Chapter Twelve: Atrum Aeterna Pt. 3

–

Gear never thought he'd have to fight such a difficult battle. Not only was the metahuman too powerful for him to handle, she was also his girlfriend. His zap caps proved useless and he kept getting slammed into piles of debris. Static wasn't having much luck either. He was floating in mid air, gasping for breath as Morgan choked the life out of him. Lux could help them, she'd be able to stop Morgan. There was only one problem. Lux Aeterna was dead.

There was nothing they could do.

"Static!" Gear exclaimed as he watched his partner drop from the sky.

No, please don't let him be dead too. I don't think I could handle that, he's my best friend! The genius thought frantically as he rushed to Static's side. Placing a hand on his friends neck, he felt a faint pulse and gave a sigh of relief. Virgil was alive...for now. From above Morgan watched them.

"I didn't have the heart to kill him." She stated in a monotonous voice.

"But you had the heart to kill your own sister?! Where did you get that logic?" Gear demanded, standing up and glaring at her.

"Lux was always meant to die. I saw it in her future. You can't change destiny, Gear." Her voice became wispy as she floated down to him.

"We shouldn't have been so harsh to you Morgan. You did what you had to do, and even then, you made everything right. We're sorry." He pleaded.

Morgan planted a light kiss on his cheek before whispering, "It's too late for that."

Gear gasped as the ground around him began to shake and stir. Looking down, he realized what Morgan was doing. She was going to bury them where they stood.

"Morgan stop!" Gear yelled but she ignored him.

Oh god, it's going to end right here. Virgil, Lux...I'm sorry. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. Seconds past...then a few minutes...but nothing was happening. Gear opened his eyes and they widened when they saw a man shielding them from Morgan's attack.

"What the..." He whispered.

The man looked at them and frowned, "Where's Lux?" he asked.

Gear shook his head and the man nodded solemnly. Above them Morgan was growing even more livid as each second passed.

"You need to wake up your friend." The man motioned to Static.

"I don't think I can, she got him pretty good." Gear responded.

"God, I've never seen her so angry." The man whispered.

"Who are you anyway?" The genius inquired.

"James Willows, I'm their father."

The sound of creaking metal cut off whatever reaction Gear was about to have.

"She's toppling another building we need to move!" James ordered.

Gear nodded as he grabbed Static and they moved away just as the building on where they had been standing. Static groaned as his eyes opened and he looked up at Gear and James.

"Who's he?" He grunted.

"Morgan's dad, he came in the nick of time too." Gear answered.

"Unfortunately, I've got no way to stop her. We'd always know something like this would happen but the only person able to stop her is...was Lux."

"And Lux is...dead." Static nearly choked on the word. He still couldn't believe it.

"We've got to give it our all anyway. Lux would want that, so let's do this?" Jame looked at the boys, waiting for them to respond.

When they nodded, he pointed to a pile of debris that led to sunlight. With little hesitation, the boys followed after him, ready to face Morgan. Once outside they saw the mentalist sitting on top of an overturned vehicle, watching them.

"Daddy, when did you get here? Did you see what I did to Lux?" She asked in the wispy voice she used earlier as she pointed to the debris Lux was buried under.

"Morgan darling, please let us help you. You're hurting, I can tell. And when the realization hits you, that you killed your sister, you'll be even more distraught." James pleaded to her.

"I feel fine Daddy. And good riddance to Lux, she was a burden anyway." Her voice became harsher and more clipped. James knew she was losing her temper.

"You loved Lux though. You told me this every time you became worried for her. You can't deny that Morgan." Gear added.

"I never cared for her. I only protected her because you wanted me to Daddy. So shut up." She was standing now.

"Morgan-"

"I said SHUT UP!" Her hand flew forward and James stepped in front to shield the boys when something unbelievable happened.

Morgan was knocked backwards by a pulse of air. The three watched as she landed a good fifty yards away. She remained motionless. Static was the first to react and whip his head towards the direction the pulse came from. His eyes fell on a figure clad in all black who was staring at them.

"Seems like your baby girl has been on a psychotic break for weeks now. What pushed her over the edge?" The figure asked.

James was about to answer when the figure flickered out of sight and appeared right in front of him. He took a startled step backwards. They all quickly took in that he was male, with black hair, and purple eyes. More like...bluish purple. James thought.

"Where's the other one?" The mystery guy asked.

"Dead." James stated, showing no emotion.

"Oh really now? I beg to differ," The mystery guy turned to where Lux's body was, "Lux Aeterna, get up. Your family needs you."

Gear and Static gasped as the debris began to move and out from under it, climbed Lux. What shocked them even more was that there was not a scratch on her.

"Dammit Atrum! Your shields suck ass." She hissed as she leaped down to where the boys stood. "I'm gonna need some heavy duty painkillers after this."

"You're alive!" Gear exclaimed.

"I would say well too but I've got a massive headache." Lux smiled at him.

James was filled with relief at the sight of his daughter. He hadn't believed she was actually dead but as the situation grew more and more grim, he had found himself losing hope.

"Where is she?" Lux asked, looking at her father.

"There. Lux, don't kill her." James told her as he pointed to Morgan who was beginning to stand up.

"Wouldn't dream of it Dad. Let's go Atrum." Lux began walking towards Morgan.

"Atrum? You know this guy?!" Static questioned.

Lux looked at him and nodded her head once, "Only vaguely, but yes I know him."

–

She had always known that Lux carried dangerous secrets. She had never had any interest to know what they are. At least, until now. However, she was totally unprepared for this. As she stepped through a silver archway, Morgan regretted opening the final door to Lux's mind.

There she saw bodies, thousands of them, being burned alive over and over again. And at the center of it all stood Lux. The mentalist was speechless as she took in the sight of her sister. The pyro was covered in silver body armor with blades protruding from her arms. Her white hair was in a long, braided ponytail. She looked both magnificent and intimidating as Morgan approached her.

"Lux?" She asked quietly.

Lux turned and looked at her before chuckling.

"So you've opened the final door? Even I haven't been able to do this." Lux commented.

"What do you mean? This is your mind." Morgan explained.

"What you're seeing now sister, is my future." The pyro clarified.

"Your...future? Where am I?" The mentalist was afraid to hear the answer.

"Dead. I killed you. And thousands more." The response was blunt and cold.

Morgan took several steps back as fire began to surround her. Lux...no this wasn't Lux. Lux would never kill her. She has been distant lately, the doubts crept in. If this was Lux's future, Morgan realized, then she couldn't be allowed to live in order to see it.

"NO!"

–

"I slept, do you know why?" Lux asked Atrum as they walked towards Morgan.

"You didn't sleep, you blacked out. I'm to blame for that and everything else, I wasn't able to watch you last night." Atrum answered.

"Watch me? What do you mean watch me? Who sent you?" Lux stopped and grabbed him by the throat. Atrum didn't even try to fight/

"Crane...did." He panted as he tried not to use too much air.

"Crane?!" Her grip tightened.

"Yes...shouldn't we be worried about you sister?"

Lux let him drop and she kept moving towards Morgan. Atrum kept his distance as the closed in on the mentalist. Morgan glared at them as they approached.

"We need to make this quick." Lux said to Atrum as Morgan put her hand forward to send them flying.

"Agreed." Atrum shielded himself and Lux from the potentially fatal blast and returned with one of his own.

Lux quickly followed suit by trapping Morgan in an impenetrable ring of white fire as soon as the blonde hit the ground.

"Morgan!" Lux called to her sister, "Please be reasonable about this, you need to calm down."

Morgan launched a psychic blast but it was shielded and returned by Atrum, effectively knocking her down. She hit the ground with a thud and Lux was instantly at her side.

"Morgan look at me. Look at me dammit." Lux commanded as she tried to keep Morgan from passing out.

"Lux...I have to kill you. I'm...so...sorry." Morgan whispered.

"No you don't have to kill me and I don't have to kill you. I just need you to stay awake until Daddy gets over here okay?" Tears flooded the pyro's eyes. What had caused all of this?

"Daddy?" Morgan wondered.

"Yes, Daddy and Richie too. He and Virgil came to save you." Lux explained.

"They hate me Lux. They hate us." Morgan's eyes closed and Lux panicked. Without thinking she slapped Morgan across the face and the blonde shot up and glared at her.

"Bitch, if you pass out I will kill you." Lux threatened but smiled nonetheless.

"I'll make a note not to." Morgan smiled back.

The sound of police sirens and emergency crews alerted them and Lux's eyes widened. Morgan stopped breathing out of terror.

"They'll know who we are." Lux whispered.

"No they won't. Thanks to Backpack, all surveillance has been destroyed and luckily no news stations had the guts to come out here." Gear told them as he walked over to them.

"What about witnesses? People had to have seen what just went down." Morgan pointed out.

"I'll take care of that. According to eye witnesses, a terrorist attack occurred in Dakota today." Atrum smirked.

"Now can we please get out of here?"

–

Yay! All is well and I'll explain why Morgan went psycho. It has to do with the flashback I put in. Now I need honest opinions, how do you like Atrum? I plan to keep him in for awhile but not if you guys don't like him. Mt readers' opinions are very important to me.

So...REVIEW HOMESKILLETS!