Sven, knowing it was their last day in the remote encampnt, decided to end it with a bang - figuratively and literally.
He sat beside the others with a cheeky grin, doing his best to hold in a laugh. Nadya had always been explosive, both in attitude and ability, so he waited eagerly for the sounds of distant screams... and maybe an actual explosion or two.
anwhile, Kai had just locked eyes with the naked bombshell in the lake. Despite her rowdy nature and muscular fra, she had her own unique allure.
Nadya had been enjoying the cool water, humming to herself and washing off the morning’s chaos - until her instincts flared. A presence. She turned.
And there he was.
Kai.
Strolling right toward the water.
She froze. He froze. Their eyes t. Ti stopped.
His red eyes twitched and wandered entirely on their own, scanning over her bare form before locking onto sothing specific.
A tattoo, right above her left breast. A wolf, inked in flowing lines, half-hidden beneath the surface.
His mouth moved before his brain could stop it. "Fitting, considering your surna... the woods... the town..."
She sank lower into the lake, only her face above the water now. But the air around her shimred - violent bubbles erupting from beneath the surface, growing louder by the second.
’Yeah, ti to get away.’ Kai began slowly backing away, not daring to turn his back on her.
Honestly, he was surprised she hadn’t already rocketed out of the lake and detonated him into a red mist. Given how flirtatious she’d been before, when he carried her to bed after she passed out, or the tis she pressed a little too close, he assud she’d laugh sothing like this off.
Apparently not.
Then again... she was drunk most of those other instances.
"Right, sorry," he said quickly, hands raised in retreat. "I’ll just... go."
Blaming Sven wouldn’t do much to save him, and once he’d backed far enough away, he turned and sprinted.
He rejoined the others a minute later, still fully intact. Kai let out a quiet sigh.
Maybe I’m in the clear after all...
Then he felt it.
Boom!
She ca hurtling through the trees like a cannonball, fiery bursts propelling her through the air. Her curly orange hair was still damp, and her eyes burned brighter than the explosions trailing behind her.
"You better run," Sven said casually, already laughing.
Kai didn’t need to be told twice.
He bolted. Nadya followed. The chase was on.
Explosions erupted in his wake. Trees splintered. Dirt flew. Kai shouted mid-sprint, "It was Sven! He set up!"
That got her attention.
She shifted mid-air, twisting to target Sven next.
"Wait, hold up-"
Boom!
Both of them rushed around, evading her orbs, then endured the brunt of one of her explosives. It was nothing lethal, just a blast strong enough to knock them off their feet and appease her anger.
And then Nadya laughed.
Just like that, her fury was gone. "There. Now I’m good."
They all laughed after that, even Kai, despite his hair being slightly on fire.
The two boys got cleaned up, Sven for the second ti, grumbling as they walked back, soaked and reeking of smoke. Finally, they all gathered around the cabin one last ti.
Silence fell over the group.
A peaceful one.
Each of them sat lost in thought, reflecting on the month they’d shared.
The daily tradition of trying to snatch Takeshi’s blindfold had been a group favourite. Even Amina had got involved in the ga. No one ever succeeded, not even close. The man bathed with it still on. Kai and Sven had seen it themselves.
The man was a mystery, as they all laughed and recalled the creative ways they had tried to trick or trap the swordsman.
’But speaking of eyes...’ Nadya turned to Isaac. She stared at him, puzzled.
"How’s your vision without your glasses?" she asked suddenly.
He blinked. "Huh?"
"You lost them in Volkorye, right? But you’ve been fine. You haven’t squinted or tripped or... anything."
The others glanced over.
He did seem different now. Still a bit of a ss, but less uptight. Less distant.
And the twitch, his habitual push of glasses up his nose, was still happening... even though there were no glasses to push.
’But did she seriously only just realise that?’ the others thought in unison.
-
Isaac adjusted his shirt awkwardly, then looked at the group. "So, there’s sothing else... I guess I forgot to ntion it."
Kai already knew what was coming, though he said nothing, and was waiting for the joke that would inevitably co.
"At first," Isaac continued, "my vision was ssed up without the glasses. Blurry. Double vision. Like... beer goggles, but worse."
The others looked confused.
"I an, I didn’t need glasses because my eyes were weak - it was just my sight was... wrong. Warped. My lenses were specially made to stabilise it."
Kai rembered when they first talked about it - how Isaac described a constant, dizzying sensation without the fras. It hadn’t made much sense then, but now it did.
Kai had theorised sothing simple: If he could phase through matter... maybe his vision was trying to do the sa.
Just like his body could dematerialise, maybe his eyes, or at least his perception, were trying to push past physical barriers too. Blending regular sight with sothing else could be the cause of his blurry vision.
The thought ca from how Kai’s own Blood Vision layered over his normal vision, but he could instinctively control and split them.
And turns out... Kai was right.
"I have X-Ray vision," Isaac revealed. "Well, kind of. It’s not easy to control, and it’s not as sharp as Kai’s freaky blood sight-"
"Didn’t say I had blood sight," Kai refuted casually.
Isaac glanced at him. "You didn’t have to."
Kai shrugged with a smirk. He’d never confird or denied any details about his bloodweaving. The less they knew, the better. He preferred it that way. Let them speculate while he dissected all of their abilities.
"But yeah," Isaac went on, "I can sort of see through large walls now, with so effort. It helps when I’m phasing, so I don’t phase into, I don’t know, an ambush or soone’s bathroom."
"So you’re a perv?" Nadya asked flatly, shooting a suspicious glance at both Kai and Sven, lumping them in by default.
"What?! No!" Isaac blurted, face going red. "It’s not like that. I don’t have control over it yet, and I don’t want to see anything! I’ll only use it when-"
The more he explained, the guiltier he sounded.
The group laughed.
Even Amina cracked a smile while Sven patted Isaac’s shoulder. "Relax, man. We’re not judging. If I had your ability, I’d..." Another slap on the back of the head shut him up.
And just then, a soft cough cut through the laughter.
Shadow.
He stood silently at the edge of the clearing, the usual dark haze swirling around him like a living shadow. But his presence, as always, drew imdiate silence.
"I assu you’re ready now?" he asked.
This ti, everyone nodded.
Still early morning, mist clung to the edges of the treetops as the group turned to watch Shadow at work.
Kai had never seen him open a Spatial Rift before. But even the others who had were watching with quiet awe.
Darkness licked from Shadow’s fingertips. The air warped and folded unnaturally, and then, snap, a jagged tear split open before them, a swirling void of black and grey.
It felt... wrong. Like space itself had been cut.
Kai’s heart thumped. "So... we just step through, and we’ll be in New York?"
"Yep," Sven said, grinning.
Nadya was already stepping forward. "New York, here we co, baby!"
She disappeared into the rift, Sven close behind.
Amina, Isaac, and Takeshi followed, each glancing back once before stepping through.
Kai hesitated.
He turned to Shadow and stared straight into the void-like shroud around him. Those dark eyes were unreadable, but Kai could see straight through him with his piercing gaze.
’He’s vulnerable like this,’ Kai noted. ’Creating the rift - it seems to take a toll. He’s rushing us in because he doesn’t want to be left open for long. I could kill him now...’
He pictured it. One strike, a clean kill. But then what? He’d be stranded. And the entire network of Mutant Outlaws would co for his head. It was also unlikely it’d be that easy.
’Still... good to know he’s not invincible.’
Kai smirked. "Later," he said, giving Shadow an unnerving nod before stepping into the void.
As soon as he vanished, Shadow exhaled sharply and shut the rift with a snap of his fingers. His surrounding darkness wavered, flickering erratically before dimming altogether. He stumbled, landing hard on one knee, then dropped fully onto the ground.
"Damn... that really took it out of ," he muttered, dragging himself over to the wolf beast’s corpse and slumping onto it like a grim beanbag chair.
His shroud was gone. His face and body were visible. His voice, raw with fatigue.
He never showed weakness.
If the others saw him now, they’d probably lose their minds—and record him for proof.
And it seed as though the more drained he was, the more of his human side ca out, but after a short while, he was back on his feet. Enveloped in shadows once again, the man seed to lose all semblance of life.
"Morocco next, right?" he muttered, shutting his eyes. "Can’t catch a damn break..."
He had unknowingly spent a couple of hours recovering his energy, and in that ti he realised that he had forgotten sothing very important to give Nadya and the others.
A Spatial Pulse.
With so much going on and strained beyond belief, it completely slipped his mind.
"I’ve basically stranded them in New York with a mission they’ll probably end up screwing up. Oh well, I’m sure they will figure sothing out and keep a low profile."
But by then, Kai and the others had already caused a ruckus and had got on the association’s radar...
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