RETALIATION

4. Activation

     "Antidote..."

     Those were the last words that my best from said to me before slumping into the dark world of unconsciousness. I had called up the hospital to help, but for some reason, a group of FBI dudes had come instead, and told me that I was part of the Immune Agents. Weird right? I was totally perplexed with the situation, and instead of them telling me what was happening, they just told me to go to the nearest record store, which was where I had bought a St. Vincent record from- Blackhole Records. So here I was, currently standing in the dead of night, on some isolated road with a homeless dude sleeping across the street from me.

     "Dan Smith, correct?"

     I flashed around to see the same FBI who instructed me to come to this place. Sleek black and gelled hair, stubble that was intentionally not shaved off, a jet black suit with a titanium white formal shirt, and badass sunglasses that made him look really cool, like a legitimate spy dude.

     "U-uh yeah," I nodded and shoved my hands into my pocket. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

     "Of course," he chuckled and removed his shades., revealing a soft set of hazel eyes, which made me nearly want to cry out of fear for Woody, since this man's eyes looked so similar to my drummer friend. "Shall we go inside?"

     "But the store's closed," I sniffed, from the experience of nearly crying, but also the chilliness. "We can't go in-"

     "Ah, but that's where you're wrong."

     He whipped out a weird card thing and pressed it against the keypad lock, and a beep of clarification nudged the door to swing open, with the lights inside the store suddenly turning on by themselves, doing that blinking notion that most "old" lights did whenever one wanted to turn them on.

     "What's wrong with my friends?" I caused the agent to freeze with his back facing me, watching as he turned around.

     "We believed that your band mates have been unintentionally involved in the reptilian outbreak. A few weeks ago, there were reports of a humanoid snake creature that was attempting to steal firearms from a local hunting store. We managed to stun it and put it to sleep before taking it to our base to conduct some studies on it."

     "A-and? What was wrong with it?" I cautiously stared at the FBI dude.

     "Well...you see, for the first few days in the observatory, it seemed completely healthy, but it was just a few days ago that it froze and dried up into a conserved form," he scratched his head. "And we're not sure how, but after extracting a strange piece of DNA,, we believe that someone is behind this, and that they activated the mutation to occur, similarly to your friends. And our science team has concluded that the creature has passed away today. We don't know why, but I know one thing's for sure: your friends will succumb unless we find a cure to this strange illness."

     D-die???

     "You can't let them die!" I couldn't control the rage and upset emotions that flustered inside me. "They're my friends!"

     "And that's why we need you to find the culprit, and retrieve any possible antidote."

     "Me?" I pointed to myself.

     "You're immune from the DNA that your friends have provided us with."

     THEY GAVE THE FBI MY FUCKING DNA???

     "How the fu-"

     "Your friends, I believe by the names Kyle, William, and Chris, they gave strands of your hair and vials of your saliva. This all must've happened when you were asleep probably."

     "First of all," I jumped up and sat upon a glass counter. "You didn't have my permission to take and test my DNA, secondly, why the fuck am I immune? Out of all the people in the world, I'm the-"

     "You're the only one who has the genetic mutation to change eye colours and harness the powers that come along with them."

     The fuck???

     "The only one?" I doubtingly pointed at myself. "I think your results or machines were faulty...'cause I'm not a special person, in fact, I'm probably one of the most plain and boring humans on the face of Earth."

     "It's true," the agent crossed his arms. "Now, you have two choices. Train with the other superior beings and form a team of agents to find a cure for this outbreak, or ignore everything that's happened and let your friends succumb to this disease."

     "How many people are on the team?"

     "You're the fifth one. We're still trying to locate the last member."

     "Only six?"

     "On every continent, except for Antarctica," he sat down on a stray stool. "There's a sole person with genetically mutated super powers, but out of all six, there is one person with the most powerful abilities. You're that one person, Dan."

     ME? I'm so confused.

     "Who are the other people, like...besides me and the final member?"

     "There's Aisha Cheng of Asia, and she has the power to generate and conduct the flow of electricity. Aria Jones of Australia, who can use her mind to create any imagination into reality. Toby Lopez of South America, he can run at the speed of light. And Arminius Botha from Africa, who can use telekinesis and use magic to manipulate things."

     "And me?"

     "You can control the core elements; fire, air, earth and water. It all depends on what colour your eyes are. And everyone's power is activated when they come across their full potential, and this full potential can come at any time. Yours happened to come along right now."

     "So...if my eyes are red..."

     "You can control and generate fire. Different hues of blue can control water or ice. Brown or green can control earth and nature. And white, or grey depending on your level of power, can let you control air, including tornadoes, storms, and hurricanes."

     I bit my lip nervously, thinking whether I wanted to help my band mates on behalf of the FBI.

     There's no way I can do this myself.

     "I'll do it."