Chapter 63: Road To Hell

"Manny! Block him!"

"What do you think I'm trying to do!"

Luke continued running after Manny and Harvey as they all ran forward. Harvey smiled and dribbled the soccer ball away from Manny whenever he tried to take the ball from his possession. Luke grits his teeth and dashes forward in front of Manny; seeing this, Harvey kicks the ball into the air just as he tried to steal it away.

"MANNY!"

"On it!" Manny yelled as Luke crouched down to the ground. Manny jumped over him and tried to redirect the ball back with his head. Harvey's eyes widened slightly, and smiled.

"Wow, not bad." Harvey complimented Mannys as he successfully stole the ball from him.

Luke quickly got up and took the position of the black and white ball. Without wasting a second, Luke dashed away from Harvey and Manny and headed in the opposite direction.

"Luke! Three seconds!"

Cursing, Luke looked behind him and saw Harvey run towards him at breakneck speeds. Knowing he couldn't keep the ball away from his friend for a long time, he decided to spin and kick the ball over to Manny, who was already waiting for such a pass.

RING RING RING

"Okay, break time." Harvey stopped and clapped his hands.

Manny caught the ball with his chest and let it fall before his feet. Luke saw Manny lean forward and placed his hands on his knees. The young Columbian boy was trying to gain control over his breathing as he rested, face and body covered in a sheen of sweat. Luke was on the same boat as he leaned back and placed his hands on his hips to try and gain control over his heavy breathing.

"Good work, you two. Your teamwork is becoming very impressive." Harvey smiled and looked over them both with pride on his face.

"T-Thanks."

Manny said, happy as they all walked over to the shade of a large tree. Under that shade were their bags and a small cooler with water bottles. Everyone stepped under the shade and rested under the cool break of the sun. Looking around the large public park, Luke reflected on why they were playing soccer.

Harvey suggested that now that their bodies have become stronger and faster due to all their training, he suggested they play a sport to get in tune with their bodies better. Sports help improve hand-eye coordination through repeated motion. The more you try to do certain things, such as dribbling a soccer ball in the air, the more chances your brain has to slow the process down, dissect it, and instruct you on what to do and when. So far, it was working very well; Luke felt more in control of his body than ever before.

Luke pulled out his phone from his bag and saw a message from Alex. She and Haley went out to buy more materials for Harvey's new superhero suit, so she told him to keep him out of Haley's room just in case. Luke smiled and nodded. He remembered the first time they showed him the suit. It was so awesome!

"AH Crap!" Luke turned to see Manny, who looked down at his phone with a freaked-out look. "My mom has been calling me nonstop!"

"What's up, Manny?" Harvey asked as he finished taking a drink from his water bottle.

"I'm not sure; whatever it is must be important. Excuse me ." Manny walked away and raised his phone to his ear.

"Wonder what that's about." Harvey asked as Luke shrugged his shoulders.

"Who knows."

Luke and Harvey waited for Manny to finish his phone call but grew concerned when Manny returned running with a fearful expression.

"Guys! There's some sort of attack on a shopping center in West Hollywood right now." Manny informed them. "My mom was freaking out about where I was; Luckily, we're nowhere near there."

"A... shopping center?" Luke felt his stomach drop. "Which... one?"

"Oh, she said it was the West Hollywood Gateway."

"Luke, what's wrong?" Harvey asked as he grabbed his shoulder.

"Harvey... Alex and Haley are there right now." Luke watched as Harvey's eyes grew wide and concerned.

"...what?"

•••

"Haah... I think this new plan will work."

Eric sighed, closed the door to his flat, and walked through his living room and into his office. Placing down his large coffee and bag containing some Chinese take-out food on his desk, Eric sat down in front of his desk and rubbed his face in exhaustion. Reaching under a pile of paper, he grabbed his laptop and turned it on.

"Okay, now I just have to acquire a small number of-" Eric paused when his eyes drifted over to his open safe and saw an empty tube rack. A rack that was supposed to be holding the unstable vial of ionic particles.

Standing up abruptly, Eric ran to the safe and kneeled beside it. Looking around frantically for the vial. "NO! No, no, no, no, no, no! Where is it!"

"Did I leave the safe open?! No, I wouldn't! Would I?" Eric stood up and looked around his office to see if anything else was missing but found nothing significant missing. That was until he looked over to the table that once held the map and folder containing his last resort plan. "Gone... They're gone..."

Shaking his head to get rid of the building panic, Eric ran over to his laptop and quickly opened the application that ran his hidden camera inside his office. Eric scrolled through the entire timeline, but when he saw the familiar visage of his little brother walk around his office and take the plans and the ionic particles, he felt his blood run cold.

"...Simon."

Eric slowly pulled out his phone and googled any news regarding the West Hollywood Gateway shopping center. Eyes growing in horror at the news of a red monster attacking and causing massive amounts of destruction, Several news stations were currently reporting the situation. With a shaking finger, Eric hit play on one of the reporter's live broadcasts of the event.

["-thing the first responders do to try and stop this red humanoid being is working! Seemingly, no firearm can penetrate the red-glowing creature's skin! Shit, Jim! It's right there. Aim the camera at it!"]

The video blurred and stopped to show a large, red, muscle-bound man walking out of a recently destroyed wall. Seemingly walking through the concrete wall with ease. The man's skin pulsed bright red with energy every few seconds. His white eyes matched his hair as they glowed ominously. Eric looked at the man's surroundings and calculated him to be at least seven feet tall. The red monster turned to the news crew and the police in front of the crew with a low growl.

["VenGeaAancE..."]

The monster then leaned down, grabbed a large slab of concrete from the wall he just walked through, and threw it at the news crew at blinding speeds.

["Holy shit-"]

The broadcast went dark after the slab of concrete seemingly hit the crew, leaving their fates unknown. Eric swallowed the bile in his throat and fell to his knees. "Simon."

While he and his crew of scientists knew the effects the unstable vial of ionic particles could have on a grown adult, it was unknown what type of effect it would have on a young teenage boy. "...vast bodily mutation and growth... seemingly accelerated the body's aging process and possibly twisted its mental faculties."

Eric's mind felt like it was about to break, so he decided to look at the situation scientifically to cope. While the vial's effects on a younger test subject were evident, the similar after-effects of the ionic particles were the same. The body radiated a form of unstable energy, causing the skin to glow a reddish hue. Also, the added levels of super strength and invulnerability were apparent as well. The energy pulsing through the body was due to the body's inability to regulate the ever-growing power. So when the energy grew to a point where the subject's body could no longer contain it, it would explode with enough energy to erase the city off the map. Similar to that of the nuke that eradicated Hiroshima back in 1945.

"Simon... he said, Vengeance. Could he still be trying to follow the plans?" Eric stood up and looked out his window and into the far-off direction of where Simon was. "I need to talk to him before it's too late… can he still even communicate? It doesn't matter, I have to try."

Eric left his flat and ran out of the building. Eric entered his car and started driving towards West Hollywood. The last test subject of the ionic particles could withstand the build-up of energy for at least an hour and a half before his body failed and exploded. But that was for an already grown test subject; this time, it was a young teenager with an underdeveloped body. His time frame could be much shorter or longer. This made the situation even trickier. With any luck, Eric could reach his brother and try to get him as far from the city as possible.

"It's all I can do... I'm so sorry, Simon. Please! Let me make it in time!"

•••

"Why does this always happen to us?!"

Alex heard Haley whisper next to her, Leaning out behind the pillar they were hiding behind to see all the destruction and smoke in the distance. The occasional sounds of heavy thumping and loud cracks deafened the cries and screams of panic from the other trapped shoppers.

"We're in a bad spot." Alex muttered, looking at everyone else who was hiding inside the small electronic store alongside her and Haley.

"W-What is that t-thing?" The store clerk said nervously as he peered over his desk.

"Whatever that red creature is, it's extremely strong and radiants some sort of energy that will flatten anything nearby it to nothing." Alex said as she looked around at all the technology in the store. "We've been hearing nonstop gunfire, most likely from the police, so it's safe to say that it's pretty durable, too."

"Wow, you got all that just by looking at it?" A woman with dark brown hair said to her.

"Alex, what do we do? None of our phones seem to able to get a signal." Haley looked down at her phone and frowned. "I've been trying to reach Harvey, but the call disconnected."

Alex frowned at that; pulling out her phone, she saw that she also had no service. Could it be that whatever energy that thing releases causes some sort of electromagnetic disturbance that blocks cellphone reception?

"I'm not sure, but I do know that we need to stay out of sight of that thing. At least until he gets here." Alex told her sister, who nodded with a nervous look.

BANG

Everyone covered their heads as a loud explosion echoed throughout the shopping center. The building shook slightly, causing dust to fall slightly. Immediately, all the lights around them died, bathing everything in darkness. The sudden lack of light caused several people to panic and scream in confusion.

"Everyone! Be quiet!" Alex tried to calm the panicking people when suddenly…

CRASH

Everyone slowly turned to see a glowing red light in the main halls of the shopping center. The loud, steady thumps of heavy footsteps echoed throughout. Everyone in the room felt sweat build up on their bodies with each step.

Alex held her breath and held Haley's hand tightly as they tried to stay silent enough not to attract the red monster's attention. With each stomp, the sounds of footsteps became louder and louder until it was apparent that the beast stopped in front of the store they were all hiding in.

"…veN…GeAncE…"

Alex and Haley turned to each other with wide eyes at what the red beast growled out. Did it want Harvey? Why? Just what was going on?!

"That thing is just standing there." A man close to them whispered as Alex looked over at a phone on the floor leaning against a counter. The red monster's reflection is clearly on display.

DING

Alex saw the phone glow in the dark as a notification popped up loudly in the silent room. Feeling her stomach drop to the floor, Alex heard the beast growl loudly and grabbed the double glass doors of the store and ripped them off with ease. This caused several people hiding in the store to yell in panic.

"Alex!" Haley jumped over her body and covered her as glass exploded into the store when the beast swung the broken off doors through the large glass windows of the store.

Alex closed her eyes and held her sister as they waited for the inevitable wave of violence from the beast. That was until an onslaught of gunfire rang out through the shopping hall.

BANG BANG BANG

"Hey! Look over here!" A voice out in the halls yelled, gaining the creature's attention. A second voice yelled out as well.

"Eyes over here!"

Alex and Haley looked up, watched the beast roar, and looked over to where the voices yelled out and stomped in their direction.

"Hey!" A new voice whispered to them all. Alex turned to see an officer with brown hair walk over to them all. Beside him was a shorter female officer with black hair. "I'm Officer John Nolan. This is Officer Talia Bishop."

"We're gonna get you all to safety."