AN: Sorry about missing another upload. School is really getting to me as well as my power going out last weekend. If I can, I'm going to try to upload a chapter on Wednesday, both this and next week, so I can try to get back on track.
Chapter 23: Shedding Snake! Reborn!
Shooting up from my bed, I put my face into my hands. I'm right, this is what a hero should do. There's nothing else I can do. I'll make him pay, then she'll come back. She must. My phone rings on the desk next to my bed.
I pick up Agent Hammer on the other end. "Chase, how are you holding up?"
Terrible. I take a deep breath. "Fine, why are you calling? Is Shocker on the move again?"
"No, we haven't seen any movement from him or another monster. It's Agent Braid. She wants to talk." I hang up.
Why should we trust her? For all we know, she could've helped Shocker with experimenting on Alicia, and with Sophie. How do we know she's with us? For a moment, I can hear another voice in my head. It's me again, but it sounds calm. Don't you remember what happened to Otto? Listen to her, don't push them away. The voice dissipates as I step out of my room. We can't trust her.
My dad's the only one in the living room, he sees me as entering. "Sweetie, what happened? You scared us yesterday."
Right, I messed up. I yelled at them over nothing, stupid. "Sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. It's complicated."
He grabs a plate from the kitchen. "Do you want to talk about it? I made breakfast." Setting the plate down on a table, it's pancakes and bacon.
"Okay." I sit down in front of the table and start eating. "Something happened with…" It's weak, but I can already feel myself getting emotional. "Sorry, I can't talk about it."
My dad puts an arm around me. "That's alright, just eat up. If you can't talk about it, I won't force you. You know we're here for you when you need help, right?" I nod and he gets up. "Well, I need to go to work. Can you make it to school alright?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Don't leave. Why does everyone keep leaving? Is it my fault? He smiles and waves as he leaves. The room is dead silent. Where are you, Alicia? Otto?
After I finish eating, I get ready for school and leave. Just get through the day. All you need is a distraction. School only makes the pain worse, even when I don't mean to. I find my eyes drifting to where Alicia sits. Can I really get her back? Some of my classmate's murmur amongst themselves while looking at me. Stop, just leave me alone. I feel so tired.
Our track meet goes better than classes did. I guess even knowing that I'm some kind of hero, they just see me as another member of the club. It's surprising. I hardly talk to any of them, except for Carol and Mason.
Speaking of those two, "hey Chase, everything alright? You seem out of it." Carol says from behind.
How'd they notice? "I'm fine. How're you guys doing? Nothing I need to help with?"
Mason gives me a confused look. "You sure? You never responded to us."
I look at my phone, a couple of messages from them. How'd I not see that? Pay more attention! The one from Mason is about a picture he drew. It's some art of my dual-colored form. The green form is standing in the front and the blue stands behind it, with its back turned. A storm surrounding both. The messages from Carol are just asking if everything's alright.
"Sorry. I was…" pausing to think, "busy yesterday. A lot happened. The picture looks good, though, thanks." There isn't a lot of enthusiasm in my voice, even I can tell.
"Hero stuff, right? That makes sense. I know we aren't super close or anything, but you can talk to us if you need to. We're friends after all." Carol says, with Mason nodding. I noticed him trying to hide the smile from what I said.
Will they leave me? Why did I talk to them? I don't want them to get hurt. "I've gotta go. I'll see you guys later." I leave in a hurry, trying to get out before one of them replies. This is my fault. I shouldn't have brought them into this. They're good people. They'll end up getting hurt like everyone else.
Pulling out my phone, I call Agent Hammer. "Hey, sorry for hanging up before."
"It's fine. You can't trust her, right? I get it, but she has good information. Whether you trust her or not, it might be good to listen." He says.
"Right, I'll head over there soon. How's my sister doing?"
"She's still holding on, but no major updates. Dr. Carver is still trying to find a way to recreate the injured parts of her body."
Still nothing. When can I see her again? Will I see her again? I should've protected her the first time. "Thank you for taking care of her. I hope you can figure something out soon." I hung up.
It's a decently long walk, since I don't have my motorcycle. But I get in front of the MDF's building and walk up to the two guards.
They both salute as I walk over. "Ms. Rush, our captain said you'd be coming by. He should be out soon," one of them says.
After some waiting, Agent Hammer walks out. "Chase, I'm glad you could make it. Follow me." He goes back inside the building.
I follow, looking at the inside of the MDF's base. It feels a little familiar. I have been here after all, but it's still all new to me. "Has she said anything yet?" The bitter expression on my face never changes.
"Nothing yet. That's why I wanted to bring you." He says.
"Or it could be some kind of trap. You don't know what she could be planning." She isn't like that. But she was on his side, helping him. So was Otto, and look what you did to him. Is this really how I should act?
We get to the entrance to another room. "I can assure you, she has nothing on her that could harm you or anyone else. Trust us, we know what we're doing."
"Right, I didn't mean to doubt you. Sorry…" My voice drifts off. What's wrong with you? There's no reason to not trust him. He knows her. But that doesn't mean you can trust her. Why can't I just make a choice?
"It's fine. You have your reasons. Just don't let it distract you, alright?" He says before opening the door to some kind of interrogation room.
There's another person inside who salutes Agent Hammer as we enter. "Nothing to report, captain. She's just been sitting there."
Through the one-way glass, I can see Agent Braid. Simply staring out into a wall, waiting. "What happened to you, Lucy?" I hear Hammer say under his breath.
That's right, they always seemed close. This must be even harder for him than anyone else. Why didn't I think about that? I can feel anger seeping into my body and mind. Shocker. You'll pay. If there's one thing I need to do right, it's taking him down.
"Can I go in?" I ask both him and the other person.
Hammer collects himself for a moment. "Of course, do your best." He says, his calm and serious demeanor returning.
I enter through a door leading into the room. Agent Braid sees me right away. "Chase, why are you here?"
"I'm just here because I want answers. Alicia's brother told me about how Shocker experimented on the two of them, and why they couldn't tell people about them. But you had connections, you could've told the MDF, or me!" My frustration gets the better of me as I yell.
She looks at me, eyeing my condition. "You look awful. Are you sure now is the right time? Taking care of yourself is important."
First Alex, now her? Why do people keep saying that? "I'm fine, better than I've ever been. Again, why didn't you tell any of us about Shocker? We could've stopped this before any of it happened."
She looks away from me, her eyes focused on the wall to her side as she drifts off. "Do you understand the lengths that man will go to get what he wants? If I told anyone about him, he threatened to get rid of both Alex and Alicia. Giving you the snake and deer discs was already risky enough. But blowing his entire operation? They'd be gone in a heartbeat."
"How do you know them? Even before we knew you were with Shocker, you always wanted to know how Alicia was doing?"
"How much did Alex tell you about when he and Alicia were taken by Shocker?"
"Just that they were let out to keep suspicion off of the organization. The only other things I know are guesses on what happened in that recording he played." I can feel my eyes water up thinking about it.
"It wasn't just those two who were brought in. Shocker captured their parents along with them, and I was another prisoner of theirs." I can hear her voice shake. "We did everything we could to keep those kids away from the experiments, but in the end…" I can hear her quietly crying as she stops talking.
Her parents? What does she mean? "What happened to Alicia's parents? Where are they?" I try to stop myself, but my voice raises as I speak. "You have to tell me. Knowing her parents are really out there might help bring her back. You know something, right?!"
Agent Hammer walks into the room before I can continue and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Chase, give it a rest, alright? We've got news about an attack in the city."
I wipe my eyes as I turn around. "Already? This time, things will be different."
"It's not him. It's the Maxwells. Guess he sent them out instead of coming himself." He shows me the location and I leave the room.
Once I get out of the building, I slam my belt on and set the dual-colored disc inside. Even if I don't have the Cyclone, this should still make me faster. Can't wait for Agent Hammer and his team to get ready. I spin both sides of the belt as I run.
"Transform!"
The Storm Passes! A Rainbow Awakens! Your hero has arrived, and she is… Reborn!
A tornado forms around me as I run and the pieces of my suit fall down on me as I run. Eventually, I get to the location. It's empty except for Otto and his dad, both already transformed.
They both notice me as I run towards Otto's dad, ready to attack. "Looks like it isn't here. I'm looking elsewhere. You deal with the pest, Otto." His dad says as Otto jumps in front of me.
I stop in front of him, watching as his dad escapes. "Otto, why are you still working for them? Shocker isn't going to leave me and Alicia alone. You know what he did to her, right?"
Even with the mask on, I can tell he knows what I'm talking about. "I wanted to keep you two safe. That's all I wanted. But I couldn't even get that to happen." His voice is shaking. He isn't even trying to hide it. "I'm sorry, Chase."
He slashes at me with his claws. The monstrous style of fighting from before, unable to get a hit in on me. "Are you really going to just accept what they did?" I'm the one who should be sorry. "We can fight back." I pushed you away, and couldn't help Alicia when she needed me most. "All we have to do is take Shocker down."
There's a hesitation in his voice, like he wants to believe what I said. "Do you even get what you're saying? We've both seen what he can do. Winning isn't an option."
I can feel anger building up inside me as the fight continues. "So what? All I can do is fight!" Before realizing what's happening, I punch Otto to the ground.
Even in this defensive form, that punch did damage. "Fight? What good will that do if it's all you have? He has the skill and intelligence to beat you. It doesn't matter how much you fight." He gets up, continuing the flurry of attacks.
Are we really doing this? I don't want to fight him, but what other choice do I have? The only thing I'm good at now is fighting. I spin both sides of my belt as I get ready to fight for real. Letting the anger fuel me like it did against Shocker.
Lightning never strikes twice. I'm your bolt of hope! Reborn!
A thunderbolt strikes me as my suit changes into its blue form. I flash around Otto, hitting him before he can even react. "Just be quiet! I can win like this. If I just keep fighting, then eventually I'll beat him." It feels like I'm slowly losing myself as I fight.
Otto continues to take hit after hit. "Not like this. You'll only get yourself hurt. Why don't you get that?! If you keep fighting him…" Suddenly, Otto moves around my attacks, dodging them more and more. "You'll die." It feels like Otto realized something at that moment, like something inside him finally snapped. "And I can't let that happen!"
What's happening? The way Otto fights changes, his movements feel more calculated. Somehow, he getting the upper hand against me. Is he getting stronger? Or did I get weaker? I can still feel the wildness in some of his attacks, but something is different. Between the animalistic and predictable moves, there are perfectly planned out attacks and movements. Otto closed the gap between the two of us. If I can't win against Otto. How am I going to take down Shocker? He spins the left side of his belt three times.
Lion! Goat! Snake! Monster Rider Kick!
He does a standing kick at me as his tail wraps around his leg, the bones from his claws and horns from his helmet attaching to his foot like spikes. I can't dodge or counter it! He stops right before the kick lands.
He looks at me as he takes his belt off; the suit vanishing. "My dad is looking for Alicia. Can you stop him?" I can see the conflict in his eyes. Something clicked in him during that fight.
"I've beaten him before. I'll just do it again." The anger fades away, as I can feel my mind clear up. "What happened during that fight?"
Although I can still see the tired, sad look in his eyes, something about Otto is different. "I just realized something. Something important." He looks much more calm and collected than any of the other times I've seen him. "Are you alright? You felt weaker during that fight."
So it was me. No, that can't be possible. My reason for fighting hasn't changed. I'm just as determined as I usually am. So why am I weaker? I'm probably just tired. All I need is some sleep and I'll be just as strong as before.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. You've got things you need to do, right?" I say as I get ready to go in the direction his dad went.
He wants to ask me more about it, I can tell. "If you're sure." Otto starts to walk away before turning around. "Be careful, okay?"
I don't respond, instead running off to follow where his dad went. Just keep fighting. As long as you can keep moving, everything will be fine. Don't give up, just keep pushing forward, and fight.