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Chapter One: Broken, Part One

"So let me ask you, what do you know about the Outsiders?" Ronan said as he stood up and looked at the man before him. The wolf smiled the general clad in green and decorated with multiple honors. The general said nothing and Ronan stood back against the wall as he waited for an answer.

"You don't seem to understand it, where are the Outsiders; where have they gone, I cannot track any one of them now." Ronan said as he stood back and groaned.

"I told you, I don't know." The general spat back.

"Really, I don't believe that."

"Oh course you would be the one not to know, you the residing General of the New York area and what a crackjob you've been doing." Ronan said as he walked over to a table and grabbed a bottle of water.

"I have no idea what you're talking about son; now let me go and you find that the FBI doesn't raid this compound." The general said as he smiled, Ronan opened the bottle and threw it against the general. Knocked back against the ground, the general groaned as the water spilled on his body.

"Oh trust me general you want to figure out the answer to that question very quickly; you know who are coming for you. The Outsiders, and trust me they will destroy the city and more in order to find you." Ronan grabbed the chair leg and dragged him against the floor, before propping him up against the wall.

"I said I know nothing on the Outsider Program!" The General said as he flinched; Ronan threw a fist and knocked the general back against the ground. Groaning the general felt his binds loosen, if he could just twist his hands. "Ah ha!"

"Knocking me over, a bit of a dirty trick isn't it?" Ronan asked as he quickly turned invulnerable. The General phased through the wolf's body and fell on the spilt water. Ronan laughed as the General knocked himself against the floor. Ronan walked over and grabbed the militant. Pulling him back up, the man struggled on against Ronan's grip and phased through his body.

"Oh that tickles, now then back on the chair!" Ronan placed the General on the chair and quickly grabbed the pieces of rope to the side. Wrapping the rope around the General; he tightened the rope and pulled it together. The general stood their stuck on the chair as he tried to escape from the chair.

"Now don't struggle."

"You are turning in a complete monster; I don't know who you are and I don't know what organization you are leading, but I sincerely hope that you will go to hell boy!" The general said; the chair shaking with his outburst. Ronan started to laugh; "Do I amuse you child!"

"Of course you do, you old, stinky, decomposing man; you're turning blind I can smell it in your blood; you're slowly turning useless, I hope you enjoy that fact every single day." Ronan said as he turned around and learned against the table; he started to laugh again annoying the general.

"What do I annoy you now? If you want to know who I am; well then I am Nightshifter; you might have seen me on the news or in the newspaper or in whatever you old people watch these days; I once was in the Outsiders, but now I am the leader of the Neuroseekers maybe you've heard of us." Ronan said, using the right words that he knew would more than frighten the general. His little invasion was still ripe in the public mind to be used; it was his tool. He smiled as his werewolf nose smelt the General's fear.

"Of course, you should be rightly afraid, you've seen my powers. Now fear me, no don't be afraid of my powers; be petrified!" Ronan said as he realized he was just about at the point where he was going to cross the line; so walking forward. "Now then, as you can see my arm is now intangible, any guesses on what this will do?"

The general froze in place as soon as he saw the translucent arm of Ronan. A witty response formed in his brain but his vocal cords wouldn't bulge. He stood still; that might have been exactly what Ronan wanted. Letting the general plunder in his fear for a few seconds, the General stood still and was really petrified in his place. Ronan swept his foot over and nearly knocked the chair over; however he caught it in place as it stood angled to the floor.

"Trust me this will hurt you more than it hurts me." Ronan thrust his hand forward and quickly it passed through the General's chest. As if to tease him, he put his hand all the way though and making his fingertips tangible, rubbed his hand on the general's back. Ronan stood still for a few seconds as he pulled his hand back and into his chest cavity.

"Oh, I have grown to love that feeling; it feels so nice, so fragile and so perfect, so crushable!" Ronan said as he turned his hand tangible and pushed the material away. He encircled his heart and smiled as he started to squeeze down on it. The general gasped as he felt the hand on his heart, Ronan most definitely did not have the precision of a heart surgeon.

"Careful, I don't want any trouble; make one slip up and it might..." Ronan quickly swiped to right and the general had his breath taken away as he felt his lung punched. While neither could see it, naturally, Ronan just broke the thin layer of matter over the general's lungs, air and blood escaped the punctured cavity "Oh, now I just lung punched you, shame."

"Now then, if I keep playing around with you." Ronan said as he grabbed the General's heart again and rubbed his finger against the blood vessels. Swiping down and pushing against one of them, he felt a quick popping noise and the General turned queasy as his aorta was popped with a tiny hole. Blood rushed out joining the un-oxidized purple that came from his lungs.

"Now then, you only have forty-five to fifty minutes left until you lose your blood to your chest cavity; so once again tell where the hell in god's name is Dustin Smith!" Ronan said as he let go of the chair and let the General slam into the ground. The militant groaned as his face started to become pale.

"You won't get away with this."

"Oh please; bitch I already have." Ronan said as he smiled.

...

"Hold on!" Dustin screened as he landed on the ground; behind him Elias and Colin were all thrown on the ground. Dustin took a breath and looked around; he was in an alley somewhere in New York. The buildings looked to be from his era and the people as always weren't reacting to them.

"Elias!" Colin yelled as he grabbed the Kagen shark and flipped him over. The Kagen shark was sparkly and unrecognizable. His body glowed with energy, an orange glow, like tiny fireflies traveling around in his body. Dustin looked at Elias with curiosity, his face looked different like it turned into wax and reshaped itself.

"Oh god, how the hell does he look that?" Dustin said as he knelled down and felt the shark's new face. He looked at Colin and the blind lizard seemed to be sure that it was Elias, Bright the Kagen before him. Dustin guessed Colin would be the one to figure who's who. "He's completely different, how can we even be sure it is him?"

"We saw Twilight go somewhere; I heard him and saw his aura disappear. This is Elias; this is his aura same but different kind of." Colin said as he scanned the environment for auras; he couldn't see any pitch black auras anywhere.

"Ok, if this is Elias, then where did Twilight go?" Dustin asked as he looked down at Elias. He felt the Kagen, his skin felt different but his clothes were the same just a little bit charred. He trusted Colin that this was the Kagen he knew. Looking around it seemed they arrived in an alley; the sun was shining at the end.

"Ok, a few things to deal with; where the hell did Twilight go?" Dustin asked as he walked over to the edge of the alleyway and looked out into the street. People walked around, none of them knowing about the danger that could around them, right as they walked.

"I don't know it wasn't my turn to watch him."

"Ok stop that, secondly how long were we gone; are we in the past before the winter or are we after Ronan's defection?" Dustin realized something could be serious wrong, pulling his left wrist to his face he looked at his watch. It had signal again and the time updated; before it was January the Eighth and now it was February the Fifteenth. "Colin we've been gone for a month!"

"A month, are you sure!" Colin said as he and Dustin became queasy over not knowing how long it had been since they disappeared. The city didn't look destroyed and it didn't look to be in the middle of the war, so it couldn't have been much time that they were gone.

"Ok we're probably overreacting, even if we were gone for a month or even more than what happened; what happened to Ronan; where the hell are the Neuroseekers!" Dustin took in this information and realized that Ronan had an entire month to do whatever he wanted with no one to stop him.

"Oh God, I'm doomed. I am more than doomed, my father is going to kill me; he's going to more kill me, I am completely destroyed!" Colin said as he started to pace around realizing that his father was going to kill him. "You two don't have to worry about parents; my father was raging when I came back after the winter, now we're gone another month!"

"Ok, I'm sure this is just something we can explain, we were just on road trip; it's not like we missed any school during that time it doesn't pick up until three weeks from now." Dustin said as he paced back and forth, rubbing his temples as he tried to math together on how to sell this story. "Maybe we can use the perception filter on him, make him remember a past that didn't happen."

"It doesn't matter; he is a complete hard ass!" Colin said sounding reasonable as he ever did. Colin stopped as he turned his head and saw Elias wake up; his body rising in the most unnatural way he had ever seen. His eyes looked blank and unfeeling. "He doesn't trust me, he doesn't know about my powers. If my father has any idea of what happened to us, then I don't know!"

"Hands up, Master Nightshifter has been looking for you!"

Suddenly Dustin heard the sound of a gun cocking and like that it was pushed against his neck. Finn stood back, a gun was placed on his back. Looking around, he looked around for a reflection. Just checking up, he looked at the rain soaked wall and saw the black and red armor of a Neurotrooper behind him. Standing still he loved over to Colin who stood still with his hands to his back. Standing still Finn watched as the two Neurotroopers stood still and presumably happy that they managed to capture the two biggest targets from Ronan's book.

"Now then let's get you back home, Master Nightshifter has been waiting for you to come back all ready." The Neurotrooper said as suddenly he shivered, Finn felt the gun shake on his back and then as he looked down, suddenly the two were knocked away. Looking back Elias reformed as his liquid metallic body cooled down. Elias smiled as he put out his arm and quite quickly it sharpened into a blade of metal.

Running forward, The Neurotroopers started to fire on Elias, his body turning into liquid metal as his body absorbed the bullets. He stood still putting his arms out as the Neurotroopers kept firing on him, Dustin looking in disbelief as Elias absorbed two entire clips of bullets. The Kagen smiled as he looked at the two, and putting his hands out suddenly a pile of bullets appeared in his hand.

"Now then, you two you're going to need better weapons to handle me, because right now..." Elias said as he slashed forward with his arm sword and dropped the bullets to the ground. "I am unbound; I have no morals built in to my system!"

Elias slashed at them and suddenly a massive gash appeared in their armor slashing down from the shoulder of the left trooper seemingly connecting through and going down to the waist of the right trooper. Elias smiled at then and backed up as he allowed them to examine the damage to them. The two Neurotroopers started to shake as they saw what Elias had down to their supposedly invisible armor.

"I am a rebooted system, any programs be installed in me right now and you are not doing your comrades a favor right now, because you are making me quite the warrior in this regeneration and if I can do this to you without thinking about it, imagine what I might do to your friends when I am a hundred percent warrior Kagen, you haven't seen what we could do during the war!" Elias said as he twisted into another slash this time making a massive x between the armor of both Neurotroopers. The first and second layer of metal on their armor fell off and suddenly they realized something.

"Please sir, don't..."

"Don't say anything, go back to your master tell him the Outsiders are back, tell them that we have come back from a world dying and we have come back stronger, and tell Ronan that if he wants to live when this all ends he might find it within himself to forgive Riptide!" Elias said and as he raised his sword for another strike suddenly the two Neurotroopers ran away. Dustin watched in amazement as they seemingly bowed to Elias and like that disappeared into the sewers.

"Good job Elias." Colin said as the Kagen walked right past him, Colin watched as the Kagen seemingly ignored him. Instead Elias walked over to the wall and looked at the mild reflection in the brick. The Kagen smiled and examined his new face. Dustin looked at Elias and wondered who this new man was.

He looked far different, if in his previous state he was thin, this one normalized out. Elias seemed to have far more muscle on his body and his old clothes seemed barely just able to fit him. His hair seemed more combed out and shorter but only in comparison to his last form, he still had more hair, this time with a blond streak through the side and down his face.

"Interesting, everything looks fine, except for the nose." Elias said as he touched his face and examined everything. Colin looked confused, he walked over to the Kagen but as he did, suddenly Elias bolted off. Dustin looked as the shark suddenly left the alley, jutting out into the street and seemingly making a dash for somewhere.

"Don't worry I'm sure this is normal, if you had a new face and body you would examine it, make sure everything was in working order." Dustin said, knowing that Colin was getting a bit aggravated and confused at Elias's new, strange personality and attitude. He knew that the lizard wouldn't accept such confusion but hopefully Colin's logical side would keep the peace.

"I don't get it, he looks the same. His aura is the same, his body looks the same to me, and everything about him is the same as it was. I hear him the same and I can't tell any difference, he just talks differently now." Colin said as he tried to explain himself to Dustin. Dustin looked into his eyes, wondering something, could they not work with Kagens, were Kagens programed around his eyes.

"I don't know; we just need to make sure he doesn't get into more trouble than before." Dustin said as he grabbed Colin's hand and started to pull him out of the alley, by the time they got out Elias already was out of the street and jolting through a crowd of New Yorkers. The crowd reluctantly parted for him, as their day was interrupted and a strange looking shark with clothes that didn't fit passed through.

Looking forward Dustin saw the brown long coat of Elias through the crowd and ran with Colin after him. He watched as the Kagen suddenly stopped and looked into a window. Did he see something interesting? And then he bolted off again, Dustin ran forward to the window and tried to see what the Kagen found, but it seemed the only thing interesting was his face.

Dustin ran forward and watched as suddenly Elias walked into a building, running forward Dustin pushed people out of his way and then realized they were at a Salvation Army. Looking forward Elias disappeared between a row of clothing and Finn looked at Colin.

"I can track him, go forward." Colin said as his eyes absorbed the entire aura that came off people and easily passed through the clothing and into his eyes. Dustin walked forward and into the rows of clothing, holding Colin's hand as they walked through the clothing and looked for Elias. Then they turned and found the Kagen wearing a new set of clothes. Both groups stopped as Elias looked at them and stopped, he didn't dash.

"Elias stop running we need to stop for a second." Dustin said as he let go of Colin's hand and hopefully stopped the Kagen from dashing off again, as he didn't want to go running for a Kagen again. They stood still, both of them seemingly in a stand of neither moving across the dirty floor and waiting for the other to move.

"Why should we stand still, we're alive, we survived a war, we survived more than a war, we survived the end of the universe, and the collapsing sun, we should be celebrating, we should be running, spitting in the face of the universe that says we must die!" Elias said, presumably people in adjacent rows thinking they might be more than crazy. Finn looked at Elias wondering why he was so joyful now; he looked at the Kagen and tried to figure out what changed in him.

"Ok but you just changed, you just changed everything, you look different, you act different, don't you just want to sit down for a second?" Dustin asked as he looked at Elias, he was ready for the shark to bolt out of the store at a moment, he looked over to Colin, who said nothing and simply extending out his hand. Elias looked down and grabbed Colin's hand.

"Oh Colin, my blind lizard; I love you more than a thousand seas love to soak in the sun, I promise if I have to find the Bitforst Bridge and restart it again, I will find you a way to show you the universe." Elias said and Colin stopped for a second, the two simply embraced as they made up. And then time continued.

...

"Ok, let's look at this logically we know it won't be me who leads the team, that leaves either Elias or you, Dustin. So why shouldn't we just forgo leadership and instead work on singular assignments?" Colin asked as the group walked down the street, covered in a perception filter and allow them to talk about the highly secure subject of their job. Elias looked at Colin like he was crazy, when the Lizard suggested that the Kagen lead.

"Because, you are blind and you will get lost in this city without one of us to lead you. And in addition right now we need to stick together, Ronan is going to try to spill us apart, I can feel that much, he is going to exploit every weakness we have and he is going to do that until we chip so we need to stand as united front against him." Dustin argued back as they walked forward, passing an alley and then stopping as they arrived at a red traffic light, a group of people gathering around them as well.

"Well still what if I just take Colin with me and you go on your own marry way, we take on the villains and you take on the Neuroseekers, I can tell that Ronan is going to be invested in capturing one of you." Elias said as they walked forward, Dustin trying to ignore his logical as they crossed the street, stepping up onto the other side of the sidewalk.

"Of course it's me, just because we dated for maybe two weeks doesn't mean I am some sort of target for him, I can exist without him and he can exist without me as well." Dustin said, as he paused in the middle of the sentence knowing how wrong he was. If retrospect was all seeing and foresight twenty-twenty then maybe it would appear to him that his relationship with Ronan was unhealthier than even he would like to say.

"Yes, I know but it was a month and you two were for each other hard, you absorbed Ronan's dysfunction and you seemingly were able to take it, maybe on the inside it was building up but so long as Ronan exists he need to place his dysfunction, and who better to go back to the one who took it." Elias argued as they walked forward, Dustin wondered what the people around him would hear as surely the perception filter must have been working double time just to make sure that people didn't hear a chopped up sentence.

"Well then, all in all Ronan will target me, maybe I should just give in and maybe give him what he wants. Then maybe he will stop." Dustin suggested as Elias laughed a bit, holding on to Colin's hand as he pulled him through the crowd and towards their destination.

"No it won't be that easy, for Ronan and the Neuroseekers this is going to end one way and one way as it may have been destined, his death." Elias said, Dustin looked at him in disbelief wondering why he would say such a thing, such a vile word to use, and death, after all they had done, it couldn't end in death, Dustin wouldn't let that happen.

"No do not say that, there is still good in Ronan I can feel it, Colin can feel it and if we can find that side and bring it out, then we can save him, I can feel it, I just know it." Dustin said clenching his hand and putting it up to his heart, it was like he was holding the last bit of Ronan's humanity in his hands and he needed to return it, if he had to die in order to return it then he would.

"You are just setting yourself up for a bad ending, you can't always get what you want even if you try, sometimes the people you love die." Elias said as to Dustin, the shark trying to get the Outsider to realize the mortality of people. Dustin walked forward, either insulted or having enough of it.

"Please don't say that." Colin said as he held on to Elias's hand. Elias turned around and looked at Colin in the eye as he looked at the lizard. His eyes so blank and so bland, like a white canvas. Elias looked at Colin and nodded as he hid away his darker side again, keeping the horrors of war locked away.

"I'm sorry, it just bubbles to the surface, it's been a long time but I still can't hide it but I promise for you that I will." Elias said as he kissed Colin on the head and the lizard gigged as they walked forward. As more and more people disappeared they arrived at a massive steel fence blocking them from going forward anymore.

Cars passed them on the road, but people had long left them for their own path away. Dustin nodded and pulled water out of his storage, slicing it against the edge of the fence, the water easily broke through the fence and allowed them entrance into the seemingly restricted area. Dustin walked through and Elias followed, helping Colin through as they walked in.

Looking forward, they arrived seemingly in a production yard. A massive steel building, with large smokestacks seemingly relics of another era, was letting out steam and smoke as production seemingly came alive again. Looking around at the boxes, Dustin examined them and saw the telltale signs that he was looking for.

"Ok, Colin nearest person?" Dustin asked as he knelled down next to a large wooden box and looked around trying to see if any guards had gathered around them and were waiting to ambush them. Colin looked around his aura vision allowing him to see all around them.

"We're clear everyone is on the inside, including Ronan and him." Colin said as he looked into the building and then looked down on the ground as if doubting himself. Elias shook his shoulders and smiled at the lizard. Dustin stood up and started to walk forward, walking behind a line of boxes as he made his way towards the door. The Kagen and the lizard followed him as they made their way towards a door.

"Ok we are clear to enter this building, Colin keep lookout for us now, and Elias be prepared to cover our backs, I get our front." Dustin said as he approached the brown painted door and grabbed it knob. Using the water from before he stuck it into the doorknob and froze it, just so perfectly as it took the shape he needed and twisting it, unlocked the door.

Smiling at the group, he opened the door and let himself into the factory as Colin nodded. Letting the silence surround them they walked onto the carpeted floor and closed the door behind them, Dustin pulling his water through, closing the door and preparing to sneak. Looking around, the Outsider knew he needed a different way to find a path.

Walking around, he looked through a door way and seemingly it led to an open factory floor, catwalks above and Neuroseekers that could be alerted to their presence, Dustin stood still as he knew just making too much noise could attract someone. Looking out he saw a place to hide, a metallic table just past the open door.

Walking out onto the production floor, Dustin and Elias looked around as metal seemingly was being worked around them, large machines shaping the metal in pieces and then attaching it to other bits and other pieces before shipping out seemingly the completed product. Dustin looked at Elias who quickly melted down his body and snuck along the floor.

"What are they doing?" Colin asked, as Dustin grabbed ahold of the lizard's hand for the time being. Dustin looked over the table they stood behind and as it seemed at the end of the line, one single person was examining the product. As he held it up, it became clear what Ronan was doing. Dustin looked and wondered why they would be producing at such a fast rate.

"They're making weapons, really good weapons it seems to be, like high quality guns and such; we need to be careful if more of them have that weapon them we might be in trouble, so might the city." As he was speaking, the shark wondered how they could deal with that, might they find a way to stop production without alerting Ronan to their presences or might they hijack the machine and instead ruin their weapons from the inside, maybe stop them like that.

"Can we blow the plant to all hell?" Colin asked, knowing that it would probably come down to one of those options. At that time Elias appeared as he sunk under the table, a barely formed hand in his liquid metal body holding the weapon as he dragged it under the table. The shark reformed and held the weapon in his hand.

"No Colin, priorities, we need to confront Ronan and then we need to manually stop production, we can't just blow up our problems." Dustin said as he looked at Elias with the weapon in his hand. It seemed to be painted in a manner similar to the Neuroseeker's armor, black with red highlights. Looking at it, Dustin knew that type of weapon.

...

"It's a plasmatic discharge weapon but here's the catch, this type of weapon can dissolve armor and it can dissolve an unarmored person, all in all these babies are hard to manufacture and hard to secure, so who ever has this needs a lot of cash or good connections." Ronan explained as he held the weapon in his hand, feeling it and presumably examining it for damage. Behind them a building was burning and citizens taking pictures as the two Outsiders left.

...

"It's a plasmatic discharge weapon, it operates at such low power but such high voltage that it packs a lot of energy into a single shot. Ronan always wanted one and now it looks like he got one." Dustin said as he held the weapon in his hand and felt it, such craftsmanship to it, it seemed to be expertly designed and produced for each and every warrior, each piece having a purpose and perfectly designed to fit into any hand.

"Well then I guess me and Ronan are going to have a problem, because we need to stop this then, to the next level I guess."

...

"Well sir New York is stable isn't it, we can Nightshifter in control but we are going to need better resources until we are able to completely keep in a hundred percent control." Dustin said into his phone as he spoke to the director of Outsiders over a speaker phone, this was their first time back in their base after a while. Normally they didn't use the base much but now it seemed they needed to make a phone call at this time.

"Well then make sure you give a hundred percent to controlling him and making sure that the people of New York City are protected, we already lost a lot of people when Ronan took over for the winter and we lost a lot of control to the gangs so make sure it doesn't happen again." Speaking over the phone, the director's brash and loud voice echoed through the metallic base, speaking all over so that everyone could hear him.

"Sir we will do our best, we only just got back." Dustin said as he quickly realized the errors of his ways, he shouldn't have mentioned it. He should have avoided the subject of why they were gone for so long. Dustin stood still as seemingly the director absorbed that information and might have smiled on the other side of his line.

"And can you tell me why you were so unreachable for the time, because it seems to me like half of time you and your group aren't even in New York City, more like you're in the Hudson River Valley or underground or on the moon." The director said as he became more forceful pushing down on Dustin trying to gain the truth from the shark.

"Well we are sorry for that the truth on the matter is..." Dustin stopped; he didn't have any adequate lie on why they couldn't be contacted. Everything he would say would sound like he was being a complete liar. He paused trying to form a large and complex lie inside his head, trying to see if he could make one that sounded reasonable and one that didn't sound like it was being made up on the stop.

"You see director the truth of the matter is, we found a trace of a villain and following it accidentally lead us to being transported to the end of Earth, the true end times." Elias said smiling as he took over the conversation. "You see the Kagen, and you know who we are, Twilight has come here as usual looking to save the Kagen empire and you know how that goes, sadly it seemed the method we took to get home was a little less than accurate, I hope you can understand."

Dustin stood still surprised on what Elias had lied on and what he told the truth on, did the government know about Kagens, how they could know about Kagens, when they were some sort of great forgotten race. He stood still as Elias smiled; seeming satisfied knowing what he just admitted to as well. The director stayed silent for a second as he seemingly absorbed that information.

"Well then Bright, it seems you know what you're doing, just make sure that nothing comes of the Kagen Twilight." And then the line shut out, the speaker phone turning off as the director stopped speaking. Dustin stood still as seemingly everything they might have hidden was revealed to the director.

"You just told him about yourself!" Dustin said surprised as he looked over to Elias, who had the strangest smile on his face. He wondered why the Kagen was smiling, how he could be smiling at a time like this, the truth about his race was just admitted and now the government knew who he was.

"Oh don't worry, they know who I am and what I am, they've known since the second I stepped on this planet, why do you think they captured me?" Elias said as he seemingly surprised Dustin with that tiny little tidbit of information on himself. Dustin stopped in his place as he absorbed all of that.

...

And if not speaking to the director and adjusting to all that happened while they away was hard, then the hardest part was going to be explaining why they were gone to their parents and by that they meant the only Outsider who had parent's, Colin. Smiling with his multilayered bean dip in his hands, burning all his arms from his elbow down to his palms, Dustin knew that convincing Mr. Todd would certainly be the hardest part of the night.

With Elias behind him, he knocked on the door. Partly he wondered if they didn't invite themselves, then how long they might have until Mr. and Mrs. Todd invited them on their own self accord. Standing carefully as the apartment peephole was opened and the Outsiders examined at the door, the sounds of a chain unlocking and then the turning of the doorknob meant they were in.

"Hello, how are you two?" Mrs. Todd said as she opened the door and allowed Dustin and Elias inside. The two walked inside, looking at the floral wallpaper placed along the walls. A few pairs of shoes and a few guiding bars placed along the wall, for Colin. Looking around inside, it seemed to be a very nice and large apartment.

"Oh we are wonderful, how are you?" Dustin said knowing that even his own multi-layered bean dip might still turn these two against him. HE needed to act normal and right now, with his mind mentally burning inside he did not feel very normal. Walking inside, he tried to keep the fact that he was exasperated and afraid on the inside.

"We're great here let me get that for you." Mrs. Todd said as she reached for the bean dip.

"Oh no let me get that for you, where would you like it." Dustin replied.

"Oh you can place it right on the table." She replied to him as Dustin walked on the inside, not talking his shoes off as he walked forward. As he walked towards the dinner table that seemed to be the center piece of the apartment, he could only hope that Mr. Todd wasn't around the corner.

He had only heard stories of what Colin's old man had been like and he didn't want to realty meet him until a wedding or maybe a party, not a formal dinner where they might have to talk about real life. This might be Dustin's downfall, how much would Mr. Todd want to know, how much would he press for, would he want to know if Colin was an Outsider and would he pull Colin out of the program if he found that out? Dustin kept himself externally calm, slowing himself down as he placed the bean dip on the table and took a breath, looking back at Elias.

"Oh we have been waiting to meet you for so long, Colin has told us so much about the both of you and we've heard a lot." Mrs. Todd said as she guided Elias to take off his coat and place it on a rack. Dustin walked back over and placed his jacket on the hanger as well, so far everything was going good, they weren't called out yet and Mrs. Todd seemed to be welcoming.

"Now then let me see the man with my own two eyes."

Suddenly from the other room there was the sound of a chair shifting and the hardwood floor creaking. An older man dressed in a flannel shirt and a pair of jeans, dressed seemingly in his own professional way, as if he was in his own version of a suit. He walked to the table and looked at the dip with indifference, before walking over and sitting down.

"Don't mind him, he's always like this." Colin said as he walked in, and sat down opposite his father leaving the two chairs that were in front of the window. Dustin walked over to kitchen and helped Mrs. Todd as she pulled the dinner out of the oven and brought it to the table. Elias walked over to the table and extended his hand.

"Hello sir, I am glad to meet you, I've heard great things about you." Elias said as he extended his hand and held it out to Mr. Todd. Seemingly in disbelief and in silent approval, Mr. Todd grabbed Elias's hands and shook it as well. Elias crossed the table and sat down in the empty seat closest to Colin as they sat down for the dinner.

"Well then I didn't even know you kids these days even knew how to respect your elders, I expected less from you. Please Elias, call me Dwight." Dwight Todd said as he pulled back his hand and seemed somewhat impressed at Elias. Standing back for a second Elias wondered what that meant.

"Oh well please do give us some credit, us kids aren't all on the internet and skateboarding all day, but please I hope that I at least helped Colin." Elias said as he smiled at Dwight. Dwight looked over to Colin, and Elias realized that Colin had to pretend he was blind, he wasn't showing his powers, in his father's mind Colin was still the frightened little blind child, who couldn't see anything.

"Well he has said great things about you, and I impressed with quite the difference you made, but I do have one question where were you between January and February? I called him every day but yet Colin didn't pick up and I worried so much so where were you?' Dwight said, and then the trap was revealed, Elias stood still as seemingly everyone turned towards him and then like that Finn froze, so did Mrs. Todd and so did Mr. Todd.

"What did you do?" Elias asked as Colin touched his shoulder, the location of his perception filter. They just froze in place, Colin stood up and looked over to his father and sighed. With their bodies seemingly frozen, Elias stood up and looked around the frozen house.

"I mentally froze them, it only works on the weak minded and I need to apply mental energy to hold it, it won't work with villains before you ask." Colin said as he pointed over to the clock and showed Elias that the clock was still ticking; the entire world was still moving it was only everyone else that wasn't moving. Elias looked around.

"I can only convince him of my innocence for so long, but you need to make him either think we were around or that he was with me, if we keep ignoring him he'll keep pushing and I can only make him temporally forget something until the cells just become resistance so need to alter their memories." Seemingly Colin was delivering an ultimatum, it might have been unspoken but if Elias didn't do what he said Colin would be taken away from the Outsiders, either by the truth being forced or Colin seemingly banned from Elias.

"I won't like it but fine then." Elias agreed as he walked over towards Dwight seemingly the trust they made broken in one second. Yet if they had been looking outside they might have seen someone on the porch, or maybe not, maybe they would have been able to see the invisible person on the porch. As you see Colin's father was a general in the army. And Ronan smiled very much when he saw the returning Outsiders, his invisible mouth turning into a smile as he looked into the apartment with seemingly glee.

...

Arriving at the top floor seemingly leaving a mess of chaos behind them, the Outsiders stood in front of the locked door that would lead right to Ronan's room before them. As if he was some sort of boss to fight in a rouge game, Dustin stood still before the door knowing just the danger they had by standing there. Colin held the gun carefully, and Elias stood ready with their energy but Dustin wanted to be sure that they would be able to handle what they were going to face.

"Now then you don't fire unless you know what you're firing at and make sure you get a clear sight, don't fire at anything and don't fire until you can hear fighting. And in this case, if someone asks you to put the gun down you do so, now be careful." Elias said instructing Colin as they waited before the door, seemingly just waiting for Dustin's lead.

"Ok then, let's go." Dustin said as he pointed towards Elias, the Kagen shark walked forward and placed his hand on the door. And then like that the door seemingly imploded because of the energy, and like that it collapsed onto the ground. Dustin walked forward as the smoke cleared and they heard a laugher, not like Ronan's before, it was disturbed and unhinged, it was like a werewolf.

Two red eyes shot through the smoke and suddenly they were knocked away as seemingly something pushed at them. The red eyes appeared again, but as the smoke cleared they realized that Ronan was just screwing with them, turning his entire body invisible except for his eyes. Dustin stood clear ready to fight Ronan until his surrender.

"Colin!" Suddenly from the corner of the room, the General, Dwight Todd spoke in surprise as suddenly Ronan turned towards him. Ronan grabbed a gun from his waist, and saying nothing cleaver or in joking, simply raised it towards the military lizard. Dustin stayed still, and then Ronan pulled the trigger.

Crying out as he was shot in the leg and screaming in pain the General was rendered silent as Dustin prepared to run forward and hopefully knock out Ronan before he could do any more damage. Yet the wolf kept the gun on the General, surely this time intending to fire and like that Dustin stood still.

"You monster, we gave you everything and now your turn on us, but it's not too late, come back to us Ronan?" Dustin asked as he tried to pull Ronan back to the good team, but the wolf only shook his head in denial. Dustin didn't know how far he was going to have to go to get Ronan back.

"Now glad to see your back but I need something from you, the Outsider base code, I need it and I have a hostage now then, you have five minutes to give it to me or else the General gets another bullet through his lungs, you got me?" Ronan said smiling as he pointed the gun right at Colin's father.