.

I sighed. "Well, Justin has a theory that there are more like us out there."

"Three more, actually." Justin added.

"Well, he also said I did not meet the criteria for selection according to his hypothesis."

The girl in black walked past me and stood on the other side of Justin. "Fred Coleman, Zara hindmarch.."

"Those are the parents."

"Were you able to trace the children?" She asked.

"Yes." Justin replied and clicked into his PC. Three profile popped up, it was for two boys and a girl.

"Mason Fredman, Xiu li yang, Rachel Babel." I read aloud.

"Can you get their current locations?" The girl in black asked.

"I will get right on that now." Justin replied, pulling the nylon he had been carrying and opening up the pizza case as he pulled one piece out an took a large bite.

The girl in black turned to me. "We have to figure out a way to get find out the holder here, but first, we have to talk about your back."

*

Shelby walked into the large house that stood at the centre of miles of woods and nothing. She stared at the ancient building that still stood gracefully as Zion walked towards her and nudge her to move in. They walked into the building and were welcomed by a woman at the door. She bowed as soon as she saw Zion and Shelby could see her eyes, she was a fallen. Zion walked past her and Shelby followed suit. The woman locked the door behind them and walked past them.

"This way, they are waiting for you in the living room." She said, leading the way.

Shelby and Zion walked into the living were met by three people sitting in the living room, they had their gaze fixed on Shelby as they stared at her eagerly.

"Is she the thinker?" One of the asked in a weird accent and Shelby almost laughed.

"No she is not. Considering the fact that she considers your accent funny. " The lady in their midst replied.

Zion smiled at them. "I would like you all to meet Shelby. She would be joining you from today and you will be working together."

The lady in their midst stood up from her sit and walked towards Shelby. "You must be the feeler." She said, but her lips did not move.

Shelby took a step backwards, frightened. She turned to Zion who had a smile on.

"Meet Rachel, she's a Calypse. She can read minds and communicate with her mind too, you can not hide anything from her because your mind is her playground."

"Nice to meet you." Rachel said and again her lips did not move. Shelby knew at that moment that it was going to take a long time for her to get used to it.

One of the boys stood up and walked towards her, stretching out his hands. "I'm Mason." He said. Shelby stretched her hand to receive his but her hands were beginning to wither and flowers began to grow on them. "I'm a mind manipulator, I can make you see whatever I want you to see and you won't be able to tell what's real and what's not."

Shelby turned and was instantly stunned when she saw Zeke standing in front of her, he had not been there some seconds ago. He walked towards her and stretched his hand at her.

"I'm Xiu." She instantly recognized that accent.
"The master of disguise." He ran his hands over his face and he was back again. "I heard you really love to see that face, you might be seeing it very often then." He said with a large smile on his face.

"Meet your new family." Zion spoke. "I will be leaving you all to catch up now. I have an important meeting to get to." He said, walking out of the room.

*

Nikita stood by the side of the glass and stared out of it to the endless forest outside, she had both her hands wrapped together behind her as she tried to collect her thoughts. Saying she was furious was an understatement, she was uncontrollably angry and pissed off, she was royalty and shouldn't be stamped on by anybody, talk less by a bunch kids that thought they were super heroes and were on the way to save the world. She knew she had to send a bold message to them and she knew exactly what she needed to do, but for now she had to know how far the mission had progressed without her. A female guard walked in and held a phone to her.

"He is calling." She announced.

Nikita received the phone and placed it on her ears. "Hello."

"Let's meet by the bridge in an hour." Zion's voice came in through the receiver.

She pulled the phone away from her ears and handed it back to the female guard. She remained silent for a while and her eyes suddenly lit up as soon as an idea hit her. She turned to the guard.

"The men stationed on Zeke's family, contact them and have them bring them over here, let's prepare a special package for him." She said, as the guard nodded. She turned back to the glass and gave a sinister smile before walking past the guard and out of the room.

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