The Outcasts *COMPLETED*

Chapter 4 - The Beginning (Part 2)

Cooper Hayward had just left school and was walking home, not wanting to take the bus incase he ended up running into Johnny and his gang of doofus'. He looked around for Jade, but saw no sign of her and decided to keep going. His current foster parents were constantly working and never home, so it wasn't as if anyone was expecting him. He pulled out a pair of earbuds and put them in his ears, turning on the song "Black Betty" by Ram Jam.

As he continued to walk, Cooper got the strange feeling that someone was slowly following him. He quickly looked around, noticing that a black jeep was cruising down the street at a sluggish pace. When his eyes landed on it, it seemed to pick up speed. The jeep ended up pulling up right next to Cooper, who jumped back.

"Cooper Hayward. Don't move." the driver, who was the woman Lieutenant Rhodes, said. Her right hand man with the AK-47 got out of the car as well which caused Cooper to panic. He bolted down the street, at superhuman speed. Everything appeared to come to a halt around him as he sprinted, moving faster than a bullet. Cooper came to a halt and looked around, watching a person about to drop their coffee, a bird slowly taking off from it's perch on a tree branch, and a person on a bike about to crash. All of a sudden he was whisked back into real time and saw the biker crash and the office employee spill their coffee.

"He moved." the man said, getting back into the jeep. Rhodes stared down the road, watching Cooper quickly disappear again and smirked to herself.

"There's still others." Rhodes said, walking back around to the driver's seat.

* * *

Mollie walked out of the school gym, wiping her face with a towel. She took a deep breathe and made her way to the locker room, wanting to shower and then get home. Thankfully, the place was empty since it was the end of the day and no one would want to stick around to work out.

After her shower she was wearing black sweatpants and a bright pink hoodie, carrying her bookbag and workout bag. Mollie walked to the parking lot, sighing as she pulled her car keys out of her pocket.

"Excuse me Miss." a man's voice said from behind Mollie. She turned around and her arm was grabbed by the man. She quickly punched him and swept her leg under his, knocking him to the ground.

"Drew, were you just taken down by a cheerleader?" Lieutenant Rhodes asked, having to hold in a laugh.

"I wasn't expecting that." Drew said, holding his jaw as he sat up. Mollie kept her fists balled up, looking back and forth between the two strangers.

"Look, we don't want to hurt you. He was just very forward with his approach... which is why I handle this stuff." Rhodes said looking over at Drew who got to his feet and rolled his eyes. "We need your help with something. You've been experiencing strange... abilities right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Mollie said. She let herself relax, but was slowly backing up towards her car.

"Mollie Gryphon, we know what you can do. There are others like you." Rhodes told her. Mollie stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"There are?" Mollie asked.

"I thought you didn't know what I was talking about?" Rhodes asked with a smirk. Mollie's eyes widened and she quickly disappeared into a cloud of smoke and appeared at the driver's side of her car. A small dart was shot into her neck, and she looked over at Drew and Rhodes who were walking towards her.

"We aren't going to hurt you." Rhodes said as Mollie's vision became blurry. She couldn't fight off the effects of the dart as she fell over, unconscious.

* * *

Cooper ended up not going home. Instead he had arrived at the docks on the opposite end of town. He felt exhausted from running so much and wanted to collapse, but he saw Jade sitting on a bench and looking out towards the ocean. He slowly walked over to her, dropping down next to her and breathing heavily.

"What happened to you?" Jade asked casually.

"Lot's of running." Cooper said, sitting up slightly. "You been here since school ended?"

"Yeah, walked straight here. Didn't think you were coming today."

"I wasn't planning on it, but something happened."

"Johnny?" Jade asked, sticking her hand out towards the water bottle in Cooper's hand and watching as the water turned to ice. He let out a frustrated sigh and looked at her. She couldn't help but smirk as she stood up and walked to the edge of the pier.

"No, not Johnny. Some weird lady and a guy with a gun." Cooper said.

"Guy with a gun?" Jade asked, turning around to look at him. Behind him was Lieutenant Rhodes and Drew, walking towards the two. "You mean them?"

Cooper snapped his head around quickly to look at the two and stood up, watching as everything began to slow down again. He moved to grab Jade, but the lack of energy caused him to collapse to his knees. He looked up and saw Jade fall onto her side with a dart sticking out of her neck.

"We should've done that from the start. It's so much easier." Drew said, walking over to her to pick her up.

"It also makes us look like kidnappers." Rhodes said, she turned Cooper around who continued to take deep breaths. "Contact Dr. Reuben and let him know this one is gonna need help." She stuck a dart into Cooper's neck and watched as he passed out, leaving Drew to take both to the Jeep.