The Outcasts *COMPLETED*

Chapter 5 - Revelations

Cooper slowly opened his eyes, only to quickly squint due to a blinding light that was hanging above him. He raised his hand to cover the light and sat up, looking around to see Jade sitting in a corner. They were in a box with see-through walls, with holes cut into some parts of the wall to make speaking and breathing easier. Cooper stood up and looked behind him to see three familiar faces standing or sitting and looking around as well.

"Good to see you're all awake." Lieutenant Rhodes spoke, causing all eyes to go to her as she stood outside the box. A short bald man was next to her writing things done on a clipboard. Rhodes' right hand man was standing right behind her as she stepped forward.

"Where are we?" Danny asked, brushing his beach blonde hair out of his eyes. He stepped forward and put his hands onto the wall. "You can't keep us in here."

"We don't plan on keeping you here any longer than we have to, and the location is disclosed." Rhodes responded. "I'm Lieutenant Kayleigh Rhodes. This here is Dr. Reuben."

"It's wonderful to meet you all!" Dr. Reuben said with a big smile, pushing his glasses up with his pencil as he looked up for a brief moment before going right back to writing.

"What do you want from us?" Javier asked, sitting on the ground with his arms wrapped around his legs, pressing his knees into his chest.

"Nothing. We just want to help you." Kayleigh said, slowly walking around the box now. "You've all experienced some weird abilities haven't you?"

"No." the five all said in unison, looking back and forth between one another.

"Teens are terrible liars." Drew said as he pulled over a chair and sat down. Kayleigh smirked and snapped her fingers.

"Cooper Hayward. Possess super speed." Reuben said, reading off his clipboard now. "Danny Storm, super strength. Mollie Gryphon, teleportation. Jade Summers, you can create ice. And Javier Vasquez, you can create fire."

"This is ridiculous." Jade said, rolling her eyes.

"We've witnessed two of you already use your abilities. There's no point in trying to deny it now." Kayleigh said. Cooper looked down and Mollie nervously bit her bottom lip. She closed her eyes and attempted to focus, wanting to teleport out of the box. However, a loud ringing noise made its way into her head and she gasped, dropping to her knees.

"Can't use those powers in that box." Drew said. Danny clenched his fist and turned to one of the walls, swinging at it. Instead of destroying it, he quickly grabbed his hand.

"Ah!" he shouted out in pain.

"Anyone else wanna try?" Kayleigh asked. The group of teens remained quiet. "Good. Now, let us explain. There was a meteor shower not too long ago, and for some odd reason those meteors affected few individuals. Those individuals gained spectacular abilities that are clearly not of this world."

"We work for the government, and they wanted us to look into those affected. Clearly you know by now that they, are you. We don't know why but you five were 'chosen' to have these powers. We wanted to give you the chance to use them to help people. And maybe let us study them." Reuben continued.

"Like test subjects?" Cooper asked, almost in a whisper. Luckily Kayleigh was walking by him when he spoke up.

"No. It's optional. We're going to give you time to decide, but if you say no... we can't promise we won't be watching you like hawks."

"So why not just keep us here?" Javier asked, looking up at her as she walked by him.

"Because we are hoping you make the right choice and don't have to be, coerced." Kayleigh told him. "We're gonna have to sedate you again, just a warning. We'll you go now, but we'll be in touch shortly. Think hard about your choice."

"Sedate?" Javier asked.

"Not again." Cooper mumbled.

"This is so messed up." Mollie said in anger. A door slide open to the box and everyone looked over at Drew who was walking in. He had a small gun in his hand. Cooper tried to run for the door, but fell to a knee due to the ringing that came into his head.

"Sorry." Drew said, shooting a dart into Cooper's shoulder. He looked over at Mollie and fired one into her arm. Jade ran over to Cooper as he passed out and looked up at Drew. He quickly fired a dart into her shoulder. Javier and Danny soon followed the other three into unconsciousness.

"I have to carry them out of here now don't I?" Drew asked. He looked around and saw that Kayleigh and Reuben were already gone. He sighed and grabbed Javier's arms and began to drag him out of the box.

* * *

The next day, Javier was leaning against his locker rubbing his head. Michelle and Darnell stood in front of him, both with confused looks on their faces. Javier stood up straight and grabbed the book he needed from his locker and began to walk to class. Michelle and Darnell followed him, standing on either side of him.

"It sounds like you had a wild dream dude." Darnell said.

"No, it wasn't dream. It was way too real." Javier said, rubbing his neck where the dart had hit him.

"Just like you being able to catch on fire and not get burnt?" Michelle asked. Her and Darnell chuckled while Javier rolled his eyes. The two others walked into class while Javier stopped in his steps. Standing outside of the class were Cooper and Jade who were talking to each other.

"Hey wait a second-" Javier said, grabbing their attention. The two looked him right as Danny walked up to the classroom holding hands with Sophie.

"Go get our seats babe." Danny told her, and she smiled. Sophie and her friend Skylar walked into the classroom as Danny looked back and forth at the others.

"So it wasn't a dream. Greaaat." Mollie said, standing behind the other four.

"No offense, but you guys are people I wish I'd never have to see again." Jade said with a sigh, walking into the class with Cooper. The others all walked in as well and took their usual seats.

"Bench warmer!" Johnny shouted at Javier as he walked past him. Javier took a deep breath and sat at the front with Michelle and Darnell.

Professor Otto Romero walked in the class, his black hair disheveled as he bumped into one of the desks and quietly apologized to the student sitting there. He put his bag and textbook down on his desk and was mumbling to himself. Everyone in the class was extremely quiet, wondering what was wrong with their professor.

"Today class, I'm going to play a video. One page summary of the video will be for homework." Professor Romero said as he turned on his computer.

"Um, professor... what about a quote?" Javier asked. Romero looked up at him and stared at him for a moment. The students became slightly uncomfortable as Romero looked back down at his computer.

Javier looked over at Michelle and Darnell, shrugging. The students began to quietly talk amongst each other, something they wouldn't usually be able to get away with. Johnny crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it, hitting Cooper right in the side of his head. Johnny and his teammates high fived as Sophie smirked and couldn't help but laugh either.

* * *

"Kayleigh, come here!" Reuben shouted as he looked back and forth between monitors.

"It's Rhodes to you." Kayleigh said as she walked into Reuben's office. She stood behind him as he played security footage of a dark street with only the street lights giving off anything. A figure slowly stumbled down the street, casting a strange darkness over what was lit up. The figure was shrouded by shadows, and eventually covered the camera, which is where the footage stopped.

"What was that?" Kayleigh asked, leaning down now to get a better look as the video replayed.

"I believe there is a sixth individual who was affected." Reuben said, writing something down on his clipboard.

"Shit." Kayleigh muttered, standing up quickly and leaving the office.