Oversight

Chapter 12 A Team Divided

Noah flew up towards the blinding light until he felt his ears pop and he found it difficult to breath. He hovered there,  feeling weak and staring down at the mountain from which he had escaped. No family to go back to, no friends he could trust, nothing to lose. He had been lied to, tricked. They planned to kill him without so much as a trail. That's why he had to do it. They would not have given him even the option of being innocent. He was guilty the minute he stepped into that room. Although, they were giving him the option to say goodbye to his friends, and he did kill that man...

No. Noah couldn't think like that. He wouldn't have killed the man if they didn't threaten to kill him. It was completely justified in Noah's eyes. There was no other option. He had to think that way, or he wouldn't be able to live with himself. Anger bellowed inside him, or was that fear? Maybe some mixture of the two. But either way Noah knew he had one option if he was going to stay alive. He needed a plan, and he needed it fast. He had to stop their operation. He had played enough video games and watched enough movies to know that whatever they were going to do, they already set it in motion. 

Noah zoomed away, flying away from his old town. He needed somewhere to think, and he needed some more energy. It would be hours before he could reach it though, but if he could last that long then maybe he could survive.

...

Mark ran as he exited the secret passage from the mountain. His foot wasn't all the way out before he took flight and zoomed back towards the recruits. He feared Noah would kill his new friends rather than appose killing them since they were the only other powered people he really knew. 

He made it back in record time, landing in their training grounds. He sent a message to Will to gather the others and everyone met him there within the hour. To his relief, Noah had not come home and had not harmed any of them. 

Wade was the last one to arrive. He landed in front of Mark, looked around, and asked, "Where's Noah?"

Mark didn't see anyway out of it. He told them the entire story, beginning with the prophecy about Noah, and ending with Noah's escape. They all looked at Mark with disbelief. 

"...and now it's up to you to stop him. The five of you together have the best chance of getting close enough to him to put an end to his terror."

Wade was the first to speak up. "What? We can't do that! We've only just got our powers, we barely know what we're doing. Plus, lets not forget, that Noah already kicked all of our asses in that tournament you so graciously set up. He's our friend! How do we know what you're saying is even true?"

"You must trust me. I can not force you to fight you're old friend, but I ask you to please consider. You may be our only chance at defeating him."

This time Steven spoke up. "Why can't you just send in some elite squad of trained bad asses? Sure, Noah knows us, but doesn't that make us more vulnerable to him to? He knows what we can do. Heck, I can barely do anything at all. I'm just a slight inconvenience to him, I'm as bad as a glare on his television."

"We can try to send more trained people in, but we haven't dealt with an energy controller in a long while. Energy controllers are always the more dangerous people, but they usually don't turn on us. Noah is the first in a long time to turn. But he is not the first. We have a group that may be able to deal with him, but he is strong. We may need to train you to your full potential, and for that you will need to meet the master. He can grant you all the knowledge of how to control your powers and what you can really do, but it will not be a harmless process. The price of knowledge is a large one, and you will be taken from your families a lot sooner than expected. I am sorry that it had to come to this, but it is still your choice. You can always continue on the slow path we have started."

"Why," Richie declared, "would we leave our families earlier when you already have the problem likely dealt with?"

Mark thought for a moment. "I have no faith in the other team. Even with their powers, Noah is to powerful."

"And why do you say that? He's as new as we are."

"Because i watched him bring nine trained controllers to their knees after sucking the life out of one of our best men. He could bring the world as you know it to an end and reshape it in his image if he wanted to."

Everyone was silent, staring at Mark, and thinking. Andrew was the first to speak. "Well, its gonna happen anyway, why not make it sooner."

Will was the next to step up. "Well if it really is the end of the world, we should at least try to stop it."

Richard looked uncertainly at the two but then stepped forward. "Yeah, why not right? Whats the point of going slow."

Steven looked at them, regretting what he was about to do. "Well...why the hell not then."

Mark looked at the four of them, trying to think of how this team will be with their full power unlocked, but noticed there was still one person that refused to agree. Wade stood with his arms crossed, deep in thought. Everyone looked at him.

"Well...you guys don't know Noah like I do. I've been friends with him for years, you just met him. I'm not going to join some...some killing squad to go murder my friend. I'll take the slow way, thank you very much." Wade turned around and flew away, leaving everyone staring after him. 

"I guess four will have to do then. Thank you, all of you. I hope this ends well."