Embers

Chapter 15

The next thing I could remember, I was waking up in a dimly lit room. My mouth was gagged and my hands and ankles were tied to a chair. Even though the sedation Connor had given me was wearing off, I still wasn't completely awake. I tried to use my powers to loosen the ropes slightly but I was unable to. Whatever he had given me was strong, and it still seemed like it wasn't going to wear off for a while.

I sat in silence for a long time. The room was completely barren, save myself. This place was old as well. There was some sort of leak in the ceiling, leaving a string of water to drip in the corner opposite of me. The paint on the walls was mostly chipped off, there were also several dents and cracks in the floors and walls as well.

The steel door in front of me unlocked and Connor walked in, fully dressed in his Raven outfit, his eyes covered by his blindfold.

"The Visionaries are on their way." He said, glancing through some papers in his hands. "If all goes accordingly, as of tomorrow, Connor will be no more, as will The Visionaries."

I tried to say something to him, though it only came out as muffled screams behind my gag.

"Always impatient," He muttered.

Loud footsteps echoed together outside the door. Connor looked up from his papers, a smirk growing on his face. "See you soon, Natalie." He said, teleporting out of the room.

Once he was gone I fought to get out of my bindings, but it was still useless. I heard several loud bangings on the doors until it finally burst open, Sparrow, Raider, and Solstice all piling into the room, along with two new heroes next to them. My heart sunk as Erin and Marco came in, their new visionary masks both black. I had forgotten that Solstice had recruited them, and seeing them here now, everything suddenly got a lot worse.

Solstice ran towards me as everyone else set up a perimeter around the room. "I'm here, I'm here," He said as he cut the ropes around my feet. As soon as his knife met the ropes around my arms, Connor teleported in behind him, ripping Solstice off of me, tossing him across the room and against the wall. Everyone turned towards The Raven, ready to attack, but Connor pulled out his sword, pointing it towards my neck.

Solstice slowly got back up off the ground. "Nice to see you too," He said, standing himself back up.

"I could say the same," Connor said. His voice was deeper than normal, probably so no one could recognize his voice. "Make a move on me, and she's dead." He said.

Solstice held up his hands, glancing towards the other Visionaries to do the same. One by one, everyone lowered their weapons. Connor smiled, glancing around at the group of unarmed superheroes standing in front of him.

"What do you want?" Sparrow asked. Despite having lowered her bow, her hand was still held firmly around the grip.

"Depends on what you're willing to give up." Connor said, his hand hanging loosely by one of the pockets on his pants, which I noticed had a set of throwing knives in them. My eyes widened, and I started screaming, of course it was inaudible through the gag. Connor moved his sword closer to my throat and I quieted myself.

"You want her to live? We've got some things that need to be understood."

"Like what?" Erin said, she wasn't having any of this.

Erin! That was it. I couldn't say anything, but she could hear me.

Erin, help! It's Connor, he's The Raven. He's using some sort of simulators to have powers, they're on his arms. If you can get them off, then--

Not so fast, Natalie. Connor's voice said, echoing in my head.

I looked up at him in fear, realizing my only shot of communicating with my sister was foiled in his attempt. He must've added powers like Erin's to his simulators. I couldn't believe I was stupid enough to think he wouldn't have thought of that.