24 ALTERNIVERSE: Chapter twelve

Booming thunder and storming winds continue to disseminate the surrounding area as the battle rages outside. The two young heroes, bruised and battered, continue to fight against the monstrous being, Rift Storm, trying to gain the upper hand. Their costumes are ripped and charred from the current power struggle.

During the fight Electrified is blown back by Rift Storm who sends a powerful wave of wind at him just by waving his right arm in his direction. Zero takes the opportunity to comes from the opposite side of Rift Storm and with a fist cloaied in black electric sparks, lands a punch on his face. The force of the punch launches Rift Storm straight through the front wall of the bunker. Dust and debris fly everywhere upon impact as Rift Storm crashes into multiple furniture in the main lobby.

The villain takes a couple seconds to regain the senses before opening his eyes. "He's hitting harder than before… the kid must be using his gravity abilities to increase the density of his fists." Rift Storm gets up from the broken benches. "He most definitely is an interesting one. If I wasn't sent here to retrieve the family I'd toy with him some more but I'm on a timer."

Zero, still in the same position after throwing his punch and breathing heavily, looks towards the front of the bunker still shrouded in a dust cloud. "Did we... get him?" He asks, exhausted from the fight.

Electrified picks himself up off the ground, slowly onto his knees. He holds onto his broken left arm tightly. Electrified looks over at Zero. "I damn well hope so…" With his teammate in sight he notices a black spec appear above Zero's head. "The hell…" Soon the black spec enlarges greatly. Realizing it's a portal made from Rift Storm, Electrifieds body reacts automatically. His lightning aura surges once more as he rushes to Zero. "MOVE, YOU IDIOT!!" As he breaks into a full on sprint. Time seems to slow down with Electrified running as fast as lightning itself. Coming out from the portal above is a bolt of pure white lightning as wide as a minivan straight down towards Zero.

A race for time takes place around Zero who, like the rest of the world around Electrified, is at a stand still. Never has he moved at this speed close to a hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second as the lightning inches closer to Zero from above. Taking the last few steps to him, Electrified extends his hand to reach Zero in time, his fingers just centimeters away from Zero's chest.

In flash of bright light Zero finds himself pushed several feet away from where he was standing, with the wind knocked out of his chest, as a ground shaking thunder ripping through the air. 

Zero wheezes violently trying to catch his breath from whatever happened to him. "What… the hell…" he manages to slowly pick himself up off the ground to look back at his previous position. The sight leaves him in shock as he sees a smoldering crater ten feet in diameter. "Dear gods…" Zero hurriedly runs over to the crater to find Electrified laying facedown in the center, his body unresponsive and crackling with yellow and white static. "Electrified..?"

Rift Storm looks on from the hole in the wall. "I should kill him now but completing my task is more important… until next time Zero." A portal opens from behind him and slowly overtakes his body. The portal immediately closes without a trace.

Back inside the garage Osiris and Alpha Moon continue where they left off making the garage into a battlefield. Alpha Moon runs around at inhuman speeds dodging the deadly lasers fired off from Osiris. During the fight Osiris shoots a beam at one of the trucks that Alpha Moon was about to run by causing an explosion that blasts him off his feet. He hits the floor rolling over and over again before coming to a stop.

"Finally! I hate when my target plays hard to get." Osiris focuses her gaze on Alpha Moon as he is picking himself up. Soon her eyes begin to glow bright red with energy. "Time to put this mutt down!"

"Seriously, what's with all the dog puns!?" Alpha Moon lets out his sonic howl stronger than before as Osiris counters with her eye beam. The two forces clash once again but the outcome favors the hero this time as the sonic howl overpowers the energy beam.

"Shit!" Seeing the incoming attack throws up her right arm to the side, firing off another laser and using the force to propel her out of the way just in time letting the sonic howl crash into the other vehicles. 

While the two powered individuals fight amongst the wreckage that is the garage, the family quietly exit the crashed SUV. Jason helps drag the unconscious guard out from the driver's seat, laying him on the ground, while Christine picks up Emma into her arms and makes their way towards the exit. 

"Just a little further and we'll be out of here." Jason says just inches away from the exit when a laser beam blasts the roof causing debris to fill the majority of the exit. Leaving a hole too small for them to make it through.

The family looks back to see Osiris coming in fast, using her lasers as a means of propulsion. "Don't think I'll let you leave so soon!" Her efforts are in vain as Alpha Moon gets the jump on her from behind making both of them tumble and roll on the ground.

They come to a stop with Alpha Moon holding face down on the concrete floor. Osiris struggles vigorously to escape his grasp but can't over power his increased physical prowess. "I got this! Go, get out of here!" 

Jason nods and acts quickly, taking Emma from her mother's arm and rushing over to the destroyed exit. "Listen to me Emma, I need you to crawl through that hole, ok."

"NO! I don't want to leave you and mommy!" She says, crying tremendously.

"And you won't be, ok. We will be right behind you. I promise you we won't leave you alone." Jason wipes the tears from her eyes. "Can you be a big girl for daddy?" Emma sniffles trying to hold back the tears and softly nods to him. "That's my girl. Now get going, Emma."

Osiris flails about trying to gain freedom from the grapple but can't seem to break free. When she sees the family escaping which throws her into a fit rage. Placing her hands on the ground lets loose two beams that push them up into the air with extreme force. Alpha Moon, who was on top of her, gets rammed into the ceiling full on and cracks it with his back. He lets go of Osiris from the pain of being smashed into the ceiling thus giving her time to propel herself away and towards the family. Though before she could reach her a flash of light goes off behind and a hand grabs Osiris by the ankle.

The Phonz appeared with a makeshift arm sling from ripped cloth. Using his super strength, he easily flings Osiris to the side as she hits the ground hard. "Sorry I'm late. Once I made it back to where the family was supposed to be and saw the mess, I went around looking for you guys."

"Better late than never, I suppose. Are you OK to fight with that arm?" Alpha Moon says, gesturing to the charred arm.

"It hurts like hell but I can manage. It's just Osiris. If we can take her down here then getting the family to safety is pretty much assured."

"Crap, this isn't looking good right now. Dealing with one hero is hard enough." Just then static comes in over her comms that catches her by surprise. "What the… Rift Storm is that you?... Are you serious?... What about the other two… Fine but if Transmuter chews us out I'm blaming you!" Osiris charges up her hands and eyes for another attack.

"Get ready! Looks like she got some more fight left in her!" Alpha Moon yells out.

To their surprise Osiris doesn't attack them but blasts a hole in the ceiling with her eyes then boosts herself out through the immediate exit.

The Phonz looks puzzled by Osiris's action. "What the heck was that about? Why did she just leave?" 

"I'm not exactly sure myself. Normally I'd go after them but keeping the family safe is top priority right now. We'll just have to call it in later." Alpha Moon and The Phonz walk over to Jason and Christine who are trying to dig out as much rubble as they possibly can to fit through the hole that Emma crawled through. "Please, allow me to help." Jason and Christine quickly move out of the way and gets behind the two heroes. Alpha Moon lets out one more sonic howl that easily blows a hole big enough for them to get through.

The parents waste no time running through the new exit to reunite with their daughter but when they make it through Emma is nowhere in sight.

"Emma? Emma!!! Emma, where are you!?" Christine begins to shout looking in all directions for her.

The Phonz walks up to Jason who is panicking while looking around frantically. "What happened, why wasn't she with you?"

"We wanted to get her away from danger as quickly as possible so we had her crawl through the hole while the fight was still going on. She should be here." Jason explained.

Alpha Moon, using his heightened sense of smell, begins investigating when he comes to the realization. "I can definitely smell her scent but she wasn't alone out here. The scent goes for a few more feet then just stops." 

"Guys!" The group turns to the shout and find Zero holding Electrified in his arms. "H-he's still breathing but he isn't waking up."