The wolves growled at Desmond, one of them taking a step forward towards the family. Desmond flipped his knife downwards, priming it for a stab attack.
"If anything happens to me, run for your lives. Do not look back, okay?" Desmond said, though his voice showed all signs of panic and uncertainty.
"What are you talking about?" Helen asked frantically, panicking just as much as Desmond was, "We'll be leaving toge-"
She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, as the wolf in front howled and jumped towards her, as if it was irritated by her voice. Helen bent her knees downwards, preparing to jump sideways and dodge. But before she could do so, Desmond tackled the wolf mid-air, taking it down with him in a different direction. The wolf struggled and tried to climb over him and scratch his neck, but he rolled away and stood back up. The wolf however, immediately launched itself at him, but he turned sideways and dodged the lunge. The second wolf instantly jumped at him, and he had no time to dodge anywhere. Seeing no other choice, Desmond thrust his free hand towards the jumping wolf's mouth. The wolf didn't waste a moment and chomped on that hand, making Desmond let out a brief cry of pain. But he regained his senses quickly and, lifting the wolf up, slammed it onto the floor. Before the other wolf could react or this one could even think of moving, Desmond primed the knife in his other hand and stabbed it right between its head, making it howl and whimper. Desmond though, took the knife out and stabbed its jaw, making it release his hand. He took it out and stumbled towards Helen, his back turned towards her as he faced the other wolf now. Even after those stabs, the knife was still absolutely clean and bloodless. The bitten hand was a mess of blood, and there were holes in them caused by the wolf's sharp teeth. However, he gritted his teeth and primed the knife again, trying to bear the pain and defend his family.
"WHAT'S GOING ON, MOMMY??!! WHERE'S PAPA?!" Peter asked, squirming in Helen's hands, scared from the sounds of chaos in the house.
"Nothing, sweetie. Papa's just... cleaning up some mess in the house." Helen replied, breathing heavily. As she saw Desmond's bloody hand shaking and the knife primed in his other hand, she suddenly remembered something crucial.
"Wait... That's it!" Helen thought as she sat down on the sofa with Peter in her arms, her hand dipping below the sofa, searching for a button. Meanwhile, the wolf tilted its head towards Helen again and jumped at her, trying to get her for some reason. Desmond though, wasn't having any of it.
"Get your ugly self out of my house!" Desmond shouted as he tackled the wolf with his shoulder again, making it fall down. The wolf though, ended up on top of him and tried to scratch his face. Desmond however, kept dodging his paws in an attempt to survive. Frustrated, the wolf tried to bite his head off, violently diving at his face with full force. Desmond held its paws and desperately moved his own head left and right, narrowly dodging each strike coming at him.
"GET OFF ME, YOU STUPID FREAK!!" Desmond screamed as he primed his knife and went for another stab towards its face. The wolf though, saw it coming and dodged the attack. Wasting no time, it tried to bite the hand, but Desmond pulled it away, flipped the knife and stabbed one of its paws. The wolf yelped, but refused to get off and still tried to bite Desmond's head off. As Desmond was struggling to stay alive, he heard his wife's voice break through both of their struggles.
"Get off my husband's body, you stupid animal!" Helen shouted as she, with a silenced pistol in her hand, shot the wolf's head 5 times with extreme precision, the bullets landing right between the eyes. The wolf dropped dead instantly, falling right on top of Desmond. He shoved it off his body and rest his arms on the ground, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Thanks." Desmond said, panting as he struggled to catch his breath. Helen immediately stashed the pistol in the secret compartment of the sofa, closed it and went to Desmond, kneeling down beside him.
"Y-your h-h-hand." Helen stammered, keeping a hand over her mouth in shock as she finally set Peter down and examined Desmond's injured hand. That hand was totally messed up, the bones inside broken and the skin terribly chewed. Blood was flowing out of it, and Helen immediately used a towel lying around to wrap the hand and stop the bleeding. Desmond wasn't worried about all that, though. He could only look at Peter helplessly as he stared at the aftermath of the fight around him - the furniture broken, the blood spilled, the dead bodies of the wolves and his own father's completely ruined hand.
"W-what just h-happened?" Peter stammered, shocked by all of the chaos surrounding him. But before his parents could even start explaining things to him, he fainted and fell to the ground, totally unconscious.
"PETER!" Helen shouted, rushing to his side and patting his cheeks, trying to wake him up. Desmond's eyes flashed with worry as he crawled to Peter, sitting right next to him. Helen found a jug of water near her and grabbed it. Taking some water into her hand, she splashed it on Peter's face, trying to wake him up. But it was to no avail, and Peter kept sleeping, completely knocked out.
"What do we do? We gotta get him to a hospital!" Helen said, freaking out.
"I'll go grab the car keys. Stay right here. Keep him safe." Desmond instructed, getting up to his feet and heading for the table. He had no idea what was happening, but he had to get his family to safety as soon as possible.
"Do not bother. You're not going anywhere." a voice said from the doorway. Confused, Desmond turned in the direction of the voice and found a guy standing at the front door. He had red eyes just like Desmond's, but he was radiating pure power. He was about 2 inches taller than Desmond and was radiating the same kind of shadow like energy identical to the wolves, but there were also traces of red as well, like artistic strokes of blood. He was wearing a black jacket and brown pants, his blonde hair tied back. There was a huge, red scythe strapped to his back, but he seemed to have no intentions of using it.
"Desmond Hunt. I want you to surrender yourself peacefully and come with me." the guy said, leaving both Desmond and Helen flabbergasted.
"What do you mean?" Desmond asked, confused.
"I want you to accompany me to a place, and I want you to do so quietly. There's no point in fighting me. It's basically pointless."
"I can't just stand here while you hurt my family now, can I?" Desmond growled, his voice tight with anger.
"I will not harm your family in any way. You have my word." the guy replied coolly.
"What about the wolves then?!"
"A small test."
"Test?!"
"To see if you really are the one we're looking."
"For that you try to kill me and my family?"
"Rest assured, your family was never going to be harmed. I would've intervened."
"So you would've let me die?!"
"Again, I would've intervened. I wouldn't have let you or your family die."
"You would've intervened when that thing was jumping on Helen?!"
"It was never gonna hit her. Oh wait..."
The guy slowly looked at Helen and eyed her top to bottom, studying her thoroughly. Helen's eyes narrowed, and that was hint enough for the guy to know that she viewed him as an immediate threat.
"You... You're Helen Keys? The Blood Angel?" he asked, staring at her in awe.
"Helen Hunt. Get the name right." Helen snapped back, looking a bit angry.
"Well, this is amazing. I get to meet 2 legends in one night." the guy said, chuckling.
"What do you mean, two? Who's the other one?" Helen asked, confused.
"Well, your husband obviously. Do you think I came to get him without any goal in my head?"
This was a shocker to both Helen and Desmond. Helen used to be a legendary sniper for the Nation of Light's military and had never lost a single mission she had been handed. She used to be the best of the best, the sharpest of all and had unmatched proficiency in guns and ranged weaponry. But her identity was supposed to be undercover. Not even the higher ups in the Light Force Military knew who Helen really was and only knew her as The Blood Angel (Mostly because she chose to keep her identity a secret and used to wear a mask all the time when she was working). Only a select few people were supposed to know who she was, and here, this guy was casually telling them her biggest secret.
"H-how do you know I am the... y'know..." Helen asked, not saying her nickname out loud (She hated it because it always reminded her how much pain and suffering had seen in her years of service and how much of it she had inflicted on others herself for the safety of her own people).
"I have a way of knowing things. I'm an informant." the guy said.
"Have a street name?"
"No. Anyways, you're wasting your time, Desmond. Come with me, please. I don't wanna make a fuss about it."
"What if I refuse?" Desmond asked.
"I'll still take you with me. But it won't be in a gentle way."
Desmond's eyes narrowed and he primed his knife again, lowering himself to jump off the ground for a quick strike. The guy at the door just sighed.
"You people are so hard to convince." he said as he waved his hand for a moment. In just a few moments, the bodies of the wolves disappeared and the entire room in which the chaos occurred fixed itself step by step. The broken chairs got repaired, the walls became whole again, tables got mended and glass formed back from the broken pieces to full, without any cracks or any signs of prior damage.
"What in the world?" Desmond thought, utterly baffled by what he was seeing. He looked over to Helen and saw that she didn't seem very surprised by what the person was doing. She had fought in a lot of fights and battles and was used to seeing weird things like this.
"I could've blown up your house if I wanted to. I'm not doing any of it. I just want you to come with me. I know it looks a lot like those 'bad guy setups' in movies, but this isn't it. Trust me." the guy said. With another wave of his hand, some red liquid suddenly appeared in his hand and flew at Desmond's chewed up hand.
"What the heck?" Desmond exclaimed as the liquid entered inside his hand through the holes.
"Don't worry. It's just Healer Fluid." the guy said, smiling for a moment as he looked at Desmond's flabbergasted expression. Indeed it was some kind of healing substance, because Desmond slowly felt his drained hand fill up with life again and felt the emptiness fade away from it. The pain dissipated slowly and steadily, and even the holes started healing up, giving him relief.
"How the... how are you doing this?" Desmond asked, awed.
"One of my many abilities. I specialize mostly in healing and espionage." the guy replied, shrugging his shoulders as if that fact wasn't exactly a big deal (To him, it really wasn't).
"So you're not here to hurt us?" Desmond asked, the knife still primed in his other hand.
"That's what I've been telling you for the past few minutes! You saw the explosions at the central market nearby?" the guy asked. Desmond nodded in response.
"Those are fake. They're all illusions. You're all being duped by our powers." the guy said calmly. For the following few moments after he said that, Desmond and Helen were totally silent, unable to exactly process what he just said. The only sound in those few moments were those of crickets chirping in the garden.
"Illusions?" Helen asked finally, mirroring the confusion of Desmond as well.
"Yes. None of the damage is actually real."
"What do you mean 'the damage isn't real'? We saw the news reports. It was very much real."
"You seriously think we can destroy buildings and keep the supplies unharmed? We're not gods." the guy said, a bit annoyed.
"Even then, I can't just leave my family and come with you. Do you realize how absurd that sounds?" Desmond asked.
"Your wife is more than capable of defending your house and son, man. Have you seen the feats she has pulled? She's in a league of her own."
"That was a long time ago. I've left that life behind, and I don't wanna go back to it. " Helen snapped.
"I have my orders, Miss Ke... I mean, Mrs. Hunt. I have to take him with me."
"And what if I choose to resist?"
"You can, but it won't really matter. The Infected that you've fought in the past were all basically wandering criminals who had no idea how to properly use their powers. I'm not like them, neither are the others that came with me. They're all fully capable of using their abilities the way they should be, and so am I. In this situation, you won't stand a chance. You have no guns, no shield and your XBolt sniper is in the basement. By the time you even fetch it, I'll be long gone with your husband."
"What? You're gonna abduct me or something?" Desmond asked, clutching the knife harder.
"Here we go again." the guy sighed, "Don't you two realize that I don't wanna fight? I was just told to bring you with me. That's all I'm here for. I have no intention of harming anyone. I even repaired the house and healed your hand. What more do you want from me?"
Desmond still didn't trust the guy. After all, why would you trust a random person who's asking you to come with him for some unknown reason? But for the moments that the guy spoke, Desmond could see truth and genuineness in his eyes. Helen could see it too, but she had her doubts as well. In all her time that she served the Light Force, she had seen betrayal, distrust and backstabbing way too many times. Helen had survived through it all because she had stayed away from everyone and shut herself away. This sequence of events was slowly bringing that emotionless side of hers back to the surface, and Desmond could clearly sense it.
"Alright... I'll come with you." Desmond said finally, shocking his wife for the moment.
"WHAT?!" Helen exclaimed, almost scaring the guy at the door.
"But I want you to promise me that my wife and son will be safe. I need you to keep an eye on them." Desmond said to the guy, his eyes cold.
"You have my word." the guy said respectfully and waved his hands. Immediately, a black hawk emerged from the guy's shadow and flew inside the house, sitting on Helen's shoulder. The hawk had red eyes and some of the feathers were radiating red energy as well. Helen could feel power surging through the bird just by it sitting on her shoulder.
"She can sense any threats within 50 meters. If she senses something, I'll instantly come here. She can fight as well." the guy said. Helen nodded, and the hawk affectionately nipped at her ear. Desmond took a leather jacket and walked over to the guy.
"I still don't know what to call you." Desmond said.
"Ralph. Ralph Carter. Pleasure to meet you." he said, smiling for some reason.
"Can you wipe memories?"
"No. I know what you're thinking, and I can't do that."
"But Pete's just a kid! He shouldn't have seen all that!"
"Trust me. Compared to the things he will be seeing in the near future, this is more like a cartoon show."
Helen's eyes narrowed hard on Ralph.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked.
"The Supreme Leader of your country... he's gone insane. You'll see."
"You mean the Governor General?"
"Well, in your government files, they address him as The Supreme Leader or something."
"That's Governor General. What do you mean he's gone insane?"
Before Ralph could explain what he meant, he suddenly turned to a side and looked at a distant fire in the neighborhood, in the area of the central market. There was another big explosion there, and considering Ralph's reaction, Desmond deduced that it wasn't an illusion. Touching the earpiece in his ear, Ralph started speaking.
"What was that fire? I thought we agreed that we won't cause damage."
He paused for a few seconds, then nodded.
"My mission is almost done. I'm about to pick the subject up."
There was another pause, and this time, Ralph looked irritated.
"What can I do? Subject showed high resistance! He's not a random weakling you kept blabbering about."
Another pause after that, and then Ralph nodded again.
"Understood. I'll proceed right away."
Saying that, Ralph immediately turned to Desmond.
"We have to leave. Right now. Things are about to get complicated." he said, looking like he was in a hurry.
"Why? What happened?" Desmond asked.
"Light Force is on the scene, and they're fighting with full force. If we don't leave, civilians will get hurt."
"How? And why do you care about civilians?" Helen asked, raising her eyebrows. Ralph ignored her.
"We don't have time, Desmond! My companions won't back off from a fight. It will get really messy. They have nothing against civilians, but they will kill military. I don't want that to happen!"
Desmond nodded, then immediately followed Ralph out of the house.
"You're seriously considering going at night with a stranger? An Infected One at that, who almost killed us?" Helen asked, irritably following them both.
"I'll be back, Helen. I promise." Desmond replied, running out of the house now.
"Let me come with you, then!"
Instead of replying to her, Desmond turned around and patted her head, smiling at her.
"Take care of Pete. I'll be back before you know it." Desmond said reassuringly. Helen wasn't convinced at all, but she had no choice.
"You're such an idiot sometimes." she said, punching his chest lightly in frustration.
"Don't bring the house down when I'm gone." Desmond said. Helen didn't reply to that, but Ralph suddenly chimed in.
"We gotta hurry... Also, Mrs. Hunt. Repair your sniper again. You'll need it real soon."
Helen stared at Ralph first, then nodded in agreement.
"Promise me you'll bring him back safely. Or else I'll come find you. It won't be pretty." Helen said coldly, totally like a death threat.
"Absolutely." Ralph said. With that, he took out 2 orbs from his jacket pocket and gave one to Desmond.
"Throw it on the ground, then break it with your feet." he instructed. Desmond nodded, then gave one last look to Helen, who still looked worried about him.
"I'll be fine. Trust me." Desmond said, smiling.
"Be safe, Dez." she replied, smiling back at him. Without wasting another moment, Desmond and Ralph threw the orbs down and stomped on them, making them shatter. Immediately, strips of deep red energy encircled them both like a cyclone, whirring with power.
"What in the world?" Helen thought to herself as she took 2 steps back, alarmed. Within an instant, the red energy just faded, and there was nothing left. Desmond and Ralph were gone.
"I hope he'll be okay." Helen muttered under her breath as she ran back to the house to check up on Peter. A lot of chaos was going on around the area, and for a moment,
Helen knew that her former life was going to come back one way or the other.
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"You brought us here?! Are you out of your mind?!" Desmond screamed, panicking like crazy. Given the circumstances, it was a pretty valid reaction - both of them were standing in the middle of the parking lot of the central market, surrounded by flames and chaos.
"Hehe. Sorry." Ralph said casually.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, Hehe? We're in the middle of a battlefield!"
"I'll be right back. Keep this."
Saying so, Ralph gave Desmond a black, metallic mask and 2 daggers. The daggers had a grey hilt and shining red blades, humming with energy. Desmond wore the mask, and for some reason, a blood red aura of power started emitting from it, giving him a dangerous look. The mask only covered up to his nose, so the red eyes along with the mask made him look pretty scary. Desmond though, was looking at Ralph's stunned face as he rubbed his eyes, unable to believe that the mask was radiating power.
"What are you staring at? And where are you going?" Desmond demanded, his hands shaking with both anger and confusion.
"You're him... you really are him." Ralph mumbled, confusing Desmond even more.
"What do you mean? Who am I?"
"There's Light Force robots coming at you with stun batons. Take them down. I'll be back with my allies in a few moments. Stay alive... please."
With that, Ralph stomped on another orb, and in a cyclone of red power, vanished from the place, leaving Desmond alone in the flames.
"What a stupid day to go through." Desmond said through gritted teeth. His red eyes reflected the flames around him, and for some reason, his eyes didn't sting from the smoke and heat.
"Strange...Oh yeah, it's all an illusion." Desmond thought to himself, flexing his fingers and shoulders. Just when he was about to look around, he suddenly saw pitch black figures slowly walking through the fire in front of him, sticks in their hands. He knew they weren't near him, but they were coming close, and they were in the flames as well.
"These must be the robots." he thought, holding the knives tighter and keeping them crossed in front of him. The robots raised their batons, as if getting ready to charge at him.
"Oh God..." he thought, stepping back a bit. His plan was to simply run into the fire and escape from the bots. If the fire was actually an illusion, then there was no way he was going to sustain a burn wound.
"Okay, let's go." Desmond muttered and turned around to run into the fire. The robots saw that somehow and increased their pace, running at him. Panicking, Desmond ran for the fire quickly.
"I'm outta here!" he shouted, rushing towards the flames. That momentum wasn't meant to last for long though, as he was forced to stop right in front of the flames - they were real. Desmond felt a huge wave of heat slap his face as soon as he got too close to the fire, making him back off.
"I THOUGHT THIS WAS FAKE!" Desmond screamed, turning around to face the robots. They were very close to Desmond now, and had no intentions of making peace with him. One of the robots reached him and immediately swung a baton at his head, but Desmond dodged the attack sideways, not moving a bit from his position. He countered by priming the knife and stabbing it right in the robot's head, messing up the wiring and machinery inside. The knife suddenly released some sort of red energy that instantly melted the robot's head off.
"What the heck?" he thought, pulling the knife away instantly. The robots now stopped blindly rushing at him and stayed a few steps away, considering the situation more carefully now. But Desmond was even more confused than them.
"I... what just happened? How did I dodge the attack?" he thought, unable to understand a thing. Two of the robots suddenly charged at him, but he ducked underneath the attack of one of them. The other one swung down its baton hard on him, but he blocked the strike with his knives. The baton blow got through though, and Desmond had to step sideways to dodge the attack. At that time, one of the knives had been hurled into the air and was spinning in crazy patterns. Somehow, unknown even to himself, Desmond grabbed the hilt of that knife when it started falling down and stabbed into the side of the robot's head, shattering it instantly.
"What is even happening? I'm not the one doing any of these attacks!" he thought as he kept slashing and hacking through the robots. One of the robots tried to swing at him, but he blocked the attack and slashed through the robot 3 times, slicing it into 3 hunks of metal. Another one tried coming from the back, but hurled the knife backwards without even looking and impaled it right in the head, melting it off. 3 more bots came at him, but he just rolled on the ground, picked up the fallen knife and rushed at them. He dodged the first robot's swing and sliced its head off clean. The second one tried a horizontal swing, but Desmond was faster as he ducked beneath the swing and cut right though both the arms before impaling a knife into its chest and using the other knife to burst its head open and melt it off. The last robot threw its baton at him while he was cutting up the second robot, but he just used the robot to shield himself and then threw the broken metal right back at it, trapping it below metal wreckage. As the robot struggled to move and escape, Desmond walked up to it, then without wasting a moment, primed a knife and stabbed it into its head, disabling it instantly.
"That... was the last one, I guess." he wheezed, putting his hands on his knees and panting. There were no more robots around him anymore. The flames danced and rattled as he stood in the parking lot, safe for the moment.
"What... just happened?" he thought as he looked around at the carnage he had caused. The bots didn't stand a chance against him - he executed them without the slightest of hesitations. The mask now radiated with even more power, and Desmond could feel something energetic flowing through his veins. His body felt fresh and strong, and the knives felt natural in his hand. He had never felt such strength in his entire life. He could feel blood rushing in his veins, his muscles slowly strengthening, the heat of the flames slowly becoming a comfortable warmth. As he removed the mask off his face, a thought suddenly struck him.
"Wait... if the flames are real, then why are my eyes not stinging?" he thought, now really confused. He thought his eyes weren't stinging because the flames weren't real, but they were real, and his eyes weren't feeling any discomfort. Just when he was thinking about all of the changes in him, he heard some zaps and crackles behind him. Priming his knife again, he turned around fast, only to find Ralph and 3 others people with him. Two of them were girls, both average in height. One was Asian, brown eyed and had a fresh scar on her face. The other one had pale white skin and blue eyes that suggested a pleasant appearance, but in contrast, she looked very angry. Behind them was a huge guy, at least seven foot tall. He had huge arms and fists that looked like they could crush boulders. He had a body so big that the girls looked like ants in comparison. He aslo carried a big axe in his hand which was burning in bright flames, and his eyes looked were hazel.
"Took you long enough. I was about to fight back." the angry woman said, her eyes glaring at Desmond. He instinctively raised a knife in response, and that gesture amused the big guy behind.
"Keep the knife down, boy. Clara won't harm you. Besides, you would be dead in seconds if she really were to harm you." he said, laughing. That didn't stop Desmond from keeping the knife raised, though. The Asian girl sensed the discomfort and smiled at Desmond.
"Don't worry. We won't harm you, Desmond. We're not the enemy." she said calmly.
"Big talk from people who abducted me from my house." Desmond retorted back.
"I know, but just calm down. You'll understand everything once we reach our place."
"What place?"
In response to that, she clicked a button on her jacket collar. Immediately, two small discs popped out of it and landed in her hand.
"Attach these to your shoes." she said, handing Desmond the discs. He nodded and did so accordingly, placing a disc on each shoe. As soon as they got attached, they flashed red for a moment, then changed color to that of the shoe, disappearing completely.
"Well then, should we leave?" the girl asked.
"About time, Misaki." Clara said, folding her hands. Misaki just smiled and pressed another button. In an instant, all five of them vanished from the place in a red burst of energy and re-appeared 70 meters above the ground.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Desmond shouted, thinking he was about to fall down to the ground. But he just stayed in the air, and he slowly realized that the other 5 were in the air too.
"Anti-gravity shoes. You won't fall." Misaki said reassuringly. Desmond breathed a sigh of relief and straightened back.
"What do you even want from me? You caused all this chaos just to kidnap me? I'm not worth your troubles, man." he said, still not understanding why he was being forced to come with them.
"Do you feel that we're worse than the people that govern you? That run this place?" Ralph asked.
"If this is your way of doing things, then definitely."
"Then how do you explain that?"
Saying so, Ralph pointed down at the chaos below at the supermarket. Desmond looked at where he was pointing, and for a moment, he lost his breath. The Light Force had arrived at the scene, but no one was trying to douse the flames. At one part of the supermarket, they were fighting what looked like a clone of the big guy in his group. The clone was on its knees, and the soldiers of the force were brutally beating it up, having no regard for mercy whatsoever. They were not using blunt weapons of any kind - it was all guns and blades. The clone was bleeding, and one of its eyes was already gone. But they still attacked it relentlessly.
"What the heck..." Desmond thought to himself. On the other side, he saw civilians being questioned about the incident, but it didn't look like they were actually trying to gather information. The soldiers were literally beating up civilians and trying to make them speak, even though they didn't know anything. Even the people trying to peacefully pass by were being intercepted and hit. Random civilians, who had no idea what was going on, were being beat up just because the soldiers had no information about the situation.
"What's all this? Is this one of your illusions?" Desmond asked, unsure about what he was seeing.
"If we had to convince you to join us using illusions, we would've showed something even worse. This however, is the real thing." Clara said, her anger now gone. Desmond couldn't believe what he was seeing. The military and police forces that he so deeply trusted were just randomly hitting civilians who didn't have a clue about what was going on.
"W-why the heck are they beating up civilians?" he asked, confused.
"Intel. Scared people are more likely to provide more information, as well as hurt people. If you're shaken so much by this, you're in for a treat when you realize how messed up they truly are." Ralph replied, his eyes serious. Desmond couldn't believe it, nor could he comprehend it.
"That's not important right now. We need to get back to our place as fast as possible." Clara said, then she turned to Misaki.
"Lead the way, and sense for any sort of power surges around. The Light Force will be looking for us." she said.
"Leave it to me, Commander." Misaki replied.
"Mike. You guard the back. Do NOT let the asset be exposed to danger. We need him safe throughout the journey." Clara said. The big guy nodded and flew over to Desmond, standing in the air behind him.
"You can fly?" Desmond asked, looking at Mike.
"You're the only one who can't." Mike replied, shrugging. Him shrugging looked like a mountain shaking rocks off itself.
"Ralph. Contact base right now and tell them we've got the asset. Tell them to prepare. Now that we have him, everything is gonna change from this point on." Clara said.
"On it. Anyone need heals?" Ralph asked.
"We're fine." Mike said, then he turned to Desmond, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Desmond replied.
"Let's get going!" Clara shouted, and Misaki immediately started moving, all 4 of them chasing right behind her. Suddenly, Desmond jerked backwards as they started flying at a high speed, him almost bending completely backwards. It took him quite some time before he could straighten back up to his normal posture.
"This feels so weird." Desmond said, clutching his head. Clara looked at him and let out a chuckle.
"I know it's too late to say this, but I should be saying it anyways." Clara said, looking at him in a way that confused Desmond as to what his fate really was going to be.
"Say what?" Desmond asked. Clara just looked at the stars and smiled as she said these words...
"Welcome to The Infected, Desmond."