KILLJOY

Chapter 26: Rogue Thunder

Reinald removed his hand from Max's face as he turned to face Liam. The boy he had taken hostage mere hours prior seemed to have had a complete shift, both in power and resolve. The irises of his eyes blazed and flickered with a cool blue glow, almost like lightning. He chuckled a bit, holding his hands out on either side of his body, as if inviting him to attack.

"Oh, so the mama's boy decided to step up for his friends, did he now—" Before he could barely blink, he saw Liam rushing at him at blinding speeds, electricity crackling from his hands. He barely had time to wave a chain his way, forcing his retreat as he leapt back. He quickly removed his mask, waving his hand in the air to re-activate his tick. The chains clearly wouldn't be very useful here, he'd get outsped instantly. A red curtain unfurled in midair, hiding him from Liam as he waited for his move. He quickly peered into the newly formed wardrobe in front of him, selecting a mask with the marking of a large eye where an opening for the left eye would be. He placed the mask on his face, and as the curtain unveiled, Liam immediately sped in to attack again. But now, he could see it coming. See it before it happened. Clairvoyance.

One of the personal favorites of his collection, he surged his aura into his hand, rippling with pale purple energy as he intercepted Liam's attack, clashing with his own aura. He manages to deflect his strike, before kicking him in the side to force him away. Liam skidded to a stop right before he hit the wall, electricity charging in his hands once again.

— — —

"Something's wrong. Something's definitely wrong." Mayeda sat in the common room outside the dorms, waiting on the bench as the clock slowly ticked by. Those three were meant to be back... hours ago. He didn't really want to crash their fun in case it wasn't anything dire... however, this didn't feel right. He stood from the bench as he began to step out of the common room, and into one of the exit tunnels of the base. As he stepped out into the cold night air of the strip, he quickly channeled aura into his feet, flaring yellow as he leapt up to the top of one of the lower buildings. He pulled out his phone as he punched in the address of the theatre, shifting to face the direction it was in before getting into a runner's starting position.

"Better not be late to the fun."

— — —

Reinald now had his guard up as he prepare for whatever Liam had to throw at him. This was strange— even his aura felt different than what he felt before. Not to mention that kid didn't even have a Term the last time he met him. Had he had some sudden epiphany while he was locked up or something? No matter— he would still win this, and Vanguard was due to arrive in just a few minutes now to provide backup here. He just had to stay on top of things for the time being. Liam's hands crackled as balls of yellow energy formed in them. He chucked them at Reinald, giving him barely enough time to avoid them, even with Clairvoyance. The balls merely grazed his aura, taking whatever was in front of them along with them. Those would be a problem if he kept that up, he needed to do some damage. And fast.

As Liam charged more energy into his hands, he quickly formed a ball into his hand as he rushed towards Reinald. While Liam attempted to smash the orb of energy right into his chest, he saw right through it, leaping over him as he flowed more aura into his fist, attempting to slam him right into the ground. However, a big weakness of Clairvoyance was he couldn't see was behind him. This would soon turn out to be an issue, as Max formed a blade in his hands, slashing at Reinald while he was focused on Liam. He was quickly blindsided, forced to shoot out some of his aura to blast himself away, now looking back at Liam, and the now standing, injured Max.

"Well, I'm surprised you can even stand after all I put you through! Or are you just trying to impress your friend over there..." Max merely glanced over at Liam with a slightly concerned expression, while he remained laser focused on Reinald.

"Nah, I just want a get back for earlier." Reinald chuckled a bit, but Clairvoyance quickly gave him a warning of the dagger forming in Max's hand, rushing towards him to disarm him immediately. But before he could even close the gap, Liam stepped in the way, grabbing onto his wrist firmly as electricity surged from his hand. This led to a prompt electrocution, forcing him to use up most of the aura he had on hand just to break free, and mitigate the effects so he didn't pass out. He wrenched his hand out of his grip, but by then Max had already plunged his arm towards him to stab him in the side. He wasn't in the position to avoid the strike where he was, so the knife went in smoothly, soaking the part of his shirt in blood. He quickly took a step back as he waved his hand out, a red curtain forming in front of him once again. He placed Clairvoyance back into his wardrobe, seeing it begin to crack from overuse of his aura. He grabbed the mask that belonged to Eli'S TICK, as he placed it on his face. The curtain dissapeared shortly after, his hands wrapping in bandages as his aura output lessened.

"I'm going to teach all of you a damn lesson."