A Tale from the Dark Dimension

Chapter 8: Cade

Cade awoke to the low beeping of a heart monitor. He didn't know where he was at first, but after seeing the room around him, he realized he was in the Alpha medbay. Sat by his bedside were Kara and Katrina, sleeping soundly. He tried not to move as much as to not wake them. That's when he remembered what had gotten him there. The rescue mission, the other dimension, his arm being taken off.

In a moment of instinct he tried to raise his right arm. He was met with a surprise to see his right arm, completely mechanical. It looked nearly identical to his former one, but it was in a smooth silver color. He flexed his hand, shocked to find that he could actually feel the metal of his palm. How did Alpha make a prosthetic that had nerves, while being so realistic?

He rested his left hand on the back of Kara's head and rubbed her neck, trying to wake her peacefully. She began to stir, looking around before locking eyes with Cade. She had a look of worry in them, but she wasn't panicking.

"Hey," was all Cade could say.

"Hey. Are you okay?" she asked.

Cade held up his right arm and gave her a small smile, trying to be reassuring.

"Yeah. It's like I never lost it. It's weird, I can feel everything this hand touches," Cade said.

Their conversation was interrupted by Sam entering the room.

"Glad to see you're awake. You've been out for a while now," his friend told him

"How's everyone else?" Cade asked.

"Come see," Sam told him. Cade moved the bed sheets and got up. He went to the bathroom to change out of his gown and into a change of clothes. He pulled on his jeans and shoes and settled for a black t-shirt with a red hoodie. He exited the bathroom and met Sam outside the room

They began to walk down the corridor, and Cade asked the question that was sitting in his mind since he woke up.

"How were you able to make this," he asked, referring to his arm.

"We didn't. According to Dex, it started to grow out of your body as soon as they got you in the VTOL. By the time you got here, only a bit of your forearm and your hand hadn't grown back. It saved your career, and your life.

Cade was confused as to how it was able to grow back in such a short amount of time, or how it even grew back at all. He assumed it had something to do with the energy wave that washed through all of them.

"What about Justin, and Xaver?" Cade asked

"Justin's wounds already healed. The doctors took a look at his cells and apparently they've gained the ability to heal at a very fast rate, so he only has a scar on the back of his calf. Xavier, however, is a different story. She has several lacerations on her stomach, some of her ribs were broken along with a sprained ankle. The wound on her face and neck looked to be the result of a knife, and nothing like those creatures," Sam informed.

"Devils. Zhabiv called them Devils," Cade told him.

"Speaking of Zhabiv, Gale took it upon himself to bring him back, so now we can access the dimension for ourselves," Sam continued.

"You shouldn't. We don't know what the place has in store for us. Going back in could be a mistake," Cade advised.

"From the looks of how your team is, that place is a way to get...desirable mutations."

"What do you mean 'desirable mutations?"

"Well, unlike the small mutations like Xavier's eyes, hair, and shortened height, you all also had mutations after you were exposed to a certain amount of energy. Come see for yourself," Sam motioned for him to follow.

He led him to the training area, and when the door opened, Cade almost couldn't believe what he was seeing. The first thing he saw was Justin running back and forth at the speed of sound, and the only way he knew it was Justin was because he didn't see him anywhere else in the room. A nlack lightning trail followed him as he moved about the room, even being able to run on the walls. He looked to his right to see Gale was completely engulfed in fire, but he wasn't in pain. He was shooting flames out of his hands, melting the dummy robots that Alpha regularly used for training. Next to him was Frost, who was freezing the other training bots. His hands and forearms were engulfed in ice.

A flash of red caught his eye as he looked to the left of the room. He saw Artemis running and sliding through training bots, hitting every shot on their heads. Cade tried to wrap his mind around the fact that his friends, including himself, had superpowers.

"Wow," was all Cade could say.

"Yeah. Super speed, solar flare-like heat, the ability to manipulate ice and freeze things to absolute zero, and enhanced accuracy. We don't know what you, Cole, or Xavier's abilities are because you both have been asleep and Cole hasn't seemed to be manifesting anything yet," Sam explained

"Yeah. Well, I feel ready to find out what I can do," Cade told him.

"Alright. That far corner over there is where you can train. The bots can take whatever you throw their way."

"Got it," Cade said, moving to the corner that was designated for him. He got up to the bot, but he didn't know how he was supposed to do any of what they could do. The thought of him not being able to do anything made him mad. Out of frustration, he hit the bot with his right hand, and it got sent flying back. He looked down at his new appendage, wondering if it was just the arm or if his entire body had enhanced strength. He moved over to it again, this time hitting it with his left hand.

Again, it got sent flying into the wall, cracking it and leaving an indention. At least he knew what he had, and that it was something useful to him and not something mind reading. However, he could feel this buildup in his core, like something begging to be released. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it started to bother him a lot. Thinking back on it, he had been feeling it since he woke up. In a moment of confusion, he lifted his right arm up and made a fist. He channeled that buildup of energy through his arm and a yellow beam shot out of his hand. It hit the wall and he held it there, watching as the beam hitting the wall grew into a yellow orb, similar to the portal to the other dimension.

At this point, everyone had paused what they were doing and turned to face him, awestruck. He had opened a portal to that dimension. How? He didn't think he could have multiple powers, but that was only because he had seen everyone else using only one. Could his body handle two like this? It seemed to hold up just fine. Maybe it was due to his arm, that somehow he had a strong connection to the place and he was able to use two? Whatever the case, he closed his fist and that closed the portal.

"Damn, two powers? How come we only get the one?" Gale asked the rest of them.

"It's probably due to his injury. It must give him a deeper connection or something," Artemis tried to explain.

"So you can open a portal there. How is that going to help much?" Justin asked.

"Hold on a second," Cade said, getting an idea. He thought of his house, of Katrina and Kara and all of the feelings his home brought. He moved his arm again, channeling the energy through his arm and opened a portal, his kitchen staring at him through the portal. So that's what it was. He could open portals to anywhere he was thinking of, not just other dimensions.

"Oh. Yeah ignore what I said," Justin said, retracting his statement.

Cade stood there and closed the portal. He was determined to hone his skills and used his new abilities to keep the people he loved safe, no matter how he did it.