Failure

A Deal That Can Not Be Broken

The previous night

Rain's eyes were wide at the sight of the creature, it's bright red, glowing eyes, and it's shadowy form. Rain couldn't believe it, she was actually able to see a shadow without her night vision getting in the way. She hesitantly reached out to grab the shadow's hand, only for her hand to go right through his. "Hah! They always fall for it! Never gets old!" He laughed, looking as if he was doubling over in laughter. Though, Rain didn't think it was funny. Her eyes narrowed, "Who the hell are you? What did you do to Brian?"

"Who, him? Oh, oh yeah, I may or may not have possessed him then left his body so that he would collapse. Oops. I'm not sorry." The shadow replied. "You didn't answer my first question. Who are you?" Rain pressed on, trying to get the information she wanted out of him. "Oh, I'm West. Alien, from another world, one from the Shad race, you get the picture." He answered, circling her. "Well you clearly know who I am. So, what do you want?" Rain asked him, narrowing her eyes and turning to face him every time he moved. "I want to make you an offer. If you help my boss bring someone to him, we'll pay you whatever you want. You just need to name the price." West replied, you didn't need to see his facial features to know he was smirking. You could hear it in his voice. Rain thought for a moment. She needed to know more about who she was going to bring in, was it a normal person with no powers, or was it a superhuman? How old were they? And how high of a price could she go before this West guy told her no more? All of those questions needed to be answered before she agreed to anything. "Who would I have to bring to your boss, West?" Her eyes were still narrowed and she still followed him as he circled her. "Just a highschool girl. Her name is Kailey, she's a shape shifter, believe it or not. I'm not quite sure why the boss needs her, but it's better that I don't question him." West chuckled at Rain as she made sure that her back wasn't turned to him. 'That's two questions answered.' She thought. "You said I could name any price, right?"

West nodded at the question. It was Rain's turn to smirk, "How about a million dollars? Maybe, a secret base of my own as well?"

"That can be arranged." West answered, causing Rain's jaw to drop. "You're joking, right?" She asked, only for West to shake his head. Rain stood there, facing West who had decided to stop circling her for that moment. She finally nodded, "Okay, deal."

West held out his hand, which Rain attempted to shake, but her hand only phased through his. West cackled as Rain began to scream at him.

Kailey's heart began to race as she stared at the now lowered ceiling that was above her head. "Wait!" She called out, causing everyone to fall silent and stare. She gulped, "Wait. I'm here, please just leave them alone."

Rain smirked, nodding at Eddy, who moved the ceiling over to collapse beside the student instead of on top of them. Kailey stepped forward, holding out her hands in front of her, "I'm here. Just leave everyone else alo-" but she was interrupted. She stopped mid sentence and spun around at the sound of an explosion coming from behind them, on the opposite side of the room. The dust soon cleared, revealing a woman in a lab coat, a futuristic looking gun in hand. "I told them this would come in handy one day." She droned on, stepping over the debris and into view. Rain's eyes widened, as well as Eddy's and Kailey's. "Hello, Crystal. Nice seeing you again.." Rain spat, a frown forming on her lips. "The sarcasm isn't necessary. It's clear that you dislike me." Crystal replied, her own face remained without any sign of emotion, same with her voice. "Can we just fight already?" Eddy asked, his tone becoming aggravated. Crystal didn't even reply, she immediately jumped forward, ice forming underneath her feet and sliding herself towards the mercenary. Eddy was quickly to jump in, using his telekinesis to block Rain from view. Crystal quickly formed her ice into a loop, sliding with it like a roller coaster. Once she was back on the ground, she threw a punch at the brunette boy, sending him flying backwards. Rain attempted to throw a punch right back at the scientist, only for Crystal to dodge her attack. The blonde haired scientist spun around, using her own feet to kick Rain's out from under her. "Kailey! Use your shadow to punch Edward's!" She called out to the young student. Kailey's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but she didn't argue, there was no time for that. She only looked down at her own shadow, then ran at Eddy. She balled up her fist, punching the air beside Eddy's head. Her shadow hit Eddy's, but what happen next was something she didn't expect. Eddy's shadow turned into two different ones, the new shadow separating from his. When Kailey looked up, she saw a creature that she had never seen before. A being of pure shadows, with pure red, glowing eyes. Kailey shrieked and jumped away, causing Crystal and Rain to stop and look over in time to see Eddy collapse. "Grab the boy and let's get out of here!" The shadow person called out to Rain. The mercenary nodded, shoving Crystal out of her way and running over to Eddy. She threw the boy over her shoulder, then ran in the same direction of West. Crystal ran over to Kailey, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What about you?" Kailey asked. "This isn't about me. I can handle myself." Crystal replied. "So can I." Kailey shot back. The blonde smirked, chuckling a bit, "Touché, kid. Touché.."