Chapter Eight: Training Wheels

Lucas stands off against three Espers; Ariel, Brave, and Storm.

"Little dude," Storm body races with electricity, "you don't want to do this."

"You attacked me," Lucas reminds him.

"That was just a mistake. Your little butterflies won't save you. What kind of power even is that?"

"...You don't know my powers. And these are moths," Lucas corrects him.

Ariel stares daggers into Storm, who digs into his pocket and pulls out a glasses case. He opens it and puts on the glasses.

"Oh. Those are moths." Storm puts his glasses away.

"Why not keep them on?" Lucas asks curiously.

"He thinks they make him look uncool," Brave answers.

Storm points at Brave and nods as if saying, "What she said."

"Who are you guys?" Lucas inquires.

"We can't tell you that," Ariel answers.

"I see." Lucas closes his eyes. When Lucas reopens them, they're just as dead as before, however, there's an unsettling determination behind them. "Do you guys worship The One?"

"I do," Brave says.

"As do I," Ariel says.

"Silly question, of course we do. Everyone worships The One," Storm finalizes.

"Then we should pray. Because I cannot allow you to leave here alive. You're stalking me. I may not recognize any of you but I will not be returning to Father. I cannot allow you to hurt my family." Lucas begins to walk toward the trio. The hair on their nape rises as he approaches with malicious intent.

Brave does not waste time, she fires her already nocked arrow. "Scatter! We don't know what his powers are."

Lucas dodges the arrow by rolling out of the way, instead of having his moths devour it. If they don't know how his powers work, he should keep them uneducated as long as he possible could.

"Take this!" Storm yells. His arms are open wide and his palms are open; they spark with electricity. He aims his hands at Lucas and fires a torrent of electricity at him. With Storm's vocal declaration Lucas avoids the attack, rolling out of the way.

Lucas tucks out of his roll and looks around in all directions. He's surrounded by bubbles. Lucas takes the gum wrapper from earlier and throws it at a bubble. He shields his face as the bubble explodes upon contact.

Brave nocks another arrow. "I'll make sure to pray for you little guy." She releases the arrow, her target between Lucas' eyes.

Lucas in a swift motion drops to the ground, flushing himself against the ground. The arrow flies over Lucas' head.

"Huh," Brave says, genuinely shocked. "You're quick."

"Thank you," Lucas replies.

Lucas inhales and spits his gum at Storm. Storm recoils in disgust and backs up. The gum lands near his shoe.

"That's disgusting," Storm gags.

"I am well aware," Lucas says. "So," Lucas looks at Ariel, "you lock people down with these bubbles. While you make moving a hazard, you two," Lucas gestures at Brave and Storm, "target the semi-immobilized target."

Brave nocks an arrow. "That's right." The arrow begins to glow.

Storm opens his arms and his palms spark again. "Bright kid. You were fated to lose from the beginning."

Brave fires her arrow and Storm releases his electric blast. The attacks strike and an explosion occurs. When the smoke clears, there's nothing left.

"They're not going to be happy about this at HQ," Brave worries.

"The kid had it coming," Storm shrugs.

"Storm you attacked him," Ariel says, facepalming.

A rose whip ties around Brave's neck. Brave gags and grabs at the constricting thorny rope around her neck. She is pulled against the van and lifted slightly up. Brave looks up to see her attacker. It's Lucas. Brave scratches at the restraint blocking her air flow, she does not prevail.

When the attacks came toward Lucas, at the last second he became intangible. He traveled underground and surfaced on the other side of the van. None of them were in position to see him surface, a perfect blind spot.

"Brave!" Ariel cries out. Ariel extends her hand, ready to release her bubbles.

"Don't be foolish," Lucas chastises her. "You can't fully control them. You can release them, yes, but not direct."

Ariel grits her teeth and keeps her hand extended. "Don't be so sure about that!"

"If you had full control over your bubbles, you would utilize them differently. If you attack, you could hurt Brave."

Storm starts charging up another attack. "Kid, you're too cocky. Don't forget about me."

Lucas sighs. "Storm, you seem like a cool person."

"Awe, too late to butter me up," Storms replies.

"I would never praise the dead that I don't know."

"I'm not dea—argh," Storm yells out in pain. His hands stop sparking because of his ruined focus. He looks down and catches a glimpse of an ethereal, cyan caterpillar burrowing into his foot. "What was that!" Storms cries out. He reaches down to try to pull the caterpillar out of his body but it was too late. It was already inside of him.

"Once it eats enough, it'll start the cocoon process," Lucas informs Storm. Storm holds his foot and screams out in pain as the caterpillar feasts upon its inner workings.

Brave struggles as she is choked. She slams herself against the van in her struggle. The thorns of the whip dislodge themselves like missiles. The thorns launch themselves into Brave's neck. Embedded in her neck is a collar of thorns. Blood sips out of her wound and blood begins to flow, much like a river, out of her mouth. Lucas removes his whip from her neck, and she drops to the ground; free to choke on her own blood.

"You bastard!" Ariel yells out in anguish. There are tears in Ariel's eyes, she extends her hand forward toward Lucas.

"I truly am sorry," Lucas says simply. He lashes his whip at her. The whip goes between her fingers and split her hand down the middle. "I'll do anything to protect the life I have now."

Storm left leg bursts as a swarm of moths spawn from his body. The moths twirl around Storm like a tornado as they feast upon Storm in a frenzy. Storm didn't even have time to cry out, for after exiting his leg the moths ate his head first; and it was gone in seconds. Ariel holds her torn hand and watches in horror as Storm is fed upon.

The swarm flies to Lucas, and flies around his head. Lucas approaches Ariel. Ariel extends her uninjured hand and fires off bubbles in his direction. The swarm flies off and devours the bubbles, no explosion occurs.

"There is nothing they cannot consume," Lucas tells Ariel. "Make your peace." The swarm rushes toward Ariel. They might as well have been gale winds with the speed they assault her.

Suddenly, the swarm performs a one-eighty and returns to Lucas. They fly around him defensively. "A fourth one?"

A series of hand claps enter the atmosphere. "I'm surprised you sensed my presence." Exiting the shadow of a steel corridor created by the cargo crates is Mr. Nox.

Lucas head turns to the man. "Who are you? You look familiar..."

Ariel attempts to flee. Lucas is distracted but not distracted enough. Lucas with a flick of his wrist uses the whip to gash into both of Ariel's heels. Ariel lets out a silent cry and continues crawling away; getting nowhere. Some of Lucas' moths fly off and begin to clean up. Brave's body and blood on their clean-up list.

"We've met once," Mr. Nox reveals. "The first time, we didn't get to know each other very well. You were too busy turning Lucas into an incubator for your creations." Mr. Nox gestures at the ethereal, cyan moths defending Lucas. "They're awfully beautiful, Oberon. Wait, you go by Lucas now."

The memories of where Lucas knows this man shines bright in his mind. "How did you escape Father?"

"I was never a prisoner to begin with Lucas. There's so much you don't know. Yet, you're thriving, in a way." Mr. Nox gestures to Ariel. "What do you know about their organization?"

"Nothing," Lucas answers honestly.

"Her mind is heavy with trauma and fear. She has no defenses. Her mind is free to explore," Mr. Nox explains. "But you know this. You're just afraid to explore a mind in that condition."

"As I should," Lucas replies. "I have not done something like this in a long time. A mind under such fear and trauma is a minefield. Besides, you're here. I would be defenseless physically as I explore her mind."

"You know me as Mr. Nox. I know your parents have spoken about me."

"They have. You're an angel in their eyes. I don't see the correlation."

"Smart. But I'm not your enemy Lucas. Yet, that is. I'm just concerned about how you're going to fare in what is coming."

Lucas cocks his head. "What is coming?"

"Would you call me cliché if I said a war is coming?" Mr. Nox asks with a smirk.

"No. That would explain why Father was training us."

Mr. Nox snaps his fingers. "Exacto. Lucas, if you could extract information from her mind. I'll tell you what I know about the four factions."

"Why should I trust you? I don't even know what side you're on," Lucas points out.

"No risk, no reward. I could be lying, or I could be telling the truth. But don't you want to be prepared?"

Lucas weighs his options. He could be killed right here, right now if he enters Ariel's mind with a stranger—whose motives are unknown to him—overlooking him. But this is the option with the least casualties, he thinks. If he is killed at least the Sawyers will be fine, he thinks. They're the only ones on his mind right now.

"I'll do it." Lucas walks over to a crawling Ariel. "Like riding a bike." Lucas places his hands onto Ariel's head. Ariel tries to fight him off; it's a fruitless endeavor. Lucas inhales and exhales then projects his consciousness into Ariel's mind.