Wanted Mutants

Chapter 17

“Howdy Kari, you ready.” She walked into the room,

“Good morning?” Kari nodded,

“I’ll get straight to the point. Today me, you, Blake and Devastation are taking a trip out to the training fields.” Kari stood confused when Devastation and Blake walked in, “Great, so here’s the objective. Capture the flag. So Discharge, Ragnarök, and Jinx have already gone to protect the flag, it’s our job to get it back. We will lose many times today, but that is not the point behind this exercise.” She paused as she walked over to a giant case, “the purpose of this exercise is to use your powers to gain new control over them. It’s okay for you not to be able to control them right away, but stick to the plan, and we may win.” Kari looked over at Blake and noticed that he looked extremely nervous,

“Um Gears…?” she looked at him,

“That’s Gear Master Sparks General to you. This is war man!” She grabbed his shirt playfully, but he still looked very uneasy,

“I don’t feel comfortable participating in this exercise…”

“And why would I let you sit this one out? This is a great learning experience and so much fun?” he looked away, and he seemed to retreat into himself,

“Never mind,” Gears looked at him, then she smiled,

“Well, if you say so, let's head out to the field. Kari no invisibility. Since my brother and I haven't made your suit. There would be no point in becoming invisible, and you’d be naked, so yea.” Gears smiled and Kari,

“Understood,” Gears unlocked the giant case and pulled out a huge cannon that she strapped to her. She also pulled out goggles and thick black gloves,

“Gears are you bringing Benito?” Devastation grabbed something off the shelf and walked over to a big door that led somewhere new.

“No, Ragnarök said no we already have 4 people.” Devastation opened the door that led out to a garage, “Oh and Kari, Blake, which is a better tactic, defense or offense against our opponents?” Kari and Blake followed them into the garage but neither of them answered, “Well?”

“Defense. The other team is too powerful to try to fight without a plan.” Blake chimed in sheepishly,

“Correct Blake, because of that you get to ride in the Rover, Kari, you get to fly. Sorry only 3 seats on the rover.” She nodded as they climbed into the rover, and they opened the garage door and they drove off. With one thought, she took off following them. She flew a few feet beside them as they drove west of the compound. It didn’t take long because Devastation pulled off the road and headed for a lone building sitting in the barren land. As they pulled to a stop, Kari landed beside them. “Alright, so here is the deal. Once we pass through the building, the exercise begins. So Kari, I’m going to match you with Ragnarök, Blake, you got Jinx, I’ll support and back you with artillery.” Kari looked over at Blake, and she saw his body tense, but no one else seemed to notice how uneasy he was. Gears tossed an ear com to Kari,

“What about the flag?” Gears looked at Kari,

“Get it and bring it back here. Let's go!” Gears headed out to the battlefield with Blake. Kari rocketed herself into the air and toward the barren land of the battlefield. She flew for a few minutes surveying the land, when a blinding light made her stop. Then a pain shot through her arm as she was knocked out of the sky.

“Sorry to disappoint you.” She looked up to see Discharge. “Yeah, we knew Gears would send you after Ragnarök, so we planned to counter that.” She tried to grab him using her powers, but as soon as she grabbed him, she felt her energy leave her. She staggered away from him, “That’s right, I absorb your power so you can’t win against me.” She tried to push him, but again she felt her energy leave her when a loud echo rang across the land and then a giant cloud of dust erupted in front of her. Her ears rung with the sound of the explosion. The dust obscured her vision as she hit the ground. A few moments passed, before she managed to pull herself to her feet to see Discharge lying in the dirt unconscious.

“Kari get out of there. He’s only unconscious for a moment he’ll be coming to in a few moments.” Kari nodded and took to the air once more as she tried to survey the land. As she flew over she caught a glimpse of Blake hiding behind a large rock pile. She slowly descended to land beside him,

“Blake are you alright?” he was holding himself as his body shook, “Blake are you OK?” she placed her hand on his shoulder and he looked at her.

“Kari, I don’t feel well.” She looked him over, as his body shook,

“Blake, you’re hyperventilating, take deep breaths, or you’ll pass out.” He nodded, “I’m going to check your pulse just keep breathing.” She calmly grabbed his wrist, and she tried to measure his heart rate, “Blake how’s that breathing coming along?” Kari looked at him only to see him staring behind her,

“Looks like I won.” As she turned she heard a clicking sound in her left ear,

“Don’t move, we got you surrounded.” Kari turned to see Jinx holding a hand gun. “We have won now get up.” Jinx pointed the gun at them both,

“Is that a real gun?” Kari stared at Jinx,

“Well, that’s not important at the moment it can be.” She pointed it at Blake, “Hope you are not afraid of bullets.” She glared at Blake and Kari watched as all the color left his face,

“Stop! We surrender...” Gears ran up with Devastation, “Dang it. Why do you guys always out smart me?!” she stomped her foot,

“Calm down, I was only kidding and besides, it's not loaded.” Jinx tossed the gun, “Besides, it was just a rock.” And as she said that, the cold steel that was a small hand gun turned into a plain red rock.

“How’d you do that?” Kari stood up and walked over to her,

“Illusion kid, sleight of hand, a mind trick.” Kari looked at her, and she nodded, “First I follow my targets and I test them. Probe them for their fears, then I create their fear and make them feel hopeless.” She pointed at Blake, “He didn’t fail my test and to tell you the truth I didn’t think he’d fall for it, but he did.” Jinx patted her on the shoulder and went to join the other’s in conversation. Kari turned to look at Blake, but he was gone. She saw his footprints lead off toward an old building. She ran off in that direction and the closer she got to the building the taller it looked. When she stood at the door, it looked to be around five stories high. As she walked through the doorway she noticed his tracks began to blur as if he were stumbling,

“Blake…” all of a sudden a force grabbed her and everything went dark as her body was enveloped by something firm. She couldn’t move as she was trapped,